George S. Patton - Punitive Expedition Into Mexico and First U.S. Motorized Military Attack

Punitive Expedition Into Mexico and First U.S. Motorized Military Attack

In 1915 Patton was assigned to border patrol duty with the 8th Cavalry Regiment, arriving at Fort Bliss, Texas in September of that year. In March, 1916 forces of Pancho Villa crossed into New Mexico and raided the border town of Columbus. The violence in Columbus killed several Americans. In response, the U.S. launched a punitive expedition against Villa, into Mexico. Patton's enthusiasm for this mission caused him to be named as personal aide to General Pershing for the expedition. This would mean Patton would have some role in organizing the effort.

Patton soon found a direct way to way to enter the fighting. He led an expedition that was ostensibly for the purpose of foraging to obtain corn (maize) for the horses in the remaining force, but Patton used it also to hunt outlaws at their rancheros. Since Patton's group traveled in the only three automobiles employed by the Pershing forces, this small foray eventually resulted in the United States' first motorized vehicle attack. On May 14, 1916, then-Lieutenant Patton with ten soldiers of the 6th Infantry Regiment and two civilian guides, employed three Dodge Brothers Model 30 touring cars, engaged the opposing forces. A search for Julio Cárdenas, at a ranch in San Miguelito, Sonora, Mexico (with the troops dismounting from the cars and fighting on foot) discovered three initially mounted Villista fighters, trying to escape. These were later determined to be a Villista private, captain, and the leader "General" Julio Cárdenas, commander of Villa's personal bodyguard.

All of the Villista men were killed in the ensuing firefight. All were shot at by Patton at some point, who first knocked down a horse under a rider at close range with a pistol shot, causing that rider to be killed shortly after by fire from several men, including Patton. At the end, all the bodies had multiple wounds, and with four or five men in the American force firing at the same time, it was impossible to attribute any killed Villista to any one trooper. Cárdenas, it was later determined, was killed last, by that time fleeing on foot, about 200 yards from the hacienda. Patton reported that one of the civilian guides, an ex-Villista named E.L. Holmdahl, now working for the Americans, fired the last shot that killed the already-multiply-wounded Cárdenas, who at the end of the fight had started to surrender, then continued firing.

Tied over the hoods of the three vehicles, the three bodies were brought back from San Miguelito to Pershing at his headquarters in Dublán. For this action, as well as Patton's affinity for the Colt Peacemaker, Pershing titled Patton his "bandito". Patton's success in this regard gained him a level of fame in the United States, and he was featured in newspapers across the nation.