The Battle of Columbus (Burning of Columbus or the Columbus Raid), March 9, 1916, began as a raid conducted by Pancho Villa's Division of the North on the small United States border town of Columbus, New Mexico, located 3 miles north of the border. The raid escalated into a full-scale battle between Villistas and the United States Army. Villa himself led the assault, only to be driven back into Mexico by elements of the 13th Cavalry Regiment stationed at the town. The attack angered Americans and President Woodrow Wilson ordered the Punitive Expedition in which the US Army invaded Mexico in an unsuccessful attempt to capture General Villa.

After the 1915 Battle of Celaya, where Villa sustained his greatest defeat, the Division of the North was in shambles, wandering around northern Mexico foraging for supplies. Lacking the military supplies, money, and munitions he needed in order to successfully pursue his war against Mexican President Venustiano Carranza, Villa planned the raid and camped his army of an estimated 500 horsemen outside of Palomas 6 miles south of the border. Columbus, located 3 miles north of the border was populated by about 500 Americans and about as many Mexicans that fled north from the advancing Villistas. The reasons for the raid have never been established with any certainty. An American kidnap victim travelling with the raiding party, Maude Hauke Wright, said that Villa came with 3000 men and 6000 horses and attacked Columbus with 1500. She was told that Villa thought that by provoking America into invading Mexico it would cause the Germans and Japanese to intervene.

...
Wikipedia