Category: Archive & Collections

By Doug Ernest

 

“Ever since our arrival at Camp Baldwin we have all contended that whatever anybody else could do, Battery A could do a little better.”
– John Hurdle, letter published in The Weekly Courier, March 22, 1918

 

FCMoD’s Great War blog series is highlighting the scrapbook album compiled by Fort Collins native John Hurdle, who served with Battery A in the 148th Field Artillery Regiment of the 66th Field Artillery Brigade, and fought on the Western Front. Hurdle created a detailed album of his experience, which is housed at the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery Local History Archive.

 

In July 1917, Battery A was quartered in Camp Baldwin, Denver, under the command of Captain Roy G. Coffin. Battery A soldiers completed basic training with Battery B (from Denver) and Battery C (from Colorado Springs). Soldiers were taught basic drill orders, command structure, and military discipline. They were also tested to gauge their physical and mental fitness, as well as their proficiency with weapons.

 

This scrapbook page gives a glimpse of what it was like at Camp Baldwin. Images show the Battery A office, a man doing a handstand, the Battery C jazz band, and (presumably) a medical building (with the caption “Now Cough,” upper left-hand corner):

 

 

In September of 1917, Batteries A, B and C departed Denver for Camp Greene, North Carolina, arriving on October 2. Battery A traveled by train through Kansas to Memphis, where it paused long enough for the men to swim at the YMCA.  Their train must have stopped briefly at Ellis, Kansas, because a photograph of that town appears in Hurdle’s album.

 

About Camp Greene, Battery C noted that Charlotte “girls were not a bit bashful and if a fellow didn’t get acquainted it was his own fault.”

 

Battery A’s Cliff Robertson gave this report of Camp Greene, which was published in the Loveland Reporter on October 15, 1917.

 

And here’s a look at Camp Greene from the FortWiki series.

 

In October 1917, the soldiers transferred to Camp Mills, New York. In the opinion of Battery C, Camp Mills was “dilapidated and forlorn,” and a “disgrace” to the US government. A problem with drainage caused the camp to be covered with as much as 6 inches of water after a stout rainfall. The water flooded the tents, extinguished stoves, and caused pipes to freeze. Bathing was limited to sponge baths.

This page from Hurdle’s scrapbook shows Battery Street in Camp Mills, with tents erected, or being erected, and a mysterious image upper right (is that a hat? a bird? an airplane?):

 

Here’s a link to the FortWiki description of Camp Mills.

 

Soldiers sent letters and telegrams home, which were often published in local newspapers along with other news articles about the war. Just a few references are included at the end of this post.

 

Battery A would see one more stateside location (Camp Merritt, New Jersey; here’s Camp Merritt’s FortWiki description) before heading to the front. Our next Great War blog will delve into Battery A’s journey across the Atlantic in January 1918 aboard the steamship S.S. Baltic.

 

 

A few mentions of Battery A published in local newspapers in 1917:

• “Cliff Robertson Tells of Life at Camp Greene,” Loveland Reporter, October 15, 1917, page 2.
• “Battery A Ranks, Regiment and Men Enjoy the Smokes,” The Weekly Courier, October 12, 1917, page 3.
• “Battery A Enjoys Stop at Memphis, Tennessee,” The Weekly Courier, October 5, 1917, page 4.
• “Battery A is OK, at Camp Greene, North Carolina, Coffin Going Up,” The Weekly Courier, October 12, 1917, page 7.

 

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In the spring of 1917, the United States entered the war raging in Europe. Here’s a description from the National World War I Museum and Memorial:

“The day after an overwhelming majority in the Senate votes for war, President Wilson signs the declaration. The United States quickly puts the entire country on the road to war.  Going from a standing army of 133,000 men with almost no heavy artillery pieces, millions of men were inducted into the armed forces over the next two years and given basic combat training.”

• https://www.theworldwar.org/us-enters-war

One hundred years later, the changes wrought on the world as a result of World War I – the Great War – are still being studied, discussed, and debated. You’ve probably seen a presentation or two yourself. But you might not know the part Fort Collins played.   

Battery A – originally a National Guard unit formed at Colorado Agricultural College, later part of a regiment of the US Army – included Fort Collins men, and would train in Camps Baldwin (Denver), Greene (North Carolina), Mills (New York), and Merritt (New Jersey) before landing in Europe. The Archive houses a scrapbook that captures one soldier’s experience of the war, Mr. John Hurdle.

The first date that appears in Hurdle’s scrapbook is from July, 100 years ago. The scrapbook is filled with photographs and handwritten notes that track Battery A’s route through the fields of war, and includes many images of Fort Collins citizens. A few pages are featured below.

During the remainder of this year, and through the 100^th Anniversary of the Armistice, we will share with you details of the war as experienced by the citizens of Fort Collins (including those at home and those who never made it home). You can expect excerpts of letters, pictures from the Front, first-hand accounts of the Second Battle of the Marne, and much more.

*Stay tuned for more research on WWI and the Hurdle scrapbook from Jenny Hannifin and Doug Ernest.

 

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