A U.S. Army band was stationed in Laredo, Texas with the Mexican Border Guard to help boost moral. The camps were stationed in Laredo in 1916, before the United States was brought into WWI, to protect the U.S. border and American citizens from potential attacks resulting from the Mexican Revolution.

The band is pictured in full uniform and with instruments. The identities of most of the men are unknown, except for Herbert Cobb, standing in the back row, third from the left. Cobb was a World War I soldier who was sent overseas to France, went to military training schools to become a Lieutenant, and lost his life in 1918 a month before the war ended.