Ampudia y Grimarest, Pedro de (1805–1868)

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Ampudia y Grimarest, Pedro de (1805–1868)

Pedro de Ampudia y Grimarest (b. 1805; d. 1868), Mexican military officer and minister of war (1859–1860). Born in Havana, Cuba, Ampudia arrived in Mexico in 1821 as a lieutenant in the retinue of the last viceroy of New Spain, Juan O'Donojú. He joined the Army of the Three Guarantees and supported the Plan of Iguala for Mexican autonomy and independence. Ampudia fought against the Spanish holding the fort of San Juan de Ulúa in the harbor of Veracruz, and later against the rebels in Texas. He served as governor of the state of Tabasco (1843–1844). During the war with the United States (1846–1848), Ampudia directed the defense of Monterrey and fought under General Antonio López de Santa Anna at the battle of Angostura. Ampudia also served during the war as governor of the state of Nuevo León, and he held that office again during several months in 1854. Elected to the Constituent Congress of 1856–1857, Ampudia fought on the republican side during the War of the Reform; during the Second Empire, he served Maximilian.

See alsoMexico, Wars and Revolutions: Mexican-American War; Mexico, Wars and Revolutions: The Reform.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alberto María Carreño Escudero, Jefes del ejército mexicano en 1847 (1914).

Charles L. Dufour, The Mexican War: A Compact History, 1846–1848 (1968); Diccionario Porrúa de historia, biografía y geografía de México, 5th ed. (1986).

                                        D. F. Stevens