In 1917 with the United States of America's declaration of war against Germany, a call went out for volunteers to serve in the expanding U.S. Armed Forces. Not only were soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines needed, but so were lumberjacks, foresters, sawmill employees, and others who did work related to the lumber and forestry industries. These men were important support troops that were part of the unsung elements of all armies that go to war, the engineers.

As mentioned in episode 14, Major Edward E. Hartwick of Detroit, formerly of Grayling, Michigan, served with these men, as the commanding officer of the 1st Battalion of the 20th Regiment of Engineers (Forestry). Edward Hartwick's biography, written by author Gordon K. Miller in 1921 sheds light on some of the work these men did to aid the war effort in France. Through diary entries and letters to his family, Major Hartwick described the work and living conditions of his soldiers.

Engineers and other support troops, such as commissary, supplies, teamsters, and hospital personnel, among others, have always been important for armies to march and survive. Not everyone who serves, carries a weapon. Listen this week to learn a little bit about some of these soldiers of the First World War.

Episode Sources:

Guthrie, Jno. D., James A. WHite, Henry B. Steer, and Harry T. Whitlock. The Carpathians, Tenth Engineers (Forestry) A.E.F.-1917-1919. Roster and Historical Sketch. Washington, D.C., May 1940.

Miller, Gordon K. A Biographical Sketch of Major Edward E. Hartwick, Together with a Compilation of Major Hartwick's Letters and Diaries written during the Spanish-American and World Wars. Detroit, 1921 (Privately Published). Reprint by Heritage Books, Berwyn Heights, Maryland, 2015.

20th Regiment of Engineers Website. Created by Bruce Porter. 20thengineers.com/ww1.html

World War I: 10th and 20th Forestry Engineers. Webpage of the Forest History Society, Digital Collections. foresthistory.org/digital-collections/world-war-10th-20th-forestry-engineers/

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In this bonus episode of the North Country History podcast we commemorate Memorial Day today with a feature about Edward Hartwick. Most people know of Edward Hartwick as the man who Hartwick Pines State Park is named for, but what do most people know about Edward Hartwick?

Edward Hartwick, a native of Grayling, Michigan was a professional soldier who attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Hartwick graduated from West Point in 1893 and received his commission as a Second Lieutenant. Lt. Hartwick served with the United State Cavalry in the western United States in the 1890s, mostly with the 9th Regiment of Cavalry (Coloured). The regiment, one of the famous "Buffalo Soldiers" regiments consisted of black soldiers, led by mostly white officers. Edward Hartwick would serve with the 9th at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, in Cuba during the Spanish-American War in 1898, then at Fort Huachuca, Arizona until he resigned his commission and left the Army in 1899.

Edward Hartwick married his childhood sweetheart, Karen "Bessie" Michelson, whose father, Nels Michelson, was an influential lumberman in Michigan. Nels Michelson helped to set up his son-in-law in the lumber business, parterning with Edward Hartwick in a small retail lumber business in Mason, Michigan, before Edward went out on his own beginning lumber businesses first in the larger city of Jackson, Michigan, then in 1909, relocating to Detroit, and starting up the Hartwick Lumber Company. THis business would grow to five locations in the city by 1917 when Edward Hartwick would re-enter the Army.

The United States declared war on Germany in 1917, finally entering the Great War (as it was known until World War II) on the side of the Allies (Great Britain, France, and Russia). Edward Hartwick immediately tried to volunteer for service in the expanding Army but was initially refused. At the time of the declaration of war, Edward Hartwick was turning 46 and was deemed too old to go to war. The Army did have a need for experienced lumbermen and created the 10th Regiment of Engineers (Forestry) to provide needed lumber for fortifications, hospitals, barracks, and other military needs. It was soon evident that more forestry engineers were needed and in September 1917, the 20th Regiment of Engineers (Forestry) was established. It was then that Edward Hartwick was commissioned into the Reserve Officers Corps at the rank of Major, and appointed to the command of the 1st Battalion of the 20th Regiment of Engineers.

Major Edward Hartwick immediately threw himself into the training and leadership of his men at Camp American University in Washington, D.C. and on November 11, 1917 the first two battalions of the 20th Regt. embarked from New York City for France. The 20th arrived in France on November 26, 1917 and soon was sent to southern France where they began their forestry work. Major Hartwick commanded his battalion in Dax, France. In March of 1918, Major Hartwick contracted Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis and died on Easter Sunday, March 31, 1918. He was initially buried at the American Military Cemetery in Bordeaux, France. His remains were exhumed in 1920 and returned to Detroit where they were reinturned at Woodlawn Cemetery. Major Hartwick was one of the many war dead who died not from wounds from battle, but from disease. This was the las tmajor war where more soldiers died from disease than being killed in action.

A second part will discuss the work of the 20th Regiment of Engineers (Forestry).

Episode Sources:

Miller, Godon K. A Biographical Sketch of Major Erdward E. Hartwick, together with a Compilation of Major Hartwick's Letters and Diaries Written During the Spanish-American and World Wars. Detroit, Michigan, 1921 (Privately published). Reprint by Heritage Books, Berwyn Heights, M

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In the early Spring of 1854, 31 year-old David Ward, not yet known as "the Pine King" sought one of the state's greatest stands of "cork pine" (the highest grade of the Eastern White Pine) west of Otsego and Bradford lakes in Otsego County. This would be a race with the St. Mary's Falls Ship Canal Company's timber cruiser, Addison Brewer for the same stand of pine.

With the backing of Detroit lumbermen and bankers Dwight, Smith, and Co. and William A. Howard, David Ward and his assistant, John Baily, and their packers would experience the extreme changes in Michigan's late winter and early spring weather from three and a half feet of snow, frozen rivers, and -30 degree Fahrenheit temperatures to south winds and fast warm-ups that melted most of the snow in a single day.

The competition with the "Soo Canal Company" men continued south to Detroit then northwest to the United States Land Office in Ionia, west of Lansing.

The outcome of this is that David Ward would purchase 16,000 acres of prime "cork pine" at a cost of $20,000. At the time of the purchase, this great pinery was located far from the lumber markets with no easy way to move the lumber and it was considered to be "Ward's folly." By the end of the Nineteenth century, a major north-south rail line would run through the heart of Ward's holdings, and much of the timber would already be harvested, though a little of this holding would be part of the Deward Estate that would be logged the following decade during the existence of Deward.

In this special bonus episode, I read David Ward's own account of this event from The Autobiography of David Ward, published in 1912, after his death.

Episode Resources

Ward, David. "The Autobiography of David Ward." New York, 1912 (Privately Printed).

This book might be found in some libraries. The Devereaux Library in Grayling, Michigan, part of the Crawford County Library System, has a non-circulating copy that is available for patrons to study. Reprints may be available as well, as the book has gone out of copyright and is now in the public domain.

Inflation Calculator, www.in2013dollars.com.

"$20,000 in 1854 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $756,359.52 today, an increase of $736,359.52 over 171 years. The dollar had an average inflation rate of 2.15% per year between 1854 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 3,681.80%"

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