New Mexico
110 years since ‘Pancho’ Villa’s attack on Columbus, New Mexico
It is the 110th anniversary of Mexican revolutionary Gen. Francisco “Pancho” Villa’s attack on Columbus, New Mexico, on March 9, 1916.
The “Battle of Columbus,” as the raid is also known, was a pivotal moment in U.S.-Mexico border history and the first foreign ground invasion of the continental U.S. since 1812.
Camp Furlong Day
Pancho Villa State Park will commemorate the history surrounding Pancho Villa’s 1916 raid on the Village of Columbus on Saturday, March 14, during its Camp Furlong Day activities.
The annual event offers visitors an opportunity to explore the site where U.S. and Mexican history collided, shaping military strategy, border relations and life in southern New Mexico for generations.
Park visitors can participate in ranger-led tours and view exhibits highlighting Camp Furlong’s role during the Villa Raid.
Special guest presentations:
- At 10 a.m., historian Glenn Minuth will present, “The Importance of Cootes Hill on the Raid on Columbus.”
- At 1 p.m., Minuth returns with, “Mexican Death Train: The Santa Ysabel Massacre.”
- At 2 p.m., historian Mike Anderson will present, “Tracks Through History: The Story of the El Paso and Southwestern Railroad.”
The Cabalgata Fiesta de Amistad includes the Memorial Ride from the border into Columbus, recognized as Luna County’s longest horse parade. Festivities continue in the downtown plaza with mariachis, folklorico dancers, and community gatherings honoring the shared cultural history of the border region.
Pancho Villa State Park is located at 228 W. Highway 9 in Columbus, New Mexico, approximately 30 miles south of Deming via Highway 11 or 70 miles west of Santa Teresa via Highway 9.
All activities are free and open to the public. Visitors are encouraged to arrive early. For details, visit www.emnrd.nm.gov/spd/find-a-park/pancho-villa-state-park/ or call 575-531-2711.
Pancho Villa’s raid on Columbus, New Mexico
Here is an article by Chris Roberts that originally ran in the El Paso Times on Nov. 7, 2010.
COLUMBUS, N.M. — A moonless night of mayhem in 1916 that left hundreds of Mexican revolutionaries and a smaller number of U.S. cavalry soldiers and civilians dead opened wounds that still haunt this small border town nearly a century later.
Francisco “Pancho” Villa’s raid on Columbus began just after 4 a.m. on March 9. It was the last major invasion of the continental United States by a foreign armed force, according to New Mexico state historians.
Eight U.S. soldiers were killed in the fight and another died later of his injuries. Ten Columbus residents and one Mexican national died. Villa lost nearly 200 men, and about 75 more were killed as soldiers chased them back over the border immediately after the raid.
“It was kind of a rag-tag army, if you want to call it an army,” said Richard Dean, a Columbus historian whose great-grandfather was killed in the raid. “Many of them were peons. He could have wiped Columbus off the map in 30 minutes if he had an army.”
A hotel was torched by the Villistas, which turned out to be a significant tactical blunder. The fire spread to a grocery store and two smaller buildings. The town was looted.
In response, U.S. officials formed the “Punitive Expedition,” which was headed by then-Brig. Gen. John “Black Jack” Pershing. Pershing’s mission was to enter Mexico; hunt down the raiders, particularly Villa; and bring them back to face trial.
Columbus’ economic losses from the raid were quickly offset as thousands of soldiers arrived for the expedition, which ended on Feb. 5, 1917. The garrison was not abandoned until 1924.
The expedition allowed the U.S. military to test its newfangled mechanized vehicles in battle conditions just before the nation entered World War I. That included Curtiss JN-3 “Jenny” biplanes, four-wheel drive trucks, Dodge touring cars and Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
“The first batch (of eight Jennys) were out of commission in the first month,” said John Read, a heritage educator at Pancho Villa State Park in Columbus. “One was brought down by a dust devil.”
Expedition soldiers faced harsh conditions in the Chihuahuan desert — dehydrated by day and frozen at night. Most infantry soldiers wore canvas and glass goggles to protect their eyes.
“The dust down there was just horrendous,” Dean said.
Soldiers went as far as Parral, Mexico, but never found Villa. In the immediate aftermath of the raid, 14 wounded Villistas were captured, Dean said, with only six surviving. Five were hanged in Deming a few months after the raid. One received executive clemency, escaping the hangman’s noose with a life sentence.
Accounts of the raid have been numerous and often conflicting. And the perceptions of Villa run from national hero to terrorist, depending on who is speaking.
What follows is a re-creation of the raid drawn from historical reference works with heavy reliance on the Army’s staff ride, a teaching tool based largely on reports from the time. Other sources include interviews with Columbus historians, relatives of people involved, articles from the El Paso Times and other publications, and a New Mexico park service movie capturing oral histories from some who were there at an early age.
Trouble brews
In early 1916, Columbus was a growing town of about 400 residents. It had a school with 12 grades, three hotels, a bank, two mercantile stores, a grocery store, two drugstores, a hardware store, two churches, a lumberyard, a blacksmith shop and restaurants.
The modern age had arrived, represented by a Ford automobile dealership and a Coca-Cola bottling plant.
With revolution raging to the south, rumors of attack had become common. Townspeople prepared by conducting drills, finding the shortest route from home to the town’s more substantial brick and adobe buildings where family members could find a measure of safety.
The U.S. government, taking defensive measures, had established military camps along the Southwest border.
In Columbus, Army tents for enlisted soldiers in the 13th Cavalry were lined up across the railroad tracks from the town’s southern border. Col. Herbert J. Slocum, who lived in Columbus with most of the officers, had about 350 soldiers in camp.
Slocum was prevented from sending soldiers into Mexico by presidential policy. So, he and his soldiers scoured newspapers, questioned travelers from Mexico, pumped Mexican border guards and even paid a Mexican cowboy to find Villa’s force and report its location. Unfortunately for Slocum, most of his intelligence indicated Villa was moving away from Columbus.
In fact, Villa had targeted the town.
Villa’s motives are not entirely clear. However, historians agree that a number of factors likely contributed to his resolve.
President Woodrow Wilson had allowed Villa rival Venustiano Carranza to use U.S. railroads for troop transport. Carranza’s forces had traveled through Columbus into Arizona and on to Agua Prieta, Mexico, to hand Villa a significant defeat — one of many he was suffering at the time.
“It was a huge blow to his ego,” Dean said.
Some historians believe Villa was trying to provoke war between Carranza’s Mexico and the United States.
Villa felt he had protected U.S. residents and businesses in northern Mexico and saw Wilson’s move as a betrayal. And, after the mounting losses, Villa was reportedly low on provisions — weapons, ammunition, horses, food and other supplies.
Personal revenge may even have played a role. Sam Ravel, who owned a hotel and a general store in Columbus, allegedly accepted money from a Villa agent in 1913 for arms and ammunition. When Wilson banned the sale of those items to Mexican nationals, according to some accounts, Ravel kept the money without supplying the merchandise.
Whatever his motivation, Villa sent two spies to walk the streets of Columbus the day before the raid. They informed Villa his army would face only about 30 to 50 soldiers.
“Pancho Villa would never have done this if he had the correct intelligence,” Dean said.
The attack begins
Under clear skies, the Mexican soldiers prepared to attack. A sliver of moon set just after 11 p.m. on March 8, leaving only faint starlight to illuminate the desert landscape.
Reports vary as to whether Villa himself crossed into the United States, but most accounts put him at a staging area a little more than a mile southwest of town.
On horseback, nearly 500 Villistas approached the town from the west, north and south in a pincer movement.
At about 4:15 a.m., 1st Lt. John P. Lucas, who lived on the southwest side of town, heard the beat of horse hooves through his open window.
“I looked out, and although the night was very dark, I saw a man wearing a black sombrero riding towards camp,” Lucas reported. “From the sounds I heard, it seemed to me that he had quite a few companions and that my house was completely surrounded.”
Pvt. Fred Griffin, guarding regimental headquarters a stone’s throw from Lucas’ house, had spotted the raiders and called for them to halt. They shot him in the stomach. Griffin killed his assailant and two others. That commotion drew the Mexican soldiers away from Lucas’ house.
“I … have always felt that I owed him a great debt of gratitude,” Lucas wrote. “Unfortunately, he was killed.”
Officer of the day Lt. James P. Castleman, at his post as the staff duty officer, heard the gunshots and grabbed his pistol. As he wheeled around the corner of the duty shack, he collided with a Villista. Castleman fired first and killed the raider.
A barrage of gunfire erupted.
The main Villista attack moved into the center of town. Another wave hit the Army barracks and stables to the south. The rest attacked through residences and businesses on the north end of town.
At the barracks, Sgt. Michael Fody rounded up about 25 troopers armed with Springfield rifles. Castleman arrived and took command.
“On account of the darkness it was impossible to distinguish anyone, and for a moment I was under the impression that we were being fired upon by some of our own regiment,” Fody wrote. “The feeling was indescribable and when I heard Mexican voices opposite us, you can imagine my relief.”
Castleman directed his troops to the southeast side of Columbus and set up a firing line pointed back through the center of town.
Meanwhile, Lucas, with two of his gunners, broke into the locked weapons shed and armed themselves with 1916 Benet-Mercie “machine rifles.”
Lucas set up the guns at strategic locations on the south side of Columbus, firing northwest, also into the center of town. The two-man guns were unreliable and jammed at first.
Lucas and Castleman had set up a crossfire that raked the downtown area. By starlight, however, they could barely see.
The Villistas were all over the town, looting stores and looking for Ravel, whom Villa believed had cheated him. Ravel was in El Paso recovering from dental surgery.
Unable to find Ravel at his store, the Villistas went to a hotel he owned just north of Lucas’ gun emplacements. They killed some of its occupants and set it on fire. The fire spread to three other buildings, which illuminated the Villistas’ movements. The soldiers now were firing with deadly accuracy. For more than two hours, the fight continued until the Villistas began a retreat as the sun began to glow in the east.
Trish Long may be reached at tlong@elpasotimes.com.
Native Vote 2026
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A Laguna Pueblo woman is the front runner to be New Mexico’s next governor.
Shortly after polls closed Tuesday night, Deb Haaland was declared the winner over Bernalillo County district attorney Sam Bregman in the state’s semi-open Democratic Party primary. As of 11:00 p.m., Haaland carried support from 72% of the Democratic primary voters to Bregman’s 28%, according to unofficial results from the New Mexico Secretary of State.
“We’re showing everyone that a better future in New Mexico is possible,” she told supporters gathered in Albuquerque’s historic Old Town Plaza. “New Mexicans want a leader who will stand up for working people, and who is ready to take on Donald Trump. I proudly accept your nomination as a Democratic nominee.”
Haaland spoke for 13 minutes, at times through a scratchy throat that required her to pause for water breaks. “Excuse me, I’ve been talking with voters all day,” she said while grabbing a water bottle before hitting her campaign stump notes on affordability, health care and public safety.
She will face Republican Gregg Hull, a former mayor from suburban Rio Rancho that won his party’s three-way primary with 47% of the vote, according to unofficial results from the New Mexico Secretary of State.
Haaland will be the Democratic Party nominee in a state dominated at every level by Democrats, and is expected to be heavily favored in the general election. With that insight she said her campaign message does translate to Republicans and Independent voters.
“We want our kids to thrive. We want our kids to have a quality, public education. We want every New Mexican to have health care. Everybody wants to feel safe in their neighborhoods, and everybody wants to be able to afford to put a hot meal on their table every night and have a roof over their children’s heads,” she said. “Those issues transcend whatever political spectrum we’re trying to slice and dice people into.”
Shortly after the race was called, Haaland campaign staff, major donors, surrogates, and their families walked from a building on the west side of Albuquerque’s Old Town Plaza to the historic plaza core, where the Haaland campaign had set up a stage and reserved the entire plaza for its victory celebration.
“We are now witnessing history in the making,” New Mexico state Rep. Derrick Lente (Sandia Pueblo) said to supporters immediately after Haaland was declared the winner.
Denise Wilie (Dine) also joined the celebration of Haaland’s victory. Wilie said she worked on get-out-the-vote efforts with the Native American Voters Alliance in McKinley County.
“It just is so exhilarating to even think about, a woman and a Pueblo woman,” she said. “Indigenous all the way, is how I feel. I’m like, yes, let’s get more of our voices.”
Haaland was introduced by her two sisters and walked to the stage escorted by a mariachi band.
Speaking to reporters after the event Haaland reflected on voting for a Pueblo woman (herself) for governor.
“I got emotional, quite frankly, when I went to vote for myself because you do that when you’re a candidate,” she said. “We’ve never had a Native American governor in New Mexico. We’re a multicultural state. I think representation matters, especially in a political era such as this one. So, I’m really proud and honored to carry on the legacy of my ancestors, who worked so incredibly hard to make sure that I had a place here today.”
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When a famly unexpectedly loses a loved one, or has someone go missing, the details of what comes next can be overwhelming.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – When a famly unexpectedly loses a loved one, or has someone go missing, the details of what comes next can be overwhelming.
But they don’t have to do it alone thanks to an organization helping New Mexico families with some of those burdens.
Watch the video above for more.
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