Pershing Expedition

Pershing Expedition U.S. military incursion into Mexico (1916–1917). During the civil war between General Francisco ("Pancho") Villa and First Chief General Venustiano Carranza for control of the Mexican Revolution, Villa sought to draw the United States into the conflict when his defeat became apparent. On 9 March 1916 a force of Villistas crossed the border and raided Columbus, New Mexico, sacking the town and killing a number of U.S. citizens.

The U.S. government dispatched Brigadier General John J. Pershing on an expedition into northern Mexico with a force of 6,600 men to seek out Villa. But operating in a hostile country against an elusive figure who knew the local terrain thoroughly proved difficult, and the army searched in vain despite moving more than 300 miles into Mexico. Reinforcements raising the force to 12,000 men were of little help and inspired strengthened protests from the Carranza government.

Pershing remained in Mexico long after it became clear that he would not find Villa, since the United States did not wish to withdraw the force. On 12 April 1916 a clash with Carrancista forces at Parral raised the possibility of war between the two nations. When Mexico proved unable to control the border and further raids occurred, President Woodrow Wilson mobilized the National Guard, concentrating over one hundred thousand troops on the frontier. At length, the United States realized the futility of the expedition, and Pershing withdrew from Mexico in February 1917.

See alsoVilla, Francisco "Pancho" .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Clarence C. Clendenen, The United States and Pancho Villa (1961), and Blood on the Border (1969).

Linda B. Hall and Don M. Coerver, Revolution on the Border: The United States and Mexico, 1910–1920 (1988).

Additional Bibliography

Katz, Friedrich. The Life and Times of Pancho Villa. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1998.

Vanderwood, Paul J., Frank N Samponaro, and Ma Elisa Moreno C. Los rostros de la batalla: Furia en la frontera México-Estados Unidos, 1910–1917. México, D.F.: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes: Grijalbo, 1993.

Welsome, Eileen. The General and the Jaguar: Pershing's Hunt for Pancho Villa: A True Story of Revolution and Revenge. New York: Little, Brown and Co., 2006.

                                             Kenneth J. Grieb