Author: E. B. Johns

Publisher:

Published: 2015-07-04

Total Pages: 340

ISBN-13: 9781330667637

Excerpt from Camp Travis and Its Part in the World War Brigadier-General Henson Estes came to Camp Travis to command the Thirty-fifth Infantry Brigade of the Eighteenth Division, but upon his arrival he was placed in command of the division and of the camp. In that capacity he directed the swift organization and the equally swift training throughout the memorable days when the prospect of overseas service was a constant stimulus to commanding officer and rear rank private. His previous military experience had been varied and distinguished, both in an executive capacity and in the field under fire. He came to the Cactus Division from General Staff duty at Washington, where he had organized and directed the Statistics Branch of the General Staff, and served as War Department representative on the Requirements Division of the War Industries Board. He saw active service in Cuba, and was twice cited for distinguished conduct in action in the Philippines. General Estes was born in Eufaula, Ala., January 30, 1873. He was graduated from the U. S. Military Academy, West Point, N. Y., in 1894, and was assigned as second lieutenant, Twentieth Infantry, which he joined at Fort Buford, North Dakota. He accompanied this regiment to Cuba and participated with it in the campaign resulting in the surrender of the Spanish Army at Santiago, July 17, 1898.He was recommended by his regimental commander for a brevet as captain. Shortly after returning from Cuba he accompanied the Twentieth Infantry, in which he had now been promoted first lieutenant, to the Philippine Islands, arriving there March 1, 1899. He served with the regiment in various parts of the Islands until February, 1902, when it returned to the United States. Meanwhile he had been promoted captain. He received the commendation of the division commander for conduct in the engagement at Mt. Maquiling, August 27, 1901, and of his brigade and division commanders for conduct at Caloocan, Batangas, December 21, 1901. After only eighteen months in the United States, he returned to the Philippines, leaving San Francisco December 1, 1903. Having served in Luzon and in Mindanao as a company commander and on the regimental staff, he returned to the United States with his regiment in March, 1906, and was stationed at the Presidio of Monterey, California, until he again went to the Philippines in June, 1909. He was stationed in Manila on regimental staff duty until August, 1910, when his tour of duty as adjutant expired, and he was assigned to a company of the Twentieth Infantry at Fort Shafter, Honolulu, H. T., August, 1910. Having been detailed in the Subsistence Department, on December 1, 1910, he proceeded to the United States, and after a course at the School for Bakers and Cooks, at Fort Riley, Kansas, was with the infantry division, organized at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, March, 1911, as a division staff officer. This division never reached Mexico, but was demobilized, and shortly after Captain Estes was assigned to duty as Quartermaster and Commissary of Cadets and Treasurer, U. S. M. A., West Point, N. Y. He was relieved by operation of the "Manchu" law, December, 1912, and joined his old regiment, the Twentieth Infantry, at Salt Lake City. In November, 1913, the regiment was ordered to the Mexican border for duty, and was stationed at El Paso, Texas. He was on duty as executive officer of the Mexican Internment Camp of five thousand odd Mexican officers and soldiers and their families who had been driven across the Rio Grande by Villa at Ojinago. This camp was established at Fort Bliss, Texas, first, and afterward moved to Fort Wingate, New Mexico. In September, 1914, the camp was broken up and the prisoners returned to Mexico. Shortly after this, Captain Estes went back to his former detail at West Point and served there until summer of 1917. He was promoted Major, July 1, 1916, and on August 5, 1917, Colonel of Infantry, N.