MEXICAN MESTIZO REVOLUTIONARY LEADER GENERAL MÁXIMO CASTILLO BORN
Castillo, born in Chihuahua, worked as a blacksmith & miner before doing migrant farm worker in the U.S. Returning in 1908, he joined Francisco Madero’s revolt against Mexican President Porfiro Diaz in 1910. When the Diaz government fell & Madero was elected President in October 1911, Castillo, bothered by the slow pace of reform, joined other revolutionary leaders in both the 1912 Plan of Santa Rosa calling for radical economic & political changes and the Plan of the Empacadora inaugurating armed resistance against Madero. After Madero was assassinated, Castillo opposed the new president, General Victoriano Huerta, instead supporting the land reforms of Emiliano Zapata. Awarded the rank of brigadier general, beginning in 1913, Castillo targeted American mining, lumber, and railway interests in northern Mexico. Raiding into New Mexico, Castillo was captured and confined at Fort Bliss. After 2 years, the U.S. sent Castillo to exile in Cuba. He died in 1919.
Sources: General Maximo Castillo website. Retrieved 7/28/2022, General Maximo Castillo Wikipedia Photo: Bain News Service, circa 1914-15. Public Domain. Source: George Grantham Bain collection, United States Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division under the digital ID ggbain 15959, Castillo (loc.gov).
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