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Run for the Border:The BSA’s History in MexicoScouts de Americaby Bill Topkis, Jeff Morley, and Duane FowlksOf all the councils that have ever existedin the history of the Boy Scouts ofAmerica, one of the most unusual, if notthe smallest, was the council located inMexico City, Mexico. The council wascreated so those American citizens livingin Mexico City could participate in theBSA. Although the council no longer existstoday, it left behind a legacy ofdistinctive and extremely scarce badges.The name of the council, and insignia usedby the members, was Scouts de America(as opposed to Scouts de Mexico). Later,circa 1960, Scouts de America becameassociated with Direct Service Council.Eventually, in 1971, Scouts de Americaand Cuauhtli Lodge became fully integratedwith Direct Service Council andwere absorbed.Figure 1 – Scouts De America’s firstcouncil patch (CP).Like manyBSA councilsbased abroad, themembers ofScouts deAmerica werecomprised of aunique blend ofScouts and Scouters.Members primarily fell into one ofseveral groups. Many were connected withthe American Embassy / Diplomatic corp.Others were U.S. military personnel andtheir dependents. Many were connectedwith major American business interestsbased in Mexico. As a group they wereaffluent, mobile and big on Scouting. Thatis why they had a presence at Nationalevents such as Jamborees and Arrow Conferencesand why their Order of the ArrowLodge, Cuauhtli 446, was allowed to existas long as it did. This National presencegave the illusion that the Council waslarger than it actuallywas.From its humble beginnings,the councilwas always small. Thefirst American Scouttroop in Mexico,“George WashingtonTroop One”, wasfounded in 1943 by Mr.Phil “G” Groesbeck.From that time forward,the Council never had more than threetroops, Troops 1, 2 and 3 and one ExplorerPost. Furthermore, the council only hadone sponsor for all of its troops, TheAmerican Society of Mexico. The AmericanSociety was the provider of an“American” accredited private educationfor US citizens’ abroad. It is not unusualto find the Council referred to as theAmerican Society or American Society ofMexico, in reference to the sole sponsor’sname. The Council relied on Scoutingmaterials and direction from the AlamoArea Council in San Antonio, Texas. Thatis why Scouts de America and CuauhtliFigure 2 – Scouts De America council strips (CSP).“affluent, mobile, and big on Scouting, they had apresence at national events which gave the illusionthat the council was larger than it actually was”Lodge have been traditionally associatedwith Region 9.The Council badge for Scouts deAmerica (Fig. 1) was constructed of redfelt on black felt and featured a red wolf’shead and the words Scouts de America. Itwas issued in the early 1950’s. The badgewas for wear to National and Internationalevents attended by council members. Likewise,in the same time period, four differentcouncil shoulder badges (CSP’s) wereused (Fig. 2). Each strip is of felt on feltconstruction and featured the name of thecouncil and the word “Mexico”. One ofthe strips appears on gray felt with red lettering(upper left – Fig. 2). The color oflettering and the thickness of the lettersdistinguish two of the other strips. One hasred thin lettering (upper right – figure 2)and the other has dark red thick letters(lower right – Fig.2), both on blackfelt. The fourthCSP was issuedfor Rover Scoutsfor internationalevents and is darkred lettering ongreen felt.Other badges were used by Scoutingsocieties in Mexico. Included is theMexico, D.F. (District Federalis) shoulderstrip. This strip is orange with redscreening on flocked canvas. It is believedthat this is a Boy Scouts of Mexico stripJournal of The American Scouting Historical Society15