LOT OF TWO LARGE PANORAMIC PHOTOS  - 1913  TEXAS CITY ARMY CAMP - BORDER WAR RELATED

Item Details

Lot of two panoramic photographs:
Unusually large (10 x 63 ¼) gelatin silver photograph of “Military Field Mass, Sunday April 27^th 1913  2nd Division Camp of U.S. Army Texas City Texas”.  Photo by Medley and Blandford, Cheyenne Wyoming.
As is the case in many panoramic photos, came rolled, though photo paper is rather flexible (as opposed to many than when trying to roll out, they fracture). There is a series of light short vertical creases along top edge and along b/l edge. Small dime size piece missing along top edge rt side,and a couple of minor edge tears. The image exhibits strong tonality, clarity and contrast.

Large (10  x 53 ½)image of “ Mobilization Camp 2^nd Division (less 5^th Brigade) Major General W.H. Carter Commanding Texas City, Texas 1913”. Photo by Medley and Blandford, Cheyenne Wyoming .
As with the case with the previous photograph, came rolled, rather flexible, with vertical light creases , mostly on left side of image, none of which are distracting. There are two small repaired edge tears.

In 1910, political instability in Mexico impelled President William Howard Taft to increase the number of Army troops who could deploy rapidly to the Mexican border. Two businessmen who were involved in the early development of Texas City, A. B. Wolvin and Hugh B. Moore, successfully lobbied War Department officials to establish a temporary Army encampment in Texas City for this purpose. In February 1913, the unnamed Army camp was established just north of the young city of Texas City with the capacity for housing up to 10,000 troops, far more than the civilian population of the city at the time.  The camp was located north of present day Twelfth Avenue, extending westward from the bay. General Carter's command headquarters were located in the office building of the Texas City Terminal Railway Company. Wooden buildings were constructed in the camp, but many enlisted soldiers and officers lived in tents.  In August 1915, a damaging hurricane caused total destruction of the Army camp and severe property damage in the community. Although Hugh B. Moore tried hard to persuade Army officials to rebuild the camp after the storm, the official decision to shut down the camp came quickly.