How World War I Touched New Orleans

While French was still spoken in many corners of Louisiana, New Orleans also had a large German-speaking community that dated back to the 18th century. German-American organizations across the country raised money for the German Red Cross and led efforts to generate sympathy for their ancestral land.

In April 1915, groups in New Orleans put on the German Bazaar, a major public event that drew 5,000 people—including non-Germans as well as Germans. Considered a major success, the event raised $7,000 (about $175,000 today) for the German and Austrian Red Cross and featured various amusements, such as a beer garden, as well as German war films that had never been shown in the United States. 

When the US entered the war in April of 1917, the military had to quickly mobilize a large force to engage in the massive conflict. This took troops and money, and New Orleans contributed both.

Liberty Bond parades resembled the largest Mardi Gras celebrations, and the city exceeded its bond quota on every drive. By the end of the war, united in allegiance to the American cause, New Orleanians of all ancestries celebrated victory together.

Just two years after the city—including the mayor and many local businesses—supported the massive German Bazaar, public sentiment lurched toward the allied cause. Patriotic propaganda with anti-German strains became prevalent as the United States entered the war, with images depicting Germans as sub-human featured on advertising posters for bond drives and recruitment (such as in the poster below).

In New Orleans, Berlin Street in the Faubourg Bouligny neighborhood was renamed General Pershing Street, after the American military commander, and a local chapter of a national surveillance group, the American Protective League, sought (but failed) to root out German sympathizers in New Orleans. The thriving German Society (Deutsche Gesellschaft) was left with only a handful of members by the war’s end. Though the community was subject to discrimination, many German-Americans were able to downplay their heritage and blend in with the rest of the white population.

Large-scale mobilization quickly disrupted New Orleans’s physical spaces. As soon as war was declared, Mayor Martin Behrman offered the city’s full support, including a section of City Park as a mobilization center for Louisiana troops. In addition to Camp Nicholls at the park, another base, Camp Martin (pictured here), was established at the New Orleans Fair Grounds and later moved to Tulane University.

All told, Louisiana contributed 74,103 individuals, primarily through the draft, to military service. WWI was the first war in which women served in the military, and 131 Louisiana women enlisted as navy yeomen.

One soldier, Cornelius Puneky of Magazine Street, returned home from France and said: “Wherever I went I received a special welcome when people learned I was from Louisiana. They all seemed to know the early history of the state and how closely it has always been linked with France.” Puneky’s account was reprinted in newspapers across the state.

While the Allied Expeditionary Force that headed to Europe was largely made up of men, women in New Orleans took part in the humanitarian relief effort even before the war began.

Though some local women did serve in the US Navy, roughly 20,000 more volunteered with the New Orleans chapter of the American Red Cross, and over the course of the war, they produced 1.6 million surgical dressings, 100,000 hospital garments, 80,000 knitted articles, 230,000 influenza masks, and other necessary aid pieces.

During the war, the US military was segregated, and most African American soldiers deployed overseas were relegated to rear-echelon labor or support roles. Nevertheless, two combat divisions of black men fought with distinction under the command of the French Army. Despite discrimination at home, black soldiers were patriotic and saw their role in the war as a means to show their love of country and willingness to defend it.

The lyrics to one popular song published in New Orleans—by African American composer  William J. Nickerson—typify the patriotic spirit of the era: “There’ll be no stop ’till we’re over the top, / We’re the colored Soldier Boys of Uncle Sam” (below). When black soldiers returned home, however, they encountered brutal racism. The year 1919 saw twice as many lynchings as 1917 and, according to the National World War I Museum and Memorial, 11 victims were soldiers in uniform.

Wartime valor is a common theme in the biographies of public men. Not so for Huey Long. As chronicled by biographer T. Harry Williams, Long took pains to avoid active duty in WWI. Already guaranteed some protections by his status as a husband and father, the 23-year-old Long—a notary public, but not yet an elected official—petitioned the Winn Parish draft board for the additional protections granted those holding public office. The board rejected his request, but the war ended before Long was called to service.

Two months before the Armistice, Long won a seat on Louisiana’s Railroad Commission, a springboard to statewide power. When political opponents later called him out on his draft dodging, Long replied, “I did not go because I was not mad at anybody over there.”

American entry into the war spelled the end of Storyville, New Orleans’s legal red-light district. Officially, the District, as it was called, closed after the Secretary of the Navy declared that no navy base could exist within five miles of a red-light district.

This order effectively closed tenderloins across the US. In New Orleans, Storyville was already on the decline, as popular spots for nightlife were emerging elsewhere and a new generation sought to curb vice. Given the choice between hosting a navy base and continuing the sanctioning of prostitution, local officials opted to close Storyville.

When the war ended on November 11, 1918, people rushed into streets across the city to celebrate an American victory. The Times-Picayune heralded the public fervor as “a celebration such as New Orleans, although noted for such things, has never seen before.” Whistles blew, bells rang, and “a thousand and one” impromptu parades marched about the city.

Armistice celebrations came at a time of intense public debate over the 18th amendment to the constitution—prohibition of the sale of alcoholic beverages. The crowds grew so rowdy in the Crescent City that the Times-Picayune quipped, “A few more such days as Monday and prohibition legislation would not be necessary so far as New Orleans is concerned. There would be no liquor left.”

Allied victory made way for the demobilization of German forces after the war. One surrendered German submarine, UB-88, toured ports in the United States before it was sunk off the coast of California for target practice. The surrendered ship drew large crowds wherever it went, including New Orleans, where it docked at the foot of Jackson Avenue for the first week of June 1919 and was open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. for people to inspect.

In the Upper 9th Ward, you can still visit America’s first known permanent tribute to US servicemen in World War I. The Victory Arch contains a list—segregated by race—of soldiers from the neighborhood who served in the war.  At the time, the Upper 9th Ward was a racially diverse working-class community, and the monument reflected the citizens’ desire to show that they had served patriotically.

The segregated list of names (below) indicates that while black soldiers would be remembered for fighting, the long fight for equality was far from over.

After the war, W. E. B. Du Bois—a co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)—said, “We return. We return from fighting. We return fighting. Make way for Democracy! We saved it in France, and by the Great Jehovah, we will save it in the United States of America, or know the reason why."