Pascual Orozco Biography
Pascual Orozco was a revolutionary leader during the uprisings of the Mexican Revolution. He was part of Saint Louis planlead by Francisco Maderowhose objective was to overthrow the president Porfirio Diaz in 1910.
After the Revolution, Orozco served as head of the irregular troops in the state of Chihuahua.
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was a Mexican muleteer, caudillo, and revolutionary who participated in the early parts of the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920).
More of an opportunist than an idealist, Orozco and his army fought many key battles between 1910 and 1914 before «backing the wrong horse»: General Victorian Orchardwhose brief presidency lasted from 1913 to 1914.
Exiled, Orozco was captured and executed by the Rangers of Texas.
early years
Pascual Orozco was born on the Hacienda de Santa Inés on January 28, 1882. The hacienda was located near what is now known as San Isidro Pascual Orozcoin Guerrero, Chihuahua, Mexico.
He was the son of Pascual Orozco and María Amada Orozco y Vázquez, two Basque immigrants. His father was a small middle-class merchant.
In addition, he served as a substitute deputy in the state Legislature and had revolutionary ideals.
At the age of 19, Pascual Orozco married Refugio Frías. Orozco was the uncle of Maximiliano Márquez Orozco, an active participant and colonel in the Mexican Revolution.
I work as a muleteer
He worked as a muleteer for mining companies in Guerrero that transported precious metals.
After saving a modest amount of money, he opened a store in Sanchez Station.
With this store he produced the sum of money that he could invest in the revolutionary processes that followed.
before the revolution
Before the Mexican Revolution broke out, he came from a lower-middle-class family in the northern state of Chihuahua, and by working hard and saving, he had been able to acquire a respectable amount of wealth.
As an entrepreneur who had made his own fortune, he became disillusioned with the corrupt regime of Porfirio Díaz, which tended to favor old money and those with connections, neither of whom Orozco had.
Orozco became involved with the Flores Magón brothersMexican dissidents trying to provoke a security rebellion in the United States.
Orozco and Madero
In 1910, the opposition presidential candidate Francisco I. Madero, who had lost due to blatant fraud, called for revolution against the diabolical Díaz.
Orozco organized a small force in the Guerrero area of Chihuahua and quickly won a series of skirmishes against federal forces.
With each victory, his strength grew, swollen by local peasants who were drawn in by patriotism, greed, or both.
By the time Madero returned to Mexico from exile in the United States, Orozco commanded a force of several thousand men.
Madero promoted him first to colonel and then to general, even though Orozco had no military background at all.
early victories
While the army of Emiliano Zapata occupied Díaz’s federal forces in the south, Orozco and his armies took the north.
The uneasy alliance of Orozco, Madero and Pancho Villa he captured several key cities in northern Mexico, including Ciudad Juárez, which Madero made his provisional capital.
Orozco kept up his business during his time as general: once, his first action in capturing a city was to loot the home of a business rival.
Orozco was a cruel and ruthless commander. On one occasion, he sent the uniforms of dead federal soldiers to Diaz with a note: «Here are the wrappers: send more tamales.»
Revolt against Madero
The northern armies drove Díaz out of Mexico in May 1911, and Madero took over. Madero saw Orozco as a violent redneck, useful to the war effort but out of his depth in government.
Orozco, who was different from Villa in that he was not fighting for idealism, but under the assumption that he would become at least a governor of the state, was outraged.
Orozco had accepted the post of general, but resigned when he refused to fight Zapata, who had rebelled against Madero for failing to implement land reform.
In March 1912 Orozco and his men, called Orozquistas or Colorados, once again took to the field.
Orozco in 1912-1913
Fighting against Zapata in the south and Orozco in the north, Madero turned to two generals: Victoriano Huerta, a relic of the Díaz days, and Pancho Villa, who still supported him. Huerta and Villa were able to defeat Orozco in several key battles.
Orozco’s poor control over his men contributed to his losses: he allowed them to pillage and loot captured cities, which turned the locals against him.
Orozco fled to the United States, but returned when Huerta overthrew and assassinated Madero in February 1913.
President Huerta, in need of allies, offered him a general government and Orozco accepted.
the fall of orchard
Orozco was once again fighting Pancho Villa, who was outraged by Huerta’s murder of Madero. Two more generals appeared on the scene: Alvaro Obregon and venustian carranzaboth leading huge armies in sonorous.
Villa, Zapata, Obregón, and Carranza were united in their hatred of Huerta, and their combined strength was too much for the new president, even with Orozco and his colorados on his side.
When Villa crushed the federales at the Battle of Zacatecas in June 1914, Huerta fled the country.
Orozco fought for a while, but was outgunned and he too went into exile in 1914.
Death in Texas
After the fall of Huerta, Villa, Carranza, Obregón and Zapata began to fight among themselves.
Seeing an opportunity, Orozco and Huerta met in New Mexico and began planning a new revolt. They were captured by US forces and charged with conspiracy.
Huerta died in prison, but Orozco escaped. He was shot dead by Texas Rangers on August 30, 1915.
According to the Texas version, he and his men tried to steal some horses and were hunted down and killed in the ensuing firefight.
According to the Mexicans, Orozco and his men were fending off greedy Texas ranchers who wanted their horses.
Legacy of Pascual Orozco
Today, Orozco is considered a minor figure in the Revolution. He never became president and historians and modern readers prefer Villa’s style or Zapata’s idealism.
It should not be forgotten, however, that at the time of Madero’s return to Mexico, Orozco commanded the largest and most powerful revolutionary armies and that he won several key battles in the early days of the revolution.
Although some claim Orozco was an opportunist who coldly used the revolution for his own gain, that doesn’t change the fact that if it weren’t for Orozco, Díaz might well have crushed Madero in 1911.
Orozco made a big mistake when he supported the unpopular Huerta in 1913. Had he sided with his former ally Villa, he may have been able to stay in the game a bit longer.
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