Santa Isabel massacre

The Santa Isabel massacre took place on January 10, 1916, at Santa Isabel, Chihuahua, Mexico, as part of Mexican Revolution. Mexican bandits led by Pablo Lopez, aligned with revolutionary Pancho Villa and operating in de facto government territory of Villa's rivals, the Constitutionalists—stopped a train in Santa Isabel and removed from it around 17 American citizens who were employees of the American Smelting and Rifling Company. All but one of the Americans were summarily robbed, stripped, and executed. The massacre, ordered by Villa to demonstrate his control over northern Mexico to the Constitutionalists, led to ethnic violence in the area and calls for U.S. military intervention in Mexico. It thus partially led to the Pancho Villa Expedition, in which the U.S. Army went into northern Mexico to find Villa but were unsuccessful.