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Full Description of Arizona Bushmasters
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Title:
Arizona Bushmasters
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With the Civil War still going on and Carleton still fighting the Navajos, the U.S. War Department authorized Governor John Noble Goodwin of Arizona to raise five companies of Arizona Volunteers in 1864. Recruitment was delayed for a year, but by the fall of 1865, the First Arizona Volunteer Infantry of more than 350 men had been issued into service under the command of nine officers. According to the Third Arizona Territorial Legislature, the volunteers inflicted "greater punishment on the Apaches than all other troops in the territory." After their year in service ended, the War Department disbanded the Arizona Volunteers because the army did not have the authority to retain native recruits. The 1st Volunteer Infantry began the lineage of the future “Bushmasters."
As a result of Pancho Villa and his men crossing the Mexican border and raiding Columbus, New Mexico, General “Black Jack” Pershing was ordered to lead a Punitive Expedition to apprehend and capture Villa and his bandits. The President called up the militias of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas on May 9th, 1916. The Arizona militia, the 1st Arizona Infantry, was mustered in by May 19. Three weeks after the passage of the 1916 National Defense Act in late June, the National Guard of all of the states (except Nevada which did not have a militia), and Alaska and the District of Columbia were called into Federal service. There were as many as 111,954 guardsmen along the border at the end of August 1916. Douglas, Arizona, was one of the four assembly points for the guard units. The Arizona National Guard was called into active federal service on 9 May 1916, with Col. Alexander McKenzie Tuthill as regimental commander. Besides being stationed at Naco, there were elements at Ajo, Nogales, Fort Huachuca, Douglas and other border outposts.
Arizona’s First Infantry Regiment was drafted into Federal Service for World War I, August 5, 1917 as part of the 40th Division. The Regiment was re-designated as the 158th Infantry Regiment on October 3, 1917, and sent overseas in July and August 1918. In France, the 158th Infantry was assigned to a division, which furnished replacement personnel to other units. The 158th Infantry was honored to act as guard of honor to President Wilson during his residence in France in 1918, and the 158th Infantry Band was chosen as Wilson’s honor band.
On 16 September 1940, with the declaration of the National Emergency, the 158th Infantry joined its parent organization, the 45th Division at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. They trained for five months, moving to Camp Barkley at Abilene, Texas, 28 February 1941. Following the 7 December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the 158th Infantry Regiment was removed from the 45th Division becoming a separate Regiment. January 1942 found the Regiment embarking at the Port of New Orleans and disembarking in the Canal Zone.
Library of Congress Subject Headings:
Military history
Military personnel
Military personnel
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Geographic Coverage:
Time Period:
1850-1899
1900-1929
1930-1949
1900-1929
1930-1949
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image/jpeg
Language:
eng
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Undergraduate Students
K-12 students
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General public
K-12 teachers and administrators
Undergraduate Students
K-12 students
Genealogists/History Enthusiasts
General public
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Size:
47 as of June 2009
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Arizona Military Museum
