Militia Field Manual; A Manual Designed for the Use of Miitiar and Volunteer Troops in the Field
Menasha, WI: George Banta Publising Company [The Collegiat Press], 1915. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. Format is approximately 4.5 inches by 5.75 inches. Rare surviving copy, a copy associated with the Mexican Expedition/Punitive Expedition and the 74th New York Infantry Regiment! 217, 6 pages of Index, 6 pages on other Banta publications. Cover has gold lettering and an emblem at the bottom right corner of the front cover. Cover worn, rubbed and stained. Name, unit and date on the fep [Sergt Earl Borron, Pharr, Texas, Nov. 1916 74th NYInf. Co I.] The manual consistes of fifteen chapters: Introduction, Commission Officers, Enlisted Men, Duties of Adjutant General, Duties of Field and Staff Officers, Duties of Company and Medical Officers [included in Chapter V], Duties of Non-commissioned Officers, Subsistence of Troops, Camps and Sanitation, Practice Marches, Wagon Train, Railroad Transportation, Care of Arms and Equipment, Care of Animals, Pay of Troops, and Miscellaneous Information. This information is conveyed in 672 numbers sections. We believe that this was owned by the Earl Borron who was born about 1889 and who was a resident of Tonawanda, N.Y. (near Buffalo) according to the 1940 census. The Pancho Villa Expedition—now known officially in the United States as the Mexican Expedition, but originally referred to as the "Punitive Expedition, U.S. Army"—was a military operation conducted by the United States Army against the paramilitary forces of Mexican revolutionary Francisco "Pancho" Villa from March 14, 1916, to February 7, 1917. The expedition was launched in retaliation for Villa's attack on the town of Columbus, New Mexico, and was the most remembered event of the Mexican Border War. The objective of the expedition was the capture of Villa. Despite locating and defeating the main body of Villa's command who were responsible for the Columbus raid, U.S. forces were unable to achieve President Wilson's stated objective of preventing Villa's escape. When Pancho Villa raided several Texas town in 1916, the U.S. Government federalized (called up) numerous State Militia (including National Guard) units. One of the unites was the Buffalo, NY based 74th N.Y. Infantry Regiment. It was part of a New York Division. It was dispatched to the Texas/Mexico border town of Pharr, Texas where it supported U.S. Army operations on the border. The New York division had been mobilized, transported to the border, fed, equipped, drilled, trained, disciplined, exercised and returned to the state of New York by its own corps of officers. In a force as large as a division, the problems and difficulties affecting such activities and accomplishment were numerous and required the services of a trained staff. At the time in the United States no opportunity had been offered its army officers to engage in work of this character in a large way because of the small size of the Regular Army and of the policy which at that time prevailed of scattering its units about the country. Brigadier General William Wilson, an officer of long service and experience, commanded the 3d Brigade composed of the 3d, 23d and 74th Infantry Regiments. General Wilson commanded at Pharr and reportedly had a very healthy and efficient command. In advance of the looming involvement if World War I, the Mexican border service afforded opportunity for the weeding out of officers and men who for one reason or another lacked capacity to be efficient soldiers. It afforded opportunity to harden and endure officers and men to the fatigue and hardships of service in the field. It developed their qualities of leadership. The morale and esprit-de-corps of most of the regiments were greatly increased. Finally and perhaps more important than all else in connection with the future, was the opportunity offered for the development of efficient staff officers. Condition: Good.
Keywords: Punitive Exedition, Mexican Expedition, 74th New York Infantry, Militia, Volunteers, Earl Borron, Military Training, Military Manual, Military Duties, Wagon Train, Railraod Transportation, Care of Equipment, Duties of Officers, Duties of Enlisted Men
[Book #82546]
Price: $250.00