other brilliant victory by capturing Ciudad
Juarez a second time and was hailed as the
“Centaur of the North.” Having undisputed
control of his region, Villa proved himself a
man of the people and embarked on social re-
forms. Foremost among them was the founda-
tion of schools, which the barely literate gen-
eral saw as the salvation of the poor.
Villa scored several more impressive victo-
ries, and the Huerta regime was finally over-
thrown in 1915. But for the next five years,
competing factions across the political spec-
trum fought for control. As Mexico disinte-
grated into violence and chaos, bloodshed and
destruction became rampant and widespread.
At length the so-called Constitutionalists under
Venustiano Carranza assumed power and
claimed control of the entire country. This in-
cluded regions nominally dominated by Villa,
who refused to recognize Carranza and, with
southern rebel leader Emiliano Zapata, formed
their own faction, the Conventionalists. After
much civil strife, the turning point occurred
with Gen. Alvaro Obregon soundly defeated
Villa at the Battle of Celaya in April 1915 and
forced him to retreat to Chihuahua. Thereafter,
Villa’s influence declined. Meanwhile, the
United States, eager to see the fighting stop be-
fore it spilled over the border, also gave diplo-
matic recognition to Carranza’s regime. To un-
derscore U.S. support, Carranza’s forces were
allowed to travel across U.S. territory to Agua
Prieta in November 1915, and their presence
contributed to the rebel defeat there. Villa,
who had previously enjoyed good relations
with the Americans, regarded this move as
treason. He became determined to stage an in-
ternational incident that would force President
Woodrow Wilson to declare war on Mexico,
thereby humiliating Carranza even further.
Through this expedient—or so Villa hoped—
he could dramatically return to power.
At length various groups of Villa men began
indiscriminately murdering Americans work-
ing in northern Mexico. In January 1916, they
stopped a train at Santa Ysabel, Chihuahua,
and executed 17 engineers. When this failed to
achieve the desired result, on March 9, 1916,
Villa led a force of 500 men across the interna-
tional boundary into the sleeping town of
Columbus, New Mexico. The raiders rode
down the streets, shooting, looting, and burn-
ing. Fortunately, Columbus was garrisoned by
400 troopers of the 13th U.S. Cavalry under
Col. Herbert J. Slocum, who after some initial
confusion met the attackers head-on. An in-
tense firefight broke out that lasted until dawn,
when the Mexicans finally retreated. They left
behind 67 bandits’ bodies and 17 dead Ameri-
cans. Soon after, the Americans mounted a
hard-riding pursuit of the invaders, chasing
them back over the boundary and into Mexico.
By the time the shooting stopped, Villa, who
was himself wounded, suffered the loss of 170
soldiers. However, he had achieved his goal.
Within days of the Columbus raid, Presi-
dent Wilson authorized a 10,000-man punitive
expedition under Gen. John J. Pershing to cor-
ner and kill the elusive bandit-general. Strong
columns, aided by aerial reconnaissance, set
out into the Mexican countryside but received
no help from the overwhelmingly unsympa-
thetic populace. Several minor skirmishes
erupted, and in one fight Capt. George S. Pat-
ton slew several of Villa’s aides, but the gen-
eral escaped. Carranza also protested this vio-
lation of Mexican sovereignty and refused to
assist the Americans. After nearly a year of
fruitless marching and riding, the Americans
withdrew back to their country. The attack on
Columbus may have proved tactically disas-
trous, but it heightened Villa’s near-mythical
abilities in the eyes of his countrymen.
Villa subsequently conducted several
minor forays into the United States and
against Constitutionalist forces until 1920,
when President Carranza was murdered in of-
fice. The new provisional president, Adolfo de
la Huerta, then extended an olive branch to
the Centaur, and the two men forged a truce.
In return the former bandit was given a large
ranch and a personal bodyguard in Chi-
huahua, where he lived peacefully for three
years. However, a man of Villa’s dispositionVILLA, PANCHO