Torreón

In 1911, Torreon was the site of a vicious race riot in which 300 Asian immigrants were murdered. During the Mexican Revolution, Torreon was a hotbed of unrest. The Federal Army presence made it a target for Pancho Villa's Division del Norte and there were three major battles fought over Torreon during the war. The first battle was in September 1913 when Pancho Villa attacked Federal troops loyal to Victoriano Huerta. The revolutionaries trounced the federal troops, capturing much needed supplies. Huerta's troops weren't too smart and they came back a few months later, only to get a second can of whoop ass opened up on them. This time, Villa's men not only captured military supplies, they found that the Terraza family (Huerta loyalists) were hiding a cache over 600,000 pesos. Villa accepted their kind contribution to his war effort and used the money to buy a small airplane and hire a gringo to pilot it. A Third Battle of Torreon took place in 1916 when 16,000 troops had reinforced the city of Chihuahua. Figuring that meant Torreon was left with a token defense force, Villa moved into nearby Gómez Palacio and bombarded the city. The defending troops knew that Villa preferred to attack at night, so they figured they'd stay in the city as day broke and would move out in the afternoon. Villa's cavalry attacked at 8am, taking the city and capturing hundreds of prisoners. Switching tactics, Villa decided to let the prisoners join his army instead of facing a firing squad....