Gorda. Between the Wars Mejía now found himself in the city of Jalpan, where he attempted to continue the conservative revolt. He succeeded in capturing the city of Rio Verde and took the garrison commander, Mariano Escobedo prisoner. False stories that Escobedo had been shot circulated in the press, but in reality, Mejía had let him go. Curiously enough, Escobedo would one day be the same commander that would capture Mejía during the Siege of Queretaro, and which would result in Mejía 's execution. After taking Rio Verde's war supplies, Mejía returned to Jalpan where he joined his forces with those of Leonardo Marquez, the military head of the surviving conservative movement and Ramón Méndez to form an army of about two thousand. Marquez reprimanded Mejía for not having shot Escobedo, warning him that Escobedo would one day in turn have him shot, words that would in the end prove prophetic. The government sent troops under Manuel Doblado to Jalpan, but Mejía defeated him in multiple skirmishes, before utterly routing him at Cuesta del Huizache, causing Doblado to retreat from the Sierra Gorda. Mejía remained stationed at Jalpan, while Marquez went on to notable successes, managing to kill the liberal generals Santos Degollado and Leandro Valle. On May Mejía briefly occupied Queretaro City and around the same time President Benito Juarez placed a bounty on Mejía 's head amounting to 10,000 pesos. Mejía left Queretaro and the Sierra Gorda, heading towards the state of Hidalgo where on July 5, he attacked the city of Huichapan taking all of its garrison prisoner. He then fell back upon the Sierra Gorda to join the rest of the conservative forces which had failed in an attack on Mexico City. Second French Intervention In July of 1861, President Juarez suspended foreign debt payments in response to a financial crisis, and on October 31 the convention of London, saw Spain, Great Britain, and France, agreeing to militarily intervene in Mexico for the sake of pledging Mexico to pay its debts. On December 14, 1861, a Spanish fleet sailed into and took possession of the port of Veracruz. The city was occupied on the 17. French and English forces arrived on January 7, 1862. On January 10 a manifesto was issued by Spanish General Juan Prim disavowing rumors that the allies had come to conquer or to impose a new government. It was emphasized that the