Introduction

Declaration of War by the U. S. Congress

HISTORICAL survey of the splendid contribution made by the men and women of Knox County toward winning the recent world war constitutes a record of which every citizen may and should feel proud.  It is no idle boast that no city or county in Tennessee gave more in proportion to population and wealth, while there were few that responded so readily and so whole-heartedly to every call of every kind that was made by either the state or the federal government.

This unstinted contribution of men, money and materials was the challenge of a great democratic people to the forces of world autocracy, a notice that liberty was more precious than life, freedom more dear than all the gold the world possessed.  Blood and money were poured out with the same lavish hand that this city and county gave of their dearest treasures in 1861-5 for what they believed to be right.  The men, who in 1918 stormed the well nigh impregnable ramparts of the Hindenburg line or made charge after charge in the Argonne Forest or braved the constant dangers of the sea to destroy the submarine scourge, shed their blood as freely and were animated with the same patriotic fervor as their ancestors who climbed King's Mountain in 1780 and put the British Tories under Ferguson to bloody rout.

This contribution to the war, in cold figures, amounted roughly to more than 4,000 able-bodied men in the army, navy, marine, air, and other branches of the service, of whom over 150 made the supreme sacrifice; subscriptions of close to $14,000,000 to the five Liberty Loans and over $2,000,000 to the War Savings campaign; donations of $220,000 in cash to the Red Cross; gifts of approximately $100,000 to the Y. M. C. A. and $50,000 to the United War Work Committee for home and foreign work; and weeks and months of patriotic work without compensation by thousands of unselfish men and women at home, doing their bit that those who did go across or who were in army camps in the United States might have every comfort and attention that was possible away from home.  There was never a campaign of any kind, whether for volunteers to fill up the ranks or for money for war work, that Knox County did not more than "go over the top."

Pilgrims of Patriotism This trade trip, organized to exploit Knoxville products, was turned into a tour in support of all war enterprises. Tuesday, April 10, 1917.

The bigness, the extent of this patriotic sacrifice, toil and endeavor is the justification of this volume.  In it the attempt has been made to bind together in lasting form, commensurate with these achievements, the record of all war activities, both military and civilian, of Knox Countians.  Every effort has been made to make it absolutely fair and impartial, without particle of bias or prejudice in any respect.

Inevitably errors have been made, but every source of information available has been sought and carefully consulted to reduce these mistakes to a minimum.  The records of the War and Navy Departments at Washington, the military archives of the State of Tennessee, the books and records of the draft boards, the columns of the daily newspapers, personal letters and diaries, together with other historical sources, have been pored over and delved into for months to get every shred of information possible in regard to the war activities of Knox Countians.

Every effort was exhausted to obtain the photographs of all men who saw service, realizing that in after years these, with their records attached, will be of incalculable interest and value to those of later generations.  If the name, record of service, or photograph of any man has been omitted, it has been unintentional and not because every effort has not been made to obtain them.  Two men of the editorial staff canvassed the city and county for more than two months, while advertisements and news notices appeared frequently in the newspapers, requesting that this information be given.

The attempt also was made to give to those who were not privileged to see something of the war, as well as to preserve for those who did, a panorama of the most striking scenes and events in which the American army engaged.  Of the several thousand photographs, taken in battle by the representatives of the United States Signal Corps, the choicest ones, some two hundred in number, which were obtained for illustration of this history, give such a vivid insight into the machinery of war and how battles were fought that study of them will be more instructive than many pages of descriptive matter.  They cover nearly every phase of warfare on all of the battle fronts.

It has been a matter of deep regret that most of those who went forth in the multifarious branches of government service were so widely scattered that a sketch of each of their particular units was impossible.  It was found necessary to limit these sketches to those organizations which contained a large number of men from the city and county.

This volume, written and compiled with the sole desire to give the historical facts by word and picture, both of the war abroad and of the civilian activities at home, is the product of months of labor.  It is neither perfect nor complete.  Such a volume can never be.  Yet it is more accurate, we believe, than any history that can be written or any volume that can be compiled in the future when memory has faded, many of the participants in these stirring events have moved away or died, and the records either have been lost or have crumbled to dust.

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