Please Note: Virginia History Day competition at VMHC on April 27-28. Museum Galleries, Café, & Store open; Library closed.

America Enters the War

Posters, banners, and music encouraged Virginians to participate in the war effort. One broadside announced, “Do your part in the defense of your country.” A song written in Richmond reminded, “The Bugles Are Calling.” Music composed in Norfolk warned potential recruits to be present “When the Roll Is Called in Berlin.” Posters for bond drives encouraged both fundraising and military participation. An image of a woman holding the American flag with soldiers pictured below offered an option: “Fight or Buy Bonds.” The recruitment efforts were successful. One hundred thousand Virginians served in the military. Based on national percentages, 40,000 of them volunteered.

This article was featured in the Virginia Magazine of History & Biography, Vol. 126, No. 1 in connection with the The Commonwealth and the Great War exhibition.

In an age before radio, television, and digital media, mass-produced posters adorned Virginia’s streets, shop windows, and other spaces to sway public opinion. A dozen posters in the Virginia Historical Society collection record the use of visual propaganda to stir the patriotic purchase of bonds—purposely named Liberty Bonds—to fund the war effort. Images range from Joan of Arc and a U.S. soldier with wife and child to figures and flags of “Liberty” and exaggerated depictions of the German enemy (“the Hun”). (Virginia Museum of History & Culture, 1999.161.780)

William Munford Ellis, shown here wearing his United Confederate Veterans uniform, gathered his children in their World War I uniforms to demonstrate his family’s, and his state’s, strong military tradition. Confederate veterans remained proud of their sacrifices during the American Civil War a half-century earlier, and they expected the same commitment from their sons and grandsons. (Virginia Museum of History & Culture, 2010.54.2)