USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1928, Volume II > Part 8
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When Mr. Goodwin became a partner in 1861 with his cousin, the elder J. P. Morgan, then establishing himself as the New York agent of his father Junius S. Morgan in international banking, he was but twenty-six. After being in business here as a youth, he had gone abroad to travel in 1857 and returned to become a shipping merchant in New York. He continued with Mr. Morgan till the firm of Drexel, Morgan & Co. was formed in 1871, when he returned here and after the death of his father in 1878 he and his brother Francis devoted themselves to the care of the estate. He occupied many positions of trust and responsibility and as has been told aided in many important undertakings.
No one personally recalling the pre-war period just outlined can separate Rev. Samuel Hart from its activities. His benefi- cent presence was everywhere; to him all people were worthy of his love. He was the same in the pulpit, in convention, in public
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meeting, in the street or in a newspaper office at midnight- turning out a report of some assemblage he had attended. One of his ancestors was Stephen Hart, an early settler of Hartford and Farmington. Though born in Old Saybrook (in 1845), he made his ancestors' haunts his own after his graduation from Trinity in 1886 and from Berkeley Divinity School, where he became leader and chaplain (1908), vice dean and dean. Withal he had been professor at Trinity, custodian of the Book of Com- mon Prayer, secretary of the House of Bishops, histographer of the Episcopal Church, president of the Connecticut Historical Society, vice president of the Atheneum, president of the trus- tees of the Good Will Club, president of the American Philological Association and of the Connecticut Library Association, adminis- trator of bequests for his cousin, Mrs. Samuel Colt, and a con- tributor to literature. Yale and Trinity gave him D. D., to which Trinity added doctor of canon law, and from Wesleyan he re- ceived LL. D. He died in 1917, a time when least could such powers as his be spared.
Recalling two or three outstanding names, one recalls many vivid personalities, and space, when covering 300 years, is so short for them! Dr. Oliver C. Smith, son of William B. and Vir- ginia T. Smith, who had to depend on his own exertions to acquire that knowledge of surgery which he employed so faithfully and won from Yale an honorary degree after his having been unable to take the academic course; Dr. Everett J. McKnight of Hart- ford and East Hartford (Ellington by birth and a Yale '76 man and football founder), devotee of the hospitals and head of medi- cal societies and a fellow of national medical institutions-this to name two who died in 1915 and 1917 respectively.
In banking circles there were Ralph W. Cutler (1853-1917), president of the Hartford Trust Company since 1887, at which time he was the youngest bank president in the state; he had come here in 1870 as treasurer of the company; he was president of the trust section of the American Bankers Association, treasurer of the Humane Society and member of city boards; and Appleton R. Hillyer (1833-1915), a founder of the Aetna National Bank, its president from 1887 to 1891 when he resigned but consented to remain as vice president till his death; director in the Aetna Life and other institutions; strong factor of the Y. M. C. A .; with his
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sister Clara E., donor of the parsonage for the Windsor Avenue Congregational Church and also of the parish house, the church organ and of $25,000 as a music fund; the gymnasium was given by his daughters, Mary and Lucy, in honor of their mother, who was the daughter of Rev. Dr. Horace Bushnell.
Another, revered, was Judge Edwin E. Marvin (1833-1914), born in Tolland; captain in the Fifth Connecticut Volunteers in the Civil war; practicing lawyer in Rockville; assistant clerk of the United States District Court in 1867, in Hartford, and clerk from 1874 till his death; an "encyclopedia of federal procedure." He was the father of Judge L. P. Waldo Marvin of the Superior Court.
A man of wide range of activities was James U. Taintor (1844-1907), descendant of Thomas Lord, after whom Lord's Hill was named, and of Capt. Josiah Burnham, master of the cele- brated revolutionary man-of-war Oliver Cromwell; Yale '66; clerk of the House and of the Senate; secretary of the Orient Fire In- surance Company, and for years and at his death secretary of the Board of Trade. James S. and Nelson C. Taintor are his sons.
John P. Harbison (1837-1914), one time president of the Hartford City Gas Light Company and the giver of the recrea- tion hall and playgrounds near Hillside Avenue, began as a news- boy and worked his way to high position.
One whose devotion counted much for the Atheneum was Albert H. Pitkin (1852-1917). His ancestry ran back to the be- ginning of the colony. An art connoisseur, he made an excep- tional collection of ceramics, books and furniture in his extensive travels and was general curator of the Atheneum and the Morgan Memorial.
XLIII
THE WORLD WAR
GOVERNOR HOLCOMB'S PROMPT ACTION-STATE AND COUNTY LEAD IN PREPARATION-STATE GUARD ESTABLISHED BEFORE WAR UNITS LEAVE-NATIONAL AWARD FOR LIBERTY BOND SUBSCRIPTION- SCENES AT HOME AND IN THE FIELD-WELCOME TO RETURNING SOLDIERS.
The year 1914 had opened with a sense of economic uncer- tainty. After republican control at Washington since 1897, Wil- son's election had brought a change in political complexion and the intent of the new government had not fully shaped itself. There was the usual complexity of demand. But underneath all this was whether industry and commerce really had adjusted themselves to the "big-things" requirements of the new century. Hopeful symptoms in Hartford had been succeeded by a slowing- down in industry, a perceptible increase in the number of unem- ployed, a dissatisfaction with commerce and a hesitation in finance. A more scientific consideration of immigration and assimilation was one of the imperative requirements, along with whatever else would aid in the purification of politics and a mini- mizing of the twentieth-century bickerings at Washington which, in themselves, were a check on progress.
If the portrayal of the latter-day development and character of the people of any eastern community like Hartford County is faithfully analytical, real comprehension can be had of the shock caused in July of that year by the news of Germany's ruthless invasion of Belgium. Of the sympathetic feature it is enough to say that the local contribution for Belgian relief was one of the first to leave American shores. At the same time German citizens were organizing-to limited extent-to mitigate suffering among their former countrymen. On the theory that all principles of civilization were being violated, strong sentiment developed that the United States should take part, and as time wore on the atti- tude of the federal government seemed dilatory ; many were ready to follow the example of others and rush away to enlist with the
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Canadians. As for those of alien birth, few improved the oppor- tunity to return to fight with the Central Powers.
Altogether it was with a sense of relief on the part of the citizen soldiery that in 1916 call came for duty on the Mexican border where Villa's incursions in his revolt against Carranza's government created alarm at Washington. Under the Dick Law, national conditions militariwise were better than in 1898, as has been pointed out. The national defense act of June, 1916, was the last word for the uniformity and efficiency of the National Guard as a second line of defense, with federal aid. It grated upon the sentiment of the old guardsmen who, in eastern states, had given freely of their time and of their own money to make a reasonably good constabulary, always to be counted upon for such field serv- ice as its men could render ; but it had to be taken into considera- tion that times had changed, that the population to be drawn from was more cosmopolitan, that recently adopted citizens were com- ing into the ranks, that much more time was to be required of the individual and that among the native-born there had been a devel- opment of the commercial instinct. Propaganda was pushed for something like the Swiss plan of universal service and draft, but where sheer patriotism had been the mainspring, as in Hartford, it did not meet with favor except among those who appreciated changed conditions and industrial needs as well as military re- quirement.
To express rather than to effect public opinion, there was a "preparedness" parade on June 3, with Maj. James L. Howard as marshal. Headed by the sailors and marines of the Utah, 17,000 men of military, patriotic and fraternal organizations marched before 100,000 spectators and were reviewed by Gov- ernor Holcomb. The call for Mexican-border service came June 18. The local contingents were the First Infantry, Col. R. J. Goodman; Troop B Cavalry, Capt. J. H. Kelso Davis, and the First Field Company, Signal Corps, Capt. George E. Cole, with medical service. They reported at Camp Holcomb, Niantic, and arrived at Nogales, Arizona, July 2 and 3. August 4, B Troop, by reason of its excellence, was dispatched to Arivaca as an inde- pendent post, and then to Fort Huachua. Major Howard, com- manding provisional squadron, was detailed on special duty. He had been active in forming the troop in 1911 when the Governor's
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Horse Guard voted to join the National Guard, retaining its charter and for a time its uniform. The troop had its own armory on Farmington Avenue. No mounts having been pro- vided by the federal government at the time of the call, former Senator Bulkeley furnished them at his own expense, even as he had eked out the equipment for the naval militia for the Spanish war. The death from pneumonia of Thomas W. Carter of the troop, son of Rev. Dr. Charles F. Carter, was the saddest inci- dent of the campaign.
It must not be overlooked that this year 1916 was one of un- precedented activity in industry. Abnormally high wages were being paid and bonuses on top of them in munition and machine plants-and that included many of Hartford's largest. It fol- lows that lack of action on the border became irksome. Governor Holcomb went down for a personal inspection in September. Col- onel Goodman returned home the 20th. In October a petition was sent that the men be returned to their offices and benches at home. On the 14th the regiment was welcomed with a parade marshaled by Gen. Lucius A. Barbour, and the cavalry and other units on the 27th. The units showed tendency to disintegrate; several of the officers resigned. The Legislature had held its first special session in fifty-six years September 12 and had voted to aid soldiers' dependents and to make it possible for soldiers to vote while in the field.
The European situation became more tense. With foresight that put Connecticut in the lead over other states, the governor called upon the Legislature in February, 1917, to direct a man- power, industrial, mechanical and medical census. The commis- sion appointed consisted of Charles A. Goodwin, Hugh M. Alcorn, Joseph W. Alsop, William A. Arnold, George B. Chandler, Frank D. Cheney, Walter H. Clark, Samuel Ferguson, Dwight G. Hol- brook, Norman R. Moray and Bishop White. On March 31 their complete report was on file in the State Library, 500,000 forms filled out for males over 16, each form checked by doctors to indi- cate physical dependability ; occupation and special availability were included. On government request a year later, State Li- brarian Godard, aided by R. Inde Albaugh, R. N., made a detailed report of a census of nurses and resources. Nearly 1,000 nurses were listed.
The state's population in 1917 was 1,300,000; Hartford's
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about 130,000. The enrolled and active militia numbered 6,361; not active, 188,479. Of the munitions being sent to the allies, 68 per cent came from Connecticut. If stripped of its own forces, as it recently had been, it was to be remembered that the state was the most direct objective of an enemy, and also, because of the influx of aliens and its proximity to the seacoast, it was the most vulnerable. Governor Holcomb again put Connecticut ahead of its sister states by interpreting this into action. On March 9, at his suggestion, the Legislature, while singing "America," passed an act creating the Connecticut Home Guard, later the State Guard, under direction of a Military Emergency Board in con- junction with the governor. Col. and Judge Lucien F. Burpee- later made major-general on suggestion of the War Department -was appointed president of the board, Benedict M. Holden and Maj. J. Moss Ives (of Danbury) the other members. The call went out for men who were not eligible for or who were exempt from active service by the then requirements. Response was immediate. The enrollment became 20,000 before enlistments were stopped. Of these, 10,000 were immediately armed and equipped, the country being searched for the supplies which later other states were vainly seeking. Six large regiments, with re- serve units, were organized in six military districts, each under the command of an experienced officer who selected his subalterns from former guardsmen. Charles W. Burpee commanded the First Regiment and District, with a total of 3,500 men, six com- panies in Hartford and at least one in almost all of the towns of the county. Maj. Michael F. Owens commanded a machine-gun battalion. Francis R. Cooley of Hartford was appointed com- mander of the naval battalion, with Commodore Frank H. El- dridge (U. S. N., retired) on the advisory board. Rear Admiral William S. Cowles of Farmington (U. S. N., retired) and Col. Calvin D. Cowles (U. S. A., retired, late instructor in the National Guard and training the Trinity contingent), were on the gen- eral's staff, of which Brig .- Gen. Edward Schulze was chief. A number of the officers later accepted appointments in the federal service. Mr. Holden of the board, who had seen service in the Philippines, was in the Quartermaster Corps-declining a com- mission; Capt. Clifford D. Cheney of South Manchester was a lieutenant-colonel overseas; Capt. Albert M. Simons, first lieuten-
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ant in the One Hundred and Fourth Infantry, A. E. F .; Lieut .- Col. John J. McMahon, Adjt. Arthur H. Bronson and Capt. Her- bert Knox Smith, majors in the Quartermaster's Corps, and Capt. Thomas P. Abbott captain therein; Adjt. J. H. Kelso Davis, major in the Ordnance Department; Maj. Michael F. Owens, captain in aviation camp in England; Lieut. W. S. Kenyon, captain in avia- tion; Capt. John Carter Rowley and Lieuts. J. R. Miller, L. H. Frost and Ralph Richardson, in the Medical Corps; Lieut. William J. Malone of Bristol, major in aviation; First Lieut. Edward N. Allen, lieutenant in Field Artillery; Maj. Herbert G. Bailey, Col. Francis Parsons (formerly assistant quartermaster-general), and Capt. Lewis W. Ripley (Glastonbury), were officers in the Red Cross service. There was one colored company and one com- pany of Italians,-the first organization in history to take the oath of allegiance in a foreign language.
Among the rank and file were professional men, bankers, mer- chants, insurance officials and school teachers shoulder to shoulder with artisans and drilling as conscientiously. Col. W. E. A. Bulkeley of the Aetna Life was in the ranks, and John H. Trumbull, the present governor, commanded the Plainville com- pany. Mrs. Bulkeley presented a stand of silk colors. Twice at federal summons and six times at state summons, the guard was on active duty. By its drills and alertness it overawed the dis- affected element which at times was gravely threatening, and it broke up a series of semi-public meetings of Socialists. It also was the nucleus for the parades for Liberty Loans and for render- ing honors. In 1917 it worked to recruit up the old First and in 1920 it did what was in its power to re-establish the new National Guard, remaining in service till that organization was well re- newed in 1921.
On March 25, the First Infantry, Connecticut National Guard, was ordered by President Wilson to mobilize and soon after the other troops. The Naval Militia was ordered to Boston and did duty there and along the coast. Troops A (New Haven) and B were ordered to form each an additional troop, to make a squad- ron. Capt. M. G. Bulkeley, Jr., commanded Troop B and Capt. Rawdon W. Myers of Farmington Troop L. The organizations were drafted into federal service July 12 to August 5, except the Naval Militia, and were discharged from the state militia Au-
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gust 5. The Naval Militia took the oath of the National Naval Volunteers and became a part of the Naval Reserve.
Of special historic importance is the select service law enacted by Congress May 18, 1917. It was not for "draft," but rather for the "induction" of men selected by lot at Washington, not from an indiscriminate body but from registration lists from ev- ery town which showed the personal history of all between 21 and 30 to begin with. Registration was compulsory ; details were looked after by boards of leading men in each community ; volun- teer doctors and judges on exemptions (for classifications pro- vided for them) perfected the cards, arranged in four classes, as to dependents, physical characteristics, occupation and the like. All in this state was under the direction of Adjt .- Gen. George M. Cole with a large force of clerks. Class 1 men, each indicated by a number, were those in acceptable physical condition who appar- ently could serve with least detriment to their families, their em- ployment or welfare in general. The fourth class was of the "last- resort" men. It became necessary to draw only from the first class; the total for the country was 2,810,296 out of an available 24,234,021. Men not working could be transferred to the first class, since the demand for men in factories, in construction, on transportation and on farms was hardly less imperative than for men in the army. International law prevented the induction of aliens, though they could be recruited for the forces of their own nations if allies; hostile aliens could be deported.
The total of those in Connecticut selected was 34,574, of which some 16,000 were from the state at large. The Hartford district furnished 3,606; New Britain, 1,710, the two practically covering the county. Other thousands were in the state lists or in the lists from other states. Few of the honor rolls publicly displayed in numerous towns were complete. Inasmuch as the soliciting for recruits to raise military units to war strength was much more productive in the days preceding June 5 when the first registra- tion began, it is a proper inference that the old idea of "draft" had not been eradicated. Many men already had gone to Platts- burg for officers' training. And among county men in the army, G. Arthur Hadsell of Plainville, formerly a lieutenant in a New Britain company, was a lieutenant-colonel in the first contingent (Regular Army) that landed in France. The inducted men were all sent to various camps for training, chiefly Camp Devens in
MAJOR GEORGE J. RAU
First Battalion, One Hundred Second Infantry, killed in La Fêre Foret, France, July 25, 1918
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Massachusetts. Late in June the first Liberty Loan flotation fur- nished more evidence that the country was marshaling all its resources.
July 23 the First Regiment, three battalions, went to New Haven after review of the Hartford units by Mayor Hagarty at 7 o'clock in the morning, there to camp near Yale Field with the Second Regiment and continue recruiting. There were intensely patriotic demonstrations in every town. Besides the Headquar- ters, Machine-Gun and Supply Companies, there were six com- panies from Hartford, two from New Britain, one each from Bristol and Manchester; and from outside the county one each from Middletown, Willimantic and Winsted. The regiment was automatically drafted into federal service August 5. The cavalry went into camp at Niantic July 27. The original plan of the government to bring all soldiers into one army without regard to whence they came was modified to the extent that certain divi- sions should represent certain sections, though one, the Forty- second ("Rainbow"), was to be comprised of men from all sec- tions. In this way the Twenty-sixth, Maj .- Gen. Clarence R. Ed- wards, was the New England division. Regimental units, with the National Guard as their nucleus, following the United States Army and then the National Army, began with 101 in enumera- tion. Connecticut's infantry was to be the One Hundred and Sec- ond, Fifty-first Brigade, Gen. Peter S. Traub. The old First and Second were merged August 24 under Col. E. E. Isbell of the Second to make one regiment of war strength, 95 officers, 3,604 men. The Headquarters Company of the First and a total surplus of 34 officers and 270 enlisted men were sent to Charlotte, N. C., and later to Spartanburg, S. C., as the Fifty-eighth Pioneer In- fantry, Colonel Goodman commanding. Lieut .- Col. Edwin E. Lamb of the First retained that position in the One Hundred and Second. The cavalry squadron with a contingent from the First Vermont Infantry and eight reserve officers from Plattsburg be- came the One Hundred and First Machine-Gun Battalion, Maj. James L. Howard commanding. The Field Signal troops became Radio Company A, Three Hundred and Twenty-sixth Field Sig- nal Battalion.
The months of preparation seemed long. The Allies, our only defense, were fainting. It could but be felt that had the enemy been actually at our doors in January, 1917, as the news some-
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times made one feel, the long unpreparedness would have been fatal.
The hour of departure of troops from their camps was care- fully concealed in order to minimize danger from submarines when they sailed from Montreal September 19-machine-gunners October 9. The winter was spent in training under French vet- erans at Chemin des Dames. On January 11 Colonel Isbell was detailed for special work in the leave area and Lieutenant-Colonel Lamb was assigned to the provost marshal department, where he was to make an enviable record correcting some of the irregu- larities throughout wide territory. Col. John H. Parker, U. S. A., succeeded Col. Isbell in command. The division had the honor of being the first of the Americans to take over a whole sector. It was on the salient Germany had established early in the war, in the Boucq area, which embraced Seichprey and Beaumont. The sector had been held by a First Division brigade and a French division and regiment, with artillery. Comparative quiet had reigned there for some weeks. It furnished, however, the first opportunity the enemy had had to bring in prisoners who could give an idea of what the Americans were like. By spies in cafes and other places back of the lines, the German officers had gath- ered full information as to strength and even as to the names of the officers of the Connecticut units, as later appeared.
On April 15, the One Hundred and First Machine-Gun had shared in an under-fire test of Massachusetts troops near Apre- mont. Along the Beaumont front a readjustment of the line was being made to better suit the swampy conditions. Of the Third Battalion (Capt. Clarence M. Thompson of Wethersfield), two companies had been placed at advanced points of resistance, widely apart-one company and machine detachment at Seich- prey (battalion headquarters), and one in Rèmieres Wood to the east thereof. Back of the advanced posts a thousand yards the main position was marked by two companies while to the left was another battalion, a third being held in reserve, with machine guns. There had been no time for officers or men to familiarize themselves with the grounds. The First Battalion (Maj. George J. Rau of Hartford) never had seen them when it was sent up at 11 o'clock of the evening of April 19 to relieve Thompson's men. The night was dark and foggy and there had been signs that the enemy was more or less astir. The location was not many miles
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CAPTAIN ARTHUR F. LOCKE
Commanding Company M, One Hundred Second Infantry. Killed at Seichprey, France, April 19, 1918
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from Lorraine, where Rau was born, but since childhood he had lived in Burnside, East Hartford, and he had served in both the Regular Army and the National Guard. Companies C of New Haven and Middletown (Capt. Alfred H. Griswold of New Brit- ain) and D of Bristol and New Haven (Capt. George C. Freeland of New Haven) relieved the resistance posts, Captain Thompson and some of his officers remaining to show them their places; Com- panies A of Waterbury (Capt. William J. Shannahan) and B of Hartford and New Haven (First Lieut. Swanson) took the posi- tions on the line nearer Beaumont. Capt. Arthur F. Locke, of Hartford, M Company, a member of Company F of the First since 1901 and captain in 1916, was one of the officers who had re- mained in the outer trenches to assist in organizing.
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