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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 1516 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

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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 1531 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 1932 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 1628 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 1689 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.

Archiving Wheeling Ohio County Public Library Archives WALS Foundation

From Camp Lee to the Great War: December 23, 1917 – Charles Riggle

Archiving Wheeling December 23, 2017January 2, 2018 Leave a Comment 1706 Views

From Camp Lee to the Great War: The Letters of Lester Scott and Charles Riggle: Podcast Episode 20

“The Coast Artillery will never go across the pond. They may never see a battle unless the Germans come across an they hant much danger of them doing that…”

In his sixth letter home from Camp Lee, Virginia, dated December 23, 1917, PFC Charles “Dutch” Riggle, a WWI soldier from Wheeling, WV, tells his brother James “Abe” Riggle that his name was drawn 104th for furlough, so it will be a good while before he gets to come home — probably February. He’d like to come home with Less [our second letter writer, Wagoner Lester Scott] but thinks that won’t be possible. He says he saw in the newspaper that Bill Riggle was sent to the U.S. Coast Artillery in Georgia [established in 1901 to defend the U.S. coastline and harbors in case of attack]. He thinks that’s good because he doesn’t think they will be sent to France. A few cooks have been sent over. He also read that all the farmers would be sent home in the spring. Charles isn’t sure he wants to go. He feels army life has done him good. He’s heartier than ever. He says the expect a big dinner for Christmas in camp and a lot of stuff from the Red Cross. He says they had nine inches of snow. He asks Abe to save him some apples as they are too expensive at a nickel a piece at Camp Lee.

Elsewhere, peace talks between Soviet (Bolshevik) Russia and the Central Powers had been initiated the previous day at Brest-Litovsk, a city near the Polish border in what is now Belarus. The negotiations would continue for two months and would lead to, among other things, the ceding of the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) to Germany as well as the release of Russian claims in Poland, Ukraine, and Finland. The Bolsheviks were involved in a civil war for control of Russia and were willing to agree to harsh peace terms to free up resources.

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 sixth letter from Camp Lee, dated 100 years ago today, December 23, 1917.

Archiving Wheeling Ohio County Public Library Archives WALS Foundation

From Camp Lee to the Great War: December 20, 1917 – Lester Scott

Archiving Wheeling December 20, 2017January 2, 2018 Leave a Comment 1876 Views

“The doctor asked me what I was before I came to the army a preacher or a prize fighter… I told him I was nothing but a common farmer. I weigh 188 now so you know I would look like a preacher…”

In his Fourteenth 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 will not be home for Christmas but expects to visit for five days after New Year’s. Christmas furloughs are being determined by a random drawing, but after New Year’s they will be granted alphabetically. When Les and the other troops were examined for tuberculosis, the doctor asked if he was a preacher or a prize fighter. He thinks he’ll be driving a truck instead of driving mules. He says Dutch [our second letter writer, PFC Charles “Dutch” Riggle] was also driving mules that day. Les had luck hunting opossum, until some were stolen.

Elsewhere on the same day, the Battle of Jaffa (Palestine) would begin, with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force and a few Scottish brigades of the British Empire on one side and the Yildirim Army Group of the Ottoman Empire and German Empire on the other. A daring nighttime river crossing by the Scottish brigades during a heavy downpour secured victory for the British.

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 fourteenth letter from Camp Lee, dated 100 years ago today, December 20, 1917.

Archiving Wheeling Ohio County Public Library Archives WALS Foundation

From Camp Lee to the Great War: December 15, 1917 – Lester Scott

Archiving Wheeling December 15, 2017January 2, 2018 Leave a Comment 2191 Views

From Camp Lee to the Great War: The Letters of Lester Scott and Charles Riggle: Podcast Episode 18

“If one deserts in time of war the punishment is death, so I guess I will not try it…”

In his thirteenth 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 won’t be coming home for Christmas because the Secretary of War won’t allow it. Secretary Newton D. Baker issued a directive December 11 instructing divisional commanders at national army and national guard camps to restrict Christmas furloughs due to the harmful effect a general leave would have on camp discipline and the heavy burden it would throw on the railroads as reasons for the department’s action. “Most of the men in camps are far away from home,” Secretary Baker reported. “It would be a great expense to those able to afford a trip home, and a discrimination against the men who could not afford the trip. Moreover, it would seriously interfere with the training of the men if any large number were permitted to go home for the Christmas holidays.” ^[1]Lester, however, seems to think President Wilson disagrees, offering slim hope of a last-second reprieve. The weather in Virginia is cold and there are six inches of snow on the ground, which is hard for the mules. Meanwhile, Lester has been promoted to Private First Class, which surely beats being a “buck private.” He’s done well taking orders in the army and thinks Minnie could use some army discipline herself. If he does get to come home, he won’t abuse the privilege, lest he be considered a deserter.

Elsewhere on the same day, the big news was that Bolshevik controlled Russia signed an armistice with Germany (and the Central Powers) which would lead to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918. This critical development effectively freed Germany to shift 44 divisions to the Western Front in preparation for a massive offensive in the spring of 1918.

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 thirteenth letter from Camp Lee, dated 100 years ago today, December 15, 1917.