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N0KFQ > TODAY 09.03.08 08:30l 62 Lines 3031 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Mar 9
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From: N0KFQ@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
To : TODAY@ALLUS
March 9, 1916
Pancho Villa raids U.S.
In the early morning of March 9, 1916, several hundred Mexican
guerrillas under the command of Francisco "Pancho" Villa cross
the U.S.-Mexican border and attack the small border town of
Columbus, New Mexico. Seventeen Americans were killed in the
raid, and the center of town was burned. It was unclear whether
Villa personally participated in the attack, but President
Woodrow Wilson ordered the U.S. Army into Mexico to capture the
rebel leader dead or alive.
Before he invaded the United States, Pancho Villa was already
known to Americans for his exploits during the Mexican
Revolution. He led the famous Division del Norte, with its
brilliant cavalry, Los Dorados, and won control of northern
Mexico after a series of audacious attacks. In 1914, following
the resignation of Mexican leader Victoriano Huerta, Pancho Villa
and his former revolutionary ally Venustiano Carranza battled
each other in a struggle for succession. By the end of 1915,
Villa had been driven north into the mountains, and the U.S.
government recognized General Carranza as the president of
Mexico.
In January 1916, to protest President Woodrow Wilson's support
for Carranza, Villa executed 16 U.S. citizens at Santa Isabel in
northern Mexico. Then, in early March, he ordered the raid on
Columbus. Cavalry from the nearby Camp Furlong U.S. Army outpost
pursued the Mexicans, killing several dozen rebels on U.S. soil
and in Mexico before turning back. On March 15, under orders from
President Wilson, U.S. Brigadier General John J. Pershing
launched a punitive expedition into Mexico to capture Villa and
disperse his rebels. The expedition eventually involved some
10,000 U.S. troops and personnel. It was the first U.S. military
operation to employ mechanized vehicles, including automobiles
and airplanes.
For 11 months, Pershing failed to capture the elusive
revolutionary, who was aided by his intimate knowledge of the
terrain of northern Mexico and his popular support from the
people there. Meanwhile, resentment over the U.S. intrusion into
Mexican territory led to a diplomatic crisis with the government
in Mexico City. On June 21, the crisis escalated into violence
when Mexican government troops attacked a detachment of the 10th
Cavalry at Carrizal, Mexico, leaving 12 Americans dead, 10
wounded, and 24 captured. The Mexicans suffered more than 30
dead. If not for the critical situation in Europe, war might have
been declared. In January 1917, having failed in their mission to
capture Villa, and under continued pressure from the Mexican
government, the Americans were ordered home.
Villa continued his guerrilla activities in northern Mexico until
Adolfo de la Huerta took power over the government and drafted a
reformist constitution. Villa entered into an amicable agreement
with Huerta and agreed to retire from politics. In 1920, the
government pardoned Villa, but three years later he was
assassinated at his ranch in Parral.
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