The occasion was the celebrated expedition conducted by General J.J.  Pershing into Mexico in pursuit of the bandit leader Villa.  A picked detachment consisting of portions of Troops C and K of the colored Tenth Cavalry, was dispatched from Pershing’s main force towards the town of Villa Ahumada.  The force was commanded by Captain Charles T. Boyd of Troop C and Captain Lewis Morey of Troop K. Lieutenant Adair was second in command in Troop C to Captain Boyd.  Including officers and civilian scouts, the force numbered about 80 men.

Early on the morning of June 21, the detachment wishing to pass through the garrisoned town of Carrizal, sought the permission of the Mexican commander.  Amidst a show of force, the officers were invited into the town by the commander, ostensibly for a parley.  Fearing a trap they refused the invitation and invited the Mexicans to a parley outside the town.  The Mexican commander came out with his entire force and began to dispose them in positions which were very threatening to the Americans.  Captain Boyd informed the Mexican that his orders were to proceed eastward to Ahumada and protested against the menacing position of the Mexican forces.  The Mexican replied that his orders were to prevent the Americans from proceeding in any direction excepting northward, the direction from which they had just come.

Captain Boyd refused to retreat, but ordered his men not to fire until they were attacked.  The Mexican commander retired to the flank and almost immediately opened with machine gun fire from a concealed trench.  This was quickly followed by rifle fire from the remainder of the force.  The Mexicans outnumbered the troopers nearly two to one and their most effective force was intrenched.  The Americans were on a flat plain, unprotected by anything larger than bunches of cactus or sage brush.  They dismounted, laid flat on the ground and responded to the attack as best they could.  The horses were mostly stampeded by the early firing.

The spray of lead from the machine gun had become so galling that Captain Boyd decided to charge the position.  Not a man wavered in the charge.  They took the gun, the Captain falling dead across the barrel of it just as the last Mexican was killed or put to flight.  Lieutenant Adair was also killed.  The Mexicans returned in force and recaptured the position.

Captain Morey had been concerned in warding off a flank attack.  His men fought no less bravely than the others.  They finally were driven to seek refuge in an adobe house, that is; all who were able to reach it.  Here they kept the Mexicans at bay for hours firing through windows and holes in the walls.  Captain Morey seriously wounded, with a few of his survivors, finally escaped from the house and hid for nearly two days in a hole.  The soldiers refused to leave their officer.  When they finally were able to leave their place of concealment, the several that were left assisted their Captain on the road towards the main force.  Arriving at a point where reinforcements could be summoned, the Captain wrote a report to his commander and sent his men to headquarters with it.  They arrived in record time and a party was sent out, reaching the wounded officer in time to save his life.