Raid on San Ygnacio
Raid on San Ygnacio | |
---|---|
Part of the Bandit War, Mexican Revolution | |
Location | San Ygnacio, Texas |
Date | June 15, 1916 |
Deaths | ≈12 |
Injured | ≈5 |
The Raid on San Ygnacio
Background
The
Supporters of Pancho Villa also raided along the Texas border, but the facts that most of what they controlled at the time was in Chihuahua, northwest of San Ygnacio, and that General John J. Pershing was dispersing Villa's forces at that time as part of the Mexican Expedition make it unlikely that the Villistas were responsible.
On April 12, 1916, the Carrancistas backed up their threats and attacked the 13th Cavalry at Parral. On June 21, after the San Ygnacio Raid, they attacked the 10th Cavalry in the Battle of Carrizal.[5][6]
Raid
San Ygnacio was just another small South Texas border town, situated about thirty miles south of
Aftermath
Major Alonzo Gray was in command of the American forces during the battle and immediately after it he was authorized to command a punitive expedition to pursue the raiders. Major Gray crossed the border into Tamaulipas, on June 16, but he was unsuccessful in finding the Mexicans' trail. Meanwhile, about thirty raiders fired on some men of the 26th Infantry near San Benito, Texas. General James Parker responded by sending Colonel Robert Bullard and 400 soldiers into Mexico on the same day. Bullard's men engaged the raiders in a "stiff skirmish" near the border but it ended "apparently without casualties." The Americans could not pursue any further because General Ricaut, under orders from Carranza, assembled 1,000 soldiers in Matamoros and threatened to attack them unless they returned to the United States. Ricault also vowed to catch the raiders himself, armed the civilian population of Matamoros and "ripped up" the railroad tracks leading across the Rio Grande. Ricaut's men would eventually capture forty of the raiders and later that day, after the bloodless skirmish, they attacked Major Edward Anderson, 3rd Cavalry, and his squadron of men as they were heading back to Texas. During the firefight that followed, two of the Mexicans were killed without loss on the Americans' side.[1][2][12][13]
Both the San Ignacio and San Benito raids, along with General Pershing expedition in Chihuahua, created a situation in the United States and Mexico that seemed to be a "repetition of that process that brought
Another factor that prevented an escalation of the conflict was that neither Wilson or Carranza wanted war. Wilson was focused on events in Europe and Carranza said he was "absolutely certain that the American people do not want war with Mexico ... but there are nevertheless strong American interests and strong Mexican interests determine to procure a conflict between the counties. ... the Mexican government firmly desires to maintain peace with the American Government, but in order to [reach this goal] it is [imperative] that the American Government explain frankly its true intention towards Mexico." Alleging that Wilson was interested in more than just stopping the raids. Wilson responded to Carranza by voicing his concerns, saying; "for three years the Mexican Republic has been torn with Civil strife; the lives of Americans and other aliens have been sacrificed; vast properties developed by American capital and enterprise have been destroyed or rendered nonproductive; bandits [raiders] have been permitted to roam through the territory contiguous to the United States and to seize, without punishment or effective attempt at punishment, the property of Americans."[2][12][14]
References
- ^ a b c "WARNING SENT TO PERSHING; President and His Cabinet Discuss Most Serious Breach Since Vera Cruz. NOTE TO FIRST CHIEF READY Administration Has No Intention of Withdrawing Troops from Their Present Lines. CROSS RIVER AT SAN IGNACIO Detachment of Soldiers Defies Peril of Attack, but Fails to Find Bandits Trail" (PDF). The New York Times. June 17, 1916.
- ^ a b c d e f Stout, pg. 82–84
- ^ "DE LA ROSA, LUIS". Texas State Handbook Online. 2010-06-12. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
- OCLC 42330204.
- ^ Stout, pg. 67–76
- ^ Beede, Benjamin R. (1994). "The War of 1898 and U.S. interventions, 1898-1934 : an encyclopedia". worldcat.org. p. 218. Retrieved 2024-06-18.
- ^ United States War Department, pg. 188
- ^ "SAN YGNACIO, TX". Texas State Handbook Online. 2010-06-15. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
- ^ a b http://dmna.ny.gov/historic/reghist/mexBorder/New_York_Division_NG_Record_Mexican_Border.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ "A troubled past: the army and security on the Mexican border, 1915-1917". Military Review. 2008.
- ^ "Mexican Graves Killed by 14 Cavalry Border War Postcard (04/25/2010)". Worthpoint. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
- ^ a b c Smith, pg. 433
- ^ a b The Independent, Volume 86, pg. 504–505
- ^ Communications, Emmis (January 1986). Texas Monthly. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
- United States War Department (1916). Annual report of the Secretary of War, Volume 1. United States Government Printing Office.
- Beede, Benjamin R. (1994). The War of 1898, and U.S. Interventions, 1898–1934: an encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-8240-5624-8.
- Smith, Alfred E. (1916). New outlook, Volume 113. Outlook Publishing Company, Inc.
- The Independent. 86. Published for the proprietors by S.W. Benedict. 1916.
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