This article relies largely or entirely on a single source .(May 2021) |
Battle of Ojinaga | |||||||
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Part of the Mexican Revolution | |||||||
Pancho Villa and Siete Leguas in front of their Dorados | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Pancho Villa | Salvador Mercado Pascual Orozco | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
5,500 | 4,500 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
35 | 3,500 |
The Battle of Ojinaga, also known as the Taking of Ojinaga, was one of the battles of the Mexican Revolution and was fought on January 11, 1914. The conflict put an end to the last stronghold of the Federal Army in Northern Mexico.
After the rebel Generals Toribio Ortega Ramírez and Pánfilo Natera García could not finish the place off, Pancho Villa arrived in Ojinaga with a large army, thus displacing the forces of Salvador Mercado from the city. The bodies had to be burned to prevent a typhus epidemic.
The first phase of the revolution, which began in 1910, ended with the victory of the revolutionaries: President Porfirio Díaz, who resigned in 1911, was later replaced by the revolutionary Francisco Ignacio Madero. However, in early 1913, with the help of the betrayal of Victoriano Huerta, the followers of the old system murdered Madero, and Huerta became the new president. Against him, a nationwide coalition developed among former revolutionaries and Governor Venustiano Carranza of Coahuila appointed himself commander-in-chief of the entire uprising.
Villa returned to Mexico with only 8 companions from the United States in the spring, but as the months passed, more and more people joined him and acquired more and more weapons. After being appointed head of the revolutionary movement in Chihuahua, Pancho Villa reorganized the Northern Division, thus having more than 5,000 men integrating troops of infantry, cavalry and artillery weapons, in addition to having support services such as health, transportation and food. After fighting several battles, they captured Ciudad Juárez and moved on to Chihuahua, In order to take the city of Chihuahua, Francisco Villa pressured the federals in a battle, finishing these troops. The city became chaos and was sacked by Pascual Orozco's troops, so General Salvador Mercado ordered the evacuation of the city at the end of November 1913 and headed for Ojinaga, a border point with the United States, which allowed Villa to occupy the state capital on December 8 of the same year. General Mercado withdrew from the city of Chihuahua, for the interests of businessmen who saw in the federal forces a security for their money against the constitutionalists. [1] When leaving for Ojinaga, Mercado refused to start combat with the villistas, foreseeing that if Pancho Villa pursued him to the border, he would be helped by the North Americans and thus could return to the capital of the country.
Villa first sent Panfilo Natera's forces to occupy Ojinaga. On 31 December 1913, they arrived near the town, which was protected by Mercado's 4,500-strong force, including no less than 12 generals. On Villa's advice, Natera tried night attacks for three days, then attacked again at dawn on January 4, but had to retreat due to a counterattack by José Inés Salazar's horsemen, and even 130 revolutionaries were captured and immediately shot dead by the Huertists. Natera's camp was then weakened by internal debates. [2]
The defeated troops informed Pancho Villa in the afternoon of the situation, who in those days was preoccupied not only with military issues but also with an unusual topic: his men negotiated with American film companies and offered to watch and film Villa's operations in exchange for part of their proceeds, in addition to receiving horse and food during this time. Only one company showed interest in the offer: Mutual Film, led by Harry Aitken: a contract was signed with them on January 5, stipulating that revolutionaries would receive an advance of $25,000 and a fifth of subsequent revenues. The contract was signed in El Paso, in the absence of Villa, by Eugenio Aguirre Benavides, and on behalf of the other party by Gunther Lessing, a lawyer, on behalf of Thayer. The Huertist newspaper El País wrote about the case of Villa “speculating on the blood of Mexicans.” [3]
When Villa learned of the defeat of the Naterá in Ciudad Juárez on the January 4, he immediately began to prepare for another attack. While Rosalío Hernández put a brigade called Leales de Camargo on standby, Villa telegraphed Maclovio Herrera to the south by telegram and then took a train to Chihuahua on January 5 at 2pm in the company of Raúl Madero and Luis Aguirre Benavides. From there, they continued their journey on a railway line that was not yet fully completed, and then on horseback in the extreme cold. There were a total of 1,500 of them, traveling without food for three days, eating the meat of cattle procured from the area without salt. When Villa appeared in the San Juan hacienda, where the division camped, enthusiasm immediately increased. [4]
On January 10, at 6 a.m., the trumpet sounded and a review began. Ammunition was distributed, approx. 200 pieces, and then the assembling military council ordered them to approach the city out of range. The task of the brigades of Hernández, Toribio Ortega, and Herrera was to lock Ojinaga in a semicircle, leaving only the side facing the United States free. It was planned that the attack would be carried out without a hat, the password would be the individual number, and whoever ran away from them would be shot. [5]
In the evening, the attackers took up their positions, the artillery was located 2,500 meters from the settlement. The next day, with tense anticipation, they prepared for a night attack. About 700 of Natera's men, the Morelos and Contreras brigades, were left in reserve. The fight started around 6 in the evening, the two halves starting to shoot each other with cannons and rifles. Herrera and Hernández's men penetrated the city through the cemetery, in the direction of the watchtower, to squeeze the defenders toward the Río Bravo border river, while in the north, Trinidad Rodríguez approached from a ranch called San Francisco. During his attack, some villagers infiltrated the city and moved aside to climb the church bell tower. In a matter of hours, the revolutionaries swept away the defense of the city, the Confederates fled their rifles, threw themselves into the river, and tried to swim across to the other side, the Texas Presidium. [5]
With the taking of Ojinaga, the constitutionalist struggle was able to secure the northern border by focusing its struggle on the interior of the country. [1]
Pascual Orozco, an ally associated with Shafter, fled to San Antonio, where his wife was waiting, but many of the fugitives were arrested in the United States. 3352 soldiers (including 8 generals) and 1607 women accused of violating the Neutrality Act were captured and transported first to Marfa and then to Fort Bliss. [6]
Only 35 of the revolutionary army lost their lives, and the loot was enormous: they also acquired 14 cannons, 100,000 rounds of ammunition, and 2,000 Mauser rifles. [7] It is conceivable, but not at all certain, that the American writer Ambrose Bierce, who was with the revolutionaries, also lost his life in the battle of Ojinaga. [8]
Films made in those days were soon shown in New York, but nothing from the battle was visible. The show was also attended by the father of the Madero brothers, who didn't even know Raúl's son was involved in the fighting, but he discovered him in the film. The discovery uncomfortably affected him, and his other son, Alfonso, had to reassure him. [9]
Francisco Ignacio Madero González was a Mexican businessman, revolutionary, writer and statesman, who served as the 37th president of Mexico from 1911 until he was deposed in a coup d'état in February 1913 and assassinated. He came to prominence as an advocate for democracy and as an opponent of President and de facto dictator Porfirio Díaz. After Díaz claimed to have won the fraudulent election of 1910 despite promising a return to democracy, Madero started the Mexican Revolution to oust Díaz. The Mexican revolution would continue until 1920, well after Madero and Díaz's deaths, with hundreds of thousands dead.
Francisco "Pancho" Villa was a Mexican revolutionary and prominent figure in the Mexican Revolution. He was a key figure in the revolutionary movement that forced out President Porfirio Díaz and brought Francisco I. Madero to power in 1911. When Madero was ousted by a coup led by General Victoriano Huerta in February 1913, Villa joined the anti-Huerta forces in the Constitutionalist Army led by Venustiano Carranza. After the defeat and exile of Huerta in July 1914, Villa broke with Carranza. Villa dominated the meeting of revolutionary generals that excluded Carranza and helped create a coalition government. Emiliano Zapata and Villa became formal allies in this period. Like Zapata, Villa was strongly in favor of land reform, but did not implement it when he had power. At the height of his power and popularity in late 1914 and early 1915, the U.S. considered recognizing Villa as Mexico's legitimate authority.
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José Victoriano Huerta Márquez was a general in the Mexican Federal Army and 39th President of Mexico, who came to power by coup against the democratically elected government of Francisco I. Madero with the aid of other Mexican generals and the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico. His violent seizure of power set off a new wave of armed conflict in the Mexican Revolution.
Pascual Orozco Vázquez, Jr. was a Mexican revolutionary leader who rose up to support Francisco I. Madero in late 1910 to depose long-time president Porfirio Díaz (1876-1911). Orozco was a natural military leader whose victory over the Federal Army at Ciudad Juárez was a key factor in forcing Díaz to resign in May 1911. Following Díaz's resignation and the democratic election of Madero in November 1911, Orozco served Madero as leader of the state militia in Chihuahua, a paltry reward for his service in the Mexican Revolution. Orozco revolted against the Madero government 16 months later, issuing the Plan Orozquista in March 1912. It was a serious revolt which the Federal Army struggled to suppress. When Victoriano Huerta led a coup d'état against Madero in February 1913 during which Madero was murdered, Orozco joined the Huerta regime. Orozco's revolt against Madero somewhat tarnished his revolutionary reputation, but his subsequent support of Huerta compounded the repugnance against him.
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