the liberals and nomination to federal elections, Hinojosa was elected a general delegate for the Federal Electoral District I of Chihuahua to the II Legislature of 1863. Hinojosa was to move to Mexico City to carry out this office from May 1861 to May 1863, but while traveling through the city of Durango and due to the illness of the governor of that state, General Jose Maria Patoni, the Congress of Durango named Hinojosa governor, a position in which he served from July to August 1861. French intervention in Mexico Hinojosa thereafter fulfilled the office of federal delegate until December 22, 1861, when president Benito Juarez named him Secretary of War and Navy. His responsibilities included initiating the preparations for defending the county from French intervention. Hinojosa fulfilled this post until May 2, 1862, which was 3 days before the Mexican victory over the French in the Battle of Puebla. Hinojosa moved on to active service having at his charge several different military bodies. He participated in the defense of the city of Puebla de Zaragoza which was besieged by the French troops and had to surrender in 1863, falling prisoner to the invaders. He was able to escape when he was being transported to Veracruz and he headed north to join the Juarez forces. During the rift between the Nuevo Leon chief Santiago Vidaurri and Benito Juarez, Hinojosa briefly took Vidaurri's side but he soon reconsidered his decision and reaffirmed his loyalty to Juarez, escorting Juarez's family to what was then the Texas territory. To combat the influence of Vidaurri, on August 15, 1864, Juarez declared the separation of the states of Coahuila and Nuevo Leon and designated Hinojosa as the Governor of Nuevo Leon until December 1864. Hinojosa was then given the leadership of the republican troops in Tamaulipas and together with Mariano Escobedo they victoriously attacked the imperialist garrison in the port of Matamoros. Rebellions of La Noria and Tuxtepec After the republican victory, Hinojosa stayed in the military permanently. In 1871 he joined the uprising in favor of Porfirio Díaz pursuing the Plan of La Noria against Benito Juarez, in which he was defeated and taken prisoner in Saltillo. He was able to escape and later was given amnesty by the new president Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada. Hinojosa again joined an uprising in favor of Diaz and the Plan of Tuxtepec, fighting in Matamoros, la Huasteca