Mariano Arista

Mariano Arista was born on 26 July 1802 and in 1813 enlisted as a cadet in the regiment of provincials of Puebla. He belonged to the Veracruz Lancers, and to the Mexico Dragoons. The Mexican War of Independence had already broken out when Arista joined the military and he initially fought as a Royalist, distinguishing himself so well that in 1818 he was made an officer for the Mexican Dragoons. He was promoted to ensign in September 1820 and to lieutenant in May 1821. That same year he decided to join Agustin de Iturbide's Plan of Iguala and on 11 June 1821 presented himself before the Trigarantine Army, with a bugle, five officers and twenty dragoons of the Mexico Regiment, and fifty troops which he gathered from miscellaneous corps. He was assigned with all of them to the Libertad Regiment.[1]

He was present at the siege of Puebla by the insurgents in July, 1821. He fulfilled his orders of advancing with several dragoons up to the sentry-box of Cholula which had been repulsing all attempted attacks, and entered with his small forces close to the fortified point of San Javier. Under the command of Brigadier Pedro Zarazoa, he joined in various expeditions and offered his services during the final siege of Mexico City, forming a part of the first division. Due to his excellent service, ten days after the capture of the capital, he was granted the rank of captain, and in December, 1821 was further promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel.[2]

He belonged to the regiment of grenadiers that joined the command of General Echevarri and proclaimed against the First Mexican Empire in February, 1823, and was so passionate about the cause that he halted soldiers who wished to join the Emperor, and Arista followed the liberating army until it captured the capital .[3]

During the transitional government of the Supreme Executive Power, he fought against an insurgency that had risen up against the government. He was present in June, 1824 at a battle near the Hacienda of Coamancingo not far from Apam, and having reached a partisan of Vicente Gomez, he executed him after having come into conflict with various guerilla leaders. For this service, the Executive Power raised him to the rank of effective captain.[4]

Five years later he had risen to the rank of effective lietuetnant colonel. He took part in the rebellions against the election of Manuel Gomez Pedraza pronouncing at Perote with Santa Anna, and when General Bustamante rose up in Jalapa against President Vicente Guerrero, Arista marched towards Puebla and sent four hundred calvary to help those who had decided to join in the uprising. He took the city in spite of four thousand members of the militia who had opposed the Plan of Jalapa. He gained the favor of President Bustamante and was promoted to effective colonel on 12 February 1831 and in August of that same year, Brigadier General, in spite of being opposed to the government's annulment of the law which had expelled all Spaniards from the country. He fought uprisings against the government of Bustamante, on April, 1832, under the command of General Inclan, defeating the forces which had risen up in Lerma as part of the Plan of Veracruz. After failing to dislodge Colonel Gonzales from his strongly fortified point at Santa Maria del Monte, he parleyed eventually bringing him back to supporting the government, thus pacifying all of the Valley of Toluca.[5]

As President Bustamante personally began to lead his troops against the rebels, he was joined by Arista on the way to Querétaro. Here Arista parted ways with the president turning back at Morelia, and rejoining the main body of the military, he fought at the Jornada del Gallinero, and after victory there advanced within two leagues of Zacatecas before returning to aid the capital. He fought at Casas Blancas, but at this point the rebels won, and Arista was commissioned to arrange a ceasefire and sign the Convention of Zavaleta,[6] transferring power over to Manuel Gomez Pedraza who had returned from an exile in order to assume the final months of the term he had first won in 1828, which was now being recognized.

When Gomez Farias and Santa Anna won the vice presidency and presidency respectively on a progressive ticket, Gomez Pedraza continued to serve in the military, being charged with the security of transportation to Veracruz, and then being given the general commandancy of Mexico State. On June, 1833 he was named second in command of the operations brigade commanded by Santa Anna, and was ordered to go out and fight the rebels who were aiming to proclaim Santa Anna dictator, and hoped to depose Gomez Farias for his anti clerical measures and his measures against military privelages. Arista however joined the rebels. Arista now sent agents to the capital to work against Gomez Farias. Being now a target of government reprisal, Arista fled to Guanajuato, where he surrendered under the promise of preserving his life and he was banished. He departed from Veracruz in November and left for the United States, and he returned once the triumphant Plan of Cuernavaca overthrew Gomez Farias in 1834.[7]

The First Mexican Republic was now in the process of being transformed into the Centralist Republic of Mexico. Arista arrived at Veracruz at the beginning of June 1835 although he initially found himself arrested, he was permitted later to continue on to the capital. He was stopped at Jalapa and returned to Veracruz on suspicions on having joined a mutiny at San Juan de Ulua, but was absolved. The new government named him to the Supreme Military Court, and later formed a part of the Junta for the Military and Civil Code, and was named inspector of militias.[8]

He was attending to his various military posts when the Pastry War broke out in 1838 and the government of Anastasio Bustamante placed Arista in charge of a brigade tasked with defending Veracruz and subject to the orders of Manuel Rincon, which ordered Arista's brigade to stay at the Paso de Ovejas where Arista learned of the French capture of San Juan de Ulua and received orders from Santa Anna to advance upon Veracruz. He entered the port on 4 December, at nine in the evening and met with Santa Anna whom he had not seen since 1833. The following morning the house they were staying at was attacked by the French. Arista fought back but was taken prisoner. He remained a prisoner of war aboard a French ship until 28 January 1839.[9]

After the Pastry War ended, he played a role in subduing the various insurgencies that were flaring up all over the country with the aim of reestablishing the federal system. He was named to head the brigade that left fon San Luis to attack the dissidents that had fortified themselves at Tampico. He left the capital with rapidity organized the brigade and under the immediate orders of commander in chief Bustamante passed to Tamaulipas where the federalist forces were esconced under the command of Jose Urrea. Arista pursued him as far as Ciudad Victoria and near Tampico, obtained a surrender of Urrea's forces.[10]

Arista was named commandant general of Tamaulipas, and afterwards commander in chief of the armies of the north at the end of 1839. He marched to Monterey, reorganized his military district, and fought against insurgents, dislodging them from Monterey and pursuing them as far as Coahuila after the Battle of Santa Rita Morelos, in which he completely routed the rebels. He returned to Tampico where he helped prevent a riot, and later passed to Matamoros. With the country now pacified of insurgents, he focused on reorganizing the army meant to contribute to the defense of the national integrity against the forces of the Texas rebels. During the following five years he occupied himself with expeditions against hostile indigenous tribes and against Texas. During this time exchanged the office of Commandier in Chief of the North with various other officers including Isidro Reyes and Adrian Woll.[11]

But Arista once again held the post when the United States annexed Texas. As tensions between the United States and Mexico were leading to war, Arista made considerable effort to secure the frontier, and increased the division under his command to six thousand men. He then obeyed an order from President Paredes to step down from his command, retiring to an hacienda which Arista owned close to Monterey. It was there though that he received another order to return to his post in April, 1846 as news arrived that American forces under the command of Zachary Taylor were heading to Matamoros.[12]

After Resaca de la Palma, Mexico's government recalled Arista, and he was removed from command. He requested a court-martial and was absolved of guilt for the defeats at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma.[13] Arista spent the rest of the war as a functionary, seeing little combat.

In 1851, Arista succeeded José Joaquín de Herrera as president of Mexico. He sought to bring fiscal stability to the nation. Conservative resistance to Arista's rule and an eventual revolt by the conservatives led to his 1853 resignation and exile.

He died on board the English steamer Tagus while traveling from Lisbon, Portugal, to France on 7 August 1855. In 1880, his remains were returned to Mexico, where the Liberal faction named him a national hero.

• List of heads of state of Mexico
• Battles of the Mexican–American War
• History of Mexico

• Bauer, K. Jack. The Mexican-American War, 1846–1848.