Thursday, March 31, 2016

The Punitive Expedition: The 10th Cavalry becomes isolated. March 31, 2016

A blizzard isolates the 10th Cavalry from the rest of the U.S. command.

Anyone who has been around here the past few days, with all the highways closed, could certainly understand how this could occur a century ago, although it would strike many as odd that we would read this in regards to Mexico.  Still, this was in March, and much of the expedition took place in mountainous terrain that was fairly high altitude.  Contemporary photographs often depict soldiers wearing M1911 sweaters early in the campaign, or even fairly heavy coats, providing silent testimony to how cold the weather generally was early on.  A blizzard in the Mexican high country would not have been hugely abnormal for late March.

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