Zuloaga's forces quickly gained control over the capital, and the central states of the nation, winning every major engagement during the first year of the war,[3] and even temporarily capturing Juarez and his entire cabinet, but in the end, the liberals were not decisively defeated, still controlled large parts of the nation's periphery, and Juarez remained securely entrenched in the strategic port of Veracruz.

He emerged after the war ended to claim the presidency while conservative guerillas were still active in the countryside, but this came to nothing, and Zuloaga subsequently left the country.

He was promoted to captain on 5 November 1841 and fought in Yucatán as part of the Caste Wars, after which he moved to Tabasco and was granted the rank of lieutenant colonel.

[4] During the Mexican–American War, he was in charge of fortifications in Monterey and in Saltillo, and in 1847 contributed to setting up the defenses on the route from Veracruz to Mexico City.

In November he was promoted to colonel and was named president of the council of war for judging thieves at which post he remained for a few months.

He fell prisoner at the Hacienda de Nuzco, and the rebel commander Ignacio Comonfort protected him from being sent to a firing squad and actually recruited him to join the liberal cause.

When the Plan of Ayutla triumphed, and Santa Anna's dictatorship was overthrown, Zuloaga was given command of Comonfort's forces and assigned to the campaign of Sierra de Querétaro.

A convention finished drafting a new constitution for the nation in early 1857, only to encounter extreme opposition from conservatives over its unprecedented reforms aimed against the army and the church.

Most notable was the opposition to the constitutional codification of the Ley Lerdo, a law which forced collective entities to forcibly sell their properties, affecting both the Catholic Church, and Mexico's Indigenous communities, who had a tradition of farming on communal lands.

After coming to an arrangement with certain governors, the conspirators in a suburb of Mexico City declared the Plan of Tacubaya on the morning of 17 December to set aside the national constitution.

[12] On 30 December, the strategic state of Vera Cruz abandoned the Plan of Tacubaya, convincing Comonfor that his new government's position was precarious.

[19] Other decrees published on the same day restored to their former employment all civil servants who had lost their jobs in refusing to swear an oath to the constitution of 1857, and also nullified the Ley Juarez.

[20] On 31 January, President Zuloaga directed a letter to Pope Pius IX reaffirming his country's adherence to the Catholic faith.

After hostilities broke out Zuloaga, knowing the strategic importance of Veracruz, tried to win over the governor of the state, Gutierrez Zamora [es], who however affirmed his support for the government of Juarez.

As rival factions struggled to control the city, Juarez and other liberal prisoners were released on agreement after which Guadalajara was fully captured by conservatives by the end of March.

[25] 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.

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.

Zulaoga was holding frequent conferences with the British and French foreign representatives, and the two powers showed themselves disposed to help blockade Juarez.

Zuloaga passed measures to put down the revolt, assuming personal command of the forces at the capital, and forbidding all interaction with the rebels.

[33] A modified form of the Ayotla Plan was proclaimed by Manuel Robles Pezula on 23 December, and found some military support in the capital.

[36] Meanwhile, Zuloaga had taken back his previous resignation, but due to the circumstances, agreed to officially pass on the presidency to Miramon on 31 January 1859.

Liberal victories then accumulated until Juarez took back the capital in January 1861, though conservative guerilla's most notably Leonardo Marquez remained active in the countryside.

[citation needed] It was amidst this situation, with conservative forces still active, that Zuloaga once more publicly emerged in 1861, once more claiming the presidency, but to no effect.