Mexican Revolutionaries on another forum - Charles & others

[Hobie]

Thought you might be especially interested in this topic The Mexican Revoultion in photos. I don't know why, but this period interests me more than WWII.

[Old Ironsights]

Thought you might be especially interested in this topic The Mexican Revoultion in photos. I don't know why, but this period interests me more than WWII.

Prolly because la reconquista & la raza are growing problems and are shooting (literally) for Mex Rev v.2 in the US Southwest...

[Blaine]

I suspect the legit Mex Gov will simply throw in the towel one day and let us deal with the aftermath.....

[Griff]

...I don't know why, but this period interests me more than WWII.

Might it be because it was the end of the horse cavalry and beginning of the mechanized Army?

[Charles]

Runyon was a local studio photographer (Brownsville, Texas) who took his camera accross the river to Matamoros to document the goings on there during the revolution. These photos were published in a book and I bought a copy about 12 years ago. The original plates belong to the Univ. of Texas in Austin.

I knew Runyon as a kid. He had a home here and his passion was flowers and his garden was extensive. His widow maintain the home and gardens for years after his death and people were able to take tours. The home and gardens now below to the University of Texas at Brownsville, where I work.

Few folks understand how brutal and bloody that protacted civil war was. I forget the number of people that died, but it was more than a million. More millions pour accross the border as refuges forever changing the nature and culture of the border on both sides. El Paso, was the main contact point between the US and the Mexican revolution. Many of their descendents still live here. Many came from wealthy and landed familes that ended up on the loosing side and lost everything. I know some of them.

Today, the Mexican Revolution has faded into history, but when I was a kid, it was a living memory.

[Modoc ED]

Thought you might be especially interested in this topic The Mexican Revoultion in photos. I don't know why, but this period interests me more than WWII.

That period holds interest for me too Hobie. My Grandfather was in the Spanish American War and was wounded in action in Cuba. I have his Veterans Administration Disability Card. After he came home from the war, he went to Dental College and graduated as a Dentist. He tried to rejoin the Army as a Dentist but because he was disabled by war wounds, he could not rejoin the Army. During the time of the United States involvement in the Mexican Revolution (Pershing's foray into Mexico) my Grandfather volunteered his dental services and worked with the Army as a civilian as he did during WWI. He also provided dental services as a civilian to the Army in Wilmington, NC during WWII.

[Hobie]

Runyon was a local studio photographer (Brownsville, Texas) who took his camera accross the river to Matamoros to document the goings on there during the revolution. These photos were published in a book and I bought a copy about 12 years ago. The original plates belong to the Univ. of Texas in Austin.

I knew Runyon as a kid. He had a home here and his passion was flowers and his garden was extensive. His widow maintain the home and gardens for years after his death and people were able to take tours. The home and gardens now below to the University of Texas at Brownsville, where I work.

Few folks understand how brutal and bloody that protracted civil war was. I forget the number of people that died, but it was more than a million. More millions pour across the border as refuges forever changing the nature and culture of the border on both sides. El Paso, was the main contact point between the US and the Mexican revolution. Many of their descendants still live here. Many came from wealthy and landed families that ended up on the loosing side and lost everything. I know some of them.

Today, the Mexican Revolution has faded into history, but when I was a kid, it was a living memory.

I really enjoy your posts regarding this history. Here's another example of where you are personally connected to a first person observer.

Those photos of the plaza. Are those Matamoros?

[RSY]

Yes, that is Matamoros.

One reason I like this period is because you can see our later military greats as young men in action, i.e. one of my favorite parts of "American Caesar" details MacArthur's exploits down there at that time.

Scott

[samsi]

I've always found it to be quite interesting myself. Years ago I picked up a book, Uniforms and Equipment of the Last Campaign. 1916. It details virtually every item used by U.S. forces involved in the Villa expedition period - good stuff.

I live only an hour or so from Naco, AZ. the town mistakenly bombed by Villa's drunken mercenary pilot, Murphy.

Down in Acuna, just across the river from Del Rio, TX, there's an old Hotel and Restaurant called Crosby's (or there used to be - haven't been there in almost 20 years). The restaraunt walls are filled with Mexican Revolution photos, some of them quite candid. Don't know if it's Runyon's work or not.

Today's internal Mexican War has nothing to do with political idealogy, reform or liberty. It's about being Top Dog in narco-trafficking. It's brutal and savage, and probably coming soon to a town near you...

[rangerider7]

I like to read about that part of Texas-Mexico history too. I spent the night on a bench just like one of those in Matamoros Square in 1964 and was woke up by the Church bells. The Padres and Sisters were on their way to church and blessed me. I must have looked pretty bad. My buddy was in the Matamoros Jail. I had to wait until morning to negotiate to get him out of there. I had to trade my Stetson and a portable radio for his bail. They kept the money he was carrying. He paid for my new hat when we got home. It was his radio. I walked around the streets waiting for the commandant to see me. Looking at those buildings was like going back 100 years in time, played some pool, then went to the Jail to see about getting him out. It was an eye opener to watch the town wake up. It was visiting day at the jail. We swore we would not be going back to any of the border towns again, but we did. (Acuna)

[GonnePhishin]

Hobie,
Thanks for the nice pictures. Very interesting topic.
About a hundred years ago ( or so it seems) I was an American history major in college and always felt that we should have made nice with our neighbors south of the border instead of just being Gringos and hard assed towards them. Its too bad we couldn't have gone down to help kick Maximillon (sp) out of Mexico and helped establish their republic. Perhaps we wouldn't have the troubles with them we have today.

[DixieBoy]

Hobie and Charles - Thanks for making this info and the pics available for us to see. Very cool ! I'm another who is interested in that time period. When I was going back to school a few years ago I went through the process of inter-library loan just so I could see some of Runyon's pics. In his own way, he was much like C.S. Fly in Tombstone, who photographed both the white hats and black hats in Tombstone, as well as the Chiricahua when Gen. Crook let him tag along when they went south of the border after Gerinomo. Awesome stuff.

RangeRider, your story sounds like quite an adventure too. Thanks for sharing that one with us. Bet that makes you smile whenever you think about those times.

UncleBuck, we (the U.S. of A.) did help give Maximillian the boot. Sheridan left crated rifles on "our" side of the river several times, knowing the Mexican forces seeking to oust the import from France would pick them up. Guess he was being discrete, but our intention was to see Maximillian go. If you look him up on wiki you'll see an old illustration of Maximillian and two of his men standing in front of the firing squad.

Thanks again you guys for this unusual thread. Charles probably knows about this one, but there's a book (can't remember the author) with "The Bloodiest Decade" in the title, dealing with the Texas Rangers and those times. Alot of that history isn't pretty, but is sure enough fascinating. If anybody else has got suggestions on a single volume about this period and place I'd be interested. Adios for now. - DixieBoy