James Emmett Scott

    Some us get through life without ever having to deal with war.  I am lucky that way.  There have been plenty of  conflicts the United States have been involved with in my lifetime,  not of which required my assistance.  Vietnam totally dampened the US zeal for war,  and in particular conscription for it.  I happened to be in a very small window of male children for whom  the draft or even the registration for one was abolished.  That didn't last,  and registration at this time is required for all male children who turn 18.

    James Emmett Scott was not so lucky.  He found himself pulled into The Great War despite  a true ambivalence on the part of American politics to be part of it.  Woodrow Wilson had campaigned about keeping the US out the European conflict  and most Americans viewed the war as a problem that existed across the ocean and not really our business.  It wasn't really even clear who the US would support.  Leave it to the Germans to finally alienate  the passive US government into conflict by attacking shipping and colluding with the Mexican government  to  assist in taking back Texas.  Not only would the US enter and support France and Britain,  they would conscript young American men to do so. 

    President Wilson initially thought he could get into the war by asking for volunteers.  He wanted a million men,   and he got 73,000.  After coming up short,  he decided a draft would be the best way to deal with the problem and  Congress obliged to support the effort by passing the Selective Service Act of 1917.   As part of the plan,  National Days of Registration  were scheduled,  the first being June 5th of 1917, and,  sure enough,  James Emmett Scott found himself at the registration national event  in Precinct 1 of Summers County, West Virginia and eventually to training at Ft Lee, Virginia. 

    

James may  have sought an exemption for the draft.  He lists rheumatism as a medical problem on his draft card.  One could petition the local draft board to consider these types of issues. The article from the Hinton Daily news details the efforts of the local draft board in sorting out the exemption claims.  Alas,  James's name appears right at the top of the able to serve list and he was processed into service thereafter.

Blue Ridge Division
Insignia

 The 80th Division of the United States Army was formed in September of 1917 and named the Blue Ridge Division.   It was comprised of men from Virginia,  West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland with the apparent reasoning being they were of similar frontier culture.  The assignments in the Division were also based on place of origin:

"The 320th Infantry had men from Pittsburgh; the 315th Machine Gun Battalion had men from Pittsburgh and Erie. These units combined to create the 160th Infantry Brigade....." 

In James's case his cohort of  conscripts from southern WVA made it into the 305 Trench Mortar Battery,  which was,  perhaps,  the most specialized group within the larger  artillery components and was to use a large new mortar of British Design. 

  

The Newton Mortar 

It lobbed large six inch shells in high arcs and could be used at both close and short distances. It was generally set up into in an enclosed and protected trench and required a team of men to operate it.  Records show that there were about 177 men who worked with these mortars. I speculate that James and his mortar operating colleagues might not have gotten the worst of the fight due to nature  of the war by the time that got into it.  

    The entire history of the 80th Division in World War 1 is well documented, but there is very little specific to how the mortar company was used.  It may be because the American's entered at a stage of the war that was much less static than the barbarous trench stalemates of previous years.   In general,  the Americans provided some decisive muscle to offensive operations for some of the big battles which ultimately ended the war.   They moved forward, took objectives and were highly mobile for the time.  This may not have been the ideal situation for heavy trench mortars.  At the very least,  the duty may have kept James Emmett from going over the top out of a trench and across barbed wire fields under machine gun fire.  He came back in one piece and did not mention any war wounds or tell many stories about his experience.  It was likely hideous,  as most accounts tell it this way. 

    As an interesting coincidence,  his artillery unit trained under British command upon arriving in France,  The city they first went to is in Bretagne and is named Redon.  It is the home town of my son's wife and we made a visit there in the summer of 2022.  I discovered James Emmett's information the following year. 

    He left France in 1919 aboard the battleship USS Virginia.  He was not with the 80th division,  as the 305 Trench Mortar Battery was singled out to cross the Atlantic with other divisions.  They left Brest, France on February 12, 1919 and arrived in Newport News on February 27th.   This record exists in the US Army's arriving and departing passenger list  for second crossing of the USS Virginia.  A nice website which describes the crossing and  the life of a trench mortar soldier is here.

    After the war,  he is presumed to have  returned to work with railroad.  He is not among the residents of the Scott farm listed in the 1920 census,  but he is listed as living at the farm in 1930 and working as a railroad signalman.   In 1940, he is listed as a resident of the farm and signal foreman and farmer.  In 1950, he is simply a signal foreman. 

    While he kept a residence and bed at the farm,  he was a railroad worker who traveled. One account also has an address for him in Maysville, Ky.  Later in life,  he lived in the Hotel McCreery,  Hinton WVA's once prominent hotel.   There are two items of  his which I have in my home.  The first in an Industructo Wardrobe Trunk which was used for railroad work.  It passed on to my my mother in the 1980's and them to me around the year 2005.   It is typical of travel trunks of the time  and would really require a large wheeled dolly to move.  

Pete's Indestructo Railroad Travel Trunk

    The second item is full size brass bed.  This bed was taken from the farm house on Hungarts Creek and used in our home through the early 1970's.  It was my bed  and now is used in one of our bedrooms in Roanoke.  

    
     James Emmet Scott was born on August 12, 1891 and he died the 21st of January in 1982.  He was known as Pete Scott,  or Uncle Pete.  I knew him from his frequent visits to the farm that he has sold to his brother, Paul Scott and Paul's sons, Randy and Jack.   He never married but had a full time girlfriend named Ruby Lee Holland.  Ms. Holland had a MS from West Virginia University and was on faculty at Concord College.  She became the chairperson of the Home Economics program of Concord.  

Pete and Ruby Center, Paul in flannel on the left. The back of 
Jack Scott's head and half of Connie Scott's face. Thanksgiving or Christmas
1970?

Ruby and Pete visited the farm often.  They never married but did take various trip together and behaved like a dating couple.  Ruby was a good friend to my grandparents and they always enjoyed conversations on the front porch as the evening cooled in the summer.  My grandfather got along well with his older brother and always spoke of him with respect and fondness.  I would have loved to have talked to Uncle Pete  about his service in France. 

Here are few articles from the Hinton Newspapers of the time period which mention Uncle Pete.

This is the draftees call to appear for entrainment on September 23rd of 1917,  James is on this list.

A

Birthday party in 1914

Little bit news from Talcott indicating that James has typhoid fever and is doing nicely.   Interestingly,  in the second paragraph  it tells of the the death of Lou Boyd,  who is an Aunt of  James. The Scotts and the Boyds married twice in this generation.  James's mother was Elizabeth Ann Boyd, and James's Aunt,  Lyskins Louise  Scott (Lou) married William Richard Boyd,  who is Elizabeth's brother.