MEXICO. 



531 



Diaz brothers, and the taking of the city of 

 Oajaca, was published on the 8th of January, 

 1872. The city of Saltillo was taken by the 

 rebels, through the treachery of some officers 

 in command of important positions. In con- 

 sequence of the victory at Oajaca, the port of 

 Salina Cruz was by decree again opened to 

 commerce. It was generally hoped that the 

 triumph just alluded to would put an end to 

 the revolution, at least for the time being. 

 The remains of Felix Diaz were taken to Pu- 

 chutla; some averred that he had been killed 

 in action ; others that he had fallen under the 

 knife of an assassin. The power assumed by 

 Juarez was becoming more and more dictato- 

 rial each day; in spite of the protestations of 

 the Governors, Oajaca, San Luis, and Hidalgo, 

 were placed under military government, while 

 Nuevo Leon, Durango, Zacatecas, and Sinaloa, 

 were under revolutionary governors. Aguas- 

 calientes surrendered to the revolutionary 

 troops, 30,000 in number, and the Government 

 forces had been repulsed, with much loss, in 

 Sinaloa. Generals Guerra and Naranjo at- 

 tacked San Luis, February 16th, and obliged 

 the garrison to take refuge in the city, cutting 

 off all communication between the garrison 

 and the Government troops. On February 23d 

 the rebel governor, Gomez Portugal, invested 

 the city of Aguascalientes. On the 25th a rumor 

 was circulated that Porfirio Diaz had died of 

 dysentery at Queretaro, and that his partisans 

 had proclaimed Lerdo de Tejada, or Guzman, 

 President; this report was, however, not be- 

 lieved by the revolutionary party. Trevifio 

 was said to have 10,000 men under his orders. 



The city of Zacatecas was recaptured by 

 the Juarist General Corella, acting in conjunc- 

 tion with Government troops from the State 

 of Guanajuato, and the command of General 

 Sanchez Ochoa. It was likewise stated that 

 Trevifio had been defeated and wounded, and 

 that his colleagues, Generals Martinez, Naran- 

 jo and Cadena, were prisoners, having lost 

 their artillery and ammunition. Canales, the 

 Governor of the State of Tamaulipas, ordered 

 the rebel General Quiroga to evacuate the 

 State, threatening, in case of refusal, to com- 

 pel him to do so. 



Early in March the revolutionists, by their 

 tardy movements, had ruined their operations 

 against San Luis de Potosf, and greatly com- 

 promised their prospects of ultimate success, 

 dissensions among the leaders having no doubt 

 contributed much to their discomfiture. Do- 

 nato Guerra and Barrios favored one plan of 

 campaign, while Trevifio and Naranjo desired 

 another; and Pedro Martinez, La Cadena, Gov- 

 ernor Portugal, and Juan Garcia, were equally 

 as strong in their advocacy of a third. The 

 final decision of these leaders seems to have 

 been to unite their forces at San Felipe, a 

 town south of their objective point, of great 

 strategic importance, twenty leagues from La- 

 gos, twenty-two from San Luis, and about 

 forty from Zacatecas City. Thence they ex- 



pected to attack the Government troops in 

 detail, placing their army between the Govern- 

 ment garrison at San Luis under General Co- 

 rella and the advancing division of General 

 Eocha, and yet in a position to isolate the 

 Government forces of General Sanchez Ochoa 

 at Lagos, and at a given moment fall upon 

 them with superior numbers and crush them. 

 They also expected material support from 

 Guanajuato, the disloyalty of whose governor 

 was strongly suspected at the capital. The 

 revolutionary leaders no doubt counted upon 

 his desertion to their side, together with the 

 2,500 State troops of Guanajuato ; the acces- 

 sion of which force would have rendered their 

 success certain. Results, however, differed 

 much from expectations, and therefore the 

 success anticipated was turned to disappoint- 

 ment and failure. 



In order to combine the revolutionary plans, 

 General Guerra left Zacatecas City with a 

 large force, apparently bent upon marching 

 to Guadalajara; while General Pedro Marti- 

 nez moved with 2,000 men in a contrary di- 

 rection, and toward San Luis, to unite near 

 San Felipe with the forces of Generals Tre- 

 vifio and Naranjo, coming from Matehuala. 

 The object of Guerra's feigned march was to 

 draw Sanchez Ochoa and his troops from La- 

 gos to the succor of Guadalajara, so apparently 

 menaced by the revolutionists ; but Ochoa was 

 not deceived, and, to the chagrin of Guerra 

 and his companions, remained at Lagos. This 

 first disappointment to the revolutionists was 

 quickly followed by the occupation of San 

 Felipe by General Rocha and his division. 



In the mean time, Guerra, unable to draw 

 off Sanchez Ochoa from Lagos toward Guada- 

 lajara, retraced his steps to Zacatecas and then 

 followed in the tracks of Martinez. Between 

 the combined forces of the Government and 

 the revolution there was, in truth, no great 

 disparity of numbers, and, if the revolution- 

 ists' reports are to be credited, their forces 

 were even somewhat more numerous; but 

 in discipline, drill, armament, artillery, and 

 general efficiency, the Government possessed 

 so incontestable a superiority, that to risk 

 a decisive battle near San Luis was by no 

 means prudent for the revolutionary leaders ; 

 so they decided to adopt a new plan of attack, 

 namely, to dislodge Ochoa from Lagos. Rocha, 

 hearing of the new movements, hastened 

 toward Lagos with over seven thousand men, 

 taking Corella with him as second in com- 

 mand, and arrived before the place thirty hours 

 after its occupancy by Guerra, Trevifio, and 

 Martinez. At first these proposed giving him 

 battle, and actually drew up their forces in 

 line in front of the* town ; but night arriving 

 without an engagement, and learning in the 

 mean time that Ochoa had effected a junc- 

 tion with Rocha, they prudently changed 

 their minds, and, under cover of the darkness, 

 commenced a retreat, and fell back to the 

 north of Aguascalientes, which city was reoc- 



