​The Mexican War of 1916

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Pancho Villa’s Raid on Columbus and the U.S. Army’s Pursuit into Mexico

 By the early months of 1916, the Mexican Revolution had spilled across the international border. On March 9, Pancho Villa and nearly 500 of his followers attacked the small New Mexico town of Columbus, setting in motion one of the most dramatic—and controversial—military expeditions in early 20th-century American history.

 

A Raid Across the Border

 

In the early morning darkness of March 9, 1916, the quiet border community of Columbus, New Mexico, was suddenly shattered by the sound of gunfire and hundreds of approaching horses.

Francisco “Pancho” Villa, one of the most famous and controversial figures of the Mexican Revolution, had led approximately 485 Villista fighters across the border from Chihuahua. Their objective was Columbus and the nearby U.S. Army installation known as Camp Furlong, where the 13th U.S. Cavalry Regiment was stationed.

Villa’s revolutionary army had suffered a series of defeats during 1915. Once a powerful force in northern Mexico, Villa and the remnants of his Army of the North were increasingly short of money, weapons, ammunition, horses, and supplies. Columbus, located only a few miles north of the Mexican border, presented an attractive target.

Villa’s men apparently expected to encounter a relatively small American force. Instead, they found themselves facing determined soldiers of the 13th Cavalry.

At approximately 4 a.m., the Villistas attacked the sleeping town. They looted businesses, seized horses and supplies, and set buildings ablaze while others engaged the soldiers at Camp Furlong. (National Park Service⁠)

The surprise was real, but the American response was swift. Soldiers scrambled to obtain ammunition, manned machine guns, and organized a counterattack. After roughly two hours of fighting, the Villistas were driven from the town and began their retreat toward Mexico.

 

When the smoke cleared, Columbus had suffered extensive damage. Ten American civilians and eight soldiers of the 13th Cavalry had been killed. Villa’s force suffered considerably heavier losses, with estimates generally placing Mexican casualties at roughly 70 to 100 killed. (National Park Service⁠)

 

The 13th Cavalry Fights Back

 

Among the Americans who responded to the attack was Major Frank Tompkins(The Movie Hidalgo Frank Tompkins), who commanded a detachment of the 13th Cavalry.

As Villa’s forces withdrew toward the border, Tompkins led a mounted pursuit. His men crossed into Mexico and followed the retreating Villistas for miles before ammunition and water shortages forced them to turn back.

The pursuit demonstrated an important characteristic of the American response: the raid would not simply be treated as another border incident. Washington intended to find Villa and bring an end to his ability to launch raids across the border.

 

President Wilson Orders the Punitive Expedition

 

The attack on Columbus created an immediate political crisis.

President Woodrow Wilson authorized a military expedition into Mexico with the mission of locating and capturing Pancho Villa. Brigadier General John J. Pershing was selected to command the operation.

The first American forces crossed into Mexico in mid-March. Elements of the 13th Cavalry were among the first units to advance, followed by the 7th, 10th, and 11th Cavalry, infantry, artillery, engineers, and support units. Ultimately, thousands of American soldiers participated in the operation. (U.S. Army Center of Military History⁠)

Pershing’s force penetrated hundreds of miles into the Mexican state of Chihuahua. The mission soon became a difficult contest of endurance. The Americans were operating in a vast, rugged environment of mountains, deserts, limited water sources, and primitive roads.

Villa, meanwhile, proved exceptionally difficult to find.

 

The Buffalo Soldiers Go to War

 

Among Pershing’s most experienced troops were the Black soldiers of the 9th and 10th U.S. Cavalry Regiments—the famous Buffalo Soldiers.

Their reputation had been forged through decades of frontier service. During the Mexican Expedition, they performed many of the most demanding assignments of the campaign.

They conducted reconnaissance patrols, guarded supply lines and water sources, protected camps, and pursued revolutionary forces across some of the most difficult terrain in northern Mexico.

The 10th Cavalry played a particularly prominent role in the expedition. Its soldiers were involved in the fierce fighting at Carrizal on June 21, 1916, when American cavalry encountered Mexican government forces loyal to President Venustiano Carranza. The battle resulted in significant American casualties and brought the United States and Mexico dangerously close to open war. (National Park Service⁠)

The Buffalo Soldiers demonstrated the discipline and battlefield experience that had become hallmarks of the Black regular cavalry regiments. Their service during the expedition remains an important part of the history of the U.S. Army and the Mexican-American border.

 

The Battle of Carrizal

 

The most serious confrontation of the expedition occurred at Carrizal.

American cavalrymen of the 10th Cavalry encountered Mexican government troops and attempted to move through the area. Tensions quickly escalated into a battle.

The engagement was costly. Several American soldiers were killed or wounded, while others were captured. The confrontation demonstrated the danger facing Pershing’s expedition: the Americans were not simply chasing Villa’s irregular forces. They were operating inside a sovereign nation whose government increasingly opposed their presence.

The possibility of a much larger war between the United States and Mexico suddenly seemed very real.

 

A New Kind of Army

 

Although the expedition failed in its principal objective, it became an important laboratory for the modern U.S. Army.

The campaign represented one of the last large-scale uses of traditional horse cavalry by the American military, while simultaneously introducing technologies that would become increasingly important in modern warfare.

Motor trucks carried troops and supplies across terrain that was difficult for traditional wagon trains. Field communications were tested under harsh conditions. Most significantly, airplanes were employed for reconnaissance.

The 1st Aero Squadron accompanied Pershing’s expedition and used aircraft to search for Villa and observe the surrounding countryside. The operation helped demonstrate the potential military value of aviation, even though the primitive aircraft of the era were limited by weather, mechanical problems, range, and terrain. (Army⁠)

 

The expedition therefore stood at a crossroads between two eras: the age of the horse soldier and the emerging age of the motor vehicle and airplane.

 

The Elusive Pancho Villa

 

Despite repeated patrols and deep penetrations into Chihuahua, American soldiers never captured Villa.

Pershing divided his forces into columns and sent cavalry units deep into the Mexican interior. Patrols followed rumors and scattered intelligence, sometimes traveling hundreds of miles in pursuit of a target who seemed to vanish into the mountains and desert.

The farther the Americans advanced, the more difficult the mission became.

Villa knew the terrain. His supporters provided intelligence, while the rugged Chihuahua landscape offered countless places in which to hide. The Americans repeatedly found evidence that Villa had been nearby, only to discover that he had slipped away.

The chase became a frustrating exercise in endurance.

 

Diplomacy Brings the Expedition to an End

 

The longer the American Army remained in Mexico, the greater the diplomatic tension became.

Mexico’s government strongly objected to the American military presence. The confrontation at Carrizal demonstrated how easily the expedition could develop into a larger conflict between the two nations.

At the same time, events in Europe were drawing the attention of the United States. World War I was intensifying, and American military leaders increasingly needed to prepare for the possibility that the United States itself would enter the conflict.

By February 1917, the Punitive Expedition was coming to an end. On February 7, Pershing’s remaining forces crossed back into the United States. Villa had escaped capture. (U.S. Army Center of Military History⁠)

 

Failure—and an Unexpected Success

 

Measured against its original mission, the expedition was a failure. Pancho Villa was never captured.

But the operation produced important consequences for the U.S. Army.

Thousands of soldiers gained combat and field experience under difficult conditions. Commanders learned valuable lessons about logistics, communications, transportation, intelligence, and the limitations of operating deep inside another country.

The expedition also provided a testing ground for trucks, airplanes, aerial reconnaissance, and other emerging technologies. Many of the officers who gained experience under Pershing would soon occupy important positions during World War I. (U.S. Army Center of Military History⁠)

Among them was Pershing himself, who would later command the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe.

 

Another young officer who served during the expedition was George S. Patton, whose later career would make him one of America’s most recognizable generals of World War II.

 

A Border Raid That Changed American Military History

 

The raid on Columbus lasted only a few hours, but its consequences extended far beyond the little New Mexico border town.

On March 9, 1916, Pancho Villa’s forces crossed into the United States, attacked an American community, and engaged the U.S. Army in battle. Within days, American troops were moving south into Mexico in pursuit of the revolutionary leader.

For nearly a year, Pershing’s soldiers searched the mountains and deserts of Chihuahua without finding their elusive target.

 

Yet the expedition was far from meaningless.

 

It exposed the challenges of modern warfare, demonstrated the continuing value—and limitations—of cavalry, and introduced American soldiers to technologies that would soon become essential on the battlefields of Europe.

For the Buffalo Soldiers of the 9th and 10th Cavalry, it was another chapter in a long history of difficult and often overlooked service.

And for the United States Army, the Mexican Expedition of 1916–1917 became a bridge between the old Army of horse soldiers and the modern force that would soon fight a world war.

 

The pursuit of Pancho Villa had failed.

But the lessons learned in the Mexican desert would follow the American Army onto the battlefields of World War I.

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