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Chapter 10:
Trial and Redemption
"I fight because it is not so hard as to
work." -- rebel soldier to John Reed in Insurgent Mexico [1]
As the Villa-Carranza split grew into open warfare, Holmdahl
was commissioned by General Hill to spy out the location
and strength of Villa's forces remaining in the north. How
much military information was exchanged in the Sheldon Hotel Bar
between the mercenary "friendly enemies" is not known. One sus-
pects there was considerable cooperation and exchanges of infor-
mation between the U.S. soldiers-of-fortune, whichever side they
were on. Information leaks were constant, a fact that Holmdahl was
to learn to his sorrow.
In October 1914, Holmdahl was ordered to organize a small
army to operate behind Villa's lines in Chihuahua. He formed an
alliance with Jorge U. Orozco, a Carranza diplomat who was for-
merly the Mexican Consul in El Paso. Also involved were Jose
Orozco, a former colonel in the "Colorados" and a cousin of
General Pascual Orozco, now in hiding somewhere in the United
States, and Victor L. Ochoa, a Carranza agent.
Ochoa slipped back and forth across the border engaged in plots
and counterplots. Unfortunately for Holmdahl, Ochoa was not very
good at plotting. During the 1890s, he served three years in an
American prison after he was convicted of organizing a revolution
against Diaz while on U.S. soil.
In 1911, involved in another plot against the dictator, he was
caught, tried, and, convicted in a federal court. After serving eigh-
teen months in jail, Ochoa was released at Carranza 's request. After
the revolution ended, on September 20, 1921, he was indicted for
selling narcotics to an agent. To Holmdahl's later sorrow, he was up
to his neck in the current plan. [2]
The Holmdahl junta contacted former Mexican army officers
living in the United States who had previously fought with Diaz,
Madero, Orozco, or Huerta. It really didn't matter. They' and other
volunteers, along with a boxcar loaded with military supplies, were
to go by railway from El Paso, sixty-five miles to the west, and
unload at the small cattle town of Columbus, New Mexico.
There they would dig up a secret arms cache in the desert that
had been buried the previous year by the "Colorados." After pick-
ing up more local recruits, they' planned to cross the border and ren-
dezvous with Carranza troops in the area. The combined force
would then capture the Villa garrison at Palomas, just across the
border from Columbus. This action would cut Villa off from the
west, while a force under General Hill attacked Juarez from the east.
Holmdahl, attempting to recruit a man named Frank Heath,
stated, "I am organizing an army of 20,000 men to invade Mexico
and take Juarez." [3] According to Heath's later testimony, Holmdahl
said he held a commission as colonel in Carranza's army. If the
invasion succeeded, Holmdahl said, it would be the death blow to
Villa. Pancho relied on the Juarez-El Paso connection to sell the cat-
tle, silver, cotton, and copper his "government" had appropriated to
buy arms and ammunition for use against the growing strength of
Carranza. Unfortunately for the Junta, Heath was an undercover
agent for the U.S. Immigration Department.
On October 15, Holmdahl received a telegram from an arms
dealer in Galveston, Texas, stating:
We have option we believe on only stock thirty soft point Winchester
cartridges in Texas option expires tomorrow do you care make us an offer
on the entire lot of seventy five thousand we understand will be no
further
shipments this cartridge until after first year. -- O.R. Seagraves MGT
[4]
Whether or not Holmdahl purchased the ammunition is
unknown, but he probably did because the .30-.30-caliber carbine
was a popular weapon used by many armies during the revolution.
Soft point bullets, however, had been outlawed under international
law following the Geneva Convention of 1906. Soft points were
forbidden because unlike steel-jacketed bullets, they expanded on
impact and broke into pieces or tumbled through a soldier's body,
creating a horrendous wound. During the Mexican revolution, how-
ever, when enemy wounded and prisoners were routinely shot with-
out trial, the use of soft-point bullets was not a matter of concern
to many people.
While there was much top-secret planning and many oaths
sworn to maintain security, the plot, like most of its kind, was
porous. One of the recruits later testified he was afraid of being
killed by either side, so he spilled the plot to Hector Ramos, head of
the Villista secret service in El Paso. Ramos tipped off U.S. officials
who stood ready to pounce.
On the night of October 31, 1914, several dozen hard-faced
men were lounging about El Paso's Union Station. Victor Ochoa
casually' strolled among them passing out tickets for the El Paso and
Southwestern train en route to Columbus, New Mexico, and
Douglas, Arizona. Unknown to them, other eyes were watching. As
the conductor bawled, "all aboard," the silent men filed onto the
train, but the train did not start. Instead, burly men with guns drawn
and badges pinned to their coats, shouldered their way through the
passenger cars, arresting the volunteers. The men were agents of
the U. S. Bureau of Investigation and customs agents.
The volunteers were herded into the railroad office and ques-
tioned. Most admitted they had signed up to fight for Carranza,
more for his money than for his cause. Except for Ochoa, they were
all released, for the American officers were after bigger game than a
few penniless vaqueros hoping to join any army that would pay and
feed them.
Meanwhile, Holmdahl was riding on a train carrying both pas-
sengers and freight, including a boxcar filled with military equipment
labeled as agricultural supplies. For some reason, he received word
not to unload at Columbus, but to proceed on to Douglas, Arizona,
where he was to unload the merchandise, rendezvous with his
troops, and cross the border near Agua Prieta.
As the train pulled into the Douglas depot, Bureau of
Investigation officers arrested Holmdahl, routed his boxcar to a sid-
ing, and opened the crates. Inside they' found 100 saddles, bridles
and horse blankets, 75 cases of .30-.30 rounds, 50 cases of 7 -mm
carbine ammunition, 400 canteens, 160 .30-.40 caliber rifles, and
nineteen boxes of other rifles. A box of bugles was also found.
Holmdahl, Ochoa, and several other plotters were taken before
the federal district court in El Paso and charged with violations of
the 1911 Federal Neutrality Laws, which forbade raising troops for
foreign armies on U.S. soil. They were also charged with attempting
to smuggle arms and ammunition across the border. Their penalty,
if convicted, could be three years in a federal penitentiary and a fine
of $10,000. After arraignment the men were released on bond
pending a trial date. [5]
While out on bail, Holmdahl,
with his usual boldness, continued
his gun-running operations, as evidenced in a series of telegrams
received from an arms dealer on December 12, 1914:
Major E.L. Holmdahl
Can offer you salvage millimeters at thirty five per thousand under terms
suggested by Brennan we have Just turned down a cash offer of this
amount
giving Constitutionist (i.e. Carranza forces) preference can you use
heavy
pieces Gatling guns thirty forty Kraig [sic.] cartridges etc wire at our expense
if you want us to write fully at Naco [a railroad depot on the Arizona-
Sonora border] shortly will have best stock of war munitions in the
south
and it would be of mutual interest to keep in touch with us you ought to
be
able to use some of our army aeroplanes with experienced
airmen furnished
by us.
Pierce Forwarding Co. 10:50 am [6]
Presumably responding to an answer by Holmdahl, the compa-
ay replied by Telegraph:
Major E.L. Holmdahl
Will only sell the millimeters subject to condition as comes from boat cannot
guarantee salvage goods the market is good better wire acceptance immedi-
ately and arrange with your people for financial details as we can
sell five
times over at these figures.
Pierce Forwarding Co. Galveston. 1:58 pm [7]
Apparently the deal was settled as M. Brennan, a Holmdahl
agent, telegraphed:
E.L. Holmdahl
As a favor got Pierce to let us have m illimeters at same price as other
offer
they have opportunity to receive cash today if possible accept
without guar-
antee and have (General Benjamin) Hill wire immediately guarantee of
draft or COD.
M. Brennan Galveston 2:23 pm [8]
On January 10, 1915 Brennan telegraphed Holmdahl
offering
another deal:
Pearce Forwarding Co. Have fifteen
hundred thirty rifles and carbines
thirteen one hundred thousand forty five seventy Springfield
cartridges forty
fifteen hundred forty five seventy Springfield rifles ten.
M. Brennan [9]
Since this rather blatant negotiating
was done over open tele-
graph lines, the parties either knew government agents were not
monitoring telegraphic traffic or they were extremely careless.
In February 1915, Holmdahl was in Vera Cruz, probably illegal-
ly, since he was at this time out on bail and not allowed to leave the
country. During 1915, U.S. mercenaries and Mexican revolutionar-
ies regularly changed sides. It often resembled the western dance
known as the "Paul Jones," where women formed a inner circle and
men formed an outer. While the music played, men moved counter
clockwise, women clockwise. When the music stopped, your part-
ner for the next dance was the person in front of you. It didn't mat-
ter who it was so long as you continued to dance.
A prime example was a letter written by a Carranza brigadier
general named Hernandez who on February 23, 1915, wrote El Paso
Mayor Tom Lea:
Dear Friend and Brother:
The bearer Major E.L. Holmdall, is leaving (Vera Cruz) for your city
to
await trial by the U.S. Federal Court, accused of violating neutrality
laws,
the charges against him were made by Hector Ramos, chief of Villa
Secret
Service, who has personal ill feeling towards the Major who was at one time
connected with Villa as Chief of Artillery, leaving them to join our
cause.
The Major is a personal friend of
mine, and I would greatly
appreciate anything that you may do for him in receiving justice in
pending
trial. Wishing you every success in your new undertaking.
Very Respectfully.
J.H. Hernandez
Brigadier General [10]
Interestingly, if Mayor Lea was an ally in February, he had
changed sides by December and was backing the junta of Pascual
Orozco, Victoriano Huerta, and Inez Salazar, all formerly enemies.
Now allies, they were planning an invasion from across the U.S, bor
der.
According to statements made from a Federal jail in El Paso by
six former Huerta officers, Tom Lea was in on the plot against
Carranza. The officers stated they were part of a group of 200
recruits that had rendezvoused at Lea's El Paso ranch, where they
were to be issued guns and ammunition and then would be joined
by Inez Salazar. Salazar had been incarcerated in a New Mexico
prison, but he broke out of jail and was riding to El Paso with fifty
mounted and armed men who would lead the revolt.
The rendezvous at the Lea ranch was broken up when a troop
of U.S. cavalry descended on the plotters. A score of volunteers
were arrested, while the rest scattered and ran either into the desert
and the surrounding Franklin Mountains or dived into the Rio
Grande and swam to Mexico. It is not improbable that Holmdahl,
who had an informant in the "Red Flaggers" camp, was the man
who tipped off the cavalry as to the time and location of the meet-
ing. The six officers told U.S. officials that they' made their state-
ments because the Junta failed to provide their families with funds,
did not get them lawyers, and left them to rot in jail. [11]
The year of 1915 was also "The year of definition of the civil
war with the defeat of the Villista and Zapatista armies." [12] It was
also a year of hunger for many Mexicans. Amparo F. de Valencia
who was ten years old that year recalled the suffering of her family:
During the revolution I saw hunger. Sometimes one ate and
some-
times one didn't ... There was no wheat because there was no
harvest ...
Thus there was tremendous hunger all over ... A big bakery had a big
stack of sacks full of old hard bread that was sent to Sinaloa for
feeding
pigs ... I bought a sack and dragged it home. The bread was full of
ants
and other things, but we felt happy. [13]
Disease, she said, was another problem, "The victim would die,
because there was no medical assistance." [14]
During most of 1915, Holmdahl's activities were shrouded in
mystery. While awaiting trial, he continued working for Carranza as
a spy, arms agent, and smuggler. He was not to surface again until
October 14, 1915, when he and other plotters went to trial in El
Paso's federal district court. It was a brief affair with little grounds
for defense. Former Mexican revolutionary officers testified they
were recruited and paid to cross the border and invade Mexican soil.
Various arms salesmen testified that Holmdahl had bought and paid
for weapons. A variety of American agents testified they had been
approached by Holmdahl, Ochoa, or one of the Orozcos to join the
"filibusters."
After a short time, the jury brought in a verdict of guilty against
Holmdahl, Ochoa, and Jose Orozco. Jorge Orozco was found not
guilty. It was the first case the government successfully prosecuted
recruiters and gun-runners under the Neutrality laws. Because of
that, or perhaps because rumor had it that many of the prominent
businessmen in El Paso were involved in bankrolling the plot, Judge
Thomas S. Maxely showed leniency. The three were sentenced to
eighteen months in a federal penitentiary and no fine was levied.
After sentencing, the three were released on $7,500 bonds pending
appeal. [15]
While out on bail, Holmdahl learned of the treachery of Tomas
Urbina, an old compadre of Villa's during his bandit days. After
being badly beaten by Carranza forces, "General" Urbina had
become a deserter. Abandoning his shattered forces, the old bandit
took his accumulated loot, said to be worth millions in gold and sil-
ver, and fled to his stronghold, Las Nieves, in Durango.
Smelling betrayal, Villa took Fierro and 200 men, and rode to
Urbina's fortified hacienda. Rushing the gate, they shot their way
into the compound and wounded the bandit general in the leg. At
first, Villa seemed moved at the sight of his old friend and chatted
amicably with him, while Fierro salivated with eagerness to shoot
him.
Fierro's men, meanwhile, searched the hacienda grounds and
questioned, not too gently, Urbina's surviving men. They quickly
located gold and silver bars that had been dumped down a well.
Hauling it up, they dumped it at Urbina's feet. Villa's benevolence
abruptly ended. "Shoot him," he commanded. Then he mounted
his horse and led his men from the hacienda at a trot.
Fierro stayed behind. Stories had it that he shot Urbina in his
good leg and in both arms before shooting him in the belly, and
smoked a long cigar while. watching Urbina's face turn ashen.
Loading the gold and silver in his saddlebags, he mounted and
spurred his horse to catch up with Villa.
Fierro had been too eager, for there were rumors of other
caches of treasure buried by the crafty old bandit. When Holmdahl
heard them, he filed them away in his memory. Later, when things
calmed down, perhaps he would make a little trip to Las Nieves.
If nothing else good came from Urbina's betrayal and subse-
quent murder, it was that Fierro, his saddlebags still loaded with bul-
lion, attempted to cross a flooded field when his men balked. The
field was full of quicksand, they feared, and it was too dangerous to
cross on horseback. Calling them cowards, Fierro boldly rode out
into the field and immediately plunged into quicksand. Then his
horse stumbled and fell. The horse and rider began to sink) both
pulled down by the heavy bags of gold and silver. Cursing, Fierro
shouted, "Throw me a rope."
His men stood silent and unmoving at the edge of the field,
watching Villa's butcher sink, until the quicksand sucked him all the
way under. Soon, the only trace of Rudolfo Fierro was his broad-
brimmed sombrero on the surface.
Meanwhile, in what might be termed another masterpiece of
sangfroid, a little more than a month after his conviction, Holmdahl
applied for a commission as an officer in the United States Cavalry.
On December 29, 1915, he filled out a three-page government form
addressed to the adjutant general of the U.S. Army. On the appli-
cation he stated he held the rank of colonel of cavalry with the
Carranza forces and \\'as formerly chief of Artillery under Villa.
To endorse his application, he gave a list of references, includ-
ing Tom Lea, mayo! of El Paso; Lee Hall, chief of police of El Paso
and a former Texas Ranger; a banker from Morenci, Arizona; a cap-
tain in the U.S. Army stationed at Fort Bliss; and to top it off,
General Hugh Scott, chief of staff and commanding officer of the
U.S. Army. He gave his address as a post office box in El Paso.IG
While the captain and the general may have appreciated
Holmdahl's military experience, one might wonder if there was a
connection between the mayor, the chief of police, and the banker.
Whether the banker supplied money' for the filibusters, while the
mayor and the chief of police looked the other way may never be
known.
On March 28, 1916, the war department answered Holmdahl's
application by stating that he failed to qualify for appointment as an
officer of volunteers because of regulations stating that "no appli-
cant is eligible for appointment as second lieutenant who is more
than 30 years of age." Holmdahl was thirty-two years old. If the
war department knew that their applicant was a convicted felon, it
was not stated. [17]
Fate, however, intervened, when Holmdahl's old boss, Pancho
Villa, galloped into Columbus, New Mexico, on March 9 with a
band of 400 men, shot up an army encampment, burned the town,
and killed sixteen Americans. The rage and frustration that led Villa
to attack an American town lies in the complicated relationships
between the two countries and the tangled loyalties of both
Mexicans and Americans.
In 1915, after five years of warfare, the economy of Mexico was
shattered b), marauding armies which stripped and devoured any-
thing they could steal, sell, or eat. U.S. financial and business
inter-
ests had invested billions of dollars in the country under, what was
to them, the benevolent rule of Porfirio Diaz. Americans owned
some of the richest farm and grazing lands, had controlling interests
in and operated many of the railroads, had majority interests in
man)' of the mines, and with British companies, dominated the
Mexican petroleum industry.
As the devastating
revolutionary warfare continued, American
financial and commercial interests put increasing pressure on
Congress and the president of the United States to take action to
stop the fighting and bring peace and stability back to Mexico. One
Congressional group, led by Senator Albert Fall of New Mexico,
advocated sending the U.S. army into the country' to end the fight-
ing. Fortunately, both President William Howard Taft and his suc-
cessor, President Woodrow Wilson, rejected the idea.
Wilson, however, decided the United States government could
aid in stabilizing the country by extending official recognition to one
of the two contending parties as the legitimate government of
Mexico. The United States had refused such recognition since
Madero's murder in 1913, and the dilemma facing the president was
who to recognize, Villa or his deadly enemy Carranza?
For years Villa had been considered a friend of the United
States. He had been scrupulous in protecting American lives and
property and when, in 1914, U.S. forces seized the Mexican ports of
Tampico and Vera Cruz, he gave his tacit consent. He stated that
the U.S. Navy was justified in its actions after American sailors had
been falsely imprisoned by Mexican troops. In addition, Villa had a
long standing-personal friendship with General Hugh Scott, who
became the Chief of Staff of the U.S. army. He felt confident that
he would be the one favored by the U.S. government. [18]
Carranza, on the other hand, had always been vocally anti-
American. When the two Mexican ports were seized, he threatened
war with the United States and also secretly gave support to the Plan
of San Diego. This movement planned to conquer Texas, New
Mexico, and Arizona and set up a independent government allied
with Mexico. Far-fetched as the plot seemed, it was first supported
by Huerta, then received help from Carranza and financing by' the
German secret service. Members of the Plan carried on brutal raids
across the Texas border in 1915. With World War I raging, the
Germans hoped to embroil the U.S. in a war with Mexico so as to
divert aid intended for the Allies.
The raiders killed a number of American ranchers and murdered
a crew working on a border irrigation project. The)' ambushed a
U.S. cavalry trooper, cut off his head, put it on the end of a pole,
and with their gory trophy, paraded back and forth along the south
bank of the Rio Grande. One night they derailed a train near
Corpus Christi and stormed through the passenger cars shooting
Americans. When the U.S. government complained to Carranza,
who was nominally in control of the area, he replied that if only he
was recognized as the legitimate head of the Mexican government,
he would, with this increased prestige, be able to exert the authority
to end the raids. There was the scent of blackmail in the Carranza
response. [19]
The American business community, however, taking a second
look at Villa, pointed out that the former bandit, semi-literate at
best, could not possibly form a stable government that could bring
peace and renewed prosperity! to Mexico. His .economic beliefs, if
any, were uncertain, and he had a nasty habit of shooting people on
a whim. Also, he had just lost three battles to the Carranza forces.
For all his anti-American rhetoric, Carranza, whose forces were
now in control in Mexico City, understood Mexican bureaucracy.
He had the support of many affluent and middle-class Mexicans
and came from a family of wealthy landowners. American business
interests believed they would be safe under a Carranza regime. On
October 15, against the protests of General Hugh Scott, President
Wilson recognized Venustiano Carranza as the head of the legiti-
mate government of Mexico. [20]
Villa was not only enraged at the affront, but he was hurt finan-
cially. Betrayal by his American friends was bad enough, but he was
now relegated to the status of a bandit, and all purchases across the
American border were prohibited. Carranza controlled all the
Mexican ports on both coasts. Land-locked in Chihuahua and
Sonora, Villa had no ready source to supply his army.
In late October, Villa decided to cross tl1e Sierra Madre
Mountains from his stronghold in Chihuahua into Sonora and cap-
ture the town of Agua Prieta, just across the border from Douglas,
Arizona. There, at the Mexican Custom House, he would take a
large financial bite out of the traffic in cattle and copper ore import-
ed into the United States at the railhead in Douglas. With the
money, he planned to set up smuggling operations along the sparse-
ly settled borderlands and thus supply his troops.
Carranza, getting wind of the attack, received permission from
the U.S. Government to reinforce his garrison at Agua Prieta by
using the American railroad that ran from El Paso to Douglas.
From Juarez, he sent troops, machine guns, artillery, barbed wire,
and three very large searchlights into El Paso. There they were load-
ed onto an American train, and, within a day, arrived in Agua Prieta.
Villa's army reached Agua Prieta on November 1, 1915.
Surveying the town's defenses, Villa decided to launch his golpe terri-
fico at midnight so that in the confusion of darkness he would over-
run the federal forces. As his troops galloped toward the enemy
trenches, however, the three big searchlights, with current supplied
by the Douglas Power and Light Company, lit up the battlefield.
Villa's cavalry became easy targets for the federal machine gunners. [21]
The charge was shot to pieces, and Villista troops were more
than decimated. At Agua Prieta, a military expert proclaimed,
"Villistas learned that an assault against a position covered with
barbed wire, defended by cross firing machineguns, supported by
artillery firing high explosive, is doomed to failure." [22] Slinking back
across the mountains with the survivors of his once proud army,
Villa swore revenge against the Americans who he believed betrayed
him and who were the cause of all his problems.
At the end of 1915, Villa had "only a few hundred followers ...
left of an army that had once encompassed between 30,000 and
50,000 men ... His popularity among the civilian population in
Chihuahua had reached an all-time low." [23] On March 9,1916, Villa
had only 450 men and was low on ammunition and food. His
horses were worn down and his cause was flagging. At four o'clock
that morning, his men rode into the New Mexican border town of
Columbus burning and killing.
Historians have speculated for years about Villa's motives. Some
say it was a desire for loot, and that he hoped to steal guns, ammu-
nition, and fresh horses from the American garrison there. Another
reason advanced was that a Columbus merchant, Sam Ravel, had
taken money from Villa to purchase arms. Ravel swindled Villa,
keeping the money but failing to deliver the weapons promised, and
Villa hoped to capture Ravel and give him a lesson in business ethics.
Still another version had it that Villa hoped by raiding U.S. soil
to force the U.S. army to invade Mexico. By fighting the gringos,
Villa would again be a hero to all Mexicans. One theory has it that
the raid was motivated by pure revenge and hatred of the
Americans, who, he believed, had betrayed him by recognizing
Carranza and causing him to lose the battle of Agua Prieta.
A wilder and more bizarre theory held that American business-
men paid Villa to attack Columbus, hopefully causing the United
States to attack and occupy northern Mexico to their financial
advantage. Then there was the version where the German secret
service, supporters of the Plan of San Diego, wanted the United
States to engage in a war against Mexico. Then, the United States
would use munitions from its armaments industry in that war
instead of shipping them to Great Britain and France. [24]
Columbus, with less than 400 inhabitants, boasted a railroad
depot, two small hotels, a few stores, and several scores of scattered
adobe houses. It was garrisoned by 300 troopers of the U.S. 13th
Calvary Regiment encamped a few hundred yards from the town.
When the Villistas attacked only a few sentinels and the kitchen
staff, preparing the soldiers' morning meal, were awake.
Villa directed half of his men to attack the center of town and
the others to hit the army camp, stealing weapons and horses.
Screaming "Viva Villa" and "Muerte a los gringos" ("death to the
Americans"), they stormed into the Commercial Hotel, dragged five
half-asleep Americans from their beds, and shot them to death.
Mrs. J. J. Moore saw her husband and her infant child torn from her
arms and shot. She was raped, then shot and left for dead, but she
survived.
In a vain hope of escaping the rampaging Villistas, Milton
James
half-carried his pregnant wife from the Hoover Hotel, but the
raiders spotted them, opened fire, killing her. Other Americans ran
into the desert, hiding in nearby cactus-filled arroyos and ditches, as
the entire commercial block in the center of town went up in flames.
The raiders had less luck attacking the 13th Calvary. When a
dozen of them burst into the cooks' shack, they were doused with
boiling coffee. One was decapitated by an enraged baker swinging
an axe, and the rest were assaulted by cursing cooks swinging meat
cleavers and army-issue potato mashers, which could crack a skull
like an eggshell. One raider was brained by a trooper on kitchen
patrol swinging a baseball bat like a berserk Babe Ruth. [25]
Troopers grabbed rifles and quickly set up machine guns, blast-
ing away at raiders outlined against the flames of the blazing
business district. Columbus became too hot for the raiders as the
sky began to lighten with the coming dawn. Grabbing anything they
could carry, they scrambled to their horses and retreated across the
border. As a bugler blew "Boots and Saddles," troopers, some still
in their underwear, grabbed Springfields, bandoliers of ammunition,
and their saddles, and rushed to the stables.
Major Frank Tompkins, bleeding from a Mauser bullet that
raked his knee, led his men in a headlong pursuit of the fleeing
Villistas. On fresh cavalry horses they outran many of the raiders .
and shot them down during a fifteen-mile chase. Then, low on
ammunition and with no water, Tompkins, called a halt and the
troopers rode back to Columbus. [26]
Returning, they counted seventy-five Villistas lying dead on the
road while the bodies of more than sixty raiders lay dead in the
streets of Columbus itself. The bodies in Columbus were heaped in
a pile and burned, while Villista corpses on the road were left for the
buzzards. Seventeen Americans were killed: nine civilians and seven
troopers of the 13th Calvary. [27]
The United States was quick to respond. Brigadier General John
J. Pershing was named to command a U.S. army ordered to drive into
Chihuahua and smash Pancho Villa. Secretary of War Newton D.
Baker wired Pershing that he was authorized to employ whatever
guides and interpreters were necessary. If the War Department did-
n't want Holmdahl's services, one "Blackjack" Pershing needed him
badly.
Pershing may well have known or heard of Holmdahl, either
during his Philippine campaigns or during his service along the bor-
der. An experienced soldier, Pershing graduated from West Point in
1886. He took part in the last campaign against the Apache Indians,
and was cited for gallantry fighting alongside Teddy Roosevelt and
his Rough Riders at San Juan Hill during the Spanish-American War.
Pershing taught tactics at West Point and was later assigned to
the 10th Cavalry, composed of black soldiers, known as "Buffalo
Soldiers." From this command he acquired his lifelong nickname of
"Black Jack." In 1899, Pershing was ordered to the Philippines,
where on Mindanao and Jolo he fought his first campaigns against
the Moros. In 1901, as a captain, he launched four more major
expeditions against the troublesome warriors. In late 1903, he mar-
ried Helen Frances Warren, the daughter of Francis E. Warren, a
powerful U.S. Senator from Wyoming.
After distinguished service as an observer on the Manchurian
front during the Russo-Japanese War, he was promoted to brigadier
general by his old San Juan Hill comrade, Theodore Roosevelt, now
President of the United States. After further service in the
Philippines, Pershing was ordered back to the United States. When
the usual malcontents carped that Pershing's promotion over the
heads of many senior officers was a result of political pull, President
Roosevelt reported, "To promote a man because he married a
Senator's daughter would be an infamy; to refuse him promotion for
the same reason would be an equal infamy." [28]
On January 20, 1914, Pershing was transferred to Fort Bliss near
El Paso, with the responsibility for supervising U.S. units patrolling
the border. His wife, three daughters, and a son were left behind in
quarters at the army base at the Presidio at San Francisco. Shortly
before he planned to bring his family to new quarters at Fort Bliss,
on August 20, 1915, he received news that haunted him the rest of
his life. A fire had broken out in his family's quarters, and his wife
and three daughters were burned to death. Only his small son was
survived.
An austere man, he walked ramrod-straight, and if he was over-
come with grief, it was not apparent from his square-jawed, stiff-
lipped expression. Pershing was a sad, lonely man after this tragedy,
and often he wandered into the desert, followed by several maI7'achis.
He sat on the rocky ground while the men played "La Paloma"
("The Dove"), his wife's favorite song, and reflected on the needs of
his forces.
Most of all, he needed men who knew Mexico, its terrain, its
language, and its people. Holmdahl, who had been fighting over
that terrain for six years, was quickly hired as one of the civilian
scouts who knew the land, the language, and the tactics of the
Villista guerrillas.
As Colonel H.A. Toulmin, who rode with Pershing, wrote,
The terrain is a desolate, barren,
sandy plain with rolling foothills --
blazing tropic heat to cold snows, (and) hostile winds and
snowstorms. The
Pershing Expedition placed its reliance on guides, cowmen of the
ranges,
half-breeds, ranch bosses, adventurers who had fought either
against or for
Villa, gunfighters, gamblers -- the remnants of the old Indian
frontier. [29]
By the end of March, convicted felon or not, former Sergeant
Emil Holmdahl was again riding with the U.S. Army.
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