On September 16, 1810 Father Miguel Hidalgo issued a manifesto that launched the revolt against Spain. With his immense army of Indians, creole officers, and the colonial militia, he experienced early successes. However Hidalgo was captured, tried before the Inquisition, and executed. He became a martyr to the cause which helped to intensify the war for Mexican independence. Each year on September 15th and 16th during President Porfirio Díaz's terms in office, broadsides commemorated his own birth date and the anniversary of the beginning of Mexico's independence movement.