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Chapter Seven: Midnight at Leavenworth
- Johns Hopkins University Press
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Chapter Seven Midnight at Leavenworth Yea, before we would knowingly wrong a man to the value of a penny, we would rather lose a hundred pounds; and before we would strike our greatest enemy with the hand, to say nothing of the gun or sword, as the world does, we would rather die, and let our own lives be taken. —The Chronicle of the Hutterian Brethren Cheering the Armistice, Staying on Alert San Francisco celebrated the armistice with a human chain of five thousand people, who gathered at the Civic Center, still wearing flu masks as a precaution. Like so much of the rest of the country, the city was just emerging from the worst of an influenza epidemic when war, at least on paper, came to end on November 11, 1918. So the people of San Francisco offered up a muffled rendition of “Auld Lang Syne” in an impromptu chorus, swinging their clasped hands in time to the music and punctuating the end of the song with the American war cry “Yip!” Up north along the coast in Washington State, near where the Hutterites had started their detention, Tacomans also streamed from offices and factories to revel in the news. The giant American flag that proved too big for a pole on Memorial Day finally made its appearance, as staff members of the News Tribune unfurled the flag from the top of their headquarters at the Perkins building. From the cornice above the sixth floor, the flag touched down near the sidewalk. A reporter with a sentimental eye captured the scene: “A Midnight at Leavenworth 157 cheer rose from the throats of the crowd at 11th and A and a band struck up ‘Keep the Home Fires Burning.’ Not a dry eye remained in the crowd and, with hats over their hearts, Tacoma declared that the Great War was over.”1 The armistice signed by the allies and Germany signaled a victory for the United States, but troops (and their anxious families at home) who expected an immediate withdrawal from Europe were in for a disappointment. The American military machine would remain in place in France without relaxation pending German compliance with the terms of the armistice, including the immediate removal of troops from France and other territories. Secretary Baker said: “The signing of the military armistice enables us to suspend the intensive military preparation in which the country was engaged . It does not, however, signify the formal end of the war.”2 Readers of the Examiner in San Francisco were reminded that however strong the convictions of the four Hutterites, however righteous their stance, other American young men were continuing to shed their blood on behalf of the nation. Two days after the armistice, the army reported 482 deaths on that day alone, bringing the total number of casualties since the war began to 25,096. Three days after the armistice the Hutterites left Alcatraz, still in chains. Under overcast skies that threatened a chilly rain, they boarded a train for the disciplinary barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The reason for the transfer at this time is unclear, especially since the army would send many conscientious objectors the opposite direction, from Leavenworth to Alcatraz , in the coming months. Security ratcheted up for the men when they began this leg of their journey in detention on November 14. In traveling to Alcatraz, four officers guarded them. This time six officers, all sergeants, accompanied the Hutterites, who were once again chained in pairs. The Hutterite men traveled by train through Texas, en route to Fort Leavenworth . The trip took four days and five nights. Michael Hofer wrote his last letter from the train, near the end of the trip. If taken at his word, he was in good health. But the multiple references to the afterlife suggest otherwise : Grace and peace be with you. I want to write to you that we are now on the way to Fort Leavenworth. We don’t know, however, what will become of us [44.222.149.13] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 11:02 GMT) 158 Pacifists in Chains there. Only God the almighty knows if we will see each other again in this world, for we go from one affliction to the other. We plead earnestly to God, for he has promised us that not a single hair falls from our heads without his will. And if we do not see each other again in this world, then we will see one...