May/June 1917 - Mobilization!
“It is useless to try to deceive ourselves any longer by thinking that the part the United States will play in the war now devastating Europe will be a minor one. Those of us who have been comforted by the thought that ours would be a defensive part, and that there was little likelihood of any foreign nation coming here to attack us, must now realize that our army is to be sent abroad to fight in the trenches in France, and that in all probability, our boys will soon be in the thick of the fight and will remain there until the war ends.”
- Penn Yan Democrat, May 25, 1917
In this two month time period, the war was indeed devastating Europe. Major offensives were underway in Belgium, northern France, and southeastern Europe. A new facet of warfare was introduced by the Germans in June when they sent their Gotha bombers on a raid to London, killing 158 civilians. The British retaliated with bombing raids inside Germany with “aeroplanes" based in France. With Russia to the east, Germany was fighting a two-front war but with the overthrow of the Czar in March and a weak provisional government in place, the Eastern Front was beginning to collapse. If that happened, Germany could then focus all their strength on England and France along the Western Front. Announcement released by the War Department on May 18th: “The President has directed an expeditionary force of approximately one division of regular troops under command of General John J. Pershing, to proceed to France at as early a date as practicable. General Pershing and staff will precede the troops abroad.” The United States was woefully unprepared to enter a land war in Europe. Our army had been doubled in size as part of the “Preparedness” strategy during our period of neutrality, but it still numbered less than 200,000. To meet the goal of sending a million soldiers to join England and France along the Western Front required a massive undertaking that took up the remaining months of 1917. Although enlistments increased dramatically after the declaration of war in April, Congress passed the Selective Service Act in mid-May; the first step toward a draft. On June 5th, 1,207 men between the ages of 21 and 30 enrolled in Yates County. That number included 6 who were exempt because they were “colored” and another 59 who were aliens. Those who did not enroll were hunted down by the sheriff.
While the draft was getting organized, the government turned its attention to creating training facilities for the Army. The plan was to build 32 camps around the country that would house 22,000 men at each. Locally, there was an attempt by several citizens to offer the campus of Keuka College as a possible site for a training camp. Due to financial difficulties, the college had stood vacant for two years. The Yates County Chronicle ran a story about it with the headline “Could Accommodate Large Number. Good Parade Grounds. Healthy Location for Soldiers.” The possibility was offered to Governor Whitman, but nothing came of it.
To finance this major military expansion, a Liberty Loan drive was organized around the country in mid-May to sell war bonds. The two banks in Penn Yan, Citizen’s Bank and Baldwin’s Bank got behind the effort locally and the business community supported the drive with advertising - “Lend Money - Don’t Hoard It” - “Money in an old sock earns nothing.” Within a month, 854 people or businesses bought $268,300 worth of bonds that earned 3 1/2% interest.
While massive mobilization was taking place around the country, the first “doughboys” arrived in France in late June, 14,000 troops in advance elements of the First Division. They were there to establish supply networks and training camps for the large numbers that would eventually follow them. General “Black Jack” Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force, was determined that American troops would not enter into combat until they numbered a million in France. That would take nearly a year.
In Yates County, all this activity was met with a burst of patriotic fervor. A patriotic rally was held at Paris Hall in Branchport and was largely attended. Old Glory was flung to the breeze, patriotic songs were delivered by the choir of St. Luke’s church, and speeches were delivered. More and more American flags were seen around the county on residences and businesses.
With the New York National Guard called into active duty, Governor Whitman issued a call for a “Home Defense Corps” to form in each county, consisting of volunteers from 16 to 64. They were expected to meet any emergency while the National Guard and State Militia were on duty elsewhere. They were expected to drill twice a week with military instructors. By June 20th, seventy men had enlisted locally. Penn Yan School Superintendent W. Eugene DeMelt made plans to go to a military training camp in Peekskill for the month of July. He was eventually named Captain of what became known as “the Home Guard.”
Representatives of the National League for Women’s Service called a meeting at the courthouse for the women of the county to mobilize them behind the war effort. As a result, the Yates County Women’s Suffrage Party, that had been heavily involved in campaigning for the November suffrage vote, urged women of the county to join in patriotic work, specifically to help with canvassing for the military census. The census, which included 87 questions intended to see how each person could contribute to the war effort, was conducted in June. Many of the same women became involved in starting a chapter of the American Red Cross in Penn Yan in mid-May. Within a month they had over 650 members. Branches of the Penn Yan chapter formed in Dresden, Benton and, by August, each town in the county.
Thanks to wild rumors and government propaganda, there was great concern about German spies and saboteurs operating in the area. That concern was heightened when a “bomb” was discovered on the 120-foot high trestle crossing Big Stream in the town of Starkey. It looked like an army canteen made of brass. The person who found it took it to the station agent in Rock Stream who then took it to a druggist to analyze its liquid contents. From that point on, the trestle was guarded by the railroad day and night. In Penn Yan, floodlights were put on the Pennsylvania Railroad trestle that crossed the outlet so the Seneca Street watchman could keep an eye on it at night.
By the end of June, letters were starting to appear in local papers from Yates County men in training camps around the country. One was from Alfred Williams, Jr. who was in the Marines at Paris Island, SC. He had been there for a month. In a letter to his sister, he described the train ride from Rochester to Savannah. He also described some of the training. “We forget about the unappetizing food when we hear the band play and see the colors pass and we remember why we’re here. And not a man dares to look right or left lest someone detect a tear… There is a rumor of our going to France, but nothing definite.”
Odds and Ends from May/June 1917
On June 6th there was a letter in the Yates County Chronicle from Lawrence Armstrong of Penn Yan who was serving in the American Ambulance Corps in France. He was working out of a hospital in the suburbs of Paris. “The work of a motor ambulance driver consists in running ambulance to the Gare la Chapelle (railroad station) where all the wounded coming into Paris are received, unloading the wounded, loading them into the ambulances and taking them to all the hospitals in and around Paris, of which there are several hundred.”
The southern end of Lake Keuka was active with Curtiss airplanes being tested. They flew over Penn Yan quite often. A company of the Home Guard from Hornell was sent there to guard the factory. An Elmira builder was given a contract to build 50 houses in Hammondsport to house the increase of workers at the Curtiss plant. The work force expanded to 1100.
Seven Yates County physicians volunteered for the Officers Reserve Corps subject to being called up to active duty.
The Home Defense Committee, in order to raise funds to carry on their work, designated May 5th as Button Day. School children in the county were sent out to sell for five cents red, white and blue buttons with the words “Home Defense League.”
Harry