by Captain William Carraway
Historian, Georgia Army National GuardAmerican Military Novelty Company cartoon marks a new year on the border. Georgia National Guard Archives |
January 1, 1917 marked a new year for
the Georgia Guardsmen stationed on the Texas / Mexico border. From his tent,
not two hundred yards from Mexico, Corporal Robert Gober Burton of Company H,
2nd Georgia Infantry, balanced a book over his knee and wrote a letter home to
his mother in Monroe Ga. Rather than travel with the rest of the Georgia
Brigade on a fifteen-mile march as he had earlier reported, Burton and his
fellows from Monroe remained to guard Camp Cotton.
Burton wrote that word was
sweeping the camp that Brig. Gen. John Pershing would be recalled from Mexico
soon and that the Guardsmen encamped in posts along the border would soon be
sent home. Burton enclosed Kodak images with the letter and returned some
clothing items that had been sent as gifts.
Georgia Guardsmen of Company H, 2nd Georgia Infantry Georgia National Guard Archives |
“I am thinking of sending the muffler
and laundry bag home as everything here is so dirty that I am afraid that I
will spoil them. The muffler is surely nice but I can’t wear it as it doesn’t
suit very well with government clothes. Besides, we are furnished all the war
clothes that we can wear. I have some under clothes much heavier than those I
wore at home. We have a big overcoat that weighs about 15 pounds and a hood
that goes over the head so I keep very warm and comfortable.”
In his letters home, Burton continued
to comfort his mother and reassure her that the men were in no danger.
El Paso, Texas
Monday Night (envelope post marked
January 6, 1917)
Mama Dear,
Mama, you need not be afraid that the
Mexicans will get us as there are just 129,000 more Soldiers here besides us
and I think that the Mexicans are not hankering to come over and see how
straight we can shoot.
I don’t see why we are being kept down
here. The border is sleeping like a top and we are not really needed down here.
I fear that a petition has been gotten up in Ga. asking the War Department to
recall us. If it gets to you, I know that both you and papa will sign it. The
Macon Board of Trade has sent one to the War Dept, also the Savannah B of T.
I have already shaved off the
moustache and am again my natural self. I hope that by this time the picture
has reached you. Also the letter with the Kodak pictures that I sent you.
Miss Bessie is coming out here to see
Capt. Aycock. She left Atlanta tonight. Lt. Launius is due to come with her,
but I think that his leave of absence will be extended so that he can stay with
his father.
Now Mama, don’t get the blues because
if I can stand it, I think you should. If you write blue letters I get blue and
it makes both of us unhappy.
The Company is on guard tonight and I
haven’t very much longer so will close. Write soon.
As ever, your Devt Son
Gober
By January 14, 1917 the 2nd Georgia
received orders to man guard posts along the Southern El Paso Railroad linking
Columbus, N.M. with El Paso.
My Dearest Mama,
We find that we will have to go out on
the outpost duty after all. We are going to go with the First Ga. Regiment. I
do not know whether we will get any mail out there or not but I will try and
write you from out there. I think that we can mail our mail from there. We are
going down into New Mexico so by that I will add another state to my list of
states that I have been in.
Mama, please don’t worry about me
being out there. I will be OK. The whole 1st Georgia will be with us.
I hear mess call sounding so will go
eat dinner, then come back and finish this letter.
A light snow fell last night but
melted away this morning. The weather this morning was not cold enough to wear
a sweater and much of the boys are in their shirt sleeves.
I hope that by the middle of Feb. or
the finish of March we will be on our way to the red hills of Ga. The middle of
Feb. seems to be the most likely time.
Things along the border are as
peaceful as in Ga. Things go on just as anywhere else, only you see Soldiers
everywhere, and at all times.
When you wrote me about the turkey, I
though that I would have some of the town boys down to eat dinner with me.
Capt. Aycock, Miss Bessie, James Matthews, Jack Felker, Charlie Mears and Ed
Winslo. How do you think that would be?
This may be the last letter in 15 days
so I am making a long one of it. I think that we will get to post letters out
their tho.
Miss Bessie’s coming was certainly
liked by the whole company. We are more than glad to see her.
What is worrying me most is what I am
going to do when I do get back home. Tell the boys to keep looking for me a
job.
Well, will write again as soon as I
get a chance. Write again soon
Your devoted son,
Gober.
On January 17, Burton and his comrades
in Company H loaded into trucks and were driven 40 miles west along the border
on a road that paralleled the El Paso Southwestern railroad. Reaching Noria,
the troops unloaded and surveyed their newly assigned post. Save for an
east-west railroad, a water tower and a depot building, there was nothing much
to look at. Although the terrain was flat, the wind had shaped the sand into a
series of undulating dunes topped with sage brush. The effect of these
wind-formed terrain features was that a Soldier could stand on the flat ground
in Noria and not be able to see the Mexican border just one mile south.
Over the next two weeks, Burton and
the Soldiers of Company H found much to enjoy about their new post. Whereas at
Camp Cotton, the troops were subject to camp rules and discipline, in Noria
they were their own bosses. Burton established a canteen in the newly formed
tent city of Noria and reported doing brisk business. Bessie Aycock, Capt.
Aycock’s wife traveled with the company to Noria where she stayed at the depot
office. By day she circulated about the camp bringing good cheer and
encouragement to the Soldiers who welcomed the addition of a friendly face from
home.
Bessie Aycock, wife of Capt. John Aycock with Company H, 2nd Georgia Infantry Georgia National Guard Archives |
Days passed without incident. The
Soldiers watched as trains passed east and west while clouds drifted lazily in
the sky. While the Georgians marked time guarding the railroad, news reached
them that as many as 25,000 Guardsmen had left the border. This again buoyed
expectations of a swift return home, but Capt. Aycock cautioned the men to
expect a duty extension.
By January 31, 1917, Burton appeared
resigned to a long stay on the New Mexico border.
Jan 31, 1917
My dearest mama,
We will be stationed here
indefinitely. You just send the coke and the candy to my old address. We get
the mail every day.
I had lots rather be here where we are
than at camp in El Paso. Here we are our own boss, get up any time of day that
we choose and go to bed when we please.
I went down to Columbus, N.M. the
other day. That is the place where Villa made his raid about a year ago.
Nothing can be seen except at some places where a bullet spattered.
The El Paso (paper) says that several
thousand more National Guard are to be ordered home. We believe that we will be
stationed here until they are ready to send us home. I hope that this will be
the way they do.
You just send the coke and things
right on. I will enjoy them more out here than I would at El Paso.
Write me soon at El Paso
Your devoted son,
Gober.
Before Gober’s letter reached Monroe,
the Georgians were recalled from Noria to Camp Cotton. Returning by truck
February 1, 1917, the Georgians began preparing to return to their home
state. Although they were no longer independent of camp regulations, Burton
noted that they were glad to return to tents with wooden floors. He was happy
also to receive a box of chocolates “from my girl in Winder” and Coca Cola from
home.
Shortly after the Georgia Guardsmen
returned to Camp Cotton, Brig. Gen. John Pershing was recalled to Fort Bliss
ending the punitive expedition. The return of the regulars was greeted with a
wave of celebration and rumors of the Guard units returning home. Burton
reported camp duties greatly slackened and the men enjoyed liberal leave to El
Paso. There was so much revelry that Burton wrote for his mother to send him a
suit to wear to town.
“Mama, get my heavy suit of clothes,
about two shirts, half dozen collar, buy me a cap and necktie or two. Cap size
7 1/8 and make it a loud one. My pair of slippers, pack them up and send them
to me. We want to dress up sometime on Sunday and it is no longer against
the rules to wear civilian clothes. Don’t forget to send me a collar button or
two. We are having a big time now.”
El Paso Herald Headline Georgia National Guard Archives |
Transportation of the units commenced
March 22, 1917. The Georgians packed their tents and baggage and began a long
spine-jarring ride home by rail through Dallas, Memphis, and Birmingham on the
way to Atlanta and, ultimately Macon, Ga., headquarters of the 2nd Georgia
Infantry.
Medal presented to Soldiers of the 2nd Georgia by the City of Macon Author's collection |
Next Chapter: War Declaration and
Mobilization