Camp Furlong Day Celebrates International Heritage
at Pancho Villa State Park
Columbus, NM – Pancho Villa’s attack on Columbus, New Mexico (March 9, 1916, killing 18 Americans and leaving over 100 of the raiders dead) lives on in the small town that was the target of Villa's raid just 90 years ago.
It is remembered through two events, one solemnly commemorating the Americans who died and the other a “hands across the border” bash.
<table border=0 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=3><tr><td valign=top align=left>The biggest event is the latter, the 4th Annual Camp Furlong Day on Saturday, March 10. The day begins at about 10 am with skydivers. Then comes a parade by bicultural Americans in period vehicles and dress, along with over 100 Mexicans on horseback who have spent a few days in a historical reenactment ride up from Mexico.
Musicians will play all day on the grounds of Pancho Villa State Park (at intersection of Routes 9 & 11) to keep toes tapping. The music will be mostly mariachi and country or pop, and folkloric dancers will flutter their dresses in the springtime sun.
“What we want to do is blend cultures,” says Sylvia Brenner, heritage educator at the park. “We choose to be inclusive.”
Authors from El Paso and area will be around to sign books and give a chat. State Park historical interpreters will explain the importance of the first motorized vehicles used by the U.S. military, in the “Punitive Expedition” into Mexico headed by General John “Blackjack” Pershing. The journey was considered a training ground for World War I, with the first U.S. airborne squadron ever, the first use of motorized vehicles by the U.S. military in a war campaign, and the last use of mounted cavalry by the U.S. Army.
The new, modernized museum that was inaugurated last year will be open, with its 1916 Curtiss Biplane suspended from the ceiling and other artifacts.
Some “cowboy action shooters” will be present for an event that’s part shooting competition and part reenactment. The event is sweeping the U.S. because it is family-oriented and because it’s a gas to dress in old-time clothes.
The more solemn memorial event has been held for a few decades on the actual date of the raid, March 9. It’s sponsored by the Columbus Historical Society just across the street.
A great-grandson of a soldier in the Punitive Expedition -- Retired General Peter Dodd Robinson--will be the main speaker. The Border Patrol on horseback will take part, and a group called Flying Cloud Productions will sing period songs.
At about 11:00 a walking tour of related historical sites will be given by local writer Richard Dean, a grandson of one of the Columbus residents killed in the raid.
Late in the day about 300 of the Mexican historical riders arrive in Palomas just over the border, and it’s a stirring sight. Americans can drive there with no problem. There are shops, galleries, and restaurants in Palomas, Columbus and Deming to be explored in the afternoon.
For more about the Villa attack on Columbus and the 11 month expedition into Mexico by General John 'Black Jack' Pershing and 10,000 U.S. soldiers in a fruitless effort to capture Villa, see:
at Pancho Villa State Park
Columbus, NM – Pancho Villa’s attack on Columbus, New Mexico (March 9, 1916, killing 18 Americans and leaving over 100 of the raiders dead) lives on in the small town that was the target of Villa's raid just 90 years ago.
It is remembered through two events, one solemnly commemorating the Americans who died and the other a “hands across the border” bash.
<table border=0 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=3><tr><td valign=top align=left>The biggest event is the latter, the 4th Annual Camp Furlong Day on Saturday, March 10. The day begins at about 10 am with skydivers. Then comes a parade by bicultural Americans in period vehicles and dress, along with over 100 Mexicans on horseback who have spent a few days in a historical reenactment ride up from Mexico.
Musicians will play all day on the grounds of Pancho Villa State Park (at intersection of Routes 9 & 11) to keep toes tapping. The music will be mostly mariachi and country or pop, and folkloric dancers will flutter their dresses in the springtime sun.
“What we want to do is blend cultures,” says Sylvia Brenner, heritage educator at the park. “We choose to be inclusive.”
Authors from El Paso and area will be around to sign books and give a chat. State Park historical interpreters will explain the importance of the first motorized vehicles used by the U.S. military, in the “Punitive Expedition” into Mexico headed by General John “Blackjack” Pershing. The journey was considered a training ground for World War I, with the first U.S. airborne squadron ever, the first use of motorized vehicles by the U.S. military in a war campaign, and the last use of mounted cavalry by the U.S. Army.
The new, modernized museum that was inaugurated last year will be open, with its 1916 Curtiss Biplane suspended from the ceiling and other artifacts.
Some “cowboy action shooters” will be present for an event that’s part shooting competition and part reenactment. The event is sweeping the U.S. because it is family-oriented and because it’s a gas to dress in old-time clothes.
The more solemn memorial event has been held for a few decades on the actual date of the raid, March 9. It’s sponsored by the Columbus Historical Society just across the street.
A great-grandson of a soldier in the Punitive Expedition -- Retired General Peter Dodd Robinson--will be the main speaker. The Border Patrol on horseback will take part, and a group called Flying Cloud Productions will sing period songs.
At about 11:00 a walking tour of related historical sites will be given by local writer Richard Dean, a grandson of one of the Columbus residents killed in the raid.
Late in the day about 300 of the Mexican historical riders arrive in Palomas just over the border, and it’s a stirring sight. Americans can drive there with no problem. There are shops, galleries, and restaurants in Palomas, Columbus and Deming to be explored in the afternoon.
For more about the Villa attack on Columbus and the 11 month expedition into Mexico by General John 'Black Jack' Pershing and 10,000 U.S. soldiers in a fruitless effort to capture Villa, see:
Wickipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancho_Villa_Expedition)
GlobalSecurity.com (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/mexican_expedition.htm)
International Herald Tribune (http://www.iht.com/articles/1994/03/04/pancho.php)
Everything.com's Villa Article (http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1368186)
Pancho Villa and the Americans - A Mexican Perspective (http://www.ojinaga.com/gringos/)
Betty Reynolds of New Mexico Tech's Article (http://infohost.nmt.edu/~breynold/pancho.html)
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