Brown in the Great War

 “THE STUDENTS WILL BE TREATED LIKE REAL SOLDIERS, BECAUSE THEY ARE REAL SOLDIERS.”
–William H. P. Faunce¹1. BUA. BDH, September 23, 1918

In the spring of 1916, President Woodrow Wilson called for America to ready itself for war in Europe. Preparedness parades took place in cities and towns all across the country. Providence’s parade was impressive. On June 3rd, 54,000 people marched through downtown in a six and half hour procession. On Middle Campus at Brown, the University community formed into “Platoons” and marched down college hill, past a review stand in front of City Hall. On the stand, 1,560 children, flanked by Civil War veterans and band members, formed themselves into a gigantic “living flag”²2.https://www.providencejournal.com/breaking-news/content/20140719-wwi-100-years-rhode-islands-road-to-battlefields-and-sacrifice.ece and performed patriotic songs. Brown’s platoons stopped in front of the review stand and members gave salute.³3. BUA. OF-IE-3 box 4. II.4

Brown University’s ninth President, William H.P. Faunce, was a self described “lover of peace and hater of all war.”⁴4. BUA. BDH, December 11, 1917. In 1916, he could not envision the campus as the training school for the army and navy that it would eventually become. Faunce felt strongly that compulsory military training had no place in secondary schools or colleges, and that the interests of liberal education were “too precious to be surrendered even in war time. [ ]…We want to serve the nation, but we do not want to close up our colleges. We want to be patriotic to the bone, but we do not want to cripple the higher education in America.”⁵5. BUA. OF-IE-3. box 4. II.4. Files of W.H.P Faunce Nonetheless, at the start of the academic year of 1916-17, Brown began making preparations for possible involvement in the war.

Pro-Allied sentiment ran high in Rhode Island, due in part to Providence Journal’s editorials that repeatedly urged intervention to halt alleged German aggression.⁶6. http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/RhodeIslandHistory/chapt7.htm Camillo von Klenze, Professor of Germanic languages and literatures, who had been at Brown since 1906, resigned and left to teach at the College of the City of New York. There are indications in von Klenze’s letters to Faunce, that the professor had felt increasing uncomfortable on campus as anti-German sentiment rose. Having been decorated by Kaiser Willhelm in 1902 may have not added to his popularity. Early in the war, von Klenze lectured to the University community from the German viewpoint and against England’s position. After being offended by remarks in a speech taking the opposite side, von Klenze reneged on a Corporation dinner invitation stating “The thought that similar remarks might be made during or after dinner led me to think that it would be wiser to absent myself. I should have been placed in the dilemma of either listening without replying to remarks horribly offensive in their tenor, or else of entering into a discussion. The later course I should have felt to be out of place on this occasion, the former to be humiliating.”⁷7. Ms-1C-9. Faunce Papers. Box 17, IV.311-IV.437. Klenze, Camillo von

In December of 1916, President Faunce, along with other members of Brown’s faculty and corporation sent letters of protest to the White House over the deportation of the Belgians by the German Government.⁸8. BUA OF-IE-3 box 4. II.4  Later that winter, students were polled regarding their feelings about a military training corps at Brown. Of the 335 students polled, 274 voted in the affirmative. When it became plain that a war with Germany was practically inevitable, the faculty and students planned for more intensive military instruction. Training courses on military drill, the use of the rifle, and military gymnastics opened for registration. Lectures on military hygiene, naval instruction, artillery, and map drawing were offered. Arrangements were made to purchase rifles and uniforms. Leadership of Brown’s Reserve Officer’s Training Corp, which had been informally organized under Colonel Archibald C. Matteson (1893), was taken over by Charles W. Abbott, the Adjunct General of Rhode Island. Brown’s R.O.T.C. was recognized as a Federal Unit by the War Department on March 23th, 1917. Seven Platoons were formed and began drilling twice a week.

On April 6, 1917, war was declared. Brown’s R.O.T.C. marched in Providence’s War Parade and won high praise because of the soldierly bearing of its members. The campus fell into crisis when many students attempted to enlist at once. President Faunce discouraged rash decision making and promoted “thought as a necessity of war.” Students were urged to postpone decisions about enlisting for 24 hours after attending R.O.T.C. meetings, and to prepare for commissions rather than hastily enlisting as privates.⁹9. BUA. BAM, 19:2, July 1918. p33

A large supply of rifles and bayonets were shipped to Brown from Rhode Island State College.¹⁰10. BUA. MS-1E-13 On April 26th, in front of the statehouse, a large group of onlookers attended an exhibition of trench warfare by the Brown Battalion. Approved methods of “going over the top” and the use of the bayonet were demonstrated. On May 1st, the best companies in the battalion were awarded prizes from the Visiting Committee of the Military Department. A few weeks later, all day military maneuvers took place in Lincoln Woods, where Brown’s R.O.T.C. and five companies of the First Light Infantry engaged in a mock battle. In June, 62 members of Brown’s Battalion left for the Plattsburg Training Camp and another group of students attended the Naval Summer School in Connecticut. The University participated in Agricultural Preparedness by awarding 150 students credit for farm work.

In September, the largest class in Brown’s history entered the University. A circular went out to students that called attention to the special courses in military training that had been added to the curriculum and reminded them of their obligation to prepare themselves for military service. “Brown is to be turned into a military college with the prime purpose of turning out officers who can see something more than the enemy in front of them.”¹¹11. BUA. BDH, September 23, 1918 The University announced a policy of “aggressive adaptation” verses “passive entrenchment.” The changed campus adhered to a military schedule and Captain Alfred Douglas Borden of the Nova Scotia Highlanders, retired from active service after being wounded at Vimy Ridge, was brought in to instruct students on contemporary warfare. Brown’s Naval Training Unit became the nation’s first in uniform, after the class of 1878 donated nearly $2,000 for the purchase of uniforms, band instruments, and scientific instruments for teaching navigation.¹²12. Annual Report of the President to the Corporation of Brown University. Providence, RI., 1919. pg10

All members of the Student Army Training Corps and the Brown Naval Training Unit were quartered in dormitories under the same conditions that applied to government barracks. Cots, blankets, and bed sacks were provided by the War  Department. Each man was allotted 45 square feet and was subsisted on standard garrison rations.¹³13. BUA. OE-IE-3, box 4. II. 5 On October 1st, 1918, 405 students were inducted into the Army of the United States. An additional 213 students were inducted into the U.S. Navy shortly thereafter. After Major Abbott read instructions from the War Department explaining the purpose of the organization, the students, standing in ranks, raised their hands and took the oath of allegiance. A speech by President Faunce, followed by the singing of “The Star Spangled Banner” closed the ceremony.