The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1913-09-18
mile Line
Being GUARDED
Five Cavalry Regiments on Duty
on the Mexican Border

ing the frontier, acting as the watch
on the Rio Grandc. ara the officers and
men OF five Ct the cavalry regiments
in the Southern department.. Between
Brownsville and the eastern line of
Caiiiorala, whore the jurisdiction of
mat department ends and that of the
Department of the West begins. is APP
proximately hfteon-hundred miles
In other words, there are something
iikc i've thousand mon, three to the
mile, preserving the neutrality laws
If the United States while Mexican
felligorents strive for supremacy
There are other troops i'm the terri
tory contiguous, but the duty of en-
forcing the rule of peace and order
along the dividing lines between the
two countries devolves entirely ON
these bronzed soldiers, who are BEGIN
ming IT, tire of the heat and to nope
something more exciting will start
soon.
All of the Third Cavalry and bat
tcries \, q and g of the Third Artil-
lery are at Fort sam Houston and. IA =
turallF, convenient To almost any place
where they might he urgently needed,
But the officers at the headquarters
of the brigade are almost convinced
blinking ut the sun will continue To be
Just rs eXhilarating as anything they
may Rave t. 40.
Between brigade headquarters and
the war department at Washington
there runs special wire. For weeks
and months officers OF both the cav
alrw and artillery left at headquarters
have waited fer the telegraph to bring
something moVing-wait"d IN vain II
they could be absolutely certain moth
ing demanding activity on their part
IS likely to happen they could spend
all their spare time in studies But
to expect something stirring, ana to
yet daily disappointment is, they arc
frank 10 admit, discouragins.
Various District Headquarters.
Whether due to orders from Cen
cral Wood or to the caution of Gem
cral Bliss, IS not known, but it is a
fact that officers Of the department
"taff dcclinc to give the locations Of
the various attachments of troops now
standing guard over the northern bank
of the Rio Grande Anyway, the
iroop7 are moved SO frequently. at
the suggestion of "a colonel, or even
4 captain, that such a matter rs nam
Ina ,y all
are camping would be exceedingly
difficult.
The districts where there are head
quarters of the various detachments
are; Brownsville, Laredo, Eagle Pass,
Big Bend. Sierra Blanca clint. III Pa
80, New Mexico. eastern Arizona and
western Arizona. In every instance
the detachment headquarters is lCcat-
cd i'm the biggest town in the district.
Troops in California are under GEN
Cral Murray and are not counted in
the list of those under General Bliss.
Many of the troops doing duty on
the border have been there nearly two
years. When the Third cavalry re-
turned e. headquarters ITS officers and
men had seen nineteen months of
practically uninterrupted service in the
field
Some of the other cavalry regiments
were part of the patrol when the
Third went out, and there Is not much
chance Gf relieving any Of them, be-
cause Of the fact that practically all
the cavalry available for service of this
sort is engaged. Many If the smaller
are from places of any
size and some of them do not receive
mail more frequently than once a.
week. To all intcnts and purposes
they are lin thc field "
Cover Ground Thoroughly.
It is conceded everywhere. aud par
ticulaily 1T Washington. that no three
men ever born can keep constant watch
ON u mile ot international boundary.
or - mile of any other sort Of line
unless they are on a mountain top ana
work in relays. II is out of the qucs-
ton to think of mountain tops In some
parts OF the territory covered by THESE
men in khaki.
So IT became necessary for the de-
partment to work out a system of it's
own, one that has proved effective
and practicable. The men patrol in
small attachments. and frequently,
there is a squad without commits
stoned officer. But they cover the
and there is nothing along
either bank of the river that escapes
their attention.
Much of the entire fifteen hundred
miles is patroled daily. Most of the
remainder twice week and all of Il
AT least once week. And when there
IS occasion for such surveillance be-
Iieved to he warranted, one or two
troopers will be- left 10 watch one par
Iicular rlaCc. VI help ,s needed. they
know how to get it just as rapidly as
The sturdy cavalry horses can run.
AS told before. the special wire At
he post connects directly with Wash
nston. SO that the lonely squad pa
trolling i'm the Big Bend is just few
.sF.ll