Lester Scott to Minnie Riggle: “How are you all…”
In his third 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, inquires about seasonal activates at home, in this case, the annual corn cutting and rabbit hunting. He also talks about the relatively new phenomenon of electric lighting and details some of the drilling, training, and educational activities taking place at the camp. The content of this letter is a good example of a typical American soldier’s letter home regardless of the era. From the Revolutionary War through the present – the familiar is what is most missed.
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 letter from Camp Lee, dated 100 years ago today, October 8, 1917.
