Adair, Henry Rodney, 1LT

Lt. Adair was a horse cavalry officer during the early part of the 20th century.

He graduated from West Point (15 June 1904) and served in various areas of the U.S. and overseas, including the Philippines (Fort McKinley, PI May 1908-May 1909). He served with the 10th Cavalry Regiment from the outset of his career with periodic duties in other areas of the U.S., including Fort Ethan Allen in Colchester, Vermont from 1909-1913, then the Regiment was transferred to Fort Huachuca, Arizona. He served there and along the Mexican Border until 1914, then back to Fort Riley (1914-15), and returned to Arizona in (1915-16).

In his own right, he was a famous horseman and polo player, traveling to Canada, Egypt and Gibraltar in this capacity while serving in the cavalry.He was promoted to 1st lieutenant on 26 June 1911.

In the late spring of 1916, he served with C Troop, 10th Cavalry Regiment ("Buffalo Soldiers") as Captain Charles T. Boyd's lieutenant in General Pershing's "Punitive Expedition to Mexico" : in search of Pancho Villa and his troops who had recently raided across the Border into New Mexico. (He served from 16 March until his death on 21 June 1916 on this campaign).

The duty of his last expedition was to scout around Villa Ahumada, Chihuahua, Mexico "to recon in the vicinity of the Santa Domingo Ranch" and avoid any confrontation with Mexican forces. (This was about 60 miles east of Colonia Dubla where the main U.S. Army camp was set).

However, it was at Carrizal, Chihuahua that the American troops came face to face with a much larger force of Carranza's Mexican Troops, and a confrontation began. He was killed during the ensuing Battle of Carrizal in a hail of gunfire. He was 34 years old.

During the battle, the U.S. Cavalry lost 2 officers and 14 men, and 23 were taken prisoner, the Mexican forces lost 45, including the commanding Officer, General Felix Gomez.

Lt. Adair was interred in River View Cemetery, Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon, Plot: Sec 109 Lot 228 Plot 7.

Notes:
Details of the battle, how this battle came about, and evaluation of the operation can be found at: http://net.lib.byu.edu/estu/wwi/comment/huachuca/HI1-22.htm

Following through this link, you can read the history of the Army in this area at that time.

Entitled, Buffalo Soldiers at Huachuca: The Battle of Carrizal.

Notes/Links:

http://www.blackpast.org/aah/battle-carrizal-1916
http://net.lib.byu.edu/estu/wwi/comment/huachuca/HI1-22.htm (several photos of the expedition)
http://www.uvm.edu/~vtbufalo/ (Vermont assignment of the 10th)
http://www.buffalosoldiermuseum.com/?linkid=420&webid=1000
http://www.first-team.us/legacies/subunits/10cr_rgt/10crndx01.html (history of the 10th)
http://fortwiki.com/Camp_Adair http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Carrizal

http://www.salemhistory.net/culture/world_war_II_adair.htm
http://www.ritesofpassage.org/mil_10cav.htm
http://www.buffalosoldierselpaso.org/
http://ftp.wi.net/~census/lesson9.html

http://www.archive.org/stream/historyoftenthca00glasrich/historyoftenthca00glasrich_djvu.txt
See page 1132 of text for his biography, in Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates
of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York Since its Establishment in 1802, Volume 1,
Issues 1-1000 compiled by Brevet Major General George Washington Cullum, Seemann and
Peters , Printers, Saginaw, Michigan, 1920. (digitalized by GoogleBooks in Google Search for
West Point Graduates 1904)

Text: Brig. Gen., John S. D. Eisenhower, Retired Intervention!: the United States and the Mexican
Revolution, 1913-1917 (an excellent source of information about the expedition, etc..)

Addendum:
In his honor, Camp Adair, near Corvallis, Oregon, was built as a training center during World War II (1942). It was occupied by four divisions of combat infantry troops, the 91st U.S. Infantry Division (Powder River), the 96th U.S. Infantry Division (Deadeye), the 104th U.S. Infantry Division (Timberwolf), and the 70th U.S. Infantry Division (Trailblazer).

As these divisions were shipped out the U.S. Army turned the base hospital over to the U.S. Navy to handle casualties from the Pacific Theater. The hospital was enlarged to take care of 3,600 convalescents.

The camp also served as a prisoner of war camp between Aug 1944 and Apr 1946 for Italian and German prisoners.

Another group that was located at Camp Adair was the 9th Signal Corp. It served as a POW camp for German POWs.

Later, it became known as Camp Adair Air Force Station and SAGE Support Facility (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment. It was an automated control system for tracking and intercepting enemy bomber aircraft used by NORAD.)