The history of The Troop 11
In a letter written by the Reverend Francis H Craighill of the Church of the Good Shepherd dated 22 June 1937 he stated that about or possibly before 1911 a group of boys, most of them members of the Sunday school of the church began meeting in a cabin in the backyard of Mr. Thomas Battle. Among these boys were Hyman Battle, Harry Pearsall, Byron Hilliard, Turner Battle (father of our #2 Eagle Scout), Benjamin Wimberly, Robert Smith, Herman Blount and Sidney Gardner.
Under the leadership of Mr. William Williford as Scoutmaster the group affiliated with the new national organization of Boy Scouts, which had started its career the previous year (1910), the first Troop Charter dated June 1911 is marked as Troop 2 with Mr. Williford listed as the Scoutmaster. Troop 1 (later became Troop 5) was at the First Methodist Church under the leadership of Reverend Leslie Howard. The charters were issued simultaneously with the charters coming back from National Office marked as above.
The group moved their meeting spot from Mr. Battle’s cabin to the vestry room of the Church of the Good Shepherd and the Rector Robert B. Owens became the Scoutmaster in 1912 with Mr. William C. Woodard as the Assistant Scoutmaster.
In 1913, Mr. James B. Girdwood “Uncle Jim” took over the Scout work in the Church. Some of the boys that came in under Rev. Owens and Mr. Girdwood included: Charlie Divine, Bingham Owens, William MacDonald, Issac Thorp and Donald Cuthrell.
The early scouts were uniformed, apparently did excellent work and many were advanced to the rank of First Class Scout. For several summers they held a two week camping period at Camp Glenn, a National Guard camp near Morehead City. Mr. Girdwood also took his group for one or more cruised up the Chesapeake Bay chartering a schooner and visiting Baltimore, Washington and Annapolis. A visit was also made to Luray Caverns. On one visit to Camp Glenn, Captain Thomas Thomas, a future Scoutmaster of Troop 11, and a bank cashier in a Beaufort bank took the scouts for a trip on his boat.
During World War I the local Scouts were very active taking part in parades and public occasions, selling Liberty Bonds, and performing items of civic service. A special train with war relics, French soldiers and Charlie Chaplin came to Rocky Mount. When the Rev. Craven departed from Troop 1 and The First Methodist Church, Mr. Girdwood became the unofficial head of Scouting of Rocky Mount and carried on almost single handed for some years. For three or four years meetings were held at the old Masonic building.
About 1922 Mr. William E. Vaughan-Lloyd was secured as the first professional executive and the Tar Heel Council was organized to include the whole North-Eastern corner of the state. The collection of funds from towns outside of Rocky Mount was very difficult and poorly supported and difficult work for about two years. Mr. Vaughan-Lloyd left in 1924 and Mr. Girdwood was then made Scout Executive and he served for some years with great devotion and high efficiency.
Mr. Girdwood’s strength failed and Mr. Fred Nelson was made executive and he was followed by Mr. C.D. Benbow, whose fine character and through knowledge of Scout methods did much to place Rocky Mount Scouting on a firm basis. When Mr. Benbow resigned, the Tar Heel Council was united with the territory south of it to form the present East Carolina Council. Mr. John J. Sigwald was elected as the executive. Many of the old records of the Tar Heel Council were either lost or destroyed.
Somewhere between 1915-1924 Troop 2 (our troop) was reorganized and became known for a short time as Troop 7 (still our troop). After holding 7 briefly we obtained our present number Eleven. Under the same reorganization Troop One became Troop Five. The first charter marked as Troop 11 was dated April 1924.
During the early period of 1911 to 1935 troop records are sparse. Scoutmasters for at least a short time during this period included at least: William Williford in 1911, Rev. Robert Owens in 1912, Mr. James Girdwood from 1913-1924, from 1924-1927 the Scoutmaster varied from Robert Arrington, Frank P. Meadows, Frank S. Spruill Jr, George MacDonald and Captain Thomas Thomas. Mr. Thomas J. Pearsall served as Scoutmaster from April 1927 to May 1929, it is unknown if Mr. Pearsall served at Scoutmaster from June 1929 to Dec 1929, but he did serve again as Scoutmaster from Jan 1930 to Jan 1931. Mr. Sam Austin served from Jan 1931 to Jan 1933 and Mr. William R. Wyatt served from Jan 1933 to Jan 1935.
In Feb 1935 the modern era of The Troop 11 began when William Livingston “Bill” Draper became Scoutmaster. From this point on the troop has accurate and detailed information on each troop member. Bill began the system of recording the name of each troop member numerically placing himself as number one.
IN 1935 the troop consisted on 13 boys in three patrols: The Eagles (Mohawks), The Beavers (Oneida), and The Rattlesnakes (Cayuga). The yellow and black neckerchiefs were immediately changes to our present colors of maroon and white. The white stood for purity and the maroon stood for bravery. Later in 1935 the Silver Fox (Seneca) Patrol was formed. At the close of the 1936-1937 scout year, Buddy Owen practically singlehandedly published the first edition of the troop yearbook- The Vox Pantherne. In 1936, the troop attended the East Carolina Council’s first camporee. The event was held in Greenville, NC. In July 1936, the Fraternity PROTOS was formed for the troop’s older boys. In July 1937, our first two Eagle Scouts (Jack Green and Turner Battle) were awarded their rank at Camp Charles. Also in 1937, The Tiger (Tuscarora) Patrol was formed.
From the 1939 Tarboro Camporee the troop had an impressive record of all Blue Ribbons that lasted until 1978. This is a record unmatched by any other troop. In the summer of 1938 the troop held its first summer camp near Washington, NC known as Camp Rudy. The formation of The Stag (Onondaga) Patrol also came in 1938.
The troop went on many trips in the late 1930’s including jaunts to the World’s Fair in 1939, Skyline Drive, Mount Mitchell, and the National Jamboree in Washington DC. During World War II, the troop was held together by such boys as Lewis Thorp, Jeff Drake, Bob Currin, Edwin Capps, Ben Richardson, Sambo Drake, Jack Thorp, Fred Augst and Fred Best. While Bill served in World War II his father, E.E. Draper was the troop’s active scoutmaster. However, Bill’s name and his father’s appear on the charters as being Scoutmasters of the troop.
In 1953 the troop changed from the “Panther” troop with patrols named as indicated above to the “Iroquois Indian” troop. The patrol names were changed to correspond with the six tribes of the Iroquois Nation. The changes were as follows: Eagles to Mohawk, Beaver to Oneida, Rattlesnake to Cayuga, Silver Fox to Seneca, Tiger to Tuscarora, Stag to Onondaga. During the late 1950’s and early 1960’s the following patrols were added to the troop in this order: Cherokee, Iroquois, Ontario, Huron, and Sequoia.
On May 21, 1963, Bill Draper, our Scoutmaster for 28 years, died of a massive coronary at home. An ambulance was summoned but he was pronounced dead on arrival at Park View Hospital. A Scout honor guard was placed at his casket in the sanctuary of The Church of the Good Shepherd.
Under the leadership of Bart Ritner (Bill’s Assistant), Butch Clayton and Mac Tilley, the troop grew closer together than ever before. There were 98 Scouts and leaders on the troop’s active roster. It was decided to go ahead with the June troop camp. Bart Ritner immediately took over as the acting Scoutmaster with Jimmy Rabil as his assistant. Jimmy had been an Assistant under Bill and had returned to Rocky Mount in April 1963 upon finishing his tour of duty with the US Army. Summer camp was the largest ever with 85 Scouts in attendance.
After seven months of dedicated service and excellent leadership as Scoutmaster, Bart was forced to resign after accepting a position with WRAL Radio-TV in Raleigh, NC. Norman Yates Chambliss Jr was asked to take the reigns as Scoutmaster and he accepted. Jimmy Rabil would stay on and serve as his Assistant Scoutmaster.
Norman Yates Chambliss Jr stayed on as Scoutmaster until Dec 1968 when James Rabil took over the troop. James Rabil stayed on from Dec 1968 to Jan 1974 and was replaced by James MacDonald “Mac” Tilley who stayed on until May 1976. MH Pridgen took over in June 1976 to Nov 1978. From Nov 1978 to Nov 1979 the troop was run by Mike Worthington. From 1980 to 1984 the troop was run by John Bandy. In 1985 to 1987 the troop was run by Charlie Threatt. In 1988 John Dawson took over and stayed on till 1995. In 1996 Frank Hall took over and stayed on until 2003. In 2003 David Pearson took over and is the current Scoutmaster.
