The Columbus Riflemen were a storied Columbus military unit that had been organized in 1837. They had served with valor in the Mexican War, the Civil War and the Spanish American War. It was a distinctively Columbus unit with its armory located in city hall. In 1916 they and the Caledonia Rifles were the Lowndes County companies in the Mississippi National Guard. That all soon changed.
In the Mexican Revolution of 1911 one of the generals who brought down the government of Mexican President Porfiro Diaz was Francisco “Pancho” Villa. That resulted in an off and on fight for control of the Mexican government that was to last for about nine years. A major issue of the revolution was land reform, of which Villa was a strong proponent. During the conflict the U.S. provided aid that helped the political faction which Villa opposed defeat him at the November 1915 Battle of Agua Prieta. In response, Villa’s troops raided and burned the town of Columbus, New Mexico, on March 9, 1916, killing eight U.S. soldiers and 10 civilians.
In response President Woodrow Wilson ordered General John “BlackJack” Pershing to enter Mexico with 10,000 U.S. troops and eliminate Villa and several bands of Mexican bandits as threats to the U.S. Mexico ordered the U.S. Army to leave Mexico, and its refusal to do so brought the U.S. and Mexico close to War. The situation got so inflamed that “At Nogales, Ariz, the Mexican commander, General Norza Garayes, was so eager to start the fighting that he called upon the American commander, Col. Sagae, to make arrangements for the first battle.” The U.S. commander advised the Mexican general that he should wait on orders from his government in Mexico City before he took such an action.
An article in the June 25, 1916, Commercial Dispatch stated that on June 21, 1916, Mississippi Governor Bilbo issued “a proclamation calling young Mississippians to the colors to enter the war with Mexico if it should come. Brigadier General Erie C. Scales, the adjutant general, this morning issued orders on authority of the war department which will convert the Mississippi National Guard into regimental instead of battalion formations.” This was the beginning of the organization of the Mississippi National Guard taking the form we know today.
The Columbus Riflemen became one of the 12 companies mobilized to become the 1st Mississippi Infantry, Mississippi National Guard. The companies were to recruit to “war time strength of 140 men.” There was extensive coverage of the Riflemen’s send off in the June 25, 1916, Commercial Dispatch. The Columbus Riflemen were joined by about 40 men from the Caledonia Rifles as that company had not been called up in the mobilization. On June 21st the “Riflemen were presented with a handsome flag; the presentation having taken place at Lake Park …and having been witnessed by a large concourse of people.
The ceremonies included an address by Hon. J.I. Sturdivant, and the flag was presented to Capt. Mullins, who received it for the company, by Miss Jennie Sharp. Miss Sharp was assisted in bearing the flag …by a bevy of beautiful young girls including Misses Mary Hays. Hawley Senter Knox, Evelyn Caine, Carolyn Loeb, Frances Street, Katherine Beard, Louise Frierson, Jane Terry, Roberta Hays, Nina Stephenson, Rosalind Kaufman, Martha Ellison Weatherly, Eleanor Weatherly, Miriam Coburn, Anna Banks, Kennedy Virginia Moore, Martha Harris, Virginia Wilkinson, Martha Leigh and Juanita Gardner. Local Boy Scouts acted as guards of honor for these young ladies.
A committee of patriotic ladies and gentlemen managed the affair for the Riflemen, and the success which attended the occasion was largely due to their efforts. The general committee on arrangements consisted of Messrs. V.B. Imes, Carroll Hackleman and S.B. Street, Jr., while the ladies committee was made up of Mesdames Z.P. Landrum, Chas. Hays, Claude Ayres, and Mr. Irvin Kaufman was in charge of the decorations. Mr. J.G. Weatherly, the efficient secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, and other patriotic ladies and gentlemen also rendered valuable assistance.”
“At 6 o’clock yesterday afternoon the company lined up in front of the city hall, and each member, was presented with a Bible. These Bibles were presented to the soldiers by citizens of. Columbus, and were secured through the activities of a committee headed by Rev. W.S. Slack, rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal church, and Mr. T.W. Harris, a leading hardware dealer and member of the city council.
The newspaper added, “Answering the call to arms recently issued by President Wilson, the Columbus Riflemen left yesterday evening for Jackson where the state troops are to mobilize and will later proceed to the Mexican border as a unit of the fighting force which Mississippi is to send there.”
It was at the camp in Jackson that the Columbus Riflemen began to lose their 80 year old unit identity. There they became Co I from Columbus of the 1st Mississippi Regiment Infantry. At Jackson’s Camp Swep Taylor the Riflemen were given Army physicals and 39 of the Lowndes County soldiers failed the physical and were sent home. While at Camp there the 1st Mississippi underwent military training by regular Army officers and sergeants. On July 23, the Commercial Dispatch published a letter from 2nd Lt John Lowery of Columbus who signed it 2nd Lt I Co. In it he said, “According to the regulations of the federal government which we are now under, captains and men alike are transferred from one company to another regardless of feelings or the bond that exists between officers and their men.” While in camp Capt Mullens who commanded the Riflemen died of appendicitis and the new commander of the Riflemen was Capt. John Sheffield of Arkabutla. The Columbus Riflemen had become known simply as Co I and had men in it who hailed from Biloxi to Franklin, Kentucky.
In October the 1st Mississippi deployed by train to Camp Wilson near San Antonio. There the regiment engaged in more training and the winds of war with Mexico diminished. In March 1917 the regiment left Texas and returned to Jackson Mississippi where it was mustered out of Federal service on the morning of March 27th. That afternoon it was mustered back into Federal service and on September 27, 1917, became the 155th Regiment of the 39th Division, U.S. Army as the U.S. had entered World War I. With the mustering into federal service in 1917 the Columbus Riflemen lost all identity as a military unit and ceased to exist.
Carolyn Kaye assisted with the research on this column.
Rufus is a local historian.
Rufus Ward is a Columbus native a local historian. E-mail your questions about local history to Rufus at [email protected].
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