The Battle of Calderon Bridge (Batalla del Puente de Calderon), fought just outside Guadalajara in January 1811 as part of Mexico’s fight for Independence. The decisive battle was waged on the morning of Thursday, January 17.

One side, led by Ignacio Allende, had some eighty thousand ill-equipped and untrained supporters of Father Miguel Hidalgo, the priest who launched Mexico on the road to Independence.

The other side had the numerically much smaller, but professional, Royalist army, fighting for the King of Spain, led by General Félix María Calleja. After six hours of fighting, a stray grenade from the Royalist side landed smack in the middle of the insurgents’ ammunition supplies, resulting in a fearful explosion and fire which brought the battle to a speedy end. Hidalgo and his men fled northwards; the crown troops followed, hot on their heels. The loss of this battle effectively dashed Mexican hopes of a quick independence from Spain. Independence was delayed another ten years, until 1821.