308th Infantry, 77th Division, 92nd Division, Alsace-Lorraine, Appalachia, Bosche, Camp Greenleaf, Chateau Thierry, dentist, Edwin M. Godby, Fifth Avenue, Georgia, Germany, Gwinn Brothers & Company, Herald-Advertiser, history, Huntington, James Godby, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, Lost Battalion, United Cigar Stores, University of Cincinnati, West Virginia, World War I
From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this recollection of World War I by veteran Edwin M. Godby of Huntington, WV, dated July 10, 1928:
LOGAN BOY OF LOST BATTALION LIVED THRU SIX DAYS OF HELL
Dr. E.M. Godby, Now of Huntington, One of 150 Survivors of An Outstanding Episode of World War—Graphic Account of Harrowing Experiences
It has been a little less than 10 years since the story of the Lost Battalion thrilled and horrified the American people.
It was the story of an infantry battalion which pushed its way through in an advance into the German lines while the forces on either flank were being beaten back, writes Wiatt Smith for the Herald-Advertiser.
Of the 1,000 men who went in, only a remnant lived to tell the story of six days in a literal hell. Six days during which they crouched in shell holes and dugouts, without food or water, while the shells from the guns of their own army thundered over them or broke about them and the gas and machine gun fire of a sullen enemy harassed them.
One of those survivors lives in Huntington. He is a dentist and as he goes about his professional work and social life only a slight cough serves to mark him as one who breathed the deadly poison spewed over him by the Bosche.
Dr. Edwin M. Godby, of Fifth Avenue, with offices in the United Cigar Stores building, is the man in question. He told the story to one who had first learned from others of his part in this great drama of the war. Dr. Godby was an ambulance corps man, attached to the Seventy-Seventh division and at the time assigned to Major Whittlesey’s battalion of the 308th infantry for said duty.
Left Logan in 1918
Eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. James Godby of Logan, he was a student of dentistry in the University of Cincinnati when America entered the war. He went from Logan with a draft contingent in March 1918. He trained at Camp Greenleaf, Ga., was assigned to the Medical corps, and crossed the ocean in June as a casual.
Assigned at once to the Seventy-seventh division he first saw the front at post in Alsace-Lorraine.
“There was no action here,” said Dr. Godby. “We were within one kilometer of the enemy but there seemed to be almost an understanding that we wouldn’t bother each other. There was no firing. Occasionally one side or the other would send a raiding party into the others lines, but these were rarely fired upon.
“In July our division went in to replace another division which had helped take Chateau Thierry. We continued in the drive from the Marne to the Aisne. We would advance two or three days and then dig in for perhaps four or five. This went on from July to September.
“Then we moved from the Aisne to the Argonne. One date that stays with me is that of the great barrage which marked the opening of the Argonne drive on the night of September 26.
“On October 13 or 14 we got orders to advance from our position in a 30-mile strip of woods between the headwaters of the Aisne and the Meusc. The Ninety-second division flanked us on the left and two of our regiments and two of the Ninety-second were supposed to advance.
“The advance started as planned, early in the morning, but the right and left flanks were met by such resistance that they fell back to their original positions.
“Major Whittlessey’s men tore through the resisting German line and went forward. It was late in the forenoon before we discovered that we were unsupported on either flank and cut off from the rear.
“We spend six days before we were relieved by another regiment which was almost destroyed in the effort. The battalion was virtually at war strength, having been in only a little while. Of the 1,000 who went in only 150 came back.”
Dr. Godby tells a grim story of the last days. As soon as the soldiers found their situation they began to dig in. It was every man for himself. Dr. Godby says he and two others found a shell hole. They deepened it and were comparatively safe there. But one of the three got too venturesome and raised his head too far above the rim of the crater. His comrades used his body for an additional barricade.
The surviving companion of Dr. Godby was a man named Crane, who had gone in from Pennsylvania. He told Dr. Godby that he had a sister in Huntington whose husband worked for Gwinn Bros. & Co.
“I have often thought I’d try to get race of that sister,” said Dr. Godby, “but I never have.
“We just laid there,” the dentist said, detailing his experience. “Each man had less than a quart of water and no food. After the second day I didn’t have any water. We never missed the food, but of course the thirst was torture. It was terrible, too, to have to wear our gas masks continuously for that becomes torture after the first hour.
“For the first day or two the Germans tried charging us but we were strong enough to beat them back. After that they were content to keep their machine guns turned on us and subject us to a continuous barrage of gas. At the same time we were within the range of our own batteries.
“American planes passed over us and tried to drop us food, but the Germans got it.
“For the last two or three days nothing mattered. Crane and I tried to devise means of escape. We would work out a plan and then decide it was futile. We decided to commit suicide, but changed our minds. It was simply a matter of trying to keep alive as long as we could. On the fifth night I had only intervals of consciousness. But we had determined to make a dash for freedom and life when daylight came. It would not have been a dash for life, but a dash to death.
I know this is true because we were on the slope of a ravine, the battalion being pocketed on either side of it. We could see the water in the ravine and the bodies of the men who in their desperation had gone there to drink. Not one lived to taste the water.
“But as Crane and I planned to make the final desperate dash I lost consciousness. When I revived I was on a stretcher at a base hospital at Nantes. I never saw Crane again. I have often wondered what became of him.
“Did he,” I asked myself, “live to go for his death drink or was he too rescued?
“I have never talked to anyone who was with the battalion.”
A few days after Dr. Godby revived from his unconsciousness the armistice was signed. He was in the hospital from November 1 until late in December, recovering from the effects of gas. In January 1919, he came back to the United States, received his discharge and resumed his studies. He has been practicing in Huntington two years.
Albert Simpkins, Ambrose Guzlin, Anderson Ferrell School, Blackberry Creek, Bob Williams, Charles Carpenter, Coon Branch School, Delorme School, Devil Anse Hatfield, Dials Branch School, Dick Bachtel, education, Elias Hatfield, Elias Hatfield School, Ella Hatfield McCoy, feud, feuds, Hatfield School, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Head of Blackberry School, Henry D. Hatfield, history, Homer Claude McCoy, Jackson County, Johnnie Rutherford, Kate Ray, Kentucky, Lee Rutherford, Logan County, Mate Creek, Mate Creek School, Matewan, Mike Clingenpeel, Mingo County, Mud Fork, Pharmer McCoy, Pike County, Ransom, Sam Jackson, Scott Justice, teacher, Tolbert McCoy, Tug River, Upper Mate Creek School, W.A. McCoy, West Virginia, Will Bachtel
From “The Rise of Education and the Decline of Feudal Tendencies in the Tug River Valley of West Virginia and Kentucky in Relation to the Hatfield and McCoy Feud” by Homer Claude McCoy (1950):
The following list of school houses are given to determine the location of schools at the time of the feud. Most of the information obtained in regard to the existence of schools and their teachers have been received from interviews. These people were actual students at the schools or had brothers or sisters who went to school there. This information has been verified when possible from different interviews.
Mate Creek School: Mate Creek School was located about a mile up Mate Creek from Matewan which is located at its mouth. It was a log structure and had only one room. The schoolhouse was used during the feud as a prison to retain the three McCoy boys in. David Ross was the teacher of the school during the time of the feud, 1882, just a few days after the boys were held there, and there is a possibility that there was school there before the incident and that David Ross was the teacher.
Upper Mate Creek School: It is believed that there was a school at the head of Mate Creek, but the information is not strong enough to be substantiated.
Coon Branch School: Coon Branch School was located in Kentucky across from the site of Matewan. The teacher of the Coon Branch School was Ambrose Guzlin, and was attending in 1887.
Anderson Ferrell School: This school was located on Anderson Ferrell’s farm a mile below Matewan and came into use when the Mate Creek School was closed about 1883. The teacher of this school was Johnnie Rutherford.
Hatfield School: This school was located on the farm of Elias Hatfield in a hollow behind his home. It was a log structure and came into use when the railroad made it necessary to eliminate the Anderson Ferrell School.
Delorme School: The Delorme school was located near the home of Devil Anse, it was believed, for Charles Carpenter mentioned as a schoolteacher taught in that neighborhood. It is doubtful that there was a school there, for no definite record has been found. Charles Carpenter was said to be a teacher in that locality.
The Dial’s Branch School: This school is not substantiated by any strong evidence as being in operation during the early days of the feud, but was known to exist in the latter days of the feud.
Head of Blackberry School: This was at what is known today as Ransom. This school was some distance (about 15 miles from the mouth of Blackberry). Bob Williams taught school there. Dr. H.D. Hatfield attended school at this school.
Kate Ray who was a teacher at the Elias Hatfield School in 1893, says that she went to school there and when she graduated from the fifth grade she took an examination and taught the next year. She says the examination was not hard, and all the teachers gathered at Williamson. Other teachers that taught there were Albert Simpkins, Dr. Rutherford, Lee Rutherford. Scott Justice taught school at Mud Fork. Mike Clingenpeel was another teacher at Mud Fork.
Mrs. Ray stated:
I went to my first school on Mud Fork in 1888. I was only four years old. They didn’t mind for I didn’t give them any trouble. I learned a little at that age. Lee Curry was the teacher that year. He made improvements in the log school. His first improvement was to put backs on the seats. We did not have any desks or any blackboards. Dick and Will Bachtel also taught school at Mud Fork. They came from Jackson County. They stayed at Sam Jackson’s. They paid about $8.00 a month for board. Scott Justice, now a resident of Huntington, West Virginia, taught school on Mud Fork. So did Mack Clingenpeel. Every one liked Mack. He could explain the lessons so well.
When I was in the fifth grade I went to the Hatfield School below Matewan. When I graduated, I took the teachers examination and taught the next year there at the school on Elias Hatfield’s farm about the year 1895.
Derived from these interviews by Mr. McCoy:
Ella Hatfield McCoy interview (she “lived on Blackberry Creek during the time of the feud”) (c.1949)
W.A. McCoy interview (c.1949)
Kate Ray interview (c.1949)
Anna Stuart, Appalachia, Arter White, Battle of New Orleans, Ben White, Betty Radford, Charles White, Editha White, Elijah White, Frank White, Franklin, genealogy, Giles County, Henry Mitchell, Hezekiah Staton, Hiram White, history, Howard White, Indiana, Isaac White, James Buskirk, James Thompson, James White, John Chambers, John Sansom, John White, Judith White, Lark White, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, Lucretia Elkins, Major White, Margaret White, Mason White, Maston White, Millard White, Mingo County, Monroe County, Montgomery County, Nancy White, Ohio, Pigeon Creek, Pleasant Chafin, Reuben White, Robert Chambers, Robert Whitt, South Carolina, Susannah Elkins, Susannah Marcum, Thomas White, Viola Ellis, Virginia, Wade Hampton, Wallace White, West Virginia, Will White, William White
From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this bit of history about the White family in Logan County, West Virginia. The story is dated May 21, 1937.
White Family Among Early Settlers in Logan County
Great Grandfather of Patrolman Frank White Moved From Pecks Mill to Mingo County; His Father Had Settled on Mitchell Farm
Among the pioneer families which settled in and around Logan during the early days of its building from a settlement to a village was the family of John White.
John White came to Logan and settled on the farm later owned by Henry Mitchell with a family of grown men and one daughter. Ben and James had come to Pecks Mill early in the 19th century and built their cabins.
His daughter, Nancy, married Robert Whitt, who afterwards moved to Ohio.
His sons were John, who married Susannah Marcum of Franklin; Ben, who married Anna Stuart of Montgomery; James, who married Lucretia Elkins; and William, who married a daughter of John Sansom, another pioneer of the county.
James, tiring of this section of the country because “hunting was bad”, moved to Mingo county and bought five miles of land on Pigeon Creek for a bear gun and a bear dog.
He reared his family and among his children was John, grandfather of Frank White, city patrolman, Mrs. James Buskirk, Power Plant addition, and Lark, Will, Millard, Howard, Wallace, and Mason, all of Logan.
John was the breadwinner of his family, his father having died not long after his son reached the age of 12. John hunted and filled the soil to take care of his aging mother and several brothers and sisters.
He married Betty Radford, also of Mingo county and was the father of twelve children. They were William, who married Editha White; John, who married Susannah Elkins; Thomas, James, Reuben, Isaac, Charles, Major, Elijah, Hiram, Masten, and Judith, who married James Thompson.
Elijah was the father of the Logan citizens named above. He left Mingo county and came to Logan where he married Viola Ellis.
Thomas, James, and Reuben went to Giles county, Virginia, and Major went to Indiana.
All the others remained in Logan and reared large families.
Ben White was the father of seven children, five sons and two daughters. His sons were John, Arter, Ben, William, and James, and his daughters were Nancy, who married Pleasant Chafin, and Margaret, who married Hezekiah Staton.
James had but one child, a daughter Nancy, who married John Chambers, a son of Robert Chambers of Monroe county.
William, the youngest son, joined the regular army in 1808 and was assigned for duty in a regiment that was being raised by Col. Wade Hampton of South Carolina.
When Hampton was made Brigadier-General in 1806 and assigned to duty at New Orleans, White went with him, and when Hampton was superseded by Wilkinson, White remained with Wilkinson and then under Jackson until after the Battle of New Orleans in which battle he participated.
He returned home in 1816 and married the daughter of John Sansom.
Appalachia, assistant postmaster, Big Creek, Cabell County, Charles Spurlock, Cheat River, Cincinnati, civil engineer, civil war, doctor, genealogy, gunsmith, Hamlin, history, Jane Spurlock, John Spurlock, Lifas Spurlock, Lincoln County, Logan Banner, Logan County, Logan Post Office, Marshall Spurlock, Midkiff, Montgomery County, Omar, Pete Spurlock, preacher, Ranger, Robertson Spurlock, Seth Spurlock, Sheridan, sheriff, Spurlockville, Stephen Hart, surveyor, Union Army, Virginia, West Virginia
From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this bit of history about Stephen Hart and Harts Creek in Lincoln and Logan counties, West Virginia. The story is dated April 14, 1937.
Stephen Hart Settled at Cheat River, Pete Spurlock, A Great Grandson, Reveals
P.A. (Pete) Spurlock, assistant postmaster at the Logan post office, this morning revealed the destination of Stephen Hart, who went went after he had lived for a short time at the forks of the creek in the lower end of Logan county which now bears his name.
Spurlock said that Hart went to the Cheat River and settled permanently there to hunt deer and rear a family. He said the family name of Hart is as familiar there as the name Dingess is familiar in Logan county.
A daughter of Stephen, Jane, was Spurlock’s grandmother. She lived until 1913 and told her grandson much of the early history of the family which made its home in and around Spurlocksville, Sheridan, Ranger, and Midkiff.
Charles Spurlock, the progenitor of the Spurlock family, came to what used to be the Toney farm below the mouth of Big Creek in 1805 from Montgomery county, Virginia.
“Uncle Charley was a funny old cuss,” his great grandson Pete said this morning. “The story is told that a sheriff of Cabell county was given a capias to serve on the old codger for some minor offense when he was growing old and rather stout.
“Meeting him in the road one day, the sheriff informed Uncle Charley he had a capias to serve on him.
“None abashed, the old man informed the sheriff he was a law-abiding citizen and laid down in the middle of the road and told the sheriff to take him to jail.
“The ruse worked, for the sheriff chose to look for less obstinate prisoners,” Uncle Charley’s grandson said, chuckling.
Another story about the eccentric “Uncle Charley Spurlock” which has gone down in history, whether true or not, was that he lived for a short time below Big Creek under a rock cliff (known as a rockhouse) during the early summer while he was getting his cabin in shape for winter.
The tale is out that “Uncle Charley” explained his strange dwelling place in this way to his neighbors:
“Well I took Sarah (his wife) in a good substantial frame house in Virginia and she wasn’t quite satisfied. I took her to a log house and she wasn’t satisfied. I took her to a rail pen and still she grumbled. Then I took her to a rock house built by God Almight and still she wasn’t satisfied.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do with Sarah.”
Sarah evidently became accustomed to “Uncle Charley” for the couple reared four sons. They were John, Seth, Lifas and Robertson. There were no daughters.
Seth was P.A. Spurlock’s grandfather. His father, Marshall, is 78 and lives on his farm near Cincinnati.
Spurlock says “Uncle Charley” is buried on a point at Spurlocksville overlooking the haunts of his early manhood.
Robertson was a gunsmith and lived near Hamlin. Seth was a civil engineer and helped survey much of Logan county. He was a Union soldier. John was a country doctor who practiced at Ranger.
Lifas was a preacher for sixty years and lived at Sheridan.
Charles Spurlock, of Omar, is a distant cousin, the assistant postmaster said. He is the only relative that lives in this section of Logan county, Spurlock said.
Spurlock, at Omar, was born at Spurlocksville and is a grandson of one of the original “Charley’s” boys.
Anna Fry, Appalachia, Beulah Ellen Skeens, Edith Frye, Edna Brumfield, Ernest Lucas, Ethel Frye, genealogy, H.M. Gill, Hamlin, history, Horn Skeens, Huntington, Irwin Lucas, Leona Lambert, Lillie Lucas, Linnie Brumfield, Lizzie Frye, Lonnie Lambert, Morrisville, Rector, Thanksgiving, Thelma Huffman, Wayne Brumfield, Wealtha Lambert, West Virginia, Willie Payne
A correspondent named “Baby Doll” from Leet on Big Ugly Creek in Lincoln County, West Virginia, offered the following news, which the Logan Banner printed on November 30, 1923:
Miss Thelma Huffman, her chum, __ ___ Brumfield, have __________.
_________ visiting friends and relatives in Huntington.
Miss Wealtha Lambert gave a party Tuesday night. A nice time was reported.
Mr. Willie Payne left this afternoon for Morrisville, W.Va.
Mr. Lonnie and Leona Lambert will spend Thanksgiving in Hunitngton.
Miss Edna M. Brumfield stayed home all day Sunday. Wonder where her sweetie was?
Edith and Ethel Frye are going to school these days.
School is proceeding nicely on Lore Fork.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Horn Skeens a 11 pound baby girl, Buleauh Ellen.
Mr. and Mrs. H.M. Gill made a flying trip to Hamlin attending to personal affairs.
Miss Lillie Lucas has a case of chickenpox and is very ill.
Mr. Wayne C. Brumfield will visit home folks Saturday evening.
Ernest and Irwin Lucas attended church at Rector Sunday.
Miss Anna Fry seems to be quite ill now. Hope she will soon recover.
Miss Linnie Brumfield had lots of company Sunday afternoon.
Mr. and Mrs. Guy are planning to go to Huntington this week.
Mrs. Lizzie Frye entertained company Sunday evening.