George K Botts

Private, Co G, 7th Infantry, 3rd Division

Killed in action near Fossoy, France, July 15, 1918. Age 23.

Town:  LeRoy

Burial: Oise-Aisne American Cemetery, Plot B Row 27 Grave 37, Fere-en-Tardenois, France

 

George Kenneth Botts was born on May 1, 1895. The September 25, 1918 LeRoy Gazette-News and September 20, 1918 Batavia Daily News say that he was born in Pavilion, but his draft registration card and NYSS list LeRoy as his place of birth; both towns are in Genesee County. He was the youngest of three sons (brothers Frank and Charles) of German immigrant Peter Botts and wife, Eva. The 1900 US Census shows the family living in Pavilion, and the 1910 US Census lists them on North Street Road in LeRoy. George’s address on 1917’s Genesee County “Militia Enrollment List” is 30 Myrtle Street, LeRoy, the same address given for him on his NYSS and draft registration card. At the time he registered for the draft, on June 5, 1917, he gave his occupation as “farm laborer” and was employed by N B Keeney & Son of LeRoy, merchants listed under Fruit and Produce in the business directory of 1917’s Farm Journal Illustrated Directory of Genesee County.

George Botts left for Camp Dix, New Jersey, with the second Genesee County draft contingent on September 26, 1917, less than a month after marrying Miss Florence Calkins on August 29. Like most other members of the county’s first two contingents, Botts was initially assigned to Battery D of the 78th Division’s 307th Field Artillery. In December, 1917, he was transferred to the newly formed 3rd Division, based at Camp Greene in Charlotte, North Carolina, and assigned to the division’s 7th Infantry. His unit left Hoboken, New Jersey aboard USS America on April 6, 1918, and arrived in France about ten days later.

Within six weeks, Botts would’ve seen almost constant combat. On May 31, 1918, after a month of training, the 3rd Division was placed at the disposal of the French army to help resist a German push toward the Marne River near Chateau-Thierry. Botts’s 2nd Battalion entered the front line at Reuilly on June 7 amidst heavy German shelling. On June 15, the 7th Infantry was ordered to move immediately to relieve the 2nd Division’s embattled 4th Marine Brigade at Belleau Wood. Botts’s battalion occupied the line in the southern part of Belleau Wood from June 16 to June 22, suffering 6 killed and 47 wounded before its relief by refreshed marines. On July 1, the 7th Infantry rejoined the 3rd Division along the Marne.

George Botts was killed on July 15, 1918, the first day of the Champagne-Marne Defensive, also known as the Second Battle of the Marne, when Germany launched a massive attack against French and American troops from the north bank of the Marne River. Botts’s 2nd Battalion was in the midst of relieving the 3rd Battalion at the 7th Infantry’s front-line position on the south bank near Fossoy when, at 12:15 a.m., enemy artillery unleashed a devastating barrage in preparation for crossing the river.

“High explosive, gas and shrapnel, in terrific intensity, commenced with a rush at this hour and continued with equal strength until 8 o’clock next morning,” reads History of the Third Division. “French officers present with the regiment, who had served from the start of the war, declared this bombardment to be the most terrific and concentrated of their four years experience. The bombardment coming down on both battalions in the sector where there was shelter for only one, caused most severe losses.”

Before dawn, as German troops swarmed across the river east of the 7th Infantry’s sector, the survivors of the two battalions formed a defensive line along the north and east edges of Fossoy and held that position against any farther enemy movement to the west. The Third Division’s role in defeating the German attack and preventing an advance on Paris earned it the nickname, “Rock of the Marne.”

Two reports in Private Botts’s Burial Case File give some details of his death. The first, a statement from the Company Clerk of Company G, 7th Infantry, reads: “No eye witness present with company. Died 15th July 1918 by reason of shrapnel wounds received during CHAMPAGNE-MARNE Defensive and buried at LEROQ FARM.” The second, relaying a statement from Private Walter Riley of Botts’s Company G, 7th Infantry, while in a hospital, says, “Botts was severely wounded in the legs. Riley saw him wounded and was later told that he had died of wounds. It was on the Marne to the right of Chateau Thierry, July 15.”

Today, LeRoy’s American Legion Botts-Fiorito Post #576 is named in honor of George Botts and another fallen LeRoy WWI soldier, Leo Fiorito.

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September  5, 1917 LeRoy Gazette-News p1 c4

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September 25, 1918 LeRoy Gazette-News p1 c4

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Source: New York Service Summary from Abstracts of World War I Military Service, 1917-1919, NY State Archives, Albany, New York

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Source: Burial Case Files, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Record Group 92, National Archives — St Louis, Missouri

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Source: Burial Case Files, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Record Group 92, National Archives — St Louis, Missouri

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Source: Burial Case Files, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Record Group 92, National Archives — St Louis, Missouri

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Source: Burial Case Files, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Record Group 92, National Archives — St Louis, Missouri

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George K Botts headstone, Oise-Aisne American Cemetery, Plot B Row 27 Grave 37, Fere-en-Tardenois, France

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George K Botts Sources:

– All County Lists

– Sep 5, 1917 LG p1 c4

– Apr 24, 1918 BD p6 c5

– Sep 20, 1918 BD p1 c6*

– Sep 25, 1918 LG p1 c4

– “United States Census, 1900.” Online index and images, HeritageQuest.com. Entries for Peter Botts (head) and George K Botts (son, age 5), citing Census Records, Pavilion, Genesee, New York; sheet number 8B, line numbers 51 and 55, microfilm series T623, Roll 1038, page 307.

– “United States Census, 1910.” Online index and images, HeritageQuest.com. Entries for Peter Botts (head) and George Botts (son, age 14), citing Census Records, LeRoy, Genesee, New York; sheet number 11B, line numbers 66 and 69, microfilm series T624, Roll 951, page 209.

Farm Journal Illustrated Directory of Genesee County (1917), p 306

– “Militia Enrollment List” (Genesee County, 1917), p B13

– NYSS

Roll of Honor (NY State), p 64

– WWI database, American Battle Monuments Commission website (www.abmc.gov/search/wwi.php)

World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 (Ancestry.com)

Brief Histories of Divisions, U.S. Army 1917-1918, p 7

3d Division, Summary of Operations in the World War, pp 22-32

History of the Third Division United States Army in the World War, pp 85-96

– BCF

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Click for Key to Source Abbreviations. See the Bibliography for complete title, author, and publisher information, with links to online access when available.