Pancho Villa's Raid Into Columbus, New Mexico
Friday, July 22, 2011 at 4:28PM A few days ago my girlfriend and I drove to Columbus, New Mexico where we spent three nights at Martha's Place, a delightful Bed & Breakfast Inn. We were intrigued by the village of Columbus after reading an article about the town that had appeared in USA TODAY. The article highlighted the reason that Columbus continues to fascinate locals and visitors alike: On March 9, 1916, a small army under the command of the infamous revolutionary Pancho Villa raided the village of Columbus, just 3 miles north of the Mexican city of Palomas. To this day, historians continue to speculate about the reasons why Pancho Villa decided to attack an American city. Many books have been written about the raid, the most recent being The General and The Jaguar by Eileen Welsome. We purchased a copy at the Columbus Historical Society Museum where we chatted with Richard Dean, a local historian whose great grandfather was killed during the raid. Ms. Welsome relied upon and gave credit to Mr. Dean in the writing of her book. If you happen to be on I-10 near Deming, New Mexico, I highly recommend that you take the 30 mile drive to visit the historic town of Columbus. By all means drop by the Columbus Historical Society Museum and Pancho Villa State Park, directly across the Museum.
Reader Comments (1)
The Pancho villa state park and the museum should be preserved for our generations to know the history.
Chennai Villas