George S. Patton and Winston S. Churchill had more in common than just both being great men.
In 1916, Patton was the officer in charge of the worlds first "motorized" military action.
The following is the story of Patton's courageous charge against a bandit held stronghold. It made history because it was the very first instance on record of a motorcar being used in an actual combat situation by the American Army.
Lieutenant Patton was officially assigned to the 10th Cavalry, but had been attached to Troop H of the 11th Cavalry as an Aide de Camp to General Pershing.
During the first week of May in 1916, troops had been deployed in at attempt to locate Julio Cardenas. Cardenas was Captain of the "Doradoes", the "bodyguard" for Francisco Villa. In accordance with typical Mexican Revolutionary decorum, he called himself "General" Cardenas.
West of the town of Rubio, near Lake Itascate, the 16th Infantry detachment met with Patton and his troop of cavalry. Patton was informed of the existence of a small ranch nearby called San Miguelito, where the wife and mother of Cardenas was reported to be living.
Patton led his troop to the ranch and spent a few hours there in reconnaissance. He familiarized himself with the area, the location of the hacienda, corral, fences, and gates.
The following week, on May 14th, to be exact, Pershing was made cognizant of a shortage of corn, which was the staple food for the soldiers in the expedition.
Pershing directed Patton to take three Dodge Touring cars to nearby haciendas in order to purchase the needed supplies of corn.
With Patton went one corporal, six privates, and a civilian named Lunt. Mr. Lunt was the interpreter for the group.
The first and second stops made were at Las Coyotes and Rubio. Neither place had adequate supplies of corn, so the party continued to Las Cienegas. Patton, knowing that Cardenas was headquartered there, surrounded the village just in case the Mexican might be there. Unfortunately, only corn was found at Las Cienegas.
The trip to Las Cienegas was not a total loss, however. The uncle to whom Patton had spoken had somehow aroused Patton's suspicions that Cardenas might be at the San Miguelito hacienda. Patton decided to visit the rancho located some six to eight miles to the north. Recent reports had indicated that Cardenas might have as many as 20 men with him, so Patton felt he should investigate cautiously.
Lieutenant Patton halted his automobiles on the reverse slope of a hill about a mile from the hacienda. Taking the leading automobile, Lunt, one soldier, and the driver, Patton ordered the rest of the party to remain hidden.
Patton would pass the house and stop at the northwest corner. The soldier and driver were to remain with the automobile to cover the west and north sides of the house. Patton and Lunt would go around the north side to the front of the house.
The second and third automobiles were to halt at the southwest corner. Six of the men were ordered to cover the west and the south sides. Two of them moved around the south side to meet Patton in front of the east face of the hacienda.
The corporal remained with the group at the automobiles and the order was for all of them to assemble in the event of any serious fighting.
Since Patton had been to the hacienda previously, he knew where he was going and he quickly left Lunt and the other soldiers behind.
Arriving at the east face, Patton saw an old man and a young boy near the fence in front of the gate, skinning a steer.
It was only a moment before Patton saw three horsemen emerge from the hacienda. They were armed with rifles and pistols. Catching sight of Patton, they wheeled their mounts and made for the southeast corner of the ranch. Upon reaching there, they encountered the other soldiers advancing from the south.
Patton held his fire. According to typical American custom, the politicians in Washington had sent Pershing into Mexico with explicit orders that his men may not "initiate" any action, that is to say, attack the enemy. They could, however, defend themselves if they were fired upon.
The Mexican "General" and his two men had turned their horses again, heading north. Apparently they thought that they would have a much better chance against the lone figure of Patton. Unfortunately, they had no way of knowing that they would be going against one of the finest marksmen in the United States Army, as a matter of fact, the whole world. Patton had, in 1912, set a world's record at the Olympics at Stockholm, Sweden during practice for the pistol competition.
At a distance of about 20 yards, the Mexican opened fire on Patton. Patton returned the fire with a deliberate 5 rounds. One of the rounds hit the lead rider and broke his arm. Another round went into the belly of the horse he was riding.
By this time, the other American soldiers had made their way around the corner and had started shooting. Patton ducked back around the corner to get out of their line of fire. Patton reloaded his single action Colt.
The other two riders galloped by him at a range of ten paces, firing at and MISSING both Patton and Lunt.
Patton returned the fire, hitting the nearest Mexican's horse, which fell on the rider. Patton actually waited for the man to extricate himself from underneath the animal. When he was free and he rose to fire at Patton, Patton killed him with one shot, fired from under his left arm.
The third Mexican swerved his horse to his right and galloped to the east. Patton and two other soldiers opened up at the fleeing bandito.
Mr. Lunt, being a civilian, was unarmed. He could not join in the shooting, and was, indeed, happy that he was with Lieutenant Patton. The third Mexican met a swift death.
More gunfire was heard by Patton at the southwest corner when the corporal and three men were posted. The first man that Patton had wounded was running along the south wall. With all of the Americans firing at him, he returned the fire. He then stopped shooting. When he was approached, he raised his left arm apparently in surrender.
He then drew his pistol with his right hand, fired once, and crumpled to the ground, dead.
It was found upon examination that he had been hit only once. Patton's Colt .45 had put a bullet through his left forearm and into his chest. He was the first one shot, the last to die, and he was identified as Cardenas. The second man was Jaun Gaza. The third man was never identified.
The old "Life Goes On" adage was well proven by the old man and the young boy. All through the gun battle they had quietly continued to skin the steer on which they had been working.
It speaks volumes for the discipline and courage of the American soldiers in that they did not fire at them, as well as the others.
After securing the roof of the hacienda, Patton entered the front door and searched the premises for any other armed enemy. No one was present except women and children.
The three dead "Villistas" were then strapped across the fenders of the Dodge Touring cars. As a precaution, the telephone lines into the town of Rubio were cut. Although the town was filled with Villa sympathizers and the sight of the dead Mexicans caused much excitement, the party of Americans made it through without incident.
Patton reached camp and he interrupted Pershing in a meeting. Pershing was furious until he saw the three bodies that Patton had dumped at the front of Pershing's tent. From then on, Pershing referred to Patton as his "Bandit".
When the wire services picked up the story, Patton was an immediate national hero. His adventure was the only exciting action to come out of the entire Punitive Expedition.
Oddly enough, the only other interesting occurrence in the Expedition also involved Patton.
Patton had accompanied some troopers during the capture of another "Villista" by the name of Pedro Lugan. Much to Patton's disappointment there were no gunfights involved in this affair.
In a letter to Beatrice dated May 17, 1916, Patton wrote, "... you are probably wondering if my conscience hurts me for killing a man. It does not. I feel about it just as I did when I got my first swordfish; surprised at my luck."
Most certainly not troubled by his conscience, he happily carved two notches into the left "Eagle" grip of his Colt .45. He was now a blooded soldier and proud of it.
With the exception of the Cardenas Affair and the Lugan capture, Patton was bored with the monotony of the overall expedition.
His adventures, though, were enough to make up his mind that Field Operations was the place for him. That was definitely where the action would be, if there ever was any.
It was reported to U.S. newspapers by one correspondent that at the end of the gunfight at San Miguelito Patton said, "The motorcar is the modern warhorse." Unless that story is wholly apocryphal, then with that pronouncement, Patton officially ushered motorization into warfare.
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This is a real man. We need more Pattons and less obamas and Bushes.
