From the News

Dated: May 28, 1916

First of American Legion Off for Flanders

William H. Taft, Justice Holmes, and Various Members of Congress Approve Enlistment of United States Citizens in Canada

A Unitarian clergyman and citizen of the United States in the uniform of a British Lieutenant Colonel, addressing a meeting of Canadians and Americans in a Methodist church in Toronto and urging them to enlist for the war in Europe-such was the blending of nationalities and beliefs into the one great purpose that seemed to focus more definitely than anything else the story of the American Legion in Canada, the overseas organization of citizens of the United States who are going to fight in Flanders as a separate unit. Their brigade badge, for there will be an entire brigade of 5,000 men or more, is the coat of arms of George Washington on the Canadian maple leaf.

The recruiting station of two battalions of the legion and the point from which the entire organization is directed is Toronto (the Indian meaning of the city's name is meeting place) and here have assembled representatives of forty-five State and Territories of the United States, and here without renouncing American citizenship. made oath, each of them, as follows: “I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to his Majesty King George V. and I will, as in duty bound, honestly and faithfully defend his Majesty in person, crown, and dignity against all enemies and will observe and obey all orders of his Majesty and of all the Generals and officers set over me.”

And, furthermore, the soldier of the American Legion engages “to serve in the Canadian overseas expeditionary force for the term of one year or during the war now existing between Great Britain and Germany, should that war last longer than one year, and for six months after the termination of that war provided his Majesty should so long require my services”

The leader of all these men who have taken that oath - the founder of the American Legion is that Unitarian clergyman, now Lieut. Col. C Seymour Bullock of the 27th Battalion and formerly a United States Army chaplain in the Spanish war. To the young Canadian men, not yet enlisted, who sheepishly hung about in the fringe of the crowd at that remarkable open-air meeting of the Methodist church, he recalled the plight of those allowed by the Lord to shirk if they would, but to whom He sent leanness of soul.

And that was a popular note, for the plight of the able-bodied Canadian of fighting age who is not in khaki is almost pitiable, at least in Toronto. He is ignored by young women, hooted by small boys.

For the American not yet in the legion who happened to be in that audience Colonel Bullock recalled the fact that at the time of the civil war 48,000 Canadians went over the border to fight in the Northern armies, and that 18,000 of them were killed in the South. Numerically the debt is not yet settled on the score of the present war, but there has been a big payment on account. Already there are 16,000 American citizens actually fighting at the front, but they are scattered about in various Canadian units. Most of them were in that first overseas force sent from the Dominion within the first six weeks after the beginning of the war. There were more Americans, that is, citizens of the United States, in each subsequent expedition, so when Sir Sam Hughes, the Minister of Militia, authorized the American Legion several months ago at the request of his friend the Rev. Dr. Bullock, there were not enough unenlisted Americans on the Canadian side of the line to fill the new battalions fast enough.

For obvious reasons nobody could go over into the United States to get recruits, but nothing of the sort was necessary. A thin little paragraph was printed in the Canadian papers stating that an American Legion had been authorized for the benefit of those who wanted to serve in such a unit. That paragraph was reprinted in some of the United States newspapers along the border, and nothing further was needed.

Americans began to pour into the Dominion to serve, and the first battalion of the legion was filled almost overnight and designated the Ninety-seventh. Three more were immediately authorized, enough for a full brigade, and now a fifth is under way with headquarters in Halifax for the Americans living in the Maritime Provinces of Canada and in the New England States.

It should be remembered that in the organization of the Canadian overseas forces the battalion is the numerical equivalent of the American regiment, about 1,200 men, and it is officered by a Lieutenant Colonel, chief in command; a senior Major, a Major and Captain for each company, and a Lieutenant in command of each of the four platoons of each company. The term regiment has been eliminated so far as the Canadian troops at the front are concerned.

The Ninety-seventh Battalion, which actually leaves today for the front, appeared in review with 15,000 other troops before Sir Sam Hughes last Tuesday, and was greeted along the line as “the Yankees.”

According to statistics easily available the representation of the States by the first 875 men to enroll in the Ninety-seventh battalion is as follows;

New York 157
Michigan 140
Illinois 100
Massachusetts 58
Pennsylvania 51
Ohio 50
Minnesota 29
Washington 27
Wisconsin 20
Missouri 19
Indiana 19
California 18
Iowa 15
Alabama 14
Montana 12
Rhode Island 11
Oregon 11
Nebraska 11
North Dakota 10
Connecticut 10
Virginia 9
Texas 9
Vermont 8
Colorado 8
Tennessee 6
Kentucky 6
Maryland 6
Idaho 5
Maine 5
Louisiana 5
Kansas 5
Florida 4
New Jersey 4
New Hampshire 3
Oklahoma 2
Dist. Of Columbia 2
Arizona 2
Mississippi 2
North Carolina 2
South Dakota 2
Georgia 2
Wyoming 2
Utah 2
Arkansas 1
West Virginia 1

Sixty-two per cent of these men had seen military service in the United States Army or the militia of their several States or both, and the man who has not seen fighting in Cuba or Mexico or the Philippines is the exception rather than the rule. A few have actually been in the trenches in Belgium and France as members of Canadian units and are going back with the legion. There are some West Pointers. Practically the same percentage as to previous military service runs through the personnel of the other four battalions.

It won't do to dismiss them as a lot of boys or adventurers or soldiers of fortune, certainly not as vagabonds. Many of them are over forty. The average age is about thirty. They surely know that trench warfare in Europe is not a lark. No doubt all of them have enlisted at material financial sacrifice, regardless of the fact that the Canadian Army is the best paid army in the world. The pay of the enlisted man is $33 per month and, plus that, the Canadian Government sends $20 every month to the soldier's family, whether that family lives in the United States or in the Dominion. The pay of the warrant officers (Sergeants and others) runs as high as $2.30 a day. Pensions for disablement range from $480 a year for the rank and file up to $680 for warrant officers.

But that is more or less of a digression. To come to the men of the legion and what they think of their enterprise! They all feel very keenly about their American citizenship and take it for granted that there will be some to question it. In fact, the American Consul at Vancouver, who is opposed to the legion, has told Americans in that part of Canada that their enlistment in the British ColumbiaWinnipeg takes the opposite view of the matter. There is a case pending in Detroit which may reach the Supreme Court of the United States that is of vital interest to the legion. It is that of a citizen of Michigan who went to the war in a Canadian battalion, was wounded and sent back. When he returned to his home in Detroit a group of Germans demanded that he be deported on the ground that he was an alien physically unfit to support himself. battalion of the American Legion, the 211th, will cancel their citizenship. But the American Consul at But the American Consul at Winnipeg takes the opposite view of the matter. There is a case pending in Detroit which may reach the Supreme Court of the United States that is of vital interest to the legion. It is that of a citizen of Michigan who went to the war in a Canadian battalion, was wounded and sent back. When he returned to his home in Detroit a group of Germans demanded that he be deported on the ground that he was an alien physically unfit to support himself.

That the opinion of members of the legion regarding their citizenship and the worthiness of their project is shared by their friends in the United States, and friends in high places at that, is indicated by many letters which have become a part of the archives of the organization. Some of these letters are to the officers of the legion, recommending this or that man for the service. Others are letters to the men themselves congratulating them on the step they have taken. Incidentally, Dr. Charles V. Eliot, President Emeritus of HarvardUniversity, has promised Colonel Bullock that be will write a preface for the book used by the men at the religious services in the field. And the American Legion March is being composed by Sousa.

One of the men who came up to Toronto and enlisted as a private in the Ninety-seventh Battalion was N. L. Francis , a shoe manufacturer of Boston, son-in-law of the Late Chief Justice Fuller of the United States Supreme Court He had had experience in the Massachusetts militia and was at Plattsburg last Summer in the same company with Mayor Mitchel of New York. It didn't take him long to become a Sergeant. Then he went to the officers' school and has received a provisional appointment as an officer in the 237th Battalion of the American Legion at Halifax

After he got his provisional appointment he received a letter from ex-President William Howard Taft congratulating him on his promotion and expressing the hope that it would be made permanent. Francis also received a letter from Associate Justice Holmes of the United States Supreme Court referring to his own experience in the civil war, made forever famous by the poem of his father, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and congratulating Francis on having a similar opportunity.

Aipheus Beall of West Virginia, another man who enlisted as a private in the Ninety-seventh and soon became a Sergeant on the strength of his six years' service in the United States Army, three of them in the Philippines, came up to Canada with letters recommending him as a good soldier from Senator Chilton and Representative Neely of West Virginia.

Another letter was received by Colonel McCormick of the 213th Battalion from Senator William Alden Smith of Michigan, member of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, recommending a friend of his who had joined the legion.

“If it is possible,” wrote Senator' Smith, “for, you to suitably recognize him, you will make no mistake, and greatly please his many friends; among whom I am pleased to subscribe myself.”

With one exception all these men in the legion, no matter what their previous rank and experience have been, have had to enlist as privates and then win their chevrons or the insignia of commissioned officers solely on the merits of what they knew, and on character. The result is that the officers' mess in any battalion of the American outfit is a remarkable group of men. Not the least unusual thing about it is that it is a group of total abstainers. At every meal in the mess room, decorated, by the way, with both the United States and British flags, the American officers rise and drink the toast “The King” in cold water.

As a matter of fact, Colonel Bullock holds a contingent resignation of every officer to become operative automatically if that officer takes to drinking or is guilty of immoral conduct. And the Colonel has the backing of Sir Sam Hughes, whose own theory is that in a war of this kind no man who drinks is fit to have the care of other men in his keeping.

The one man who did not begin his service in the legion as a private was Colonel Bullock, of course, the founder of it. It had to have a head from the start, so the Rev. Dr. Bullock received a commission as Captain. He might have had that same rank many years ago in the army of the United States, for in 1885, when he was 18 years old and living in New York, his native State, President Cleveland appointed him to West Point. He prepared for the entrance examinations and was about to begin his work as a cadet when he heard Moody and Sankey and was convinced that he should be an evangelist and not a fighter.

He was that until he went to Northwestern University, graduating as a clergyman in 1889. He got his next chance at the army when he went out as a chaplain in the Spanish war. Then he experienced a change of faith and became a Unitarian clergyman with a parish at New London, Conn. incidentally, he is a chum of the Rev. John Haynes Holmes, the pacifist. Four years ago Dr. Bullock accepted a call to the Unitarian Church in Ottawa, where he was the preacher at the beginning of the war, although still an American citizen.

At the outbreak of the war he was abroad and Ambassador Page made him Chairman of the Transportation Committee of the American organization in London for the relief of travelers from the United States who were stranded abroad by the war. Finishing that work, he returned to Canada and covered the Dominion from coast to coast in his travels and speeches in behalf of recruiting and the raising of the patriotic fund for the care of soldiers' families. All this time he was mulling over the idea that he should do something besides preaching and talking for the cause of the Allies, and then was born the idea of the American Legion. Sir Sam was enthusiastic and authorized the project immediately. The Rev. Dr. Bullock became Captain and chaplain, the only Unitarian chaplain in the entire British Army. His church gave him unlimited leave of absence and Mrs. Bullock, who can preach, too, took his place in the pulpit.

The legion soon became too big for a Captain to handle, so Sir Sam made him a Major. His organization outgrew that, so he was made a Lieutenant Colonel, with supervisory authority over all the American battalions. Then he was succeeded as chaplain of the Ninety-seventh by the Rev. R. K. Lambert , another native of New York State, and a Methodist, who will go to Flanders with the rank of Captain

Lieut. Col. W. L. Jolly is in command of the Ninety-seventh, the first of the American battalions to get away. All told he has had six campaigns, having begun his war service by organizing a company in Philadelphia and taking it to Cuba at the time of the Spanish war. He served as its Captain. For twelve years after that he was an officer in the United States Marines, serving in the Boxer period in China and elsewhere. He had retired and was in the business of building skyscrapers in Philadelphia when he heard of the legion, hurried to Toronto, and became a private.

Lieut. Col. B. J.. McCormick, the commanding officer of the 213th Battalion, American Legion, is a citizen of Michigan where he had sixteen years experience in the National Guard. At the outbreak of the European war he was Industrial Commissioner of Welland, Ontario, and immediately offered his services to the Canadian Government and was sent over to Europe as an officer in a Canadian battalion. There he became a Major in the regular British Army, a rank he still holds, for distinguished service in the fighting at Ypres. He was afterward detailed to explain to the men throughout the army the use of the gas mask. He did that by a series of lectures up and down the front.

“It was necessary;” he explained to me the other day in Toronto, “to put an end to the terror that the use of gas by the enemy had inspired in our men. We did that. We got them trained so they could put on the masks in fifteen seconds; every man carries two, and now the Allies are no more disturbed by a wave of German gas than if it were a bank of fog.”

Colonel McCormick came back to get into the legion He has a son, Lieutenant Arthur McCormick, now fighting in Flanders. The boy will join his father's new battalion and the two will return to the front together as American citizens.

There are several other instances of father and son in the American Legion, notably that of Captain Asa R. Minard , formerly paymaster in the Ninety-seventh,- but transferred to the Halifax battalion. He has two boys, Asa R. and Basil W. , both Lieutenants in the Ninety-seventh. Captain Minard was President of the American Club at Toronto. He was formerly a member of the Boston City Government, and served in the Massachusetts Naval Reserves

Captain Alexander Rasmussen , President of the officers' mess in the Ninety-seventh, had a Danish father who fought German and Austria in the European war of 1864. His mother was French and her people fought Germany in 1870. War first came to the son in 1898 when, as an American citizen, he went to Cuba. Then he served in the Fourth United States Cavalry in the Philippines during the insurrection of 1899. Later on, his mining operations in Mexico were upset by the Yaquis and he joined Carranza's army under Obregon as a Captain and helped put down the Indians He was gold mining up above the arctic circle in Alaska when word of this war reached him, many months delayed, and he hurried to Canada, arriving just in time to get into the legion.

Then there is Lieutenant Tracy Richardson , commander of the machine gun battery of the Ninety-seventh and affectionately known throughout the legion a the Human Sieve. He has fourteen wounds, both Mexican and German. He got the first batch in the United States Army at Vera Cruz. At the outbreak of the European war he joined the Princess Patricia Regiment in Western Canada and was so badly shot up in Flanders that he was sent home with a pension. Of course, he has given up the pension to go back with the American Legion, for that in itself disproves the verdict of the surgeons that he was disabled for life.

Captain Donald McRae, Adjutant of the Ninety-seventh, was graduated from West Point in 1914 and was taking a supplementary course in engineering when the opportunity came to go to Europe as an American soldier. His father is an officer in the department of the Judge Advocate General at Washington. Captain J. C. Pepper, Quartermaster of the 212th, is another West Pointer in the legion. He served in the United States Army for eighteen months. Major T. N. P. Potts, who is recruiting the Vancouver battalion of the legion, is an Annapolis graduate. Among his officers are graduates of Columbia, Williams, other American colleges.

Medical Officer McMillan of the 212th was a private in the Ninety-seventh until somebody discovered that he had served six years in the Massachusetts General Hospital after his graduation from Bowdoin.

Lieut. Col. Robert Bates of the 212th is a retired Brigadier General of the Michigan National Guard. He came to the legion as a private, just mentioning the fact that he had seen service in Cuba and the Philippines. Captain Hutcheson, Medical Officer of the Ninety-Seventh was the surgeon of the Illinois Central Railroad. He left a lucrative place and postponed his wedding to go into the legion.