Delaware in World War I

Delaware's participation in World War I marked a significant chapter in the state's military history, drawing soldiers, civilians, and Indigenous peoples into a conflict that reshaped the nation and the world. Though among the smallest states in the union by both area and population, Delaware contributed men and resources to the war effort across multiple theaters of operation in Europe, including some of the most intensive campaigns of the Western Front. The legacy of Delaware's involvement has been documented by military historians and preserved in state archives, offering a record of service that spans from the Delaware National Guard to individual citizens who earned distinction on foreign battlefields.

Background and Context

When the United States entered World War I in April 1917, Delaware was a small but industrially active state situated on the Delmarva Peninsula. Its geographic position along the Eastern Seaboard made it a point of logistical importance, while its established industries contributed materially to the broader war effort. The state had a long history of military participation stretching back to the colonial era and the American Revolution, and its communities responded to the call for mobilization with measurable engagement.

Dover, the state capital, had served as a civic center since its founding. The city's green was laid out in 1722, establishing Dover as an organized municipal presence well before the Revolutionary period.^[1] By the time of World War I, Dover functioned as the administrative heart of a state preparing to send its sons overseas.

The Delaware National Guard played a central role in the state's military mobilization. Units were organized, trained, and eventually deployed as part of the larger American Expeditionary Forces that crossed the Atlantic to join Allied forces in France and Belgium. The Guard's service during this period has been studied and documented by military historians, including Brigadier Kennard R. Wiggins Jr. of the Delaware Air National Guard (Retired), whose research provides a foundational account of the Guard's wartime contributions.

The Delaware National Guard

The Delaware National Guard was a primary vehicle through which the state contributed organized military forces to World War I. Guardsmen from Delaware were trained and integrated into the broader American military structure as the United States scaled up its armed forces following the declaration of war against Germany. The Guard's units participated in the mobilization effort that saw hundreds of thousands of American soldiers shipped to Europe throughout 1917 and 1918.

Detailed historical research on the Delaware National Guard's role has been compiled and published for broader audiences. Brigadier Kennard R. Wiggins Jr. authored a volume titled Delaware in World War I, published by The History Press in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015.^[2] Wiggins also wrote specifically on the Guard's contributions in an essay titled "Delaware National Guard in World War I," as well as a separate treatment of the 59th Pioneer Infantry, a unit with connections to Delaware's wartime service.^[3] The Wiggins volume is catalogued by the Library of Congress under call number D570.85.D4 W54 and carries the ISBN 9781626199989.^[4]

The 59th Pioneer Infantry represents one of the notable units associated with Delaware's World War I service. Pioneer infantry units in the American Expeditionary Forces were responsible for construction, engineering support, and labor operations in combat zones, working to maintain supply lines, build fortifications, and support frontline troops. Their contributions, though less celebrated than those of combat infantry, were essential to the functioning of modern industrial warfare.

Notable Delawareans in Combat

Among the individuals who distinguished themselves during World War I was a Nanticoke leader known as Ferdinand Clark, also referred to by the name Sea Gull among his people. Clark served in the conflict and was awarded the Croix de Guerre, a prestigious French military decoration given to Allied soldiers who demonstrated valor in combat. He took part in several of the major campaigns that defined the American military experience on the Western Front, including the Aisne-Marne offensive, the St. Mihiel offensive, and the Meuse-Argonne offensive — the latter being the largest military operation in American history to that point, involving over one million U.S. troops and lasting from September through November 1918.^[5]

In recognition of his service and valor, the General Assembly of Delaware awarded Ferdinand Clark a medal in 1918, making him one of the recognized military heroes of the state during the war period.^[6] Clark's recognition is significant both as an example of individual military distinction and as a marker of the Nanticoke people's participation in the broader American war effort — a contribution that has often been underrepresented in conventional histories of the period.

Clark's service across three major campaigns underscores the breadth of Delaware's military involvement. The Aisne-Marne offensive in the summer of 1918 was a decisive Allied counterattack that helped reverse German gains made during the Spring Offensives. St. Mihiel, fought in September 1918, was the first large-scale American-led offensive of the war. The Meuse-Argonne campaign that followed was the final major Allied push that contributed to the armistice of November 11, 1918.

Home Front Contributions

Delaware's contribution to World War I was not limited to those who served in uniform. The state's home front was engaged in supporting the war through industrial production, voluntary organizations, and civic participation. Women played a notable role in home front activities during both World War I and the subsequent conflict, as evidenced by organizations such as the American Women's Voluntary Services, which drew on the experiences of World War I veterans in their later leadership.^[7]

The domestic mobilization of Delaware involved coordination between state government, local communities, and federal authorities. Volunteer organizations gathered supplies, raised funds through Liberty Bond drives, and maintained communications with Delawareans serving abroad. The war created economic disruption as well as opportunity, as industries shifted production to meet wartime demand and agricultural output was directed toward feeding both domestic populations and Allied nations.

Delaware's small population made the loss of fighting-age men to military service a noticeable presence throughout the state's communities. Families in towns and rural areas alike followed the progress of the war through newspapers and letters home, and the casualties sustained by Delaware units were felt at the local level with particular intensity.

Historical Memory and Legacy

The memory of Delaware's World War I service has been preserved through a combination of state government resources, academic research, and published historical works. Delaware's Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs has maintained materials related to the state's role in the conflict, including documentation of unit histories and individual service records.^[8]

The publication of Brigadier Wiggins's Delaware in World War I in 2015 represented a significant contribution to the historiography of the state's military past. Wiggins drew on military records, historical archives, and prior scholarship to produce a narrative that covers the Guard's mobilization, deployment, and service in France.^[9] The book is available through library systems and serves as a primary reference for those researching Delaware's participation in the conflict.^[10]

The story of Ferdinand Clark, the Nanticoke soldier who earned the Croix de Guerre, adds a dimension of Indigenous military service to Delaware's World War I legacy. His participation in the Aisne-Marne, St. Mihiel, and Meuse-Argonne campaigns and his recognition by the Delaware General Assembly place him among the state's acknowledged military figures of the era. His death, reported in the early 1930s, prompted obituaries that noted his wartime record and his standing as a leader among the Nanticoke people.^[11]

Connection to Later Conflicts

Delaware's World War I experience created a framework of civic and military organization that carried forward into subsequent decades. Veterans of the First World War became community figures, civic leaders, and in some cases active participants in the mobilization effort that accompanied the Second World War. The organizational structures established during World War I — from National Guard units to voluntary service organizations — were built upon when the nation again entered a global conflict following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Some Delawareans who had served in or been shaped by World War I went on to raise children who served in World War II. The record of Delaware's military family traditions across both wars reflects a consistent pattern of engagement with national military obligations. The state's modest size did not diminish the proportional depth of its commitment to the war efforts of the twentieth century's first half.