While working on the article Russell Blackwell and Bess Young of Harrison County, Ohio, I wanted to know more about the 83rd Infantry Division in WWI, so I searched for it. One of the results was an AI-generated wiki's article about the unit. It looked well-written and I was going to rely on it until I started noticing some statements that seemed irrelevant to the subject. The information said to be sourced in footnote[9], compared to the footnote itself, is what first got my attention. I decided to fact check the article and the results are below.
The short answer is this: I didn't find anything incorrect, but there were many statements in the article that were not supported by the sources listed in the footnotes for that section. The article seemed to pull in a lot of information that the AI had accumulated and thought was pertinent to the subject. But in those cases it never provided a source for the information it included. More than once the article would discuss the 83rd's activity in WWI but the footnote would refer to WWII. On the good side, it did list sources about the unit in WWI, and I was able to put something together from looking at the sources themselves.
To make sense of the rest of this article you will need to go to grokipedia and search for "83rd Infantry Division (United States)."
Here is a breakdown of the agreements and discrepancies between the article and the sources, broken down by sections supported by a specific footnote.
sources:
[1] https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-83rd-infantry-division
[2] https://armydivs.com/83rd-infantry-division
Both are entirely about WWII and say nothing to support the first part of the first sentence.
[2] https://armydivs.com/83rd-infantry-division
See above.
[3] https://www.cityofgroveok.gov/building/page/united-states-army-83rd-infantry-division-thunderbolt
Returns a 404 Page Not Found Error. Doing a site search at www.cityofgroveok.gov for 83rd Infantry Division found nothing. "Thunderbolt" was a nickname acquired during WWII, so I don't think this site said anything about WWI.
This includes three paragraphs. They are about WWII. I was only concerned about WWI so I did not check them.
[5] https://www.usar.army.mil/WWI/LegacyUnits/
This was fine. The source is a military site that includes the activation date of the 83rd Infantry Division in WWI.
[6] https://ohiomemory.ohiohistory.org/archives/3707
This site is about Camp Sherman. True, the camp was newly constructed. From there the article conjectured why the the camp was constructed and adds, from somewhere else or from its imagination, that it had something to do with the army going from a small organization to a much larger one. All of that could be true but, if it is, the information comes from somewhere else and not the source cited.
[7] https://www.83rdassociation.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/ThunderboltWinter_Final_pages_online.pdf
The source says nothing about the Selective Service System.
[8] https://www.normandytothebulge.be/83rd-infantry-division/history
True, the 83rd was made up mainly of men from Ohio. The source does not say how large the unit was by late 1917.
[6] https://ohiomemory.ohiohistory.org/archives/3707
The source says nothing about any of this.
[9] https://www.woodlandheightsohio.com/living-in-chillicothe
This is a local Chillicothe site. It says nothing about training soldiers. It says "Winters are typically short but very cold, with temperatures typically ranging from 24°F to 42°F, though they can drop below 7°F!"
Opinions might vary about whether those temperatures in winter are harsh. But they are milder than the winters in Northern Ohio, and certainly nothing like the "harsh Midwestern winters" experienced in Northern parts of the Midwest.
The site says nothing about "rudimentary sanitation that contributed to outbreaks of influenza."
It is true that there was a serious outbreak of the Spanish influenza at Camp Sherman, but that source says nothing about it.
[10] https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/83rd_Infantry_Division_(United_States)
This is a wiki based site. It provides no sources for any of its information about the 83rd Infantry Division and shouldn't be used as a source. I didn't bother to check if its account agreed with the AI-wiki.
[11] https://www.newrivernotes.com/order-of-battle-unit-structure-american-forces-world-war-i/
The source agrees with what is said in the article. But source [12] is a better-known site and would be enough support.
[12] https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/American_Expeditionary_Forces%2C_Infantry%2C_83rd_Division
Familysearch, "American Expeditionary Forces, Infantry, 83rd Division"
familysearch gives their source for the information: Order of Battle of the United States Land Forces in the World War. American Expeditionary Forces. Division. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1931 FamilySearch Digital Library pp. 358-365; Images 365-372
So the AI article is accurate regarding the 308th Supply Train and the 332nd Infantry. But neither site say anything about the last paragraph in this section.
I did not need the information about the 332nd Infantry Regiment so I did not check this section.
[13] https://armyhistory.org/viva-lamerica-the-332d-infantry-on-the-italian-front/
This site is mostly about the 332nd Infantry Regiment's activities in Italy. It says nothing to support the statement that the 83rd "sustained relatively low casualties." And it doesn't provide any source for its information.
[13] see above. The source agrees with the AI-wiki article.
[18] https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals/7/combat-studies-institute/csi-books/OrderofBattle4.pdf
The article seems correct. I didn't read the source closely. It is very detailed and I didn't need the information.