 Upon the outbreak of the Reform War in 1858, he jointed the Liberal forces under Aureliano Rivera.When Napoleonic France invaded in 1861, he engaged the invaders in guerrilla warfare, fighting in the states of México, Guerrero, Querétaro and Michoacán under Gen. Vicente Riva Palacio; there, his exploits earned him the nom de guerre "León de la Montaña" ("mountain lion").While he was hiding in a tree in Papazindán, Michoacán, he was sighted by a trumpeter and captured by the French.