90 years ago today Columbus, N.M., was Ground Zero.

It was the first attack on U.S. soil since the War of 1812, and there wouldn't be another one until Sept. 11, 2001 (the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor in 1941 was on a U.S. territory, not a state).

While much of the world was preoccupied with the Great War raging in Europe on March 9, 1916, the United States was roused from its isolationist slumber by a daring predawn raid on Columbus, N.M., by Pancho Villa and some 500 to 600 Mexican irregulars.

The town was burned and looted, and 18 Americans, mostly civilians, were killed, while 70 to 75 of Villa's band lost their lives. Here's a brief history from New Mexico State University's Web site.

Why did Villa do it? There's speculation Villa was retaliating for a United States tilt toward Villa's enemies in the revolutionary civil war then raging in Mexico.

Others say Villa was exacting vengeance for being burned in an arms deal with U.S. traders (sold blanks instead of live ammunition).

Or was it a plot hatched by Germans seeking to destabilize the American Southwest?

Some speculate Villa wasn't there at all, but the raid was conducted by an underling who wanted to embarrass him.

Nevertheless, the runup to the raid and certainly its aftermath -- when Gen. John J. "Black Jack" Pershing assembled several thousand troops in Columbus for an ultimately futile "punitive" raid into Mexico and months-long futile search for Villa himself -- reverberate to this day.

What happened in and around Columbus isn't just history, but accounts for some of the hard feelings that exist today on both sides of the border.

And as we've mentioned on this site before, there are some eerie and troubling parallels between the hunt for Villa and today's search for Osama bin Laden.

Columbus itself is marking the event today with speeches and a re-enactment of the Villa raid, according to the Deming Headlight.

For an interesting fictional take on the whole era, check out Clifford Irving's "Tom Mix and Pancho Villa" -- an embellishment of the actual relationship between the Mexican revolutionary and the young cowpoke who would go on to be a silent-movie star. The 1982 book is out of print but you can still find it at one local library branch (South Valley).

Also out of print is John S.D. Eisenhower's history titled "Intervention!: The United States and the Mexican Revolution 1913-1917" which can be found at the Lomas Tramway, North Valley, Taylor Ranch and Wyoming library branches.

Your Name:

Your Email Address:

Rate this article:
Poor Great

Comment:

BOLD

"QUOTE"

UNDERLINE