Campsite of the "Fighting 69th"

🏛️The era

The years 1916 and 1917 were tense ones on the Texas-Mexico border. Mexico was in the midst of its Revolution, a long and violent struggle that brought armies, refugees and armed bands into the borderlands. Raids, smuggling and violence on both sides of the Rio Grande alarmed residents of South Texas, and the Lower Rio Grande Valley saw serious bloodshed during these years.

In March 1916, forces associated with Francisco 'Pancho' Villa raided Columbus, New Mexico. The United States responded by sending troops into Mexico in pursuit, and the federal government called National Guard units from across the country into service along the border. Tens of thousands of citizen-soldiers from distant states found themselves camped in the heat and brush of South Texas.

The era's history is complicated and, in places, painful. The border troubles also brought harsh reprisals in the Rio Grande Valley, and many Tejano residents suffered violence and injustice during these years. Historians continue to study and debate the full story. The marker speaks of 'bandit troubles,' but a complete account of the period includes those darker chapters too.

The world beyond the border was at war at the same time. Europe had been fighting the Great War since 1914, and the United States was moving steadily toward joining it. It declared war in April 1917, and the border service turned out to be a training ground for that larger conflict.

👥People & events

The 69th New York Infantry was already famous before it came to Texas. With deep roots in New York City's Irish American community, the regiment had earned its 'Fighting 69th' nickname long before, and the name carried great pride. In 1916 its citizen-soldiers left the city for the brushland around McAllen.

According to the marker, their job was to guard the border and to stop arms from being smuggled across the Rio Grande to Pancho Villa. The work could be tedious and grueling. It meant patrols, guard duty, drills and life in a dusty camp under the South Texas sun. Few dramatic battles came of it, but the experience changed the men in ways that would matter.

Months of field service toughened them. They learned to march, camp, endure hardship and work together as a unit. The marker points out that this seasoning prepared them for what came next. When America entered the First World War, the regiment was sent overseas, where it served under the designation of the 165th Infantry in the 42nd 'Rainbow' Division.

In France the regiment fought through some of the war's hardest campaigns and won the lasting renown the marker celebrates. Its ranks included figures whose names became well known, among them its chaplain Father Francis P. Duffy, officer William J. Donovan, and the poet Joyce Kilmer, who was killed in action in 1918. Their story began, in part, in a border camp in McAllen.

🇺🇸Its place in the American story

The McAllen campsite links two chapters of American history that are often told separately: the troubled Mexican border of the 1910s and America's entry into the First World War. The mobilization of 1916 was a turning point. It tested the National Guard on a large scale, exposed weaknesses, and gave many units their first hard field experience just before the nation went to war in Europe.

The 69th is one of the most celebrated regiments in American military history, and the Irish American identity at its heart tells a broader American story too. An immigrant community that had once faced prejudice proved its devotion to the country on the battlefields of France, and the regiment's fame became a point of pride for generations.

The border chapter is also a reminder that American history was made along the Rio Grande as much as anywhere else. The turmoil of the Mexican Revolution reached into Texas and shaped national policy, and its effects on border communities, including Mexican American families in the Valley, deserve to be remembered alongside the soldiers' story.

🧭If you visit

The tents and soldiers are long gone, so this is a site for imagination. Picture rows of canvas tents, the dust of drills and marches, and young men from the streets of New York adjusting to the heat, brush and wide skies of South Texas. The contrast between their home city and this landscape must have been startling.

McAllen today is a thriving city in the Rio Grande Valley, and the border remains a defining feature of the region. A visit here offers a chance to think about how much the borderlands have changed since 1916, and how deeply the history of Texas and Mexico are intertwined.

The Rio Grande Valley is also well known for its natural attractions, especially its birding, as many species found here are rarely seen elsewhere in the United States. Combine a stop at this marker with the region's wildlife refuges, historic sites and border culture for a richer trip.

If you are interested in the regiment's later story, this marker is a good place to start reading. Following the Fighting 69th from this campsite to France is one of the more moving journeys in American military history.