Chasing Villa: The Last Campaign of the U.S. Cavalry

by Frank Tompkins

On March 9, 1916 the border town of Columbus, New Mexico was attacked by forces under the command of the Mexican revolutionary, Pancho Villa. Eighteen Americans were killed and a number of buildings were burned to the ground before the U.S. Cavalry, inflicting heavy losses, drove Villa and his mounted band back into Mexico. Frank Tompkins, a Major in the U.S. Cavalry at the time, led the counter-attack against Villa’s mounted men on March 9th, and was with General John "Black Jack" Pershing during the subsequent year-long "Punitive Expedition" that sought to capture the elusive Villa in Mexico. The Columbus Raid and Punitive Expedition proved to be the last major campaign of the U.S. Cavalry. At the same time it presaged the more modern military techniques that would soon be employed by American forces in World War I. First published in 1934 and long out of print, "Chasing Villa" is a sound and literate record of milestone events in Western history, military history, the Mexican revolution, and the last of the horse cavalry.

270 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1996

Reviews

[William J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reads somewhere between a military after action report and a travelogue. Colonel Tompkins does an excellent job describing the actions of the cavalry in the Punitive Expedition. He includes chapter about the use of airplanes and motor vehicles. Good reading about a historic episode that is treated like a footnote in history.