Health alert - Not ground beef this time!

Each year tens of thousands of lobsters find their way from the waters of Penobscot Bay to plates all around the world.

Imagine that this is your plate of lobster... Looks good, doesn't it?



You will notice the claws of your lobster have been banded. These should be removed before the lobster is eaten, but not before the live lobster is steamed. The bands are placed on the lobster for two reasons: The first is to protect whoever handles the lobster from the powerful claws. The second is to protect the lobster from other lobsters.


Lobsters are carnivorous and will eat anything that crosses their paths, including another lobster. If the bands were not in place, the lobsters would eat each other while in pounds or holding tanks. One might say that shows that even lobsters think lobster meat is delicious.

Penobscot Bay lobster fishing might still be doing o.k. but a little farther south things are not so great. Nearly 12 million pounds of lobsters were taken out of Long Island Sound each year up to the late 1990s. The catch, though, has dwindled to between 2 million and 3 million pounds annually.

The water of the sound has warmed slightly the last few years but the change is just a little over one degree Fahrenheit. Although some warmer water species seem to be showing population increases in the sound no one is sure that the lobster decline is temperature driven.

Whatever the cause, an increasing number of lobsters are being imported from Canada to supply U.S. demand. In fact, even in New England, a sizeable portion of the lobster served in restaurants is not of U.S. origin.

Now there is another issue rearing its ugly head to confound the lobster gourmet.

Don't eat lobster tomalley!

Maine and New Hampshire officials are advising consumers not to eat lobster tomalley after tests have shown high levels of toxins in some lobsters.

The Maine Center for Disease Control said Friday that lobster meat is perfectly safe but that people should not eat the tomalley, a soft green substance found in the body of the lobster which is considered a delicacy by some...

High levels of toxic algae known as red tide have been recorded along Maine's coast this summer, forcing the state to close many areas to clam and mussel harvesting.

Tomalley functions as the lobster's liver by serving as a natural filter for contaminants that are in the water, unfortunately the contaminants become concentrated in the tomalley tissue.

People that eat oysters or other shellfish containing red tide toxins may become seriously ill with neurotoxic shellfish poisoning (NSP). Once a red tide appears to be over, toxins can remain in the shellfish for weeks to months.



The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has advised consumers for some years not to eat tomalley. Now some of the states where the lobsters are caught are joining in with FDA...

A note to the dog....

Dear Dog...



I am soooo sorry about you being sent to the
dog pound for the broken lamp which you
did not break; the fish you did not spill;
and the carpet that you did not wet; or the
wall that you did not dirty with red paint...

But things here at the house really are calmer
now, and just to show you that there are no
hard feelings between us, I am sending you a
picture, so you will always
remember me.



Best regards,
The Cat

Grandpa Bateman's military service part 1

The Mexican Campaign

166th Infantry Regiment (Ohio 4th) in 42nd (Rainbow) Division
1916 - 1919

Merrill Bateman
Serial Number: 92982
Race: White
Residence: Columbus, O.
Enlistment Division: National Guard
Enlistment Location: Columbus, O.
Enlistment Date: 29 Jun 1916
Birth Place: Pleasant Corners, O.
Birth Date / Age: 21 Years
Assigns Comment: Co B 4 Infantry Ohio NG (Co B 166 Infantry) to 26 Dec 1918;
Co A 53 Pioneer Regiment, Infantry to 14 March 1919; Co B 166 Infantry to Discharge
Private, first class 1 Sept 1916; Private 10 Sept 1917;
Private, first class 17 Aug 1918. Champagne-Marne; Aisne-Marne; St Mihiel; Defensive Sector.
American Expeditionary Forces 18 Oct 1917 to 25 Apr 1919. Honorable discharge
17 May 1919.

The 166th Infantry was part of the 42nd Infantry Division, also known as the
"Rainbow Division" because it included one regiment from each state.
The 4th Infantry Regiment of the Ohio National Guard was chosen to become
part of the 42nd and re-designated the 166th Infantry Regiment. Prior to the war,
the 4th Ohio was sent to keep the peace at strikes and riots and stop
revolutionary insurgents on the U.S.-Mexico border.






Book:
Cheseldine, R. M.. Ohio in the rainbow : official story of the 166th Infantry,
42nd Division in the World War.

Columbus, Ohio: F.J. Heer Print. Co., 1924.

The call-up June 1916

After receiving the mobilization instructions on the afternoon of June
18, Hough and his small staff immediately went to work preparing and
issuing the necessary orders to mobilize the selected Ohio Guard units.
At 4:00 A.M. on the 19th, the Governor's office released to the press the
Adjutant General's General Order Number 12 of 1916, outlining initial
instructions to the Ohio Guard for mobilization. In addition to detailing
the units that had been called for federal service, Hough's order
charged regimental and battalion commanders with the responsibility
for feeding their enlisted men once they mustered. In addition, the
order authorized a subsistence allowance of 75 cents per day for each
man actually present. Commanders also had to provide bedding for
their soldiers (most units used local armories when available) and
forage and shoes for their horses. If suitable facilities for bunking
soldiers were not available, commanders had the authority to allow
enlisted men to sleep at home.

General Order Number 12 devoted considerable attention to medical
concerns. The directive admonished commanders to examine carefully
their soldiers to detect any sign of contagious diseases, especially
typhoid fever, measles, and mumps. The order specified that if an
office of the Ohio National Guard Medical Corps was unable to
conduct such inspections, commanders were to have local health
officials and physicians make the inspections. The order bluntly stated
that "no infected soldier will be brought to the mobilization camp."
Equally important, the order directed that "no recruit will be accepted
until he has been given a thorough physical examination by a Medical
Officer and has been found to conform to the physical standard
prescribed for the Regular Army."38 Hough's orders appeared clear
enough, but the Ohio Guard would run into significant problems as a
result of inadequate compliance with this directive.

Each regimental or separate battalion commander assigned one
officer to be accountable for medical property, another officer to
account for quartermaster property, and a special accountability
officer who was responsible for any ordnance, engineer, or signal
equipment within the command. In his order, Hough reminded ac-
countable officers and local commanders of the requirement during
mobilizations to inventory and inspect all property belonging to the
state or the federal government which the Ohio National Guard would
take into federal service. In addition, the order directed that as soon as
a unit had been raised "to the maximum practicable [strength] at its
home station," had at least reached its prescribed peace minimum
strength, had conducted its property inventories, and had made
suitable arrangements for "caring for the armory and property to be
left behind," it should notify the Adjutant General's office and await
further instructions.

For most units, the "maximum practicable" strength level was full
wartime strength, and the Ohio Guard units selected for service on the
Mexican border sought to fill their rolls to meet that level. The
peacetime strength of the mobilizing Ohio Guard units was 7,295, little
more than half of the desired wartime level of 13,541.40 Recruitment
began almost immediately throughout the state, beginning from the
Governor's office. Willis' next press release after the mobilization
order was a call to arms that appealed to Ohio patriotism. He urged
Ohioans to enlist immediately "to fill up every Ohio organization to its
war strength." Willis then released a series of press statements
designed to stir up support for the Mexican venture.41 His office
printed letters from eight-year old boys and seventy-six-year old men
volunteering for service. One old man who claimed to have lived in
Mexico for thirty-five years urged people to volunteer in order to "go
into Mexico and clean it up once and for all," the implication being that
since he had lived in Mexico he knew the importance of sending
American units down to fight in Mexico.

On June 26, Willis released for the newspapers another letter from a
large group of Civil War veterans that volunteered for service despite
the fact that "some of [us] physically are a little shaky."

While the appeals for volunteers based on patriotism were nothing
new, the 1916 mobilization was different from past efforts in one
important respect. When an interested citizen and ex-officer of the
Austro-Hungarian army named M. Wall wrote to the Governor re-
questing the authority to organized a company of fellow Austro-
Hungarians, Willis politely acknowledge receipt of the request and
referred the matter to General Hough. He also advised Mr. Wall that if
he really wanted to serve his adopted country, he ought to consider
instead enlisting in an existing unit.

Clearly, volunteer units formed by ambitious citizens desiring quick
commissions and immediate high rank were a thing of the past by 1916.

Governor Willis was not the only one who used the newspapers to
attract volunteers to fill existing units. Local newspapers were perhaps
the primary recruiting tools for the company commanders and their
recruiting officers to enlist new members into their units. These papers
often were even more open and enthusiastic than the Governor had
been about using patriotic ideals to stir up enthusiasm and encourage
the young men in their towns to join the local military unit. The June
29th Kenton Graphic News Republican (home of I Company, 2nd Ohio
Infantry) had a headline proclaiming, "Men, show your patriotism
now!" Other towns across Ohio had newspapers that offered similar
sentiments.

Ohio National Guard recruiting officers, of course, encouraged and
supported this form of advertising. They also worked with local mayors
and officials (more often than not they might be personal friends or
acquaintances) to gain further help in making Guard services appealing
to the local citizenry. Many communities responded by organizing
social affairs and meetings to support their local Guardsmen and to
influence others to join the Guard. Recruiting officers also pointed out
the financial benefits of serving in the Guard during federal service.

Second lieutenants earned $4.72 per day, sergeants $1 a day, and
privates $.60 a day plus meals after being mustered in, amounts that
were not insignificant in 1916.

It is important to note that while many Guard members looked
forward to federal service and to deploying to the Mexican border,
others were far less enthusiastic. Every regiment designated for
movement to the border had a few officers who resigned their
commissions to avoid service or who submitted resignations prior to
the order to mobilize. The reasons for avoiding service varied. Some
apparently found Guard service inconvenient for their personal busi-
ness interests, while others felt distaste at having to serve so far away
in the hot climate of Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico itself. It is
unclear as to what, if any, penalties this small minority of Guardsmen
may have received; probably few regiments wanted to retain such
unenthusiastic leaders by forcing them to stay on. As a result, the
Special Orders that the Adjutant General's office issued regularly were
full of names of new officers elected by their units to fill the vacancies,
and listed the results of state review boards that determined whether
they were suitable for commissioning.

Equipment shortages also plagued the Ohio National Guard mobili-
zation. The Chief of the Militia Bureau's report to the Secretary of War
for 1916 noted that, as of June 18, the Ohio National Guard was short
large quantities of field equipment in numerous categories and thus
could not completely equip its minimum authorized strength for
wartime service. The Ohio Guard was also short some weapons,
including thirty-two pistols and 268 pistol magazines. Unlike several
other states, Ohio was not short of rifles, a significant change from
1898.

The blame for equipment shortages also belonged to the War
Department, which had the responsibility to provide the weapons,
equipment, and supplies to make up the difference between normal
National Guard strength levels and the wartime level that the federal
government required. The War Department too had difficulty in
adequately fulfilling its requirements to arm and equip those soldiers
that the Ohio National Guard could not equip. The major problem
appeared to be that one depot stored the reserve equipment and
supplies for all of the National Guard units in the country.

The War Department was unable to appropriate enough transportation to pro-
vide every state's Guard units with the equipment that they needed. As
a result, most of the Ohio National Guard's units were unable to fully
equip all of their soldiers until well after they had been mustered into
federal service. Since the Ohio units remained in Ohio at Camp Willis
(the mobilization site) for several weeks after the muster, most did
manage to acquire the needed equipment by the time they moved to the
federal mobilization site in late August and early September of 1916.

General John (Black Jack) Pershing took command of the Eighth Infantry
Brigade at the Presidio of San Francisco on January 13, 1914. At that time
the political situation in Mexico was tumultuous. Several attempts at
revolution had resulted in a state of anarchy. Americans living on the
border were growing concerned and the Eighth Infantry was transferred
to Fort Bliss, Texas, to patrol the border. The political tensions did not
improve, and Pershing made plans to relocate his family to Fort Bliss.

Mrs. Pershing and the children had remained at the Presidio residing in a
large two story Victorian house located next to the Main Post parade ground.
Frances apparently was enjoying her stay in San Francisco despite being
involved in the first automobile accident in the Presidio, when an out-of-control
automobile struck her carriage. A warm and vivacious woman, Frances kept
up many friendships with old classmates, public figures and other Army wives.
She and the children attended the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition
just a short walk from their quarters. As an advocate of woman's suffrage,
Frances Pershing had already made plans to attend the 1916 Republican
convention. On Friday, August 27, 1915, there was a tragic fire at the Pershing
home. Frances had been entertaining guests the previous evening. Around 4:20
am hot coals spilled onto the highly waxed floor. Frances and the three young
girls, aged 8, 7, and 3 perished in the blaze. Only the son, Warren (5) survived
after being rescued by Johnson, Pershing's long-time black orderly. Visiting
the site, Pershing could only comment, "They had no chance."

After the funeral, General Pershing returned to Fort Bliss leaving Warren in
the care of his sister, May. He turned all of his attention to his work.
The Mexican bandit Pancho Villa was leading raids along the border.

From March-June 1916 the United States mounted an armed expedition
to Mexico to quell raids initiated by prominent Mexican leader
Pancho Villa into the U.S.

Allegedly sponsored by the German government Villa launched a
raid into the State of Chihuahua on 11 January 1916, capturing and
killing 19 U.S. citizens. This was followed on 9 March with a raid upon
Columbus in New Mexico, killing 11 citizens.

Following U.S. protests Mexico's President Venustiano Carranza undertook
to deal with Villa but insisted that the U.S. not interfere. However with the
U.S. rapidly losing patience with Carranza, General Frederick Funston -
U.S. commander along the border - was ordered to despatch an armed
U.S. column into Mexico in pursuit of Villa (to be taken dead or alive).
To that end Funston placed General John Pershing in command of the expedition.

Pershing led 4,000 U.S. troops into Mexico on 15 March 1916, remaining there
until early 1917. On 29 March 1916 a U.S. force of 400 men defeated a larger
number of Villa's followers. Nevertheless U.S. troops remained to mop up the
remnants of Villa's supporters; these troops increasingly came into contact -
and armed conflict - with official Mexican troops sent by President Carranza
to deal with Villa, the first of which took place on 12 April 1916.

Increasing clashes led to a very real threat of war between the U.S. and
Mexico; on 18 June 1916 U.S. President Woodrow Wilson called out the
National Guard to deal with the Mexican problem. As these were gathering
along the Mexican border President Carranza backed down, releasing a
group of captured U.S. troops and despatching a note of apology on
4 July 1916, in which he suggested convening a conference to prevent
future issues.


Doroteo Arango, alias Francisco “Pancho” Villa, was born in 1877
(1879 according to some sources) in San Juan del Rio, State of Durango,
Mexico. During his lifetime, he was a ruthless killer (killing his first man
at age sixteen), a notorious bandit (including cattle rustling and bank robbery),
a revolutionary (a general commanding a division in the resistance against
the 1913-14 Victoriano Huerta dictatorship), and despite his bloodthirsty nature,
an enduring hero to the poor people of Mexico. In their minds, Villa was
afraid of no one, not the Mexican government or the gringos from the United
States. He was their one true friend and avenger for decades of Yankee oppression.

In late 1915 Pancho Villa had counted on American support to obtain the
presidency of Mexico. Instead the U.S. Government recognized the new
government of Venustiano Carranza. An irate Villa swore revenge against
the United States.and began by murdering Americans in hopes of provoking
President Woodrow Wilson’s intervention into Mexico. Villa believed that
American interevention would discredit the Carranza government with the
people of Mexico and reaffirm his own popularity.

Villa and his “pistoleros” launched raids along the U.S.- Mexico boundary to frighten the Americans living in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona border towns. Concerned for the safety of Americans, President Wilson ordered the War Department to begin deploying troops to Texas and New Mexico. In April, 1915, Brigadier General John J. Pershing and his 8th Infantry Brigade were sent to Fort Bliss, Texas with the mission of guarding the U.S.- Mexico border from Arizona to a bleak outpost in the Sierra Blanca mountains ninety miles southeast of El Paso.

While the presence of American troops served to deter Villa on the north of the Rio Grande, the murder of U.S. citizens in Mexico continued. One of the most heinous atrocities occurred January 11, 1916, when Villa’s bandits stopped a train at Santa Ysabel . The bandits removed a group of 17 Texas business men (mining engineers) invited by the Mexican government to reopen the Cusihuiriachic mines below Chihuahua City and executed them in cold blood. However, one of those shot feined death and rolled down the side of the embankment and, crawling away into a patch of brown mesquite bushes, escaped. The train moved on, leaving the corpses at the mercy of the slayers, who stripped and mutilated them. After the escapee arrived back at Chihuahua City, a special train sped to Santa Ysabel to reclaim the bodies. When the people of El Paso heard of the massacre, they went wild with anger. El Paso was immediately placed under martial law to prevent irate Texans from crossing into Mexico at Juarez to wreak vengeance on innocent Mexicans.

Despite outrage in the United States and Washington over the Santa Ysabel massacre, President Wilson refused to intervene and send troops into Mexico. Two months later, Villa decided to strike again. This time he would invade the United States. At 2:30 a.m., on the morning of March 9, 1916, he and 500 “Villistas” attacked the 13th U.S. Cavalry at Camp Furlong near Columbus, New Mexico . Despite prior knowledge that Villa and his men were pillaging, raping, and murdering their way toward the border, the cavalry was caught completely by surprise. One reason for the cavalry’s sluggishness was because some of the troops had been drinking, but perhaps more importantly, all of the troops’ rifles were chained and locked in gun racks. Still, the cavalry managed to get organized and fought off the “Villistas” killing many of them in the process. During their retreat, however, the “Villistas” stopped at Columbus, New Mexico for a looting and window-shooting spree that left several U.S. civilians dead. For three hours, bullets struck houses and shouts of “Viva Villa! Viva Mexico! Muerte a los Americanos!” (death to americans) were heard in the streets. The town was set afire, though Villa’s men realized nothing beyond a few dollars and perhaps some merchandise from the burntout stores. The terror continued until about 7 a.m., and when Villa finally rode off, the smoke-filled streets of Columbus were littered with the dead and wounded. Fourteen American soldiers and ten civilians were killed in the raid.

Although Villa’s losses from from his American incursion were high, he had achieved his aim of arousing the United States. Now, he and his men headed due south from Palomas seeking the safety of the mountains of the Sierra Madre. However, the 13th U.S. Cavalry was now in hot pursuit. Colonel Frank Tompkins had managed to gather 32 cavalrymen and was nipping at the heels of the fleeing Mexicans. His troops sighted Villa’s rear guard and killed over thirty men and horses. Colonel Tompkins kept up the chase for eight hours and killed a number of stragglers as well as more of Villa’s rear guard. Lacking supplies, Tompkins and his cavalrymen were forced to return to Camp Furlong. On their way back, they counted 75 to 100 “Villistas” killed during their hastily organized pursuit.


The populace of Columbus was in a state of hysteria. The American cavalry troops collected the bodies of the “Villistas” that had been shot in the streets and on the outskirts of town and piled them on funeral pyres and cremated them. For a day or more the fires smoldered and the odor of burning flesh permeated the air. Columbus lay virtually demolished, so completely burned and pillaged that it never recovered its former vitality.

To prevent repetitions of the Columbus outrage, President Wilson called out 15,000 militia and stationed them along the U.S. - Mexico border.
Wilson also informed President Carranza that he intended to send a military expedition into northern Mexico to capture Pancho Villa, and Carranza reluctantly agreed. President Wilson then appointed Brigadier General John J. Pershing to lead 4,800 troops (mostly cavalry), supported by aircraft and motorized military vehicles (the first time either were used in U.S. warfare) on a punitive expedition into Mexico to capture Villa.

However, there was a catch to Pershing’s mission orders from Wilson that would be decisive in the end. Pershing was to pursue and punish Villa, but not to upset the Carranza government by firing on any of his troops. The futility of Wilson’s orders was plain even before the expedition began, when the local Carranzista commander at nearby Palomas threatened to attack the Americans. Pershing was only able to stave off an incident by hiring the man as a guide for his troops. Carranza would take advantage of Wilson’s restrictions to make life miserable for the Punitive Expedition throughout their mission.

In 1916, the Signal Corps Aviation Service only had a few crude aircraft. The 1st Aero Squadron which was assigned to support Pershing was equipped with six Curtiss JN-2 “Jennies” which had a reputation of being unstable deathtraps. In addition, the airservice was handicapped by inexperienced pilots. Pershing was barely a month into the expedition when he lost all six of his aircraft. Two crashed within the first week of the expedition.

Pershing’s expedition also provided an opportunity for one of the Army more headstrong members. . . George S. Patton, then a young lieutenant. Fearing he would be left behind on mundane border patrol with his unit, Patton pleaded with Pershing to take him along as a replacement for one of his two aides that was absent when the expedition was ordered into Mexico. Pershing agreed at the last moment and took him. The thirty year old Patton was convinced that he would now be able to fulfill his destiny as a great warrior.

Villa had a nine days headstart before Pershing’s Expedition crossed into Mexico at noon on March 15, 1916. By that time, Villa and his men were well hidden in the mountains. To cover the uncharted terrain, Pershing divided his force into East and West columns and proceeded methodically into the unfamiliar Mexican interior.

Basically, the two American columns of the expedition got nowhere in their pursuit of Villa. Northern Mexico was a vast wasteland with few towns and dominated by the barren and rugged Sierra Madre Mountains with peaks averaging ten to twelve thousand feet and honeycombed with deep canyons providing excellent hiding places for Villa and his men. The few roads were little more than dirt trails, dusty in dry weather and muddy quagmires in the rain. Villa’s men were on their home ground while Pershing was moving into unfamiliar and largely unmapped territory depending on Mexican guides whose loyalty was always questionable.

Pershing’s soldiers, mostly raw recruits, encountered every imaginable mishap during their eleven months in Mexico. President Carranza had promised assistance, but when, for example, Pershing’s men were on the verge of capturing Villa, the “Carranzistas” attacked them. Another time, Pershing’s Indian scouts misinformed him about the location of Villa’s lair. On other occasions, the scouts brought in blood-filled boots and bullet-riddled shirts as “proof” that he had been killed.

Pershing’s East column fanned out from Columbus through cactus and desert, pueblos and small settlements, Ascension and Corralitos. The West column meandered about among hills and plains to Culbertson’s Ranch, one hundred miles west of El Paso, near the New Mexico - Arizona - Mexico border, and the Ojitos to the south. After some months, both columns converged at Casas Grandes only to split again a little later, with one heading south for Pearson, Cumbre, and Madera, and the other marching southeastwardly for Guerrero, Agua caliente, Ojos Azules, and Carrizal.

At Colonia Dublan, Pershing established his permanent command post where he began to plan how he would snare Villa. Everywhere U.S. Troops went, men, women, and children cheerfully provided them with misinformation about his (Villa’s) whereabouts.

As in past American invasions (e.g., the Mexican War of 1846-1848), the Pershing Expedition was a financial “boon” to Mexico. The American soldiers’ wants were catered to and satisfied everywhere they went. Prices skyrocketed. If they so desired, soldiers could submerge themselves in Mexican beer. Cantinas were open all night. In many restaurants soldiers devoured “deer” meat that once ran in the streets barking. Life was hard only when the Americans marched or rode along the dirt roads and were eating their dry ration crackers and looking for water. Dublan was transformed into an enormous military encampment complete with a railhead where tons of supplies were unloaded by a thousand civilian workers. The soldiers and civilians worked by day and brawled by night in the saloons and bordellos that had sprung up in the once sleepy town.

Villa’s men mingled with the populace at will by simply removing the cartridge belts they normally strapped across their chests. They even mixed with the Americans and attended Western “cowboy” movies with Pershing’s officers.

In May, 1916, Lieutenant Patton saw combat for the first time. Based on information about the location of Julio Cardenas, one of Villa’s most trusted subordinates and commander of his personal bodyguard; Patton, accompanied by ten soldiers from the 6th Infantry Regiment, and two civilian guides traveling in three Dodge open top touring automobiles, conducted a surprise raid on a ranch house at San Miguelito near Rubio. During the ensuing fire-fight, Patton and his men killed three men. One was identified as Cardenas. The other two dead Mexicans were an unnamed Villista captain and a private. Patton’s men tied the bodies to the hoods of the cars, while Patton put Cardenas’ silver-studded saddle and sword into his vehicle. The spectacle of the three cars with the bodies tied on the hoods caused a great commotion along the road, but Patton and his party sped through the countryside to their headquarters at Dublan without incident.

At around 4 p.m., Patton arrived at Dublan with the three bloody corpses strapped across the blistering-hot hoods of the automobiles. War correspondents crowded around to get a first hand account of his adventure. The stories they filed made Patton a national hero for several weeks. His photograph appeared in newspapers around the United States. Pershing was pleased that someone had enlivened the hunt for Villa and actually taken out a key member of his band. He even permitted Patton to keep Cardenas’ sword and silver saddle as trophies of his first fight.

In June, Pershing was informed that Villa could be taken at the small village of Carrizal, northwest of his command center at Dublan. When the Pershing’s troops assaulted the village on June 21, they quickly realized they had been hoodwinked for they found themselves fighting “Carranzistas,” not Villistas. Scores of “Carranzitas” were killed or wounded. Villa was reported to have watched with much delight — from a safe distance — as his two enemies battled each other in total confusion.

The unfortunate American attack on Mexican government troops became known as the “Carrizal Affair” and created a such a rowe that war with Mexico seemed possible. The situation led President Wilson to call 75,000 National Guardsmen into Federal service to help police the U.S. - Mexico border. In fact, hostilities with Mexico probably would have erupted then and there, but for the bitter war raging in Europe. Wilson, anxious not to become involved in Mexico at a time when relations with Germany were deteriorating, agreed to submit Mexican complaints arising out of the punitive expedition to a joint commission for settlement. Some time later the commission ruled that, among other things, that the debacle at Carrizal was the fault of the American unit commander.

For the remainder of 1916, the intensity of the hunt for Villa waned and replaced by the tedious routine of life in a temporary bivouac. Boredom spawned drunken shoot-outs between troops and local Mexicans. In an attempt to keep his men busy, Pershing initiated a tough new training program that included cavalry maneuvers. It was clear by this time, however, that given President Wilson’s restrictive orders and the growing intransigence of the Carranza regime that the Pershing led Mexican incursion was doomed to failure.

Meanwhile, back in the United States, National Guard units were being called out to secure the U.S. - Mexico border. Units of the Georgia National Guard were mobilized at Camp Harris, Macon, Georgia during July, 1916 and sent to Camp Cotton, Fort Bliss, near El Paso, Texas in October.

Company H, 3rd Separate Infantry Battalion and 2nd Company, Coast Artillery were mustered into Federal service on August 10 and September 26 respectively, but remained at home station and were not sent to Texas.

The aggregate strength of the Georgia units that were sent to Camp Cotton, Texas was 3,892. The units were mobilized on June 18, 1916 and mustered into Federal service, most between July 2-31 and one as late as September 26. After some mobilization training at Camp Harris, they departed for duty on the U.S. - Mexico border.

An example of the service of one of the Georgia National Guard units deployed to the border is revealed in the reports of the 2nd Squadron Cavalry. The unit departed Camp Harris at Macon, Georgia on October 25, 1916 and arrived at Fort Bliss, Texas (Map 2) on November 1, 1916. At Fort Bliss, they underwent a month of mounted training until Then, the squadron left on December 1, 1916 for field duty at Fabens , Texas (Map 2) with three officers and 70 men, 79 horses, 2 transport wagons, and eight mules. The group marched 32 miles to Fabens finally reaching there at 1:40 p.m. on December 2, 1916. They performed border patrol with the 1st Kentucky Infantry and from December 16 on with the 2nd Kentucky Infantry. The squadron left Fort Bliss, Texas at 1a.m. on March 22, 1917 with three officers and 77 men, two wagons and full equipment. They arrived at home station, Atlanta, Georgia at 1p.m., March 27, 1917. The distance traveled was 1,700 miles.

In January, 1917, the ill-fated attempt to capture Pancho Villa ended with the recall of the Punitive Expedition from Mexico. On January 27, the first of 10,690 men and 9,307 horses embarked for Columbus. It took over a week to assemble the full expeditionary force back at Fort Bliss, where, on February 7, 1917, with General Pershing at the head, they marched into El Paso to the acclaim of cheering crowds. That officially ended Pershing’s campaign. The expedition had gone as far south as Parral, but Pershing had not captured Pancho Villa. Therefore, the expedition was only notable as the last U.S. Cavalry expedition in U.S. military history. Although Villa had once been nicked in the knee cap by a Carranzistas bullet, he was now completely mended and feeling well. However, many of his best men had either died or deserted him. But, with the gringos gone, he was now free to continue his struggle with his arch foe Venustiano Carranza.

Unabashed by his failure to capture Villa, General Pershing claimed the expedition was successful as a learning experience. However, in the minds of Mexicans, Pancho Villa was the clear winner. He had emerged triumphant from battle with the United States led by the great General Pershing. No doubt, in the eyes of the Mexican people, Pershing’s withdrawal from Mexico added to Villa’s myth of invincibility.

But, a few years later, on Friday, July 20, 1923, Villa’s luck ran out. Accompanied by his entourage of Dorades (“Golden Ones”), which was what he called his bodyguards, Pancho Villa frequently made trips to Parral for banking and other errands. This day, Villa had picked up a consignment of gold with which to pay his Canutillo ranch staff and was driving through the city in his black 1919 Dodge roadster when a group of seven riflemen fired 150 shots in just two minutes into his car. In the fusillade of shots, 16 bullets lodged in his body and four more in his head. Villa was reported to have killed one of the assassins before he died. Truly, Pancho Villa had lived by the gun and died by the gun.

It was never determined who ordered the killing. However, the assassins were given light prison terms leading to general speculation that someone in the Mexican government must have given the order simply because Villa had become an embarrassment to post-revolutionary Mexico.

But even in death, Pancho Villa was not at rest and still stirred controversy. Three years after he was buried in the Cemeterio Municipal at Parral, it was alleged that an ex-Villista officer, Captain Emil L. Holmdahl, had opened the tomb and removed Villa’s head to sell to an eccentric Chicago millionaire who collected the skulls of historic figures. Despite the rumors of a headless Villa, his sons prevented examination of the remains to see if the head was still attached. Three years later, the Federal government ordered Villa’s body, reported to be headless, moved to Mexico City to be interred in the Tomb of Illustrious Men.




Armored machine gun trucks in review, March 6, 1917, El Paso, Tex.