51st Pioneer Infantry in the Library of Congress American Memory Collection

The American Memory Collection documents the American experience. I searched for the 51st Pioneer Infantry in this collection.

In the search box, I entered “51st Pioneer Infantry” and got only two results. So I tried “51st Pioneer”.

The results were:

There is a choice to download the pdf of the page or of the whole issue.

Be sure to note the page number and position of the article; searching in the pdf may not work.

The first result in “The Stars and Stripes” was:

The second result in “The Stars and Stripes” was from the The Army’s Poets column:

The third result in “The Stars and Stripes” was:

The fourth result was in the Serial Set. It was dated 1863, so it was not relevant.

To take this another step, you can search within the “Stars and Stripes” collection for the terms: 51st Pioneer Infantry. There are other results, but the terms were not adjacent.

Search the American Memory Collection for your ancestors’ military units, and see what you can find. Remember to search for other information about their lives and times in this collection.

The St. Mihiel Offensive and the 51st Pioneer Infantry

General Pershing’s American Expeditionary Force (AEF)  launched the Saint-Mihiel offensive. This was the AEF’s first independent offensive, with an American Army under American command. The goal was to cut off the rail lines between Paris and the Eastern Front. The St. Mihiel salient was a fortified bulge into France that was 15 miles on either side of St. Mihiel, 20 miles south of Verdun.

The 51st Pioneer Infantry was divided. My Grandfather’s Company, B, was attached to First Division. They had their first experience with exploding shells, and enemy machine guns and airplanes dropping bombs. The Pioneers kept roads and bridges repaired and rebuilt. They were tasked with keeping the lines of communication open. Trucks were filled with broken brick and stone from destroyed cities and villages, and were prepositioned where enemy attacks were expected. As soon as a shell exploded in a road, the crew came and repaired it.

The map above is from “The War with Germany A Statistical Summary” by Leonard P. Ayres, Colonel, General Staff, Washington Government Printing Office, 1919.

St. Mihiel by the Numbers

• 1st Time American Expeditionary Forces were under American Command
• 1st Use of the term D-Day
• 7 American Divisions Advanced at 5 A.M. on 12 Sept 1918
• 1 million artillery shells were fired in the first 4 hours
• 1476 allied air planes participated in the greatest air battle of the Great War
• 16,000 Prisoners were taken in two days

5 Web Resources:

1. St. Mihiel Drive 1918 United States Army, World War I from the Official films of the Signal Corps of the U.S. Army taken in France. Note: This video does contain images of fallen soldiers.
   
2. Pershing’s Description of the Battle of Saint Mihiel [Excerpted from the Final Report of Gen. John J. Pershing (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1919), pp. 38-43 ]
3. American Expeditionary Force at St. Mihiel
4. The Library of Congress American Memories, Today in History: September 12 Saint-Mihiel Offensive
5. “The War with Germany A Statistical Summary” by Leonard P. Ayres, Colonel, General Staff, Washington Government Printing Office, 1919, Chapter VIII. Two Hundred Days of Battle.

Get Children Involved: Revolutionary War

My son had to do a PowerPoint presentation for his social studies class about the Battles of Lexington and Concord. His Father’s family has been involved in many of the military conflicts throughout the history of the United States. I recalled one ancestor in Massachusetts, so I dug out the details.

I looked at the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) Membership Applications on Ancestry.com. The application I found included both John Fife and his Father-in-Law, Return Strong.

Sure enough, John Fyfe (Fife) had been a minute man in Groton, CT, and appears on the Lexington Alarm Roll. They marched on 19 Apr 1775 from Groton. (The Battles of Lexington and Concord were fought on 19 April 1775.

 

 

My son recognized the name of Col. William Prescott from his research of the event.

How amazing it is to be able combine his family history with what he is learning in school!

But let’s dig a little deeper.

I searched the DAR Ancestor (Patriot) Index.

Select Genealogy in the upper right.

Under Genealogical Research (GRS), select Ancestor Search.

Alternately, you can go to the DAR Descendants Search page.

I searched the DAR database for Fyfe, and it was suggested I try the alternate spelling of Fife. There he was, with a reference.

 

 

I searched for the book that was used as the source on Google, using the search terms:

massachusetts soldiers and sailors volume 5

The pdf with the Guide to Sources on the American Revolution looks interesting, so I will try that, too. It has background information about Maryland’s role in the American Revolution.

The Internet Archive has a copy of the Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors Volume 5.

 

The book could be downloaded, so I chose the pdf format.

 

 

After I downloaded the pdf and began searching for Fife. Naturally that brought up fife players, so looking at the format of the names, I searched for: Fife, John

On page 664 of the book (page 658 of the pdf document) we find the correct John Fife.

I wanted to be able to find the file when I searched for it, and to know the page number. I saved the file with the filename:

massachusettssoldfoymass – rev war p664 (658) – Fife, John

This is the John Fife who matches the details on the SAR application. The SAR application also gave the lineage, so I could match it against what I knew about the family.

 

 

Note: This volume had Duarell – Foys

Then I went back to the DAR Descendants Ssearch page to look for John Fife’s Father-in-Law, Return Strong. There are several listings for that name.

There is a Return Strong listed with no ancestor number. His wife is Elizabeth Andrus.

Ancestor #: A111710 This Return Strong’s wife is Elizabeth Andros. I have seen her family name spelled in a variety of ways.

Ancestor #: A111712 This is a different Return Strong. His wife is Hannah Harman.

You can click on the name (shown in blue) and see the Descendants. By clicking on the icon next to a Descendant’s name you can open the Descendant’s List. The Descendant’s List is the submitted lineage, but the webpage does not include the proof documents. Those would have to be ordered from the DAR.  See the “Associated Applications and Supplementals”.

My son looked up the information about the trip from Groton, CT, to Lexington, MA. According to Google Maps, the trip is at least 109 miles by car. He clicked the walking icon and learned that it is 100 miles when walking, and that the trip takes approximately 33 hours. We will need to learn more about how John Fife traveled, but now we know more about the routes.

 

Armed with this knowledge and a tricorn hat, he did well on his presentation.

5 NARA Resources for WWI Research

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has many resources for you to research context for your WWI ancestors. Some of them are online.

1. This is the place for you to begin researching NARA’s World War I Records. This page also includes links to the digitized versions of some of the most requested historical documents.

 

 

2. Read an article in NARA’s Prologue magazine about finding your WWI Army ancestors. They Answered the Call, Military Service in the United States Army During World War I, 1917-1919 by Mitchell Yockelson in Prologue Fall 1998, Vol. 30, No. 3.

 

 

3. If your ancestor was in The Spruce Production Division, gathering trees for building airplanes, you can learn more about it in GENEALOGY NOTES: THE ARMY in THE WOODS, Records Recount Work of World War I Soldiers In Harvesting Spruce Trees for Airplanes By Kathleen Crosman.

 

4. Learn about how NARA is preserving movies about the Great War is discussed in Saving the Moving Images of World War I (Fall 2014) – The National Archives preservation staff is digitizing World War I motion pictures.

 

5. Now that you know about NARA preserving the WWI films, you can check out the digitized films from World War I and World War II on YouTube

 

 

 

The 51st Pioneer Infantry from a NY Guard History

There is a chapter in “Three Quarters of a Century with the Tenth Infantry New York National Guard 1860-1935” that discusses the Tenth Infantry in World War I. The Tenth Infantry became the 1st and 51st Pioneer Infantries. I read the chapter once for context, then again to identify the actions of the 51st Pioneer Infantry. The chapter contained some details for specific Companies. This details in this chapter outlined the experience that my Grandfather had while he was in the service. I knew about the 51st Pioneer Infantry’s combat at St. Mihiel, described in a post on this blog about WWI medals.

While reading, I kept in mind that Joseph McMahon was in Co. B 51st Pioneer Infantry. He was inducted on 28 May 1918, and discharged on 10 July 1919.

The following events involving the 51st Pioneer Infantry were extracted from “Three Quarters of a Century with the Tenth Infantry New York National Guard 1860-1935” (1936) by Clarence S. Martin. Chapter XI covers the Tenth Infantry. From these details, I can gather pictures of the places and news of the day. One of the first things would be to look into the ships that carried him to France and back.

• 14 Jan 1918 Col J Guy Deming from Ohio National Guard put in charge of 51st
• 17 May 1918 first draft contingent arrive Camp Wadsworth, SC
• Drills were intense, and involved digging trenches, road and bridge repair and building. Also infantry drill. They were busy from morning to late at night.
• 27 July 1918 – 51st entrains for Camp Merritt,NJ
• 29 July 1918 – left Camp Merritt, NJ, and marched to Alpine Landing
• They were placed on ferries to Hoboken, NJ, then put aboard German steamer “Kroonland”
• Approaching French coast
• British and French destroyers surrounded the troop ship
• They sailed past St. Mathieu lighthouse through LeGoulet Channel into Bay of Brest
• French and British airplanes flew low looking for submarines
• Several lighter-than-air blimp ships flew low in front of the convoy
• 8 Aug 1918 – “Kroonland” arrives Brest, France in the rain (it rained the day they left 300/365 days in 1918)
• The Tenth and First stayed at Pontanezan Barracks which were built by Napoleon when he was using Brest as his base for an attack on Britan
• Marched from the docks to the city on a ramp-like roadway to a hearty welcome
• Left Brest by train from Kerner Station on the waterfront, enlisted men 40 to a box car (Built for 8 horses)
• 51st sent to Northeast France, detrained at Maron, Moselle
• Billeted there
• HQ of 51st at Maron, Moselle, with the First and Third Battalions
• 12 Sep 1918 – Started to drive to St. Mihiel front
• Company B attached to First Division
• Their first experience with exploding shells, and enemy machine guns and airplanes dropping bombs
• The Pioneers kept roads and bridges repaired and rebuilt. They were tasked with keeping the lines of communication open.
• Trucks were filled with broken brick and stone from destroyed cities and villages. These trucks were prepositioned where enemy attacks were expected. As soon as a shell had exploded in a road, the crew came and repaired it.
• “The men of the Fifty-First performed the duties assigned to them in a most credible manner.”
• Companies B and D, under Captain Niles – ½ caught in barrage between Seicheprey and Richecourt – Corp. Slattery killed.
• 20 Sep the Fifty-First ordered to Saizerais and joined 6th Army Corps. They were between the advanced lines and artillery positions, tasked with repairing roads and bridges.

Army of Occupation

• The Armistice was signed; the hostilities ended. The Fifty-First was sent to Buxreule. The First was also selected for this duty and was sent to Murvaux.
• They went through northern France via the Duchy of Luxembourg.
• The Fifty-First entered Germany by following the banks of the Moselle River. (First traveled the Rhine.)
• They passed through Lorraine, and northern France. They saw the destroyed cities and villages; the Germans shelled, the French shelled German-occupied places. There was no destruction in Luxembourg and Germany.
• The German people were welcoming.
• The Fifty-First’s first stop was they guarded roads and bridges in Aspalt, Luxemburg.
• 3 Dec 1918 crossed Moselle River into Germany
• Followed stream, camped Wittlich Alf, Bollens, Caidens
• Before Kochen [Kochem, Cochem], Col Deming was relieved, Lt. Col Saulspaugh took charge
• 2 Jan in Kochen [Kochem, Cochem] near Coblenz the Regimental Command was established.
• Companies billeted in small towns around Coblenz.
• 19 Jan Col J. L. Gilbreth assumed command
• 18 Mar 1919 Gen Pershing reviewed the Regiment.
• Fifty-First men had a good time while at Coblenz. There was plenty of leave and not a lot of heavy work.
• They traveled from Coblenz to LeMans, France by “side car” Pullmans which were quicker than the trains they took going. LeMans had narrow crooked streets and no indoor plumbing. People had to bathe at the bath houses.
• At LeMans the Fifty-First was deloused, and given new uniforms and underwear.
• 23 June the Fifty-First sailed from St. Nazaire on the “Wilhemina”
• 3 July they arrived in New York harbor
• 4 July they were sent to Camp Mills
• 6 July they left Camp Mills for Camp Upton and were mustered out

Learning about WWI Medals

As I continue to research my Grandfather’s military service, I decided to look into which medals he was eligible to wear.  One of them would be the WWI Victory Medal. I have seen several on ebay, and decided to learn more about them.

(These images were taken by the author from medals in her collection.)

On the US Militia Forum I found a very informative thread about WWI Victory Medals. This thread contains detailed information for WWI researchers about World War I Victory Medals.  There are answers about the bars that are affixed (pinned) to the ribbon of the WWI Victory Medals. There are Combat Clasps (stars on each end of the bar) and Service Clasps (no stars), The dates that qualified U.S. Army Soldiers for Combat Clasps are given in the discussion posts.

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/227596-wwi-victory-medal-question/

From this website, I learned about which medals Joseph McMahon was entitled to wear. He was with the 51st Pioneers for the duration of his service.  Remember that your ancestor had to be assigned to that military unit on the dates of the combat to be eligible to wear that clasp.

The 51st Pioneer Infantry received the Combat Clasp for: St. Mihiel. The combat was at St. Mihiel – September 12, 1918 through September 16, 1918. There were 4 Days of Combat (DoC) at St. Mihiel involving 13 Divisions. The Battle Participation of the American Expeditionary Forces can be found at Google Books. Page 71 shows that the 51st Pioneer Infantry was involved in the St. Mihiel Offensive.

There would also have been a Service Clasp for which the 51st Pioneers would have been eligible for serving in France between April 6, 1917 to November 11, 1918 (12 Divisions – References state ±621,000 issued).

There was also a WWI service from the State of New York.

(These images were taken by the author from medals in her collection.)

The book that is recommended in the posts is World War I – Victory Medals (Ed1) Paperback – July 29, 2014 by James P. Michels Jr. It sells starting at $121.31. I have not been able to locate a copy of this book in a local library.

In another post I will cover some searching techniques to find WWI military memorabilia on ebay.