THE 151st FIELD ARTILLERY
BRIGADE
Major-General Wm. S. McNair
THE
151st FIELD ARTILLERY
BRIGADE
BY
RICHARD M. RUSSELL
THE CORNHILL COMPANY
BOSTON
Copyright, 1919, by
The Cornhill Company
TO MY OLD COMRADES
If you find in the pages that follow anything toamuse or interest you and yours, thank Mrs.William S. McNair, Major Swift, Captain Converseand Lieutenant Clement, to whom the author isindebted for the information herein contained.
R. M. R.
Boston, April 25, 1919.
THE 151st FIELD ARTILLERY
BRIGADE
The 151st Field Artillery
Brigade
INTRODUCTION
In writing this brief sketch of the Brigade from itsinception to its final mustering out of the service, ithas not been my aim to account in any way for all thedays and nights which have elapsed during that period.Memories fond or hateful to some of us would notbe very interesting to the rest. Looking backwardfrom the point of view of the Brigade as a unit, manyof those days were so monotonously alike that an attemptto account for all would lead to idle repetition.Well I realize that every one of them stands for somethingimportant in the career of some one man; perhapshis first tour of guard duty, or his first ride, aclose call, a bawling out, something accomplished,something learnt. But I have not time, space norknowledge to write these details. If, however, by mygeneralities I can so picture our life at Devens andafter that this little book will recall to its readers thosethings I have omitted, it will have served its purpose.
THE 151st BRIGADE
I. CAMP DEVENS
In April, 1917, the United States declared war againstGermany. It was no surprise, but what did it mean?For it is one thing to declare war and another to wageit. We had no army and no ships and three thousandmiles of ocean lay between the Yankee and the Hun.We would of course lend money to our allies. Wouldwe give them our men? The answer, thank God, wasthe draft law which put into being the greatest democraticinstitution of our country,—the National Army.
Early in the fall of 1917, men from every walk of