{"id":6468,"date":"2018-03-02T03:18:25","date_gmt":"2018-03-02T03:18:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.archivingwheeling.org\/blog\/?p=6468"},"modified":"2018-03-02T03:18:25","modified_gmt":"2018-03-02T03:18:25","slug":"from-camp-lee-to-the-great-war-march-1-1918-podcast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.archivingwheeling.org\/blog\/from-camp-lee-to-the-great-war-march-1-1918-podcast","title":{"rendered":"From Camp Lee to the Great War: March 1, 1918 – Lester Scott"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u201cYou were wanting to know if I ever play the violin. I sure do. Some of boys come up from the infirmary with a violin and banjo and guitar. We have regular old stag dances\u2026\u201d<\/h2>\n
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In his twenty-sixth 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\u2019s surprised to learn of the death of Bill Riggle. Les has been firing guns at the target range all week. He hasn\u2019t heard from Cleo (his girlfriend), but says he doesn\u2019t care if she doesn\u2019t write anymore. A soldier named Harry Crow has deserted. Les thinks he\u2019ll be caught, court-martialed, and executed or imprisoned for life. Les wishes he\u2019d enlisted in the cavalry or the Marines. He plays stag dances with his violin. Another soldier plays the banjo and another the guitar. He\u2019ll visit home when he finds out when he\u2019ll be sent to France. Those who say it\u2019s unconstitutional to send the boys overseas are badly mistaken, Les believes. Dutch [Charles Riggle] is doing fine. Les is off to a \u201cbig entertainment\u201d at the YWCA.<\/p>\n

\"Lester<\/a>
Lester Scott postcard \u2013 From the personal collection of Marjorie Richey<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Elsewhere on the same day, a Treaty of Peace and Amity was signed between the Finnish Social Republic of Workmen and the Russian Federal Soviet Republic. This was part of the Finnish quest for independence launched the previous December and the Finnish Civil War between the \u201cWhites\u201d (conservatives) and \u201cReds\u201d (socialists, inspired by Russian Bolsheviks). The Whites would prevail.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cA,\u201d 80th (Blue Ridge) Division in France. This is his twenty-sixth letter from Camp Lee, dated 100 years ago today, March 1, 1918.
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March 1, 1918 Letter \u2013 Lester Scott to his sister, Minnie Riggle<\/h2>\n
\"Letter<\/a>
Letter to Minnie Riggle from Lester Scott, March 1, 1918.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n