Powell, James H. (P1, C3, L13)

Private James Haden Powell, 25, of Lexington, Fayette County, died on 3 August 1918 of wounds received in action during the Battle of Chateau Thierry, France.  He enlisted in the Kentucky National Guard’s Company C, 2nd Kentucky Infantry in April 1917 where he served until July.  He listed his civilian occupation as laborer and meat cutter for B. F. Perry.  He listed a prior attempt to enlist in 1916 at Fort Thomas but he was rejected due to being underweight.  Powell is listed on the roster of Company I, 1st Kentucky Infantry on the Mexican border with the Punitive Expedition June 1916 to February 1917.

Powell was one of the Kentucky National Guardsmen posted in Newport to guard the C&O Railroad Bridge where it crossed the Licking River. On July 11, 1917, around daybreak and after a night of drinking, five soldiers were caught stealing milk and bread from a saloon in Newport. Powell was one of the five and was arrested at the scene, convicted of Petit Larceny (stealing property valued at less than $50) and sentenced to one year in jail. The case was appealed and on 21 July the charges were reduced to drunkenness and disorderly conduct. According to a newspaper account in the Cincinnati Enquirer on July 29, 1917, the charges of drunkenness and disorderly conduct were dismissed.

Powell was transferred to Company M of the 2nd Kentucky on 24 July 1917 which transitioned to Company M of the 149th Infantry where he served until May 1918.  He was part of the Camp Shelby, Mississippi replacement draft with the 7th Company, 1st Infantry Training Regiment until July 1918.  He was then assigned to Company K of the 165th Infantry where he served until his death.  Powell arrived overseas in June of 1918.  Following the war his remains were returned to Kentucky and he was buried in section N, grave 1171 of the Lexington [Kentucky] National Cemetery on 7 August 1921.