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Every city has a first child born in it. For League City, platted in 1893, that child was Leslie Scott, probably born between 1896 and 1898.
Leslie, back then, was not really considered a masculine name. In a small rural town in Texas back in the first decade of the 20th century, a child with that name would have been fodder for teasing. The other boys would likely have told him he had a girl’s name. Growing up with a name like Leslie would have been an experience similar to that described by Johnny Cash in A Boy Named Sue.
This gave the child endowed with that name two choices. Go along with being considered a pansy or become hyper masculine, becoming good at sports and physical activities, and quick with your fists.
The choice made by Leslie – who probably went by Les or Bryan (his middle name) by 1916 – when the US entered World War I, was pretty clear by what he did then. He did not wait to be drafted. He enlisted. Moreover, he enlisted in the Marine Corps, then as now, home of the Few and the Proud.
Leslie Scott in his Marine Corps Uniform (public domain)
He was sent overseas with his unit, the 6th Marine Regiment, arriving in 1917. Along with the other Marine regiments in France in World War I, it was part of the 4th Brigade of Marines in the US Army’s 2nd Infantry Division. (Despite being an Army unit, in World War I it was commanded by Marine Corps General John Lejeune.)
The 6th Marines fought at Belleau Wood, where they earned the nickname “Devil Dogs” (from the German “Teufel Hunden") and the right to wear the French Fourragère (the braided cord still worn by 6th Marine members).
It, with Private Scott, next fought at Aisne, containing a German offensive, and then at the Battle of Saint-Mihiel, the first US-run offensive in World War I. This was an offensive intended to close a German salient.
It was described as “the Battle of the Dream” and “a piece of cake” by future chroniclers of the battle. The offensive coincided with a German withdrawal. Generally, casualties were low. Except on September 15. On that day the 6th Marines were holding an outpost line blocking the German withdrawal.
The fighting was sharp and bitter. That day the 6th Marines suffered over 600 casualties, including 100 dead. Among the dead was Private Leslie Scott, the first child born in League City.
Today he rests at Fairview Cemetery in League City. Remember him today.
(Note: I am writing a history of League City, where I now live. This was one of the stories I discovered in my research. I thought it worth sharing today.)
Discussion (2)
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It was well-worth sharing, Seawriter. Thanks.
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Seawriter, thanks for bringing Leslie Scott's valor to our eyes. It is the service of men and women like this - and our traditional consensus in our country that it is a land and way of life worth defending - that allow regular citizens to enjoy all the blessing of liberty.