“Boss I am a little mad this evening. Just had a quarrel on politics. A fellow said he had no use for a darn Democrat. It made my blood boil…”
In his twenty-eighth 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 thinks the troops will be “going over before long.” They’ll be keeping their mules and adding more mules and more men. Les is upset because he’s had a quarrel on politics.
Elsewhere on the same day, the British launched a daylight bombardment of the German manufacturing city of Mainz and mystery writer Mickey Spillane was born in Brooklyn, New York
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-eighth letter from Camp Lee, dated 100 years ago today, March 9, 1918.
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March 9, 1918 Letter – Lester Scott to his sister, Minnie Riggle
Camp Lee,
V.a.
March 9, 1918
Dear sister,
Rec’d your kind and most welcome letter today and was glad to hear from you. I am well and in good health. hope you are all the same. well Boss it looks like we are going to go over before long. it was announced last night that we will keep our mules. we will get some more new men and more mules to. that suits me fine. I dont know wether I will drive or not. I hope so. it will be a fine job this summer. we will all get a helper to. I havnt made up my mind yet wether I will come home yet or not. I hardly think it is nessary. Boss I am a little mad this evening. just had a quarrel on politicks. a fellow said he had no use for a darn Democrat. it made my blood boil. I told him what I had to say and he would not only. well I will close for this time. ans Soon. tell Jim not to allow no one to pass him with Bill when he rides him.
Good Bye
Les
Listen to Episode 37 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 for March 9, 1918 episode: “Bugle Call Rag,” Metropolitan Military Band, 1915, http://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200035785/]
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.
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