Three of the Brodhead boys, Erwin Stair, Gilbert Ringen and
Henry Schneider, took part in the memorable Artillery
Hike from Camp Grant to Camp Robinson, in the spring of 1918;
said to be the greatest movement of artillery in the United States
since the Civil War. This hike was made by the 161st Artillery
Brigade, belonging to the 80th [86th] Division, and consisting
of the 331st, 332nd and 333rd regiments of Field Artillery.
Accompanied by Engineers and Hospital and Sanitary Units,
numbering in all some 3,000 men, with about 2,500 horses,
the Brigade left Camp Grant the 14th of May, 1918, for a
225 mile march to Camp Robinson, near Sparta, Wis., to spend
the summer practicing on the great artillery range there.
En Marche the column extended three miles and was
an imposing spectacle with its great truck and wagons and pieces
of artillery. Nearly everyone in Brodhead took advantage
of this opportunity of seeing the "Panoply of War,"
and either viewed the Brigade on the road or visited some of
the several camps made not far away, as fifteen to seventeen
or eighteen miles constituted a day's journey.
The 333rd Field Artillery was motorized, so the men marched
on foot and led the column, but the 331st and 332nd
rode horseback; and as the regiments were not recruited up
to full war strength but had their full quota of horses, the
men not only rode horses, but also led from one to three. They
were western horses, many scarcely broken, so for the first few
days, the men were kept busy trying to keep their charges under
proper control.
At first the weather was warm and the roads dusty, so that
after being on the march a few hours, the boys were hardly
recognizable; but after that rain set in and dust was exchanged
for mud, to their greater discomfort. At Poynette, the came was
struck by a cyclone, but no lives were lost, and beyond the razing
of every tent, the drenching of every soldier and the loss of
considerable paraphernalia, no great harm was done.
Camp Robinson was reached May 28, the hike having lasted
fourteen days, and regular and serious work on the range
began at once.
Frank Parker, another Brodhead boy, was later assigned to
the 333rd Field Artillery and sent to Camp Robinson in
August.
September 5th, the 161st Brigade left Sparta for their journey
to France and the battlefields, but to the great
disappointment of most of the men, never reached the front,
for they were still in a training camp "Over There"
when the Armistice was signed.