Orozco, Pascual (1882-1915)
Born January 28, 1882 on the Hacienda Santa Isabel near Guerrero, Chihuahua,
he went to a rural school. He worked in his father's store but became a muleteer guarding ore
shipments from the mines to the smelters by age of 20. As such, he had to be
tough to ward off bandits. He also became a merchant. His life was
undistinguished as a working class person.
Abraham González, a supporter of
Francisco I.
Madero,
recruited him to the revolutionary cause in October, 1910 and his life took a
different turn. He operated in Chihuahua with a detachment of guerrillas. He
defeated units of the national army on several occasions. He fought from Miñaca
to San Isidro to Pedernales where he defeated the detachment of Captain Sánchez
Pasos. At Prieto ridge, his thirty men defeated General Juan J. Navarro. His
army and those of Generals Blanco and Caraveo attacked the army led by General
Martín Luis Guzmán, a leading general of Porfirio Díaz. Guzmán died.
Orozco sent some captured soldiers to Díaz with the message "Here
are some leaves for your tamales." Pancho Villa initially operated under Orozco's
command.
The victory over Porfirio Díaz and the installation of
Madero as President ended Orozco's useful to the Revolution and he resented it.
He was named commander of the rurales in Chihuahua. In March, 1912, he rebelled
against the Madero government with the backing of the very rich hacendados Luis Terrazas
and Enrique Creel who, together, owned as much acreage as Costa Rica. Madero
sent General Victoriano Huerta after Orozco. Huerta defeated him but, when
Huerta overthrew Madero, he recruited Orozco into his army, naming him a
division general. When Huerta was overthrown in 1914, Orozco rebelled against
the Constitutionalists but realized he could not win, He went into exile to the
United States .
His life ended in August, 1915 in El Paso, Texas when Texas
Rangers shot him for rustling.
Based on Juan López de Escalera, Diccionario Biográfico y de Historia de
México. México, Editorial del Magisterio, 1964. pp. 797.
Don Mabry
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