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Was Pancho Villa in the Valley?

Solving the Mysteries of History

by Tom Fort, Senior Historian

When you hear the words Mexican Revolution, what comes to mind? Rifle-toting men on horses, wearing sombreros and draped with bandoliers full of bullets? Very likely. But for most people, one image and name symbolizes la revolución Mexicana: Doroteo Arango, better known to history as “Pancho” Villa.

Villa is probably the best-known figure from the Mexican Revolution era. Riding with his bodyguard Los Dorados (The Golden Ones) and leading the potent División del Norte, Villa earned a reputation for invincible strength and courage. To many, he was a hero and patriot. To others, he was a thief and murderer.

Known to millions around the world through books and movies, he still personifies the Mexican Revolution.

Like many historical figures surrounded by legend and myth, Pancho Villa reportedly was seen everywhere—including here in the Rio Grande Valley. Popular stories abound that he visited Brownsville, McAllen, Mission and elsewhere.

Being mostly oral tradition, such tales are hard to confirm. The museum knows of no documents or photographs placing Villa closer to this region than Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, where he visited proVilla forces, or villistas, who captured the city early in 1915. Those troops later marched to the Lower Rio Grande, where they seized Reynosa from proCarranza forces (carrancistas). A follow-up attack on Matamoros failed, ending Pancho Villa’s attempt to control the Rio Grande’s south bank. Did he visit the villista soldiers during the campaign?

¿Quién sabe? Who knows?

An old photograph in the museum’s archives may hold an answer. It shows a group of men standing outside the Pharr Hotel in March 1915, where local citizens held a banquet for the Reynosa Villistas Victoriosos who had just driven out the carrancistas. While Pancho Villa hasn’t been spotted in the crowd, it’s not hard to imagine local folks hearing about the banquet—or reading about it—and assuming that Villa himself was among the villistas. In such ways can hearsay become ingrained as truth—providing endless puzzles for later historians to unravel. (Remember, there were no radios, television, smart phones or social media in that era—people heard the news mainly by word-of-mouth or the newspapers. Anyone who’s ever played the game of “Gossip” knows how quickly a message being passed around can be garbled!)

After the war, returning Japanese veterans still faced resentment in some areas of the United States. Hearing word that the Rio Grande Valley was a friendly place, several families from California packed their bags and moved to the Valley for a new life. Through toil, risk taking and patriotic sacrifice to their adopted country, the Japanese were able to establish a foothold in the Rio Grande Valley and earn their piece of the American dream.