JUNE 2015 VERSION 1916 STATE MOBILIZATION CAMPS Fred Greguras 1274 Estate Drive Los Altos, CA 94024 650.248.4558
[email protected] {00044073;3} I. INTRODUCTION The year 2014 is not the first time the U.S. has faced a crucial challenge on the Mexican border. Almost 100 years ago in 1916, President Woodrow Wilson faced a crisis along the border. The border had been a trouble spot since 1911. Regular army troops were deployed along the wide border to prevent incursions following the outbreak of revolution in Mexico in late 1910. In 1914, Wilson authorized U.S. forces to land and protect U.S. interests in Vera Cruz, Mexico. The crisis at Vera Cruz ended in November 1914 but regular army units remained on the border. Tensions reached a breaking point on March 9, 1916 when Pancho Villa raided Columbus, New Mexico. Wilson sent a punitive expedition under the command of Brigadier General John J. Pershing into Mexico to try to find and destroy Villa’s forces (the “Punitive Expedition”). On May 5, 1916 Glenn Springs, Texas was attacked. On May 8, Wilson called national guard units (the “Guard”) from Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona into federal service to help protect the border and on June 18, 1916, he ordered the mobilization of the Guard of the remaining states for the same purpose. The War Department specified which Guard units (by regiment) the federal government wanted for service on the border. By July 4, 1916, the Guard of fourteen states was on duty in camps along the border. A July 20, 1916 newspaper article reported that over 100,000 men were in camps on the border and another 58,000 men were still at state mobilization camps.