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October 1918 was the deadliest month of World War I for Scott Countians
As fighting intensified near the end of World War I, October 1918 proved to be the costliest month of the war for Scott Countians who were fighting in Europe.
A total of 22 Scott Countians died in World War I, either during the war or just after. Twelve of those were killed in combat, while 10 more died noncombatant deaths.
It was on April 6, 1917 — some two and a half years after the war began — that the United States officially entered the war. President Woodrow Wilson asked for a declaration of war against Germany on April 2, 1917. The U.S. Senate approved the request on April 4, and the House of Representatives on April 6. Sunken U.S. merchant ships and rising civilian casualties prompted America’s involvement in the war. The first soldiers and marines arrived in France weeks later. However, American involvement was somewhat limited — consisting mostly of small supportive roles to the British Army — until early 1918. During the late spring and summer, American troops began fighting alongside the French Army in defensive battles against the advancing German forces.
The Champagne-Marne Operation in July 1918 stopped the final German attack, putting the enemy on the defensive for the remainder of the war. By September, the U.S. Army was well enough entrenched in France to begin its own offensives, like the St. Mihiel Operation in September 1918 and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive that began Sept. 26, 1918 and continued until the Armistice on Nov. 11, 1918.
Germany and its allies were completely destroyed and driven out of France during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, but the fierce fighting carried a heavy toll for the U.S. and her allies.
Hundreds of Scott Countians answered their country’s call and participated in World War I. Most of those who did not return home fell during that final stretch of the war in the Argonne Forest in October 1918.
Among them:
• Sherman Stanley, the 25-year-old son of David S. Stanley and Milley Sharp of Pine Hill, was killed on Oct. 1, 1918. Although little information is available about the nature of his death, he was a sergeant in Co. D, 117th Infantry, 30th Division. Prior to shipping out for France, he had fought on the Mexican border in 1916, defending U.S. border towns during the Mexican Revolution.
• William Brown, a 19-year-old from Smokey Creek — son of Parsida Lowe Goodman and raised by his grandparents, John “Rat” Low and Nancy Adkins — died on Oct. 5, 1918 during the second phase of the battle, one day after the 1st Division that he was a part of replaced American forces in the field. Pvt. Brown had been severely wounded on July 20, 1918 at the Battle of Soissons during the Aisne-Marne counter-offensive, but returned to action at the St. Mihiel Offensive in September 1918.
• Hugh Taylor Lewallen, the 23-year-old son of John Harrison Lewallen and Lydia Landrum of Glenmary, was killed on Oct. 6, 1918. He was the great-grandson of Scott County’s first sheriff, John Lewallen. He was gassed by Germans at the Argonne Forest. A cross on the battlefield near Montfaucon marks the spot where he fell.
• John W. Fletcher, the 24-year-old son of Walter Fletcher and Charlotte Pittman of Rugby, was killed on Oct. 7, 1918, though his death did not occur in the Argonne Forest. He was killed at the Battle of St. Quentin Canal, a pivotal battle that saw Americans fight alongside British and Australian forces. Pvt. Fletcher was killed as the allied forces broke through the German Hindenburg Line, taking more than 36,000 German soldiers prisoner.
• Clovis Jeffers, the 22-year-old son of Claborn Jeffers and Melvina Phillips of Winona, was killed on Oct. 9, 1918. His regiment was operating northeast of Fléville — a small village in the Argonne Forest — when he was killed.
• William Blevins, the 22-year-old son of Abraham B. Blevins and Polly Ann Miller, was killed on Oct. 15, 1918, during the second phase of the battle, as American forces launched a frontal assault and successfully broke through the main German defenses. Blevins’ death came exactly one week after Cpl. Alvin C. York (later promoted to sergeant) made his capture of 132 German prisoners near Cornay as part of the same battle.
• Lonus Reed, the 29-year-old son of Wiley Reed and Savarie Jane Ellis of New River, was wounded near the end of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. He died at a hospital in France on Dec. 8, 1918.
• Jesse Slaven, the 29-year-old son of Charley Slaven and Sally Ann Roysdon, and the husband of Lillie Jane Slaven, was killed on Sept. 29, 1918. Although he wasn’t killed during the month of October, he died at the same battle that marked the end of the war.
Four other Scott Countians were killed earlier in the war. They included Edson Lafayette Toomey, the 22-year-old son of John Samuel Toomey and Elizabeth Phillips, killed on July 19, 1918 during the Aisne-Marne Offensive. Two of his cousins — Robert McKinley Hughett, the 20-year-old son of William Alexander Hughett and Martha Phillips, and Lawrence Phillips, the 27-year-old son of Perry Phillips and Mildred Phillips — were killed in the same battle one day earlier. Hett Phillips, the 23-year-old son of General Phillips and Alice Cross, was killed at the same battle three days later. He was a distant cousin to the others.
Another 10 Scott Countians died non-combatant deaths during the war, either of illness or accident.
See Also: Scott Countians killed in war
Related: First cousins died at the same battle in World War I
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◼️ Monday morning: The Daybreaker (news & the week ahead)
◼️ Tuesday: Echoes in Time (stories of our history)
◼️ Wednesday: Threads of Life (obituaries)
◼️ Thursday evening: The Weekender (news & the weekend)
◼️ Friday: Friday Features (beyond the news)
◼️ Sunday: Varsity (a weekly sports recap)