Augustus Peabody Gardner, major, United States National guard, 1865-1918 ..

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AUGUSTUS PEABODY GARDNER

AUGUSTUS PEABODY GARDNER

MAJOR
UNITED STATES NATIONAL GUARD

1865-1918

TTiough love repine^ and reason chafe^
There came a voice xuithout reply ^ —
' Tis marCs perdition to be safe^
When for the truth he ought to die^

1919

PRIVATELY PRINTED AT THE RIVERSIDE PRESS
CAMBRIDGE

COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY CONSTANCE GARDNER
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

U.. J

FED i7lb:

)CI.A5l23h9

ESSEX

Thine are the large -winds and the splendid sun
Glutting the spread of heaven to thejioor
Of waters rhythmic from far shore to shore ^

And thine the stars, revealing one by one.

Thine the grave-, lucent nighfs oblivion.

The tawny moon that waits below the skies, —
Strange as the dawn that smote their blistered eyes

Who watched from Calvary when the deed was done.

And thine the good brown earth that bares its breast
To thy benign October, thine the trees

Lusty with fruitage in the late year's rest;

And thine the men whose blood has glorified
Thy name with Liberty'' s divine decrees —

The men who loved thy soil and fought and died.

AUGUSTUS PEABODY GARDNER

Augustus Peabody Gardner was bom in
Boston on the 5th of November, 1865, the
third and youngest son of Joseph Peabody
Gardner and Harriet Sears Amory. He came
of pure English stock on both sides, the stock
of yeomanry who came to America in the sev-
enteenth century and settled in Essex County.
The first Gardner we know of here was Thom-
as, from Dorchester, England, who landed at
Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 1 624, and from
whom the Massachusetts Gardners are de-
scended.

Augustus Gardner lost his mother at birth
and his father before he was ten years old. He
was brought up from the age of ten by his un-
cle, John L. Gardner, passing his winters in
Boston and his summers in Beverly.

He was educated at Hopkinson's School in
Boston and was ready for college when he was
fifteen. His guardian considered this too early

1

AUGUSTUS PEABODY GARDNER
an age for Harvard and sent him to St. Paul's
School for a year. In the autumn of 1882 he
entered Harvard and was graduated with the
class of 1886. He studied law for a year, but
did not take a degree at the Law School.

Meantime he had become a farmer and land-
owner at Hamilton, Essex County, Massa-
chusetts, having inherited the property there
of his oldest brother who died in October, 1886.
Here he devoted himself to the raising of Jer-
sey cattle and in a smaller way to the breeding
of thoroughbred horses.

He had gone into business with his uncles
in Boston, and it is characteristic of him that he
made himself an expert accountant and book-
keeper in order to be an efficient member of
the family firm.

For about ten years after his graduation,
Gardner led the life of many young men of
his age and generation. He worked at his busi-
ness, but his real interest was in the country
where he looked after his cattle and his farm
and between times played polo and rode to

AUGUSTUS PEABODY GARDNER
hounds. In 1892 he married, and in 1894 his
only child, a daughter, was born.

His first active work in politics began in the
presidential campaign of 1896. He regarded
Bryan's first Free-Silver campaign as a men-
ace to the prosperity of the country and took
the stump for McKinley. From this time on
his interest in national affairs continued and
increased.

In 1898 when we went to war with Spain
Gardner sought and obtained a commission in
the Army and was assigned to the staff'of Ma-
jor-General James H. Wilson as Captain and
Assistant Adjutant-General. General Wil-
son's command, the First Division, was in
cam p at Chickamauga for six weeks and in J uly
sailed from Charleston for Porto Rico.

The day Gardner landed at Ponce he
and his brother-in-law, who was serving as
an ensign in the United States Navy, met
most unexpectedly on the beach. I received
the following letter:

AUGUSTUS PEABODY GARDNER

July 17^ 1898

We havej ust met and are both well.
We shall attack Ponce together this afternoon,
or to-morrow morning.

Yours affectionately,

A. P. G., G. C. Lodge

The best idea I can give of Gardner's ex-
periences in Porto Rico is by extracts from
some of his letters.

Ponce ^ Porto Rico^

July 31, 1898

My dearest Constance:

I am looking forward to the time
when I can describe to you verbally the per-
fect ludicrousness of this situation.

We landed loaded to the muzzle and with
our teeth set expecting to fight our way up
here. Instead of which the inhabitants received
us with open arms and tremendous enthusi-
asm, and the first night I slept or dreamt I slept
for a little while in marble halls. The fact was

4

AUGUSTUS PEABODY GARDNER
that I did sleep on a tessellated pavement, but
as I had nothing under me it came hard.

. . . We have pushed our outposts about eight
miles towards San Juan and meanwhile spend
our time trying to restore some semblance of
method in this city and in paroling the Porto
Rican Volunteer Army

I hope we shall get ahead soon and I sup-
pose we shall as soon as provisions and troops
are landed

Coamo^ P. R. , August 9, /98
My dearest Constance:

I have been under fire in a fight this
morning just outside of this town and as far as
I can see I did all right. I believe the General
has mentioned me in his dispatches.

Colonel Biddle and I left camp with the 1 6th
Penna. yesterday evening and started into the
mountains where we camped. At 12.30 a.m.
Biddle and I left camp with the pioneer train
and cleared the road for the troops. We had a
very hard march, but managed to head offthe

5

AUGUSTUS PEABODY GARDNER

Spaniards and captured 1 80, killing six or sev-
en including the Commandant of Ponce. He
exposed himself terribly. I had a shot at him
myself with a Krag-Jorgensen which I bor-
rowed. It was the only shot I fired and, thank
Heaven, I missed.

It is almost impossible to realize that it is
you they are firing at. You feel like saying,
"You damn fools, don't point your confounded
guns this way."...

I was in the saddle fourteen hours steadily
except when I was leading my horse and part
of the time during the fight. I should say the
fight lasted about three-quarters of an hour
and that about 3000 or more shots were
fired

Coamo, P. 7?., August 14, 1898

Dearest Constance:

I suppose that the war is over and I

shall try my best to get home soon

I had not been in ten minutes from a dan-
gerous reconnaissance when the news came

6

AUGUSTUS PEABODY GARDNER
that the protocol had been signed. I had been
out in command of about thirty cavalrymen
and signal men for thirty hours in the moun-
tains trying to find a road by which to attack
Aibonito from the rear.

It was a very unpleasant trip, as we were
fired on from the trenches before we had been
out two hours, and from that time on we were
in danger from ambush, as our presence was
known. Moreover, we had to drag our horses
up the mountains and camp in the rain on the
side of a hill without a fire to make coffee and
not a stitch of canvas in the outfit.

The saddest thing I have seen was a com-
pany of the 3d Wisconsin marching in the
funeral train of two of their number who were
killed probably after the protocol was signed.
It seemed so unnecessary, and the "Dead
March " from " Saul " which the band played
was harrowing.

I can't help being glad the war is over. Any
man who has been under a hot fire and says
he was not afraid is either a fool or a liar.

7

AUGUSTUS PEABODY GARDNER
There is no cowardice in being afraid. The
question is whether a man does his duty in
spite of his fear

After the war was over, on September 5,
1898, General Wilson wrote from Ponce,
Porto Rico, as follows :

Now that the war is over and we are about
to return to the United States, I wish to inform
you that the campaign which has just ended
has more than confirmed the favourable opin-
ion I formed atChickamaugaPark of the char-
acter and ability of Captain Augustus P. Gard-
ner. He is a very able man with unusual
aptitude for the duties of an adjutant-general.
He is patient, painstaking, exact, and untiring
in his work. Nothing ever deters him from
getting to the bottom of any question, or of
carrying through any duty entrusted to him.
With a discriminating judgment and a certain
understanding he has proven himself to be
capable of mastering all the duties of his rank
and position, and I do not doubt, of any higher

8

AUGUSTUS PEABODY GARDNER

rank or station he might have been called upon
to fill had the war continued. It is the unani-
mous opinion of those with whom he has been
associated on my staff, as well as of those at the
headquarters of Generals Miles and Brooke,
that he is so far as they know the best adju-
tant-general that has come into the Army
from civil life during this war.

Then, too, he is as brave and cool as any
veteran under fire, and has not failed to seek
service upon every occasion which promised
to result in a skirmish or a battle.

It may interest you to know that in addition
to recommending him for the position of Colo-
nel of the Sixth Massachusetts because I
thought him to be just the man to bring that
regiment out of its diflSculties, I have in my
official report of operations recommended him
for the rank of Major in the Adjutant-Gen-
eral's Department, or, failing in that, for the
brevet of Major United States Volunteers for
gallant and meritorious services in the Porto

Rican campaign

9

AUGUSTUS PEABODY GARDNER
I do not know what Captain Gardner's am-
bition or purpose in life may be, but I am sure
there is no private or public position of use-
fulness to which he may not hopefully aspire,
for if he carries into the effort to attain his ends
the same intelligence and serious earnestness
of purpose which have characterized his serv-
ices with me, he will most surely succeed

Yours sincerely

James H. Wilson
Maj. Gen. Vols.

In connection with this letter from General
Wilson, I append two letters received after
Major Gardner's death, one from General
Wilson, and one from General O. H. Ernst,
who commanded the First Brigade in the First
Division in Porto Rico.

January 15, 1918
Mrs. Augustus P. Gardner.
My dear Madam :

I am stunned and deeply grieved
by Major Gardner's death, and I offer you and

lO

AUGUSTUS PEABODY GARDNER

your family my profoundest sympathy. From
the Spanish War to the present time I have
watched his career with the deepest interest.
As a staff officer he was unrivaled in his con-
stant and intelligent devotion to duty and I
never knew a man from civil life who so
quickly or so thoroughly familiarized himself
with his technical duties, or who performed
them with such marked ability. But that was
not all. He was always, night and day, at his
post, and in the hour of action never failed to
offer himself for duty with the troops.

At the affair of Coamo, Porto Rico, he ac-
companied the turning column with Colonel,
now Major-General, Biddle, and by put-
ting himself with the very front of the fight-
ing line showed the highest qualities of a
soldier.

As a Congressman he was full of patriotic
ardor and interest in the National welfare, and
no man could dispute the correctness of his
general course. After so many years service
as a Representative, his resignation from Con-

11

AUGUSTUS PEABODY GARDNER
gress to re-enter the Army filled his friends
and the Country with admiration

That such a man should be carried away
at the beginning of a new, and what must
have been a successful, era of his useful and
honourable life is hard, indeed, and must be
profoundly regretted by all who had the priv-
ilege of knowing him.

May God rest his soul in peace ! And may
his fame continue to grow with the constitu-
ency which honoured itself so signally in hon-
ouring him for so many years as its Repre-
sentative in Congress!

Again assuring you of my sincere regret
and sympathy, I beg you to believe me.
Faithfully your friend

James H. Wilson

January \7, 1918
My dear Mrs. Gardner:

Will you allow an old admirer of your
husband, tho' a stranger to you, to offer a word
of sympathy in your terrible grief? Twenty

12

AUGUSTUS PEABODY GARDNER
years ago, in Porto Rico, I was a witness of the
aptitude, zeal, and gallantry which he brought
to the military service, and I have been an in-
terested observer of his public career ever
since. I appreciate more than most how great
a National loss his death is.

It must be some poor consolation to you to
feel that you have the sympathy of the entire
Nation, and, poor as it is, I beg you to accept
my contribution, which is great and sincere.
Yours very sincerely

O. H. Ernst

On his return from Porto Rico Gardner was
very ill with typhoid fever, and on his recov-
ery, in February, 1 899, he went to Europe
with his family.

In the fall of 1 899 he was elected to the
Massachusetts State Senate and served two
terms there. He gave especial attention to mil-
itary affairs and was on the Military Commit-
tee and Chairman of the Committee in his sec-
ond term. At this time he was also Captain of

13

AUGUSTUS PEABODY GARDNER

Company E, Eighth Massachusetts Militia.
On his resignation from the Senate in 1 901 he
was presented by his colleagues with a dress
sword.

The winter of 1901-02 was passed in the
South, but in March, 1902, Gardner received
word that Judge Moody had resigned his seat
in Congress to enter President Roosevelt's
Cabinet, and immediately started North to an-
nounce his candidacy for Congress from the
Sixth District of Massachusetts. After a hard
fight, entailing constant personal work and a
close attention to details, he won the nomina-
tion, and in November, 1902, was elected for
the short session of Judge Moody's unexpired
term and for the subsequent Congress. This
was the beginning of fifteen years' continu-
ous service in the House of Representatives. I
cannot attempt to do more than touch on his
political career; it belongs to the history of
this country and must be described by other
pens.

Gardner was always the friend of the Glou-
14

AUGUSTUS PEABODY GARDNER

cester fishermen and laboured for them early
and late. He also worked through many years
for the restriction of immigration and the pro-
tection of the American worker. He led the
fight against " Cannonism " and was instru-
mental in reforming the Rules of the House.
With his customary thoroughness he had made
himself master of the rules of parliamentary
procedure, and the Speaker, Mr. Clark, told
me he was one of the ablest parliamentarians
in the House. On March 12,1915, the Speak-
er wrote to him as follows :

My dear Gardner:

... I take this opportunity to say in
writing what I have very frequently said by
word of mouth, and that is that I regard you as
one of the ablest and most thoroughly honest
Members of the House of Representatives. I
wish you all sorts of happiness and prosperity.
Please remember me to your wife.
Your friend

Champ Clark
15

AUGUSTUS PEABODY GARDNER
In the summer of 1 9 1 4 Gardner went abroad
with his wife and daughter for a much-needed
rest. There was not much rest connected with
the trip, however, as he reached London July
19, and on August 2 came the European
War.

Gardner went at once to the American Em-
bassy in London to offer his services and was
put to work to organize an office force. This he
did so successfully that the machine he started
has run the business end of the Embassy ever
since. From August 7 until he sailed for home
the middle of September, his attention was
given to this work and also to minute and care-
ful observation of the lack of preparedness in
England and the terrible sacrifice of life re-
sulting therefrom. He saw how it must pro-
long the conflict, and determined, on his re-
turn to the United States, to do all he could to
spare his own country a like fate.

He reached home towards the end of Sep-
tember and made his first preparedness speech
at Hamilton the day he arrived. He was run-

16

AUGUSTUS PEABODY GARDNER

ning for Congress, but his speech was entirely
devoted to the War and conditions in Europe
and to the necessity this country was under to
prepare against war. He began on that day his
campaign of two and a half years to bring the
people to a realization of their defenceless con-
dition that they might remedy it as rapidly as
possible. He started with the Navy, as being
the first line of defence, saying that "The
wisest thing the United States can do is to build
a Chinese wall of Dreadnoughts and battle-
ships around this country and do itnow! "

In those two years and eight months, until,
in May, 1917, he himself entered the Army,
his time and thought and strength were given
to preparedness. At first he met with con-
tempt and ridicule, and many ordinarily intel-
ligent people were simply bored and thought
him an alarmist. His was a voice crying in the
wilderness and few listened or heeded. He be-
came probably the best-informed man in the
United States on Military and Naval condi-
tions. His knowledge was vast and accurate.

17

AUGUSTUS PEABODY GARDNER
He had an iron memory, and all his facts were
at his tongue's end. He made speeches all over
the country, and at length people listened and
heeded and called for him to tell them the
truth.

In contrast to such statements as " Peace
without victory," "Too proud to fight," "At
need a million men will spring to arms in a sin-
gle night," we may put Gardner's battle-cry,
"Wake up, America!"

He said, "After all, men and nations, when
a principle is involved, seldom count the cost
unless they are * too proud to fight.' How for-
tunate for civilization that Belgium was not
*too proud to fight.' "

"So long as there is an armed autocracy in
the world there must be armed democracies
to keep it in check."

For some years after the Spanish War,
Gardner was a reserve officer in the United
States Army, but finally resigned his commis-
sion. In December, 1916, when it looked as
though America would go to war, he passed

18

AUGUSTUS PEABODY GARDNER
his physical examination successfully and re-
entered the reserve.

On February 3,1917, the German Ambas-
sador was handed his passports, and on Feb-
ruary 14 Gardner received his commission,
unsigned, but dated February 14, as Colonel
in the Adjutant-General's Department.

Events moved rapidly, and on April 6, 1 9 1 7,
the United States declared war on Germany.

Gardner proposed to resign at once from
Congress and take up his commission in the
Army. He was, however, a leading member
of the Ways and Means Committee, the Rev-
enue Bill was in Committee at that time, and
at the request of the Speaker of the House and
the Chairman of Ways and Means, Gardner
remained in Congress till the Revenue Bill was
reported and passed the House. On May 22
he resigned from Congress and on May 24 he
was sworn into the service of the United States,
his commission was signed, and he was or-
dered to report to General Bell at Governor's
Island, New York.

19

AUGUSTUS PEABODY GARDNER

We will pause here for a moment and look
back before we go on to the last few months
of his life.

Gardner, as a youth and young man, was
reserved, rebellious, and given to "kicking
against the pricks." He was slow to make
friends, but when he once gave his friendship
it was for life. He was inclined to be opinion-
ated and argumentative and was not always
easy to get along with.

But all this time he was only finding him-
self, and if ever a man learned of life and
learned to rule his spirit, it was he. Endowed
with a high order of intelligence, a keen sense
of humour and a remarkably retentive mem-
ory, the years of his life were spent in edu-
cating himself in the best way, that he might
thereby serve his country and his country-
men.

As he grew older, it seemed as though all
the roughnesses and thorns of his earlier na-
ture were smoothed away, leaving the kind
and gentle heart and the sound, ripe intellect

20

AUGUSTUS PEABODY GARDNER
in their mellow perfection. He was the best
of companions and the best of friends, a true
patriot and a real American.

Before he died he had begun perhaps to
reap the reward of his untiring work for the
country he loved so well and served so faith-
fully. At his death the whole nation seemed
to rise to do him honour. Both Houses of Con-
gress passed resolutions and adjourned out of
respect to his memory, and he was offered a
public funeral in the Capitol. The General
Court of Massachusetts also passed resolu-
tions and letters came from all over the United
States. He had served his country well while
living and gave himself for her sake at the
last. In this connection I print a note received
from Colonel Roosevelt :

Sagamore Hill J May 6, 1918
My dear Constance:

When the war came, Gussy's na-
ture was stirred to the depths ; he has left as
fine a memory as young Shaw or young Low-

21

AUGUSTUS PEABODY GARDNER
ell in the Civil War — a heritage of honour to
all who come after him ; and to my own chil-
dren's children it will be a matter of pride that
I was his friend.

No man in the country rose to the needs
created by the war as he rose ; and the last
three years of his life left me his debtor as well

as his friend.

Ever yours

Theodore Roosevelt

His first assignment, at Governor's Island,
was from the end of May till the middle of
August, 1917. He was then ordered to Camp
Wheeler, Macon, Georgia, to the Thirty-
first Division, commanded first by General
Keman, and later by General Hayden. This
was one of the new " tent " camps, and Gard-
ner found plenty of work waiting for him, as
the place was by no means ready for troops.

On August 28 he wrote :
As you will see from the heading, I am still
at a hotel, but I move into camp to-morrow.

22

AUGUSTUS PEABODY GARDNER
There are no troops here as yet except a few
camp guards, etc. We are supposed to have
a division of 24,000 men or thereabouts ; but
as a matter of fact there are (confidentially)
only 14,000 National Guardsmen left avail-
able in the three States of Georgia, Alabama,
and Florida. Unless we fill up with drafted
men I don't know what we can do.

I have six civilian clerks, all inexperienced.
It has been pretty hard work, but the office is
now running pretty well.

November 1, 1917
. . . About my movements I am entirely in
the dark. I shall try to stop in Washington on
my way to New York if we go via New York.
. . . Very likely we shall be in camp near New
York for quite a while.

And on November 5 :

. . . Your letter of November 2d here just
now. I do not know whether I am glad to go. I
try not to reckon in the old terms of thought

23

AUGUSTUS PEABODY GARDNER
until the war is over. I hope I am ready for
anything.

For some months he had been trying for
a change from the Staff to the Line so that he
could serve with troops. He wrote, " If I go
abroad as a Staff Colonel I shall probably pass
my time sitting at a desk in an office in Cha-
lons, and see nothing. "

On December 7 he came to Washington
and was then, at his own request, '' demoted "
from Colonel to Major. He was sworn in as
a Major on December 8 and assigned to the
command of a battalion in the One Hundred
and Twenty-first ( Georgia ) Infantry. He was
delighted at the change and returned to Macon
in the best of health and spirits. From this time
for a month he worked early and late with his
command, thinking from day to day that the
overseas orders would come. His great desire
was to serve in France with troops ; but this
was not to be.

On Wednesday, the 9th of January, he had
24

AUGUSTUS PEABODY GARDNER

a chill and was persuaded to lie down in his tent
during the afternoon and night. On Thursday
morning he was able to get up and dress; but
his temperature was so high that he was put
into an automobile and taken to the Base Hos-
pital, and there laid upon the bed from which
he w^as never to rise. He died on Monday, Jan-
uary 14, at five o'clock in the afternoon. His
going was so quiet that the watchers at his bed-
side could scarcely tell when he passed from
life to death. He was fifty- two years old ; but
in the last twenty years of his life he had done
the work of twice twenty years.

It is hard to sum up the character of such a
man in a few words, and when we are very
near to him it is increasingly difficult. I think
he had the finest sense of justice of any one I
ever knew, and all his life he played fair. He
was gentle in the best meaning of the word,
and his loyalty was of the highest kind. He
never hadadishonest or dishonourablethought
and always, in every step of his career, he
placed ideals above expediency.
25

AUGUSTUS PEABODY GARDNER
He is buried in the National Cemetery at Ar-
lington, and in that vast sepulchre of noble
hearts, there sleeps no finer patriot or more
gallant gentleman.