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Remembering Mooresville's Battery F
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Published: November 13, 2009
Mooresville men and women have served their country in all wars and conflicts since the Revolutionary War. Among the many heroes were the men of the 113th Field Artillery's Mooresville-based Battery F in World War I, whose story is worth retelling during this Veterans Day week.
The 113th Field Artillery's 30th Division initially consisted of National Guard units from both Carolinas and Tennessee. Its nickname, the "Old Hickory Division," honored President Andrew Jackson. The division was sent to Camp Siever near Greenville, S.C., for training on July 25, 1917.
In May 1918 the division traveled to New York and then left for Europe. After a two-week voyage, the division landed in England, then departed for France. The 30th Division was assigned to the American 2nd Corps and attached to the British Army. In June 1918 the division underwent extensive combat training under British supervision.
Battery F called Mooresville its home, and its membership came largely from Iredell, Cabarrus and Mecklenburg counties. The battery's first officers were Capt. Reid R. Morrison, First Lieutenants Louis B. Crayton and George A. Morrow, Second Lieutenants Eugene Allison and Gowan Dusenbury Jr.
Morrison and Allison were with the battery when it was mustered out. Morrison was a graduate of Davidson College and North Carolina Medical College and a career soldier, serving since 1903.
The Mooresville Enterprise newspaper announced the formation of the battery on June 28, 1917. Mooresville homes were opened to the soldiers during their stay here. Even without uniforms, they marched in formation throughout town. Photos captured them at attention on North Main Street and marching in fields and open spaces around town.
The soldiers departed by train from the Mooresville Depot, they each carried a flag and Bibles provided by First Presbyterian Church. The soldiers were led by veterans Harry Deaton and Blick Alexander of Company L of the First Regiment of North Carolina Troops of the Spanish-American War.
When Battery F was sent to South Carolina's Camp Sevier in July 1917, it was the first unit to occupy the new camp. It was chosen to precede the 30th Regiment, and spent three weeks clearing the ground for a training camp.
On July 2, 1918, the soldiers were sent to the trenches in Belgium where they attacked and captured German positions with a loss of 37 dead and 128 wounded. In September. the division was sent to the front opposite the German Hindenburg Line near Bellicourt, France.
The men of Battery F fired the first shot at the enemy and were among those present when the last American shell was fired on Armistice Day. They captured the only prisoners of war taken by the 113th Field Artillery.
Arthur Lloyd Fletcher's history reports "Sergeant Mc.L. S. Choate, of Battery F, found two Germans prowling around Hannonville and though they carried rifles and Sergeant Choate had not so much as a pocket-knife for a weapon, he slid his right hand back toward his hip swiftly -- a gesture the whole world is familiar with -- and the two Germans surrendered.
Six men were wounded by shell-fire and one by gas in action near Ivoiry, on the Ivoiry-Montfaucon road. While in the Argonne the battery suffered many hardships and lost nearly all of its horses.
Two men of the battery, Corporal C. C. Hope and Private First Class E. R. Bumgardner, were recommended for the Distinguished Service Cross by Captain E. E. Boyce for unusual bravery shown while on liaison duty with the infantry in the Argonne.
The battery lost only four men during its tour of duty. Private James C. Brown died suddenly at Camp de Coetquidan and Private Don S. Sutton was accidentally shot by a Frenchman at Camp de Coetquidan, and two others, Private Thomas J. Meroney and Private First Class Houston G. Brown, died of pneumonia following flu at the Le Mans Forwarding Camp, just before the regiment started home.
When the war ended, Mooresville citizens filled the streets to celebrate. Bands played and people cheered, stores closed and the Mooresville Cotton Mills shut down operations for the day.
The boys of Battery F came home at the end of March, arriving by train, truck and car to a grand welcome at the Depot by several thousand citizens. When the unit disbanded, 49 men from Mooresville were listed in the official roster. Among the names were Claude C. Brown, Marshall F. Brown, Ed Christenbury, William Cornelius, Garland Hager, Jesse L. Harwell, Dr. Reid Morrison, John Newton, William A. Sloop, Burette Talbert, Charles Torrence, Frank Weddington, John Weddington, Mack Winecoff, George Morrow, Clarence Kennerly, Julius Owens, Arthur Perkins, Troy Cook, James McNeely, Bob Owens, Sam Pharr, Howard Moore, William Nelson, Glenn Sherrill, Lawrence Smith, Brooks Stutts, Clarence Hawthorne and Everette Hegler.
The men of Battery F are honored with a plaque and monument at the War Memorial building in Mooresville.
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