Felipe Angeles, the Mexican Army's most competent general, whose loyalty was not in doubt, was at Cuernavaca, leading 2,000 troops in the offensive against Zapata and Madero was forced to entrust the defence of the presidency to Huerta, whose loyalties were ambiquous, to say the least. For ten days, Huerta and the rebels engaged in an aimless artillery duel, the main result of which was to destroy much private property. On February 18th the President was arrested by Huerta who declared himself provisional President. Four days later, Madero was murdered whilst ostensibly being driven into exile. Mexico now sank into virtual anarchy as rival revolutionary Factions struggled for supremacy. While Zapata continued his war of attrition in the south, the main threat to Huerta came once more from the north. Venustiano Carranza, a landowner and former senator, became the political centre of the opposition to Huerta's dictatorship, being rapidly accepted as leader of the Constitutionalist faction. Carranza was no soldier however and military opposition to Huerta in the north was initially led by Alvaro Obregon, an ex-farmer turned shop-keeper who although totally lacking in formal military education possessed a natural gift for organization and leadership, but lacked the charisma of Zapata or Villa. The latter, who had escaped from prison the year before and fled to the United States, returned from exile, slowly gathering together a small army which met the Federals in a number of minor skirmishes during the summer of 1913. In September, Villa's forces, which had grown to a respectable strength of 8,000 men and now styled itself "La Division del Norte", attacked the important railway centre of Torreon, garrisoned by 2,000 Federal troops, capturing it on October 1st together with three batteries of modern field guns, a railway-mounted naval gun and six machine-guns, plus over 40 railway locomotives and large quantities of rolling stock which gave the Villista forces unprecedented mobility. On October 26th presidential elections were held throughout those parts of the country still in Federal control, Huerta declaring himself elected, although his name had not appeared on the ballot papers. The United States had however never recognized Huerta and diplomatic pressures against his regime began to build up. Meanwhile, on November 7th, 1913, Villa mounted an unsuccessful attack on Chihuahua, this was garrisoned by 7,000 Federal troops. Withdrawing from Chihuahua, without dislodging its garrison, Villa then went on to capture Ciudad Juarez on November 15th. In response, Huerta dispatched a force of 5,500 men northward by rail, the Villistas destroying the track at a point 45 miles south of Ciudad Juarez. Three days of bloody battle between November 23rd and 25th resulted in a costly defeat for the Federals and their withdrawal from Ciudad Juarez with the loss of almost 1,000 dead. Three days later, they abandoned Chihuahua without firing a shot, the remnants of their force retreating to the border town of Ojinaga. Although the Federals regrouped and retook Torreon at the end of November, Zapata continued to tie down a large force of the Federal Army in the south, Obregon controlled the northwest and in the northeast another Constitutionalist force, under Pablo Gonzalez, was preparing to move against Monterrey and Saltillo. Villa captured Ojinaga on February 21th, 1914 thus completing his mastery of the State of Chihuahua. Villa now prepared to retake Torreon, which was formidably garrisoned by 10,000 Federal troops. The first Villistas reached Gomez Palacio, a Federal outpost four miles north of Torreon, without their artillery and suffered heavy casualties in a foolhardy frontal assaults. Once Villa's artillery was brought up however the Federals withdrew towards Torreon, this was re-taken by Villa on April 2nd, after heavy fighting. Meanwhile Obregon and Gonzalez pushed southward against relatively limited resistance, by-passing Mazatlan, Monterrey and Saltillo, which were surrounded and left in a state of siege. On April 5th, the Constitutionalist forces began their assault on the important port of Tampico. More Mexican Revolution Introduction Fall of Diaz, Madero as President Murder of Madero, Huerta Hijacks the Presidency US Intervention and Carranza Becomes President Decline of Villa, Rise of Obregon, and Pershing Expedition Carranza Triumphant: Murder of Zapata and Eclipse of Villa Appendix 1: Mexican Army of Revolutionary Period Appendix 2: Mexican Navy of Revolutionary Period Appendix 3: Mexican Air Force of Revolutionary Period Back to Table of Contents -- El Dorado Vol V No. 3 Back to El Dorado List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1993 by The South and Central American Military Historians Society This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history and related articles are available at http://www.magweb.com