Unnamed American Legion Members

The American Legion was organized in 1919 for veterans of the First World War. In Light in August it is to the local members of this organization, now civilians working in "stores and offices" in Jefferson (453), that Grimm turns for volunteers to preserve peace and order after Christmas is arrested. Despite the initial resistance of the American Legion Commander, some American Legion members, and Sheriff Kennedy, he gets enough volunteers to create "a fair platoon" (453). They form pickets at the jail, the courthouse, and the square and adjacent streets; use the cotton office where Grimm is employed as an orderly room; and carry on an all-night poker game.