Pancho Villa may be one of the most recognizable names in both Mexican and American history. He crossed the border and raided Columbus, New Mexico with 400 of his men on March 9, 1916, killing 16 people and burning down part of the town. An attack force under the command of General John “Black Jack” Pershing was sent off by President Woodrow Wilson to track down and bring Villa to justice. Although the US Army still relied on horses; motorcycles, cars, trucks and aircraft were employed for the very first time in any combat situation involving the American military.
Pershing had under his command the 7th, 10th, 11th, and 13th Cavalry as well as 6th and 16th Infantry Regiments.
Historian Herbert Wagner wrote in Classic Harley-Davidson, “Early reports from Mexico extolled Private Gregg of the US Seventh Cavalry, who rode his Harley-Davidson through a gang of banditos with his .45 Colt semi-automatic pistol blazing, killing one, wounding another, then delivering his dispatch case safely at headquarters.”
Francisco “Pancho” Villa joined the Madero revolution against the Mexican Federal government in 1910. By 1913 he bought Indian motorcycles, and according to some records used them in 1914 in a successful attack on the city of Torreon during the Mexican Revolution. Indian bikes, along with the other two makes mentioned above, were powered by substantial V-twin air-cooled motors even if horsepower was still mentioned with hooves in the margins at that time.
Indian introduced the Powerplus in 1916, which was powered by the company's first side-valve motor. It displaced 998cc and produced all of 16 hp. Along with a three-speed transmission, the whole powertrain was very similar to that of Harley-Davidson. Considering the large motors, the Powerplus and Model J Indian bikes only weighed 400 pounds. As a footnote, George Hendee, founder of Indian, retired very comfortably in 1916, the year Indian sold 22,000 motorcycles.
As was the case with military bikes in the early years, most had sidecars. Indian provided sidecars with seats, but also ones that were used as gun stowage platforms as well as gunner sidecars with Colt-Martin Rapid Fire Machine Guns.
The Powerplus and Model J of 1916-1918 were nearly identical between civilian and military versions except for paint, and in 1917, due to diversion of metals for the war effort, wheels were painted black, which easily distinguished the two years. Also, the Powerplus had a fully valanced (i.e. wrap-around) front fender, setting it apart from other motorcycles even at a distance. Profits for the company were $540,000 for 1917, a considerable sum in that era.
At the beginning of the Punitive Expedition the US Army had a total of approximately 1,000 motor vehicles. In addition to the bikes, there were some Jeffery and White trucks and miscellaneous others, along with Dodge, Ford, White and Cadillac passenger staff cars.
General Pershing and Pancho Villa met earlier in 1914 on friendly terms, but after the attack on Columbus, Villa suddenly became a vicious outlaw in the eyes of those north of the border, and a bandito to many in Mexico. He was known to be a ruthless thief and killer, but at the same time he loved the senoritas, knew how to party and could be very generous, according to historian Robert Lemmo. His attack on Columbus was in response to the American government's friendly overtures toward the Mexican Federal government against whom Villa was fighting.
For 1916 Harley-Davidson offered an F-head 1000cc (61 ci) 45-degree V-twin which was slightly less powerful than Indian's motor, yet both bikes were capable of 60 mph on a good day. The H-D bike at the time was called “The Silent Gray Fellow” because the company stated “quiet pipes save lives,” even though the company had entered racing. On the Harleys, lubrication was by pressurized feed-pump plus auxiliary hand pump. Ignition was either magneto or generator-battery type.
All of the V-twin motorcycles had spring forks at this time, and all had kick starters by 1916, only a few years after pedal-start was abandoned. Transmissions were three-speed, although the smaller motorcycles which the military seldom used were single-speed. Chain drive was also adopted universally a few years before when the “higher” horsepower precluded slippery leather belt drive.
Did I miss something, Al? The 1914 Indian that Villa rode was electric start. It was the first motorcycle to have a swingarm rear suspension and electric start. Unfortunately batteries weren't worth a fuck and most riders disconnected the electric start or removed it. The next Harley to have electric start was the 1965 Panhead.–Bandit
Half of all Harley-Davidson production went to the military at this time as the US Army began to stock up in light of World War I already blazing in Europe. Harley-Davidson produced a combination motorcycle/sidecar for the military in three versions. Flexible sidecars were the most prevalent during this period, but Harley-Davidson switched to the Rogers Company in 1914. There was also the Model 16-GC which was a “gun car” Model 16-AC was an “ammunition car” and Model 16-SC was a “sidecar chassis and stretcher” for ambulance work.
Harleys equipped with machine guns were thoroughly tested in the desert after getting a workout in the forest near the Racine-Milwaukee area of Wisconsin, not far from where they were built. Photographs from the Milwaukee County Historical Society show both machine-gun equipped sidecars and two-wheel bikes negotiating rugged desert terrain near the Mexican border.
According to author Herbert Molloy Mason Jr., at first General Pershing used one-hundred and sixty-two FWD and White trucks to ply back and forth from Columbus to the first field base at Colonia Dublan, nearly 200 miles into the interior of Mexico. Photos from the campaign show columns of White trucks with large conestoga-type canvas canopies headed south through a valley between rock-strewn hills. Trucks were used almost entirely to carry supplies, seldom as troop carriers. The infantry was still expected to march and sleep on the ground. The entire gamut of advantages of motor transport had yet to be envisioned even by such great military men as General Pershing himself.
Including passenger cars, eventually some 4,000 vehicles were used in the Punitive Expedition (during which Villa was never caught). This is compared to 9,300 horses, which were eventually used in the campaign by the cavalry, and also as pack animals, to draw wagons and to pull a few pieces of artillery. In addition, Pershing ordered the first ten “Jenny” JN-2 biplanes built by the Curtiss Company. They could barely stay in the air and several crashed killing the pilots. The JN-2 was essentially a prototype of the later and very popular JN-4. (Only one JN-3 was built).
Historian Robert Karolevitz wrote “The failure to prepare was obvious. Without standardized equipment, the results were inevitable. Before the 11-month campaign was over, 128 different makes and models of motor vehicles were in use on the border. Needless to say, the supply of spare parts was a fantastic mess. Secondly, the army didn't have the drivers and mechanics to operate and repair the vehicles, so civilians were hired initially to get the job done while the War Department scrambled to recruit qualified soldiers.”
Historian Herbert Wagner wrote, “One thing quickly learned was the need to adequately train motorcyclist soldiers. Studies showed that 90% of the motorcycle's efficiency depended on the rider and mechanic and 10% on the machine. Badly trained conscripts were accident prone, and poorly maintained machines subject to break-down. This moved the Milwaukee factory to send out instructors for training rider soldiers and mechanics.” Howard “Hap” Johnson was the first instructor. This school for the armed services still exists.
Although along the border at Columbus, New Mexico the landscape is a bleak, dry desert, once the interior of Chihuahua is penetrated the terrain turns into high, rugged, forested mountains, which Pancho Villa knew very well. Being so familiar with the lay of the land allowed him to escape, hide and obtain help from the mostly cooperative, or coerced locals. Being a proponent of land reform and against the austere, dictatorial federal government, Pancho Villa was very popular among the poor farmers and ranchers throughout Mexico.
Although Pancho Villa had used motorcycles earlier, he was such an excellent equestrian that he managed to escape over the mountains on a saddle, albeit not mounted on a steed of steel. He also tried to organize an air force and bought three Martin biplanes, but this was an immediate failure after one demonstration flight resulted in a crash landing, and his student pilots immediately declined the opportunity for further instruction.
The deepest penetration by the US Cavalry was approximately 500 miles to Parral, where an indecisive battle was fought with the Villistas. The entire landscape was a dirt path which was one long succession of mud, potholes, ruts, collapses, hairpin turns, stream and river crossings, sand pits and other challenges of scenic extremes. Some of the passes reached an altitude of 7,000 feet. The City of Chihuahua was eventually reached but not by motorcycle, car, airplane or truck but on horseback, and only in final peace negotiations.
The so called American “truck trains” could stay only on what might be called a roadway, at times breaking down or becoming mired in sand and mud. But once the trains were in the “pipeline” there was a constant flow of supplies including food, feed for the horses, ammunition and water. Boots were always needed and clothing, as few anticipated bitter cold in the higher elevations.
What were dubbed “truck trains” ran alongside railroad tracks before entering the mountains. Starting in El Paso the Mexican Northwestern Railroad consisted of two lines; one going directly south to the city of Chihuahua, the other traversing more westerly through Colonia Dublan, then through Guerrero. Eventually General Pershing used these rails, but through most of the campaign the Mexican government would not allow the Americans to use their rail lines.
During the hunt for Pancho Villa, it should be noted that telegraph lines ran straight up to El Paso along the rail lines in Chihuahua, and there were dozens of newspapermen as part of the “entourage” with the army in 1916. They wrote about the latest hardship, incident, operation and battle which was then telegraphed and published the next day in America's periodicals.
The soldiers used a short-range radio telegraph communication system, simply called “wireless” mounted on trucks to relay messages among the various camps going into Mexico. White Motor Company photos show soldiers setting up a thirty-foot antennae in the field.
At about that time the press divulged the location and size of the US National Guard units that had been deployed all along the border. They numbered over 100,000 men. This military secret had been leaked by the press. Motorcycle, car and truck units were now part of the garrisons in Arizona and along the Texas border as well.
Pancho Villa's penchant for Indian motorcycles was only part of his so-called progressive demeanor. He was also a great hedonist. The song La Cucaracha was written for him. There have been some 100 verses written in the song which celebrates Villa's earlier victory at Torreon. One of the choruses refers to his personal habits. Besides Pancho (he was born Doroteo) he was also nicknamed “La Cucaracha”.
Ya no puede caminar
Porque no tiene, porque no tiene
Marihuana que fumar
(The cockroach, the cockroach
Is not able to walk
Because he hasn't, because he hasn't
Any marijuana to smoke).
Historian Robert Lemmo writes, “Pancho Villa was a truly popular revolutionary leader, one of the common people, a peon responsible for some of the most brilliant and successful military operations ever fought; this done under adverse conditions, with untrained, ragtag troops, while simultaneously throwing some of the biggest parties ever seen in Mexico before or since. In fact whether fortune waxed or waned on the Villistas, they maintained a steady choogle on the road of revolution.”
Another famous name to emerge out of the conflict was one of George S. Patton, who at the time was a lieutenant, later to become the famous W.W.II general. In the chase after Villa, Patton became an innovator when he turned three Dodge touring cars into armored cars by bolting steel plates to the bodies. An armored car built by White and Carnegie Steel Corp. was also used. The improvised armored cars were used to rout some of Villa's rear guard out of an adobe bunker in a skirmish at San Miguelito.
The Punitive Expedition ended Feb. 17, 1917 not long before Congress declared war on Germany on April 6. The lessons of standardization, training and organization were yet to be learned as the U.S. shipped a myriad of motor vehicles, including many Harley-Davidsons and Indians with sidecars to Europe.
But his assassination had little to do with the Mexican Revolution. By that time Villa had retired with the blessings of the new federal government which had also given him many acres of land, a chauffeur and dozens of body guards.
Proving itself in the field, the Harley-Davidson and Indian motorcycles led to the selection of William S. Harley of H-D to become head of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) committee on the standardization of motorcycles built for the military. Once the U.S. entered World War I, in a combined effort among American manufacturers the idea of standardization was finally accepted. The result was the “Liberty Motorcycle” in the same vein as the “Liberty Truck” and “Liberty Engine”. All of these were based on designs using the best elements of existing vehicles. Parts and components were built by different companies but were assembled together to create a universal, standardized machine. However, when the Armistice was signed in 1918 all of the contracts were canceled and many companies were left holding the bag.
Excelsior lasted until the Depression closed its doors forever in 1931. Indian motorcycles ceased to be manufactured in 1953 at Springfield, although the company lasted a number of years after that, re-merged in fits and starts, and began building real bikes again in 1999, only to close again. The one company that has continued to thrive since its inception in 1903 is Harley-Davidson.
The hunt for Pancho Villa became the crucible in which motorcycles, cars, trucks and aircraft were tested and proven to be the required machines of the entire following century, whether in peace or in war.
