Civil War veteran offers his services for World War I on April 6, 1917.

  • By Greg Lange
  • Posted 3/07/1999
  • HistoryLink.org Essay 962
See Additional Media
On April 6, 1917, the United States enters World War I. On that day, immediately after receiving the announcement that President Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) has signed the declaration of war against Germany, Civil War veteran James Gillespie reports to the recruiting office at the armory in Seattle to "offer his services."

At the beginning of the Civil War, Gillespie joined a Maine regiment as a private. In July 1866, he mustered out with the rank of Captain. He then moved to the Pacific Northwest and lived in Washington, Alaska and British Columbia.

Sources: Seattle Post-Intelligencer April 7, 1917, p. 2.
Related Topics
Government & Politics War & Peace
Licensing: This essay is licensed under a Creative Commons license that encourages reproduction with attribution. Credit should be given to both HistoryLink.org and to the author, and sources must be included with any reproduction. Click the icon for more info. Please note that this Creative Commons license applies to text only, and not to images. For more information regarding individual photos or images, please contact the source noted in the image credit.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
Major Support for HistoryLink.org Provided By: The State of Washington | Patsy Bullitt Collins | Paul G. Allen Family Foundation | Museum Of History & Industry | 4Culture (King County Lodging Tax Revenue) | City of Seattle | City of Bellevue | City of Tacoma | King County | The Peach Foundation | Microsoft Corporation, Other Public and Private Sponsors and Visitors Like You