Legal Rebels. Sometimes it takes a team: Our class of 2020 is made up of lawyers banding together to reform our justice system.

• Author: Journal Staff
• Pages: 50-63

In the early morning hours of

March 9, 1916, a small cavalry of

nearly 500 rogue Mexican soldiers

from across the U.S.-Mexico bor-

der stormed into the sleepy desert town

of Columbus, New Mexico.

Sitting 80 miles west of El Paso,

Texas, Columbus was little more than

a railroad stop. Its population was only

1,300, including soldiers and their fam-

ilies stationed at Camp Furlong. But by

the time the marauders  ed the town—

repelled by machine guns—at least 67

of them lay dead.

But 18 Columbus residents were also

dead or dying, including 10 civilians.

Four of the civilians had been dragged

from the Commercial Hotel and

executed. A broad swath of the town

lay in ruin, leveled by  res and explo-

sions. And Americans along the border

were dumbfounded that revolution-

ary violence in Mexico had suddenly

lurched north.

The soldiers were led by Francisco

“Pancho” Villa, the ruthless para-

military leader who had dominated

Northern Mexico from the start of the

Mexican Revolution. Born to Duran-

go sharecroppers in 1878 as Doroteo

Arango, Villa  ed Durango after shoot-

ing a prominent rancher. Adopting the

name Francisco Villa, he roamed the

Sierra Madre Occidental mountains,

developing a widespread reputation as a

resourceful and evasive bandit.

In 1910, Francisco Madero recruited

him to ride against the authoritari-

an regime of Por rio Díaz. For the

32-year-old Villa, it was an easy sell. In

Northern Mexico, Americans and other

foreigners—abetted by Mexico’s richest

families—owned most of the mines,

oil  elds and railroads, as well as 100

million acres of ranch and agricultural

lands. The overwhelming population of

Mexican peasants lived the feudal exis-

tence of sharecroppers and laborers.

For the next decade, Villa fought for,

and often against, successive revolu-

tionary regimes. He was even once

slated for execution before he escaped

to the U.S. But when Madero was mur-

dered in a 1913 coup d’état, Villa

returned to Mexico with

great fanfare in support

of Venustiano Carranza.

His brilliant campaigns at

Tierra Blanca, Chihua-

hua and Ojinaga

were chronicled

by American

journalists and

a Hollywood

studio. His

second siege

of Ciudad

Juárez was

watched from

rooftops in

El Paso, where

merchants rou-

tinely traded with

the Villistas.

But by the time of

the Columbus raid, Villa’s

alliance with Carranza had soured

along with his fortunes. With Carran-

za’s army trained against him, Villa’s

attacks on Celaya resulted in devastat-

ing losses. Broken and defeated, Villa

repaired to Chihuahua and the indis-

criminate violence of his past.

In a train robbery two months

before Columbus, Villistas murdered

18 mining engineers—all but one an

American. And just days before the Bat-

tle of Columbus, in ranch raids around

nearby Palomas, at least four American

ranch hands had been killed.

Outraged by the Columbus raid,

Woodrow Wilson ordered a “punitive

expedition” of 5,000 U.S. soldiers to

follow Villa into Mexico and kill or

capture him. Although the foray was

abandoned as a failure in February

1917 , the offense to Mexico lingered

for decades—coloring negotiations over

American claims against Mexico for

damages during the revolution.

Congressional hearings led by New

Mexico Sen. Albert Fall deemed Mexico

responsible for as many as 550 Ameri-

can deaths on both sides of the border

during the revolution, more

than a few at the hands of

Mexican soldiers. Mexi-

co disregarded many of

the claims, particularly

regarding Villa, argu-

ing that the former

bandit had no

commission as a

Mexican gen-

eral. However,

in 1920, Villa

was granted

both amnesty

and a gener-

ous pension

that allowed

him to live on

a hacienda in

Chihuahua. He

remained there until

July 1923, when he

was murdered in a road-

side attack.

In September 1923, a formal

commission began to negotiate claims

against Mexico, including those of

Columbus residents.

But it was not until 1938, 22 years

after the Columbus raid, that Mexico

 nally agreed to pay off U.S. claims—at

an agreed rate of less than 3 cents on

the dollar. Q

Pancho Villa’s

Battle of Columbus

BY ALLEN PUSEY

Precedents

72

MARCH 9, 1916

Francisco “Pancho” Villa

Photo by Topical Press Agency/Stringer/Hulton Archive/GettyImages

ABA JOURNAL | FEBRUARY–MARCH 2020

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