attempted to buy them off, but to no avail. He then
sent military forces against them, one column commanded by General
Huerta, but with no success.

In the mean time, Pascual Orozco, who emerged from the Madero
revolution as a great war hero in his own State, was given no post of
responsibility under the new Government, but was left as commander of
the militia in the State of Chihuahua. The adherents of the old Diaz
regime took this opportunity to win him over to their side, for
Orozco's fighting was done purely for profit, not for principle. A
reactionary movement, with Orozco at its head, broke out in February,
1912. Five thousand men were quickly got together. The Madero
Administration--a Northern Administration in the Southern country--was
not fully organized, and, with the army not yet rehabilitated, found
itself seriously embarrassed. Had Orozco been an intelligent and
competent leader he probably could have marched straight through to
Mexico City at that time, as the only governmental troops that were
available to fight him were only about sixteen hundred, which he
defeated and nearly annihilated at Rellano in Chihuahua. Their
commander, General Gonzalez Salas, Madero's war minister, committed
suicide after the defeat.

The only general available at the time who had had experience in
handling large forces in the field was Victoriano Huerta. Although he
had never especially distinguished himself, Huerta's record shows that
he was one of the most progressive members of the army.

Huerta's column encountered little resistance. Chihuahua City was
occupied on July 7th, and later, Juarez. The rebels were not pursued to
any extent away from the railroads. They separated into bands, keeping
up a guerrilla warfare, raiding American mining camps and ranches, and
seizing and holding Americans and others for ransom. Prominent among
these leaders of banditti was Inez Salazar, a former rock driller in an
American mine, who raised a force in Chihuahua and declared against
Madero. Little was done to destroy these rebel bands by the Federals,
and no engagements of any size took place. In fact, it was a current
rumor that the Federals did not wish to put them down. In the first
place, the regular army was the same old Diaz organization which
considered Madero largely as a usurper and which remained with the
established Government in a rather lukewarm manner. Besides, the bands
of Orozco, Salazar, and others were instigated and