Austreberta Renteria is my Great Grand Father Gregorio Renteria's Cousin from Valle de Allende, Chihuahua, Mexico; Mother of Hipolito Villa Renteria & Francisco Villa Renteria. She is my 5th Cousin....
This soldadera was immortalized as "Maria Pistolas", because she was eulogized by some politician or general for her bravery, as she refused to flee when all the men around her wanted to - saying that she would face the enemy with her pistols even if she had to do so herself.
Venustiano Carranza got a lot of military aid from the United States, whereas Villa had captured all of his cannons and machineguns from the "federales". This photo was probably taken before the Battle of Celaya.
This is Zapata and his general staff. The man on the right, Palafox, was responsible for the trial and execution of the man who wrote the Plan de Ayala - Zapata's political manifesto. Palafox later left Zapata and pronounced against him.
Most of these child soldier photos were taken in Coahuila during the disasterous campaigns conducted by Carranza's inept generals - like Pablo Gonzalez. This particular child (like many others) was captured and executed by government soldiers.
After the Battle of Ceyala, Villa was reduced to a guerilla fighter, and the Mexican government organized groups to fight the villistas in the State of Chihuahua. These groups, since Villa's fighters fought under the banner of the Mexican Flag - the Eagle and Cactus - had to devise their own battle flag, and they chose the skull and crossbones.
This is Austreberta Renteria, Villa's second wife, with whom he united with in common law marriage (he could not marry her formally as he was still married to Luz Corral). Villa moved Luz Corral out of Canutillo and Renteria took her place there probably around 1921 or 1922. Corral moved to Chihuahua and lived in the Quinta Luz (now the Museum of the Revolution) for the rest of her life.
This was taken by the Mutual Film Company in Ojinaga in January, 1914, on the north side of town in a location known as "La Bajada de los Carretones". The Chinati Mountains are seen in the background.
Pancho Villa's favorite horse was Siete Leguas - "Seven Leagues" - because that is how far it carried him even though the horse was wounded by a bullet. Supposedly, this is the horse, although there is no proof of that. Villa rode a lot of horses, and most of them were big, black chargers, like this one, which could have been any number of such horses and not necessarily Siete Leguas.
This is Emiliano Zapata (the shorter and darker of the two men) and his brother Eufemio at their dual wedding - they were two brothers who married two sisters at one wedding.
