Bancroftiana, Number 124 Spring 2004: A War Over Pastries

A War Over Pastries

“CITIZENS OF DURANGO: By great force the French have taken over the fortress of Ulúa: 300 Mexicans have gloriously lost their lives in combat…DURANGOITES, TO ARMS! The war cry has sounded, the invaders with one hand offer you a crushing chain and with the other threaten you with death. Will you surrender? No! You are free…unite yourselves with your brothers, do not spare means or sacrifice; you are going to fight for nothing less than for your INDEPENDENCE that we will recover with much anguish and streams of blood…let us show them that when one tries to threaten the mass of the Mexicans, with a foreign yoke, they are compact in only one opinion, only one vote, and united in the shout of INDEPENDENCE or DEATH.”

And so, a plea was made to go to the aid of the residents of the State of Veracruz, who had been attacked by the invading French. The Pastry War of 1838-1839 arose from the widespread civil disorders that plagued the early years of the Mexican Republic. Foreigners whose property had been damaged or destroyed by rioters were usually unable to obtain any compensation from the Mexican government, and they began to appeal to their own governments for help. A French pastry cook, who claimed that looting Mexican soldiers had ruined his shop, appealed to France’s King Louis- Philippe.

Coming to its citizen’s aid, France demanded 600,000 pesos in damages. When the payment was not forthcoming, the French sent a fleet to enforce a blockade of all Mexican ports, from the Yucatán to the Rio Grande, and to bombard the Mexican fortress of San Juan de Ulúa, which guarded Veracruz. By the afternoon of November 28th 1838, the French were in possession. Meanwhile, acting without explicit government authority, Antonio López de Santa Anna led Mexican forces against the French. In a skirmish, Santa Anna was wounded in a leg, which had to be amputated.

Durango (Mexico: State). El Ecsmo. Ayuntamiento de Esta Capital a Sus Conciudadanos. Victoria de Durango: Imprenta del gbierno, 1838. Bancroft pfF 1203. C594 no.118

In his History of Mexico, Volume 5, Hubert Howe Bancroft adds, “At Mexico [City] the news evoked…the declaration of war. Orders were issued to strengthen the coast defenses. Additional troops were levied and several volunteer corps formed. An attendant feature was the expulsion of French residents…enforced with a certain harshness.” Before Santa Anna’s forces were able to rid Mexico of the intruders, President Anastasio Bustamante, through the good offices of Great Britain, promised to pay the 600,000 pesos, and the French forces withdrew. The most important domestic result of the conflict was the further enhancement of the prestige and political influence of the wounded dictator, Santa Anna. However, Bancroft reveals a lesser know side of Mexican history in his account of Santa Anna and the Pastry War.

This is but one example among the 152 minutely-detailed documents, which can be found in a newlycataloged collection entitled Colección de decretos: Estado de Durango (pf F1203.C594). These broadsides highlight armed insurrections and multiple coups against Durango’s military and civilian leaders, and the deteriorating political relations with the United States, which led up to the Battle of the Alamo and the outbreak of the Mexican War of 1846-1848.

—Tiffany Harrison
2003 Summer Intern, The Bancroft Library