I F cJ I r rr rrz:r I Cg F I r e::J I r crrc4 I F i II

...., _ __..._~ ..... -.:The North Carollna MllJtary Hlstorlcal Society...._ ___ .,.

VOLUME Vl MAY 2000 ISSUE t

1 Ca~~1e 0£ ~he • Cu1ge Th.e .A:rd.e"DD.e& ~a:mpa.tgn

By Richard M. Ripley, Colonel, U.S. Army (Retired)

Autumn Stalemate The fai lure at Amheim led to a stalemate during the autumn

and early w inter of J 944. AltJ1ough Allied forces had advanced to the borders oftbe Third Reich, the Gennan anny under the lead­ership of Rundstedt and Model had managed to scrape together sufficient forces to establish a hasty defense of Germany's bor­ders. The advent of bad weaU1er left the Allies ITustrated and vir­ruaUy immobiJized in the mud and snow of the Ardenoes and the harsh terrain of the ou ter Ruhr Valley. Ln October at Aachen, Americru1 infantrymen fought ferocious street battles before the c ity fell. Attempts to crack the Westwall (Siegfried line) and gain access lo ilie heartland met with failure across the entire Allied front, from Schmidt and the Roer River in the north to the Moselle River in tJ1e south, where Patton's 3d Army also had ground Lo a bait in Lorraine. The fortress ci ty of Metz held out throughout October against the siege warfare that Patton detest­ed. The Lorraine Campaign had turned into yet another series of bloody infantry battles. Advancing through the Rhone Valley Crom the Riviera, Dcvcrs's 6th Army Group had better luck in cracking the Belfort gap in the sou thern Vosges Mountains and driving as far as the west bank of the Rhine before lhe offensive stalled. Despite the 6th Anny Group 's success. the German 19th Army still controlled an extensive bridgehead from Col.mar in the north lo Mulhouse in the south that was dubbed tile Colmar pock­et.

The most brutal battle of all was fought in the frigid, dense Huertgen Forest, which lay astride the route Lo the Roer dams that ilie Germans threatened to demolish and flood if the All ies attempted to penetrate the Westwall through lhat sector. rn a series of misguided engagements often compare to ili~ worst bat­tles of World War l, the U.S. 1st Army commander, Lt. Gen. Courtney Hodges, flung one division after another into the b loody cauldron of the Huertgen in November 1944. Heavily defended by the Germans, ilie forest became a deathtrap that con­sumed men at a shocking rate. Before it was finally captured,

eight American divisions were bloodied in the Huertgeo, suffer­ing more than 24,000 combat casualties and 5,000 more to trench foot and exhaustion. Overall, during the battles a long the Rocr River during the autumn of 1944, lhe U.S. !st and 9U1 Armies suffered 57,000 combat losses and 70,000 more to the ravages of the e lements. When it ended, ilie Germans remained in control of the vital Roer dams, and the Allies were left with. a hollow v icto­ry in what was undoubtedly ilie most ineptly fought series of bat­tles of the war in the West.

The Battle of the Ardennes In mid-December 1944, the quietest sector of the Western

Front was ilie rugged 60 miles along the Gennan border between the tip of Luxembourg on tl1e south and the headwaters of the Roer River oo the norU1. There, where the Belgian Ardennes merge with the Gennan Eifel, ilie Americans bad driven during the Fall into contact with the log bunkers of tile Sieg!Tied Line and had stopped, setting up defensive positions on Ute hills and long the mountain roads. With difficult territory to the front, the Allied Forces command deemed d1is area unworthy of serious offensive effort and was diverting its troops to the Aachen area in the norili and to the Alsace-Lorraine battle in the south. The prin­cipaJ American units on Line were tile 99ili and 106ili Infantry Divisions under V Corps in ITont of Malmedy, and U1e 4th and 28ili Infantry Divisions under VIII Corps to the south. They were connected by the 14th Cavalry Group. Both the 4th and 28th were resting after the bloody battle they fought in the Huertgen Forest. Behind ilie latter two divisions was the 9th Armored Division, recently arrived in the battle area.

At 5:30 on the morning of December 16, iliese divisions had trouble on Uteir hands. The front-line troops were reporting heavy incoming artillery fire from the east and wbat appeared to be reconnaissance i11 force at several places. The infantry and artillery action continued unabated all day. By nightfall commu­nications to many foiward positions had been cut, strong points bad been isolated, and withdrawals of up to three kilometers

BATTLE OF THE ARDENNES 16-26Oet.emb1r 1944

tTTTTTTn t..1.1.uo r•o .. , -.1u. 15 Dtut0H.• -- L.lllfl f Of GICIUUtl ,(;tl(T•&fll'I, 16 0[0 - - GU.•A.111 •••Y ta.JHU-Y ---=- wnr W•-.1..

+p .,

made on a 10 kilometer f:ronl. The battle of the Ardennes-the most massive German effort of che European campaign and one which would eventually involve over a million men, including 29 German divisions, 3 1 American divisions, and three British divi­sions- was under way.

With Stepp Dietrich's Sixlh SS Panzer Anny on the norlh making the main effort, and Manteuffel 's Fifth Panzer Army sup­pon ing o n the south, Van Rundstcdt planned to drjvc on the ~~, BRUS&i.s

Army the advantage of surprise. The battle of the Ardennes or the Battle of the Bulge lasted

from December 16, 1944, to January 25, 1945. By mid-January 1945, the German attacks had nm their course, and the Allies had gone over to the offensive. Over a million men, 500,000 Germans, 600,000 Americans, and 55,000 British, fougbt in this greatest pitched battle every fought by the American Anny. Losses on bolh sides were enormous. Over 100,000 Germans were killed, wounded, or captured. American losses were 81,000, including 19,000 killed and 15,000 captured. The Gennan gam­ble failed, due mainly to the gallantry of American troops who fought in the frozen forest of the Ardennes.

The 30th Infantry Division in the Battle For the 30th lnfantry Division, sitting quietly behind the

Roer River just north of Aachen, the events in the Ardenncs on December I &-over two corps away- were remote. The divi­sion, with only the 120th Infantry on liuc, was enjoying a few weeks of well earned rest and recuperation following the hard fighting involved in Lhe capture of Aachen. However, things changed rapidly the nexl day- 17 December. Just before noon, Major General Hobbs, division com­mander, received a warning order to move the division south to the V Corps sector. By 4:30 that afternoon, U1e ll 9th Regimental Combat

LI. Ge11eral C. H. Hodges (left), Comma11der, First Army, 11Jith Major General lelm1d S. Hobbs, CG, 30111 111fa11t1y Divisio11.

" T t·~ NETHERLANDS l great communications center of Liege, there overrunning the huge allied supply dumps of gasoline and ammunition, and splitting the

THE ARDENNES CAMPAIGN

l ./'' '-..r'\_ _ _,-..~ ': '

l

Allied forces. Usi11g these supplies, the German goal was to continue on and seize Antwerp. The elite Panzers of the SS Anny had been overhauled, filled up again with ymmg fanatical troops. A special sabotage unit tinder Colonel Otto Skorzeny was cqujpped with American uniforms and equipment.

It was the coldest, snowiest weather .. in memory" in the Ardcnncs Forest. Poor weather, w

which grounded reconnaissance planes, strict secrecy in the prepa­rations, the choice of diflicull ter­rain, and moderation in the firsl day's attack gave the Genuan

PAGE TWO

--0

N

-0

s ·

-E ,_ L G .

RECALL

TH£ XVIII AIRBORNE CORPS MEETS KAMPFGRUPPE PEIPER

lead element, Kampfgruppe Peiper, was to make some tough fighting for tbe men of the 30th Infantry Division for the nex1 several days. Soon after dark, th.e division CP was being set up in Franeorchamps on the road south of Spa where First Army head­quarters was localed. The I L9th had resumed its march the afternoon of the 18th and was ordered to the Stoumont-La Gl.eize area where indications were that contact would be made with the I SS Panzer Corps' 1st and 12th SS Panzer Divisions. The I 19th moved into the area and made enemy contact during Ll1e evening. The 120tb lnfamntry arrived in the vicinity ofMalmedy during the night of the .18th and relieved elements of the I 17th and prepared to take over defense o f the Malmcdy sector. The 823rd Tank Destroyer Battalion, the 743rd Tank Battalion, and the light field artillery battalio ns of the division moved in combat team attachments.

Team, loaded aboard trucks, was on the road to V Corps leading the way for tlle rest of the division. The I 17th Infantry moved out next. The !20th Infantry, the only unit on line, turned its sector over to the 29th Infantry Division and by 11 :00 PM moved out with tbe last of the D ivision's combat e lements. The division rear echelons remained behind.

As one can imagine, the movement soulb was a nightmare in both planning and execution. The division commander and G3 departed to report to V Corps and then proceeded south. Orders arrived from V Corps and First Army. Roads were c logged with both civilian and military refugees, at times blocking and holding up the convoys. The Luftwaffe was active over U1e columns but fortunately did little damage. First Army needed a regimental combat team immediately and tried to get lbe lead column. However, the I 19th Infantry already had detrueked for the night; therefore the I 17th Infantry, the second column, was rerouted through with orders to seize and defend Stavelot and Malmedy.

By dawn of 18 December the I 17th had reached an assembly area near Malmedy and proceeded to advance to Malmedy and Stavelot along the Ambleve river. At Stavelot, contact was made with elements of the l st SS Panzer Division. This division and its

Day break of 19 December found the 30tb Division spread out over some 17 miles of battle line, its fighting elements in small groups linked mainly by forested hillsides with lhc hope that tJ1esc were impassable. There were no boundaries, only a number of rudimentary blocking positions. The fog

o f battle obscured a great deal of what was going on. Rumors were rampant and things were tense, but there was much to be done. JI became apparent that contact had been made wiU1 the German spearheads on the 18th. Tactically, the job was to drive them back and organjze a defense line. The division went to work and succeeded in helping to hold the northern hinge of the bulge linked with the l st Infantry Division on its left flank and the 82nd Airborne Division on its right.

The story of the division's operations ceases at this point. The purpose has been to set the stage, i.e., provide the back­ground to better understand and appreciate the individual stories selected and included in this issue of Recall. The stores more vividly explain what happened in the fighting around the town of Stoumont, Malmedy, and Stavelot.

Sources: Cole, Hugh M. The ArdeJ1nes: Batlle of/he Bulge. 1965. Office of the

Clticf of Military History, department of the Anny, Washington, D.C. Eisenhower, John S. D. The Bitter Woods. 1969. G. P. Putnam's Sons,

New York. MacDonald, Clarles B. A. Time/or Trumpets. 1985. William Morrow

and Company, lnc. New York.

~:n.d o.£-the Tra.i1 £or Tiger 222 By Tom Rainey

ln preparation for the Gennan offensive in the Ardennes, which j umped off on 16 December 1944, the 50 lst SS Heavy Tank Battalion, equipped with Tiger Ils (aka King Tigers) was attached to the I st SS Panzer Division (Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler) and further attached to the Karnpfgruppe commanded by SS Lt. Col. Jochen Peiper.

One of these Tigers was Number 222. Thanks to pictures taken by German cameramen, reproduced in Battle of the Bulge:

MAY2000

Then and Now, by Jean Paul PalJud, we can trace the tank's route at several points before and after its journey ended. It is .first seen in the village ofDiedenberg, Belgium, some 11 kilometers south­east ofMalmedy. In an.obviously posed picture, nine or IO para­troopers are sining on the turret. (A paratroop regiment was attached to Peiper for a time.) Next, 222 appears at a road junc­tion called Kaiserbaracke. a little closer to Mahnedy, this time with four paratroopers perched on the turret. A little farther on,

PAGEntREE

outside Ligueuville, a rear view shot of the tank shows eight paratroopers on the back deck, grinning happily as they pass around a pack of cigarettes, American, no d0\1bt. A bit later, the same soldjers are sharing their cigarettes with a Waffen SS motorcyclist who has pulled up to the rear of the tank.

The scene now shifts to Stavelot, which was being cleared and defended by the I st Battalion, I 17th Jn fan try, 30th Infantry Division, reinforced by the 1st Platoon, Company C, 823d Tanlc Destroyer Battalion. These units bad fought their way into Stavelot on 18 December and secured that part of the town north of the Amblcve River, except for several b locks still held by the SS at the western edge.

Wit.h a Recon Platoo n of the 823d, I joined the 1st Plat~on of Company C on 19 December. The M-10 platoon leader was I Lt. Ellis W. Mdnnis, a courageous solrucr and a good friend. During the day of the I.9th, Mack and l were in an observation post (OP) on the second floor of a building. From a window to our front we could see the Ambleve River and tbe bridge leading into Stavelot from the south at about 150 yards from us. To our left was a window through which we could look down on one of Mac's M-1 Os, commanded by Sgt. Ray Dudley. H e was covering the bridge and the road leading to it from the southeast.

This road, which descended a long hill into the Ambleve valley at an angle to our location, was lined with bujldings except for the last I 00 yards or so before the bridge. I've forgotten whether we had some waming that a tank was coming down that road. At any rate, we saw lhe long tube of Tiger 222's 88mm gun. emerge from behind the last building. The M- 10 gunner must 11ave been tracking the ianlc with hfa telescope s ight, for as soon as the Tiger had cleared the building, the M-10 fired one round of armor-piercing shot whicb penetrated the armor on the right side, above the track, abom 14 inches under the tuJTet and some four to five feet to the rear of the front g lacis plate.

The only way we could knock out the mighty Tiger was to hit it where the armor plate was relatively thin (a little more than three inches on the sides). The six inches of frontal armor was impervi­ous to our guns. The round probably struck the gunner and the loader. The hole make by the three-inch round can be seen in the picture on page 161 of the book referred to above. Surp1isingly, the tank did not bum. Neither did we see any of the crew members bail out, but they must have exited through an escape hatch in the rear of the turret. There were no para­troopers aboard. Too bad. They missed a thrilling experience.

No sooner had the M-10 fired than a hail of small anns fire was directed at the M-10 from across the river. This resulted in a fire breaking out in the ammunition box secured to the caliber .50 macbjne gun on the M-1 O's tur­ret. Immediately an asbestos-gloved band, probably Sgt. Dudley's, came out of the turret and beat the flame out.

Tiger 213. This Tiger II taflk with the number 213 was 011e of six lom1ed to Co/0T1e/ 0110 Skorm:.efly for Operation Pa11zer­fa11st. It is identical to Tiger 222. Botll ta11ks belonged to the 2d Company, 50lst SS H eavy Ta11k Battali011. It sits near the La Gleizt1 position where it was destroyed.

Biograpf1ic Sketch THOMPSON LAMAR RANEY

Tom Rainey enlisted in the Sixtl1 Cavalry in July 1939. Com­missioned a second lieutenant of Cavalry in July 1942, be was assigned along with 14 classmates to the 82Jd Tank Destroyer (TD) Battalion. The battalion. atl2lchcd to the 30th Infantry Division, landed on Omaha Beach on 24 June 1944. He served as a reconnaissance platoon leader in the five campaigns in northern Europe except for a 30-day period as Recon Company commander. He was executive office of a tank bat!alion in Korea from Janua1y 1952 to February 1953 and on the Army General S1aff from 1953 unti l July 1956. He was graduated from the Army War College in 1962, served as G-3 (Operations Officer) of Vfl Corps. and pulled two lours in Vietnam. He retired as colonel in 1975.

To the best of my knowledge, t11at was the last enemy tank that attempted to approach the bridge at Stavelot.

Stavelot, cleared and defeT1ded by the I I 7th /11fant1y, 18 D ecember 1944. The sce11e from an OP looking across the A m/Jleve River Bridge. Note the destroyed Germa11 tank al the left;,, the photo.

PAGE fOUR R£CALL

24 Ho,11rs a Priso:n..er o£4th..e Wa££e:n.. SS

By Bruce A. Crissinger

As told to Tom Raney

On I 6 December 1944. I '~ at the Command Pos1 (CP) of the 823d Tank DeslIO}er Bnuahon located in the bombed-out vil­lage of Hoengen, Gem1any, 10 miles northeast of Aachen. I was commander of the banal ion's Company /I.. The S-3, Major Ashb} I. Loh:.e, told me that there were n1mors of a Gennan coumer· auac:k somewhere to the south of us.

The next day, 17 December, we were ordered to move south with the 30th Tnfantry Division. We starred moving at 1650, passed through Aachen, and spent the njght of 17-18 December near Eupeu, Belgium. As our ballalion had been in Ute process of converting from a towed battalion lo an M· l 0 ballalion, my com­pany was composed of two towed platoons (3-inch gun M6) and one M- l 0 platoon, the 2d. On 18 December, we continued our march lo the soulh, headed toward Remouchamps, Belgium. attached to the 3d Battalion, I 19th Infantry Regiment f rode in a jeep at lhe bead of Lhe company with Reconnnissnnce Sergeant Guy J L Booth. "Sbony" BooU1was6·4" tall and a fine solclier. A broken ankle six weeks later caused by a chunk or frozen dirt thrown up by a bomb dropped by B-26s on the wrong target sent him home.

Some,, here, perhaps halfway to Remouchamps. Major HaJ McCown. CO of the 2d Battalion, I 19th Infantry, pulled up beside me in his jeep and told me I was to nttncb one platoon to bis battalion. I gave him the 1st Pln1oon under Isl Lt Art Cunningham. We went through Remoucharnps, turned soulh up tbe beautiful Ambleve River valley to Stoumont, and about dark went into very unsecurc positions. Sometime during the morning. after the Germans had shelled the town with direct tank fire, the 6x6 trucks which had hauled the infantry into Stownont were ordered to leave. They came down the hill from the nonh of town and turned back U1e way wo came toward Remouclmrops. TI1e point l wish to emphasize is that ncvcc in my lifo have 1 seen 6x.6 truck engines revved up so fast or Lnicks take a comer the way tbey did. And I don't blame lhem.

After being chased out of Stoumont and losing all U1e eight towed guns of the Isl and 3d Platoons, I sent the men back to Remoucbamps. Tom Springfield, with his platoon of four M- l Os, and Art Cunningham and I stayed where Lt. Col. Robert Hurlong, CO, 1st Battalion, I 19th Infantry, bad bis roadblock at Stoumont Station with an odd mixture of supporung armor. Springfield and I walked back toward Stoumont, approaching an M-36 with a 90mm gun. About Lhat time a Marie V tank came down the hill from the direction of Stoumont The M-36 fired, the Panther was hit, then slewed to a stop in U1e ditch, and was dead. To my knowledge that was the farthest point of advance the Gennans made in the 30th Division sector in the Battle of the Bulge.

On the monUng of 23 December, Stoumont bad been retak· en byh Lt. Col Hurlong's Isl Bauation, ti 9th Infantry. His bat­talion was stopped in the valley west of La Gleize. My 2d Platoon, with its four M· l Os, was supporting Lt. Col. Hur long 's baualion. The 1st and 3d Platoons had not yet been reanned. Col.

MAV2000

Hurloog told me that enemy tank fire had knocked out three Sbennans and to sec what we could do about iL Lt. Cunningham and 1 walked toward La Gle1tc on a macadam road, under a rail­road overpass "here n dead German soldeier lay, and a few hun­dred yards fanher to a hilltop. From a bank on Ule lefi of the road an infantry soldfor spoke to us. He snid his position was the out­post and that an enemy machmc gun had been firing out to bis front. There wa nothing bc1ween him and the enemy. We con­tinued down Uie hill for perhaps one or two hundred yards when we were lired on by a machine gun not a burp gun. The bullets came so close that they cracked like Chinese firecrackers. We hit U1e ditch with Cunningham facing U1e front and 1 the other way. Another burst brought dirt from the bank down by my face. Cunrunghan1 jumped up, turned around w1d hit the ditch again. Another burst got him in the arm. He said, "That one got me." Then, shonly nfierwards, "l'm going out." From that time on T did not sec Art Cunmngham again until we met in the States after the war. I stayed where I was and listened to our I 05mm shells going over, hopmg 1hey would hit that machine gun After about a half hour I beard footsteps on the road, then someone kicked me on the foot J looked up and there were two German soldiers star­ing at me. They did not wear the usual coal cuttle helmet but rather tanker or paratrooper headgear. They look everything 1 had of value, broke the M-1 rifle I wo.:. carrying. and we took off down a bank lo the south of the road, picking up some Gennan tank ammunition that had been air dropped. We climbed a steep high bank into a grove of evergreen trees and into a rather large bunker made by digging n pit, then covering it with tree trucks and clirt.

There I was, jammed in with several Gcm1ans, some proba­bly officers, and U1e good old American artillery was pouncLing U1c grove. I wits turned over Lo ti rather smo.11, U1io soldier with a hair-lip who was carrying a machine pistol. He look me through various manned positions with machine guns, etc. As we came up a lane into La Glei1e, a Mark rv tartk came out and the tank com­mander swiveled his periscope around Lo get a good look at me. I was turned over to an interrogation officer in a b11ilding. He was originally from Chicago and spoke perfect English. He had a shrapnel hole in his helmet and was not very happy. From there I was taken to a cellar under a house. An SS soldfor with a Schmeisser machine pi tot (burp gun) sa1 on guard at the top of the stairs. There were 30 or 40 American Gls in the cellar includ­ing four A Company men.

Some time later that evening, maybe 9 or 10 o'clock, we heard fire crackling in the house above us, compliment" of ilie American artillery, probably white phosphorous round.<;. We were ordered out by the guard. There was absolUlely no panic; every­one went out in a quiet and orderly manner. But the scene in the street beside the house was chaotic; the town was burning, the 30 or 40 Gls were huddled together, our artillery was shelling the town, and a very wild looking SS man was swinging an Assault

l'A0£FIV!l

Rifle 44 around. He .looked at me and yelled, "Offizier, Offizier!" (Officer, Officer!) Since he spoke with an accent, it took me- several moments to reatizc be wanted me.

l was then taken to the command post of SS LL Col. Joachim Peiper, who com­manded a Kampfgruppe (a brigade-size fonnatio:n) of the 1st SS Panzer Division. (lt was this unit which had murdered the 84 Americans a l Baugnez near Malmedy on 17 December.) The CP was in a cellar that you entered from an outside entrance. I think there was a blanket for a door. I went in and for some reason realized who was in command and snapped probably Lhe best salute I ever gave. 1 think he returned the salute. Peiper was wearing a type of coverall and no helmet. He spoke Soldiers of Kampfgruppe Peiper, 1st SS Panzer Divisio11, advancing. 17 December 1944. slow, good, but not perfect English. He told me of an SS captain who had knocked out 24 British Shennans with h.is Tiger in one engagement in Nonnandy the previous summer. (See "Gennru1y's Greatest Tank Ace" in the December 1991 newsletter.)

Shortly thereafter, Major Hal McCown was brought in. He gave me a quick and surprised handshake. After a little conver­sation, the purpose of the meeting was made clear. (There were several other German officers in attendance.) Peipcr's force was surrounded and out of fuel. They were going to sl ip through American lines I.hat night, taking McCown along as a hostage. I was to lead an ambtdance convoy, wider a flag of truce, loaded with German wounded who were then in the cellars of La Gleize. When Lhis was accomplished, McCown would be released. Peiper wrote a note explaining the plan which 1 later gave to Colonel Sutherland, CO, I 19th infantry. He rightfully ignored it, and, anyway, McCown escaped during the njght march_

I was then taken by a German sergeant to another cellar where there were four or five wounded German officers and a German doctor. Somelime during the evening, perhaps in the first cellar, a bucket containing boiled potatoes was passed around. l ate one and it sure tasted good. I spent the rest of the night· in this cellar witl1 1l1c wounded Germans and was freed the next morn­ing, 24 December, when the I 19th Infantry occupied the town against no opposition. 1 was surprised at the venom the infantry showed toward the few German walking wounded still in La Glcize. Anyone with American equipment including boots had to remove it. Several were walking barefoot in a very cold morning. 1 learned later that their anger was because of the Malmedy Massacre. I am glad l did not know about it while a prisoner.

I then made my way back to my company and reassumed command, none the worse for wear!

The "'J."'J. 7-th In£a:n..-t:ry a-t S-ta"V"e1o-t, Beigi,11 ·~

By Frank Warnock

On 16 December 1944, a few miles into Germany from the Dutch border but still miles short of the Rhine, the 30th Infantry Division was enjoying a much needed rest and absorbing replace­ments. Since Lhe early days of Normandy, the division had per­formed with distinction and had earned the nickname, "Workhorse of the Western Front." The Division was once again up to full strength with a solid core of good leaders from squad sergeants up to Major General Leland Hobbs, the Division Commander. The three regiments, l l 7th, I 19th, and I 20th, had been battered and bruised in the preceding months but were pre­pared to "do it again." The four artillery battalions- JJ3th, J I 8t11. l 97th, 230th- the J 05th Engineers, the 743d Tank Battalion, the 823d Tank Destroyer Battalion, and all the support units felt confident of handli11g almost anytl1ing that might come.

On chis date, 16 December, Major General Ilobbs was won­dering about the whereabouts of the plane tlial was to take him lo

PAGE S[){

London on leave. also on this date, Colonel Johnson, command­ing the I 17th Regiment, had a lready started out for seven days also in London. These plans were to change abruptly.

Down in Isl Battalion of the I 17th Regiment with "D" Company, Lieutenant Frank Warnock, commanding the 2d Platoon of machine gunners, was drilling the new replacements wilh the assembly and disassembly of the Browning .30 caliber machine guns- blindfolded. Other were writing letters or read­ing. The place was a shattered German village that had been taken a few weeks before and was not 2-3 miles in the rear of the front lines.

The next day, 17 December, the situation in l st Am1y was becoming critical, and the alert went out to the 30th Division. By late afternoon the whole division was moving.

Pm 18 December 1944, we came olI the hill and made our way to the town square at Stavelot. 1 am not even sure at what

RECAt;L

time of day we came off the hiU. My 30th Division history book reports that we were in town by I 100 hours. As we emerged from the woods and came down the hill, we could easily see a Ge.m1an annored column on the other side of the river ready to come into town but not moving. Some of their crews were outside of their tanks and vehicles and appeared to be just waiting for the order to move. As soon as they saw us they immediately manned their weapons and started firing. But it was too late. We were into town, and we wondered why the main body of German annor had not crossed the bridge prior to our arrival. A blunder perhaps? Not at all. T hose of us with "A" company who came into the town square soon saw the reason. I personally took a position on lhe second floor of a larger building and, looking out U1e window, could easi ly see a good portion of the square below me and the bridge hardly over a stone's throw away. A lone U.S. tank destroyer was fighting an unequal fight with a German Mark V or Mark VI trying to come over the bridge at less than JOO yards. What must have been a lucky hit caused the German to withdraw. This lone U.S. tank destroyer with its heroic crew and the narrow bridge bad done its work well. Later it was said that there were two tank destroyers. This may be, but as 1 remember, the second tank destroyer was disabled and was not fi ring.

On the 21st or 22d of December (the date is unsure . . . it could have been after Christmas), it was reported to me that a group of people bad taken refuge close by in the cellar of a large

cease fire. The house was loaded with German troops., and when the rounds were fi red they immediately took cover cfowo in the cellar. Others ran up the stainvay to the second floor expecting other rounds to come i.n. Sergeant Cirullo and myself immediate­ly rushed through the front door and found the room empty. But we saw the opening to the cellar and threw grenades down that opening and heard them retum fire upwards through the floor. At this point I yelled loudly for Pvt. Fred Vendl, who was just out­side the front door, as be could speak Gennan. He joined us at once and yelled at the Germ.ans to surrender. Aller anoilier two or three grenades, there was no problem. After several voices screamed, "Ja, ja," they came up, hands raised, and were searched while 1 went into the cellar. I found two or three dead and one still al ive with his jaw blown away. T rejoined the others outside and counted 12 prisoners., I must say, too, that while we were tossing &rrenades iuto the cellar and tbe Germans were fir­ing upwards through the floor, suddenly, at U1e head of the stair­way on the second floor, appeared a German SS with his machine pistol at the ready. He did not get a chance ot fire a shot. He was shot dead by Sergeant Mike Cirullo.

It was just a few steps away, across the street in this near vicinity, that we came across the butchery by perhaps these same SS of the 23 c ivilians of the city. Perhaps if we had known of this massacre at the time of capture, U1ey would not have been taken prisoner. I heard and read long later that they were tried by mili-

tary coun and banged . Good! About the butchery of the 23 civil­

ians, I distinctly beard the screams, the sound of the shots, and also the distinctive fire from a Gennan machine pistol. We called the weapon a burp gm1 because of its extreme rate of fire. When we look that place from the Germans, l can also say that a boy of about 8-10 years, wearing 110 hat, bad been smashed in the bead by a rifle butt. He lay in a heap wiU1 the imprint of the rifle butt clearly showing. Yes, I count­ed 23 dead in an area hardly more Lhan 20 feet by 20 feet

A few days later the weather turned very cold, and we were very much in need of our overcoats. We bad taken them off in Artillery flri11g i11 suppor t of 117th Infantry attack on Stave/of. the woods in the approach of Stavelot on

the 18th, anticipating a need to move fast and be unencumbered. This was done on orders by our Lieutenant Colonel Frankland, U1c battalion commander. We never went back to recover them, and today there may be upwards of700 U.S. Anny overcoats lay­ing in a more of less straight line hardly more than a mile from the town square of Stavelot.

bouse or small chiiteau . So J took six or so of my men, went to this place, and found 20 to 25 people, all old women and chil­dren. All scared and apprehensive. finnly in charge was a women about 35-40 years of age. Under better circumstances she may have apJJeared closer to 30. She did not speak English nor I French. There was no need. She spoke to her people rapidly and just as rapidly we all moved back to the safety of my sector. As we came back to the railway cut, T di rected her to take her group to the center of town and ask for battalion headquarters, Colonel Frankland. She said thank you to me and that wa~ the last J saw. I notified Battalion Headquarters by field telephone of their approach and was acknowledged. I was 24 years old and was in charge of the machine gun crews on that flank of the battalion.

1 lhiok, about 22 or 23 December 1944, it was from the front room of one building that I. had called for a Sherman tank to fire one round into the side of the house a t ground level and then to

MAY 2000

T he Isl Battal ion, I 17th Infantry Regiment, was relieved by the 2d Battalion, I 12th Infantry Regiment, of the 28th Infantry Division on 11 January 1.945, and we moved back to Sart, Belgium. We only stayed the one night in Sart and the next day Uic 1st Battalion moved through Malmedy, went by five points (Baugnez Crossroads) in a road march column, and witnessed that day the removal of the frozen corpses of the 80 or so American prisoners who had been shot several weeks before, after having surrendered 17 December 1944.

PAGE SEVEN

The Bridge a1' S1'a"'7e1o1' Editor 's comment: the next two stories, "The Bridge at Stavelot" and "He Blew the Bri.dge," are originally from the 30th Division Newsletter and the Bulge Bugle, Fcbmary 2000, pages 12-14. George Kennedy, Editor, 30th Division News, bas given pennission to publish the two articles with stories about the Ambleve river bridge at Stavelot by Cpl. Henry M. Stairs, Jr., and Lt. Leland E. Cofers.

Overview by George Ke1111edy: For several weeks, our sec­tor north of Aachen and west of the Roer River bad been static. During that time, Lt. Col. Steward L. Ha ll, the Division G-2, had been carefully analyzing Periodic Intelligence Reports. Annexes and Summaries routinely exchanged with several corps and other divisions scattered along the front. He was aware through bis

span at the near end of the bridge thus denying its use to the enemy.

Hank originally prepared the painting for the Camp Blanding Museum. However, he later made a copy for the muse­um so that the original could be presented to the Town of Stavelot. The original was presented to J. Monville, Le Bourg-

Order of Battle specialists that an impressive .--........ ~.,......---------------..,....---..--------~ number of powerful German divisions units south of the Ardennes had reported mostly northernly enemy movement. Units north of the Ardennes bad reported mostly southernly movement to their fronts. His conclusion was that the enemy was preparing for a major offensive attack in the Ardennes.

It was not a surprise to him when that front which bad been quiet exploded at about 0530 on 16 December when a massive German artillery preparation announced a major attack. That attack began mid-morning when a major enemy force of several newly strengthened divisions of armor and of irtfantry strnck and quickly engulfed the four U.S. divisions thinly defending that front. Armored columns bypassed /\merican pockets of resistance and forged ahead. Vast numbers of U.S. soldiers were taken prisoner. It is at this point that we go to Stairs' and Cofer's stories.

Painting of the Stavelot Bridge

By Cpl. Henry M. Stairs, Jr. 30th Infantry Division 117th lnfantry Regiment 2nd Battalion Headquarters Company

The beautifol painting of the bridge was painted by Hank Stairs. His assignment in communications gave him a certain amount of mobility. While he was not witness to the incident

Cpl Henry M. Stairs, Jr.

PAGE EIGHT

depicted in the painting, he had become very familiar with what happened by means of personal accounts. Also he had made sketches of the bridge. Heavily armed German soldiers in U.S. uniforms driving American jeeps attempted a dash northward across the bridge. Members of A Company, I 17th Jnfaotry, under orders to kill any who crossed the bridge, stopped the surprised Germans. Later, Lt. Leland Cofer, assigned to blow the bridge, took out the

mestre of Stavelot, in a ceremony on 15 September l999. In that ceremony, Bank surprised everyone present by making the p res­entation in rather excelJent French, thus turning the tables on Denise Oger, interpreter for CRIBA, who then had to translate to English for tl1e benefit of Old Hickory persons on the European tour.

He Blew the Bridge Lt. Leland E. Cofer 30th I nfantry Division 1 OS th E.ngineer Battalion C ompany A

As p latoon leader, Cofer tells his story of the blowing of the bridge at Stavelot.

On 17 December, our division was detached from the 9th

RECALL

Army near Aachen and reassigned to I st Anny near Malmedy. We moved out in late aflemoon and spent all of that night inch­ing our way south in vehicles on a crowded road. We were harassed a good part o f the night by German aircraft who dropped lots of flares and flew back and forth over our column, but dropped very few bombs. Several other divisions, both infantry and armored, were also headed for the Ardennes to counter the German offensive.

By lbe end of 18 December, the l l 7U1 fnfantry Regiment, to which our engineer company was attached in support, bad attacked the Town of Stavelot, Belgium, and pushed the enemy back across the Amblevc River.

A multi-arch stone bridge across tb.e river i.n Uie town was still intact. It was the o nly bridge for several miles- a bridge the Germans needed to continue their offensive.

lf the Germans could capture the bridge intact at Stavelot and hold it, their tanks and oLher armored units could cross and rnn through the hastily defended areas oortb of the AmblcveRiver. this, in tum, could result in the capture of Lcigc and Antwerp, their initial objectives.

About noon on 19 December, l received orders to go to Stavclot lo destroy the bridge. Reconnaissance was the first thing to be done.

I took off in a jeep with my driver, T/5 Jolrn Barone. We drove as close to the river as 1 dared, then proceeded on foot to near the bridge. This was the Lt. Lelmtd F. Cofer

front line of the 117tb Infantry, who were "holed up" in houses and basements along this line. Jerry held all IJ1e ground south of the river and had at least one tank and infru.1try with other weapons covering Lhe bridge. The bridge was in " no man's land."

[n the daytime it wouJd have bee11 instant suicide to approacb the bridge in the open. It was completely exposed to German fire. We had to get a good look at tlie b1idge so we could decide how to destroy it and J1ow much explosive would be need­ed. By crawling from one house to the next, T arrived al an upper story window which gave me an obUque view of the bridge. While standing back from the window to remain unseen, I sketched a rough drawing of the bridge and estimated the length of the spans and IJ1ickness of the deck. There was a wrecked U.S. jeep on the bridge and the body of an Ameerican soldier lying near our end.

Tank Destroyer versus Kraut Tank

While at my position overlooking the bridge, I was witness to a duel between one of our TD's and the Kraut tank on the south side of the river. After some maneuvering by both combatants, the TD got a couple of rounds into the side of the tank. A few sec­onds later a smoke grenade was tossed out of the tank hatch and soon followed by the surviving members of the crew who ran into a nearby bulding. They came out so quickly there was no time to get a shot al them.

After returning to my jeep, we drove back up the hill to our company CP to plan and to organize a demolition crew. We esti­mated an excessive amount o f TNT to be certain, because the charge would just be placed on the top of the deck, nothing like the engineer school solution. We decided on J ,000 pounds. That

MAY2000

was 20 50-pound boxes of TNT. We placed caps at random in various boxes to insure that all would explode. TNT needs a good shock to set it off. We also built three slow burning fuses, long enough to bum about one minute wilh detonators and fuse lighters, two more than necessary lo guarantee detonation.

We planJled to approach after dark, but didn't want to d elay too long because the Germans might be planning an assault to recapture the bridge Uiat night.

Tough to Walk with SO-Pound Load of TNT

We requested artillery fire, through I 17th T nfantry Headquarters, to be fired at a regular rate mixed w ith smoke shells into the enemy positions close to IJ1e south end of the bridge beginning at the hour we planned to move to the bridge. The firing was necessary to cover our noise, and the smoke to obscure our movement to the bridge. There was glass from shat­tered windows and doors on the cobblestone streets, making it impossible to walk quietly, especially when carrying 50 lbs. of TNT.

The T NT and the men were loaded into a couple of 6x6 trucks and driven down the hil l. When the arti!Jery fire sta1ted, we moved to within 3 or 4 blocks of the bridge. We unloaded the trucks, passing out the TNT, one box per man, and everybody beaded for the bridge on foot. A French speaking soldier was sent to check the houses and basements near the bridge to advise any­one in them to leave. l do not recall that we found anyone. They had probably left due to the earlier fighting. Our infantry bad also been moved back from the bridge.

Staff Sgrt. James McKcon, who was killed about a month Later, and Sgt Lowell Richardson, who later received a battlefield commission, accompanied me with U1c rest oftJ1c men following.

We set a ll Ute TNT in one stack directly over the thinnest part o r the deck in the first span. Having delivered their boxes, the men quickly returned to Ute trucks. This took 3 or 4 minutes. McKeon, Richardson, and myself, on signal, pulled all three fuse lighters simultaneously. We Look off, disregarding any noise we might make. T hen a couple of short b locks away, "KA­BOOM!!!" Tl was a terrific explosion. Some masonry houses close to the ends of the bridge collapsed. It must have been s:ome shock to any Krauts, exposed or not, on the south side. Our a1ti llery stopped. We were standing along a sidewalk just north of the bridge when Jerry machine gun fire came up the street from the south side. We foll to the ground or jwnpcd through doors or windows into houses until the firing stopped. Luckjly, no one was hun.

'No German Tank Can Broadjump That'

It was then necessary to check the bridge to see if the job had been accomplished. Sgt. Richardson and I stole back 10 the r iver as quietly as possible and looked over the edge of the hole in the bridge. The first span bad disappeared-it was a good gap. As our company commander, Captain James Rice, to ld Hal Boyle, an AP war correspondent, "No German tank can broad­j ump that"

This stalled the Gennan advance at Stavelot. ln succeed ing nights they attacked our infantry by wading the river in an atLempt to drive our troops back, rebridge the gap, and use it for their Panzer units. The attacks were unsuccessful.

PAGENINB

North Carolina Militia & National Guard

Tradition of Military Service Originated With Fear of Standing Armies

The related concepts of rhe citizen sol­dier and of a unjvcrsal military obligation were transplanted to the American colorues from England, where they had evolved and been put inlo practice in lime of need since the ear.ly Middle Ages. Lt was not until the Elizabethan period, however, that regular

EDITOR"S NOTE: Due 10 the length of this article, the bibliography and sources have not been included. This will be published in the Fall Recall rltose needing source information sooner may con/act the Editor.

serve as the basis of the militia system for t.be remainder of the colonial period. The preamble of th.is legislation recognized lbat

the safety of this as well ns aU other well-governed Colonys greatly depends upon the well­regulating the Militia thereof.

musters came into use for Lraining purposes and as a means of developing cohesion and esprit de corps in local militia units. Not surprisingly, militia muslers soon came to serve a social ns well as a military purpose.

In un attempt to achieve this end, il reinforced the posiLion of lhc governor as commander-in-chief, called for tbe enrollment

BY The lradition of militia service was close­ly interwoven with the pervasive fear of stand­ing armies as potential instnrmcnts of tyranny. During the English Revolution of the 17th cen· tury, Oliver Cromwell's new Model Army, the execution of Charles I, and numerous abuses of military power were especially important in erecting this '"haunting fear of standing armies" into "one of I.he sturdiest props of the militia system,.. not only in England but in her American colonies as well.

Wilson Angley R.ESUARCH BRANCH

NORTH CAROLINA DIVISION OF ARClJIVl!S AND HISTORY

Virtually all of the American colonial charters recognized the obligation of free male inhabitants to take up anns in defense of Lhcir colonies should lhe need arise. From the outset, lhis was a common theme running through American constitutional documenrs. The

A native of Stntesvillc, North Carolina, Dr. Wilson Angley re· ccived both his undergmdmue nnd graduate uaining at the University of North Carolina al Chapel llill. Prior to bis recent retirement, he served many years n n research his­torian for the North Carolina Division of Archives and History, Ocpanmeut of Cultural Resources. Dr. Angley conducted a number of studies on military and niurltimc topics. Uc resides in Raleigh.N.C.

Carol inn Charter of 1663 laid tlie foundation for North Carolina's present military establishment in granting to the eight Lords Proprietor authority to "levy, muster and train all sorts of men"' for the defense of the colony and "Lo do all and every other thing. which unto the charge of a caprain general of an army belongelh."

The revised Charter of 1665, the Fundamental Constitution of 1669, and various oLbcr documents atrcmpted to dermc the legal status of the miHLia and to encourage its development; yet, lirtle real progress was made toward these ends during the first half century of proprietary rule. Conditions within the fledgling colony simply were not conducive to the fonnatiou of an ade­quate militia; and, untiJ the outbreak of the Tuscarora War in 1711, musters were seldom if ever held.

The horrid devastation of the Tuscarora War forced upon che colony a recognition of I.he fact tbat the militfa system would have LO be rcorgru1ized and invigorated. Although Nort11 Carolina militia forces played a significant role in defense of lbe colony during that conilicL, it was only with financial aid from Virginfa and timely military assistance from South Carolina Uiat the might of the Tuscarora nation was finally broken.

In 1715, with hostilities finally at an end, the colooiaJ assembly of North Carolina enacted legislation wbicb was to

of all freeman between the ages of 16 and 60, and provided that musters be held "from time to time" at the governor's discretion. Men were required to appear at musters "well provided with a good Gun well-fix.ed Sword & at lea l

Six Charges of Powder & Ball." Exempted from militia service were Anglican clergymen, physicians, and the holders of various local and coloniaJ offices . . Finally, the act established a wage scale and imposed a system of fines for failure to adhere ro regulations.

Unfortunately, the act of 1715 made no adequate stipulation as co I.he frequency of musters and in general placed too much reliance in the uncertain initiatives of propri­etary governors. Moreover, as the tn1uma of the Tuscarora War diminished with the passage of time, so too did Uie enforcement of the law's

Colo11i<tl Militia in formalio11

RllCALL

provisions. By 1729 and the end of propri~uuy rule. the militia western counties refused 10 take up anns againsc their Regulator system ofNonh Carolina had again lapsed into a state of relative neighbors and, instead, fought with them in the engagcmcnL lethargy and disarray. While the Battle of Alamance should not be viewed as a prelude

During the period of Governor Gabriel Johnston's rule, the to the Revolution, it did provide valuable military experience for North Carolina militia was n1 least partially revitalized. An act of many militia officers and men who would later participate in the 1746 established at last a regular schedule for both company and struggle for independence. regimental musters, required attendance by servants as well ru In 1775, Nonh Carolina was divided into six miljtia dis-freemcn. and authori7.ed the formation of ''light horse" or caval- triets, corresponding with existing judicinl districts. Each dis-ry units. On the while, !he act of 1746, together with Governor • tricl was to contain a brigade under the command of a brigadier Johnston's persistence, resulted in a considerable improve- general, with the brigade further broken down into regiments ment in the condition of North Carolina's military prepared- and companies. Previously. the militia had been organized on a ness. councy basis, wilh the companies of each county forming a

Much of the urgency to improve the colony's regiment under 1hc command of a colonel. The brigade mililia system in the 1740s arose out of warfare ~ level of organization had been employed earlier only dur-between England and Spain. North Caroli nu miliria - - ing the War of the Regulation, wheo Governor Tryon had forces were involved in both the War of Jcnkin's Ear ':'S- assumed personal command. The organization oftJ1e mjli-(J 739- 1744) and King George's Wur ( 1744-1748), cspc- - Lia into six brigade districts was subsequently embodied in cially in the disastrous Cartagena expedition and in the legislation of 1777. This legislation also lowered U1e upper defense of coastal towns against Spanish incursions. The age limit for militia service from 60 to 50. The state's towns of Beaufort and Bmnswick were subjected lo actu- first constitution in 1776 had made provision, as al occupation by Spanish troops in .1 747 and 1748 respec- well, for the militia, as would those promulgat-1ively; and in both cases it was local militia which Gnat- ed down to the present day. 111e militia was rec-ly expelled die invaders. . ognizcd as essentinl " for Lhe defense of the state." while Lhe

Within a few years the militia system of North ~ . alternative ofa suinding army continued to be seen as "dan-Carolina was put to a more protracted and general lest --.~~~~~~- gerous to liberty." with the outbreak of lhe French and Indian War. • During tJ1e American Revolution, Nort11 Carolina Despite Ilic improvements achieved earlier, Governor NC Militia111a11 at provided I 0 regiments of Continental Linc troops. Arthur Dobbs complained io 1754 Lhat the militia \.\'llS Moore's Creek, including a total number of men variously estimated at inadequately organized, trained. and am1ed. Varioui. sub- Feb. 2 7, 1776 between 5.454 and 7,663. The number of militiamen sequent mea~ures were taken during 1be course of the provided by the state to 1he Revolution, however. may war to upgrade the militia's combat readiness, including legisla- have been as ltigh as 10,000, al though the number or militiamen tion in 1756. 1759, and 1760. The primary focus of militia activ- in service al any given time was generally less than that of ity during the French and Indian War was along the colony·s Continental soldien;. western ITontier against the Cherokee; but varying numbers of ft was militiamen who offered the lirst armed resistance to North Carolina militiamen also saw action in Soutl1 Carolina, the Crown in North Carolina when, on 19 July I 775. a force of Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York, despite a long- approximately 500 men sci.t:cd and destroyed Fon Johnston near standing controversy as ro whether mili1ia forces could be com- tJ1e mouth of the Cape Fear, while Governor Josiah Marrtin looked pelled lo fighi beyond rhe boundaries of Lhcir own provinces. on in impotent rage from bis ship, anchored well offshore. it was

During lbe rise of U1c Rcgulaior movement in the mid and very largely mililinmen., as well, who achieved tJ1e stunning vic-late 1760s, tl1e militia organization of North Carolina was one of tory at the Baute of Moore's Creek Bridge on 27 February the many sources of grievance that provoked widespread resist- 1776-a victory which altered substantially the subsequent ance to governmental authority in western counties. Occausc course of the war. militia officers were almost always men of considerable wealth North CaroHna militia u·oops sa\v widespread service and political influence, those who held commissions were often throughout the Revolution, experiencing both victory and defeat perceived as members of the so-called "courthouse rings." Militia on many fields of bat lie. Among the most significant of the bat-officers, moreover, frequently occupied multiple positions of ties and campaigns involving the state's militiamen were those at authority within their counties of residence, and many of them Savannah, Charleston, Ramsour's Mill, Camden, Kings also served as members of the colonial assembly. Tite result was Mountain, Cowpens. Cowans Ford, Guilford Courthouse, and a tremendous concentration of power in the hands of a relative Eutaw Springs. In addition to their engagement with British and few. An additional source of resentment among tJ1c Regulators Loyalist forces, North Carolina mil itia troops alS<J participated in was the fact that mandatory attendance at musters with rcqillred a major expedition against the Cherokee in 1776, and in smaller anus and equipment entailed an expcndirure of lime and money expeditions in 1779 and 1780. which men of modest means could ill afford. During the long course of the Revolution, there was recur-

On several occasions Governor William Tryon found it nee- ring and sometimes bitter criticism of North Carolina militia essary to call out militia forces to control the activities of the troops by professional military men; and it is probably true that Regulators. The final confrontation occurred on 19 May 1771, political leaders tended lO place too much reliance on the state's when Tryon and approximately 1,400 predominaoUy eastern citizen solders. Militia troops were o ften poorly trained, undisci-miliLiamen defeated a force of about 2,000 Regulators at the plincd, inexperienced, and inadequately anncd and equipped. In Baille of AJamance. Significantly, many militiamen from the many instances they were hopelessly ovcrmatcbed against the

MAY2000 PAGll EU-YEN

seasoned British regulars who opposed them. In all candor, it also must be o bserved that their courage was sometimes found want­ing. Nevertheless, when well led, as at Moore's Creek, Kings Mountain, and especially Eutaw Springs, these " inspired yeomen" were capable of fighting bolll bravely and well; and their collective contribution to the final victory was one of con­siderable significance.

When the delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 convened in Philadelphia, one of the many political and philosophical issues facing them was the question of what sort of military establishment the new nation would maintain. On this as on many other issues, a deep division existed between those favoring states rights and relatively autonomous militias and those espousing a strong central government and at least a smaU standing army. Moreover, this division persisted in the various states during the ratification process. As ultimately agreed upon, the Constitution provided for a sharing of power by the federal and state governments with regard to military forces. Congress was granted authority to summon state militias into federal serv­ice, but onJy for the purposes of enforcing the law, putting down insurrection, and repelling invasion. From that time to the pres­ent, militia and later National Guard units have had, in effect, two commanders-in-chief: their respective governors and the presi­dent of the United States.

In 1792, Congress passed "An Act more effectually to pro­vide for d1e National Defense by establishing an Uniform Militia throughout the United States," an act which was to provide at least some degree of central direction and control over state mili­tias for more tha11 a century. lo general terms, this legis lation sought to define the organization and composition of militias throughout the nation, called for the arming and training of all able-bodied white males between the ages of 18 and 45, and required that each state appoint an adjutant general to report annually on the condition of his militia forces.

In response to this federal legislation, e.ach of the 15 states enacted laws further regulating their military establishments. The North Carolina law of 1793 arranged the state's militia into brigades and divisious, required annual returns from brigade and division commanders, and called for U1e appointment of an adju­tant general to submit annual reports and to provide direct super­vision of the militia in accordance with s tate and federal law.

Despite the passage of the Uniform Militia Act and the var­ious state Jaws intended to carry i t into effect, the military estab­lishments of each state retained a great deal of autonomy in actu­al practice. Jt was not to be unti l the twentieth century that con­trol would begin ro shift significantly from the state to the nation­al levels.

rn l 806 the General assembly of North Carolina enacted legis lation which revised certain featu res of the state militia. all free men between the ages of 18 and 45 (with certain exceptions) were required to be enrolled and to appear at musters at least twice a year with the proper weapons and accouterments. the law also more c learly defined the duties of the adjutant general as the chief military officer of the state under the governor.

Unfortunately, despite the well-intentioned legislation on both the state and nationa l levels, the organization, training, and equipment of the North Carolina mjlitia left much to be desired. In 1807, Adjust General Benjamin Smith complained that Lhere was "a vast deficiency of arms" and U1at the returns for several

PAGE TWEl,VE

counties bad not been received. Nevertheless, he reported a paper strength for the state's enrolled militia of 48,483 infantrymen, 38 artillerymen, and 1,272 cavalrymen.

During the following year, Smith's successor, Edward Pasteur, submitted his resignation as adjutant generaJ in order to accept a commission in the United States army. In parting, he dilated upon the current condition of the militia and on its possi­ble con.sequences in the event of an enemy invasion:

On every subject connected with the militia par­ticularly a remissness seems to have pervaded which in the event of an actual invasion would place Ute defenses of the state on a most feeble and precarious footing and expose all that is valuable in social life to a probably issue which a patriotic mind cannot con­template without a mingled emotion of astonishment and regret.-Adjulant Generals Records, A.G. l , 32-37.

Within a few years, during the War of 1812, North Carolina mili­tia forces would, indeed, be called upon to repel enemy incur­sions along the coast, as well as answer the call for service out­side the state .

In separate levies of 18 12 and 1814, North Carolina provid­ed approximately 14,000 volunteers from the ranks of state mili­tia units for potential use against the forces of Great Britain and ber allies. Once organized, these "detached militiamen" were held in reserve for future service under the command of regular anny officers. Many of these men, however, were never mustered into federal service and saw no actual combat. Some 15 compa­nies, for example, were ordered to rendezvous al Wadesboro in 1815 for duty on the Gulf Coast, only to receive word that the war bad alr eady been concluded.

Soon after I.he war began, roiJjtia companies from eastern North Carolina had been assigned to coasta l fortifications to guard against British at1acks; and, indeed, there were several clashes between British troops and North Caroli11a militia units along tbe coast during the course of the conflict The most seri­ous of these occurred in July of 1813, when British naval forces under Admiral George Cockburn threatened to ascend the Neuse River and mount an attack on New Bero. Ln the face of this emer­gency several thousand militiamen flocked to the New Bern area from as far away as Ra leigh. Wid1 a surprise attack no longer a possibiJjty, Cockburn was obliged to abandon his plan and set sail again for tbe open sea.

In 1814 a regiment of the North Carolina detached militia marched southward to Alabama for service against the Creek Indians. Tbey arrived, however, after the decisive Battle of Horseshoe Bend had been fought, and participated only in minor follow-up activities. During the same year, following the burning of the nation's capital, some 2,500 North Carolina militiamen took up positions around Norfolk to defend that city against an attack which never materialized.

Taken on the whole, it was felt by many observers that mili­tia troops from the various states had made a rather poor showing in the War of 18 12. Moreover, the long period of peace that fol­lowed was to bring about a fwtber deterioration of the militia sys­tem nationally. Between 1816 and 1835, various presidenls rec­ommended on some J 1 occasions that Congress do something to improve I.he militia and bolster the counlty's roiJitary might. Congress, however, failed to take the necessary action. Al the

RI:CALL

..

!1

.,

ii

same time, the concept of a large standing anny remained anath­ema to many; and there was still a large body of opinion which held that the militia system was the best fonn of defense for a free people.

It was perhaps during the antebellum period that the social aspects of militia musters eclipsed most completely their use as training exercises, although musters had long been social as well as military occasions. Thjs development coincided with the gen­eral decline of the militia's military preparedness. A muster day during this period was "ordinarily looked upon as a holiday and celebrated as such by heavy drinking, betting, fighting, and sports." Nor did politicians ignore these festive gatherings in their campaigns for various offices, frequently distributing drams in hopes of e liciting support

For volunteer companies, with their more affluent numbers, muster days and other public and ceremonial occasions created opportuuities for the proud and rather pompous display of their antiquated finery. These elite companies had existed in North Carolina prior to 1806, but it was the legislation o f that year that provided them with a general statutory authorization. Each of these units took conspicuous pride in the splendor of its uniforms and equipage:

The "musters" which were held engaged the attention and evoked the humor of the best wifs of the time ...

The uniformed companies were gay indeed. They had local names and the variety of ante-bell urn unifonns was as varied as the colors of Joseph's coat. They wore "fire-bucket" hats, with towering plumes. they bad a Captain and three Leutenants, a Color­Bearer, a Chaplain, etc., and generally a couple of "pioneers," who, like a reminiscence of the days of Napoleon the Great, wore towering bearskin shakos and aprons of wash leader reaching to their toes and carried wooden axes of bast size. the " pioneers" almost always bad big beards. They were true tot he tradition of their genus. In lordliness they equaUed a Drum Major."-Annual Report of the Adjutant General, 1901.

Showy and costly equipage was confined almost entirely to the volunteer companies. The rank and file of the state's citizen soldiery struggled mightily to c loth, equip, and conduct itself in even the most modest fashion. fn October of 1815, for example, the commander of a Rutherford County regiment returned the following description of his troops to Brigadier General Joseph Graham:

There is no Volunteer Corps in my Regiment except Cavalry.

As to the Arms and accoutrements they are gen­ernlly but indifferent not many of them fit for service in War being only such as are common for peasantry to make use of to annoy the pernicious Anama ls that infest their farms. The discipline of the troops under m y command is tolerable good for back-woods Militia who have never had an oppertunHy of any tuition only what they received in a Muster field .... - Joseph Graham Papers, North Carolina State Archives. Raleigh.

During much of the antebell.um period, free blacks were

MAY 2000

barred from service in militia units "except as musicians." Moreover, an increasingly imponant functfon of the militia was to work closely with the patrol system in maintaining control over the movement and activities of slaves. On numerous occa­s ions local militia uoits in eastern North Carolina were called out lo track down runaways and to quell real or suspected conspira­cies and insurrections. By far the largest and most important of these calls came late in the summer of l 831, when thousands of militiamen were summoned in the near bysterical response t-0 the Nat Turner rebellion in neighboring Virginia .

When Congress declared war on Mexico in the ~'Pring of 1846, a call went out to the states to furnish a total of 50,000 vol­unteers. North Carolina was asked to funtish a regiment of approximately 1,000 men. Before the end of the swnmer, more than three times the number of men required had been recruited from and through local mili tia units, so that their numbers had to be reduced through a lottery process. The War Department, how­ever, then changed the terms of enlistment; and it was necessacy to issue a second call for volunteers to fill the regiment's ranks. Tnitial enthusiasm for the war had now waned considerably, but the better part of a regiment was finally raised. Again, its mem­bers were drawn largely from state militia uuits. By the first week of March 1847, all but one company bad departed for IJ1e war zone.

As events transpired, the volunteer regiment from North Carolina experienced I ittle in the way of combat. Assigned to the am1y of General Zachary Tay lor, it did nol actua lly join that force until afier the major fighting had been completed. The principal adversaries of the North Carolina troops proved to be disease, frustration, and boredom, with the first of these eventually taking a heavy toll in casualties.

During the same year in which war was declared on Mexico, the North Carolina General Assembly initiated a thorough study of the state's militia in response to an address by Governor William A. Graham and "sundry memorials from rbe c itizens of this State." The resulting legislation seems to have made only modest changes in the militia system, but it did attempt to bring the state's mili tia ("the only army of defense we have") more into line w.itb the federal military. Uniforms of militia officers were henceforth to be those "prescribed for Officers of the Regular Army of the United States," except for those of volunteer ooits, "aUowed by law to select their own unifom1." This legislation required the adjutant general to make available to militia officers "a description of the uni form and accoutrements now worn by the commissioned officers of the Urutcd States Regular Army," and to distribute copies of "McComb's Tactics" for use in trai11ing exercises. The strength of the state 's militia forces at this time was reported to consist of 66,709 infantry, I , I 68 riflemen, 625 cavalry, and 3,179 exempts, for a total of 7 1,681.

In 1848 the General Assembly enacted legislation which, for the first lime. exempted from mandatory militia service in peace­time all men over tbe age o f 35. This produced a dramatic and seriously damaging effect on the state's military establishment, depriving it of many of its most capable and experienced officers. In his report of 1850, Adjutant General R. W. Haywood left no doubt as to his view of the legislation and its impact:

This act comes very near destrnying the whole Militia system of this state; in some of the Regiments, all of tbe F ield Officers have taken

PAGB THIRl EEN

advantage of this acL, and left the Regiments Lolally without olliccrs, and in a state of disorganization . ...

13y 1850 there had been an increase of nearly 4,000 in the num­ber of men exempted from the enroUed militia and a precipitous decline of nearly l 0,000 in the number of enrolled infantrymen.

During the decade preceding the Civil War, chc military establishment of North Carolina continued to deteriorate. Unlike most talcs, North Carolina still retained the enrolled or common militia system b:iscd upon the outmoded and increasingly impractical concept of mandatory service. By and large, other states had already made tl1e cransition to voluntary service in their military establishments. lo point of fact, it was only the volunteer units in North Carolina that retained any real vitality as the out­break of war approached. The statutory or common militia of old had declined to "a condition of utter impotence,'' have "no actu­al practical existence" except on paper.

In his brief report for l 858-1859, Adjutant General Richard C. Coucu clearly indicated that the large paper army under his st1pervision W!IS in no COJ1dition to fu ne1ion as a military force:

I am required by law lo make a report. as Adjutant General of t11c State, as to the organization and condition of tl1e Militia of the State. I came inro office ... in the year 1857, and found the Militia sys­tem of the state in a greatly disorganized condition in more than half. perhaps in two thirds of the counties of the swte, the Regiments were without officers, in others but little attention bas been given 10 keeping the regiments organized, and frorn none of tliem have I received such returns. as would enable me lo make any satisfactory report to the Legislanire, that such is, and has been the case.

Nor h.ad the enfeebled condition of the militia escaped the notice of Governor Thomas Bragg, who emphasized the serious­ness of Lhe situation in addressing the legislarurc:

1 deem it my duty to call to your attention the eondilion of our milili<i system. I regret to say U1a1 we have now scarcely any military organization in the Stale, except what is to be fouod in a few volw1tecr companies. But few Regiments exist chat have offi­cers, or that arc called out al any time to pcrfom1 mil­itary duty. Should an emergency arise, requiring the employment of any considerable military force, we should, for a time, be almost powerless for want of any organization,

It would, of course, not be long before just such an emergency arose.

On 15 April 186 1 President Lincoln issued his call for troops from throughout Lhe nation to suppress the Southern "insurrcclion." Go"emor John W. EUis was requested to furnish two regimentl> of North Carolina militia troops for immediate service. Ellis emphatically refused to comply, and on the same day ordered volunteer militia companies to occupy Fort Macon near Beaufort and Forts Johnston and Caswell near the mouth of tl1c Cape Fear River. Companies involved in these early actions along the coast included Lhe Goldsboro Rifles, the Wilmington Light rnf'antry, tltc German Volunteers, the Wilmington Rifle Guards, and tl1e Cape Fear Light Artillery. With the state's tln·ec

PAG!l fOURTl!UN

coastal forti.licatfons now secured, EUis next look steps to seize tl1e Unjted States Arsenal at FayeueviUe and the Branch Mint in Charlotte. The Charlotte Grays occupied tl1e mint on 20 April, and on 22 April a volunteer force of approximately 1.000 men took possession of the arsenal , together with vas1 stores of anns and ammunition.

During its brief emergency session of early May 186 I . the North Carolina General Assembly authorized Governor Ellis ro raise I 0,000 State Troops and some 20,000 12-month volunteers. This dual system of organization soon produced a confusing duplication of numbers for different regiments; but the situation was rectified aller a few months. By January of 1862 some 41 regiments hnd been organized. anucd, and transferred 10 the Confederate governmenL Eventually, North Carolina was to f\ir­nish 72 regiments of offensive troops, of which all but 19,000 were volunteers. Reserve and Home Guard Ltnits organized with­in the s tate would increase the total manpower contribution to approximately 125,000, a number in excess of the state's voting population. During the course of the war, North Carolina was to lose some 19,673 soldiers in battle, more thaJ1 one-fourth of all Confoderale battle dead. Another 20,602 Tar Heel soldiers would succumb to disease. The combined loss of 40,275 lives would be greater lhan that of any other Soul.hem slate.

U11k'1011111 Civil War soldier, probably 4tlt NC

Tbe regiment most prominently associated with pre-war volunteer militia companies was the famed I ::.i Regiment North Carolina fnfantry under the command of Colonel Daniel Harvey Hill. This was the first regiment organized in the snlle, and its component pans repre­sented "the cream of the State's unifonned militia." Following some. prelimi­nary cl1angcs, the ten unils finally mustered into the regiment on 16 May 186 1 were: the Edgecombe Guards (Company A), the Hornet Nest RiOes (Com­pany B), the Charlotte

Grays (Company C), the Orange Light infantry (Company D), tl1c Buncombe Rifles (Company E), the Lafayette Light Infantry (Company F), the Burke Rifles (Company G), the Fayetteville Light Infantry (Company H). the Enfield Blues (Company I), and the Sou them Stars (Company K.). Some of these companies were only recently organized, while others had rather long traditions. Easily the oldest was the Fayetteville Light Infantry. fonned in 1793. Other volunteer militia units in the state also flocked to the Confederate colors during the early stages of the war. By the end of 1861 the adjutant general had called some 24 uni fonncd com­panies into service.

The 1st Regiment North Carolina Infantry was also the first regiment from the slate 10 see action; nnd it was the first unit in all the Confederacy to lose a man to enemy fire. By 24 May U1e entire regiment has assembled on the plain of Yorktown,

R~CAI L

Virginia. Petersburg and Richmond newspapers praised in fu l­some terms its appearance, equipage, and martial spirit. Oo J 0 June the regiment clashed with federal troops in the Battle of Big Bethel near Yorktown, the first land batLlc of the Civil War. During the cou.rse o f this baLUe, Private Henry L. Wyatt of the Edgecombe Guards was mortally WOWlded. Thereafter, the regi­ment was known as the "Bethel Regiment." and canied the word "Bethel" inscribed on its regimental Oag.

In November of 1861 the 14 Volunteer regiments from North Carolina were redesignated by having the number " 10" added to each of their original numbers. Volunteer regiments I through 14 thus became rcgimcnlS 11 through 24 to avoid confu­sion with similarly numbered State Troops. The 1st Regiment North Carolina infantry was redesigonted the 11 th Regiment North Carolina Troops ( I sr Regiment North Carolina Volrnllccrs), but this only occurred all.er d isbandment and reor­ganization several months later. The reorganized regiment was recognized as the legitimate successor of the "Bethel Regim ent" and bore that name for the remainder of lhe war. Many of its men had enlisted in other units during the interim period, but the reconstjtuted regiment still contained a large number of its ori&ri­nal members.

The rcorgan.ized Bethel Regiment served subsequently in numerous campaigns and engagements from North Carolina to Pennsylvania, compiling a record of conspicuous bravery and dedication. Among the most significant of Lbcsc were the defense of the Blackwater line, the Bat Lie of White Hall, the unsuccessful attemptS to retake New Bern and "little'' Washington, the Shenandoah Valley, Gettysburg, Spotsylvania Courthouse, Cold Harbor, and the defense of Petersburg. Finally, tbe war-weary regiment was with General Lee at Appomatox Courthouse.

The outbreak of the Civil War roused the long dormant enrolled m ilitia of North Carolina into a condition of"semi-lifc" as a force for dealing with internal emergencies and later enforc­ing the conscript law. At least 24 regiments saw temporary serv­ice in various pans of the state. As a rule, however, these regi­ments were hastily organized, unun ifom1ed, and armed in only the most rudimentary fashion.

Militia forces experienced considerable action of a de fen­sive natu re following the fall or Roanoke Island in February of 1862, obstructing navigable river channels, guarding roads and bridges, and gathering essentfa l supplies in the northeastern por­tions of the state. Shortly thereafter, militia troops p layed a sig­nificant though inglorious role in the unsuccessrul defense of New Bern.

Ironically, the militia's usefulness in enforcing the conscript law was soon vitiated by that very law's depletion of its rank and file membership. However, militia officers were exempt from the draft throughout the war. They. rogether with justices of the peace and others safe from conscription, were to make up the Home Guard, a force which would replace the militia for service within the state.

The Home Guard was created by act of the North Carolina General Assembly in July of 1863. The same legislation abol­ished the militia. which had a lready lost much of its manpower to the Confederate war effort. The Home Guard, in gcncrnl, was comprised of all able-bodied men between the ages of J 8 and 50 who were exempt from conscription. Even L11ose who had escaped conscription by furnishing substitutes were, ncverthe-

less, liable for service io the Home Guard. Eventually, two brigades, seven regiments, and upwards of 50 companies were raised within lhe state. On numerous occasions, Home Guard units were called upon to preserve order, arrest deserters, guard bridges, roads, and railroads, and protect against the villa inous marauding bands wb.ich preyed upon otherwise defenseless civil­ians. Though poorly trnined, inadequately armed, and usually outnumbered, Home Guardsmen in western North Carolina also resisted the incursions of Federal troops from Tennessee, partic­ularly those under the commands of George W. Kirk and George H. Stoneman.

Jn February of 1864 an increasingly desperalc Confederate Congress enacLed legislation providing for tl1e creation of Junior and Senior Reserve forces, ostensibly for service only with in the respective stales. The fonner organization was to consist o f l 7-year-old boys, while the latter was to be comprised o f men between the ages of 45 and 50, Many men were drawn from the Home Guard into the Senior Reserves. By June of 1864 some nine battalions of these Reserve troops had been formed in North Carolina, all but one of which were Junior Reserves. Before the end of the year, another five regiments o f Senior Reserves had been organized . Although these Reserve Units were intended as forces of last resort, several saw actual combat before the end of the war, not only in North Carolina but in South Caro.lina, Georgia, and Virginia as well.

In many ways the North Carolina Navy or "mosquito fleet'' served during the Civil War as a precursor to the North Carolina Naval Militia, which was Lo be organized in the state some three decades later. This diminutive naval force consisted initially of five small steamers purchased and anncd by the stale for the pur­pose of defending coastal waters and conducting raids against the enemy's coastwide sh ipping. TI1esc vessels were manne.d not by professional seamen, but by "soldiers, or farmers, hurriedly taught to ftre a gu11." The "mosquito fleet" enjoyed considerable success early in the war, but was easily overwhelmed by Un.ion naval forces during the Battle of Roanoke Island, in which one vessel of the fleet was sunk and another seriously damaged. Shon ly thereafter, the reminder of the fleet was destroyed during an engagement al ElizabetJ1 Ciry, despite the efforts of a handful oflocal militiamen Lo render assistance.

At the close of U1c Civil War, North Carolina and other southern states faced a massive and tremendously frustrating task in reorganizing tbeir military establishments, to lhe extent that such reorganization was pennitted at all by Congress. Moreover, the trauma and <.levasta1ion of Ll1e war had left Little enthusiasm for things military. In the spring of 1866 Adjutant General J. A. Gilmer, Jr., reported that he was encountering insunnountable difficulties "resulting from the disorganized state of society, and the great indisposition of our people to be again annoyed \vith military affairs." Indeed, Gilmer had been able to locate only a few men willin g to accept commissions as officers.

The Constitution of 1868 provided thal nil able-bodied men between the agt=s of 21 and 40 (with certain exceptions) were subject to duty in the militia with the govemor as comman<.ler-in­chief. Moreover, it provided that the General Assembly was responsible "for the organizing, armi11g, equipping and d iscipline of the militia." Stil~ t11e state's military establishment scarcely existed except on paper. One adjutant general after another expressed utter inability to fom1 a viable mi litary organization

PAGI! FIFTEEN

under existing laws and conditions. In 1874 Adjutant General John C. Gorman rendered the following accounting of the forces under his supervision:

The present militia of the state is composed of students of the tlu·ee mililaty schools of the State [Homer's at Hillsboro, Bingham's at Mebanevi lle, and the Charlotte Military Academy]; of two volun­teer companies in New Hanover; of three in Cumberland; and two in Wake; two in Rowan, and one in Martin County.

Nor was Uus all: some of these companies had only muzzle­loaders; and U1e Martin County unit possessed no firearms what­soever.

Ironically, it was during this period of torpor and disorgani­zation that some of the few existing elements of the state militia were involved in events whicb were to have profow1d political and constitutional consequences. In June of 1870 governor William W. Holden declared Alamance and Caswell counties in a state of insurrecrion following a series of violent outrages by the Ku Klux K lan, culminating in the hanging of prominent black leader Wyatt Outlaw and the murder of state senator John W. (Chicken) Stephens. To control KJan activity and restore order, Holden dispatched militia forces into these counties under the command of the despised Colonel George W. Kirk. Neither Holden nor Kirk recognized writs of habeas corpus during the ensuing activities, and the manner in which the militia was used. was seen by many as fw1da1.11eatally offensive to the rule of law. The so-called Kirk-Holden War was a prime factor in the crucial elections of 1870 and in Holden's s ub seq u ent impeachment and removal from of­fice.

able-bodied men between the ages of 18 and 45 (with certain exceptions), and an active militia to be known as the North Carolina State Guard, comprised of volunteers enlisting for a period of five years. Blacks and whites were to be enrolled sepa­rately. For administrative purposes, the state was divided into three militia districts, each under the command of a brigadier general.

Under the new voluntary system, the state militia soon began lo flourish. Only shortly after its creation, lbe State Guard comprised some 19 companies (nine white and lO black). By '1883 there were 34 companies (29 white and 5 black). During the initial years of its existence, the State Guard held the first peace­time encampment of the North Carolina militia, the event taking place in Raleigh at Camp Russell in conjunction with tbe State Fair. The troops were reviewed by Governor Zebulon B. Vance and his special guest, Governor Wade Hampton of South Carolina. Both men were said to bave been favorably impressed.

During the decades following the Civil War, state militia and guard Wlits prirm.arily in the North were increasingly called upon IQ intercede in cases of industrial. strife. As an unfortunate result of this activity, the National Guard can1e to be regarded by labor unions as the defender of wealth and privilege. National Guard leaders were understandably reluctant to accept such internal police work as the major focus of their activity; and in 1879 they formed the National Guard Association. From the outset, this organization sought to preserve the concept of the Guard as an integral part of the nation's military establishment, while at the same time emphasizing the importance of state affiliation, decen­tralization, aodl voluntary service. By 189 1 a State Guard

The year 1877 marked an impor­tant watershed in tb.e evolution of the state's present military establish­ment. On L2 March of that year the General Assembly enacted legislation which at last cast aside the old mili­tia concept of uni­versal and manda­tory u·aining and instituted i.n its place the more realistic and practi­cal system based on volunt:a.ry serv­ice. This legisla­tion established an inactive militia, consisting of all Raleigh Light l nfimtry standillg ilrfront of State Capitol Building, 1875

PA•GE SIXTBl!N RECALL

Association had been formed in North Carolina w ith similar goals.

Jn 1808 the federal government had begun to provide some $200,000 annually to the states to assist them in anning and equipping their militia organizations. In the late 1870s and early 1880s, North Carolina's share of this amount was approximately $5,000 a year. Beginning in 1883, all Guard units meeting certain requirements received a smaJI amount of financial assistance from the stale as well. Legislation of that year provided for $150 annually " to each company that obeys all the laws and regula­tions." During the following year some 24 of the 25 existing companies qualified for this money, so that the total state support to the Guard amounted lo $3,600. From state and federal sources, then, the guard of this period received less than $9,000 in total financia l support.

In 1884 a special military board convened in Asheville to draw up regulations designed to bring the State Guard into greater confonnity with the United States Anny, to the extent that this could be reasonably hoped for with a volunteer organization. Among the new regulations was one prescribing a standard uni­form for all units of the State Guard. ln his report for this same year, the adjutant general spoke of the progress made thus far in having the new uniform adopted:

The main drawback to the complete and perfect appearance of the Guard is yet the diversity of uni­forms. Many of the patterns wom are not only obso­lete, but are very expensive, and altogether unsuited for active service. The most of them are old styles of dress formerly worn by the European annies but dis­carded a half century ago .... the unifonn prescribed is neat and soldierly, handsome and distinctive in appearance, reasonable in price, admirably adapted for all kinds of service, and gives very general satis­faction. It has been adopted by 12 of the 24 compa­nies .... By the time oftbe proposed annual encamp­ment next summer, 1 hope to sec every company in the State clad in the Regulation uniform, as well as a ll field, staff and general officers.

Adoption of the new uniform did not come about quite so quick­ly as that; but in 1890 it was reported with no little satisfaction that "Every company of tbe Stale Guard is now uniformed in the State Regulation Dress." The state had provided the cloth; but tJ1e men had borne U1e expense of having the uniforms made.

During the annual encampment in Raleigh iu 1884, the North Carolfoa State Guard impressed even its would-be critics. It was apparent to all observers that this relatively new organiza­tion was very different from that which had preceded it under the old militia laws. Adjutant General Johnstone Jones wrote in glowing terms of the parade which culminated the encampment activities:

Then the parade of the Guard on the first day of October, a more imposing display of citizen-soldiery has perhaps never been seen in North Carolina. The degree of proficiency in tactics shown by the several commands, the completeness of their equipment, the soldierly bearing of the men, was a revelation and a swprise to the public, excited very general admira­tion among the vast concourse of North Caroli nians

MAY 2000

who witnessed the display, and won encomiums from the severest military critics.

The surge of interest in the State Guard continued unabated during the last years of the nineteenth century, reinforcing the contrast between the new organization and that which had gone before. New companies, both black and white, sprang up across the state; and a revived martial spirit and interest in things mili­tary were apparent in the general population. At the same time, the federal government doubled its support for state military establishments throughout the nation. It also began to dispatch to lhe states "some of the best and most experienced officers of the Regular Army for duty ... as assistants and instructors." The first regular army officer to be detailed for regular duty with the North Carolina State Guard arrived at military headquarters in Raleigh in February of 1892.

On several occasions during the late nineteenth century, ele­ments of the State Guard were called into service by the gover­nor to deal with various internal problems. In 1882 the First Regiment was assigned to riot duty al Plymouth, where 40 to 50 arrests were made. This was the first use of State Guardsmen for riot duty, but more such duty was to follow. Subsequent riot duty occurred in Raleigh in 1887, Washington in 1888, and, most trag­ically, Wilmington in 1898. Jn 189 1 the Pasquotank Rifles (Com­pany E, !st Regiment) was called out to patrol Pamlico Sound and prevent further depredations by heavily armed "oyster pirates" from outside the state. Of the 53 men in the company, 50 answered the call, while three were legitimately excused from duty. For nine days the unjt served aboard the chartered steamer Vespe1; al the end of wbich time each man received 33¢ per day in wages.

As early as 1887, Congress had rejected a proposal to create a national naval reserve. Afterwards, coastal states took the ini­tiative by fonning their own naval militias. By 1900 ten states along the Atlantic (including North Carolina) L1ad formed such units. In addition, Florida and Louisiana on the Gulf Coast, California on the Pacific, and five states on the Great Lakes had done so.

Jt is curious to note that the North Carolina Naval Mjlitia begai1, not on the coast, but in Charlotte, "a place remote from the water and without any facilities for naval training." Organization of tJ1e Cbarlotte unit occurred in 1891. By J 894 units had been fonned in New Bern and Wilmington as well. Initially, the mem­bers of these naval units " lived upon their own enthusiasm," receiving no support from the state or from the counties and com­munities in which they were located. Ln 1894, however, the sep­arate units were organized into a battalion, with state recognition and federal support.

On 26 August 1894 the North Carolina Naval Mjlitia received its first vessel on loan from tl1e federal government-the single-turreted Civil War monitor Nantucket. This venerable ves­sel had been constn1cted al Boston in December of l862 and bad seen considerable service as part of U1e South Atlantic Blockading Squadron off Charleston. Prior to her transfer to the North Carolina Naval Militia, the Nantucket had lain in ordinary at New York for several years.

It was during the same month she was received that the Nantucket was used in the first practice cruise by the Naval Militia, under the command of Lieutenant Francis Winslow, a graduate of the United Stares Naval Academy. The exercises on

PAGE Sf!VENTl!EN

the Cape Fear between Wilmington and Southport were conduct­ed wit11 assistance from the United States Navy. While lying at Southport, the vessel and crew received an official visit from Governor Elias Carr and Adjutant General Francis H.. Cameron. A minor disaster was narrowly averted at the end of the cruise when tbe Nantuckel fouled ber anchor, drifted downriver, and nearly collided with the U.S.S. Montgomery. Throughout the mid and late 1890s, the Nantucket saw continual use by the North Carolina Naval Militia; and during the Spanish-American War she was employed in various operations along the coasts of the south Atlantic states. Finally, she ended her days of militia serv­ice and was sold to a firm in Boston. Vessels subsequently used by the Nort11 Carolina naval militia prior to World War I were to include the Hornet, Dupont, and Elfrida.

During the Spanish­American War, North Carolina raised three regi­ments of volunteers. The First Regiment, formed very quickly, consisted entirely of State Guardsmen. The Second Regiment, raised with more difficulty, also consist­ed largely of Guardsmen, with seven of its 12 compa­nies being drawn from Guard units. The Tbird Regiment, an entirely black unit, had only a pa11ial affiliation witll the State Guard. At the time this unit was fo rmed, there existed only one black com­pany in the Guard, the Charlotte Light lnfruitry. This unit became a part of t11e Third Regiment, and its com­mander, S.L.A. Taylor, was placed as second in command of the regiment under James Hunter Young of Raleigh. Tl1is regiment was one of only three entirely black regi­ments formed in tbe United States during the Spanish­American War, and the only such unit from the South.

Despite ilie initial enthu-

Corporal, ]st NC l11fa11try, 1890

siasm to avenge the sinking oftlle Maine and liberate Cuba from Spanisb control, the Spanisb-American War became in time an excrucialingly frustrating affair for most Nortl1 Carolina troops. The First Regiment was assigned to Camp Cuba Libre in Florida and then to four months of occupation duty in Cuba; but the unit did not reach U1e island until after the fighting and the war had ended. The fate of t11e oilier two regiments was even more anti­climactic. The Second Regiment was demobilized soon after its formation, aod its activities were confined very largely to Raleigh and the vicinity of its camp. The Third Regiment led a troubled and harrassed existence at Fort Macon and at camps in Tennessee and Georgia before being mustered out of federal service.

PAGE EIGHTEEN

Moreover, U1e three North Carolina regiments were variously plagued by boredom, dismal morale, illness, and a dearth of essential supplies.

The trials and frustrations experienced by the all-bla'ck Tltird Regiment in the Spanish-American War were in many ways symptomatic of growing racial tensions in North Carolina and the south during tlle late 1890s. The most significant action seen by the North Carolina Naval Militia during U1at conflict was in quelling t11e tragic Wilmington race riot of 1898. Moreover, during the following year the General Assembly enacted legisla­tion barring blacks from membership in the State Guard. Even prior to the war, black participation in Lhe Guard had been con­fined to the single Charlotte company. l\veaty years earlier, there had been some 500 blacks in the state's milita.ry establishment.

The years preceding World War I were years of significant military reorganization on the national level, particularly with respect to state militia forces. ln 1903 Congress passed the Dick Act, which supplanted the hoary Uniform Militia Act of 1792 as tbe principal statutory instrument of federal control. The new leg­islation placed the volunteer militia forces or National Guards of the states "along the irreversible patl1 toward federalization." True, the loss of state autonomy under this act came only at the instigation of the various governors as commanders-in-chief; but the inducements. offered by the federal government in the form of arms, equipment, and training were, as a practical matter, irre­sistible. lt need hardly be said that these things came only with certain conditions attached:

Once a governor took the fateful step of accepting federal aid, his state was requfred lo see that its organized militia drilled 24 times a year with lwo­lhirds of its strength present, and to rum out in the summer for live days of encampment every year. 111 addition, all units must stand annual inspection by federal oflicers and must correct the shortcomings noted by the inspectors.- Mndon, History oftlte Militia and

1/te Na1io110/ Guan/

The Dick Act "started the United States toward increased involvement in the day-by-day activity of the Guard." Jn the full­ness of time, the federal government was to assume more and more control; but it would also come LO provide some 95% of t11e cost of maintaining the Guard nationally.

Already by tlle mid- l 890s, most states bad adopted the term "National Guard" for t11eir organized militias. 111e official and rather belated adoption of this term in North Carolina came in 1903 with the passage of"An Act to Amend the Laws Governing the Militia and the State Guard." Section one of this law provid­ed that:

The active militia of the State shall be known and designated as the ''North Carolina National Guard," and wherever the words "State Guard" now appear ... the words "North Carolina National Guard" are substituted tl1erefore.

rn 1916, against the backdrop of war in Europe, Congress enacted another important piece of legislation relative to the National Guard. This legislation, tile Hay Reorganization.Bill (or National Defense Act) mandated a regular standing am1y of 211 ,000, a National Guard of 457,000, and a large reserve force

RECALL

of men who had served in either the Anny or the Guard. It a.lso increased the extent of federal control over the National G uard, doubled required training time, and tripled the duration of sum­mer encampments. Jn order to coafonn to the provisions of the National Defense Acl, the General Assembly of North Carolina enacted a comprehensive revision of the state 's militia laws dur­ing the fol lowing year. Once again, blacks were to be enrolled i_n National Guard units, though separately and under wl1ite officers. The state's annual appropriation to the Guard was set at $65,000. Only five months after the passage of this act, North Caro lina and the nation were to be drawn inexorably into World War l.

For many Tar Heel Guardsmen, service overseas i11 World War I was preceded by very differenl service along tlle Mexican border against the forces of Pancho Villa. In March of 1916, Villa's strike against Columbus, New Mexico, had resulted in the deaths of 17 United States citizens and the wounding of numer­ous others. Two months later, President Woodrow WiJson called the National Guards of the border states into federal service; and during the following month the call was issued to the ational Guards of all states, apparently lo test their capacity to function as a uni fied and coordinated force.

The North Carolina National G uard was mobilized for serv­ice at Camp Glenn near Morehead City in June, and in September all units except for those of the Coast Artillery were ordered to El Paso, Texas. As was the case with the National Guard troops of others states, North Carolina Guardsmen participated in little or no actual fighting a long the Mexican border. General John J. Pershing was authorized to ptLrsue Villa into Mexico, but he took with him only troops from the regular army. Tar Heel Guardsmen returned to the state early in 19 17, and some u11its were mustered out of federal service. for a brief period o f Lime. Others were assigned to temporary duty in various parts of the state, as America's entry into World War T grew increasing ly imminent. The fi ve units of the North Carolina Naval Militia were required to report to Norfolk. for orders even before tbe formal declaration of war.

ln August of 19 17 National Guard units in North Carolina and throughout the nation were drafted into federal service to begin preparations for combat duty overseas. The total number of Tar Heel Guardsmen drafted was 277 officers and 7,454 enlisted men. The vast majority of these me n were assigned to the recently created 30th Divis ion, a uni t comprised of Guardsmen from North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. From the beginning, it was known as the "Old Hickory" Division. The divi­sion's 60th infantry Drigade was com­prised entire ly of North Carolinians and was the only unit of its size in the division made up of G uardsmen from a single state.

assigned to serve with British forces. After entering the line ini­tially on 9 July, tJ1e 30th Division fought w ith distinction in Belgium and France until the final signing of the annistice in October. Jts proudest moment came with the breaking of the for­midable Hindenburg Line near St. Quentin on 29 September, one of the major allied achievements of the wa:r.

Although their service in the line was comparatively brief, the casualties incurred by North Carolina Guardsmen in World War 1 were extremely heavy. Approximately 40% were killed, wounded, taken prisoner, captured, or carried off by illness. The 30th Division as a whole, suffered 1,641 killed and 6,774 wounded during the conOict.

When the North Carolina National Guard was called into federal service in the summer of 1917, it was essential that a mil­itary force be organized to serve the state dliring its absence. Governor Thomas W. Bickett issued a proclamation calling 5,000 men from the unorganized militia into active status to execute laws and maintain order. Some 64 companies of the North Carolina R eserve Militia were formed across the state, with 42 of these receiving arms furnished by the War Department. Other am1s were supplied by individua l municipalities. Only in Winston-Salem, where a lynching was threatened, were the serv­ices of these troops actually required. Upon the return of National Guardsmen after the war, the Reserve Mili tia was disbanded.

Reorganization of the North Carolina National Guard came s lowly following World War I. In I 919 thcTe was no militia organization finnly in place within tlJe state. Soon, however, interest in military affairs began to revive and the work of Adjutant General John Van B. Metts started to produce positive results. By tbe end of 1920, IO units had been organized, with a total strength of 30 officers and 630 enlisted men. Once begun, the pace of reorganization was ro accelerate rapidly. After I 0 years, the strength of the Guard consisted of 263 officers and 3, 158 enlisted men, for a total of 3,42J. The 30th Division was deactivated following its return to the Untied States. re was reac­tivated, though, in 1925 as the 30th National Guard Division, with Guardsmen from Georgia being added to those from North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. From thal l ime unti l the approach of World War II, its activities were to center around var-

From August of 1917 lo May of 1918, tJ1c 30th Division remained in training at Camp Sevier, Greenville, South Carolina. The unit ilien sailed from various ports lo England and sub­sequently to France, where it was Batte1y of ll3th Field Artillery in acti""' AEF, WWI, 1918

M AY 2000 PAGE N1NETEEN

ious peacetime maneuvers and swnmer encampments ..

On numerous occasions between the two world wars, Guardsmen in North Carolina came to the aid of civil authori­ties to maintain law and order. Among the most significant of these occasions were the roil road strike of J 922. Lhe vio­lent textile strikes in Gastonia and Marion in 1929, and the generol strike of 1934.

Due largely to the ravages of the Great Depression, financial support for the National Guard did nol increase dur­ing the 1930s us it might otherwise llavc done. 1 ndecd, the amount of state support showed a marked decline. In 1930 the State of North Carolina provided an anminl appropriation of about $157,000 Lo its National Guard, while the federal government provided approximately

Infantry soldier, 30th T11fa111ry Divisio11, firi11g" buw oka tllrougli a hedgerow i11 Normauy, WWIJ, 1944

$550,000. IJy 1938 federal support had dwindled slightly LO

about $509,000, while that from the srate had faUen by more 1.han a third to roughly $91,000.

lronically, it was due to I.be Great Depression and the result­ing New Deni policies I.hat tbe National Guards of North Carolina and other states realized an appreciable expansion of their armory facilities. Prior ro the late 1930s, National Guard units had ordj. narily leased armory space in privately owned commercial build­ings. often on the top floors. But because local unirs were now entrusted witJ1 the care of government property valued at between $50,000 and SI 00,000, the War Department grew increasingly insistenl that annories provide adequate protection against theft, fire, and vandalism. The task or constructing such anuorics was eagerly seized upon by the Works Progress Adm.injstration in its effort LO provide employment. Between 1935 and 1940 some 30 brick armories were constructed across the state, wirh 15 to 25 percent of the fundi ng corning from the local communities and Lbe remainder from the federal government.

At the end of 1938 the total strength of the NortJ1 Carolina National Guard consisted of3,438 officers and men, only slight· ly below the 3,560 authorized by the War Department. Sixty indi­vidual units were located across the state, with each required 10

meet certain carefully monitored standards in order to qualify for federal support, equjpmcnt, and training assistance. Two years later, Tar Heel Guardsmen would again be mobilized for service in Europe.

On I 0 September 1940, pursuant to a proclamation by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Governor Clyde R. Hoey ordered the entire Guard of the state into federal service for one year of training, with the exception of the State Staff and State Detachment. fn addition, all units were directed by the War Department 10 mobilize at their home stations and to recruit up to their authorized war strength. By the time of its formal induction ioto federal service on 16 September L940, tbe strength of tbe Guard stood at 302 officers, four warrant officers, a:nd some 4,54 1 enlisted men. Within two weeks' time, aU troops bad been ordered to Camp Jackson, South Carolina, except for the 252nd Coast Artillery Regiment, which was sent initially to Fort

PAOE 1'W£N1:Y

Moultrie, near Charleston. At Camp Jackson, Tnr llcel Guards­men joined with follow Guardc;men of the 30lh Division from South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee. The end of the pre­scribed year's training found rhe United States still clingirig 10 a position of neutrality with respect lo World War II. F.vents, how­ever, wouJd soon conspire to dmw the nation and its Guardsmen into the conOict.

For a long period following d1e Japanese artack on Pearl I larbor and America ·s belated entry into the war. the 30th Division served primarily as "a conduit through which men passed Lo other outfits ." By ihe time it ceased to function in this capacity, most of its original personnel were gone. Nearly three years passed afier the declaration of war before the division was finally given an opportunity for combat duty overseas.

The 30th Division departed from Boston on 12 i:cbruary 1944 and arrived in England I 0 days later. The first elements of Lhe unit were committed to combat on 10 June, four days after the massive invasion of Normandy began . .From the time of its initial encounter wil'h the Wehrmacht until VE Day, the 30th Division earned a reputation as "the work-horse of tbe western front," fighting with conspicuous gallantry in numerous engagements from the coast of Normandy westward into the heartland of Gennnny. Key engagements included operations on d1e Vire River, the St. Lo breakthrough, the Battle of Mortain, tbe assault n lbe Siegfried Line, the BatUe of the Bulge, and the reduction and occupation of Magdeburg on the Elbe River. It was on the Elbe lhnl the 30rh celebrated with Russian troops the winning of victory in Europe. 1n 11 months of biller fighting, the division took more tllan 53,000 prisoners, while earning an enviable share of combat decorations. fn the process, the unit also susta ined henvy losses, with 3,516 killed and 14,930 wounded.

As i.n World War I, the mobilization of the Nonh Carolina National Guard into federal service during tbe Second World War made it necessary to organize a replacement force for potential use within the state. The first units of this force, the State Guard, were fonned in J 941. Eventually, some 42 units were organized with an authorized strength of 2,400 men. The men enrolled in the State Guard had either been exempted from the draft because

lll!CALL

of age or rejected by the regular armed forces for be.al th reasons. Perhaps the most significant use of the State Guard was in fighl­ing the great forest fire which ravaged portions of western North Carolina in 1942.

A t the end of World War II, the 30th Division returned to this country and was assigned to Fort Jackson, South Carolina, to begin the process of deactivation. Formal release from federal service did not occur unti l June of 1947, at which time the State Guard was disbanded.

Reorganization of the North Carolina National Guard fol­lowing World War n would have been difficull in any case, but the diffi­culties were some­what compounded by military reor­ganization on the national level. In JuJy of 1947 Congress passed into law the National Security Act, "the dominant feature of American military organization in the poslwar period." Among other things, this legjsla­tion created the Air force as a service

Major Ge11eral Le/am/ Hobbs (right), C{)mmnnde1;m 301'1 /11fa11try Division, with Lt. Gen. Courtney H"dges, Com­mander, First Army

independent of the Army, provided a statutory basis for the joint Chiefs of StaCf, and entrusted the overall supervision of the nation's military establishment to the Secretary of Defense.

The first unit of the reorganized North Carolina Nat1onal Guard to receive federal recognition following World War 11 was rhc 94U1 Ground Forces Band, which was formed at Raleigh in febrnary of 1947. The 30th Division was reactivated as a National Guard unit during the same year, with its personnel comprised of Guardsmen exclusively from North Carolina and Tennessee. Within the next few years U1e rebuilding of the state's military establishment was completed. Jn response to the need for additional annory space, the General Assembly in 1947 created the North Carolina Annory Commission, with an annual appro­priation of Sl00,000. By the end of 1949 the North Carolina Nationa l Guard boasted 100 units with a total troop strength of 7,286 officers and men. State funding for the Guard had risen to more than a quarter of a million do llars, while federal support was nearly one and three-quarter million.

The recognition of the Air Force as an independent armed service in 1947 paved the way for the fonnation of Air National Guard units throughout the country. The establishment of the North Carolina Air National Guard can be traced to 15 March 1948, when the 156th Fighter Sq1rndron received federal recogni­tion. Based at Morris Field in Charlotte (now the Charlotte Douglas lnternational Airport), the unit was comprised initially of 13 officers and 50 airmen. lts fust mission aircraft was the P-47 Tbun~erbolt. ln December of 1949 the Thunderbolts were

MAY 2000

replaced by the swifter and more maneuverable F-5 L Mustangs. Already by this time, the troop strength of the North Carolina Air National Guard had risen to roughly 700 officers and men.

During the course of the Korean War, leaders of the nation's Army National Guard were frustrated to witness the implementa­tion of the draft while National Guard units remained largely unmobil.ized. Only a relatively few Army Guardsmen were called into federal service during Uiat conflict, included I l Nonh Carolina uni ts. In contrast, approximately three-fourths of the nation's Air Guardsmen were called up during the first year of fight ing io provide support for the Tactical, Strategic, and Air Defense commands.

The various units of U1e North CaroLina Air National Guard were near full slrengU1 w hen the war broke out, and all were called to active duty. The l 56tb Fighter Squadron was transferred from Charlotte to Godmao Air Force Base near Louisville. Kentucky, and was assigned to the 123rd Fighter Bomber Wing. Over a period of 13 months , approximately 25 percent of the offi­cers and 15 percent of tbe enlisted men were assigned lo Korea as individual replacements. ln July of 1952 the 156tb was released from active duty and returned to Morris Field in Charlotte.

During the mid and late 1950s, the facilities of the North Carolina Air National Guard at Charlotte were improved and expanded considerably. Most of the buildings initially available had been temporary structures dating from World War II, and wiU1 the growth of the Air Guard, these buildings proved woe­fully inadequate. In June of 1955 addi tional acreage was acquired by the Guard at Morris Field, and construction began on a large and badJy needed Base Supply facility. During the next two years a taxiway was built and extensive improvements were made to the main runway. Other facilities developed in the late 1950s included a Motor Service shop and an Operations and Training building.

A very significant milestone in the history of the North Carolina National Guard came in 1954 when the 30th D ivision became entirely a North Caroli1rn unit. ln recent years the d ivi­sion had consisted of approximately equal numbers of troops from NorU1 Carolina and Tennessee. Jo order to consummate this reorganization, it was nece.5sary for 2 1 additional local units to be organized.

As in the past, lhc North Carolina National Guard was called upon on several occasions during lhe 1950s to assist law enforcement officers and to mitigate the effects of natural disas­ters. Perhaps Uie most serious ofthcse calls occurred in 1954 with Hurricane Hazel and in 1959 with the textile strike at Henderson. The wide swath of destruction wrought by Hazel brought out 11 National Guard units and nearly 600 individual Guardsmen to protect properly and assist civil authorities. The protracted textile strike in Henderson five years later produced calls for troops from both the Army and Air Guards of the state and finally resulted in the creation of a special task force. Altogether, the strike involved the services of 585 individua l Guardsmen over a three-month period. Other relatively large-scale uses of the Guard during the 1950s occurred wiU1 Hurricane Connie ( 1955), Hurricane Diane (1955), and Hurricane Helene (1958).

Financial support for the National Guard from both the state and federal governments continued to increase dming the 1950s. By 1959 the state appropriation to the Guard totalled more than

PAGE TWENTY-ONE

$700,000, while support from the federa l governmeut was well in excess of $9,000,000. The state also continued its support of the Guard through tbe on-going work of the North Carolina Armory Commission. During the period 1959-1960, the commission began the coostructionof 18 new armories, in addition to making necessary repairs to existing facilities.

The years 1959 and 1960 saw continued growth and impor­tant changes in the North Carolina National Guard. The 30th Division was completely restructured in accordance with the lat­est concepts of military organization. Moreover, the unit became one of only five National Guard infantry divisions in the nation to be authorized at 71 percent of combat strength and to be des­ignated as part of the first line reserves. The North Carolina Air National Guard underwent an overall change in its mission dur­ing this period, with attendant changes in aircraft and organiza­tional structure.

At the end of the year 1960, the North Carolina Army National Guard consisted of 883 commissioned officers, 87 war­rant officers, and 9,90 I enlisted men. The Air National Guard of the state consisted of 89 commissioned officers and 819 airmen. Together, the two Guard organizations bad units in l 02 towns and cities, with a total troop strength of 11, 779. The adjutant gener­al's report for the year ventured the observation that the state's overall Guard establishment was "better organized, better trained and better equipped than at any other time in history."

The turbulent decade of the 1960s brought with it an ever deepening involvement of American military forces in the Vietnam War. However, as had been the case with Korea, it was detennined early on that the draft would be the principal source of manpower for that conflict Only 7,000 Anny Guardsmen nationally saw active service in Southeast Asia, with more than half of these being detached from their units as replacements. Moreover, the Anny Guard's limited involvement in Vietnam ended during the early summer of 1969, some four years before the final departure of American forces from that war-tom land.

The general involvement of the country's Air National Guard in Vietnam began in January of 1966, but elements of the North Carolina Air National Guard had flown aeromedical trans­port missions as early as the previous August. Tar Heel Air Guardsmen had been well prepared for missions to Vietnam, hav­ing nown previously to many parts of the globe including Japan. During 1966 alone, the North Carolina Air National Guard com­pleted 26 missions to Southeast Asia. Numerous other flights fol­lowed until the end of Guard involvement in 1969. While carry­ing out these essential military missions, Tar Reel Guardsmen also kept intact an enviable and long-standing safety record.

The years 1967 and 1968 were described at the time as among "the most turbulent ever experienced by the Anny National Guard." A sweeping reorganization throughout the country resulted in a drastic reduction in the number of National Guard divisions and in the creation of numerous separate brigades and other non-divisional units. The divisions left in exis­tence, moreover, were subjected to a drastic restructuring, with each being split between two or more states. The 30th Infantry Division (an all-North Carolina unit since 1954) now became the 30th Division (Mechanized), with some of its units allocated to South Carolina and Georgia. Division headquarters remained in North Carolina.

North Carolina National Guardsmen performed disaster

PAO!! 'N'ENTY·TWO

Jeep mou11ted recoilless rifle crew, 1st Battalio11, JZOth lnfa11t1y, post-war National Guard

relief duty on numerous occasions during the 1960s, the most important of these resulting from the severe snowstorm of March J 960 and from Hurricane Donna in September of the same year. The Guard also provided assistance to civil authorities in the search for outlaws and missing persons throughout the state. It was in the area of civil disturbances, however, that Guardsmen were involved in the largest numbers. Some 33 I Guardsmen were called up in Durham in July of 1967; and approximately 1,100 Guardsmen served in Wmston-Salem during the following November. ln April of 1968, large-scale civil disturbances occurred across the state in Charlotte, Durham, Goldsboro, Greensboro, Raleigh, and Wilmington. Altogether, these inci­dents evoked calls for 8,200 Guardsmen. Some 4,300 of these troops were actually committed, while the remaining 3,900 were on stand-by duty.

Funding for the North Carolina National Guard from both state and federal sources continued to rise in the 1960s. From I July 1968 to 30 June 1970 the state provided slightly over $1.5 million through lhe Adjutant General's Department and more than a quarter million through the North Carolina annory Commission, for a combined total of nearly $ 1.8 million. Total federal funds expended during fiscal year 1970 amounted to just under $20 mill ion.

Al the end of June 1970, the North Carolina National Guard was comprised of 772 commissioned officers, 99 warrant offi­cers, and 10, 133 enlisted personnel, for a total of I 0,954. The state's Air National Guard contained within its ranks 168 com­missioned officers, one warrant officer, and 983 airmen, for a total of I, 152. The aggregate troop strength of the entire North Carolina National Guard stood at 12, 106.

The two dominant events of the 1970s with respect to the National Guard were the end of the Vietnam War and the aban­donment of the draft. Except for a period in 1947-1948, the draft had been an ever-present source of manpower for the nation's military establishment since World War II, though an increasing­ly controversial one with the passage of time. The adoption of an all-volunteer force in 1973 impelled the leadership of the National Guard to develop innovative methods of attracting and retaining sufficient manpower. For several years the Guard experienced a steady erosion in strength, but by the end of the 1970s the tide bad been turned through the use of intensive recruitment, advertising, and increased salaries and benefits.

RECALL

As a part of its overall effort to build and maintain adequate troop strength in the absence of the draft, the Guard drew increas­ingly upon the nation's black population-a pool of manpower used only sparingly before. Somewhat more slowly, the Guard also began to recruit women into its ranks. From 1969 to the swn­mer of J 977, the number of blacks increased nearly tenfold, from 5,541 to 54,595. The number of women also rose significantly, though not as dramatically.

The year 1973 proved a pivitol one in ~1e history of the National Guard, not only on the national level but on the state level as well. It was during that year that leaders of the Tar Heel Guard were informed of plans to deactivate the 30th Division after a proud b.istory of 56 years- this, despite the fact that it had performed well during a recent two-year study by the Pentagon to determine whether post-mobilization training rime for a Guard division could be appreciably reduced. On 5 January 1974, dur­ing ceremonies at Raleigh's Dorton Arena, the "Old Hickory's" colors were formally retired.

The mitigation of natural disasters required the services of North Carolina Guardsmen on several occasions during the early and mid- l 970s. Heavy snows in the southeastern portion of the state in February of 1973 resulted in the call-up of 560 Guardsmen in 11 counties. At least four times during this period Guardsmen were called upon to combat the ravages of floods: in May 1973 at Asheville; at Eden and Kinston in March 1975; and in Buncombe and Haywood counties in February and May of 1976, respectively. ln August 1976 the Guard rendered assistance in eastern North Carolina in the wake of Hurricane Bell Protest marches produced calls for Guard assistance at Raleigh in July L974 and again in September 1976. From January L977 through December 1980 e lements of the Guards were ordered into serv­ice on 15 occasions to assist authorities in searching for missing persons. Three times during this period Guardsmen provided large-scale assistance to authorities in the maintenance oflaw and order: the truckers' strike in Charlotte and Greensboro in June of 1979, involving 1,016 Guardsmen; the funeral march for slain members of the Communist Workers Party in Greensboro in November 1979, involving 616 Guardsmen; and the anti-Klan rally and march in Greensboro in Febmary of 1980, involving 286 Guardsmen. Aid to civil authorities in disaster relief was required some J 5 times during this period. The largest of these operations occurred between November and December of 1977 dw'ing floods in seven western counties, in Janua1y of 1978 dur­ing ice storms in the piedmont, and in March of 1980 when a widespread snowstonu blanketed the central and eastern portions of the state.

The physical facilities of both the Army and Air Guards of North Carolina continued to expand in the 1970s. From June 1972 to the end of 1980, some 17 new armories were completed and construction on another two began. At the close of tl1is peri­od the total capital assets of the Anny Guard alone were in excess of $41 million. Facilities at the Cl1arlotte base of the state's Air Guard experienced a simiJar appreciation in value. At the end of 1980 the total worth of real estate there was just shy of $6 mil­lion.

The assigned troop strength of the North Carolina Anny National Guard at the end of 1980 consisted of 824 officers, 219 warrant officers, and 10,653 enlisted personnel, for a total of 11 ,696. The assigned troop strength of the Air Guard units at the

MAY 2000

Charlotte base alone was comprised of 138 officers and 992 enlisted personnel, for a total of 1,J 30.

The ranks of both the Arr and Army Guards of the state reflected the increased enlistment of blacks and, to a lesser extent, women during the late 1970s. Between the beginning of J 977 and U1e end of 1980, the percentage of blacks in the Army Guard rose from 25.64 to 28.20. The percentage of women rose only slightly from 2.59 to 3.54. Minorities and women also were beginning to achieve officers' status in increasing numbers. At the close of 1980 there were 62 minority officers (predominantly black) and 27 women officers- an increased of 48 minority offi­cers and 25 female officers since the beginning of 1977. The same general trends were apparent with respect lo Air Guard membership. On l January 1977 there were 61 black males, l l black females, and 29 white females in the Charlotte-based units, of whom three blacks and eight females were officers. By the end of 1980 these units contained 118 black males, 26 black females, and 55 white females, of whom seven blacks and 11 females were officers.

During the period since 1980 the North Carolina National Guard bas continued to provide crucial disaster relief. The yea.r 1984 saw the Guard called out in large numbers to mitigate the effects of violent stoaus in eastern North Carolina. The freakish series of tornadoes wllich occurred in April involved some 660 individual Guardsmen and a total of 4,665 man-days of work in rescue and recovery operations and a wide variety of other activ­ities requiring the use of six J1elicopters, five C-130 aircraft, and more than 200 assorted vehicles and pieces of heavy equipment. Similar operations carried out in the wake of Hurricane Dianna in September enlisted the services of 750 Guardsmen for 3,500 man-days at a cost of approximately $200,000.

As recently as the spring of this year, the North Carolina National Guard was comprised of 135 federally recognized units in some l 00 communities across the state. Authorized troop strength consisted of 1,049 officers, 213 warrant officers, and 11 ,559 enlisted personnel, for a total of 12,831. At the c lose of fiscal year 1984, however, the Guard's assigned strength was slightly in excess of authorized levels, with a total membership of 13,207. Of this number, some 4,144 were minorities and 639 were women.

Both federal and state funding have continued to rise in recent years. During fiscal year I 984 the Guard rccci ved some $93 million from Washingto11, wilh roughly two-thirds of that coming in the form of salaries. Another $5.5 million was provid­ed in J 984 by the slate. The expansion of facilities also has con­tinued at a fairly rapid pace. Tn 1983-84 about S8 million was acquired for the improvement of Air Guard facilities. During tbe same period no fewer than 18 new Army Guard facilities were completed and another three placed under construction in local communities. The Guard's capital assets rose to $77.7 mill.ion, and its equipment was valued at $598.1 million.

Today's North Carolina National Guard, the key component of the state's organized militia, continues a citizen-soldier lradi­tion begun in the colony of Carolina more than three centuries ago. With all its sophisticated weaponry and complex organiza­tion, it still rests upon the assumed obligation of able-bodied cit­izens to provide for the common defense. Like all Guard organi­zations, it serves both state and federal functions, it commanders-

Continued on page 24

PAGE TWIN'fY·THREI:'.

EDITOR~S TACK ROO:M: By Richard Ripley

This issue covers the story of North Carolina's mili tia from its early Colonial origin through 1984. Wilson Angley did a splendid job researching his article. Space limitations prevented inc luding his footnotes and bibliogra­phy. We will publish the bibliography in the issue of Recall. lt would be great if someone would continue the story of lhe North Carolina National Guard from J 985 to tbe present time. Any one interested?

Also, we need stories of your experiences in World War 11, Korea, and Vietnam- while we are still here. Note U1e Ardenncs battle article includes several stories, which help enhance the typ­ical, rather dry, historical dates, locations, and unit designations we usually find.

We plan on continuing with the 24-page publication. To do this, we need more members. Will you help get more members?

Last, T would like to hear from you on what you think of Recall and what we can do to improve it. My goal is to make each issue better.

Photos, Interviews Sought of Late 20th Century N.C. Veterans In 1998, the N.C. Division of Archives and History began

Phase lll of its effort to better document the state's 20th century military experience. Previous phases have focused on the period from 1900 through the end of the Korean War. Though still actively collecting and preserving items from this era, the Archives is seeking to honor North Carolina veterans who served Nortl1 Carolina and the nation from 1954 througb the present.

1n keeping with lhis slate's long and proud military tradi tion, large numbers of North Carolinians served in the military forces of the United States both in time of war and in operations other than war, primari ly in support of humanitarian efforts around the world.

lf you have a photograph or photographs of a North

NC Militia & National Guard Contim1ed from page 23

in-chief being U1e governor and president, respectively. During lhc twentieth century, and especially in recent years,

the Guard bas increasingly become a constituent and inseparable part of the nation's first-line reserve forces. Yet it remains, in a very real sense, the miJitary establishment of the State of North Carolina, with internal responsibilities very s imilar to those of the colonial militia. Nor has the concept of a universal military obli­gation, involving the state's unorganized militia, been entirely forgotten. The constitution of 1971 and current statute law stilJ empower the goveruor to order "all able-bodied citizens" between the ages of 17 and 64 into state service should ever tl1e need arise.

The North Carolina Military Historical Society 7410 Chapel Hill Road

Raleigh, North Carolina 27607-5096

PAGE TWENTY -FOUR

Carolinian in unifonn, consider making a donation to the Military Collection Project The Archives also seeks to collect and pre­serve military related papers and memorabilia so that future stu­dents, researchers, historians, and others can better understand the nature of military service and sacrifice.

The Mili tary History Collection Project also is engaged in an extensive oral history program. People arow1d the stale arc encouraged to tape interviews with veterans of a ll time periods and services for deposit in the M ilitary Collection of the State Archjves. If you have items to share, please mail them to or con­tact:

Sion Harrington ITI, Coordinator, Military Collection Project North Carolina Division of Archives and History l09 East Jones Street, Raleigh, N.C. 27601-2807

or call 919-733-.3952. e-mail: sharrington@ncsl.dcr.state.nc.us

AN INVJTATION

Contribute Articles of Recall Readers are invited to submit material to Recall. Jn choos­

ing material for publication, the editor of Recall will give prefer­ence to articles of unusual s ignificance and transcripts or abstracts of difficult-to-locate records. Material submitted for publication will be reviewed by persons knowledgeable in the areas covered for validity, significance, and appropriateness. All material will be edited for clarity and conciseness. Manuscripts sbould be sent to the Editor, 4404 Leota Drive, Raleigh, N .C. 27603. Tel. 919-772-7688. E-mail: rmripley@gateway.net

NONPROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE

PAID CARY. NC 27511 Permit No. 551

Examples of Materia l Suitable for P ublication

Articles on military history I Biographies of military figures I Personal and family papers pertaining to U1e m ilitary I Military socie ty records I Military censuses I Personal expe­riences I Records, diaries, letters pertaining to service I Impressment records I Oral h is­tories I Military and pension records

Abstracts should be for a full record series. If an abstract is not complete, it should include all individuals and families within the pages abstracted.

RECALL