Launching the Governor

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A Wyoming National Guard tradition at one time.

July 3

1778  The Wyoming Massacre occurred during the American Revolution in the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania. 

1865  Gen. Connor arrives at Ft. Laramie with orders to protect the Overland Stage from Indian raids.

1868  The Wind  River Reservation created.  Originally the reservation was a reservation for the Shoshone tribe, whose leader, Washakie, had requested that the government set aside a reservation for his people.  The Arapahos would come to call the reservation home some years thereafter. 

1869  Sioux raid Wind River valley but are driven off by soldiers. 

1876  The Bozeman Times publishes the first written account of Custer's defeat at Little Big Horn.

1890  Idaho admitted to the Union as a state.

1901  The Wild Bunch rob a Great Northern train near Wagner Montana, their last robbery in the U.S.

1901  First automobile appears to appear in Calgary, Alberta.

1919  July 3, 1919. But wait, what about Battery F? Battery F, 148th FA, returns home and Bisbee Riots.

One of the purposes of this blog is to correct errors and misconceptions, and we find that here we're victim of one.

Indeed, careful observers here will note that we've reported the 148th as basically mustering out twice. . . once in New York, and once at Ft. D. A. Russell outside of Cheyenne.  We think we figured out the origin of that confusion, however.  The Camp Mills event was the one that released the unit from the Army's rolls, and the Cheyenne one was the one in which the artillerymen were discharged.

That latter date was taken from a source we were relying on, but contained an error.

Battery F of the 148th wasn't home until this day.

For some reason Battery F had been delayed in returning home and just made it on July 3, something I hadn't run across before.  And upon arriving the men of Battery F were the subject of a big July 3 celebration welcoming their return to the state in Cheyenne.

Company F was entirely from the northern part of the state.  So not only were they the seeming last of the National Guardsmen to return home, they had further to go to get all the way home as well.

While celebrations were going on in Wyoming, riots were going on in Bisbee Arizona.

The riot started off as a confrontation between a while military policeman of the U.S. Army and black cavalrymen of the 10th Cavalry.  The town already had a marked racially tense atmosphere in which strong racial prejudices against Hispanics and Asians were highly exhibited.  In spite of this, black cavalrymen from the 10th Cavalry from nearby Ft. Huachuca did frequent the town.

As with many towns near Army posts, the town had military policemen in it on frequent occasion and it was just such a confrontation that escalated into a riot.  What exactly occurred is not clear, but the main participants in the event seem to have been white policemen and black cavalrymen.

While there were serious injuries they did not prevent the 10th Cavalry from participating in the Independence Day march the following day.

1943 The Pole Mountain military reservation, formerly used for the training of Wyoming National Guard cavalrymen and cavalrymen from various posts around the region, is opened to civilian picnickers. That this would occur in 1943 says something about the direction the Army was headed in at the time.

June 3

1862  6th Ohio Cavalry regimental commander Lieutenant Colonel William O. Collins received orders to take three companies to South Pass to protect the employees and property of the Overland Mail Company and the Pacific Telegraph.

1888    The poem "Casey at the Bat" by Ernest Lawrence Thayer was first published, in the San Francisco Daily Examiner.

The Outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day:
The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play.
And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,
A sickly silence fell upon the patrons of the game.

A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest
Clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast;
They thought, if only Casey could get but a whack at that -
We'd put up even money, now, with Casey at the bat.

But Flynn preceded Casey, as did also Jimmy Blake,
And the former was a lulu and the latter was a cake;
So upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat,
For there seemed but little chance of Casey's getting to the bat.

But Flynn let drive a single, to the wonderment of all,
And Blake, the much despis-ed, tore the cover off the ball;
And when the dust had lifted, and the men saw what had occurred,
There was Jimmy safe at second and Flynn a-hugging third.

Then from 5,000 throats and more there rose a lusty yell;
It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;
It knocked upon the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,
For Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat.

There was ease in Casey's manner as he stepped into his place;
There was pride in Casey's bearing and a smile on Casey's face.
And when, responding to the cheers, he lightly doffed his hat,
No stranger in the crowd could doubt 'twas Casey at the bat.

Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt;
Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his shirt.
Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip,
Defiance gleamed in Casey's eye, a sneer curled Casey's lip.

And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air,
And Casey stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there.
Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped-
"That ain't my style," said Casey. "Strike one," the umpire said.

From the benches, black with people, there went up a muffled roar,
Like the beating of the storm-waves on a stern and distant shore.
"Kill him! Kill the umpire!" shouted someone on the stand;
And its likely they'd a-killed him had not Casey raised his hand.

With a smile of Christian charity great Casey's visage shone;
He stilled the rising tumult; he bade the game go on;
He signaled to the pitcher, and once more the spheroid flew;
But Casey still ignored it, and the umpire said, "Strike two."

"Fraud!" cried the maddened thousands, and echo answered fraud;
But one scornful look from Casey and the audience was awed.
They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain,
And they knew that Casey wouldn't let that ball go by again.

The sneer is gone from Casey's lip, his teeth are clenched in hate;
He pounds with cruel violence his bat upon the plate.
And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go,
And now the air is shattered by the force of Casey's blow.

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville - mighty Casey has struck out.

1919  June 3, 1919: Anarchists bombings and The 148th Field Artillery boards the USS Peerless. . .

bringing their service in the Great War and the following Army of Occupation to an end.

The USS Peerless was the former Steamship Eagle which had been brought into U.S. service as a transport during World War One.  In that capacity, she brought the troops of the 148th FA home to the U.S., including the Wyoming National Guardsmen that served in that unit, their role in the Great War now complete.

In September she'd be returned to her civilian owner, who once again returned her to her civilian name of Eagle.  She'd remain in service as a civilian transport until 1949, when she was scrapped.

The return of the 148th was big long awaited news for Wyomingites as it meant the return of the last of Wyoming's serving National Guardsmen. The news made the front page in Cheyenne, as did the proclamation of Boy Scout Week, if inaccurately, but another big event, a series of anarchist bombings the prior day, not surprisingly became the big headline.

The 1919 anarchist bombings would fuel the Red Scare of 1919 and lead to a rapid crack down on left wing activities in the United States.  Some date the event to the bombings, but it was already ongoing and the strikes of 1919 had already begun to fuel, along with other events, national and international.

1926  Training Camp for National Guard at Pole Mountain approved.  Attribution: Wyoming State Historical Society.

1948 Thirty eight contestants entered a horse race between Sheridan Wyoming and Billings Montana, 137 miles. The state had a culture of long distance horse races at the time.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

2020  Nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd, a black resident of Minneapolis Minnesota, during an arrest by police spread to Casper.

In much of the nation the protests, which had been running over a week, had turned violent and had broken out in looting.  This included Denver, which saw street protests get out of hand. This resulted in widespread concern in Casper that this would likewise occur even though the organizing group, composed of young Natrona County residents, had eschewed any such acts.  Nonetheless such incidents across the country and the rumored involvement of outside groups less concerned about racial inequality but other causes in those incidents sparked great concern, as well as numerous rumors, and as a result the city asked downtown businesses to close for the day, even as the organizing group tried to organize a post march local buying event.

Marchers gathered in front of the county's building.

As it happened the event largely took place without incident.  A large crowd marched from Casper's new David Street Station to the County building where various participants spoke.  A young African American woman featured by the local news apparently was one of those individuals and, based upon the news reporting which featured here, was very well spoken.

The organizing group asked people to disperse at 1:00 p.m. but not everyone did and a second march crossed the town on 2nd Street. This resulted in the only injuries when a truck accidentally hit a police car and ended up in Conwell Park, injuring several of the protesters in the truck.  At the intersection of 2nd Street and Wyoming Blvd, the crowd was dispersed when occupying an intersection and a liquor store was provided with precautionary protection.  The event then became a motor march in which that group of protesters returned downtown and occasionally yelled at bystanders and police, but which by appearance had devolved to principally be an event of the type that gathers people who go to events.

Camouflaged policeman on roof of First Interstate Bank Building.

The city was witness to the unusual special of a large and serious police presence, including the staging of special response police on downtown rooftops.

Officers on top of First Interstate Bank Building and the Federal Courthouse.

In a real oddity, the event drew the presence of what might partially be regarded as counter protesters in the form of men who were heavily armed who followed the march.  That in turn caused some of the marchers to also be heavily armed.  Combined with the heavily armed police presence, the day featured what was likely an all time high presence of armed citizenry for the last century.  Nobody made recourse to arms in any fashion, however, and the two groups largely seem to have gotten along.