Patton and the Mexican Gunslingers,During the early 1900’s Mexico was in a state of turmoil. 

Patton and the Mexican Gunslingers,During the early 1900’s Mexico was in a state of turmoil.  The country was controlled by dictator Venustiano Carranza, and revolutionaries Pancho Villa and Emilliano Zapata were desperatly trying to remove him from power.  The United States decided to back Carranza, sending his regime weapons and financial aid.On march 9, 1916 Pancho Villa and his men crossed the border and attack the army base at Columbus, NM.  In response to the raid President Woodrow Wilson ordered 5,000 men to be sent into Mexico to hunt down and capture Pancho Villa.The leader of the expedition was Gen. John “Blackjack” Pershing.  One day a young lieutenant named George S. Patton met with Pershing, begging him to be chosen for the expedition.  Pershing asked him why he was worthy of being chosen, and Patton responded, “because I want to go more badly than anyone else”.  Pershing responded that was good enough, and recent West Point graduate found himself crossing the Mexican boarder.On May 14th, 1916 Lt. Patton and his men entered a lone hacienda deep within Northern Mexico.  He was immediatly met with a hail of gunfire and bullets.  Patton drew his colt single action army revolver, loaded with five rounds to prevent accidental discharges, and returned fire.  His first shot kills a mounted horesmen while his second downs another mounted Mexican fighter.  The other bandits scramble for cover as Patton and his men trade fire with the Mexican fighters.  Patton and his men drive back the bandits, and all are gunned down when they try to make their escape.  Amoung the killed are Capt. Julio Cardenas, a close aide to Pancho Villa.  Patton ordered the bodies to be tied to his vehicles, and he returned back to base in triumph.Pancho Villa would never be captured.  Villa retired after Carranze was assasinated by one of his military commanders.  Villa had many enemies after the war and in 1919 he was ambushed and shot dead while visiting the town of Parral.Gen. George “Blackjack” Pershing was recalled from Mexico to lead the American Expeditionary Force in WWI.  In 1919 he was promoted to “General of the Armies”, the highest military rank in the United States.  Only George Washington had held the title before.The gunfight at the hacienda was Patton’s first combat experience. He would go on to fight in WWI, and become a military legend for his exploits as a general during World War II. He would die in a car crash in occupied Germany in 1945. -- source link

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