Sequoyah National Research Center launches World War I Website

The Sequoyah National Research Center (SNRC) at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock launched a brand-new website, Modern Warriors of World War I, this September. The website is a searchable database of American Indians and Alaska Natives who served in World War I. The purpose of the site is to create a central repository for the archival records related to their service.

Private Charles Robert Ward (Cherokee) survived being shot at by snipers and shows off two bullet holes in his helmet. Camp Devens, Massachusetts, June 12, 1919. Courtesy of Indiana University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

Approximately 12,000 American Indians and Alaska Natives served in World War I when not all were American citizens at the time. These Native Americans served in every branch of the military and in a variety of roles—front-line soldiers, scouts, airplane pilots, veterinarians, dentists, doctors, musicians, bakers, and more. The mission of the project is to identify all 12,000 Native men who served and honor their courage by providing an historical account of their service.

SNRC has worked with descendants of veterans, tribal historians and veterans’ organizations, and academic partners over the course of the 9-year project and continues to establish new relationships.

The project began by searching easily accessible online resources like Family Search and Fold3 before expanding to archival repositories like the Minnesota Historical Society’s collection of World War I bonus files and Indiana University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology’s collection of questionnaires from the Rodman Wanamaker Collection.

Research for the website is ongoing, and individual contributions from descendants or other interested parties is encouraged.

The website currently hosts just over 6,000 individual profiles of Native servicemembers. The information varies by individual, depending on a variety of factors. The profiles include tribal affiliation, biographical information, service information, boarding school(s) attendance, and digital images for archival records. Photographs are hard to come by, but those have been included when available.

The website includes a list of medal recipients and explains the mission of the World War One Valor Medals Review, a Congressional mandate which seeks to recognize minorities with a posthumous Medal of Valor. Almost 200 Native men died during the war from combat and disease. The website has a special “Warriors Remembered” page to honor their sacrifice.

Captain Leo McGuire (Osage) receives the Distinguished Service Cross in France in 1918. He served as an ambulance driver.

The Modern Warriors of World War I database has been a long-term project that will continue until all 12,000 American Indian and Alaska Native servicemembers are identified. Their names and their stories should be commemorated and preserved for future generations.

For more information or to contribute to the project, please contact Erin Fehr at [email protected].

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