By Jack Wood, VI Form
George G. McMurtry and the Lost Battalion
The Medal of Honor is an award issued by the President of the United States that is given to an individual for his or her bravery and selflessness of during war.[1] In World War I, arguably the most deadly and brutal of all wars, there were 122 Medal of Honor recipients in the U.S. Army.[2] According to the award criteria, each one of these men “distinguished himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty.”[3] One of these recipients, George Gibson McMurtry Jr., was a student of the class of 1896 at St. Mark’s School.[4] His military service included acting as captain of Company E of the 308th Infantry of the 77th Division of the U.S. Army during World War I.[5] This infantry division is known as the famous Lost Battalion, a group of U.S. soldiers who were pinned down by German forces in the Argonne Forest in France in late 1918. George McMurtry’s steadfast leadership and courage helped the Lost Battalion survive five days of combat behind German lines. While over one hundred U.S. soldiers died in this engagement, many more would have lost their lives were it not for McMurtry’s ingenious thinking and optimism.
Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on November 6, 1876, McMurtry was the son of Irish immigrants who came to America in 1870. McMurtry’s father, George Gibson McMurtry Sr., was described as an incredibly ambitious, self-made man.[6] After arriving in America, McMurtry Sr. worked long hours for little pay in the Pennsylvania steel mills. By the time McMurtry Jr. was born in 1876, his father had become the owner and operator of multiple tin-plating mills located in Vandergrift, Pennsylvania.[7] Learning from his father’s example, McMurtry adopted a strong work ethic and intuitive understanding of the common man.[8] McMurtry Sr. accumulated enough wealth from his mills to afford McMurtry Jr.’s private education. McMurtry Jr. enrolled at St. Mark’s School located in Southborough, Massachusetts, to continue his education.
At the time, St. Mark’s School was a twenty-six-year-old, Episcopal, all-boys boarding school. The daily schedule for McMurtry included waking up at seven in the morning, daily chapel services, and classes ranging from arithmetic to French.[9] McMurtry especially enjoyed the St. Mark’s landscape, the rural farming town of Southborough, Massachusetts, and the cold air of Massachusetts winters. He was known around the St. Mark’s campus for taking solitary runs around the town every morning and afternoon. One teacher recounted that, “one lone St. Marker, Fifth Former George McMurtry, could be seen running in solitary silence over all terrains and in all weathers.”[10]
McMurtry was a personable young man who understood the work ethic needed to become successful in his world. Perhaps a result of his running habits, McMurtry was also a strong athlete during his time at St. Mark’s. In the 1896 St. Mark’s Intramural Olympics, which the school held in March and May, McMurtry won the middleweight boxing competition. He was also on the varsity baseball team. McMurtry had an impressive .285 batting average his Sixth Form year and scored seventeen runs in eleven games.[11] A hard worker in and out of the classroom, McMurtry graduated from St. Mark’s and continued his education at Harvard College.[12]
For nearly three years, McMurtry studied at Harvard until the outbreak of the Spanish-American War. Leaving Harvard in 1898, McMurtry’s military career began when he enlisted in Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders. In April 1898, President William McKinley declared war on Spain to support and liberate the Spanish colonies of Cuba and the Philippines.[13] The twenty-two-year-old McMurtry was a junior at Harvard College when the United States declared war with Spain. In June of 1898, McMurtry left his studies to enlist in the First Regiment of the U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, colloquially known as “Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders.”[14] The popularity of the Rough Riders came from not only their success in battle, but also from the sheer number of men who wanted to fight under Roosevelt. Roosevelt reminisced after the war:
The difficulty in organizing was not in selecting, but in rejecting men. Within a day or two after it was announced that we were to raise the regiment, we were literally deluged with applications from every corner of the Union.[15]
McMurtry, along with a few other Harvard alumni, was one of a select group of men to serve in the Rough Riders. For five months, McMurtry fought with the Rough Riders in Cuba, participating in the famous Battle of San Juan Hill on July 1, 1898. Roosevelt granted McMurtry an honorable discharge from the Rough Riders after McMurtry contracted a tropical disease, most likely malaria three weeks prior to his discharge, and was sent back to the United States in October of 1898.[16] After returning home in October of 1898, McMurtry recovered and rejoined his original class at Harvard.
McMurtry graduated with his original class in 1899, despite missing the end of his junior year and the beginning of his senior year. Within a class of 369 men, he was one of ninety-seven students graduating with an honorary artium magister (Master of Arts) degree; the modern equivalent is a Juris Doctor Degree. [17] Harvard College awarded veterans whom had left Harvard for war with honorary degrees, which allowed them to pursue more favorable careers and be recognized for their service to the United States. At the age of twenty-three, McMurtry was both a veteran of the Rough Riders and a Harvard alumnus. After his graduation, McMurtry moved to New York City to establish a career on Wall Street.[18]
McMurtry’s worked as a stockbroker at the brokerage firm, Benjamin, Ferguson & McMurtry.[19] As the name of the company implies, McMurtry became a full partner at the brokerage in 1900, only one year after his college graduation.[20] On December 16, 1903, he married Mabel C. Post on Long Island.[21] In his career on Wall Street, McMurtry succeeded because of his work ethic and likable personality. For seventeen years, George and Mabel McMurtry lived on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. During those years, the U.S. economy prospered, and, as a banker, McMurtry profited. He was a self-made millionaire by the young age of thirty.[22] Even with his wealth, McMurtry kept in touch with his company mates from the Rough Riders. McMurtry had an innate love for the camaraderie of war. When the United States became involved in World War I in 1917, he enlisted once again.[23]
The United States entered World War I on April 6, 1917, joining Britain, France, and Russia, the Entente Powers, against Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire. At the time, the public referred to World War I as “The Great War” or “The War to End All Wars” because of the large number of participating countries and, more importantly, the war’s brutality. There were sixty-five million soldiers who fought in the war. When the war ended, there were approximately eight-and-a-half million dead and a total of thirty-seven-and-a-half million wounded.[24] McMurtry’s experience in the Spanish-American War did not prepare him for what he experienced in World War I.
On May 12, 1917, forty year-old McMurtry officially reentered military service at the First Plattsburgh Officers Training Corps in Plattsburgh, New York.[25] He trained to become an officer during the summer of 1917. His training culminated with the U.S. Army commissioning McMurtry as a captain of infantry and placed him in command of Company E of the 308th Infantry Division by December 1917.[26]
On April 6, 1918, McMurtry sailed across the Atlantic with the 308th Division to aid the Entente Forces on the Western Front in France.[27] McMurtry and the 308th Division participated in one of the most important campaigns in World War I, the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. The main objective of the campaign was to drive German forces out of the Argonne Forest, while successfully retaking towns in Northern France.[28] The Argonne Forest in France was a tactical position that was sought after by every force throughout the war, as it included supply lines running north and south along the Western Front. It was captured early in the war by the German army.[29] Breaking through the German defenses in the Argonne Forest was a difficult task. The forest housed camouflaged defenses, making the “Argonne Forest … impregnable and the Germans feeling secure in their possession of this strategic position.”[30] From a soldier’s perspective, there was no distinguishable beginning and end to German controlled territory in the vastness of the Argonne Forest.
On October 2, 1918, a large scale, allied campaign began as part of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive along the Western Front. McMurtry and the 308th Infantry Division participated in the assault on the Argonne Forest with the mission of routing German forces from a road junction along the Charlevaux Road and holding the Charlevaux Mill. The soldiers successfully captured their objectives. After, Lieutenant Colonel Charles W. Whittlesey, a fellow Harvard alumnus, the 307th Infantry Regiment, and the 306th Machine Gun Battalion joined McMurtry and the 308th to assist in fortifying the position in the forest.[31] Together, the soldiers fortified their positions and waited for further orders. Due to primitive communications during the war, allied forces participating in the offensive had pulled out of the forest, leaving McMurtry, Whittlesey, and the rest of the soldiers behind enemy lines.[32] The soldiers had only one day’s rations, no blankets, and no jackets. However, they were “amply armed with ammunition for their machine guns, rifles, and Chauchat automatic rifles.”[33] Whittlesey and McMurtry decided to move out of the forest after failing to contact other allied forces. The two believed that the path east along the Charlevaux Road, the same route they took into the forest, would provide a safe route to travel through the Argonne Forest, returning through the same hole in the German defense.[34] However, during the night of October 2, the German forces shifted their lines, cutting off McMurtry’s forces. There on the Charlevaux Road, directly east of the small town of Binarville, France, the story of the Lost Battalion took form.[35]
The German forces in the forest knew of the Lost Battalion’s vulnerable position, so McMurtry and his fellow soldiers strengthened their defenses on the Mort Homme Hill (Dead Man’s Hill), located just south of the Charlevaux Road. For two days German forces bombarded the Lost Battalion with machine guns, grenades, and mortars.[36] At this point in the fighting, because of the sheer number of dead U.S. soldiers, the soldiers of the Lost Battalion stopped attempting to bury their dead.[37]
On October 4, 1918, regiments in the 77th Division of the U.S. Army made two attempts to rescue the Lost Battalion. The 77th Division’s efforts failed and suffered many casualties.[38] In the two days following the 77th Division’s attempted rescue of the Lost Battalion, the U.S. forces outside of the forest accidentally bombarded the Lost Battalion, due to a miscommunication of coordinates. Many soldiers in the Lost Battalion died or sustained injury because of this friendly fire. The wounded included McMurtry, who was hit with shrapnel in the knee. Despite his injury, McMurtry continued to lead as a loyal second-in-command to Whittlesey.[39] Whittlesey sent three messages via carrier pigeon, with only one successfully reaching the allied artillery units. That one pigeon was Cher Ami, the famous carrier pigeon that flew messages throughout the war. Whittlesey’s message said, “We’re along the road from 276.4. Our artillery is dropping a barrage directly on us. For Heaven’s sake, stop it.”[40] It was an amazing stroke of luck that the artillery units received Cher Ami’s message. Having received the correct coordinates, artillery units adjusted their coordinates and begin firing on German forces surrounding the Lost Battalion.[41]
With water running low and the limited communications with allied forces, Whittlesey and McMurtry understood that they could not continue to defend themselves on the hillside much longer. With artillery support, the Lost Battalion succeeded in its last effort to move from the Mort Homme Hill to the Charlevaux Mill, which was about 500 meters west of their position. For heroically guiding the Lost Battalion from an indefensible position on the hill to the Charlevaux Mill, President Woodrow Wilson commended McMurtry after the war for “personally direct[ing] and supervis[ing] the moving of the wounded to shelter before himself seeking shelter.”[42] A German hand grenade wounded McMurtry in his shoulder on October 6, but he “continued …to organize and direct the defense against the German attack on the position until the attack was defeated.”[43] After, at the Charlevaux Mill, McMurtry and Whittlesey guided the Lost Battalion through brutal fighting for the following three days.
On October 7, advances of the 82nd Division of the U.S. Army along the eastern flank of the Argonne Forest, about seven kilometers north of the Lost Battalion’s position, routed German forces from the surrounding area of the Argonne Forest.[44] The Lost Battalion was finally safe, but German forces killed 111 and wounded 254 soldiers. Only 194 soldiers could walk out of the Argonne Forest on their own power.[45] Whittlesey was lucky enough to be relatively unscathed during the five days behind enemy lines. McMurtry suffered injuries to his shoulder and knee, yet he continued to lead, protect, and aid his fellow soldiers. Despite the obstacles they faced, the Lost Battalion retained hope for survival because of McMurtry’s leadership.
President Woodrow Wilson and the U.S. Congress recognized George McMurtry’s brave actions in World War I. They awarded McMurtry the Medal of Honor on December 6, 1918. He was one of 199 Medal of Honor recipients in World War I.[46] An inscription of McMurtry’s actions accompanied his Medal and stated:
Captain McMurtry commanded a battalion which was cut off and surrounded by the enemy … he continued throughout the entire period to encourage his officers and men with a resistless optimism that contributed largely toward preventing panic and disorder among the troops, who were without food, cut off from communication with out lines … He continued to direct and command his troops, refusing relief, and personally led his men out of the position after assistance arrived, before permitting himself to be taken to the hospital on 8 October. During this period the successful defense of the position was due largely to his efforts.[47]
McMurtry’s actions saved the lives of countless American soldiers.[48] His story lives on through the memorialization of the Lost Battalion and their struggle in those five days in the Argonne Forest. Soldiers’ memories of McMurtry speak of his bravery and leadership during those days in October. An unnamed soldier of the Lost Battalion remembers McMurtry by stating:
I don’t believe that a braver or more heroic soldier ever trod a battlefield. He was stern and determined but kind, and had a keen sense of humor. No sacrifice was too great for him to make for the comfort of his men. They all loved and honored him.[49]
To continue the remembrance of the Lost Battalion, the mayor of the Binarville, France, and Major General William Terpeluk of the 77th Regional Readiness Command of the U.S. military erected a monument in its honor on October 7, 2008, exactly ninety years to the day of the Lost Battalion escaping the Argonne Forest. The monument portrays a white dove resting on three World War I combat helmets, signifying peace, while two shields lean on one another. The phrases, “Lost Battalion”, “77th Division”, and “2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, October, 1918” are carved on the shields. These phrases represent the group fighting and the time period in which they fought. For Terpeluk, currently the last commander of the 77th Regional Readiness Command, the memorial tells a story that is not “merely an American military legend. It tells a story of sacrifice and liberty…”[50]
One can find the names of St. Mark’s alumni who were veterans in different forms of memorials throughout the school. St. Mark’s school remembers George McMurtry through a plaque located in the main hall of the St. Mark’s main building, dedicated to his military service and life as a St. Marker.[51] The plaque begins with the quote, “For having distinguished himself at risk of his own life above and beyond the call of duty,” which was taken from his Medal of Honor inscription. McMurtry is among a select few St. Markers who served in foreign wars and is the only Medal of Honor recipient in St. Mark’s School history.
The memorials, such as McMurtry’s, located around the school are intended to convey the same emotion that Terpeluk felt when seeing the Lost Battalion memorial. The men and women who sacrifice everything for the call of duty, like George McMurtry, must never be thought of as mere military legend. Through memory and honor, George McMurtry’s character, work ethic, and bravery as a St. Marker and a Medal of Honor recipient will never be forgotten.
Jack Wood is VI Former from Wellesley, Massachusetts.
Bibliography
Benson, Albert Emerson. “St. Mark’s School in the War Against Germany.” In Saint Mark’s School in the War Against Germany, 160-61. Norwood, MA: The Plypton Press, 1920.
Directory of Directors in the City of New York. 11th ed. New York, NY: Audit Company of New York, 1911.
Feldman, Ruth Tenzer. “Epilogue.” Afterword to World War I, 77. Minneapolis, Minn.: Lerner Publications, 2004.
———. “Introduction.” Introduction to World War I, 4-5. Minneapolis, Minn.: Lerner Publications, 2004.
Gaff, Alan D. “Over the Top.” In Blood in the Argonne: The “Lost Battalion” of World War I, 132. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2005.
Gow, Virginia. “Pigeons of War.” New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Last modified September 12, 2013. Accessed December 2, 2015. http://ww100.govt.nz/pigeons-of-war.
Harvard University. “The College.” In Annual Reports of the President and the Treasurer of Harvard College: 1898-1899, 106. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1900.
“Harvard University Archives Photograph Collection: Portraits, Approximately 1852-Approximately 2004.” Harvard University Library. Last modified July 20, 2015. Accessed December 4, 2015. http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~hua04006.
Keene, Jennifer D. “World War I.” In The United States and the First World War, 21-22. Wesport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2006.
Laplander, Robert J. Finding the Lost Battalion: Beyond the Rumors, Myths and Legends of America’s Famous WW1 Epic. Waterford, Wis.: Lulu Press, 2006.
———. “Sepember 28th, 1918.” In Finding the Lost Battalion: Beyond the Rumors, Myths and Legends of America’s Famous WW1 Epic, 136-42. Waterford, Wis.: Lulu Press, 2006.
———. “September 28th, 1918.” In Finding the Lost Battalion: Beyond the Rumors, Myths and Legends of America’s Famous WW1 Epic, 150. Waterford, Wis.: Lulu Press, 2006.
“Lastnames M-P.” In Harvard’s Military Record in the World War, compiled by Frederick S. Mead, Jr., 626. Boston, MA: Harvard Alumni Association, 1921.
“Liggett, Hunter (1857-1935).” In The United States in the First World War: An Encyclopedia, edited by Anne Cipriano Venzon, 343. New York City, NY: Garland Publishing, 1995.
Livergood, Norman. “History of the Stock Market.” The New Enlightenment: Political, Economic, and Social Essays. Accessed December 16, 2015. http://www.hermes-press.com/wshist1.htm.
“Marriages.” In Harvard College Class of 1899: List of Addresses, Occupations, Marriages, Births, and Deaths, compiled by John Forbes Perkins, Henry Hudson Fish, John Chapman McCall, and Arthur Adams, 39. N.p.: Harvard College, 1905.
McCollum, Franklin Sly. “History of the Lost Battalion.” In History and Rhymes of the Lost Battalion, 29. Rockville, MD: Wildside Press, 2010.
Medal of Honor: Award, 3741 U.S.C. § 10 (1918).
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/3741
Memorial to George McMurtry, St. Mark’s Class of 1896. 2012. Memorial. St. Mark’s School, Southborough, MA.
“The Meuse-Argonne Offensive, a World War I Online Interactive, Released.” American Battle Monuments Commission. Last modified June 4, 2015. Accessed December 4, 2015. https://www.abmc.gov/news-events/news/meuse-argonne-offensive-world-war-i-online-interactive-released#.VmY3Mt-rSfQ.
New York Times (New York City, NY). “Society at Home and Abroad.” November 29, 1903. Accessed November 16, 2015. DOI:http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F06E1D81039E333A2575AC2A9679D946297D6CF.
Noble, Richard E. “Chapter 9: 1894-1898.” In Echoes of Their Voices: 150 Years of St. Mark’s School, 77-78. Hollis, NH: Hollis Publishing, 2015.
———. “Chapter 9: 1894-1898.” In Echoes of Their Voices: 150 Years of St. Mark’s School, 75-76. Hollis, NH: Hollis Publishing, 2015.
———. Interview by the author. St. Mark’s School, Southborough, MA. December 8, 2015.
“Occupations.” In Harvard College Class of 1899: List of Addresses, Occupations, Marriages, Births, and Deaths, compiled by John Forbes Perkins, Henry Hudson Fish, John Chapman McCall, and Arthur Adams, 19. N.p.: Harvard College, 1905.
Office of the Historian. “The Spanish-American War, 1898.” U.S. Department of State: Office of the Historian. Accessed November 12, 2015. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1866-1898/spanish-american-war.
Plan of Flank Attack of First Army against Argonne Forest, October 7, 1918. Photograph. Battle Detective. November 2010. Accessed November 17, 2015. http://www.battledetective.com/images/Lost%20Battalion/Map_Lost_BN.JPG.
Porter, Cameron. “Monument Unveils the ‘Legend of the Lost Battalion.'” The Official Homepage of the United States Army. Last modified October 16, 2008. Accessed December 5, 2015. http://www.army.mil/article/13322/.
Roosevelt, Theodore. “Raising the Regiment.” In Rough Riders, 4. New York City, NY: P.F. Collier & Son, 1899.
———. “The Return Home.” In Rough Riders, 201. New York City, NY: P.F. Collier & Son, 1899.
“Section 17.” In 82nd Division: Summary of Operations in the World War, compiled by American Battle Monuments Commission. United States Government Printing Office, 1944. .pdf.
“Section 31.” In U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States, 883. N.p.: n.p., 1999.
Sturner, C. Douglas. “Recipients of the Medal of Honor: Listed by War and Branch of Service.” Home of Heroes. Last modified 2015. http://www.homeofheroes.com/moh/war/1_a_main.html.
“Symbolism of the Medal of Honor.” Congressional Medal of Honor Society. Accessed December 7, 2015. http://www.cmohs.org/medal-symbolism.php.
Timmerman, Tom. “Location of ‘The Lost Battalion Engagement’ in WWI.” Battle Detective. Last modified November 2010. Accessed November 20, 2015. http://www.battledetective.com/battlestudy20.html.
Tucker, Spencer, and Priscilla Mary Roberts. “The Lost Battalion.” In World War I: Encyclopedia, 185-86. Vol. 3. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2005.
———. World War I: Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2005.
U.S. Department of Justice. “WWI Casualty and Death Tables.” Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Accessed December 6, 2015. https://www.pbs.org/greatwar/resources/casdeath_pop.html.
Walker, Kevin. “The Tragedy of Heroism: Charles W. Whittlesey.” Society of the Honor Guard. Last modified December 1, 2013. Accessed November 16, 2015. https://tombguard.org/column/2013/12/the-tragedy-of-heroism-charles-w-whittlesey/.
“World War I Medal of Honor Recipients.” http://www.history.army.mil/. Last modified June 3, 2015. Accessed December 3, 2015. http://www.history.army.mil/moh/worldwari.html.
[1] “Symbolism of the Medal of Honor.” Congressional Medal of Honor Society. Accessed December 7, 2015. http://www.cmohs.org/medal-symbolism.php.
[2] “World War I Medal of Honor Recipients.” http://www.history.army.mil/. Accessed December 3, 2015. http://www.history.army.mil/moh/worldwari.html.
[3] Medal of Honor: Award, 3741 U.S.C. § 10 (1918). https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/3741
[4] Memorial to George McMurtry, St. Mark’s Class of 1896. St. Mark’s School, Southborough, MA.
[5] Albert Emerson Benson, Saint Mark’s School in the War Against Germany (Norwood, MA: The Plympton Press, 1920), 160-161.
[6] Robert J. Laplander, Finding the Lost Battalion: Beyond the Rumors, Myths and Legends of America’s Famous WW1 Epic (Waterford, Wis.: Lulu Press, 2006), 150.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Robert J. Laplander, Finding the Lost Battalion: Beyond the Rumors, Myths and Legends of America’s Famous WW1 Epic (Waterford, Wis.: Lulu Press, 2006), 136-142.
[9] Richard E. Noble, “Chapter 9: 1894-1898,” in Echoes of Their Voices: 150 Years of St. Mark’s School (Hollis, NH: Hollis Publishing, 2015), 77-78.
[10] Ibid.,75-76.
[11] Ibid.
[12] “Harvard University Archives Photograph Collection: Portraits, Approximately1852-Approximately 2004.”Harvard University Library. Last modified July 20, 2015. Accessed December 4, 2015. http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~hua04006.
[13] Office of the Historian. “The Spanish-American War, 1898.” U.S. Department of State: Office of the Historian. Accessed November 12, 2015. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1866-1898/spanish-american-war.
[14] Laplander, Finding the Lost Battalion, 136-142.
[15] Theodore Roosevelt, “Raising the Regiment,” in Rough Riders (New York City, NY: P.F. Collier & Son, 1899), 4.
[16] Laplander, Finding the Lost Battalion, 136-42; Theodore Roosevelt, “The Return Home,” in Rough Riders (New York City, NY: P.F. Collier & Son, 1899), 201.
[17] Harvard University, “The College,” in Annual Reports of the President and the Treasurer of Harvard College: 1898-1899 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1900), 106; Richard E. Noble, Interview by the author. St. Mark’s School, Southborough, MA. December 8, 2015; “Harvard University Archives Photograph Collection: Portraits, Approximately 1852-Approximately 2004.” Harvard University Library. Last modified July 20, 2015. Accessed December 4, 2015. http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~hua04006; Harvard University, “The College,” in Annual Reports of the President and the Treasurer of Harvard College: 1898-1899 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1900), 146.
[18] “Occupations,” in Harvard College Class of 1899: List of Addresses, Occupations, Marriages, Births, and Deaths, comp. John Forbes Perkins, et al. (n.p.: Harvard College, 1905), 19.
[19] Ibid.
[20] Laplander, Finding the Lost Battalion, 136-42; Directory of Directors in the City of New York, 11th ed. (New York, NY: Audit Company of New York, 1911)
[21] New York Times (New York City, NY). “Society at Home and Abroad.” November 29, 1903. Accessed November 16, 2015. DOI:http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archivefree/pdf?res=9F06E1D81039E333A2575AC2A9679D946297D6CF; “Marriages,” in Harvard College Class of 1899: List of Addresses, Occupations, Marriages, Births, and Deaths, comp. John Forbes Perkins, et al. (n.p.: Harvard College, 1905), 39.
[22] Livergood, Norman. “History of the Stock Market.” The New Enlightenment: Political, Economic, and Social Essays. Accessed December 16, 2015. http://www.hermes-press.com/wshist1.htm; “Section 31,” in U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States(n.p.: n.p., 1999), 883.
[23] “Lastnames M-P,” in Harvard’s Military Record in the World War, comp. Frederick S. Mead, Jr. (Boston, MA: Harvard Alumni Association, 1921), 626.
[24] U.S. Department of Justice. “WWI Casualty and Death Tables.” Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Accessed December 6, 2015. https://www.pbs.org/greatwar/resources/casdeath_pop.html.
[25] Richard E. Noble, Interview by the author. St. Mark’s School, Southborough, MA. December 8, 2015.
[26] Benson, St. Mark’s School in the War Against Germany, 160-61.
[27] Ibid.
[28] “The Meuse-Argonne Offensive, a World War I Online Interactive, Released.” American Battle Monuments Commission. Last modified June 4, 2015. Accessed December 4, 2015. https://www.abmc.gov/news-events/news/meuse-argonne-offensive-world-war-i-online-interactive-released#.VmY3Mt-rSfQ.
[29] Anne Cipriano Venzon, “Liggett, Hunter (1857-1935),” in The United States in the First World War: An Encyclopedia, ed. (New York City, NY: Garland Publishing, 1995), 343.
[30] Franklin Sly McCollum, “History of the Lost Battalion,” in History and Rhymes of the Lost Battalion (Rockville, MD: Wildside Press, 2010), 29.
[31] Kevin Walker, “The Tragedy of Heroism: Charles W. Whittlesey.” Society of the Honor Guard. Last modified December 1, 2013. Accessed November 16, 2015. https://tombguard.org/column/2013/12/the-tragedy-of-heroism-charles-w-whittlesey/; Spencer Tucker and Priscilla Mary Roberts, “The Lost Battalion,” in World War I: Encyclopedia (Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2005), 3: 185-186.
[32] Tom Timmerman, “Location of ‘The Lost Battalion Engagement’ in WWI.” Battle Detective. Last modified November 2010. Accessed November 20, 2015. http://www.battledetective.com/battlestudy20.html.
[33] Jennifer D. Keene, “World War I,” in The United States and the First World War (Wesport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2006), 21-22.
[34] Timmerman, “Location of ‘The Lost Battalion.”
[35] Plan of Flank Attack of First Army against Argonne Forest, October 7, 1918. Photograph. Battle Detective. November 2010. Accessed November 17, 2015. http://www.battledetective.com/images/Lost%20Battalion/Map_Lost_BN.JPG.
[36] Spencer Tucker and Priscilla Mary Roberts, “The Lost Battalion,” in World War I: Encyclopedia (Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2005), 3: 185-186.
[37] Keene, The United States and the First World War, 21-22
[38] Ibid.
[39] Tucker, Roberts, World War I: Encyclopedia, 185-186
[40] Virginia Gow, “Pigeons of War.” New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Last modified September 12, 2013. Accessed December 2, 2015. http://ww100.govt.nz/pigeons-of-war.
[41] Ibid.
[42] Benson, St. Mark’s School in the War Against Germany, 160-161.
[43] Ibid.
[44] “Section 17.” In 82nd Division: Summary of Operations in the World War, compiled by American Battle Monuments Commission. United States Government Printing Office, 1944. .pdf file.
[45] Keene, The United States and the First World War, 21-22.
[46] C. Douglas Sturner, “Recipients of the Medal of Honor: Listed by War and Branch of Service.” Home of Heroes. http://www.homeofheroes.com/moh/war/1_a_main.html.
[47] Benson, St. Mark’s School in the War Against Germany, 160-161.
[48] Mead, Harvard’s Military Record in the World War, 626.
[49] Alan D. Gaff, “Over the Top,” in Blood in the Argonne: The “Lost Battalion” of World War I (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2005), 132.
[50] Cameron Porter, “Monument Unveils the ‘Legend of the Lost Battalion.'” The Official Homepage of the United States Army. Last modified October 16, 2008. Accessed December 5, 2015. http://www.army.mil/article/13322/.
[51] Memorial to George McMurtry, St. Mark’s Class of 1896. St. Mark’s School, Southborough, MA.
LEO 
