“Just as we were walking down that long line it suddenly crept over me and I realized that I would never again be in the United States…”
The “Great War” had raged in Europe for three years before the United States joined the conflict on the side of the Allies in April 1917.
Like most young American men of the era, those from Wheeling harbored romantic notions of war, it having been more than 50 years since the American Civil War ended. Thousands of Wheeling men eagerly registered for the draft in 1917.
Most of Wheeling’s WWI soldiers served in the U.S. Army’s 80th Division, known as the Blue Ridge in honor of the mountains. Most of these were trained at Camp Lee Virginia near Petersburg under the command of Colonel Robert S. Welsh. A large number from the Wheeling area, like Lester Scott and Charles Riggle, served in the 314th Field Artillery. They started shipping in large numbers to the trenches of France by summer 1918. A few months after that, local casualties were listed in the Wheeling newspapers almost daily.
4.7 million Americans served in the American Expeditionary Forces in WWI, and more than 116,000 died. 58,000 of those Americans came from West Virginia, and 5,000 of those West Virginians were killed or wounded (1120 killed in combat). More than 3000 from Ohio County served. Reports differ, but somewhere between 70 and 100 were killed.
The first soldier from Wheeling to be killed on the battlefield was 20-year-old PFC Edward Franklin Bowman of Company D, 28th Infantry, 1st. Division, whose death notice was received on August 5, 1918.
Less than three months later, and just two weeks before the Great War would finally end with an armistice signed in Paris, Lester Scott of Dallas, West Virginia, a farm boy who was drafted in Wheeling in April 1917 and shipped overseas a year later to serve as a Wagoner (mule team driver) in the 314th Field Artillery Supply Company, was killed in action in France. Les was killed 100 years ago today on October 29, 1918, during the final push to end the war, the massive 47-day Meuse-Argonne Offensive, during which more than 26,000 American soldiers died. It remains the most lethal military operation in the history of the United States.
Les made daily runs with his four-mule team from supply headquarters to the front lines with provisions for Battery A, near a place called Le Morte Homme, “Dead Man’s Hill.” Along the way, Les and the other Wagoners were forced to dodge nearly constant German artillery shells, machine gun fire, and even mustard gas attacks. When the Wagoners would stop to rest their mule teams during these exhausting supply runs, they would often sleep beneath their wagons for protection. That’s what Lester Scott was doing near the town of Romagne when he was struck in the chest by a fragment of shrapnel from a German shell. He succumbed to his wounds while being taken to a field hospital.
When they learned of “Scotty’s” death, his comrades on the front remembered the premonition Lester spoke of as he boarded the troop transport “America” at Newport News, Virginia five months prior. “Yes,” he reportedly said on May 26, 1918, “I am going to watch that horizon as long as it is visible because, for me, it is my last look. The rest of the boys seem not to notice that it is almost out of sight but perhaps they do not know what is in store for them. I have seen what is ahead for me. I don’t know why I say that but just as we were walking down that long line it suddenly crept over me and I realized that I would never again be in the United States.”
Due to the chaos of war and the difficulty of accounting for every soldier who went missing or was injured or killed, desperate families were often left to speculate for months about the fate of their loved ones on the front when the letters stopped appearing in the mailbox. Such was the case for the Scott family. Even Lester’s brother-in-law, PFC Charles “Dutch” Riggle, was unable to find out what happened to Les after he was taken to the hospital.
In fact, it wasn’t until January 1919, that Lester’s sister, Minnie Riggle, finally received the dreaded Western Union Telegram, which read:
“Washington DC 8:20 p Jan 8 1918
Mrs Nannie [sic] Riggle
RFD 1 Dallas WVA
Deeply regret to inform you that it is officially reported that wagoner Lester Scott Field Artillery died October twenty ninth from wounds received in action
Harris the Adjt General”
Adjutant General Peter Charles Harris served the U.S. Army in that capacity from 1918 to 1922. The same post was once held by Horatio Gates and Arthur St. Clair, for whom St. Clairsville, Ohio was named.
A few months later, Minnie Riggle received a second letter.
Supply Co. 314th Field Art.
A.E.F., France, March 21, 1919.
Mrs. Minnie Riggle,
Dallas, W.Va.
R.F.D. No. 1, USA
My dear Mrs. Riggle:
You have undoubtedly long since received from the War Department official notice of the death of your brother Lester Scott, No. 1834962, late Wagoner of this company.
I desire to express my personal, and, as his commanding officer, an official appreciation of the very high character of the service he rendered. I had the pleasure of promoting him and the confidence placed in him was repaid in fullest measure by his energy and the efficiency with which he executed the duties assigned him.
He was severely wounded on the night of October 29, 1918 while on duty with Battery A of this Regiment, which was in a position of great danger near the town of Romagne. I know of no more devoted and creditable service than that displayed by the drivers of battery and ration carts, of which he was one. Day and night, always in places of danger, these drivers were constantly on the move keeping the men of their Regiment supplied with food and water. Had your brother faltered in his duties, many others would have suffered. but not once did he fail in the faithful and efficient performance of this work so essential to the well-being of others, and the highest admiration and respect was accorded him by his comrades and superior officers.
He was promptly evacuated to a hospital for treatment, but his wounds proved to be too serious. We were later notified of his death, and not one man in the company but felt deeply the loss of a loyal comrade and a brave companion in arms.
I wish that I could send to you some fitting message of condolence. I am sure, however, that your sense of loss will be softened and that it will be a sustaining influence to you and his family in the years to come to remember the extreme merit of his unselfish service, and that the supreme sacrifice he has made was a real contribution to the great and noble cause now so gloriously triumphant. In the knowledge of his service and sacrifice, he leaves his family a golden heritage which cannot fail to cheer and comfort them all the days of their lives.
If I can be of any personal service to his family, I would consider it a pleasure to render it in the memory of a brave soldier.
Respectfully,
J. Hambleton Ober
Captain 314th Field Artillery
After the armistice, Lester Scott was buried on the French battlefield where he fell. His body remained in this “hero’s grave” for nearly three years before finally being returned to his family in Dallas, West Virginia, for final burial in August 1921. The remaining members of Battery A attended the funeral as a body, as six pallbearers were chosen from their number to carry their fallen comrade to his final resting place in Mt. View, the little country cemetery not far from the Scott family farm in Dallas.
Lester Scott’s 80-year-old father, Christopher, wept as he was handed the flag from his son’s coffin.
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Join us on November 11, 2018 at 2 PM at the Doughboy monument at Wheeling Park as we remember Les and all who served on the centennial of the armistice that ended the First World War.
October 29, 1918 – Telegram from Adj. Gen. Peter C. Harris to Minnie Riggle (dated January 8, 1919) regarding Lester Scott
Washington DC 8:20 p Jan 8 1918
Mrs Nannie [sic] Riggle
RFD 1 Dallas WVA
Deeply regret to inform you that it is officially reported that wagoner Lester Scott Field Artillery died October twenty ninth from wounds received in action
Harris the Adjt General
Listen to Episode 59 of “From Camp Lee to the Great War: The Letters of Lester Scott and Charles Riggle”
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From Camp Lee to the Great War: The letters of Lester Scott and Charles Riggle” is brought to you by Archiving Wheeling in partnership with the Ohio County Public Library (Wheeling, WV) and the Wheeling Academy of Law & Science (WALS) Foundation.
Jeremy Richter is the voice of Lester Scott. The letters of Lester Scott and Charles Riggle were transcribed by Jon-Erik Gilot. This podcast was edited and written by Sean Duffy, audio edited by Erin Rothenbuehler with music courtesy the Library of Congress.
[Music in October 29, 1918 episode: Music: “America,” [Smith, Samuel Francis] (composer)
[Unidentified band] (performer), 1914, https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.100010370/]
Many thanks to Marjorie Richey for sharing family letters and the stories of her uncles, Lester Scott and Charles “Dutch” Riggle, WWI soldiers from West Virginia.
▶ To listen to the prior Camp Lee podcasts, visit our SoundCloud page.
▶ To learn about the background of this project and watch an introductory video about the podcast, click here.
