to traps
from which escape would be well nigh impossible. The fact is that for
nearly eleven months Pershing maintained his line, extending nearly four
hundred miles from his base of supplies, in a country which even if it
was not at war was at least hostile. It is not therefore surprising that
after his return the State of New Mexico voted a handsome gold medal to
the leader of the punitive expedition for his success in an exceedingly
difficult task.

It was on the morning of March 15, 1916, when General Pershing dashed
across the border in command of ten thousand United States cavalrymen,
with orders to "get" Villa. A captain in the Civil War who was in the
Battle of Gettysburg, when he learned of the swift advance of General
Pershing's forces, said: "The hardest march we ever made was the advance
from Frederick. We made thirty miles that day between six o'clock A.M.
and eleven o'clock P.M. But Maryland and Pennsylvania are not an alkali
desert. I have an idea that twenty-six miles a day, the ground Pershing
was covering on that waterless tramp in Mexico, was some hiking." And
the advance is one of the marvels of military achievements when it is
recalled that the march was begun before either men or supplies, to say
nothing of equipment, were in readiness.

It may have been that it was because of his better knowledge of these
conditions that the general wrote:

"Our people are not a warlike people and the
average person knows little about our army. The
centers of population have never been brought into
close contact with it, and, like anything that is
unfamiliar, the people entertain a certain
prejudice against it. To overcome this prejudice
and to arouse and maintain an active interest in
military preparedness it will be necessary to
adopt some plan that will bring the army more
closely in touch with the people. The time for
this seems opportune and it can best be done by
assigning the various units of the army to
prescribed districts for local recruiting.

"If each regiment or smaller unit were composed of
young men whose families were neighbors,
especially if the home station of that unit were
easily accessible, the people would undoubtedly
support the unit with men and money. Each
regimental unit might be given a local n