Mexican Apache Wars During the 1880s he fought in the
Mexican Apache Wars. He also assisted American troops pursuing
Apaches across the border under the 1882 United States–Mexico reciprocal border crossing treaty. Kosterlitzky became known to the American troops, who called him the "
Mexican Cossack". In 1885, Kosterlitzky was appointed commander of the
Gendarmería Fiscal, the
customs guard for the Mexican government, by
President Porfirio Díaz.
Yaqui Wars and Nogales Uprising In March 1896, the
United States Government had arrested
Lauro Aguirre and Flores Chapa, who were both
revolutionary insurgents, for being accused of engaging in revolutionary actions since they had established an anti-
Díaz newspaper that claimed Porfirio Díaz, the
Mexican president, had violated the
Constitution of 1857. It was later concluded that both men were innocent. The plan was signed by twenty-three other people, including Aguirre, and another man named Tomas Urrea, the father of revolutionary
Teresa Urrea. Teresa Urrea was suspected to be a mastermind since he had many close relationships with the people involved in an uprising. Around sixty
Yaqui,
Pima, and Mexican Revolutionaries united in a rebel band called
Teresitas to participate in a raid. On 12 August, the Teresitas had
attacked. Kosterlitzky, who was in charge of many
Mexican soldiers, had chased the Teresitas out of
Nogales with the help of the U.S.
24th Infantry Regiment, under
Brigadier General Frank Wheaton. Sources claimed that around 7 Mexican soldiers were killed, while the Teresitas had suffered equivalent casualties.
Mexican Revolution Costa Oeste Campaign In 1910, Kosterlitzky had
clashed forces with
Emil Lewis Holmdahl, who was an
American mercenary. Holmdahl had previously worked for Díaz as a
captain in the
rurales, which Kosterlitzky was in command of, as a security guard for the American railway operating near
Mazatlán. He had
repelled a raid in late October of the same year. Holmdahl had defected from the
government forces to create his own faction. Throughout most of January 1911, Holmdahl, alongside an unknown number of men, had captured small towns and villages including a majority of
Nayarit near the West coast. He had plans to capture
Tepic, but failed after his men had betrayed him and was lured to an ambush. Kosterlitzky had ended up executing 300 of his men.
Nogales In 1913, Kosterlitzky was commanding a force of 400 men in
Northern Mexico to help stop actions of
Venustian Carranza and
Pancho Villa during the
Mexican Revolution. On 13 March, around 2,000
rebel forces, under
General Alvaro Obregon, had
attacked Kosterlitzky, and his 400 soldiers. Fighting only lasted for a few hours up until he was eventually
captured in
Nogales, Sonora, by the
revolutionaries. His remaining soldiers had retreated to the border and
surrendered to the
American garrison of
Nogales,
Arizona. He was jailed until 1914, when he, his wife, Francisca, and two daughters moved to
Los Angeles, California. == Later life and death ==