The Summerall Guards
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History
The following
history of the Summerall Guards can be found in the book, A History of the
Citadel: The Years of Summerall and Clark by Colonel Dennis Dewitt
Nicholson Jr., pp 29 – 32 – The Citadel Print Shop,
1994. This history is by no means complete and we are looking for
additional information from roughly 1960 to the current day.
General Summerall, Colonel Lang, and former Governor John Peter Richardson, whose administration sponsored legislation in 1841 to establish military education in the state and to whose personal efforts are attributed passage on Dec. 20, 1842, of the act authorizing establishment of The Citadel, were honored in a special way by the cadets of 1931-32. During the academic year the Richardson Rifles came into being. It was a company of cadets composed of one platoon each from the upper two classes. The senior platoon, commanded by Cadet Major James William Duckett, was named Lang’s Grenadiers. The junior platoon, was known as the Summerall Guards and commanded by Cadet Lawrence Bell Steele, Jr. The over-all commander of the first Richardson Rifles was Cadet John Melvin Ackerman, who had his ups and downs with cadet rank as did many cadets over the years. His entry in the 1932 Sphinx shows “1931-32 – Private, Second Lieutenant Company B; Private Company B; Honorary Capitan Exhibition Company, Richardson Rifles.”
The following year there was a sudden change of names of the senior platoon from Lang’s Grenadiers to the Bond Volunteers. The Grenadiers actually performed only in 1931-32. Colonel Lang resigned as commandant that year, and the change may reflect disenchantment on the part of influential cadets. A revealing sentence inadvertently left in the 1933 Sphinx when the change in name was made. It stated, “The Senior Platoon, Lang’s Grenadiers, named after The Citadel’s loyal commandant, whose high moral standards have made our school so well knows, was commanded by Malcom Curtis Booth, of Montgomery, Ala.” Across the page from that sentence appeared a roster of the unit under the caption, Bond Volunteers. Insofar as Colonel Bond was concerned, the change was timely because he died on Oct. 1 that year on the eve of the fifty-first anniversary of his serving The Citadel which he entered as a cadet on Oct. 2, 1882. After 1932, the senior platoon, then known as the Bond Volunteers, took the name Summerall Guards. The Bond Volunteers then became the junior platoon.
The exhibition drill units of the college retained those designations through 1943, the last year that the term Richardson Rifles was used. The Summerall Guards and Bond Volunteers dominated the precision drill platoon scene when this history was published.
Even though 1943 was the final year for the Richardson Rifles, the name was a popular one in the units that year when Cadet First Lieutenant James Moore Richardson commanded and served as the leading guide for the Summerall Guards. Each year, until 1949 the Bond Volunteers elected a senior as their commander. In 1950, they began electing one of their own number for this honor. During the years the Richardson Rifles existed as a unit, the platoons performed simultaneously. Subsequently the senior platoon alone staged exhibitions. The drill units were not formed for the college years 1943-44 and 1944-45, but in early 1946 Cadet Major Wheeler Elliott Chapman, Jr. sparked reactivation of the Summerall Guards and led them through hard work and long hours of practice back into the prominence that previous drill platoons had known. With the closing of the 1946 football season, the platoon was reorganized with Cadet Heyward Newton Dantzler as commander, and, under his leadership, performed well during the 1947-48 college year. With the help of alumni office personnel, Dantzler acquired from graduates enough shakos, plumes, and full-dress uniforms to outfit the guards. The following year the Bond Volunteers were again activated as the junior drill platoon and staged an exhibition on Corps Day. Thereafter, early in the calendar year try-outs where held for members of the junior class who aspired to be Bond Volunteers. With members of the Summerall Guards making the selection, the candidates were eliminated through a system of cuts until only sixty-one remained. Fifty-one of those were regular members of the unit and ten were alternates. On Corps Day each year the Bond Volunteers automatically became the Summerall Guards for the following year. Beginning in 1961, the change was effected by an exchange of rifles during which the retiring Summerall Guards turned over to the Bond Volunteers their 1903 model Springfield Rifles, and, at the moment of exchange, the Bond Volunteers became the Summerall Guards.
At a practice parade on Nov. 24, 1946, M1 rifles were carried by the entire Corps for the first time. From 1882 until 1904 Citadel cadets were equipped with a Springfield rifle of the Civil War era. In 1904 the “Krag-Jorgensen rifle” known officially as the “U.S. Rifle, caliber .30, model 1989,” was issued to the cadets. It was replaced in 1912 by the newer model 1903 rifle.
In 1942, because of shortages of arms, rifles and much other military equipment issued military colleges were withdrawn. Citadel cadets drilled without rifles until a limited number of British Lee-Enfield rifles, unfit for firing, were acquired in 1944 for drill purposes only. Those were replaced by the 1903 rifles later in 1944. When the Corps of Cadets was first armed with the M1 rifle in 1946, the Summerall Guards and the Volunteers were also equipped with that weapon. However, in 1957 the Summerall Guards managed to secure from Army resources enough ‘03s to arm the unit. In 1958 the Summerall Guards resumed performing with fixed bayonets. Citadel drill teams had not used them for many years because bayonets were recalled from The Citadel under pacifist pressure shortly after World War I and were not again issued to the Corps until 1941. In 1960 the Army recalled all ‘03s. The Guards were so eager to retain theirs that Cadet Iredell Jones IV, the Guards’ commander, passed the hat among his charges and collected enough money to purchase sixty ‘03s at the surplus price of $4.50 each. General Mark Wayne Clark, president at the time, decided the college should own those weapons. The Citadel bought from the Army, and the donations of the Guards were returned to the donors. In 1950, the Guards affected white rifle slings, and they were in use when this was written.
The exhibition drill staged by the Summerall Guards is know as The Citadel Series and consists of various complex close-order drill movements, including variations of the standard manual of arms, the German Squad Movement, the flank by flank, obliques, successive peeling movements, and varied individual squad maneuvers. The drill is silent and automatic except for an occasional “sound off” in unison by members of the group.
General Summerall, Colonel Lang, and former Governor John Peter Richardson, whose administration sponsored legislation in 1841 to establish military education in the state and to whose personal efforts are attributed passage on Dec. 20, 1842, of the act authorizing establishment of The Citadel, were honored in a special way by the cadets of 1931-32. During the academic year the Richardson Rifles came into being. It was a company of cadets composed of one platoon each from the upper two classes. The senior platoon, commanded by Cadet Major James William Duckett, was named Lang’s Grenadiers. The junior platoon, was known as the Summerall Guards and commanded by Cadet Lawrence Bell Steele, Jr. The over-all commander of the first Richardson Rifles was Cadet John Melvin Ackerman, who had his ups and downs with cadet rank as did many cadets over the years. His entry in the 1932 Sphinx shows “1931-32 – Private, Second Lieutenant Company B; Private Company B; Honorary Capitan Exhibition Company, Richardson Rifles.”
The following year there was a sudden change of names of the senior platoon from Lang’s Grenadiers to the Bond Volunteers. The Grenadiers actually performed only in 1931-32. Colonel Lang resigned as commandant that year, and the change may reflect disenchantment on the part of influential cadets. A revealing sentence inadvertently left in the 1933 Sphinx when the change in name was made. It stated, “The Senior Platoon, Lang’s Grenadiers, named after The Citadel’s loyal commandant, whose high moral standards have made our school so well knows, was commanded by Malcom Curtis Booth, of Montgomery, Ala.” Across the page from that sentence appeared a roster of the unit under the caption, Bond Volunteers. Insofar as Colonel Bond was concerned, the change was timely because he died on Oct. 1 that year on the eve of the fifty-first anniversary of his serving The Citadel which he entered as a cadet on Oct. 2, 1882. After 1932, the senior platoon, then known as the Bond Volunteers, took the name Summerall Guards. The Bond Volunteers then became the junior platoon.
The exhibition drill units of the college retained those designations through 1943, the last year that the term Richardson Rifles was used. The Summerall Guards and Bond Volunteers dominated the precision drill platoon scene when this history was published.
Even though 1943 was the final year for the Richardson Rifles, the name was a popular one in the units that year when Cadet First Lieutenant James Moore Richardson commanded and served as the leading guide for the Summerall Guards. Each year, until 1949 the Bond Volunteers elected a senior as their commander. In 1950, they began electing one of their own number for this honor. During the years the Richardson Rifles existed as a unit, the platoons performed simultaneously. Subsequently the senior platoon alone staged exhibitions. The drill units were not formed for the college years 1943-44 and 1944-45, but in early 1946 Cadet Major Wheeler Elliott Chapman, Jr. sparked reactivation of the Summerall Guards and led them through hard work and long hours of practice back into the prominence that previous drill platoons had known. With the closing of the 1946 football season, the platoon was reorganized with Cadet Heyward Newton Dantzler as commander, and, under his leadership, performed well during the 1947-48 college year. With the help of alumni office personnel, Dantzler acquired from graduates enough shakos, plumes, and full-dress uniforms to outfit the guards. The following year the Bond Volunteers were again activated as the junior drill platoon and staged an exhibition on Corps Day. Thereafter, early in the calendar year try-outs where held for members of the junior class who aspired to be Bond Volunteers. With members of the Summerall Guards making the selection, the candidates were eliminated through a system of cuts until only sixty-one remained. Fifty-one of those were regular members of the unit and ten were alternates. On Corps Day each year the Bond Volunteers automatically became the Summerall Guards for the following year. Beginning in 1961, the change was effected by an exchange of rifles during which the retiring Summerall Guards turned over to the Bond Volunteers their 1903 model Springfield Rifles, and, at the moment of exchange, the Bond Volunteers became the Summerall Guards.
At a practice parade on Nov. 24, 1946, M1 rifles were carried by the entire Corps for the first time. From 1882 until 1904 Citadel cadets were equipped with a Springfield rifle of the Civil War era. In 1904 the “Krag-Jorgensen rifle” known officially as the “U.S. Rifle, caliber .30, model 1989,” was issued to the cadets. It was replaced in 1912 by the newer model 1903 rifle.
In 1942, because of shortages of arms, rifles and much other military equipment issued military colleges were withdrawn. Citadel cadets drilled without rifles until a limited number of British Lee-Enfield rifles, unfit for firing, were acquired in 1944 for drill purposes only. Those were replaced by the 1903 rifles later in 1944. When the Corps of Cadets was first armed with the M1 rifle in 1946, the Summerall Guards and the Volunteers were also equipped with that weapon. However, in 1957 the Summerall Guards managed to secure from Army resources enough ‘03s to arm the unit. In 1958 the Summerall Guards resumed performing with fixed bayonets. Citadel drill teams had not used them for many years because bayonets were recalled from The Citadel under pacifist pressure shortly after World War I and were not again issued to the Corps until 1941. In 1960 the Army recalled all ‘03s. The Guards were so eager to retain theirs that Cadet Iredell Jones IV, the Guards’ commander, passed the hat among his charges and collected enough money to purchase sixty ‘03s at the surplus price of $4.50 each. General Mark Wayne Clark, president at the time, decided the college should own those weapons. The Citadel bought from the Army, and the donations of the Guards were returned to the donors. In 1950, the Guards affected white rifle slings, and they were in use when this was written.
The exhibition drill staged by the Summerall Guards is know as The Citadel Series and consists of various complex close-order drill movements, including variations of the standard manual of arms, the German Squad Movement, the flank by flank, obliques, successive peeling movements, and varied individual squad maneuvers. The drill is silent and automatic except for an occasional “sound off” in unison by members of the group.
