José Inés Salazar, commander of the federal forces loyal to then head of state
Victoriano Huerta
José Victoriano Huerta Márquez (; 22 December 1854 – 13 January 1916) 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 wit ...
.
The two armies were of relatively equal numbers, 5,500 of Villa's soldiers standing against an estimated 7,000 federal soldiers. But Salazar's troops were in theory more disciplined and had more artillery. The battle began on 23 November 1913, the first day saw fairly indecisive fighting, but before the actual clashes started Fierro had been sent South to destroy the railroad tracks, forcing the federal soldiers to halt.
On the second day, as Villa flanked the well armed federal soldiers with
cavalry, a steam
locomotive filled with
dynamite and
percussion caps was rammed into train cars provided for them. The resulting explosion caused Salazar's men to flee to nearby undamaged train cars in retreat. Villa's cavalry then overwhelmed the troopers. This attack, combined with
Rodolfo Fierro
General Rodolfo Fierro (1885 – 14 October 1915) was a railway worker, railway superintendent, federal soldier and a major general in the army of Pancho Villa during the Mexican Revolution in the . Fierro and his counterpart and fellow lieutena ...
's mission to explode armaments behind the lines, caused Salazar's forces to collapse.
Fierro is noted as riding on horseback after an escaping locomotive, climbing on to it, running across the roofs of the train cars, and shooting dead the
boilerman
A fireman, stoker or watertender is a person whose occupation it is to tend the fire for the running of a boiler, heating a building, or powering a steam engine. Much of the job is hard physical labor, such as shoveling fuel, typically coal, into ...
and
conductor, pulling the train to a complete stop.
All federal soldiers captured were executed.
Villa captured 4 locomotives, 7
machine guns, horses, rifles and 400,000 rounds of small arms ammunition in the battle. The death toll stood around 1,000 federal soldiers killed and 300 of Villa's own.
References
*
Eisenhower, John S. D. ''Intervention: The United States and the Mexican Revolution, 1913-1917'' (New York: W. W. Norton, 1993) p. 58
Battles of the Mexican Revolution
Conflicts in 1913
November 1913 events
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