The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 105, July 2001 - April, 2002 Page: 72
741 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
policy. They blamed Washington for failing to devote adequate troops
and supplies to protecting the Mexican border. Wilson understood the
mood in Texas and capitalized on the agitation that engulfed popular
opinion. Shortly before Villa's raid, Wilson told East Texas Congressman
Alexander White Clegg that some of his Texas colleagues "do not under-
stand the real sentiment of the people at home."1
While Pershing's force tracked Villa across the remorseless deserts of
Chihuahua, on May 5, 1916, another attack by Mexican forces occurred
north of the border in the remote villages of Glenn Spring and
Boquillas in the Big Bend region. The small American garrison at Glenn
Spring included nine soldiers of the Fourteenth Cavalry. The troopers
took shelter in an adobe building following the nighttime assault by fifty
raiders, although some accounts said as many as several hundred
Mexicans participated in the foray. The attackers killed three soldiers
and wounded four others. Two civilians, including a ten-year-old boy,
also died in nearby Boquillas. The Wilson administration and the mili-
tary again blamed the conflict on Villa. Governor Ferguson expressed
the feelings of many when he advocated United States intervention in
Mexico to "assume control of that unfortunate country." J. S. M.
McKamey, a banker in the South Texas community of Gregory conclud-
ed, "we ought to take the country over and keep it." As an alternative,
McKamey told Congressman McLemore that the United States should
"buy a few of the northern states of Mexico" because it would be "cheap-
er than going to war." The San Antonio Express urged the Mexican gov-
ernment to cooperate with Pershing's force to pursue those who partici-
pated in "organized murder, plundering and property destruction."2
Texas newspapers provided ample coverage of border conflicts and
Pershing's expedition throughout 1916. In contrast, very little coverage
appeared on the Mexican constitutional convention in Queretaro during
this same period. As Pershing's forces trudged across Mexico's northern
deserts and mountains, Mexican delegates sought to incorporate social and
economic reforms covering land ownership, labor, and restricted foreign
investment. Most of these ideas ran contrary to American concepts of pri-
vate ownership and progressive reform. The Texas press, much like the
Wilson administration, saw the revolution primarily as a threat to American
property and lives on both sides of the Rio Grande. Newspaper stories
mainly demonstrated an inherent mistrust of Mexico and its people and
ignored how the revolution was affecting Mexico. Public attention
' Link (ed ), Papers of Woodrow Wilson, XXXIV, 175, 364-366; Houston Chronicle, Mar. 26,
1915; San Antonio Express, Mar. 26, 1916.
2 J. S. M. McKamey to Jeff: McLemore, May 13, 1916, 2E435, McLemore Papers; San Antonzo
Express, May 13, 14, 1916.July
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 105, July 2001 - April, 2002, periodical, 2002; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101222/m1/80/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.