By John Thomas
Many know the story of William Boyce’s encounter with a Boy Scout in foggy London in 1909. There, the Chicago publisher learned of Baden-Powell’s English organization that would form the basis for the Boy Scouts of America. On Feb. 8, 1910, William Boyce, Ernest Thompson Seton, James E. West and others founded the Boy Scouts of America.
Newspaper articles from 1910 – 100 years ago – document that the Scouting movement had already reached the Chattanooga area. A group of men met on Nov. 16, 1910, regarding the beginning of the Chattanooga Boy Scouts. This meeting resulted in the formation of the first troop of Chattanooga. Prof. W.J. Ziegler, a principal in a North Chattanooga school, was Scoutmaster. At this first meeting, a visitor from New York made it clear that the “kindred spirits” aspect of the organization was important to him, for he said, “If the (N)orth and (S)outh had understood one another then as they do now, and there had not been so many durn fools, there would have never been a war.”
The early years were successful ones for Scouting in Chattanooga. Led by men including T.C. Thompson, W.H. Sears, John A. Patten and W.E. Brock, the boys had great philanthropic support. Within a few years after the first meeting of 1910, 300 Chattanooga Scouts had registered. This was a result of unique recruiting methods, including enrolling the city’s newsboys and certain wayward juvenile delinquents who showed promise.
Success was met with concern, however. As World War I became a reality, citizens questioned the role of Scouting in their society. In Chattanooga, the same question was often asked: “Are they training our boys for the war?” One concerned Chattanoogan wrote, “The sight of little toy soldiers – Boy Scouts – about the streets strikes the average onlooker who reads daily of war as about the worst thing that could happen in a peaceful land.” In response, the Boy Scouts increased the service they provided to the community and stood out as model citizens. President Woodrow Wilson came to the defense of the national organization: “I like the idea of the Boy Scouts – because of their secure notion of being responsible to society. They are responsible to the people who live around them – to help maintain the standard of order and fidelity upon which the community depends.” Concerns were soon allayed.
Five years after Scouting came to Chattanooga, the Scout Executive W.C. Fowler bade farewell to Chattanooga when he resigned. He challenged today’s leaders when he said, “I know that I have (left) behind me an organization of which the city can well feel proud, and I ask the ones who will come after me to keep the good work going, and have an organization which will make itself felt all over the country.” He quoted Theodore Roosevelt, whose words still ring true:
“Of course what we have a right to expect from the American boy is that he shall turn out to be a good American man. Now the chances are strong that he won’t be much of a man unless he is a good deal of a boy. He must not be a coward or a weakling, a bully, a shirk or a prig. He must work hard and play hard. He must be clean minded. And clean lived and able to hold his own under all circumstances and against all comers. It is only on these conditions that he will grow into the kind of a man of whom America can be proud. As in life, as in a football game, the principle to follow is: hit the line hard: don’t foul and don’t shirk, but hit the line hard.”
One hundred years later, the Boy Scouts of Chattanooga reflect on their storied past and seek to learn from history as they prepare for the next century of Scouting. Since the dawn of the organization, it has been attacked by critics, but it has withstood the test of time by generously donating its services to the community and by shaping the character of young men.
John Thomas is an Eagle Scout from Chattanooga and remains active on the regional and national levels of the Boy Scouts. He graduated from Hixson High School, Middle Tennessee State University and Washington and Lee University School of Law in Lexington, Va. He can be reached at john.thomas293@gmail.com or 615-904-5159. This article first appeared in Volume 13, No. 1, of the Chattanooga Regional Historical Journal.