Martín Carrera

Carrera was born in 1806 to a distinguished family in Puebla. His father was a colonel of artillery and Carrera was already involved in the military at age 9 as a cadet in the Expeditionary Regiment of King Ferdinand VII of Spain. By 1818, he was an instructor for the Spanish military. He switched sides and joined Agustin Iturbide's insurgent Army of the Three Guarantees in August, 1821 offering his services to the Iturbidist General Filisola. He was with the army when it triumphally entered Mexico City on 27 September 1821.

The next year when Carrera was only 16, he was called upon by the government of the newly established Mexican Empire to join the artillery corps and was sent to defend Vera Cruz, which was still being threatened by the Spaniards who still held on to the Fortress of San Juan de Ulúa. He later joined the insurgency originating in Vera Cruz that resulted in the fall of the Empire that very same year. By 1823 he was captain in charge of the manufacture of arms in the capital. In 1826, he was commander of artillery in San Luis Potosi, and was given charge of a light brigade in 1829. He defended the government of President Guadalupe Victoria at the time of the "Motín de la Acordada", an insurrection led by General José María Lobato and Lorenzo de Zavala in favor of Vicente Guerrero.

He was commander of the artillery field and director of the arms factory in Mexico City, meanwhile being a vocal figure in a committee charged with writing military ordinances. Carrera was placed in charge of the "Ciudadela" of Mexico, a fortress, on April 1831, and formed part of the committee established in 1833 for the classification of military awards given out by presidents Santa Anna and Anastasio Bustamante.

Carrera was promoted to brigadier general in 1840. He was commander of artillery of the Mexican Army for much of his career. He was a member of the National Legislative Junta charged with writing the Bases Orgánicas, a constitution in 1843 and served as senator of the Republic from 1844 to 1846.

Carrera was commander of artillery in the Valley of Mexico during the Mexican-American War. He fought in the battles of Padierna (20 August 1847), Molino del Rey (6 September), and Battle of Casa Mata (11 September). After the war he was made military governor of the Federal District (1853–55).

Presidency of Martin Carrera[1]
Office	Name	Term
Relations	Jose Miguel Arroyo	15 Aug 1855 – 12 Sep 1855
Government	Jose Guadalupe Martinez	15 Aug 1855 – 12 Sep 1855
Justice	Mariano Alegria	15 Aug 1855 – 17 Aug 1855
	Jose Maria Duran	18 Aug 1855 – 12 Sep 1855
Treasury	Pedro Fernandez del Castillo	15 Aug 1855 – 12 Sep 1855
War	Luis Ormaecha	15 Aug 1855 – 3 Sep 1855
	Manuel Maria Sandoval	4 Sep 1855 – 12 Sep 1855
Fomento	Miguel Lerdo de Tejada	15 Aug 1855 – 12 Sep 1855

When Antonio López de Santa Anna resigned the presidency in 1855, due to an uprising proclaimed through the Plan de Ayutla, a public assembly in the capital gathered and proclaimed support for the Plan, assigning the commander of the city's garrison, Rómulo Díaz de la Vega, to appoint a national representative council, and then for that council to elect a new president. The winner of the election turned out to be Carrera. This was viewed by the leaders of the revolution Ignacio Comonfort and Juan Alvarez as an attempt to co-op the revolution by more moderate elements, and did not view the new government with sympathy. Carrera also struggled to gain recognition for his government from the Mexican states. Struggling to be widely recognized and struggling to come to an agreement with the revolutionaries, he resigned in September, turning the office over to Diaz de la Vega. He then retired to private life in Mexico City.

Carrera did not take part in the Reform War. At the time of the French Intervention and Second Mexican Empire, he offered his services to President Benito Juárez, but did not serve in Juárez's government or military.

He was author of the military treatises Uso y prácticas de maniobra de artillería ligera de montaña (Handbook of Light Artillery Maneuvers for Mountainous Terrain) in 1831 and Notas de campaña (Campaign Notes) in 1843. He died in Mexico City in 1871 at the age of 64. Two of his great grandchildren were Alberto Carrera Torres and Francisco Carrera Torres, members of the Army of the Northern Division in the Mexican Revolution.