On Display Now, Curated by Aaron Krebsbach
On January 16, 1917, German Minister for Foreign Affairs, Arthur Zimmermann sent a coded message to the German Consulate in Mexico to give the Mexican Government and Mexican President Venustiano Carranza, offering the return of the territory lost in the Mexican-American War if Mexico entered the First World War on the side of the Central Powers and attacked the U.S. The British intercepted the message, decoded it, and sent it to the American Embassy in Britain on February 19, 1917. After following a bureaucratic chain, the Note was published in every major newspaper across the U.S. starting on March 1, 1917. The Zimmermann Note outraged the majority of Americans, and President Woodrow Wilson could no longer avoid conflict with Germany. On April 2, 1917, President Wilson went to Congress asked for a Declaration of War. Congress debated for four days, with a faction, led by Wisconsin Senator Robert M. La Follette, trying to avoid fighting, “the European War.” On April 6, 1917, Congress passed the Declaration, and the U.S. entered World War I on the side of the Entente Powers.
The U.S. Military had only just come off a stand down from tensions in Mexico. Since the end of the Mexican-American War, tensions between the U.S. and Mexico had been high. These tensions came to a head during the Mexican Revolution which resulted in the Border Wars with Mexican Revolutionaries. In response to the Mexican Revolution and the Revolutionaries crossing the border between the U.S. and Mexico at their leisure, the US Military started to enhance security and defense of border towns. Tensions exploded in 1914 at Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico when nine American sailors were detained by loyalists to Mexican Dictator General Victoriano Huerta, which resulted in the invasion and occupation of Veracruz. Then in 1916, they exploded again with Francisco “Poncho” Villa’s raid on Columbus, New Mexico. In response to Villa’s raid, President Wilson called up the National Guard and sent General John J. “Black Jack” Pershing on the Punitive Expedition to track down and bring in Villa, dead or alive. National Guard Units were posted on the border to protect from further raids from Villa and his Villistas and to assist General Pershing on his expedition. First arriving at the border was the Battery A of the 1st New Mexico Field Artillery and the 1st New Mexico Infantry was mustered into federal service not far behind them. General Pershing chased Villa around Northern Mexico but never captured him. In January of 1917, after negotiating with President Carranza, President Wilson ordered Pershing out of Mexico, ending the expedition. The National Guard was mustered out of Federal Service from January to April with the 1st New Mexico Infantry being mustered out on April 4, 1917, and the 1st New Mexico Field Artillery mustered out in March of 1917.
When the U.S. entered the Great War, General Pershing was appointed the head of U.S. Armed Forces, the American Expeditionary Force, and recalled the National Guard into Federal Service. The reorganization of the Guard began on April 24, 1917, restructuring and assigning units to the 17 newly formed National Guard Divisions, growing the U.S. Military from the just over 250,000 regulars to almost double its size with more draftees to come from the Selective Service Act to fill out the Military. The 1st New Mexico Infantry had been mustered out of Federal Service for only 20 days, being mustered out two days before Congress declared war, before being recalled. The 1st New Mexico was ordered to report to Fort Kearny in California where they would join the 40th Division and become the 143rd and 144th Machine Gun Battalions and 115th Train Headquarters and Military Police Battalion. They trained in California and left for France arriving in August of 1918. Though trained for combat, when the 40th arrived in France, they were stationed at La Guerche and assigned as a depot division, serving behind the lines as a training division, guarding Prisoners of War, and running Ambulances. The 40th did not see combat a whole Division, but several members of the division made it to the frontlines. By the time of the Armistice, the 40th had trained 27,000 replacements for other Divisions. They returned to the U.S. with the Military Police Battalion demobilized on May 2, 1919, and the 115th Train Headquarters demobilized on April 25, 1919, both at Camp Kearny. The 143rd and 144th Machine Gun Battalions were demobilized on April 30, 1919, at Camp Grant, Illinois. The 40th Division was deactivated on June 20, 1919.
Handpicked by General Pershing, Battery A of the 1st New Mexico Field Artillery from Roswell New Mexico was recalled into Federal Service in December of 1917. Their service in the Punitive Expedition had left an impression on General Pershing where it was said that they, “could drop from their horse and fire before the dust settled.” They were reorganized and joined the 146th Field Artillery, 66th Artillery Brigade, 41st Infantry Division, retaining the Battery A position. They arrived in France in January of 1918. Battery A distinguished themselves in France as much as they had in the Punitive Expedition. During the Battle of Château-Thierry, Battery A fired on and destroyed the main bridge the German Military was using for running communications, contributing to the end of the last German advance of the war. Battery A had four guns and fired more rounds from them than any other artillery battery in the US Military during World War I. Each gun fired over 14,000 rounds each. By war’s end, Battery A suffered only 12 wounded, no battlefield deaths, and earned six battle stars. Their Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Charles de Bremond was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal after his passing in 1919, succumbing to the effects of a gas attack in July of 1918. They returned to the U.S. and were demobilized in March of 1919.
Though not granted U.S. Citizenship en masse till June 1924, Native Americans joined the U.S. Military during the Great War in varying degrees. Native Americans filled the same roles that the U.S. Military had used them for in the past, as snipers and scouts, but the First World War gave way to a new role for Native Americans in the U.S. Military, as code talkers. Using their Native Languages, Native Americans sent coded messages to aid the AEF in communications and complete the baffled the Germans as they had never heard such languages ever before. World War I saw the first major use of Native American Code Talkers, started by members of the Choctaw, a tribe from Oklahoma, that were serving in the 142nd Infantry. This was in contrast with the Boarding Schools that the U.S. had set up to force young Native Americans to attend to “modernize” them by forcing them to learn English, converting them to Christianity, and punishing them for using their traditional languages and customs. Coincidently, many Native Americans who attended these schools and joined the military credited the militaristic approach of the Boarding Schools in assisting them in assimilating into the military. The use of Native American languages for Code Talkers persisted till 1968, with the largest group used being the Navajo in the US Marine Corps. Over 12,000 Native Americans served in the Great War, with two nations formally declaring war on Germany, the Onondaga and Oneida, with varying percentages of eligible males joining the Military. According to the Indian Affairs Office at the time, participation of eligible males ranged from around 1% from the Navajo to 54% from the Quapaw in Oklahoma. By the end of the Great War, 5% of all serving Native Americans died in action. Higher than the 1% of all American Expeditionary Forces.
At the start of U.S. involvement, African American soldiers already in service were used for labor, dock work, and supply companies, while already established units were deployed as far from the battlefields of Europe as possible, with the units of the Buffalo Soldiers being deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border and the Philippines. President Wilson and Secretary of War Newton D. Baker were adamant at keeping the U.S. Military segregated, adhering to the “separate but equal” ideology of the time. General Pershing bowed to President Wilson and Secretary Baker ideals, though he had commanded the 10th Cavalry of the Buffalo Soldiers early in his career and was given the nickname of “Black Jack” by the cadets of West Point during his tenure for his service with them, meant as an insult for his rigid and strict demeanor. General Pershing had great respect for the men of 10th Cavalry, having led them during the Battle of San Juan Hill along side Teddy Roosevelt’s “Rough Riders,” and the rest of the Buffalo Soldiers but adhered to President Wilson and Secretary Baker’s views. Through the rallying of Colonel William Hayward of the 369th “Harlem Hellfighters,” a former cadet of General Pershing’s from General Pershing’s time as a professor of Military Science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, W.E.B Du Bois, A. Philip Randolph, and the demand for amalgamation from the Field Marshals of the Entente, the 92nd and 93rd Infantry were transferred to the French command. The 92nd took on the nickname of the “Buffalo Soldiers” to carry on the legacy of their predecessors and donned a patch with the American Buffalo for the unit insignia, while the 93rd took the nickname “Blue Helmets” for the Horizon Blue Adrian Helmets they wore and donned a patch with the helmet as the insignia. The 92nd and 93rd retained American uniforms but were given French rifles, helmets, and equipment. The French instructors treated them as comrades, with the French Military less concerned about race with colonial soldiers from Senegal and Morocco and other French African holdings fighting in Europe, preparing them to replenish the losses at the Front. The 92nd and 93rd distinguished themselves through the war, being highly decorated with over 527 Croix de Guerre, 75 Distinguished Service Crosses, and two Medal of Honors awarded to members of the 93rd alone.
On November 11, 1918, at 11 A.M. the guns fell silent. The fighting was over. At the French Palace of Versailles, the leaders of the Entente Powers met to discuss the terms of the surrender. Germany was then forced to sign a massively punitive treaty. The Treaty of Versailles dismantled the German Empire, giving her colonies to members of the Entente or their independence, the disarmament and limitation of the German military, the expedition and trial of war criminals, Kaiser Wilhelm II put on trial, the payment of reparations to the Entente, and put the blame of the entire war on Germany. The Treaty also formed the League of Nations as a unification of nations to ensure peace in the world and protect one another. The US Congress never ratified the Treaty of Versailles due to its harsh treatment of Germany, how much it favored British interests, and clauses that required nations to come to the aide of other nations in the League of Nations that were attacked, superseding Congress’s right to declare war. Congress instead, passed the Knox-Porter Resolution, ending U.S. involvement in World War I and signed the U.S.-German Peace Treaty in 1921, under President Warren G. Harding.
By wars end, over 17,000 New Mexicans answered the call to service with 320 alumni and 163 officers from the New Mexico Military Institute joining the US Military. The Great War claimed 501 New Mexicans, with roughly half of all U.S. deaths coming from the Spanish Flu. In 1920, the National Defense Act was passed reorganizing the Military again. The New Mexico National Guard was reorganized into the 111th Cavalry, 120th Engineers, and Battery A of the 158th Field Artillery, who in 1940 was reorganized into the 104th Anti-Tank Battalion then into the 804th Tank Destroyer Battalion. In 1939, there was debate in the War Department about changing the 111th to another form of service to better fit the changing landscape of the battlefield. The Command of the 111th jointly decided on Coastal Artillery. On July 1, 1940, they were designated as the 200th Coastal Artillery (AA) and in late August and early September of 1941, arrived in the Philippines.