Tag Archives: Black Jack Pershing

Talk of war with Mexico was firing up communities across the country 109 years ago. The press reflected and spurred on this patriotic fervor.

The First World War was in its second year that summer of 1916, with French and German forces bloodying each other at Verdun on the Western Front. The U.S. wouldn’t join the fighting across the Atlantic for almost another year. But it only had to look to its southern neighbor to see an immediate, mortal threat.

Marauding Mexican revolutionaries were crossing into America. In March, hundreds of bandits under Pancho Villa raided a New Mexico town and nearby Army garrison. President Woodrow Wilson ordered a punitive expedition led by Brigadier General “Black Jack” Pershing and called for more than 100,000 National Guardsmen to protect the border.

The Pennsylvania Guard’s staging area was Mount Gretna, an old cavalry site 32 miles east of Harrisburg. Here’s a sample of how my hometown’s Allentown Morning Call reported on the call-up of locals:

Wednesday, June 21, 1916

The Allentown soldiers will leave here on Saturday at six o’clock in the morning for Mount Gretna to enter the service of their country in the Mexico emergency and to guard the border from the invading hordes of bandits from the country to the south of the United States. They are on the keenest edge of the round of duty, and every man is ready to do his full duty. As soon as the orders came from Washington on Sunday night calling out all the militia of the different states, the men showed their readiness for duty and they have been earnestly awaiting the orders to leave. …

The companies at Easton, and Bethlehem, M, will join the Allentown soldiers, Companies B and D, and together will form the Lehigh Valley battalion, filling a special train. … No horses will be taken. … When the companies of the [4^th Regiment] arrive at Mount Gretna Saturday, they will find the camp site ready for them. This will be their temporary home until they are ordered to the Mexican border, which may take several weeks at least. Meanwhile the time will be spent in drilling and equipping the men, the recruits without equipment being given either uniforms or arms.

Word went out of Harrisburg last night to the captains to recruit their companies to the full war strength of 150 men to a company at once. … There will be no difficulty in Allentown to get the full quota of men needed. … Men from both companies and the hospital corps are daily at work [at the armory] getting things in shape and drilling and preparing for their departure. Their friends gather in large force to see them at work and show their interest in their welfare. … One of the busiest men in the city is Dr. E.H. Dickenshied, major surgeon of the 4^th Regiment. He has been overrun with applicants for the service who want to get a physical examination. …

City Council did a patriotic act yesterday at a meeting when they decided to hold open the job of any employee of the city who might be in the service or who would enlist for the emergency. Hess Bros. [department store] with characteristic public spiritedness also made the announcement that in aid of the young men in its employ who are members of the National Guard of Pennsylvania or who may either enlist as volunteers, the firm will provide for their families by the continuance of the salaries. At the same time, [their jobs] will be reserved for them until their return from the front. …

So well will the movement [of troops] be managed, that no one can say it was poorly done or in a state of un-preparedness. The military authorities of the state have learned lessons from the war of 1898, and they are now keyed up to thoroughness. …

Because of the fact that 85 men are eligible to be added to each of the local companies to bring them up to their war strength, it will give those of military inclination an opportunity to enlist and gratify their desires. Those who delight in carrying or following the flag can show their patriotism by enlisting for the service of their country. … Here is a chance for the men who have the pleasure in being uniformed and in drilling. At this time the country calls with a clarion call to duty, and it is a pleasure to see that the call is heeded so strongly by our young men.

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In July, the men of the 4^th Regiment, 7th Division, left Mount Gretna for El Paso, Texas. (The division was reorganized as the 28th Division in 1917.) At Camp Stewart on the town’s edge, they slept in tents, drilled and marched in the desert. Through the summer and fall and into the winter, no enemy tested the Guardsmen from across the Rio Grande. With the new year, the troops came home to a hero’s welcome.

The Morning Call chimed on January 15, 1917:

Every mother’s son of them answered the nation’s call and remained as long as they were ordered to stay, perform every duty they were called upon to perform and finally, when ordered, turned to their homes better men in mind and body than when they went away June 24 last. The splendid appearance of the men as they marched up Hamilton Street yesterday was remarked by practically every onlooker. Perfect carriage, precision of step, ruddy faces and clear eyes attracted attention, and Allentown was proud of its boys.

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Photos are from Volume 5 of The 28^th Division: Pennsylvania’s Guard in the World War, published in 1923, as reprinted in the booklet Mexican Expedition 1916-1917: History of the Allentown and Bethlehem National Guard.