Brig. Gen. Robert Gill, Nuremberg, and the Death of Rommel Thursday, May 21 2009

One of McDaniel’s Alumni who played on the international stage was Brigadier General Robert Gill.

Robert Gill was born to John M. and Emma C. Yingling Gill in Baltimore on June 22, 1889.  He graduated from McDaniel College (formerly Western Maryland College) in 1910 and University of Virgina law school in 1913.

Gill practiced law in Baltimore and ventured into real estate where did quite well.  During the first World War he enlisted as a Captain and served as commanding officer of the  117th Trench Mortar Battery, 42nd Division (nicknamed “Rainbow”) and then as the Division’s  Assistant Chief of Staff.  (The Division’s Chief of Staff and later Commander was Douglas MacArthur.)  As a member of the Rainbow Division Gill distinguished himself and was awarded his first Croix de Guerre with palms Legion d’ Honneur from France.  He was discharged attaining the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

After the War Gill went back to Baltimore and his law practice and real estate venture.   He returned to service soon after the United States entered World War II and was appointed Chief of ROTC Army Specialized Training Branch, Personnel Division, Third Service Command.  Promoted to Colonel in January of 1944, Gill was sent to the European Theater of Operations as Chief of the Prisoner of War Division.

In the spring of 1945, shortly before the Allies declared victory in Europe, President Truman appointed Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson as the United States chief prosecutor to “prepare and present the case against war criminals to a United Nations military tribunal.”  Jackson immediately began preparation for the trials.  By the end of May he was in Europe conferring with American diplomats and Army officials .  He conferred with the French, the English, and the Russians  seeking information and cooperation.  It was during these conferences that Jackson first met Colonel Gill.  Gill would be appointed executive officer under Jackson.

In June of 1945 Jackson returned to the United States and  gave his preliminary report to the President.  It was not a foregone conclusion that there would be judicial trials for war criminals.  There were many diplomats, officers, politicians. and heads of governments in all the allied countries that wanted Hitler and his accomplices summarily executed.  As the War in Europe ended, those who favored trying these men before the World prevailed.  Jackson also, as the advocate for United States, wanted to make a documentary case and not an eye-witness case against war criminals There was crushing documentary evidence against the Nazis.

Another issue was the venue for the trials. After much discussion amongst the Allies the site chosen would be the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg, Germany.

Gill served well under Justice Jackson at Nuremberg and  Jackson nominated Gill to be Brigadier General.  He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, and the Bronze Star. He was also awarded his second Croix de Guerre along with other medals from many nations. Gill died June 22, 1983 on his 94th birthday.  He left most of his papers and memorabilia to the College.

It is Gill’s position as executive officer during the Nuremberg Trials that explains why the McDaniel College Archives has a carbon copy of the deposition of Lucie-Marie Rommel, widow of Field Marshall Erwin Rommel.  Originally this deposition was to be used to turn Germans against the Nazi’s.  I do not think it was ever used, however those who have more information about the Trials at Nuremberg may be able to add if this deposition was ever used.

Notes:  This deposition and other documents from General Robert Gill Papers concerning the Nuremberg Trials can be viewed at Yad Vashem Museum, Israel.  Digital copies are in the McDaniel College Archives and the Robert Jackson Center in Jamestown, NY.

Information for this post came from:

Brigadier General Robert Gill Papers

America’s Advocate:  Robert H. Jackson by Eugen C. Gerhart, The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc. Indianapolis and New York, 1958, 1st ed.

Leave a Response »

 

Civil War Sword Tuesday, Apr 14 2009

It was about this time last year when Dr. Feeley from the McDaniel College History Department came to my office. In his hand he held a circa 1840 saber with an interesting provenance. This saber is on loan to the History Department from Mr. William W. Martin. According to Mr. Martin the saber belonged to Private George W. Sandoe, the first Union soldier killed at Gettysburg.

Why would Mr. Martin have this saber? He received it from his Grandmother, Lola Elizabeth who said it belonged to her Uncle George Sandoe. Lola’s grandfather was William Guinn Black who served with George Sandoe in Company B, 21st Pennsylvania Cavalry. He was also Sandoe’s brother-in-law. William G. Black (1832-1908) was married to Eliza Ann Caskey, who died in 1860. Eliza’s sister Diana (Anna) was married to George W. Sandoe. George and Diana had no children and Diana did not marry again (1883 Adams County War Pensioners). According to the Adams County, Pennsylvania 1860 census William and Eliza had two children William Henry (Lola’s father) and Susanna. Susanna died in 1871. Also according to the census a Susan Cask(e)y was also listed as part of their household. However Susan, who may or may not be related to the Caskey sisters, died July, 1860.

Click on the link below to see a photograph of George W. Sandoe and his wife Diana.

http://www.nps.gov/history/museum/exhibits/gettex/exb/battling_boredom/taking_pictures/GETT09025photograph.html

The saber can be viewed at the McDaniel College Archives at Hoover Library.

Leave a Response »

 

March 13, 2009 Friday, Mar 13 2009

As I mentioned, the McDaniel College Archives is full of small treasures. In 1955 the New Windsor Public Library of Maryland donated books to the College. The College librarian, Elizabeth Simkins, wrote in her annual report that year, “Another large gift of books was that given by the New Windsor Library and the estate of Mrs. Estelle Williams, of New Windsor and New York. We could perhaps have added even more desirable material from this collection if we had had more time in which to select.” Seven of these books survive in the Archives in the Hoover Library at McDaniel College.

GLOOM
Bertha Estelle Bloom Kubitz Williams
1886-1954

Estelle Williams is a footnote in American literature. Born in Frederick County, Maryland, Estelle’s family soon moved to New Windsor, MD. Here her family did quite well until her father’s suicide in 1898. At age 11, Estelle went off to work first in a creamery her father had owned and when she was sixteen as a telephone operator. She helped her mother, an invalid, at home with cooking and cleaning. When she wasn’t working or cleaning she read dime novel romances popular at the time.

Barely eighteen and filled with wanderlust, romance, and the excitement of the “big city” Estelle left New Windsor for Baltimore. In Baltimore she joined the Enoch Pratt Library where she renewed her love of reading – the one affair that lasted her entire life. It was also in Baltimore she met her first husband Hans Kubitz. Kubitz was from Germany and Estelle saw him as romantic, exotic, and very handsome. It wasn’t to last – in 1913 he abandoned her in Texas and he went off to see the world.

Estelle left for Washington, D.C. where her younger sister Marion was living. Estelle wanted to legally rid herself of Kubitz but it was nearly impossible. She rarely heard from him and when she did, it was often only a postmark that told her where he was. In 1914 she and her sister went to the Baltimore Sun newspaper office to check on a list of victims in a disaster to see if her husband was mentioned. It was on this trip her sister Marion met H. L. Mencken, newspaper columnist, critic, and iconoclast. Soon Marion and Mencken were lovers, an affair that lasted until Marion’s impulsive marriage to another in 1923.

It was while visiting Marion in D. C. that Estelle became friendly with Mencken. This friendship lasted long after Mencken’s relationship with Marion ended. Mencken gave her the nickname “Gloom” referring to the Russian novels she read so avidly. Mencken also introduced Estelle to American novelist Theodore Dreiser. Estelle and Dreiser had a torrid affair that lasted three years. “Gloom” and Dreiser, and Marion and Mencken were reigning literary couples as they socialized in New York and spent summers in New Windsor. As they moved through New York Social circles Estelle realized that Dreiser could not be true to her and she slowly let him go. Dreiser left for California with Helen Richardson, a young actress, who he married just before he died. In 1923 Estelle married Arthur Williams. This marriage did not last after Estelle discovered that Williams was unfaithful.

When “Gloom” moved back to New Windsor in 1937 she was alone and no longer communicating with her sister, however she often went to New York City to visit with friends. In 1945 she found out she had breast cancer and heard the news of Theodore Dreiser’s death. Estelle plummeted into alcoholism and her trips to New York became fewer. She became a recluse leaving her house only to buy books and items she needed. She was found dead by her brother in 1954.

The six books displayed here were given to Estelle by Mencken. Mencken’s last mention of Estelle is in a letter to Dreiser in 1937.

For more information on the Bloom sisters:

In Defense of Marion: The Love of Marion Bloom & H.L. Mencken, Edward A. Martin, editor, University of Georgia Press, 1996

Mencken: The American Iconoclast, Marion Elizabeth Rodgers, Oxford University Press, 2005

Dreiser-Mencken Letters: The Correspondence of Theodore Dreiser and H. L. Mencken, 1907-1945, Thomas P. Riggio, editor, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1986

“Gloom” A Case for Stella, R. Bryce Workman, Fountain Publications, New Windsor, MD, 2007

Dear Gloom, HLM

To Gloom, HLM

Dear Gloom, HLM

For Estelle, H. L. Mencken

Dear Gloom, H. L. Mencken

Dear Gloom, HLM

2 Responses »

 

March 9, 2008 Monday, Mar 9 2009

This blog is about the McDaniel College Archives in the Hoover Library. In the future this blog will highlight collections in the Archives and exhibits mounted by the Archives. It will also highlight the history of the College. Today I am just getting started. I am a tyro, a neophyte jumping in (maybe over my head), however McDaniel College Archives has many small and wonderful collections – the information these collections contain needs to be more accessible.

I am Barbara O’Brien the McDaniel College Archivist and lone arranger. I will be the one monitoring this blog. I look forward to hearing your comments, suggestions, questions, and constructive criticisms about the Archives, its collections and exhibits.

Leave a Response »