THE AUGUST 27, 1918 BATTLE OF AMBOS NOGALES
The Real Story of the Border War that led to the First U.S.-Mexican Border Fences (Part I)
Text and Original Photography by Carlos Francisco Parra
November 20, 2017 (updated August 25, 2020)
KEY POINTS: (Part I)
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On August 27, 1918, United States and Mexico went to war on the border during the “Battle of Ambos Nogales.” U.S. soldiers and Mexican customs agents, soldiers and civilians fought face-to-face in the streets and hills of Nogales. The actions of the defenders of the Mexican bordertown, including the U.S. Army’s killing of Mayor Félix Peñaloza during the fighting, led to the town’s classification as Heroica Nogales by the Mexican Congress for resisting foreign soldiers. However, the battle is mostly unheard of in the rest of Mexico and almost completely forgotten on the Arizona side (one can attend school from kindergarten to 12th grade in Nogales, Arizona, and never even hear of the battle). Yet, according to the later U.S. books which covered the battle, U.S. soldiers – especially the famous Buffalo Soldiers – protected the border from Mexican attackers provoked into fighting by German spies.
One legacy of the violence before and during that August battle, still with us today, is often forgotten by both U.S. and Mexican historians interested in the battle: the building of the first permanent border fence separating two towns anywhere on the U.S.-Mexico border. By fall 1918 a fence dividing Ambos Nogales was constructed by the U.S. Army – by 1919 the towns of Naco and Douglas in Arizona and Calexico, California had also been separated from their neighboring Mexican bordertowns by fences.
The Battle of Ambos Nogales helped create the border we know today
Young residents of Nogales, Mexico (nogalenses) interact with American contractors around Boundary Monument 122-B during the May 2011 replacement of local border fences.
By uncovering the Nogales border war, we will look back at how the violence of the Mexican Revolution, racial prejudice, and the new strict U.S. government restrictions during World War I affected the people in the two Nogaleses and caused the battle.
Although a distant memory for many on either side of the border community, the story of the Battle of Ambos Nogales is important for understanding the Mexican-American border.
By uncovering the Nogales border war, we will look back at how the violence of the Mexican Revolution, racial prejudice, and the new strict U.S. government restrictions during World War I affected the people in the two Nogaleses and caused the battle.
Although a distant memory for many on either side of the border community, the story of the Battle of Ambos Nogales is important for understanding the Mexican-American border.
Northern Mexican Oral Tradition
Local oral tradition is important in retelling the story of the Battle of Ambos Nogales. Documentation from before, during and right after 1918 is vital for us, but so is the oral tradition in Northern Sonora that preserves key aspects of local history such as the “Corrido de Nogales” which retells the battle from a Mexican perspective. Like other corridos from the Mexican Revolution of the 1910s, the composer of the “Corrido de Nogales” is unknown but it was likely composed by a Mexican nogalense who either witnessed or participated in the battle. Before radio, TV, and the internet, corridos sung by men and women enabled Mexican people to learn about important people and events. Corridos were often sung by memory which led to many versions of the same song existing. The “Corrido de Nogales” has multiple versions, including one whose lyrics were published in the 1998 book Corrido Histórico Mexicano. Vol. 3: Voy a cantarles la historia, 1916-1924.
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The “Corrido de Nogales” shares many important details, such as the wounding of two Mexican women by U.S. bullets (“hirieron a dos mujeres las balas americanas”) but who said “No worry, we’re real Mexicans!” (“y dijeron “No hay cuidado, somos puras mexicanas”). In 2002, musicians Robert Lee Benton Jr. and Oscar González recorded a version of the “Corrido de Nogales” based on a manuscript held by Benton’s father for a Smithsonian Folkways CD album titled Heroes and Horses: Corridos from the Arizona-Sonora Borderlands.
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The Nogales Border in the Early 1900s
The Nogaleses in Arizona and Sonora came into existence as separate, but connected communities because of the economic opportunities of serving international trade crossing the border. By the time of this picture, the two Nogales were only separated by a wide boulevard named International Street. Before 1924, there was no U.S. Border Patrol to control the boundary – only occasional U.S. soldiers and customs/immigration inspectors. Local residents used to cross this border freely, but the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution and World War I brought stricter U.S. control of the border such as, requiring anyone crossing the border to have passports or other documents to enter (or exit) the U.S. Not all Mexican border crossers (especially those who could not read) understood this and were often harassed by U.S. immigration and customs officials.
The August 27, 1918, Battle of Ambos Nogales began right in the center of this picture on the international border. The events in Nogales before and during the Nogales border war led to Mexico and then the U.S. building the first fences meant to control the movement of people between the two countries. By late 1918, with the encouragement of the Mexican Government, the U.S. Army constructed a 2-mile fence 6-feet tall topped with barbed wire. Stronger and longer fences eventually replaced this short fence.
Boundary Monument 122
Boundary Monument 122 marks the actual U.S.-Mexico border – therefore the individuals looking through the wall are on the U.S. side of the international boundary. Monument 122, placed by the U.S.-Mexico International Boundary Commission in 1893, is located in the very center of the two Nogales. Prior the raising of fences between the two Nogales, only Boundary Monuments 121, 122, 122-A, 122-B, 122-C, and 123 (all of them well separated) physically marked the border.
Close-ups of Boundary Monument 122 (July 2008).
During the 1910s, just like today, many workers crossed into the U.S. from Mexico to work on the Arizona side and then returned to Mexico in the evening. The U.S. entry into World War I disrupted the everyday lives of Mexican workers and day-laborers as identification requirements became stricter. The Travel Control Act (or Wartime Measure Act) passed into law on May 22, 1918, required all U.S. citizens to have passports before leaving or entering the country while also tightening existing identification requirements for Mexicans and other foreigners when crossing the border. Given the free and open nature of the border before, these changes deeply affected Ambos Nogales.
During the 1910s, just like today, many workers crossed into the U.S. from Mexico to work on the Arizona side and then returned to Mexico in the evening. The U.S. entry into World War I disrupted the everyday lives of Mexican workers and day-laborers as identification requirements became stricter. The Travel Control Act (or Wartime Measure Act) passed into law on May 22, 1918, required all U.S. citizens to have passports before leaving or entering the country while also tightening existing identification requirements for Mexicans and other foreigners when crossing the border. Given the free and open nature of the border before, these changes deeply affected Ambos Nogales.
The First Attempt to Fence the Nogales Border: Aug.-Dec. 1915
The August 27, 1918 Battle of Ambos Nogales led to the raising of the first permanent border fence in Nogales (a policy soon adopted by the U.S. for other bordertowns), but the first fence that divided the two Nogales was built on the initiative of Mexican authorities in August 1915. Since 1910, Mexico was in a state of revolution as different political factions struggled first to overthrow President Porfirio Díaz and then create a revolutionary government. Díaz’s ouster in 1911 only created more tensions and by 1915 two principal factions (one led by General Francisco Villa and the other by Generals Alvaro Obregón and Venustiano Carranza) fought for control of Mexico. José María Maytorena, governor of the strategic border state of Sonora, sided with Villa against Carranza during the Mexican Revolution and worked to protect Nogales from falling into their opponents’ hands.
In order to defend Nogales and control the entry of weapons (that might be smuggled to Carranza’s soldiers) Maytorena order his soldiers to raise an “eleven-wire fence” stretching along the entire 0.7 mile (1.12km) length of International Street from the Panteón (cemetery) del Rosario in the west to Nelson Avenue on the east. The first border fence in Ambos Nogales was built as a consequence of the Mexican Revolution and was even praised by U.S. customs inspectors as a good way to control border traffic but it did not last long. After an almost 4-month siege, General Obregón attacked and defeated the Villa soldiers in Nogales on November 26, 1915, forcing Maytorena’s exile to the U.S. Obregón ordered Maytorena’s fence removed, bringing an end to the first – but not last –fence dividing two cities on the U.S.-Mexico border.
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No known pictures exist of the temporary 1915 fence but the above picture of the post-1918 wire fence gives an idea of the how it may have appeared. BOTTOM RIGHT: José María Maytorena riding along the Río Sonora. BOTTOM LEFT, Alvaro Obregón and María Tapia on their wedding in 1916. Obregón and Carranza’s forces won in their struggle against Villa and also won diplomatic recognition of the Carranza government from the U.S. [2]
Racial Tensions on the Nogales Border
Before the creation of the U.S. Border Patrol in 1924, the U.S. Army helped customs and immigration inspectors guard the border. During the 1910s the border was tense as Americans worried violence the violence of the Mexican Revolution would cross into the country as it almost did during the November 1915 Battle of Nogales. Two major U.S. occupations of Mexico took place in the 1910s, at Veracruz (April-November 1914) and in the northern half of Chihuahua (March 1916-February 1917) after Francisco Villa attacked Columbus, New Mexico. Anti-American sentiment was strong in Mexico. [3]
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In 1918 U.S. immigration and customs officers worked to enforce the Travel Control Act’s requirement for all border crossers to present a passport or other documents to enter the country. Mexican and U.S. government documents indicate that many Mexican people didn’t always understand the changing requirements and were subject to “denigrating and humiliating” verbal and physical harassment at the Nogales U.S. border inspection stations. Accounts exist of Mexicans with incorrectly-prepared documents being pushed and shoved by U.S. officers. Military and diplomatic papers at the U.S. National Archives also document how regularly Mexicans were shot and killed at other border crossings during the 1910s. [4]
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On December 31, 1917, Francisco Mercado, a Mexican customs inspector, became the first of two people shot and killed by U.S. soldiers on the Nogales border in the months before the August 27 battle. According to the Nogales Herald, a U.S. soldier with the 35th Infantry shot Mercado in the stomach after he refused to stop for inspection when crossing the border along International Street. It is not clear why Mercado allegedly failed to pass for inspection. Mercado's friends in the Mexican customs service witnessed the shooting and carried him away, shouting angry insults at the soldier as a small crowd formed. U.S. Army reinforcements arrived on the scene but were not needed. The mortally-wounded inspector died within hours. Francisco Mercado's friends did not forget this – the U.S. investigation into the Battle of Ambos Nogales concluded that after the Mercado killing several Mexican customs inspectors began planning retaliation against the U.S. if further killings took place on the border.
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Despite the organizing that began with Francisco Mercado’s death, there does not appear to have been any armed response by Mexicans over the March 22, 1918, killing of a youth believed to have been a Yaqui Indian. As in the Mercado incident, a U.S. soldier in the 35th Infantry shot the youth after he failed to respond to commands to stop along the open border on International Street. No one was able to identify the young man; accounts suggested he did not speak Spanish. Whatever the man's background or motives in crossing the border, even Mexican histories of the Battle of Ambos Nogales have forgotten this man's killing by U.S. border guards in the months before the battle, although a picture of him taken after the incident survives in the Nogales, Sonora, U.S. Consular Records. |
On top of these killings and the day-to-day harassment of Mexican border crossers, racism on the Nogales border also appeared in a more generalized violent way. Years earlier, a race riot erupted in Nogales on August 14, 1915, between whites and Mexicans when rumors spread that Mexicans would take away the local U.S. troops arms. One American was reported killed in the violence. The riot was covered nationally in the the Los Angeles and New York Times the next day. This was the border where Francisco Mercado and the unidentified Yaqui youth were killed. These incidents and simmering racial tensions have been ignored in almost every U.S. (and even some Mexican) histories of the Battle of Ambos Nogales.
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In addition to the Travel Control Act, the U.S. passed numerous restrictions on trade (such as the 1917 Espionage Act and the Presidential Proclamation of February 14, 1918) that limited what items individuals could purchase or export. These World War I laws were meant to hurt Germany, but they also hurt ordinary people in Nogales. Enforcement of these laws prohibited “food running” and punished people who tried to take food into Mexico despite the food shortage caused by the Mexican Revolution. In July 1918 U.S. Customs and the U.S. Consulate in Nogales, Mexico, distributed “food cards” restricting the days Mexicans could purchase food to take back to Mexico to once per week. According to the Nogales Herald, this confused everyone (including customs inspectors) into believing this meant people could only cross the border once per week. The U.S. Consulate admitted these confusing restrictions hurt working-class Mexicans the most. Tremendous anxiety existed among Mexican nogalenses who thought they might only be allowed one border crossing a week during that summer. [5]
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ABOVE and BELOW: Examples of the "food cards" border crossers from Nogales, Sonora, and elsewhere along the borderlands were required to present with their passports in summer 1918. The spaces with dates allowed U.S. border inspectors to track and limit the number of times Mexican people crossed the border to buy food. (Courtesy, National Archives and Records Administration)
A Bordertown Mayor on the Line: Félix B. Peñaloza
The new inspection requirements were confusing to civilians as well as the U.S. troops that helped guard the border. The Presidente Municipal (mayor) of Nogales, Sonora – Félix B. Peñaloza – was given a special blue seal card by the U.S. government that allowed him to cross into the U.S. to conduct business, but some of the young 35th Infantry soldiers on the line often refused to honor his documents. Peñaloza’s two-block walk turned into an eight-block trek. U.S. Consul Ezra Lawton was embarrassed when Peñaloza explained he walked around “rather than to cause any trouble” with the soldiers. Lawton felt embarrassed at Peñaloza’s treatment and on July 15, 1918 wrote Col. James Frier, 35th Infantry Commander, requesting better training for the men guarding the border. |
Consul Lawton summarizes the Ygnacio Orozco case to Consul José Delgado, Mexican Consulate in Nogales, Arizona (Courtesy National Archives and Records Administration).
Throughout the summer of 1918 Peñaloza was increasingly pulled into problems at the border. On June 5th, U.S. customs stopped Ygnacio Orozco as he attempted to cross the border into Mexico with ammunition he purchased in Arizona. Orozco explained he bought the ammo to protect himself against (“para”) Yaqui Indians raiding throughout Sonora, but inspector Harry Smith misunderstood his Spanish and thought he bought the ammo for (“por”) the Yaquis. Resisting arrest for alleged arms trafficking, Orozco ran across International Street as the angry inspector shot at him, hitting a window in Mexico. Peñaloza defended him when Consul Lawton inquired about the alleged “smuggler”, saying Orozco was “more-or-less well known” in town and was just a street merchant.
Throughout the summer of 1918 Peñaloza was increasingly pulled into problems at the border. On June 5th, U.S. customs stopped Ygnacio Orozco as he attempted to cross the border into Mexico with ammunition he purchased in Arizona. Orozco explained he bought the ammo to protect himself against (“para”) Yaqui Indians raiding throughout Sonora, but inspector Harry Smith misunderstood his Spanish and thought he bought the ammo for (“por”) the Yaquis. Resisting arrest for alleged arms trafficking, Orozco ran across International Street as the angry inspector shot at him, hitting a window in Mexico. Peñaloza defended him when Consul Lawton inquired about the alleged “smuggler”, saying Orozco was “more-or-less well known” in town and was just a street merchant.
Peñaloza also confronted claims that U.S. 35th Infantry troops crossed the border to halt smuggling in an area called “Pueblo Nuevo.” Separated from the rest of Nogales, Sonora, by tall hills, Pueblo Nuevo was a center for contraband and prostitution. Although denied by the Army, rumors spread of U.S. incursions into Mexico. At the time only Boundary Monument 120, potentially obscured by brush, marked the border there. Peñaloza worked with U.S. authorities to close Pueblo Nuevo and asked for Mexican territory to be respected.
During a July 19 meeting over Pueblo Nuevo, Peñaloza and other officials reportedly “seemed to regard” the building of a border fence “with a very high favor” when U.S. military officers proposed the idea. Since Maytorena’s 1915 fence was removed there was no fence dividing Ambos Nogales or any other cities on the U.S.-Mexican border. Would Peñaloza, a Mexican mayor, change this by carrying out the U.S. border fence proposal? One final event that same day forced him to make up his mind.
On July 19, 1918, a U.S. soldier “came near shooting a Mexican civilian for crossing the line in the middle of the block” on International Street. The very next day Peñaloza had municipal workers raise a small “five-strand barbed wire fence” the length of a block on International Street from Morley Avenue to the railroad tracks. This short barrier was the second border fence in Nogales and the first since the August-December 1915 Maytorena wire fence. Peñaloza hoped to protect Mexicans from being shot by the U.S. with this fence, but not even that could prevent war from exploding between Mexicans and Americans the next month, forever transforming the border.
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The Border War Begins
According to the “Corrido de Nogales” the battle of August 27, 1918 started “When a Mexican crossed the boundary line, a Gringo shot him, marking the start of the story” (“Al cruzar un mexicano la línea divisoria le pegó un balazo un gringo, fue el principio de la historia”). On that hot and humid afternoon, a carpenter named Zeferino Gil Lamadrid walked south towards Mexico when he approached the border on International Street near Boundary Monument 122. The U.S. investigation of the battle indicates Gil Lamadrid carried something underneath his shirt as he crossed the border. Speculation exists that he was carrying food, weapons, or revolutionary propaganda. The week before the battle, several issues of a newspaper titled México Libre were secretly printed in Nogales, Arizona, and smuggled into Mexico in support of Juan Cabral’s nearby revolt against the Mexican government.
As Gil Lamadrid attempted to cross the line, Customs Inspector Arthur Barber shouted at him to be inspected before exiting. Mexican customs inspectors Francisco Gallegos and Andrés Ceceña, believing he was already in Mexico, ordered him to ignore Barber. U.S. accounts state that Barber drew his revolver and followed Gil Lamadrid – potentially just into Mexico past the short fence Peñaloza ordered installed a few weeks earlier. [6]
As Gil Lamadrid attempted to cross the line, Customs Inspector Arthur Barber shouted at him to be inspected before exiting. Mexican customs inspectors Francisco Gallegos and Andrés Ceceña, believing he was already in Mexico, ordered him to ignore Barber. U.S. accounts state that Barber drew his revolver and followed Gil Lamadrid – potentially just into Mexico past the short fence Peñaloza ordered installed a few weeks earlier. [6]
Private William Klint (35th Infantry), a nearby border guard, followed behind Barber. At this point it is possible Zeferino, Barber, and Klint were all either just inside Mexico or right on the border next to the short Peñaloza fence. Accounts suggest that Private Klint aimed his rifle at Zeferino's stomach. Seeing this, Inspector Gallegos shot at the U.S. guards, wounding Klint. Zerefino dropped to the ground immediately as other nearby U.S. soldiers shot back at Gallegos and Ceceña. Then, other Mexican customs inspectors joined the shootout Mexican sources, including the Corrido de Nogales, claim Zeferino was either shot by the U.S. or got scared with whoever the first shot and dropped to the ground, causing the Mexican inspectors to shoot back. As Klint writhed from his wounds, Gil Lamadrid jumped to his feet (with whatever may have been on his person) and ran away from the border war he started. Zeferino later died in 1935 during a heated card game. Klint, for his part, survived from his wounds. |
Excerpts from the U.S. Army investigation on the battle (shown here) demonstrates its conclusion that the Mexican customs employees, with “a number of irresponsible civilians”, had begun organizing against the U.S. since the December 31, 1917, killing of customs inspector Francisco Mercado. Some Mexican customs inspectors and supportive civilians decided “that if there were any more trouble on the line, all should get arms and proceed immediately to the line, for the purpose of avenging themselves on the Americans.” [7]
First Casualties
Andrés Ceceña Madrid – a Mexican customs inspector – was one the first deaths during the battle along with fellow inspector Francisco Gallegos, both reportedly shot by Corporal William Tucker (35th Infantry border guard) with his Springfield rifle. The noise of gunfire echoed loudly throughout the hills of the two Nogales as more Mexican and U.S. guards ran to the border.
On the Mexican side, word of mouth spread news of a fight against U.S. soldiers/border guards or as a defense against an imminent invasion of the town. Several Mexican nogalenses took to the streets and joined the fight (while others shot from doorways or rooftops). According to the U.S. Consulate logbook, over the course of “15 or 20 minutes” the shooting “became general” and took on the “proportions of a pitched battle.” The “Corrido de Nogales” states “Brave nogalenses fulfilled their duty, they fought against the Gringos to death or to victory” (“Valientes nogalenses hicieron su deber, pelearon con los gringos hasta morir o vencer”). [8] |
At the time of the Battle of Ambos Nogales, the Mexican Army had dug trenches on the hills of the city to use against revolutionary armies that might try to capture the town (such as the Cabral faction that published México Libre). Other cities like Ciudad Juárez had similar defensive trenches. Witnessing the shooting below on International Street would not have been hard for any soldiers or armed civilians who would have manned the hilltop post. Shooting also occurred from humble straw homes nearby. The U.S. Army investigation and newspaper accounts of the event indicate that some of the heaviest fire from the Mexican side came from near here a few minutes after the violence began.
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Camp Little
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News of the battle quickly reached Camp Little, the U.S. Army post established in what is now central Nogales, Arizona to protect the town from potential border violence during the Mexican Revolution. Covering the area of the city along Western Avenue between Interstate 19 and Grand Avenue, the post was originally founded as Camp Nogales, but was renamed in late 1915 in honor of Private Stephen Little of Fairmount, North Carolina who was killed by a stray bullet during the November 1915 Battle of Nogales between General Francisco Villa’s soldiers and the Mexican government’s forces led by General Alvaro Obregón.
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Buffalo Soldiers
The 10th Cavalry joined the main body of the U.S. Army when it invaded Chihuahua, Mexico, during the “Punitive Expedition” meant to capture General Francisco Villa after he attacked Columbus, New Mexico on March 9, 1916. These members of Troop C of the 10th Cavalry (ABOVE) were captured by the Mexican Federal Army following the June 1916 Battle of Carrizal which almost led to full war between the U.S. and Mexico. After international negotiations, Troop C was released – many of these same young men from Troop C of the 10th Cavalry fought in the Battle of Ambos Nogales (Courtesy, Fondo Casasola, SINAFO-Fototeca Nacional del INAH).
ABOVE: A 10th Cavalry machine gun unit trains for action during the Punitive Expedition (Courtesy, National Park Service).
According to the Nogales Herald, upon the start of the battle “the 10th Cavalry, the fighting colored troopers, were hurried to the scene and were soon in the thick of the fray.” By late August 1918 the main units stationed in Camp Little were the 35th Infantry and the 10th Cavalry Regiments, all of whom fought in the Nogales border war. The 10th Cavalry, composed of African American soldiers under white officers, is known as the “Buffalo Soldiers,” a name it received during the Indian Wars of the late 1800s. Over the years many African American soldiers stayed in Nogales at the end of their service. Camp Little closed in 1933 long after the threat of the Mexican Revolution faded away, but many of the officers’ residences remain standing today as private homes. On August 27 nearly all of the Mexican Army was away from Nogales fighting the Juan Cabral rebels and anti-government Yaqui Indians. [9]
According to the Nogales Herald, upon the start of the battle “the 10th Cavalry, the fighting colored troopers, were hurried to the scene and were soon in the thick of the fray.” By late August 1918 the main units stationed in Camp Little were the 35th Infantry and the 10th Cavalry Regiments, all of whom fought in the Nogales border war. The 10th Cavalry, composed of African American soldiers under white officers, is known as the “Buffalo Soldiers,” a name it received during the Indian Wars of the late 1800s. Over the years many African American soldiers stayed in Nogales at the end of their service. Camp Little closed in 1933 long after the threat of the Mexican Revolution faded away, but many of the officers’ residences remain standing today as private homes. On August 27 nearly all of the Mexican Army was away from Nogales fighting the Juan Cabral rebels and anti-government Yaqui Indians. [9]
As the battle began, six U.S. soldiers lay flat on the ground on their stomachs near the American train station (a location now occupied by the DeConcini-Grand Avenue Port of Entry) exchanging gunfire with Mexican opponents for 30 minutes until reinforcements from Camp Little arrived. The 10th Cavalry and 35th Infantry crossed into Mexico, mainly around the eastern edge of the Nogales and fought against Mexicans from Calle Elias and nearby streets. First Sergeant Thomas Jordan, 10th Cavalry, recalled storming the Concordia Club on Calle Elias and “in there were some frightened señoritas wearing kimonos. I got a laugh when one of them spoke to a trooper, saying ‘Sergeant Jackson! Are we all glad to see you!’ But we did not have time to tarry the soldier to alibi his acquaintanceship.” Jordan, Jackson and the other men were then ordered to fight against the Mexicans at a hill in western Nogales. [10]
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Lieutenant Colonel Fred Herman, 10th Cavalry, assumed command of U.S. forces in Nogales during the battle. Troop C of the 10th Cavalry under Captain Joseph Hungerford, a white officer, attempted to stop the fierce sniper fire from the trenches atop the hills of eastern Nogales. Hungerford – shot in the heart – died during the 10th Cavalry charge advance in which many soldiers were wounded. First Sergeant James T. Penny encouraged the men on as he took command of the troop. According to the “Corrido de Nogales” the Buffalo Soldiers retreated and regrouped – “A black cavalry, coming up fiercely, they all were strewn about, the rest ran back” (“Una caballería de negros que venía entrando voraz, ahí quedaron tirado el resto corrió pa’ tras”). U.S. military accounts contradict the corrido, reporting that the hill was taken with numerous Mexican sharpshooters deaths.
Félix Peñaloza Fulfills his Duty
LEFT: In 1918, the Nogales Palacio Municipal was located in this building which later became the local branch of the Mexican postal and telegraph services. RIGHT: January 2018 view of the same site at the corner of Calles Juarez and Campillo in Nogales, Sonora .
As the battle intensified, fear spread throughout Nogales, Mexico. One of those particularly concerned with the potential loss of life is already a familiar figure in this story: Presidente Municipal Félix B. Peñaloza. Working from the offices of the Ayuntamiento (city government) at the corner of what are now called Calle Campillo and Calle Juárez, Peñaloza heard the gunfire and quickly learned about the nature of the violence from people on the street. Peñaloza tied a white handkerchief to his cane and ran into the frenzied streets trying to convince the public to cease their fire. The Mexican mayor ran eastward to the heart of the fighting along Calle Elías. Another account of the battle, however, states Peñaloza was eating at a restaurant on Calle Elías from which he stepped out to try to calm the people and stop the violence.
As the battle intensified, fear spread throughout Nogales, Mexico. One of those particularly concerned with the potential loss of life is already a familiar figure in this story: Presidente Municipal Félix B. Peñaloza. Working from the offices of the Ayuntamiento (city government) at the corner of what are now called Calle Campillo and Calle Juárez, Peñaloza heard the gunfire and quickly learned about the nature of the violence from people on the street. Peñaloza tied a white handkerchief to his cane and ran into the frenzied streets trying to convince the public to cease their fire. The Mexican mayor ran eastward to the heart of the fighting along Calle Elías. Another account of the battle, however, states Peñaloza was eating at a restaurant on Calle Elías from which he stepped out to try to calm the people and stop the violence.
Félix Peñaloza ran into a war zone as the exchange of fire from Mexican riflemen and U.S. soldiers intensified in the eastern corner of Nogales, Sonora. Mexican riflemen took cover between the neighborhood’s adobe and stone homes as they shot at U.S. servicemen and other targets across the border. One can only imagine a tense scene with Peñaloza attempting to convince the Mexican combatants (in their majority civilian) to stop firing into the U.S. What happened next immortalized the Mexican mayor in local history. Still waving his cane and white handkerchief, Peñaloza became the target of distant U.S. soldiers who gunned him down. The Peñaloza Memorial on Calle Ruiz Cortines (dedicated in 2016) reminds us of the slain mayor’s sacrifice on August 27, 1918.
52-year old Félix Peñaloza was mortally wounded by U.S. gunfire in front of the white building behind the trucks (shown above). A small dark plaque commemorates the site where the bordertown mayor died. A few Mexican combatants took Peñaloza into the white building which at the time was Dr. Fernando Priego’s medical office. Nothing could be done for the mayor who succumbed to his wounds within half an hour. Peñaloza’s death was a key moment in the Battle of Ambos Nogales. U.S. Consul Ezra Lawton confirmed under oath in the U.S. Army investigation of the battle that Presidente Peñaloza was killed by U.S. soldiers. [11]
A close-up view of the commemorative plaque memorializing Peñaloza’s killing, installed by the 2003-2006 Ayuntamiento de Heroica Nogales on what was formerly Dr. Priego’s medical office. In the “Corrido de Nogales”, Peñaloza’s actions are described as a “fulfillment of his duty” in trying to “calm the people” but “Then he was seen by the bad Americans and he was downed on Mexican soil” (“Pero luego lo miraron los malos americanos, ahí quedo bien tirado en el suelo mexicano”). Testimony during the U.S. Army investigation of the battle suggests some soldiers mistook his cane for a weapon.
Who was Maria Esquivel?
The slain Mayor of Nogales, Sonora, is perhaps the single most famous death during the Battle of Ambos Nogales, particularly on the Mexican side, but he was far from the only one. In Nogales, Sonora’s Panteón de los Héroes (or Heroes’ Cemetery) the tombs of other Mexican combatants remind us about the less famous people who also were affected by the Nogales border war. Near the cemetery’s entrance rests a grave belonging to María Esquivel who was only 17 when she died during the battle. María’s epitaph states “Your memory will endure always in the hearts of your parents and brother” and memorialized her as a “victim of August 27, 1918.” What was María’s role in the battle? Was she the unidentified woman killed hanging clothes some local histories mention? Might she have been a combatant?
María Esquivel’s role in the battle – and the larger nameless Mexican participants in the Battle of Ambos Nogales – is the focus of the 1997 documentary La Mera Frontera by Louis Hock. La Mera Frontera, in which María is dramatized by Mexican American actress Yariel Arizmendi (Like Water for Chocolate), is the only documentary dedicated to the events in Nogales on August 27, 1918.
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Attack on the U.S. Consulate
The accounts of the battle provided by the U.S. Consul in Nogales, Mexico, are some of the most important sources of information on the battle. Ezra Lawton’s notes on the battle were handwritten hours after the initial fighting ended. Lawton constantly updated the State Department in Washington and also testified in the Army investigation. Lawton’s confirmation that an unarmed Peñaloza was killed by U.S. troops is important, as well as his account of an attack on the U.S. Consulate by 4 armed Mexicans who barged in and forced the vice consul and clerk Elmer Cooley outside.
Cooley, an ex-customs inspector, was hated by Mexicans for mistreating them at the border for many years and was shot in the thigh in the street. Lawton fired Cooley after the violence. Used as a hiding spot by Mexican riflemen, the Consulate ended up covered by American bullets. The Consulate’s Chinese janitor escorted the “girl clerks” to safety in the U.S. during the battle. Lawton, who was in Nogales, Arizona when the violence started, represented the U.S. in Guatemala City after his assignment in Nogales ended in early 1919. |
The Civilians of Nogales, Arizona During the Battle
Civilians in Nogales, Arizona, also played important roles in the battle. Emma Budge, Ada Ekey Jones, and customs “inspectress” Marion Robinette endangered themselves rescuing and attending to wounded men. A family in the city’s tall westside Titcomb Hill (Crawford Street) lent the deck of their elegant hilltop to a group of soldiers who set up a machine gun to fire down into Mexico. Some Americans helped by using their cars to shuttle soldiers from Camp Little to the front line.
Others took their own personal weapons and fired into Mexico, but the uncoordinated gunfire in all directions actually threatened U.S. troops. Sheriff Raymond Earhart gathered numerous battle-hungry civilians hoping to fight as a unit by the Nogales City Hall in order to keep them safe and away from shooting U.S. soldiers. Nearby on International Street, Gaston Reddoch was shot in the neck when he took a wounded soldier’s rifle and fired into Mexico. Reddoch died the next day, becoming the only U.S. civilian death in the battle. [12] |
The Threat to Nogales, Sonora, and the Ceasefire
News of the battle in Nogales quickly reached the Sonoran state capital in Hermosillo and Mexico City. Sonoran Governor Plutarco Elias Calles hurriedly sent a telegram to U.S. Consul Ezra Lawton urging his help to stop the violence. "It is my understanding that Mexican civilians are battling with U.S. soldiers. I have ordered Mexican authorities to cease hostilities and I urge you to do likewise with U.S. authorities." Calles, in his capacity as a military general, began preparing troops in case the violence worsened.
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With the violence intensifying on all fronts, talks were initiated by representatives of the Mexican Army and the Ayuntamiento de Nogales through José Garza Zertuche, the new Mexican Consul in Nogales, Arizona. Garza Zertuche contacted Commander Herman about a ceasefire, proposing that both sides should fly white flags to end the shooting. Herman, wounded in the leg along International Street, later recalled before a U.S. Congressional Committee that he told the Mexican Consul to “go to hell” and that the U.S. Army didn’t carry white flags. Herman also threatened to burn down the Mexican bordertown if the Mexican authorities didn’t halt the shooting. [13]
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Anglo-Mexican tension festered along the border in the 1910s, especially in Texas when rumors of a planned Mexican revolt (the “Plan de San Diego”) unleashed a wave of violence that left 300 Mexicans and Mexican Americans dead, mainly at the hands of the Texas Rangers. On January 28, 1918, a group of Texas Rangers (with U.S. Cavalrymen potentially involved) executed 15 Mexican residents of the village of Porvenir on suspicion of cattle rustling. The surviving 140 Porvenir villagers crossed into Pilares, Chihuahua, Mexico, to bury the dead and avoid further violence. The U.S. Cavalry burned the empty homes of Porvenir. On March 25, 1918, U.S. forces crossed the Rio Grande into Mexico in pursuit of suspected cattle-thieves, engaging them in battle at Pilares, leading to a handful of deaths and the Army burning of the village. While Nogales was much larger than the communities of Porvenir, Texas, and Pilares, Chihuahua, Lieutenant Colonel Herman’s threat to burn down Nogales, Sonora, was real. By approximately 6:30pm, a white flag was raised over the Mexican Customs House; U.S. troops around Calle Elias returned across the border after a bugle call ordered their withdrawal. [14]
The Battle of Ambos Nogales occurred early enough in the afternoon that the "Nogales Herald" was able to hastily print a special extra edition covering the sudden war on the border. This copy of the August 27, 1918, "Herald" extra may be the only surviving paper copy of that historic issue (Heartfelt thanks to the late Teresa Leal, volunteer curator at the Pimeria Alta Historical Society Museum for access to this newspaper).
NOTES:
[1] El Tucsonense, August 28, 1918, (Readex: America’s Historical Newspapers Database); Arizona Republican (Phoenix), August 28, 1918, (Retrieved from http://libproxy.usc.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.libproxy2.usc.edu/docview/815015082?accountid=14749).
[2] Top image courtesy Daniel Arreola, Postcards from the Sonora Border: Visualizing Place Through a Popular Lens, 1900s-1950s (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1917), 132; “Alvaro Obregon and His Bride,” Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2017645447/); Venustiano Carranza y José María Maytorena, “Nogales durante la Independencia y la Revolución,” Historia de Nogales (http://historiadenogales.blogspot.com/2010/09/); “Gov. Maytorena orders fence built note,” Border Vidette (Nogales, AZ), Aug. 14, 1915; “Wire fence on International Street torn down note,” Border Vidette, Dec. 4, 1915; David Leighton, “Street Smarts: First fence built to hold back cattle,” Arizona Daily Star (Tucson, AZ), April 6, 2015 (http://tucson.com/news/blogs/streetsmarts/street-smarts-first-fence-built-to-hold-back-cattle/article_53067fa5-9ef9-53a2-bd6a-b44d3e67c2f4.html).
[3] Image, Mexico en Fotos, http://www.mexicoenfotos.com/mobile/city.php?album=vintage&province=sonora&city=nogales&page=4
[4] José Garza Zertuche to DeRosey Cabell, September 2, 1918, Battle of Ambos Nogales 1918 Papers, Pimeria Alta Historical Society (PAHS), Nogales, AZ.
[5] “Conflicting Views on Border Order,” Nogales Herald, July 19. 1918. Lawton to Secretary of State Lansing, August 9, 1918, Vol. 116, UD620, Records Group 84, National Archives (NARA), College Park, MD.
[6] Lawton to Secretary of State Lansing, August 24, 1918, Vol. 116, UD620, Records Group 84, NARA.
[7] “Record of Investigation held at Nogales, Arizona, August 28, 29, and 30, 1918, in regard to conflict in Nogales, Ariz., August 27, 1918,” Battle of Nogales 1918 Papers, PAHS.
[8] U.S. Consulate logbook, Vol. 70, UD620, Records Group 84, NARA.
[9] Image 1, John Mraz, Photographing the Mexican Revolution Commitments, Testimonies, Icons (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2014), p. 227; Image 2, https://www.nps.gov/prsf/learn/historyculture/pursuing-pancho-villa.htm; Image, https://www.nps.gov/prsf/learn/historyculture/world-war-i-and-the-buffalo-soldiers.htm
[10] Fred and Harriet Rochlin, “The Heart of Ambos Nogales: Boundary Monument 122,” Journal of Arizona History, vol.17 (Summer 1976), p. 171; James P. Finley, “The Battle of Ambos Nogales,” Huachuca Illustrated vol 2 (1996), https://net.lib.byu.edu/estu/wwi/comment/huachuca/HI2-06.htm; “Sidelights of the Battle,” Nogales Herald, August 29, 1918.
[11] Alberto Suárez Barnett, “El 27 de agosto de 1918,” Anécdotas Sonorenses (27 de agosto 2017)
http://anecdotassonorenses.blogspot.com/2017/08/el-27-de-agosto-de-1918.html
[12] “Battle of Ambos Nogales,” Huachuca Illustrated; “Sidelights of Battle,” Nogales Herald, August 29, 1918; Elliot Stearns, “Battle of Ambos Nogales,” Sombrero, May 1990, 15-17.
[13] Image, México en Fotos, http://www.mexicoenfotos.com/mobile/city.php?album=vintage&province=sonora&city=nogales&page=6
[14] Robert Runyon, “Las Norias Bandit Raid: Texas Rangers with dead bandits, October 8, 1915,” Runyon Photograph Collection, Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin (https://www.cah.utexas.edu/db/dmr/image_lg.php?variable=RUN00096).
#usmexicoborder #border #borderlands #mexicanborder #lafrontera #zonafronteriza #nogales #ambosnogales #battleofambosnogales #battleofnogales #batalladenogales #batalladel27deagosto #gestaheroica #gestaheroicadel27deagosto #arizona #sonora #nogalessonora #nogalesarizona #history #historia #borderwall #borderfence #murofronterizo #cercofronterizo
[2] Top image courtesy Daniel Arreola, Postcards from the Sonora Border: Visualizing Place Through a Popular Lens, 1900s-1950s (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1917), 132; “Alvaro Obregon and His Bride,” Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2017645447/); Venustiano Carranza y José María Maytorena, “Nogales durante la Independencia y la Revolución,” Historia de Nogales (http://historiadenogales.blogspot.com/2010/09/); “Gov. Maytorena orders fence built note,” Border Vidette (Nogales, AZ), Aug. 14, 1915; “Wire fence on International Street torn down note,” Border Vidette, Dec. 4, 1915; David Leighton, “Street Smarts: First fence built to hold back cattle,” Arizona Daily Star (Tucson, AZ), April 6, 2015 (http://tucson.com/news/blogs/streetsmarts/street-smarts-first-fence-built-to-hold-back-cattle/article_53067fa5-9ef9-53a2-bd6a-b44d3e67c2f4.html).
[3] Image, Mexico en Fotos, http://www.mexicoenfotos.com/mobile/city.php?album=vintage&province=sonora&city=nogales&page=4
[4] José Garza Zertuche to DeRosey Cabell, September 2, 1918, Battle of Ambos Nogales 1918 Papers, Pimeria Alta Historical Society (PAHS), Nogales, AZ.
[5] “Conflicting Views on Border Order,” Nogales Herald, July 19. 1918. Lawton to Secretary of State Lansing, August 9, 1918, Vol. 116, UD620, Records Group 84, National Archives (NARA), College Park, MD.
[6] Lawton to Secretary of State Lansing, August 24, 1918, Vol. 116, UD620, Records Group 84, NARA.
[7] “Record of Investigation held at Nogales, Arizona, August 28, 29, and 30, 1918, in regard to conflict in Nogales, Ariz., August 27, 1918,” Battle of Nogales 1918 Papers, PAHS.
[8] U.S. Consulate logbook, Vol. 70, UD620, Records Group 84, NARA.
[9] Image 1, John Mraz, Photographing the Mexican Revolution Commitments, Testimonies, Icons (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2014), p. 227; Image 2, https://www.nps.gov/prsf/learn/historyculture/pursuing-pancho-villa.htm; Image, https://www.nps.gov/prsf/learn/historyculture/world-war-i-and-the-buffalo-soldiers.htm
[10] Fred and Harriet Rochlin, “The Heart of Ambos Nogales: Boundary Monument 122,” Journal of Arizona History, vol.17 (Summer 1976), p. 171; James P. Finley, “The Battle of Ambos Nogales,” Huachuca Illustrated vol 2 (1996), https://net.lib.byu.edu/estu/wwi/comment/huachuca/HI2-06.htm; “Sidelights of the Battle,” Nogales Herald, August 29, 1918.
[11] Alberto Suárez Barnett, “El 27 de agosto de 1918,” Anécdotas Sonorenses (27 de agosto 2017)
http://anecdotassonorenses.blogspot.com/2017/08/el-27-de-agosto-de-1918.html
[12] “Battle of Ambos Nogales,” Huachuca Illustrated; “Sidelights of Battle,” Nogales Herald, August 29, 1918; Elliot Stearns, “Battle of Ambos Nogales,” Sombrero, May 1990, 15-17.
[13] Image, México en Fotos, http://www.mexicoenfotos.com/mobile/city.php?album=vintage&province=sonora&city=nogales&page=6
[14] Robert Runyon, “Las Norias Bandit Raid: Texas Rangers with dead bandits, October 8, 1915,” Runyon Photograph Collection, Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin (https://www.cah.utexas.edu/db/dmr/image_lg.php?variable=RUN00096).
#usmexicoborder #border #borderlands #mexicanborder #lafrontera #zonafronteriza #nogales #ambosnogales #battleofambosnogales #battleofnogales #batalladenogales #batalladel27deagosto #gestaheroica #gestaheroicadel27deagosto #arizona #sonora #nogalessonora #nogalesarizona #history #historia #borderwall #borderfence #murofronterizo #cercofronterizo