Yaqui Uprising
Uprising of the Yaqui Indians - Yaqui Warriors in Retreat, by Frederic Remington.
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| Date | 1896 |
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| Location |
Nogales, Sonora Nogales, Arizona |
| Participants |
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| Outcome | Mexican-American victory Uprising suppressed |
| Deaths | ~3 killed |
The Yaqui Uprising, or the Nogales Uprising, was an armed conflict that took place in the Mexican state of Sonora and the American state of Arizona. In February 1896 the Mexican revolutionary Lauro Aguirre drafted a plan to overthrow the government of President Porfirio Diaz. Aguirre's cause appealed to the local Native Americans, such as the Yaqui, who organized an expedition to capture the customs house in Nogales, Sonora on August 12. During the battle that followed, several people were killed or wounded and the rebels were forced to retreat, ending the conflict after one encounter. It was also notable for being one of the final episodes of the American Indian Wars, due to the involvement of an American militia, from the adjacent town of Nogales, Arizona, and Buffalo Soldiers, who participated in an inconclusive pursuit of the hostiles.
The conflict began as result of the dictator Porfirio Diaz and his "anti-agrarian and anti-indigenous Mexican policies". Also, the Mexican Army and the Yaquis had been fighting an almost constant war against each other for several decades prior to 1896. The wars forced many of the natives to flee north into the American state of Arizona where they settled around Tucson and Phoenix, occasionally recrossing the border to fight the Mexican soldiers. Diaz was known for censoring critics in the media, which created unrest amongst the civilian population of Mexico and in the United States. At the town of Solomonville, in southern Arizona, the journalist Lauro Aguirre and Flores Chapa established the anti-Diaz newspaper "El Independiente" and on February 5, 1896, they wrote the "Plan Restaurador de Constitucion y Reformista". The plan claimed that Diaz had violated the Constitution of 1857 in multiple ways and was mistreating native Mexicans, particularly by deporting them to the Yucatan. It also proposed free elections and the use of force to overthrow the Diaz regime. The Yaquis and the Pimas were longtime enemies of Mexico so Aguirre had no trouble in recruiting local natives to help in the fight. In March 1896, the United States government arrested Aguirre and Chapa, because the Mexican consul accused them of conspiring to reenter Mexico and engage in revolutionary actions, but both of the men were acquitted in federal court after the American consul's investigation concluded that they were innocent of any wrongdoing. However, the plan was signed by twenty-three people, including Aguirre, and one other man believed to be Tomas Urrea, the father of the revolutionary Teresa Urrea. Because Tomas Urrea had close relations with many of the people involved in the uprising, Teresa Urrea was suspected of being the mastermind. There were at least seventy Yaquis, Pimas and Mexicans who participated in the raid. Many were employees of the Southern Pacific Railroad. They called themselves "Teresasitas" and their goal was to "capture the arms, ammunition, and money in the Mexican custom-house at Nogales."
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