Miguel Miramón in the context of Battle of Molino del Rey

Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada y Corral (Spanish pronunciation: [seβasˈtjan ˈleɾðo ðe teˈxaða]; 24 April 1823 – 21 April 1889) was a Mexican liberal politician and jurist who served as the 31st president of Mexico from 1872 to 1876.

A successor to Benito Juárez, who died in office in July 1872, Lerdo de Tejada was elected to his own presidential term in November 1872. Previously, he served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Juárez's political rival, liberal General Porfirio Díaz, had attempted a coup against Juárez, but his Plan de la Noria failed and Díaz was eliminated as a political rival during Lerdo de Tejada's 1872–1876 term, giving him considerable leeway to pursue his program without political interference. During his term, he succeeded in pacifying the country after decades of political unrest and strengthening the Mexican state. He was elected for another term in 1876, but was overthrown by Porfirio Díaz and his supporters under the Plan of Tuxtepec, which asserted the principle of no-reelection to the presidency. Lerdo de Tejada died in exile in New York in 1889, but Díaz invited the return of his body to Mexico for burial with full honors. With the exception of Miguel Miramón, a contested president during the Reform War, he was the first Mexican head of state to be born after the country's independence.

José Santos Degollado Sánchez (born November 1, 1811, in Hacienda de Robles, Guanajuato, Viceroyalty of New Spain – died June 15, 1861, in Llanos de Salazar, State of Mexico) was a Mexican Liberal politician and military leader. He was raised by a priest in Michoacán and worked twenty years in the cathedral in Morelia. He became a Federalist in 1836 and entered politics in 1845 when he was elected to the Michoacán legislature in 1845. He replaced his close associate Melchor Ocampo as governor of Michoacán 27 March - 6 July 1848. He joined the Revolution of Ayutla. He became governor of Jalisco when the liberals successfully ousted Antonio López de Santa Anna. As with a number of rising Liberals, Degollado was not formally trained as a soldier, but gained military experience in the Revolution of Ayutla. He later fought for Benito Juárez's government. During Benito Juárez's presidency he served as Secretary of War and Navy and as Secretary of External Affairs. Degollado was a close friend of Guillermo Prieto and of Melchor Ocampo and fought by his side in many battles. Degollado was a resilient military leader, experiencing defeat after defeat in the Reform War that pitted the constitutional liberal government of Juárez against the conservatives. The army fielded by the conservatives was larger and better trained than the liberals' forces, but the liberals managed to achieve a stalemate for over two years and in the end triumphed. The liberal victory was not achieved by Degollado, who was in disgrace at the end of the war. Degollado was known as the "hero of defeats" for his ability to raise yet another army after yet another defeat. An experienced general who joined the liberal cause, General López Uraga, gave President Juárez a scathing assessment of the liberal army and Degollados's command of it. He had given everything he could to achieve a liberal victory, but his record of defeats meant his men were demoralized although continued to be loyal to him.

Degollado broke with Juárez in late 1859, as another liberal commander, Santiago Vidaurri, wished to be commander in chief of liberal forces, as did Degollado. Juárez sought an alternative to these two and appointed Manuel Doblado as commander. Vidaurri also broke with Juárez, who then tasked Degollado with dealing with Vidaurri. Degollado declared Vidaurri an outlaw and forced him over the border with Texas. Juárez strengthened his role as president by removing liberal rivals from military command. Degollado sought to end the military stalemate and rashly seized a mule-train with nearly a million-pesos' worth of British-owned silver, in order to finance the liberal cause. He immediately regretted the action, since it could have been the cause of an active British intervention in the war, undermining the Juárez government. The British had already recognized the rival conservative government of General Miguel Miramón. Degollado returned half of the seized silver to the British. A British diplomat, George Mathew, took Degollado's huge blunder and attempt to undo it as an opportunity to turn Degollado into an advocate of British foreign policy to bring about the end of the Reform War through mediation. Juárez viewed Degollado's advocacy of mediation as a betrayal of the liberal cause and the Constitution of 1857, since it entailed the resignation of Juárez as constitutional president. "Juárez warned Degollado of his total disapproval of his actions, which he would use all his powers to oppose."