This 1916 RPPC is inscribed 'Burning the Bodies of Dead
Bandits at Columbus, N. M.'
On the reverse: 'Published by W. H.
Horne Co. / El Paso, Texas'
Agua Prieta is a town in the
northeastern corner of the Mexican state of Sonora. It stands on the
U.S.–Mexico border, adjacent to the town of
Douglas, Arizona. The town
played an important role in the Mexican Revolution, a major armed
struggle ca. 1910–20.
In 1915 Francisco "Pancho" Villa made a
night attack on Agua Prieta that was repelled by Mexican Federal forces.
Villa believed that his defeat was made possible with the help of the
United States.
And he was right.
President Wilson had
given his permission for Mexican troops to cross through American
territory in order for them to be able to quickly strengthen the
garrison at Agua Prieta.
About 3,500 fresh, veteran troops,
travelled through Arizona and New Mexico and arrived in the town in
early October, bringing the total number of defenders to 6,500. Villa
was completely unaware of this development. He believed that the town
was defended by only 1,200 soldiers.
Villa decided on a cavalry
charge at night.
When the charge was well under way, two
searchlights illuminated the battlefield.
Entrenched machine
guns, manned by Mexican soldiers, decimated the ‘bandits.’ Land mines
blew many from their horses. The few that managed to make it near the
trenches encountered electrified barbed wire. The charge collapsed and
the attack was a failure.
Villa blamed the Americans.
As a
reprisal, in 1916 Villa attacked, at night, civilians in the small town
of Columbus, New Mexico. William Randolph Hearst owned a large estate in
Mexico, and he demanded protection and punishment.
President
Wilson sent Gen. John J. Pershing and around 5,000 U.S. troops into
Mexico in an attempt to capture Villa.
In spite of Villa
proclaiming that the raid was a success by evidence of captured arms and
equipment from the camp, which included over 300 rifles and shotguns, 80
horses, and 30 mules, the raid was a tactical disaster for him with
ill-afforded casualties, including at least 63 killed in action.
The 63 bodies were dragged south of the stockyards, soaked with kerosene
and burned. This intervention was notable for the U.S. Army's first use
of airplanes (Curtiss Jennys).
Within a year, unable to capture
the ‘bandit,’ the American forces withdrew, and their attention turned
to the Great War and the trenches of Europe.
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