Today in Manhunting History -- January 27, 1917: The End of the Punitive Expedition

Two weeks after President Woodrow Wilson told Secretary of War Newton Baker to withdraw the Punitive Expedition, on January 27 General John J. Pershing’s vanguard started north toward the border. Trailing behind the nearly 11,000 troopers were 2,030 Mexican, 533 Chinese, and 197 Mormon refugees. By February 4 the entire column was assembled at Palomas, and the next morning they crossed the border heading towards Columbus. Although the Punitive Expedition failed to capture Villa, Pershing’s men were greeted with enthusiastic cheers as they returned home.

Despite the failure to kill or capture Pancho Villa, he was never again a serious threat to the security of the U.S. border states. Pershing succeeded in scattering Villa’s forces, killing 203, wounding 108, and capturing 19 of the 485 Villistas who had attacked Columbus. By the beginning of April 1916 several members of Wilson’s cabinet were urging the withdrawal of the Punitive Expedition, as it appeared to have accomplished its objectives. Had the U.S. withdrawn from Mexico before the Carrizal incident, it is doubtful whether Villa could have recovered from the losses he had suffered. Even when he reappeared at the head of a reconstructed army in the fall of 1916, he never dared to approach U.S. forces nor to attack Americans in Mexico in spite of his bellicose threats. And although Wilson’s decision to maintain the inactive Expedition in Mexico contributed to Villa’s resurrection by aiding his recruitment, it also forced Villa to go to ground for several months and bought the Carrancista forces time to improve their ability to deal with Villa themselves.

Ironically, two years after the Punitive Expedition’s withdrawal U.S. forces finally engaged and defeated a force personally led by Villa. Pershing’s withdrawal left Villa free to raid anywhere he wished, and he spent the first part of 1918 preying upon isolated villages, increasingly resorting to kidnappings to finance his operations. On June 14, 1919, Villa raided Juarez, and the stray bullets from the ensuing battle with Carrancista forces indiscriminately wounded civilians and soldiers in El Paso. General James B. Erwin, who had commanded the 7th Cavalry during the Punitive Expedition, had his artillery shell Villa’s positions as a cavalry force under Colonel S.R.H “Tommy” Tompkins crossed the border, flanked Villa’s force, and routed them in a mounted pistol charge.

Villa’s strength ebbed and flowed between 1917 and 1920, but he was increasingly checked by competent Carrancista forces. Two months after Carranza died in 1920, Villa decided to lay down his arms, signing a pact with interim President Adolfo de la Huerta that gave him title to a 25,000-acre hacienda at Canutillo, 35 miles south of Parral. Villa was allowed to keep 50 of his Dorados as a personal bodyguard, whose salaries were paid by the Ministry of War. Pancho Villa would not enjoy a long, peaceful retirement, however. Having made innumerable enemies during his days as a bandit and revolutionary, on July 20, 1923, the 46-year old Villa was killed when eight gunmen ambushed his automobile in Parral while returning from the christening of one of his former Dorados’ children.

Pancho Villa evaded capture by Pershing's forces, but never again was a serious threat to the United States.