The Pancho Villa Expedition

The United States and Mexico historically have not been the best of friends with numerous full-scale wars and smaller incursions, invasions, raids, border skirmishes, and interventions peppering their history as neighbors. The Pancho Villa expedition is but just one of these incursions from the United States into Mexico and fits in the broader history of the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920). This article will detail the U.S. “Punitive Expedition” led by General John “Black Jack” Pershing and its place in the wider legend of Pancho Villa’s life.

Pancho Villa was born José Doroteo Arango Arámbula in 1878 in the northwest of Mexico. Much of Villa’s life is contradictory and is debated, mostly due to Villa himself telling different stories for his early life. Supposedly he first turned to banditry after his sister was raped by the owner of a Hacienda, leading Villa to track down and kill the man. Through the late 1890s, he roamed the hills of northern Mexico with a bandit gang, stealing goods and livestock. In 1902 he was arrested and sentenced to death but was spared due to political connections he had cultivated through black market dealing of his stolen goods, instead being conscripted into the Federal Army. Villa deserted the army at the first chance he saw, leaving the ranks within just a few months and fleeing to the Mexican state of Chihuahua. It was around this time he adopted the name Francisco “Pancho” Villa and again turned to full time banditry. In the early 1900s, he attempted more legitimate pursuits like becoming a butcher and mining but supplemented his income with his bandit habits.

In 1910, the Mexican Revolution kicked off, with maximum chaos as a result. Mexico experienced a series presidents come and go through coups from 1910-1915. During this initial revolution in 1910, Villa became politically active, joining the revolution against President Porfirio Diaz in support of Francisco Madero. He believed his banditry activity could be used to hurt the rich Hacienda owners and saw himself as a Robin Hood like figure, undertaking performative acts of stealing from the rich, and giving to the poor, making him a folk hero in Northern Mexico. Pancho Villa fought on several sides during the revolution, at times supporting or fighting against various winners of power. Of note is Villa fighting the forces of dictator like President Victoriano Huerta, who despised Villa. Villa led the most powerful revolutionary army against Huerta, giving him sizable influence and prestige in his march to oust Huerta, alienating some ambitious allies or forcing an uneasy truth with others. Villa was accompanied by famous American journalist and writer, Ambrose Bierce, in his fighting against Huerta. Bierce was present at the battle of Tierra Blanca, which Villa won in 1913. The American press fed into and helped portray the image of Villa as a larger-than-life folk hero, a rag to riches, or a robin hood figure. Villa was elected provisional revolutionary governor of the state of Chihuahua by his fellow combatants in the fight against Huerta and was regarded as a good tactician and political operative. By 1915, Venustiano Carranza, a former ally of Villa turned vitriolic enemy, had ascended to the presidency in the wake of Huerta’s defeat - the 3rd president since 1910. Villa sided with Emiliano Zapata, another larger-than-life revolutionary figure, against Carranza in the struggle for the direction of Mexico. Both Villa and Zapata resented the power and influence of wealthy landowners like Carranza and feared he would become a dictator. After a struggle that looked like Villa and Zapata would come out on top, even occupying Mexico City at one point, they were defeated by superior tacticians aligned to Carranza.

Villa, now on the wrong side of the revolution, found himself isolated in the north and unable to raise substantial enough forces to challenge Carranza properly, instead turning to his usual bandit like behavior with raids, horse stealing, and other means to make money. Villa’s reputation began to shift from a folk hero to a sociopathic bandit who only cared about his image and enriching himself and his followers, thanks to a PR blitz by Carranza helped along by some dark incidents of murder, kidnapping, and rape committed by Villa’s forces throughout Northern Mexico. It seemed, at least publicly, that Villa had ditched his previous method of only targeting the rich, to targeting anyone that he felt was against him. The United States, which previously supplied arms and material to Villa, revoked their support in the wake of Carranza’s victory and Villa’s bad press, enraging Villa. In response, Villa and his men stopped a train traveling through northern Mexico, ordering foreign workers off the train, finding 18 Americans amongst the foreigners. Villa ordered the execution of these 18 men as retaliation for the loss of American support and throwing their weight behind Carranza. Villa began to plan a raid on U.S. soil, coupled with the previous execution of American citizens, that would have drastic consequences for Villa.

In March of 1916, Villa ordered several hundred soldiers aligned to him to cross the border with the U.S. and attack the town of Columbus, New Mexico. The goal of the raid was to acquire American arms and equipment to keep his men supplied in their fight against Carranza, but some historians believe it was more of an idealistic move against the U.S. who he saw as betraying him and meddling in Mexican affairs. Further, there was resentment amongst Villa’s men who blamed the Americans for previously selling them “defective” ammunition that they attributed to being a major factor in a previous defeat against Carranza forces.

On 9 March, Villa and his forces attacked a group from the U.S. 13th Cavalry Regiment, burned large chunks of the town of Columbus, seized around 100 horses, and captured ammunition and machine guns. Around 19 (this number is disputed amongst sources, even papers of the time report different numbers) Americans were killed in the raid, but Villa took substantial losses of around 70-80 men KIA. It is not known if Villa himself was present at the attack on Columbus or even if he ever crossed over into U.S. soil for the attack. There at least three other raids that took place on US soil between march and July 1916, but they cannot be definitively attributed to Villa, but added to the furor in the U.S. The U.S. responded in a way that Villa was not expecting, cross border raids were relatively common by Mexican bandits, but the reputation of Villa meant the U.S. could not let this one slide. President Woodrow Wilson ordered a “punitive expedition” launched to go capture Pancho Villa and bring back to the U.S. for trial, or kill him if necessary. The man tipped to the lead the expedition, General John “Black Jack” Pershing was privately told that he could declare “victory” even without the capture of Villa, if Villa’s forces were crushed.

Pershing put together an “expeditionary” force that was mostly made up of horse-mounted soldiers and artillery but were outfitted with some of the U.S. latest weaponry like the famous M1911 Semi-auto pistol and the 1903 Springfield bolt-action rifles. Around 5,000 men in all were dispatched to Mexico to capture Villa, with a variety of infantry, cavalry, mechanized, and arial units participating. It was one of the first instances of the U.S. using airplanes in a military expedition, primarily using them as reconnaissance aircraft.

Villa had a six-day head start on the U.S. forces, breaking his men into smaller bands to evade the large groups of U.S. forces with ease. Villa and his forces knew the terrain intimately, so they were able to slip American groups by using their knowledge to devise escape routes if cornered. This was used with effectiveness after Villa was nearly caught by a large force of around 400 American cavalry at the town of Guerrero (400 miles deep into Mexican territory), where Villa had been celebrating the successful attack of a nearby garrison loyal to Carranza. Villa, who had been wounded with a shot to the kneecap in fighting the day before, was caught off guard by the rapid appearance of the American flying column of cavalry. The Americans quickly surrounded Guerrero and executed a large cavalry charge (with some historians calling this the last true cavalry charge) that inflicted substantial losses on Villa and his forces, killing 56 of Villa’s men to the loss of no American forces. Amongst the dead was Villa’s good friend, General Elicio Hernandez. Villa himself was able to escape by slipping into the mountains with a small group of his men and the Americans came so close to his hiding position that he could hear the soldiers singing a marching song as they passed. This would be the closest the Americans came to capturing Villa during the year-long expedition. Villa was able to hide out in mountain caves whilst his wound healed, and plot the rebuilding of his forces along with his next move.

As the year went on, Villa’s forces continued to be cornered and break up into smaller bands to avoid large scale engagements with the Americans, as they correctly realized they would be outgunned and out maneuvered by the American’s use of advanced weaponry and tactics. Several skirmishes would unfold that would inflict casualties on Villa’s forces, but they rarely came close to a large-scale engagement like the skirmish at Guerrero and Villa would remain elusive. Politically the expedition began to run into problems with the new Carranza government. Carranza, although actively fighting Villa and supported in this by the U.S., was alarmed at how deep the Americans were pushing into Mexico and decided to fight back. In April 1916, a group of 500 Carranza forces attacked a much smaller 128-man group of Americans as they withdrew from the town of Parral (500 miles into Mexico), resulting in the deaths of two Americans and up to seventy Carranza soldiers. This engagement forced the Americans to withdraw closer to the U.S. border and begin extensive diplomatic talks with Carranza’s government to limit further bloodshed, buying Villa and his forces more time to rebuild and breathing room, although the Americans would continue to inflict casualties on Villa’s forces in skirmishes, sometimes with devastating effect to Villa and little to no losses for the Americans. The Americans wouldn’t stray so far south, allowing Villa and his forces to have an easy way to evade trouble when they encountered it, essentially kneecapping the success of the Expedition from spring 1916 to its conclusion in February 1917. To add a further complication, although diplomatic talks were occurring at the highest levels between the Americans and the Mexicans, there continued to be bloody engagements between Mexican Carranza government forces and U.S. soldiers, resulting in men KIA on both sides.

Pershing, after being unable to launch any meaningful offensive actions in Mexico beyond May 1916, was ordered to withdraw from his base in Northern Mexico in February 1917, declaring success at the break-up of Villa’s forces and limiting his ability to wage war. The Americans killed or captured around 300 of Villa’s men, capturing 650 weapons, and 140 horses. Villa mocked the American’s failure to capture him saying that “Pershing came in like an eagle and leaves now like a wet chicken.” Pershing privately complained that his expedition failed as President Wilson placed too many restrictions on his forces. But the one success for the Americans is that the expedition helped ready it’s military apparatus for its entry into the First World War eight months later. It allowed the U.S. Army to test its readiness, equipment, and weapons, along with implementing new rapid movement tactics and the use of airplanes on the battlefield. It also gave the chance for army officers, who would eventually become leaders in the next World War, to lead men in combat, with officers like 2nd Lieutenant George S. Patton seeing action for the first time. In fact, Patton lead the American’s first mechanized combat action, using three Dodge vehicles to engage enemy forces.

Villa’s reputation as a national leader and his ability to influence Mexico politics never recovered in the post expedition world, even after thwarting an American military. Instead he was relegated to a regional power player with minimal influence even on Chihuahua. He evaded Carranza and his forces for a further 3 years, still engaging in guerilla actions against the government but sued for peace after Carranza’s assassination in 1920. Villa declared his support for the new president, Adolfo de la Huerta, and received amnesty for his past rebellion, retiring to a 25,000-acre hacienda in Chihuahua. Villa was ambushed and killed by the forces of yet another president, Alvaro Obregon, in 1923 at the age of 45. Black Jack Pershing would go on to be supreme commander of the American Expeditionary Force in Europe during the First World War and is considered – even today – to be the second highest ranking American military officer in the nation’s history, second only to George Washington.