Battle of Cuautla ( 1911 ) The Battle of Cuautla was a battle between the forces of Emiliano Zapata and the federal army of the Mexican government that took place in the state of Morelos from May 11 – 19 , 1911 , during the Mexican Revolution . It has been described as the " six of the most terrible days of battle in the whole Revolution " . Eventually , the remains of the defending " Golden Fifth " regiment , the Fifth Cavalry Regiment of the Federal Army , withdrew and Zapata took control of the town . The " Zapatista " victory convinced Porfirio Díaz to come to terms with Francisco Madero , agree to the Treaty of Ciudad Juárez and resign as president . While the Zapatistas enjoyed numerical supremacy , the federal troops held strong defensive positions , were better armed and trained , and unlike the rebels , had artillery with them . Political background . In late 1910 and early 1911 armed insurrections against the regime of Porfirio Díaz broke out throughout Mexico . The two main centers of opposition were located in the northern state of Chihuahua , where Francisco Madero , Pancho Villa and Pascual Orozco besieged the city of Ciudad Juárez , and the state of Morelos , where Emiliano Zapata led an armed agrarian uprising . By early March Zapata became concerned that if he did not control the main urban centers in Morelos before Madero began negotiations with Díaz , the demands of his movement would be sidelined . He also wanted to ensure the autonomy of Morelos from the national government . Finally , Zapata ' s rise in Morelos created the potential for conflict with the powerful Figueroa family who controlled the neighboring state of Guerrero . On April 22 , 1911 , Zapata met with Ambrosio Figueroa and the two agreed that they would operate independently anywhere in Mexico , with Zapata in supreme command if joint operations were carried out in Morelos . Figueroa promised military support to Zapata in Morelos but Zapata did not trust him . Zapata was afraid that if he attacked the easiest target , the city of Jojutla , which traditionally paid protection money to the Figueroas , they and their troops would abandon him and leave him faced against a numerically superior force of federal troops . Consequently he decided to attack the better garrisoned and fortified city of Cuautla . Because he wanted to disguise his intentions , Zapata first conducted raids in the state of Puebla , took the towns of Chietla , Izúcar , Metepec and Atlixco in order to obtain supplies and levy more soldiers and then captured Yautepec , and Jonacatepec in Morelos . He arrived at Cuautla on May 11 , 1911 . Battle . Zapata had 4 , 000 troops who were inexperienced in laying sieges . In turn , the city was defended by an elite force of around 350 to 400 veteran federal soldiers of the undefeated " Golden Fifth " regiment . By May 12 , the Zapatistas had fully surrounded the town and cut off communications with rest of Mexico . The commander of Cuautla refused to surrender , vowing to fight " as long as ( he had ) a soldier and a cartridge " . The battle that Zapata faced was different from what he was used to . In open engagements , Zapata , like Villa , relied mostly on swift cavalry charges , which would allow him to close fast with the enemy before the machine guns of the federal troops could mow down his horsemen . At Cuautla however , the soldiers were well fortified beyond barricades and possessed heavy artillery which would make standard cavalry charges ineffective . Additionally , the " federales " held high positions on top of the town ' s aqueducts from which they had control of the Western side of town . On the first day , around 300 of Zapata ' s soldiers were killed in an attack on the town . On May 14 , his troops managed to cut the federal troops off from water supplies . The next day , Zapata launched a general assault and had his troops pour gasoline into the empty aqueducts and set them alight . The fire dislodged the soldiers of the Fifth from their excellent positions , burning many of them alive . An empty railroad car which was turned into a bunker , complete with a machine gun nest was also doused with gasoline and set alight burning to death all the federal soldiers inside . Most of the fighting was hand to hand , with machetes and bayonets , and soldiers and rebels often fired at each other at point blank range . No prisoners were taken by either side . In the end , that day ' s assault was repulsed . As the battle dragged on , General Victoriano Huerta arrived in nearby Cuernavaca , capital of Morelos , with 600 soldiers with the hope of coming in aid of the besieged federal garrison . However , Huerta realized that if he left the capital unattended , a rebellion could potentially break out in his rear and he decided to leave the Golden Fifth to their fate . The federal troops began running out of ammunition and the exhausted remains of the Golden Fifth regiment decided to pull out of town on May 19 , and Zapata ' s troops occupied the town . Aftermath . Porfirio Díaz himself later stated that it was the fall of Cuautla to Zapata which convinced him to come to peace with Madero . On May 21 , 1911 he signed the Treaty of Ciudad Juárez , two days after the capture of the town . After the resignation of Díaz , the Zapatista rebellion in Morelos continued . Zapata refused to recognize the interim president Francisco León de la Barra and over the rest of 1911 came to trust Madero less and less . In November 1911 he issued his famous Plan of Ayala in which he denounced Madero .