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Show By ELMO SCOTT WATSON ibiiu ECENTLY there was added Rto the war collections of the National museum In the Smithsonian institu-"Sb institu-"Sb 0 fT tion lu Washington an !l5r exhibit that la unique. ft In strange contrast to the j Imposing array of trophies and other relics of the conflicts In which this na-I na-I tion has engaged Is the Imiimi stuffed body of n seraggly-talled seraggly-talled pigeon with one leg shattered and twisted out of shape, yet It Is mute testimony to one of the heroic deeds of the World war. For this bird Is 'Tresident Wilson," the most famous fa-mous carrier pigeon of all that served with the A. B. F. and hero of Innumerable Innumer-able long and dangerous flights during the World war. It began at Grand Pre. On the morning of November 5, 1018, advance tinlts of the Americans were dismayed to And their communication lines dead. Itndlo failed, too, because of the overcrowded over-crowded air. At Ilampont, 25 miles nway, was headquarters where staff officers anxiously awaited word from Grand Pre. Between the two points lay an Inferno of fire and smoke, shot and shell. But there was no other way. The all-Important message was Intrusted to "President Wilson" which was soon winging Its way toward Hampont. Twenty-five minutes later the panting pant-ing bird fluttered down In front of - . headquarters at Rampont, the mes sage, Intact, dangling from the torn ' ligaments of Its wounded leg. Like many a human warrior "President Wilson" had been safely through the fighting from the start only to meet mishap with the armistice almost at hand. That was the faithful little flyer's last time under fire. Nursed back to recovery "President Wilson" for the past eleven years has been an active member of the army pigeon loft at Fort Monmouth, N. J., giving the younger birds valuable pointers in the art of message bearing under war conditions. con-ditions. Death came quietly to the famous bird while asleep recently and the army decided to have the body stuffed and mounted. An officer of the signal corps accompanied It to the Smithsonian Institution where It Is now enshrined. But even though "Taps" have sounded sound-ed for this hero bird, there are still living others of his tribe whose records rec-ords are nearly as remarkable. Visit Fort Monmouth, between Red Bank and Long Branch, N. J., today and you can see some of them. Here you will see most of the famous fa-mous war birds which rendered such valiant service with the signal corps In France, among them those two veterans, vet-erans, "Spike" and "Mocker," almost as renowned as "President Wilson." Here also you will see a number of captured German birds, but perhaps most Interesting of all are the various pigeons which played an Important role In the operations of the famous "Lost Battalion." t f - j' v vs,vv - A i - v c: ' P" ? f' -: V k r', K " ' P- SU LUJ' &f& A I ' i fir-v ir. vcm-s' Vi f- 'P 1 f- - ' ! SfP Hilitary pigeons . ttaAK4SrsSS?. By ELMO SCOTT WATSON f " - - " i URXJKNTLY there was added . M-igft-X " ; Rto the war collections of f::-X jwfrv 'ffs?: the National museum In fv'i & J' the Smithsonian Instltu- f jSf-H'W ""s? " R ShTys! "lln In Washington an &f k'-J kL' w - ETr exhibit that is unique if Wu Z7 t-W J"- ijfift strange contrast to the ffr vt55 tA VrVrjiTAEj.ti ?aJj'jj! imposing array of trophies AJ!'J s v jHfTl, ?!8?w.- ftftlrC) and other relics of the r X f:Sir"r-ml&m igHsC conflicts in which this na- SP .m& President Wilsonl-Mounted I f I tion has engaged Is the 'W$M$&2& 1 stuffed body of a scraggly- v f he flew back to his place of peril, and tailed pigeon with one leg shattered x;. - held It until the close of the contest, and twisted out of shape, yet It is j? At the battle of Corinth the Confed- mute testimony to ofie of the heroic X, erate general, Price, discovered him deeds of the World war. For this bird '"ov' and ordered his men to take him if The story of the "Lost Battalion" is bo familiar to most Americans that It needs no retelling even though the name Is a misnomer and most Americans Amer-icans therefore have a wrong Idea about It For Major Whittlesey's outfit out-fit never was really "lost" it was "cut oft" or "beleaguered." But be that as It may, the fact remains that had It not been for seven carrier pigeons, N,-. which the commander of that devoted band sent out from time to time, Major Ma-jor Whittlesey could not have sent word of his location back to his superior su-perior officers, they could not have rendered him such aid as they did, the Germans probably would have wiped the detachment out of existence before be-fore help arrived and It would have been a "Lost Battalion" Indeed. It was during the "push" of the Seventy-seventh division In the Ar-gonna Ar-gonna on October 2 that six companies compa-nies of the first and second battalions of the Three Hundred and Eighth Infantry, In-fantry, one company of the Three Hundred Hun-dred and Seventh Infantry and two sections sec-tions from the Three Hundred and Sixth machine gun battalion, all consolidated con-solidated under the command of MaJ. Charles W. Whittlesey, discovered that German forces were behind them and they were cut off from communcatlon with the rear. At 8:50 a. m. on October Oc-tober 3, Major Whittlesey sent his first pigeon with this message "We are being be-ing shelled by German artillery. Can w- not hive artillery support? Fire Is coming from northwest." At varl- The Plattsbunqh Game Cock ous Intervals that day he sent mes sages by pigeon, keeping his regimental regiment-al commander Informed of developments. develop-ments. By the morning of October 4, he had only two pigeons left, and about eleven o'clock he sent one of these with a message telling of the growing seriousness of the situation for the detachment That afternoon the American artillery artil-lery started to lay down a barrage, but Instead of falling upon the enemy It rained shell and shrapnel upon the beleaguered detachment. Then out of that Inferno of noise, dust and con fusion flew Whittlesey's last pigeon. Late that evening a soldier in charge of the pigeon cote at division headquarters head-quarters came upon a pigeon, blinded In one eye by scattered shot and standing upon one leg. The other leg was almost severed and attached to the dangling leg was the pellet containing con-taining this message: "We are along the road paralleled 276.4. Our own artillery Is dropping a barrage direct ly on us. For heaven's sake, stop It." Immediately the barrage lifted and Whittlesey's men were no longer swept by the fire of their own artillery. A "war bird" of another type and more picturesque, perhaps, than these feathered veterans of the World war was the famous eagle "Old Abe" which served through three years of the Civil war with a Wisconsin regiment, taking part in 22 battles and 30 skirmishes skirm-ishes and being wounded In three of them. "Old Abe" was captured by an Indian, Chief Sky, on the banks of the Flambeau river in northern Wisconsin In 1S61. The Indian sold the bird and finally It came into possession of a company which was formed at Eau Claire and which became Company C of the Eighth Wisconsin regiment when It went into camp at Madison. There Captain Perkins of Company C named him "Old Abe," In honor of the President, a standard was made for him and he was carried beside the reg-lmentnl reg-lmentnl flag. When the regiment went into action, "Old Abe" gave evidence of the wildest wild-est delight in the smoke and roar of battle. Spreading his wings he would Jump up and down on his perch, uttering utter-ing wild and piercing screams which could be clearly heard above the noises of the conflict But this Berserker snlrit was not the onlv evidence of "Old Abe's" being a true soldier. If we are to believe the stories that have , been told of him, before he had been a year in the service, he would give heed to the commands of the officers on parade, pa-rade, or when preparations for a march began. Of his military habits one chronicler has written : "With his head obliquely to the I front, his right eye turned upon the commander, he would listen and obey orders, noting time carefully. After parade had been dismissed, and the ranks were being closed by the sergeant ser-geant he would lay aside his soldierly I manner, flap his wings, loll about and make himself at home generally. "When there was an order to form for battle, he and the colors were the first upon the line. His actions upon those occasions were uneasy. He would turn his head anxiously from right to left looking to see when the line was completed. As soon as the regiment got ready, faced and began to march, he would assume a steady and quiet demeanor. He could always be seen a little above the heads of the soldiers, close by the flag. That position po-sition of honor was never disallowed him. "At the battle of Farmington May 9, 1SC2, the men were ordered to lie down on the ground. The Instant they did so, 'Old Abe' flew from his perch. He Insisted upon being protected as well as they, and flattened himself on the ground, remaining there until the men rose, when, with outspread wings, President WilsorL-Moimted he flew back to his place of peril, and held it until the close of the contest. At the battle of Corinth the Confederate Confed-erate general, Price, discovered him and ordered his men to take him If they could not kill him, adding that 'he would rather capture that bird than the whole brigade.'" It is of "Old Abe's" conduct at this same battle of Corinth that another historian writes: "The regiment is In Mower's brigade and 'Old Abe' is on his perch, looking out over tha scene. Cannon are thundering around him ; r.here are long rolls of musketry; the air is thick with bullets. From the flank comes a fearful volley, enfilading the line, cutting down scores of men, e nd severing the cord which holds 'Old Abe' to the staff. He flaps his wings, rises above the two armies, circles out ever the Confederates, then back again to his friends and lights once more on his perch. The regiment Is in retreat, and Old Abe goes with It, to be in a score of battles and to come out of them all unharmed." Almost as renowned as "Old Abe" of the Civil war in our national tradition Is a game cock which enjoyed a brief moment of fame during the War of 1812. In 1814 Lieut Thomas Mac-Donough Mac-Donough was placed in charge of a small American fleet on Lake Cham-plain Cham-plain to resist a strong British fleet which was moving down the lake to attack northern New York. On the morning of September 11 the British attacked the Americans In Plattsburgh bay. At the beginning Commodore Downie, the British commander, on bis flagship, the Confiance, attempted to break the American line but was met by a devastating fire from the Saratoga, Sara-toga, MacDonough's flagship. Thereupon the battle resolved itself into a sort of a duel between the two flagships, both of which dropped anchor an-chor and at a distance of 250 yards from each other prepared to "shoot It out." The first broadside from the Confiance, which had heavier guns than the Saratoga, all but wrecked the American vesseL But It did something some-thing else. According to one of our school histories "At the first broadside fired by the enemy, a young game cock kept as a pet on board MacDonough's ship, the Saratoga, flew up upon a gun; flapping his wings, he gave a crow of defiance that rang like the blast of a trumpet Swinging their hats, MacDonough's men cheered the plucky bird again and again. He had foretold victory. That was enough. They went into the fight with such ardor, and managed their vessels with such skill that in less than three hours all of the British ships that had not hauled down their flags were scudding to a place of safety as rapidly as possible." pos-sible." Cyrus Townsend Brady gives a slightly less theatrical version of the Incident. He says "It hns been fondly noted by various writers that the first terrible broadside of the Confiance smashed a chicken coop on one of the American vessels, thus liberating a game cock, which sprang into the rigging rig-ging and with lusty crowing encouraged encour-aged the-cheerlng crews. Inasmuch as nearly every writer puts, the chicken In a different ship, It is safe to conclude con-clude that there must have been one chicken there, and the Incident probably prob-ably did occur. At any rate, If it was an American chicken, it would certainly certain-ly crow upon being made free." Before the battle began "MacDon-ough "MacDon-ough bade his waiting crews to prayer. There at their stations with bowed heads they knelt down upon the white decks, soon to be stained with their own blood, while with his own lips, In the familiar words of the Book of Common Prayer, the young commander comman-der invoked the protection of the God of Battles for the coming conflict a rare and memorable scene Indeed 1" Spears, the naval historian, in commenting com-menting upon these two incidents, says, "with all due respect to religion, that for the purpose of rousing the seamen a rooster In the rigging Is worth more than a dozen prayers on the quarter deck." |