Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU All Graduate Plan B and other Reports Graduate Studies 5-2012 Reinforcements on the Border: The Utah National Guard's Role in the Punitive Expedition, 1916-1917 Thomas Reese Dubach Jr. Utah State University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/gradreports Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Dubach, Thomas Reese Jr., "Reinforcements on the Border: The Utah National Guard's Role in the Punitive Expedition, 1916-1917" (2012). All Graduate Plan B and other Reports. 137. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/gradreports/137 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Graduate Plan B and other Reports by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. REINFORCEMENTS ON THE BORDER: THE UTAH NATIONAL GUARD’S ROLE IN THE PUNITIVE EXPEDITION, 1916-1917. by Thomas Reese Dubach Jr. A paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in History Approved: ____________________ ____________________ Lawrence Culver Chris Conte Major Professor Committee Member ____________________ Colleen O’Neill Committee Member UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY Logan, Utah 2011 1 In June 2006, in a plan to mitigate illicit border crossings, President George W. Bush called the National Guard to the border to build a fence. Almost ninety years to the day earlier, President Woodrow Wilson mobilized the National Guard to the border to protect it from raiders and smugglers who were part of the Mexican Revolution. Most Utahns are aware that the Utah National Guard spent time on the border to construct the fence. However, most do not know that the Utah National Guard served on the border as part of President Wilson’s mobilization. In 1916, a civil war that began as a fight for the Mexican presidency, and turned into a revolution in Mexico, pulled the US military into Mexico and the National Guard to the border. The Utah National Guard found itself hundreds of miles from home protecting the border from bandits, raids, and the smuggling of arms into Mexico.1 Why was the Utah National Guard on the US-Mexican Border in 1916? What role did the Utah National Guard play in the Punitive Expedition? What were the experiences of the Utah National Guard on the border? What does this border excursion reveal in terms of United States military history, the history of Utah, and the border itself? This paper seeks to answer those questions. Although the Utah National Guard played a small role in the Mexican Revolution and the Punitive Expedition, it was an important one in that they allowed the federal army to continue its search for Pancho Villa and his forces. The Utah National Guard also secured the U.S. border from raids and prevented arms smuggling into Mexico. Most importantly, after the arrival of the 1 Regarding some of the terminology in this work, the author will use the following terms interchangeably, US-Mexican Border, US border, Mexican Border, and the border. The term Mexican will be used only for describing Mexican nationals. Mexican American will be used to describe US Nationals that are of Mexican descent. Some sources that are quoted may not distinguish between the two and the author will do his best to explain. Military terminology will be used to describe some of the events and key players but it is the author’s goal to refrain from military jargon as much as possible. The following terms may be shortened: Utah National Guard to UNG, Commanding Officer to C.O., Adjutant General to Adj. Gen., Lieutenant to Lt. Private to Pvt., First to 1st, Second to 2nd, and so forth. 2 National Guard on the border, tensions between the U.S. and Mexico began to subside, and an all-out war was averted. These achievements were exactly what the US government wanted. During the Punitive Expedition, the United States was still growing but was not yet a world power. The United States had recently acquired the territories of Cuba, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico as a result of the Spanish-American War; which was fought two decades before the Punitive Expedition. As a result of the Spanish-American War, the US military establishment enacted sweeping reforms to the organization of the army. The Secretary of War and others realized that the military was not ready for any large scale wars or prepared to be an occupying force. The lessons learned from the Spanish- American War appear in the drilling and training of the Utah troops and in the constant sanitation checks by army regulars. The experiences of the Utah National Guard on the border reveal that the US was continuing to make reforms while still holding onto some traditions. The US was developing a more mechanized army with the use of trucks, motorcycles, airplanes, and machine guns, yet horses still played a critical role for the cavalry. The mobilization of the National Guard in 1916 was based off of a new law passed by the Federal Government earlier that year. The law, known as the National Defense Act, was one of many reforms of the organization of the National Guard in the post-Spanish-American War era.2 As part of the National Defense Act, the Federal Government had the power to mobilize the National Guard, prescribe professional, 2 Frederick P. Todd, “Our National Guard: An Introduction to Its History.” Military Affairs, Vol. 5 No. 3 (1941): 163. The first reform bill was passed in 1903. The Dick Bill, as it was called, changed the relationship between the Federal Army and state militias. The Dick Bill standardized the organization of the National Guard, outlined the issuance of equipment and other materials, and prescribed the specific amount of training each state militia needed from the Regular Army. 3 physical, and moral standards to those in the National Guard, and set enlistment terms for members of the National Guard. States’ National Guard units that fulfilled the conditions required by the Federal Government were given Federal recognition and Federal pay. The Punitive Expedition of 1916 was the first time that the entire National Guard was mobilized in the twentieth century. Certainly only a strong centralized government could perform the task of National Guard mobilization. However, there were issues of efficiency and follow-through that led to confusion for the military serving on the border. A common theme in the history of Utah and the development of its identity is the role Utahns play as individuals and members of the nation. From the time of its settlement to the granting of statehood, Utahns struggled to be part of the mainstream culture while maintaining their unique identity. Twenty years after Utah was granted statehood, members of the Utah National Guard provide evidence that this struggle continued. Commanding officers from Utah wanted their men to fulfill their duty honorably and without incident. They wanted the Utah units to be superior to all others to prove the Utahns were good soldiers and good Americans. This is likely because the nation still viewed Utahns as a peculiar people. Letters home described the men as great soldiers and examples of what Utah could offer the nation. The Utah Camp, perceived by many military leaders as the example of a well-run camp, displayed similarities to the units of other states. This theme will be explored through the highs and lows of the Utah National Guard’s service on the border. Members of the UNG received praises from US officials for their service and won awards for their camp. However, there were instances of desertion and court-martial hearings which resembled the other states’ units. The 4 senior Utah officers did everything in their power to prevent the soldiers from tarnishing Utah’s image. The history of the border and those who shaped it is an interesting story all in itself. The US-Mexican border has had its fair share of criminal and hostile activity since its creation as part of the treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo in 1848. The main criminal activities occurring in the present day are weapons and drug smuggling and human trafficking, to which the Utah National Guard was recently called to build a fence along the border as a means of prevention. When the Utah National Guard was called to the border in 1916, it was a show of US military strength and a means to prevent raids into US territory. These raids by Mexicans were to rustle cattle and smuggle arms across the border. Major Wesley King, judge advocate of the Utah National Guard stated outright in 1916 that the US government should have done more to prevent arms smuggling as that was the main reason the Utah National Guard was on the border. He stated, “Were some active step taken by the department of Justice in apprehending those responsible for the smuggling of arms and munitions to the Mexicans, our boys on duty would have been home long ago.”3 Since the creation of the US-Mexican border, it has been mostly porous, however it was likely never more secure than it was in 1916. There is very little written on the experiences of the Utah National Guard during the Punitive Expedition. In fact, only Richard C. Roberts has anything published on the event. Roberts, who touches on the subject, does leave room for many questions. Roberts was writing a complete history of the Utah National Guard so he does not spend a lot of time discussing the border excursion.