World War I
Upon the outbreak of World War I, Edwards was placed in charge of the Department of the Northeast, comprising all the New England states. In August 1917, he was promoted to major general in the National Army and given the task of organizing the 26th Division. The division arrived in France in September 1917, the first complete American division to do so. The division also became the first complete American division to go into combat at Chemin-des-Dames in February 1918, where they remained for 46 days.
Going back to his days at West Point, Edwards had earned a reputation for being sharp-tongued and contentious. John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force, particularly despised him. Edwards made another enemy in General Robert Lee Bullard during the 26th Division's relief of the 1st Infantry Division near Toul in April 1918. Edwards found fault with everything he saw, and accused the 1st Division of leaving behind classified documents. Bullard was enraged, but Pershing always favored the 1st Division, and reassured him, and nothing came of the incident. In July 1918, during the Second Battle of the Marne, I Corps commander Hunter Liggett found that, although the 26th Division did not lack for heroism and fought valiantly, he could not depend on its commanders, especially Edwards, to subjugate his unit to Regular Army Divisions.
Edwards' final demise came in October 1918, when he reported an incident to Liggett involving information two of his soldiers had obtained from German soldiers with whom they had been fraternizing. The Germans had expressed their belief that the war would be over soon, and that they were reluctant to continue fighting. While Edwards thought he was reporting the enemy's poor morale to Liggett, he instead gave Liggett an excuse to get rid of Edwards for his zeal in supporting the National Guard. Liggett reported the incident to Pershing, who took the opportunity to act on his personal vendetta and relieve Edwards of his command.
Read more about this topic: Clarence Ransom Edwards
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