March 15

1784  The Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania floods.

1916  US forces cross into Mexico in search of Pancho Villa.

 Pershing in Mexico some days later.

The force was made up of 4,800 men from the 7th, 10th, and 13th Cavalry, 6th Field Artillery, the 6th and 16th Regiments of Infantry, the 1st Aero Squadron, and support personnel, with that force divided into two columns.  The western column entered Mexico from Culberson's Ranch New Mexico, entering Mexico at midnight and marching 50 miles that day to Colnia Duban.  A march of that rate remains a significant advance for an army on the march and in 1916, when the primary means of transportation was foot leather and the horse, that was a really remarkable march.

The second column crossed the borders south of Columbus with there being some legitimate fear that it might immediately encounter Carranaza's forces in hostile resistance.  In the days since the Columbus Raid Carranza had reluctantly entered into an agreement allowing U.S. forces to operate in Mexico against Villa, but the agreement was a reluctant one and it was not clear if Mexican forces would honor it.  The column technically entered at noon, but in fact entered some hours earlier.

1917 

The Douglas Budget for March 15, 1917: Douglas soldiers return home.

Douglas Guardsmen were returning just as Douglas JrROTC cadets were getting ready for their annual show.

The Douglas paper may not have been a daily, as the troops had actually returned that prior Saturday.
1919  The American Legion formed in Paris by WWI veterans. Here's the American Legion Memorial in Jackson.

The first Legion post in the United States, the Ferdinand Brandstetter Post, was formed in Van Tassel Wyoming, a now defunct Wyoming Town on the Nebraska border.

1924  The wreck of the six masted schooner Wyoming was located off of Pollock Rip, Massachusetts.  She went down with all 18 hands.

1939  Deputy Park County Sheriff D. M. Baker and Powell Police Marshall Charles Lewis shot by Earl Durand, soon to be dubbed the "Tarzan of the Tetons," when they were attempting to arrest him at his parents home.  Durand had been in the county jail for poaching and had escaped after assaulting a jailor.  This would commence his ten day effort flight into the local mountains which concluded in a failed attempt to rob the bank in Powell, during which he was killed.

1942  Cheyenne's USO building recognized as the best in the nation.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1943  The French Line ship Wyoming sunk by the U-524.

1943  Franklin Roosevelt used executive authority to proclaim 221,000 acres as the Jackson Hole National Monument, the predecessor to today's Grand Teton National Park.   Governor Hunt threatened to use the Highway Patrol to prevent Federal authority on its grounds.  Congress, for its part, refused to appropriate money for the monument. 



1945  Alex McPherson becomes warden of the State Penitentiary.

1955 William R. Coe, English born businessman and sometimes Cody resident, and supporter of the University of Wyoming, died in Florida.  He left a bequest to the University of Wyoming which resulted in the Coe Library.