HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 475 The only comparison that occurs to us is the case of the young school teacher who graduates in June and in September undertakes the instruction of her former school mates. As a matter of fact, during that winter in Chillicothe we all learned together. That in June we were ready to go overseas is a sufficient commentary on the adaptability and learning capacity of young America. Be it remembered also that we trained without proper equipment. We never saw a gun of the type we fired on the front until four weeks after we reached the shores of France. After six weeks of practice on a firing range we were shipped to the front, just in time to enter on the opening phase of the Meuse-Argonne offensive. This is not the place to write about war or its preparation. We will let the above statement stand without comment. There remains in this chapter the duty to relate some of the events in the service of the American Expeditionary Forces in which soldiers from northeastern Ohio had a prominent part. The 37th Division went into action during the last week of July in what was known as the "Baccarat Sector" of the right wing of the Western Front. This sector was in the region of the Vosges Mountains. It was what was called a "quiet" sector. The duty consisted simply in holding the line. There was in fact little fighting on this line during the entire period of the war, and it was therefore chosen as a training area for those of the American divisions which took an early position on the line. In this sector the 37th remained until the opening of the great Meuse-Argonne offensive which ended the war. On the 26th of September the 37th, seasoned and ready for action, took up its position near the center of the American line, facing the famous hill of Montfaucon. On September 28th Montfaucon had fallen. On October 1st the division was moved to the Pannes Sector, just south of Verdun. On October 31st the division was transferred to the vicinity of 476 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO the Lys and Escaut Rivers in Flanders, thus taking part in the last flanking movement of the left wing of the Allied forces. The division was still in Flanders on the 11th of November. This does not include the artillery brigade, which remained in the Meuse-Argonne Front until Armistice Day. It may be said that division artillery in only rare instances remained with its own infantry. This is a matter of tactics which requires a technical study of the art of war as practiced from 1914 to 1918 to understand. The 37th Division was returned to France after the Armistice, and in different units found its way home. Nearly all of the division had returned to the United States by the end of the spring of 1919. They had made a magnificent record, and could well deserve a proper welcome from their fellow citizens of Ohio. The 37th Division has a well organized Veterans' Association. The present commander is Colonel Wade C. Christy of Youngstown. The 83rd Division left Camp Sherman for overseas duty in the early part of June. The entire division was in France before July 1st. With headquarters at Le Mans, in Brittany, the 83rd was made into a replacement division. Of the different units, three infantry regiments, the 329th, 330th, and 331st were broken up. The 332nd Infantry were detached and sent to Italy. Of them more hereafter. The 308th Engineers went to the front at the beginning of the Meuse-Argonne drive, did good service there, and later went to Germany as part of the Army of Occupation. They were located east of the Rhine, near the fortress of Ehrenbreitstein. The 158th Artillery Brigade remained intact during our entire stay in Europe. We were taken for training into the heart of Brittany. The writer's regiment, the 324th F. A., with the 308th Trench Mortar Battery, spent the first six HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 477 weeks in Bain de Bretagne, a picturesque and delightful village where apparently no Americans had ever been before. Our stay there was the brightest spot in our European experience. We then went to the artillery range at Coetquidan, where we spent another six weeks in intensive training, at the end of which we entrained for the front. At 2:00 A. M. on September 26, we detrained at Revigny, and marched into our first position. We were on the front until Armistice Day, at that time being in the neighborhood of Ecurey, on the east side of the Meuse, northeast of Dun. At that time we were supporting the 32nd Division, and were sent with them on the march to the Rhine. We crossed the Rhine on December 13th, and went into permanent quarters in several little German villages in the Westerwald, some twenty kilometers northeast of Coblenz. We remained in Germany until April 26th, when we started home by way of Brest. The brigade was finally discharged from service during June, 1919. The 332nd Infantry deserves special mention here, as its personnel was made up largely of men from Mahoning, Trumbull, Stark and Columbiana counties. This regiment was more nearly a northeastern Ohio unit than any other in the National Army. They were chosen from the entire A. E. F. as the representatives of the United States on the Italian front. They moved into Italy during the last week of July. During August, September and October they were in northern Italy, in Verona, Vallegio and Treviso, the last named town lying about eighteen miles northwest of Venice, and in a reserve position on the actual front. During this stay in Treviso the 2nd Battalion of the regiment was moved into the combat trenches for several weeks. From October 22nd on the 332nd was actually participating in the last phase of the drive which ended the Austrian war. The Austrian armistice went into effect at 3:00 478 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO P. M. on November 4th. At that time the regiment was in combat on the Tagliamento River. They did their most strenuous fighting during the last two days. After the Armistice was signed with Germany the 332nd, broken up into three battalions, rendered a variety of service. The First Battalion moved from Cormons, in Austria, back to Treviso. With them were the regimental headquarters. The Third Battalion were sent to Fiume, then and for some time after a disputed territory, claimed by Italy, Austria and the newly formed kingdom of Jugoslavia. The Second Battalion was sent into Dalmatia, where they remained several months helping to straighten out the affairs of Dalmatia and Montenegro. In February the entire regiment was moved from its various positions, and reunited at Genoa. Here they re mained until sailing orders finally came. In the last days of March they boarded transports and made the voyage home, traveling the western Mediterranean to the Straits of Gibraltar, where they made their last stop. Thence they sailed for New York. Coming home to Ohio, they paraded in Cleveland, and were discharged at Camp Sherman in the early part of May. They proudly wore on the left shoulder the Lion of St. Mark, embroidered in gold on a red field; the most decorative insignia, probably, worn by any soldiers of the A. E. F., and peculiarly significant, as indicating that they were the only American soldiers who saw service in Italy and Austria. An organization which requires mention here is Base Hospital No. 31. This hospital was organized in Youngstown, and its entire original personnel was recruited from the Ma-honing Valley. They were in service overseas for more than sixteen months, with an enviable record. The organization of Base Hospital No. 31 was effected under the joint auspices of the Youngstown Hospital Asso- HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 479 ciation and Saint Elizabeth's Hospital. A subscription of more than $50,000 was raised among the citizens of Youngstown and vicinity to finance the undertaking. Dr. Colin R. Clark was the first director, and the medical personnel was made up from the leading younger physicians of the valley. Nearly all the nurses and enlisted men also came from the immediate vicinity of Youngstown. On September 8th, 1917, the force entrained for Allentown, Pennsylvania, for their preliminary training. They were in Allentown until November, when they were moved to Camp Mills, whence they sailed on December 15th, on board the Leviathan. They landed at Liverpool, crossed England and the English Channel, and finally arrived at their base, Contrexeville, in eastern France, on January 1st, 1918. Base 31 remained in Contrexeville in service until March, 1919, when they prepared to go home. They sailed from St. Nazaire on April 20, 1919. The official records of the hospital show that during their time of service in France they treated the following patients: AMERICANS Officers Enlisted men Other Americans Allied patients Total 387 7,511 100 764 8,762 Of those treated, 121 died; the remainder recovered or were evacuated to other hospitals. The record of this hospital is one of which the Mahoning Valley may well be proud. Almost without exception the medical officers returned home to practice, and have achieved distinction since in nearly every instance. 480 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO To give any account of the various military and naval organizations in which the men of northeastern Ohio were enlisted would require a history of America in the war. We have tried to give a brief account of the units which were largely made up of our men. In the appendix will be found a list of those who received American citations for valor. Let it be said that our soldiers and sailors did their duty during their period of service as well as any other Americans, and on their return to civil life took up their duties again as bravely as they served. APPENDIX AN ACT RENOUNCING THE CLAIMS OF THIS STATE TO CERTAIN LANDS THEREIN MENTIONED Whereas the Congress of the United States at their session begun and holden in the City of Philadelphia on the first Monday of December in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine made and passed an Act in the words following, to wit "An Act to authorize the President of the United States to accept for the United States a Cession of Jurisdiction of the Territory west of Pensylvania, commonly called the western Reserve of Connecticut." Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the president of the United States be, and he hereby is authorized to execute and deliver letters patent in the name and behalf of the United States, to the governor of the state of Connecticut for the time being, for the use and benefit of the persons holding and claiming under the state of Connecticut, their heirs and assigns, forever, whereby all the right, title, interest, and estate, of the United States, to the soil of that tract of land lying west of the west line of Pennsylvania, as claimed by the state of Pennsylvania, and as the same has been actually settled, ascertained, and run, in conformity to an agreement between the said state of Pennsylvania and the state of Virginia, and extending from said line, westward, one hundred and twenty statute miles in length, and in breadth throughout the said limits in length, from the completion of the forty-first degree of north - 481 - 482 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO latitude, until it comes to forty-two degrees and two minutes north latitude, including all that territory commonly called the Western Reserve of Connecticut, and which was excepted by said state of Connecticut out of the cession by the said state heretofore made to the United States, and accepted by a resolution of Congress of the fourteenth of September, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-six, shall be released and conveyed as aforesaid to the said governors of Connecticut, and his successors in said office, forever, for the purpose of quieting the grantees and purchasers under said state of Connecticut, and confirming their titles to the soil of the said tract of land. Provided, however, That such letters patent shall not be executed and delivered unless the state of Connecticut shall, within eight months from passing this act, by a legislative act, renounce forever, for the use and benefit of the United States, and of the several individual states who may be therein concerned, respectively, and of all those deriving claims or titles from them, or any of them, all territorial and jurisdictional claims whatever, under any grant, charter, or charters whatever, to the soil and jurisdiction of any and all lands whatever, lying westward, northwestward, and southwestward, of those counties in the state of Connecticut, which are bounded westwardly by the eastern line of the State of New York, as ascertained by agreement between Connecticut and New York, in the year one thousand seven hundred and thirty-three, excepting only from such renunciation the claim of said state of Connecticut, and of those claiming from or under the said state, to the soil of said tract of land, herein described under the name of the Western Reserve of Connecticut. And provided, also, That the said state of Connecticut shall, within the said eight months from and after passing this act, by the agent or agents of said state, duly authorized HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 483 by the legislature thereof, execute and deliver, to the acceptance of the President of the United States, a deed, expressly releasing to the United States the jurisdictional claim of the said state of Connecticut, to the said tract of land, herein described under the name of the Western Reserve of Connecticut, and shall deposite an exemplification of said act of renunciation, under the seal of the said state of Connecticut, together with said deed, releasing said jurisdiction, in the office of the department of state of the United States; which deed of cession, when so deposited, shall vest the jurisdiction of said territory in the United States; Provided, That neither this act, nor anything contained therein, shall be construed so as in any manner to draw into question the conclusive settlement of the dispute between Pennsylvania and Connecticut, by the degree of the federal court at Trenton, nor to impair the right of Pennsylvania, or any other state, or of any person or persons claiming under that or any other state, in any existing dispute concerning the right, either of soil or of jurisdiction, with the state of Connecticut, or with any person or persons claiming under the state of Connecticut: And provided, also, That nothing herein contained shall be in any manner to pledge the United States for the extinguishment of the Indian title to the said lands, or further than merely to pass the title of the United States thereto. Approved, April 28, 1800. Therefore, in Consideration of the Terms, and in Compliance with the provisions and Conditions of the said Act: Be it enacted by the Governor and Council, and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, that the State of Connecticut doth hereby renounce forever, for the Use and benefit of the United States and of the Several individual States who may be therein concerned prespectively, and of all those deriving Claims or titles from them or any of them, all Territorial and Jurisdictional Claims whatever un- 484 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO der any Grant, Charter or Charters whatever to the Soil and Jurisdiction of any and all Lands whatever, lying westward northwestward and Southwestward of those Counties in the State of Connecticut which are bounded westwardly by the Eastern line of the State of New York as ascertained by agreement between Connecticut and New York in the Year One thousand Seven hundred thirty three; excepting only from this Renunciation the Claim of said State of Connecticut, and of those Claiming from or under the sd State of Connecticut, to the Soil of sd Tract of Land in said Act of Congress described under the name of the Western Reserve of Connecticut. And be it further enacted, that the Governor of this State for the time being, be, and hereby is empowered in the Name and behalf of this State, to execute and deliver, to the Acceptance of the President of the United States, a Deed of the form and Tenour, directed by the said Act of Congress expressly releasing to the United States the Jurisdictional Claims of the State of Connecticut to all that Territory called the Western Reserve of Connecticut, according to the description thereof in said Act of Congress, and in as full and ample manner as therein is required. passed in the Upper House Test Samuel Wyllys Secretary Concurred in the house of Representatives Test Titus Hosmer, Clerk ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION CONNECTICUT LAND COMPANY, SEPT. 5, 1795. From the Records of the Connecticut Land Company, Vol. XVI, Book 1, Western Reserve Historical Society. Article 1. It is agreed, that the Individuals, concerned in the Purchase made this day of the Connecticut Western Reserve, shall be called The Connecticut Land Company. HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 485 Article 2d. It is agreed that the Committee appointed by the Applicants for purchasing said Reserve, shall receive, from the Committee of whom said Purchase has been made each Deed which shall be executed to a purchaser and in their hand shall retain said Deed until the Proprietor thereof shall execute a Deed in Trust to John Caldwell, Jonathan Brace & John Morgan & the survivors of them & the last Survivor of said three persons & his heirs forever, to hold in Trust for such proprietor; his share in said purchase to be disposed of as directed & agreed in the following Articles. Article 3d. It is agreed, that seven persons shall be appointed by the Company at a meeting to be holden this day at the house of John Lee in Hartford who shall be a Board of Directors for said Company & that said Directors or the Majority thereof shall have power, at the expense of said Company to procure an extinguishment of the Indian Title to said Reserve, if said Title be not already extinguished ;— to Survey the whole of said Reserve & to lay the same out into Townships containing sixteen thousand acres each;—to fix on a Township in which the first Settlement shall be made :—to survey that Township into small lots, in such manner as they shall think proper & to sell & dispose of said Lots to actual Settlers only;—to erect in such Township a Saw-Mill & Grist Mill at the expense of said Company—to lay out & sell five other Townships of sixteen thousand acres each to actual Settlers only & the said Trustees shall execute Deeds of such part or parts of said Six Townships, as shall be sold by said Directors to said Purchasers, But, in case there shall be any Salt Spring or Springs in said Six Townships, or in any or either of them, said Directors shall not sell said Spring or Springs, but shall reserve the same together with two thousand acres of land inclosing said Spring or Springs. Said Directors shall also have power to extinguish, if possible, the Indian Title if any to said Reserve, & to make all said Surveys, within two year from this date, & 486 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO Sooner if possible; and when said Indian Title, if any, shall have been extinguished & said Surveys made, said Trustees or a majority thereof shall convey to each proprietor of said Reserve, or any number who shall agree his or their proportion or right therein in severalty, the mode of dividing said Reserve however to be in conformity to the Orders & Directions of the major part of the proprietors assembled at any meeting of the proprietors, convened & holden according to the mode herein after marked out. Article 4th. It is also agreed that said Directors shall cause the persons emp (1) oyed by them in surveying said Reserve, to keep a Regular field-Book describing minutely & accurately the Situation, soil, waters, kinds of timber and natural productions of each Township surveyed by them, which Books the said Directors shall cause to be kept in the Office of the Clerk of said Directors & the said Book shall be open to the inspection of each proprietor at all times. Article 5th. It is agreed that said Directors shall appoint a Clerk, who shall keep a regular Journal of all the votes & proceedings of said Directors & of the money disbursed by them for the use of the Company & said Directors shall determine the wages of such Clerk;—And the said Directors shall once in a year settle their accounts with the Company Proprietors, and that all monies received by the Directors for taxes & the sales of lands shall be subject to the disposal and direction of the Company. Article 6th. It is agreed that the Trustees shall give certificates agreeably to the form herein after prescribed to all the Proprietors in the original purchases made from this State and that the Grantees from said State shall lodge with the trustees the names of the proprietors for whom they respectively receive Deeds & the proportions of land to which proprietors are entitled, a copy of which shall be lodged by the Trustees with the Clerk of the Directors. It is further HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 487 agreed, that all transfers made by any proprietor shall be recorded in the Book of the Clerk of the Directors and no person claiming as an Assignee shall be acknowledged as such untill his deed shall have been thus recorded. Article 7th. It is agreed, in order to enable said Board of Directors to perform & accomplish the business assigned them, that there shall be paid a tax in the proportion of ten dolars on each of the shares of the Company to the Clerk of the Directors to be at the disposal of said Directors for the purposes aforesaid, which said tax shall be paid to said Clerk on or before the sixth day of October next. Article 8th. It is agreed that the whole of said Reserve shall be divided into Four hundred Shares and that the following mode of Voting by the Proprietors in their meetings, every proprietor of one share shall have one vote, and every proprietor of more than one share shall have one Vote for the first share and then one Vote for every two shares till the number of Forty shares and then one Vote for every five Shares—provided that the question of the time of making a partition of the territory every share shall be entitled to one Vote. Article 9th. It is agreed that the aforsaid Trustees shall, on receiving a Deed from any purchaser according to the Tenor of these Articles, give to such proprietor a Certificate in the words following. "This certifies, that A. B.—is entitled to the trust & benefit of—part of the Connecticut Western Reserve Land, so called, as held by John Caldwell, Jonathan Brace & John Morgan—Trustees in a Deed of trust, dated the 5th day of September 1795, to hold said part to him the said A. B. his heirs and assigns according to the terms conditions, covenants and restrictions contained in certain Articles of agreement entered into by the persons composing the Connecticut Land Copany, which said share is transferable by assignment 488 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO Under hand & seal witnessed by two witnesses and acknowledged before any Justice of the Peace in the State of Connecticut or before a Judge of the Court of Common pleas in any of the neighboring states and to be seconded by the Clerk of the Board of Directors"; which said certificate shall be complete Evidence to such person of his right in said Clerk shall keep for the purpose of registering Deeds. Article 10th. It is agreed, that the first Meeting of said Company be at the State House in Hartford on Tuesday the 6th of October next at two of the Clock in the afternoon, at which meeting the mode of making partition shall be determined by the major Vote of the proprietors then present, taking such votes by the principals herein before marked out. It is also agreed, that in all meetings of the Company the proprietors shall be admitted to vote in person or by their proper attorney legally authorized. And it is further Agreed, that there shall be a meeting of the Company at the State House in Hartford at two o'Clock in the afternoon the Monday next before the second Thursday in October 1796 and another meeting of said Company at the Same place at two o’clock in the afternoon, the Tuesday next before the second Thursday in October one thousand seven hundred & nenety seven; and, that the said Directors shall have power to call occasional Meetings at such times as they may think proper, but such Meetings shall always be at Hartford and said Directors Shall give notice in some one News Paper in each County in Connecticut where Newspapers are published of the time & place of holding said Meeting, whether State or occasional by publishing such notification in such papers under their hand, for three weeks successively within six weeks next before the day of such Meeting. Article 11th. And whereas some of the proprietors may chuse that their proportion of said Reserve should be divided to them in one lot or location. It is agreed, that in case one HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 489 third in value of the Owners shall after a survey of said Reserve in Townships, signify to said Directors or Meeting a request, that such third part be set off in manner aforesaid, that said Directors may appoint three Commissioners who shall have power to divide the whole of said purchase into three equal parts, equal in value according to quantity, quality and situation, and when said Commissioners shall have so divided said Reserve & made a report in writing of doings to said Directors describing precisely the boundaries of each part, the said Directors shall call a meeting of said proprietors giving the notice required by these articles and at such Meeting, the said three parts shall be numbered and the numbers of each part shall be written on a separate piece of paper and shall in the presence of such Meeting be, by the Chairman of said Meeting put into a box and a person, appointed by said Meeting for that purpose, shall draw out of said Box one of said Numbers and the part, which shall be designated by such number, shall be apparted to such person or persons requesting such a severance & the said Trustee shall upon receiving a written direction, from said Directors for that purpose execute a Deed to such person or persons accordingly, after which such person or persons shall have no power to act in said Company. Article 12th. It is agreed that the Company shall have power by a major vote to raise money by a Tax on the proprietors to be apportioned equally to each proprietor according to his interest, and in case any Proprietor shall neglect to pay his proportion of said Tax within fifty days where the Proprietors live in the State if out of the State within one hundred and twenty days after the same shall have become payable and after the publication thereof in the News Papers of this State in the manner provided for warning meetings, that the Directors shall have power to dispose of so much of the Interest of such Delinquent proprietor in said Reserve 490 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO as may be necessary to pay the Tax so as aforesaid due and unsatisfied and in case any proprietor shall neglect to pay the Tax of ten Dolars upon a share, agreed to be paid by these Articles, within Fifty days after the time of payment so much of his share as will raise his part of sd Tax may be sold as aforesaid. Article 13th. In case of the death of any one or more of the Trustees the Company may appoint a successor to such deceased person in said trust and upon such appointment being made the surviving Trustee or Trustees shall pass a deed or deeds to such successor or successors to hold the premises as Co-trustees with the said surviving trustees in the same manner as the original trustees hold the same. Article 14th. It is agreed that the Directors in transacting the business of said Company according to the article aforesaid shall be subject to the controul of said Company by a Vote of a least three Fourths of the Interest of said Company. A LIST OF THE GRANTEES UNDER THE DEEDS FROM THE TRUS- TEES OF THE CONNECTICUT LAND COMPANY, SHOWING THE NUMBER OF SHARES HELD BY EACH.