Columbus is about 3 miles north of the Mexican border. It is a place of historical interest, as the scene of a 1916 attack by Mexican revolutionary leader Francisco "Pancho" Villa that caused America to send 10,000 troops therein the punitive Mexican Expedition. 

"On March 9, 1916, on the orders of Mexican revolutionary leader Pancho Villa, Colonel Francisco Beltrán, Colonel Candelario Cervantes, General Nicolás Fernández, General Pablo López, and others led 500 men in an attack against the town, which was garrisoned by a detachment of the 13th Cavalry Regiment. Villa's army burned a part of the town and killed seven or eight soldiers and 10 residents before retreating back into Mexico.

United States President Woodrow Wilson responded to the Columbus raid by sending 10,000 troops under Brigadier General John J. Pershing to Mexico to pursue Villa. This was known as the Punitive Mexican Expedition or Pancho Villa Expedition. The expedition was eventually called off after failing to find Villa, who had escaped. The Pershing expedition brought prosperity and international attention to Columbus and a realization that war had come to the border of the United States."

Today the town is mainly a tourist attraction, artist and retirement community.

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