The General & The Jaguar: Pershing’s Hunt for Pancho Villa

 

The General & The Jaguar: Pershing’s Hunt for Pancho Villa – Eileen Welsome

In my humble opinion, one of the characteristics of a strong historical account in written form is when the author manages to tell the story and make it sound more as an engaging, thrilling novel as opposed to a documentary loaded with obscure facts.  Such is the case with this wonderful narrative.  This is a fascinating story about the latter-day events of the infamous Mexican revolutionary Francisco “Pancho” Villa.  Do you know much about Pancho Villa?  I would suspect not.  It’s possible your grandparents did, but the events of Villa that captured most of the headlines occurred during the first World War, which has now been in excess of 100 years, and much of the escapades have faded from memory.

After reading this wonderful book by Eileen Welsome, you’ll learn an awful lot, and the story, while very harsh at times, does an incredible job keeping the reader interested and perhaps even leaving them with a desire to learn more about the events surrounding the history of the particular time. I know I certainly did.

Unlike its northern neighbor the United States, the country of Mexico has never had a stable government, and throughout its sordid history, we see how corruption and mismanagement can dismantle the best of intentions when trying to run a country.  We start the story around the time of Mexican President Porfirio Diaz, but I guess we could even go back further if we wanted.  Diaz, like most of his contemporaries South of the Border is crooked, and if we’re honest, it doesn’t help when wealthy U.S. businessmen and government officials exploit many of the endeavors of such governments.  There are a few very very rich, but the majority of the citizens are dirt poor and relegated to a life of squalor and grime.

Pancho Villa is one that seeks change, but he’s one among many and truth be told, it seems as all of these revolutionaries are all about equally as corrupt as the leaders that they want to overthrow.  Governments and leaders come and government leaders go, all in a somewhat brutal fashion.  When the antagonistic Carranza regime takes over, there’s initially animosity from Woodrow Wilson and the rest of America, but it soon becomes apparent that even though the Carranza regime has less than honorable intentions towards its citizens, the business interests of the United States will still prosper, so somewhat of an alliance is formed.  Pancho Villa is not happy.

Villa then seeks revenge on anything and everyone north of the Rio Grande.  He and his bandits hijack a passenger train somewhere close to the border and all Americans are ruthlessly slaughtered. Villa continues his onslaught, and he decides his next target will be within the continental U.S., specifically the sleepy city of Columbus, New Mexico.

This book provides lot of detail that takes place around Villa’s sacking of the town. As I mentioned, this book almost reads like a novel, so the unfortunate scene in this city is set up with a lot of care and detail. We can almost hear the ominous clouds in the distance as the citizens in this town go about their everyday life.   After the travesty occurs, the American public is understandably enraged, and President Wilson calls in General John “Black Jack” Pershing to hunt the rapacious bandito.  Of course, Wilson and Pershing need to be careful.  The U.S. can’t start a full-fledged war with Mexico, yet rather only capture the instigator of the Columbus raid. We must also remember that there is a great war already happening in Europe (these events take place in 1916) but the U.S. wasn’t really involved in the European conflict yet, so everything must be handled carefully with all of the geopolitical events going on.

As mentioned, author Eileen Welsome does a splendid job with telling us the stories of so many of the common people that are involved in this nightmare.  We actually feel the harsh desert dust in our face as we encounter so many of the perfectly described locales. The rugged hills of Mexico produce such a climate to where the daytime is treacherously hot, yet the evenings are so bitterly cold that soldiers are faced with both sunburn and frostbite as they plow their way through the barren landscapes of northern Mexico.

Now, if you don’t know the story of Pancho Villa, I should point out that the “strength” I alluded to earlier that this thing reads as a novel also means that you’re a little bit likely to feel let down near the end of this account.  Although we read about Villa on the run from Pershing and his men, the “exciting climax” never arrives. You can’t change history. Still, though, conclusions of all the major figures in this book are to be about as expected when you consider the atmosphere and circumstances of the time.  I can still see a good movie being made about this, however, as long as a director has the same devotion to detail as the author.

This book was a “surprise” for me.  I really had no interest in it other than I found it for $1 at a “used book” library sale.  Sometimes the best rewards are the unexpected ones.  History, although almost always tragic, can be fascinating at the same time.  This book shows us just that.