May 1995 Blazer

The Utah national guard and the battle of the cow

Utah State Historical Society 300 Rio Grande Salt Lake City. l'T 84101 ( 801) 333- 3300 FAX ( 801) 333- 3303 The Utah National Guard and the Battle of the Cow THEL ONG, CONFUSED, BLOODY MEXICAN REVOLUTIONt- h at began in. 1910 was a - matter of great concern to the leaders of the United States. The two countries shared thousands of miles of border, and U. S. companies owned millions of dollars worth of property and business in Mexico. American troops intervened actively in 1914- after the Tampiw flag incident- and otherwise watched the situation carefully. U. S. intervention helped Venustiano Carranza come to power, but the fighting continued with Francisco " Pancho" Villa, among others, struggling to gain control. In the spring of 1916 Villistas launched a series of bloody raids into New Mexiw and Texas, possibly hoping that American retaliation would aid their cause. In June 1916 President Woodrow Wilson called the entire National Guard into federal s e ~ c weh ile launching a ' punitive expedition" into Mexico with Army regulars. About 800 members of the Utah National Guard responded and served border duty. Their most serious encounter was the Battle of Cara Piedra (" Stone House"), although some called the skirmish " the Battle of the Cow." Utahns responded enthusiastically to the call for troops. One battery of field artillery, two squadrons of cavalry, and one field hospital unit hurried south to help guard the ArizondMexico border, a traditional region for cattle rustlers of both nations. Guard duty was generally quiet, even boring; only a handful of street brawls in Nogales pnd some incidents of horse theft enlivened the camp routine. Then on January 26, 1917, the action picked up. The events of that day are uncertain, and the causes of the skirmish depend on the teller of the tale. Initial reports indicated that a group of American cowboys exchanged shots with Mexican vaqueros (' cowboys") over some cattle that were being moved across the international border near Ruby, Arizona, 30 miles west of Nogales. A few Utah National Guard cavalrymen from Troop E, Second Squadron, became involved in the fray. The Mexicans took refuge in a stone house, and the two sides exchanged fire throughout the night. Reinforcements from Troop E arrived the next day, and still more from Troop F helped as well. Some reports claimed that the Mexicans were in uniform and may have been some of Carranza's regular troops. Still another newspaper report (' FIGHT CAUSED BY COW WHO KNOWS NO LAW") by one L. V. B. Rucker of the Intema-tional News S e ~ c es, u pposedly taken from the U. S. Army's official report of the incident, claimed that the trouble started when ' a yearling heifer on the Arizona side near Ruby crossed the international boundary for the very good reason that the grass appeared to be greener on the Sonora side of the invisible line. Who could expect an Arizona cow to respect international law?" Rucker wrote that some American cowboys crossed the line to retrieve the heifer and were confronted by vaqueros who ordered them back. When ' three Sonora Indians" in Camnza ( more) uniforms arrived and shot at the American cowboys, they went for the National Guard. Mean-while, the heifer wandered back to the Arizona side of her own accord: ' Thus ended the official report of the battle of the cow." Many Utah newspaper reports, naturally enough, gave greater stress to the heroism displayed by their boys in this fierce struggle. ' UTAH TROOPERS ROUT MEXXCANS AT STONE HOUSE," shouted one headline, which told of the battle against ' 25 irresponsible Mexican bandit cattle rustlers." " MEXICANS DRIVEN ACROSS THE LINE BY THE TROOP-ERS, " claimed another story, which maintained that the Utahns ' rushed the invaders, " ' routed them out," and drove them about a mile south of the border where they holed up in adobe houses. The troopers rushed them again, displaced them, and burned the houses. The first article, however, reported that Lt. Carl H. Arns of Troop E had crossed the border to reach the Mexicans' rear on the 27th but found they had fled. Upon returning to Utah on March 3, a cavalryman told the SuZt Luke Tribune that Carranza's troops were rustling cattle, drove off American cowboys, holed up in the stone house, and- ' kept up the firing for 48 - hours and then- disappeared." The Utahns suffered no casualties; and although no Mexican killed or wounded were ever found, ' the Utah boys saw at least five fall," and bloodstains indicated that some had been hit. Maj. W. B. Wallace, commander of the Sand Squadron, told the Deseret News that ' It was a real test and I am proud to say that every man and horse came through it in excellent shape. E Troop had been under h. Now hostile fire is hostile fire and it doesn't much matter whether the shells are large or small . . . [ Mexican casualties were!] known to have becn 3 killed, 7 wounded." While Utahns had reason to be proud of their National Guard, the U. S . Army was less pleased with the Mexican incident as a whole. Many states' Guard contingents arrived late ( if at all) and proved to be badly trained, supplied, and led. The regulars failed to catch Pancho Villa and stumbled into unwanted confrontations with Carranza's troops. The United States would have to move quickly to remedy their armed forces' shortcomings, for they were about to become involved in the European conflict. Utah's Second Squadron was mustered out of federal service on March 8, 1917, and Congress declared war on Germany on April 6. See Richard C. Roberts, ' The Utah National Guard on the Mexican Border in 1916," Utah Histon'ml Quarter& 46 ( 1978), 262- 81; and Salt Lake City newspapers. THE HISTORYB LAZERis produced by the Utah State Historical Society and funded in part by a grant from the Utah Statehood Centennial Commission. For more information about the Historical Society telephone [phone] ( JN)