The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 48, July 1944 - April, 1945 Page: 540
617 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 24 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
The next morning, July 3, the commandant general arose
early and dressed carefully. He donned the uniform which he
reserved for special occasions, put on the various insignia of
his military career, and knotted a beautifully colored silk hand-
kerchief to the collar of his blouse. He buckled on his sword,
which he rarely wore, and went outside at seven o'clock. He
gave a short turn about the plaza, and meeting a corporal of
the presidial company of Aguaverde at the door of the barracks,
he said, "If your general should die, what would you do ?"
"Someone would replace you," replied the corporal with rustic
simplicity.
This answer seemed to decide him, and making numerous
detours so as not to be seen, he went behind a ruined wall in
front of the old roofless church of San Antonio de Padilla. There
he braced the handle of his sword against a stone, and put the
point against his heart. He made a quick forward movement,
and fell lifeless, pierced through by the sword. A short time
later, he was missed, and General Ignacio Mora, second in com-
mand, instituted a search. The body was found, face upward,
about ten o'clock that same morning; the left hand of the dead
man was clenched in the collar of his military blouse and his
right hand rested upon the blade of his sword. General Mora
ordered the body removed to the salon of the old casa del
congreso, across the plaza from the church.
That night, when the single, lonely bell of Padilla tolled for
vespers, a livid corpse, covered with white linen, was stretched
out in the flickering light of four candles in the salon where
the Tamaulipas congress had decreed the death of Iturbide.
The next morning, at eleven o'clock, General Mora conducted a
military funeral. Then the body was placed in the same tomb
with the mortal remains of the former Emperor, Iturbide.
A few years later, the remains of Iturbide were removed from
the tomb and taken to Mexico City. Those of Mier y Termn
were left in Padilla, and today, a simple stone slab lies flat on
the ground over the last resting place of this illustrious patriot.
There is no inscription, but the ground around it is well kept,
and the natives of Padilla are proud of the fact that so great
a man is buried in their little community. A new church re-
places the old one of San Antonio, and across the plaza from it,
on the site of the old casa del congreso, stands a magnificent
marble shaft, a monument to Iturbide. The present Padilla has
been built a short distance to the west on the beautiful Rio Soto540
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 48, July 1944 - April, 1945, periodical, 1945; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146055/m1/608/: accessed May 8, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.