Friction between the United States and Mexico is a long saga that sometimes erupted into military conflict. The General and the Jaguar by Eileen Welsome chronicles a particular flashpoint in that relationship. The General is John J. Pershing, the Jaguar is Pancho Villa and the story is the 1916 American invasion of Mexico to capture Villa and to disperse his followers.
A fairly quiescent period in the relationship existed during the 35 years of relative stability under Mexican President Porfirio Díaz. That peace was shattered after disputed 1910 presidential election spawned a revolt that dispatched the Diaz’ regime. Governmental chaos during the subsequent three-way civil war was only partially relieved by the victory of Venustiano Carranza as his vanquished rivals, Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa, resorted to guerrilla warfare. Whereas President Taft adopted a hands-off attitude, his successor was less restrained. Villa saw the Wilson Administration’s October 1915 recognition of the Carranza government as a betrayal and vented his wrath against the United States. During a raid on a train in Northern Mexico, Villa’s men removed 16 Americans from the train, lined them up and executed them. Tension were heightened when a riot in El Paso involving U. S. Army troops resulted in injuries to 25 Mexicans.
Seeking an accessible target for a retaliatory raid, Villa set his eyes on Columbus, New Mexico a border town housing four troops of U. S. Army soldiers (totaling about 240 men). During the trip north Villa killed William Nye Corbet and Ed Wright, two Americans with whom he had been friendly, and took Wright’s wife, Maud, hostage. The attack on the sleeping town began at 4 a.m. on March 9, 1916. Swarming into Columbus in four waves, Villa’s men held the initiative until being driven back by the counterattacking soldiers leaving 67 to 78 Mexicans, eight U. S. soldiers and ten civilians dead.
Although President Wilson was generally peace-loving, he was also a politician who would not risk appearing weak during an election year. Calls for revenge left him no choice but to authorize a punitive expedition. After weighing options up to and including an all-out invasion of Mexico (as his predecessor, James Polk, had done almost 70 years before), the Administration promised that “An adequate force will be sent at once in pursuit of Villa with the object of capturing him and putting a stop to his forays. This can and will be done in entirely friendly aid of the constituted authorities in Mexico and with scrupulous respect for the sovereignty of that Republic.” (p. 158)
Some officers of the Punitive Expedition had been seasoned in the Spanish American War and Philippine insurrection. Many, including its commander Black Jack Pershing and his aide George S. Patton, would go on to high command in the World Wars to follow.
The American force of infantry and cavalry, trucks and reconnaissance aircraft began their 500-mile journey in search of Villa and his band on March 15. As would happen to Twenty-first Century American warriors in Islamic, lands rough terrain, cold weather, and local resistance kept the Jaguar out of reach. Torn between a shared distaste for Villa and the need to defend Mexican honor, the Carranza government denied the American’s permission to use Mexican railways. Battles with Villistas at Parral on April 12 and Government forces at Carrizal on June 21 demonstrated the challenges of pursuit and the dangers of mission creep as the Expedition plunged deeper into Mexico. By February 5, 1917 the Americans returned to New Mexico with Villa weakened but not apprehended. Mexican resentment over the execution of seven captured Columbus raiders was assuaged by subsequent verdicts of not guilty and executive clemency.
The Mexican-American hostilities provided a pressure point that Germany attempted to exploit in order to keep the United States out of the Great War then raging in Europe. Against this background the otherwise seemingly ludicrous Zimmerman Telegram offering German assistance to Mexico to regain its lost territories in the American Southwest seems to be a much less Quixotic quest. The tale of the Punitive Expedition invites contrast and comparison with other American manhunts, such as in the earlier Indian Wars and more recent engagements. The book itself is well written and holds the reader’s interest. Author Eileen Welsome draws on various sources, including the memories of hostage Maud Wright. Welsome displays a talent of keeping the characters straight, even for readers unfamiliar with Mexican history. The General and the Jaguar is a worthwhile read for War History Network members with an interest in the complexity of issues influencing America- Mexican relations and America’s entry into the World War I.
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