Battle of Columbus (1916)
The Battle of Columbus, March 9, 1916, began as a raid conducted by remnants of Pancho Villa's Division of the North on the small United States border town of Columbus, New Mexico, located 3 miles (4.8 km) north of the border with Mexico. The raid escalated into a full-scale battle between Villistas and the United States Army.
Columbus, after the battle
Herbert Jermain Slocum circa 1915
Wanted poster from the Chief of Police of Columbus, for the capture of the Mexican revolutionary officers that led the Mexican troops in the Battle of Columbus.
Francisco "Pancho" Villa was a Mexican revolutionary and general in the Mexican Revolution. He was a key figure in the revolutionary movement that forced out President Porfirio Díaz and brought Francisco I. Madero to power in 1911. When Madero was ousted by a coup led by General Victoriano Huerta in February 1913, Villa joined the anti-Huerta forces in the Constitutionalist Army led by Venustiano Carranza. After the defeat and exile of Huerta in July 1914, Villa broke with Carranza. Villa dominated the meeting of revolutionary generals that excluded Carranza and helped create a coalition government. Emiliano Zapata and Villa became formal allies in this period. Like Zapata, Villa was strongly in favor of land reform, but did not implement it when he had power. At the height of his power and popularity in late 1914 and early 1915, the U.S. considered recognizing Villa as Mexico's legitimate authority.
Pancho Villa on horseback c. 1908–1919
General Pancho Villa, 1910.
Villa as he appeared in the United States press during the Revolution
General Pascual Orozco and Colonels Oscar Braniff, Pancho Villa and Peppino Garibaldi, photographed 10 May 1911, after taking Juárez City, during the Mexican Revolution.