
This is a guest blog post by Evelyn Daigneault, a rising senior studying history and English at Brown University. Evelyn is a 2025 Buchanan Burnham Fellow.
The unprecedented scale of suffering experienced during World War I internationally was unimaginable. By the war’s end, much of Europe lay in ruins, and total military casualties numbered at least 30 million.[1] Millions of civilians in Europe were killed during the fighting, and millions more globally died from the devastating influenza pandemic which broke out around the war’s end. American military forces suffered nearly 300,000 casualties, of which roughly 1,500 were from Rhode Island.[2] In addition to the roughly 4 million men who volunteered or were drafted into the military,[3] every civilian in the country was called to support the war effort through working in wartime industries, purchasing liberty bonds, and maintaining a strong patriotic attitude. As their friends and relatives fought overseas, these civilians, too, faced the challenges of war. Many were forced to go without basic necessities like food and fuel as the war increased demand while reducing the number of workers producing them. These shortages caused particular hardship in Newport in the winter of 1917-1918, when the city was forced to confront one of the worst winters in decades with vastly insufficient coal supplies. Considering the experiences of Newporters during that long, cold winter illustrates the consequences of war on the home front.

World War I-era U.S. servicemen pose for a photograph outside of Touro Synagogue, c. 1914-1918. From the Newport History Society’s collection, object number P5137.
The “Great War” began in Europe in 1914, but the United States did not officially become involved until April of 1917. From the moment that war was declared, Newport was fully embroiled in the conflict. On April 7th, 1917, the Newport Mercury proudly proclaimed that “Every branch of activity in Newport is alive to the exigencies of the hour.”[4] As Newport’s full-time residents organized themselves into a fighting force, the city was also flooded with “many strangers” reporting at the Naval Training Station at Ford Adams “to tender their services to their country.”[5] The city was alive with a spirit of patriotism, as flags hung from every house and proud young men enlisted to serve their country in its time of need.

Men in uniform stand in formation at the Newport Training Station, c. 1917. From the Newport History Society’s collection, object number P131.
Six months later, the mood in the city was grimmer. The incessant demand of resources for the war effort had begun to produce domestic shortages of some necessities, especially food and fuel, which boded ominously for the coming winter. Despite the grumblings of people like Abby Sherman of Portsmouth that “We can not buy sugar, there is very little to be had…”,[6] the most pressing concern for residents of Aquidneck Island was the shortage of coal. In addition to being the fuel used at the local power plant, nearly every building in Newport was heated with coal, putting it in very high demand during the cold winter months. Unfortunately for Newporters, coal was also, in the words of one contemporary political economist, “the one basic industry most closely connected with the present war.”[7] Although the United States was one of the few countries to increase its total coal production during the years of the war, coal’s necessity for every part of the war effort meant that much less was available for civilian use than usual.[8] Additionally, the transportation of coal was significantly complicated by the commandeering of railroads and ships for war industries and troop movements.[9] This particularly affected New England, which had previously received most of its coal from barges that were now under the control of the U.S. Navy.[10]
On November 2, national Fuel Administrator Harry A. Garfield promised to supply the New England states with as much fuel as possible but warned of the likelihood of an impending shortage.[11] It did not take long for his prediction to come true in Newport. On December 7th, the Mercury reported that the city’s stocks were nowhere near adequate: “the dealers cannot begin to fill their orders and are simply doing the best they can to keep people going.” “When there was a supply on which the public might make a run this would have been a delicate piece of information to give broadcast,” the paper declared, but given that “the bins are generally so low that dealers are resorting to the careful screening of their dust piles,” this could barely be considered a concern.[12] The mood in the city was one of panic; one dealer reportedly disconnected his phone line to stop the flood of calls from anxious customers.[13]

Photo of an E. W. Peckham Pure Ice Coal and Ice Co. truck next to a large pile of coal, c. early 20th century. By December 1917, coal supplies across Newport had dwindled to a fraction of this amount. From the Newport History Society’s collection, object number P5330.
News that three barges carrying hundreds of tons of coal were coming from New York raised hopes for at least a temporary reprieve from the shortage. Unfortunately, however, those hopes were dashed when the ships foundered off of Jamestown in the first major blizzard of the season on December 8th.[14] As the situation became critical, all local schools were forced to close down and the Bay State Street Railway Company power plant, which serviced all of Aquidneck Island with electricity, had to receive coal from the Navy on emergency loan in order to remain operational.[15] The local fuel commission addressed the situation by introducing new rules around fuel use and took action to prevent hoarding, which had been reported by a number of members of the community; however, despite their best efforts, the commission was unable to resolve the basic supply issues at the root of the shortage.[16]
Immediately before the New Year, the city’s heavily strained fuel resources were brought to the brink of catastrophe when, on Sunday, December 30th, Newport was struck by one of the worst cold snaps to date, with temperatures as low as -12° F.[17] Pipes froze and burst across the city as many households ran out of coal entirely, and at least one person died from exposure in the extreme cold.[18] Newport harbor (and indeed most of Narragansett Bay) filled with ice floes, making navigation extremely difficult and greatly limiting the ability of further coal shipments to reach Newport by sea.[19] This “ice embargo” was catastrophic for more than just Newport. Prudence Island was entirely cut off from the outside world for over a month, until an emergency shipment was able to break through the ice and provide the island’s inhabitants with “a sufficient supply of food and grain to keep them from starvation.”[20]

Several men shovel snow near Chase’s Lane in Middletown, Rhode Island, during a large snowstorm in the winter of 1920. From the Newport History Society’s collection, object number P4974.
By January 25th, Newport’s coal dealers had entirely run out of “hard” coal, forcing most Newporters to heat their homes with its unfamiliar “soft” variety.[21] A national order to have “heatless Mondays” for the remainder of the winter to preserve fuel produced whole days of eerie silence as the entire city shut down weekly;[22] Abby Sherman wrote of the strangeness of “no school no business and everything at a standstill.”[23] The calamity of the winter only worsened on January 26th, when, Sherman recorded, a “terrible explosion at the Training Station Newport” killed 12 and injured numerous others.[24] Believed to be an accident, the catastrophe only remained in local papers for a few weeks before being supplanted by accounts of worsening weather conditions and the continual absence of fuel. Tuesday, February 5th brought another bout of devastatingly low temperatures, with some thermometers reporting as low as -15° F. These temperatures came with only about 10 tons of soft coal and no hard coal at all in the bins of local dealers, destroying pipes and heaters which had not yet recovered from the previous cold snap.[25] Several barges carrying hundreds of tons of both hard and soft coal were docked in Newport harbor, but were entirely inaccessible due to the continued density of ice floes.[26] Abby Sherman summed up the general feeling on Aquidneck Island in her diary entry for the day: “great suffering for lack of fuel.”[27]
As the situation in Newport worsened in late January and early February, the local fuel commission attempted to institute new policies designed to make sure that coal was only being used where it was absolutely necessary and most needed. The response of residents was strikingly selfish. When the commission requested that all public halls and society rooms close their doors, postpone their events, and donate their coal stocks to those in need, they were flagrantly ignored.[28] An attempt by the commission to collect extra fuel from patriotic Newporters willing to share their surplus with those in need yielded a paltry five tons; many homes that had been flying flags to express their patriotism brought them in on the collection day, lest they be confused with one of the patriots willing to donate.[29] According to Abby Sherman, at one point “thieves tried to steal the coal at the Power house and they got caught at it.”[30] As the coal shortage reached its worst point, it seemed to become every person for themself, as desperate Newporters prioritized what little assurance and comfort they could scrape out for themselves above all.

A “Liberty Loan” parade as it passes by City Hall in Newport, 1918. It was considered patriotic to contribute to the war effort, including by buying Liberty Loans and other war bonds. From the Newport History Society’s collection, object number P2519.
By mid-February, the onset of milder weather meant that although coal was still short, the need for it was not quite as acute.[31] In early March, the national supply had improved enough that the federal order for heatless Mondays was rescinded, although it was still tough for most people in Newport to get the specific variety of coal they needed.[32] By the middle of the month, the combination of warmer weather and significant improvements in supply led state and local fuel administrators to rescind most restrictions on coal use in Newport.[33] Newport’s experience of the 1917-1918 coal famine illustrates how far-reaching the impact of war can be. Although civilians on the home front did not suffer the same horrors as those on the front lines, their experiences demonstrate the everyday sacrifices made by individuals during the war effort.
The author would like to give special thanks to Jim Garman of Portsmouth for lending her his notes and photographs of Abby Sherman’s diaries, which are currently in a private collection.
[1] “Mobilized Strength and Casualty Losses,” Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/collections/world-war-i-rotogravures/articles-and-essays/events-and-statistics/mobilized-strength-and-casualty-losses/.
[2] Newport Mercury and Weekly News, February 14, 1920: 4. Newspapers.com, https://newscomno.newspapers.com/image/16208386.
[3] “Mobilized Strength and Casualty Losses,” Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/collections/world-war-i-rotogravures/articles-and-essays/events-and-statistics/mobilized-strength-and-casualty-losses/.
[4] Newport Mercury and Weekly News, April 7, 1917: 1. Newspapers.com, https://newscomno.newspapers.com/image/16208855.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Sherman, Abby, diary dated November 6, 1917, transcript in the private collection of Jim Garman.
[7] Notz, William, “The World’s Coal Situation During the War: I,” Journal of Political Economy 26, no. 6 (1918): 567. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1822496.
[8] Notz, William, “The World’s Coal Situation During the War: I,” Journal of Political Economy 26, no. 6 (1918): 568. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1822496.
[9] Notz, William, “The World’s Coal Situation During the War: II.” Journal of Political Economy 26, no. 7 (1918): 682. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1821993.
[10] Notz, William, “The World’s Coal Situation During the War: II.” Journal of Political Economy 26, no. 7 (1918): 685. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1821993.
[11] Newport Mercury and Weekly News, November 2, 1917: 2. Newspapers.com, https://newscomno.newspapers.com/image/16203438/.
[12] Newport Mercury and Weekly News, December 7, 1917: 5. Newspapers.com, https://newscomno.newspapers.com/image/16203481/
[13] Newport Mercury and Weekly News, December 14, 1917: 8. Newspapers.com, https://newscomno.newspapers.com/image/16203492/
[14] Newport Mercury and Weekly News, December 14, 1917: 8. Newspapers.com, https://newscomno.newspapers.com/image/16203492/.
[15] Newport Mercury and Weekly News, December 29, 1917: 1. Newspapers.com, https://newscomno.newspapers.com/image/16209151/.
[16] Newport Mercury and Weekly News, December 14, 1917: 3. Newspapers.com, https://newscomno.newspapers.com/image/16203487/.
[17] Newport Mercury and Weekly News, January 4, 1918: 1. Newspapers.com, https://newscomno.newspapers.com/image/16368888/.
[18] Ibid.
[19] Newport Mercury and Weekly News, January 25, 1918: 5. Newspapers.com, https://newscomno.newspapers.com/image/16368953/.
[20] Newport Mercury and Weekly News, February 15, 1918: 2. Newspapers.com, https://newscomno.newspapers.com/image/16368995/.
[21] Newport Mercury and Weekly News, January 25, 1918: 5. Newspapers.com, https://newscomno.newspapers.com/image/16368953/.
[22] Newport Mercury and Weekly News, January 25, 1918: 1. Newspapers.com, https://newscomno.newspapers.com/image/16368945/.
[23] Sherman, Abby, diary dated January 17, 1918, transcript in the private collection of Jim Garman.
[24] Sherman, Abby, diary entry dated January 26, 1918, transcript in the private collection of Jim Garman; Newport Mercury and Weekly News, February 1, 1918: 1. Newspapers.com, https://newscomno.newspapers.com/image/16368961/.
[25] Newport Mercury and Weekly News, February 8, 1918: 1. Newspapersi.com, https://newscomno.newspapers.com/image/16368977/.
[26] Newport Mercury and Weekly News, February 8, 1918: 5. Newspapers.com, https://newscomno.newspapers.com/image/16368985/.
[27] Sherman, Abby, diary entry dated February 5, 1918, transcript in the private collection of Jim Garman.
[28] Newport Mercury and Weekly News, February 8, 1918: 2. Newspapers.com, https://newscomno.newspapers.com/image/16368979/.
[29] Newport Mercury and Weekly News, February 8, 1918: 8. Newspapers.com, https://newscomno.newspapers.com/image/16368990/.
[30] Sherman, Abby, diary entry dated February 6, 1918, transcript in the private collection of Jim Garman.
[31] Newport Mercury and Weekly News, February 16, 1918: 1. Newspapers.com, https://newscomno.newspapers.com/image/16219267/.
[32] Newport Mercury and Weekly News, March 1, 1918: 2. Newspapers.com, https://newscomno.newspapers.com/image/16369030/.
[33] Newport Mercury and Weekly News, March 9, 1918: 4. Newspapers.com, https://newscomno.newspapers.com/image/16219294/.