Leonardo Márquez Araujo was a conservative Mexican general. He fought against the United States in the Mexican–American War of 1846 to 1848 and was a prominent supporter of conservative General Antonio López de Santa Anna in the revolutionary movement of 1849. After the fall of Santa Anna in the 1854-55 Revolution of Ayutla that brought liberals to power, Márquez supported the conservative government in the Reform War against liberal government of Benito Juárez. With Miguel Miramón, the leading general of the conservatives, Márquez initially found success against the liberal army, but the tide turned in 1860, and the liberals won on the battle field. He was called "The Tiger of Tacubaya", alluding to the Battle of Tacubaya where he ordered executed liberal officers and some medical personnel. Márquez pursued guerrilla warfare in the Sierra Gorda after the defeat of the conservatives on the battlefield; he is blamed for the murders of prominent liberals, Melchor Ocampo and General :es:Leandro Valle|Leandro Valle. In 1862, he supported the conservatives' invitation to Maximilian Hapsburg to become the emperor of Mexico, although he did not participate in conservative politicians' plans for it. He did join the French forces under General Charles de Lorencez in the initial invasion. In 1864, Márquez was in 1864 given a mission to Constantinople. In October 1866, Maximilian made him a division commander of forces around Mexico City, but he was unaware that Márquez was causing dissension by forced conscription of troops and exacting protection money from residents of the capital. French general Bazaine condemned Márquez's methods of recruitment. In March 1867, Maximilian sent him to Mexico City to form a cabinet and raise troops for the relief of Querétaro. Márquez was a rival of Miguel Miramón and disagreed with him frequently. Miramón had proposed an assault on the republican army while they were divided, but Márquez opposed the idea, possibly only because Miramón had suggested it. He joined Maximilian at Querétaro, but broke through the besiegers and he capital. He was defeated before he could reach that city and returned to Mexico City, where he was besieged by liberal General Porfirio Díaz. He made his way to Mexico City for the purpose of organizing a force to relieve the Emperor. Finding that to be impossible, he conceived the plan of setting up an independent government of his own in the southern states, with Puebla as its capital. The city was captured on 21 June 1867, and Márquez, after remaining in concealment for several months, made his way to Vera Cruz and then to Havana, while Maximilian and conservative generals Miguel Miramón and Tomás Mejía were executed by firing squad in Querétaro. He was expressly excluded from the Juárez's amnesty of 1870, as was Santa Anna, also in exile. He was allowed to return to Mexico in 1895, when Díaz had consolidated power, but returned to Cuban exile in 1901, due to his continuing unpopularity.
