Biographical Sketch
José López Uraga, Mexican soldier and diplomat, was born in Valladolid, Morelia in 1810. He fought against the United States in 1847, helped establish the Santa Anna government, and during the Guerra de Reforma engaged on the side of the constitutionalists, losing a leg in combat. He was Mexican Minister to Germany in 1854 and 1855. During the War of Intervention, he served as general-in-chief of the Army of the West, and later as commanding general in Jalisco. He later served under Maximilian, becoming his aide-de-camp and marching to Yucatan. When he went to Guatemala in 1873, his mission was to organize and strengthen the army there. It was at this time that he wrote several books on military subjects. López Uraga then settled in San Francisco around 1877, where he had hoped to obtain the Mexican consulship and to be reinstated as a Mexican citizen. And it was in San Francisco that he died in 1885, having been unsuccessful in both these attempts.
From the guide to the José López Uraga Papers, ca. 1840-1882, (The Bancroft Library)
