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Front: Cleto Ordóñez (1778-18__), Commandant of Nicaragua

Shortly after proclaiming independence from Spain in 1821, the provinces of the Central American Republic were in dispute over annexation with Mexico. In Nicaragua, the Governor, Miguel Gonzalez Saravia with the support of Bishop Garcia y Jerez, proclaimed annexation in Leon and in Granada Colonel Crisanto Sacasa proclaimed it. In Granada, however, Colonel Cleto Ordoñez called the people to arms against annexation, declaring Sacasa a traitor to the cause of independence. Sacasa was soon deposed and Ordoñez declared Nicaragua to be a Republic on January 16, 1823.

Back: Church of San Francisco Granada

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Front: Jose Dolores Estrada (1787-1869), Nicaraguan general

Estrada lived quietly in the country for the first 64 years, occupied in the cultivation of his estate. But when the civil war broke out in 1851, he enlisted against the democrats in the revolution. He participated in the nine months' defense of the City of Granada, and was wounded in the battle of August 5, 1854.

After Walker and his followers captured Granada October 15, 1855, he retired to the northern department of Chinandega, and continued, with Generals Martinez and Fernando Chamorro, to oppose the forces under Walker's command.

After Walker was elected president in June 1856, and declared war on the rest of the Central American republics, Estrada marched with his little army to join the Costa Ricans. Estrada left the army after Walker was driven out of the country.

When the revolution of 1869 began, Estrada, although eighty-two years old, was appointed commander-in-chief of the army, and defeated the revolutionists in several encounters, but a few days before the final pacification, he died of fatigue.

Back: Hacienda San Jacinto