Bravo and his family joined the peasant leader José María Morelos y Pavón and his band in 1811 and thus became one of the first of the wealthy Creole families (i.e., of Spanish origin but born in Mexico) to support the war against Spain. Bravo commanded the Mexican forces during the War of Independence against Spain (1810–21). He then joined the first independent government of Mexico, that of Agustín de Iturbide (1821–23), as a member of the executive group that founded the Republic of the United Mexican States (1823). Bravo served as a vice president of the Republic (1824–27) and as president for a time during the 1830s. During the Mexican-American War (1846–48), he also was at times acting president, as well as commander of the departments of Puebla, Veracruz, Oaxaca, and Tabasco. He was in command of the fortress of Chapultepec outside Mexico City when it was captured by U.S. forces in 1847.