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The Great Adventure: Mercenaries in The Mexican Revolution, 1910-1915*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Lawrence D. Taylor
Lawrence D. Taylor*
Affiliation:
El Colegio de Mexico, Mexico
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Extract

Scholarly studies of the Mexican revolutionary period seldom have approached the subject from the standpoint of how this momentous struggle was actually waged by its combatants. While considerable investigation has rendered valuable insights into leading personalities and movements of the time, no comparable effort has been made to unravel the myriad military complexities and paradoxes of one of the major wars waged on the North American continent.

A case in point concerns the foreign soldiers who fought side by side with Mexican troops in the rebel armies. Such military personnel are commonly referred to in modern-day parlance as mercenaries, a term indicating “paid soldiers in the service of a foreign country.” However, not all foreigners who served in the Revolution were professional soldiers for hire, nor did all have previous military experience. Such words and phrases as soldiers of fortune or adventurers, in vogue during the period, more clearly define the status of these combatants as “men fighting for pay or love of adventure under the flag of any country.” Be that as it may, all of the terms given above are basically synonymous and can be used interchangeably to refer to the foreign volunteers who joined the various armed factions contending for supremacy in Mexico.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 43 , Issue 1 , July 1986 , pp. 25 - 45
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1986

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Footnotes

*

The author would like to thank Profs. John M. Hart, David G. LaFrance, Louis R. Sadler, Thomas Benjamin and Laurence R. Rolfes for their helpful advice in the preparation of this paper.

References

1 Quick, John, Dictionary of Weapons and Military Terms (New York, McGraw-Hill, 1973), p. 301.Google Scholar

2 Davis, Richard Harding, Real Soldiers of Fortune (New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1911), p. 77.Google Scholar

3 Reed, John, Insurgent Mexico (New York, International Publishers, 1969), p. 158.Google Scholar

4 Offers to fight in Mexico came from various regions of the globe. See, for example, the letter from Francisco I. Madero to Sr. J. A. Tamayo, member of the Junta Patriótica de la Nación, Unidad Presidentes, Fondo Francisco I. Madero (hereafter cited as AGN, FFIM), Libro Copiador No. 2, Fol. 207 regarding the offer of an expeditionary force of Colombian volunteers to put down the Orozco revolt in 1912. An adventurer named Jean Meyers proposed sending a 5,000 man contingent of ex-French Foreign Legion soldiers to aid Madero in crushing the rebels. Letter from Jean Meyer to Madero, April 3, 1912, AGN, FFIM, Caja 21, Exp. 549-2, Doc. 016664. However, it remains difficult to determine with any precision how many of these prospective soldiers of fortune actually saw service in the Revolution. From a careful analysis of the many memoirs and documents that exist upon the subject, it is not unreasonable to estimate that a total of several hundred mercenaries fought in Mexico for the period in question.

5 Garibaldi, Giuseppe, A Toast to Rebellion (Garden City, N.Y., Garden City Publishing Company, 1937), pp. 219–221,Google Scholar 242–243; Thord-Gray, Ivor, Gringo Rebel: Mexico, 1913–14 (Coral Gables, Fla., University of Miami Press, 1960), pp. 19–21 Google Scholar; Letter from John H. Wishar to Porfirio Díaz, February 22, 1911, Collección General Porfirio Díaz, Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico, D. F. (hereafter cited as CPD), Leg. 36, Caja 8, Docs. 004251-004252; Letter from Ockazuma Cuban Charley to Díaz, March 5, 1911, CPD, Leg. 36, Caja 10, Docs. 004853-004855; Letter from G. Stuart Lang to Díaz, March 17, 1911, CPD, Leg. 36, Caja 10, Docs. 004543-004544; Reed, Insurgent Mexico, pp. 156–157.

6 Letter from an unnamed correspondent to Madero, May 11, 1911, Archivo de Francisco I. Madero, Biblioteca Nacional, Mexico, D.F. (hereafter cited as AFIM, BN), Ms.M. 260; Letter from John Tucker to Madero, September 5, 1911, Archivo de D. Francisco I. Madero, Biblioteca del Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico, D. F., Reel 20, Doc. 1891 (hereafter cited as AFM, INAH); Reed, , Insurgent Mexico, p. 157.Google Scholar

7 Letter from Emil Holmdahl to a friend, January 6, 1913, Correspondence of Emil Lewis Holmdahl, Letters: 1911-1916, University of California, Berkeley, Calif., Bancroft Library (hereafter cited as CELH).

8 Letter from R. H. G. MacDonald to Madero, AFM, INAH, Reel 19, Doc. 1568; Letter from W. W. Green to Madero, March 23, 1912, AGN, FF1M, Caja 20, Exp. 502-2, Docs. 015658-015660, 015668-015669.

9 Testimony of Charpentier, E. L., Revolutions in Mexico: Hearing before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, 62nd. Congress, 2nd sess. (Washington, 1913), pp. 513, 521.Google Scholar

10 Letter from an unnamed correspondent to Madero, η.d., AFIM, BN, Ms.M. 2406.

11 Interview with Sr. Andrés Molina Enríquez, Jr., military official in the orozquista and villista armies, Mexico, D.F., July 20, 1980.

12 Lieut. R. H. G. MacDonald claimed that some of the foreign volunteers who fought in the Madero Revolution had been paid shortly after the battle of Juárez. Most of these men had served from 5 days to 2 months in the rebel army, but others who had been with Madero practically throughout the campaign had as yet received no recompense nor thanks for their services. Letter from R. H. G. MacDonald to Madero, December 20, 1911, AGN, FFIM, Caja 23, Exp. 594–1, Docs. 017479-017480. Other soldiers of fortune who corresponded with Madero expressed similar sentiments. Letter from George Branquist to Madero, May 24, 1911, AFIM, BN, Ms.M. 6; Letter from Oliver L. Willshaw to Madero, January 5, 1912, AGN, FFIM, Caja 4, Exp. 6, Doc. 003077. One American filed a $1,200 suit against the Maderos for not being paid for giving military advice to the rebels. New York Times, May 21, 1911.

13 Machine-gunners Tracy Richardson and Sam Dreben, who fought under the orozquista banner, were reputedly paid $500 in gold a month for their services. Walker, Dale L., “Tracy Richardson-, machine-gun for hire”, Kaleidoscope (December, 1973), p. 5.Google Scholar Capt. Hector Worden, an aviator with Madero’s forces, was paid a salary of $1,500 a month. Gilpatric, Guy, Flying Stories (New York, E. P. Dutton, 1946), p. 14.Google Scholar Edwin C. Parsons, also an aviator, was paid $200 a month in gold flying for the Division del Norte. Walker, Dale L., Only the Clouds Remain: Ted Parsons of the Lafayette Escuadrille (Amsterdam, N.Y., Alandale Press, 1980) pp. 17–18.Google Scholar A villista recruitment poster, dated January, 1915, offered weekly payments in gold to dynamiters, machine-gunners and railroaders. University of Texas, El Paso, Tex., Department of Special Collections and Archives, Collection: Mexican Revolution.

14 Reed, Insurgent Mexico, p. 157.

15 Not all foreign volunteers participated in the Revolution as combat personnel. Many American and European doctors joined the medical corps of the various armies in the field to attend to the care of the sick and wounded. Dr. Ira J. Bush of El Paso succored the wounded in Madero’s army on numerous occasions. Bush, Ira J., Gringo Doctor (Caldwell, Id., Caxton Printers, 1939), pp. 167–223 Google Scholar; Telegram from Smith, W. R. to Dept. of State, February 6, 1911, Records of the Dept. of State Relating to the Internal Affairs of Mexico, 1910–1929,Google Scholar National Archives Microfilm Publication, Microfilm No. 274, File No. 812.00/752 and 1077 (hereafter cited as RDS with appropriate information) Dr. Bush also served as rebel gun-runner, helping to smuggle an antiquated cannon across the border into Mexico. Bush, , Gringo Doctor, pp. 181–188 Google Scholar; Carman, Michael Dennis, United States Customs and the Madero Revolution (El Paso, Tex., University of Texas, 1976), pp. 56–57.Google Scholar Two years later, other courageous and dedicated medical men, such as Dr. R. H. Ellis, served in the famed Servicio Sanitario of the División del Norte. Peterson, Jessie and Knoles, Thelma Cox, eds., Pancho Villa: intimate recollections by those who knew him (New York, Hastings House Publishers. 1977); pp. 121–154 Google Scholar; Reed, Insurgent Mexico, p. 225.

16 The Díaz government turned down several requests from soldiers of fortune soliciting employment in the federal army. Letter from Malcolm Nicolson to Díaz, January 1, 1911, CPD, Leg. 36, Caja 2, Docs. 000614-000615; Letter from R. C. Braswell to Díaz, March 17, 1911, CPD, Leg. 36, Caja 10, Docs. 007757-007759.

17 Henderson, Peter V. N., Mexican Exiles in the Borderlands (El Paso, Tex., University of Texai, Texas Western Press, 1979), p. 12.Google Scholar

18 Francisco Vásquez Gómez to Emilio Vásquez Gómez, February 27, 1911, Francisco Vásquez Gómez Papers, Morris Library: Dept. of Special Collections, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, 111., Box 4, Doc. 00397.

19 Francisco I. Madero to José Lorenzo and Richard Dartmouth, November 2, 1910, AFM, INAH, Reel 18, Doc. 0585.

20 Garibaldi, , A Toast to Rebellion, pp. 222–223, 243.Google Scholar

21 Many mercenaries learned about the Revolution through the medium of the press. Letter from Alexander E. Hazelton to Porfirio Díaz, January 1, 1911, CPD, Leg. 36, Caja 2, Doc. 000547. Some adventurers put their own ads in the local papers. H. Roberts to A. V. Lomeli, December 27, 1910, AREM, L-E-678R, Leg. 2, Docs. 93-94, regarding an ad placed by A. C. Blerings, a British subject, for a position in the rebel army as machine-gunner. Others learned of prospective employment by loitering around the various social centers in the border towns. Favourite meeting places for rebels and foreigners alike were the lobby and bar of the Hotel Sheldon or the Elks Club, both located in El Paso. Bush, , Gringo Doctor, pp. 179,Google Scholar 181 ; Turner, Timothy G., Bullets, Bottles and Gardenias (Dallas, Tex., South-West Press, 1935), pp. 77–87 Google Scholar; Rivero, Gonzalo G., Hacia la verdad: episodios de la Revolución Mexicana (Mexico, Compañía Editora Nacional, 1911), pp. 26–27.Google Scholar

22 Letter from an unnamed correspondent to Francisco I. Madero, May 11, 1911, AFIM, BN, Ms.M. 260; Garibaldi, , A Toast to Rebellion, pp. 231–232.Google Scholar

23 Miguel López Torres, Mexican consul in Naco, Arizona, to the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Mexico, January 23, 1911, AREM, L-E-626, Exp. 26, h. 170.

24 Carlos Pereyra, Mexican Chargé de Affairs, to Philander C. Knox, U.S. Secretary of State, April 9, 1911, RDS, 812.00/1284; R. Gama Martínez, Jefe Político del Distrito Bravo, Cd. Juárez, to Porfirio Díaz, March 21, 1911, CPD, Leg. 36, Caja 11, Does. 005473-005475.

25 New York Times, March 12, 1911.

26 For example, the New York Times of February 28, 1911, printed a petition from 50 signers in San Antonio, Tex., in support of the rebels.

27 Dept. of State to Letcher, April 14, 1912, RDS, 812.00/3593A; Telegram from De La Barra, Mexican ambassador in Washington, to the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Mexico, February 24, 1911, AREM, L-E-637R, Leg. 43, Docs. 55–56.

28 New York Tribune, March 15, 1911.

29 Secretary Knox to Mexican ambassador, January 24, 1911, RDS, 812.00/654; Secretary Knox to Mexican chargé d’affaires, April, 19, 1911, RDS, 812.00/1284; El Paso Herald, February 10, 1911. For an interesting and informative account of the legal complexities of mercenary activities during the Mexican revolutionary period see both Curtis, Roy Emerson, “The Law of Hostile Military Expeditions as Applied by the United States”, The American Journal of International Law (1914), pp. 1–37,CrossRefGoogle Scholar 222–252 and Clendenon, Clarence C., The United States and Pancho Villa: a study in unconventional diplomacy (Port Washington, N.Y.. Kennikat, 1972). p. 21.Google Scholar

30 Thord-Gray, , Gringo Rebel, pp. 29–30,Google Scholar 76, 81–82.

31 This corps of adventurers was also called the American Legion, since Mexicans referred to nearly all foreigners as gringos, americanos or norteamericanos. Also, a large percentage of the men who fought in the Legion were in fact of American nationality. See El Ejército Mexicano (Mexico, Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional, 1979), p. 333; R. H. G. MacDonald to Madero, December 20, 1911, AGN, FFIM, Caja 23, Exp. 594-1, Docs. 017479-017480; Press clipping from the El Paso Herald, n.d., AFIM, BN, Ms.M. 2331.

32 G. J. Van Meter to Francisco I. Madero, May 25, 1911, AFIM, BN, Ms.M. 660; George Branquist to Madero, May 24, 1911, AFIM, BN, Ms.M. 6; Report concerning U.S. army deserter, Owen Savage, captured fighting with revolutionaries at Agua Prieta, April 19, 1911, RDS, 812.00/1398.

33 Garibaldi, , A Toast to Rebellion, pp. 231–248.Google Scholar

34 Garibaldi to Francisco I. Madero, March 30, AFIM. BN, Ms.M. 56; Garibaldi to Madero, n.d.. AFIM, BN, Ms.M. 2370; Garibaldi, , A Toast to Rebellion, pp. 227–229.Google Scholar 251–257.

35 Garibaldi to Francisco I. Madero, n.d., AFIM, BN, Ms.M. 2370; Garibaldi to Madero, February 4, 1911, AFIM, BN, Ms.M. 64; Garibaldi, , A Toast to Rebellion, pp. 270–272 Google Scholar; Turner, . Bullets Bottles and Gardenias, pp. 42,Google Scholar 54–58. Turner claims that a projectile from one of the two cannons did succeed in knocking out the federals’ water supply during the battle for Juárez.

36 Garibaldi, , A Toast to Rebellion, pp. 286–295.Google Scholar 300. Despite Garibaldi’s assertion that Madero made him, Villa and Orozco generals after the Juárez battle, only the latter of the three achieved this distinction. Along with Garibaldi, Villa and José de la Luz Blanco were the other ranking colonels in the rebel army. It is quite probable that Madero favoured Garibaldi, rather than Orozco or Villa, as commander-in-chief of the insurrecto forces. However, in view of the unpopularity of the Italian in the eyes of the latter, Madero was forced to concede to Mexican nationalist sentiment by giving Orozco the honor. Consul Tomás Torres to the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs, May 13, 1911, AREM, L-E-678R, Leg. 1, Docs. 140–144.

37 B. J. Viijocn to Francisco I. Madero, April 22, 1911, AFIM, BN, Ms.M. 116; Rivero, , Hacia la Verdad, pp. 38–41 Google Scholar; Luis Guzmán, Martín, Memorias de Pancho Villa (Mexico, Compañía General de Ediciones, 1951). pp. 42–45.Google Scholar

38 Manuel R. Sendero to Francisco I. Madero, Aprii 14, 1911, AFIM, BN, Ms.M. 97; Garibaldi, , A Toast to Rebellion, pp. 240,Google Scholar 248–249, 277; Turner, , Bullets, Bottles and Gardenias, pp. 24–44.Google Scholar

39 Letter from Col. James Bulger to Francisco I. Madero, Marchó, 1912, AGN, FFIM, Caja 11, Exp. 267–2, Doc. 008124; Bush, , Gringo Doctor, p.180.Google Scholar

40 O’Reilly, Edward S., Roving and Fighting: adventures under four flags (London, 1918), pp. 274–275:Google Scholar Testimony of Talbott, John S., Révolutions in Mexico, pp. 482,Google Scholar 488.

41 Letter from Gustavo A. Madero to Francisco I. Madero, April 2, 1911, AFIM, BN, Ms.M. 68; Letter from Francisco I. Madero to Capt. A. W. Lewis, May 24, 1911, AFIM, BN, Ms.M. 591; Mary Thurber, “Soldier of Fortune Who Fought With Madero Returns to El Paso”, El Paso Times, March 22, 1953; Charpentier’s, testimony in Revolutions in Mexico, p. 506.Google Scholar

42 Garibaldi, , A Toast to Rebellion, p. 300.Google Scholar

43 New York Times, May 9, 1911; Garibaldi, , A Toast to Rebellion, p. 289 Google Scholar; Bush, , Gringo Doctor, p. 194.Google Scholar

44 Torres to the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs, May 13, 1911, AREM, L-E-678R, Leg. 1, Docs. 140–144; Letter from J. H. Noonan to Francisco I. Madero, December 11, 1911, AGN, FFIM, Caja 69, unnumbered exp.; Letter from Col. Paul Mason to Madero, April 24, 1911, AFIM, BN, Caja 2, Ms.M. 127–128; Bush, , Gringo Doctor, p. 195 Google Scholar; Letter from Maj. S. F. Hillman to Maj. Andrew Moses April 13, 1917 and questionnaire filled out and submitted by Charles Sweeny to the U.S. War Dept., Records of the Adjutant General's Office, Record Group 94, National Archives and Records Service, Washington, D.C. (hereinafter cited as RAGO, NARS), file No. 2533324.

45 Bush, , Gringo Doctor, pp. 195–196 Google Scholar; Dirk Raat, W., Revoltosos: Mexican rebels in the United States 1903–1923 (College Station, Tex., Texas A & M University Press, 1981), p. 217.Google Scholar

46 Dr. J. Edwards Buckley to Francisco I. Madero, November 3, 1911, AGN, FFIM, Caja 7, Exp. 177–1, Docs. 005049-005050. Dr. Buckley pointed out that Americans might not support Madero in the next revolution due to criticism in Washington newspapers against many of their compatriots who served the latter in the battle of Juárez. New York Times, May 7, 1911; May 14, 1911; May 18, 1911; May 21, 1911; New York Tribune, March 15, 1911.

47 Letter from James J. Murphy to Francisco I. Madero and reply, September 13, 1912, AGN, FFIM, Caja 1, Exp. 14-3, Docs. 000428-000430; Letter from D. L. Lynch to Madero, November 28, 1912, AGN, FFIM, Caja 21, Exp. 543-1, Docs. 016522-016532.

48 El Paso Morning Times, June 24, 1912.

49 New York Herald, March 26, 1912.

50 Consulmex in San Antonio to the Secretary of War, March-April, 1914, AREM, L-E-792, Leg. 9, Docs. 1–5; Embamex in Washington to the Secretary of War, March-May, 1914, AREM, L-E-788R, Leg. 30(10), Docs. 1–13; Consul Canada to Dept. of State, December 4, 1913; RDS, 812.00/10067. Many soldiers of fortune, such as Garibaldi, Cal A. Thorp and Ben Turner (the latter two from El Paso), were machinists by trade and could hence supply some of the weapons expertise so badly needed by the rebel armies.

51 Letter from E. M. Holmdahl to A. M. Toler, February 27, 1914, CELH; Pemberton, Jane, “El Paso Soldier of Fortune recalls time he almost faced firing squad”, El Paso Herald Post, November 27, 1960 Google Scholar; Peterson, and Knoles, , eds., Pancho Villa, pp. 229–232 Google Scholar; Reed, Insurgent Mexico, pp. 178–179; Interview with General Raúl Madero, El Colegio Militar, Mexico, D.F., May, 1980.

52 Report concerning the rebel Samuel Vásquez’s plans to attack Piedras Negras, Coahuila, with some American soldiers as artillerymen, March-May, 1914, AREM, L-E-788R, Leg. 30(10); Report concerning the participation of American adventurers in the defense works at Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, June 23, 1913, AREM, L-E-718R, Leg. 1.

53 Consul Canada to Dept. of State, December 4, 1913, RDS, 812.00/10067.

54 Thord-Gray, , Gringo Rebel, pp. 74–76.Google Scholar

55 Ibid., pp. 21–33, 36–53; Benavides, Adrian Aguirre, Las Grandes Batallas de la División del Norte al Mando del General Francisco Villa (Mexico, Diana, 1964), p. 75 Google Scholar; Reed, Insurgent Mexico, p. 30.

56 Thord-Gray, , Gringo Rebel, pp. 80,Google Scholar 91, 114–115, 130, 247–254; Turner, , Bullets, Bottles and Gardenias, pp. 140–142.Google Scholar

57 Obregón, Alvaro, Ocho Mil Kilómetros en Campaña, (Mexico, Fondo de Cultura Economica, 1959), pp. 12,Google Scholar 14, 22–44, 45, 59, 63, 66–67, 108, 116, 118, 164; The Reminiscences of Edward Larocque Tinker (Columbia, N.Y., Columbia University, Oral History Research Office, 1964) pp 7–15.

58 Thord-Gray, , Gringo Rebel, pp. 91,Google Scholar 199, 201.

59 Obregón, , Ocho Mil Kilómetros, en Campaña, pp. 300,Google Scholar 308, 323–325, 328, 340, 357, 367, 497; Barragán Rodriguez, Juan, Historia del Ejército y de la Revolución Constitucionalista (Mexico, Editorial Stylo, 1946), 2, pp. 276–292 Google Scholar; El Ejército Mexicano, pp. 411, 415.

60 Both Díaz and Madero received much correspondence on the subject of military aviation. See, for example, the letter from C. O. Glover to Porfirio Díaz, April 14, 1911, CPD, Leg. 36, Caja 13, Docs. 006183-006186. Glover offered to sell Díaz the services of an ex-German army officer named Col. C. A. Schuyler, who had two airships or monoplanes at his disposal. See also the letter from Adrian W. Lajous to Francisco I. Madero, April 17, 1912, AGN, FFIM, Caja 23, Exp. 606-2, Doc. 017653 on the use of aircraft in the Italian campaign in Libya. Victoriano Huerta was also aware of the potentialities of airpower. During the offensive against the orozquistas in 1912 the División del Norte was equipped with a small aerial detachment consisting of two aeroplanes. Letter from J. L. Longstaffe to Francisco I. Madero, July 27, 1912, AGN, FFIM, Caja 2, Exp. 23–3, Docs. 000829-000830. As president, Huerta attempted to build up an air corps for bombing and reconnaissance purposes. Meyer, Michael C., Huerta: a political portrait (Lincoln, Neb., University of Nebraska, 1973), p. 102.Google Scholar

61 Aero and Hydro, November 16, 1912. Gilpatric, Guy, “Aviation in Mexico”, The Aeroplane (January, 1917), p. 186.Google Scholar

62 New York Times, May 20, 1913, Parsons, Edwin C., The Great Adventure: the story of the Lafayette Escuadrille (Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday Doran and Company, 1937), pp. 176–181 Google Scholar; Villela, José, Pioneros de la Aviación Mexicana (Mexico, Colofón, 1964), pp. 81–84 Google Scholar; Whitehouse, Arch, Heroes of the Sunlit Sky (Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday and Company, 1967), pp. 81–83.Google Scholar

63 The carrancista air corps consisted of about five aeroplanes in all. Gilpatric, , “Aviation in Mexico”, pp. 186–188 Google Scholar; Villela, , Pioneros de la Aviación Mexicana, pp. 85–90 Google Scholar; El Ejército Mexicano, p. 418; de la Torre, Antonio Rivera, El Ebano: los 72 días de su heroica defensa (Mexico, Secretaría de Guerra y Marina, 1915), pp. 29–32,Google Scholar 65.

64 For information on Villa’s pilots see Gilpatric, , “Aviation in Mexico”, p. 188 Google Scholar and Flying Stories, pp. 14–15. Report from Gaston Schwartz, American consul in Aquascalientes, to the Secretary of State, May 3, 1915, RDS, 812.00/14997. Details of Edwin Parsons’ career in Mexico may be found in White-house, , Heroes of the Sunlit Sky, pp. 83,Google Scholar 96 and Walker, , Only the Clouds Remain, pp. 17–19.Google Scholar See also the news articles “Ted Parsons, cinematic sky pilot”, New York Times, July 12, 1936, “Pensacola Naval Air Station”, in Collier’s Weekly May 3, 1940, clippings of which may be located in the Edwin C. Parsons Collection, University of Texas at El Paso, Archives and Special Collections section.

65 Reed, Insurgent Mexico, pp. 155–158; Peterson, and Knoles, , eds., Pancho Villa, pp. 229–232.Google Scholar Cal A. Thorpe, an El Paso machinist who fought with Madero, claimed that he underwent more danger and hardship in the Revolution than during the year he spent on the Western Front in World War One. Thurber, Mary, “Soldier of Fortune who fought with Madero returns to El Paso”, El Paso Times, March 22, 1953.Google Scholar

66 O’Hea, , Reminiscences of the Mexican Revolution, p. 153 Google Scholar; Turner, , Bullets, Bottles and Gardenias, p. 55 Google Scholar; Thord-Gray, , Gringo Rebel, pp. 79–85.Google Scholar

67 Walker, , “Tracy Richardson”, pp. 5–6.Google Scholar

68 For all of these reasons, both Villa and Obregón were periodically obliged to discharge the soliders of fortune in their service. Reed, Insurgent Mexico, pp. 155–158; Thord-Gray, , Gringo Rebel, pp. 91–130, epilogue.Google Scholar

69 Thord-Gray, , Gringo Rebel, pp. 79–85.Google Scholar

70 Turner, , Bullets, Bottles and Gardenias, p. 55.Google Scholar

71 Bush, , Gringo Doctor, p. 70 Google Scholar

72 Turner, , Bullets, Bottles and Gardenias, pp. 106–108,Google Scholar 110; Thord-Gray, , Gringo Rebel, pp. 79–86.Google Scholar Thord-Gray claimed that Lt. Col. Francisco Serrano, Obregon’s chief of staff, was a gringo hater. Ibid., p. 74.

73 Walker, , “Tracy Richardson”, pp. 5–6.Google Scholar

74 Peterson, and Knoles, , eds., Pancho Villa, pp. 229–232 Google Scholar; Pemberton, op. cit.

75 Comunicación de Don Francisco I. Madero a varios de sus partidarios: Señores Manuel García Vigil, Roque Gonažlez Garza, Octavio Morales y Antonio Ruíz, Campo de San Lorenzo, febrero 28 de 1911, in Las memorias y las mejores cartas de Francisco I. Madero. Selección y líneas prológales de Armando de María y Campos (México, Libro-Mex Editores, 1956), pp. 132–134.

76 Col. E. Z. Steever, 4th Calvary, El Paso, Tex., to War Dept., May 15, 1911. RAGO NARS, File No. 1796354A686; New York Times, May 7 and 18, 1911; Guzmán, , Memorias de Pancho Villa, pp. 42–45 Google Scholar; Garibaldi, , A Toast to Rebellion, pp. 301–302.Google Scholar

77 Telegrams exchanged between the U.S. Dept. of State and American consul Thomas D. Edwards of Ciudad Juarez, March 16-17, April 10 and 14, 1911, RDS, 812.00/967, 971-974, 1269, 1384, 1432; New York Times, March 12, 1911; Garibaldi, , A Toast to Rebellion, p. 269.Google Scholar

78 State Dept. to Letcher, April 14, 1912, RDS, 812.00/3593A; State Dept. to Senators Albert Bacon Fall and Thomas Benton Catron of New Mexico, April 15, 1912, RDS, 812.00/3610; Dr. William Harrison of Parral to State Dept., April 15, 1912; RDS, 812.00/3611; Orozco to Taft, April 15, 1912, RDS, 812.00/3613.

79 Dreben, , Holmdahl and Ben Turner served as scouts for the Pershing Expedition. “Sam Dreben reported going south with Pershing as scout”, El Paso Herald, April 10, 1916 Google Scholar; Pemberton, op. cit.; Letter from Maj. Gen. John J. Pershing to Jeff McLeamore, March 11, 1917, CELH. With the end of their period of service in Mexico, Dreben and many other professional soldiers of fortune joined the various armies then fighting in Europe. “Four Allied nations honor Fighting Jew”, El Paso Herald Post, November 11, 1934; “Sam Dreben gets a second French award”, El Paso Herald, December 23, 1919; The Personal History of Tracy Custer Richardson, Lamar, Mo., compiled (by himself) from memory. Document in the possession of Strickland, Dr. Rex, El Paso, Tex.; “Machine-gun man of the Princess Pats”, New York Times, October 31, 1915 Google Scholar; Garibaldi, , A Toast to Rebellion, p. 327 Google Scholar; Thord-Gray, Gringo Rebel, epilogue.