Back in 1916, my Dad's Dad was in the US Army as a buck private. Robert Parsons was a US Army cavalryman. He road a horse and carried a rifle and a pistol. He was under the command of General Black Jack Pershing.
Back then 100 years ago, Grand Dad was stationed at Camp Jones just outside Douglas, Arizona. Luckily, we were able to find the long-lat for the Camp's entrance. There's no trace of the camp and no historical marker either. So, we just stood there at the GPS coordinates and thought about my Grand Dad being there 100 years ago.
Douglas was MUCH more developed in 1916 than we had ever thought. Actually, Douglas was quite a very cosmopolitan community back then. All my life, I had assumed Douglas was a God-forsaken desert outpost with nothing but snakes, scorpions and choking dust. Wrong! Douglas was fully and well developed back then. The location of the camp 1.5 miles east of the Post Office was certainly chosen so it wouldn't not be too close to town.
Grand Dad was a member of The Punitive Expedition wherein Gen. Pershing and his troops attempted to chase and capture Pancho Villa and his troops in Sonora, Mexico. It's all far too long a story to tell here. But at least we found the location of where Grand Dad was camped during those historic times 100 years ago.
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