nationalguard

Street View 2017

The New York Sun., June 19, 1916, page 1 chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1916-06-19/ed-... is almost entirely about the call for National Guards from all states to mobilize for possible service on the Mexican border and some details for New York National Guard. The entire NY guard was "expected at Camp Whitman as soon after noon today as possible." The evening world., June 27, 1916, Final Edition, page 1 chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030193/1916-06-27/ed-... reports that the 7th regiment was one of the first to head for the Mexican border, starting its rail trip on June 27, 1916 The evening world., June 30, 1916, Final Edition, page 1, column 1 chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030193/1916-06-30/ed-... indicates that NY guard troops would be based along a ten-mile stretch of the border between Harlingen and Sam Fordyce, Texas (about 30 miles west of Brownsville). New-York tribune., July 01, 1916, Page 2, col 6 chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1916-07-01/ed-... indicates that details of troop movement were to be censored. The Sun and New York press., July 07, 1916, Page 3 chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030430/1916-07-07/ed-... has a picture captioned "The Seventh gets a real rest on Texas soil." Given that this picture and a neighboring one seem to be of making camp, the date would likely be early July, 1916.

The Sun and New York press, July 05, 1916, Page 3 chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030430/1916-07-05/ed-... suggests arrival by July 2 (Sunday).

Also in the Robert Runyon collection. There this is identified as the 14th NY Infantry

Interesting that the Runyon original is not blurry. Must have been a bad copy job by Bain. According to this regimental history of the 14th: "Mexican Border Service Their next call to duty was the Mexican Border Service on July 19, 1916. Their order was a ten day hike across the wastes of Hidalgo County, Texas. The conditions were harsh and often consisted of temperatures reaching 120 degrees with no shade to block them from the sun. In September they were ordered home and shortly thereafter mustered out of service." dmna.ny.gov/historic/reghist/numbered/14thReg.htm

I don't think one is any more or less blurry than the other, but the increased contrast of all the Bain pix relative to the Runyon originals washes out a lot of detail. I don't know whether that's an unavoidable side effect of copying in the early 20th century or if it was done on purpose to make newspaper friendly halftones easier.

The New York 7th Regiment, Infantry, is likely shown in this photograph at the Pennsylvania ferry slip at the Hudson River, en route to the Camp Wadsworth training camp in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The 7th Regiment, popularly known as the "Silk Stocking Regiment" because of the large number of wealthy New Yorkers serving in its ranks, was the first large formation to leave for the new training facility. [ 1 ]

Pixel Wrangler From its placement and the dates on other negatives, this is instead most likely the callup in June, 1916, which sent the regiment to the Mexican border at McAllen, Texas: "In 1916, the regiment was called into Federal Service on the Mexican Border as part of a force of 156,000 Guardsmen. This was, in effect, a test which showed up deficiencies in organization and personnel of the entire National Guard system. These deficiencies would need to be corrected, and soon. The Seventh, when called, reported for duty with all of its 1106 members and served five months in the field in and around McAllen, Texas. National Guard troops saw no action on the border and most of their time was spent on training hikes and maneuvers. Three members of the regiment died of unspecified causes while serving on the border." www.oryansroughnecks.org/history.html

Hi Art, Yes -- I saw those June dates and planned to take a closer look at that time period. That said, I concur that this is likely the June, 1916, event which you have wonderfully noted.

This is June 27, 1916, at the Pennsylvania Railroad ferry station at West and Desbrosses Streets in Manhattan, where the 7th boarded the ferry Chicago at 10:14 a.m. to Jersey City to board trains for McAllen,Texas. The New York Sun reported it by the minute: "For the sake of those who like their itineraries straight let It be said that the Seventh marched out of its armory at Sixty-sixth street and Park avenue at 8:20 o'clock yesterday morning, marched over to the Sixth avenue elevated, past the Governor of New York and uncountable other persons who weren't ashamed to be seen blinking in what the police would call a suspicious manner, rode in elevated trains down to Grand street, boarded the ferryboat Chicago at Desbrosses street at 10:14, started for Jersey City at 10:16, got there at 10:23 and were ready to entrain at 10:30. All this according to the watch of Lt.-Col. Cornelius Vanderbilt, who, detailed as inspector-general, clocked each phase. By a Sun reporter's watch, the first section of the special train started rolling at 1:27 p.m. and the second section at 1:45." chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1916-06-28/ed-...