To the Editor:

Next year marks the 100th anniversary of America’s entry into World War I. On April 6, 1917, Congress, at the urging of President Woodrow Wilson, declared war on the Imperial German Government, and the nation sprang to his call.

In Schoharie County, Sheriff David Boynton ordered that all wireless stations be shut down (Cobleskill had three); the sheriff also ordered all county peace officers “by observation and inquiry to discover facts about any hostile person or plots, and to enlist the aid of the people of your immediate neighborhood to the same end.”

Mail delivery to Germany was banned; men formed ‘Home Defense’ groups; women joined Red Cross chapters; boys became “farm cadets” to increase agricultural output; patriotic citizens (whose names would be printed in the local newspaper) bought Liberty Bonds; Christian churches conducted patriotic services.

And young men enlisted as soldiers, sailors, marines, and aviators. Ralph Sperbeck from Richmondville, just shy of his 21st birthday, enlisted in the Army on May 8, 1917. He served overseas from May 23, 1918 until October 13, 1918, when he was killed in action. American Legion Post 249 of Richmondville is named in his honor.

Peter Lindemann

Cobleskill

Editor’s note: Peter Lindemann is the author of “A Crooked Gun: the Civil War Dead of Schoharie County” and also of “Rambles in Schoharie County”; he is writing a book on Schoharie County in World War I, and is working with Museum Director Carle Kopecky on a World War I Centennial Exhibit, which will open next year at the Old Stone Fort Museum in Schoharie.