Glen A. Whetten captured during Mexican Revolution of 1928 – 1929
Glen Whetten, Clifford’s Dad, told me of an experience he had during the Mexican Revolution of 1928-29 on one of our trips in August of 1981. I wrote it down and apparently it is the only written record.
I was a young man about 19 years old. We were living in the mountain at the time and I was sent to Colonia Juarez to check on our family property. I was also to check and see if a truck we had hidden in an apple orchard was still there. The Comisario, Nieves Serrano, had found out that I was in town and he approached me.
He had some deserters from the Rebel Force in his custody and had no mean of getting them to Casas Grandes to turn them over to the Federales. Knowing that the truck was in the orchard and that I knew how to drive it, he insisted that I drive the prisoners to Casas Grandes. He knew that I feared being captured by the Federales and having my truck confiscated so he told me to leave the prisoners on the out skirts of town. He assured me that I would not be harmed.
Still not convinced that all would go well, but having been more or less ordered to do so, the near starved Rebels and the Comisario climbed onto the truck and we started for Casas Grandes. No sooner did we come in sight of Casas Grandes that we were met by a group of Federal soldiers. The truck was immediately confiscated and I was captured and commissioned to drive the truck for the Federal Army. In those days not many people knew how to drive.
The Federales were not only in need of a means of transportation but in need of a driver as well. I told the Comisario to inform my Dad what had happened and then I was ordered to drive on to Nuevo Casas Grandes with the Federal soldiers. I was commanded to go to the railroad station. There I found a train being loaded with soldiers and their horses. They had heard that Rebel forces were in and around Chuhuichupa and they were preparing to go after them.
Fearing that the train might be ambushed they decided to send me ahead with the Captain and his soldiers. Our assignment was to go into the mountains to Chupie. We were told that as we approached Chupie we were to turn off the truck lights so that the Rebels would not see us approaching. We did as we were told and reached the outskirts of Chupie without incident.
The Captain then had us go quietly into town where he approached a house and knocked on the door. When a woman’s voice answered from inside, he demanded that the door be opened or that it would be knocked down. The woman opened the door a crack where upon the Captain demanded to talk to the man of the house. She insisted that there were no men in the house and the Captain searched the house and found this to be true. He then began to question her concerning the whereabouts Rebels. The women said they had left town earlier in the day.
The Captain continued up and down the streets of town asking the same question and receiving the same answer. Satisfied that the Rebels had left, we went back to the truck and drove to an appointed peak to build a big fire. The fire would be the signal to the train in Casas Grandes that it was safe for them to start into the mountains. In the Still of the night we heard the train whistle the response that they had seen the fire. I was then able to climb under the truck and get some much needed sleep.
When the train with the Federal troops reached the mountains they found that the Rebels had been able to evade them. However, they soon found out the route which the Rebels had taken. They were headed east of Nuevo Casas Grandes on horseback toward the town of Galena. The Captain and his troops and their equipment loaded back into the truck and we started down the mountain.
We picked up a few supplies in Casas Grandes and then started toward Galeana with the rest of the Federal Army which had arrived by train. Upon approaching Galena we were told that the Rebel forces were camped by some springs. The Rebel forces were evidently pretty well worn out after their long trip from the mountains and were near starvation.
The Captain and his 20 soldiers were near starvation as well. At one point during this ordeal a kind American rancher and his wife gave me some hamburgers and I hid them under the seat of the truck. I would sneak into the truck and take a bite when I could but the Captain caught me eating once so I had to share the hamburgers with him.
We started to become good friends after that. The Federal troops were given orders to surround the Rebels. The Captain, who had been riding in the cab with me, got out of the truck leaving his coat and ordered his troop to dismount. I remember one of the soldiers ran up to me and gave me a dirty handkerchief filled with beans and asked me to keep them for him.
Foods was scarce even for the Federal soldiers. We were then ordered to move in. Suddenly all hell broke loose! Bullets were flying and men were dropping all around me. (At this point Glen got very emotional and it was difficult for him to continue).
As soon as it was safe to do so I got out of there fast. When at last the fighting stopped I found that there were only three men out of the 20 who had been in the Captains troop who remained alive. The Army sent for the Captain’s coat a few days later. I had been using the coat and had discovered a bronze compass(U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) inside it. I decided to keep it since the Captain certainly no longer needed it. I have given it to Clifford. For the next few days I drove wounded soldiers into Casas Grandes and took supplies to the troops.
As told to Rosalyn Hatch Whetten by Glen A. Whetten, 1981.