Pancho Villa Expedition

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Staging area for truck trains that supplied troops of General John J. Pershing during the Pancho Villa Expedition, in Columbus, New Mexico

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Timeline of the Mexican Revolution

The Punitive Expedition (officially known in the United States as the Mexican Expedition) was an abortive military operation conducted by the United States Army against the paramilitary forces of Francisco "Pancho" Villa from 1916 to 1917. The expedition was in retaliation for Villa's invasion of the United States and attack on the village of Columbus, New Mexico in Luna County during the Mexican Revolution. The United States Army Center of Military History officially refers to the campaign as the Mexican Expedition. The official beginning and ending dates are March 14, 1916 and February 7, 1917.

1 Villa's attacks
2 The cross-border raid
3 Campaign
4 Withdrawal
5 U.S. Army Units involved in the Punitive Expedition
6 See also
7 References

[edit] Villa's attacks

Trouble with Villa had been growing since 1915, when the United States government disappointed Villa by siding with and giving its official recognition to the Venustiano Carranza's national government. Feeling severely betrayed by the U.S. government, Villa began attacking American property and citizens in northern Mexico. The most serious incident occurred in January 1916, when 17 American employees of the ASARCO company were removed from a train at Santa Isabel Chihuahua, and summarily stripped and executed, although one escaped by faking his death. Villa kept his men south of the border to avoid a direct confrontation with the U.S. Army forces that were being deployed to protect the border.

[edit] The cross-border raid

At approximately 4:17 am on March 9, 1916, Villa's troops attacked Columbus, New Mexico and its local detachment of the U.S. 13th Regiment. They killed 14 American soldiers, 10 civilians, burned the town, took many horses and mules, seized available machine guns, ammunition and merchandise, before they returned to Mexico. However, Villa's troops suffered considerable losses, with five men captured and 80 dead or mortally wounded. The raid may have been spurred by an American merchant in Columbus who supplied Villa with weapons and ammunitions. After Villa paid several thousand dollars in cash in advance, the merchant decided to stop supplying him with weapons and demanded payment in gold.

[edit] Campaign

Pershing in his Casas Grandes encampment, studies telegraphed orders.

On March 15, on orders from President Woodrow Wilson, General John J. Pershing led an invasion force of 10,000 men into Mexico to capture Villa. The newly adopted airplane, Curtiss JN-2, was used by the 1st Provisional Aero Squadron to conduct aerial reconnaissance. Villa had already had more than a week to disperse and conceal his forces before the punitive expedition tried to seek them out in unmapped, foreign terrain.

1st Aero Squadron on the Mexican US border, 1916

Pershing divided his force into two columns to seek out Villa. Pershing made his main base encampment at Casas Grandes, Chihuahua. Due to disputes with the Carranza administration over the use of the Mexico North Western Railway to supply his troops, the Army employed a truck-train system to convoy supplies to Pershing's encampment. The Signal Corps set up wireless telegraph service from the border to Pershing's HQ. In June, Lieutenant George S. Patton raided a small community and killed Julio Cárdenas and two other men. Patton personally killed Cardenas, and is reported to have carved notches into his revolvers. Cárdenas was an important leader in the Villista military organization.

However in July, U.S. forces including elements of the 7th Cavalry and the African-American U.S. 10th Cavalry Regiment attacked Mexican Federal army troops in an engagement in the Battle of Carrizal, Chihuahua, resulting in many cavalry troops becoming prisoners of the Federals, and effectively ending the 10th Cavalry's usefulness in the Villa campaign.^[1] Another skirmish with Federals took place north of Parral, Chihuahua on April 12. Carranza sent General Jacinto Treviño to warn Pershing of armed Federal resistance to any further advances of Pershing's forces into other areas, and that troop movements in the direction north to the border would be the only movements acceptable to the Carranza government.

M1905 Howitzer used by U.S. Forces

The expedition bogged down due to its lack of success, tension with Mexican officials and citizens, and the attraction of liquor that was provided by cantinas that remained open all night to provide service to the thirsty soldiers. Another salient feature of the campaign was the regulated brothel operated under official auspices as the "Remount Station," with the rate per copulation set at $2. A prophylactic was issued to each man upon his admission to the precincts, to prevent sexually transmitted diseases among the troops.^{[citation needed]}

While the expedition did make contact with Villista formations and killed two of his generals, it failed in its major objectives, neither stopping border raids (which continued while the expedition was in Mexico, although both National Guard troops and Texas Rangers were stationed on the border) nor capturing Villa. However, between the date of the American withdrawal and Villa's retirement in 1920, Villa's troops were no longer an effective fighting force, being hemmed in by American and Mexican federal troops and money and arms blockades on both sides of the border.

[edit] Withdrawal

Members of the 6th and 16th Infantry marching homeward in January 1917.

The bulk of American forces were withdrawn in January 1917. Pershing publicly claimed the expedition was a failure, although privately he complained to family that President Wilson had imposed too many restrictions, which made it impossible for him to fulfill his mission.^{[citation needed]}

Pershing was permitted to bring into Texas 527 Chinese-Mexicans who had assisted him, despite the ban on Chinese immigration that existed at that time due to the Chinese Exclusion Act. Most of them settled in San Antonio.^[2]

Soldiers who took part in the campaign were honored with the Mexican Service Medal.