USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Andover > Andover, Massachusetts, in the world war > Part 1
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NMOI RPORATED
OF A
MMASSACHUSE
ANDOVER
IN THE WORLD WAR
.
٨
GEN
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02860 9912
1
Gc 974.402 An2ani Andover, Massachusetts, in the world war
ANDOVER, MASSACHUSETTS in the
WORLD WAR
Edited by CLAUDE M. FUESS, Post Historian
Published by the Town of Andover under the Auspices of Andover Post, Number Eight, American Legion
THE ANDOVER PRESS
1921
Allen County Public Library 900 Webster Street PO Dox 2270 Fort Wayne, IN 46801-2270
THE ANDOVER PRESS ANDOVER, MASS.
There is a Hand that bends our deeds To mightier issues than we planned; Each son that triumphs, each that bleeds, My country, serves Its dark command.
PREFACE
S HORTLY after hostilities against Germany had been formally opened in the United States, a well-known lecturer, speaking at Phillips Academy, de- livered an addresson the subject "What the War will do to Andover." His forecasts, as it happened, were usually correct, although sometimes oddly mis- taken. But now, fortunately, we can rely on history rather than on prophecy; and from the narratives and recollections of those who were participants, it is pos- sible to tell the story of what the World War actually did do to one fairly repre- sentative New England community. It will be found, I think, that the town presents, of course on a much reduced scale, a picture of what happened through- out the country; that the smaller unit was susceptible, like the larger, to the same psychological waves; and that the effects of the war may, therefore, be studied with profit here in a cross-section as well as on the gigantic stage of the nation.
A further motive of this book, somewhat remote yet not altogether disso- ciated from the first, is to preserve for posterity the achievements of the men and women, who, in Andover, helped to maintain the fine traditions of our past. In this recent struggle, as in no other conflict of modern times, the entire state was mobilized. It was a battle between armies, but also between peoples. The hand of the War God reached into many an isolated "Gopher Prairie" and dragged the young men forth into unaccustomed environments and adventures; it touched the child and the matron, the poverty-stricken and the opulent, the loyal and the in- different; it changed everyone's mode of living, and visibly modified the face of the world. Naturally, then, there is almost no one who did not have some share in the victory, and who, consequently, is not interested in the tale of what was accomplished. Such an account, for our community, this volume aims to give.
I am deeply indebted to several gentlemen who have had, through their long and intimate association with the town, far better information than I, unassisted, could possibly have commanded. If the volume has any merit, this is due mainly to Mr. George A. Christie, the local correspondent of the Lawrence Tribune, without whose aid it could not have been carried through to completion. He has been untiring and unselfish in his assistance, and has saved me from many a serious blunder. To Mr. George Dick, Mr. Markham W. Stackpole, and Mr. Bartlett H. Hayes, each of whom has read portions of the manuscript, I owe a large obligation. Among the many others who have helped me with their con- tributions and criticisms are Mrs. Bartlett H. Hayes, Miss Elizabeth Smith, Miss Anna S. Kuhn, Mr. Frederick H. Jones, Mr. J. Duke Smith, Mr. Burton S. Flagg, Dr. Peirson S. Page, Mr. Frederick G. Moore, Mr. Henry C. Sanborn, Miss Bertha Bailey, Miss Jane Carpenter, Mr. Alfred L. Ripley, Mr. John H. Mc- Donald, Mr. David L. Coutts, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Lewis, Mrs. Gordon R. Cannon, Miss Ethel Hitchcock, Miss Dorothy Cutler, Mr. Horace M. Poyn- ter, and Mrs. Fuess. Finally I wish to express here my gratitude to the Honorable John N. Cole, who has given liberally of his counsel, and has done his best to make the volume, in its form and typography, worthy of the town.
C. M. F.
2
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CONTENTS
PREFACE
PAGE
I . THE SPIRIT OF THE TOWN
9
II
THE GLORIOUS DEAD
41
III THE ANDOVER COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC SAFETY
. 59
IV THE LIBERTY LOAN CAMPAIGNS . 80
V THE THRIFT AND WAR SAVINGS STAMPS CAMPAIGN 101
VI THE WORK OF THE RED CROSS 104
VII THE LEGAL ADVISORY BOARD 112
VIII THE LOWELL-ANDOVER BATTERY 117
IX THE BRITISH AND CANADIANS IN THE WORLD WAR
. 128
X THE SCHOOLS IN THE WAR 133
XI MISCELLANEOUS ORGANIZATIONS 140
XII
ANDOVER POST, NUMBER EIGHT, AMERICAN LEGION
. 146
THE ROLL OF THOSE IN SERVICE
151
N
'61 AND '17 Comrade E. Kendall Jenkins, G. A. R., presents a standard to Commander P. W. Thomson, Andover Post, No. 8, American Legion Andover, September 6, 1919
[ 10 ]
The Town of Andover in the World War
I THE SPIRIT OF THE TOWN
"From this day forward we shall know That in ourselves our safety must be sought; That by our own right hands it must be wrought, That we must stand unpropped, or be laid low."
O F those residents of Andover who, on the sunny morning of June 30, 1914, glanced at the unimpressive newspaper headlines announcing the assas- sination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, not one had the faintest premonition of its tragic consequences. Here, as in Boston or Chicago or Denver, people on their way to work passed indifferently over the brief paragraph which told of the crime, and then turned the page to the baseball scores or the weather predictions, -possibly to the latest reports from Ulster or from Mexico or from the Caillaux trial. We had never, as a people, been very much agitated by the disasters of foreign dynasties; and Serajevo seemed very far away. Yet in less than four years, Yankee boys by the thousands were to be billeted in European countries, shedding their blood upon the soil of France, -all because of the spark which, on that momentous summer day, was set to the powder magazine of international politics.
For some weeks, however, all was comparatively calm. The serenity of the vacation period was undisturbed. Then, as July drew to a close, war clouds began to gather, and, when August opened, the storm was bursting upon an astonished world. The breach between Austria and Serbia, widening rapidly, involved Germany and Russia, and then France. And when, on August 4, Great Britain, righteously indignant at the German invasion of neutral Belgium, joined forces with France and Russia, Andover, like every other American community, was made aware of the terror which Europe was facing.
It would be inaccurate to assert that the sympathies of all Andover citizens were, from the beginning, actively on the side of the Allies. President Woodrow Wilson, on August 18, issued the customary formal declaration of our neutrality, and many persons, - probably the majority, - approved his course. But the rush of German hordes into a helpless adjacent state met with the instinctive re- sentment of thoughtful men. In Andover, too, there was the additional fact that there were many families of English and Scotch birth and ancestry, to whom
11
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ANDOVER IN THE WORLD WAR
their "ain countree" was very dear. Before Christmas, 1914, they were getting letters from their British relatives and friends, bringing news of these who had gone with the "first hundred thousand," some of whom had already died nobly in attempting to stem the tide of grey-uniformed Prussians who were pouring into Northern France, and who, but for British determination, French tenacity, and what now seems like the miraculous intervention of destiny, might actually have looted Paris.
Even in those early months there were young men who left Andover to enlist with the Canadians or with the Highlanders, - men who felt, with Joyce Kilmer,
"What matters Death if Freedom be not dead? No flags are fair if Freedom's flag be furled."
David Waldie, a veteran of the Boer War, lost little time in crossing to England and rejoining the service, and was with the British Expeditionary Forces until the close of the conflict. Norman McLeish, hardly more than a boy, joined the Gordon Highlanders in the autumn of 1914, and, after many startling adventures "by flood and field," came back safe and sound in April, 1919. Both were members of Clan Johnston, an organization which, before the war ended, was to have thirty- eight members in uniform. Of the six who enlisted with the British, three were killed in action, one was wounded, gassed, and crippled for life, one was gassed and decorated with the Distinguished Courage Medal, and one came through unscathed.
Americans heard of these exploits with admiration; but there were few who suspected that the United States was likely to be involved in the same struggle. Some Andoverians, caught abroad among the belligerents, came home with tales of annoyance and privation. The gruesome reports of German atrocities in Bel- gium horrified us, although there were not wanting cynics who contented them- selves with muttering "War is War!" The Imperial War Zone Proclamation of February 18, 1915, did, however, give Americans some conception of what might soon happen to our citizens upon the high seas; and the sinking of the Lusitania, on May 7 of that year, off the south coast of Ireland, with its destruction of inno- cent lives, was revealed at once as an act of unforgivable infamy.
We do not wish to boast for our town any exceptional intelligence or sensitive- ness to injustice. But Andover has been by tradition a seat of learning, whose in- habitants have always been quickly responsive to the claims of any worthy cause. Nowhere have moral issues found more valiant champions. It is not surprising, then, that, by the spring of 1915, the sentiment of the community was no longer unbiased. There were as yet no public gatherings to rebuke submarine warfare; there were no newspaper articles assailing the Kaiser; but around many a fireside there was plain talk, in words that were by no means temperate.
It was indubitably this ruthless attack on the Lusitania that aroused our public opinion to a correct conception of our relation to the European conflict. Count Bernstorff himself has said: -
13
THE SPIRIT OF THE TOWN
"The Lusitania incident first brought home to the United States the horrors of war, and convinced all her people that a flagrant injury had been done them."
For a few days, indeed, it seemed impossible to avert a break in the diplo- matic relations of the two countries. But the interchange of notes recommenced, and the critical moment was passed without action. On May 10 the President de- livered in Philadelphia his still unforgotten address in which he used the unfor- tunate words "too proud to fight." Nevertheless there was, after the Lusitania disaster, a persistent war party in the United States, made up of those who were ready to cry, -
"Oh, England, at the smoking trenches dying For all the world, Our hearts beat as we watch your flag flying While ours is furled."
The sympathy which was felt for the Allies was expressed in many ways. At Christmas, in 1915, Andover sent one hundred pounds to the soldiers of Brechin, Scotland, the town from which so many of our citizens had originally come; and Miss Mary Byers Smith a few months later forwarded to Scotland a large sum which had been collected for that country's "ain laddies."
The sinking of the Arabic on August 19 and of the Ancona on November 7 helped to keep Americans conscious of the danger which they were facing. The new word "preparedness", made popular in the spring of 1915 by Colonel Theo- dore Roosevelt and General Leonard Wood, was on everybody's lips, and people were paying heed to what these patriots recommended in the way of sane pre- caution. The President himself, in his annual message of December, 1915, seemed apprehensive and called for "preparedness" measures.
The culmination of several additional indignities came in March, 1916, with the tidings of the sinking of the Sussex. President Wilson's patience at last ex- hausted, he sent, on April 18, a strong note, warning Germany that, unless sub- marine warfare against passenger and freight-carrying vessels was immediately abandoned, the United States would have no choice but "to sever diplomatic relations with the German Empire altogether." In Andover, as in most parts of the eastern states, the tone of this threat was heartily approved. The result of its firmness was shown on May 4, when Germany gave a solemn assurance that "merchant vessels shall not be sunk without warning and without saving human lives, unless those ships attempt to escape or offer resistance."
It was during the following summer that the Plattsburg Training Camps, which had been conducted in an inconspicuous manner for some years, first began to exercise a perceptible influence on the thought of the nation. As a consequence of an appeal for volunteer enlistment, many of the more virile young men took the course in military instruction, among them several from Andover, including Mr. Markham W. Stackpole, Mr. Bartlett H. Hayes, Dr. Peirson S. Page, Mr. Frank L. Quinby, Mr. J. Duke Smith, Mr. Philip W. Thomson, and Mr. Horace M. Poynter.
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ANDOVER IN THE WORLD WAR
On their return these gentlemen brought with them a knowledge of our military weakness which made them leaders in urging the government to make definite preparations for an emergency. The Plattsburg Camps really marked an im- portant forward step in our progress towards war.
Most of us will recall that summer as the period when the American public was being educated regarding possible war contingencies. It was the time, al- ready passed into history, when everybody was reading Ian Hay's The First Hun- dred Thousand, Baroness Huard's My Home on the Field of Honor, the anonymous J'Accuse, Alan Seeger's "I have a Rendezvous with Death", and the poems of the gallant Rupert Brooke. American boys in the Ambulance Service in France, - like Mr. J. Radford Abbot, of Andover, - were sending letters to their people. Major Marlborough Churchill, another native of Andover, had been sent abroad in January, 1916, as Military Observer with the French armies, and his own and Mrs. Churchill's experiences were told freely among their friends at home. All these influences, and others which there is no space to mention, were having a share in moulding American sentiment against Germany.
Indeed, when Dr. Hugh Cabot, on November 27, spoke in the Phillips Acad- emy Chapel, denouncing our policy of neutrality and calling for our aid in behalf of Great Britain and France, he received an ovation. Madame Dupriez and her husband, at a mass meeting in the Town Hall, told the sad story of Belgian depor- tations to an audience which was moved to tears. The huge Allied Bazaar in Boston during December aroused the interest of all New England. It has some- times been maintained that all these anti-German movements were the conse- quence of scientific British propaganda; but, so far as Andover is concerned, this theory is unjustified. The feeling which was developing against Germany was spontaneous and unorganized; it sprang up in many minds at once, like one of those impulses so common in mob psychology. Americans were at last learning the truth, and the response was what might have been expected.
President Woodrow Wilson, meanwhile, had been reelected, very largely on the platform "He kept us out of War!", which, it must be confessed, was not popu- lar in Andover. Still hoping to avoid hostilities, he issued his message of Decem- ber 18, 1916, to all the warring powers, calling for "peace without victory". Not unnaturally, those who believed that France and her Allies were fighting in a just cause against the forces of evil, were much chagrined.
But the German High Command was bound to go the road to ruin. On the last day of January, Count Bernstorff, as he admits, reluctantly, announced that his government had resolved to resume submarine warfare, thus taking back the freedom of action reserved in her note of May 4, 1918, and also deliberately defy- ing the American warning of April 18, 1916. Even Bernstorff could see that this unreasoning act would turn the President against Germany. The official publi- cation of the German note was followed by intense indignation throughout the United States. Mr. Wilson, three days later, took the obvious course of severing
15
THE SPIRIT OF THE TOWN
diplomatic relations, and public sentiment flamed to white heat. The "Zimmer- man Note," given to the press on February 28, exposed the full extent of German duplicity. At the same time the Russian Revolution, marking the collapse of one of England's allies, made Americans realize that their aid, if proffered at all, must be sent soon if the world were to be saved from the menace of Prussianism.
The "overt act" awaited by the President was not long delayed. In March arrived reports that the City of Memphis, the Illinois, and the Vigilancia had been sunk by German submarines, and Congress was at once summoned for a special session. During the ominous days which ensued, every patriot knew what to expect, - and what to hope for. In Andover, as at the most remote cross- roads, the question on men's lips was invariably "How soon?" or "When?" From the minute that Congress assembled on April 2, it was evident that action would not be long delayed. Finally, on April 6, after the passage of a joint resolu- tion by the Senate and the House of Representatives, President Wilson proclaimed that a "state of war exists between the United States and the Imperial German Government". Henry Van Dyke then voiced the emotions of a united nation, when he wrote: -
"O dearest country of my heart, home of the high desire, Make clean thy soul for sacrifice on Freedom's altar-fire."
In Andover, the citizens had, for at least some weeks before the actual declaration, grown accustomed to the thought of war. Education had done its work. In those winter months of 1917 we heard Captain Ian Hay Beith tell the dramatic story of England's battle for humanity; we listened, deeply moved, to Madame Huard's plea for suffering France; we were thrilled by D. Brewer Eddy's story of his experiences with "Kitchener's Mob." Phillips Academy, faithful to its ancient heritage, had decided on March 1, after an enthusiastic mass-meeting, to take up military training in all seriousness; and the boys, by April 6, were already in uniform, and were familiar, not only with "Squads Right!" but with the more intricate evolutions of company formation. At the annual town meeting, on March 5, the citizens adopted unanimously the following resolutions, proposed by Bartlett H. Hayes and seconded by John Traynor: -
"Whereas the Imperial German Government has, as the President has said, forbidden to our people the exercise of their peaceful and legitimate errands on the high seas, and whereas, in consequence, the President of the United States has severed diplomatic relations with Germany,
"Resolved, by the citizens of Andover, assembled in Town Meeting; this fifth : day of March, 1917,
1. That they commend the President for his uncompromising stand in severing diplomatic relations.
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ANDOVER IN THE WORLD WAR
2. That they rely upon the President to protect American citizens and the American ships upon the high seas.
3. That they decry the mortifying and unpatriotic action of certain United States Senators in failing to adopt legislation necessary for the protection of the safety and honor of the American people.
4. That while they desire peace, they desire peace only with honor, and call upon the President to uphold at this time the honor of the American people."
L
These spirited words recall the resolves drafted in 1774 by Samuel Phillips, Jr., pledging the town of Andover to the support of the Provincial Congress against Great Britain, and also the address presented by a group of Andover citizens in 1798 to President John Adams, at a time when our amicable relations with France seemed likely to be interrupted. The resolutions of 1917 were in every way worthy of the fine Andover traditions, and they were telegraphed at once to the White House. There was a high seriousness of purpose in the hearts of men. Flags began to appear in windows along the streets, and to fly out from newly-raised staffs. It wanted only the President's ringing phrases of April 6 to set in motion war measures which had been contemplated at private gatherings for many days. Then at last we could say of our new Allies: -
"We are one with them - we rise With dawning thunder in our eyes To join the embattled hosts that kept
Their pact with freedom while we slept."
It was indeed inspiring to watch the town of Andover mobilizing for the emergency, and to see the citizens, putting aside their personal business and re- sponding uncomplainingly to the need of the hour. The Selectmen, quick to realize their responsibility, appointed a Committee of Public Safety, composed of thirty representative men, with power to assume all necessary authority. It was this Committee which, while the younger men were bearing arms, mobilized the civilian resources of the town, and the labor which they performed was in the highest degree praiseworthy. Serving throughout the war period, they gave both time and money to promote every form of public welfare. Too old for energetic military drill and the strain of army life, they devoted themselves to the no less essential problem of making the town an effective cooperating unit behind the lines. It is to their credit that Andover never weakened in morale, - that it did not fail in a single patriotic enterprise, and that its escutcheon was unstained by any word or act of disloyalty.
From the Committee of Public Safety, with the Honorable John N. Cole as Chairman, came the incentive and the guidance for most of the war work within the town. The members met for the first time on the evening of April 6, the date of the declaration of hostilities. The larger group being evidently somewhat un- wieldy for the promotion of expeditious business, an Executive Committee of .
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THE SPIRIT OF THE TOWN
Fifteen was at once appointed to take up the actual supervision of operations; and, in order to divide the burden, several smaller separate committees were chosen to direct specific forms of labor. A Finance Committee, with Mr. Alfred L. Ripley as Chairman, was occupied with the vital matter of securing funds, and, through the device of membership subscriptions, soon obtained a sufficient amount to guarantee the necessary expenses. A Committee on Food Production and Conser- vation, under Mr. Frederick H. Jones, took up the problems involved in stim- ulating the cultivation of gardens and the careful use and preserving of food stuffs. A Home Guard Committee, headed by Mr. Bartlett H. Hayes, was concerned with the organization of a military company of older men for duty during possible local emergencies. Among the other groups were a Health Committee, which, directed by Dr. Charles E. Abbott, laid plans for preventing and treating disease; a Local Survey Committee, with Mr. John H. Campion as Chairman, authorized to investigate, classify, and coordinate the resources of the town; a Volunteer Aid Committee, headed by Mr. Burton S. Flagg, which was to be ready to give proper attention to needy cases arising out of war conditions; and a Committee on Advice to Aliens, under Mr. William C. Crowley, which was to handle all matters involv- ing our small foreign population. In the course of a few days all these committees were effectively organized and ready for duty.
The Committee of Public Safety neglected nothing that might contribute to the success of its extensive program. A flag-raising at the Andover Press Building on April 14 was turned into a patriotic demonstration, to which the Phillips Acad- emy Battalion marched in military formation, looking very trim in their new khaki uniforms and parading with the skill of veterans. In order to stir the loyalty of the citizens, a mass meeting was called at the Town Hall on the evening of Sun- day, April 15. Mr. Cole presided, and the three speakers touched upon different phases of the war spirit. The Honorable Guy A. Ham, of Boston, dealt with the impelling motives which had led our nation reluctantly to take up arms; Mr. Fred A. Smith, Director of the Essex Agricultural School, treated of some practical matters connected with the plans for an increased food production; and Principal Alfred E. Stearns, of Phillips Academy, in an address full of impassioned idealism, prophesied the testing which our institutions were bound to confront in the trying days to come. As an indication of unity of purpose and sternness of resolve, the gathering was notable in the town annals. There was no evidence of boastfulness or over-confidence; every one spoke with seriousness and solemnity, in a full con- sciousness of the sacrifices which would soon be demanded.
Indeed America, from the Atlantic to the far Pacific, was fast comprehending what its task was to be. War, that "great corrector of enormous times", had healed local jealousies and brought us a singleness of aim. Inspired by a sense of imminent danger, the nation was everywhere astir. Enlistments in the Na- tional Guard and the state militia were increasing day by day. The Council of National Defense, at Washington, had taken up its duties with energy. On June 5
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