In the middle of the night on March 9, 1916, Villa’s 485 troops crossed the U.S./Mexican border and headed toward Columbus NM.  Villa divided his troops into several units and attacked Columbus from the Southwest at approximately 4:20 a.m.  This attack caught the entire town and the army camp by surprise.
Alerted by the gunfire and burning buildings, the U.S. 13th Cavalry sprang into action. With the flames of the burning buildings providing illumination, U.S. soldiers set up machine guns near the railroad tracks and aimed northward toward the business district producing a murderous rain of bullets. Other U.S. soldiers firing Springfield rifles from the east part of town caught the raiders in deadly crossfire. The battle lasted until dawn– approximately one and a half hours. The death toll totaled 70 to 75 raiders, ten American civilians, and eight U.S. soldiers.