Polk County GaArchives Obituaries.....Charles Dashiell Harris 1919
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W. Stephens wend@bellsouth.net April 20, 2004, 10:15 am

Cedartown Standard, Thursday, January 2, 1919
Capt. Charles Dashiell Harris, At this Christmas time when the war wounded and 
war-weary world is rejoicing that the victory of humanity has come as a 
consummation of the hopes and prayers of millions of people, there are 
thousands of saddened homes, with empty chairs, as silent reminders of the 
tolls that a merciless war has exacted. However, The sustaining spirit of 
sacrifices for the sake of liberty and democracy, for the sake of human 
kindness and love, serves to alleviate as much as possible the sufferings and 
sorrowing of the bereaved. And to have a son, on only child, just crossed the 
threshold into young manhood as to age, and yet with a record of understanding 
and valor that had made him a commander of men, to die for his country, at the 
very front while leading a charge against the enemy. It is a heritage that is 
priceless. And such is the legacy of Gen. Peter C. Harris, Adjutant General of 
the United States army, whose son Captain Harris, the youngest company 
commander in the great American army, fell mortally wounded while at the head 
of his command in an especially gallant charge against the enemy, during the 
now memorable drive in the Argonne. Charles Dashiell Harris was graduated from 
the United States Military academy on August 30, 1917, a member of the class of 
1918, at the age of twenty years and seven months. Although one of the youngest 
members of his class, his standing at graduation was number five, while for the 
work of the final years he stood at the head of his class. His record at the 
academy was the best made by any Georgian in many years. Upon graduation he was 
appointed captain in the regular army. He was assigned to the Sixth U. S. 
Engineers, stationed at Washing Barracks, D. C., and on Dec. 2, 1917, left with 
his company (Co. B.) for the port of embarkation, en route to France. The Sixth 
Engineers constituted part of the Third division, but arrived in France some 
months in advance of the balance of the division. The British being in need of 
the services of engineers in connection with the work of constructing a bridge 
over the Somme river, the headquarters detachment and two companies of the 
Sixth Engineers, including Co. B., commanded by Capt. Harris, were attached to 
the British army and were still so attached when the German drive of March 21st 
was launched. At this crisis these organizations were of great assistance to 
the British in laying out and constructing successive lines of trenches. Later 
they constructed and for several days occupied trenches in the gap between the 
British Fifth and Third armies, which was filled in by the picked up force of 
Gen., Carey, of the British Army. The trenches occupied by Capt. Harris’ 
company were directly in front of the city of Amiens, and therefore in what at 
that period was the most critical part of the line. In a commendatory dispatch 
to the regimental commander Gen. Rawlinson, commanding the Fifth British army, 
states: "I fully realize that it has been largely due to your assistance that 
the enemy is checked." Because of the services rendered by these tow companies, 
the commanding officer of the Sixth Engineers was appointed to the 
distinguished service order by the British government, and was later made a 
Brigadier General in the United States army. The Sixth Engineers rejoined the 
Third division a short time before the second battle of the Marne, and 
participated in that battle and in subsequent engagements, which occurred 
during the advance to the Vesle River. The Third division was later transferred 
to the Argonne forest region, and took part in the battles of Aragonne forest 
and the Meuse River. The Sixth Engineers were trained for combat as well as for 
engineer duty, and when not engaged in the construction of bridges and in the 
laying out and construction of trenches and other engineering work were 
fighting as infantry, Capt. Harris’ own company was in action against the enemy 
either as engineers or as infantry, almost continuously from the 21st of March 
until he was killed on Oct. 20th. The fact that the litter bearers who carried 
him to the dressing station after he was wounded were captured indicates that 
he was in the front rank and close to the enemy at the time he sacrificed his 
life. As a cadet at the military academy young Harris was, without doubt, the 
most popular member of his class. He was president of the Dialectic society and 
cheer leader, and took a prominent part in all the social and other activities 
of his class. The parents of one of his classmates pay him the following 
tribute: "No finer or truer boy ever lived. Charlie was a born leader in 
enterprises, serious or gay, in scholarship, athletics and friendship." He was 
of sunny disposition, kind to everyone with whom he came into contact, and 
showed the most beautiful and touching devotion to his parents. Although 
continuously subjected to hardships and danger during the last seven months of 
his life, his letters were uniformly bright and cheery. In the second battle of 
Marne he was wounded in the forehead by a shell fragment, and in a letter 
written the following day he spoke lightly of the wound, saying that he felt 
like the spirit of ""6""with the bandage around his head. The following extract 
from another letter, written a short time before the second battle of the 
Marne, illustrates his ever cheerful viewpoint: I am all right and in the best 
possible health; with interesting work to keep me busy and enough exercise and 
good food to keep me healthy; nothing to spend money on, so also wealthy, and 
lots to learn, so wise." Never was a young officer better endowed by nature for 
his chosen vocation than was Capt. Harris, and not one had before him a more 
brilliant future than he at the time he fell, facing the enemy. The captured 
litter bearers stated that Capt. Harris was carried to the Red Cross dressing 
station in or near the village of Aincreville, north of the Ardre river, where 
he expired very soon afterwards. His grave, located about six hundred yards 
southeast of Aincreville, was marked by the Germans with a cross, inscribed as 
follows: "Caption Charles Dashiell Harris, American Soldier, October 20." 
Caption Harris was the son and only surviving child of Major General P. C. 
Harris, the Adjutant General of the army, and Mrs. P. C. Harris, and a nephew 
of Senator-elect William J. Harris. (Cedartown Standard, Thursday, January 2, 
1919) 


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