The working of the selective service act, or the draft law, as it was more popularly known, in Knox County, was ample justification of the wisdom of its passage.  It provided the majority of the man power, which Knoxville and Knox County gave to the war, while this drain was made with the least disturbance to the domestic and economic relations of their life.  There was much opposition and prejudice against the law when it was enforced at the beginning, but its essential justice and democracy soon swept away this feeling which impeded its operation at first.

As the demands of the war machine became more imperative and men were called to the colors in large numbers in the spring and summer of 1918, it became apparent to the common sense and reason of all men that the draft system was the only feasible manner in which the nation's strength could be marshalled in the comparative order of its military and industrial importance.  Furthermore, it was the only way in which sufficient men could have been mobilized in a short time to meet the grave emergency of the hour.

The volunteer system, which prevailed the first few months of the war, played havoc with the domestic and economic life of the nation, taking many who should have stayed at home in essential industries or to support dependent families, while leaving behind the great majority of man power which could have been spared most easily for the army.  Voluntary enlistment of men within the draft ages was stopped, therefore, the latter part of 1917.  Under the amended draft law, all men of military age were classified scientifically.  Each man was forced to await his time and perform his military obligation only when his call, in orderly process, came to him.

All men of draft age were classified into five groups, those physically unfit being grouped into the fifth class, while those of the other four were arranged in the inverse order of their industrial and economic importance.  Class 1 was the only group during the war from which men of Knox County were taken for military service.  Those in the other three classes were men whose call to the colors was deferred on account of domestic and industrial reasons.  They constituted a reserve which was available if actual military necessity demanded their services.

The first registration in Knox County on June 5, 1917, was made a great holiday affair in which public officials and leading private citizens, men and women of all classes, and boys and girls of all ages took part.  Parades and patriotic addresses were features of the day.  Those between the ages of 21 and 30 then went to booths and registered their names for military service.  At Knox County Board No. 1 there were 1697 registrants; at Knox County No. 2, 1098; at Knoxville No. 1, 4152; and at Knoxville No. 2, 3052.  The total of the registrants was exactly 9,999.  At registrations held June 5, 1918, and August 24, 1918, of those who had reached the age of 21 since June 5, 1917, there were 1081 young men who enrolled themselves for service.  At the final registration on September 12, 1918, of all men between 18 and 45, those who presented themselves and enrolled for military duty numbered 12,952.  The total registration under the draft law in Knoxville and Knox County was 24,032.  Of this number, 2708 or a little more than eleven per cent, were called to the colors and accepted at training camps.  This number included both white and negro men, the latter being largely in the minority.  Knoxville Board No. 1 sent the largest number into the service, 1246; Knoxville No. 2 was second with 702; Knox County No. 1 was third with 511; while Knox County No. 2 contributed 249.

Governor Rye, in naming the members of the four boards to administer the draft law in Knox County, was very fortunate in the selection of the personnel of each of them.  The members came from all walks of life, and many of them made large sacrifices of both time and money to administer their offices faithfully and efficiently.  They had a big task to accomplish, with many obstacles and influences to overcome, but they did their work fearlessly.  With few exceptions they received the hearty support of the entire population.

The original members of Knoxville Board No. 1, which had jurisdiction over the first eleven wards of the city, were:  Dr. W. S. Nash, chairman; Wiley L. Morgan, secretary; and A. W. Anderson, associate member.  Mr. Morgan resigned shortly after his appointment and was succeeded by Rev. J. S. French, who served until the spring of 1918, when he entered the Y. M. C. A. work at Camp Sevier.  J. W. Sullivan was appointed to succeed him and served until the board was discharged.  Dr. Nash was chairman and medical adviser of the board until August 1, 1918, when he resigned to accept an appointment, with rank of major, as a national inspector, attached to the office of the Provost Marshal, General Crowder.  Dr. W. F. Christenbery was appointed member and examining physician in his place.  Joe P. Lackey, who had served as chief clerk of the board, also was appointed a member.  In the reorganization, Mr. Sullivan was chosen chairman, Mr. Lackey, secretary, and A. W. Anderson and Dr. Christenbery, associate members.

The membership of Knoxville Board No. 2 was composed of Dr. H. E. Christenbery, chairman; Walter E. Mynderse, secretary; and Judge H. B. Lindsay, associate member.  Dr. William T. DeSautelle was examining physician.  Judge Lindsay was succeeded by T. E. Plyley in August, 1918.  The latter served until the board was dismissed.

The two Knox County draft boards remained unchanged throughout the war period.  Board No. 1 was composed of Col. William M. Epps, chairman; J. T. Henderson, secretary; and Dr. E. C. Lay, associate member and examining physician.  The members of Board No. 2 were M. B. Byington, chairman; Dr. M. H. Lee, secretary and examining physician; and Major W. Hardin, associate member.

In cooperation with each board worked three other governmental agencies, which facilitated its work and assisted the registrants in filling out their questionnaires, giving them timely information in regard to their service in the army, and examining them physically.  These agencies were the legal advisory boards, the medical advisory boards and the boards of instruction.  All of the members worked without compensation and most often in conflict with their private affairs.

Each legal advisory board was composed of three reputable lawyers, who called to their assistance others of their profession as associate members when there was need of their services.  These lawyers interpreted the terms of the draft law to the registrants, aided them in filling out the complex questionnaires, and assisted them in other matters pertaining to the legal duties required of them.  Members of these advisory boards were:

Knox County No. 1, Charles H. Smith, Chairman, L. H. Spillman, John C. Houk, D. M. Bright, Norman B. Morrell;

Knox County No. 2, John W. Green, Chairman, W. J. Donaldson, William Baxter Lee;

Knoxville No. 1, T. Asbury Wright, Chairman, James A. Fowler, John H. Frantz, Henry Hudson, secretary;

Knoxville No. 2, Charles T. Cates, Jr., Chairman, John M. Thornburgh, D. C. Webb.

The examination of all registrants was far beyond the strength and ability of the one physician, who was member of each draft board.  As a result, medical advisory boards were appointed for the draft boards throughout the country.  They not only furnished general medical advice in the examination of registrants, but the specialist members rendered valuable aid in the detection of obscure physical defects.  The doctors, like the lawyers, did all of this work without compensation.  The members of the four Knox County medical boards were:

Knox County No. 1, W. S. Austin, Chairman, L. L. Sheddan, Secretary, S. F. Casenburg, A. J. Cottrell, J. H. Kincaid, R. B. Depue, E. H. Pierce;

Knox County No. 2, W. H. L. White, Chairman, C. J. Carmichael, Secretary, A. G. Kern, H. H. McCampbell, W. K. Slater, W. W. Potter, Robert Patterson;

Knoxville No. 1, Charles Huff Davis, Chairman, W. N. Lynn, Secretary, Ben B. Brabson, Walter Luttrell, W. R. Cochran;

Knoxville No. 2, C. M. Capps, Chairman, A. R. McLendy, Secretary, B. B. Cates, W. A. Catlett.

In the summer of 1918, the draft boards were instructed to organize a third agency in connection with their work.  These were the boards of instruction. The objects of these advisory boards were to put the drafted men into camp willing, loyal, intelligent, and sober, so that they would make more rapid steps in becoming good soldiers; to explain to them some of the reasons why this nation was at war and the issues that were involved; and to give them a thorough idea of how to avail themselves of the welfare agencies, as the Red Cross, Y. M. C. A., war risk insurance bureaus, and allotment departments, so that they might keep in touch with their families.  The instruction board of Knoxville Draft Board No. 1 was very active, as its members met three times each week and made addresses before all the outgoing men to camps.

Members of these boards of instruction were:

Knoxville No. 1, Judge Hugh M. Tate, Chairman; David C. Chapman, military tactics; John R. Neal, military law; E. W. Fox, Y. M. C. A. secretary; Miss Josephine Reddish, Red Cross.

Knoxville No. 2, James A. Fowler, Chairman, military law; A. D. Albright, physical instructor; David C. Chapman, military tactics; E. W. Fox, Y. M. C. A. secretary; Miss Josephine Reddish, Red Cross.

Knox County No. 1, Thomas J. Cline, Chairman, W. F. Miller, William Washburn.

Knox County No. 2, L. M. G. Baker, Chairman, Robert Young, Roy Johnson.

The registrants were called before the draft boards in groups of from 20 to 50 each day.  The first group appeared for examination on August 3, 1917.  A surprising feature that the examinations brought forth was the number of men disqualified for military service on physical grounds.  A great many were fit only for limited service in the army.  In the early stages of the operation of the law, the physical defectives often ran as high as fifty per cent of the men examined.  The exemption claims of those who were physically qualified were even higher.  Most of them were based upon the ground of domestic dependency.  A much smaller percentage asked to be excused from military service because of business affairs.  The claims of those who asked exemption for either of these reasons were examined thoroughly by the local boards, and all of the facts in regard to each case were weighed carefully in making the final classification of the registrant.

If the registrant objected to the class in which he was placed, he had the right of appeal to the district board of five members, which considered appeal from East Tennessee counties.  Under certain conditions, appeal could be taken from this board to higher authority.  Government appeal agents from the four boards were:  Knoxville No. 1, Forrest W. Andrews, J. H. Anderson; Knoxville No. 2, Edward F. Walsh, J. Harry Price; Knox County No. 1, Thomas L. Carty; Knox County No. 2, Judge H. N. Cate.

The first contingent of five per cent was called to report on September 5, 1917.  It consisted of 16 men.  Those who had the distinction of going to camp first were Frank Lockett from Knoxville Board No. 1; Titus Caruthers Schriver from Knoxville Board No. 2; Lee Monday from County Board No. 1; and Floyd N. Davis from County Board No. 2.  The other twelve men followed within a few days.

Upon the departure of all men, both then and in the succeeding months, one member of the boards always accompanied them to the training camp.  This was for the purpose of seeing that they arrived safely at their destination, were enrolled properly at the camps, and received a proper start in their new work.  The majority of the men went to Camp Gordon at Atlanta, though quite a number were sent from time to time to Camp Buell in Kentucky, Camp Shelby in Mississippi, and Camp Jackson in South Carolina.  Scattering detachments were called to other national army camps for special work.

Parades through the streets and receptions at the public buildings and at the railroad stations were held to give all men a joyful departure.  The women at the Red Cross Canteen filled their pockets and bags with cigarettes, tobacco and good things to eat.  Nothing was left undone to minister to their needs and comforts.  Whether from the city or county, all were made to feel the deep, active interest of everyone in them and the righteousness of the cause in which they were going forth to fight.

The calls of the draft during the fall and winter of 1917 and the first few months of 1918 were rather light, because all the camps in the country were filled with national guard and regular army troops.  There was no place in which they could be trained.  In the late spring and summer of 1918, however, when these early divisions went overseas, and when the size of the army that was necessary and the desperation of the cause in which the allied forces were engaged became apparent through casualty lists and the demands of the army leaders for more men, the draft machinery at Washington doubled and redoubled the quotas and called incessantly for more men.  These men, who were needed for the summer and fall campaigns of our armies, tarried only briefly in the cantonments in this country.  They were outfitted and shipped out as fast as transports could be provided to carry them.  In less than ninety days after they entered the service, many of these men were in the battle line.  They went up as replacements in the divisions which had been thinned by heavy casualties in the Marne salient and the early fighting in the Argonne.

Of the fighting qualities of the draft men, the orders of General Pershing speak eloquently.  The national army divisions were mentioned frequently.  They were in the thick of the fighting in the Argonne Forest, the most prolonged and bitter campaign in which the American army ever took part.  They were engaged in the reduction of the St. Mihiel salient, along the Marne and Aisne, in the Champagne sector, and on the other parts of the line held by American troops.  They were scattered throughout the whole army.

While there may have been separate classifications and distinctions in America, in France the terms national guard, national army and regular army were but empty shells.  Transfers, replacements, and shifts made these terms empty names.  The former three grand divisions of the American army became hopelessly intermingled under the stress of war and needs of battle.  The original regular and national guard divisions, which saw the earliest fighting, became thinned and depleted by the middle of the summer of 1918.  To keep them in the line it was necessary to fill them to war strength after each battle with replacements of men who had recently come from America.  As voluntary enlistment had been stopped after December 15, 1917, it was necessary to make these replacements with men who were drafted.  After a few days with those who had had the benefit of battle experience, these men became real veterans, able to undergo any test and take part in any battle.  The three groups of our fighting forces, between which there were sharp lines of distinction at home, became under a common peril one huge army, sharing the same dangers, undergoing the same hardships, and fighting for the same cause under the same flag.

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