University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XIX

WORLD WAR AND ITS INFLUENCES

Many of the changes that we have recorded have been
hastened by the World war. War never leaves a country as
it finds it. The tremendous changes that followed 1865 have
been mentioned. The War with Spain—in which an ex-Confederate
General, Fitzhugh Lee, distinguished himself in the
service of the United States, and in which another Virginian,
Walter Reed, made possible the stamping out of the curse of
yellow fever—gave to Virginia a new national outlook. In the
War of 1917, a native of the old Commonwealth guided the
nation as its chief executive and as the commander-in-chief of
the armies and navy.

The War in Europe had affected conditions in Virginia
before 1917. A town appeared on the James River near
Petersburg and grew, within a few months, to be one of the
largest cities in the State. This town, Hopewell, sprang up
around the Dupont factories, which were making high explosives
for European armies. This mushroom city, soon outgrew
the police facilities of the local county authorities, and
was for a time, until properly regulated and incorporated, as
disorderly and lawless as some of the rapidly-growing goldmining
towns of the West had been in former days. Although
the Armistice was followed by an exodus from the city, a thriving
town remains, which promises to regain its former size.

When the United States entered the war, another city,
Penniman, grew to large proportions on high explosives. It
was located on the York River near Williamsburg. This city,
with its homes, schools, churches, banks, and community
centers, which were grouped about huge munition plants, has

now vanished into the cornfield out of which it arose. Near
Penniman were the mine fields where acres of mines were assembled
for use in the North Sea and elsewhere. At Seven
Pines, near Richmond, there was a bag-loading plant for
powder.

Another type of get-large-quick cities, which came with
America's entry into the war, were military camps cities

of plain two-story wooden buildings lined with wall board.
Their growth was even more rapid than that of the high explosives
cities. Among the more important of these were,
Camp Humphreys for army engineers near Alexandria,
Camp Eustis on the James River near Williamsburg for
artillery, Camp Stuart at Newport News for embarkation,
Langley Field for aviators on Hampton Roads, and largest of
all, Camp Lee on the old battlefield of Petersburg where army
divisions were trained. The following is a characteristic picture
of the building of an army camp:

"In June, 1917, the site of Camp Lee was typical of the
Virginia countryside. Here and there was a farm, with its
smooth, cultivated fields surrounding; a few hills broke the
monotony of the stretches of underbrush. But on June 19th
Camp Lee, the vision, the project, began to fade, and Camp
Lee, the reality, came into existence. On the 25th of June
2,000 men were at work, and this number steadily increased,
until, at the end of August, 14,500 workmen were busy completing
the great cantonment. The layman who now sees the
finished product of their hands does not understand the
magnitude of the task which they have completed. The brush
and woods were cleared; the swampland and stagnant pools
were drained. Then roads were constructed, and 700 buildings
erected. If Camp Lee were to be a city in terms of population,
adequate provision had to be made to care for that
great number of men. A perfect sewerage system was installed
to safeguard the health of the city, and a water-system
with a capacity of 3,000,000 gallons per day was perfected by
the engineers. Then there were electric lights, telephone and
telegraph facilities, a fire department—in fact, every detail
which is necessarily associated with a healthful, well-organized
community of 46,000 souls. And the greater wonder
of all—Camp Lee was transformed from a wilderness into
this municipal Utopia in three short months.

"The cost of building the camp was in the vicinity of $8,000,000;
the weekly pay-roll of the contractors alone amounted
to $300,000. Fifty million feet of lumber, 100 acres of wallboard,
500 tons, or twenty-five carloads, of nails, 500 miles of
electric wiring, fifty miles of sewer and water pipe were necessary
for the construction of the cantonment."[1]

The camp was built in the form of a J (as near the form
of the letter U as the terrain would permit). In the center of
the J were the chief Hostess House where the soldiers entertained
their visiting friends; the Liberty Theatre; the

Camp Library, managed through the American Library Association,
and the central huts of the Young Men's Christian
Association, the Jewish Welfare, and the Knights of Columbus.
The barracks were plain two-story wooden buildings, all
alike.

This description would not be complete without mentioning
an institution which was established when the soldiers
from Europe began to return to the camps to be discharged

from service. It was the Camp Delousing Plant, through
which the men from the trenches returned to civilization. In
full view of what may be called the social center of Camp Lee,
with its name stretched in huge letters across the top of
the building, it stood as a witness to the efficient medical service
of the Army and as a monument to the vileness of war.

Soon after the end of the conflict, the General Assembly
of Virginia established a War History Commission under the
direction of Dr. Arthur Kyle Davis. This Commission has
collected much source material which will enable someone
in the future to write an account of Virginia's part of the
war, of her ready response to the call to arms; of the draft

and the drilling into shape of raw recruits; of conservation
of resources and the long roll of drives—Liberty Bond drives,
camp community service drives, and others; of the sweaters
and socks that were knitted; of wheatless and meatless days;
and of the work of heroic draft boards, who have not yet received
their medals or citations. Those days have come and
gone and life goes on as before—except that the bills of war
are being paid.

War was its heroic as well as its hideous side. The record
of the number of men in service from Virginia has not yet been
completed, but it is estimated that these were about a 100,000.
Record has already been obtained (November 21, 1923) of
1,187 honors conferred upon 773 Virginians, and the list is
still incomplete.

The citations of three of these Virginians quoted below
give a vivid picture of the nature of the service required of
the men at the front and of the spirit in which that service
was rendered: Fifer, Ursher Lee, of Weyers Cave, Virginia.

Pharmacist's mate, third class, Sixth Regiment, United
States Medical Corp., Second Division.

Navy Distinguished Service Medal; Bouresches, Chateau-Thierry
sector, France, June 6, 1918.

Citations: "For extraordinary conspicuous gallantry on
June 6, 1918, during the capture of Bouresches, Chateau-Thierry
sector, France. He dressed and evacuated the
wounded from a wheat field swept by heavy artillery and machine-gun
fire. At a time when the losses threatened the success
of the operation his heroic conduct steadied the lines and
spurred the attacking platoons on through barrage fire. Also
on July 19, 1918, near Vierzy, France, he administered aid to
wounded infantry troops as they advanced, taking the
wounded into Vierzy under heavy shell fire and bringing back
water and stretchers. He fearlessly ran along the line, exposing
himself to sniper and machine-gun fire to direct prisoners
to wounded men. Fifer was also commended for heroic conduct
on October 8, 1918, in Champagne, France."

French Croix de Guerre with Gilt Star.

Citation: Similar to the American.

Cited by Division Commander: St. Etienne.

Citation: `Displayed untiring energy and rare judgment
and bravery in attending to wounded men on an advance of
the line during the action near St. Etienne. He worked continually
for two days and nights without rest and food, refusing
to leave the line."[2]

Gregory, Earl Davis of Chase City, Mecklenburg County,
Va., Sergeant, One Hundred and Sixteenth Infantry, Twenty-ninth
Division. Son of William Jackson and Pearl Davis
Gregory.

Congressional Medal of Honor: Bois de Consenvoye, Oct.
8, 1918.

Citation: "For conspicuous gallantry and interpidity
above and beyond the call of duty, in action with the enemy
at Bois de Consenvoye, north of Verdun, France, October
8, 1918. With the remark, `I will get them,' Sergeant Gregory
seized a rifle and a trench mortar shell, which he used as a
hand grenade, left his detachment of the trench mortar
platoon, and, advancing ahead of the infantry, captured a
machine gun and three of the enemy. Advancing still farther
from the machine-gun nest, he captured a 7.5 centimeter,
mountain howitzer, and, entering a dugout in the immediate
vicinity single-handed, captured nineteen of the enemy."

French Croix de Guerre with Palm.

French Citation: "With the approbation of the Commander-in-Chief
of the American E. F. in France, the Marshal
of France, Commander-in-Chief of the French Armies,
cites in the order of the army, Gregory, Earl D., Sergeant
Headquarters Company, One Hundred and Sixteenth Infantry,
October 8, 1918. Having picked up rifle and mortar shell
he captured the machine gun and took three of the enemy
prisoners; advancing again he captured a seven and fivetenths

centimeter mountain gun, and upon entering a dugout
in the vicinity he captured nineteen enemies."—(Signed)
Petain, Marshal of France.

Italian Croce di Guerra (War Cross).

Montenegrin Order of Merit Medal.

McCluer, Edwin Alexander, of Urbanna, Middlesex
County, Va. Second Lieutenant, Three Hundred and Forty-Fourth
Battery, Tank Corps. Son of Rev. E. B. McCluer,
D. D.

Distinguished Service Cross; Jonville, September, 1918.

Citation: "For extraordinary heroism in action near
Jonville, France, September 14, 1918. Commanding a reconnaissance
patrol of three tanks, he put to rout a company
of German infantry, four pieces of artillery, and destroyed
eight machine guns. His action was eight kilometers in
advance of our front lines."

Oak Leaf Cluster; Bois de Montrebeau, September 28,
1918.

Citation: "For act of extraordinary heroism in action
near Bois de Montrebeau, France, September 28, 1918: In
the attack on the woods he led his tank patrol on foot through
dense wooded territory and in the face of intense fire. He
was two kilometers in advance of the infantry front line
during this exploit." (Oak Leaf Cluster is worn with Distinguished
Service Cross.)[3]

These men and others like them are now going about their
day's work with little thought of yesterday, but with much
concern for tomorrow.

During the sixty-two years pictured within this volume,
Virginia has had to fight for her life and at times for her
very soul. Whatever success may attend her citizens in the
future, they should always hold in grateful memory the
unfailing courage of their fathers and mothers who sacrificed,
and saved, and labored to rebuild the Old Dominion.