by Mexico Border War, Texas
[Mexico] [Border War] A well annotated Mexican Border War vernacular photograph album documenting the experiences of a soldier named Henry C. Wohlers, Jr. in the Texas Mexico area. The photo album has 116 silver gelatin photographs of troops, horses, El Paso, Rio Grande, military exercises, shooting ranges, friends, and lovers measuring about 5.75" x 3.5" each. Brown cloth board covers measuring 7" x 10". This heavily captioned vernacular album documenting the military service of Henry C. Wohlers, Jr. of the Second South Carolina Infantry while in Texas during the Mexican Border War. Pancho " Villa's forces attacked the camp of the 13th Cavalry Regiment. In reaction to this attack, President Wilson appointed General Pershing as commander of a U.S. Army expeditionary force that was to capture Villa and police the U.S.-Mexico border. The Punitive Expedition forces, marched from March 14, 1916, to February 7, 1917. The Texas Border War was the last military conflict fought on U.S. soil. The album begins while Wohlers is training in Styx, South Carolina. But soon we find him in Texas, where Wohlers is stationed at the border with Mexico in Camp Owen Bierne in El Paso. Some photos show Wohlers and his unit posed with a local man in a straw sombrero. Some photos show a family of Mexican women and children posed in front of their adobe home. Along the way, Wohlers is provided with interesting views of rural Texas settlements such as Del Rio, Pumpville, and Sanderson, as well as views of the Rio Grande. Images document Wohlers unit making camp in El Paso, climbing Mt. Franklin, and undergoing military inspections. Other photos show his unit hiking into the borderlands. While on these hikes, Wohlers encounters a field kitchen, a "dog tent village," an "Adobe hut-Somewhere in New Mexico," "School children of New Mexico," and much more. The album also includes photos of his camp at Las Cruces, "The Sheriff of Dona Anna County," a school house in Las Cruces, and numerous scenes of he and his unit digging trenches, shooting on the rifle range, and adventuring into the borderlands. Some' photographs picture local peoples and their settlements, others show military troops, wagons, and tents in the desert. Numerous photographs provide local color and take us back a century to the Mexican American border toward the end of the wild west era. Image capture "a swinging bridge over the Rio Grande," "A typical cowboy," "Pontoon bridges," "Some of our lady friends of Texas," a shot of American soldiers posed with a Mexican man labeled "A truce between U.S. and Mexico." Wohlers includes a typed key to the numbered photographs which is pasted to the inside rear cover. Photographs in crisp, clear condition. The album documents a bygone era when the military was just transitioning from wagons to early automobiles and trucks. Despite Punitive Expedition forces efforts, Pancho villa was not captured. Album covers have wear, many leaves detached. Overall very good condition.
(Inventory #: 20029)