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Preferred Citation

Papers of Major C.T. Williams, 1897-1932 (bulk 1917-1919), Accession # 10746-a, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

These papers were given to the Library on June 29, 1988, by Mrs. Allan McClain of Martinsville, Virginia, and Mr. C.T. Williams, Jr., of Baltimore, Maryland.

Biographical/Historical Information

Charles Turner Williams was born at Warrenton, North Carolina, on October 17, 1874, the son of Thomas Clay and Georgianna (Turner) Williams. He married Willie Herbert Ashton, of Portsmouth, Virginia, on July 17, 1903, and had two children, Charles Turner Williams, Jr. and Ann Elizabeth Williams.

Williams was entirely self-taught and began his career as a stenographer and newspaper reporter. He then began working in the accounting and operating departments of a railway business, advancing to Division Superintendent. He entered the private banking business with John L. Williams & Sons, Richmond, Virginia, in 1904, as the private secretary of John Skelton Williams. He served as secretary to the receivers of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, 1908-1910. In 1910, he became associated with Middendorf, Williams, & Company, bankers in Baltimore, Maryland.

From 1912-1919, Williams was the investment manager of Fidelity Trust Company in Baltimore, becoming Vice-President of Fidelity Securities Corporation of Maryland in 1920. He was one of the organizers of the Investment Bankers Association of America and served two terms as Treasurer, 1912-1914.

When the United States entered the war in 1917, Williams applied for a commission in the Army but was turned down for health reasons. Because of his association with Henry P. Davidson, who was the head of the American Red Cross, Williams was commissioned a captain in the ARC and assigned to the mission to establish a hospital in Jassy, Romania, the capital of Romania at that time. To avoid the German lines, the Mission had to travel the Trans-Siberian Railroad from Vladivostock to Moscow. At Moscow, Williams was detached from the Mission and sent to Archangel, North Russia, to meet the Portonia, the ship carrying the hospital supplies for Romania, and to escort the train load of supplies to Jassy, Romania. Upon the completion of this mission Williams returned home to Baltimore.

In 1918 the American Expeditionary Forces placed a Detroit regiment (the 339th Infantry) in the port of Archangel, North Russia, on August third, ostensibly with the objective of guarding military stores and assisting the White Russian army in repelling Bolshevik attacks. The American Red Cross wanted to send a mission to help American soldiers on duty in this inhospitable region, to establish an ARC hospital, and render civilian relief. Because of Williams' previous experience in Archangel, he was promoted to Major and put in charge of the ARC Mission to Russia. The Mission sailed from New York on the Ascutney on August 25, 1918. Williams returned to his banking career in the United States on March 6, 1919, after he had met with considerable success in meeting the needs of the American and other Allied soldiers, establishing the ARC hospital, and making several trips into the Russian interior to supply the Russian peasants with food and medicines.

Scope and Content Information

The papers of American Red Cross Officer Major C.T. Williams (1874-1932), a banker with Fidelity Trust Company, Baltimore, Maryland, consist of ca. 3,000 items (9 Hollinger boxes; 3 linear shelf feet), 1897- 1932, chiefly pertaining to his work in the American Red Cross (ARC) relief missions to Romania in 1917 and to Archangel, North Russia, with the American Expeditionary Force in 1918-1919. The collection also includes newsclippings concerning the political conventions of 1912 and the formation and organization of the Investment Bankers Association, 1912.

This collection contains correspondence, diaries, notebooks, reports, miscellaneous topical files, photographs, postcards, broadsides, posters, and printed material.

The first series consists of correspondence. There is one folder of personal correspondence which includes only that correspondence written during Williams' first American Red Cross Mission to Romania. This includes the following topics: a summary of recent political events in Russia and the conflict between General Lavr Kornilov and A.F. Kerensky in Petrograd (1917 Sep 11); a discussion of Kornilov's advance on Petrograd, the effect of the turmoil on C.T. Williams' Red Cross assignment, which was to reach the port of Archangel and bring Red Cross supplies unloaded from the ship Portonia to Romania by train, his arrangements for getting the train through Russia, mention of the arrest of Kornilov and the execution of his officers, and description of the area in front of Hotel Europe where many of the events of the Russian Revolution transpired (1917 Sep 16); a description of the port of Archangel and the poor conditions following the Riga retreat (1917 Sep 28); a summary of the order of the Central Strike Committee in Moscow to Railroad Workers (1917 Oct 7); the story of the Portonia and its trouble at sea (1917 Oct 18-19); Williams' impressions of the new American Consul, Mr. Felix Cole (1917 Oct 19); Williams' preparations for the train load of supplies to leave for Romania (1917 Oct 27); and pleas from Nadine de Proctor for help in leaving Russia (1917 Nov 22).

The general correspondence folders which contain material pertinent to Williams' first American Red Cross Mission to Romania include the following topics: Williams' work as Chairman of the Publicity Committee of the Liberty Loan Committee for Maryland, with a financial statement (1917 Jul 5); a description of the preparations of the Red Cross Mission to Romania prior to leaving the United States (1917 Jul 27); reports on the progress of the Red Cross Mission to Romania from its arrival in Japan through its train trip to Harbin, Manchuria, on board the Russian government train (1917 Aug 17, 20, and 24); conditions in Harbin, Manchuria (1917 Aug 26); Williams' reports to Lt. Col. Henry Anderson, Chairman of the Commission (1917 Sep 19 & 28, and Oct 11); a daily record of the progress of Williams and his Romanian relief train to Jassy, Romania (1917 Nov 18); and a summary of his adventures on the way to his departure from Christiania, Sweden, at the conclusion of his mission (1917 Dec 12).

The second group of correspondence is concerned with Williams' second Red Cross Mission to Archangel, North Russia, and includes: his concern over the pro-Bolshevism of Col. W.F. Thompson of the American Red Cross in Russia (1918 Feb 1); an interview by the Secretary of State with Arthur Glasgow and Mr. Flexner concerning the general economic condition of Romania (1918 Feb 7); the beginning of the Red Cross Mission's voyage on the Ascutney to Archangel, Russia (1918 Aug 27); the story of the mascot of the Ascutney, "Rags," a dog from Baltimore (1918 Sep 28); the American wounded in Archangel and a relief expedition to the White Sea Coast villages on the Kola peninsula (1918 Oct 27); the description of the Pinega trip (1918 Dec 31); a summary of the condition of the American hospital in Archangel when Williams left (1919 Jan 13); a description of Williams' trip from Archangel through the interior by sled in the Kem district to Murmansk and the poor condition of the villagers they saw along the way (1919 Jan 20); and a description of his sled trip, cold conditions and the hazardous trip by Russian coastal steamer from Murmansk to Vardo, Norway (1919 Feb 1).

Other topics include: a description of the routine of the American Red Cross Hospital in Archangel since Williams' departure (1919 Mar 28); a summary of the ARC personnel and their work in Archangel, North Russia (1919 Apr 28); the film, "Doughboys and Bolsheviki at Archangel" (1919 May 14); the request of E.J. Somoff of the All-Russian Central Union of Consumers' Societies for a meeting (1919 May 22; see also 1919 Oct 28 and 1920 Jul 13); a list of ARC personnel who sailed from the United States on August 30, 1918, with their return dates (1919 Aug 23); the War Record of C.T. Williams (1925 Jul 1); and the "Polar Bear Special" bringing home the remains of the United States soldiers killed in North Russia during World War I and its aftermath (1929 Dec 3).

Correspondents include: Josephus Daniel, Secretary of the Navy (1917 Jul 31); David R. Francis, U.S. Ambassador to Russia (1918 Nov 5); DeWitt C. Poole, Jr., Charge d'Affaires (1918 Nov 12, and Dec 16, 19, 20, & 22); and John Skelton Williams, Comptroller of Currency (1919 Mar 19).

The second series contains diaries, notebooks, and reports. These include two addresses made by C.T. Williams before the employees of the Fidelity Trust Company concerning the ARC Mission to Romania and its adventuresome trip through Russia to reach its destination (1918 Feb 6 & 27); a diagram book of the ARC Mission to Russia, Department of Foreign Relief (undated); and the diary kept by Major Williams, August through December, 1917, of the ARC Mission to Romania, including original notes, some in shorthand, and a transcript of the diary (for a detailed summary of the contents of the diary please see the guide to #10,746).

Major C.T. Williams also kept a notebook concerning the ARC Mission to North Russia which contains copies of letters, telegrams, reports, cables, memoranda, and general orders, in chronological order. This notebook is a detailed record of the day-to-day activities and problems of the ARC Mission to Archangel from the time of the recruitment of personnel to the final adjustment of its financial affairs.

Specific topics of interest in this notebook include: the letter authorizing C.T. Williams to act as Deputy Commissioner in charge of the Red Cross expedition to Russia sailing aboard the Ascutney (1918 Aug 20); a list of members on board for the trip to Russia, with three Y.M.C.A. secretaries (1918 Aug 22); General Order #3 emphasizing the neutrality of the Red Cross and forbidding the promotion of political views and opinions by the staff or the giving of interviews while in Russia (1918 Sep 23); a summary of affairs in Russia (1918 Sep 23); the influenza epidemic in Murmansk (1918 Sep 25); Williams' private report to George B. Case concerning the progress of the ARC Mission, especially the unfortunate political activities of persons associated with the ARC in Archangel and Murmansk (1918 Sep 28); a description of Murmansk (1918 Sep 28); impressions of Hospital No. 53 (1918 Oct 3); the National Credit Notes of Northern Russia (ca. 1918 Oct 10); a review of the political, medical, and military situation at the Archangel front (1918 Oct 15); the Allied Supplies Committee (1918 Oct 17); the Y.M.C.A. in Archangel (1918 Oct 17); difficulties with the British Red Cross officer, Captain Wynn (1918 Oct 19); the relief expedition to the White Sea Coast, Kola Peninsula (1918 Oct 25); the liquor problem in Archangel (1918 Nov 5-6); the establishment of the ARC hospital in Archangel (1918 Nov 14); the distribution of condensed milk to Murmansk (1918 Nov 17 & Dec 8); Pinega village (1918 Nov 23 & Dec 30); and the Dvina River Force general medical report (1918 Dec 13).

Other topics in the notebook include: military stores (1919 Jan 6); the local ARC situation in North Russia (1919 Jan 13); the Onega front work of the ARC (1919 Feb 17); Williams' impressions of the Allied Expedition in North Russia (1919 Feb 22); the British attitude to the shortage of nurses in Archangel (1919 Feb 25); ARC personnel in Archangel (1919 Apr 28); the unloading of the Ascutney (1919 Jun 17-21, & 27); and Admiral Newton A. McCully concerning North Russian affairs (1919 Aug 16).

This series also contains a small notebook about the ARC work in Romania, [1917], and begins with notes on "Bessarabia" and the crossing of the Romanian border, discusses the state of the country, especially shortages of food and supplies, describes Roman and Jassy, and includes stories of the hospital and individual patient cases in Jassy, Romania.

Another small notebook contains material about the trip to Russia with a detailed chronological account of the ARC Mission's movements, notes on North Russian currency, a typescript of reporter Frazier Hunt's story of the sled trips to the front in North Russia, samples of Bolshevist propaganda, a description of Brest, France (1919 Feb 28), and a copy of Williams' letter to his daughter while on the North Sea (1919 Feb 16).

Other papers in this series include an organizational summary of the ARC Mission to Romania, reports on work in the ARC hospital in Romania, and a summary of the activities of the ARC expedition to Northern Russia, 1918-1919.

The next series consists of topical and miscellaneous files. For a complete list of these files consult the folder listing at the end of the guide. Most of this material is duplicated in the notebook of copies kept by Williams concerning the ARC Mission to Russia. The financial papers comprise both the Romanian and Russian expeditions and contain records not found elsewhere in the collection. The personnel file includes staff from both expeditions and a list of the officers of the North Russian Expeditionary Force (n.d.).

The photograph series contains postcards of Romania, the Japanese Red Cross Hospital, and Russia, Russian paper currency and stamps, Norwegian stamps, as well as photographs of the American Red Cross work in North Russia.

The photographs chiefly concern the American Red Cross work in North Russia, Major C.T. Williams, and Russian scenes. Most of these photographs were taken by Harold MacKenzie Wyckoff, the American Red Cross photographer. A folder of miscellaneous photographs includes: the Y.M.C.A. in Archangel, Russian, British, and French leaders, American Red Cross officers, and military scenes from the Archangel front and France.

Also present in this series is a photograph album of the American Red Cross Mission to Russia, copyrighted by Major Orrin S. Wightman, 1917, with a printed index.

The printed series includes: the American Expeditionary Forces G.H.Q. Bulletins; the book M Company 339th Infantry in North Russia by Joel R. Moore; pamphlets pertaining to World War I and its participants; maps of Russia and Europe; newsclippings concerning the career of C.T. Williams, politics, the Russian Revolution and the American Red Cross; and Russian broadsides, posters, and newspapers.

Organization

This collection arrived in little discernible order and has been arranged into five series:

Correspondence (Box 1)
Diaries, Notebooks, and Reports (Boxes 2-3)
Topical & Miscellaneous Papers (Boxes 4-5)
Photographs (Box 6)
Printed Material (Boxes 7-9)