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NEW EXHIBIT HALL OF HISTORIC HERITAGE
On March 9, 1916, soldiers led by Mexican Gen. Francisco ?Pancho? Villa attacked
the military camp at the sleepy border town of Columbus, New Mexico, killing 18
Americans. This was the only ground invasion of the continental U.S. since 1812.
Pancho Villa State Park?s extensive historical exhibits depicting the raid and
the U.S. Army?s subsequent Punitive Expedition into Mexico are now housed in the
park?s new $1.8 million 7,000 sq. ft. Exhibit Hall.
TRAVEL THROUGH TIME
The park is located on the grounds of former Camp Furlong from where Gen. John
J. ?Black Jack? Pershing launched 10,000 troops on an 11-months, 500-mile
pursuit of Villa into Mexico. The Exhibit Hall tells the story that begins with
the 1910 Mexican Revolution and ends with Pershing?s command of the Allied
Forces when the U.S. entered World War I.
Through donations and funds appropriated by the New Mexico Legislature in 1999,
Pancho Villa State Park acquired expedition-era examples of the vehicles and
technology employed by Pershing and his men. The Exhibit Hall contains a
full-size replica Curtiss JN-3 ?Jenny? airplane used by the 1st Aero Squadron; a
1916 Dodge touring car, the type used by Pershing for a field office; historic
artifacts; military weapons and ribbons. An armored tank stands as a sentinel
outside the facility.
With only rudimentary initial instructions, military recruits were given orders
to drive vehicles and fly the airplanes, which had not been previously tested at
high-altitudes. As a result, equipment modernization and mechanical
specialization during the 1916-1917 expedition period proved be essential to
U.S. military success during World War I.