Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Back to Columbus - Camp Furlong Days

Well, it appears that there will be a "4th Annual Camp Furlong Days" event in Columbus, New Mexico on March 9 - 10 to commemorate Pancho Villa's raid on Columbus on March 9, 1916. Hopefully it won't be as windy as it was last year- the event was literally "blown out" by the winds and much of the scheduled activities were cancelled.

Here's a picture of me and my compadre Chris from last year's event (did I forget to mention that it was windy?):


And here's me with a "captured" Villista:




Unlike last year which also included the dedication of the new museum at Pancho Villa State Park, this one will be a bit more low-key and not as well attended. Hopefully there will be a string of rental horses available like there was last year. We shall see...

Now to get those shelter halves together!

2 comments:

mntineer said...

Adam -

I have a question -- are there groups and events (other than Columbus) that specifically cover Pershing's Mexico Expedition? I would think this is an interesting side era to do.

Adam Lid said...

As far as I know, there isn't any group that specifically does the Punitive Expedition (of course, that could change). Realistically, while this period is fascinating to me, I seriously doubt if you could find many that would be willing to create a group just devoted to it. I suspect that this will always be a secondary impression for most.

Unfortunately, you have some bid hurdles to overcome, especially in the areas of uniforms and equipment- some of the necessary items simply are not reproduced and the originals are way too expensive and fragile to risk- this is especially true about eagle snap cartridge belts, canteen covers and bondoleers.

Another obstacle is that because this was mostly a mounted affair, you're going to need to be able ride halfway decently and have access to a horse with all the correct saddle and tack.

It's a great idea and I encourage it- who knows, it might take off...weirder things have happened!