najuato, abandoning Guadalajara on the 12th of December to the imperial force under Gutierrez. The lack of funds hampered the latter greatly, leading to a serious falling-off among his men, and with the appearance of the advance guard of Corona's army his position became precarious. The disastrous failure of an advance movement by his Franco-Mexican companies,[1] involving the loss of 450 soldiers,[2] brought matters to a crisis; and on the following day, December 19th, the imperialists evacuated the city,[3] hastening to take refuge in Guanajuato. Lozada had by this time proclaimed the neutrality of the department of Nayarit, wherein he had long ruled like a sovereign.[4] Thus Jalisco, the key to the north-west, was lost to the empire.
The last days of the year saw the French leaving the mining state of Guanajuato, joining at Querétaro the columns from San Luis Potosí, and thence retiring during January toward Vera Cruz. In Guanajuato, however, the imperialists could safely make a stand by themselves; and sustained by the number here accumulating under Mejía and other leaders who had retreated from the provinces north and west, they were able to check the local movement inaugurated since spring by Antillon and his patriot companions;[5] but the victorious armies from the north-west and north-east were approaching.
- ↑ Now about to be dissolved, owing to orders from France to withdraw even the foreign legion.
- ↑ And the death of Sayn, the leader. Col Parra of Corona's army, assisted by Guadarrama and Mendoza, achieved this victory Dec. 18th, at the hill of Coronella, and claimed to have killed 150 imperialists, including 135 French, and to have captured 312 men, of whom 101 French, while his own losses reached only 39 killed. Estrella del Norte, Jan. 25, 1866; Vigil and Híjar, Ensayo, 424, etc.; Diario Imp., Mar. 27, 1866, etc.; Voz de Méj., id.; Arrangoiz, Méj., iv. 224. Corona now swept down toward Colima, and Marquez de Leon advanced by way of La Barca to clear the state of imperialists. Marquez, Mem. Post, MS., 287.
- ↑ Parra behaved considerately on taking possession the day after.
- ↑ To sustain this neutrality till the nation had established a government, 1,000 men were to be kept under arms; yet armies might pass through the department after making due arrangements. The administration was to be vested in persons chosen by a representative council. Full text in Estrella de Occid., Jan. 18, 1867, issued at San Luis de Lozada, Dec. 1, 1866.
- ↑ More than one defeat at the hands of the preceding French garrisons
