Converse, John W.:

$4,000 · Offered by William Reese Company

REPORT OF OBSERVATION OF PUNITIVE EXPEDITION INTO MEXICO UNDER COMMAND OF GENERAL FREDERICK W. FUNSTON, MARCH 15TH TO APRIL 19TH, 1916. A privately-printed report from Sergeant John W. Converse to the commanding officer of the First Troop Philadelphia Cavalry, consisting of a brief diary and suggestions for materiel written during the start of the year-long U.S. military campaign sent to Mexico by President Woodrow Wilson to capture Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa (José Doroteo Arango Arámbula) in 1916. In early March 1916, Pancho Villa and 1000 of his followers raided the town and garrison of the 13th U.S. Cavalry at Columbus, New Mexico, killing nineteen, wounding four, and ended by burning and looting the town. In response, President Wilson ordered that a Punitive Expedition be formed to capture Villa and break up his command. The expedition was overseen by General Frederick Funston and commanded by Brigadier General John Pershing. The diary contained in the present report is a firsthand account of the movements and operations of the 13th Cavalry as part of the expedition during the first month of its operations. Early entries briefly detail Pancho Villa's savagery: "March 19th: We passed several Mexican refugees…having fled from Corralitos in fear of Villa. On questioning them we learned that Villa was at Corralitos, Sunday, March 12th on his way South, and said that he would kill them If they did not leave. He killed five men at this ranch on his way north because the

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