Glenn Springs Raid
Encyclopedia
The Glenn Springs Raid occurred in May of 1916 when Mexican
Villistas and Carrancistas attacked the towns of Boquillas
and Glenn Springs, Texas
. In Glenn Spings the raiders burned several buildings and fought a three hour battle with a small force of American
soldiers who were stationed there. At the same time, a second party of rebels robbed a general store
and a silver mine in Boquillas. Four Americans were killed and the rebels made hostages out of two men before riding back to Coahuila
. In response to the attack, the United States Army
launched a short punitive expedition
into Mexico which fought a skirmish with the rebels and rescued the captives.
in April of 1915, the Mexican rebel Pancho Villa
led the remnants of his once large army back to northern Mexico. By 1916 Villa and his men were in desperate need of food and provisions to continue the revolution so they divised a plan to raid the American border town of Columbus
, New Mexico
. On the early morning of March 9, approximately 500 mounted Villistas attacked and burned the town though not long after that they were encounted by some 300 American troops. After a pitched battle the Villistas were defeated and pursued back into Mexico, having lost nearly 200 killed, wounded or captured. Eighteen Americans died in the engagement, including ten civilians and eight soldiers, an outrage that incited President
Woodrow Wilson
to authorize a punitive expedition to capture or kill Villa. The Pancho Villa Expedition
, as it became known, was under the command of General John J. Pershing
and it began in mid March. Starting from various camps and forts along the border, Pershing headed into Chihuahua where his men engaged the Villistas on multiple occasions. Pershing was able to capture of kill several rebel commanders but Pancho Villa got away and his rebels continued to launch raids on United States territory while American troops were in Mexico. Tension along the international border between Texas and Mexico was high during the Mexican Revolution
. 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 of 1915.
Boquillas and Glenn Spings were just small settlements at the time, about twelve miles apart, so only nine 14th Cavalry troopers guarded the former and none at the latter. Glenn Spings was located at the southern end of Chilicotal Mountain and centered around a small spring named after the first settler in the area who was killed at the site by Comanche
s. The town was home to some eighty people who were employed mainly by a wax
factory, owned by "Captain" C. D. Wood and W. K. Ellis. The Ellis family also owned the general store, which was managed C. G. Compton and his family. The inhabitants, who were mostly Mexican-Americans, lived in a "scattered" neighborhood of about fifty jacal
es concentrated at one end of town. Boquillas was even smaller than Glenn Springs. 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.
, Lieutenant Colonel
Natividad Alvarez launched his attack with in between sixty and over 200 men. Accounts of the rebels' strength differ but there was likely no more than eighty of them involved. Though Colonel Alvarez was a follower of Pancho Villa himself, on the march from Torreón
to Texas he recruited both Carrancistas and fellow Villistas. Alvarez divided his command into to prongs, the first he led against Boquillas while at the same time Rodriguez Ramirez led the second against Glenn Spings. Because it was Cinco de Mayo
, the Mexicans living in Glenn Springs were holding a celebration for themselves and the people in the area. Since many people had come to town that day, Alvarez and his man looked like regular citizens, visiting friends and family, they had no trouble with occupying the Mexican neighborhood without alerting the soldiers. The conflict began sometime after 11:00 pm, by that time everyone in town had gone to sleep, except the rebels who started the raid by arming themselves and approaching the home of Compton and his three children. One of the rebels knocked on the door and asked if there were any soldiers in town, to which Compton said there wasn't. At least temporarily the rebels went away, allowing Compton time to take his daughter to the nearby home of an old Mexican lady, where she would be safe. Compton left his two young sons at home by themselves and while he was going back to his house he heard the raiders begin shooting and calling out "Viva Villa" and "Viva Carranza." 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.
Meanwhile, the nine man cavalry squad, under Sergeant
Charles E. Smyth, had abandoned their tents and took up positions in an old adobe
building. 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 of the adobe building. This forced the cavalrymen to try and retreat to their horses and it was during this time that three of the soldiers were killed and at least four others were either wounded or severely burned. The surviving soldiers escaped and hid in the desert outside of town. Mr. and Mrs. Ellis watched the attack from a canyon behind their house. They hid there for some time until deciding to walk to the ranch of James Rice, twelve miles away. Captain Wood was at his ranch three miles from town when he heard the shooting. At first he thought it was celebrating but as the firing continued he decided to mount his horse and ride to town with his friend, Oscar de Montel. It took over two hours before Wood and de Montel made it to town. They arrived just before the cavalrymen retreated and entered unnoticed. Wood and de Montel then dismounted and began walking to the general store, which was on fire, but fifty yards way they heard the sound of horses eating corn and men speaking Spanish
. When de Montel climbed a hill to have a better look someone saw him and called out "Quien vieve?" de Montel responded with "Quien es?" and the shooting started. The two men then began running as fast as they could but they hit a wire fence and fell to the ground. A bullet splintered a rock near where Wood had fallen, some of it hit him in the hand, causing a slight wound. Once out of town the two men were able to elude their pursuers and make contact with the surviving cavalrymen.
According to author Benjamin R. Beede, the rebels encountered no resistance at Boquillas and they successfully looted the place. However, Lieutenant Colonel Alvarez was captured by the townspeople in some way so the raiders took two hostages before heading to the Del Carmen mines to steal the company payroll. The hostages were Jesse Deemer and his Black Seminole assisstant, Monroe Payne, a relative of the Indian scouts Adam
and Isaac Payne
. According to Beede's account, more hostages were taken at the mines but all of them were apparently released before the rebels rode back to Mexico. After the attack on Glenn Springs, Ramirez regrouped with Alvarez's men in Boquillas and they crossed the Rio Grande into the state of Coahuila. The hostages were held in a stolen truck and driven to Mexico. Deemer pretended he was a German
while in captivity, this was because of an order issued by Pancho Villa who saw Germans as friendlies. When the raid was over the commercial buildings and some of the houses in Glenn Spings were heavily damaged but Boquillas was left comparatively untouched. 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. The rebels also stole all of Mrs. Ellis' clothing and a day later some of the thieves were seen wearing the clothes near San Vicente, Texas. In all four Americans had been killed, two captured and at least five wounded or burned. Though successful, the Mexican rebels lost at least one man killed and a few wounded. Captain Wood said that on May 6 he found the body of one raider and "seven pools of blood," indicating that some others may have been either killed or wounded. The army later established a camp at Glenn Springs, which it maintained until 1920 when the settlement had become a ghost town
.
learned of the attack he organized another punitive expedition under the joint command of Colonel
Frederick W. Sibley and Major
George T. Langhorne
. Setting out from Marathon
on May 8, the expedition assembled at Jesse Deemer's store in Boquillas where Colonel Sibley allowed Major Langhorne to procede ahead of the main column with two troop
s of the 8th Cavalry, the remainder of the expedition would then follow in two days. With eighty 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. Following a twenty-two hour march, Langhorne arrived at El Pino and learned that the rebels wanted to trade Lieutenant Colonel Alvarez for Deemer and Payne. Langhorne had no intention of negotiating so he put "twelve sharpshooters" into the touring car and ordered them to attack the little village. But when they began their advance, the rebels fled, leaving Deemer and Payne in American hands. 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 Lieutenant
Stuart W. Cramer engaged in a "brief firefight" at Castillon. Five Mexicans were killed during the skirmish and two more were wounded, there were no casualties on the Americans' side. The expedition occurred while the United States and the Mexican government of Venustiano Carranza
were holding a peace conference in El Paso
. During the conference, Carranza issued a statement saying that Sibley's and Langhorne's "little punitive expedition" was pushing Mexico and the United States into war. Carranza had already protested about General Pershing's expedition in Chihuahua so it was agreed that Sibley and Langhorne would return to the United States, which they did on May 25 after a 550 mile journey.
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
Villistas and Carrancistas attacked the towns of Boquillas
Boquillas, Texas
Boquillas was a small settlement in Texas, located on the northern banks of the Rio Grande. It was located within Brewster County, five miles northeast of San Vicente, Texas. The place existed to service the mining operations at Boquillas del Carmen, Mexico, just across the Rio Grande.Boquillas,...
and Glenn Springs, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. In Glenn Spings the raiders burned several buildings and fought a three hour battle with a small force of American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
soldiers who were stationed there. At the same time, a second party of rebels robbed a general store
General store
A general store, general merchandise store, or village shop is a rural or small town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, sometimes in a small space, where people from the town and surrounding rural areas come to purchase all their general...
and a silver mine in Boquillas. Four Americans were killed and the rebels made hostages out of two men before riding back to Coahuila
Coahuila
Coahuila, formally Coahuila de Zaragoza , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico...
. In response to the attack, the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
launched a short punitive expedition
Punitive expedition
A punitive expedition is a military journey undertaken to punish a state or any group of persons outside the borders of the punishing state. It is usually undertaken in response to perceived disobedient or morally wrong behavior, but may be also be a covered revenge...
into Mexico which fought a skirmish with the rebels and rescued the captives.
Background
Following the federal victory at the Battle of CelayaBattle of Celaya
The Battle of Celaya, which occurred near Celaya, Guanajuato on 13 April 1915, was a battle of the Mexican Revolution.The Conventionist forces under Pancho Villa were badly defeated by forces under the command of Álvaro Obregón, who supported the presidency of Venustiano Carranza. Villa lost...
in April of 1915, the Mexican rebel Pancho Villa
Pancho Villa
José Doroteo Arango Arámbula – better known by his pseudonym Francisco Villa or its hypocorism Pancho Villa – was one of the most prominent Mexican Revolutionary generals....
led the remnants of his once large army back to northern Mexico. By 1916 Villa and his men were in desperate need of food and provisions to continue the revolution so they divised a plan to raid the American border town of Columbus
Columbus, New Mexico
Columbus is a village in Luna County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 1,765 at the 2000 census. The town is named after 15th century explorer Christopher Columbus.-History:...
, New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
. On the early morning of March 9, approximately 500 mounted Villistas attacked and burned the town though not long after that they were encounted by some 300 American troops. After a pitched battle the Villistas were defeated and pursued back into Mexico, having lost nearly 200 killed, wounded or captured. Eighteen Americans died in the engagement, including ten civilians and eight soldiers, an outrage that incited President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
to authorize a punitive expedition to capture or kill Villa. The Pancho Villa Expedition
Pancho Villa Expedition
The Pancho Villa Expedition—officially known in the United States as the Mexican Expedition and sometimes colloquially referred to as the Punitive Expedition—was a military operation conducted by the United States Army against the paramilitary forces of Mexican insurgent Francisco "Pancho" Villa...
, as it became known, was under the command of General John J. Pershing
John J. Pershing
John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing, GCB , was a general officer in the United States Army who led the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I...
and it began in mid March. Starting from various camps and forts along the border, Pershing headed into Chihuahua where his men engaged the Villistas on multiple occasions. Pershing was able to capture of kill several rebel commanders but Pancho Villa got away and his rebels continued to launch raids on United States territory while American troops were in Mexico. Tension along the international border between Texas and Mexico was high during the Mexican Revolution
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...
. Raids into southern Texas were very common, so to help protect the Big Bend
Big Bend (Texas)
The Big Bend is a colloquial name of a geographic region in the western part of the state of Texas in the United States along the border with Mexico, roughly defined as the counties north of the prominent northward bend in the Rio Grande as it passes through the gap between the Chisos Mountains in...
region, President Wilson allowed troops to occupy the area in June of 1915.
Boquillas and Glenn Spings were just small settlements at the time, about twelve miles apart, so only nine 14th Cavalry troopers guarded the former and none at the latter. Glenn Spings was located at the southern end of Chilicotal Mountain and centered around a small spring named after the first settler in the area who was killed at the site by Comanche
Comanche
The Comanche are a Native American ethnic group whose historic range consisted of present-day eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado, northeastern Arizona, southern Kansas, all of Oklahoma, and most of northwest Texas. Historically, the Comanches were hunter-gatherers, with a typical Plains Indian...
s. The town was home to some eighty people who were employed mainly by a wax
Wax
thumb|right|[[Cetyl palmitate]], a typical wax ester.Wax refers to a class of chemical compounds that are plastic near ambient temperatures. Characteristically, they melt above 45 °C to give a low viscosity liquid. Waxes are insoluble in water but soluble in organic, nonpolar solvents...
factory, owned by "Captain" C. D. Wood and W. K. Ellis. The Ellis family also owned the general store, which was managed C. G. Compton and his family. The inhabitants, who were mostly Mexican-Americans, lived in a "scattered" neighborhood of about fifty jacal
Jacal
The jacal is an adobe style housing structure historically found throughout parts of the south-western United States and Mexico. The structure was employed by some Native people of the Americas prior to European colonization and was later employed by both Hispanic and Anglo settlers in Texas and...
es concentrated at one end of town. Boquillas was even smaller than Glenn Springs. Located along the Rio Grande, across from the mining town of Del Carmen
Boquillas del Carmen
Boquillas is a small town in the Mexican state of Coahuila, on the banks of the Río Bravo del Norte . It is a part of the municipality of Ocampo.-Until 2002:...
, Boquillas had a general store, owned by Jesse Deemer, and several jacales.
Raid
On May 5, just fifty-seven days after the Battle of ColumbusBattle of Columbus (1916)
The Battle of Columbus, the Burning of Columbus or the Columbus Raid began as a raid conducted by Pancho Villa's Division of the North on the small United States border town of Columbus, New Mexico in March 1916. The raid escalated into a full scale battle between Villistas and the United States Army...
, Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
Natividad Alvarez launched his attack with in between sixty and over 200 men. Accounts of the rebels' strength differ but there was likely no more than eighty of them involved. Though Colonel Alvarez was a follower of Pancho Villa himself, on the march from Torreón
Torreón
Torreón is a city and seat of the surrounding municipality of the same name in the Mexican state of Coahuila. As of 2010, the city's population was 608,836 with 639,629 in the municipality. The metropolitan population, including Matamoros, Coahuila, and Gómez Palacio and Lerdo in adjacent Durango,...
to Texas he recruited both Carrancistas and fellow Villistas. Alvarez divided his command into to prongs, the first he led against Boquillas while at the same time Rodriguez Ramirez led the second against Glenn Spings. Because it was Cinco de Mayo
Cinco de Mayo
Cinco de Mayo is a holiday held on May 5. It is celebrated nationwide in the United States and regionally in Mexico, primarily in the state of Puebla, where the holiday is called El Dia de la Batalla de Puebla...
, the Mexicans living in Glenn Springs were holding a celebration for themselves and the people in the area. Since many people had come to town that day, Alvarez and his man looked like regular citizens, visiting friends and family, they had no trouble with occupying the Mexican neighborhood without alerting the soldiers. The conflict began sometime after 11:00 pm, by that time everyone in town had gone to sleep, except the rebels who started the raid by arming themselves and approaching the home of Compton and his three children. One of the rebels knocked on the door and asked if there were any soldiers in town, to which Compton said there wasn't. At least temporarily the rebels went away, allowing Compton time to take his daughter to the nearby home of an old Mexican lady, where she would be safe. Compton left his two young sons at home by themselves and while he was going back to his house he heard the raiders begin shooting and calling out "Viva Villa" and "Viva Carranza." 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.
Meanwhile, the nine man cavalry squad, under Sergeant
Sergeant
Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....
Charles E. Smyth, had abandoned their tents and took up positions in an old adobe
Adobe
Adobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, water, and some kind of fibrous or organic material , which the builders shape into bricks using frames and dry in the sun. Adobe buildings are similar to cob and mudbrick buildings. Adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for...
building. 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 of the adobe building. This forced the cavalrymen to try and retreat to their horses and it was during this time that three of the soldiers were killed and at least four others were either wounded or severely burned. The surviving soldiers escaped and hid in the desert outside of town. Mr. and Mrs. Ellis watched the attack from a canyon behind their house. They hid there for some time until deciding to walk to the ranch of James Rice, twelve miles away. Captain Wood was at his ranch three miles from town when he heard the shooting. At first he thought it was celebrating but as the firing continued he decided to mount his horse and ride to town with his friend, Oscar de Montel. It took over two hours before Wood and de Montel made it to town. They arrived just before the cavalrymen retreated and entered unnoticed. Wood and de Montel then dismounted and began walking to the general store, which was on fire, but fifty yards way they heard the sound of horses eating corn and men speaking Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
. When de Montel climbed a hill to have a better look someone saw him and called out "Quien vieve?" de Montel responded with "Quien es?" and the shooting started. The two men then began running as fast as they could but they hit a wire fence and fell to the ground. A bullet splintered a rock near where Wood had fallen, some of it hit him in the hand, causing a slight wound. Once out of town the two men were able to elude their pursuers and make contact with the surviving cavalrymen.
According to author Benjamin R. Beede, the rebels encountered no resistance at Boquillas and they successfully looted the place. However, Lieutenant Colonel Alvarez was captured by the townspeople in some way so the raiders took two hostages before heading to the Del Carmen mines to steal the company payroll. The hostages were Jesse Deemer and his Black Seminole assisstant, Monroe Payne, a relative of the Indian scouts Adam
Adam Paine
Adam Paine, or Adam Payne, was a Black Seminole who served as a United States Army Indian Scout and received America's highest military decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in the Indian Wars of the western United States....
and Isaac Payne
Isaac Payne
Isaac Payne, or Isaac Paine, was a Black Seminole who served as a United States Army Indian Scout and received America's highest military decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in the Indian Wars of the western United States....
. According to Beede's account, more hostages were taken at the mines but all of them were apparently released before the rebels rode back to Mexico. After the attack on Glenn Springs, Ramirez regrouped with Alvarez's men in Boquillas and they crossed the Rio Grande into the state of Coahuila. The hostages were held in a stolen truck and driven to Mexico. Deemer pretended he was a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
while in captivity, this was because of an order issued by Pancho Villa who saw Germans as friendlies. When the raid was over the commercial buildings and some of the houses in Glenn Spings were heavily damaged but Boquillas was left comparatively untouched. 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. The rebels also stole all of Mrs. Ellis' clothing and a day later some of the thieves were seen wearing the clothes near San Vicente, Texas. In all four Americans had been killed, two captured and at least five wounded or burned. Though successful, the Mexican rebels lost at least one man killed and a few wounded. Captain Wood said that on May 6 he found the body of one raider and "seven pools of blood," indicating that some others may have been either killed or wounded. The army later established a camp at Glenn Springs, which it maintained until 1920 when the settlement had become a ghost town
Ghost town
A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
.
Aftermath
When General Hugh L. ScottHugh L. Scott
Hugh Lenox Scott was a post-Civil War West Point graduate who served as superintendent of West Point from 1906 to 1910, and Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1914 to 1917, including the first few months of American involvement in World War I.-Biography:Born September 22, 1853 in...
learned of the attack he organized another punitive expedition under the joint command of Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
Frederick W. Sibley and Major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
George T. Langhorne
Brite Ranch Raid
The Brite Ranch Raid was an incident that occurred on Christmas day, 1917, in which Mexican raiders crossed the Rio Grande border and attacked a ranch in Presidio County, Texas...
. Setting out from Marathon
Marathon, Texas
Marathon is a census-designated place in Brewster County, Texas, United States. The population was 470 in 2007, after growing from 455 in 2000, but had decreased to 430 by 2010.-Geography:Marathon is located at ....
on May 8, the expedition assembled at Jesse Deemer's store in Boquillas where Colonel Sibley allowed Major Langhorne to procede ahead of the main column with two troop
Troop
A troop is a military unit, originally a small force of cavalry, subordinate to a squadron and headed by the troop leader. In many armies a troop is the equivalent unit to the infantry section or platoon...
s of the 8th Cavalry, the remainder of the expedition would then follow in two days. With eighty men, two wagons and one Cadillac
Cadillac
Cadillac is an American luxury vehicle marque owned by General Motors . Cadillac vehicles are sold in over 50 countries and territories, but mostly in North America. Cadillac is currently the second oldest American automobile manufacturer behind fellow GM marque Buick and is among the oldest...
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. Following a twenty-two hour march, Langhorne arrived at El Pino and learned that the rebels wanted to trade Lieutenant Colonel Alvarez for Deemer and Payne. Langhorne had no intention of negotiating so he put "twelve sharpshooters" into the touring car and ordered them to attack the little village. But when they began their advance, the rebels fled, leaving Deemer and Payne in American hands. 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 Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
Stuart W. Cramer engaged in a "brief firefight" at Castillon. Five Mexicans were killed during the skirmish and two more were wounded, there were no casualties on the Americans' side. The expedition occurred while the United States and the Mexican government of Venustiano Carranza
Venustiano Carranza
Venustiano Carranza de la Garza, was one of the leaders of the Mexican Revolution. He ultimately became President of Mexico following the overthrow of the dictatorial Huerta regime in the summer of 1914 and during his administration the current constitution of Mexico was drafted...
were holding a peace conference in El Paso
El Paso, Texas
El Paso, is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in far West Texas. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 649,121. It is the sixth largest city in Texas and the 19th largest city in the United States...
. During the conference, Carranza issued a statement saying that Sibley's and Langhorne's "little punitive expedition" was pushing Mexico and the United States into war. Carranza had already protested about General Pershing's expedition in Chihuahua so it was agreed that Sibley and Langhorne would return to the United States, which they did on May 25 after a 550 mile journey.