Trail of the 61st; a history of the 61st field artillery brigade during the world war, 1917-1919.

Foreword

I was one of the men in the 61st F. A. Brigade who belonged to that disappointed class, known in the A. E. F. as *'Dove Tails" or Third Lieutenants." We graduated from the Saumur Artillery School, at Saumur, France, where we received diplomas which, before the signing of the Armistice, would have . given us commissions, but the closing of the war relieved the necessity for more officers and we were returned to our organizations with the same rank that we held when we left for school. We were given great freedom, with practically no duties, and had so little to occupy our time that life hung heavily upon our hands and we earnestly wished for something worth while to do.

The Brigade Adjutant assigned me to duty in his office, to do some special work for him, but this work did not occupy much of my time and I conceived the idea of writing a history of the experiences and activities of the brigade during the Great War. I presented the idea to Lieut. Col. Simpson and he endorsed it, with the result that a Brigade Memorandum was immediately issued, stating that I had been given the authority to assemble information and material for a history of the 61st Brigade and instructing the Commanding Officers of all units of the brigade to co-operate in the work.

A few days after the memorandum was issued I was sent to the Camp Hospital where I was held for 28 days, but the brigade did not leave for home, as I had feared it would, for about two weeks after I had been released from the hospital, and I therefore had the opportunity of doing some effective work after my illness, though not enough to gather all of the information I desired. Had I not been held in the hospital so long I would have been able, I believe, to have secured all of the material desired.

It was my original plan to publish in this history a complete roster of the brigade, and to that end I requested each organization to select a correspondent who would be permitted to devote the major portion of his time to the work of gathering information for the history, so that I could be sure that the desired data and names would be furnished to me,

But my plans for securing the roster miscarried, as only two regiments furnished the names of their men, and since I have been mustered out of service I have found it impossible to secure rosters of the other units of the brigade. In my efforts to get these names I have used every available means, even to enlisting the aid of numerous Congressmen and U. S. Senators, who have personally visited War Department Officials to ask that the rosters be sent to me, but all to no avail.

I sincerely regret that the history does not contain a roster of the brigade, but since I could not procure a complete roster, I deem it inadvisable to use the lists I possess, and have decided that the present book, though incomplete, should be published and distributed to the members of the brigade without further delay.

I wish to express my appreciation for the assistance of Sgt. Kent Watson, of the 133d F. A., Sgt. H. L. Woodyard, of the 131st F. A. and Sgt. A. H. Van Winkle, of the 111th Trench Mortar Battery, who furnished complete reports and rosters of their organizations, and to many other friends, including Sgt. Victor Combs, of the 111th Ammunition Train and Pvt. Joe C. Bettencourt, of the 131st F. A., who supplied me with many of the kodak pictures that appear in this volume. Moreover, I want to express thanks to Lt.-Col. Sloan Simpson for supplying me with a photograph of the late General Stephens for it would have been impossible for me to have secured it otherwise. ,

REX F. HARLOW.

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

December 22, 1919.

VI

Contents

Voyage to Feance 67

Redox 106

Camp De Coetquidax 131

I

On June 1, 1916, a newly organized battery of Field Artillery, designated as battery "B," 1st Texas Field Artillery, was placed under the command of Claude V. Birkhead, who was commissioned captain in the Texas National Guard. Douglas McKenzie and Raymond Phelps of San Antonio held first lieutenancies in the new organization.

In June, 1917, Captain Birkhead was ordered to Houston to aid in the organization of a division of Texas troops, as Battery "B" was to be made the nucleus of a regiment of field artillery, to be called the 2d Texas Field Artillery. Birkhead was granted the authority of recruiting the following batteries of the regiment: Headquarters Co., "A," ^^B" and "C" Batteries at San Antonio ; '*D" Battery at Floresville ; "E" Battery and supply Co. at Waco; and "F" Battery at Houston.

By August 4, the Regiment had been organized and accepted by the Federal Government and Captain Birkhead was promoted to the grade of colonel, assuming command of the Regiment on that date.

On August 5, units took the field, encamping in local quarters in various towns where they had been recruited, and remaining in these camps until

September 5, when orders were received from the War Department for the regiment to mobilize at Camp Bowie, Fort Worth, Texas. This movement was completed September 7, 1917.

On October 15, the name of the regiment was changed from the 2nd Texas Field Artillery to the 131st Field Artillery, a part of the 61st Field Artillery Brigade of the 36th Division, and in order to bring it to war-time strength 268 men of the first national army draft were secured from the 165th Depot Brigade at Camp Travis, on October 22, and permanently assigned to the regiment the following day. This completed the organization of one unit of the 61st Brigade.

When National Guardsmen were called into federal service on the last day of March, 1917, the 1st Squadron of Texas cavalry under command of Major John D, Golding, had a strength of 14 officers and 402 men, comprising the following units: Supply Train and Troop "A," from Houston; Troop '*B," from Amarillo ; Troop "C," from San Antonio ; Troop **D,''' from Corsicana ; Sanitary Detachment from Galveston.

On April 17, all of the above organizations were mustered into federal service at Camp Wilson, San Antonio, where they remained until July 25, when orders were received to move to Camp Bowie, Fort Worth, Texas.

At this time the following newly organized units joined the squadron, developing it into a regiment: Machine Gun Troop from Hillsboro; Troop "H," from Houston; Troop **E,'' from Taylor; Troop **F," from Corsicana; Troops **D" and "L," from Fort Worth; Troop "G," from Dallas; Troop "K," from San Antonio.

Units of the new regiment began arriving in Camp Bowie on September 10, at which time it was placed under the command of Col. Arthur R. Sholars.

On October 18, the regiment was reorganized, converted into the 132d Field Artillery of the 61st Field Artillery Brigade, and another unit of the 61st was thereby established.

In order to organize a brigade of artillery in Texas Col. Fred Logan, of Dallas, was called to Houston by Brigadier General Don A. Hulen, June 6, 1917, for a conference in which it was decided to recruit two regiments of field artillery in Texas, one regiment to be secured by enlistments and the other to be formed from the 1st Texas Cavalry regiment.

The work of organizing the 1st Texas Field Artillery was carried forward rapidly by Col. Logan, the regiment being completely organized by the latter part of July, and on August 5, it was mustered into the federal service and assigned as the Howitzer (biggun) unit of the 61st Field Artillery Brigade. It .was composed of six batteries and companies as follows: "A," "B" and ''C" Batteries and Headquarters and Supply Companies from Dallas; "B" Battery from Fort Worth; "E" Battery from Sherman, and "F" Battery from Paris. On October 15, the regiment was reorganized into the 133d Field Artillery, Col. Logan retaining command, and the regiment became a third unit of the 61st Field Artillery Brigade.

During the spring of 1917, Captain Donald R. Bonfoey, Commander of Troop B, 1st regiment of Oklahoma National Guard, organized two more troops of Oklahoma Cavalry, "C" at McAlester and "D" at. Pawhuska. After these units were organized Capt. Bonfoey was promoted to the rank of major. During the summer of 1917, Major Bonfoey received authority from Washington to organize an Ammunition Train and a medical detachment from the four troops of Oklahoma cavalry.

The troops of cavalry and the medical detachment proceeded to Camp Bowie, arriving in camp August 5. On the 15th of August they were reorganized into the 111th Ammunition Train, Troops "A," "B" and "C" retaining their organizations intact, though being converted into companies "E," "F" and "G," of the Ammunition Train. Troop "D'' was disorganized and its men distributed among the other three companies. Lieut. Col. Stevenson was placed in command of the Train which later became a unit of the 61st Brigade.

Troop "K'Z of the 1st Texas Cavalry, organized in San Antonio, in company with other troops of the 1st Texas Cavalry, was mobilized at Camp Bowie, Texas, becoming a part of the 36th Division. On October 15, 1917, when Texas and Oklahoma troops were reorganized into the 61st Field Artillery Brigade, it became the 111th Trench Mortar Battery, Captain Lewis Maverick of San Antonio, Texas, or-^ ganizer of the troop and its commander when it was mustered into federal service at Camp Bowie, retaining command. The battery then became one of the five distinct units of the 61st Brigade.

All of the organizations that were used in the development of the 61st were made up of National Guard troops, who were gathered from all parts of Texas and Oklahoma and sent to Camp Bowie, Fort Worth. Upon arriving at Fort Worth they detrained and proceeded immediately to the Clark farm, so called because it was owned by Mrs. Clark. It was covered by Johnson grass about knee high and showed nothing of the great camp that was later built, except that a

Camp Bowie.

few piles of lumber lay scattered at random over the place. The men put up tents the first afternoon, immediately after their arrival, but slept that night on Johnson grass, which bed, in fact, served them for several nights thereafter.

The arrival of cavalary troops at Camp Bowie, showing how tents were hastily erected on the grassy land of the Clark farm. These tents were lat&r made comfortable by the addition of sides and floors of pine boards.

The first duty of the newly arrived troops was that of acting as camp guards, for each day brought in vast amounts of government property, especially building material. Not all of the men were used as guards, however, and just as rapidly as time permitted and men could be spared for the purpose, the camp was put into shape. Grass was cut, troop streets were laid out and graded, ditches were dug and a thousand and one things incident to the building of a new camp were done by the men. There were no quiet hours, for the soldiers realized that they were engaging in the biggest piece of work of their lives and that they must enter into this work with energy and spirit if they were to become properly trained foi overseas. Moreover, most of them believed that their stay in Camp Bowie would be short and that they would rapidly be trained to the point where they could leave for France; and this belief caused them to lose no time in putting themselves into condition.

As the cavalry troops were the first soldiers to occupy Camp Bowie, they were forced not only to do guard duty over government stores, but also to furnish military police for Fort Worth, where troops were coming and going and over-patriotic citizens were being imposed upon. Work of this kind occupied about three months of time, after which other troops arrived and the cavalry units were transferred to the artillery service.

But most of the work during the early months of their stay in Camp Bowie was pleasing to the men because of the generous manner in which the townspeople of Fort Worth proved their appreciation of the soldiers and gave of their bounteous hospitality. Nothing was too good for the newly arrived soldiers ; no opportunity was overlooked to give them automobile rides or to treat them to candy, ice cream and cold drinks; and it early became an established policy on the part of families of Fort Worth to invite soldiers to their homes for Sunday dinners and for other forms of entertainment. No city could have shown a warmer attitude of helpfulness and kindly interest toward its soldiers than Fort Worth did during the first few months after Camp Bowie was opened.

So m.any people called at the camp to take the boys for automobile rides that the soldiers soon learned to accept this kindness as a matter of course and thought nothing more of it than they did of receiving food free of charge from the government. It is a sad fact that this attitude grev^ to such proportions that carelessness in their treatment of the citizens of Fort Worth became common among the soldiers, and the city in self-protection, practically shut its doors to the camp.

The construction of Camp Bowie proceeded rapidly, under the supervision of the Thompson Construction company, v^hich had a force of several thousand laborers engaged in erecting buildings and in otherv^ise making a camp. The first buildings to be erected were the mess halls for troops, *'A," ''B," "C" and "D" of the 1st Texas Cavalry; and these buildings were welcomed with satisfaction by the troops who before their erection had been compelled to cook and serve their meals in the open, regardless of excessive heat or rain. But now, being housed in substantial buildings where tables were provided so that men could be seated at their meals, they felt like soldiers who were appreciated.

Simultaneously with the erection of the mess halls, the cavalry troops constructed floors to their tents from lumber, which they bought with their own money, and built sidings to their tents with pieces of cast off lumber from the camp. In this manner Bowie soon assumed a regulation appearance, having reasonably well built tents, broad, properly policed streets and a sufficient number of mess halls to accommodate all troops. The men lived in more comfort because of this development, for before tent floors and sidings had been built it was no uncommon thing for heavy rainstorms to bring disaster to the camp. Texas rainstorms often come with such violence that the canvas tents, fastened to the ground

16 TraAl of the 61st

only with sticks and ropes, were unable to withstand the strain and were blown down. But now that wooden foundations to the tents were built such a possibility was precluded except in times of exceptionally severe storms.

To the majority of soldiers who first came to Bowie, camp life was not new, for they had passed several months on the Mexican border and had grown accustomed to soldier life. They felt with reason that since they had served their apprenticeship on the border they would not be compelled to remain long in an American camp, but would soon be developed into efficient fighting men competent to meet the best troops of the German army and to successfully cope with them. "Squads East and West" were tolerated by these men because they realized that a certain amount of this grind was necessary to equip them for the part they had to play in the war, and such other duties as were imposed upon them they accepted and executed with cheerfulness and dispatch.

Shortly after the various units of the National Guard had gotten properly settled in camp a training schedule was established by the Commanding General and the men were soon engaged in executing such squad movements as were required on the parade grounds or in the field. This training was made difficult by the fact that the drills were held over ground which was badly broken and cut by ravines and literally covered with rocks, which had to be removed with hands or shovels. Camp Bowie is located on seven hills to the west of Fort Worth and these hills are separated by small valleys over which the men had to work in their maneuvering and training.

But work was not all the soldiers did, for the Y. M. C. A. huts scattered over camp proved to be con-

Camp Boivie. 17

gregational points, where during the evenings large groups of men found their way for amusement and letter writing. Thousands of letters bearing the red triangle and ''with the colors," slogan on the envelope, were sent over the country from the Y. M. C. A. buildings, for the soldier boys early learned the habit of writing letters regularly to their homefolks. In fact, every time they entered a Y. M. C. A. building, their attention was directed to this duty. Paper and envelopes were always available except at such times as the supply became exhausted from the tremendous drain imposed upon it.

The Y. M. C. A. provided interesting and educative entertainments practically every evening and these entertainments were usually attended by large audiences, the soldiers eagerly accepting an opportunity to get away from their quarters for a while. Any number of first-class moving pictures were offered at the ''Y," and though the facilities for showing them were not as good as those afforded by city theaters, the men enjoyed the numbers hugely and made proper allowances for the conditions.

Likewise, the entertainments furnished by the Liberty Theater, were welcome to the majority of the soldiers, for at nominal expense good bills could be seen there practically any evening. Thousands of soldiers were entertained at the Liberty Theater by Theda Bara, Douglas Fairbanks and other noted movie stars, the charge for this service being reduced to a minimum. Aside from the lack of comfortable seats and the presence of men only, the soldiers easily forgot that they were in army playhouses.

Other amusements supported freely and enjoyed greatly, were boxing and wrestling matches. Fre-

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<rf o quent bouts were held and the men were given the opportunity of seeing the country's best fighters and wrestlers in action. In truth, prize fighting developed into one of the most popular entertainments in Camp Bowie, and taken, as a whole, the camp became enthusiastic over this sport. The soldiers assembled in vast crowds and clamorously cheered for their men at each bout until good seats at the ringsides became almost impossible to secure.

Moreover, many of the national singers and entertainers found their way to Camp Bowie during the time the 61st was in training there and it was largely the fault of the soldiers themselves if they didn't have pleasant times. It is true the men had to work hard every day, but their work kept them in the best of health, and during the evenings and holidays they were given entertainments of the highest order.

On October 15, 1917, the 61st Field Artillery Brigade was formed from the Oklahoma and Texas Guards, but as these organizations did not contain a sufficient number of men to fill the brigade to full war strength a large number of drafted men from the first national army draft were secured on October 22, 1917, from the 165th Depot Brigade at Camp Travis; and the first week in June, 1918, a second contingent of draft men were brought to Camp Bowie from Texas and Oklahoma, though chiefly from Camp Travis. The life of these newly drafted soldiers was entirely different from that of the National Guardsmen at the time the latter entered camp. The drafted men were taken to detention camp immediately upon arrival, where they were given bed-clothing and cots and were assigned to tents. The detention camp, which was constructed to accommodate about 5,000 troops, was surrounded by ten-foot woven wire, at the top of which were stretched several strands of barbed-wire. The entrances were kept heavily guarded and it was seen that none of the new men were allowed to leave detention camp during their stay there.

The theory upon which the detention camp was established was that men coming from all parts of the country were likely to carry diseases with them, and in order to prevent any distribution of these diseases among the older troops in camp, and for the purpose of keeping troops under close supervision for two weeks while they were undergoing vaccination and preliminary drills, the drafted men were made to enter a detention or segregation camp. It was here that the authorities carefully examined every man, vaccinated him for small-pox and typhoid, and saw to it that he was made into a perfectly sanitary being before being allowed in the camp proper.

The tents, occupied by the new-comers, accommodated from six to eight men and were practically a replica of the tents in the main camp. The men were taught to prepare their bunks, to answer reveille, and to police their quarters each day — experiences entirely novel to them. They were arranged into companies, having their own company streets, latrines and messhalls, and were placed under the immediate command of sergeants who had been selected for this purpose from the trained units in the main camp.

To these civilians, life in the detention camp was "one damn thing right after another." They were rudely awakened each morning by the shrill whistle of the "Top Cutter'' and, in case they didn't

Camp Bowie.

fall out promptly, were more rudely ousted from their bunks by some unsympathetic, curt orderly who was sent to their tents with the gruff admonition to **get those rookies to hell up in line; what do they think this is — ^their birthday?" After having the message delivered verbatim to them, they were sure to respond with a speed in dressing, directly in contrast to the slow, sleepy fashion in which they had been wont to arise and come down to breakfast in their civilian homes.

After having "fallen in" and dressed their lines they were given orders for the day and were likely divided into groups to take exercises. This exercise business proved to be quite an interesting affair to these soft men, who had come to camp from offices and indoor work. Some fat fellows, especially, found it difficult to execute all of the movements, their grunts and pantings often keeping time to the commands of their leaders. With the perspiration bursting forth from their round cheeks and their flesh forming in great remonstrating rolls, the only indication they gave of ever becoming soldiers was the earnest manner in which they entered into their work.

After taking exercises the men were told to fall in line for mess, and this command was always met with shouts of approbation, the men proceeding to their tents with an alacrity, which judging by their previous actions was truly remarkable. It was here that scrambles ensued, for especially rotund individuals, with gluttonous appetites always tried to be the first men to the mess halls, regardless of whether or not they were living away down the street or close to the mess halls. With cunning and swift steps they attempted to press in ahead of every man who appeared before them in line, entirely heedless of caustic remarks and impervious to all sarcasm. If they proved successful in their efforts and succeeded in arriving among the first in the mess-hall they v^^ere sure to look v^ith envious eyes at the amount of food served to those near them and to grumble over the fact that they had been given a small amount of food, even though their mess kits had been loaded to the brim by the kitchen police. They ravenously hurried through their meals and were to be seen a few minutes thereafter taking their places again in line, using the same squirming fox-like methods to advance.

It did not take the men long to notice such individuals and before many days had passed they always managed to ''take a fall" out of them. In several instances they conspired among themselves to break these gluttons by saving all scraps from their meals and looking up the gentlemen while they were eating a second helping, to remark that "they had brought them some more food," after which they quite generously deposited all of their scraps into the mess kits of the gluttons, thereby filling the mess kits full to overflowing, and ruining the remaining good food.

The morning meal was usually followed by general policing of quarters and preparations for the day's drill. The men were placed in groups of from eight to fifty, according to the number of men available to train them and usually each group contained several men who had had some previous military training, these men being always in demand by the sergeants in charge. The mornings were chiefly devoted to teaching foot movements and positions of the soldier, the squad movements being taken up as soon as progress permitted.

The vaccinations were the most unpopular experiences in the detention camp, for not only did sore arms develop from the small-pox vaccinations, but fever and racking headaches also resulted from the injection of anti-typhoid serum. Sometimes as many as half of the men in a company of three or four hundred were too sick to drill or to go on hikes and marches. The men dreaded each trip to the infirmary, for they never knew when they were going to be examined or made to take some kind of medicine. Salts, especially, seemed to be quite popular with the medical officers, the men being lined up quite often to "pass in review" before a large tub of strong salts, each man receiving from a half pint to a pint of this pleasant drink. The results of such kindly attention on the part of the medical officers always resulted in great camp activity, the men often living up to the reputation of sprinters while engaged in the proper execution of their pressing military duties. Hook worms and salts soon grew to be synonymous terms to the soldiers and they shied from both like scary horses from bits of bright colored paper. Attempts to overtake some unwary hookworm resulted in many episodes that will never find their way to print.

An order in detention camp which will long live in the memory of the men who were affected by it was that calling for the cutting of all hair to a shortness of one-half inch.. When this order was read to the troops it created much consternation, many lads fondly passing their fingers through their endangered locks, with the prayer that they might escape. But the ruthless mule clippers found their way to the heads of even the most beautiful hair and each man was turned out a freshly sheared sacrifice to the god of military efficiency, bearing witness that lice and

Uncle Sam had declared war on each other. Many of the Indians refused to credit the order when it was first read to them and, upon being approached about having their braids of hair removed, were emphatic in their refusals to be subjected to such indignity. But the sergeants, firm in their duty, marched forth with a host of assistants to impress upon these wayward nephews of Uncle Sam that all individual religious customs and rights must be waived when Uncle Sam issued orders. The Indians were seized by enough men to hold them securely and rough hands applied the mule shears to the quivering indignant heads of these embryonic war chiefs, leaving them in a badly shorn condition. In several instances they bellowed and roared, threatening to subject all sergeants and ^'Uncles" to the deepest and hottest depths of perdition, but their vitriolic upheavals always subsided into stoic moroseness, from which they were again aroused with difficulty.

Most of the men enjoyed the opportunity of going on hikes, even though the weather was tremendously hot and the marches were several miles in length and over rough roads. Anything to get away from detention camp for a short time was welcomed by the ''rookies" for they were held in the ''bull pen" so closely that they became tired of everything in it. The trips to Lake Komo were especially pleasing to them because they were allowed to take swims there on numerous occasions. The change from the stuffy hot camp to the freedom of this nice cool lake was a God-send and they enjoyed it accordingly.

One section of the detention camp was conducted on a slightly different basis from the rest of the camp, the "G. 0.-45" men being placed in a section to themselves. These men were accorded special attention and nothing was left undone to "make them safe for Democracy;" they were drilled separately, fed separately and guarded separately, being so restricted in their activities as to have little contact with the other men in camp.

After the men had been held in detention camp for two weeks they were herded into an open space before detention camp headquarters, where they remained for two days in the boiling hot sun while their names were read, informing them of the units to which they had been assigned. No greater strain than this was placed upon them while they were in the service and all felt they were mistreated here. They were ordered to stand until given permission to sit, then after being allowed to sit were ordered to remain in that posture until allowed to stand, and thus they were changed about throughout the two days, until both the soles of their feet and the seats of their trousers were worn from the strain. If they hadn't become sunburned before this time it was a certainty that they left either as red as berries or as brown as nuts.