March 9, 2016 is the 100th anniversary of the Pancho Villa attack on Columbus, New Mexico. Francisco (Pancho) Villa was born a Mexican peasant in 1878. He soon became a bandit, a soldier, then formed a band to fight wealthy landowners for his people. In 1910 Villa joined the Mexican Revolution on the side of Francisco Madero against the president/dictator Porfirio Díaz. Villa eventually became commander of the revolutionary División del Norte (Division of the North), also known as the Ejército del Norte (Army of the North) which at one time had 50,000 men. He also became governor of the state of Chihuahua, south of Texas and New Mexico. He issued his own money in Chihuahua, including copper and silver coins and paper money. Mexico Chihuahua Silver Peso 1915 Issued by Pancho Villa's Army of the North (Ejército del Norte) Mexico Ejército del Norte Paper 5 Pesos (front) Mexico Ejército del Norte Paper 5 Pesos (back) In 1915 his army was defeated by the army of a rival, Pres. Carranza. He led the raid into Columbus, New Mexico, on the morning of Thursday, March 9, 1916. He had several hundred men with him and they attacked the town and a US Army Cavalry post at Camp Furlong. The army managed to beat back the attack and some Cavalry units pursued them several miles into Mexico. The attack became a major news story. President Wilson ordered General Pershing to lead an 11,000 man army into Mexico to capture Villa and disband his army. Pershing's men spent a year chasing Villa, they never caught him but they did put his army out of business. Villa was eventually given a large ranch and persuaded to retired there, only to be murdered in 1923. Villa later became a folk hero in Mexico and in the United States. He is the hero of several American films, his name graces many American restaurants and bars, and the site of the 1916 attack is now named Pancho Villa State Park. Although the Villa incident was a century ago, the story still resonates. On July 2, 2001, President George W. Bush's press secretary, Ari Fleischer, held a news conference and was asked by a reporter if the President was going to send troops to attack the forces of the Arab terrorist leader Osama bin Laden which had already made several attacks on American embassies and ships. The reporter cited Pres. Wilson sending Gen. Pershing into Mexico in pursuit of Pancho Villa. Fleischer didn't answer the question and he and reporters joked about his knowledge of history. Fleischer later gave an answer, "The President will take action that he deems appropriate in national security interests".
Cool collection and write-up! One of the interesting things about the conflict was the first use of military airplanes in combat. Sadly they struggled with mechanical difficulties and made no great contributions to the effort.
By the US. Planes had been used for reconnaissance, and bombing in Europe since 1914. The first air to air combat between planes using machine guns took place in October of 1914. (Use of handguns and rifles had occurred even earlier.)
