100 Years Ago Today: TURKS SLAY REFUGEES

100 years ago today, The Gettysburg Times ran a second page article about a massacre of Armenians at the missionary compound in Urumiah, Persia (modern-day Urmia, Iran). The article reported that Turkish forces beat and insulted American missionaries before going on to kill Armenian Christians who had taken refuge at the mission. Gettysburg heard about the massacres through the American consul in Tabriz, Gordon Paddock. Paddock would continue to transmit messages throughout the genocide, keeping Americans aware that these acts were happening.

Armenian Widows and Children. LC-DIG-ggbain-21141

Armenian Refugee Children headed for Greece. LC-USZ62-93055

The Armenian Genocide (some use the term massacres since “genocide” was not coined until the Second World War) of 1915 remains a deeply controversial and contested event in the legacy of the war. There is overwhelming evidence to prove that it happened; in 1915, Turkish forces systematically began forced removals of Armenians and organized an effective killing operation that annihilated 1 million out of 1.8 million Armenians in less than a year.* However, in an act of purposeful historical forgetfulness, the newly created Turkish government that succeeded the Ottoman Empire in 1918 refuses to acknowledge that it happened. The current Turkish narrative is the Armenian population present within the Ottoman Empire was deemed a security threat and thus forced to move. In the course of relocation, some Armenians died. This narrative utterly disregards historical reality. 1 million out of 1.8 million dead is not an unfortunate accident.

Armenian Refugees waiting for work, Marsavan. LC-USZ62-139333

In recent news, Armenians have been actively seeking recognition for the genocide of their ancestors. Although the Vatican remains officially neutral on the issue, Pope Francis called the event the “gravest crime of Ottoman Turkey.” On March 7 of this year, an Armenian delegation went to the Vatican to seek a more official recognition of the genocide. Since 2009, the Armenian Diaspora has been seeking the official recognition of the Obama administration. As of yet, there has not been an international recognition of the genocide for fear of upsetting current relations with Turkey. March marks the beginning of the centenary of the Armenian genocide, anticipate the event to be in current events. The contemporary issues surrounding the Armenian genocide of 1915 demonstrate the First World War’s continued legacy on the 21st century world.

This disturbing photograph, taken in 1919, demonstrates continued killing beyond the 1915 massacres. Originally captioned: “The Turks’ bag of game: This picture shows that the Turks, in the remote districts of Aisa Monor [i.e. Asia Minor] beyond the reach of the protecting hand of the Allies, have continued their policy of the slaughter of the Armenian Christians after the signing of the armistice. The massacre of the forty shown in the picture, which has just been received in this country, occurred in February 1919.”
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*For further reading, see:

Alan Kramer, Dynamic of Destruction (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007)

Chapter Two in Stephane Audoin-Rouzeau and Annette Becker, 14-18: Understanding the Great War (New York: Hill and Wang, 2002)

Michael Neiberg, Fighting the Great War: A Global History (Harvard University Press, 2006)

100 Years Ago Today: Challenging the Christmas Truce

This holiday season, I made a resolution for myself: DO NOT publicly complain about the rampage of Christmas Truce ridiculousness that is about to hit Great War commemoration efforts. But, resolutions are made for breaking anyways so, when my “100 Years Ago Today” coverage of the Gettysburg Times offered up some challenging material, I couldn’t resist. Images of enemies playing football and fraternizing in No Man’s Land have flooded the public consciousness in the last month, most notably (and perhaps notoriously) through the controversial Sainsbury’s Chocolate Commercial. To believe the commemorative hype, one would be led into thinking that the entire Western Front halted, had epiphanies about the fellow humanity of the foe, and kicked soccer balls to their heart’s content. Unfortunately, this memory obscures reality. On January 9, 1914, the Gettysburg Times did relay reports of small sections of the line where soldiers were found “fraternizing with forces of the enemy” over the Christmas Holiday, but rather than create a sappy sensationalized story, the Times reported that military authorities on both sides reinstituted order and forbade fraternization in the line. On the same day, the Times also reported on the continuation of the war, something the 1914 commemorations have entirely missed. Two other headlines read, “Over 3,000 Civilians Killed in Belgium” and “Sniping Also the Same as Murder: Awful New German Shell.” The first article detailed civilian deaths town by town in the wake of the German invasion through Belgium. The second was a feature of the new minenwerfer, a deadly shell that reportedly, “smashes the earthworks and blows men to bits, stupefying and poisoning others. Shot from distance of 300 yards.”

100 Years Ago today the Times reported the Christmas Truce side by side with reports of civilian killings in Belgium. Gettysburg Times, Jan. 9, 1915.

So yes, something that can be called a Christmas Truce did happen. But taking it out of context and creating a fuzzy, feel- good Christmas story from a winter in the trenches and a World War is a serious issue. Commemorative efforts during these Centennial Years need to challenge our understanding of the war and examine subjects that we’d rather skip over rather than resort to overused clichés. And don’t sell chocolate by trivializing an extremely dangerous and uncomfortable war zone.

100 Years Ago Today: U.S. URGED TO PRESS DEMAND

In Gettysburg, the year 1915 opened with considerable ambivalence over the war raging in Europe. The Gettysburg Times expressed outrage over the actions of the British Navy. The British had held up 31 American copper ships valued at $6,500,000. The article urged the Wilson administration to take a stronger stance demanding that Great Britain respect the neutrality of the United States and stop seizing merchant vessels.

Often when thinking about world allies of the United States, a closer affinity to Great Britain over Germany is often assumed. This assumption has most likely formed because of the eventual entry of the United States into the war on the side of the Allies and especially the role of the allies in the Second World War fighting against Hitler’s Nazi Germany. Often, there is an assumed myth that the English-speaking peoples of the world are and have always been united as allies, and yet, that assumption did not yet exist at the start of the Great War. German, Irish, and Eastern European immigrants had been streaming into America since the late 19th century, changing the complexion and culture of America. These immigrant groups and their descendants, Irish and German in particular, had little inclination to form attachments to England or the British army. Gettysburg is located near the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch territory and the majority of inhabitants were of German or  Scots-Irish descent.

As will be seen, the theme of 1915 became deep ambivalence with great powers on both sides of the European conflict. Imperial German U-boat warfare and British seizure of American vessels were equally protested at the opening of the new year.

100 Years Ago Today: U.S. Proclaims Neutrality

Despite the bulk of my summer research being completed, I have found that I am enjoying myself too much with this blog to simply let it go. Thus, the blog will be transitioning to track real-time Gettysburg’s movements and responses to the Great War as it was going on one hundred years ago to the day. I will also still be featuring Gettysburgians in the “Students at War” series.

Today in 1914, President Wilson declared neutrality in regards to the war quickly engulfing Europe. He forbade United States citizens from accepting commissions or enlisting in the armies of any belligerent nation. The war in Europe seemed far away, a curiosity to attract the passing attention of anyone in Gettysburg reading the papers, but Wilson had decreed the United States was to stay out of the war, so it was of little consequence.

 

Gettysburg Times, 8/5/14

Gettysburg Times 8/5/14

President Wilson and wife Edith Bolling Galt. LC-DIG-ppmsca-13425

 

 

Agent of Memory: Percy Eichelberger

1922 Gettysburg College Spectrum, Special Collections, Gettysburg College.

Where I last left you, Percy Eichelberger was a 25 year old combat veteran with wound chevrons, returning to Gettysburg College to try and resume his pre-war life. Eichelberger’s track record between 1919 and his graduation in 1921 is amazing, to say the least. He threw himself back into college life, becoming the Captain of the Debating Team, President of the Educational Club, and a member of the Active Service Men’s Club. In addition to a full course load and leadership in these extra-curricular clubs, Eichelberger stepped up to command the newly organized Albert J. Lentz American Legion post, named in honor of the first fallen soldier from Gettysburg. The Legion chapter had been organized by fellow veteran John Hartman, but Hartman stepped down shortly after when he was elected town sheriff.

With the assiduous Eichelberger at the helm, the ship of historical memory began to set sail in Gettysburg. It is not an exaggeration to state any official commemoration, memorialization, or remembrance of the Gettysburg’s role in the immediate post war years had Eichelberger’s name all over it. He played a key role in organizing for the 1920 dedication of the Memorial Tablet to honor the County dead and delivered one of the dedication addresses. Speaking of the tablet, he framed the way Gettysburgians should view the list of the 53 dead men from the county:

“In the first place this tablet represents great sacrifices—sacrifices so great that they cannot be computed—sacrifices the cost of which lie beyond the domain of mathematics…In the next place this tablet we dedicate is not a tablet representing sorrow. It is a memorial of honor. In honor of mothers who bade their sons do brave deeds, in honor of wives who wept for husbands who should never come home again, in honor of children whose heritage is their fallen father’s name, in honor of men who counted not their lives dear when their country needed them. They answered their country’s call in defense of its honor. By this the red of our flag has been deepened by the crimson flow of their blood, the white has been made purer on account of the new order it proclaims. So it now remains for us as we dedicate this tablet to here resolve that this land shall no know other banner than the Stars and Stripes and that is shall forever float in triumph and in glory.”

Memorial Tablet

For Eichelberger, his own wounding and the experience of war had increased his dedication to his beloved “Stars and Stripes.” Although recognizing the severity of sacrifice not only of the men, but of their families, he did not want Gettysburgians to see only blind grief. His tireless efforts to commemorate did not stop there.  After having a conversation with a fellow college war veteran, Paul Foulke, and coming to the conclusion that the county had played a “noble part in the war,” Foulke and Eichelberger decided “…for the sake of posterity…to preserve in tangible form a record of these noble deeds of military activity, and the home work.” This culminated in the 1921 book Adams County’s Role in the Great War. Compiled by Eichelberger and edited by Foulke, the book deals with the town Red Cross, the Liberty Loan, military campaigns Adams County men were involved in, and a detailed Roll of Honor of every man who served with special attention paid to those who had died.

In many ways, any memory of Gettysburg and the Great War is largely thanks to the efforts of Percy Eichelberger. Though he moved to New York in 1921 after his graduation and lived there and in New Jersey until his death in 1968, Eichelberger’s work in Gettysburg during the end of his college career has been key to my research. Eichelberger’s body was returned to Gettysburg after his death and today he is buried in the Evergreen Cemetery with his family right next to the Soldier’s National Cemetery. Today at the college, we have a motto, “Gettysburg Great.” This Great War Gettysburgian certainly fulfilled the motto.

 

 

 

Mapping the Home-front: Gettysburg and the Great War

In order to help me make sense of my research throughout the summer, I have been working on a Google map of the town and mapping sites pertinent to the war in Gettysburg. The purpose of my map is to visually display how a small American town thousands of miles away from the war could be literally surrounding by the war on a daily basis.

The map features three layers. The first layer, with red pins, maps the areas of war relief work and home-front support. Even before America entered the war in April of 1917, citizens were raising money and sending donated items to war-torn villages in Belgium. After the war, the county’s newly formed chapter of the Red Cross became extremely active with fundraising drives, rummage sales, and sewing days. The Women’s Liberty Loan committee organized and canvassed the county raising money for the each of the four Liberty Loan Campaigns, and churches sponsored dinners and recreational activities for soldiers stationed at both the 1917 Infantry Camp and 1918 Camp Colt. The second layer features military sites, anything have to do with the battlefield training camps or drafted solders heading to Camp Meade is included in this layer. The third layer represents sites of memory, such as the Roll of Honor Memorial and burial sites of various soldiers.

 

Follow this link to view how the war affected Gettysburg:

Gettysburg and the Great War

Liberty Memorial at Kansas City!

I got to spend a few days this week at the National World War 1 Museum at Liberty Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri! What a beautiful memorial and excellent museum!

Here are some photos of my travels:

The Liberty Memorial, described by the head architect, was to be “an altar high erected in the skies.”

 

Renault Tank, operated by two men, a driver, in the front, and a gunner, standing behind him.

Diagram showing how the tank was operated.

 

“Splinter Goggles” worn by the driver of the tank to protect his eyes from bullet and shrapnel fragments coming in through the openings in the front of the the tank.

Machine gun post recreation.

Earning Americanism: The End of the German-American

 

As my previous posts have shown, identifying as a German-American in Gettysburg from 1914-1918 rapidly became a very negative identification. German-Americans came to be viewed as suspicious, looking for any chance to sabotage the war effort. “American Kaiser-Wilhelms” were dangerous and not true Americans. However, mid-war, a new discussion arose. President Wilson urged German-Americans that they must choose one ethnicity or the other. Teddy Roosevelt similarly argued that one is either German or American, and cannot be both. Those who demonstrated patriotism, often having to strongly overcompensate to prove their “Americanness,” were accepted as they proved their mettle in war.

On example of this phenomenon occurring in Gettysburg is the evolution of Adolph Weidenbach. Mentioned in an earlier post, Weidenbach made front page headlines simply for becoming an American citizen in 1914. Born in Heidelberg, Germany and reportedly the son of a Junker Baron, the naturalized German became something of an oddity in town. Just over two years later, when America declared war on Germany, Weidenbach again made headlines for being one of the first to volunteer for service. Primarily identified as the German who had been naturalized in Gettysburg, the article went on to explain how he had chosen to volunteer for Uncle Sam’s fledgling Air Service. By 1918, the Times reported that “Captain A. C. Weidenbach…who has seen three months of service as a flier with the American Forces in France, has been appointed supervisor of the airplane mail service between Washington and New York.” No longer “the German”, or even “the naturalized former German”, Weidenbach’s service earned him recognition as a loyal American citizen. Through service to his new county, Weidenbach earned his acceptance into mainstream Gettysburg society. The photo below is a Liberty Loan advertisement funded by the teachers of Adams County demonstrating the same phenomenon: 

Taken from the Gettysburg Times

In the words of reporter Arthur Dunn in late April, 1918, “The war may be worth everything it costs, because it will tend to unify the country. That is, it will make the “melting pot” a reality instead of a phrase. Never again will this country tolerate organizations of foreign-born citizens such as the Germans maintained up to the time of the entry of the United States into the great war. The hyphen will have to go. There will be no more German-Americans.”

“The Curse of Kultur”: Anti-German Sentiment In Gettysburg, Part II

America in the First World War is known for her deeply anti-German sentiment. In a previous post, “To Hell With the Kaiser: Anti-German Sentiment in Gettysburg,” I mentioned some inklings of evidence for anti-German sentiment in the town and surrounding area. My research since that time has yielded even more evidence for anti-German activities in Adams County.

In his book, Over Here: The First World War and American Society, historian David Kennedy presented early twentieth century America as akin to George Orwell’s Oceania in the book 1984, a society with unparalleled censorship and blind hatred towards perceived enemies. At the outset of this study, it seemed doubtful that the kind of rabid censorship and paranoia of Washington, D.C. officials could have made a huge impact on a community as small as Gettysburg. I was wrong. In 1917, German spies and conspiracies were seen in anything and everything. When the Remington Arms Company located in Philadelphia blew up, Gettysburg was quick to blame German-American sabotage. No mail coming from or going to Germany would be accepted by posts offices, Gettysburg’s included. On April 21, 1917, two Adams County boys, Charles Keagy and Albert Kline, were arrested as German spies because they were overheard speaking Pennsylvania Dutch at a train station. In the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country, suddenly  heritage became suspicious and dangerous. After being questioned and released, the “American Kaiser-Wilhelms” were followed by Secret Service agents to verify the boys had told the truth about where they were headed.

Gettysburg, a town rife with German names and Pennsylvania Dutch heritage, seems to have made an effort to overcompensate to prove their Americanism. The irony is profound. At any given week, somewhere in Adams County there were three or four patriotic rallies filled with citizens with German last names damning the Kaiser and his Kultur.

Gettysburg Times, August 17, 1918

In January of 1918, President Wilson passed a proclamation that all male German aliens (still holding German citizenship) over fourteen years of age must be registered. Each man had to present himself to the local post office on the specified day, be photographed, fingerprinted, and provide personal information and business contacts. The registrant than had to carry a card showing he had been certified and authorities could ask to see the card. If the registrant wanted to move from one house to another, he first had to obtain permission from the local chief of police before he could move. One would not expect to find this kind of surveillance in rural Adams County, but on the appointed day, four aliens residing in the county were registered. The names and places of employment of each of the four men was printed in the Gettysburg Times. Only one, Rudolph Adolph Schultz, resided in Gettysburg and was employed as a chef at the Hotel Gettysburg.

Continuing their patriotic efforts, on May 6, 1918, a Liberty Parade was held in Gettysburg. In addition to the marching soldiers, maypoles, and children in patriotic outfits that is to be expected at such events, the parade featured sinister undertones:

                “The high school pupils had a burial party which was conveying a coffin on a bier labeled, “Bill, the Hun; the old dog is dead,” while immediately behind came three grim looking grave diggers each armed with a business-like spade. Another Kaiser was carried about suspended from a rope while the third was dragged along without much ceremony.”

Although this is not Gettysburg, displays such as this would have been seen in town throughout the war. LC-DIG-ggbain-26914

Grave displays such as this makes one wonder what was going through the mind of Rudolph Schultz, the only card-carrying registered alien in Gettysburg, as the Kaiser was hung in effigy and paraded through the streets. Barely a month earlier, Robert Prager, a German coal miner living in St. Louis, was lynched in front of a crowd of 200 people. Did Schultz feel threatened? Did he avoid the parade altogether? Was  he actually a target for anti-German sentiment? These questions cannot be answered, but one gets the impression that pro-German sentiments would not be dealt with kindly in Gettysburg from 1917-1918.

 

Soldiers Past and Future: The Civil War and Great War Meet in Gettysburg

Gettysburg, a town already so intimately acquainted with war, was the scene of particularly interesting historical encounters. The still too present memory of the Civil War impacted the way Gettysburgians viewed the Great War. Many veterans of the Civil War were still alive, although very old, and it was not uncommon for The Gettysburg Times  to run headlines about the death of a prominent Civil War veteran right alongside coverage of the war raging in Europe. As the Red Cross in Gettysburg began all-out efforts to raise money to aid refugees in Belgium, the town of Frederick, Maryland, just to the south of Gettysburg, was still pushing the United States government for war reparations amounting to $200,000 for damages done by Confederate General Jubal Early’s raid.

Confederate General Jubal Early.
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In the summer of 1917, the 4th, 7th, and 61st  United States Regular Infantry came to Gettysburg to form a summer training camp. What is today the Gettysburg National Military Park was then owned by the War Department, and Civil War battlefields across the nation served as convenient places to house and train men. Soldiers trained right on the historic ground. Today, when you visit the Gettysburg battlefield, you will find three observation towers located on Confederate Avenue, Culp’s Hill, and Oak Ridge. These are left over from the days of battlefield training camps. Built in 1895 by the War Department, men training used the towers as points of observation and to familiarize themselves with the terrain.

Dorey Halsted, Captain of the 4th Infantry, photo taken 1916.
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In 1917, Civil War Veterans were still alive and visited Gettysburg with some frequency. On September 3, 1917, an extraordinary march took place.  “Gettysburg’s soldiers of the past, ” wrote the Times, ” joined with seasoned United States Regulars of the present, in honoring Adam’s County’s future fighters, Saturday evening, when the much heralded parade and patriotic exercises were held in the presence of several thousand persons.” Union Veterans, “wearing the blue made so dear in the struggle a half a century ago,” marched proudly not in honor of themselves, but to honor the next generation of fighters. “Then came the registrants (draftees) –a bare dozen of them-but what they lacked in numbers was fully made up in the enthusiasm which greeted them all along the line of the march. Everywhere they were applauded, frequently people cheered them, and at a few places Regulars watching the parade let out lusty yells to show their welcome to the men who will soon bear with them the title of “Sammies.”  These old men quite literally led the young men into their future and shared legacy as American fighters. Although the wizened veterans had no first-hand knowledge of machine guns or tanks, they knew combat and what it meant to be a “Sammy.” (“Sammy” was a late nineteenth century term for an American soldier serving Uncle Sam. This term would be replaced by “doughboy” later on.)

A week later, the workmen of the 61st Infantry Camp made a macabre discovery. While digging to water lines, they unearthed the bones of Civil War soldiers right in the middle of their camp. Skulls and bullets were unearthed. Some of the men began trophy hunting for bullets they could then take as souvenirs “Over There.” The incident makes one wonder what exactly went through the minds of the men of the 61st as they reaped the unholy harvest of war. There was no glory here, simply unidentifiable pieces of what had once been living men, just like themselves.

The next day, however, about 1500 men from Camp Gettysburg paraded through town singing “Hang Kaiser Bill from a Sour Apple Tree.” Civil War scholars will note the title as the famous song in the Civil War North “Hang Jeff Davis from a Sour Apple Tree.” Like so many other areas of early twentieth century soldiering, the Civil War intimately shaped the way Americans thought of war and served as a lens of viewing warfare.

Sheet Music, Courtesy of Library Congress Photo Catalog

LC-USZC2-3218