Crowder, Enoch H., 1859-1932
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Enoch H. Crowder Papers (C1046) Collection Number: C1046 Collection Title: Enoch H. Crowder Papers Dates: 1884-1942 Creator: Crowder, Enoch H., 1859-1932 Abstract: Correspondence and other papers of judge advocate general who administered Selective Service in World War I, served as ambassador to Cuba, and, after his retirement from public life, advised sugar interests. Collection Size: 27 cubic feet (2045 folders, 7 volumes; also available on 51 rolls of microfilm) Language: Collection materials are in English. Repository: The State Historical Society of Missouri Restrictions on Access: Collection is open for research. This collection is available at The State Historical Society of Missouri Research Center-Columbia. If you would like more information, please contact us at [email protected]. Collections may be viewed at any research center. Restrictions on Use: Materials in this collection may be protected by copyrights and other rights. See Rights & Reproductions on the Society’s website for more information and about reproductions and permission to publish. Preferred Citation: [Specific item; box number; folder number Enoch H. Crowder Papers (C1046); The State Historical Society of Missouri Research Center-Columbia [after first mention may be abbreviated to SHSMO-Columbia]. Donor Information: The papers were donated to the Western Historical Manuscript Collection by the University of Missouri Office of Public Information on November 21, 1955 (Accession No. CA3248). Additions were made on January 20, 1956 and November 6, 1958 by David Lockmiller (Accession Nos. CA3261 and CA3369) and on March 31, 1966 by the University of Missouri Library (Accession No. CA3658). (C1046) Enoch H. Crowder Papers Page 2 Alternate Forms Available: The Enoch H. Crowder Papers are also available on 51 rolls of microfilm. A letter from World War I has been digitized and is available online: https://digital.shsmo.org/digital/collection/wwi/id/2280. Existence and Location of Originals: After microfilming, volume 7 was discarded due to deteriorated condition. Processed by: Processed by Carrie P. Scott and James W. Goodrich, 1965-1966. Finding aid revised by Elizabeth Engel on September 22, 2021. Biographical Note: Enoch Herbert Crowder was born 11 April 1859 in Edinburg, Grundy County, Missouri, the son of John Herbert and Mary C. Weller Crowder. In 1877, he entered West Point, graduating in 1881. His career began with several tours of duty in the western plains. While participating in the Geronimo and Sitting Bull campaigns, Crowder spent his spare time studying the Army legal system and after teaching military science at the University of Missouri, he joined the Judge Advocate General Corps in 1895. The Spanish-American War drew Crowder to the Philippines. There he served in several capacities, including that of Justice of the Philippine Supreme Court. Not long after his return to the United States, he was assigned to Manchuria as an observer with the Japanese Army in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). In 1906, Crowder followed American troops to Cuba in the second intervention. He served as Cuban Secretary of State and Justice, established the Advisory Law Commission, and helped revise and update the legal and electoral codes. Upon the return of self-government to Cuba, Crowder resumed his duties in the Judge Advocate General Corps. In 1910, he returned to Latin America as a delegate to the 4th Pan American Conference. With its close, he and other delegates visited numerous Latin American countries as representatives of the United States. The trip concluded Crowder’s first foray into Latin American politics. The following decade (1910-1920) proved one of the most eventful in Crowder’s life. He became Judge Advocate General in 1911. Before World War I he expanded the Judge Advocate General Office and instituted military penal reforms. He also directed a revision of the Articles of War and substantially updated the courts-martial system, bringing it more in line with existing civil procedures. Shortly after American entry into World War I, the Selective Service Act, which Crowder devised, became law. Crowder was detailed as Provost Marshal General and administered the act in that capacity. After the war he wrote The Spirit of Selective Service, in which he set forth the principles of the draft and argued for their application to a variety of post-war problems. The close of the war also brought problems with military justice. In 1919, Crowder took up his former position as Judge Advocate General and soon became involved in a controversy with his wartime successor in that post, Samuel T. Ansell, who charged that Crowder’s courts-martial system was unduly harsh and not in harmony with the tenets of the civil judicial system. In 1919, Crowder again went to Cuba as an advisor to the government. His efforts resulted in the passage of a new electoral code. When collapsed sugar prices brought economic and political Go to top (C1046) Enoch H. Crowder Papers Page 3 chaos, President Woodrow Wilson appointed Crowder as his personal representative to solve election disputes. In 1923, Crowder became the first American ambassador to Cuba, and served until 1927. During his tenure in Cuba, he worked to eliminate corruption and to promote investment and trade opportunities with the United States. Upon retirement from public life, Crowder took up a private law practice consisting largely of consultant services to Midwestern construction and utility companies and to sugar interests. Hit hard financially by the depression and in increasingly poor health, Crowder retired altogether in 1930 and died in 1932. Arrangement: The collection has been arranged into the following eight series: Correspondence Memoranda Personal Material Newspaper and Magazine Clippings Memoranda Periodicals, and Books Financial Records and Legislative Material News Summaries and Press Translations Miscellaneous Material Scope and Content Note: More detailed series descriptions are located in the container list. Container List: Correspondence Series f. 1-20 Undated Correspondence. Family, personal, and military correspondence, Jude advocate general material Selective Service material. Liberty Loan of World War I. Felix Frankfurter discusses draft administration. Discussion of line officers versus staff officers in U.S. military. Material about Crowder while ambassador to Cuba. Christmas cards. Congratulations on military promotions. Crowder writes Pershing on private stockholding in a Philippine company. Platt Amendment. Telegram discussing the use of state prison inmates in sugar beet fields. Recipe for gin. f. 21-43 6 August 1884-30 April 1901. Personal, family, and military correspondence. Letters to James S. Rollins from citizens of Trenton, Missouri, wanting Crowder to be placed on military staff of the University of Missouri. Letters of recommendation for promotions in rank. Congratulations on receiving promotions. Spanish-American War in the Philippines. Discussion of Supreme Court of the Philippine Islands. Arms smuggling and Philippine insurgents. Germans helping Filipinos smuggle arms. Mention of Sun Yat-sen being implicated. Hong Kong junta. List of members. Hong Kong police system. Philippine junta. U.S., Great Britain, Go to top (C1046) Enoch H. Crowder Papers Page 4 China, and Philippine diplomacy. Military governorship and martial law. OVERSIZE: Army commission (f. 43). f. 44-75 4 May 1901-14 April 1917. Personal, military, and family correspondence. Judge advocate general material. Selective Service material. Court-martial of Fred Ainsworth. Dishonorable discharges. International relations and the conduct of war. Material on Second and Third Hague Conferences. Lindley M. Garrison writes William Jennings Bryan that Crowder has more knowledge of Cuba than any other U.S. official. Material on foreign claims against Cuba. Henry Stimson discusses Woodrow Wilson and World War I. U.S.-Philippine relations. OVERSIZE: Presidential proclamation (f. 64). f. 76-80 23 April 1917-29 April 1918. Military, political, and personal correspondence. Material involving the Selective Service Act and conscription. Judge advocate general material. Provost marshal general material. Discussion of American Expeditionary project. Letter to U.S. secretary of war from an Indian chieftain implying that white men are not obeying treaty of 1832. Politics in Cuba. f. 91-104 2 May-30 September 1918. Military, political, and personal correspondence. Selective Service. Poems concerning Crowder and the draft. Anti-war poems. Judge advocate general and provost marshal general material. Crowder declines promotion in rank. Anti- and pro-draft correspondence. Conscription exemptions. Letters from local draft boards. Herbert Hoover versus Crowder. Hoover wants deferred classification for certain members of the Food Administration. Letter to adjutant general from school teacher in Seattle. Wants her son inducted because he is “worthless” and a member of the International Workers of the World. f. 105-117 3 October 1918-14 January 1919. Military, political, and personal correspondence. Judge advocate general and provost marshal general material. Anti-draft material. Anti-Wilson material. Correspondence concerning the Bureau of War Risk Insurance. Administration of Selective Service law regarding aliens. Material from local draft boards. Demobilization material. Closing of the Selective Service Administration. A letter discussing post-war Germany, Belgium, Woodrow Wilson, Bolshevism, and anarchy. Correspondence involving