By Tim Inwood
Recently at a gun show, I was looking over an old US service 1911 .45 pistol. Its serial number was low and the gun itself in only fair condition. The seller said the previous owner claimed the gun had been used in the Mexican Punitive Expedition in 1916. This comment brought back a flood of memories about why I have an interest in these early Colts.
When I was a boy, we would sometimes go out to my great-grandfather’s youngest brother’s farm in Southern Clinton County. I always enjoyed visits with Uncle Fred, as he always had an interesting story to tell. His ghost stories would leave you sleepless and checking under the bed. His adventures left you exhilarated. He would become so animated when talking about history, it may have indeed been the main reason I developed such a passion for the subject.
A few times he told me different stories about chasing the infamous Mexican bandito leader Pancho Villa. In 1916, the US army was sent to find Villa in the wake of Villa’s attack on Columbus, New Mexico. To a young boy, this was great and exciting stuff. The story threw out names that would only mean more to me as I got older and took an interest in history. General “Black Jack” Pershing and a then-young officer named George S. Patton figured prominently in my Uncle’s stories about Mexico. The last time he told me stories from the expedition, he went in his room and then came back out with a brown holster. Later as a collector, I would know it correctly as the 1912 swivel holster issued with the 1911 pistol. The following is a combination of my recollection of my Uncle’s stories, mixed with a bit of detail from Stanley Hirshson’s book, General Patton, A Soldiers Life.