The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 72, July 1968 - April, 1969 Page: 121

Book Reviews

the letters, has displayed admirable restraint and good judgment in
keeping explanatory footnotes and grammatical and spelling corrections
to the absolute minimum. But, alas, the documents themselves have
all the faults of the archetypal military dispatch-pedestrian in style,
inhibited in expression, deficient in depth of perception, and unim-
aginative in conception. We know what Mackenzie did; we don't know
what he felt.
Ranald S. Mackenzie's Official Correspondence is a sound piece of
scholarship. It is essential to an understanding of events on the West
Texas frontier in the early 1870o's. It is an indispensible tool for a study
of Mackenzie's career. Hence, it is an important contribution to the
history of Texas and the Southwest.
Texas A&M University HERBERT H. LANG
Wings and Saddles: The Air and Cavalry Punitive Expedition of 1g99.
By Stacy C. Hinkle, Southwestern Studies, No. 19. El Paso (Texas
Western Press), 1967. Pp. 45. Illustrations, maps. $2.00.
An account of what has been termed "the last punitive expedition
of American troops (1919) into Mexico," this brief monograph by
Stacy C. Hinkle, retired mining executive, who as a young second
lieutenant participated in the episode, is, in a sense, an excellent and
true, "cops and robbers" story. It presents in forty-five pages the ele-
ments which could be woven into a first-class western movie: kidnap-
ping, ransom, desperadoes, bandits, daring young "fly boys," intrepid
cavalrymen enduring the hardships of the rugged terrain of the Rio
Conchos and Rio Grande, midnight adventurers, rescues, and murder
committed by the good guys in white hats. It even has a hint at a love
story.
Hinkle was a member of the United States Army Aerial Border
Patrol in 1919. Two of his fellow fliers forced down into Mexico were
captured by Villista bandits, held for $15,00o ransom, had one-half of
the ransom money paid by Texas citizens, and were rescued. The
United States Cavalry, aided by reconnaissance from the Air Force,
pursued the bandits into the interior of Mexico, killed their leader,
summarily disposed of some other captives, and returned across the
Rio Grande when the government at Mexico City protested. Valuable
experience in liaison between ground and air forces was gained, ex-
perience which could be put to proper use in subsequent military
activities.

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