Pancho Villa

Pancho Villa, also known as Francisco Villa (1878-1923), Mexican revolutionary leader. Originally named Doroteo Arango, he was born in San Juan del Río, Durango. Upon the outbreak of the revolution of 1910-1911 against the Mexican dictator Porfirio Díaz, Villa offered his services to the rebel leader Francisco Indalécio Madero. During Madero's administration he served under the Mexican general Victoriano Huerta, who sentenced him to death for insubordination. Villa escaped to the United States, and following the assassination of Madero and the assumption of power by Huerta in 1913, he returned to join the opposition under the revolutionary leader Venustiano Carranza. The two men soon became enemies, however, and when Carranza seized power in 1914, Villa led a rebellion against him.

The following year the U.S. government recognized Carranza as president of Mexico, and on March 9, 1916, Villa crossed the border and attacked Columbus, New Mexico, killing a number of citizens and destroying part of the town. A punitive expedition dispatched to Mexico from the U.S. failed to capture Villa. After the overthrow of Carranza in 1920, he came to terms with the new government and retired to a ranch near Hidalgo del Parral, Chihuahua. He was assassinated there in 1923.