Thursday, December 2, 1915. A Villa massacre.

Pancho Villa ordered a mass execution of the male residents of San Pedro de la Cueva, blaming the town for the deaths of five of his troops, He originally was going to have everyone in the small town executed, but an officer in his forces convinced him to spare the women and children.  Villa personally shot the village priest who urged Villa to spare the town.

The village was principally an Indian one, although a few foreigners and a few Chinese residents were amongst the victims.  Seven men survived having been left for dead.

The press reported that Villa lost support of his Yaquis, and that Carranza had ended military control of the railroads.

Last edition:

Tuesday, November 30, 1915. Carranza on the International Bridge.

Labels: 1910s, 1915, Arizona (Flagstaff), Canadian Army, cavalry, Mexico, Personalities, Texas (Brownsville), United States, Venustiano Carranza, Weapons, Woodrow Wilson, World War One

Sunday, November 20, 1915. Villa in retreat. . . again.

Putting up a post that was made, and then lost;

Villa was in retreat again:

From this point on, Villa would, in fact, always be in retreat.

Supreme Leader of the Senussi in North Africa Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi ordered his forces to cross the Egyptian frontier to execute a military coastal campaign against the Allies. 

An outpost southeast of Sollum, Egypt was attacked

The Endurance broke up and sank. The Aurora drifted across the Antartic Circle as ice trapping her began to melt.

Last edition:

Friday, November 19, 1915. Joe Hill executed.

Labels: 1910s, 1915, Aircraft, Crime, Heroes, Labor unrest, Music, Personalities, Royal Navy, The relationship between men and women, The relationships of men with each other, Unions, Utah (Salt Lake City), World War One, World War Two

Tuesday, November 2, 1915. The nighttime attacks at Agua Prieta.

Following a day of artillery fire, Villa started launching mounted charges, described yesterday, on Agua Prieta.  The town holds all night.  At 7:00 a fourth and final assault is launched, and failed.  Villa then withdrew towards Naco.

Constitutionalist at Agua Prieta.  The enlisted men are equipped with Mausers, likely in 7x57. An officer in the background is firing a Winchester rifle.

Villa was a superb natural cavalryman and his tactics at Agua Prieta showed that he had in fact learned from a recent defeat that overrunning dug in infantryman was difficult, hence the nighttime assault, which reduced the effectiveness of the defense against a rapidly advancing force.  He was not prepared, however, for the increased number of defenders, brought in by train transport across New Mexico and Arizona, and Calles anticipated the nighttime assault and was equipped with floodlights.

It was the second major defeat Villa had suffered in a couple of months, putting his command in great peril.

The French threw two temporary bridges across the Vadar

Last edition:

Monday, November 1, 1915. Villa attacks, and is defeated, at Agua Prieta.

Monday, November 1, 1915. Villa attacks, and is defeated, at Agua Prieta.

Villa's Division del Norte engaged Constitutionalist under Plutarco Elías Calles at Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico and held the city in spite of having a command less than half the size of Villa's 15,000 Conventionist.

Villa in March, 1915.

Villa, who had to cross the Sonoran Desert to attack the city, was not aware that the U.S. had recognized Carranza as the de facto head of Mexico.  Nor did he realize that President Wilson had allowed Carranza's troops to cross through American territory by train in order to strengthen the garrison, a move that amounted to a direct American intervention in the war.  3,500 fresh, veteran troops traveled through Arizona and New Mexico and arrived in the town in early October, bringing the total number of defenders to 6,500.  Villa believed the city was defended by a mere 1,200 men.

Villa's attack featured a daytime artillery bombardment and a nighttime cavalry charge, the latter rendered ineffective by searchlights.

Suffice it to say, Villa did not take the surprises well.  Wilson's action in allowing the Constitutionalist to cross the US to reinforce Agua Prieta would lead directly to the raid on Columbus, New Mexico, the following year.

Ernest Shackleton called off a march to Paulet Island due to deteriorating ice conditions. The men returned to a sinking Endurance.

Last edition:

Sunday, October 31, 1915. Villa advances on the border.

Labels: 1910s, 1915, Arizona (Douglas), Army, Border Patrol, Constitutionalist Army, Conventionists, Mexican Revolution, Pancho Villa, Plutarco Elías Calles, Second Battle of Agua Prieta, Venustiano Carranza, World War One

Sunday, October 31, 1915. Villa advances on the border.

 The U.S. was anticipating trouble near Douglas, Arizona.

It was Villa's troops that were on the offensive.

Last edition:

Saturday, October 30, 1915. On foot.

Labels: 1910s, 1915, boats and ships, French Navy, Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, World War One

Thursday, October 14, 1915. Bulgaria enters the war.

Bulgaria declared war on Serbia and attempted to break through Serbian lines in the Morava Offensive.  Bulgarian troops also attempted to capture the Vardar river valley in Macedonia.  Altogether, they had thrown nearly 300,000 troops into the war in the Balkans.

The Imperial Russian Navy raided Varna, Bulgaria, with a seaplane carrier and battleship force.

Villista General Rodolfo Fierro when he was thrown by a horse into quicksand.

Last edition:

Tuesday, October 12, 1915. The execution of Edith Cavell.

Labels: 1880s, 1885, 1890, 1890s, 1910s, 1915, 1915 World Series, baseball, Belgium, Knights of Columbus, Mormon, Personalities, polyandry, polygamy, Porfirio Díaz, religion, the spoken word, Theodore Roosevelt

Saturday, October 2, 1915. Banditry.

Pueblo Nuevo, Guanajuato was attacked by around 700 armed men on horseback thought to retreating members of Villa's army.  Locals resisted the attack, which amounted to banditry.

Following a drunken knife assault on Finnish immigrant Oscar Carlson in Wrangell, Alaska, a town authorized vigilance committee drove Mexican dock workers out of the town.  One of them was the guilty party, which had asked Carlson to fight or drink with them.  Ultimately, one was arrested and served time for the assault, but not before Mexicans in general had been driven out of the town.

New dockworkers from Mexico would return the following year.

An interesting aspect of this is that I wouldn't have thought there were Mexican dock workers in Alaska at the time.

It was a Saturday.

The childhood style of sailor suits for children is evident here, and is really odd.  It apparently had been started by Queen Victoria dressing her son in a sailor suit for an 1846 trip on the royal yacht.

Last edition:

Friday, October 1, 1915. Sedicioista raids stop.

Labels: 1910s, 1915, Constitutionalist Army, Mexican Revolution, Mexico, Sedicionistas, Texas, Venustiano Carranza

Saturday, September 4, 1915. Fighting Carranza in Texas, and Cowboy Boots before the war.

 The headline was correct, at least in a fashion.  Mexican Sedicionistas, who were supporters of Carranza, had crossed into Texas in a raid.  Normally, we'd think of Carranza's men as Constitutionalists, but frankly in Mexico at the time that would imply a level of adherence to the law that would not be warranted.

This event focuses us on something that was soon to really matter. Carranza did not like the United States.  His troops were raiding over the border.  He had placed himself, however, in Mexico City, and Woodrow Wilson was moving towards recognizing him as the legitimate head of the country, even though the Convention of Aguascalientes had created a new government which was supported by Zapata and Villa.

I didn't run this on its anniversary,  back in August, but chances are that it was run in the Rawlins newspaper more than once.

Lex Anteinternet: Cowboy Boots: Title: An array of boots at the F.M. Light & Sons western-wear store in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.  Library of Congress photographs...

Rawlins Republican, August 1915.

This advertisement discusses something we addressed in an earlier post:

Well, like a lot of things, the boots changed as a result of a war.  World War One to be exact.

 Stretching leather, about 1915.

Because World War Two was such a colossal war, and because we tend to simply accept the line that the United States was the "arsenal of democracy" during the Great War, we have a pretty skewed concept of American production in the World War One time frame. Simply put, it was a mess.

Not only was the Army trying to raise a force, at breakneck speed (more rapidly by quite some measure than during World War Two) but it was trying to deploy it overnight.  It was also trying to equip it overnight.  The peacetime Army didn't have anywhere near the amount of stuff necessary to equip the huge Army that the US was trying to raise, equip, ship and deploy in 1917.

And this included leather goods.

The US didn't really even know what it needed in the way of leather goods, so it let out contracts for things like saddles and boots in absurdly large numbers.  There's a real reason that M1904 McClellan saddles are so common.  They made so darned many. Same with boots, the numbers made were astounding.  Absurd, even.

With that sort of demand going on for leather goods, the supply became very strained, and cowboy boots were the victims of that. The leather for high topped boots just wasn't there. So, as a wartime measure, bootmakers introduced the "stubbie" or "pee wee" boot, which is what most people, at least those who aren't cowboys, wear today.

 Tom Mix, 1919.  Mix was an actor, not a cowboy by trade, although the World War One veteran did buy a ranch in Wyoming after the war and he actually ranched here.  Anyhow, actors make notoriously bad examples of what cowboys actual wore, and this is no exception.  The hat is far too large for anything outside of Texas (where sugarloaf sombreros were really large), the pistols are M1873 cavalry models, which had 7" barrels and which were not favored by cowboys, who instead favorted the 5" artillery model. the pants are way too tight. The boots, moreover, are peewees. The heels, however, are just right for the era, and not uncommon amongst working cowhands now.

That was the wartime solution.  And it impacted how the boots were actually worn. Prior to WWI cowboys normally tucked their trouser in their boots, and they still sometimes will, as the photo posted above shows.  This was the routine habit, although sometimes they'd pull their pants down over their boots.  Having worn boots both ways while riding, if I'm going to ride for a long time, I'll tuck them in.  More comfortable, for the long haul.

But you really can't do that very well with pee wees, and cowboys who had to buy new boots during the war were embarrassed by the economy of leather and how it looked, so they took to pulling their pants down over their boots.  Better to wear out your pants and get them dirty than to look like a boofador.

Traditional boots do not go on as easy as peewees.  And you'll want some high socks if you wear them also.  My Olathe traditional mule hide cowboy boots.

There's a lot more to that post, but we can see here, in 1915, you could get handmade cowboy boots in Rawlins, and they were going to be real cowboy boots.  You can still get them, and still get them handmade, but probably not in Rawlins.

Figures at the dedication of Rocky Mountain National Park.

Rocky Mountain Park in Colorado was dedicated.

Last edition:

Friday, September 3, 1915. Ojo de Agua

Labels: 1910, 1910s, Mexican Border War, Mexican Revolution, Sedicionistas, Texas

Saturday, July 17, 1915. Fake News. 80%.

Constitutionalist forces under  Pablo Gonzáles Garza pulled out of Mexico City after receiving false reports of a Zapatista attack.

The Imperial Russian Army's northern elements retreated, having sustained 80% casualties.

Last edition:

Tuesday, July 13, 1915. Internment.

Labels: 1910s, 1915, Alberta, Alberta (Banff), Canada, Central Powers, Concentration camps, Eastern Front, Enemy Aliens, Imperial Russian Army, Poland

Saturday, July 10, 1915. Writing the Mexican governments about Huerta.

The Secretary of State to the Confidential Agent of the Constitutionalist Government of Mexico.

Department of State,

Washington, July 10, 1915.

Sir: The Department has received your letter of July 1, in which, by direction of the so-called Constitutionalist Government of Mexico, you request the extradition of General Victoriano Huerta and the detention of Messrs. Felix Diaz, Manuel Mondragon and Aurelio Blanquet with a view to their extradition.

In reply you are informed that, owing to the absence of a recognized Federal Government in Mexico and the well-known conditions existing throughout the Republic, the Department must decline to comply with the request for the extradition of General Huerta.

I am [etc.]

For the Secretary of State:

Cone Johnson.

And; 

The Secretary of State to the Attorney for the Conventionist Government of Mexico.

Department of State,

Washington, July 10, 1915.

Sir: The Department has received your telegram of July 2, in regard to the requisition for the extradition of General Victoriano Huerta addressed by General Fidel Avila, Governor of Chihuahua, to the Honorable James E. Ferguson, Governor of Texas.

I am [etc.]

For the Secretary of State:

Cone Johnson.

And: 

The Secretary of State to the Confidential Agent of the Provisional Government of Mexico.

Department of State,

Washington, July 10, 1915.

Sir: The Department has received your letter of July 3, in relation to the desired extradition of General Victoriano Huerta.

I am [etc.]

Robert Lansing.

The Russians attacked  the hills west of the town of Malazgirt, Turkey, assuming defenses to be  weak which they were not, leading to a Russian defeat.

Last edition:

Friday, July 9, 1915. First casualty of the Border War.

Labels: 1910s, 1915, East German Army, Mexican Border War, Personalities, Texas, World War One

Thursday, June 24, 1915. Advancing on Mexico City.

Zapatistas are thrown back.  Gen. Garza resumed his march on Mexico City.

Last edition:

Wednesday June 23, 1915. Fighting south of Mexico City, and in the Alps.

Labels: Austro Hungaria, California, First Battle of the Isonzo, Geology, Italian Army, Italy, Mexican Revolution, Mexico, World War One

Tuesday, June 22, 1915. Zapatista advances.

Career Army officer and ally of Zapata, General Rafael Eguía Lis, a Conventionist supporting the sitting government defeated Carrancistas attempting to reach Los Reyes and San Cristóbal.  The Zapatistas, on the other hand, were entrenched in Cerro Gordo, using the Grand Drainage Canal as a defensive line.

German and Austro-Hungarian forces captured Lemberg, restoring Galacia to their control.

A large earthquake occured in the Imperial Valley, California.

Last edition:

Sunday, June 20, 1915. South Omaha.

Labels: 1910s, 1915, Nebraska, Nebraska (Omaha)