Excerpt from Walton World War History Being Upon the declaration of war in 1917, the New York Division of Archives and History realized that much historical material would be lost unless steps were taken for its preservation. Out of this realization came legislation providing for the preparation of a series of volumes on New Yorks part in the war. With 068, 000 men in military service alone, the task was Herculean. To assist, early in 1920, over a thousand officially appointed local historians were named. Their work was to be completed by October of that year. So slow, however, has been the material for tlie history in coming in that even now there is no telling when the volumes will be ready for the press. A scant handful of the assistants had their local histories filed in Albany by the original date, October, 1920. One of these, a service man himself, wrote for Walton. Avoiding mere wearisome details and. statistics, he has drawn a picture of his community in1917- 18, with the subjective side of service told in vivid language quoted from the men themselves. Though past draft age, Mr. North volunteered in April, 1917, for active infantrjduty. With a like spirit he has now consented to bring out Waltons history in the World War so that his community may have it without the delays frequently unavoidable with state publications. In this most commendable enterprise he has my approval and best wishes. The local war history has its distinctive value. Controversies will arise and tomes will be written concerning the jreat War, and yet with the passing years we, as individuals, will look back to that struggle ever more and more from the personal angle of that community which we then called home. Accordingly, I bespeak this little history not only as an integral portion of the wartime chronicle of New York, but as a volume which each of the authors fellow townsmen should own and cherish as a record of a critical period of his life. Albany, N.Y., July 15, 1922.James Sullivan, State Historian. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.