Each of us that are born in the world bring with us
deep within our being a feeling of self worth and an inherent
knowledge that we should be free to work out our happiness. When we
are pushed it is natural to push back. When we are oppressed it is
instinct to rebel. We as parents sometimes try to force our will upon
our children whether that will is right or not. When a parent tries to
dominate a child it will eventually bring rebellion.
My own Grandfather Henry Eyring Bowman received such
harsh treatment from his father that as soon as he could he escaped
and left his home and family to fend for himself. In these times
physical abuse is much more rare but unrighteous dominion is practiced
in more subtle ways. No matter how oppression is practiced it will
eventually bring on rebellion.
I have been reading some very interesting day to day
journals of some of the men who fought in the Mexican Revolution and
have gained a new respect and a new insight into the reasons for that
rebellion. It seems to me that the oppressed people of Mexico had
greater reason to rebel even more than the early Colonists of the
United States.
Bernabé González Vasquez was born in Cuencamé, Durango
on March 1, 1886. His father was Diego González Mireles also of
Cuencamé. His mother was Juana Vasquez Elizalde who was born of humble
working people on the Hacienda de Juan Pérez, Durango.
His father and mother were married in 1872 and settled
down in Cuencamé to work and raise their family. By 1890 they had
twelve children and had acquired a ranch and farm where they raised
cattle, horses and goats. They had a big herd of goats and four
hundred head of cattle. They planted about 25 acres of Corn and about
15 acres of Beans. And were very well respected in their little
community. All of their community were humble hard working people who
worked together and helped each other. They formed part of the small
villages that had not been gobbled up by the owners of the huge
Haciendas.
When Bernabé was eight years old he started school and
finished his schooling at age 15. He then moved with his parents and
family out to their ranch that was a little ways out of Cuencamé.
There he worked with his family taking care of the cattle and goats.
And taking pride in their horses which they used for the farm and
taking care of the cattle and goats. They were also used for their
transportation on the buggies and under the saddle.
He worked on the ranch taking care of his father's
interests until the year of 1906 when there began to be some trouble
between the little towns of Cuencamé, Santiago, and San Pedro de
Ocuila and the big Hacienda of Sombreretillo de Campa, Durango. The
owner of the Hacienda was Laureano Lopez Negrete who was a good friend
of the Governor of the state and had the Governor's support and the
support of the other big Hacendados that owned most of the good land
throughout Mexico.
With this support he proceeded to gobble up all of the
farm land and the pasture land of the Indian towns of Cuencamé,
Santiago and San Pedro de Ocuila. He proceeded to order the commanding
officers of the Rural Police both those that were in his employ and
those of the state, to go and dislodge the Indians off their ranches
around the towns and concentrate them in the towns to which they
belonged. They carried out their orders and cleared the ranches and
farm lands without any opposition.
The people organized a commission consisting of 14 men
to go and talk to the Hacendado to see what could be done about their
properties, their cattle and their harvests. When this commission went
to interview the Hacendado, instead of being received by the Hacendado
Laureano Lopez Negrete he ordered his Rurales to fire upon the
Indians. The Rurales fired upon them and drove them off and pursued
them taking four of them Prisoners. Only three were left because they
hid in the dense Mesquite thicket. They watched in horror as the
Rurales tied the prisoners hand and feet behind their back and threw
them on the ground face down. They piled dry Mesquite wood on them and
set it on fire and burned their prisoners alive before the eyes of the
hidden witnesses. The leader of the commission Ventura Martinez and
two others with him, even though he was wounded was able to escape and
get back to Cuencamé to report the failure of his mission.
When the people of the towns found out how the
commission had been received they organized a "Batida" of six hundred
Indians. Some were armed with clubs some with knives others with old
Pistols and still others used the old Remington rifles that the French
that Maximillian of Austria had brought over and used in 1862. Thus
armed they went with determination to attack the big Hacienda of
Sobreretillo de Campa. When the Hacendado found out that they were
coming he fled shamefully with his Rurales to the City of Durango.
There he appealed to the Governor for help and was given the second
troop of Cavalry with orders to go to Cuencamé in pursuit of the men
of the uprising. By the time they got to Cuencamé most of the men had
gone back to their homes. Only about twenty men were left still
bearing arms. They were led by Calixto Contreras and his two brothers.
Bernabé González Vasquez was with that group that were trying to get
back their lands and animals. In the day light hours they would be
hidden in the mountains and at night they would come down to their
homes. When the Cavalry arrived in Cuencamé they didn't find anyone to
fight with so they turned back to their barracks in the city of
Durango. The bad blood continued between the Hacendado and the people
who were trying to get back their ranches and lands.
In the year of 1908 a man by the name of Flores Magon
tried to stir up the people for another revolt but he had little
success. The Hacendado and the Government used that excuse to come to
Cuencamé and make some arrests to eliminate the owners of the lands
that had been taken. Among these land owners that were taken prisoners
was Bernabé's father Diego González Mireles. Through a certain
influencial man by the name of Pablo Mesta he was given his liberty by
the commander of the garrison of the Hacienda that were guarding the
jail in Cuencamé. His liberty lasted only two weeks and he was killed
in vengeance for being released. Thus the hate grew with each
injustice and oppression. They could see the futility of trying to
right the terrible wrongs perpetrated upon the poor people. They were
called Indians because they did have Indian blood but most of them had
Spanish blood mixed with the Indian blood through the Generations.
The twentieth of November 1910 was the glorious day
that the Francisco I. Madero's Revolution surged through the country.
Bernabé Gonzalez and Calixto Contreras and the twenty men that had
been with them in the mountains began their attacks and to work their
strategy to take back the town of Cuencamé that had been taken over by
the Rurales to guard the jail and hold the people in subjection.
They went into the Plaza and formed their firing line
and called for the Rurales to surrender. They were answered with rifle
fire and some dynamite bombs as they retreated to their prepared
protected line of fire. At night they took over the Jail and released
and armed their friends with the old rifles that they took from the
prison guards. They now had 80 men in their little band and they
started their campaign from town to town, soon to return with more men
to take the Hacienda de Sombreretillo de Campa. They attacked the
Hacienda in hate and to avenge their wrongs. The Hacendado had fled as
soon as news of the revolution was out, knowing that he would be one
of the main targets.
They sacked the Hacienda and took everything that was
of value replenishing their supplies and especially taking the horses
for their campaign. They burned the houses where the Peons had lived
as a symbol of doing away with the slavery in which they had
lived.
Similar situations had happened all over Mexico. Cirilo
Perez and his group had taken refuge in the rugged mountains near
Madera, Chihuahua. Pascual Orozco had gathered his group from the
little towns of the Papigochic River Basin. Pancho Villa was making a
stir in San Andres with his group that had joined him in the
mountains.
Each had been oppressed until they rebelled and banded
together gaining strength enough to go against the Cruel Government
and private Rurales.
Doroteo Arango was raised on a big Hacienda where his
family worked almost as slaves each day getting deeper in debt to the
Hacienda store. The son of the Hacendado violated Doroteo's sister.
Doroteo sought vengeance and killed the pampered son of the Hacendado
and fled into the rugged Sierra Madre Mountains. He changed his name
to Pancho Villa taking his Grandmother's maiden name. He joined up
with others that had also rebelled against the oppression and soon
began to get their provisions by robbing.
When the Madero Revolution started they were all ready
to join and fight against the oppressors. Under Madero all of these
groups in north central Mexico joined forces and formed up the great
Division Del Norte under General Pancho Villa.
Bernabé Gonzalez Vasquez soon gained recognition in the
army of the Maderistas going from rank to rank until he was
commissioned as a Brigadier General. He fought through all of the
revolution until he was retired in 1923. He came to Dublan and bought
a home from Anson Call's brother. He lived out his days here leaving
behind a big family and a numerous posterity.
The oppressed people of Mexico rose up in rebellion and
fought for their freedom, thousands giving their lives in the bloody
battles of the Revolution of 1910,
An example of the big Haciendas of that period is the
famous Don Luis Terrazas Hacienda in San Diego. He built beautiful big
Haciendas in many parts of the State of Chihuahua. Each Hacienda had a
big Palacial Home for the Hacendado and his family and guests. The
quarters of the Peons who did all of the work of the Hacienda were a
big square of rooms with a big patio in the middle of the square. Each
room had a back door opening on the common Patio in the center and a
front door opening to the outside. Each Hacienda had big rock corrals
to handle the cattle and horses of the Hacienda. Adjacent to the big
house was the store where all of the Peons were supplied with their
food and provisions. Even their clothes and everything they needed was
bought at the store on credit. They never did receive any money for
their wages because it all went to pay their debt at the store which
was always more than they earned. Thus they were held in subjection by
the debt at the store. I am sure they felt the hopelessness of not
being able to be free of debt. So they were bound to work out their
lives giving their all to pay on the ever growing debt at the Hacienda
store.
Many of the Hacendados were proud greedy and cruel but
others loved their people and treated them well. Don Luis Terrazas was
well known all over as an honorable Hacendado of that day. He would
travel from Hacienda to Hacienda in his coach drawn by a six span of
matched mules. The Haciendas were spaced about six hours apart by fast
mule drawn coach. Some were situated in the best places near hot
springs where he had nice tiled bath houses in which to relax after a
days travel.
When Don Luis would go to El Paso he would be asked if
he was from Chihuahua and he would promptly answer, :"No Chihuahua is
mine". When he was approached by the Army to see if he could supply
the Army with a thousand steers. He answered, "What color do you want
them". He had thousands of cattle roaming over most of the state of
Chihuahua.
I knew some of the men that worked as young cowboys on
the vast holdings of Don Luis Terrazas. The ones I knew were proud of
their skill with the rope and their skill of training horses. They
seemed to be proud of the fact that they had been chosen to go from
Hacienda to Hacienda to help with the big roundups because of their
skill. They told tales of roping wild cows and bulls, in the brush
country and in the mountains, that refused to be driven into the huge
rock corrals. One of these was Don Isabel (Chabelo) Alvarez. He was a
little bowlegged man who sat a horse like he had been born there.
One of Don Luis Terrazas' Haciendas was the beautiful
one at San Diego a short distance from Colonia Juarez. When the
Colonists first settled Colonia Juarez they started to build on Don
Luis' property. The were informed that they had to move up river to be
on the land that they had bought. Don Luis was ever friendly to the
Mormons did not bother them at all. Some of the men of Colonia Juarez
visited Don Luis in his Hacienda.
I remember Uncle Harvey Taylor telling me of his visits
to the Hacienda. He and his father went on occasion to visit Don Luis
when he was in his Hacienda at San Diego. They even did some business
with him bringing in supplies from El Paso. Uncle Harvey told me that
when he was preparing to be married he went to see Don Luis and asked
him for a loan of some money to get married on. Don Luis freely lent
him the money, with no more than a hand shake, which he paid back soon
after he was married.
OPPRESION WITHIN THE FAMILY
An example of this comes to mind which I will relate. A
little boy of about seven years old lived with his father and family.
Don Tranquilino Villelas was an embittered man who after losing his
wife moved his family to a remote ranch in the rugged Sierra Madre
Mountains. He had a big herd of Goats that roamed the country being
protected by the Guard Dogs that roamed with the Goats. They usually
came back at night to the protection of the ranch. But sometimes they
would not come back.
Don Tranquilino worked little José mercilessly often
punishing him for not doing things right or for not hurrying to his
satisfaction. Sometimes he would be sent out at night when the Goats
would not return. Little José learned to take his roll of Goatskins
with which he covered himself to ward of the cold of the high
mountains. He generally had to stay out all night to find the goats in
the morning.
One afternoon he was sent out to bring in the goats and
told to not come bck without them. The sky darkened and it began to
snow. The storm grew worse and the boy could not see where he was
going. He became disoriented and didn't know which way to go to find
protection from the storm . He huddled down near a tree and covered
himself as best he could with his goat skins and prepared himself to
wait out the terrible snow storm. The snow piled up completely
covering him in a mound of white. The storm raged for three days
finally stopping having covered the whole country with over a foot of
white.
Don Cirilo Perez had camped with his companions to wait
out the storm. They had a good fire and plenty of food so they did not
suffer too much. When the storm was over Don Cirilo went out to hunt a
Deer for Camp Meat. As he was riding along his attention was drawn to
a curious mound of snow when his horse snorted and shied away from it.
He got off cautiously, took out his rifle and approached the mound. He
scraped off a lot of snow and removed some Goat skins. There under the
skins and the snow he found little José huddled almost unable to move.
He took him to camp and revived him with warm food and drink. He told
them his story of how he had been sent out to find the Goats and that
he had been caught in the storm and had waited it out under his goat
skins. When they wanted to take him back to his father he refused to
go and said that he wanted to stay with them.
Don Cirilo took the boy into his home and raised him as
part of his family. When he grew to manhood José married and
established his ranch in the Sierra Madre mountains and named it
Rancho José Villelas. He raised a large family and always kept in
touch with his adopted family and was known as a good man until his
death.
May we learn to be honest and kind in our families and
remember that each of our children are given to us to raise in love
and respect. We must learn self-discipline and never be guilty of
Unrighteous Dominion in any form or degree.