Villa’s Raid on New Mexico

The U.S. gets pulled into the Revolution.

March 9, 1916. Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa and his Division of the North attack Columbus, NM. Eight US soldiers and 10 civilians are killed. More than 100 of the attackers also die. President Woodrow Wilson, furious, orders troops to go into Mexico to get Villa in what becomes known as the Punitive Expedition. Villa is never captured, and U.S. involvement becomes muddled. But in some ways, the expedition became a good training ground for America’s efforts in WWI.