Pancho Villa's Raid on The United States - Visiting Pancho Villa State Park and Columbus, NM

No better way to spend my lunch than eating and watching Steve educate me on the southwest US. Thanks, Steve!

As I understand it, my grandfather was in the cavalry unit led by Pershing that pursued Pancho Villa into Mexico. He was a veterinarian and cared for the unit’s horses. He also was deployed to France during WWI. He also served as a veterinarian for the cavalry’s horses there.

My husband and I used to take all our friends and family to see this park. I've been there multiple times. It's amazing to me that it's so forgotten because it changed the way we do war. I give speeches in Toastmasters about the park, most people love it, but they have never heard this history. Thanks for the drone shots. I've visited all the park and the museum, but the drone shots make it more interesting.

Another great video. This one is particularly interesting to me. My Uncle Loyd Lord was a member of a cavalry unit in Cleveland, Tennessee in 1916 and was called up to participate in the excursion called the Mexican Expedition searching for Pancho Villa in Mexico. His outfit took a train to El Paso, Texas and then went to Nogales, Arizona where he was encamped for about 16 months. Apparently that part of Arizona near the Mexican border was very fertile, covered with grass land and tree areas and had ample water at that time. My Uncle returned to Cleveland, Tennessee and reported the lush picture to the family and then, one by one, other Uncles and Aunts followed by my grandparents all moved out to Arizona in the 1930's. Ironically the only one that did not move to the Sonoran desert was the uncle who first went to that part of the country. Thank you for the effective descriptions you included of the event and places. In the late 1980's I asked an elderly Uncle Calvin Lord why the family moved from Tennessee to Arizona and he said, "It was that damn Pancho Villa". As you might expect I was very confused with that answer but now you also know the reason.

My grandfather was in the Illinois National Guard at this time and was with Black Jack Pershing's Army chasing Villa all over the Southwest and Mexico. He later served in France during WW1.

My grandfather rode with Pancho Villa. I never got to meet my grandfather, he passed away before I was born. He did live up to the age of 116

You are a great Narrator ! . Thank you for bringing these stories of American History to us. - British Gal, living in Wyoming :-)

Pancho Villa, who's real name was José Doroteo Arango Arámbula Is considered a hero by many in Mexico but in fact he was a ruthless coward and murderer. Just four months prior to his raid on Columbus, New Mexico he and his gang committed an act of mass slaughter in Sonora, Mexico. On December 2, 1915 he and his gang murdered 74 men including the priest in the village of San Pedro de la Cueva. Most people are unaware of this terrible massacre that he committed and I tell people about it whenever I can. One of those victims of this horrible crime was my Great Grandfather Jose Juan Rodriguez. I suggest you Google "massacre at San Pedro de la Cueva" to learn more. There is even a New York times article that was written in 1981 regarding an opposition to a statue of Villa that was placed in Tucson, Arizona.

Seeing the destruction in town from fire must have been very disturbing to General Pershing. Only about seven months earlier he lost his wife and three daughters when his home caught fire at the Presidio of San Francisco. Only his young son survived.

Really well put together video between the storytelling and b-roll. The park looks amazing actually between the museum and desert scenery. It's nice to see the buildings covered to help preserve the adobe.

“The General and the Jaguar” is a good book on General Pershing and Pancho Villa. Another great video! Thank you!

Neat story, Steve. My grandpa served under Pershing on the Mexican border. Horse- or mule-drawn artillery. He didn't see action, though.

There is a picture of a Mexican Revolutionary at our favorite Mexican Restaurant in South Carolina. I now know that this person was Pancho Villa because it is the exact same image that you had in your video! Thanks for the educational info!

My uncle George Pennington and aunt Marie lived in Columbus. We visited them in the late '50s, when I first heard about Villa's raid. They died there in 1966.

I visited there about 30 years ago as a kid and went to a huge Flea Market just across the border in Mexico. I remember my sister and myself exploring an open area near the flea market and we were finding old rifle cartridges and some even still in the stripper clips. We found various objects lying just under the surface that revealed significant military activity there at one time. It was a pretty interesting visit.

I learned so much about Pancho Villa from this video. Thanks for doing all the research and presenting.

Great video about an almost forgotten event. One story that I read about the US Army invasion of Mexico dealt with camels. Some Quartermaster decided that it would be smart to use camels as pack animals in the desert areas that the Army was going. Unfortunately, no one researched camels. There were more problems with the camels then advantages. After a few weeks of doing more fighting with the camels than Pancho Villa, the Army let the camels loose. There were camels roaming around southern New Mexico and Arizona until the 1920’s. This did give the US Army their first use of mechanized vehicles. General Pershing remembered the advantages of trucks instead of horses ( or camels) in WWI. The US was the first country to use mechanized vehicles in WWI.

Thank you for including the reason for park name. It was the first comment out of my mouth when video started. Excellent video as usual thank you.

"7 captured, 6 executed": do we know why the seventh was spared, and what ultimately happened to him? A very minor detail, I admit, but it is curious.

Interesting! Some big names involved in this story. A friend told me how her great-grandmother (who grew up in Chihuahua, Mexico) recalled being hidden away as a young girl when Pancho Villa and his men came to their town. The transition to mechanized warfare was huge. The older brother of my English grandfather bailed out on University to repair aircraft engines during WWI. After the war he ran an auto repair business in the UK, and both his son and grandson became engineers in manufacturing. We found pages from a 1915 calendar in one of the sheds when my Mother-in-law moved from her parent's farm; they were from a bank and had black and white photos of early prototype tanks. Very weird looking!