Edward Hartwick-Soldier and Lumberman

In this bonus episode of the North Country History podcast we commemorate Memorial Day today with Edward Hartwick. Most people know of Edward Hartwick as the man who Hartwick Pines State Park is named for, but what do most people know about Edward Hartwick? 

Edward Hartwick, a native of Grayling, Michigan was an army officer who attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Hartwick graduated from West Point in 1893 and received his commission as a Second Lieutenant. Lt. Hartwick served with the United State Cavalry in the western United States in the 1890s with the 9th Regiment of Cavalry. The regiment, one of the famous "Buffalo Soldiers" regiments consisted of black soldiers, led by mostly white officers. Edward Hartwick would serve with the 9th at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, in Cuba during the Spanish-American War in 1898, then at Fort Huachuca, Arizona until he resigned his commission and left the Army in 1899. 

Hartwick married his childhood sweetheart, Karen "Bessie" Michelson, whose father, Nels Michelson, was an influential lumberman in Michigan. Nels Michelson helped to set up his son-in-law in the lumber business, parterning with Edward Hartwick in a small retail lumber business in Mason, Michigan, before Edward went out on his own, starting lumber businesses first in Jackson, Michigan, then in 1909, in Detroit, and starting up the Hartwick Lumber Company. This business would grow to five locations in the city by 1917 when Edward Hartwick would re-enter the Army.

The U.S. declared war on Germany in 1917, finally entering the Great War on the side of the Allies. Edward Hartwick immediately tried to volunteer for service in the expanding Army but was initially refused. At the time of the declaration of war, Hartwick was turning 46 and was deemed too old to go to war. The Army did have a need for experienced lumbermen and created the 10th Regiment of Engineers (Forestry) to provide needed lumber for fortifications, hospitals, barracks, and other military needs. It was soon evident that more forestry engineers were needed and in September 1917, the 20th Regiment of Engineers (Forestry) was established. It was then that Edward Hartwick was commissioned into the Reserve Officers Corps at the rank of Major, and appointed to the command of the 1st Battalion of the 20th Regiment of Engineers. 

Major Edward Hartwick immediately threw himself into the training and leadership of his men at Camp American University in Washington, D.C. and on November 11, 1917 the first two battalions of the 20th Regt. embarked for France. The 20th arrived in France on November 26, 1917 and soon was sent to southern France where they began their forestry work. Major Hartwick commanded his battalion in Dax, France. In March of 1918, Major Hartwick contracted Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis and died on Easter Sunday, March 31, 1918. He was initially buried at the American Military Cemetery in Bordeaux, France. His remains were exhumed in 1920 and returned to Detroit where they were reinturned at Woodlawn Cemetery. Major Hartwick was one of the many war dead who died not from wounds from battle, but from disease. 

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Episode Sources:

Miller, Godon K. A Biographical Sketch of Major Erdward E. Hartwick, together with a Compilation of Major Hartwick's Letters and Diaries Written During the Spanish-American and World Wars. Detroit, Michigan, 1921 (Privately published).

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