100 years ago on March 9 Pancho Villa, in apparent retaliation for the Wilson Administration's allowance to Carrenza to transport his troops on U.S. railways in Texas so that they could be more efficiently deployed against Villa, raided Columbus New Mexico. The border was already tense and, in response, President Wilson authorized the deployment of U.S. troops into northern Mexico against Villa.
The entire historical episode is one of my favorite of American history and it seems to me, as a student of it, to have been a quite recent event. It amazes me that it's now 100 years since the entire thing occurred and, indeed, in spite of a century having (over half of that during my lifetime) it is really recognizable recent history in a lot of ways.
The Punitive Expedition inspired this blog. I've let the anniversary of the opening event slip by me in some ways, or I would have written a long text on it. But, even at that, I am going to note it here, and by linking in a series of posts this week that cover it. Some are academic, some not, but they're all worth reading.
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