Eagle
of the
Big
Bend
by Danielle Gallo
Tomas Aguilar
W
hen Tomas Aguilar was born
in 1856 in Satepollawa,
Chihuahua, Mexico, it was a
turning point in the history of his coun-
try and its former territory to the north.
Thirteen years prior, James K. Polk
had annexed Texas and declared the
U.S.-Mexico border to be the Rio
Grande. Polk ordered General
Zachary Taylor to position troops
along the north bank of the river, an
18
Cenizo
action Mexico viewed as an overt act of
aggression. Tensions escalated, culmi-
nating in the Battle of Palo Alto on
May 8, 1846. Congress declared war
on Mexico six days later.
The war lasted until the fall of 1847,
after which time the Treaty of
Guadalupe-Hidalgo ceded roughly half
of Mexico’s northern territories to the
United States, including Texas, New
Mexico and Alta California. The border
First Quarter 2016
at the Rio Grande was agreed upon.
In 1854, with the overthrow of
Santa Ana, The Liberal Reform began
in Mexico. The Mexican Constitution
of 1857 codified the principles of sepa-
ration of church and state and equality
before the law, including stripping cor-
porate entities of special status. The
Reform sparked a civil war between
liberals defending the constitution and
conservatives, who opposed it. The
War of the Reform saw the defeat of
the conservatives on the battlefield, but
conservatives remained strong and
took the opportunity to invite foreign
intervention against the liberals in
order to forward their own cause. In
1861, the French invaded Mexico at
the invitation of Mexican conservatives
and installed Maximillian I as emperor.
He remained on the throne until the
U.S. intervened after the Civil War; his