On April 6, 1917, the United States declared war on Germany. It was General John J. Pershing who first sounded the cry “Heaven, hell or Hoboken by Christmas,” meaning that he hoped that the troops departing via Hoboken’s piers would be back by the holidays.
The third part of this dire prediction by the commander-in-chief of the American Expeditionary Forces became the fondest wish of every doughboy who served in France during World War I.
Before the Armistice was signed on Nov. 11, 1918, 1,777,109 American troops had come through Hoboken, embarked on the Army transports, and sailed for the conflict in Europe.
War seizes the city
On April 15, 1917, nine days after the declaration of war, President Woodrow Wilson approved the seizure of the piers and ships of the North German Lloyd and the Hamburg-American Lines. Both of these lines were located in Hoboken.
On April 18, a battalion of the 22nd Infantry formally took possession of the German piers and ships along the Hoboken waterfront.
On July 30, Major General David C. Shanks arrived and began his duties as Commander of the Port. At that time, the port command consisted of 77 officers.
But as more transports became available and troops began assembling at the Embarkation Camps of Merritt in Tenafly, N.J. and Mills in Garden City, Long Island, the group gradually increased to 2,500 officers, 17,000 enlisted men and 14,000 civilians. This figure includes the entire Port Command and camps Merritt and Mills.
A dry town
As he saw that the troops were safely aboard transports, Shanks had some concerns about Hoboken. One of those was that the crews of the German liners frequented the city’s many waterfront saloons to quench their thirst. These saloons near the Embarkation Piers and were a great temptation to the men of the Port Command and the ocean-weary sailors.
After a couple of troublesome months, Shanks wrote to Washington D.C. He requested that a law prohibiting a saloon within one-half mile of any occupied barracks be invoked. This law required a presidential proclamation to make it binding.
But every time Wilson was about to issue such a proclamation, a committee of Hoboken officials, who at that time were Mayor Griffin and commissioners Bach, Londrigan, Schmuling and McFeely, would rush to Washington and plead that the city’s schools and streets would be imperiled if the city lost the taxes it received from these saloons.
The struggle between Shanks and the city officials went on for some time, but was resolved in Shanks’ favor when Wilson finally signed and issued the requested proclamation. The next day, 237 Hoboken saloons closed – all within a half-mile of the Army piers.
Overnight, almost the entire City of Hoboken from Jefferson Street east to the Hudson River piers on River Street had suddenly gone “dry.” It would stay that way until the end of the war.
Christmas in Hoboken
Another minor problem that came up quite unexpectedly for Shanks concerned “Christmas Boxes.”
It seemed that the War Department thought it would be nice if on Dec. 25, 1917, the troops overseas received a Christmas Box from home.
The public was informed of the idea and circulars were sent out telling the home folks what size packages might be sent, and strictly forbidding them from sending any article of perishable or inflammable nature.
In the meantime, General Shanks was notified by the War Department that when the boxes arrived in Hoboken, he was to have each one of them opened and searched for any forbidden articles, bombs or dangerous machines.
The general, knowing the warm-heartedness of the American people, prepared by bringing down six officers and 250 men from Camp Merritt whose sole duty would be to search the boxes for contraband.
These men had no more arrived in Hoboken when the first trickle of boxes began to come through the mail. In a few days this trickle became a river, and by the time 10 days had passed, the six officers and 250 men were helplessly swamped under a tidal wave of Christmas packages.
When this wave was at its height, a double line of mail trucks containing Christmas boxes extended from the Lackawanna Ferry in lower Hoboken to the delivery platforms on the piers. And this line was there day and night.
On one evening alone, the New York City Post Office sent over 53 truckloads with the request that the trucks be unloaded and sent back immediately, as there were thousands of more boxes waiting to be delivered.
By this time, General Shanks’ inspection force, which he had increased hurriedly every day, now came to 70 officers and 1,160 men who worked around the clock on eight-hour shifts.
The group managed to cope with the avalanche of boxes, and by Christmas Day the majority were either in Europe or on their way.
War is over
For the next 11 months, troops poured into Hoboken, marched to the Embarkation piers, boarded the transports, and sailed for Europe.
Then, on Nov. 11, 1918, after 18 months of fighting, an Armistice was signed by the Allies and Germany, and the war was over.
Hoboken went wild with joy. As the factory and steamship whistles blew, the people poured into the streets to discuss the exciting news. Impromptu celebrations sprang up all over town, and the next 24 hours were probably the noisiest and happiest in Hoboken’s history.
The hundreds of thousands of men comprising the American Expeditionary Force were now able to come home. To get them there would be no small job. It would take 13 months and 730 trips by the transports before it was accomplished.
But on Jan. 24, 1920, the SS Northern Pacific arrived at its Hoboken pier with the last contingent of fighting men.
Next week: Hoboken mourns the lost heroes.
Editor’s note: A full version of this column was originally printed in The Hoboken of Yesterday by George Long Moller, Hoboken’s first City Historian. It was reprinted in Hoboken History Issue No. 19, published by the Hoboken Historical Museum. Please visit the museum at 1301 Hudson St. for more information. To read past columns from this year-long series, visit www.hobokenreporter.com.