Rediscovering Camp Naco

Click and scroll your way through the story map to learn about this important historical site. You can zoom in and out to explore the maps and click on features and symbols for more details, click on images to expand them, and use the navigation bar at the top of the screen to visit specific parts of the story map. When viewing on a phone or tablet, rotate the screen to landscape mode to expand photos in slideshows.

To use as a guided tour at the site, click on  The Camp  to view videos, photos, and read more about the camp buildings.

Camp Naco lies in the valley of the San Pedro River of southeastern Arizona, between the Huachuca Mountains and the Mule Mountains. Set some 600 yards from the wall that now runs along the border between the United States and Mexico, its adobe buildings bring to mind an unsettled decade at the beginning of the twentieth century when Mexican revolutionaries, striking mine workers, lawless bandits, and a World War One intrigue between Germany and Mexico dominated the political landscape.

During the greater part of its history, the camp was home to rotating troops from the 10th U.S. Cavalry Regiment, nicknamed the “Buffalo Soldiers.”

During the Civil War, some 179,000 African American troops served in the Union army. Afterwards they were consolidated into the segregated 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments and 24th and 25th Infantry Regiments. The regiments served with distinction during the Indian Wars of the Great Plains and Southwest, where it is thought they earned the sobriquet of “Buffalo Soldiers.” Some claim this was due to the soldiers’ fierceness in battle while others claim it was due to the soldiers dark curly hair that resembled the hide of a buffalo.

Fort Huachuca (Arizona), established as a camp in 1877 during the Apache conflict, became the home base of the 10th Cavalry Regiment from 1913 to 1933. While Fort Leavenworth (Kansas) claims to be the home of the Buffalo Soldiers, only Fort Huachuca housed all four of the Buffalo Soldiers Regiments before they were disbanded and desegregated into the regular army.

The Buffalo Soldiers helped the U.S. expand west by serving as escorts to frontier settlers. They are also credited for being some of the first park rangers in the National Parks, serving at parks like Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks. During their time serving in the National Parks the Buffalo Soldiers; fought wildfires, curbed poaching within the parks, and helped end illegal grazing of livestock in Federal Land. They also helped construct roads, trails and other infrastructure.

Not only did these segregated American troops serve with distinction along the border. They were among the first Americans to serve under the French command in World War I, for which service a number of them received the French Croix de Guerre, an honor comparable to the U.S. Medal of Honor.

In 1948 the military was desegregated by Executive Order 9981, signed by President Harry Truman. Some Buffalo Soldier regiments continued to serve together for several more years during the Korean War; by the end of 1951 all remaining regiments were disbanded.

The Revolution ended with the accession of Alvaro Obregon to power in 1921 and a cease fire between the warring factions, although conflict in Mexico continued to break out for another decade.

Germany played a surprisingly large role in the Mexican Revolution. German agents tried to evade trade embargos that prevented foreign governments from supplying arms and munitions to countries that neighbored the U.S.. Germany encouraged the placement of Germans in influential positions with many of the generals who participated in the Mexican Revolution. Even Pancho Villa’s personal physician was a German.

Some historians credit German agents with helping to create the “Plan de San Diego” in 1915. The Plan was drafted by a group of Mexican and Tejano rebels who wanted to take back a significant part of the U.S. (Arizona, New Mexico, California, and Texas) for Mexican Americans, Native Americans, and former Black slaves. The Plan called for the execution of all white men over the age of sixteen, although white women were allowed to live. All other races were exempt from the attacks. While the initial effort to attack San Diego, Texas, was prevented, the plan was frequently implemented in U.S. border towns. Raiders would target white men during their attacks, leaving everyone else unharmed.

Intrigue with Germany came to a head in January 1917, when a coded message from German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann was intercepted by English intelligence. The message proposed an Alliance between Mexico and Germany:

Territory acquired from Mexico by conquest and by purchase made up nearly a quarter of the United States. Originally Mexican territories stretched as far north as Oregon Country. In 1845 the U.S. annexed Texas and the land east of the Rio Grande. In 1848, at the end of the Mexican-American War, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ceded an even larger area to the U.S. (what is now New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, California, Texas, and Colorado). The last U.S. acquisition from Mexico was the Gadsden Purchase in 1853, which added a final 30,000 square miles to the U.S. (in what is today southern Arizona and New Mexico).

The areas adjacent to the border remained largely Mexican in population, so it was not difficult to imagine that an alliance between Germany and Mexico would retake these former possessions. A majority of the labor force in Southern Arizona was made up of immigrants who had experienced significant discrimination and lower pay than other workers. In 1917 Bisbee deported Mexican Americans and people from Eastern Europe, who made up the majority of the workers. The goal of the deportation was to break a union attempt led by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), but it also planned to open up job opportunities for white Americans.

The border region could potentially side with Mexico if conflict with the U.S. arose. Germany saw this as an opportunity to encourage instability near the border to keep the U.S. focused on that threat, thereby preventing them from joining the war with Germany in Europe. The Zimmermann telegram was one of the factors that led the U.S. to enter World War I only two months later.

Today Naco appears as a sleepy suburb of its artistic partner, Bisbee. Naco, Arizona is smaller than its Mexican sister city Naco, Sonora, but during the Mexican Revolution it was a crucial hub of cross-border economic activity.

Watch and listen to Naco Heritage Alliance Community Coordinator Rebecca Orozco as she leads a virtual tour of Camp Naco and its buildings. Use this portion of the story map as a guided tour whether viewing from your computer at home, or on a tablet or smartphone while visiting Camp Naco. Use the arrows to view additional videos and photos, and click on the media to expand.

Camp Naco and a handful of other small border camps were decommissioned in 1923 after the U.S. negotiated peace along the border with Mexico. All recyclable materials were dismantled and removed for use at Fort Huachuca. The remainder of the adobe campsite was returned to the original property owners who had previously leased the land to the Army: John Towner, John Newell, and the El Paso and SW Railroad. Newell's family lived in the former hospital building and rented out the other buildings.

During the 1930s, the former camp housed New Deal project workers—the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The CCC used the buildings from 1935 to 1937. Under Newell ownership, enough maintenance was expended on the buildings that the better part of them remain today–the only one of the nine western border camps to be constructed of adobe and the only remaining largely intact camp in Arizona.

For 20 years an informal coalition of community volunteers has fought to preserve this unique site from being lost. In 2008 Rebecca Orozco and Deborah Jones (formerly Swartzwelder) — with help from the Naco Community and the Naco Fire District — formed the Naco Heritage Alliance, a non-profit devoted to the preservation of the Camp. With the assistance of Archaeology Southwest and architectural historian Jennifer Levstik, the property was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on October 17, 2012.

Grants have made it possible to replace the asbestos roofing and begin stabilization of the buildings deemed most at risk of structural failure. Fences have been installed to deter vandalism, squatters and arson, but much remains to be done.

Volunteer workdays coordinated by the City of Bisbee, Archaeology Southwest and the Naco Heritage Alliance have attracted members of the surrounding community as well as supporters of Buffalo Soldier History, including the Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club of Sierra Vista and the Southwest Association of Buffalo Soldiers.

In May, Camp Naco was chosen as one of the 11 Most Endangered Historic Places by the National Trust of Historic Places. Since 1988 the Trust has used this list to raise awareness about the threats facing some of the nation’s greatest historical treasures. Through their efforts only a handful of the three hundred identified places have been lost. Camp Naco is honored and encouraged by being included on this select list. 

More information about the 11 Most Endangered Historic Places and their stories can be found at  https://savingplaces.org/americas-most-endangered-historic-places#.Ys2p8OzMJhE