New York Units at the Mexican Border, 1916-1917

On 9 March 1916 Poncho Villa (born as Doroteo Arango) and his band of nearly 500 men attacked the 13th U.S. Cavalry at Camp Furlong near Columbus, New Mexico. During their retreat they also attacked nearby Columbus, New Mexico, killing several citizens.

In response to this attack of US soil President Woodrow Wilson called up over 110,000 men from the National Guards of various states. Since New York had one of the most organized National Guard organizations, many New Yorkers were sent to the Mexican Border in 1916. In all 15,289 officers and men from the New York division were sent to the border.

See Also:

A more complete history of the New York Division at the border is here.

The Rio Grande Rattler was the newspaper published by the New York Division while it was stationed at the border.

Herbert W. Congdon's first person account of his service on the border.

Herbert W. Congdon and the 23rd Infantry Along the Mexican Border, a paper by Bryan McGrath, B. A., University at Albany (pending, 2011)

Books

New York division, National guard, war record

Detailed account of the New York units on the Mexican Border in 1916.

You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open this.

This book was downloaded from the Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org)

Link to photograph of Generals Funston, O'Ryan and Parker

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© NYS DMNA: Military History Museum: New York Units at the Mexican Border, 1916-1917

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