An American Soldier in World War I

Notes

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 [First Page] [157], (1) Lines: 0 to ——— * 22.0pt P ——— Normal Page * PgEnds: Eject [157], (1) notes Introduction 1. State of Connecticut Military Census for George E. Browne, March 8, 1917, Connecticut State Library and Archives, Hartford ct, Record Group 29 (hereafter rg)—Records of the Military Census, 1. See also “Wolcott,” Waterbury Republican, February 23, 1919, 5. 2. Biographical Sketch of Martha Ingersoll Johnson, July 16, 1976, in author’s possession. Marty was a schoolteacher in East Morris from 1915 to 1919. See Weik, “One Hundred Years,” 68. 3. See for example Leed, No Man’s Land, xi–xii. Leed argues that “the war contributed to the character of the age by altering the status, expectations, and character of participants.” 4. The basic pay of a private, Brownie rank when he joined the army, was $30 a month. See Chambers, To Raise an Army, 167. For all enlisted men in World War I, the average basic pay was $34.75 per month and for all officers it was $178.42. See U.S. Bureau of the Census, Statistical History of the United States, 1140. 5. For a description of Fort Slocum, see Order of Battle, vol. 3, Zone of the Interior, pt. 2, Territorial Departments, 790. 6. Bantam is a small town approximately twenty-two miles from Waterbury and only a few miles from Marty’s home in Morris. Bantam Lake provided a vacation spot for many citizens of Waterbury, and Marty and Brownie spent the Fourth of July weekend with her family there before he formally enlisted. 7. All letters from George Browne to Martha Johnson are in the author’s possession. 8. For a good, yet brief introduction to the causes of World War I, see Turner, Origins of the First World War. 9. There are many excellent overall histories of World War I. Among the best are Gilbert, First World War: A Complete History; Keegan, First 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 [158], (2) Lines: 34 ——— 9.0pt PgV ——— Normal PgEnds: [158], (2) World War; and Tucker, Great War. For the best study of trench warfare in general, see Ellis, Eye-Deep in Hell. 10. The best overview of Woodrow Wilson’s presidency is Clements, Presidency of Woodrow Wilson. For studies of American neutrality and why the United States ultimately declared war, see Burk, Britain, America and the Sinews of War; Cooper, Vanity of Power; Gregory, Origins of American Intervention ); Link, Woodrow Wilson; May, World War and American Isolation; and Tuchman, Zimmermann Telegram. 11. For a detailed description of the country’s mood in early 1917, see Kennedy, Over There: First World War, 3–44. 12. Clements, Presidency of Woodrow Wilson, 137–41. 13. Studies that examine the overall American war effort at home and abroad include Ferrell, Woodrow Wilson and World War I; Keene, United States in the First World War; Kennedy, Over There: First World War; and Ziegler, America’s Great War. A excellent book that examines how World War I influenced the development of the United States later in the twentieth century is Keene, Doughboys, the Great War. 14. The best studies include Coffman, War to End All Wars; Stallings, Doughboys: Story; and Farwell, Over There: United States. Other studies of American military involvement in the war include Eisenhower, Yanks; Freidel, Over There: Story; Harries and Harries, Last Days of Innocence; Hallas, Doughboy War; and Mead, Doughboys: America. 1. Mobilization and Training 1. Various factors and issues motivated soldiers from the United States and other countries to serve and fight. In a recent study of American soldiers in the twentieth century, Peter Kindsvatter argues, “Primarygroup cohesion and belief in cause and country were . . . an essential combination, with unit esprit a supplementary motivator.” Kindsvatter, American Soldiers, 134. See also Linderman, Embattled Courage and World Within War; Lynn, Bayonets of the Republic; and McPherson, For Cause and Comrades. 2. See Kreidberg and Henry, History of Military Mobilization, 221–22; and Farwell, Over There: United States, 37. Another way to look at the military’s level of unpreparedness is that...