Military Monday: WWI Veteran Frank Amos

The Amos family. Frank Amos is the young man on the left.

In her typescript, Aunt Elsie remembered that her uncle Frank Amos was “killed while he was in the infantry, World War No I.” This was one of the instances in which Elsie was less accurate. Frank Amos did, indeed, serve in World War I, but he was not killed in the war.


The service records of the millions of English soldiers who served the WWI were stored in the War Office, which sustained bomb damage during WWII, destroying about two-thirds of the records. But some of the records were salvaged. These are known as the “Burnt Records.” Frank Amos’ record was among these fortunate ones. And it is very lucky for me, indeed, because I owe much of what I know about Frank and his family to these Burnt Records. And, also due to these records, I can trace his service with more completeness than any of my other WWI veterans.

Firefighters putting out a blaze in London after an air raid during The Blitz in 1941.
By New York Times Paris Bureau Collection [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Frank Amos was called up for service on 2 Mar 1917, and his physical fitness was approved the following day. He reported his age as 30 years and 4 months, and he was 5 feet and 6 ¾ inches tall. His profession in civilian life was “barman,” which is no great surprise. He had been born and raised at a pub, after all. (See my posts on the Creeksea Ferry.) He was married to a woman named Frances Daisy Appleby, whom he had married on the 19th of some month in 1912 (there is a hole burnt through the month; there is a reason these are known as the “Burnt Records”), and they had a son, William George, born 19 Oct 1913.


Frank was posted on 3 Mar 1917 to the 4^th Battalion of the Essex Regiment. He is again recorded as being posted to the 4^th Essex on 9 Mar 1917. I am uncertain why both dates are recorded, but at this time I still have little experience in deciphering these service records. At any rate, the 4^th Essex was crossing the Sinai Desert to participate in the Palestine campaign at the time. It proceeded to engage in all three battles of Gaza. But Frank would have been with them for only the first two, because on 23 May 1917 he was transferred to the 301^st Depot of the 5^th Labour Battalion.

Egyptian Labour Corps landing stores near Gaza during World War I
By C. Guy Powles (1872–1951) [1][2] [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The Labour Corps was manned in part by soldiers who had been wounded or otherwise rated below the “A1” condition required for front line fighting. Therefore, I have to wonder if Frank had been injured in battle. His Medical History in his service record is difficult to read, much of it apparently having been written in pencil. However, there are a few clues. Under “Slight defects but not sufficient to cause rejection,” which would seem to have been recorded at the time of his enlistment, is written “states trouble with left ankle.” Perhaps the trouble with his ankle had increased and disqualified him. There is also an entry indicating that he had been examined on 4 May 1917. This is a few weeks after the second Battle of Gaza, which would seem to indicate that he was probably not injured in that battle, as he would presumably been examined much sooner. (This is just me making assumptions, though. As stated before, I am no expert on these service records, nor am I particularly knowledgeable about military procedure.) But it is only a few weeks before his transfer to the Labour Corps, so it would seem quite possible that the transfer was a result of the examination. The full entry reads

Examined by No 1. TMG. + placed
in Cat B II.

Strangely, the first line is dark and clear, as though written in pen, but the second line is faded and appears to be in pencil, or at least a lighter shade of ink. Together, though, they would seem to say that he is no longer considered to be in A1 condition, but in B2. In that case, his transfer to the Labour Corps makes sense. But the two different writing materials still confuse me. (I am pondering the effects of the heat of fire on ink, and wondering if that may explain the difficulty in reading some portions of this record.)


I have not been able to locate details on the relevant companies of the Labour Corps, so cannot trace with any precision Frank’s movements up to the end of the war. It seems that little research has been done on the companies made up of Englishmen. The Labour Corps also made use of hundreds of soldiers of other ethnicities, in segregated companies, which are beginning to be examined for their historical significance, especially in regard to British colonialism. Without dismissing this important research, I can’t help but selfishly hope that more information on the English units soon appears. All I can currently manage is to list the companies (or as much as could be read of the companies—some of their names were partially burnt) in which Frank served:

Employ Coy, 363
H. S. Emp Coy, 246, 363, 586, 587
Agric Coy, 435
E. C. L. C.
H. S. E. Coy, 583

Although I could not verify this supposition, I think that “Coy” is an abbreviation for “Company.”


While Frank was with the 586^th or 587^th Employment Corps, on 11 Aug 1918, his wife Daisy passed away at the Union Infirmary in Rochford, Essex. Her cause of death was certified as “phthisis,” which is a type of tuberculosis. Frank evidently acquired leave in order to be at her side, as he is the recorded informant on her death certificate. Their son William George would have been a few months shy of five years old. But Frank did not get to stay with his son. The war was not yet over, and Frank had to return to his duty. 

Rochford, Essex, England
By Terryjoyce [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], from Wikimedia Commons

He was posted to the 435^th Agricultural Coy on 24 Aug 1918, and was apparently serving with them when the armistice was signed. He remained in the Labour Corps, however, moving through two more companies, until 23 Mar 1919, when he was transferred to the East Kent Regiment, the “Buffs.” There appears to be a detailed comment in regard to this transfer, but the ink is so faded I was unable to make out any of it. He was transferred to Class “Z” Army, a reserve contingent of discharged soldiers authorized in case of violations of the armistice, on Christmas Eve of 1919, hopefully just in time to celebrate Christmas with his son.

Sources:

 
Elsie Crocker, "Elsie Crocker" (typescript, 1990s); copy in possession of Amber Brosius.


England, "Soldiers’ Documents, First World War ‘Burnt Documents’," Frank Amos' enrolment papers, et al; digital images, Ancestry.com Operations Inc, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 Mar 2011).

Military Monday: WWI Veteran Albert Hoyt

 

Thank you to my cousin who sent me these wonderful pictures of Albert Hoyt in his Army uniform.
In this one, Albert is on the left. The other people are unidentified.

This week I will discuss (albeit briefly) the service of the only World War I veteran in my direct line: my great-grandfather Francis Albert Hoyt, Sr. He enlisted in the United States Army on 22 Oct 1918. Of course, the war ended on 11 Nov 1918, less than a month later, so he never saw any action. He was discharged on 29 Apr 1919, having served his six months. I have thus far been unsuccessful in identifying his unit or where he was stationed. However, I do know that he had enlisted in Missouri.
 

Albert Hoyt at attention in camp.

Sources:

1925 Iowa state census, Pottawattamie, Iowa, population schedule, Council Bluffs Ward 5, dwelling 3510 5th Ave, line 106-107, household of F. A. Hoyt; digital images, Ancestry.com Operations Inc, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 19 Feb 2010); citing Microfilm of Iowa State Censuses, 1856, 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915, 1925 as well various special censuses from 1836-1897 obtained from the State Historical Society of Iowa via Heritage Quest.

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, "U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS [Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem] Death File, 1850-2010," database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 11 Jun 2016), entry for Francis Hoyt; citing Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) Death File. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Military Monday: WWI Veteran Lee Brosius

 

Lee Brosius, with his wife Hazel, obviously some time after the Great War.

Since I have been featuring the World War I veterans of the Brosius family, I may as well write about the last one before I move on to another branch of the family. This is my grandfather and Uncle Ormond’s brother, and Harry’s half-brother, Lee Brosius. Unfortunately, all I know about Lee’s service is encapsulated in one terse sentence of Lewis W. Brosius’s Genealogy of Henry and Mary Brosius: 

Was in a balloon company in World War, did not go across.

No, it is not true that I know nothing else. I know also that he enlisted on 13 July 1918 and was discharged on 28 Dec 1918. Now we have truly reached the extent of my knowledge. Thus far I have been unable to locate any records which indicate in which company he served or where he was stationed. Perhaps someday I will learn more.

Real-photo postcard of a military balloon being raised for take-off during World War I. A group of unidentified soldiers is seen holding the balloon ropes (Undated) [Photograph by: Shaffer].

From Thomas C. Alston Papers, WWI 66, WWI Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C.

No known copyright restrictions
Downloaded from Flickr

Sources:

Lewis W. Brosius, Genealogy of Henry and Mary Brosius and Their Descendants with Other Historical Matters Connected Therewith Also Some Short Accounts of Other Families Bearing the Brosius Name. (N.p.: n.p., 1928), 398.

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, “U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS [Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem] Death File, 1850-2010,” database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 13 Apr 2015), entry for Lee Brosius; citing Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) Death File. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Military Monday: WWI Veteran Harry Brosius

The only photograph I have ever seen of Harry Brosius; he is the elder boy.
The baby is his oldest half-brother Marshall.

This week I shall highlight the World War I service of my grandfather’s half-brother, Harry Brosius. He had previously enlisted in the Spanish-American War, but seems to have served only about a month before he was discharged for being “unsuited to the service.” His hometown newspaper elaborated slightly more, by saying that he “was honorably discharged for disability, having a foot that had been hurt once, or something of the kind.” 

His injured foot did not seem to affect his service in the Great War, however. He enlisted from Tucumcari, New Mexico on 26 Mar 1918, at the age of 36. Beginning as a private in Company F of the 30^th Engineers, he departed Hoboken, New Jersey, for Europe aboard the President Grant on 30 June 1918. A letter to his father shortly after his arrival in Europe was printed in the Sedan Times-Star:

From Harry Brosius. 

          Somewhere in France.

Dear Dad:

At last I will try and write you a few lines to let you know that I am still alive and not far from the front but we can't hear the boom of the guns yet and don't know when that will happen.

I had quite a trip coming over. We were about twelve days making the trip and the weather was fine with the exception of one day when it rained and we also had a little excitement as a sub put in its appearance and disappeared very quick when the cruiser and a destroyer fired about a dozen shots. We could see the periscope from the ship I was on. Some of the men seem to think there was nothing to it, but I saw it so believe it.

This is a pretty country and the crops look fine. You see lots of wheat, oats, barley and potatoes, but not very much corn; a little alfalfa and quite a bit of clover. The stock looks fine. What cattle I saw were fat and look as though they were well fed and the horses the same. They work them differently than we do. Instead of working two abreast they string them out and don't use wagons, but two wheeled carts and can haul a fair sized load. They are away behind the U. S. in harvesting as they cradle their crops and I have only seen two binders so far, but they don't have large fields like we do. I presume that is why.

We were two days and three nights traveling on one of the most uncomfortable railroad trains I ever rode upon. You had to enter into the side of the car and you couldn't lay down or get up and walk around when the train was in motion and the seats were very straight backs and no toilets on the trains and every time they would stop it would be anywhere from fifteen minutes to four hours. It took us two days and three nights to go about 5000 miles and I was worn out when I did get off and haven't had any rest to speak of. I guess I can't stand to hit the ball like I used to.

I have been trying to locate Ormond but that is impossible as they don't allow us to divulge any names of towns and places and such being the case, one hardly knows what to write about but presume that when we get into action for awhile will have some interesting things to tell you in the line of experiences and may possibly bring back a few souvenirs. We can send home such as helmets, buttons and medals we take from the Germans, but they are very particular about other articles such as postcards, handkerchiefs and other small articles.

Well, Dad, I hope you are holding your own and everybody else the same. Will close this time. As ever,--Harry. F. Co. 30th Engineers, American Expeditionary Forces. via New York.

The Ormond he had been trying to locate was his half-brother, and the subject of last week’s post. (I would also like to thank the WikiTree user Natalie Trott, who shared this article, among others, with me.)

Harry was in the action soon enough. He later related to Lewis Brosius, author of Genealogy of Henry and Mary Brosius and Their Descendants, that he “was sergeant in Gas Guard of Chemical Warfare Service in 89th Division and was in St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne drives and with the army of occupation on the Rhine.” Ormond seems to have also been in these drives, but it is unknown whether they managed to find one another while overseas. Ormond was in an artillery unit.

World War I: American troops pouring into the St. Mihiel salient, toward Mont Sec, on the morning of September 12, 1918
By Committee on Public Information [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

By the end of the war, Harry had advanced to the rank of corporal in the 6th Casual Company Chemical Warfare Service. He departed Le Havre aboard the S.S. La Lorraine on 23 Mar 1919, and was discharged on 18 Apr 1919. He brought home a very significant souvenir, as described in the Sedan Times-Star:

In reading the war news you perhaps remember the term "shell splinters" in connection with various ways in which the men were wounded. Harry Brosius who is recently back is carrying a "shell splinter" but fortunately in his pocket and not in his anatomy. This particular "splinter" has a special interest for Harry because he was ducked down on account of a suspicion that something was due to come along and that was what came. It buried in the planking above him and when he straightened up he determined that his forehead would have been right in the way of it had he been standing erect. An exploding shell is shattered into fragments of many sizes and shapes. This particular "splinter" is a jagged edged chunk almost as large as two fingers and weighs several ounces and looks capable of tearing off a leg or an arm or even very much worse if it struck right and with full force.

(Thank you again to WikiTree user Natalie Trott.) 

 

Sources:

“General News,” Sedan Times-Star, 8 May 1919, p. 4, col. 1-2; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 5 Jun 2018).

Harry Brosius, enlisted 17 June 1899, discharged 20 July 1899; Register of Enlistments in the U.S. Army, 1798-1914; Records of the Adjutant General’s Office; digital images, Ancestry, “U.S. Army, Register of Enlistments, 1798-1914,” Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 10 Feb 2014). 
 
Harry Brosius in El Paso Enlistments: U.S.N.A.--Jan. 1, 1918, to April __; Mixed Lists of Enlistees; New Mexico Adjutant General Records; digital images, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., “New Mexico, World War I Records, 1917-1919,” Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 29 May 2018). 
 
Harry Brosius; U.S., Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1925-1963; Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General; digital images, Ancestry, "U.S., Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1925-1963," Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 16 Feb 2014). 
 

“Letters From the Soldier Boys,” Sedan Times-Star, 29 Aug 1918, p. 1, col. 4; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 4 Jun 2018).

Lewis W. Brosius, Genealogy of Henry and Mary Brosius and Their Descendants with Other Historical Matters Connected Therewith Also Some Short Accounts of Other Families Bearing the Brosius Name. (N.p.: n.p., 1928), 398. 
 
Sedan Lance, 3 Aug 1899, p. 5, col. 3; digital images, America’s GenealogyBank (www.genealogybank.com : accessed 19 Nov 2011), Historical Newspapers. 
 
“U.S., Army Transport Service, Passenger Lists, 1910-1939,” online images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 29 May 2018), manifest, President Grant, 30 June 1918, entry no. 21, for Harry Brosius, service no. 1199178. 
 
“U.S., Army Transport Service, Passenger Lists, 1910-1939,” online images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 29 May 2018), manifest, S.S. La Lorraine, 23 Mar 1919, entry no. 27, for Harry Brosius, service no. 1199178.

Military Monday: WWI Veteran Ormond Brosius

 

By US government related, H.R. Hopps 1917 http://www.dhm.de/lemo/objekte/pict/pl003967/index.html [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Halfway through the year, it finally dawns on me that this year is the one hundredth anniversary of the end of World War I. And so, rather belatedly, but fortunately not too late, I have decided to do a series of short posts on members of my family who served in that war. Some posts will be much shorter than others due to lack of information, but I feel I ought to share what I can.

This week I thought I would start with my great-uncle Ormond Brosius, because he seems the least distant from me, being the only WWI veteran in my family who I actually met. Granted, I don’t recall the meetings, having been a newborn at the time, and then again when I was about a year old, but I do recall his cabin up in the Grand Tetons. We visited there when I was seven or eight years old, years after his death. And my whole life my dad has delighted in sharing the wild second- and third-hand stories he remembered about his uncle. But today the focus is on his service in WWI.

In April of 1917, just a couple weeks after the United States declared war on Germany, Ormond enlisted in the U.S. Army. In 1979, he recounted the experience in a conversation with his brother Lowell. Oh, and I better warn you that there is some profanity in this transcription.
 

Ormond: Yes. I had to lie.

Lowell: Stay young, that’s the way.

Ormond: There was three of us. When war was declared there was three of us.

Lowell: Yeah, I know. Ma told me.

Ormond: Frank Geller and myself and Burt Sheridan. We got on the Missouri-Pacific and went up to Wichita to enlist. Well, they told their right age. I was 16, see, and they was 18. So we got in this line. They didn’t ask…

Lowell: That’s where the old bullshit started flying, huh?

Ormond: These boys was in the league of the [infantry?]. Ol’ Burt says, “I’m 18.” This old boy wrote it down. “Go on.” And Frank Geller was a-next. And they told him—

Lowell: Was this Mrs. Geller’s—

Ormond: Yes, Mrs. Geller that you was reading about. She just lived across the street. When they come to me, I told the truth. I said, “16.” And he said, “Young man, you come back in a couple of years.” So, the next morning I got right in this line, and when I got there I told them, “18.” “Go right ahead.” See? That’s how that happened. See. Boy, it pays to be a liar sometimes.

Lowell: Yeah, sometimes it does.

Ormond, in his mother's handwriting, "the day he inlisted."

His enlistment date was 24 Apr 1917. Presumably, the most part of the following year was spent in training. He was initially assigned to the 18th Field Artillery, and was already a sergeant by the time he sailed aboard the Aeolus from the port of Hoboken, New Jersey on 23 Apr 1918. He is said to have served in five major campaigns. Based on the units in which he is known to have served, these campaigns seem to have been the Second Battle of the Marne (15 July-6 Aug 1918), for which the 18th Field Artillery received the Croix de Guerre. This battle seems to have been broken up into three separate campaigns in which Ormond might have been engaged: the Champagne-Marne Offensive (15-18 July 1918), the Battle of Champagne (15 July 1918), and the Aisne-Marne Offensive (18 July-6 Aug 1918). He was also likely at the Battle of St. Mihiel (12-15 Sept 1918) and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive (26 Sept-11 Nov 1918).

The war ended on 11 Nov 1918. Ormond recalled his experiences following the armistice in his continuing 1979 conversation with his brother Lowell. My mom, Sugar, also got in on this part of the conversation a little.

Ormond: They put us, you know, we was regular army. And after November the eleventh, they quit fighting, you know. And they took us, we went in there, and all them little towns, Bulge, Kottenheim, [Main?] and all of them. They were only about three or four kilometers from one town to the other, see. And I was a sergeant. And I had twenty-six men. And they told me to put one man in a village, you know, a house, and I stayed in a house. And if I told you how many children or kids that old lady had, you wouldn’t believe me, so I won’t tell you. But I lived with them. And I didn’t know no more German than that horse that’s over there.

Sugar: Ha ha! What horse?

Ormond: So when I sit down to the table, all them kids. Now, she had [zweif swanson?]. Can you tell me what that was?

Lowell: I’ll tell you something, you know something. I can understand German now, and I can talk. I can eins, zwei, drei, vier, fünf, sechs, sieben. But to talk it anymore, I can’t… ’Cause I used to have to, you know, when I was young. Oh yeah, that’s Swiss, it’s the same thing. There’s high and low German.

Ormond: Well, that’s the way… And we’d sit down at this table, you know, with all these kids around. This is a big old lady. They didn’t have nothing to eat over there but kartoffeln, or potatoes, see.

Lowell: Rutabagas is another one that they...

Ormond: Yeah, and carrots, and stuff like that. And I’d point at something. We had a schoolteacher there, that stayed with them, old lady and them kids. And I’d point at something, and the kids would all tell me, you know. It didn’t take me long and I was talking—

Lowell: You can pick that up. It’s not that hard.

Sugar: If you wanted your food, you said it.

Ormond: Yeah. So one day they sent an orderly down from headquarters after me, for me to come to headquarters and I didn’t know that there was anybody there that understood English. And it made me mad, and I got to cussing and this schoolteacher, she was a German woman, but she’d been in Chicago one year teaching school. And she was there on a vacation. And they kept her, see. And she could talk English as good as I could. But I didn’t know it. And she could tell what I was saying. And she told me I ought to be ashamed of myself.

Eventually Ormond was sent back to the U.S. He traveled from Brest, France aboard the U.S.S. Madawaska to Brooklyn, New York, on 12 Aug 1919, arriving on 23 Aug 1919. His recorded release from service date is 22 Aug 1919, which seems curious given his date of arrival. I am not yet proficient enough in WWI research to know whether that is a regular procedure or a likely error.

Ormond, age 18, in Army uniform

Sources:

Find A Grave, “Find A Grave,” database and images, Find A Grave (www.findagrave.com : accessed 9 Nov 2009); Ormond John Brosius (Memorial #39305605); record added 10 July 2009 by Lovell Cemetery.

Ormond Brosius (Portland, Oregon), recording of conversation with family and friends by Sugar Brosius, Aug 1979; audio cassette, digitized to mp3 format privately held by Amber Brosius.

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, “U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS [Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem] Death File, 1850-2010,” database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 13 Apr 2015), entry for Ormond Brosius; citing Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) Death File. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

“U.S., Army Transport Service, Passenger Lists, 1910-1939,” online images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 Jun 2018), manifest, Aeolus, 23 Apr 1918, entry no. 40, for Ormond J. Brosius, service no. 1,042,684.

“U.S., Army Transport Service, Passenger Lists, 1910-1939,” online images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 Jun 2018), manifest, U.S.S. Madawaska, 12 Aug 1919, entry no. 1, for Ormond J. Brosius, service no. 1042684.

Military Monday: 1 May 1781 – Pierce Butler Pennel and the Militia’s Rendezvous

 

Closeup of a "Brown Bess" flintlock musket
TheRealDug, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

The Staunton River splashed against its banks by Ward’s Ferry. Birds chirped in the trees. Spring flowers peeped up from the ground here and there, with the promise of more to come. Off in the distance a new sound broke through the natural stillness: a sound of footsteps approaching. Louder and clearer they became, and were joined by other footsteps, and voices. Animals vanished into the underbrush. Soon the splashing of the river was drowned out by the arrival of the numerous voices and footsteps of men. There were about a hundred of these men, some, perhaps, attended by their families who assembled there to wish them a hearty or a tearful farewell. “Ragtag” is a term often applied to these men and their peers, with their piecemeal attempts at a uniform, their spotty training, and their diversity of arms. Most provided their own weapons: fowling pieces or muskets, the latter usually equipped with bayonets, and perhaps a flintlock “Brown Bess” captured from the enemy in a previous engagement. Knives and swords, and perhaps even tomahawks, were also represented among these men’s accoutrements.

These men belonged to the Bedford county militia; they were the latest company under the command of Capt. Adam Clements. Many of these men were already battle-hardened, having returned to their homes from their previous tour of duty within the past month. Some had fought against General Corwallis’ troops at the recent patriot defeat at the Guilford Courthouse, only a month and a half before, where they saw what appeared to be the British artillery firing on their own men in their zeal to drive away the American rebels. And now these American rebels were returning to action, once again leaving their homes, their families, and their farms neglected.

It must have been hard to do. Although the call to duty was in defense of their liberty, if their crops were ruined, they may end up in an even worse position than if they were forced to remain under British rule. A few of those called up could ill afford the time away and sought replacements. Some were fortunate enough to have a brother willing to serve in their place. Sometimes a substitute could be hired, but there is no evidence that any of the men meeting at Ward’s Ferry that day were hired. Most men heeded their own call to duty.

One of these Bedford county militiamen was Pierce Butler Pennel. Whether he was one of those who had recently returned from action is unknown, but it is certainly possible and even probable. Of his fellow militiamen in this company who later applied for pensions, all but one (John Lambert) declared prior service. The muster rolls for many of these previous companies no longer exist, so the declarations of pensioners must be relied upon as evidence.

In May of 1781, the War of the American Revolution had already been dragging on for many long years. A few of the older men, true patriots, had been serving on and off for half a decade or so. Now this company was headed south into the Carolinas to come to the aid of General Nathanael Greene and his forces in their campaign to drive the British from the south.

Ward’s Ferry was probably the most logical and convenient location for this rendezvous of the militia. Not only could it provide for the necessary crossing of the Staunton River in the men’s impending march south, but the proprietor was Maj. John Ward, who was to be one of the commanders of their regiment. He lived in “the Mansion” nearby, and could easily join his men from there.

With the forces assembled, and the leaders prepared, it was time to begin the long march to the south.

Sources:

Pierce B Pennell, muster rolls of Co. Capt. Adam Clement's Militia, 1 May 1781; U.S., Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783; digital images, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., "Virginia: Western Battalion, 1781-1782 (Folder 341) - Various Organizations (Folder 364)," Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 Jan 2017).

Will Graves & C. Leon Harris, Southern Campaigns Revolutionary War Pension Statements & Rosters (http://revwarapps.org/ : accessed 14 Jan 2017), pdf numbered B57 "Militia List –Capt. Adam Clements"; pdf numbered W5635 "Pension Application of John Arthur W5635"; pdf numbered W5636 "Pension Application of Thomas Arthur W5636"; pdf numbered W345 "Pension Application of William Caldwell W345"; pdf numbered S30387 "Pension Application of Thomas Dixon S30387"; pdf numbered S8567 "Pension Application of Archelaus Gilliam S8567"; pdf numbered S16403 "Pension Application of Robert Hall S16403"; pdf numbered W7648 "Pension Application of Edward Hancock W7648"; pdf numbered X916 "Pension Application of Samuel Hancock X916"; pdf numbered S16445 "Pension Application of John Lambert S16445"; pdf numbered W8071 "Pension Application of PatrickLynch W8071"; pdf numbered S6299 "Pension Application of Luke Valentine S6299"; pdf numbered S7802 "Pension Application of Charles Walker S7802"; pdf numbered S16583 "Pension Application of Joseph Wood S16583"; pdf numbered W2506 "Pension Application of George Woodard W2506"; pdf numbered S17208 "Pension Application of Jacob Woodard S17208."

Other Works Consulted:

Ivy Kenneth Blecher, Three Centuries of American Wars: History of American Wars (accessed 20 Feb 2017), "Revolutionary War Weapons." 

Janice Poole, "Rose Dove Dalton and Albert Lee Dalton Homeplace," Genealogy: Our Astounding Past, 16 Mar 2010 (accessed 20 Feb 2017).  

J. D. Lewis, Carolana (www.carolana.com : accessed 20 Feb 2017), "The American Revolution in North Carolina: The Battle of Guilford Court House." 

J. Lloyd Durham, "Outfitting an American Revolutionary Soldier," Tar Heel Junior Historian (Fall 1992); reprinted online, North Carolina Government & Heritage Library at the State Library of North Carolina, NCpedia (accessed 20 Feb 2017). 

North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, "North Carolina Highway Historical Marker Program," database and images, North Carolina Highway Historical Marker Program (accessed 20 Feb 2017); Marker ID=J-3: Guilford Courthouse. 

R. H. Early, Campbell Chronicles and Family Sketches: Embracing the History of Campbell County, Virginia 1782-1926 (Lynchburg, Virginia: J. P. Bell Company, 1927), "Ward Family," transcribed and contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com .

Tracy V. Wilson and Holly Frey (hosts). "The Battle of Guilford Courthouse." Podcast audio. Stuff You Missed in History Class. HowStuffWorks.com, 31 Aug 2015. Web.

Military Monday: Lowell’s Army Buddies (Part 5): Trading Addresses

Although this is the only photo in this post which was unmarked, I know the subject very well. It is Uncle Lowell himself. There were two copies of this picture in his collection, and my guess is that he had originally a whole handful of them, which he signed and passed out to his buddies.

I have saved the best for last! In this short series presenting my great-Uncle Lowell’s small collection of pictures from his time in the Army, we have finally reached the pile of marked photographs. This sub-collection appears to be Lowell’s buddies, many of them giving their postal address. I presume that they were exchanged towards the end of their basic training (or perhaps their tours of duty), as a way to keep in touch in the future.

Lowell had enlisted on 10 Nov 1943, started service on 1 Dec 1943, and was released from service on 18 Apr 1946. For at least part of that time, he served with the Military Police.

If you find a photograph of your own loved one on this page, you may want to check out the first, second, third, and fourth posts in this series. There may be another, unmarked, photo among those pictures. And if you are able to identify any of those people, please let me know. I would love to find out!

This is one of the few pictures with names and addresses on it that is set in front of a building with slatted siding. I love that it shows the men playing dice and drinking beer. The names are Albert Matkovich, with the address 1271 E 170 St, Cleveland, Ohio, and B. L. (or B. F.?) Simpson, with the address P.O. 62, Bells, Tenn.

Albert Matkovich must have really wanted to keep in touch, because there are two more signed pictures of him in Lowell’s collection.

This picture, also signed by Albert Matkovich, appears to have been taken in the same general area. Some of the buildings in the background have the same type of siding as the building in the picture above, and several wooden walkways are visible which are similar to the walkway shown in the picture above. This time Albert Matkovich is shown hard at work shoveling. His address is still 1271 E 170 St, Cleveland, Ohio.

 

Here is Albert Matkovich yet again, with the same address of 1271 E 170 St, Cleveland, Ohio. It is set in front of some sort of long building with windows its entire length, perhaps a barracks? The building number is “I 94 H,” and if you look carefully you will see that every photograph posted below (with the possible exception of one) was taken in front of the same building, as was the picture of Lowell at the top of this post.

In this picture of Pvt Desmond Call you can see a gas mask hanging from the shutter of the window. His address is Soda Springs, Idaho. These were the days of general delivery, in which one could address a letter with only a name and city and the letter would still be delivered. I have found a several cards or letters among my grandparents’ papers which are addressed so simply.

In this photograph of Ed Whitten, he does not rely on general delivery, but gives his full address of 48 Rockvale Circle, Jamaica Plain, Mass. He also parenthetically explains that he lives in the Boston area. In the picture, he is showing his rifle.

This photograph is the one possible exception to the series of photos in front of building “I 94 H.” It is the only one in which the address is not visible, and the only one in which the window shutters are closed. It does, however, appear to be the same building. The man in the picture is identified as Rocco Robertson of Providence, Rhode Island. On the back the street address “87 Harold St” is added.

This photograph of S. J. Marquis is once again taken in front of building “I 94 H,” but in examining the address it becomes apparent that the image has been reversed! He gives his address as 637 Prindle St., Chehalis, Washington. With the relatively short distance of this address from Lowell’s own in Portland, Oregon, I wonder if they ever got together again after the war.

This last photo in front of building “I 94 H,” also showing that gas mask dangling from the window shutter, is of Wynn Tingey of Tremonton, Utah.

Sources:

National Archives and Records Administration, "U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946," database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 Aug 2015), entry for Lowell A Brosius; citing Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, 1938-1946 [Archival Database]; ARC: 1263923. World War II Army Enlistment Records; Records of the National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 64; National Archives at College Park. College Park, Maryland, U.S.A.

National Cemetery Administration, "U.S. Veterans Gravesites, ca.1775-2006," database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 Aug 2015), entry for Lowell Brosius, Willamette National Cemetery; citing National Cemetery Administration. Nationwide Gravesite Locator.

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, "U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS [Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem] Death File, 1850-2010," database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 Aug 2015), entry for Lowell Brosius; citing Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) Death File. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Military Monday: Lowell’s Army Buddies (Part 4): In the Field

This may be a picture of the army camp from a distance, or this may be a picture of the European countryside.

Parts one, two, and three of this short series have already been posted. In this series, I have been posting my great-uncle Lowell’s small collection of photographs from his time in the U.S. Army. He had enlisted on 10 Nov 1943, started service on 1 Dec 1943, and was released from service on 18 Apr 1946. For at least part of that time, he served with the Military Police.

This time, I will post pictures that appear to have been taken in that vague “somewhere in Europe” during the war. None of them are marked with names or locations, and, although I can recognize Lowell himself when he appears, I have no knowledge of the other people who might show up. Because of other (marked) photos in the collection, I can make a guess on a couple of them, though.

In this photo, Lowell is on the left. The cannon they are posing by appears to be similar or the same as the one that shows up in the first post with Lowell and Melvin Chrisman. In fact, I believe that I should have placed this photo with those other two, despite this cannon being set up and the other one still on the truck. The man on the right certainly resembles the man identified as Melvin Chrisman in the other picture, and the pictures could easily have been taken the same day. 

Once again, Lowell is on the left in this photograph. I am inclined to think that this picture was also taken the same day and that the man on the right is again Melvin Chrisman.

Lowell is again on the left, but this time I am not convinced that the man on the right is Melvin Chrisman or that this photo was taken the same day as the other two. It appears to have been taken somewhere in a city, whereas the other pictures look more rural, and the men are wearing different uniforms. The man on the right is armed and also seems to be carrying a canteen and some other unidentified objects.

This picture has me completely at a loss. It appears to have been taken in a city somewhere, and the two men in the picture are unidentified. I could find no one in the marked pictures who in my opinion resembled either of these men. I notice that they are standing under a “one way” sign, which is made out of cardboard and apparently tacked on to the brickwork.

Sources:

National Archives and Records Administration, "U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946," database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 Aug 2015), entry for Lowell A Brosius; citing Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, 1938-1946 [Archival Database]; ARC: 1263923. World War II Army Enlistment Records; Records of the National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 64; National Archives at College Park. College Park, Maryland, U.S.A.

National Cemetery Administration, "U.S. Veterans Gravesites, ca.1775-2006," database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 Aug 2015), entry for Lowell Brosius, Willamette National Cemetery; citing National Cemetery Administration. Nationwide Gravesite Locator.

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, "U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS [Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem] Death File, 1850-2010," database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 Aug 2015), entry for Lowell Brosius; citing Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) Death File. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.