Hidalgo left for Aguascalientes and headed for Zacatecas. From Zacatecas, Hidalgo went through the Salinas, the Venado, Charcas, Matehuala and the Saltillo.
Here it was determined that the main leaders, with the best troops and the money, left for the United States. Once they were on the way, they were taken prisoner by the royalists on March 21 at Norias del Baján or Acatita del Baján. Hidalgo was taken to Monclova, from there he left on March 26 through the Alamo and Mapimí and on the 23rd he entered Chihuahua. Then the process was formed, and on May 7 the first statement was taken. The ecclesiastical nature of Hidalgo caused his trial to be delayed more than that of his companions. The demotion sentence was pronounced on July 27 and on July 29 he was executed at the Royal Hospital where Hidalgo was imprisoned. The Council of War condemned the prisoner to be put to arms, not in a public place like his companions, and shooting him to the chest and not to the back, thus preserving his head. Hidalgo heard the sentence calmly and prepared to die.
His last day has been described as follows: “Back in his prison, he was served a chocolate breakfast, and having taken it, he begged that instead of water he be served a glass of milk, which he finished with an extraordinary display of appetite and pleasure. A moment later he was told that the time had come to go to the torture; He heard it without alteration, rose to his feet, and declared that he was ready to leave. In effect, he came out of the hideous cube in which he was, and having advanced fifteen or twenty paces from it, he stopped for a moment, because the officer of the guard had asked him if anything was offered to him to dispose of last; To this he answered yes, that he wanted them to bring him some sweets that he had left on his pillows: they did indeed bring them, and having distributed them among the same soldiers who were to make fire on him and were marching behind him, he encouraged and comforted them with his forgiveness and his sweetest words to do their job; And as he knew very well that he had been ordered not to shoot his head, and he feared he would suffer a lot, because it was still twilight and the objects were not clearly seen, he concluded by saying: “The right hand that I will put on my chest will be , my children, the safe target to which you must go ”.
“The bench of the torture had been placed there in an interior corral of the referred school, unlike what was done with the other heroes, who were executed in the small square behind said building, and where the monument is today. that reminds us of him, and the new mall that bore his name; And when the Hidalgo knew of the place to which he was going, he marched with a firm and serene step, and without allowing his eyes to be blindfolded, praying with a strong and fervent voice the psalm Miserere me; He arrived at the scaffold, kissed him with resignation and respect, and despite some altercation that did not make him sit with his back turned, he took the seat facing the front, he placed his hand on his heart, he reminded the soldiers that this was the point where they should shoot him, and a moment later the discharge of five rifles exploded, one of which effectively pierced the right hand without hurting the heart. The hero, almost impassive, strained his prayer, and their voices were silenced when another five rifle muzzles were detonated again, whose bullets, passing the body, broke the bonds that bound him to the bench, and the man fell into a lake of blood, he had not yet died; three more bullets were necessary to conclude that precious existence, which had respected death for more than 50 years. "
The sun had barely been born when it had already set itself to the public, on a chair and at a considerable height, and precisely on the outside of its. His head, with those of Allende, Aldama and Jiménez, were placed in iron cages in the corners of the Alhóndiga de Granaditas in Guanajuato. The body was buried in the third order of San Francisco de Chihuahua, and in 1824 the trunk and the head were brought to Mexico, to be buried with great solemnity.
