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Article: Mexico, Punitive Expedition into
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- Dictionary of American History
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MEXICO, PUNITIVE EXPEDITION INTO
MEXICO, PUNITIVE EXPEDITION INTO
(1916
–
1917). On 9 March 1916, Francisco (Pancho) Villa, with 485 men, crossed the Mexican border and raided Columbus, New Mexico, killing eighteen people. The raid was the culmination of a series of border troubles resulting from the Mexican Revolution and possibly from Villa's mistaken belief that President Venustiano Carranza had traded Mexican independence for American military support. In hopes of quelling border unrest and punishing Villa, Brigadier General John J. Pershing was ordered into northern Mexico with a force that eventually numbered over 11,000. Initially, the United States concluded an agreement ...