Battle of Columbus ( 1916 ) The Battle of Columbus , the Burning of Columbus or the Columbus Raid , began as a raid conducted by Pancho Villa ' s Division of the North on the small United States border town of Columbus , New Mexico in March 1916 . The raid escalated into a full - scale battle between Villistas and the United States Army . Villa himself led the assault , only to be driven back into Mexico by elements of the 13th Cavalry . The attack angered Americans and President Woodrow Wilson ordered the Pancho Villa Expedition in which the US Army invaded Mexico in an unsuccessful attempt to capture General Villa . Battle . After the 1915 Battle of Celaya , where Villa sustained his greatest defeat , the Division of the North was in shambles , wandering around northern Mexico foraging for supplies . Lacking the military supplies , money , and munitions he needed in order to successfully pursue his war against Mexican President Venustiano Carranza , Villa planned the raid and camped his army of an estimated 500 horsemen outside of Palomas on the Mexican side of the border . The reasons for the raid have never been established . At their camp , Villa and his men waited for his returning patrols . After the return of Villa ' s patrols , who told him that only about thirty soldiers garrisoned Columbus , Villa moved north . He launched a two - pronged attack on the town on March 9 when most of the town ' s population was asleep , along with most of the garrison . After they entered the town at 04 : 15 , shouting " " ¡ Viva Villa ! " " ¡ Viva México ! " " and other phrases , the townspeople awoke to an army of Villista cavalry burning their settlement and looting their homes . The Camp Commander , Colonel Herbert Slocum had been advised the day before that Villa and his soldiers were on the move against Columbus . This warning was given by Juan Favela , the foreman of a ranch near Palomas ( 3 miles south ) , who had seen them headed north the day before the attack . The warning was ignored . After dismissing Favela , Col . Slocum left the Camp for Deming ( 32 miles north ) to catch the train into El Paso to attend an " officers call " . Despite being taken by surprise , the Americans quickly recovered with the soldiers grabbing a machine gun and their Springfield rifles and running to defensible positions around the Camp . The town ' s garrison consisted of a 330 - strong detachment of the 13th Cavalry . In addition , many of the townspeople were armed with rifles and shotguns . Many residents took refuge in the two story brick schoolhouse . Eighteen of the defenders and nearly eighty of the attackers were killed . Villa ' s men looted many houses and burned them ; fighting civilians that were defending their homes . It is not known if Villa was with the raiding party at any time . To observe the action , Villa , his commanders , and about two dozen other men took up position on Cootes hill overlooking Columbus where some acted as sharpshooters to fire upon the town . The Villistas fought the pursuing American troops and civilians until a bugler sounded the order to retreat . In the absence of Colonel Slocum , the already wounded Major Frank Tompkins led forces which pursued Villa ' s forces into Mexico and inflicted heavy losses on them . Major Tompkins was awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal and the Distinguished Service Cross in 1918 for this action . Aftermath . In spite of Villa proclaiming that the raid was a success by evidence of captured arms and equipment as well as dozens of horses and mules from the town , which included over 300 rifles and shotguns , 80 horses , and 30 mules , the raid was a tactical disaster for him with ill - afforded casualties which numbered over 100 of his force which had consisted of 400 to 500 men . Mexican casualties were confirmed to be at least 67 killed in action plus about 13 more who died from wounds , over 100 non - fatally wounded whom escaped . Six were taken prisoner and tried ; one was acquitted and five were convicted and executed by hanging . The dead Villa soldiers were dragged south of the stockyards , soaked with kerosene and burned . Despite a fight of more than an hour and the burning of several buildings , American casualties were much smaller than Villa ' s . Eight soldiers and ten civilians were killed and six soldiers and two civilians were wounded . The United States government wasted no time in responding . The Battle of Columbus was a direct cause of the Pancho Villa Expedition , a punitive expedition led by General John J . Pershing to track down and capture or kill the attackers , including Villa . In the search , the Army used Jenny airplanes for reconnaissance and trucks to carry supplies ( both firsts for the Army ) . They scoured portions of northern Mexico for six months but Villa was not found . In April 1917 , when the United States entered World War I , and under intense diplomatic pressure from the Mexican government , these troops were withdrawn from Mexico and sent to France . In commemoration of Pancho Villa ' s attack on Columbus , the State of New Mexico Parks Commission established Pancho Villa Historical Park and its museum in Columbus , near Cootes hill across the Palomas road from the site of Camp Furlong .