Posted: Sunday, August 17, 2014 9:01 am

By O.C. Stonestreet

Editor’s note: This is the first of two parts. The second part will be published next Sunday.

The First World War began in July 1914, a century ago last month. Although the United States was not officially involved in the fighting until Congress declared on Germany and its allies on April 6, 1917, our nation's military eventually suffered over 275,000 casualties, including more than 54,000 combat deaths. North Carolina alone lost 828 men killed and 3,655 wounded in battle. Another 1,542 North Carolinians died of disease -- mostly of influenza -- while in the service.

Altogether, Iredell County lost at least 64 men in uniform from a variety of causes, including actual combat. The war was called "The Great War" because of the great number of lives lost. It was also called simply, "The World War." At the time there was no number attached, as people hoped humanity would never be so stupid as to ever do something like it again. Naively it was also called "The War To End All Wars."

A recent column of mine concerned one of the Iredell men who died in France in World War I, First Lieutenant Robert Hurst Turner.

Today's column, however, is not about an Iredell man who gave his life in World War I. Rather, it is about a local man whom we should remember -- Sergeant Edgar Maurice Halyburton, Army Serial No. 42848 -- who did not die during the war.

Edgar Halyburton was born in Iredell County on Jan. 19, 1890, the eldest of six children of George B. and Prudence Halyburton. The Halyburtons, while technically Iredell residents, had a Stony Point address and Edgar graduated from Stony Point High School. Also his family later made their home in Taylorsville, so Iredell and Alexander counties both can claim him.

Young Edgar grew up in the country and soon developed some excellent skills with a rifle, winning a marksmanship award when 10 years old. Early on Edgar showed he was a leader as he was the captain of his high school baseball and football teams.

Regular Army Soldier

He joined the Regular Army on July 4, 1909, when he was 19 1/2 years old. His first assignment was to the Coastal Artillery School that had been recently established at Fort Monroe, Va., where he served for two years. After half a year at Galveston, Texas, he was back at Fortress Monroe. Following re-enlistment he was ordered to the Presidio in San Francisco where he served and was trained as an infantryman. After a year there he was ordered to El Paso, Texas, where he became a member of Company F of the 16th Infantry Regiment.

Halyburton was soon promoted to sergeant and as such was part of the so-called Mexican Punitive Expedition (March 14, 1916 to Feb. 7, 1917) that attempted to capture the bandit/revolutionary Francisco "Pancho" Villa. As a scout, Sergeant Halyburton led several unsuccessful horse-back patrols into the Mexican hinterland in search of Villa. For his part in the expedition, Halyburton would have qualified for the Army's Mexican Service Medal.

"Over There"

The war in Europe eventually drug the U.S. into it and as a member of Company F, 16th Infantry Regiment, Sergeant Halyburton sailed with the first elements of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) with General John J. Pershing to France in June 1917. The 16th was one of four original regiments, along with the 18th, 26th and 28th, to form what was later known as the 1st U.S. Infantry Division, also known as "The Big Red One."

The division arrived at St. Nazire, France, on June 26. After further instruction under French troops in actual life in the trenches, a platoon of the 2nd Battalion of the 16th Infantry Regiment moved up near the town of Bathlemont, to take their place in line. This area was specially chosen for the Americans as it was supposed to be a relatively quiet sector in which they could become used to fighting as it was done in Europe.

According to an account by a member of the platoon who was not captured, "At three o'clock in the morning the Germans turned loose on our comparatively small position what the French observers afterwards declared to be the most intense bombardment they had ever witnessed. Sixteen batteries of ninety-six guns varying in size from 1-pounders to six-inch, threw over in forty-five minutes, according to French estimates, several thousand shells. The only thing that prevented our platoon from being entirely wiped out was the fact that our trenches were deep, and the ground soft and muddy with no loose stones.

"After the shelling had lasted three-quarters of an hour the range was suddenly lifted in a half-circle box barrage in our rear to prevent our supports from coming up, and two hundred and forty Bavarians, the widely advertised cut-throats of the German Army, hopped down on us. The first raid on American troops was in full swing. They had crawled up to our wire under cover of their barrage and the moment it lifted were right on top of us.

"Corporal [James] Gresham was standing in a dugout entrance when a man in an American uniform came running by and said to him, "Who are you?" to which Gresham replied, "An American, don't shoot." The man replied "You are the one I'm looking for," and immediately shot him through the eye. Private [Merle D.] Hay was also shot through the head by a man in a dark uniform whom he thought was one of his own comrades.

"The body of Private [Thomas] Enright was found next morning on top of the parapet. He had evidently been captured, and refusing to accompany his captors, put up a hard fight before he was killed, as the ground was torn up and trampled down for some distance around his body. His throat had been cut from ear to ear and his chest ripped open. The medical officer also reported finding twelve bayonet wounds in his body.

"The Germans retired after a period of probably fifteen minutes carrying all their dead and wounded and eleven of our men as prisoners, including Platoon Sergeant Edgar M. Halyburton and Corporal [Nicholas L.] Mulhall."

***

Altogether, three American soldiers were killed in the German raid and five were wounded and 12 were captured, including Sergeant Halyburton and Corporal Mulhall. The rest were privates. Two French soldiers were killed and the fighting, which the newspapers of the day described as fierce and hand-to-hand, also resulted in the deaths and wounds to some of the attacking German soldiers. Sergeant Halyburton and the other 11 men are believed to have been the very first American soldiers captured by the Germans, who were said to have been surprised to have found them to be Americans, rather than French soldiers.

O.C. Stonestreet is a columnist for the R&L. He is the author of "Tales from Old Iredell County" and "They Called Iredell County Home."

http://www.statesville.com/community/column-edgar-m-halyburton-captured-but-not-conquered/article_41e7962a-22ea-11e4-93fb-0017a43b2370.html

Edgar M Halyburton