Monday, March 26, 1917
Saratoga County’s National Guard troops are “prepared to move at a moment’s notice to any place where the members may be sent to assist in protecting both private and public property against any internal trouble,” The Saratogian reports.
The Second New York National Guard Infantry regiment, including Company L. from Saratoga County, is one of 37 regiments from 27 states, and one of only two from New York, to be called into federal service in the last two days. The regiments are expected to perform “police protection” duties in the event of civil unrest or terrorism should the U.S. declare war on Germany. President Woodrow Wilson is expected to ask for a declaration of war during a special session of Congress that will meet on April 2.
Company L spent most of last summer on border-patrol duty in Texas during the U.S. punitive expedition against Pancho Villa. Its current strength is 74 men, with 31 on reserve. Captain Ranulf Compton has been ordered to recruit the company back up to 100 men. Before he can admit any new recruits, however, Compton has to wait for company surgeon Dr. Carl R. Comstock to return to Saratoga Springs to examine the volunteers.
“The excitement about the armory today was almost as great as last June, when the call for service came,” one reporter writes, “But the men through their long service on the border have become accustomed to the life and consequently all went about their work in a much more business-like manner than they did nine months ago.”
The troops are under orders to stay at the armory around the clock, eating and sleeping in their barracks.
“The fact that the boys are not to be allowed to go home at night would indicate that orders to move may be received at any time and that a hurried departure may be necessary,’ the reporter writes.
“No further orders were received today, however, and the local officers consequently have no knowledge of what they may be called upon to do.”
April 2 may prove to be one of the most fateful days in the nation’s history. With that thought in mind, Mayor Walter P. Butler is calling on schools in Saratoga Springs to adopt a patriotic program for that day suggested by the New York State Conference of Mayors.
The mayor asks all public, private and parochial schools to hold student assemblies at noon on April 2, during which students will sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “America,” salute the flag, and adopt “appropriate resolutions of loyalty and support” for President Wilson and the government.