Pancho Villa’s Raid and Pancho Villa State Park

Luna County · NM Highway 9 and NM Highway 11 -- at Pancho Villa State Park, west gate

(SIDE 1) Francisco “Pancho” Villa’s Mexican revolutionary forces attacked Columbus, New Mexico, before dawn on March 9, 1916, killing eight U.S. soldiers and ten civilians. Approximately 100 Villistas were killed. The U.S. responded with the Punitive Expedition led by General John J. ”Black Jack” Pershing into Mexico in pursuit of Villa. Villa was never captured by U.S. forces. Historians still debate the motives behind Villa’s raid. (SIDE 2) Pancho Villa State Park interprets the March 9, 1916, raid by the forces of Mexican revolutionary Francisco “Pancho” Villa on the village of Columbus, New Mexico. The park’s Exhibit Hall houses artifacts and displays pertaining to the raid and General John J. “Black Jack” Pershing’s Punitive Expedition into Mexico in pursuit of Villa. The park’s campground and botanical garden offer excellent birding and wildlife viewing.

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Marker data: Official Scenic Historic Markers program, New Mexico Historic Preservation Division, Department of Cultural AffairsMarker texts come from the Division’s published marker spreadsheet, reproduced with the Division’s written permission. Where that spreadsheet records a coordinate, the pin is the Division’s own; where it records only a highway and mile marker, an address, a junction or a named place, or where its coordinate contradicts its own highway, mile and county, the pin is ours, resolved on public road and place data and marked approximate.

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Susan Parks (1895-1981)under 1 mi
Pancho Villa State Parkunder 1 mi
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