Van Buren Sisters

In the summer of 1916, the United States was poised to enter the First World War. Two New York sisters, Augusta Van Buren, thirty-two, and Adeline Van Buren, twenty-seven, were eager members of the Preparedness Movement, a campaign dedicated to strengthening American military readiness at home in anticipation of joining the conflict in Europe.

Gussie and Addie, as they were known in the family, were born into privilege — they were descendants of Martin Van Buren, the eighth president of the United States, raised in New York high society — but they had a pronounced adventurous streak. They learned to fly airplanes, could handle themselves in a boxing ring, raced horses, and rode motorcycles. The sisters decided that though the military wouldn’t allow women near combat lines, they would make excellent dispatch riders — motorcycle couriers, basically, racing between intelligence outposts and the front to deliver necessary communications. Gussie and Addie figured this was a way for women to serve in wartime, freeing up men for combat duty.

These were dangerous positions, as couriers would be valuable targets, riding in