CHAPTER XX
THIRD BATTLE OF BULL RUN WITH AEROPLANES CARRYING LIQUID CHLORINE
I now come to those memorable weeks of November, 1921, which rank amongthe most important in American history. There was first the battle thathad been preparing south of the Potomac between von Mackensen's advancingbattalions and General Wood's valiant little army. This might be calledthe third battle of Bull Run, since it was fought near Manassas whereBeauregard and Lee won their famous victories.
Although General Wood's forces numbered only 60,000 men, more than halfof them militia, and although they were matched against an army of150,000 Germans, the American commander had two points of advantage, histen miles of entrenchments stretching from Remington to Warrenton alongthe steep slopes of the Blue Ridge mountains, and his untried butformidable preparations for dropping liquid chlorine from a fleet ofaeroplanes upon an attacking army.
In order to reach Washington the Germans must traverse the neck of landthat lies between the mountains and the Potomac's broad arms. Here cloudsof greenish death from heaven might or might not overwhelm them. That wasthe question to be settled. It was a new experiment in warfare.
I should explain that during previous months, thanks to the efficiency ofthe Committee of Twenty-one, great quantities of liquid chlorine had beenmanufactured at Niagara Falls, where the Niagara Alkali Company, theNational Electrolytic Company, the Oldburg Electro-Chemical Company, theCastner Electrolytic Alkali Company, the Hooker Electro-Chemical Companyand several others, working night and day and using 60,000 horsepowerfrom the Niagara power plants and immense quantities of salt from thesalt-beds in Western New York, had been able to produce 30,000 tons ofliquid chlorine. And the Lackawanna Steel Company at Buffalo, in itsimmense tube plant, finished in 1920, had turned out half a million thinsteel containers, torpedo-shaped, each holding 150 pounds of the deadlyliquid. This was done under the supervision of a committee of leadingchemists, including: Milton C. Whitaker, Arthur D. Little, Dr. L. H.Baekeland, Charles F. McKenna, John E. Temple and Dr. Henry Washington.
And a fleet of military aeroplanes had been made ready at the immenseWright and Curtiss factories on Grand Island in the Niagara River and atthe Packard, Sturtevant, Thomas and Gallaudet factories, where a force of20,000 men had been working night and day for weeks under governmentsupervision. There were a hundred huge tractors with double fuselage anda wing spread of 200 feet, driven by four 500 horse-power motors. Eachone of these, besides its crew, could carry three tons of chlorine fromGrand Island to Washington (their normal rate of flying was 120 miles anhour) in three hours against a moderate wind.
I visited aviation centers where these machines were delivered for tests,and found the places swarming with armies of men training and inspectingand testing the aeroplanes.
Among aviators busy at this work were: Charles F. Willard, J. A. D.McCurdy, Walter R. Brookins, Frank T. Coffyn, Harry N. Atwood, OscarAllen Brindley, Leonard Warren Bonney, Charles C. Witmer, Harold H.Brown, John D. Cooper, Harold Kantner, Clifford L. Webster, John H.Worden, Anthony Jannus, Roy Knabenshue, Earl S. Dougherty, J. L. Callan,T. T. Maroney, R. E. McMillen, Beckwith Havens, DeLloyd Thompson, SidneyF. Beckwith, George A. Gray, Victor Carlstrom, Chauncey M. Vought, W. C.Robinson, Charles F. Niles, Frank H. Burnside, Theodore C. Macaulay, ArtSmith, Howard M. Rinehart, Albert Sigmund Heinrich, P. C. Millman, RobertFowler.
In the balloon training camps, I noticed some old-time balloonists,including: J. C. McCoy, A. Leo Stevens, Frank P. Lahm, Thomas S. Baldwin,A. Holland Forbes, Charles J. Glidden, Charles Walsh, Carl G. Fisher, Wm.F. Whitehouse, George B. Harrison, Jay B. Benton, J. Walter Flagg, JohnWatts, Roy F. Donaldson, Ralph H. Upson, R. A. D. Preston and WarrenRasor.
Five days before the battle the hundred great carriers began deliveringtheir deadly loads on the heights of Arlington, south of the Potomac,each aeroplane making three trips from Niagara Falls every twenty-fourhours, which meant that on the morning of November 5, 1921, when theGerman legions came within range of Leonard Wood's field artillery, therewere 5,000 tons of liquid chlorine ready to be hurled down from theaerial fleet. And it was estimated that the carriers would continue todeliver a thousand tons a day from Grand Island as long as the deadlystuff was needed.
The actual work of dropping these chlorine bombs upon the enemy wasentrusted to another fleet of smaller aeroplanes gathered from all partsof the country, most of them belonging to members of the Aero Club ofAmerica who not only gave their machines but, in many cases, offeredtheir services as pilots or gunners for the impending air battle.
"What is the prospect?" I asked Henry Woodhouse, chief organiser of theseaeroplane forces, on the day before the fight.
He was white and worn after days of overwork, but he spoke hopefully.
"We have chlorine enough," he said, "but we need more attackingaeroplanes. We've only about forty squadrons with twelve aeroplanes to asquadron and most of our pilots have never worked in big air manoeuvres.It's a great pity. Ah, look there! If they were all like Bolling'ssquadron!"
He pointed toward the heights back of Remington where a dozen birdmachines were sweeping through the sky in graceful evolutions.
"What Bolling is that?"
"Raynal C.--the chap that organised the first aviation section of the NewYork National Guard. Ah! See those boys turn! That's Boiling at the headof the 'V,' with James E. Miller, George von Utassy, Fairman Dick, JeromeKingsbury, William Boulding, 3rd, and Lorbert Carolin. They've gotSturtevant steel battle planes--given by Mrs. Bliss--yes, Mrs. William H.Bliss. She's one of the patron saints of the Aero Club."
We strolled among the hangars and Mr. Woodhouse presented me to severalaeroplane squadron commanders, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Robert Bacon,Godfrey Lowell Cabot, Russell A. Alger, Robert Glendinning, GeorgeBrokaw, Clarke Thomson, Cortlandt F. Bishop; also to Rear Admiral RobertE. Peary, Archer M. Huntington, J. Stuart Blackton, and Albert B.Lambert, who had just come in from a scouting and map-making flight overthe German lines. These gentlemen agreed that America's chances the nextday would be excellent if we only had more attacking aeroplanes, abouttwice as many, so that we could overwhelm the enemy with a rain ofchlorine shells.
"I believe three hundred more aeroplanes would give us the victory,"declared Alan R. Hawley, ex-president of the Aero Club.
"Think of it," mourned August Belmont. "We could have had a thousandaeroplanes so easily--two thousand for the price of one battleship. Andnow--to-morrow--three hundred aeroplanes might save this nation."
Cornelius Vanderbilt nodded gloomily. "The lack of three hundredaeroplanes may cost us the Atlantic seaboard. These aeroplanes would beworth a million dollars apiece to us and we can't get 'em."
"The fifty aeroplanes of the Post Office are mighty useful," observedEx-Postmaster-General Frank H. Hitchcock to Postmaster-General Burleson.
"It isn't the fault of you gentlemen," said Emerson McMillin, "if we didnot have five thousand aeroplanes in use for mail carrying, and coastguard and life-saving services."
This remark was appreciated by some of the men in the group, includingAlexander Graham Bell, Admiral Peary, Henry A. Wise Wood, HenryWoodhouse, Albert B. Lambert, and Byron R. Newton, head of the CoastGuard and Life Saving Service. For years they had all made supreme butunavailing efforts to make Congress realize the value of an aeroplanereserve which could be employed every day for peaceful purposes and wouldbe available in case of need.
"Five thousand aeroplanes could have been put in use for carrying mailand express matter and in the Coast Guard," said Mr. McMillin, "and withthem we could have been in the position of the porcupine, which goesabout its peaceful pursuits, harms no one, but is ever ready to defenditself. Had we had them in use, this war would probably never have takenplace."
A little later, as we were supping in a farmhouse, there came a greatshouting outside and, rushing to doors and windows, we witnessed amiracle, if ever there was one. There, spread across the heavens fromwest and south, sweeping toward us, in proud alignment, squadron by
squadron--there was the answer to our prayers, a great body of aeroplaneswaving the stars and stripes in the glory of the setting sun.
"Who are they? Where do they come from?" we marvelled, and, presently, asthe sky strangers came to earth like weary birds, a great cry arose:"Santos Dumont! Santos Dumont!"
It was indeed the great Santos, the famous Brazilian sportsman, andpresident of the Aeronautical Federation of the Western Hemisphere, whohad come thus opportunely to cast his fortunes with tortured America andfight for the maintenance of the Monroe Doctrine. With him came thePeruvian aviator, Bielovucci, first to fly across the Alps (1914), andSenor Anassagasti, president of the Aero Club Argentino, and also fourhundred aeroplanes with picked crews from all parts of South America.
There was great rejoicing that evening at General Wood's headquartersover this splendid support given to America by her sister republics.
"It looks now as if we have a chance," said Brigadier General Robert K.Evans. "The Germans will attack at daybreak and--by the way, what's thematter with our wireless reports?" He peered out into the night which washeavily overcast--not a star in sight. He was looking toward the radiostation a mile back on the crest of a hill where the lone pine tree stoodthat supported the transmission wires.
"Looks like rain," decided the general. "Hello! What's that?"
Plainly through purplish black clouds we caught the shrill buzz ofswift-moving aeroplanes.
"Good lord!" cried Roy D. Chapin, chief inspector of aircraft. "TheGermans! I know their engine sounds. Searchlights! Quick!"
Alas! Our searchlights proved useless against the thick haze that had nowspread about us; they only revealed distant dim shapes that shot throughthe darkness and were gone.
"We must go after those fellows," muttered General Evans, and he detailedWilliam Thaw, Norman Prince and Elliot Cowdin, veterans of many skybattles in France and Belgium, to go aloft and challenge the intruders.
This incident kept the camp in an uproar half the night. It turned outthat the strange aeroplanes had indeed been sent out by the Germans, butfor hours we did not discover what their mission was. They dropped nobombs, they made no effort to attack us, but simply circled around andaround through the impenetrable night, accomplishing nothing, so far aswe could see, except that they were incredibly clever in avoiding thepursuit of our airmen.
"They are flying at great speed," calculated A. F. Zahm, the aerodynamicexpert of the Smithsonian Institution, "but I don't see what theirpurpose is."
"I've got it," suddenly exclaimed John Hays Hammond, Jr. "They've sprunga new trick. Their machines carry powerful radio apparatus and they'recutting off our wireless."
"By wave interference?" asked Dr. Zahm.
"Of course. It's perfectly simple. I've done it at Gloucester." He turnedto General Evans. "Now, sir, you see why we've had no wireless reportsfrom our captive balloon."
This mention of the captive balloon brought to mind the peril of PayneWhitney, who was on lookout duty in the balloon near the German lines,and who might now be cut off by enemy aircraft, since he could not usehis wireless to call for help. I can only state briefly that this dangerwas averted and Whitney's life saved by the courage and prompt action ofRobert J. Collier and Larry Waterbury, who flew through the night to therescue of their friend with a supporting air squadron and arrived just intime to fight off a band of German raiders.
I deeply regret that I must record these thrilling happenings in suchbald and inadequate words and especially that my pen is quite unequal todescribing that strangest of battles which I witnessed the next day fromthe heights back of Remington. Never was there a more thrilling sightthan the advance of this splendid body of American and South Americanaeroplanes, flying by squadrons in long V's like flocks of huge birds,with a terrifying snarling of propellers. To right and left theymanoeuvred, following wireless orders from headquarters that wereexecuted by the various squadron commanders whose aeroplanes would breakout bunting from time to time for particular signals.
So overwhelming was the force of American flyers, all armed with machineguns, that the Germans scarcely disputed the mastery of the air, andabout seventy of their old-fashioned eagle type biplanes were soondestroyed. Our total losses here were only eleven machines, but thesecarried precious lives, some of our bravest and most skilful amateurairmen, Norman Cabot, Charles Jerome Edwards, Harold F. McCormick, JamesA. Blair, Jr., B. B. Lewis, Percy Pyne, 2nd, Eliot Cross, Roy D. Chapin,Logan A. Vilas and Bartlett Arkell.
I turned to my friend Hart O. Berg, the European aeroplane expert, andremarked that we seemed to be winning, but he said little, simply frownedthrough his binoculars.
"Don't you think so?" I persisted.
"Wait!" he answered. "There's something queer about this. Why should theGermans have such an inferior aircraft force? Where are all theirwonderful Fokker machines?"
"You mean--"
"I mean that this battle isn't over yet. Ah! Look! We're getting our workin with that chlorine."
It was indeed true. With the control of the skies assured us, our fleetof liquid gas carriers had now gone into action and at many points we sawthe heavy poison clouds spreading over the enemy hosts like a yellowgreen sea. The battle of chlorine had begun. The war of chemistry wasraining down out of the skies. It is certain that nothing like this hadever been seen before. There had been chlorine fighting in the trenchesout of squirt gun apparatus--plenty of that in 1915, with a few scorekilled or injured, but here it came down by tons over a whole army, thisdevilish stuff one breath of which deep into the lungs smote a man downas if dead.
The havoc thus wrought in the German ranks was terrific; especially asGeneral Wood took advantage of the enemy's distress to sweep their lineswith fierce artillery fire from his batteries on the heights.
"We've got them going," said I.
Berg shook his head.
"Not yet."
If General Wood had been able to hurl his army forward in a desperatecharge at this moment of German demoralisation it is possible we mighthave gained a victory, but the risks were too heavy. The American forceswere greatly outnumbered and to send them into those chlorine-swept areaswas to bring the enemy's fate upon them. Wood must hold his men upon theheights until our artillery and poison gas attack had practically won theday. Then a final charge might clinch matters--that was the plan, but itworked out differently, for, after their first demoralisation, the enemylearned to avoid the descending danger by running from it. They couldavoid the slowly spreading chlorine clouds by seeking higher ground and,presently, they regained a great measure of their confidence and courageand swept forward in furious fresh attacks.
Even so the Americans fought for hours with every advantage and ourartillery did frightful execution. At three o'clock I sent off a cableto the _Times_ that General Wood's prospects were excellent, but athalf-past four our supply of liquid chlorine was exhausted and news camefrom Niagara Falls that a German spy on Grand Island had blown up thegreat chlorine supply tank containing 20,000 tons. And the Niagarapower-plants had been wrecked by dynamite.
Still the Americans fought on gallantly, desperately, knowing thateverything was at stake, and our aeroplanes, with their batteries ofmachine guns, gave effective assistance. Superiority in numbers, however,soon made itself felt and at five o'clock the Germans, relieved from thechlorine menace, advanced their heavy artillery and began a terrificbombardment of our trenches.
"Hello!" exclaimed Berg suddenly. "What's that coming?"
He pointed to the northeast, where we made out a group of swiftlyapproaching aeroplanes, flying in irregular order. We watched them alightsafely near General Wood's headquarters, all but one marked "Women of1915," which was hit by an anti-aircraft gun, as it came to earth, andsettled down with a broken wing and some injuries to the pilot, MissEthel Barrymore, and the observer, Mrs. Charles S. Whitman, wife ofSenator Whitman.
This was but one demonstration of the heroism of our women. Thousands hadvolunteered their services as soon as the war broke o
ut and many, findingthat public sentiment was against having women in the ranks, learned tofly and to operate radio apparatus and were admitted in these branches ofthe service. Among the women who volunteered were hundreds of members ofthe Women's Section of the Movement for National Preparedness, includingmembers of the Council of Women, Daughters of American Revolution, Ladiesof the G. A. R. (National and Empire State), United Daughters of theConfederacy, Association Opposed to Woman's Suffrage, Civic FederationWoman's Department, Society United States Daughters of 1812, Woman'sRivers and Harbors Congress, Congress of Mothers, Daughters ofCincinnati, Daughters of the Union, Daughters of the Revolution, andNational Special Aid Society.
These organisations of American women not only supplied a number ofskilled aeroplane pilots, but they were of material help in strengtheningthe fighting forces, as well as in general relief work.
As the shadows of night approached we were startled by the sudden sweepacross the sky of a broad yellow searchlight beam, lifted and loweredrepeatedly, while a shower of Roman candles added vehemence to thesignal.
"Something has happened. They've brought important news," cried myfriend, whereupon we hurried to headquarters and identified most of themachines as separate units in Rear Admiral Peary's aero-radio system ofcoast defence, while two of them, piloted by Ralph Pulitzer (wounded) andW. K. Vanderbilt, belonged to Emerson McMillin's reefing-wings scoutingsquadron.
We listened eagerly to the reports of pilots and gunners from thesemachines, Marion McMillin, W. Redmond Cross, Harry Payne Whitney(wounded), William Ziegler, Jr., Alexander Blair Thaw, W. AverillHarriman, Edwin Gould, Jr. (wounded), and learned that a powerful fleetof enemy aircraft, at least 500, had been sighted over Chesapeake Bay andwere flying swiftly to the support of the Germans. These aeroplanes hadstarted from a base near Atlantic City and would arrive within half anhour.
A council of war was held immediately and, acting on the advice ofaeroplane experts, General Wood ordered the withdrawal of our land andair forces. It would be madness to attempt further resistance. Our armywas hopelessly outnumbered, our chlorine supply was gone, our air fleet,after flying all day, was running short of gasoline and its weary pilotswere in no condition to withstand the attack of a fresh German fleet. Atall costs we must save our aeroplanes, for without them the littleremnant of our army would be blind.
This was the beginning of the end. We had done our best and failed. Atsix o'clock orders were given that the whole American army preparefor a night retreat into the remote fastnesses of the Blue RidgeMountains. We had made our last stand east of the Alleghenies and fellback heavy-hearted, leaving the invaders in full possession of ourAtlantic seaboard.
Conquest of America: A Romance of Disaster and Victory, U.S.A., 1921 A.D. Page 23