Barton Hall

Barton Hall houses the Department of Military Science (Army ROTCNavy and Marine Corps ROTC and Air Force ROTC) and, as such, is a veritable trove of military history. Barton Hall was built between 1914-1917 as a drill hall for the Cadet Corps, replacing the original Fuertes Observatory. In 1918, the university replaced the existing Cadet Corps with a unit of the United States Army’s Student Army Training Corps (SATC) , the predecessor of today’s Army ROTC. Barton Hall was originally called the ‘New York State Armory and Drill Hall’ or just ‘The New Drill Hall.’ It was renamed Barton Hall in the 1940s after Colonel Frank A. Barton. [37]

Barton Hall served as a ground school for military aeronautics during World War I. Cornell provided a total of 4,598 commissioned officers to the war effort, more than 2% of all WWI officers, and more than any other institution including military schools like West Point. [37] During the war, Cornellians earned 526 decorations and citations; several of them received special distinction. Five Cornell pilots became aces. You can see students performing drills and reviews on the Arts Quad in historic photos from this period in the Wortham Military Museum on the fourth floor. [41][38] 

Barton Hall served as a drill deck and armory during World War II. Cornellians again responded to the national call to arms with more than 20,000 serving in the armed forces in every theater of war. 1942 also saw the beginning of a Naval Officer Program, which would evolve into the Naval ROTC by 1945. This program allowed students to be trained as officers in the Marine Corps, so it also brought our first Leathernecks to Cornell. [55]

The Naval program and student officers were originally housed in Sage Hall, with the Diesel Program in a temporary laboratory across the street from Olin Hall, but as the program expanded, the Navy used Cascadilla Hall and Sheldon Court to board the students. In the 1940’s, the offices moved to a temporary Quonset hut located where Phillips Hall currently stands. In November 1945, Cornell transitioned from the early Naval Officer Training Program and our more modern Naval ROTC (NROTC) program was officially established. And, in 1953 the unit moved to its current location in the purposebuilt blockhouse on the track level of Barton Hall. Students were moved into the newer dormitories and fraternity houses.

In 1950, the Army Air Sciences and Tactics Division formally transitioned into our Air Force ROTC Detachment 520. In 1960 military education became voluntary. Women have participated in ROTC since 1971, first with the Air Force and then with the Army the following year. [57]

Memorial plaques

There are two plaques in the main stairwell that commemorate Cornellians who served in the US Army in WWI, on for Col. Frank A. Barton (1891) and the other for Major Louis Livingston Seaman (1872).

Col. Frank A. Barton (1891)

During his time as a student at Cornell, Col. Frank A. Barton was a member of Delta Upsilon and Quill and Dagger. He graduated from the Sibley College of Mechanical Engineering in 1891 and was commissioned in the United States Army the same year. He was one of the first two Cornellians to earn a commission in the US Army, and served with distinction in the Spanish-American War, the Philippine Insurrection, and the Mexican Punitive Expedition. In 1904 he returned to Cornell as a professor of Military Science and Tactics and the first Commandant of Cornell’s ROTC unit. Col. Barton laid the foundation for the renowned ROTC we have today. [25][26]

 

Major Louis Livingston Seaman (1872)

Major Louis Livingston Seaman, was born in Newburg, N.Y. October, 17, 1851. He arrived on the Cornell campus in October 1868, was president of the class of 1872, and graduated with the first four-year class that same year. He went on to earn his MD from Jefferson Medical College in 1876, a second MD from the Medical School of New York in 1877, and later a law degree in 1884. Major Seaman served in the Spanish-American War, the Russo-Japanese War, and WWI.

Among his many accomplishments, he invented a splint for a fractured patella, and an instrument for auscultatory percussion, for which he won the de Costa Gold Medal. He invented the first magazine belt to be worn supported by a soldier’s shoulders, rather than waist. He was also made an honorary life member of the Red Cross Society.

Major Seaman’s first military experience was at the start of the Spanish-American War (1898), in which he was the first surgeon to volunteer for service. He was President of the Cornell Club at the time and, while presiding over a banquet in the Waldorf Hotel, he heard news that the battleship Maine had been sunk. He immediately left the table and telegraphed his application to serve as a surgeon in the US Army. His application was accepted, and he was appointed surgeon of the 1st US Volunteer Engineers, with a commission as Major Surgeon. His unit, with more than 20 Cornell volunteers, saw service at the front during the Cuban and Porto-Rican campaigns. He was awarded the Service Medal of the United States at the end of the war.

He continued to serve, treating the wounded with the 17th U.S. Infantry in the Philippines (1899-1900), in the Boxer Campaign in China (1900-1901), in the Zulu Campaign in South Africa (1902), and with the second Japanese army in Manchuria during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-5), where he was decorated by the Emperor of Japan with the order of the Rising Sun, he was awarded the Order of Special Merit and the Order of the Treasury, both for distinguished service in the field, and awarded the more Service Medals during this time. He served in the Balkan Wars (1912-13) with the Servian Army.

He was also the first American volunteer officer in World War I. Two days after Germans crossed the border and Britain declared war, on August 7, 1914, he and his wife, Mary Stuart Huntington, left for Belgium. From the first days of the war Major Seaman was convinced that the US would be drawn into the hostilities. He sent the following cablegram to President Wilson on August 25, 1914:

Woodrow Wilson, My dear Mr President: Unless the barbarism of the German Kaiser ceases, the civilization of Europe will be set back a century. The rules of the Hague Tribunal have been grossly ignored. Innocent women and children have been bayonetted. Old men and non-combatants have been shot. The white flag and Red Cross Ambulance have been fired upon. A Belgian Red Cross Officer was shot while assisting at the burial of a dead German. Villages of non-combatants have been burned and historic monuments desecrated. Churches have been sacked, and hostages murdered. This morning, bombs, dropped from a Zeppelin in an attempt to assassinate the royal family, killed eleven citizens and desperately wounded many more. This is not war but murder. As vice-president of the Peace and Arbitration League of the United States, I implore you in the name of humanity and justice to back American protest so vigorously that German vandalism must cease and the future disarmament of Europe be made possible. Respectfully yours, Louis L. Seaman

The dispatch from President Wilson directed Major Seaman to remain silent. In response, on August 26, 1914, Major Seaman wrote:

My dear Mr. President: Preferring liberty of speech to military or other service where it is denied, especially when silence would be a crime against humanity, I herewith tender my resignation as an officer of the Reserve Corps of the United States Army. Respectfully, Louis L. Seaman

Having resigned his position, at the age of 62 he offered his services to the Belgian army and reported as a Red Cross surgeon. He helped to organize the first American Volunteer Ambulance Corps in 1914, naming one of the ambulances, “Cornelia” for Cornell. He served with the Ambulance Corps from 1914-1916. He was wounded at Verdun but survived the war and received the Order of the Red Cross of Belgium, and the Order of Leopold for extreme bravery in combat and meritorious service of immense benefit to the Belgian nation. He was also awarded the Order of the Crown by the Queen of Romania.

After the war he was elected to fill the Cornell Alumni Trustee position that was left vacant when Willard Straight died. He was a president of the Cornell Club of New York. He donated the “Varsity Cup” which was to represent rowing supremacy on inland water among several leading universities. This cup is still held by the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) and is still awarded each year. In 1924 he established five yearly prizes to be awarded to the different branches of military education at Cornell to encourage recognition of the necessity for military instruction. He also helped to arrange a gift from the Belgian and British governments to Cornell of two German Krupp guns and a 30-ton British Mark V tank in 1926. In 1938 a student was trapped inside the tank overnight and shortly thereafter it was sold. [30][39][40][72][73]

Major Seaman’ wife, Mary Stuart Seaman, is memorialized for her service during WWI. She is reported to be the first American woman to volunteer for service in the World War, entering at the beginning of the conflict, and seeing active service in field hospitals for the duration of the war under the personal direction of the Queen of the Belgians. Her memorial can be found above the door to the Memorial Shrine, on the north side of the cloister at the WWI War Memorial at Lyon and McFadden. [59][73]

Present Day

Barton Hall now houses our Department of Military Science including Excelsior Battalion of the United States Army ROTC; Cornell Naval ROTC (with about one-in ten choosing the Marine route); and Air Force ROTC Detachment 520. Barton Hall also contains a 200m track, basketball courts, CUPD, the Major Richard Gannon Memorial Room, the Hart Memorial Library, and the Wortham Military Museum. [10][11] 

In 1973, the Wortham Military Museum was established on the fourth floor of Barton Hall, to record and preserve Cornell’s military history.  Made possible by a bequest from Captain Howard Wortham, class of 1914 who served with distinction in the Army Quartermaster Corps, the museum is managed by the Army ROTC and contains historic photos and military memorabilia. The Wortham Museum was featured in a 2006 Cornell Chronicle article and updates to the Museum led by Maj. Trey Birdwell, Cornell’s Army ROTC executive officer, were covered in a 2016 Cornell Chronicle article.

Army ROTC also has the Hart Memorial Library, which was dedicated to the memory of 1LT Robert Bruce Hart of the US Army. 1LT Hart was born May 16 1963. He was the Cadet Tri-Services Commander in 1983-84 and gave his life in the preservation of peace. On December 12, 1985 when returning home from a peacekeeping mission in the Sinai, Egypt, the chartered DC-8 plane carrying the 248 members of the 101st Airborne Division of Fort Campbell, Kentucky and 8 crew members, crashed during takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland. The following Monday, December 16, 1985, President and Mrs. Reagan visited Fort Campbell for a memorial service honoring the fallen soldiers. [67][68]

Navy ROTC has the Major Richard Gannon Memorial Room.  Major Gannon was Killed in Action in Iraq in 2004 while serving as a company commander.  Richard John Gannon II attended Cornell University on a Navy ROTC scholarship, graduating in 1994 with a double major of Political Science and History. He took advanced leadership training at the U.S. Naval Academy and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1995. Major Richard Gannon II, USMC, was a graduate of the Leadership Education and Development (LEAD) Master’s Program in 2000 and the 13th Company Officer at the United States Naval Academy through the summer of 2002.

Major Gannon excelled as an educator and developer of leaders, inspiring midshipmen throughout the Brigade while serving as 13th Company Officer, Officer Representative for the women’s crosscountry team, instructor for the Marine Junior Officer Practicum Course, and mentor for the Semper Fi Club. Major Gannon left the Naval Academy in May 2002 and was assigned to Third Battalion, Seventh Marine Regiment, First Marine Division, Marine Expeditionary Force out of Twentynine Palms. He later deployed in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM in 2003 and again in 2004.

On 18 April 2004, Major Gannon was killed while giving aid to a wounded Marine in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. Because he had been previously selected for promotion before his death, Captain Gannon was posthumously promoted to Major at the same time he was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for his bravery and gallantry in action. [42]

His Silver Star Medal Citation reads:
The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to Captain Richard John Gannon, II, United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action against the enemy while serving as Commanding Officer, Company L, Third Battalion, Seventh Marines, Regimental Combat Team 7, FIRST Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Central command in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM on 17 April 2004. While Capt Gannon was leading his company to reinforce a besieged sniper observation post, his unit came under intense rocketpropelled grenade, medium machine gun, and small arms fire. Capt Gannon’s combined antiarmor team countered this attack with a destructive direct assault employing heavy machine gun fire and guided missiles. While Company L assaulted a fortified position, housing an enemy squadsize force, Capt Gannon employed rockets, heavy machine guns, and snipers to support the maneuver of his platoons. The assault section leader was struck by enemy fire and fell wounded during this engagement. While the section leader was evacuated from the street into the cover of a compound courtyard, Capt Gannon continued to press the attack, steadily moving forward to assist the wounded Marine. Maneuvering through the enemy fire while ignoring his own safety, Capt Gannon entered the courtyard to search for the wounded Marine. Upon entering a house, Capt Gannon exchanged small arms fire and grenades with 9 Mujahadeen fighters and fell mortally wounded. By his bold leadership, wise judgment, and complete dedication to duty, Captain Gannon reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service. [43]

The Major Richard J. Gannon II, USMC, Award was established in 2005, honoring the commitment and excellence in leadership, mentorship, and development demonstrated by Major Gannon throughout his career as a Marine Corps officer. [42]

Interview at the time of Major Gannon’s death.

Access instructions:

To view the plaques dedicated to Barton and Seaman, enter Barton Hall from the west side (facing the Statler driveway) and go up the main stair case, the plaques are located on either side of the stairs.

To view the Wortham Military Museum or the Hart Memorial Library, contact Army ROTC at (607) 255-4000 or armyrotc@cornell.edu or stop by the main office at 101 Barton Hall.

To view the Gannon Memorial Room, contact Navy ROTC at (607) 255-4202 or navyrotc@cornell.edu

You can also view a number of historic photos of Barton from as early as WWI at this Cornell University Library page.