Aftermath of General "Pancho" Villa's raid of Columbus, 1916

At sunrise on March 9, 1916, Columbus was a smoking ruin. Word of Pancho Villa's attack flashed by telegraph made newspaper headlines across the nation. Here was the first military intrusion into the United States since the War of 1812.

The army outpost at Columbus seethed with activity the next few days as fresh troops arrived by train and the Army prepared to pursue Villa into Mexico in a "Punitive Expedition".

The Expedition was led by General "Black Jack" Pershing, who would later command the Allied forces of World War I. The Punitive Expedition forged south from Columbus on March 16, 1916. The search for Villa would ultimately lead American troops some 400 miles into Mexico, as far south as the city of Parral where, after a skirmish, they turned back to bases in northern Mexico. For 11 months, the 10,000 soldiers of Pershing's Punitive Expedition endured parching heat and bone-chilling cold as they ranged the wild deserts and mountains of the vast state of Chihuahua, tracking the Villista raiders. The Punitive Expedition was the last true cavalry action mounted by the Army, and also was the first US military operation to employ mechanized vehicles.

In what would prove to be preparation for World War I, Pershing experimented in Mexico with the use of automobiles, trucks and airplanes. Fuel for these then new-fangled machines often had to be transported on pack mules.

Pershing succeeded in dispersing the Mexican forces that had attacked Columbus, but the revolutionary General, Pancho Villa, vanished into the Mexican backcountry and was never captured. In February, 1917, the Punitive Expedition returned to the United States where troops, toughened by the rigorous march through Chihuahua, boarded trains that would carry them to other conflicts. Many would see action in World War I.

The military post at Columbus was closed in 1926, and the extensive cactus gardens of Pancho Villa State Park now cover its site. Several buildings dating from the time of Villa's raid still stand in Columbus, including the adobe Hoover Hotel, the restored Columbus railroad depot, and the old US Customs House building.

The Customs House, build in 1902, is now the Pancho Villa State Park Visitor Center, with exhibits describing the history of Pancho Villa, the Columbus raid of 1916, and Pershing's Punitive Expedition.