*^ lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllilllllllll^ THE STORY OF THE 139th INFANTRY iflllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll^^ Illlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll THE STORY OF THE 139th INFANTRY BY CLAIR KENAMORE 1920 GUARD PUBLISHING CO. ST. LOUIS, MO. iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip iiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii 5 iiiiiiiiiiii!iiiiiiiiiiiiii!iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii^^^ iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiunniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiy^ Copyright, 1920 By Clair Kenamore All Rights Reserved Author JUL ) t ISB Printed in the United States of America iiiiiiuiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii^^^ iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii 6 FOREWORD When the History Committee of the 139th Infantry put the pro- duction of this book into the hands of the Guard Pubhshing Company early in September, 1919, that company arranged with me to write it. -Many difficuhies have arisen in the collection of data, principally through my inability to obtain the regimental records. Officers and men of the regiment have resumed their civilian pur- suits and some of them have wandered far afield since they were dis- charged from the army, so far indeed that letters and telegrams are unanswered. The Regimental History, which would have been of great assistance, has not been found. Such officers and men as I have been able to get in touch with have been most kind and helpful, and whatever value the book has is due to them. I am fully aware that the narrative given here does not do jus- tice to the fine regiment with which it deals, but no book could do that. The great bravery of these men, the grim persistence, the for- titude in the face of great odds, have made for them a fame which should live forever. My poor words cannot add to their glory. All I can hope to do is briefly to tell their story and off'er a book which will preserve the pictures of these gallant men in the uniforms they wore with so much honor on the fields of France. Clair Kenamore Hill CONTENTS PAGE Foreword 7 The Story of the 139tli Infantry 11 Table of Casualties 48 Citations in General Orders 49 Company Rosters 64 A Company 64 1! Company 69 C Company 75 D Company 82 E Company 88 F Company 94 G Company 100 H Company 105 I Company 112 K Company 117 L Company 123 M Company 130 Machine Gun Company 135 Headquarters Company 139 Supply Company 143 Miscellaneous Rosters 146 First Assignment of Officers 150 Roster of Officers, Feb 28, 1919 151 Winning a Competition 153 Address of Commander of Fortress of Vaux 153 A Vosges Regimental Order 154 Citations in Divisional Orders 154 Distinguished Service Crosses 159 Comment by Col. Davis 161 Lieutenant Cofifman's Story 161 A Record of Movements l65 Map of 139th Sector in the Argonne Under back cover Illustrations are on all pages from the beginning to Page 141, and from that page on, they occur occasionally. The company pictures are not on the pages with the same company's roster. iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniii{iiii!iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiii!iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii^^^ VAUQUOIS HILL AND CHAUDRON FARM 'r^ f The crosses in the snow-covered field of Chaudron Farm are at the heads of graves of 35th Division men. The pictnro of tlie top of Vanquois Hill was made from an airplane at a height of about 400 feet. The craters were made by mines exploded by the French and Germans before we entered the war. Trenches can be seen on either side. 10 iiiiiii iiiiii iiiiiinniiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiim^^^^^^^^^^ i iiiini iiiiiiiiiiii Ill II mill iiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiii mm l^trj A COMPANY ONE of the firm convictions of natives of Missouri and Kansas used to be that the citizens of the other state were a bad lot. This impression came down from the days when we Missourians, out of the goodness of our hearts, used to go over into Kansas and help them hold their elections. Even before Kansas was a state, Missourians were trying to lead them onward and upward to better things. We took them by the hand, led them to the ballot box, showed them how to vote, told them which way to vote, voted ourselves to give them the benefit of our example. Often we voted for them when they were backward or timorous. Did they appreciate it? They did not. They called us many thing-s that were not pleasant to listen to. We called them things which sounded even worse. Twenty yeare ago the boys in any respectable Missouri school had a bitter contempt for Kansas and its people. In my own family there was an uncle who moved to Kansas and bought a farm. We spoke in low tones of him in the family circle afterward. Now all that feeling has passed away. The prejudice and in- tolerance of Civil War days are forgotten. The only rivalry is in the tilt yards of trade, and the only bitterness is upon the foot-ball field. The last vestige of this old rancor was swept away by regiments such as the 139th Infantry of the United States Army. This regi- ment was made up of the 4th Missouri Infantry and the 3rd Kansas Infantry, two National Guard outfits of enduring fame. They were united soon after they were called to the colors, they were trained as one unit. By the time they were sent to France, all state lines had been lost. In France thev worked and learned and trained 11 A COMPANY and fought as one man. The 139th fnfantry came out of the Argonne with its bloody head held high in air. No prouder outfit ever stepped than the ragged band which trailed back to Somaisne with the guns roaring behind it and the relieving troops holding the position the regiment had conquered in the valley of the Aire. To start this story properly and to give the reader an accurate conception of the men and traditions that made this regiment, it is best to look over the records of the two regiments which were joined to make the One Hundred Thirty-ninth. The first 3rd Kansas \'olunteers were recruited by Senator James H. Lane in the summer of 1861. It was an infantry regiment with calvary and artillery companies. Certain companies of this 3rd Regiment were on active duty from 1861 to 1864. In October, 1864, General Sterling Price of the Confederate Army crossed the Kan.sas border from Missouri, and threatened to raid the state. Nearly all of the 3rd Regiment including the Battery and Com- panies O and P took part in the opposition to General Price. In 1884 there was a 3rd Kansas National Guard Regiment, and it existed until the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in 1898. After the vSpanish-American War, plans for re-organization of the National Guard provided for only two regiments of infantry, and so from 1898 until 1917 there was no 3rd Kansas Infantry of the National Guard. As soon as permission was given by the Federal Government in 1917, Brigadier General Charles I. Martin commenced the organization of a unit to be known as the 3rd Kansas Infantry. liiliiliiliiiiiiiiiiiiliilliilliliiilliiiiilliiiliiiiiiilililili 12 ijiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii^ A COMPANY The 1st Kansas Infantry was, generally speaking, in the east- ern part of the state, and the 2nd Kansas Infantry was in the western part, but both were pretty well scattered. The 3rd Regi- ment was raised without regard to geography, and came from that territory which would be covered by a triangle drawn from Leaven- worth to Downs to Eldorado. The conditions under which the regiment was raised made it possible to assign to companies officers who came from towns other than those in which the companies were raised. General Martin him- self selected the officers of the regiment, and it had an excellent per- sonnel. The new regiment was without equipment other than that sup- plied by the local committee. It was called into Federal service Au- gust 5, 1917 and was sent to Doniphan on September 26, 1917. H Company did not go to Doniphan on that date as it was quarantined because of sickness among the men. The affairs of the regiment were administered from Topeka from August 5. to September 26. The men of this new 3rd Infantry Regiment of the Kansas National Guard were not the descendants of the old 3rd Kansas regiments, and there were no traditions to connect the new regiment with the old ones, but they were husky young Kansans of the same breed and from the same land that the men of the other 3rd Kansas regiments had been. The 4th Missouri Infantry was organized March i, 1891. It was composed of seven companies and Colonel J- A. Arbuthnot was 13 : ^ • ,.!;^e:«v-«^-#~ -w -# «» -life A r - -4 ^.* i i * -i^V ;^f^.l^ib— A COMPANY its first commander. It was located generally in the northern part of the state, and many towns have been represented in its organization. The forming and nnistering-out of companies have gone on steadily since that time. Concerning the early life of the regiment Col. William E. String- fellow says "In those days, there was no state appropriation for the main- tenance of the companies. Equipment was issued. The companies had to be maintained by the officers and men. Some small amount in dues was paid by each member and the officers had to dig up to supply the deficiencies. We held our annual encampments much in the manner that a street carnival is held. We approached the various towns in north and northwest Missouri of suitable size to be inter- ested, and saw what they would allow us in the way of camping- grounds, wood and water, and anything else we might get, including a percentage of the receipts of a sham battlq, which usually was given as the principal means of obtaining any ready cash.