Sergeant Braulio spits, sending a wad of tobacco flying into the fire, which crackles and sizzles in response. Braulio nods approvingly to himself, bringing a bottle of rum to his lips, taking a few deep pulls, and tossing the bottle over his shoulder once he's had his fill. The sharp sound of glass shattering echoes up through the canyon.
"That was the last of it." Braulio rumbles, speaking to nobody in particular, his gaze returning to the dancing flames of the campfire. He's alone here, hunched over the fire at the edge of the camp, serving as the final watch of the night. Behind him flicker the dim embers of the other campfires, each marking a tent. Braulio rises from his crouch, beginning to slowly pace around the fire, his eyes sweeping the canyon yet again.
He swore he could remember this canyon. Had he been here before? Maybe in 1913? 1914? It didn't matter much, he decided. In those days, General Villa's army would have filled this canyon end to end, a city of tents springing up overnight as 50,000 patriots made their homes for the night. But those days were long gone now. Ever since Celaya, that most horrific of defeats at the hands of the cronies of traitorous then-General Carranza, the numbers of The Northern Division had dwindled by the day. A far cry from the veritable army they had fielded only a half decade before. All that was left now were the Dorados, the Golden Ones, General Villa's staunchest supporters.
"Good." Braulio says to himself, putting his hands on his hips, his right hand falling to his pistol. "We've trimmed the fat off."
Men who walked away from General Villa's army after only one defeat were no true patriots, swayed by brute force alone. They were not men like Braulio. Braulio knew there was still work to be done. Carannza was still still alive, and serving as President. The haciendas still dominated the rural portions of the country. General Villa had not yet stopped fighting, and so neither would Braulio. This revolution wasn't over yet. There were still rebels in the south, and so there was still hope for the north.
At it's peak in 1914 and early 1915, La División del Norte, under the command of the famous (and sometimes infamous) Francisco "Pancho" Villa, was one of the largest revolutionary armies ever assembled in the New World. In it's heyday, the numbers of La División peaked at an estimated 50,000 men. Unlike the other revolutionary armies of the time, Villa's army was a true army; outfitted with matching uniforms, state of the art weaponry, and a well-defined military command structure, headed by General Villa himself. At his peak, Villa was one of the victorious rebel commanders who marched into Mexico City in 1914. Movie crews followed his every move, and he achieved international fame as a freedom fighter and revolutionary.
But following the disastrous battle of Celaya in 1915, and a string of subsequent defeats, Villa's army rapidly shrank in size. By the time he engaged in his infamous raid on American soil) in 1916, he had a scant 500 men under his command, his army more akin to roving bandits or guerrilla fighters than the veritable army of only a few years prior, a state that the army has remained in ever since. But for a longtime rebel like Villa, the fight is not over yet. The government in Mexico City is still run by men held in contempt by the Villistas, and the system that they rose up against in the first place still remains in place. General Villa and his men are no saints: they've seen and done horrible things in the name of their cause. They've killed civilians and noncombatants, raided and burnt entire towns, and there are rumors of other heinous acts committed on the Mexican frontier, things only shared by word of mouth.
But General Villa and his men are career revolutionaries by now. At this point, only Villa's most devoted and loyal followers remain at his back. General Villa is still a folk hero in Northern Mexico, and his mind is as sharp as ever. Perhaps Celaya will not be the nail in the coffin that many thought it would be for the Villistas. Perhaps it was only a setback to an eventual victory. Perhaps La División del Norte will march through the streets of Mexico City again, as it did before so many years ago.
Submitted December 09, 2019 at 05:03PM by Topesc https://ift.tt/341xUcz
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