In the early morning darkness of March 9, 1916, guerrillas under General Francisco "Pancho" Villa attacked the small New Mexico border town and military camp at Columbus.
General "Black Jack" Pershing, who would later command the Allied forces of World War I, led American troops deep into Mexico in the search for Villa. For 11 months, 10,000 U.S. soldiers endured parching heat and bone-chilling cold as they ranged the deserts and mountains of Mexico, tracking Villa and his raiders.
Pershing succeeded in dispersing the Mexican forces that had attacked Columbus, but Pancho Villa, vanished into the Mexican backcountry and was never captured. In February, 1917, the Expedition returned to the U.S. Many of the same troops would see action in World War I.
The Punitive Expedition was the last true cavalry action mounted by the U.S. Army, and, ironically, was also the first U.S. military operation to employ mechanized vehicles. In what would prove to be a preparation for World War I, Pershing experimented in Mexico with the use of automobiles, trucks, and airplanes. |
