The First Empire
On 19 March 1821, in support of Agustín de Iturbide (a personal friend), Bustamante proclaimed the independence of Mexico from Spain at Pantoja, Guanajuato. A few days later he removed the remains of the 1811 insurgent leaders from the Alhóndiga de Granaditas in Guanajuato and had them buried in San Sebastián cemetery.
Iturbide named him commander of the cavalry, second in command of the Army of the Center, and a member of the governing junta. The Regency named him field marshal and captain general of the Provincias Internas de Oriente y Occidente, effective 28 September 1821. He fought and defeated a Spanish expeditionary force at Xichú.
At the fall of the Empire in 1823, he joined the ranks of the federalists, for which he was arrested and confined at Acapulco, but President Guadalupe Victoria again put him in command of the Provincias Internas.
Read more about this topic: Anastasio Bustamante
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