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Archiving Wheeling Ohio County Public Library Archives WALS Foundation

From Camp Lee to the Great War: February 1, 1918 – Lester Scott

Archiving Wheeling February 1, 2018February 2, 2018 Leave a Comment 1494 Views

From Camp Lee to the Great War: The Letters of Lester Scott and Charles Riggle: Podcast Episode 30

“I have been saying all the time that this summer will end it for the working class over their and the socialists are raising the devil now. Anyone would know they are nearly starving to death…”

In his twenty-second letter home from Camp Lee, Virginia, to his sister Minnie Riggle, US Army Wagoner (mule team driver) Lester Scott, a World War I soldier from Wheeling, West Virginia, writes that his mumps are gone and he’s feeling fine. He’s gotten a letter from his girlfriend, Cleo, and it seems they’ve had a falling out of sorts. Cleo is apparently also upset with her friend Minnie. Les wants Minnie to see Cleo’s letter. He thinks the war is almost over, but fears he will have to go overseas anyway. As Charles Riggle wrote a couple of days earlier, Les talks about how the German people are starving and says the “socialists are raising the devil.” He says the war will be four years old in August, making it as long as any war. He says when he is sent over, he won’t have time to write. Minnie will receive a cablegram. He closes with, “Watch Cleo don’t pull your hair…”

Elsewhere on the same day, the Central Powers recognized the Ukraine Republic as an independent state and the labor strikes in Germany began to collapse.

Lester Scott was drafted in 1917 and trained at Camp Lee, where so many Wheeling soldiers were trained. And, like so many of his Ohio Valley comrades, he served in the 314th Field Artillery Supply Company, Battery “A,” 80th (Blue Ridge) Division in France. This is his twenty-second letter from Camp Lee, dated 100 years ago today, February 1, 1918.
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Archiving Wheeling Ohio County Public Library Archives WALS Foundation

From Camp Lee to the Great War: January 30, 1918 – Charles Riggle

Archiving Wheeling January 30, 2018January 31, 2018 Leave a Comment 1653 Views

From Camp Lee to the Great War: The Letters of Lester Scott and Charles Riggle: Podcast Episode 29

“Well Abe it look like they will haft to do something pretty soon over in Germany. The way the people is doing there, I think the war will close in 2 or 3 month…”

In his eighth letter home from Camp Lee, Virginia, dated January 30, 1918, PFC Charles “Dutch” Riggle, a WWI soldier from Wheeling, WV, tells his brother James “Abe” Riggle that Les (PFC Lester Scott) is in the hospital with the mumps, like a lot of other boys in camp. He says they are practicing on the “big guns,” which “do roar when they go off.” Though it’s raining “like the devil,” Charles has never seen a nicer winter. He’s impressed that camp is “fixed up dandy,” complete with a cement road to hike on, electric lights everywhere, and hot and cold water in the bathhouse. He inquires about the corn husking back home. He thinks the German people are suffering, so the war will have to end soon. Charles is writing on his birthday. He is 24 years old.

In this letter, when Charles Riggle writes about the “way the people [are] doing” in Germany, he is undoubtedly referring to the food shortages suffered by the German people in the months preceding January 2018, during which a quarter of a million people had starved to death. Also as of the end of January, more than four million workers were striking in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Kiel, Cologne, and Hamburg. The German government’s reaction was swift and harsh, even as the German military dropped 14 tons of bombs on Paris. Despite its tenacity, the Germany Charles Riggle read about in the newspapers was in bleak disarray and must have appeared on the verge of inevitable collapse.

Charles “Dutch” Riggle was drafted into the US Army in 1917 and trained at Camp Lee, Virginia, where so many Wheeling draftees and volunteers—including his sister-in-law Minnie Riggle’s brother, Lester Scott—were trained. Dutch Riggle was a Private First Class in the 314th Field Artillery Supply Company, in France. Riggle was a farm boy with little formal education who grew up in the hills of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. He spelled many of his words phonetically. His letters have been transcribed exactly as they were written. This is his eighth letter from Camp Lee, dated 100 years ago today, January 30, 1918.
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Archiving Wheeling Ohio County Public Library Archives WALS Foundation

From Camp Lee to the Great War: January 24, 1918 – Lester Scott

Archiving Wheeling January 24, 2018January 31, 2018 Leave a Comment 1688 Views

“I never saw as many mumps and measles…I will venture to say that there is one fourth of the boys in camp with mumps and measles…”

In his twenty-first letter home from Camp Lee, Virginia, to his sister Minnie Riggle, US Army Wagoner (mule team driver) Lester Scott, a World War I soldier from Wheeling, West Virginia, writes that he feels fine “with the exception of a big jaw.” He’s in the convalescent field hospital with the dreaded but predicted mumps now, and signs the letter “from Fat Face.” He notes that the mumps are doing what the measles did before: preventing his visit home. He has nothing to do for the next 18 days but listen to the Victrola. Luckily, they have plenty of records. There are six inches of snow on the ground. Les is meeting people from all over the country. He tells Minnie it’s OK to sell his horse Bill.

Elsewhere on the same day aerial battles continued over Flanders, the Brits were conducting air raids into Germany, and British Prime Minister Lloyd George met with Italian leader Vittorio Emanuele Orlando. The two men would have significant roles at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. American evangelist Oral Roberts was born.

Lester Scott was drafted in 1917 and trained at Camp Lee, where so many Wheeling soldiers were trained. And, like so many of his Ohio Valley comrades, he served in the 314th Field Artillery Supply Company, Battery “A,” 80th (Blue Ridge) Division in France. This is his twenty-first letter from Camp Lee, dated 100 years ago today, January 24, 1918.
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Archiving Wheeling Ohio County Public Library Archives WALS Foundation

From Camp Lee to the Great War: January 23, 1918 – Lester Scott

Archiving Wheeling January 23, 2018January 31, 2018 Leave a Comment 1519 Views

From Camp Lee to the Great War: The Letters of Lester Scott and Charles Riggle: Podcast Episode 27

“I have been having some pretty hard luck…”

In his twentieth letter home from Camp Lee, Virginia, to his sister Minnie Riggle, US Army Wagoner (mule team driver) Lester Scott, a World War I soldier from Wheeling, West Virginia, writes that he is “taking the mumps” and his “jaw is swelled some.” He fears a long hospital stay (18 days for mumps) will ruin yet another attempt to visit home. Even the ever-optimistic Les has to admit he’s been the victim of some “hard luck,” but he still sees the silver lining in that if he has mumps now, he won’t have them “sometime again.” He says the mule drivers will be getting their trucks soon [American manufacturers had produced more than 225,000 trucks by 1918].

Elsewhere on the same day the Germans captured trenches on the Belgian coast, Brits and Germans fought a submarine battle near the Canary Islands, rioting occurred in Moscow even as the Congress of Soviets met in Petrograd, and future Nobel Laureate, American biochemist Gertrude B. Elion was born.

Lester Scott was drafted in 1917 and trained at Camp Lee, where so many Wheeling soldiers were trained. And, like so many of his Ohio Valley comrades, he served in the 314th Field Artillery Supply Company, Battery “A,” 80th (Blue Ridge) Division in France. This is his twentieth letter from Camp Lee, dated 100 years ago today, January 23, 1918.
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Archiving Wheeling Ohio County Public Library Archives WALS Foundation

From Camp Lee to the Great War: January 19, 1918 – Lester Scott

Archiving Wheeling January 19, 2018 Leave a Comment 1493 Views

From Camp Lee to the Great War: The Letters of Lester Scott and Charles Riggle: Podcast Episode 26

“There are big bets up here now that we will never go over. Some think [the war] is over now. Some think it will over in two months. Others think will last two years. Judge for yourself is the way I do…”

In his nineteenth letter home from Camp Lee, Virginia, to his sister Minnie Riggle, US Army Wagoner (mule team driver) Lester Scott, a World War I soldier from Wheeling, West Virginia, writes that he’s pretty much given up on getting to come home until maybe the spring when the farm boys get leave to help with the crops. He thinks his girlfriend Cleo’s hair might be too short and he’s planning to write her soon. He thinks they may never go over to France. Many think the war will be over soon. He’s spending his time in classes on military courtesy, first aid, and signaling.

Elsewhere on the same day, the Bolsheviks (under Vladimir Lenin), forcibly dissolved the democratically elected Russian Constituent Assembly that was meeting to draft a constitution in the wake of the October 1917 Revolution. This action ensured Bolshevik control of the new Soviet Union.

Lester Scott was drafted in 1917 and trained at Camp Lee, where so many Wheeling soldiers were trained. And, like so many of his Ohio Valley comrades, he served in the 314th Field Artillery Supply Company, Battery “A,” 80th (Blue Ridge) Division in France. This is his nineteenth letter from Camp Lee, dated 100 years ago today, January 19, 1918.
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Archiving Wheeling Ohio County Public Library Archives WALS Foundation

From Camp Lee to the Great War: January 9, 1918 – Lester Scott

Archiving Wheeling January 9, 2018April 9, 2018 Leave a Comment 1533 Views

From Camp Lee to the Great War: The Letters of Lester Scott and Charles Riggle: Podcast Episode 25

“Don’t look for me until you see me coming. I will get a car to bring me out. I may be out at any time.”

In his eighteenth letter home from Camp Lee, Virginia, to his sister Minnie Riggle, US Army Wagoner (mule team driver) Lester Scott, a World War I soldier from Wheeling, West Virginia, writes that he’s sorry he asked Minnie to meet him as his planned furlough to Wheeling has once again been canceled. He’s going to try to come home with Dutch [our second letter writer, Charles Riggle]. He’s afraid he might be getting the mumps now, a mandatory 19-day hospital stay. He’s sending a photo home and trying to get one of the mule team.

Elsewhere on the previous day, US President Woodrow Wilson had announced his Fourteen Points programme, an idealistic blueprint for peace meant to bring an end to the war. Wilson wanted to address the causes of the war, including an end to the “secret understandings” among nations (the alliance system) and to make the postwar world “fit and safe to live in…for every peace-loving nation.” Among other things, the Fourteen Points called for “open covenants of peace, openly arrived at,” “absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas” (inspired by German submarine attacks), “equality of trade conditions among all the nations,” a reduction of armaments, an adjustment of colonial claims, numerous territorial adjustments including an independent Polish state, and “a general association of nations” (which would become the ineffective League of Nations). Importantly, Wilson called upon the Allied Powers to be fair with Germany, a caveat that would be ignored, and the harsh terms imposed on a defeated Germany would help ensure that the Great War would not be the hoped-for “War to End All Wars.” Though Wilson was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1919 for his efforts, the Fourteen Points were largely ignored at the Paris Peace Conference.

Lester Scott was drafted in 1917 and trained at Camp Lee, where so many Wheeling soldiers were trained. And, like so many of his Ohio Valley comrades, he served in the 314th Field Artillery Supply Company, Battery “A,” 80th (Blue Ridge) Division in France. This is his eighteenth letter from Camp Lee, dated 100 years ago today, January 9, 1918.
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Archiving Wheeling Ohio County Public Library Archives WALS Foundation

From Camp Lee to the Great War: January 6, 1918 – Lester Scott

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From Camp Lee to the Great War: The Letters of Lester Scott and Charles Riggle: Podcast Episode 24

“I don’t know what time I will get to Wheeling. The trains have been so late…”

In his seventeenth letter home from Camp Lee, Virginia, to his sister Minnie Riggle, US Army Wagoner (mule team driver) Lester Scott, a World War I soldier from Wheeling, West Virginia, writes that he’s just gotten out of the hospital after his bout with measles. He’s feeling better and is eager to get to Wheeling for a two-day visit. The weather has been “fierce” in Virginia, so he assumes it’s worse in Wheeling, and he’s not sure a “machine” [automobile] will be able to make it the train station to pick him up.

Elsewhere on the same day, France and Germany recognized Finland’s independence (the latter after Bolshevik Russia, with whom the German Empire was negotiating peace, had done so) and the Italian army had some success in Albania.

Lester Scott was drafted in 1917 and trained at Camp Lee, where so many Wheeling soldiers were trained. And, like so many of his Ohio Valley comrades, he served in the 314th Field Artillery Supply Company, Battery “A,” 80th (Blue Ridge) Division in France. This is his seventeenth letter from Camp Lee, dated 100 years ago today, January 6, 1918.

Archiving Wheeling Ohio County Public Library Archives WALS Foundation

From Camp Lee to the Great War: January 2, 1918 – Charles Riggle

Archiving Wheeling January 2, 2018January 19, 2018 Leave a Comment 1934 Views

From Camp Lee to the Great War: The Letters of Lester Scott and Charles Riggle: Podcast Episode 23

“I say [Germany] ought to get a good whipping before it is over. If they would make peace with her now she would prepare up again. Go back in the war stronger than ever…”

In his seventh letter home from Camp Lee, Virginia, dated January 2, 1918, PFC Charles “Dutch” Riggle, a WWI soldier from Wheeling, WV, tells his brother James “Abe” Riggle that he is recovering from a mild case of the measles. He notes that Less [our second letter writer, Wagoner Lester Scott] is now in the hospital with the same ailment. Dutch regrets missing Christmas at home but says they had a splendid good time and a “number one good dinner” at camp. The weather has been “powerful cold” and it’s “snowing like the devil” as he writes. There are 22 prisoners in the guard house who tried to “run off” for home. Dutch again mentions the U.S. Coastal Artillery (founded in 1901 to defend America’s coastline and harbors). He says the army has made him tough. He has no fear of battle. He’d like to get to France soon but doesn’t think he ever actually will because the Germans are “tired of war” and talking peace [probably a reference to the peace talks at Brest-Litovsk between the Germans and the Bolsheviks (Soviet Russia) that were occurring at the time]. He thinks Germany fears American power entering the war and that “she ought to get a good whipping” lest she arms up again and continues the war. In his own way, Charles seems to anticipate the rise of the Third Reich and the Second World War. He thinks the submarine was Germany’s last chance to win. He closes by noting that James is taking care of Lester’s horse.

Elsewhere on the same day, the British Air Ministry was established to oversee the Royal Air Force and deal with the increasing number of German Luftstreitkräfte bombing air raids (featuring Zeppelins, Gotha bombers, and other aircraft) against Great Britain.

Charles “Dutch” Riggle was drafted into the US Army in 1917 and trained at Camp Lee, Virginia, where so many Wheeling draftees and volunteers—including his sister-in-law Minnie Riggle’s brother, Lester Scott—were trained. Dutch Riggle was a Private First Class in the 314th Field Artillery Supply Company, in France. Riggle was a farm boy with little formal education who grew up in the hills of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. He spelled many of his words phonetically. His letters have been transcribed exactly as they were written. This is his seventh letter from Camp Lee, dated 100 years ago today, January 2, 1918.
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Archiving Wheeling Ohio County Public Library Archives WALS Foundation

From Camp Lee to the Great War: January 1, 1918 – Lester Scott

Archiving Wheeling January 1, 2018January 2, 2018 Leave a Comment 1630 Views

From Camp Lee to the Great War: The Letters of Lester Scott and Charles Riggle: Podcast Episode 22

“Believe me we got some fine looking nurses here. One looks just like Cleo. I wouldn’t mind staying here for awhile…”

In his sixteenth letter home from Camp Lee, Virginia, to his sister Minnie Riggle, US Army Wagoner (mule team driver) Lester Scott, a World War I soldier from Wheeling, West Virginia, writes, on base hospital stationary, that he’s in the hospital with the German measles, but is doing fine. He plans to come home as soon as he’s out. He wants to make sure his girlfriend Cleo is there when he arrives. Like Dutch [Scott’s brother-in-law and our second letter writer Charles Riggle] had noted in a previous letter, Lester has read that the farm boys would get to come home for the spring to get the crops planted. Lester would just as soon stay in the army. There’s a soldier next to him from White Sulphur Springs, Greenbrier County, West Virginia. He’s a hunter with deerhounds and promised to send Jim [Minnie’s husband James Riggle] a pup. Lester thinks the nurses are good looking at the base camp hospital. One looks just like Cleo. He wouldn’t mind staying for a while.

Elsewhere on the same day, German raids near Mericourt on the Western Front failed, the French held back a raid at Verdun, the Austrians bombed Venice Italy, and the Mare Island US Marine Corp football team defeated the Camp Lewis US Army team 19-7 in the 4th Rose Bowl, which featured squads from military bases in 1918 and 1919.

Lester Scott was drafted in 1917 and trained at Camp Lee, where so many Wheeling soldiers were trained. And, like so many of his Ohio Valley comrades, he served in the 314th Field Artillery Supply Company, Battery “A,” 80th (Blue Ridge) Division in France. This is his sixteenth letter from Camp Lee, dated 100 years ago today, January 1, 1918.

Archiving Wheeling Ohio County Public Library Archives WALS Foundation

From Camp Lee to the Great War: December 25, 1917 – Lester Scott

Archiving Wheeling December 25, 2017January 2, 2018 Leave a Comment 1692 Views

From Camp Lee to the Great War: The Letters of Lester Scott and Charles Riggle: Podcast Episode 21

“We are going to have a big dinner today. I can’t remember what I was doing last Christmas…”

In his fifteenth letter home (written on Christmas Day 1917) from Camp Lee, Virginia, to his sister Minnie Riggle, US Army Wagoner (mule team driver) Lester Scott, a World War I soldier from Wheeling, West Virginia, writes that the troops will be having a big dinner at camp and that he expects to be able to come home soon for a visit. He regrets that he won’t have sufficient notice to let his girlfriend Cleo know so that she can be in Wheeling to meet him. He’ll only have five days and he won’t be late getting back lest he be “slapped in the guard house.”

Elsewhere on what would prove to be the last Christmas Day of the Great War, there would be no truce in the trenches as there had been in 1914, when French and British soldiers, along with their German enemies, agreed to unofficial ceasefires along the front to exchange Christmas greetings and even to sing carols together in “no man’s land” (recreated in the 2005 film, Joyeux Noel). Though much smaller in scope and number, a few similar truces occurred again in 1915. But the increasing brutality of the war ensured no recurrence in 1916 nor in 1917.

Lester Scott was drafted in 1917 and trained at Camp Lee, where so many Wheeling soldiers were trained. And, like so many of his Ohio Valley comrades, he served in the 314th Field Artillery Supply Company, Battery “A,” 80th (Blue Ridge) Division in France. This is his fifteenth letter from Camp Lee, dated 100 years ago today, December 25, 1917.