Dead or Alive!
March 9, 1916 marked an important day in United States history when multiple lives were taken and Columbus, New Mexico was burned to the ground as a plot for revenge from mexican leader Pancho Villa. Villa launched the attack against the american military due to the fact they abandoned him in his fight to overthrow corrupt leader Venustiano Carranza. The United States military promised to help Pancho Villa with the leadership problem in Mexico, but quickly rebuked the idea after they started to notice Carranza was partially restoring order back in Mexico. In the early hours of the historic day March 9, 1916, mexican leader Pancho Villa led a group of 500 guerillas onto the battleground at Columbus, New Mexico for revenge on…show more content… The americans obviously did not like Villa and would find comfort if he was captured, but unfortunately he was nowhere to be found. On March 15 1916, only 6 days after the attack on Columbus, President Woodrow Wilson ordered General John J. Pershing to launch an expedition to find Pancho Villa and bring him back dead or alive. Many journalist began to write about Pancho Villa's attack and described it as a ¨hit and run.¨ Many american citizens began to think negatively of Pancho Villa and began to join in rally cries such as ¨Villa-Dead or Alive!¨ After 19 months of endless searching, the United States was still empty-handed and beginning to lose hope. At this time, leader Carranza had begun to feel skeptical about the american military staying in Mexico for that long and ordered to halt operating south of the border. To make matters worse President Wilson ordered Wilson to retreat back to the United States for the beginning of World War I. Villa never stepped in american soil again, but continued his guerilla activities in Northern Mexico until Adolfo de la Huerta made an agreement with Villa stating that Villa will stay out of politics. The government pardoned Villa for all his activities, but he was assassinated 3 years later. Although the United States considers Pancho Villa to be a rebel, the mexican people look at him as a national