On this date in 1917 the Courier Democrat of Langdon announced that Fred Koehmstedt would soon return to his Army unit in Fort Bliss, Texas. Fred had been gone for a year and a half with the 8th Cavalry at Fort Bliss on the Mexican border. A furlough allowed him to be home for the holidays. The newspaper reported that Fred had developed quite a tan during his service on the border.
Fred was not the only North Dakotan serving there. The 164th Infantry Regiment from North Dakota was activated in June 1916. The Mexican revolutionary leader Pancho Villa led over 400 followers in a raid on Columbus, New Mexico. They looted businesses, shot civilians, and set fires. Ten civilians and eight American soldiers were killed. American soldiers and civilians killed as many as 90 of the revolutionaries.
President Woodrow Wilson was furious, and the American response was swift and decisive. North Dakota Senator Porter McCumber introduced a resolution directing the War Department to launch an immediate response. Less than a week later, Brigadier General John J. Pershing led a mounted unit across the border in pursuit of the revolutionaries. The Americans were never able to catch Pancho Villa, but he was assassinated in 1923.
Such were the times of Fred Koehmstedt’s service. His furlough would soon expire and he’d on his way back to the border. He expected that his unit would be transferred to a post in the east, with hints that they’d be headed overseas in the spring to enter the Great War in Europe.
Fred was not the only Langdon area boy serving his country in 1917. John Bergman was stationed at Camp Merritt in New Jersey. In a letter home he reported that he had been at several different posts, but that Camp Merritt was the best. The weather was good, despite two feet of snow on the ground that kept them from military drills. He said they had “everything a soldier wants.” This included real beds, comfortable mattresses, electric lights and, best of all, hot water. He said none of the soldiers there were in any hurry to move. The biggest problem was being quarantined because of an outbreak of scarlet fever. John said they were playing a lot of cards. He closed his letter by wishing all “a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.”
Dakota Datebook by Carole Butcher
Sources:
Courier Democrat. “Is Home From Mexican Border.” “Mt. Carmel Boy Writes Home From Camp Merritt.” 27 December 1917. Langdon ND. Page 1.
National Guard. “Centennial of the Pancho Villa Raid.” https://www.nationalguard.mil/News/Article/688661/centennial-of-the-pancho-villa-raid-on-new-mexican-town/ Accessed 18 November 2018.
US Army. “On the Border.” https://www.army.mil/article/162413/on_the_border_the_national_guard_mobilizes_for_war_in_1916 Accessed 18 November 2018.
