August 1914 was just another summer month in Memphis. Most people thought the war was going to be short and European. The battlefields and killing were far away. Memphians were still thinking from the Civil War which many Confederate Veterans lived in Memphis and going through the phases of keeping the Southern losses alive. There were memorials erected, veterans reunions and of course Nathan Bedford Forest was quick in showing his support for the old southern cause.
African Americans were oppressed from the Ku Klux Klan, but still the African-American was still a big part of the southern work force in industry and farming. On the out break of the war many African American moved away to large city ports to work. The allies was needing raw goods from the US and it had to be shipped from major city ports such as New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. . The war was giving them a chance to find a way out of their poverty and oppression, but there were many African American Memphians who was to stay in the Memphis area because it was home and later go away to war.
 Memphis was also not quickly forgetting the Yellow Fever Epidemic that left Memphis in economic ruins and many a family without loved ones. Yellow Fever Victims are buried in a mass grave in the Historical Elmwood Cemetery and over this mass grave stands a solitary stone with the words inscribed "No Mans Land" a phrase from the First World War. Memphians still had anxieties of such disasters and taking steps to prevent any such occurrence. The war was second or even third place in Memphis in 1914 and 1915.
There were a group of Memphians who had great anxieties about the war and was thinking about it everyday. They were Germans, most had immigrated to the states for a better life of religion, settle the land, economic opportunities or even adventure. Germans were at war in Europe, so what do you think about while living in the states?
No matter what views everyone had, there was opportunity in the air and business men smelled it. During the war there was a great increase of millionaires by 20%. Industry was alive in America including Memphis with the high demand on cotton. Clothing had to made for soldiers and civilians alike which had to be shipped around the world . An economic boom came to Memphis with help of the Mississippi River raw goods were leaving Memphis at an increasing rate until two years after the war. Because of the war Memphis became a regional economic center. There seemed to be more work and prosperity began to grow. Its almost sad that a war can make people rich in other lands while the battlefields rage in Europe, but that is reality to war on global basis. Memphis was now fully relieved from the Yellow Fever epidemic years before.
Early on, the Commercial Appeal adopted an Allie tone saying German Militarism caused the war, but the balance tip more to the Allies favor in May of 1915 after the sinking of the Lusitania, the ship of the White Star Line flying the British flag but owned by an American firm. The sinking caused an out cry against Germany for killing Americans who was so far neutral in the war. 1915 also saw Belgium Relief in full swing, runned by Hubert Hoover, Belgium relief continued to show a growing concern about the German occupation in Belgium. Americans help feed a entire nation because the Germans could not or would not. Never the less Germany was slowly becoming the enemy in neutral America including Memphis.
Still the United States had not declared war so life went on with other such problems as liquor and prostitution. In 1916 Mayor Thomas Ashoft was elected mayor succeeding the Great Mayor Crump, Mayor Ashoft’s administration raided sources of liquor supply and attack prostitution which was considered tolerable in the city’s ‘evil’ night life. Numerous arrest were made to clean up the town and making it pure once again, but not causing a problem of what to do with the several hundred prostitutes left in the cold. The Protestant Pastors Association of Memphis raised funds to help the ladies of the evening to find other jobs in the city or so they can move to other cities in the United States.
The Commercial Appeal was the main source of news for Memphians which printed the stories of the Battle of Verdun and The Battle of the Somme and was becoming the source of preparedness for the war. C.P J. Moony, editor of the Commercial Appeal, called for a strong military force and mobilizing peoples minds in Memphis to be ready, "be prepared"was the catch phrase. A preparedness parade was held in downtown Memphis, over 20,000 men participated and scorned so called "slackers hiding behind skirts of woman"
Finally on April 2, 1917 President Wilson ask Congress for a state of war with Germany. Memphis roared with patriotism, Moony wrote in the Commercial Appeal "It will be for us, a just war, and , God helping us, we will win and set the world free." While Memphis and the rest of America was in high celebration of patriotism, President Woodrow Wilson would sign the document declaring war on Germany, after doing so he laid down his his pen and wept. He knew that many Americans would not be coming back home including those .... from Memphis.
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Memphis in WWI