If you've read my novel A Blaze of Poppies, you'll know a little about Black Jack Pershing, Pancho Villa, the raid on Columbus, and the American response. If you'd like to know more, Jeff Guinn's War on the Border: Willa, Pershing, the Texas Rangers, and an American Invasion (Simon & Schuster; May 18, 2021) would be a good place to start.
Guinn does a good job of explaining the turmoil in Mexico in the first few decades of the 20th century. and how a Mexican general named José Doroteo Arango Arámbula, but who went by the name of Pancho Villa, was a key figure in it. Guinn analyzes the nature and temperament of each man in this battle of wills and does a good job of explaining the ebb and flow of power. While most men in positions of power in the goverment sided with the rich and landed aristocracy, Villa championed the poor and landless. He helped force out President Porfirio Díaz when Diaz did not do enough to promote land reform, led forces that outsted the right-wing General Victoriano Huerta, then after helping him attain the presidency, turned against Venustiano Carranza when the new president dragged his feet over promised social reforms.
Villa, who had been a supporter of the United States, changed his mind when the US continued to back Carranza.
On March 9, 1916, Villa led about 600 of his soldiers across the border and raided the town of Columbus, New Mexico, about 3 miles into American territory. There are many theories why Villa did this, but Guinn asserts that he wanted to provoke the United States Army into chasing him back across the border to prove to the Mexican people that Carranza was too weak to oppose their neighbor to the north. He expected an American invasion to lead to Carranza's overthrow.
Guinn does a good job of explaining the turmoil in Mexico in the first few decades of the 20th century. and how a Mexican general named José Doroteo Arango Arámbula, but who went by the name of Pancho Villa, was a key figure in it. Guinn analyzes the nature and temperament of each man in this battle of wills and does a good job of explaining the ebb and flow of power. While most men in positions of power in the goverment sided with the rich and landed aristocracy, Villa championed the poor and landless. He helped force out President Porfirio Díaz when Diaz did not do enough to promote land reform, led forces that outsted the right-wing General Victoriano Huerta, then after helping him attain the presidency, turned against Venustiano Carranza when the new president dragged his feet over promised social reforms.
Villa, who had been a supporter of the United States, changed his mind when the US continued to back Carranza.
On March 9, 1916, Villa led about 600 of his soldiers across the border and raided the town of Columbus, New Mexico, about 3 miles into American territory. There are many theories why Villa did this, but Guinn asserts that he wanted to provoke the United States Army into chasing him back across the border to prove to the Mexican people that Carranza was too weak to oppose their neighbor to the north. He expected an American invasion to lead to Carranza's overthrow.
Villa expected the raid on the little border town would be quick and easy, and he would come away with much needed ammunition, horses, and supplies. The spies he had sent into town earlier reported that Camp Funsten, the small Army facility charged with protecting the border, was only sparsely manned. The spies were wrong, and the raid turned into into a full battle that resulted in the deaths of 8 American soldiers, 67 Mexican soldiers, and 10 civilians. Guinn does a good job of detailing the raid. He questions the report of Colonel Herbert Jermain Slocum, the commander of the 13th Cavalry who was in charge of the installation.
Villa was right about what the raid would do. President Woodrow Wilson, egged on by angry Americans, ordered General John "Black Jack" Pershing to organize a Punitive Expedition into Mexico. Pershing was to defeat Villa's troops, but soon found that the Mexican people, and the Mexican Government did not support his mission. After a year of attempting to avoid confrontation with Federal Mexican Troops, Pershing declared the mission a success and complete and returned home.
Guinn's narrative goes beyond the Punitive Expedition. He details violence all along the border, including the frequent and bloody clashes in Texas. Guinn is particularly damning of the imperiousness of an American foreign policy that looked down on Mexico as a poor and illiterate neighbor, and of Texas Rangers who looked more like members of the Ku Klux Klan than protectors of the innocent.
I was particularly interested in what Guinn had to say about the relations between Japan and Germany during this period. I thought I knew the contents of the Zimmerman telegram fairly well but didn't know about the overtures Germany had made to Japan, including offering them California while Mexico took back the remaining border states.
I wish Guinn had said more about Villa's death, which is covered in a single sentence in the epilogue of this book. The last chapter also explains how Columbus remains divided about the Raid and its meaning even today.
Guinn's narrative goes beyond the Punitive Expedition. He details violence all along the border, including the frequent and bloody clashes in Texas. Guinn is particularly damning of the imperiousness of an American foreign policy that looked down on Mexico as a poor and illiterate neighbor, and of Texas Rangers who looked more like members of the Ku Klux Klan than protectors of the innocent.
I was particularly interested in what Guinn had to say about the relations between Japan and Germany during this period. I thought I knew the contents of the Zimmerman telegram fairly well but didn't know about the overtures Germany had made to Japan, including offering them California while Mexico took back the remaining border states.
I wish Guinn had said more about Villa's death, which is covered in a single sentence in the epilogue of this book. The last chapter also explains how Columbus remains divided about the Raid and its meaning even today.
Jennifer Bohnhoff was born in Las Cruces, New Mexico, not far from the border with Mexico. She now lives near Albuquerque, where she taught High School and Middle School History and English. Her novel, A Blaze of Poppies, is the story of a female rancher in Southern New Mexico who is caught up in the Pancho Villa Raid and goes overseas as a nurse when America enters World War I.
