36th Artillery Brigade, CAC

35th Artillery Brigade, C.A.C.


In June of 1918 orders were written from the War Department for the creation of an Coast Artillery Brigade which would be known as the 35th Artillery Brigade, CAC for duty in France during the war. This brigade would be the command and control for three Coast Artillery regiments once they got to France. By mid summer qualified Colonels who would be needed to be commanding officers were in short supply and the 35th Brigade would get thier Colonel once they got to France. As such Major Donald Armstrong a Coast Artillery Corps officer recieved orders to form a Brigade Field and staff and a Headquarters Company. He did so during the month of June and mustered his men at Fort hunt which was located on grounds once owned by General George Washington along the Potomac River just outside Washington, DC. The officers and senior non-commissioned officers who made up the Staff of the 35th Brigade were:

Major Donald Armstrong
Captain Howard W. Hodgkins
Captain James A. Ryan
1st Lt. Leonard A. Duff
1st Lt. Irving J. Kurz
2nd Lt. Bradford Noyes, Jr.
2nd Lt. Benjamine P. Steele

Battalion Sgt. Major Richard H. Colby
Sgt. Major David M. Britton
First Sgt. Robert G. Meneffe

By August 1918 the Brigade was ready to sail to France. It was on August 22, 1918 that the 35th Brigade boarded the SS President Grant and sailed for France from Hoboken, New Jersey. Once in France the 35th Brigade was assigned three Coast Artillery Corps regiments to command. They were the 66th and 67th Regiments who would have used the 8-inch American Howitzer if any would have actually arrived in France from America. And the third regiment was the 72nd who were assigned to use the British 9.2-inch howitzer, of which there were already in thier hands. Also the 35th Brigade welcomed thier new commanding officer, Colonel Alston Hamilton, who was a seasoned regimental commander. Colonel Hamilton was previously in command of the 58th Artillery Regiment who had been on the front lines throwing hot steel into the German lines. At least they would not totally be green and they now had a commander who had experience in battle.

Practically the 35th and her three regiments all arrived too late in the war and being that field training was not completed by the time the war ended they really never got the chance to do what they came there to do. Within two-months of the end of the war the 35th Brigade and the 67th Artillery Regiment had made thier way to the south of France and were camped near Marseilles. On February 10, 1919 both units boarded the Italian liner SS America and sailed for home. There were nine officers and 65 enlisted men in the 35th Brigade when they went aboard the America. They arrived in New York City on March 2, 1919 and debarked the ship and went to Camp Mills, New York. During the month of March the 35th Brigade was demobilized at Ft. Totten, New York.


Brigade Muster

As I find names of men who served in the 35th Brigade I will add them here with what I know of each. If you know additional facts about these men or others who served in the 35th Brigade, Coast Artillery Corps, please e-mail them to: Joe Hartwell


Sgt. Ben R. McElveen, HQ Co. Service No. 611175

Lee Lesslie shared with me about his grandfather, Ben R. McElveen who was in Headquarters Company of the 35th Brigade, C.A.C. At the time Ben enlisted into the Army he lived in Lynchburg, South Carolina. Ben enlisted into the Regular Army at the Columbus Barracks, Columbus, Ohio on 18 January 1915 at the age of 21 years, 10 months. Pvt. McElveen was assigned to the 2nd Co., C.A.C. Coast Defenses of the Patomac until 1 June 1918. He was advanced to Pvt. 1cl on 6 July 1916 and again advanced to Corporal the day they sailed to France on 22 August 1918. Cpl. McElveen was assigned to the HQ Co., 35th Brigade, C.A.C. and served with that unit until 2 March 1919 when he was transferred to the 1st Co. Ft. Hunt, Virginia. His last grade was Sergeant and was Honorable Discharged from the Army on 18 August 1920. Ben R. McElveen died 8 April 1982.


 

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