In Glenn Springs, the raiders burned several buildings and fought a three-hour battle with a small force of American soldiers who were stationed there.
In response to the attack, the United States Army launched a short punitive expedition into Mexico, fought with the rebels, and rescued the captives.
By 1916, Villa and his men were in desperate need of food and provisions to continue their revolution, so they devised a plan to raid the American border town of Columbus, New Mexico.
On the early morning of March 9, 1916, approximately 500 mounted Villistas attacked and burned the town, though not long after that they were encountered by some 300 American troops.
Eighteen Americans died in the engagement, including ten civilians and eight soldiers, an outrage that incited President Woodrow Wilson to authorize a punitive expedition into Mexico to capture or kill Villa.
Raids into southern Texas were very common, so to help protect the Big Bend region, President Wilson allowed troops to occupy the area in June 1915.
Located along the Rio Grande, across from the mining town of Del Carmen, Boquillas had a general store, owned by Jesse Deemer, and several jacales.
[2][4] On May 5, 1916, just 57 days after the Battle of Columbus, Lt. Col. Natividad Alvarez launched his attack with about 60 to 200 men (accounts of the rebels' strength differ but there was likely no more than 80 involved).
Since many people had come to town that day, Alvarez and his men looked like regular citizens, visiting friends and family, and had no trouble occupying the Mexican neighborhood without alerting the soldiers' suspicions.
Compton apparently hid at that point and by the time he had got back to his home he found that his four-year-old son had been murdered but his ten-year-old boy was left unharmed, likely because he was a deaf-mute.
The skirmish that followed lasted for nearly three hours but eventually the rebels came up with a cunning idea to set fire to the roof, which was thatched with candelilla leaves.
Wood and de Montel then dismounted and began walking to the general store, which was on fire, but 50 yards away they heard the sound of horses eating corn and men speaking Spanish.
At Glenn Springs, the wax factory, the Ellis' store and the adobe building the American soldiers defended were all burned and several houses were looted.
[2][3][4][5] When Gen. Hugh L. Scott learned of the attack he organized another punitive expedition under the joint command of Col. Frederick W. Sibley and Maj. George T. Langhorne.
With 80 men, two wagons and one Cadillac touring car, Langhorne crossed the Rio Grande on May 11 and headed for the village of El Pino, Coahuila, where the rebels were holding Deemer and Monroe Payne.
Though the two hostages had been liberated, the Americans continued to search for the raiders and, on May 15, a small force of cavalrymen, under the command of Lt. Stuart W. Cramer, engaged in a "brief firefight" at Castillon.