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Edward Wirt's unit remained in France near Dijon in the Cote d'Or department (province) -about 120 miles east of Paris- for several months after the war. They did relief work and waited for a peace treaty to be signed. Wirt refers to the Versailles Conference then underway, which sought to resolve all of Europe's problems. As Wirt was writing this letter in mid-March, the conference's unwieldy structure had caused all decision-making to grind to a standstill. Eventually, a smaller group of leading powers within the conference would work out a deal to create a final treaty. Wirt's concerns about the League of Nations - that America would "always be drawn into these scrapes over here" - were widespread among Americans. The U.S. Senate shared them: when it came time to ratify the various treaties signed at Versailles they would vote most of them down.

There are ninety letters from Mr. Wirt to Miss Bartlett in the PVMA collection; twelve of them are reproduced here.

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