LaFayette, nous voila (LaFayette, we are here)
This is Mike Ragland’s second part of a three-part series of columns recounting the path to World War I:
Things were happening fast as the world entered into 1917. In the United States Woodrow Wilson had been elected for a second term (the first Democrat to serve back to back terms since Andrew Jackson) as a peace candidate. He was elected with slogans like “He kept us out of war” and “America First.” Wilson truly was a peace candidate, and the last thing he wanted was to get embroiled in a European War.
British intelligence had intercepted a telegram — in January 1917 — from the German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmerman to his ambassador Heinrich von Eckardt in Mexico. The telegram proposed an alliance between Germany and Mexico, in case the U.S. came into the war on the side of Great Britain and France. In the telegram, Zimmerman states that Germany would begin unrestricted submarine warfare once again on Feb. 1, and he felt the U.S. may enter the war. If Mexico would ally with Germany, they would be given finances and equipment, plus the lands they lost in the 1840s, consisting of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. The telegram enraged the American people.
The Germans were true to their word and did begin unrestricted submarine warfare on Feb. 1. Both sides were starving each other, but the Germans felt they could make the Brits sue for peace if they could shut down everything coming into the British Isles.
President Wilson gave a two hour speech before Congress on Feb. 3 in which he announced that all political ties with Germany were dissolved, that our ambassador would be recalled from Berlin, and the German Ambassador was promised safe passage from D.C., but would leave that day. The U.S. seized German cruisers that were in port in the U.S. and demanded American prisoners in Germany be freed. Wilson also stated that he still didn’t wish to go to war.
The day of the speech, a German submarine sank the cargo ship Housatonic off the coast of Britain. The crew was saved by a British ship, but the cargo of grain went to the bottom.
Wilson was quietly inaugurated in a private ceremony in early March. On the third of March Arthur Zimmerman admitted the telegram to Mexico was true.
On April 2, Wilson asked congress for a declaration of war against Germany. The vote took place on April 6. It passed, but was not unanimous. In the Senate it was 82 for and six against, with six more not voting. The House was 373 for and 50 against. The most famous of the no votes was Jeanette Rankin from Montana. The first woman to ever sit in congress, she was there again in 1941 and was the sole vote against war with Japan. She later bought property in Watkinsville, Georgia, and led a spartan life for a while. But that’s another story.
The U.S. Army was small. It numbered around 100,000, with another 121,000 in the National Guard. Six weeks after war was declared, only 73,000 had volunteered. President Wilson was thinking on the terms of at least a million men to fight this war, so on May 18, 1917, he installed the Selective Service Act, which said all males between 21 and 30 would register for the draft. That was changed in June to include all males between 18 and 45.
At first he gave control of the American Expeditionary forces to General Frederick Funston, who suffered an untimely death almost immediately. Wilson then gave control of the American troops to General John J. ‘Black Jack’ Pershing.
Several things began happening immediately. The economy — which had hit a high spot in 1914 — was now surpassed in almost every way. This military needed everything. The problem was that with so many being drafted, workers were short. Women took many of the jobs, but even they were being called back to family farms to help with family and farm chores.
Crown Cotton Mills in Dalton was employing over 1,000 workers, and with large government contracts, it wasn’t enough. Anchor Duck in Rome had a government contract for tenting, and couldn’t hire enough workers.
African-Americans also were subject to the draft, but many land owners intercepted their notices to keep them in the fields. Southern textile mills were segregated, but many of the Northern mills and plants were not.
African-Americans left the South in droves for the vacant jobs created by the draft in the North.
Georgia had more military training camps than any other state. In Fort Oglethorpe near Ringgold, officers took their training. Camp Greenleaf was for medical and dental workers, Fort McPherson contained a large military hospital, Camp Gordon (not Augusta, this one was in Chamblee) was home to the 82nd Division, Camp Hancock in Augusta was for machine gun training, Camp Jessup was a depot and military repair shop. Infantry trained at Camp Benning (later called Fort Benning and expanded tenfold). Camp Wheeler in Macon was home to the 30th Division, Southern Field in Americus was the aviation training center where as many as 2,000 at a time were trained. More would be added.
The Germans were not in the least bit afraid of the fledgling American forces. After all, they couldn’t even catch Pancho Villa a few years before. British and French generals wanted to use American troops to plug holes in their lines. None of the European powers thought the Americans had any idea how to fight a war of this magnitude, and they were correct. But the French people were overjoyed to see them.
The first American troops arrived in June 26 and marched to Paris with a battalion of 14,000. They arrived on July 4, led by Gen. Pershing. Thronged by thousands of French citizens they continued their march to the tomb of the Marquis de LaFayette in Picpus cemetery. Many speeches were made, but the one most remembered was by Col. Charles E. Stanton standing by the generals side. “LaFayette, Nous Voila”… we are here… and were they ever.
Mike Ragland is a Cave Spring city councilman and a retired Rome police major. His most recent book is “Living with Lucy.” Readers may contact him at mrag@bellsouth.net or mikeragland.com.