Clarence Ransom Edwards Papers 1879-1937; bulk: 1890-1931 Guide to the Collection

Table of Contents Collection Summary Biographical Sketch Collection Description Related Materials Acquisition Information Organization Detailed Description of the Collection Preferred Citation Access Terms Materials Removed

Collection Summary

Biographical Sketch

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, on January 1, 1860, Clarence Ransom Edwards was the son of William Edwards, a prominent wholesale grocer, and Lucia Ransom Edwards. His uncle was famed Union Civil War hero Oliver Edwards. Clarence Edwards decided early on a military career, attending Brooks Military Academy (Cleveland) and West Point. At West Point, he excelled at athletics, but finished last academically in a class of 52 in 1883.

Commissioned a second lieutenant, Edwards was given a tour of duty in Indian territory at Fort Union, New Mexico. His regiment was then transferred to Fort Porter in Buffalo, New York, where he served intermittently from 1884-1890. For two years, Edwards commanded the guard at the grave of the assassinated President James A. Garfield, 1884-1886.

After his marriage to Bessie Porter of Buffalo in 1889, he was assigned to the isolated outpost of Fort Davis, Texas. There he acted as post adjutant and gained a reputation as an expert rifleman. In 1890, he became a professor of military science and tactics at Fordham University. Three years later, he moved to Washington, D.C., where he joined the Military Information Division of the adjutant general's office in the War Department. From there, Edwards returned to Texas, where, among other duties, he was in charge of Seminole Indian scouts.

With the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in 1898, First Lieutenant Edwards was ordered to New Orleans to be mobilized for the fighting in Cuba. Promoted to major and adjutant general of volunteers, he was sent instead to Montgomery, Alabama, where he became adjutant general of the 4th Army Corps. Soon thereafter, Edwards was made adjutant general and chief of staff for General Henry Ware Lawton. He accompanied Lawton to the Philippines and served in campaigns against the Spanish at Santa Cruz, San Rafael, and Guadalupe Ridge. After Lawton's death in battle in 1899, Edwards returned home to become chief of the Customs and Insular Division (later the Bureau of Insular Affairs) in the War Department. In this powerful post, Edwards was in charge of the civil affairs of the Philippines, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Santo Domingo, and the Panama Canal Zone during his twelve years of War Department service. In the same period, he was promoted successively to colonel and brigadier general.

From 1900-1912, Edwards traveled extensively to the Philippines and the West Indies with Secretaries of War William Howard Taft, Jacob McGavock Dickinson, and Henry L. Stimson. He became particularly close to Taft, with whom he had also worked when the latter was governor of the Philippines.

In 1912, Edwards was assigned to regular army duty. After commanding the 6th Brigade at Fort D. A. Russell in Wyoming and Texas City, Texas, he was sent to Hawaii to command the 1st Brigade. In 1915, he was ordered to Panama, where he showed considerable skill organizing troops in the Canal Zone and devising a complicated plan for the zone's defense.

After the American declaration of war on Germany in April 1917, Edwards went to Boston to organize the defenses of New England as head of the Northeastern Department. In August, he was given command of the 26th Division and authorized to gather National Guard troops from New England. He took his division to France, where they saw action against German forces at Chemin des Dames, Bois Brule, Seicheprey, Chateau Thierry, St. Mihiel, and the Argonne Forest.

Despite the Yankee Division's overall success in battle, General John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces, felt that Edwards, who often criticized his superior officers within hearing distance of his men, was somewhat unmilitary in style and did not push his men hard enough. As a result, Pershing relieved Edwards of his command and sent him home, ostensibly to train new divisions for the fighting just 17 days before the armistice. Edwards continued to hold a grudge against Pershing, and his removal became a cause célèbre for veterans and politicians in New England. For a time, the general was mentioned as a possible gubernatorial and presidential candidate.

From 1918 to 1920, Edwards again headed the Northeastern Department. Other than issuing an alert during the Boston police strike of 1919, he had little of real consequence left to do. After his promotion to major general in 1922, he retired from the army and lived out his retirement at "Doneroving," a farm in Westwood, Massachusetts. The general remained in touch with many members of his former Yankee Division and continued to push for official recognition of the division's accomplishments in battle. He was especially active in the movements for universal military training and against prohibition in the 1920s. He also served as chairman of the board of his father's Cleveland business and was a strong proponent of airship commerce. He died from complications resulting from an intestinal obstruction on February 14, 1931.

Collection Description

This collection consists of the papers of Clarence Ransom Edwards, career military officer and commander of the 26th (Yankee) Division in World War I, including correspondence, speeches, reports and bulletins, writings, printed matter, volumes, and other papers. The papers in this collection deal with Edwards's service as chief of the Bureau of Insular Affairs, 1902-1912, in the War Department, Cuba, the Philippines, the operations of the 26th (Yankee) Division in World War I, General John J. Pershing's removal of Edwards as division commander, and Edwards's advocacy of universal military training and his opposition to prohibition. Among the correspondents are Edwards's wife Bessie Porter Edwards, John W. Hyatt, W. Cameron Forbes, James G. Harbord, Hunter Liggett, William Howard Taft, and Leonard Wood.

Related Materials

The Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) holds the following collections related to the Clarence Ransom Edwards papers:

Clarence Ransom Edwards and Bessie Porter Edwards photograph album and scrapbook. Photo. Coll. U-166.

W. Cameron Forbes journals [typescript], 1904-1946. Ms. N-1231.

Henry Cabot Lodge papers, 1745-1966. OFFSITE STORAGE; Ms. N-1582. Finding aid available at: http://www.masshist.org/findingaids/doc.cfm?fa=fa0058.

John Davis Long papers, 1820-1943. Ms. N-1589. Finding aid available at: http://www.masshist.org/findingaids/doc.cfm?fa=fa0231.

George von Lengerke Meyer papers, 1808-1918. Ms. N-549.

The Library of Congress Manuscripts Division holds the following collections related to the Clarence Ransom Edwards papers: the John J. Pershing papers, the William Howard Taft papers, and the Leonard Wood papers.

Acquisition Information

Gift of the Clarence Ransom Edwards estate through John W. Hyatt, 1932.

Organization of the Collection

The collection is organized into the following series:

Detailed Description of the Collection

Preferred Citation

Clarence Ransom Edwards papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.

Access Terms

This collection is indexed under the following headings in ABIGAIL, the online catalog of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related persons, organizations, or subjects should search the catalog using these headings.

Materials Removed from the Collection

Photographs from this collection have been removed to the MHS Photo Archives.

Artifacts have been removed to the MHS Artifacts Collection. These consist of a carved ebony cane given to Edwards by W. Cameron Forbes, governor general of the Philippine Islands, in Aug. 1910; a dagger and scabbard connected to Filipino counterinsurgents in the Philippine War, 1899-1902; and an incense burner made from a silver 1916 Peruvian one-sol coin.