The Life and Times of Pancho Villa

The Surrender

With the failure of the attack upon Ciudad Juárez and the departure of Angeles, a period of steep decline in Villa's military fortunes began. "At the present time Villa has not more than 350 men, who are badly demoralized, poorly clothed, with practically no ammunition," the manager of the Mexican Northwestern Railroad reported in July 1919, a few weeks after Villa's futile attack on Ciudad Juárez. This report may have been somewhat exaggerated, but José Maria Jaurrieta, Villa's secretary, also speaks of increasing demoralization among the Villistas. Desertions increased. One of Villa's lieutenants, Epifanio Holguin, left Villa to pursue a life of banditry at the expense of the Mexican Northwestern Railroad, threatening to destroy its bridges and tracks if it did not pay him protection money.