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World War I, initially known as the European War and later variously as the World War, "the Great War for Civilization," or "the War to End All Wars," was the defining world event of the first quarter of the twentieth century. The four-year conflict between the Allied (Britain, France, Russia, U.S.) and Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy) resulted in nearly 7.5 million battle deaths and realigned the world powers. Despite the hardships and losses, the war was broadly supported, and Maryland men and women contributed to the war effort as service personnel, volunteers, or workers in industry and agriculture. Although patriotism demanded sacrifices, the war also provided opportunities for rural workers, African-Americans, and women who took the jobs vacated by 60,000 departing soldiers or new ones created for the war effort. The Allied victory in November 1918 was widely hailed as the end of war among civilized nations, and the era ended optimistically with the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment, which ushered in Prohibition, and the Nineteenth, which granted women's suffrage.

Military Service
The United States declared war on April 6, 1917. Despite the huge and well-publicized numbers of casualties in battles like the Somme (1916), thousands of volunteers answered the call of duty. American armed forces underwent rapid expansion and some army units initially contained significant numbers of Marylanders, notably the 29th and 79th Divisions. Marylanders served in numerous other Army and Marine Corps units, aboard Navy and Coast Guard vessels, and at shore installations. By war's end, 62,280 Marylanders had served in uniform; 1,752 had died in service.

The Maryland National Guard Becomes Part of the 29th Division
The Maryland National Guard, federalized in 1916 for service during the Mexican Border Crisis, was recalled in 1917. Maryland Guardsmen were assigned to 115th Infantry Regiment, 110th and 112th Machine Gun Battalions, 110th Field Artillery Regiment, 104th Train Headquarters and Military Police, and the 104th Ammunition, Sanitary and Supply Trains of the 29th Division. Many senior National Guard officers were replaced by regular army officers, a move taken by some to mean the dissolution of the Maryland National Guard. The 29th division sailed for France in June 1918 and fought in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.

Draftees Become Part of the 79th Division
During the summer of 1917, drafted Maryland men were sent to Camp Meade where they joined units of the newly formed 79th Division. Maryland men were assigned to the 313th Infantry Regiment, nicknamed "Baltimore's Own," the 310th, 311th, and 312th Machine Gun Battalions, and the 310th Field Artillery Regiment. The division sailed for France in July 1918 and fought in the St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne Offensives.

Other Units Composed of Marylanders
A number of other army units were composed primarily of Marylanders, including the 117th Trench Mortar Battery, 42nd Division; Battery F, 58th Artillery, Coast Artillery Corps; 520th Ambulance Section, composed mostly of Johns Hopkins University students; Company D, 403rd Telegraph Battalion; Base Hospitals Number 18, organized at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and Number 42, organized at the University of Maryland Hospital; and the 72nd Infantry and 33rd Field Artillery Regiments, 11th Division. African-Americans served in the 372nd Infantry Regiment; 351st Field Artillery Regiment; and the 808th and 811th Pioneer Infantry Regiments.

African-Americans in Uniform
African-Americans had fewer opportunities to serve in the segregated armed forces. Plans to form two divisions, the 92nd and 93rd, were not completed by war's end and members of the 372nd Infantry and 351st Artillery Regiments saw combat under French command. Many others served primarily as support troops in pioneer infantry, labor, service, stevedore, or transportation units. The navy continued its long-standing tradition of employing men of color in food service roles such as cooks, mess attendants, and stewards. The Marine Corps did not enlist African-Americans.

Women in Uniform
Nearly 900 Maryland women served in uniform; roughly equal numbers served as army nurses or as navy yeomen. Seven were Women Marines, and one served in the Coast Guard. Many army nurses served overseas in military hospitals, helping to save the lives of wounded and sick personnel. Navy yeomen and Women Marines worked in offices relieving servicemen for active duty. Relief organizations such as the Red Cross provided volunteer opportunities, some overseas in England and France, for Maryland women.

Medal of Honor Recipients
Two Baltimoreans were awarded the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest award for gallantry. Pvt. Henry G. Costin, Co. H, 115th Infantry Regiment, 29th Division, was mortally wounded while attacking a German machine-gun position in the Bois-de-Consenvoye, France, at the beginning of the successful Meuse-Argonne Offensive. Ensign Charles H. Hammann, U.S. Naval Reserve Flying Corps, rescued a fellow seaplane pilot who had been shot down off the coast of Pola, Austria. Tragically, Ensign Hammann died in a flying accident at Langley Field, Virginia in 1919.

Home Front Activities
The unprecedented need for civilian war work required a new state agency, the Maryland Council of Defense, with subsidiaries in each county and Baltimore. Maryland industry coped with labor shortages, due to the loss of 60,000 workers and increased demand, by hiring rural and women workers. Maryland's agricultural and canning industries supplied immense quantities of food. The General Assembly in 1917 passed a compulsory work law enforced by the Council of Defense. Every physically able male between the ages of 18 and 50 not "regularly or continuously employed or engaged in any lawful or useful business, occupation, trade, or profession" was required to register with the clerk of his county's Circuit Court and thereafter was subject to assignment by the governor of Maryland to state or private agricultural or industrial efforts. Violation was punishable by forced employment. Citizens were asked to plant "liberty gardens" and to conserve food with Sugarless Mondays, Meatless Tuesdays, Wheatless Wednesdays, Porkless Fridays and two-meal Saturdays. The local councils also investigated individuals who were suspected of having anti-American sentiments. Most Marylanders accepted or tolerated the restrictive measures and shortages as costs of total war against a foreign enemy.

Support for the war also manifested itself in intolerance. Anti-German sentiment was rife. H.L. Mencken was subdued if not effectively silenced by resentment against his pro-German, anti-British stance and commentary. Sauerkraut was renamed "liberty cabbage," and in Baltimore, German Street was renamed Redwood Street, after a young Baltimore newspaperman turned soldier, Lt. George B. Redwood, who was killed in the fighting in May 1918.

The war also occasioned the great influenza pandemic of 1918-1919, that killed between 20 and 50 million people world-wide. The influenza struck the armies in Europe and came home to the United States with returning soldiers.

Closing Comments The conflict, which saw the introduction of new weapons, such as machine-guns, submarines, aircraft, tanks, and poison gas, shook the very foundations of western civilization, but despite the horrific carnage, World War I ended with great optimism. The possibility of future war seemed remote, and the impulse for social and political reforms that soon led to women's suffrage and Prohibition promised a brighter future. Unfortunately, unresolved issues contributed to the Second World War in 1939, a conflict fought by the sons and daughters of the World War veterans. Maryland veterans who served "Over There" include Gov. William Preston Lane, Sen. Millard E. Tydings and Adjutant General Milton A. Rekord.

—Jay A. Graybeal