[1] In 1855, he supported the liberal Revolution of Ayutla, which overthrew the dictatorship of Antonio López de Santa Anna, the military strongman who dominated Mexican politics in the 1830s until his overthrow in 1855.

A coalition of European powers sought intervention for debt collection, with France using the opportunity for regime change in Mexico, with the support of Mexican conservatives.

[3] A rumor circulated that "he was the son of an unknown Indian brave, raised to adulthood by roaming bands of indios bárbaros, but his baptismal record shows that he was born in Lampazos in 1809.

The first notice of him appears when he cut off a soldier's hand in 1832, with unknown adverse consequences to him,[5] but he went on to become a clerk for the police of Nuevo León and then, in 1837, an assistant to the governor of the state, Joaquín García, and then Manuel María de Llano.

In the 1840s and early 1850s, Vidaurri worked with Mexican conservatives, but broke with them and joined the liberal revolt against Antonio López de Santa Anna.

Vidaurri promulgated a plan called "Restaurador de la Libertad" (restorer of liberty), captured the main city of Nuevo León, Monterrery, in May 1855, and became both military commander in the state.

[9] Historian Brian Hamnett argues that, following Mexican independence, the support for federalism for which many Liberals advocated was a kind of institutionalized centrifugalism.

[10] Santa Anna's attempts to centralize power met resistance from areas that had exercised a level of autonomy, such as Guerrero under Álvarez and northeast Mexico under Vidaurri.

The forced merger of Coahuila and Nuevo León in April 1856 was opposed by President Ignacio Comonfort, with Vidaurri appealing to the federal congress for support.

Vidaurri believed that relations with the Confederacy could prove profitable for his territory and insure border peace, and he made his overture to Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

By the end of the year, the imperialists controlled Nuevo León and the greater part of Coahuila to the banks of the Rio Grande, the border with the Confederate States of America.

"[25] Although Vidaurri is often written out of the historiography of Mexico or disparaged for his support of the Second Mexican Empire, he remains an important historical figure in his home state of Nuevo León.

[26] On April 23, 1857, his daughter, Prudenciana Vidaurri, married prominent Irish businessman Patrick Milmo O'Dowd, who profited from the cotton trade with the Confederate States of America.

Patricio and Patricia became the parents of Laura Milmo Hickman, wife of Emilio Azcarraga Vidaurreta, pioneer of Mexican television and one of the founders of Televisa.