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24.02.18. Bourke, Report of
Visit to Honduran Frontier
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.jpg) This report
on the first leg
of the first extended foray of
US troops into the Segovian-Honduran borderlands
was probably typed up in Somotillo.
The five-man expedition continued for
another month, exploring both sides of the
Somotillo-Las Manos border region, as described
in the article from The Leatherneck
that follows this one, and as shown on the map
below. (Right: detail of photo of
Nicaraguan soldiers at Santo Tómas,
Nicaragua, Feb. 1924, taken by members of this
patrol after this report was written, published
in Leatherneck, March 1928)
Honduras at the time was being
torn apart in the civil war of 1924 -- "the most
macabre battle of this century" in the words of
historian Darío A.
Euraque, with upwards of Hondurans 5,000
killed. (Euraque, Reinterpreting the
Banana Republic, UNC Press, 1996, p. 45).
Strategically, control of this borderlands
region was key to winning national power.
It thus became a real battleground.
This Marine
expedition was not an
invasion. It was, in hindsight,
the advance guard of an invasion that came 3½
years later, though the men in the patrol could
not have known it at the time. No one
could have. It was a fact-finding mission.
In its report we glimpse something of the
dizzying political & military complexities of
the region.
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UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS
THE AMERICAN DETACHMENT,
MANAGUA, NICARAGUA,
18 FEBRUARY, 1924.
From: Captain Thomas E. Bourke, U.S. Marine
Corps.
To: The Secretary of the Navy.
Via: The Major General Commandant, U.S. Marine
Corps.
Subject: Report of Visit to the Honduran
frontier.
1. A party consisting of four enlisted men and
myself with side arms left Managua at 1:15 p.m.
February 6th, 1924, and arrived at Chinandega at
5:00 p.m. the same date. We were delayed at
Chinandega until 9:00 a.m. February 7th due to
the fact that all animals available had been
taken over by the Nicaraguan Government forces.
Left Chinandega at 9:00 a.m. February 7th and
arrived Somotillo at 2:00 p.m. February 8th.
2. The Honduran rebels had been informed the
night before of our probable arrival by the
Nicaraguan Government. About five hundred rebels
were on the outside of the town to meet us. They
conducted us to their headquarters where a
conference was held with the leaders of their
party. They informed us that there were about
fifteen thousand Hondurans assembled in
Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua ready to join
in the revolution. They reported that vicious
outrages had been perpetrated by the Honduran
Government on followers of Carias. It was
reported that the Government forces fired into
crowds of Conservatives who were trying to vote
on election day. In Tegucigalpa sixty-two were
killed in this manner. They also stated that
convicts all over Honduras have been released
and armed to protect the present Government.
These convicts have had no regard for the lives
and property of the Conservatives.
3. In Somotillo it is estimated that there were
about fifteen hundred Honduran rebels gathered.
Few arms except pistols and machettes were in
evidence, but it is thought that rifles were put
out of sight when they learned of our proposed
arrival, due to the fact that small parties of
armed men with rifles were met making their way
to the border over the trail followed by our
party. [ p. 2 ]
4. The leaders of the rebels appear to be men of
education and ability and seem to be animated by
patriotic motives. They seemed to be very
pleased of the interest that we showed in their
affairs. In fact when the marine party left
Somotillo they all gathered on the outside of
the town and yelled, "Long Live America."
5. There was no evidence in Somotillo of any
arms or supplies having been shipped by the
Nicaraguan government to the Honduras
revolutionists.
/s/ THOMAS E. BOURKE
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Copy to Major General Commandant.
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Capt. Thomas E. Bourke, USMC to Secretary of the
Navy; RG80, Box 336
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