USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Andover > Andover: symbol of New England; the evolution of a town > Part 34
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After their departure in the autumn of 1917, the Yankee Di- vision, to which so many Andover boys had been assigned, had been undergoing combat training, first at Coetquidan, on a plateau in the heart of Brittany, and later near Soissons, where the soldiers complained less about possible gunfire than they did about the cold and damp of so-called "sunny" France. Neverthe- less they accepted philosophically their status as the first An- doverians to bear arms for their country on European soil. One of them remarked, "After all, you can get used to anything if you have to!"
The great advance known as the Château-Thierry Offensive opened in July, to be followed by the Saint-Mihiel Drive in Sep-
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tember. Lists of casualties began to appear in the newspapers. Michael Joseph Daly, a letter carrier in the Andover post office, had enlisted with his friend, John J. Stack, in the 45th Coast Artillery, from which, after their arrival in France, they had been transferred to the 119th Field Artillery. On September 1, a shell exploded near them, hitting both Andover boys; Private Stack was severely wounded, but recovered; Private Daly, who was struck just above the right knee, died a few days later in the hospital. "Lugs" Daly, to give him the name by which he was affectionately known, was the first native resident of Andover to lose his life in action. His body was returned to his home for burial in 1921. On October 14, Thomas W. Platt, a quarter- master in the Navy, died of influenza at the Naval Hospital in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Both Quartermaster Platt and Captain Phillips Morrison were victims of the unforgettable influenza epidemic which broke out in September and did not spend its devastating course until well after Thanksgiving. Nothing like it had ever been seen before in Andover, so mysterious in origin, so unsparing of young and old. It was like a real germ war on the home front. Fortunately the town was well equipped in personnel and reme- dies to meet the peril. The Board of Health took prompt action in closing at once all theaters, churches, and other places of public assemblage, to keep the plague from spreading. Under Dr. Abbott's sane direction all reported cases were quarantined; and a group of self-effacing Red Cross ladies worked day and night preparing broths and jellies, even doing volunteer nurs- ing in emergency situations. Because of these precautions and the careful attention paid to those who were stricken, Andover escaped better than most localities in the Commonwealth. Two other men in the army died as a direct consequence of influenza: George William Simpson, on November 9, in the Officers' Train- ing Camp at Camp Lee, Virginia, and John Howard Baker, on January 3, 1919, after having passed through many dangers on the battlefield without a mishap.
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On September 12, all males between the ages of eighteen and forty-five who had not been included in the previous enrollment, were required to register, and 937 new names were thus placed on the eligibility list. In October, at the very height of the epi- demic, the fourth Liberty Loan went "over the top," Andover contributing 1,051,000 dollars from almost three thousand in- dividual subscribers and surpassing its assigned quota by nearly 250,000 dollars. On November 9 the committee in charge of the United War Work Fund unveiled a tablet honoring the nine Andover men who had lost their lives. The campaign thus in- augurated brought in nearly 43,000 dollars from almost four thousand contributors. In thus doubling its assigned quota, An- dover exceeded proportionately the record of any town or city in Essex County.
Military action in France was now intensifying as the end drew near. On November 1, Private John J. Geagan, of the Med- ical Detachment, 1st Gas Regiment, was instantly killed. He was the manager of the Lawrence Street Drug and Chemical Com- pany, of Lawrence. On November 4, Second Lieutenant Thom- as Edward Carter, son of Mr. and Mrs. George M. Carter, of West Parish, was killed by machine-gun fire while pursuing a body of retreating Germans near La Tuilerie Farm. A graduate of Massachusetts Agricultural College, he had enlisted as a pri- vate after attending the Officers' Training School at Camp Up- ton. He was later commissioned as a second lieutenant on the field of battle, a special tribute to his bravery. For conspicuous bravery he was awarded posthumously the French Croix de Guerre and the American Distinguished Service Cross.
The Yankee Division had been engaged in the Meuse- Argonne Offensive, and many Andover families were praying that the slaughter might soon be over. On November 8 came a false report of a truce, which stirred some optimism but was quickly denied. Finally, on the early morning of November 11, the telegraph brought good news which could not be doubted. Long before dawn bells began to ring and whistles to blow; and
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by five o'clock the boys of the Phillips Battalion, shivering but elated, were forming on the Hill and marching downtown, each member carrying a lighted torch, the survival of many an Andover-Exeter parade. At the town hall they assembled around the entrance, surrounded by a vast throng of hastily awakened citizens, and Mr. Cole, in behalf of the committee of public safety, announced a general holiday. After breakfast, with speedy spontaneity, another procession formed, this time headed by a real band, and after making a circuit of the chief streets, ended at the Playstead, where "John N." presided over a noisy informal outdoor meeting. That evening, in accordance with the fine Puritan tradition, thanksgiving services were held in the vari- ous churches.
Even then the celebrations were not over, nor were the cele- brators exhausted. The Public Safety Committee, meeting on Monday night, planned a glorious Victory parade for the fol- lowing day. Preparations went on all night, and on Tuesday morning representatives of all the war organizations took their place in line and proceeded to the common, where they were re- viewed by Major Holt, as chief marshal, and the Public Safety Committee. The day closed with patriotic songs and "The Star- Spangled Banner," sung while the tears streamed down many faces.
And so, after eighteen months of war in all its phases, the town undertook the less dramatic business of adjustment to peace. Demobilization, always a tedious process, had to be car- ried out, and for months men still in uniform could not be neg- lected. The Red Cross, stressing this need, enrolled more than four thousand members in its annual roll-call campaign. The Public Safety Committee prepared and mailed to every Andover service man a little booklet, greeting him at the holiday season and telling him what had been going on in his town. Meanwhile President Wilson, landing at Brest on December 14, was ready for the opening of the Peace Conference in Paris on January 18, 1919, resolved to make the League of Nations an integral part
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of the peace treaty. Less than a month later he was back in Bos- ton, welcomed by Governor Calvin Coolidge as "a great states- man, as one to whom we have entrusted our destinies, and one we will support in the future working out of those destinies as Massachusetts has supported him in the past." Unfortunately it was a Massachusetts politician, Henry Cabot Lodge, who was to do more than any one American to thwart Wilson's high- minded hopes for a genuine League.
While Andoverians were pondering the great issues raised by their President, their neighbors who had been away at war began to appear on the streets and were given the warm welcome which they deserved. After considering possibilities, the Public Safety Committee decided to hold two celebrations: one, of a preliminary nature, on March 21, 1919, while the excitement was still hot; the other, more comprehensive, to be arranged when all the veterans had returned. On Friday evening, March 21, the town united in a reception to the more than two hundred men who had already been discharged. At seven-thirty they as- sembled and marched to the town hall, when Mr. Cole again presided and, after reading the names of the dead, welcomed the soldiers and sailors in the name of the town. In grateful rec- ognition, bronze medals, the gift of the town, were pinned on the blouses of the service men.
Massachusetts was even more excited about its favorite 26th Division, which disembarked at Boston on April 10, and two weeks later, with Major-General Clarence R. Edwards riding at the head, paraded through the city streets. This was a notable day in New England history, for the Yankee Division had cov- ered itself with glory, and everyone in the reviewing stand felt a vicarious pride in its record. These men had left our shore in secrecy and silence a year and a half before. Now they were marching in the open, enjoying the applause of their families and friends; and the 102nd Field Artillery, Andover's rather special regiment, had its full share of grateful recognition.
This spectacular demonstration undoubtedly aided the Vic-
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tory Loan Drive in May, undertaken at a time when taxes had increased and the depressing aftermath of war was being felt. Andover's quota was 613,500 dollars, but Burton S. Flagg, with the other members of his committee, raised a total sum of 955,- 000 dollars from 1,095 subscribers-the crowning achievement of their program of money raising.
Inevitably, and quite naturally, some form of veterans' or- ganization was sure to emerge from this world war. Following a few informal discussions among local service men, a call was is- sued for a meeting of those interested in creating a post of the new American Legion; and on May 20, in the town hall, Chap- lain Markham W. Stackpole, after explaining the object of the gathering, introduced as the principal speaker Colonel Herbert, of the 102nd Field Artillery, one of the founders of the Legion. At the conclusion of these persuasive addresses, those present voted to organize a post in Andover. On June 3, at the first reg- ular meeting, Philip W. Thomson was elected as commander; and an application for a charter, signed by twenty-one men, was prepared and sent to the state executive committee, with the result that the Andover post was allotted the low number 8, thus becoming one of the earliest to be formed in the Common- wealth.
The final welcome to the veterans was wisely delayed until nearly all of them could be there to participate. On Friday eve- ning, September 5, the common was brilliantly illuminated, and virtually the entire community assembled there to act as a wel- coming committee. Meeting in the new American Legion rooms, the ex-service men, headed by Major Bartlett H. Hayes, marched to the stand, where they were greeted by the Honorable John N. Cole. Colonel Edward A. Logan of the 101st Infantry, then delivered an eloquent speech, praising the contribution of the town to the war effort. Medals were presented to those who had not already received them, including the town's four Red Cross nurses, Miss Abbott, Miss Spinney, Miss Hulme, and Mrs. Bryant.
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Saturday, September 6, was the really big day, one of the most significant in Andover history. A reviewing stand had been erected on the old training field at the top of Andover Hill. From this the veterans watched a procession of more than three thousand civilians, with floats representing various aspects of domestic war activity. When the last organization had passed, the veterans on the stand fell into squad formation at the rear until Brothers' Field had been reached. At this point the civilian marchers divided, allowing the service men to walk between the rows. Next came a very moving ceremony. Comrade E. Kendall Jenkins, representing William F. Bartlett Post, Number 99, Grand Army of the Republic, presented to Commander Philip W. Thomson, of Andover Post, Number 8, American Legion, a beautiful stand of colors. In reply to Sergeant Jenkins, who was in his eighty-seventh year, Captain Thomson, who was in his thirties, said in part:
That our colors should have come to us from your hands is what every one of us would have desired. You have entrusted that flag to us. This great and generous celebration this town has given us. Per- haps the very best token of appreciation and thanks that we can give to all of you today is to say to every one here that the American Le- gion throughout the length and breadth of this land has taken upon itself to guard that flag,-even as you of the Grand Army have guard- ed it.
After this presentation a crowd estimated at five thousand people had luncheon in little groups on the Phillips Academy playing fields. In the afternoon came outdoor sports of various kinds, including baseball and track athletics. At six-thirty, the service men again fell into line and marched to the Academy gymnasium, where, in accordance with town tradition, a colla- tion was provided. Dr. Alfred E. Stearns, principal of the Acad- emy, introduced the speakers, who included Governor Calvin Coolidge, Major-General Clarence R. Edwards, Lieutenant Frank S. Evans of the British Army, Honorable John N. Cole,
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the Reverend Father John A. Nugent, Lieutenant William J. Cronin, and Lieutenant, j.g., Dwight Moody, of the Navy. Later in the evening General Edwards addressed a far larger outdoor audience on the common, and the day closed with open-air movies for all.
Although any war anywhere is a catastrophe, it does often release some of the finest qualities in those affected by it. A Townsman editorial after this huge celebration was over was headed appropriately: ANDOVER MEETS ANDOVER. And indeed at the moment a common feeling of relief and rejoicing united all the diverse elements in the town, regardless of differences in solvency, social position, or religious creed. These people had together been through a period of stress and strain, during which qualities of sympathy, of sacrifice, and of loyalty had made every- body kin. From the contrasted moods of fear and faith had emerged a community understanding, a perception of the fine attributes of one's neighbors. While the war was on, men and women were eager to give their best to the cause. Some found it possible to enlist and fight; others could labor at home; many could only give from their hard-earned wages; but the Andover citizen who did nothing was rare indeed.
Thrilling are the tales of heroism and renunciation reported by observers, and honor should be given to many not mentioned in this necessarily brief narrative. Most distinguished of all, per- haps, was the career of Marlborough Churchill. After his gradu- ation from Phillips Academy in 1896 and from Harvard in 1900, he had to choose a career, and it would have been difficult for a young man with his sonorous and historic name to avoid becom- ing a soldier. On July 16, 1901, he was commissioned direct from civilian life as a second lieutenant in the Field Artillery and was promoted regularly until, in January, 1916, he was sent over- seas with the rank of major to be military observer with the French armies. An officer of impressive appearance and demon- strated ability, he was early marked for responsibility, and on August 5, 1917, he was made a lieutenant-colonel in our Na-
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tional Army. From February to May, 1918, he was acting Chief of Staff for the First American Army, learning what he could from the French High Command, but he was recalled in June and assigned to the important post of Chief, Military Intelli- gence Branch, General Staff. At the Phillips Academy Alumni Dinner on June 9, Colonel Churchill, after mentioning the fine record of Mark Stackpole, chaplain of the 102nd Field Artillery, went on to speak of Lieutenant William B. Higgins, of the same regiment:
He was an example of the newly trained technical officer, the man who in a few months has had crammed into his head the technical artillery knowledge that we used to think took years to cram into a man's head .... He was the man whose duty it was to keep the di- visional artillery commander informed every minute of the twenty- four hours, of the German artillery activity. ... The charts in that boy's room represented the seat of the brains of that divisional artil- lery .... Now that was an Andover boy.
Colonel Churchill was another such Andover boy! Raised to the rank of brigadier general, he was made in August, 1918, Di- rector, Military Intelligence Division, General Staff, War De- partment, in a position of great prestige and power. After the Armistice he went to France on special duty with the American Commission to Negotiate Peace. Back for the Phillips Academy Commencement in 1919, he spoke in his disillusionment of the futile efforts to achieve unity:
The conflicting interests of the peace table have already sadly im- paired inter-allied team-play. Already our national team-play has be- come ragged. The selfishness, and the racial, religious, social and po- litical prejudices which we put aside in order to unify our national effort are already at their insidious work.
While still in his prime, General Churchill was attacked by a crippling disease which necessitated his retirement from the Army, but his courage never left him even when his physical
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activities were curtailed. He was always the embodiment, indeed the symbol, of the highest type of enlightened public service.
Some interesting comparisons and contrasts between the Civil War and the First World War, so far as these conflicts af- fected the town of Andover, naturally suggest themselves. The number enrolled in military service was almost the same-599 in 1861-1865 and 630 in 1914-1918. For reasons which require no explanation these figures may not be absolutely accurate. Many of the Andover service men in the earlier war, however, served as paid substitutes for citizens drawn in the draft, and several are recorded, quite frankly, as "Bounty Jumpers."
Of those enlisted in the Civil War, fifty-three lost their lives, slightly less than ten per cent. A high proportion of these fatali- ties were from disease, particularly in unsanitary prison camps, and several died from accidents and wounds. The casualties in World War I were fourteen, of whom four died of disease. Five of the fourteen were killed while serving in the British or Canadian forces.
Although the actual period when Andover was in the war was shorter and the casualties fewer, one gets the impression that the impact on the town was more direct and widespread in 1918 than in 1863, and this feeling was confirmed by E. Kendall Jenkins, who was in a position to compare the two conflicts. In both cases the response of the citizens to repeated demands on their time and money was prompt, enthusiastic, generous, and cumulative. Patriotism, in all its manifestations, was widely prevalent. But in the more recent conflict, the fact that the battles took place on foreign soil made the suspense and the tragedy more poign- ant. The issues at stake were international, involving many races and countries. It was impossible for anybody, no matter how iso- lated, to lead his former normal life. Moreover the psychology of mass appeal was better understood, and everybody, including the very old and the very young, felt impelled to do his or her bit. The business of arousing and sustaining public opinion was
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entrusted to competent hands. Everything was efficiently or- ganized. Nothing was left to caprice or chance. One felt always the professional touch behind every demonstration, no matter how apparently spontaneous.
The United States won the war, or helped to win it, because thousands of towns like Andover, to the full extent of their re- sources, joined in a sacrificial effort. Every community had its local John N. Coles and Marlborough Churchills, its Mark Stackpoles and Billy Higginses, its Red Cross nurses, its young men who died heroically, like Tom Carter. Andover people, as they look back, like to feel that they were not outdone in this service competition.
The war ceased suddenly, much more suddenly than it had begun, but it took many months to complete the necessary finan- cial, social, and spiritual readjustment. Although few compre- hended it on November 11, 1918, our country and the world, indeed our entire manner of living and outlook on life, would never be quite the same again. New hopes, most of them still unrealized, and new fears, many of them quite justified, were to claim our attention. We are still suffering today from the after- math of the war started so recklessly by Kaiser Wilhelm II and his advisers.
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CHAPTER XXV
Postwar Transformation
F OLLOWING the Armistice of November 11, 1918, Andover, like other American communities of its type, expected a gradual, effortless return to the pleasant, peaceful, and com- paratively carefree times before 1914. During the war wages in the local mills had steadily risen. Indeed in the Smith and Dove plant they had improved 130 per cent since 1917. Meanwhile the tax rate had risen to a total of $24.50 per thousand on a valu- ation of about 10,000,000 dollars. The revised census of 1920 indicated that the population had grown to 8,230, an increase of over 600 in ten years. Obviously the town was expanding. Old residents had to confess that they no longer knew everybody on the streets, in the stores, or even in town meeting. Some of them grumbled that the place was looking more and more like a city. But nobody suspected then the almost incredible developments of the next forty years.
War orders for the textile mills had produced a prosperity which obviously required adjustment, and by 1921 the situation threatened to be serious. Another strike in the American Wool- en Company, following a cut in wages of 221/2 per cent, brought some suffering to Lawrence and naturally some dismay to An- dover. Locally, Smith and Dove reversed its policy, closed for several weeks, and then resumed with a cut of 20 per cent in wages. Even employees of the town's Board of Public Works had to accept a temporary reduction. Fortunately this postwar depression proved to be brief, and the country was soon em- barked on the Harding-Coolidge-Hoover prosperity which last- ed until the "Great Bust" of October, 1929.
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Although Prohibition went into effect under the Volstead Act at midnight on January 16, 1920, this had few direct conse- quences for Andover, which had regularly, for good and suffi- cient reasons, voted "No License" for many years. But much of the country, resentful of regulation, moved into a new mood of indifference to law. The degeneration in manners and morals was soon apparent. The scathing John Held cartoons pictured "flappers" engaged in repulsive acrobatic dances like the "Tur- key Trot" and the "Bunny Hug," and "Joe College," in his coonskin coat, flourishing his flask at football games. Recollec- tions of the notorious "Jazz Age" are still vivid in the memories of those who lived through it and who recall the books which represented it-This Side of Paradise, Dancers in the Dark, The Hard-Boiled Virgin, and many others. It was indeed a Crazy Dec- ade, when the Younger Generation went on a splurge, when adolescent girls wore their hair and skirts shorter and shorter, when ballyhoo was everywhere, reaching a climax when, in May, 1927, Charles A. Lindbergh landed his Spirit of St. Louis in Paris and became overnight a national hero.
Andover could not, of course, escape the general contagion, but its basic Puritanism and common sense kept it from being corrupted. The authorities at Phillips and Abbot academies nat- urally did not approve of the rapid changes in the behavior of American boys and girls, and Dr. Stearns in particular spoke out publicly and vigorously in defense of the fundamental virtues. The selectmen, and later the town meeting, were long opposed to Sunday movies. Nevertheless, even in conservative Andover, parents gradually granted to their children more and more of the freedom for which they were pressing. The automobile, the radio, the motion picture, these and other inventions altered the daily routine of an increasing number of families. This was reflected in their dress, their conduct, and their attitude towards indiscretions. Much of the rebellion against decency seemed at the time, and even in retrospect, very silly, but it was sympto-
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matic of something much deeper, something which spread through all ages and classes of society.
Looking backward, we in our wisdom can see that the finan- cial bubble of the 1920's was bound to burst. But nobody in the town made any protest against the prevailing prosperity, al- though Alfred L. Ripley, president of the Merchants' Bank of Boston, was heard to mutter that bonds were still not a bad in- vestment for educational institutions. Andover continued to be politically conservative, and in the national election of 1920 gave Harding a resounding five to one preference over his Dem- ocratic opponent for the Presidency. The more opulent citizens viewed with satisfaction their increasing dividends, and most of them were buying common stocks and rejoicing in their paper profits. It would have been a bold man indeed who tried to halt a movement which was giving him and his family more of the comforts and luxuries of life and which led him to count on these as "durable satisfactions"-which they definitely were not!
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