ORDER OF BATTLE // November 25, 1812
Capture of Oaxaca
Estimated force strength by side, with confidence labels per surviving record.
Forces engaged
2 sides catalogued · combined 7,000 estimated
Mexican Insurgents
5,000
Medium-confidence figure
Spanish Empire
2,000
Medium-confidence figure
Battle context
The Capture of Oaxaca on 25 November 1812 was a victory for the Mexican insurgent forces under José María Morelos y Pavón over the royalist garrison commanded by Antonio Pío González-Saravia Mollinedo. Morelos commanded a force of approximately 5,000 insurgents against a royalist force of around 2,000, and the engagement secured the city of Oaxaca for the independence movement. The fall of Oaxaca represented a significant territorial gain in southern New Spain, extending insurgent control into a strategically and economically important regional center. The victory reinforced Morelos's position as the leading military figure of the independence cause following Miguel Hidalgo's death, demonstrating the insurgency's capacity to take and hold major urban centers against organized royalist resistance.
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