Random Cool Fact Of The Day: George Patton's Wild-West Style Shootout In Mexico

Those ostentatious ivory-handled .45's weren't just for show.

Correction: I wrote "pearl-handled," which I'm reliably informed only a cheap pimp would carry.

Lieutenant Patton halted his automobiles on the reverse slope of a hill about a mile from the hacienda. Taking the leading automobile, Lunt, one soldier, and the driver, Patton ordered the rest of the party to remain hidden.

...

Arriving at the east face, Patton saw an old man and a young boy near the fence in front of the gate, skinning a steer.

It was only a moment before Patton saw three horsemen emerge from the hacienda. They were armed with rifles and pistols. Catching sight of Patton, they wheeled their mounts and made for the southeast corner of the ranch. Upon reaching there, they encountered the other soldiers advancing from the south.

Patton held his fire. According to typical American custom, the politicians in Washington had sent Pershing into Mexico with explicit orders that his men may not "initiate" any action, that is to say, attack the enemy. They could, however, defend themselves if they were fired upon.

The Mexican "General" and his two men had turned their horses again, heading north. Apparently they thought that they would have a much better chance against the lone figure of Patton. Unfortunately, they had no way of knowing that they would be going against one of the finest marksmen in the United States Army, as a matter of fact, the whole world. Patton had, in 1912, set a world's record at the Olympics at Stockholm, Sweden during practice for the pistol competition.

At a distance of about 20 yards, the Mexican opened fire on Patton. Patton returned the fire with a deliberate 5 rounds. One of the rounds hit the lead rider and broke his arm. Another round went into the belly of the horse he was riding.

By this time, the other American soldiers had made their way around the corner and had started shooting. Patton ducked back around the corner to get out of their line of fire. Patton reloaded his single action Colt.

The other two riders galloped by him at a range of ten paces, firing at and MISSING both Patton and Lunt.

Patton returned the fire, hitting the nearest Mexican's horse, which fell on the rider. Patton actually waited for the man to extricate himself from underneath the animal. When he was free and he rose to fire at Patton, Patton killed him with one shot, fired from under his left arm.

The third Mexican swerved his horse to his right and galloped to the east. Patton and two other soldiers opened up at the fleeing bandito.

Mr. Lunt, being a civilian, was unarmed. He could not join in the shooting, and was, indeed, happy that he was with Lieutenant Patton. The third Mexican met a swift death.

He then stared blankly into the skies and mused for two hours that he was a reincarnation of Hernando Cortez.

He was weird.

Deadly weird.

posted by Ace at 05:14 PM

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