Dates: 1918-1919.

Biography:

William Ernest Butler

William Ernest Butler was born in Utah in 1890. He was the son of Ernest W. and Bessie Smith Butler (1877-1964). Thomas Howard Hood, Sr. (1865-1929) married Bessie Smith Butler about 1896 after the death of her first husband. The Hoods had at least four other children: Thomas Howard, Jr., Clara, Howard Nelson (1910-1937), and Orley Mason Hood.

Thomas Howard Hood, Sr., was one of seven children born to William Nelson Hood (1857-1930) and Clara Hickman Hood (1835-1923) of Kentucky. William Hood settled on thirteen hundred acres in Washington County, Mississippi, on the plantation, Magenta, located on Deer Creek about four miles from Greenville. Thomas Hood, Sr., found employment as tax collector of Greenville and in businesses such as the Hazlip-Hood Cotton Company.

In his youth, William Ernest Butler worked as a clerk at his stepfathers cotton company. When the United States Army began mobilizing for World War I, Butler became a sergeant in Company F, Thirty-ninth Division, Infantry. He embarked from the United States on August 18, 1918. When his division arrived in France, it was split into replacement divisions, and Sergeant Butler was assigned to Company F, 162nd Division, Infantry. The armistice was signed before Sergeant Butler ever saw combat, and he was transferred to an independent organization in the army called the Central Recording Office (CRO). Butler was then stationed in Bourges, France, where he began conducting research for the CRO, examining duplicate records of army divisions to verify official war reports of the number of soldiers who were dead, wounded, or missing-in-action. In June of 1919, he received an honorable discharge, and he returned to the United States. He continued to work as a clerk in his stepfathers cotton company after the war. By 1960, Butler was married to Aimee Butler, and he was still living in Greenville. He operated a business called Butlers Cabinet Shop. William Ernest Butler died in 1975, and he was buried in Greenville.

Scope and Content Note:

This collection includes correspondence from Sergeant William Ernest Butler to his mother, stepfather, and step-grandmother; telegrams from Sergeant Butler and the Hoods; correspondence from Thomas Hood, Sr., and Bessie, Howard, and Orley Hood; and a few miscellaneous papers.

Sergeant Butler addressed all of the principal correspondence to Greenville, Washington County, Mississippi, where his mother, stepfather, and step-grandmother all lived or worked. Covering the years when Butler was stationed in France during 1918 and 1919, the letters describe Butlers military duties, furloughs, and other events. Although Butler could not describe his location in France or his duties in much detail, due to the restrictions imposed by censors, many of the early letters alluded to working some miles from the front and close to a small town. When he began working for the Central Recording Office, he wrote his parents about his pride in reviewing military reports, since he was often able to identify soldiers who were wounded rather than deceased, as earlier reports had attested.

After the armistice, Sergeant Butler was able to write more freely of his activities, and he often mentioned his desire to return to United States, but he also expressed his enjoyment in touring Europe while on furloughs. Traveling to Paris, Monaco, Nice, and the Italian border, Butler described his trips in some detail, including the dances he attended and the difficulties he had in finding lodging. In other letters, Butler mentioned unusual events such as the wreckage of an airplane that tried to fly under a bridge; the death of his friend and neighbor, Corporal James R. Finch (1893-1918); and the suicide of an acquaintance named George Christmas.

When Sergeant Butler sailed home to United States to be discharged, the Hoods exchanged several short telegrams with him as the army transferred him around Hoboken, New Jersey, and New York City. The remainder of the correspondence received by Sergeant Butler in 1919 was from the Hoods and their sons, Howard and Orley. These letters discuss business and domestic matters. The miscellaneous documents include a number of loose envelopes, and there is one undated newsclipping about the mutual dissatisfaction of the Americans and the French as a result of the American military presence in France.

Series Identification:

Series 1: Correspondence (William Ernest Butler). 1918-1919; n.d. 4 folders.

Series 2: Telegrams. 1919. 1 folder.

Series 3: Correspondence (Hood Family). 1919. 1 folder.

Series 4: Miscellaneous Papers. 1919; n.d. 1 folder.