Enchanting Stories of New Mexico - The 1916 Pancho Villa Raid on Columbus, NM

The Fresh Chile Company Podcast

It was 108 years ago this week that Columbus, New Mexico in Southwestern New Mexico was squarely in the national and international news due to a raid by Mexican soldiers under the command of Pancho Villa in the middle of the night on the town of Columbus just over the border with Mexico and about 30 miles south of Deming, New Mexico. The title of the event is often called the Columbus Raid or the Pancho Villa Raid or the Battle of Columbus. The most important factor to understand this historical event is that there was chaos in the Northern part of Mexico with a large-scale revolution involving at least four different factions and thousands upon thousands of soldiers in the various factions. One of them was called Pancho Villa though he was born by the name José Doroteo Arango on 5 June 1878. From 1870 to about 1920 Mexico was totally absorbed in various factions fighting for control of the country. I could talk for days on all the intrigue but rather I’m going to just hit the high points of the raid and subsequent invasion of Mexico by the United States military under General John Pershing.

Love this Podcast? Check out our website at The Fresh Chile Company. Also, check us out on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube! Follow this link to get 15% off of your next order: Podcast15