Pancho Villa, dressed in Mexican attire, looking at John Pershing tied to a cactus, with volcano in background. The Pancho Villa Expedition was a military operation conducted by the US Army against the forces of Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa from March 1916 - February 1917, during the Mexican Revolution of 1910-20. William Allen Rogers, New York Herald, November 26, 1916 (colour-enhanced).