1918 – Page 4 – Old Magazine Articles

Corn and the 1st Arkansas Regiment (Confederate Veteran Magazine, 1918)

Appearing in the pages of Confederate Veteran Magazine some forty-three years after the bloody end of the American Civil War was this reminiscence by a Confederate veteran recalling the important roll that corn played during the war and throughout American history:

I am an old Southern planter, past eighty-five years of age, in perfect condition as to mind and health, have lived on cornbread all my life, and feel that I can speak intelligently on the much-mooted cornbread question.

During the war I commanded the 1st Arkansas Regiment, consisting of twelve hundred men, and during the four years we never saw a piece of bread that contained a grain of wheat flower. We lived entirely on plain corn bread, and my men were strong and kept the best of health…

Lincoln and Lee in 1918 (The Nation, 1918)

On the first anniversary marking the American intervention into the First World War Charles Payne of Grenell College, Iowa, wrote to the editors at The Nation and cautioned his fellow-Americans to remember the conduct and humility of Civil War General Robert E. Lee.

Click here to read about the heavy influence religion had in the Rebel states during the American Civil War.

Face Masks Will Fight Influenza (The Stars and Stripes, 1918)

The influenza of 1918 took a large bite out of the American Army, both at home and abroad. The military and civilian medical authorities were at a loss as to what actions should be taken to contain the disease, and as they paused to plan, thousands died. The attached article describes one step that provided some measure of success in the short term.

A more thorough article about Influenza can be read here.

Click here to read more about Influenza.

A Wartime Footing for the USMC (Sea Power Magazine, 1918)

The ranks of the United States Marine Corps began to swell in the early March of 1917, shortly after the Kaiser launched his campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare. When Congress declared war the following April, the expansion began is earnest:

The Act of Congress making naval appropriations for the present fiscal year carries a proviso increasing the Marine Corps from its permanent legal enlisted strength of seventeen thousand and four hundred to a temporary war strength of seventy-five thousand and five hundred with a proportional increase in commissioned and warrant officers and the addition of two major generals and six brigadier generals.

This article is illustrated with 12 photographs.

Click here to read about the African-American soldiers who served in France.

Over There’ by Albert Sterner (Sea Power Magazine, 1918)

An American sailor in white uniform stands in the center bearing the Stars and Stripes, and at his side stands Columbia, in shining armor and with a drawn sword, pointing across the sea to direct the gaze of the sailor Over There to the battlefield of the nations, where he must carry his flag to victory for the sake of the free country whose uniform he wears. In the background beneath the flag is shown the battle fleet steaming out to sea.

– so wrote the editors of Sea Power Magazine who were so moved by the W.W. I U.S. Navy recruiting poster Over There by Albert Sterner (1863 – 1946) that all they could do was describe it’s powerful lines and overall design.

Baseball as Metaphor for War (The Stars and Stripes, 1918)

In one of the first issues of the Stars & Stripes, it was decided to mark the historic occasion of the American arrival on the World War One front line with the always reliable baseball comparison. Printed beneath a headline that clearly implied that the war itself was actually the World Series sat one of the worst poems to ever appear on the front page of any newspaper:

The Boches claim the Umpire is a sidin’ with their nine,

But we are not the boobs to fall for such a phony line;

We know the game is fair and square, decision on the level;

The only boost the Kaiser gets is from his pal the Devil…

The Dummy Horse Observation Post (Popular Mechanics, 1918)

History’s ancient example of camouflage, the Trojan horse, has a modern twist in this illustrated article. The journalist reported that at some undated point earlier in the war the French had a chance to set a mock horse-carcass between the opposing trenches and use it as an observation post.