Johnson's Ranch Raid

Johnson's Ranch Raid
	Aerial view of Johnson's Ranch in 1932. The large cottonwood tree where the bandits assembled is visible at the far right, next to the river and adjacent to the ranch headquarters.
Date	April 11, 1929
Location	Big Bend, Texas, USA

Last updated July 26, 2019

The Johnson's Ranch Raid occurred on April 11, 1929, when Mexican bandits attacked the ranch of Elmo and Ada Johnson in the Big Bend region of West Texas.^[1]

Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and to the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Covering almost 2,000,000 square kilometers (770,000 sq mi), the nation is the fourth largest country in the Americas by total area and the 13th largest independent state in the world. With an estimated population of over 129 million people, Mexico is the tenth most populous country and the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world, while being the second most populous nation in Latin America after Brazil. Mexico is a federation comprising 31 states plus Mexico City (CDMX), which is the capital city and its most populous city. Other metropolises in the country include Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puebla, Toluca, Tijuana, and León.

The Big Bend is a colloquial name of a geographic region in the western part of the state of Texas in the United States along the border with Mexico, roughly defined as the counties north of the prominent northward bend in the Rio Grande as it passes through the gap between the Chisos Mountains in Texas and the Sierra Madre Oriental in Mexico. It is sometimes loosely defined as the part of Texas south of U.S. Highway 90 and west of the Pecos River. The region includes three counties in Texas: Brewster, Jeff Davis and Presidio.

West Texas is a loosely defined part of the U.S. state of Texas, generally encompassing the arid and semiarid lands west of a line drawn between the cities of Wichita Falls, Abilene, and Del Rio.

Background

In the spring of 1929, civil war was raging across Mexico with fighting in the central-west of the country between government forces of Emilio Portes Gil and the Cristero revolutionaries and fighting in the north between the federal government and the rebel forces of General José Gonzalo Escobar. Following the rebel defeat in the Battle of Jiménez on April 3, Escobar was in retreat and his men were deserting in large numbers. No longer having a war to fight, many of these deserters turned to banditry, and like in the decades before, saw the ranches on the American side of the international border as easy targets.^[1]

Emilio Cándido Portes Gil was President of Mexico from 1928 to 1930, one of three to serve out the six-year term of president-elect General Álvaro Obregón, who was assassinated in 1928. Since the Mexican Constitution of 1917 forbade re-election of a serving president, the out-going president Plutarco Elías Calles could not formally become president. Portes Gil became president, but Calles, the "Jefe Máximo", retained effective political power during what is known as the Maximato.

The Cristero War or the Cristero Rebellion (1926–29), also known as La Cristiada[la kɾisˈtjaða], was a widespread struggle in central-western Mexico in response to the imposition of secularist, state atheism, anti-Catholic and anti-clerical articles of the 1917 Constitution of Mexico. The rebellion was instigated as a response to an executive decree by President Plutarco Elías Calles to enforce Articles 3, 5, 24, 27, and 130 of the Constitution. Calles sought to eliminate the power of the Catholic Church and all organizations which were affiliated with it as an institution, and suppress popular religious celebrations in local communities. The massive, popular rural uprising was tacitly supported by the Church hierarchy and it was also aided by urban Catholic supporters. US Ambassador Dwight W. Morrow brokered negotiations between the Calles government and the Church. The government made some concessions, the Church withdrew its support for the Cristero fighters and the conflict ended in 1929. It can be seen as a major event in the struggle between Church and State which dates back to the 19th century with the War of Reform, but it can also be interpreted as the last major peasant uprising in Mexico following the end of the military phase of the Mexican Revolution in 1920.

General Don José Gonzalo Escobar (1892-1969) was an officer in the Mexican Army and leader of the failed Escobar Rebellion in 1929, which challenged the political power of Plutarco Elías Calles.

Elmo and Ada Johnson made a living raising livestock and operating a trading post that was open to people from both sides of the river. When they established the Johnson's Ranch in 1927, the Big Bend region was still one of the most remote areas of the United States. Apart from a few Mexican homes on the southern side of the Rio Grande, the Johnson family lived in almost complete isolation; the closest population center was in Alpine, Texas, 150 miles to the north. This made it the perfect target for Mexican bandits, who could easily cross the river and take whatever they wanted back to Mexico long before the United States Army or the Border Patrol could respond. There were no Mexican authorities in the area either, with the closest being four customs and immigration officials in Santa Elena, opposite of Castolon, but they seldom patrolled the area around the Johnson's Ranch.^[1]^[2]

The Rio Grande is one of the principal rivers in the southwest United States and northern Mexico. The Rio Grande begins in south-central Colorado in the United States and flows to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way, it forms part of the Mexico–United States border. According to the International Boundary and Water Commission, its total length was 1,896 miles (3,051 km) in the late 1980s, though course shifts occasionally result in length changes. Depending on how it is measured, the Rio Grande is either the fourth- or fifth-longest river system in North America.

Alpine is a city in and the county seat of Brewster County, Texas, United States. The population was 5,905 at the 2010 census. The town has an elevation of 4,475 ft, and the surrounding mountain peaks are over a mile (1600 m) high. The university, hospital, library, and retail make Alpine the center of the sprawling 12,000 square miles (31,000 km²) but wide open Big Bend area including Brewster, Presidio, and Jeff Davis Counties.

On April 11, 1929, a band of Mexican deserters from Jiménez, estimated to be about thirty to forty in number, arrived on the banks of the Rio Grande. Having crossed 160 miles of the sparsely populated Chihuahuan Desert to arrive at their destination, the Mexicans made camp in the mesquite bosque adjacent to the river, near a massive cottonwood tree that was a sort of landmark in the area. Some of the men had been wounded in the fighting at Jiménez and were in need of medical attention, so their first task was to bring in two local curanderos (doctors without formal training, who specialized in the use of locally grown medicinal herbs) for medical assistance. Their next focus was on food, and for that they looked to the Johnson's Ranch trading post on the other side of the river.^[1]^[2]

The Chihuahuan Desert is a desert and ecoregion designation covering parts of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. It occupies much of West Texas, parts of the middle and lower Rio Grande Valley and the lower Pecos Valley in New Mexico, and a portion of southeastern Arizona, as well as the central and northern portions of the Mexican Plateau. It is bordered on the west by the extensive Sierra Madre Occidental range, along with northwestern lowlands of the Sierra Madre Oriental range. On the Mexican side, it covers a large portion of the state of Chihuahua, along with portions of Coahuila, north-eastern Durango, the extreme northern part of Zacatecas, and small western portions of Nuevo León. With an area of about 362,000 km² (139,769 sq mi), it is the third largest desert of the Western Hemisphere and the second largest in North America, after the Great Basin Desert.

The raid

Sometime during the afternoon of April 11, three Mexicans forded the river and arrived at the trading post, where they met with Elmo Johnson, begging him for food. Johnson obliged, giving the men beans and corn and telling them he would give them a goat to butcher when his herder returned later that afternoon. It remains uncertain if the Mexicans returned for the goat, but the Johnsons waited all night, keeping an eye on the Mexican camp across the river. They eventually gave up, had a late supper and went to bed later than usual. At about 11:00 that evening, Johnson awoke to the sound of horse hooves trotting close by, followed by a knock on his door. Johnson was suspicious because he did not usually do business after dark, but bandits didn't usually knock at the door either. Opening the door he was confronted by two Mexicans asking to buy tobacco in Spanish. Not wanting any trouble, Johnson agreed to sell the men some tobacco and he told them to meet him at the other end of the building, where the commissary was located.^[1]

Walking across the large covered patio, Johnson lit a kerosene lamp and proceeded to unlock the commissary door. The Mexicans made their purchase; tobacco and rolling papers, which were paid for in Mexican coin. They stood in silence as they smoked. By this time, Johnson could tell his visitors were getting uneasy, and just as he turned around to pick up his rifle they took off into the darkness. Johnson followed them to the door and heard two shots fired nearby. It was then he realized that his worst fear was coming true. A group of Mexican horsemen were driving his herd of cattle and goats to the river. Johnson raised his rifle and fired at the fleeing Mexicans, but it is uncertain if he hit anything or not. The Mexicans quickly escaped into the darkness, leaving their bounty of stolen livestock along the river's edge.^[1]

Aftermath

The first thing Johnson did after the Mexicans were gone was to inform the Border Patrolmen George Dennis and Shelly Barnes, who drove to Castolon to report the raid to Chief Patrol Inspector Earl Falis in Marfa. Falis then informed the commander of the 1st Cavalry Regiment at nearby Camp Marfa, who dispatched a 1st Lieutenant Hugh F. T. Hoffman and his Troop "F" to march to Castolon, establish a base camp there and proceed with patrolling the lower Big Bend area for bandits. Because time was of the essence, Hoffman ordered 2nd Lieutenant Harry W. Johnson (who was of no relation to the Elmo and Ada Johnson) to take his platoon from "F" Troop and a section of machine guns and proceed to Castolon in trucks to protect the nearby trading posts, while the remainder of the troop marched the 116 miles to Castolon on horseback. On the following day, Lieutenant Johnson left the machine gun section in Castolon for protection and proceeded to the Johnson's Ranch. The ranch was all quiet, so Johnson left a few men behind as guards and moved on to patrol Glenn Springs and Boquillas, which were also found to be all quiet. The next few days were spent patrolling the vast openness of the West Texas desert, but no enemies were spotted and the cavalrymen soon returned to Camp Marfa.^[1]

Johnson's Ranch Airfield

On the day after the raid the photographer-journalist W. D. Smithers arrived at the Johnson's Ranch to cover the story. Johnson, as hospitable as ever, was more than happy to tell his story. He also invited Smithers to stay at the ranch for a few days. During this time, Smithers brought up the idea of allowing the United States Army Air Corps to establish an airbase on the ranch property, which was located in a remote but highly strategic position in the Big Bend. Johnson agreed with Smithers, who in turn spoke with his old friend, Colonel Arthur G. Fisher, the 8th Corps Area air officer, who was stationed in San Antonio. Fisher had Johnson's Ranch inspected for use as a military airfield and found it a suitable location, but final say on the establishment of a new airfield was not up to him. Fisher then consulted with Major Robert J. Haplin, assistant chief of staff of the 8th Corps Area, as well as the senior military intelligence officer in the area, who agreed to support the project, thinking it would be an excellent place to gather intelligence about activities along the Mexican border and also a good staging point for combat operations, in case of another border emergency.^[1]^[2]

Work on the new airfield began that summer and was completed by July 6, 1929, when the first landing was recorded. The site chosen was immediately north of the Johnson's Ranch headquarters, where the ranch house and trading post were located, all of which is now located within Big Bend National Park. The ranch house was thenceforth used as the headquarters for the airfield, in addition to the Johnson's ranching activities. By 1939, the airfield consisted of three graded dirt runways, the longest of which measured 4,200 feet. For the pilots, Johnson constructed two large rock piles spaced 100 feet apart near the landing threshold and at night would set two lanterns up to help guide the pilots to a safe landing. Improvements such as these made the Johnson's Ranch Airfield a "safe, all-weather operational facility for emergency combat aircraft."^[1]^[2]

The Johnson's Ranch Airfield quickly became a notable locale in the pioneer history of aviation in the United States. Many young officers who would later rise in the ranks and achieve fame and notability in World War II served at the Johnson's Ranch, among them General Nathan F. Twining, a chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and General Jonathan M. Wainwright, a Medal of Honor recipient for his services in the Battle of Bataan. There were no further bandit raids in the Johnson's Ranch area, though the field remained open for the next fourteen years, finally being deactivated in 1943. The "Border Raid Mission", as the cavalry and air patrols became known, officially ended late in October 1931, when the "emergency" was lifted. Though they never went into action, the "Border Raid Mission" provided many young American pilots with valuable flight experience that helped prepare them for the rigorous service in World War II ten years later.^[1]^[2]

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The Nevill Ranch raid occurred on the night of March 25, 1918 and was the last serious attack on a Texas ranch by Mexican rebels during the Bandit War. Though it is not certain, there was reason to believe that Villistas were responsible for the raid in which two people were murdered. Afterwards, the rebels withdrew to the village of Pilares, Chihuahua under pursuit by a cavalry of American soldiers. A small battle was fought at Pilares on the following day, several more people were killed, and the Americans burned the village before they returned to Texas.

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References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Ragsdale, Kenneth Baxter (2010). Wings over the Mexican Border: Pioneer Military Aviation in the Big Bend. University of Texas. ISBN 0292787812.
1 2 3 4 5 "National Park Service: Johnson's Ranch". US National park Service. Retrieved 2015-07-11.

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[Ragsdale,_pg_65-73-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Ragsdale, Kenneth Baxter (2010). Wings over the Mexican Border: Pioneer Military Aviation in the Big Bend. University of Texas. ISBN 0292787812.

[nps.gov-2] 1 2 3 4 5 "National Park Service: Johnson's Ranch". US National park Service. Retrieved 2015-07-11.