When Bartley troops fought in The Bandit Wars

I had never heard of the Bandit War(s) or Camp Llano Grande until I was reading the Bartley Inter-Ocean paper from August 1916.

“The boys at Camp Llano had their first big tramp last week when they indulged in an eight-mile practice march. Every man in the service at Camp Llano carried a cord around his neck with his name and rank in company stamped on it as an identification card. (Maybe the first dog-tags?) It is said that unless the boys on the border, in writing to home folks, are more exact in their statements regarding conditions in camp, there will be a board of censors appointed to look over the correspondence and do some ‘deleting’.

“The Nebraska boys may soon be informed just how long they will be kept on the border. General Parker indicated that the troops would not be kept there longer than four months if it developed that the de facto government was capable of protecting the border and preventing further raids on American soil.”

Knowing me, you must assume that I had to find out more! A war occurring on American soil in 1916? Never heard of it! I did a google search and found that the site of Camp Llano actually has a historical marker located in Weslaco, Hidalgo County, Texas on US Highway 83.

Four states National Guard units, Indiana, Nebraska, Minnesota and North Dakota, were encamped along the Rio Grande river because of Mexican bandit raids into the United States . The camp itself covered over 200 acres which included a headquarters building, commissary and recreational facilities. Looking at pictures of the camp nothing about it seemed very recreational. The men were lodged in tents, most of which are shown with the sides rolled up no doubt to try and get a breath of air in what must have been like living and sleeping in an oven in that area of Texas.

What was this war all about? From the descriptions I found, it was an attempt by Mexican rebels from the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila and Chihuahua in Mexico, to carry out the Plan of San Diego in creating a race war to rid the American border states of their white population. The final goal was to annex the area along the Rio Grande which lay in the United States back to Mexico. Pretty lofty goal if you ask me, and obviously never happened but the Seditionistas, as they called themselves, managed to make life miserable for several ranchers and businesses in that area.

To be certain there were more sides to this story than history will probably reveal. Some suggested that part of the problems were created by ranchers on the U.S. side that wanted the land held by Hispanic Americans, also on the U.S. side and so pointed fingers alleging allegiance to the Mexico bandits. Vigilantes abounded there also, shooting and lynching Adolfo Munoz who was suspected of scheming to rob a bank and of having ties to the Seditionistas.

The heaviest fighting took place in 1915, but, referring to the note in the Bartley Inter Ocean about the troops only being there for four months proved to be untrue. The camp existed until March of 1917, one month before the United States entered World War 1 and former Llano Grande soldiers were sent to war in France. The Bandit War(s) was officially over in 1919 with an estimated 350 civilians killed during the four years.

SWNGS March meeting will be held on March 6th at 1 PM. Our new location is 322 Norris Ave, Temple Building, Rooms 2-7 upstairs. There is an elevator for everyone’s use.