This article is about the 1914 battle. There was also a smaller 1835 battle, won by Antonio López de Santa Anna

Antonio López de Santa Anna

Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón , often known as Santa Anna or López de Santa Anna, known as "the Napoleon of the West," was a Mexican political leader, general, and president who greatly influenced early Mexican and Spanish politics and government...

.

The Battle of Zacatecas, also known as the Toma de Zacatecas (Taking of Zacatecas), was the bloodiest battle in the campaign to overthrow Mexican President

President of Mexico

The President of the United Mexican States is the head of state and government of Mexico. Under the Constitution, the president is also the Supreme Commander of the Mexican armed forces...

 Victoriano Huerta

Victoriano Huerta

José Victoriano Huerta Márquez was a Mexican military officer and president of Mexico. Huerta's supporters were known as Huertistas during the Mexican Revolution...

. On June 23, 1914, Pancho Villa

Pancho Villa

José Doroteo Arango Arámbula – better known by his pseudonym Francisco Villa or its hypocorism Pancho Villa – was one of the most prominent Mexican Revolutionary generals....

's División del Norte

Division del Norte

The División del Norte was an armed faction formed by Madero and initially led by General Jose Gonzales Salas following the call to arms from Francisco Madero at the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution in 1910. After Salas committed suicide following his defeat at the hands of Pascual Orozco at the...

 (Division of the North) decisively defeated the troops of General Luís Medina Barrón defending the town of Zacatecas

Zacatecas, Zacatecas

Zacatecas is a city and municipality in Mexico and the capital of the state of Zacatecas. It is located in the north central part of the country. The city had its start as a Spanish mining camp in the mid 16th century. Prior to this, the area's rich deposits in silver and other minerals were known...

. The great victory demoralized Huerta's supporters, leading to his resignation on July 15.

Background

Zacatecas, a silver mining town of 30,000, possessed a strategic military asset, a railroad junction that had to be captured in order to advance from the north on the capital, Mexico City

Mexico City

Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...

. Realizing this, Huerta sent one of his better officers, General Medina Barrón, with reinforcements for the federal troops already defending the town. Estimates of the size of his total force range from 7000 to 15,000, but it is likely he had 12,000 men.

Venustiano Carranza

Venustiano Carranza

Venustiano Carranza de la Garza, was one of the leaders of the Mexican Revolution. He ultimately became President of Mexico following the overthrow of the dictatorial Huerta regime in the summer of 1914 and during his administration the current constitution of Mexico was drafted...

, the leader of the rebellion, was jealous of Villa's popularity and did not want to give Villa a chance to precede him into Mexico City, so he ordered him to attack Saltillo

Saltillo

Saltillo is the capital city of the northeastern Mexican state of Coahuila and the municipal seat of the municipality of the same name. The city is located about 400 km south of the U.S. state of Texas, and 90 km west of Monterrey, Nuevo León....

 next after his hard-fought victory at Torreón

Torreón

Torreón is a city and seat of the surrounding municipality of the same name in the Mexican state of Coahuila. As of 2010, the city's population was 608,836 with 639,629 in the municipality. The metropolitan population, including Matamoros, Coahuila, and Gómez Palacio and Lerdo in adjacent Durango,...

. Carranza chose General Panfilo Natera instead for the assault on Zacatecas. Medina Barrón easily repulsed his attack. Without authorization, Villa decided to try his luck with his División del Norte of over 20,000 men.

The battle

Zacatecas was ringed by high hills. Medina Barrón placed many of his best troops on two of them, La Bufa and El Grillo, with artillery in support. Smaller hills, such as Loreto and el Sierpe, were also fortified.

Villa let Felipe Ángeles

Felipe Ángeles

Felipe Ángeles Ramirez was a Mexican military officer, noteworthy for his participation in the Mexican Revolution of 1910 to 1920.-Early life:...

 plan the attack. It was decided to take advantage of their greater numbers and superior artillery and storm the town from all sides, with the artillery concentrating on La Bufa and El Grillo. The bombardment started at 10 a.m., July 23, 1914. El Grillo was taken around 1 p.m. Resistance on La Bufa was stronger, in part because Medina Barrón was there, but his soldiers became disheartened by the fall of El Grillo, and La Bufa suffered the same fate late in the afternoon.

Medina Barrón and his men retreated into the town. Panic set in, as all knew well that Villa's men would show no mercy. The general ordered a retreat to the neighboring town of Guadalupe

Guadalupe, Zacatecas

Guadalupe is the third-largest city in the state of Zacatecas in Mexico. It lies adjacent to the east side of the city of Zacatecas and is a component of the Zacatecas-Guadalupe metropolitan area. The city had a 2005 census population of 99,572 inhabitants and serves as municipal seat of the...

, on the road to the city of Aguascalientes

Aguascalientes

Aguascalientes is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 11 municipalities and its capital city is Aguascalientes....

, from which reinforcements were expected. However, they were horrified to find 7,000 fresh troops blocking their way. The federals were slaughtered.

In total, an estimated 6000-7000 defenders were killed, many of the rest were wounded, and only Medina Barrón and a few hundred men reached the safety of Aguascalientes. About 1000 of Villa's men were killed. Civilian casualties are unknown.