Have
you heard ‘em tell of Morey, an’ his stunt in Mexico?
Well,
my son, you want to listen ‘cause it’s history you know.
He
was Captain of the Troopers, ‘twas the 10th of Company K.,
Which
was sort of reconnoiterin’ in a harmless, friendly way.
They
was mainly after Villa an’ his bloody bandit mob,
An’
they picked the crackest troopers ‘cause it warn’t no dress suit job;
‘Twas
the K. with Cap’n Morey, an’ the C. with Boyd in lead,
An’
they met the greaser soldiers, for a parley, so we read,
But
the Sneaky Greasers opened from ahead an’ from behind,
An’
the troopers had to answer, which they did as fits their kind.
They
was fightin’ thrice their number, an’ they fought ‘em tooth an’ nail
An’
they reached the rapid firer an’ the trenches through the hail
Of
a thousand greaser bullets for a hand to hand affair,
Where
poor Boyd was killed in action an’ likewise the brave Adair.
But
the Lord was good to Morey though they pinked him pretty bad,
An’
he fluked ‘em with three troopers, now the only ones he had.
In
some way they reached the sage brush, Morey an’ his faithful three,
Where
they fooled the greaser devils till the darkness set ‘em free.
Morey,
wounded, choked an’ dyin’ wrote his letter on the sand,
Then
he drove his troopers from him for the distant Yankee land,
Out
alone there on the desert, hardly strong enough to crawl,
That
the world might know the story of the crime of Carrizal.
Yes,
son, they found him later, got him to the lines, O.K.,
But
the joyous fact he’s livin’ ain’t no fault of his, I say.
That’s
the yarn of Cap’n Morey, an’ troopers K. an’ C.,
That’s
the stuff our men are made of an’ it pleases you an’ me.
There’ll
be other deeds of valor on the sands of Mexico,
There’ll
be heroes without number, war is bound to make it so;
But
remember, son, the story, grit an’ sacrifice an’ all,
Of
the troopers Boyd an’ Morey an’ Adair at Carrizal.
June
27, 1916
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, during
the Mexican Revolution 1910–1920.
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 Border
War. The declared objective of the expedition was the capture of Villa. Despite
successfully locating and defeating the main body of Villa's command,
responsible for the raid on Columbus, American forces were unable to prevent
his escape.
The
active search for Villa ended after a month in the field when troops of the de
facto Mexican government used arms at the town of Parral to resist passage of
an American column, changing the mission of the U.S. forces to preventing
further attacks on it by Mexican federal troops and planning for war in the
eventuality it broke out. When war was averted diplomatically, the expedition
remained in Mexico until February 1917 to encourage the de facto government to
pursue Villa and prevent further raids across the border.
The
last and most costly engagement of the Mexican Expedition was fought on June 21
when 3 officers and 87 men of Troops C and K of the 10th Cavalry, sent
separately to scout Carrancista dispositions reported along the Mexican Central
Railway, combined into a single column and encountered a blocking force of 300
soldiers. They were soundly defeated at the Battle of Carrizal, with Captain Charles T. Boyd, 1st Lt. Henry R.
Adair, and ten enlisted men killed, ten wounded and another 24 (23
soldiers and 1 civilian guide) taken prisoner. The remainder, including the
sole surviving officer, Capt. Lewis S.
Morey, were rescued four days later by a relief squadron of the 11th
Cavalry. The Mexicans did not do much better; they reported the loss of 24 men
killed and 43 wounded, including their commander, General Félix Uresti Gómez,
while Pershing listed 42 Carrancistas killed and 51 wounded. When General
Pershing learned of the battle he was furious and asked for permission to
attack the Carrancista garrison of Chihuahua City. President Wilson refused,
knowing that it would certainly start a war.
The
action at Parral in April had made the destruction of Villa and his troops
secondary to the objective of preventing further attacks on U.S. forces by
Carrancistas and preparing contingencies in the event of war. The battle
at Carrizal brought the countries to the brink of war and forced both
governments to make immediate overt gestures clearly showing their intent to
avoid it. Although the United States deployed 100,000 troops on the border, by
July 4 the major crisis had passed. The Punitive Expedition, U.S. Army
remained at Colonia Dublán indefinitely as a fixed-base operation to be a
negative incentive to the Carranza government to take seriously its obligation
to catch Villa. The Carranza government proved unequal to the task but
nevertheless U.S. operations inside Mexico virtually ceased over the next six
months.
Men
of the 10th Cavalry taken prisoner at the Battle of Carrizal, Mexico
‘Buffalo
Soldiers at Huachuca: The Battle of Carrizal’
(a
more detailed history of the battle)
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