In 1917, five years after New Mexico received its statehood, the United States entered World War I. With border tensions festering between Mexico and the United States, Germany attempted unsuccessfully to secure Mexico's allegiance with its Zimmermann Telegram. More than sixteen thousand New Mexicans joined the military, while civilians supported from the home front. Groups like the Knights of Columbus, YMCA and the Salvation Army, as well as Governor W.E. Lindsey's New Mexico Council of Defense, raised military funding. Author Daniel R. Cillis recounts the Land of Enchantment's influence on World War I from its beginning through to the 1918 Armistice.
In 1941, New Mexico was an agrarian state with just over half a million people, many of whom lived without electricity, running water, indoor plumbing, or paved roads. However, the state provided more military volunteers per capita--including eight Medal of Honor winners--than any other state and had the highest casualty rate per capita in the country. New Mexico provided essential resources ranging from oil and coal to potash and copper. The state is often remembered for being the location where the first nuclear weapon was designed and tested in 1945, but more important at the time were the development of the proximity fuze and the testing of the top-secret Norden bombsight. The state also housed German and Italian prisoners of war, and, in one of the darkest moments in US history, incarcerated American citizens of Japanese descent in several concentration camps.
Although the New Mexico Territory was far distant from the main theaters of war, it was engulfed in the same violence and bloodshed as the rest of the nation. The Civil War in New Mexico was fought in the deserts and mountains of the huge territory, which was mostly wilderness, amid the continuing ancient wars against the wild Indian tribes waged by both sides. The armies were small, but the stakes were high: control of the Southwest. Retired lieutenant colonel and Civil War historian Dr. Walter Earl Pittman presents this concise history of New Mexico during the Civil War years from the Confederate invasion of 1861 to the Battles of Valverde and Glorieta to the end of the war.
In 1917, five years after New Mexico received its statehood, the United States entered World War I. With border tensions festering between Mexico and the United States, Germany attempted unsuccessfully to secure Mexico's allegiance with its Zimmermann Telegram. More than sixteen thousand New Mexicans joined the military, while civilians supported from the home front. Groups like the Knights of Columbus, YMCA and the Salvation Army, as well as Governor W.E. Lindsey's New Mexico Council of Defense, raised military funding. Author Daniel R. Cillis recounts the Land of Enchantment's influence on World War I from its beginning through to the 1918 Armistice.
This is the history of the World War One training camp located on the edge of tiny Deming, N.M. Originally, the camp drew men from the National Guard units of Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, North and South Dakota. Eventually draftees were needed to build the 34th Division to 30,000 men. The temporary training camp covered the desert with hundreds of tents and crude wooden structures. Imagine waves of khaki-clad men descending on Deming on a Saturday night. In the book, many stories are highlighted. For instance, the National League Chicago Cubs played an exhibition game at the camp against a team of soldiers. Jack Yellen, the local rep for the Jewish Welfare Board, helped entertain troops and turned out to be the camp's answer to Irving Berlin. Nebraskan, Major John Birkner ended up drummed out of the Army and tried for treason for expressing his opinions about the war. Many leaders from the states with National Guard units at Camp Cody were unhappy with the quality of the camp. They complained bitterly about the blowing sand - the division did go on to take on the nickname "Sandstorm Division." Meanwhile, a Minnesota congressman called Camp Cody the gateway to Hades. Others, who had experience in the trenches of France, thought the camp was just dandy. After the war, the camp disappeared almost as fast as it appeared. Deming was able to save the Army hospital at the camp and turn it into a sanatorium for sufferers of tuberculosis. In the end, Deming was a changed town - more Midwestern than similar communities in southern New Mexico.
This new perspective on the colorful history of New Mexico includes the stories of many of the people who have spent their lives in the area from before the arrival of Europeans in the sixteenth century through the present day.
