Luis Terrazas (20 July 1829 in

Chihuahua Chihuahua may refer to: Places * Chihuahua (state), a Mexican state **Chihuahua (dog), a breed of dog named after the state **Chihuahua cheese, a type of cheese originating in the state **Chihuahua City, the capital city of the state **Chihuahua Mu ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

– 18 June 1923 in Chihuahua) was a Mexican politician, businessman, rancher, and soldier.

Career

Terrazas was a pivotal figure in the history of the state of Chihuahua from the middle of the 19th century through the outbreak of the

Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution ( es, Revolución Mexicana) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from approximately 1910 to 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It resulted in the destruction ...

. He was a leader of the Cientificos during the regime of

Porfirio Diaz Porfirio is a given name in Spanish, derived from the Greek Porphyry (''porphyrios'' "purple-clad"). It can refer to: * Porfirio Salinas – Mexican-American artist * Porfirio Armando Betancourt – Honduran football player * Porfirio Barba-Ja ...

and was the founder of the influential

Creel-Terrazas Family The Creel-Terrazas Family is a powerful and wealthy Mexican political family based in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. History During the rule of President Porfirio Díaz and the Mexican Revolution, this family was part of the ''cie ...

. First elected

Governor of Chihuahua According to the Political Constitution of the Free and Sovereign State of Chihuahua, Executive Power in that Mexican state resides with a single individual, the Constitutional Governor of the Free and Sovereign State of Chihuahua, who is chosen ...

in 1858, Terrazas was a host, political ally, and confidant of President

Benito Juárez Benito Pablo Juárez García (; 21 March 1806 – 18 July 1872) was a Mexican liberal politician and lawyer who served as the 26th president of Mexico from 1858 until his death in office in 1872. As a Zapotec, he was the first indigenous pre ...

during the

French Intervention This is a list of wars involving France and its predecessor states. It is an incomplete list of French and proto-French wars and battles from the foundation of Francia by Clovis I, the Merovingian king who united all the Frankish tribes and northe ...

, when Juarez was living with his cabinet in exile in

Chihuahua City The city of Chihuahua ''(La Ciudad de Chihuahua)'' () is the state capital of the Mexican state of Chihuahua. , the city of Chihuahua had a population of 925,762 inhabitants. while the metropolitan area had a population of 988,065 inhabitants. A ...

from 1864 through 1866. He served as governor for various terms of office between 1858 and 1904. His ranches had once totalled more than seven million acres (28,000 km²). He acquired his properties in a number of ways; one significant advantage was that, as governor of the state, Terrazas was able to move armed forces into and out of portions of the state, creating instability in prices and buy good rangeland where prices had decreased. In 1902, he sold a ranch, Hacienda Humboldt at Julimes, near

Delicias, Chihuahua Delicias (Spanish for ''Delights'') is a city in the Mexican state of Chihuahua and serves as the seat of the municipality of the same name. It is located southeast of the state capital, Chihuahua. Delicias was declared an official municipality ...

, to a group of sponsors organized by President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

for a colony of South African

Boer Boers ( ; af, Boere ()) are the descendants of the Dutch-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled this area ...

refugees. Roosevelt was represented by Edward Reeve Merritt and

Marshall Latham Bond Marshall Latham Bond was one of two brothers who were Jack London's landlords and among his employers during the autumn of 1897 and the spring of 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush. They were the owners of the dog that London fictionalized as Bu ...

. Terrazas was said to have faced-down his enemy

Pancho Villa Francisco "Pancho" Villa (, Orozco rebelled in March 1912, both for Madero's continuing failure to enact land reform and because he felt insufficiently rewarded for his role in bringing the new president to power. At the request of Madero's c ...

in a confrontation during the early days of the Revolution; he had suspected Villa of rustling his cattle and refused to have any dealings with him, leading to a mutual enmity between the two. Villa was also the leading suspect in the abduction of Terrazas' eldest son, Luis, during the Revolution. He died in 1923.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Terrazas, Luis Governors of Chihuahua (state) People from Chihuahua City 1923 deaths Politicians from Chihuahua (state) 1829 births