April 12

1844   Texas became a US territory.

1861     The Civil War began as Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter in South Carolina. The Civil War would have a major impact on the policing of the West, and on Western immigration.  Very soon after the commencement of the war, Regular Army units were withdrawn from the Frontier, at the very same moment when emigration to California and Oregon, and other points West, increased.  This heightened tensions with Native tribes, which in turn caused the Federal Government to increasingly rely upon various state units raised for Civil War for Frontier duty.  Ultimately, the Federal Government would also deploy "Galvanized Yankees", i.e, southern POWs paroled upon volunteering for Frontier service.  All of this was played out in Wyoming, as well as the rest of the West.

1870  Sioux reservation in South Dakota created.

1889  Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show departs New York for Paris.

1892  An invader by the name of Dowling, having escaped the TA at night on the 11th, reached Douglas, over 100 miles away, and sent a telegraph to Gov. Barber that the invaders were in trouble.  Barber had been in on the plot and participated to the extent that he was not going to activate the Guard to intervene.  Barber asked for the President to intervene, claiming "An insurrection exists in Johnson County. . . "  The telegram to the President did not get through, however, and he then began to telegram Senators Warren and Carey.  Carey spoke to the President, after being reached, that evening and President Harrison ordered Gen. Brooke in Omaha to send troops.  Troops at Ft. McKinney were ordered to move and departed in the middle of the night.  During the day, the besiegers constructed and began to use an hastily fortified wagon to move their lines closer to the ranch house and barn.

1905  Wyoming Wool Growers Association founded.

1916  A clash occurs between US Regulars and Mexican Carranzaistas at Parrel.

The Punitive Expedition: The Battle of Parral. April 12, 1916

 Corporal Richard Tannous, 13th Cavalry, wounded at Parral.

U.S. cavalry under Major Frank Tompkins, who had been at Columbus the day it was raided and who had first lead U.S. troops across the border, entered Parral Mexico. At this point, the Punitive Expedition reached its deepest point in Mexico.

The entry was met with hostility right from the onset.  Warned by an officer of Carranzas that his Constitutionalist troops fire on American forces, Tompkins immediately started to withdraw them  During the withdraw, with hostile Mexican demonstrators jeering the U.S. forces, Mexican troops fired on the American forces and a battle ensued.  While Mexican forces started the battle, it was lopsided with the Mexicans suffering about sixty deaths to an American two.  Tompkins withdrew his troops from the town under fire and sought to take them to Santa Cruz de Villegas, a fortified town better suited for a defense.  There Tompkins sent dispatch riders for reinforcements which soon arrived in the form of more cavalrymen of the all black 10th Cavalry Regiment. 

This marked the high water mark of the Punitive Expedition.

LoC caption:  "Removing Sgt. Benjamin McGhee of the 13th Cavalry who was badly wounded at Parral, Mexico."

Casper Daily Press: April 12, 1916
 

1919  April 12, 1919. Turmoil.

Villers Carbonnel, France.  Formerly a village of 500 souls.  April 12, 1919.

Scenes like the one above may explain French discontent with the Peace, as reported by the Casper Daily News.

Bolshevik sympathy was reported as the cause of the recent mutiny or near mutiny in the 339th Infantry's Company I, fighting in northern Russia. That may seem extreme but in fact there was some truth to it. The Michigan contingent to the unit had been drawn from National Guardsmen who included a fair number of immigrants from Finland who held fairly left wing views going into service and who were, in fact, becoming somewhat confused over their role in Russia, and loosing sympathy with it. Of course, simply wondering why they were fighting and dying in a cause that they hadn't really signed on for had something to do with that as well.

Speaking of Bolsheviks, plenty was going on in Bavaria, as the paper noted.  On this day the German Communist Party seized control of the Bavarian government, displacing the anarchist who had taken over a couple of days prior.

A little closer to home, tragedy struck in Fremont County when Harry Kynes from Shoshoni, only recently returned to the United States, died of what was undoubtedly the Spanish Flu.

Also closer to home, the news had now broken that Col. Cavendar's death was a suicide, as we earlier related, and was in the news again.  

We discussed the sad tale of Col. Cavendar here earlier.  His death was first reported as a heroic sacrifice, and then it was discussed as a scandalous example of mistreatment of National Guard officers.   

The weekly The Judge was looking at baseball.

The magazine The Judge used a play on words on its cover, relating labor strikes, which had been much in the news, with striking out in baseball.

The Saturday Evening post was looking at Spring.

Tacoma Washing, April 12, 1919.

And Tacoma was photographed.

And so one really eventful week drew to a close.  Communist revolution in Bavaria, a mutiny in the American Army in Russia, the assassination of Emiliano Zapata, Japanese troops firing on Korean civilians. .. it must of been frightening to pick up the paper.

1920  The Rock Springs Hide & Fur Company  was destroyed by fire.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1934  Harry Sinclair purchased Parco.

1945  Franklin D. Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Ga., at age 63. Vice President Harry S Truman became president.

1967  A tornado, possibly one of several, hit ground near Veteran.

1984  Buffalo's Main Street historic district added to the National Registry of Historic Places.

2013  Soldiers of the Wyoming Army National Guard's 133d Engineering Company deploy to Bahrain.

2016   Lex Anteinternet: Marathon, Peabody and the airlines

And the news came today that Marathon has found a buyer for its Wyoming assets, the  topic we first touched upon here:

Lex Anteinternet: Marathon, Peabody and the airlines: This past week the state received the bad news that Marathon Oil Company, formerly Ohio Oil Company, which was once headquartered in Casper...

The buyer is Merit Energy.

All in all, this is good news for the state.  Merit's had along presence here and is a substantial operation, so  this would indicate that they are doing well and banking on the future of the petroleum industry in the state.