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I have a copy of some papers that Willis Bryant wrote, they say:
WILLIS STANLEY BRYANT
Born in the Hindostan Falls district on the White River near Shoals, Indiana-about 5:00 p.m. Jan 11, 1888- during a heavy snow storm.
In my family line is the blood of Capt. Robert Edwards a close associate with Capt. Kidd. Edwards was not a pirate now was Capt. Kidd. Both held papers as Captains of Privateers under the British Crown.
William Cullen Bryant was a distant relative as was also several other who had a yn for military.
Enlisted in the Army in Aug 1906 and was selected for a new branch of Field Artillery- Called Mountain Batteries.
Served 2 yeras in the Moro country of the Southern Philipines-stationed on the Island of Jolo:-pronounced "holo" down at the head of Macassar Straits. Was in the second Sulae Campaign againd the well know Moro Chieftain name Jikiri.
Returned to the U.S. for Station at Fort DA Russell-disch. and returned home-but could not find peace in fathers jewelry store- and in two months was back in the Field Artillery at Ft. Myer, VA. (by this we know his father was still aive in 1908).
Was commissioned in F.A. in 1917 as an emergency officer and at end of the was was one of 23,000 officers who took a competitive exam to fill 4000 vacancies in the regular Army. Was on of the 4000.
Was sent to Ft. Bragg in 1922 ans was selected to command Batter "C" 5th F.A. which was the first battery to be equipped with the largest field gun up to that time, issued to the army.. His job was to mite the drill regulations and find all the ---spots. The offspring of the 240 is now seen as the 280 m/m the Atomic --------. The commanding officer of Ft. Bragg was Brig. Gen Albert J. Bowley- who married Elsie Ball a sister of the well known and much loved Mrs. DuPont and who resided at Edge Hill Farm till his death.
Another task Gen Bowley gave me was searching the earliest records fo the Army and tracing the history of the old Alexander Hamilton Battery that was the ---such organized as the N.Y. Provisional Battery.. I was attached to the War College of the Army in the historical section while I did my work and had completed it in four months. The battery that carried the title from there was Battery D. 5th U.S Field Arty. The work was approved by the Army's General Staff.
In 1926 i went to Ft. Des Moines for dudty and in 1930 I was selected to organize and train a new battery and March it overland to Ft. Snelling. At which station I remained for four years- till June 1934. While there I startled the audience at the State Fair by using my guns to play the bass drum score when the National Anthem was played.
'MY UNCLE BILLY"
BY Willis Stanley Bryant
his name was William O Davis. I never learned what the "O" stood for.
My paternal grandmother, Uncle Billy's sister. said she thought it stood for "Oliver" and cited in support of her idea, the fact that Uncle Billy was a great admirer of Oliver Cromwell. So there the matter rested. I never answered Uncle Billy-because among the hill-folk of our section it was not considered "good form" to be prying into another persons' private affairs. That rule was observed within the family circle. There was one exception, however, and that was when a governament offical asked questions-answer was made promptly. I was trained early to respect "government people". The home area of the hill-folk referred to here is in Martin County with Shoals as the county seat. South of that town the road follows the east bank of the east fork of the White River to the junction with Beaver Creek which flows in from the east along the base of Gormleys Bluff. The change in country at this point is abrupt-the road swings east and follows the curving face of the massive sandstone bluff, curving to the right into a little hide-away place, a perfect sport for a short rest and a moment of meditation-beneath the arched dome overhead made by the meeting of the leafy brances of the great trees. To help woo the traveler to to a mood to rest-there comes the sound of running water and the wandere will notice a long pipe has been driven back under the overhanging mass of the bluff-and from its mouth there issues a stream of sparkling water falling into a large section of tiling set on and thus forming a perfect watering tub from which a pair of horses may drink. This has been in daily use for over a century. All could drink from the cool waters of Gormleys spring and be refreshed. This is the entrance to that area where the hill-folk lived. The old time family names are still there on gatesigns and road markers-Hawkins, Henderson, Cook, Hickman, Stuarts, Able, Bledsoe, Judge, Hughes, Davis, Lanes, Yarbrough, Lents, Forces, Bryant, Todd, Hewitt, McManus, Jones, Hyatt-solid English names.
We lived in the home of Uncle Billy Davis which lay in the dip between the home of Uncle Aaron Davis of the high ground to the south abouth a half mile and the Smith homestead about the same distance to the north. The house was the familier log type dwelling of that section of the country with the exception that it was a "dressed up" type which means that the logs, when laid in place were "adzed" so that the inner face was smooth as was also the outerface. The part of the log that became the top and bottom sides were given a rough job of smoothing and the space was packed with clay in which some straw was mixed to provide binder quality. The result was a very pleasing job in utility and appearance. There were two porches, to the east and west. On the east side a grape arbor cover was added. I loved those grapes!
As I remeber, most of the homes used the grape arbor against the house as a covering over the main entrance-a cool place to sit under in the heat of the day and too-in the evening the wind made soothing sounds that tended to relax tired bodies in preparation for bed and sleep. Oftentimes,I would fall asleep waiting for bedtime. I usually found that Uncle Billy managed to pull my sagging form over onto his lap and, then from there I found my way to bed. There comes back to me from that shadowland of memory some whispered instructions-"Careful Myra, those little bones are tender. Pull the boot straight." And so to bed-until Uncle billy stirred in the morning which was usually aroung four o'clock-too early for a six year old to rise.. so i moved over into the warm place vacated by Uncle Billy and went back to sleep.
Our household in those days consisted of four full time members during the week with a fifth added for the week-end. The four were Uncle Billy, a widowed sister of his named Myra (i'm assuming this is Willis' grandmother) her daughter named Adda, about four and myself 6 or 7 and my Uncle Charley (about 18) the yougest son of my grandmother. I always called my grandmother by the name of "MY". Somehow I never seemed able to call her by any name other than MY. She accepted that name and so didi everyone else. Uncle Charley was the week-end visitor. He lived his work days at the large farm owned and operated by Seth Force.
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