head towards Veracruz, embarking from Manzanillo, crossing Panama, and arriving in Veracruz on May, 4 1858. On 24 July, Miramon captured Guanajuato, and San Luis Potosi was captured by the conservatives on 12 September. Vidaurri was defeated at the Battle of Ahualulco on 29 September. By October the conservatives were at the height of their strength. The conservatives controlled the most populous cities of the republic, and the liberal capital of Vera Cruz was cut off from the interior of the country. The liberals however still had the loyalty of significant parts of the north and the south of the country. Juarez was determined to sustain the conflict, entrenched in the strategic port of Vera Cruz, which the conservatives did not have the forces to carry out a naval blockade of. Despite his significant victories in the first few months of the war, the Zuloaga government’s position was far from entirely secure. An attempt to revive the unitary organization of the country by reducing the states to departments as they existed during the Centralist Republic of Mexico, proved to be unpopular. The conservatives were also divided into three factions: the Santanistas, named after supporters of Santa Anna, wanted a more authoritarian government as had exited during the dictatorship of Santa Anna from 1853 to 1855, the Zuloaguistas wanted to retain Zuloaga, and the Fusionists wanted to compromise with the liberals. The Zuloaga government was also struggling to find funds, the contributions of the clergy, forced loans, and increased tariffs not being sufficient to sustain government expenses. The seizure of property was irritating both citizens and foreigners. The Plan of Tacubaya had called for a congress to be summoned in order to draft a constitution, but this was proving to be impractical in the middle of the war. Zuloaga’s cabinet drafted a provisional constitution. In July 1858, the failure of achieving a final victory over the liberals led to a shuffling of the cabinet. Joaquin Castillo y Lanzas was named Minister of Relations. Fernandez de Jauregui was made Minister of Government, Javier Miranda was made Minister of Justice, J. M. Garcia was made Minister of War, Pedro Jorrin was made Minister of the Treasury, and Jose M. Zaldivar was made Minister of Development. A law against conspirators was passed along with restrictions on the press. The conservatives kept achieving victory and on July 24th, Miramon captured Guanajuato. Some moderate liberals now