Gen

General

A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....

. Benjamín Hill (Choix

Choix

Choix is a municipality in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. It stands atThe municipality reported 29 355 inhabitants in the 2000 census....

, Sinaloa

Sinaloa

Sinaloa officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sinaloa is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 18 municipalities and its capital city is Culiacán Rosales....

, 31 March 1874 – Mexico City

Mexico City

Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...

, 14 December 1920) was a military commander during the Mexican Revolution

Mexican Revolution

The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...

.

Following the call of Francisco I. Madero

Francisco I. Madero

Francisco Ignacio Madero González was a politician, writer and revolutionary who served as President of Mexico from 1911 to 1913. As a respectable upper-class politician, he supplied a center around which opposition to the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz could coalesce...

 he joined the revolution in 1910. He was briefly imprisoned in the city of Hermosillo, Sonora, during 1911. Following his release, he took up arms and raised a volunteer army that took Navojoa

Navojoa

Navojoa is the fifth-largest city in the northern Mexican state of Sonora and is situated in the southern part of Sonora, south of the state's border with the U.S. state of Arizona. It is the administrative seat of a large municipality, located in the Mayo River Valley.-History:The city name...

 and was marching on Álamos

Álamos

The town and municipality of Álamos in the Mexican state of Sonora was founded in the late 17th century following discoveries of silver in the region. It was named by the conquistador Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, and became the capital of the surrounding region...

 when the Treaty of Ciudad Juárez

Treaty of Ciudad Juárez

The Treaty of Ciudad Juárez was a peace treaty signed between the then President of Mexico, Porfirio Díaz, and the revolutionary Francisco Madero on May 21, 1911...

 was signed.
In 1912 he fought against the rebellion led by Pascual Orozco

Pascual Orozco

Pascual Orozco Vazquez was a Mexican revolutionary leader who, after the triumph of the Mexican Revolution, rose up against Francisco I...

 and, following the 1913 coup d'état

Coup d'état

A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...

 of Victoriano Huerta

Victoriano Huerta

José Victoriano Huerta Márquez was a Mexican military officer and president of Mexico. Huerta's supporters were known as Huertistas during the Mexican Revolution...

, he joined the northwestern corps of the Constitutionalist Army

Constitutional Army

The Constitutional Army was the army that fought against Huerta's Federal Army, and later, against the Villistas and Zapatistas during the Mexican Revolution. It was formed in March 1913 by Venustiano Carranza, so-called "First-Chief" of the army, as a response to the murder of President Francisco I...

, which would ultimately be commanded by Gen. Álvaro Obregón

Álvaro Obregón

General Álvaro Obregón Salido was the President of Mexico from 1920 to 1924. He was assassinated in 1928, shortly after winning election to another presidential term....

, alongside whom he fought in the campaigns against Francisco "Pancho" Villa

Pancho Villa

José Doroteo Arango Arámbula – better known by his pseudonym Francisco Villa or its hypocorism Pancho Villa – was one of the most prominent Mexican Revolutionary generals....

 in the Bajío

Bajío

The Bajío is a region of Central Mexico that includes the plains south of the Sierra de Guanajuato, in the state of Guanajuato, as well as parts of the states of Querétaro and Michoacán .In general parlance, it is usually associated with the States of Guanajuato and Querétaro, although it only...

. He served as Governor of Sonora

Governor of Sonora

List of governors of Sonora since 1917:*2009–2015 Guillermo Padrés Elías*2003–2009 Eduardo Bours Castelo*1997–2003 Armando López Nogales*1991–1997 Manlio Fabio Beltrones Rivera*1991–1991 Mario Morúa Johnson...

 from August 1914 to January 1915.

Following the victory of Venustiano Carranza

Venustiano Carranza

Venustiano Carranza de la Garza, was one of the leaders of the Mexican Revolution. He ultimately became President of Mexico following the overthrow of the dictatorial Huerta regime in the summer of 1914 and during his administration the current constitution of Mexico was drafted...

 he was promoted to Divisional General

Divisional General

Divisional General is a rank used in many armies to denote a rank of general, corresponding to command of a division. For convenience Divisional General is almost always translated into English as Major-General, the equivalent rank used by the UK, USA, etc., although this translation is, strictly...

. In 1920 he was one of the main proponents of the Plan of Agua Prieta

Plan of Agua Prieta

The Plan of Agua Prieta was a manifesto, drawn up in the form of a plan, during the Mexican Revolution.Drafted and signed by supporters of Gen. Álvaro Obregón, the Plan repudiated the government of President Venustiano Carranza...

, fighting in the military rebellions that ensued.

When Obregón assumed the presidency

President of Mexico

The President of the United Mexican States is the head of state and government of Mexico. Under the Constitution, the president is also the Supreme Commander of the Mexican armed forces...

 on 1 December 1920, he appointed Hill as his Secretary of War and the Navy. He was seen as a potential presidential successor to Obregón, which brought him into conflict with Interior Secretary Plutarco Elías Calles

Plutarco Elías Calles

Plutarco Elías Calles was a Mexican general and politician. He was president of Mexico from 1924 to 1928, but he continued to be the de facto ruler from 1928–1935, a period known as the maximato...

. A few days after his appointment in 1920, Benjamín Hill died in suspicious circumstances after attending a luncheon; poisoning, at the hands of Calles, has often been suspected.

The town of Benjamín Hill, Sonora

Benjamín Hill, Sonora

Benjamín Hill is both a municipality and a municipal seat in the Mexican state of Sonora. The area of the municipality is 854.70 km² and the population was 5,285 in the census of 2005. -Location:...

, was named in his honour.