As one who fell in love with Mexico in 1964, I continue to read most of what comes out in print with relation to that country. This book has information about Pershing that I knew nothing about, and reveals much of a personal nature about him and about Francisco Villa.

The struggles of the U. S. soldiers as they search for the elusive Villa
make an interesting story-- one that got lost because the incursion into Mexico was followed so quickly by World War I. I wonder, for example, how many of the soldiers who were in Mexico went on to the European war.

I had the great good fortune to hear a lecture by one of Villa's secretaries.

I am still in love with Mexico after all these years!

Norma Williamson

The author has done her homework with this fine piece of history. I have read much on this subject and was hoping to find out more details about the Punitive Expedition mounted by America to track down Pancho Villa and his bandit army. She paints Villa and the other leaders of the 'Revolution' as most of them were: brutal killers seeking wealth and power and a few betterment of the people of Mexico. Lots of details about the Villiast raid on Columbus, NM, the numerous skirmishes between US troops and various factions of Mexican forces of all sorts.
Plenty of drama and some good information about Villa's background, experiences during the revolution as well as those of Obregon, Madero, Zapata and many others.
Worth reading as her style is easy to follow and sometimes humerous and insightful.
I give it thumbs up. Enjoy as it might lead the reader to seek more information about this fascinating period of US/Mexican history.

A former guerrilla ally of the United States turns his vengence on the U.S. A President who wanted to tend to the domestic ills of the United States is drawn into a foreign conflict. An intervention is attempted which results in native aggravation at the United States. History repeats itself. The time is 1916 and the terrorist act is at Columbus, New Mexico-a sleepy border town. Pancho Villa kills a lot of innocent men. Americans are now his enemy. The Americans intervene in Mexico and try to track him down. They nearly suceed. Time give Villa the punishment he deserves.

This is an interesting book about earlier terrorism. Not much is written about the Columbus raid. Welsome does a good job of describing the killings of Pancho Villa and his Division of the North in the 1916-17 period. This should be read in light of the current war on terror.

I enjoyed the book, but I thought it could have been shortened considerably if Welsome would have left out the numerous paragraphs about what someone was thinking or might have thought as they rode a horse through the mountains. It had a little too much fluff for me and for a book that has a title that indicates it is about 2 military leaders I was left with the feeling it was a so-so attempt to create a romanticized old west tale. I would have liked to seen more actual military history instead of the speculation fluff that fills so many pages. The book is nice but if you want a military history book, this isn't it.

The book is excellent from a historical perspective. Ms. Welsome thoroughly researched the topic and presented her findings in a very readable manner. The only negative is that it wasn't told as exciting as some other period non-fiction I've read. But this is really nitpicking though, as I thought it was a fine book all things considered.

This book reads like a novel. It explains well the confusion around the anarchic movements of Villa, the Carrancistas under General Obregon, and Pershing's "punitive expedition" into the state of Chihuahua. Contrary to myth, Villa did not outfox the Americans. They dogged him, after his traumatic attack on Columbus, New Mexico in 1916, and almost caught him. Pershing stopped his push because of over-extended supply lines and the growing resistance of the Carrancista government to the American presence. Without saying as much, the book shows a moment in history where the American military and its supporters were tempted to exercise the right of empire and invade the rest of Mexico. The battle of Carrizal suggests the Americans might have bitten off more than they could chew if they had done that. The Carranza government, as well as potential guerrilla fighters all through Mexico, might have risen and struck back as one at American columns. The book is a fine work of research and tells the story through the eyes of revolutionaries, bandits, mercenaries, forced Mexican conscripts, and generals and citizens of both countries.

Those with an interest in borderlands history will enjoy this account of the confrontation between Pancho Villa, the `Jaguar' of the title, and John Pershing, `the General'. The connection of the two stems of course from Pancho Villa's 1916 raid on Columbus, New Mexico, and the ensuing "punitive expedition" lead by "Black Jack" Pershing, (his nickname derived from his early command of "buffalo soldiers"). Among the byproducts of this study is an examination of the impact of a military force's presence on a porous border, a topic relevant today. Those seeking a deeper understanding of the reaction of Iraqis to the presence of foreign troops on their soil may find an instructive analogy in the reactions of Mexicans to the American punitive expedition. Students of history interested in attacks on American soil in the last one hundred years (Pearl Harbor and 9/11), have this incident for further context.

Author Eileen Welsome's tale consists of several related stories, with two of them at the heart of the book. The first is Pancho Villa force's infamous assault on American territory, the raid on the sleepy border town of Columbus. To tell this story more fully, Welsome examines why Villa turned against his ally in the convulsions of the Mexican Revolution (1910-20), the Americans. The background includes numerous pithy character sketches of Mexican revolutionary figures, from Huerta to Madero to Obregon and Zapata, and others. Welsome, who won the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for reporting for the Albuquerque Tribune writes seamlessly and with verve. She deftly sorts out the conflicting and bewildering threads of the Mexican Revolution for the non-expert. The second central story is the American "Punitive Expedition" into Mexico to find and punish, and kill if necessary, Pancho Villa, commanded by future World War One Allied Expeditionary Force leader Pershing. Not to be ignored is his aide, the one-day-to-be-legendary George S. Patton, whose modern-day reputation for brutality is buttressed by a letter given context by the author, wherein Patton shows no remorse for killing a man.

Pershing, who had suffered the unspeakable loss of his wife and three young daughters in a fire, is humanized in ways many writers ignore. Villa's acts veer between murderous brutality and small courtesies. Mexican and Spanish sources are not neglected, albeit the vast majority of citations and items in the bibliography are Anglo materials. Several descendents of survivors of the Columbus raid were tracked down by the author and interviewed. A welcome source is the recollections of stalwart Maud Wright, whose husband was killed in Mexico by Villa's troops, and who was taken captive on Villa's trek north to Columbus. Along with Wright, other obscure figures with interesting stories in their own right are given full-blown portraits.

The March 9, 1916 Mexican rampage by Villa's troops on Columbus followed Villa's perception of betrayal by President Wilson. Believing the U.S. had aided his Mexican enemies, and that the gringos had no respect for Mexico, he was convinced Americans were preparing an invasion, as it had invaded seventy years earlier. Eighteen Americans were killed in Columbus as a result, among the victims both soldiers and civilians, including women. The raid and the earlier summary execution of seventeen non-military Americans traveling by train in Mexico are related through the stories of ordinary people caught up in the maelstrom- the citizens of Columbus, Villa's Anglo-captives picked up during his march to the border, Villista soldiers, and American cavalrymen. The author has a keen perception of how women caught up in the events managed, coped, and reacted to tragedy. Some readers may be disappointed, however, in the author's technique of putting words in the people's mouths, words she believes they may have spoken, and this is what keeps this book from getting a fifth star. Others may find the author's attempt to humanize long dead figures through descriptions of their eyes or emotions disconcerting and overly romantic.

The book alternates between American and the Mexican stories and settings. The technique is at least as old as War and Peace, but Welsome does it effectively. Pershing is ordered to go deep into Mexico to find and punish Villa, an action that brings the U. S. and Mexico to the brink of war. Villa's enemies, legion in Mexico, resented the Americano presence on Mexican soil more than they did Villa, and react sullenly and violently. Sound familiar? Pershing's American command, nearly 5000 strong, is depicted in its ten-month failure to find Villa, with its logistical nightmares, strategic errors, and its racist misunderstandings of Mexicans. The author's style is non-judgmental, and readers will draw their own conclusions as to justifications or lack thereof for both American and Mexican actions. Historical context is not neglected; the impact of German actions in stirring up border troubles in hopes of distracting America from participation in the Great War, while not a focus of the book, is delineated. Few of the long-range impacts of the failure of the American raid are examined, the author preferring to follow up on the lives of her protagonists and antagonists, including the 1923 assassination of Villa in Mexico, and the death of Pershing with his boots off in 1948.

Welsome is a careful reporter and stylish storyteller who prefers to eschew broader interpretations of the meaning of the events upon which she reports.

Poor intelligence, numerous unheeded warnings, military laxity, and cowering fingerpointing, all played a significent role in the debacle that befell both soldiers and civilians on March 9, 1916, in Columbus, New Mexico. The raid by Francisco "Pancho" Villa and his Villista cutthroats would result in the untimely deaths of 18 people and precipitate a punitive expedition led by General John Pershing that would bring the U.S. again to the very brink of war with Mexico.

Eileen Welsome does an excellent job of detailing events and separating fact from fiction surrounding the sordid events of this infamous raid and exposing Villa for what he truly was - an opportunistic, nefarious outlaw of the worst kind, contrary to the lionized hero portrayed in movies, novels, and history books.

If you're looking for where the genesis of military and political blundering and cover up began in this century, you would be well served to read Ms. Welsome's work as a starting point; also, the somewhat turbulent and misunderstood relationship that existed, and to a great measure exists today, between the U.S. and Mexico is brought front and center.

This is a fascinating study of an occurrence that barely makes its way into the footnotes of our historical narrative. Well done!

The General and the Jaguar is an absorbing and instructive book. It reads like a novel and is hard to put down.
The first part of this book provides an informative survey of the history of Mexican governance in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Here Welsome sets the foundation for next part of the story - the events prior to and following the raid on Columbus, New Mexico in 1916.
She provides an interesting and compelling story of reprisal and politics that enlightened me regarding US-Mexico relations. She illuminates the mind-set of men caught up in their own egos while devastating the lives of innocents around them.
The final section of her book ties up the loose ends.
The General and the Jaguar is a very readable composite of a lot of research and data about this part of US history. It provides information but doesn't push you to conclusions.
I highly recommend this to anyone interested in US history that may have only a cursory understanding of US-Mexico relations.

A surprise attack on U.S. soil. Civilian casualties. Faulty intelligence. A hastily-organized punitive expedition. A "dead or alive" vow. The chief perpetrator gets away, but loses key confederates. And his ability to threaten the U.S. again is greatly reduced.

Sound familiar?

It's the story of Poncho Villa's attack on Columbus, NM ninety-years ago and the Wilson Administration's response via the Pershing Expedition. Eileen Welsome brings to contemporary readers this long-ago story of foreign terror against U.S. citizens. She constructs a vivid, fast-paced narrative (I read it in two sittings) full of colorful characters. Not just celebrities like Villa and Pershing and his aide, a guy named Patton. But also the ordinary folks of Columbus and the combatants on both sides. The Army officer responsible for protecting the town, Colonel Slocum, is roundly criticized.

Welsome does an excellent job of reviving a compelling story that, unfortunately, has fallen into obscurity.

This is a terrific story about the first attack on U.S. soil in the 20th century. It occurred 90 years ago and I was impressed by how much and how little things have changed in that span. The historical time and place (1916 Mexico and New Mexico) seems to be on the cusp of two separate eras. On one hand, you have real gun-toting, horse-riding revolutionaries who seem to be from the 1860s. On the other, you have an American army with a present day feel- political considerations manipulated them and modernity inspired them. About 40 years ago I was in Columbus and chatted with a couple locals who recalled the raid. They didn't strike me as quaint oldsters- one was still pretty incensed about it. Yet even then, Pancho Villa had become a kind of folk hero on both sides of the border. Now, Columbus has even named a park after him. Actually, Villa was as vile a creature as ever pulled on boots. He maintained his army by lethal coercion and his plunder and murder did no service to Mexico. By his own estimate, he was responsible for 43,000 deaths. However, only 18 Americans died in his notorious raid on Columbus. Indeed, many more Villistas were killed by the roused U.S. Army which had a base in town. Villa's troops had no training, little ammo and poor command. In every encounter with the gringos, 4 or 5 times as many Mexicans died as did Nortes- just like in the movies.

The "Puntitive Expedition" was launched largely as a face-saving measure. Did it make sense? Probably not. Greater defensive measures along the border would have been a wiser investment. Pershing's forces came close to Villa a number of times, but he evaded them and holed up in a sympathetic ranch house. (Sound like Osama?) Pershing's forces were too cumbersome to move rapidly, yet too meager to control the country. I'm sure the troops handed out gum and candy, but they also ticked off the locals by searching their homes and sometimes demanding provisions for soldiers and horses. By its very nature, an occupying army must swagger and bully to maintain control. When a few get shot at, the ante is raised. Likely, some civilians in the War Department wondered why our troops weren't thanked for attempting to impose order during the turbulence that is now called the Mexican Civil War. Finally, the Puntitive Expedition was skirmishing with other Mexican armies. Pershing wanted vast reinforcments so he could have his way with the country. Wiser heads eased us out. A few months later, Black Jack was in France.

This book is exceptionally well written with many superb character sketches. Through the illumination of a minor incident, we can gain deep insight into the politics of war.

Well written with no moralizing. The characters come alive through Welsome's storytelling. An entertaining and quick read.

I was very impressed with this book, but the thing that most impressed me about THE GENERAL AND THE JAGUAR: PERSHING'S HUNT FOR PONCHO VILLA: THE TRUE STORY OF REVOLUTION AND REVENGE, was author Eileen Welsome's curtailment of pre-programming conclusions for the reader. Welsome simply portrays the very well researched facts, and presents them for your own discernment, avoiding casting her own thoughts to persuade readers to her viewpoints. In other words, she is portraying history as a true historian should, which is a rare treat.

A date largely forgotten in American history books is March 9, 1916. This was the first time in the 20th century that America was attacked by a foreign enemy on its own soil. Poncho Villa and his army attacked Columbus, NM. The ensuing `war', waged between Villa and American General John J. Pershing would last until the early days of 1917. The event was a carry over from the four year Mexican Revolution that finally spilled over across the U.S. southern border. America had supported Mexican President Carranza. Using the old "the friend of my enemy is my enemy" theory, Villa felt retaliation against the U.S. was justified.

Welsome's book, however, goes far beyond the details of the hunt for Poncho Villa. Unknown characters are extremely well developed here. I did find it rather puzzling that Welsome would go to such depths, but would avoid engaging in many other more critical aspects of the whole affair. For example, it is completely omitted that American ineptness at capturing Villa would lead to a worldwide diminished view of American power, which would later encourage German U-boat attacks on American merchant ships. This is the sort of detail that is critical to future generations of readers to illustrate the necessity of the "victory at all costs" stance that America SHOULD have in all military engagements. Understanding the importance of superiority and the role it can play to actually SAVE American lives should never be minimized.

The book is rather hefty at over 400 pages, but reads quickly and holds reader interest throughout.

Monty Rainey
www.juntosociety.com

THE GENERAL AND THE JAGUAR is a heck of a good book. It is a serious, spendidly researched work of history, but it is written as smoothly and fast paced as a thriller. This is an action filled story dealing with some famous names: Patton, Pershing, Villa. The best thing about it is that the story is all true. If you now and then like to read a book with brave heroes, murder, revenge, and suspense, but are tired of "action" novels following the same old formula, try THE GENERAL AND THE JAGUAR. You get the excitement and action, and as a bonus, you learn what happened in America and Mexico almost a hundred years ago.

In these days of American soldiers fighting in foreign lands, the story of how the United States of America became embroiled in the Mexican Revolution almost one hundred years ago is timely.

Fresh from victory in the Spanish American War, full of pride and new quasi-colonial possessions, America was now enjoying one of our isolationist periods when we would prefer to sit back and let the world solve its own problems.

The world was gearing up for war in the first decade of the 1900s. The British had finally concluded their operations in South Africa; the Japanese had handed the Russians the most decisive naval defeat since Trafalgar; and our neighbor to the south was in open revolt against its latest cobbled-together government.

With foreign companies and foreign entrepreneurs owning more of Mexico than the Mexicans, the stage was set for one of those personalities of the people to take advantage of the situation and use it to his benefit. Enter Francisco "Pancho" Villa.

Villa could be described as the Osama Bin Laden of his day. He raided, murdered and brutalized northern Mexico, and on a fateful day in March of 1916, crossed the border and attacked Columbus, New Mexico. His raid murdered innocent men and women and sent the borders states into panic.

President Woodrow Wilson sent General John J. Pershing on a punitive expedition that quickly became so hamstrung with rules of engagement that it resembled our expedition fifty years later in Southeast Asia.

The General & The Jaguar is an extensively researched and well-developed biography of not only Pershing and Villa but the supporting cast of characters on both sides that played at a game of chess in the Mexican state of Chihuahua for ten months.

Eileen Welsome has taken great unbiased pains to portray each characters, both known and unknown, in a light that will let the reader arrive at their own verdict as to how the incidents of 1916-7 should be remembered.

Armchair Interviews says: This is a work that should be required reading in every high school American history class.