{"id":6483,"date":"2018-03-20T20:17:05","date_gmt":"2018-03-20T20:17:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.archivingwheeling.org\/blog\/?p=6483"},"modified":"2018-03-21T03:17:48","modified_gmt":"2018-03-21T03:17:48","slug":"from-camp-lee-to-the-great-war-march-20-1918-podcast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.archivingwheeling.org\/blog\/from-camp-lee-to-the-great-war-march-20-1918-podcast","title":{"rendered":"From Camp Lee to the Great War: March 20, 1918 – Charles Riggle"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u201cThere was 2000 Negro [troops] went past this regiment this morning bound for France\u2026\u201d<\/h2>\n
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In his eleventh letter home from Camp Lee, Virginia, dated March 20, 1918, PFC Charles \u201cDutch\u201d Riggle, a WWI soldier from Wheeling, WV, tells his brother James \u201cAbe\u201d Riggle that it\u2019s so hot, he\u2019s switching to his \u201csummer underwear.\u201d Dutch has a new job washing dishes at the officer\u2019s mess for $10.50 per week (plus a $3.50 tip from the officers and some \u201cdandy eats\u201d). Three men and a cook work to feed 13 officers. The battalion now has 33 horses and at least 75 more are expected. \u201cIt surely take lots of horses for horse artillery,\u201d he notes. Dutch would like to get to Wheeling, but has no money for railroad fares. He saw 2000 Negro troops bound for France. Dutch thinks he and Les will be sent in the summer.<\/p>\n

For African Americans like those seen by Charles Riggle, the First World War was a transformative experience. Blacks were dealing with the horrors of full-blown \u201cJim Crow\u201d segregation in the American South (including Wheeling, West Virginia), and the \u201cGreat Migration\u201d was taking place, as thousands of African Americans moved to northern cities seeking opportunity. President Wilson\u2019s pledge to \u201cmake the world safe for democracy\u201d gave many African Americans hope that the war would also increase freedom and equality for them at home. Others decried the hypocrisy of asking people who were not treated as equals in their own country to fight for democracy overseas. In reality, the men Riggle saw<\/a> at Camp Lee were likely part of segregated service battalions (probably the 510th and 511th Engineer Service Battalions) who were expected to do manual labor, such as ditch digging and burial of war dead, or, as Riggle noted in an earlier letter<\/a>, to provide entertainment as musicians or singers. More than 200,000 African American soldiers were eventually sent to France. Those who did see combat were often assigned to French command and were treated with greater respect by the French. Many served with distinction, especially members of the 92nd Division and the 93rd Division\u2019s 369th Infantry Regiment from New York, nicknamed the \u201cHarlem Hellfighters.\u201d Unfortunately, the hoped-for improvement in race relations at home, out of respect for honorable service, did not happen. The achievements of African American soldiers were largely ignored or diminished for decades. But the WWI experiences of African Americans, both military and civilian, had also proved empowering and eyeopening, and many were inspired and emboldened to fight for racial justice.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere on March 20, 1918, German attacks were repulsed near Verdun and in Lorraine and Mr. A. Henderson declared that Labour would not accept the peace of Brest-Litovsk.<\/p>\n

Charles \u201cDutch\u201d Riggle was drafted into the US Army in 1917 and trained at Camp Lee, Virginia, where so many Wheeling draftees and volunteers\u2014including his sister-in-law Minnie Riggle\u2019s brother, Lester Scott\u2014were 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 eleventh letter from Camp Lee, dated 100 years ago today, March 20, 1918. <\/p>\n

To listen to the podcast, visit our SoundCloud page<\/a>, or subscribe through your favorite podcast app.<\/p>\n

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March 20, 1918 Letter Home \u2013 Charles Riggle to his brother James Riggle<\/h2>\n
\"March<\/a>
Letter to James Riggle from Dutch Riggle, March 20, 1918.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n