Catoctin clarion., 1918-12-19
The Edgewood ArseneI.
The Greatest Poison Gas Fac
tory In The World.


TThe following article is taken from
issues of the Baltimore Sun. AS the ar
ticle slater, little has been heard OF Edge
wood. The fact that one of our boys,
PRIV. Calvin N. Eioholtz, of near town,
was burned with gas at this place and
waf In the Edgewood hospital for about
month, revealed to US the nature of the
work done at this plant. We wish we
could have reprinted more of the several
articles descriptive of this great plant.
led.
When the complete history Of the Work
of the various departments of the army
on this side of the Atlantic in the war is
told, none will rise to a higher place of
honor than the unit known as the Edge
wood Arsenel. located in Hartford county,
about rs miles from Baltimore.
1t will not only be record of services
performed in the winning. of the war,
but of herculean effort at speed. of hu-
man bodies manned and burned, of men
sckened by deadly gasses, of death and
heroic sacrifice equalled or surpassed only
by those actually in the fighting on French
or Italian soil. The telling of that story
will add another glorious chapter to Ma
ryland's history, because Maryland men
helped in the building there, and it was
D,1 ,har tn.,p
of all the activities of Edgewood were
concentrated, that the orders issued which
made possible the wonderful things which
transpired there and which created in a
few short months what one of the officers
who went early to the scene described as
a "God forsaken wilderness" to one of
the greatest industries of its kind this
country or any other has ever seen.
Neither Baltimoreans. nor, for that
matter, the rest of the country, except
those who have come into close touch
with it, or have worked at or near the
arsenel, have but the faintest conception
of the magnitude of the work accomplish
ed at Edgewood. They have heard much
of Meade and something of Holabird now
and then. The great proving ground at
Aberdeen has also been exploited more
or less, but of Edgewood there has been
a silence and more or less of mystery for
two reasons; first, because the Govern
ment already possessed the land for it in
the Aberdeen Proving Ground purchase,
and second. because the work done there
was of nature which required secrecy.
Only now, that the war is over, and the
veil of secrecy has been lifted, can the
facts be made known.
Uncle Sam has spent millions at Edge
wood, but they were not spent in vain.
The product of Edgewood was used at the
Battle of the Marne, at Chateau-Thierry,
and helped stem the tide of Hun invasion
of France. 1t was used more lavishly in
later battles and aided materially in the
terrific fighting in the St. Mihiel sector
and later in the fierce conflict above Yer
dun where, from all accounts, Maryland
men and man from Dixie gave their lives
freely so that the Hun line of retreat
might be cut and the greatest war in al
history be brought speedily to an end
1t can now be stated that the product OF
Edgewood was to be used in the reduc.
tion of the great fortress at Metz had
the war not ended so abruptly.
"And they would have captured Metz
without an assault as sure as the sur
rises and SETS" said Col. W. H. Walker
whose special pet Edgewood is. who
planned it, nursed it and witnessed the
fruition of his mind and labors.
He saw the time when he could have
supplied our own and the Allied armie:
gas munitions required for aquick marcf
to Berlin when tho conflict ended and now
he has more gas on hand than either HI
or his Uncle Sam knows what to do with
Col Walker was positive in his state
ment of what was in store for the Hun
and the Hun knew it, too.
Edgewood is really collection of biz
manufacturing plants, with all that i'm
plies housing, hospitals, warehouses TO-
storage and other agencies needed tt
make a gigantic manufacturing centre
1t is the largest poison gas factory OF
earth. There are 300 acres in the tract
guarded along it's entire area by wir'
fences and soldiers in uniform to keel
from the prying gaze of the public ant
possible enemies what wasgoing on in it
interior. 1t is still so guarded and prob
ably will continue so while the Govern
ment retains 1t.
Too much cannot be said for these sol
der boys who have guarded so we'll tn
secret of their activities at the same tim
they were required to work in the shop
and run the various departments of tn
camp Theirs has not been pleasan
occupation nor a safe one. Men hav
been terribly burned there, as terribly a
have those who faced the Hun gasses O
the battle front. The work has been al
duous and many soldiers there left pr
yate lucrative positions to take up tn
drudgery of the camp.
That is the spirit which has actuate
the men at Edgewood, from privates
commanding officers, but the pity of it
that some effort has not been made of
cially to recognize the worth of the labor
they have performed. When the plant
, were first put in operation in the maxim
, of poisonous gases civilian labor WI
, used The work, however, proved
lanna.our To lifo md limb that the fe