African Americans at War: An Encyclopedia

African Americans at War

African Americans at War An Encyclopedia

v o l u m e

o n e

j o n at h a n d. s u t h e r l a n d

Santa Barbara, California

Denver, Colorado

Oxford, England

Copyright © 2004 by Jonathan D. Sutherland All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sutherland, Jonathan. African Americans at war : an encyclopedia / Jonathan D. Sutherland. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 1-57607-746-2 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN 1-85109-371-0 (eBook) 1. United States—Armed Forces—AfricanAmericans— Biography—Encyclopedias. 2. African American soldiers— Biography—Encyclopedias. I. Title. U52.S88 2003 355'.0092'396073—dc22 2003021501

07 06 05 04 | 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook. Visit abc-clio.com for details. ABC-CLIO, Inc. 130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911 Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911 This book is printed on acid-free paper. Manufactured in the United States of America

Contents

Introduction, xvii

A Abraham Lincoln Battalion (Spanish Civil War), 1 African American Enlistment, 2 African American Officers (1960s), 5 African American Women in the Military, 8 African Americanization, 11 Alexander, Clifford L., Jr. (b. 1933), 14 Alexander, John H. (1864–1894), 15 American Civil War (1861–1865), 15 American Revolution, 41 Amistad Case (1839), 48 Anderson, James, Jr. (1947–1967), 48 Anderson, Webster (b. 1933), 49 Antebellum Period, 49 Apache Wars (1877–1879 and 1880–1881), 50 Archer, Lee “Buddy,” Jr. (1922– ), 56 Armed Forces Equal Opportunity Survey, 57 Ashley, Eugene, Jr. (1931–1968), 59 Attucks, Crispus (1723–1770), 60 Austin, Oscar Palmer (1948–1969), 62

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Contents

B Baker, Vernon Joseph (b. 1919), 63 Barnes, William H. (1830/1–1866), 64 Battle Mountain, Korea (1950), 64 Beaty, Powhatan (1837–1916), 66 Bell, Dennis (1866–1953), 67 Black, Barry C. (b. 1948), 68 Black Dispatches, 68 Blake, Robert, 72 Boards of Examination for Officers in United States Colored Troops, 72 Boston Massacre (March 5, 1770), 74 Boyne, Thomas (1846–1896), 74 Brashear, Carl Maxie (b. 1931), 75 Brown, Jesse LeRoy (1926–1950), 76 Brown, Roscoe C., Jr. (b. 1922), 77 Brown, Wesley Anthony (b. 1927), 78 Brown, Willa (Chappell) (1906–1992), 79 Brownsville Incident (1906), 79 Bryant, William Maud (1933–1969), 80 Buffalo Soldiers, 81 Bulge, Battle of the (1944–1945), 85 Bullard, Eugene Jacques (1894–1961), 86 Bunker Hill, Battle of (June 17, 1775), 87 Bureau of Colored Troops, 88

C Call to Rebellion (1843), 93 Camp Nelson, Kentucky, 94 Carney, William Harvey (1840–1908), 95 Carter, Edward Allen, Jr. (1916–1963), 97 | vi |

Contents

Cash, John Anthony, Sr. (1936–1998), 98 Chaffin’s Farm (New Market Heights), Battle of (September 29–30, 1864), 99 Champagne Offensive (1918), 100 Charlton, Cornelius (1929–1951), 101 Chateau Thierry, Battle of (Battle of Belleau Wood, 1918), 102 Cherry, Frederick (1928– ), 103 Christophe, Henri (1767–1820), 104 Cleburne’s Plan (1864), 104 Coleman, Bessie (1892–1926), 105 Colonial America, 106 Coloured Corps (War of 1812), 109 Confederates, African American, 109 Croix de Guerre, 117 Cromwell, Oliver (1753–1853), 119

D Davis, Benjamin Oliver, Jr. (1912–2002), 121 Davis, Benjamin Oliver, Sr. (1880–1970), 124 Davis, Calvin Clark (d. 1944), 127 Davis, Rodney Maxwell (1942–1967), 128 Delany, Martin Robison (1812–1885), 128 Dorman, Isaiah (1821?–1876), 129 Dorsey, Decatur (1836–1891), 130 Double V, 130 Doughty, Gene (b. 1924), 134 Douglass, Anna Murray (1813–1882), 134 Douglass, Frederick (ca.1817–1895), 135 Draft Riots (1863), 142 Drew, Dr. Charles Richard (1904–1950), 144 Du Bois, William Edward Burghardt (1868–1963), 145 Dunmore Proclamation (November 7, 1775), 146 | vii |

Contents

E Earley, Charity Adams (1918–2002), 149 1812, War of, 150 8th United States Colored Troops (Civil War), 157 El Caney, Battle of (July 1, 1898), 158 Emancipation Proclamation (January 1, 1863), 160 Europe, James Reese (1881–1919), 165 Executive Order 9981, 166

F Fifteenth Amendment (1870), 169 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment (Civil War), 169 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment (Civil War), 171 59th United States Colored Troops (Civil War), 174 57th United States Colored Troops (Civil War), 175 1st Kansas Colored (Volunteers) Infantry Regiment (Civil War), 175 1st Louisiana Native Guards (Civil War), 176 1st North Carolina Colored Volunteers (Civil War), 179 1st Rhode Island Regiment (American Revolution), 180 1st South Carolina Volunteers (Civil War), 181 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion (Triple Nickles) (World War II), 182 Fleming, Benjamin (1782–1870), 184 Flipper, Henry Ossian (1856–1940), 185 Forrest, George, 187 Fort Blakely, Battle of (March 31–April 9, 1865), 188 Fort Fisher, Battle of (December 24, 1864, and January 13–15, 1865), 189 Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 190 Fort Pillow Massacre (April 12, 1864), 191 Fort Wagner, Battle of (July 18, 1863), 193 Forty Acres and a Mule, 194

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Contents

48th and 49th Volunteers (Philippines), 197 Fourteenth Amendment (1868), 198 14th Regiment Rhode Island Heavy Artillery (Civil War), 199 Fox, John R. (d. 1944), 199 Freedmen’s Bureau, 200 Freeman Field Incident, 201

G GI Bill (June 22, 1944), 203 Gifu (1950), 204 Golden Thirteen, 205 Gravely, Samuel Lee, Jr. (b. 1922), 207 Green Mountain Boys, 208 Guam Incident (1944), 208 Gulf War (1991), 209

H Hall, Charles “Buster” (1920–1971), 213 Hall, Prince (1735–1807), 213 Hastie, William Henry (1904–1976), 214 Hawley, Nero (1758–1817), 216 Haynes, Lemuel (1753–1833), 216 Healy, Michael Morris (1839–1903), 217 Hector, Edward (1744–1834), 217 Honey Hill, Battle of (November 30, 1864), 217 Houston Riots (1917), 219

I Iwo Jima, Battle of (February 19–March 26, 1945), 223

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Contents

J James, Daniel “Chappie,” Jr. (1920–1978), 225 James, Miles (1829–1871), 227 James, Willy F., Jr. (1920–1945), 228 Jenkins, Robert H., Jr. (1948–1969), 229 Jeter, Phoebe, 229 Jim Crow Military, 229 Joel, Lawrence (1928–1984), 232 Johnson, Dwight H. (1947–1971), 232 Johnson, Hazel Winifred, 233 Johnson, Henry (1824–1904), 233 Johnson, Henry (1897–1929), 234 Johnson, Ralph H. (1949–1968), 236 Julian, Hubert Eustace Fauntleroy (1897?–1983), 237

K Kettle Hill, Battle of (July 1, 1898), 239 Korean War (1950–1953), 240

L Lafayette, James (1748–1830), 249 Lake Erie, Battle of (September 10, 1813), 250 Langhorn, Garfield M. (1948–1969), 251 Las Guásimas, Battle of (June 24, 1898), 251 Lawrence, Robert H., Jr. (1935–1967), 252 Leonard, Matthew (1929–1967), 253 Lee, William (d. 1828), 252 Lew, Barzillai (1743–1821 or 1822), 254 Lexington and Concord, Battles of (April 19, 1775), 255

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Contents

Little Rock Nine, 256 Long, Donald Russell (1939–1966), 257 Louvestre, Mary, 258

M March on Washington (1941), 259 Marne, Second Battle of the (July 15–August 5, 1918), 261 Mason, USS (DE-529) (1944–1947), 263 Massacre Canyon (September 18, 1879), 264 Meuse-Argonne Offensive (September 26–November 11, 1918), 265 Military Intelligence, African Americans in, 266 Militia Act of 1792, 269 Miller, Dorie (1919–1943), 270 Montford Point Marines (World War II), 271 Montgomery’s Brigade (1863–1864) (Civil War), 272 Mulzac, Hugh (1886–1971), 272

N National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), 275 National Guard, 276 New Orleans, Battle of (December 1814–January 1815), 278 99th Pursuit/Fighter Squadron (World War II), 279 92d Division (World War I), 282 93d Division (World War I), 284 9th Cavalry, 287

O Okinawa, Battle of (April 1–June 22, 1945), 293 Olive, Milton Lee, III (1946–1965), 294

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Contents

Olustee, Battle of (February 20, 1864), 296 102d U.S. Colored Troops (USCT), 297

P Pancho Villa Campaign (1916–1917), 299 PC-1264, USS (1944–1948, World War II), 301 Petersen, Frank E. (b. 1931), 301 Philippine Insurrection (1899–1902), 302 Pierce, Adam (b. 1756), 304 Pinckney, William (1915–1975), 305 Pitts, Riley Leroy (1937–1967), 305 Poison Spring Massacre (April 18, 1864), 306 Poor, Salem (1747–1834), 307 Port Chicago Mutiny (1944), 308 Port Hudson, Battle of (May 27, 1863), 309 Potter’s Raid (April 1865), 310 Powell, Colin Luther (b. 1937), 311

R Randolph, Asa Philip (1889–1979), 317 Red Ball Express (August 25–November 16, 1944), 318 Richmond, Battles of (1864), 320 Rivers, Ruben (d. 1944), 322 Robeson, Paul Leroy (1892–1976), 323 Robinson, John C., 325 Robinson, Roscoe, Jr. (1929–1993), 325 Rogers, Charles Calvin (1929–1990), 326 Rough Riders and Buffalo Soldiers (Spanish-American War), 327

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Contents

S Salem, Peter (1750?–1816), 329 Saltville Massacre (Battle of Saltville, October 2–3, 1864), 331 San Juan Hill, Battle of (July 1, 1898), 332 Sargent, Ruppert Leon (1938–1967), 335 Sasser, Clarence Eugene (b. 1947), 336 Segregation and Racism in the Military, 336 Selective Service Acts (1917 and 1940), 349 Seminole-Negro Scouts (1870–1914), 351 Service Units of World War II, African American, 353 761st “Black Panthers” Tank Battalion (World War II), 361 Sims, Clifford Chester (1942–1968), 362 6888th Postal Battalion (World War II), 363 Smalls, Robert (1839–1915), 363 Smith, James Webster (1850–1876), 365 Sol Legare Island, Battle of (July 16, 1863), 366 Spanish-American War (1898), 367 Spanish Civil War (1936–1938), 375 Spartanburg Incident (1917), 378 Stance, Emanuel (Edmund) (c. 1847–1887), 379 Stowers, Freddie (d. 1918), 381

T 10th Cavalry (1866–1898), 383 Thirteenth Amendment (1865), 388 30th Connecticut Volunteers (Civil War), 388 34th Regiment (Civil War), 389 Thomas, Charles L. (1920–1980), 390

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Contents

Thompson, William Henry (1927–1950), 391 370th Infantry Regiment (World War I), 392 371st Infantry Regiment (World War I), 394 372d Infantry Regiment (World War I), 395 369th Infantry Regiment (Harlem Hellfighters), 397 332d Fighter Group (World War II), 399 Trenton, Battle of (December 26, 1776), 400 Trinidad Disturbance (July 1943), 401 Tubman, Harriet (c. 1820–1913), 402 Turner, Henry McNeal (1834–1915), 404 Tuskegee Airmen (World War II), 406 25th Infantry Regiment, 410 24th Infantry Regiment, 413 29th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry (Civil War), 418 23d Kansas Volunteer Infantry, 419 Tye, Colonel (Titus) (1753–1780?), 420

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U Underground Railroad, 423 U.S. Air Force, 426 U.S. Army, 431 U.S. Army, Interwar Period (1918–1941), 456 U.S. Coast Guard, 465 United States Colored Troops of Kentucky (Civil War), 470 U.S. Marine Corps, 471 U.S. Navy, 487 Ute War (1879), 498

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Contents

V Vietnam War (1954–1975), 501

W Walker, William (d. 1864), 505 Waller, Calvin (1937–1996), 506 Walley, Augustus (1856–1938), 506 Wanton, George Henry (1868–1940), 507 Warren, John E., Jr. (1946–1969), 508 Washington, William G. (d. 1952), 508 Watson, George (1915–1943), 509 Wereth Massacre (December 17, 1944), 510 West Point, 510 Wham Paymaster Robbery (May 11, 1889), 513 Williams, Cathay (1842–1892?), 514 Wilson, William Othello (1867–1928), 515 Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, 517 Women’s Reserve of the U.S. Navy (WAVES), 521 World War I (1914–1918), 523 World War II, 537 World War II Infantry Replacements, 576

Y Young, Charles (1864–1922), 585

Z Z-Gram 66 (December 17, 1970), 589

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Contents

Chronology, 593 United States Colored Artillery, Formation and Service Records of, 639 United States Colored Cavalry, Formation and Service Records of, 645 United States Colored Troops, Formation and Service Records of, 649 United States Colored Troops, Battles of, 701 Buffalo Soldier Postings, 1865–1917, 723 World War I Recruitment Camps and Postings, African American Troops, 727 World War II and Korean War Recruitment Camps, African American Troops, 733 Desegregation of the Armed Forces: Chronology, 1945–1953, 741 Medal of Honor, 747 Historic Sites of African American Military Significance, 769 Bibliography, 775 Index, 785

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Introduction

Lexington Green, Lake Erie, Appomattox, San Juan Hill, the Marne, Iwo Jima, the Ardennes— all have in common the presence of African Americans. These key engagements are but a taste of four hundred years of military service to the United States, ardent patriotism against a backdrop of hatred and distrust. This work aims to place the African American in the military context of the United States and for the first time to detail the complete history. It may seem incredible that a nation as young as the United States could for so long deny an integral part of its heritage. It may seem all the more bizarre that a nation’s documented history exhibits all the signs that it effectively excised significant contributions made by a minority. Such is the military history of the United States, spread over four hundred years of internal strife, imperial adventures, and world wars. Unraveling the story of African Americans in the U.S. military is no easy task, fraught with contradictions, riddled with inconclusive evidence, and at all times poorly documented. Yet African Americans were in evidence from the very beginnings of European colonies in North America, slaves or the sons of slaves called upon by the dominant white ruling classes to bear arms in times of need. Their story is a constant until the 1950s, with calls for African Americans to rally around the flag when it was menaced, only to be discarded and humiliated once more in times of peace. Examining the art and later the photography of the wars, of the regiments, and of the actions, we see white faces staring back at us from history. Occasionally, deep in shadow, relegated

to the background is a black face, mute testimony of a presence. The inclusion of these faces has been explained away in passing, describing them as favorite slaves, personal servants, and other adjuncts of the leading white personalities. Behind the faces are real men (and later women) who gradually became integral parts of the U.S. military machine. For every featured face, there were dozens, then hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands of others who gained no recognition of their contribution, their gallantry, and their sacrifice. Military historians could be forgiven for having missed or ignored the African American. Institutionally, their contribution was long demeaned; for the most part their valor was taken from them and assigned to white units in official and generally accepted histories. It has only been in recent years, with the successes of the civil rights movement and the rapid development of African American history, that vital clues, documents, and forgotten tales have been uncovered. In truth, my own discovery and interest in African American military history has followed a similar path from a beginning of absolute ignorance. I had long been fascinated by the American Civil War, but standard histories barely mention the nearly 200,000 African Americans who donned the uniform of the United States Colored Troops. No mention was made of the African Americans in the U.S. Navy and none of the servants, slaves, and soldiers in the ranks of the Confederacy. Runaway slaves, for the most part, were described as hapless and helpless souls unable to fend for themselves without the

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Introduction

guiding hands of their white masters, yet what induced so many to suffer all the more in their decision to wear the blue of the Union? Facing ridicule, resistance, and broken promises in the North and revulsion, reprisals, and summary execution in the South, these men fought for more than the freedom of their race. They fought for ideals enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, denied them from birth. But the story of African Americans in the U.S. military begins not with the Civil War but with the very earliest white colonists and their slaves. These fragile settlements, far from any support from Europe, soon learned to fend for themselves, to guard their borders, and to launch preemptive strikes against Native Americans. Manpower was always a scarce resource, and often, against the colonies’ better judgment, African American slaves and freedmen were impressed into colonial militias when the colonies felt most at threat. As the years passed and the views of the legislature of each of the colonies coalesced into policies, each had its own approach to the deployment of African Americans. Against this backdrop, the non-British colonies were instrumental in establishing mixed-race militia; the Spanish and the French had no qualms about a man’s color, his status, or his religion when it came to the defense of the colony. Interestingly, what would become the Southern states were more inclined toward accepting African Americans into their militia than the Northern states. Each colony had its own interpretation of the various Militia Acts—some accepting African Americans provided they were free men, others barring all, save those sent as substitutes for their white masters. It was therefore unremarkable that when the colonies revolted against British rule in the late eighteenth century, African Americans participated in the key incidents that frame the legendary tales of the birth of the new nation. African Americans stood shoulder to shoulder on Lexington Green, fought and ran with the other militia at Concord, and temporarily withstood the British assaults on Bunker Hill (Breed’s Hill). African Americans withstood the priva-

tions of Valley Forge, participated in the battles up and down the eastern seaboard, and were present when the final British surrender was accepted at Yorktown. The fledging Continental Navy and the navies of the colonies relied on African Americans to put to sea; without large numbers of freedmen and slaves blockades would have been ineffective and the interdiction of British vessels bringing supplies and reserves less than adequate. Yet no sooner had victory been achieved and the nascent state formed, with its famed Constitution proclaiming liberty and equality for all, than African Americans were again marginalized. The brooding distrust and the U.S. desire to wrest Canada from the British erupted in 1812. Once again, African Americans flocked to the militia and especially to the navy. The key to Canada and to American ambitions was the Great Lakes, patrolled and denied by the opposing fleets. At the Battle of Lake Erie, it has been estimated that African Americans accounted for around one in four of the crews on the American vessels. With the end of hostilities, the U.S. military retrenched once more. For African Americans, any advances that had taken place during the later part of the eighteenth and early years of the nineteenth century were brushed aside as the armed forces returned once more to a predominantly white force. It would take the cataclysmic event of the Civil War for African Americans to once again have the chance to show their worth, their patriotism, and their valor. No sooner had the first shots been fired at Fort Sumter than the nation was on a collision course with itself. The South, reliant on agriculture supported by slavery, faced a vibrant and diverse North far more developed economically and technologically. The war did not open as a conflict aimed to determine whether slavery was acceptable or desirable. Even Lincoln was at pains to avoid this conclusion; he feared that a ban on slavery would force the Border States into the arms of the Confederacy. Assailed by Southern force of arms and under constant attack from Northern

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Introduction

abolitionists, Lincoln finally issued the Emancipation Proclamation. This was only the beginning; at first it merely accelerated the flight of African Americans from the slave-owning states to the relative safety of Union-held territory. Thousands of displaced African Americans who had reached the North via the Underground Railroad were joined by thousands more who had been liberated from bondage by soldiers in blue. What to do with these people? How to determine their status? Already solutions for men were being adopted, albeit without authority from Washington. Experiments had begun in earnest to transform ragged field hands, illiterate and malnourished men, into soldiers. The voices of the abolitionists both within and without the African American community could no longer be ignored. Gradually, reluctantly and with trepidation African Americans were inducted into the Union Army. The trickle of 1863 had become a flood by the last months of the war. Initially at least, these black soldiers were not recognized as true fighting men; they would provide an opportunity to release white soldiers from drudgery, fatigue duties, construction details, and backwater garrisons. In truth, both the North and South, after two years of heavy casualties, with the prospect of greater sacrifices to come, were already scraping the recruitment barrel. African Americans, as far as Washington was concerned, seemed to offer a solution to the manpower crisis. Reactions to African American recruitment were mixed; there was jubilation from the abolitionists and from African Americans. For the most part, the North viewed the move with suspicion and more than a little consternation; many whites considered that armed and trained blacks would inevitably cause problems. The South reacted in a predictable manner for a society based on the assumption of the inherent inferiority of the black man. African Americans donning the Union blue could expect no quarter from the South; their white officers would be held responsible for inciting insurrection, and the orders were that they were to be summarily

executed. If Confederates expected this hard line to dissuade African Americans from fleeing the South and pledging their allegiance to the Union, they were mistaken. Even tragic and vicious incidents such as Poison Springs and Saltville, which amounted to murder of African American troops, galvanized more recruits and bolstered the determination of those already in uniform. The story of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, led by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, has justifiably found recognition in a number of books and the motion picture Glory—yet the 54th’s story is not remarkable compared to other African American units. The regiment and its sister unit, the 55th, exemplify the lot of the African American in uniform during the Civil War, no more and no less. Increasing numbers of African Americans would join the United States Colored Troops, operating as Colored Infantry, Cavalry, and Artillery Regiments. Still more would join the Union Navy—which makes the service’s later reluctance to accept African Americans even eighty years later all the more astounding. And even in the Confederacy, African Americans played a military role. Officially, at least, it was not until the last few weeks of the war that the proposals to institute a mass recruitment of slaves in return for freedom was discussed and later accepted. By then of course, it was too late. Symbolically, it was fitting that African American units were present when Richmond fell and that they were at hand when Robert E. Lee finally surrendered at Appomattox. For many African Americans, short on service and experience, the end of hostilities was not the end of their term under arms. The post–Civil War establishment of the U.S. Army allowed for the existence of no fewer than six African American regiments, which would later be reduced to four. So began the U.S. Army’s ninety-year tradition of segregated African American units. The 24th and 25th Infantry and the 9th and 10th Cavalry would now be employed in the still-

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Introduction

unsettled West. African Americans were to be deployed against Native Americans. Often posted in remote garrisons, responsible for thousands of square miles of territory, the Buffalo Soldiers, as they would become known, learned their trade and established reputations in countless engagements, pursuits, and holding actions as part of Washington’s strategy to impose its will on the Native American tribes. For the most part, these extended tours of duty were unsung and unrecognized; in the beginning white officers spurned the regiments, but as their reputation grew the scant opportunities for active service made such service more attractive. Active service, even with the Buffalo Soldiers, meant that a career officer could leapfrog his contemporaries and attain faster promotion. At the end of the nineteenth century the United States, eager to flex its imperial muscles, came into conflict with the aging and ill-prepared Spanish empire. Cuba was stormed and taken, and later the Philippines. Significantly, this was the first time that African American regular units had been deployed in force abroad; the black infantry and cavalry units were present at all of the major actions that led to the surrender of Spanish forces on Cuba and were, at various times over the next few years, deployed against insurgent forces in the Philippines. Nonetheless, the years leading up to World War I were unkind to African American soldiers. No sooner had the need for their experience passed than they were again relegated to the margins of the United States, much depleted in numbers. It was not the African American regulars of the U.S. Army who would be given the opportunity to serve their country in the first major conflict of the twentieth century. This honor fell to the thousands of National Guardsmen and conscripts who would find themselves in the allblack 92d and 93d Infantry Divisions. All of the regiments would see action on the Western Front. As had been the case at the end of each of the wars, African Americans were excluded from the major victory parades and once again, the

U.S. armed forces reverted to a predominantly white hue. The interwar years began to offer promise for African Americans choosing the army as a career, and a handful were admitted to West Point, but by the time the United States entered World War II, there were precious few African Americans under arms. But the impetus for change had finally arrived; first the army, then the navy and air force began African American recruitment in line with the agreed quotas. Even the U.S. Marine Corps, exclusively white for its entire history, began to recruit African Americans. Donning the uniform was not enough, accepting subsidiary roles not an option; these men wanted to fight as equals, yet the military establishment was reluctant still. The first African Americans to see combat in World War II were those in the Far East, but behind them unit upon unit was preparing for battle, from squadrons of fighter pilots to antisubmarine vessels, from tank destroyer units to Marine battalions. The war which had begun with the spirited handling of an antiaircraft gun at Pearl Harbor by an African American messman, Dorie Miller, would end with African Americans having flown sorties over Berlin, punched their way through German defenses as far as Austria, claimed German U-boat kills, and fought in many of the fierce island invasions in the Pacific. True heroes emerged from the ranks of the Tuskegee Airmen, the regular infantry in Europe, the Marine Corps in the Far East, and the crews of the naval vessels dominating the seas. Although many would receive immediate recognition in the form of medals and citations, only one would live to receive his Medal of Honor decades later in a ceremony at the White House. The corner had been turned, African Americans in vast numbers, both male and female, had served in virtually every branch of the U.S. military; significantly, many had served in early experimental integrated units. The process toward full integration had begun, but it took another war to put this fully in place. When North Korean troops surged across the 38th parallel in 1950 and invaded South Korea,

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Introduction

the immediate UN response was to send ill-prepared and hastily mustered units to stem the tide. Among these were the 24th Infantry, the venerable African American unit created in the aftermath of the Civil War. The unit has received largely unfair criticism of its conduct during the Korean War, but in truth it stood alone as the last remaining segregated U.S. Army unit. Its subsequent demise spelled an end to formal segregation in the U.S. military; by now integration was in full swing across the length and breadth of the military. The proof of equality had to come in opportunity at all levels, including the officer ranks, and in all services. By the time the United States became embroiled in Vietnam, a smattering of senior African American officers were in evidence. During the first Gulf War in the last decade of the twentieth century, African Americans were serving at the highest levels of command. Much had changed since the thousands of African American slaves had taken those tenta-

tive steps into the military over a hundred years before. Two hundred years had passed since African Americans stood among the revolutionaries defying the greatest empire the world had ever known. The long journey to seek recognition and equality can be seen through the eyes of thousands of men and women across the centuries, this is their story. Their story is not just one of combat, it is the history of a long and involved social, political, and economic struggle for equality. It is the story of individuals, often forgotten or consigned to the footnotes of history, yet largerthan-life individuals who forged new beginnings for their race and for their country. Against all odds, African Americans from every era of American history, from the backwoods of colonial America to the deserts of Iraq, now claim their rightful place in U.S. military history.

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Jon Sutherland March 2003

African Americans at War

a Abraham Lincoln Battalion (Spanish Civil War) Approximately 100 African Americans were among the 3,200 volunteers from the United States who formed the Abraham Lincoln Battalion to fight with the Republican forces in the Spanish Civil War, which pitted the elected republican government against conservative and traditionalist forces trying to overthrow it. The Abraham Lincoln Battalion was the first non– Jim Crow military organization in U.S. history. The Abraham Lincoln Battalion consisted of an ideologically based group of volunteers. More than half were members of the Communist and other left-wing parties. Equality was integral to their credo: officers were often voted into positions, and the only badge of rank was small bars on a beret. In some respects, the lives and sacrifices of the group were idealized by supportive news reports from such people as the writer Ernest Hemingway; the journalists Herbert Matthews and Martha Gellhorn; and the playwright Lillian Hellman. The battalion, and the Republican cause in general, received considerable support from many prominent Americans on the left, including African American activists such as Paul Robeson and A. Philip Randolph. Integral to the tale of the Abraham Lincoln Battalion, in terms of African American involve-

ment, is the story of Oliver Law, who became the first African American to lead an integrated American force. He was born in Texas in 1899 and served in the U.S. Army during World War I. After six years, he left the army and worked in a cement factory, as a taxi driver, as a stevedore, and finally as manager of a small restaurant in Chicago. Law joined the Communist Party during the Great Depression and took part in marches such as the International Unemployment Day demonstration (March 6, 1930). He and several other activists were arrested and beaten by the police, but Law was undeterred. In 1936 Law joined the Abraham Lincoln Battalion to fight for the Republican Popular Front in the Spanish Civil War. The Popular Front was a coalition of antifascists, including antimonarchists, revolutionaries, trade unionists, regional separatists, and Communists as well as other revolutionaries. Law arrived in Spain in January 1937 and joined up with the international brigades that had concentrated around Albacete. Franco’s Nationalists failed to capture Madrid, but he ordered his 40,000 troops to cut the city off from the rest of Republican Spain. Consequently, the international brigades (the Lincoln Battalion was part of the 15th Brigade) were sent into the Jarama Valley to block the Nationalist advance. Law and the Abraham Lincoln Battalion first saw action on February 27,

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African American Enlistment

1937. In that the engagement, Law distinguished himself and was promoted to command of a machine gun company and shortly thereafter became battalion commander on the death of Robert Merriman—making him the first African American to lead an integrated, though unofficial, American force. On July 6, 1937, the Republicans launched a major counteroffensive to free Madrid, but Franco committed more troops. Law was killed July 9, 1937. There was considerable argument about the death of Law after the war. Some African American activists in the United States claimed that he had been murdered by his own troops, but witnesses on the scene are clear that they saw him fall to enemy fire. Shortly after the war, Paul Robeson tried unsuccessfully to have a movie made about Law but failed to obtain the necessary financial backing. The volunteers fought with a severe lack of equipment and ultimately fell to superior numbers and weaponry. By the end of the conflict some 750 had died in battle, a crippling casualty rate. In November 1938, in an attempt to persuade the German and Italian troops fighting for Franco to quit the conflict, the Spanish Republican leader, Juan Negrín, ordered that the international brigades be withdrawn from the conflict. Franco’s allies refused to follow suit, and as a result Madrid fell in March 1939. That war was over for the Abraham Lincoln Battalion, but their participation affected them after their return to the United States. The men were outraged when Stalin signed a nonaggression pact with Hitler in 1939; many supported the Communist Party’s call for the United States to remain neutral. However, when the country did enter the war, many of the men enlisted. Initially, men known to have been members of the Abraham Lincoln Battalion were refused active combat postings because of their leftist political affiliations; later in the war, some saw action. By the 1950s, however, former brigade members were targets of the FBI and anti-Communist investigations mandated by the U.S. Congress. Most of the men had already left the

Communist Party, but some were nevertheless convicted under the Smith Act of advocating the violent overthrow of the government; most convictions were overturned. See also Robeson, Paul Leroy; Spanish Civil War References and Further Reading Bessie, Alvah Cecil, and Albert Prago, eds. Our Fight: Writings by Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, Spain, 1936–1939. New York: Monthly Review Press with Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, 1987. Carroll, Peter N. The Odyssey of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade: Americans in the Spanish Civil War. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1994. Collum, Danny Duncan, ed.; Victor A. Berch, chief researcher. African Americans in the Spanish Civil War: “This Ain’t Ethiopia But It’ll Do.” New York: G. K. Hall, 1992. Eby, Cecil. Between the Bullet and the Lie: American Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1969. Felsen, Milt. Anti-Warrior: A Memoir. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1989. Guttmann, Allen. Wound in the Heart: America and the Spanish Civil War. New York: Free Press of Glencoe, 1962. Landis, Arthur H. Abraham Lincoln Brigade. New York: Citadel Press, 1967. Merriman, Marion. American Commander in Spain: Robert Hale Merriman and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1986. Rolfe, Edwin. Lincoln Battalion: The Story of the Americans Who Fought in Spain in the International Brigades. New York: Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, 1939. Rosenstone, Robert A. Crusade of the Left: The Lincoln Battalion in the Spanish Civil War. New York: Pegasus, 1969.

African American Enlistment Enlistment represents the number of men who have entered a given service; the term includes both volunteers and draftees. The percentage of

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African American Enlistment

African Americans lining up to enlist for active service in the 8th Regiment Infantry, Illinois National Guard, Chicago, 1917. (National Archives)

enlisted African American troops has risen steadily, although figures vary depending on when each service began accepting them. Reliable figures begin at the start of the twentieth century; before that, they are essentially estimates. Approximately 180,000 African Americans served in the Union army during the Civil War; the number who served with the Confederate army, either in support positions that freed up white soldiers for combat or on front-line duty themselves, is unknown. Figures for earlier periods are similarly vague. Although African Americans undoubtedly served in the army (either regular or federal forces or militia) and in the navies (continental, state, or privateer), no reliable source exists on the numbers involved. To derive the figures, one must analyze the muster rolls individual by individual.

Later figures, based on contemporary sources or produced by the services and later by the Department of Defense (and its predecessor, the Department of War), give more reliable percentages. The U.S. Army, for example, has gradually increased the number of African Americans as enlisted personnel from 1900 to the present day. Around 1900 the figure stood at or around 5 percent. At the peak of African American enlistment in World War I, this figure rose to just over 10 percent. During the years between the wars, African American enlistments dropped to an all-time low, but the Selective Services Act of 1940 brought another major increase in African American enlistment, which reached a level of around 13 percent. There was another drop in the early Cold War years, but beginning in 1970 there was a steady annual increase. By the end

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African American Enlistment

MINORITIES IN U.S. ARMED SERVICES, SEPTEMBER 2000 Total

Black

%

Hispanic

%

Other Unk.

%

Minority Total

%

Army Officer Warrant Officers Total Enlisted

65,047 11,325 76,372 394,642

7,350 1,812 9,162 115,240

11.3 16 12 29.2

2,536 569 3,105 34,232

3.9 5 4.1 8.7

3,515 560 4,075 26,388

5.4 4.9 5.3 6.7

13,401 2,941 16,342 175,860

20.6 26 21.4 44.6

Grand Total

471,014

124,402

26.4

37,337

7.9

30,463

6.5

192,202

40.8

Navy Officer Warrant Officers Total Enlisted

51,038 1,719 52,757 310,284

3,240 284 3,524 62,974

6.3 16.5 6.7 20.3

2,705 27 2,732 29,630

5.3 1.6 5.2 9.5

2,538 115 2,653 27,568

5 6.7 5 8.9

8,909 426 8,909 120,172

16.9 24.8 16.9 38.7

Grand Total

363,041

66,498

18.3

32,362

8.9

30,221

8.3

129,081

35.6

Marine Corps Officer Warrant Officers Total Enlisted

15,901 2,007 17,908 152,474

1,032 309 1,341 25,023

6.5 15.4 7.5 16.4

777 137 914 20,174

4.9 6.8 5.1 13.2

548 51 599 7,185

3.4 2.5 3.3 4.7

2,357 497 2,854 52,382

14.8 24.8 15.9 34.4

Grand Total

170,382

26,364

15.5

21,088

12.4

7,784

4.6

55,236

32.4

Air Force Officer Warrant Officers Total Enlisted

68,490 — 68,490 281,901

4,282 — 4,282 51,272

6.3 — 6.3 18.2

1,518 — 1,518 15,261

2.2 — 2.2 5.4

3,823 — 3,823 12,747

5.6 — 5.6 4.5

9,623 — 9,623 79,280

14.1 — 14.1 28.1

Grand Total

350,391

55,554

15.9

16,779

4.8

16,570

4.7

88,903

25.4

DOD Officer Warrant Officers Total Enlisted

200,476 15,051 215,527 1,139,301

15,904 2,405 18,309 254,509

7.9 12.4 8.5 22.3

7,536 733 8,269 99,297

3.8 4.9 3.8 8.7

10,424 726 11,150 73,888

5.2 4.8 5.2 6.5

33,864 3,864 37,728 427,694

16.9 25.7 17.5 37.5

Grand Total

1,354,828

272,818

20.1

107,566

7.9

85,038

6.3

465,422

34.4

Source: U.S. Department of Defense: http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/almanac/almanac/people/minorities.html.

of the twentieth century, the combined services included about 30 percent African American enlisted soldiers. Simultaneously, African American enlisted officers have risen from a tiny percentage in the period preceding 1940 to approximately 11 or 12 percent by the early twenty-first century. Both of these contempo-

rary figures exceed the percentage of the U.S. population that is African American and indicate that recruitment and enlistment are no longer controlled by the types of official and unofficial quota systems that obtained at various times in the past. The U.S. Navy, before the U.S. involvement

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African American Officers

in World War I, had very few African Americans; the number peaked at about 2 percent toward the end of the war. Immediately after the war there was a massive drop in African American enlistment until the late 1930s, when numbers began to increase gradually until around 1946. By that time, no more than 5 percent of enlisted men were African American. The figure dropped slightly in the early 1950s then rose again until 1960 although probably no higher than it was during World War II. Beginning in 1970, however, there was a steep increase in African American enlistment, and by the end of the twentieth century, the estimated figure stood at about 20 percent. The services did not have significant numbers of African American officers until later in World War II. Even then, their numbers represented a fraction of a percent. From the mid1960s, however, there was a slow but steady increase in the number of officers, and by the end of the twentieth century, the estimate stood at approximately 5 percent—only about 50 percent of the proportion of African Americans in the general community. The U.S. Marine Corps did not begin African American enlistment until World War II. The decades that followed brought a steady increase in African American participation, reaching a high point shortly after 1980. By this time, African American enlisted personnel accounted for some 20 percent of the U.S. Marine Corps. Beginning in 1980 there was a gradual decline in African American enlistment, and by the end of the twentieth century, the figure stood at 16 percent. The number of African American officers within the Marine Corps rose steadily beginning in 1950 to around 3 or 4 percent during the Vietnam War period. Since then, despite the reduction in African American enlisted personnel, the number of officers continued to rise and in the late 1990s stood at approximately 6 percent. African American enlistment figures for the U.S. Air Force are similar to those for the Marine Corps. Initially, the Air Force was part of the U.S. Army and was not a separate service.

However, African American enlistment increased to around 6 percent in 1950, 12 percent in 1970, and a high approaching 20 percent shortly after 1980. At the turn of the twentieth century, the figure was approximately 18 percent. During this period, the number of African American officers within the Air Force increased gradually, reaching a high in the mid-1980s of around 5 percent, a figure that still stands. See accompanying table for recent statistics. See also African American Officers; U.S. Air Force; U.S. Army; U.S. Marine Corps; U.S. Navy References and Further Reading Fletcher, Morris. The Black Soldier and Officer in the United States Army, 1891–1917. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1974. MacGregor, Morris J., Jr. Integration of the Armed Forces, 1940–1965. Washington, DC: U.S. Army Center of Military History, 1979. Ploski, Harry A., and James Williams. The Negro Almanac. New York: Bellweather, 1967.

African American Officers (1960s) The civil rights era of the 1960s brought the first serious efforts to recruit African American officers, of whom there had been negligible numbers until that time. The percentages of African American officers and enlisted men in the four main services between 1962 and 1968 are shown in Table 1. Between 1963 and 1968, the three service academies produced fifty-one African American officers. Although still a modest number, it was nevertheless a significant increase; over the preceding eighty-six years—from 1877, when the first African American graduated from West Point, to 1963—there had been only sixty African American graduates. Numbers of black students at the academies continued to increase— still extremely slowly (see Table 2).

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African American Officers

TABLE 1. AFRICAN AMERICAN OFFICERS, 1962–1968 (IN PERCENTAGES) Army

Navy

Marine Corps

Air Force

Year

Officers

Enlisted Men

Officers

Enlisted Men

Officers

Enlisted Men

Officers

Enlisted Men

1962 1964 1965 1967 1968

3.2 3.4 3.5 3.4 3.3

12.2 13.4 13.9 12.1 12.6

.2 .3 .3 .3 .4

5.2 5.8 5.8 4.7 5.0

.2 .4 .4 .7 .9

7.6 8.7 9.0 10.3 11.5

1.2 1.5 1.6 1.8 1.8

9.2 10.0 10.7 10.4 10.2

Source: MacGregor 1985.

TABLE 2. AFRICAN AMERICANS AT THE MILITARY ACADEMIES, JULY 1968 Academy

Class of 1969

Class of 1970

Class of 1971

Class of 1972

Total African American

Total Attendance

Army Navy Air Force

10 2 6

7 8 10

5 8 13

9 15 23

31 33 52

3,285 4,091 3,028

Totals

18

25

26

47

116

10,404

Source: MacGregor 1985.

The Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) program at predominantly African American colleges was the chief source of officers. There was a large increase in the number of African American air force officers (graduating from five colleges), but despite the affirmative action programs that began in the 1960s, there was little change in the overall percentages (see Table 3). The opportunities for promotion increased between 1964 and 1968 and brought a gradual but steady increase in the number of African American officers. With the notable exception of the air force, the higher enlisted ranks (an indicator of potential officer material) compared favorably in all of the other services. Advances were less marked in the percentages of African Americans who held the rank of major or lieutenant commander. The gradual nature of the increases reflected the services’ assertions that integration and the subsequent commissioning of officers would take a considerable period of time. The higher the rank, the more difficult

the competition and the lower the likelihood that affirmative action would take precedence over seniority (see Table 4). Hundreds of African American officers complained during this time that their assignments narrowed their opportunities for promotion. In addition to vertical promotion (moving up in rank), men also needed to secure horizontal promotions (movement to another post on the same rank to attain new skills and expertise). For example, only five men were enrolled at the senior service schools in 1965, and only four African American naval officers who had command experience were on active duty. Between 1950 and 1965, only twenty-six African American Air Force officers were assigned to tactical commands. Limited assignments meant limited opportunities for promotion. For more recent statistics, see table on p. 4.

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See also African American Enlistment; Desegregation of Armed Forces (appendix)

African American Officers

TABLE 3. ARMY AND AIR FORCE COMMISSIONS GRANTED AT PREDOMINANTLY AFRICAN AMERICAN SCHOOLS, 1964–1967 School

Class of 1964

Class of 1965

Class of 1966

Class of 1967

Army Commissions A&T College, NC Central State College, OH Florida A&M College Hampton University, VA Lincoln University, PA Morgan State College, MD Prairie View A&M College, TX South Carolina State College Southern University, LA Tuskegee Institute, AL Virginia State College West Virginia State College Howard University, Washington, DC

24 29 29 29 19 21 20 16 23 14 21 22 19

22 14 15 34 14 27 27 23 37 14 14 19 37

10 26 23 20 16 12 31 24 19 20 18 15 30

17 25 15 19 19 16 38 24 21 26 21 14 23

286 2.4

297 2.7

264 2.5

278 2.6

Class of 1964

Class of 1965

Class of 1966

Total Percentage of total such commissions granted School

Air Force Commissions, 1964–1966 A&T College, NC Howard University, Washington, DC Maryland State College Tennessee A&I University Tuskegee Institute, AL Total

12 24 2 13 14

10 31 4 26 33

33 23 4 32 41

65

104

133

Source: MacGregor 1985.

TABLE 4. AFRICAN AMERICANS IN CERTAIN MILITARY RANKS, 1964–1966 (IN PERCENTAGES)

E-6 (staff sergeant or petty officer, first class) army E-6 (staff sergeant or petty officer, first class) navy E-6 (staff sergeant or petty officer, first class) Marine Corps E-6 (staff sergeant or petty officer, first class) air force O-4 (major or lieutenant commander) army O-4 (major or lieutenant commander) Navy O-4 (major or lieutenant commander) Marine Corps O-4 (major or lieutenant commander) air force Source: McGregor 1985.

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1964

1965

1966

13.9 4.7 5.0 5.3 3.6 0.3 0.3 0.8

15.5 5.0 5.3 5.6 4.5 0.3 0.3 0.9

18.1 5.6 10.4 6.6 5.2 0.3 0.2 1.6

A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n Wo m e n i n t h e M i l i t a r y

missary. Their wives were obliged to support themselves and children by washing for the officers, and making cakes and pies which they sold to the boys in camp. Finally in 1863, the government decided to give them half pay, but the men would accept none of this. They preferred rather to give their services to the state, which they did until 1864, when the government granted them full pay, with all back due pay. I was very happy to know my efforts were successful in camp, and also felt grateful for the appreciation of my service. I gave my services willingly for four years and three months without receiving a dollar. I was glad, however, to be allowed to go with the regiment, to care for the sick and afflicted comrades (Romero 1988, 42).

References and Further Reading MacGregor, Morris J., Jr. Integration of the Armed Forces, 1940–1965. Washington, DC: Center of Military History, United States Army, 1985. Available at http://www.army.mil/cmhpg/books/integration/IAF-22.htm.

African American Women in the Military African American women have played a part in the military since the American Revolution, not only as nurses and administrators, but as frontline troops, whether officially in recent years (technically women do not fill combat roles, but many serve at the front, as in the Gulf Wars) or incognito in the past. In 1991 West Point recorded a double achievement: the thousandth African American cadet graduated from the academy; so too did the one-thousandth female. Yet African Americans had been accepted into the academy since 1870 and women only since 1976. It was probable that several African American women fought on both sides during the American Revolution. However, no clear records survive. In the War of 1812, African American women made medical supplies and tended the sick and wounded. It was the Civil War (1861–1865) that gave women the most direct opportunity to become involved in conflict. Notable among them was Susan King Taylor of Georgia. In April 1861, when Maj. Gen. David Hunter attacked Fort Pulaski, he freed all of the slaves in the area, including King. Shortly thereafter, she worked as a laundress and nurse for the 1st South Carolina Volunteers, a unit that became the 33d USCT, in which her husband served. She was never paid and noted in her diary: The first colored troops did not receive any pay for 18 months, and the men had to depend wholly on what they received from the com-

After the war, King established a school for freed slaves, and following the death of her husband, Sgt. Edward King, in 1866, she married Russell Taylor in 1879. She also created the Boston branch of the Women’s Relief Corps and published her memoirs in 1902. Directly after the Civil War, a former slave from Missouri, Cathay Williams, masqueraded as a man and joined the 38th U.S. Infantry, which was then one of only six African American units in the U.S. Army. She deftly managed to avoid a physical examination when she enlisted. Having served from November 15, 1866, to October 1868, she was forced to accept a discharge on the grounds of ill health. It was not until June 1891, when she applied for a pension, that Cathay Williams’s true identity was revealed. It is likely that Cathay Williams was the first African American woman to serve in the regular U.S. Army. During the Spanish-American War, around eighty African American nurses served in various capacities for the army. At the time it was believed that African Americans were immune from yellow fever and typhoid because of the color of their skin and its supposed thickness. At least thirty-two African American women were recruited as nurses who, it was erroneously thought, would be able to withstand the

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A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n Wo m e n i n t h e M i l i t a r y

Among the first African American women in the U.S. Army are these WAACs at Camp Shanks, New York, shortly before they leave for Europe in 1945. From left to right, kneeling: Pvts. Rose Stone and Virginia Blake and Pfc. Marie B. GIllispie; second row, Pvt. Genevieve Marshall, T/5 Fanny Talbert, and Cpl. Callie Smith; third row, Pvt. Gladys Schuster Carter, T/4 Evelyn Martin, and Pfc. Theodora Palmer. (AP Photo)

epidemics of these diseases. Several of them died in the yellow fever epidemic that raged in Santiago, Cuba, between July and August 1898. When the United States entered World War I, many African American nurses offered their services; they had been trained by the American Red Cross or the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (founded in 1909). African American women were not allowed to join the American Red Cross until two months before the end of the war. Shortly after the war ended in November 1918, eighteen African American nurses were assigned to the Army Nurse Corps at Camp Grant, Illinois, and Camp Sherman, Ohio. Their duties were confined to treating African American soldiers and German prisoners of war. Plans had been in place to send African American nurses to Camps Dodge (Iowa), Meade (Maryland), and Taylor (Kentucky), as well as Fort Riley (Kansas), but by the

late summer of 1919 all of the African American Red Cross nurses had been released from service. Of the 3,480 female volunteer nurses of the YMCA, only four were African American women at this time. Female labor was in great demand during World War I; wherever it was considered that a woman could replace a man in a support capacity, the opportunity was taken. But African American women were always at the bottom of the list in such cases. In early 1941 the army finally accepted African American women into its nurse corps up to a maximum of fifty-six. Rep. Frances Payne Bolton of Ohio introduced an amendment to the Nurse Training Bill in June 1943 that barred racial discrimination in that program. The result was that 2,000 African American women were enrolled in the Cadet Nurse Corps. Despite this amendment, it was not until July 1944 that the army eliminated its African

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A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n Wo m e n i n t h e M i l i t a r y

American female quota. By the end of the war, over 500 African American nurses had served in the army. The U.S. Navy did not allow African American women to enlist as nurses until January 25,1945, and in early March Phyllis Mae Dailey became the first African American nurse in the Navy Nurse Corps. The Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), the Navy’s Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES), and the Coast Guard’s SPARS (a shortened version of Semper Paratus [Always Ready], the Coast Guard motto), all accepted various percentages of African American women in segregated units. By 1945 African Americans comprised 3,732 enlisted women and 117 officers in the WAAC; there were only 72 African American WAVES, and even fewer in the Coast Guard. Of the total number of women in all the armed services, some 270,000, fewer than 10,000 were African American. The first WAACs were sent to Fort Des Moines, Iowa, in 1942. There were 400 white women and 40 African Americans, who became known as the Ten Percenters. By the end of the war 6,520 African American women had served in the WAAC. Although the WAVES did not accept African American women until October 19, 1944, the first two officers were sworn in just two months later, on December 22. Harriet Ida Pickens and Frances Wills were the first of seventy-two African American women to become officers (lieutenant junior grade and ensign, respectively). The Coast Guard’s SPARS, which opened membership for African American women on October 20, 1944, attracted only a handful of African American women to join. The erosion of the color and sex bars in the military was gradual and slow, and by June 1948 only 4 African American officers and 122 enlisted women were still in the WAAC. Executive Order 9981, which President Harry Truman signed on July 26,1948, barred segregation and discrimination, including quotas, in the armed services. Some six months before this, on January 6, 1948, Ens. Edith De Voe became the first

African American regular navy nurse, and in March of that year, 1st Lt. Nancy C. Leftenant became the first African American woman in the regular army nurse corps after serving in the reserve corps since February 1945. African American women still served in support or noncombat roles until the Gulf War. In Vietnam, CWO Doris Allen was a senior intelligence analyst and reported that although she was both female and African American, she encountered very few prejudices. On July 15, 1964, Margaret E. Bailey became a lieutenant colonel of the Army Nurse Corps, the first African American nurse to reach this rank. She became a full colonel in 1970. In 1967 Clara Adams-Ender became the first African American woman in the army to be awarded the Expert Field Medical Badge. Two years later, Capt. Diane Lindsay of the Nurse Army Corps became the first African American nurse to receive the Soldier’s Medal for her bravery. In 1972 Mildred C. Kelly became the first African American woman to attain the rank of sergeant major in the army, and in 1974 S. Sgt. Joyce B. Malone won her Airborne Wings in the army reserves. When Hazel W. Johnson became chief of the Army Nurse Corps on September 1, 1979, she became the first African American general officer. In December 1980 Brenda Robinson became the first African American woman to be promoted to the rank of brigadier general and also became the first African American U.S. navy aviator when she was assigned to the 40th Fleet Logistics Squadron in Norfolk, Virginia. On May 18, 1983, the first two African American women graduated from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy at New London, Connecticut, and in 1987 Irene Trowell-Harris became the first African American general officer in the National Guard. When U.S. forces became involved in operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm during the 1991 Gulf War, some 35,000 women were directly involved, of whom approximately 40 percent were African American. Capt. Cynthia Mosely, who was in command of Alpha Com-

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African Americanization

pany, 24th Support Battalion Forward, 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized), commanding 100 soldiers, is a good example of the changing fortunes of African American women in the military. Her unit resupplied fuel directly to the front line throughout the campaign. Lt. Phoebe Jeter, who was commanding an all-male patriot missile platoon, ordered the destruction of at least two Scud missiles (Iraqi surface-to-surface missiles). In 1995 Brig. Gen. Marcelite Harris was promoted to the rank of major general in the U.S. Air Force, becoming the first African American woman to reach this rank. In 1997 Sgt. Danyell Wilson became the first African American women to be given the duty of guarding two of the unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery. African American women now account for some 33 percent of female recruits in the army, 22 percent in the navy, 18 percent in the air force, and 17 percent in the Marine Corps. In 1989 Charity Adams Earley, who had commanded the 6888 Central Postal Directory Battalion during World War II, wrote in her memoir: The future of women in the military seems assured. What may be lost in time is the story of how it happened. The barriers of sex and race were, and sometimes still are, very difficult to overcome, the second even more difficult than the first. During World War Two women in the service were often subject to ridicule and disrespect even as they performed satisfactorily. Each year the number of people who shared the stress of these accomplishments lessens. In another generation young black women who join the military will have scant record of their predecessors who fought on the two fronts of discrimination—segregation and reluctant acceptance by males.

Army Auxiliary Corps; Women’s Reserve of the U.S. Navy; West Point; Williams, Cathay; World War I; World War II References and Further Reading Binkin, Martin, and Mark J. Eitelberg. Blacks and the Military. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1982. Dalfiume, Richard M. Desegregation of the U.S. Armed Forces: Fighting on Two Fronts, 1939–1953. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1969. Earley, Charity Adams. One Woman’s Army: A Black Officer Remembers the WAC. College Station: Texas A & M University, 1989. Johnson, Jessie J. Women in the Armed Forces 1942–1974: A Pictorial History. Hampton, VA: J. J. Johnson, 1974. Lane, Linda Rochelle. Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopaedia. Brooklyn, NY: Carlson, 1993. Litoff, Judy Barrett, and Davis Smith. We’re in This War Too: World War Two Letters from American Women in Uniform. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. Putney, Martha S. When the Nation Was in Need: Blacks in the Women’s Army Corps during World War Two. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1992. Romero, Patricia, ed. A Black Woman’s Civil War Memoirs. Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener, 1988. Willenz, June A. Women Veterans: America’s Forgotten Heroines. New York: Continuum, 1983.

African Americanization

See also American Civil War; American Revolution; Earley, Charity Adams; 1812, War of; Executive Order 9981; Gulf War; Jeter, Phoebe; Johnson, Hazel Winifred; U.S. Army; U.S. Coast Guard; U.S. Navy; Vietnam War; Women’s Army

In society in general and in the military in particular, the common trend throughout history has been to gradually assimilate ethnic groups. In the case of immigrants, the assimilation model has an expectation that new immigrants and ethnic minorities will adopt the mainstream or majority of the population’s cultural norms and lifestyles, while at the same time deemphasizing their own culture. This creates a situation with little or no multicultural dimension, simply diversity in skin color, accent, or background.

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African Americanization

For most of the history of the U.S. military, this process has been the norm, seeking to eliminate alternative cultural styles. In reality, certainly in the population in general, social elements flow between the dominant culture and ethnic groups. Musical tastes and trends, as well as the adaptation of linguistic patterns, are examples of this flow. Military organizations, in contrast, are far less accommodating of cultural diversity. They also expect that ethnic groups within the armed services adopt not only the dominant cultural norms of society, but also accept the specific cultural rules of the service itself. They expect a full assimilation. A degree of cultural diversity was accepted in the period prior to the integration of the armed forces, but the requirement for ethnic minorities—African Americans in particular, as the largest group—was to be different only in terms of their color, or usual identity. In reality, however, the services sought to force African Americans to assimilate to the service while putting them aside in terms of almost every other aspect of their existence. In effect, this process created a class of African Americans who found themselves apart from both the service in which they served and their cultural heritage. Military organizations have strict norms that are imposed on their personnel, so this is inevitable to a degree for all personnel. Adopting a new culture may be difficult for a white recruit, but since the basis of that culture is predominantly white, a recruit from an ethnic minority may have an even harder time. The strict rigors of military discipline were applied to their lives both on and off duty. The U.S. military often chose African Americans for their musical talents, particularly with the formation of bands and touring parties, such as the World War I 369th regimental band that brought the lasting passion for jazz to Europe. For the most part, however, African Americans found themselves relegated to menial labor tasks in the rear echelon, with little prospect of leave, combat, or commendation. Many of the

men were restricted to camp, and although like many soldiers they could make this temporary accommodation their home, there was little respite from the drudgery of their day-to-day existence. The Vietnam conflict ushered in an era of change in African American troops’ attitudes toward military service and their cultural identities. During that conflict more African Americans were deployed than had been in any other war, and the draft brought in soldiers from segments of the population that had not previously entered the military in large numbers. Previous conflicts saw overt resistance and action from African Americans in terms of discriminatory issues, but in general, the soldiers had not much resisted assimilation into the services’ culture. The focus had been on proving the right to serve and that an African American was as proficient and, above all, patriotic, as white soldiers to serve in the armed services. Following the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968, Vietnam, in terms of the U.S. military identity, was a polarized world. Many Southern white soldiers displayed the Confederate flag and other symbols associated with racism, and African American troops began to assert their identity, often as derived from an interest in Black Power. This was fueled by the drafting of more urban African Americans whose cultural identities differed from those of the career African Americans of the pre-Vietnam U.S. military. Rather than embracing the armed services and accepting assimilation in what was a hostile foreign land, the men clung to their own identities. For the first time, the armed forces had a considerable proportion of men who wanted to be identified as black. These new African American draftees had been exposed to the activities of the civil rights movements, had witnessed the rioting in cities in the United States, factors that had not necessarily influenced the careerminded African Americans who they had either replaced or overshadowed in terms of sheer numbers. These draftees retained a sense of

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Reflecting the stereotypical thinking of the times, the U.S. military often singled out African Americans for their musical talents, particularly with the formation of bands and touring parties. Shown here is the 1st Army Post Band (Colored), in Souilly, France, in 1918. (National Archives)

African American pride, and they were not prepared to accept discrimination. By 1968, the United States had approximately 536,000 U.S. troops in Vietnam. That same year, 14,592 soldiers were killed in action. African Americans accounted for 9.8 percent of the military, but 20 percent of all combat troops, and, ultimately, 14.1 percent of U.S. casualties in the war. The concentration of African American troops in combat units had never been so great in prior conflicts. The thousands of African American soldiers at the front had only the images of white heroes from the previous wars as role models, and many had little notion that they were following a strong African American tradition of military service. The men called themselves “Bloods” and provided one another with mutual support and unity on the battlefield. They were not prepared to accept indignities, racial insults, or Confederate flags. These

were the first generation who, wholesale, fought against discrimination in terms of assignments, decorations for bravery, and promotion. Military culture remains apart from the culture of the population, part by virtue of the role it fulfils and in part as a result of centuries of resistance to change. The general trend in postVietnam military circles is to continue the diminution of traditional cultural values and identity. A system of affirmative action is in place to deal with equality and discrimination issues. Whether this system is effective and fair is the subject of ongoing debate. See also Powell, Colin Luther; Vietnam War References and Further Reading Beckwith, Francis J. Affirmative Action. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1997.

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Rubio, Philip F. A History of Affirmative Action: 1619–2000. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2001.

Alexander, Clifford L., Jr. (b. 1933) Clifford was the first African American secretary of the army. He was appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1997 and was responsible for a budget of $34 billion and a military force of 1.9 million people. Alexander worked in successively more important roles for four presidents: John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, and Jimmy Carter, all before he had reached his mid-forties. Clifford’s road to Washington began in 1963 when Lewis Martin, the deputy chairman of the Democratic National Committee, was asked to find talented African Americans to work in the Kennedy administration. Clifford was one of his recruits. He worked for the National Security Council (1963–1964) and served under Johnson as deputy special assistant (1964), associate special counsel (1965), and deputy special counsel (1966). For the next few years, until April 1969, Alexander was chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission. He then returned to the private practice of law until 1976. In 1977, after the election of Jimmy Carter, he was appointed the first African American secretary of the army. He was a strong advocate of the All-Volunteer Force (AVF), which called for motivated volunteers who wanted careers in the military rather recruits from the lowest levels of society whose futures would otherwise hold little in terms of jobs. Clifford thought it imperative to attract the very best into the army, regardless of race or gender. He believed that the army should provide recruits with a clear and equal career path, according to their talents, and that all individuals, on leaving the army, should have

skills that would make them employable in the civilian world. He was adamant that there should be no discrimination or racism in the army, either in promotion, justice, or social life. He was the first secretary of the army to appoint a woman as a special assistant and as a general counsel to the Defense Department. Clifford’s principles were reflected in the statistics. In 1977 there were nine African American generals in the army. Just four years later, when he left the post, there were thirty. These included Colin Powell and the first female African American general, Hazel Winifred Johnson. During the Clinton administration a debate on affirmative action thrust Alexander’s affirmative action programs back into the spotlight. Clinton cited Colin Powell as an individual who had had the opportunity to show his worth because of affirmative action. Alexander disagreed and simply explained that when the army board had submitted a list of general officer candidates in 1978, he had returned the list with the note that there were no African American candidates. The board subsequently resubmitted the list, and Alexander noted with satisfaction that more African Americans were included on the lists. He firmly believed that African Americans such as Colin Powell were treated no differently than white candidates. Alexander simply demanded parity. See also Johnson, Hazel Winifred; Powell, Colin Luther; U.S. Army References and Further Reading Christmas, Walter. Negroes in Public Affairs and Government. New York: Educational Heritage, 1966. Powell, Colin. A Soldier’s Way: An Autobiography. London: Hutchinson, 1995. Powell, Colin. My American Journey. New York: Ballantine, 1996.

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Alexander, John H. (1864–1894) The second African American West Point graduate, who became a second lieutenant in the 9th Cavalry in 1887. Prior to the acceptance of Henry Flipper, Alexander, and Charles Young, Gen. J. M. Schofield, the superintendent of West Point, said in 1880: To send to West Point for four years competition a young man who was born in slavery is to assume that half a generation has been sufficient to raise a colored man to the social, moral, and intellectual level that the average white man has reached in several hundred years. As well might the common farm horse be entered in a four-mile race against the best blood inherited from a long line of English racers (quoted in War Department, 1881, Part 2, 229–230).

dent Grover Cleveland at Wilberforce University, Ohio, an African American institution that had been designated a center for military training, as the U.S. Army’s professor in military science and tactics. He died of heart disease in March 1894, shortly after taking this position. In 1918 the War Department named Camp Alexander in Newport News, Virginia, after him. See also Buffalo Soldiers; 9th Cavalry; West Point References and Further Reading Schubert, Frank N. Black Valor. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1997. War Department. Report of the Secretary of War, 1880. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1881.

Alexander was born in Helena, Arkansas, the son of James Milo and Fanny Miller Alexander, both of whom had been born as slaves. James Alexander was able to purchase his freedom and that of his family. In 1879 John Alexander graduated from high school at the head of his class and after a stint as a teacher went on to study at Oberlin College in Ohio, which two of his siblings also attended. After two years there he passed the entrance exams for West Point and received an appointment to the service academy. He graduated thirty-second out of sixtyfour in his class. Alexander then served with the 9th Cavalry, one of the all-black Buffalo Soldiers regiments, in Nebraska and Utah for seven years. He was the only African American officer. Between June 1888 and October 1891 he was stationed at Fort Duchesne, Utah, where he directed fatigue details, took his troops out on route marches, and carried out patrols to remove illegal settlers from Native American reservations. In 1894 he took a post that had been established by Presi-

American Civil War (1861–1865) Approximately 180,000 African Americans, both free men and runaway slaves, served in 166 units of the Union Army during the Civil War. This was not only a war to save the Union, but also became a conflict to end slavery; mass enlistment began immediately after the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Frederick Douglass, a former slave, wrote perhaps the most eloquent words urging African Americans to enlist in the Union army, where they would gain their opportunity to fight for their own freedom: “Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pockets, and there is no power on earth which can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship in the United States” (quoted in Blight 1989, 161). The threat of open hostilities between the industrialized Northern states and the more rural agricultural economies of the South had been threatening to

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become armed conflict for years before the outbreak of the Civil War. The differences were enmeshed in a complex mixture of political, cultural, and economic differences. Slavery. Slavery, one of the foundations of Southern economic prosperity, was an underlying cause. Above all, the Southern states resented being controlled by a federal government they perceived as pro-Northern. Any move to abolish or control slavery was seen as a way to undermine their way of life. In the North, slavery was much less widespread, and the majority of the African American population were freedmen. The South was wedded to the ways that had been in place for more than 200 years. Matters began to come to a head toward the end of the 1850s, and in particular, with the Harper’s Ferry, now in West Virginia, incident in 1859, when John Brown planned a raid on the federal arsenal to arm a slave revolt, which brought the slavery issue into sharp focus. Brown had twenty-one supporters with him, five of whom were African American. They captured the arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, but soon after the area was filled with farmers and militiamen, and later by federal troops, intent on stamping out the revolt. Brown’s death at the end of a hangman’s noose and ten of Brown’s men, who died in the ensuing skirmish, became powerful symbols of the abolitionist cause. Although in the immediate aftermath of the raid most Northerners condemned it as criminal, Brown later came to be considered a hero in the North, and in African American churches up and down the country the song “John Brown’s Body” was sung with fervor. In the following year Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, became president of the United States. He was committed to ensuring that there would be no slavery in the new western territories. For the southern states his stance was seen as the inevitable beginning of the end of slavery should he be allowed to impose his will. When South Carolina seceded from the Union to be followed by six other southern states by February 1861, civil war became inevitable.

Lincoln made his inaugural address on March 4, 1861, and he insisted that he did not intend to end slavery or repeal the Fugitive Slave Act. Matters were brought to a head on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter, South Carolina. Lincoln and the federal government now had either to put down the rebellion or accept secession. African Americans began to present themselves to the Union army in 1861, and initially they were turned away. It was considered unnecessary to recruit African Americans and, more important, to do so would drive a wedge between the federal government and the slaveowning border states. This move did little to discourage African Americans who wanted to fight with the Union Army for the freedom of their compatriots in the South and to prove to the nation that they were full citizens. The situation was further confused by the increasing numbers of runaway slaves presenting themselves to Union troops after successfully passing through the Confederate lines. Commanders in the field were given little guidance concerning these fugitives. They were free once they had reached the sanctuary of the North, but Union officers had to decide what to do with them. The Road to Emancipation On August 6, 1861, the U.S. Congress passed the Confiscation Act. This act provided for the seizure of property held by rebels that could be used to continue the prosecution of war against the Union. In effect this meant that fugitives were still considered property and considered contraband. At least for the first two or three years of the civil war, the majority of fugitives lived in contraband camps. The death toll in these camps has been estimated at around 25 percent as a result of disease and famine. Gradually the North and Lincoln in particular began to realize that emancipation was the only answer to the increasingly problematic situation. Finally, on January 1, 1863, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation went into effect, freeing all slaves living in the rebel South, although the

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A carte de visite showing contrabands at the 2d Rhode Island Infantry camp at Camp Brightwood, Washington, D.C., circa 1863. From left, the white officers are Capt. B. S. Brown, Lt. John P. Shaw, and Lt. T. Fry. The contrabands with them are not named. (Library of Congress)

proclamation did not include the slaves who lived behind Union lines. These people were still technically slaves. Only after the Emancipation Proclamation were African Americans allowed to enlist in the Union army. Although they faced continual harassment, unfair treatment, relegation to support roles, and obsolete equipment, between 180,000 and 200,000 enlisted. Many of the men were not paid for eighteen months because of a protracted dispute over pay; originally it was considered that African American soldiers did not need to be paid as

much as their white counterparts. By the end of the war, some 38,000 African Americans had died in uniform. As with their white counterparts, most had died of disease rather than war injuries, but the rate of such deaths was much higher than among white troops. Military deployment for those in the South began from the very outbreak of hostilities. Although African Americans in the South were not considered as potential fighting troops until the tide against the North could not be turned, many slaves were employed carrying out a series of largescale military construction projects. They were also vital in food production and the manufacture and support for Confederate soldiers in the battlefield. One of the early examples of African American construction workers falling into Union hands occurred in Virginia, when three slaves abandoned artillery battery construction and escaped to Fort Monroe on the Yorktown Peninsula. A Confederate officer presented himself the next day to retrieve his property, but Brig. Gen. Benjamin Butler, a Republican from Massachusetts, told him that they had been contributing to the Confederate war effort, and therefore he would not surrender them. The men were later paid to construct a bakery for Butler’s men. In the early years of the war, many runaways were returned to Confederate lines. This was a controversial act and also considered a waste of army time and resources. Consequently, early in 1862 the War Department forbade the use of Union troops in returning slaves to the Confederacy. Later, as African American troops became more numerous among the Union lines, it became impossible for Southern slave owners to take it upon themselves to ride into camp to retrieve their property. They were not only met with extreme hostility, but the Union troops also hid the fugitives and often forced the Southerners out of their camp at gunpoint. It is a popularly held misconception that the 54th Massachusetts was the first Union African American unit to be created. In March 1862 Maj. Gen. David Hunter, an abolitionist and

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West Point graduate, declared martial law in South Carolina and took it upon himself to anticipate the Emancipation Proclamation by declaring free all slaves in South Carolina, Florida, and Georgia. He also has the distinction of having pronounced, at gunpoint, that all of the escaped male slaves in his jurisdiction were to be enrolled in an all–African American military unit. Lincoln overruled Hunter twelve days after he issued his “emancipation proclamation” and eventually recalled him, stating that he had overstepped his authority. But on July 17, 1862, Congress passed the Militia Act, or Second Confiscation Act, which effectively supported Hunter’s actions, although it did not necessarily endorse his methods. A former U.S. senator, “Big Jim” Lane of Kansas, became a brigadier-general in 1862 and began to create an African American regiment without the support or knowledge of Washington. On two occasions he was told that he had no authorization to take these actions. In January 1863, however, Washington accepted the existence of Lane’s black regiment, after it had already seen combat. In New Orleans, in April 1862, one of Benjamin Butler’s subordinates, Brig. Gen. John W. Phelps, another abolitionist West Point man, began to organize African American enlistment. Such actions were initially opposed by the War Department, and when Butler failed to support him, Phelps resigned and refused to return to service when the federal government changed its policy on black troops and offered him a major general commission in command of African American troops. The Louisiana African American units included black officers. One, the 2d Louisiana Native Guards, was commanded by the African American Maj. Francis Dumas, who was himself an owner of slaves. Perhaps what forced Lincoln’s hand was the failure of the Peninsular Campaign in 1862 and the enormous number of casualties that the North had already suffered. The first step, on September 22, 1862, freed all slaves still in Confederate-held areas as of January 1, 1863. It was a long and hard road that finally convinced

A corporal in the United States Colored Troops poses holding an 1849 Colt revolver. (Bettman/CORBIS)

Lincoln and the Washington establishment that they needed to make use of the African American population. White recruitment was down but, as early as July 22, 1862, when Lincoln first presented his emancipation policy to his cabinet, he had already authorized the raising of the 1st South Carolina Infantry, under Thomas Wentworth Higginson, and Butler’s African American militiamen. Reactions to the Emancipation Proclamation differed greatly, and some responses were much exaggerated. It was said, although no more than a rumor, that two companies of Illinois troops had laid down their arms and returned home, as they had no intention of fighting for the freedom of African Americans. Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan made it clear that African Americans would not be welcome in the Army of the Potomac, and many white soldiers hated African

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Americans more than they loved the Union. Regardless of the reactions, the door was open, and tens of thousands of freed and runaway African Americans would enter, eager to wear the blue uniform, as Frederick Douglass had so eloquently stated. White Officers, Black Recruits The first major concern was the question of officers. The African American population of the North in 1860 accounted for 1 percent of the total, and those who lived in the North could not escape the prejudices that were rife. White men who were prepared to serve in the same regiment as African Americans were stigmatized. It was considered foolhardy not only because of the popularly held belief that the African Americans would run the moment they smelled gunpowder, but also because it would be an indelible stain on the service record of the white officer, and he would never gain promotion or suitable accolades. The initial wave of white officer recruits to command African American troops tended to be drawn from abolitionist communities and families. Among this band was Robert Gould Shaw, the son of a wealthy Massachusetts merchant, Francis George Shaw. At the age of twentythree, the younger Shaw became the colonel of the 54th Massachusetts. Shaw was a compassionate and forthright abolitionist, and he and his men who fell at Fort Wagner are rightly remembered as martyrs. Another abolitionist officer was Thomas Wentworth Higginson, a Harvard graduate, former pastor, and congressman and a fervent supporter of John Brown, who became the colonel of the first African American unit to be recognized by Washington. But few prominent abolitionists themselves volunteered for duty. Education was the common characteristic of these men and many of the others who became officers in the United States Colored Troops (USCT). The majority professionals or skilled manual workers. The majority of them were also from the Midwest, where, from their slave-free

states, they could witness slavery in Missouri and Kansas. The majority were Republicans, although there were a good many Democrats. Many of their differences had been put aside by secession, and their overwhelming desire was for justice, freedom, and the preservation of the Union. A large number of the white officers had also had combat experience, but many of the men, who were not driven purely by principle, saw an opportunity in the USCT to gain promotion more rapidly and to have a greater impact on the outcome of the war than they might in a white regiment. Problems existed, in terms of priorities, about the men who would be accepted as officers in the USCT. The regular army attitude was that experienced noncommissioned officers should be considered for advancement to officer rank, but this would denude existing regiments of experienced men. The other option was to consider volunteers from outside the military, perhaps those who had had some military experience in the past. The result was a mixture of the two. In May 1863 the Bureau of Colored Troops was created. Not only was it responsible for finding officers, but it also was concerned with the recruitment of African American enlisted men. The officers, fewer than 2 percent of whom were African Americans, would have to pass tests on intelligence, morals, and desire to work with African Americans. It was common for those who passed the first two examinations to be deceitful about the third. The board considered many men whose promotions were blocked for various reasons in their existing regiments. In fact, many privates applied. By 1864 it was becoming increasingly difficult to reach an officer’s rank by normal means in regular white regiments. The USCT provided a much swifter route. All the application required was a statement wishing to be considered for a commission and that the individual had served his regiment and country well. These were frequently endorsed by the man’s existing commanding officer, who, in many cases, supported the application merely to be rid of the

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Banner of the 3d United States Colored Troops. In many of the stylized images of African Americans during the nineteenth century, freedom and justice are personified as a statuesque white woman in flowing robes. (North Wind Picture Archives)

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man. A fair number of individuals from abroad became USCT officers, such as the Argentinean Edelmiro Mayer. The Bureau of Colored Troops received 9,000 applications, and of these, 4,000 men took the examinations. Around 60 percent passed the tests, but only 25 percent received commissions in the USCT. Joining the USCT was also a diverse experience for African Americans. There was an imperative to ensure that the regiments, when created, reached establishment strength as soon as possible. Indeed, USCT officers did not have their commissions authorized until at least 100 men had been enlisted. Experiments with civilian recruiters had largely been a failure. Some 1,000 state agents had registered with the provost marshal general’s office but managed among them to recruit only some 5,000 African Americans. This meant that the burden of recruitment was with the officers assigned to the USCT units. In the South slaves were told that if they ran away to join the Union army, they would not be paid, they would be mistreated, and they would often find themselves in the front line facing certain death. Elsewhere, slaves were deterred from leaving through more violent means, including hangings, whippings, and mutilation. In some cases, wives or family who had been left behind were forced to sign (or make their X, since most slaves were illiterate) letters begging the runaway to return so that retribution would not be taken out on them. For the Northern states, African American recruitment was relatively simple. They had the advantage of the African American community leaders’ encouraging the population. Some 15 percent of all free African Americans in the North would eventually join the Union army. The recruitment of African Americans in the slave states that came under Union control presented different problems. A recruitment office would be set up, and officers and noncommissioned officers would travel the countryside in search of potential recruits. Many of the regiments preferred this option because they would be the ones to choose the men who would serve

with them, rather than having draftees of variable quality being sent to the regiment. It became popularly known that Sundays were the best times to find African American recruits in the South because many of the local population would be attending church or other functions. This would be preferable to recruiting men one at a time as they were encountered in barns and fields and homes. Another popular way of recruiting African Americans in the South was to use men who had already been enlisted to appear in their best parade uniforms. Slaves who were naturally wary of white men would be far more inclined to enter into a dialogue with a Union soldier if he, too, was black. Several African American enlisted men even took it upon themselves to rush the enlistment stage and speak directly to the assembled crowd, as an African American corporal Gerry Sullivan did in Nashville in 1863. He proclaimed: Let us make a name for ourselves and race, bright as the noonday sun. God is in this war. He will lead us to victory. Don’t ask your wife, for if she is a wife worth having she will call you a coward for asking her. I’ve got a wife and she says to me, the other day, “Gerry, if you don’t go to the war mighty soon, I’ll go off and leave you, as some of the Northern gentlemen want me to go home to cook for them” (National Archives, RG 94).

Many African Americans who were slow to enlist were chided by their fellows as being rebels and therefore in favor of slavery. It became routine practice for USCT units to be included in Union raids bent on seizing or destroying Confederate property. Wherever the uniformed African Americans were encountered, they found willing potential recruits who would be swiftly taken to the rear to be enlisted. One of the overriding concerns of any of the runaway slaves who joined the USCT was that their families were still living in slavery, and they feared their families would suffer as a result of their flight. The potential plight of USCT troops’ families prompted Washington to consider the

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Stereograph of wounded African American troops recuperating at Aikens Landing after an unspecified battle in Virginia, probably in 1864. (Library of Congress)

relocation of a man’s family before enlistment was completed. The family would be free, and they would be able to earn money in the laborshort North to contribute to their own welfare. Despite some voices claiming that they would be a financial burden, few proved to be so. Maj. Joseph W. Paine, with the 4th U.S. Colored Cavalry, enlisted 500 African Americans into his unit. Taking advantage of the Red River Campaign, he scattered his men far and wide with horses, mules, and wagons to collect their families and dependents. Not all of the men had commanding officers as devoted to their welfare. Many were enlisted at the end of a bayonet, while others were imprisoned until they agreed to sign the enlistment papers. The pressure to fill the ranks of the regiments also meant that age was not an overriding concern. Young boys were recruited as regimental musicians, but children as young as fourteen were enlisted as regular soldiers. In many cases some of the men had infirmities that would have excluded them under normal circumstances. Physical examinations were cursory at best.

This, then, was the lot of Southern African Americans who found themselves in the USCT. The experience of Northern African Americans was no less varied and often at odds with normal procedures. Some of those who were freedmen had formerly been slaves and still bore the marks of the whip or other abuse; in some regiments, 50 percent of the men had extensive whip scars on their backs. Even when the enlistment procedure was complete, the processes of dealing with the men left a great deal to be desired. In many instances rations were not forthcoming and the much-coveted United States Army uniform did not arrive for weeks. The army uniform alone did little to persuade the North that African Americans were soldiers. Although very few deserted, and they would take the racism, harsh conditions, and demanding training in stride, they still had to prove themselves in battle. Only then would Washington, the Northern public, and their officers really treat them like soldiers. Before any man would find himself facing the enemy, he would go through a training process

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that would prepare him for the noise, the chaos, the maneuvers, and the potential injury or death he would face on the battlefield. As the war progressed the period between enlistment and combat grew ever shorter. Training and drill had to be learned very quickly, and there was little time to gradually introduce soldierly concepts to the men. In instances when the African Americans were treated as men by their noncommissioned officers and officers, there was much progress and mutual respect. In many regiments, however, the attitudes began as confrontational and remained so throughout the period of enlistment. In some ways, regiments that enlisted Northern African Americans had an advantage over those that had been recruited from the South. A larger proportion of the Northerners were literate, and administrative duties could be passed on to African American noncommissioned officers, whereas in Southern regiments, all paperwork had to be handled by the white officers, as almost all the men were illiterate. Given that an army produced a vast mountain of paperwork, this was an onerous task and often became the focus of resentment between white officers and their men. Each regiment had its own way of coping, which depended on the attitudes of a commanding officer and his subordinates. Some relied on aggression and punishment for the most minor infraction; others recognized that praise and encouragement were more effective. Several regiments offered passes to their men for exemplary conduct; others rewarded companies with rosettes and, in the absence of any real notion of how these men would perform in combat, stripes were issued to men who performed well during training and drills. The key feature was to instill an esprit de corps and make the men an effective fighting unit. White officers such as Shaw and Higginson considered that the African Americans absorbed drill and training far faster than their white counterparts. For the first time, many of them were being paid to do a job and they took pride

in their regiments. Although the men were more than adequate in terms of maneuver, what often became a bone of contention was what most marked a man’s ability to fight in a nineteenthcentury war. Very few of the men had any real experience of firing a musket, and the majority of Southern African Americans had been prohibited from using or carrying a firearm by their masters. The Northern soldiers tended not to have come from a military background, and live firing and target practice was not necessarily seen as an integral part of the overall training. It was also difficult, given the time available, to teach the men to fire their muskets under simulated battle conditions. As a result, when the men marched to join their brigades, divisions, and corps, they were considered poor replacements for regular white regiments. Consequently, the majority of them found themselves, at least initially, required to carry out physical labor such as trench digging or preparing latrines. The officers did their best to continue to hone the men into a fighting unit, despite the demeaning circumstances in which they found themselves. It was during the training process that the deficiencies in the white officers in many regiments began to become apparent. Many of the regiments had perfectly good soldiers and very poor officers. Without a good officer, particularly a colonel, a regiment of whatever race could never become an effective fighting unit. It was difficult for these officers, who had often no training themselves, to direct and develop their men. Many who realized this took steps to recruit experienced white noncommissioned officers to do the bulk of the work for them. Discipline was a very difficult issue. Desertion was often dealt with conventionally by shackling and whipping, and officers reserved the right to punish their men if their behavior proved unacceptable. However, the parallels between army discipline and punishment and that of Southern slave owners was all too apparent, and whipping, in particular, could do irreparable damage to the discipline of the regiment. Significantly, however, most African American

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“Drummer” Jackson, a former slave serving as a drummer in the 79th United States Colored Troops during the Civil War. This portrait was circulated with a companion photograph of Jackson as a slave in tattered clothing to encourage enlistment among African Americans. (CORBIS) | 24 |

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former slaves understood the difference between punishment in the army and punishment that they may have received at the hands of their former owners. It was widespread and not uncommon that slaves would be punished, or, perhaps, killed at the whim of their masters for no apparent reason. At least in the army, having deserted or not carried out an order, a punishment would be commensurate with the offense, and there would be a reason for it. Many African Americans, particularly those who had been slaves, had difficulties accepting the absolute word of a white officer and following his orders without question. The men were free, but in effect they were not; they still had to obey a white man and accept his authority. There were mutinies and consequent court martial hearings, and almost 80 percent of the Union soldiers who were executed for mutiny during the Civil War were African American, although they only accounted for only 10 percent of the rank and file (Glatthaar 1990, 115). The most important factor that could have potentially undermined the discipline of the USCT was the fact that they were valued at $10 a month, less deductions, whereas white soldiers were valued at $13. For many of the men, any pay was welcome, but a large minority simply refused to accept $10 a month and waited eighteen months before this iniquity was settled. Famously, Robert Gould Shaw and his fellow officers of the 54th were among the white officers who similarly refused to accept their pay until their African American soldiers received equal remuneration. Crimes were committed while in uniform, such as robbery, murder, rape, and wounding. However, the number of African American soldiers who were executed for such crimes far exceeded the numbers enlisted in the U.S. Army and accounted for 21 percent. Combat By the time that the USCT marched into battle, they had been transformed into a unit that was capable of not only defending itself, but engag-

ing in offensive actions. They acted and felt like soldiers and, much against the widely held stereotype of African Americans at the time, they were self-reliant. Before the bulk of the men saw action, the popular opinion, even held by newspapers such as the New York Times, was that the African American men would not conduct themselves in a soldierly manner. In an editorial in February 1863, the New York Times proclaimed, “Whether Negroes shall or shall not be employed as soldiers seems to us purely a question of expediency, and to be solved satisfactorily only by experiment.” In fact, in October 1862, Lane’s regiment had fought against Confederates in Missouri, and their performance should have silenced critics. When Thomas Wentworth Higginson’s 1st South Carolina Infantry marched up the St. Mary’s River into Georgia and Florida, it was not a question of courage that tested the commander; he was more concerned with keeping the men in check because they were all desperate to engage the Confederates. Even wounded men refused to leave the line until they had made their mark. In April 1863 the 2d Louisiana Native Guards marched into Pascagoula, Mississippi, as a diversionary attack to pin Confederates based in Mobile from reinforcing Charleston. Here they fought a four-hour battle, during which the 180 men, hopelessly outnumbered at times, beat off four Confederate attacks. Tragically, although Col. Nathan W. Daniels, in command of the regiment, had only lost two dead and eight wounded, a further four were killed and five wounded when a U.S. gunboat fired on the regiment, believing them to be Confederates. Only the 1st South Carolina infantry had so far received any significant press coverage, and nagging doubts still persisted as to the fighting prowess of the African American. In May 1863 the USCT had their first opportunity to be involved in a major set piece action at Port Hudson, Louisiana. The city was heavily fortified, and at least 6,000 Confederates, under Major General Franklin Gardner, were poised behind

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The 107th U.S. Colored Infantry Band at Fort Corcoran, Arlington, Virginia, November 1865. (Library of Congress)

the defense works. African American regiments made up a substantial proportion of the 19th Corps, notably the 1st and 3d. Louisiana Native Guards (who would later become the 73d and 75th U.S. Colored Infantry). Both regiments were typical of the USCT of the period, a mixture of free men and former slaves. The majority of the 1st Louisiana were free men. Their time came on May 26, 1863, when they took up positions, ready for an attack the following morning. At 10 a.m. on May 27, they crossed a pontoon bridge spanning Foster’s Creek and ran immediately into Confederate fire. The difficult terrain, once they had crossed the pontoon, hampered their attempts to deploy, and the promised artillery support failed to materialize, apart from two guns that fired intermittent shots at the enemy. They approached to within 600 yards of the Confederate positions and formed a line. As they advanced through the woods, the full force of the Confederate defenders cut into the regiments, with the 1st Loui-

siana in the lead. The men, according to eyewitnesses, including newspaper reporters, made six assaults on the Confederate positions, but failed to breach the enemy lines. One in five of the African American troops was killed or wounded, a total of 200 men, and at around 1 p.m., the regiments reluctantly began to fall back. Despite their failure, the men had proved that African American soldiers had all the verve and élan that could be expected of them and that at no time had they been reluctant to face enemy fire. Just ten days later, on the Mississippi River, the 9th Louisiana (Colored) Infantry, which would later become the 5th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery, were sent out from Milliken’s Bend with other African American troops on a reconnaissance mission. The 9th Louisiana was commanded by Col. Hermann Lieb, and the men had only had two days of musket-firing practice. The two lead companies were mounted on mules, and it was these men who first encoun-

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tered the Confederates and drove off a determined Confederate cavalry attack. The African American troops were supported by the 10th Illinois Cavalry. After the initial engagement, the white horse soldiers sped off in pursuit of the Confederates, only to reappear moments later with the Confederates hot on their heels. Again it was the mule-mounted African Americans who repelled the charges of the Confederates. The foray from Milliken’s Bend had stirred up a hornet’s nest, and the Union command had grossly underestimated the number of Confederates in the area. Lieb and the rest of the force fell back on their original positions, where they began to build defense works to counter the inevitable Confederate assault. Even cotton bales were used as part of the defense works. Mounted African American troops were sent out as pickets to warn the encampment of roughly 1,000 men of the oncoming Confederates. Present were the 9th Louisiana Infantry, the 1st Mississippi, the 13th Louisiana, and the 11th Louisiana. There were also elements from the 23d Iowa and the 10th Illinois Cavalry. The Confederate force, numbering some 1,500, engaged the pickets at around 4 a.m. on June 7. The inexperienced African American soldiers managed to halt the oncoming Confederates with their first volley, but they lacked the musket training that would have allowed them to reload fast enough, and the Confederates closed for hand-to-hand combat. There was a vicious, swirling melee, and at the crucial point Lieb sent in his two reserve companies. This action seemed to have settled the matter, but the rebels continued to push on, despite the best efforts of the African American troops. Most of the fighting was now with the bayonet. Try as they might, the Confederates could not drive the USCT into the river. The timely arrival of three Union gunboats helped to persuade Gen. Henry E. McCulloch, commanding the Confederates, to order a withdrawal. Some 35 percent of the African American troops had been killed or wounded, with the 9th Louisiana having the dubious honor of having suffered the highest

proportion of casualties in battle recorded throughout the whole war, with only 55 percent of the men still standing. The battle of Milliken’s Bend had been won, but still African American troops and their bravery failed to hit the headlines, and it would take a more gallant yet foolhardy assault in South Carolina by the 54th Massachusetts (Colored) Infantry to attract the attention of the public and the press. The 54th Massachusetts was a volunteer regiment, but in fact the majority of the men were from out of state. Although Massachusetts Gov. John Andrew received most of the credit for raising the regiment, he could not have done so without the solid support and influence of the African American abolitionist, Frederick Douglass. The regiment was to represent the determination of African Americans to make a solid, worthwhile, and prominent contribution to the war effort. Two of Douglass’s sons were volunteers, and the command structure consisted of the sons of prominent white abolitionists from Massachusetts. The commander was the young colonel, Robert Gould Shaw. The regiment’s trials and tribulations are, perhaps, the most documented in the entire history of African American regiments, yet in many respects they suffered no more or no less than other regiments of their time. The impelling desire was to engage the enemy and to prove beyond any doubt that black men were equal and prepared to make any sacrifice for their race and for the Union. Their first engagement had none of the glory that they were searching for and involved an unfortunate incident at Darien, Georgia, where they were commanded to set fire to a town. They found themselves part of the Union forces bent on storming Fort Wagner, which protected Charleston, South Carolina. The regiment was deployed initially on James Island, where three companies of the regiment held the line during the night against determined Confederate attacks, allowing the white 10th Connecticut Infantry to retreat. A correspondent from New England wrote of the same engagement: “The

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boys of the 10th Connecticut could not help loving the men who saved them from destruction. The dark-skinned heroes fought the good fight and covered with their own brave hearts the retreat of brothers, sons and fathers of Connecticut” (Emilio 1990, 60). When Union forces moved to assault Fort Wagner, the 54th was due to be left behind, but a letter from Shaw to Brig.-Gen. George C. Strong (also a Massachusetts officer and the regiment’s former brigade commander) convinced him of the importance of the regiment’s presence. Having achieved this transfer back to Strong, Shaw also requested that the regiment lead the assault on Fort Wagner. The Confederate defense works were impressive and garrisoned by some 1,700 men and 17 artillery pieces. Any force that approached the fortification would be swept with lead and shot, although since the morning of July 18 the Confederates had been under constant bombardment by the U.S. Navy and land-based Union artillery. The 54th arrived the evening of July 18. They had been on the move for two days and had eaten nothing since they broke camp that morning. The regiment was some 630 men strong, and despite their exhaustion they were eager and proud to lead the attack. As the assault went in, Confederate fire began to rip into the regiment. Nevertheless, as casualties mounted, it seemed for a moment that the assault might succeed because some of the Confederates were abandoning their positions. Union reinforcements were too slow in moving to support the 54th, and although the regiment penetrated the outer defenses, they were finally thrown back, leaving Shaw and many African American soldiers dead. The regiment suffered 40 percent casualties, yet the survivors were as determined to continue the fight as they had been before the fateful charge. The casualties suffered by the 54th were the price paid to alert the Northern press and public that the USCT and African Americans in general could fight with courage and determination. Two separate events in New York offer

good examples of the changing attitudes. One occurred only three days before the 54th’s assault on Fort Wagner and the other some eight months later. In July 1863, a race riot in New York had claimed the life, among others, of the nephew of First Sergeant Robert J. Simmons of the 54th. Eight months after Fort Wagner, when the 20th USCT took part in a parade in New York, tens of thousands of black and white civilians cheered the 1,000 men as heroes and true defenders of the Union. More proof had to be furnished to start to wash away generations of prejudice, and it fell on the increasing numbers of African American troops who flocked to join the USCT. Daily, the newspapers contained accounts of battles and high casualties, yet this did little to dissuade African Americans from enlisting. African American men who had already fled from slavery differed in attitude and approach from those who had been born as free men in the North. They felt they had less to prove than did their Southern compatriots still living in slavery. Equally, those in the North, who had access to the press and were influenced by Northern opinion, held different opinions than those in the South, many of whom were illiterate. Regardless of where they came from, their commitment, Christian faith, and determination to sweep away inequality impelled the men to present themselves to the recruitment officers. Although they often marched into battle ill trained and poorly equipped, they continued to show their fighting prowess and desire to come to fight the enemy. Any deficiencies in their training were offset by a gradual recognition that both the African American soldiers and their white officers faced the same or similar hurdles. This sense of interdependence and realization that they were part of something much bigger than themselves, and that the regiment and its reputation were in their hands, gave them a sense of obligation. As the men faced engagement after engagement and saw friends fall, their determination was no less than that of a white regiment’s in wanting to see the war through to a successful conclusion.

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Confederate charge against African American Union soldiers at the Battle of the Crater. (North Wind Picture Archives)

Glory and Infamy What is particularly striking about the use of African American troops during the Civil War is that they were rarely used in the traditional and logical manner. Because the majority of the regiments were both understrength and lacked training, standard practice would have been to use them in a defensive role. The vast majority of the regiments, however, were used as assault troops, which reduced the need to give them intensive musket training. They would fight as shock troops, using the bayonet, and be employed as a sharp instrument to punch holes through Confederate lines. They viewed this as logical and a way to make use of the best attributes of African American troops, who they believed to be innately savage in combat. The men were not necessarily considered expendable, nor were black soldiers less of a military asset than

white soldiers. In many of the engagements wild, impetuous, and determined charges by African American regiments terrified the Confederates, and in many respects they had the same reputation as the Union Irish Brigade. African American troops were used in this role at Petersburg during the Battle of the Crater on July 30, 1864. Union forces had dug a tunnel under the main Confederate defense lines into which they began packing explosives. The Confederates countermined and accidentally detonated the explosives, creating a huge crater. The 29th USCT charged through this gaping hole. Of the 450 men who charged, only 128 survived. In total USCT troops engaged here accounted for 35 percent of the casualties. Similarly, at Chaffin’s Farm in early September 1864 USCT were sent in with fixed bayonets against Confederate defense works protecting

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Richmond. After crawling through a swamp and being shot at by the Confederates, the troops, against orders, returned fire and experienced high casualties. Of the 1,300 men in the brigade, 455 were injured or dead by the end of the battle. One company suffered 87 percent casualties. Another major assault took place at Big Black River, Mississippi, toward the end of 1864. Union forces were attempting to destroy a railroad bridge to cut Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood’s Confederates off from their supply routes. To protect the vital bridge, the Confederates had entrenched and built a stockade. Union forces had attacked the position twice and failed to destroy it. Under Maj. J. B. Cook, the 3d USCC were brought in to attack. Their route to the defensive position was complicated by an almost impassable swamp, and the men were forced to dismount and wade through mud up to their waists to approach the Confederates. Two companies managed to creep up upon the positions and delivered a volley into the stockade, while the main force charged along the railroad track into the Confederate position. After several reverses, Cook’s men managed to carry the positions. While holding off the Confederates, they set fire to the bridge and succeeded in their mission. As a result of the action Cook was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel by his commanding officer, Maj. Gen. E. R. S. Canby, who described the action as one of the most heroic acts that he had ever encountered. Not all African Americans distinguished themselves on the battlefield. In June 1864 virtually an entire company of the 59th United States Colored Infantry (USCI) retreated at the battle of Guntown, Mississippi, discarding their muskets as they fled. On another occasion, a private in the 5th USCI fled from battle three times. His punishment was a fine of $10 a month for six months, the wearing of a placard proclaiming the word “coward,” and having his head shaved. A sergeant in the 6th USCI was reported by his captain as having crawled to the rear on his hands and knees during an advance. For the most part, however, it was not a ques-

tion of stopping the USCT from running to the rear. The problem was that the majority of them wanted to charge forward, and in many engagements officers and noncommissioned officers were forced to draw their swords and stand between their regiment and the enemy, simply to stop the men. While the African American soldiers were eager to come to grips with the enemy, the Confederates had added animosity toward the black soldiers. Many could not reconcile the concept of black soldiers with the stereotype of slaves who, for the most part, would acquiesce to any indignity. The prospect of facing trained, disciplined, and armed black soldiers who were as determined as they to fight departed from everything they thought they knew about the black man. Thus, when Confederates had an opportunity to vent their anger on the USCT, they took the full advantage of the situation and often committed war crimes. When Confederate troops initially faced African American soldiers, Confederates considered atrocities a means by which they could instill terror in the black soldiers, and not only discourage them from remaining in the Union army, but also deter others from replacing them. Later, Confederate attitudes turned to revenge, and they sought retribution upon African Americans for their increasing contribution to the Union war effort. There were incidents of hangings, summary executions, and ill-treatment of prisoners and deserters. Three incidents occurred in 1864 that tarnished the reputation of the Confederate army. The first took place on April 12, 1864, when 1,500 Confederate cavalry, under the command of Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, descended upon a largely African American garrison at Fort Pillow, north of Memphis, Tennessee. Although the exact circumstances remain in dispute, and Forrest’s culpability is debatable, it is clear that more than 60 percent of the black troops engaged were either killed in combat or massacred afterward. Forrest’s actions were repeated by Confederate guerrillas and irregulars for much of the rest of the war. Six days later, at Poison Springs in Arkansas,

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the 79th USCI (called New to distinguish it from another regiment with the same number), among a force of some 1,200 Union troops, were murdered by the Confederates after combat. Despite the intervention of Confederate officers, some African American wounded were bayoneted or bludgeoned to death. The third, which occurred at Saltville in October 1864, was another example of unforgivable brutality. Elements of the 5th United States Colored Cavalry (USCC) had held their position for two hours until ordered to withdraw at dusk. Some of the wounded men were abandoned and others isolated, falling into the hands of the Confederates. There were summary executions on the battlefield and groups of Confederates broke into field hospitals in the area and summarily executed at least seven wounded African American soldiers in their beds. Forrest and others like him intended these acts to illustrate that African American soldiers were no match for Confederates and that death, by whatever means, would be the reward for presuming otherwise. This, he and others hoped, would highlight to the Union that they should cease to use black soldiers in the field. Instead, it bonded the USCT even more closely with their white counterparts, military and civilian. Some USCT regiments took to fighting under a black banner on the battlefield. This signified that they expected and would give no quarter and would not be taken alive or accept prisoners. On one occasion shortly after the Fort Pillow Massacre, the 26th USCI, operating in South Carolina, summarily executed Confederate prisoners. Later, when USCT were deployed to attack Fort Blakely, Alabama, they swept over the defenses and shot or bayoneted every Confederate that they could see. This made the question of surrender very difficult if the USCT faced Confederates. Both sides were reluctant to surrender; both believed that the other would murder them. Official Confederate policy shortly after 1863 was to summarily execute any African American enlisted man caught under arms, a distinction that was extended to white officers of the USCT.

Although African American troops had limited opportunities to fight in major engagements, they took every combat opportunity to prove their worth. Many had a fatalistic attitude; they believed that they would die even if they surrendered. Along with this, they believed that their sacrifices would benefit their families, as well as those who followed them. When engaged in combat, partly as a result of their inexperience, they tended to suffer higher casualties than white regiments. Nevertheless they often performed far better than more experienced white regiments; African Americans consistently proved that they were less likely to break and run—they were often more determined in attack and more stubborn in defense. Medicine at the time of the war was primitive. Regardless of the severity of the injury, the medical staff could provide little more than basic assistance. Many of the African American troops ignored wounds that would have normally enabled them to obtain an honorable discharge due to their compulsion to stay with the regiment. Only those who were severely debilitated were ever ordered to leave the field. Some of the regiments never saw combat and spent their service with the USCT as laborers, or in other noncombat roles. Nevertheless, African American troops were eager to make their mark. For example, the 7th USCI in South Carolina rushed to rescue a white regiment that had been in the line and had run short of ammunition. The 7th took up positions behind the white soldiers, who promptly fled as the Confederates approached. The 7th, ignoring their fleeing compatriots, advanced and rallied the Union troops with their vigor and succeeded in breaking the Confederate’s resolve. Nathan Bedford Forrest again faced African American troops under very different circumstances at Brice’s Cross Roads in June 1864, just two months after the Fort Pillow Massacre. The Union forces, which included two USCT regiments (the 55th and 59th) supported by a black artillery battery, were charged with eliminating the threat Forrest posed to Union supply and communications lines during the Atlanta

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campaign. The USCT regiments had pledged to avenge the massacre of their comrades at Fort Pillow, but their leadership of a spirited attempt to rally against Forrest’s forces was unable to stave off a Union defeat. The 14th USCI at Pulaski, Tennessee, was similarly defiant when facing a determined Confederate assault and refused to give ground. The USCT regiments were gradually gaining confidence and experience. This allowed some soldiers to rise from the ranks to become senior noncommissioned officers. Often companies were led by black sergeants, who proved themselves capable of making the right tactical decisions on the battlefield and controlling and directing the men. The more opportunities they had to see the fighting abilities of the black soldiers, the more often the white men realized that the black soldiers were their equals. Increasingly, black regiments, such as those that had taken part in attacks at Petersburg in June 1864, were received positively by their peers. As the war closed, the USCT was providing an ever-increasing proportion of the Union army. During the siege of Petersburg and at the battle of Nashville, African American troops helped to win notable victories. On many occasions the USCT simply served as yet another Union regiment in the line, providing mutual support to regiments either side of them, but on other occasions they were to prove to be the instrument of victory on the battlefield. One example occurred at Fort Blakely, Alabama, in 1865, where a division of USCT provided the right wing of the Union army. The USCT was given instructions to advance, and they ran into Confederate skirmishers: almost as one, the entire division surged forward and stormed the Confederate defense works. The Vexed Questions of Pay and Promotion Although African Americans knew that they were making a positive contribution to the war effort in Union uniform, they still had to contend with severe prejudice. When the War De-

partment confirmed, on June 4, 1863, the terms of the Militia Act, or Second Confiscation Act, of July 17, 1862, it became apparent that, despite promises to the contrary, African American soldiers would not be paid on equal terms with white enlistees. Brig. Gen. Rufus Saxton had been charged with the task of recruiting 5,000 African American soldiers. He had been told that the men would operate under the same conditions and pay as white men. Equally, the 54th and 55th Massachusetts (Colored) Infantry were told that in addition to the $50 enlistment bonus, and $100 mustering out payment, they would receive $13 per month. When William Whiting, a lawyer at the War Department, made the announcement in June 1863, it was clear that African Americans would be paid on the same basis as laborers, and there would be no additional payments for those who held noncommissioned officer ranks. The payment was set at $10 minus $3 for their clothing. This meant that an African American soldier was valued at little more than half his white counterpart. Many protests ensued, and very few of the USCT or the two Massachusetts regiments were prepared to accept this payment. On seven occasions the 54th and 55th were mustered to receive their pay, and on seven occasions they refused to accept it. It was not a question of money, but the payment was a symbol of their inequality. Many of the men thought the offer undermined their self-respect. Despite hardships, particularly to family members who had lost their breadwinner and would have to throw themselves on the mercy of their community, it was not a matter about which they would compromise. They argued that there was no difference between a black man and a white man standing on a battlefield, facing the same dangers, yet fulfilling the same role. They were soldiers, they were doing their duty, and they saw no reason why they should be subject to discrimination. There was no immediate prospect of resolving the pay issue. On one hand Washington considered the lower pay an appropriate means by which to convince those opposed to African

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An African American army cook at work, City Point, Virginia, 1864 or 1865. (Library of Congress)

American enlistment that although the men were needed, they were not yet equal to whites. Those who supported the use of African Americans in the armed forces could not and would not accept this policy. It fell on the limited number of Northern spokesmen who had some influence in Washington to plead the men’s cause. Notably Gov. John Andrew of Massachusetts spoke on their behalf, claiming that although the uniform gave the African American dignity, inequities in pay only degraded them. Ultimately the matter would be forced by the men’s own officers. Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler and Col. James Montgomery were among those who pleaded the case of their men, stating that although the African Americans were equal in uniform, they were often fiercely more loyal to

the Union than their white counterparts. Some of the USCT were on the verge of mutiny as the dispute continued for a year. The 79th USCI nearly mutinied, and Sgt. William Walker of the 21st USCI claimed that his enlistment contract was null and void as the government had not kept its side of the contract. He concluded that he should no longer be a soldier and was not prepared to act as one until the government fulfilled its obligations. He was tried at a court martial and executed. The situation began to get more dangerous and volatile as the officers struggled to maintain control of their men, who were often still being used as unpaid laborers and not soldiers. Finally, after U.S. Attorney General Edward Bates conceded and reminded Lincoln of his constitu-

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tional responsibility, the situation gradually began to be resolved. Bates told Lincoln that the men should receive equal pay and that if the case were presented before a court of law, the government would undoubtedly lose. In June 1864 Congress approved equal pay backdated to January 1, 1864. There were still conditions, notably that the men would have had to have been free men on April 19, 1861, to receive back pay. This solution proved to be another bone of contention as it effectively allowed only free men to claim back pay for 1862 and 1863. Had a man been a slave after April 19, 1861, he would receive no back pay at all. It was not until March 1865 that the situation was finally resolved on an equal basis. The question of black officers began to rear its head from the very beginning of African American involvement in the civil war. When Butler had federalized the Louisiana African American militia units in the summer of 1862, he had transferred the entire regiment as it stood into Union service. This meant that there were both black and white officers. The majority of the African American officers were from the literate and wealthy classes of the New Orleans area, and, indeed, the regiments boasted around seventy-five African American captains and lieutenants, in addition to the black Major Dumas. Jim Lane, who was at work in raising an African American regiment in Kansas, similarly saw no problem in elevating African American recruits to the officer ranks. By 1863, however, the secretary of war, Edwin M. Stanton, would not accept African American officers unless a specific piece of legislation had been approved by the president and Congress. The Massachusetts regiments, for example, were forbidden to appoint black officers. Meanwhile, the War Department, having replaced Butler, told his successor to replace the African American officers with white men. The initial claim was that African Americans had rarely had any command experience due to the inequalities in militia regiments in the past and that, therefore, they were not competent to lead men in battle. With Washington finding it difficult enough to

convince the public that African American enlisted men should be accepted, it was a step too far to expect them to accept black officers. It was widely believed that African Americans were used to having to work under the guidance of white men and that they would find it impossible to take orders from a black officer. Equally, it was argued that black officers, if appointed, would be incapable of handling the paperwork and comprehending the complexities of supply, rations, and orders. This was contradicted by the sizable minority of literate African Americans and the many illiterate white soldiers. There was also an internal army dynamic. Commonly soldiers who had reached the rank of first sergeant expected the opportunity to be promoted to a lieutenant. This was the natural course of combat or field promotions, where individuals would effectively be filling dead men’s shoes. The USCT regiments provided white noncommissioned officers with an additional opportunity to reach the rank of lieutenant and beyond. If the USCT were filled with African American noncommissioned officers, this route to promotion would be blocked. African Americans wanted the chance not only to prove themselves capable of being noncommissioned officers, but also to be able to pin an officer’s shoulder tabs onto their uniforms. Many demanded that the boards of examination be opened to them, and eventually the situation began to be forced by individuals, much to the disgruntlement of Washington. In early 1864, the then regimental commander of the 54th Massachusetts, Colonel Hallowell, recommended to Governor Andrew that Sgt. Stephen A. Swails be promoted to the rank of second lieutenant. The nomination was accepted, but Maj. Gen. John G. Foster, who commanded the Department of the South, mustered the newly promoted lieutenant out of the regiment. Governor Andrew refused to concede on the issue and bombarded secretary of war, Stanton, into submission, forcing him to accept Swails’s appointment in January 1865. This none-too-gentle knock on the door by Swails, Hallowell, and Governor Andrew caused

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Washington to accept that African Americans could receive commissions, and as a consequence, before the war was over 1 in every 2,000 African Americans had been promoted into the officer corps. Five of the early promotions, excluding that of Swails, served in the two Massachusetts regiments. There were, however, other African Americans receiving commissions, but they were confined to ordained clergymen who had the rank of officers while serving as chaplains. Taking on the role of a chaplain and adopting an officer’s rank was a difficult choice for a clergyman, as he would enter a world that was dominated by white officers. Personal insults, misconduct, and immorality would dog all chaplains as they struggled to provide spiritual guidance for the enlisted men. They had to walk a very difficult path between two worlds. Dirt, Dishonor, and Disease One of the enduring frustrations of USCT enlistees was the lack of opportunity to fight. Throughout the war large numbers of men, having been trained and continually drilled throughout their period of enlistment, only ever wielded a spade or a pickaxe in anger. Fatigue duties were considered to be, by many brigade, division, and corps commanders, the purpose of having black soldiers. Their presence freed up white regiments for action. The hard and thankless work only served to reduce morale and to wear out the men’s uniforms. Initially paid little or nothing, they had little opportunity to replace their clothing and for many of the men, having fled slavery in the South, they now felt that they were reduced to slavery once more under only slightly different circumstances. They still encountered rigid discipline and the prospect of punishment for complaints and minor infractions. The men became demoralized, and the better officers sought to leave the regiment at their earliest opportunity for fear of seeing the war out in some backwater supply depot, never having seen a Confederate. African American troops were often used for burial details, frequently operating at night or

under fire from Confederate positions. They would have to deal with bodies that had been left to decompose on the battlefield for days or weeks, while white regiments rested. Other prejudices and iniquities were common, including USCT regiments being issued with faulty or inadequate uniforms and equipment. They would be given recycled uniforms, often with gaping holes that told the story of the previous owner. On many occasions whole regiments had to operate without shoes, and when they did receive them, they were shoddy and would wear out in a few weeks. Above all, as an indication of the perceived value of the USCT, they were often at the bottom of the list when it came to the delivery of muskets. They would be issued with obsolete equipment that, at best, would often prove to be as hazardous to the user as the target. There were instances where African American regiments were given the latest equipment, such as the 29th Connecticut (Colored) Infantry who were issued with new Springfield rifles. However, the majority of regiments, such as the 2d USCI, who had an inspection in April 1864, received either captured or re-bored equipment that led to the inspector immediately condemning 340 of the regiment’s muskets; they were later given Springfield rifled muskets in exchange. Obsolete equipment at times impaired the ability of a regiment to fight. The 54th USCI, for example, was issued with such a wide mixture of different muskets that it had to carry three calibers of ammunition into the field. However hard the men trained, their useless and dangerous equipment would put them in great jeopardy on the battlefield. The 3d USCC, viewed as an extremely effective unit, was always short of mounts, and at one stage nearly 300 of the men lacked carbines and over 400 sabers. It was a common belief at the time that black troops were ideal for combat and operations in the Southern states, particularly areas that were notorious for cholera and typhoid, because they were thought to have some form of natural im-

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munity as their ancestors, or indeed, the troops themselves, had come from countries plagued with these diseases. Thousands succumbed to “tropical” diseases, largely because their military camps were in highly contagious areas and, as in most military bases of the period, little care or attention was paid to sanitary conditions. The workload of the medical staff attached to USCT units was crippling, and official records suggest that they dealt with over 600,000 cases of illness in the enlisted ranks alone, in addition to handling 10,000 wounded men between 1863 and 1865. The USCT had enormous difficulties in attracting trained doctors. Doctors found it impossible to transfer from a regiment because the commanding officer guarded whatever medical assistance he had secured. One of the answers was to try to attract as many African American physicians as possible, but few were available. Approximately eight black doctors served in the Union army. For the majority of the regiments, any individual who claimed to have any rudimentary knowledge of physiology, medicine, or injuries in general would be accepted to serve as either a hospital steward or a physician. Attempts were made by many regimental commanders to find anyone, including medical cadets or trainees, but most proved incompetent. On at least one occasion two physicians were given dishonorable discharges for whipping African American soldiers who were serving as medical orderlies and nurses. On other occasions white medical staff robbed badly wounded men, and in other instances African American soldiers openly criticized unnecessary amputations and operations that they had suffered at the hands of incompetent or overworked medical staff. Generally African American troops found themselves in segregated hospitals, most of which were poorly equipped and understaffed. In one such hospital at Fort Smith, Arkansas, 92 of 343 men died due to appalling conditions and neglect. At Vicksburg another hospital had a death rate of 30.5 percent, while its white counterpart had a death rate of 14 percent. In general

an African American admitted to a hospital had a one in three chance of dying while hospitalized. African American troops also encountered general prejudice and hostility, in both the North and the South. In New York regiments were pelted with stones and in Florida the citizens of Key West petitioned the government not to have a USCT regiment garrisoned in their vicinity. Black soldiers were not welcome in the South, but even in Washington and New York, mobs of rioters would hurl themselves at the uniformed men and abuse them in every way. Within the military itself there was discrimination and abuse that was often open and unabashed. The troops were constantly referred to as “niggers,” and on some occasions USCT men were robbed or murdered by fellow Union men because they were black. Racist commanders of USCT regiments were rarely reprimanded. Some commanders, however, took their responsibilities seriously and would take action against anyone who discriminated against their men or made abusive remarks toward them. They would even pursue them as far as a court martial. In some situations, members of the USCT would fight back. An extensive brawl took place in Nashville between the USCT and white U.S. regulars. When Union troops from Philadelphia encountered Sgt. Prince Rivers, a freedman, they considered it more prudent to leave the man alone due to his aggressive stance and enormous size. Butler was one commander among few who would support his African American men in such circumstances. The most violent reactions were in the South, not only from the perspective of the Confederate army, but also those among the civilian population. As early as 1862, many Southerners believed that Washington was stealing their slaves, putting them in a blue uniform, arming them with muskets, and sending them South to destroy the Confederacy. These armed slaves, as they saw them, were commanded by white men who were inciting slave insurrection; both the former slaves, regardless of their past, and the white men needed to feel the full weight of Confederate law.

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In April and May 1862 the Confederate Congress resolved officially to return all African Americans, whatever their circumstances, to a state of bondage and summarily execute white officers. In practice this was never widely accepted on the battlefield as most Confederate regiments who encountered African American units refused to take prisoners. All this policy served to achieve was to bond the enlisted men with their officers, both realizing that they faced the same peril if they surrendered to the enemy. Admittedly some white officers and African American enlisted men were taken prisoner and treated according to the accepted Articles of War, but few would risk this outcome. When operating in the South, the USCT met the hatred of the Confederate population. Suffering the indignity of finding their town occupied by Union troops was bad enough, let alone the soldiers being black men. As Union troops moved further into Confederate territory, organized Southern resistance had collapsed in most places, and they now faced the prospect of dealing with Confederate guerrillas. On one occasion, while operating in the South, the 79th USCI (new) responded to the murder of one of their black soldiers by Confederate guerrillas by executing a Confederate prisoner. In North Carolina African American troops, under the command of Brig. Gen. Edward A. Wild, took hostage the families of the officers of a Confederate guerrilla group to prevent them from making attacks on his men. It became common for the guerrillas to make a special target of black troops operating in their territories, and they committed many atrocities. Equally, a rough form of justice was extracted by the USCT when the opportunities presented themselves. On one occasion, in Springfield, Tennessee, an assistant surgeon, Eli M. Hewitt, was murdered by Confederate guerrillas. The commanding officer, Maj. Gen. Lovell H. Rousseau, extracted $5,000 from the local population and sent the money to Hewitt’s family. As the war entered its final months, with the Confederacy collapsing, the USCT were an integral part of the force that marched into count-

less villages, towns, and cities of the South. For many of the men, even the final surrender of Robert E. Lee at Appomattox would not end their period of enlistment. A great many of the men would be destined to remain in the South as part of the Army of Occupation. African Americans were not at the top of the list when it came to demobilization. The first to be mustered out were veteran white regiments, as the process of demobilizing one million men began soon after Lee’s surrender. A large number of African American units would remain under arms in the South for a considerable period of time. In some respects, as far as those who had fled from slavery were concerned, this was a reasonable period of transition through slave, soldier to free man. Around the insular existence of a USCT regiment the men encountered still defiant and often violent Southerners, as well as bewildered and displaced former slaves. The USCT were well placed to contribute toward the progress of African Americans who had remained in the South. Many of the officers serving in the USCT were invaluable in helping to organize the Southern black population in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War. They had the leadership skills and experience in handling large numbers of African Americans. Many of the officers worked tirelessly for the Freedmen’s Bureau under the stewardship of Maj. Gen. Oliver Otis Howard, whose own brother had held a commission in the USCT. One of the first series of tasks was to ensure that the black and the white population of the South did not turn on one another and worked together toward reconstructing the South. Contracts for major construction projects to repair the infrastructure had to be overseen, and it was the USCT, as an occupying army, that had to ensure that the wishes of the Freedmen’s Bureau were enforced. There was still widespread disgust among the population and outright displays of arrogance with individuals still walking around in their Confederate uniforms. In some areas organized attempts were made to undermine the USCT. In both Texas and Louisiana, former Confeder-

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ates dressed in Union uniforms, blackened their faces, and carried out robberies and murders, purporting to be USCT men. There were frequent brawls arising out of harassment, but increasingly, Southern diehards found themselves facing uniformed African American troops who refused to back down. There were still murders, notably in Raymond, Mississippi, and in Kentucky, but it was not only the enlisted men who were the objects of the violence. In Louisiana a white lieutenant was murdered by civilians, and in Walhalla, South Carolina, Lt. J. T. Furman (33d USCI) was killed by a civilian who shot him in the back. The 33d were also the intended victims of an attempt to kill the whole regiment on a trestle bridge en route to Charleston. The regiment’s commander, Lt. Col. Charles T. Trowbridge, had been warned by a local politician that the regiment was in danger. Consequently Trowbridge ordered Sgt. Frederick Brown and four enlisted men to ride with the engine driver. As the train reached a trestle bridge high above a river, the coupling pin was pulled, leaving the carriages in which the regiment was traveling on the track 100 feet above the water. There was a sudden volley of musketry fire, and civilians were seen attempting to set fire to the bridge. Sergeant Brown produced his pistol and at gunpoint made the engine driver back up and recouple the carriages, which allowed the regiment to escape. The African American troops were scattered throughout the South, and in certain areas, such as Texas, the men suffered from food shortages. As the army shifted to a peacetime force, whole commands were forgotten, and the men succumbed to fevers and the effects of poor and inadequate rations. For the most part the men were hopelessly bored, particularly in areas such as Texas or New Mexico. There was nothing to make them want to stay with the regiment, and much of the pride and loyalty had begun to evaporate. They were still drilled and penalized, and drunkenness became a severe problem. Many of the men wrote to Stanton or any other influential individual to demand that

at least they receive adequate support for the jobs that they were undertaking. In October 1865, a mutiny took place in Jacksonville, Florida. The men were engaged in a melee with a crowd, and after the situation had been calmed, six men were executed for mutiny. In some of the regiments, however, the officers took the opportunity to institute extensive education for the men, both in literacy and religious studies. In most cases the men realized that this was a route to self-improvement. The barracks would be transformed into a school, and officers and literate African Americans would serve as the teachers. As life in the USCT gradually ended, and the last men were finally mustered out, the future for the men who had served continued to be hard. Most of the men had served a comparatively long period in the army and had either been injured or ill, and most would later rely on military pensions. Some ended up in veterans’ homes in the Northern states, but the Southerners who returned to the South had to rely on their families. Despite the enormous contributions made by African Americans during the Civil War, it would not be for another ninety years that African Americans would finally be accepted as full equals in the U.S. Army. Only a handful of regiments would survive during the remainder of the nineteenth century. For many years, in mute testimony of the perceived value of the African American during the Civil War, veterans would occupy the rear of the columns of the parades on the July 4. Despite this indignity, the veterans considered it worthwhile to be represented and to continue to remind the population of their participation in the Civil War. Black Confederates A considerable number of African Americans also served for the Confederate States of America. Given the stance of the Southern states on African Americans, many fought purely to defend their own states, such as the Louisiana

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Civil War artist and journalist Alfred R. Waud’s “Mustered Out, Little Rock, Arkansas, April 20, 1865,” published in Harper’s Weekly, May 19, 1866. The drawing captures the exuberance of the Little Rock, Arkansas, African American community as the U.S. Colored Troops returned home at the end of the Civil War. The victorious soldiers are joyously greeted by women and children. (Library of Congress)

Native Guards. Even slaves from Alabama and freedmen from Virginia volunteered to join the Confederate army. In Tennessee freedmen were enlisted into regiments in Memphis as early as 1861. From the beginning some Southerners called for the deployment of African Americans to help remedy the disparity of white manpower between the North and the South. They were largely ignored, and only individuals, operating either as substitutes or servants in regular Confederate regiments, represented the African American in the Confederate armed forces. When Stonewall Jackson occupied Frederick, Maryland, in 1862, of his force of 64,000, some 3,000 were African Americans scattered among the regiments. Black Confederates fought at the First Manassas, in the Shenandoah, during the Seven Days, and at Gettysburg.

By January 1864 the manpower situation in the South had reached a critical point. Everywhere the Confederates were hopelessly outnumbered, and finally, at the headquarters of General Johnson, Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne proposed the enlistment and arming of slaves in exchange for their freedom. Confederate President Jefferson Davis refused at that time, but he was forced to change his mind during the last eighteen months of the war. Gen. Robert E. Lee accepted African Americans into his Army of Northern Virginia, but there was enormous opposition in the South to arming slaves because people feared rebellion or mutiny. By February 1865 the possibility of Union forces facing black Confederates spurred Ulysses S. Grant to order that all male African Americans in the South be captured to prevent

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them from joining the Confederate army. Simultaneously. African Americans were serving in the Confederate navy, but it was only on March 13, 1865, that the Confederate Congress finally acceded to the enlistment of African Americans into their army. By then, it was too late. They were offered $100 but still, slave owners blocked the attempts because they were unwilling to relinquish their property. Lee believed that if a man was willing to join the Confederate army, then the state should compel his owner to release him. Contemporary state records suggest that some 83 percent of Richmond, Virginia’s, male slave population volunteered for duty and that the Confederate states intended to raise 300,000 men and call them the Confederate States Colored Troops. It has been estimated that some 65,000 black soldiers were enlisted in the Confederate army, of whom 13,000 fought in combat. The larger contribution was made by the tens of thousands of slaves and freedmen who provided the logistical support for the Confederate army throughout the war. The role of the African Americans who served for the Confederacy during the Civil War has been rarely and only recently recognized. The African American Confederate veterans were granted pensions only in the 1920s. By then, many of the men had died. See also Beaty, Powhatan; Carney, William; Douglass, Frederick; Boards of Examination for Officers in United States Colored Troops; Bureau of Colored Troops; Chaffin’s Farm, Battle of; Confederates, African American; Emancipation Proclamation; Fort Blakely, Battle of; Fort Fisher, Battle of; Fort Pillow Massacre; Fort Wagner, Battle of; Forty Acres and a Mule; Freedmen’s Bureau; Honey Hill, Battle of; Medal of Honor (appendix); Olustee, Battle of; Poison Springs; Potter’s Raid; Richmond, Battle of; United States Colored Artillery (appendix); United States Colored Cavalry (appendix); United States

Colored Troops (appendixes); individual regiments References and Further Reading Adams, George W. Doctors in Blue: The Medical History of the Union Army in the Civil War. New York: Henry Schuman, 1952. Berlin, Ira, Joseph P. Reidy, and Leslie S. Rowland. Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861–1867. 2 vols. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982. Blight, David W. Frederick Douglass’s Civil War. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1989. Brown, William Wells. The Negro in the American Rebellion: His Heroism and His Fidelity. New York: Lee and Sheppard, 1867 (reprinted Johnson Reprints 1968). Burchard, Peter. One Gallant Rush: Robert Gould Shaw and his Brave Black Regiment. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1965. Coffman, Edward M. The Old Army: A Portrait of the American Army in Peacetime, 1784–1898. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986. Cornish, Dudley T. The Sable Arm: Negro Troops in the Union Army, 1861–1865. New York: Longmans Green, 1956. Crawford, Samuel J. Kansas in the Sixties. Chicago: McClurg, 1911. Edelstein, Tilden G. Strange Enthusiasm: A Life of Thomas Wentworth Higginson. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1968. Edmonds, David C. The Guns of Port Hudson: The Investment, Siege, and Reduction. 2 vols. Lafayette, LA: Arcadiana Press, 1984. Emilio, Luis F. A Brave Black Regiment: History of the Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Boston: Boston Book Co. 1894. Reprint, Salem, NH: Ayer, 1990. Fletcher, Marvin. The Black Soldier and Officer in the United States Army, 1891–1917. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1974. Glatthaar, Joseph T. Forged in Battle: The Civil War Alliance of Black Soldiers and White Officers. New York: Free Press, 1990. Hewitt, Lawrence Lee. Port Hudson: Confederate Bastion on the Mississippi River. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1987.

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Higginson, Thomas Wentworth. Army Life in a Black Regiment. Boston: Beacon Press, 1962. McPherson, James M. The Negro’s Civil War. New York: Pantheon, 1965. National Archives, Record Group 94. Miscellaneous Papers, 2d USCI. ———. The Negro in the Military Service of the United States: 1639–1886. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Service, 1973 (microfilm, 5 reels). Quarles, Benjamin. The Negro in the Civil War. Boston: Little, Brown, 1953. Sandburg, Carl. Abraham Lincoln: The War Years. 4 vols. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1939. Sefton, James E. The United States Army and Reconstruction, 1865–1877. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1967. Shannon, Fred A. The Organization and Administration of the Union Army, 1861–65. 2 vols. Gloucester, MA: Peter Smith, 1965. Williams, George Washington. A History of the Negro Troops in the War of the Rebellion, 1861–1865, Preceded by a Review of the Military Service of Negroes in Ancient and Modern Times. New York: Negro Universities Press, 1969 (Reprint).

American Revolution The Continental Army introduced African Americans into its ranks because it lacked the necessary white manpower to prosecute a war against the British. Slaves were excluded under the edict of the Continental Congress, and only free men were allowed to enlist. This rule was often ignored; each enlistment officer had a quota to fill, and when necessary, slaves were enlisted to fill the vacant slots in the regiments despite their official exclusion. Initially, however, the Congress and states moved to ensure that African Americans remained excluded from the military. In May 1775 the Massachusetts Committee of Safety decided to exclude slaves from joining the provincial army. This ban continued in July

when Gen. George Washington assumed control of the Continental Army. He went further and banned both slaves and free blacks. Although Washington had had African Americans under his command during the French and Indian War, he evidently believed it unnecessary to recruit African Americans at the start of the conflict. His decision was ratified by a committee set up to review the military later in 1775. There were, however, already African Americans in the Continental Army. What was to be done about these men? As far as Southern leaders were concerned, notably Edward Rutledge of South Carolina, they should be discharged immediately and without question or appeal. Events were to overtake them all: the Continental Army was too small already and shrinking as the days passed; there would be no alternative but to accept African Americans into the army. Integration did not become the norm across the whole of the American army during the war. As the manpower shortage became more acute, the need to enlist slaves grew. When the British offered slaves their freedom in return for taking up arms for the Crown, the American army reluctantly offered the same deal. Lord Dunmore’s (John Murray, Earl of Dunmore) Proclamation of May 1775 drew thousands of African Americans to the British cause; many were runaways. In Georgia alone during the American Revolution and as a direct result of the Dunmore Proclamation, the male slave population fell to 25 percent of its prewar level as many slaves enlisted and others simply took the opportunity to flee. One particular unit, called the Ethiopian Regiment, consisted of 300 runaway slaves and fought as a cohesive unit, albeit for a short period of time. They fought and lost just one battle. With the slogan “Liberty to Slaves” still patched onto their chests, Dunmore’s regiment left the continent never to return. It is probable that they were either sent to Canada and mustered out or that they served temporarily in the West Indies and were then mustered out. Some African Americans served as paid replacements for whites. As one Hessian officer wrote in his journal, “You never see a regiment

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in which there are not negroes” (Kaplan and Kaplan 1989, 26). It was the common practice of substitution that seems to have had its roots in early colonial legislation allowing someone who was drafted offer a replacement instead of serving himself. Usually the draftee either paid someone to take his place (often a poor man) or used a slave for this purpose. In many units in the American Revolution, substitute African Americans found themselves serving alongside white draftees who lacked the money to pay a substitute. African Americans served on most ships in the Continental Navy and the vessels belonging to the individual states. Although there were no known all–African American crews, the proportion of African Americans on board ships was extremely high. There had always been a great difficulty in recruiting sailors for the hazardous life at sea; consequently, race was never an issue when hard-pressed captains had to set sail with the prospect of an understrength crew. The majority of vessels that were pressed into combat and supply missions during the American Revolution already had been operating as merchant ships with their own complement of African Americans. There was neither the time nor the will to challenge this as all men and all vessels were needed. First Shots The first African American to face the British in the months leading up to the American Revolution was Crispus Attucks, of African American and Native American ancestry, a runaway who lived in Boston. The Boston Massacre took place on March 5, 1770. The population of Boston was already seething about new taxes that had been imposed on them by the British Parliament. Around the same time, a British soldier assaulted a Boston boy. A mob, apparently led by Attucks, hunted for the soldier and cornered him on sentry duty. To begin with, the mob jeered and threw snowballs at the soldier, but soon some were throwing stones. When

nine other soldiers rushed to his aid, they drew more taunts and attacks from the mob. Attucks advanced and yanked a musket from the hands of one of the soldiers. The soldiers realized that the mob might overpower them and lynch them all. With the mob daring the soldiers to fire on them, they did so, and Attucks was killed along with four other members of the mob. Attucks and the other victims rapidly became martyrs and served as a rallying call for all Americans to fight against British repression. Attucks became a folk-hero of the American Revolution. At least four African Americans were also present on Lexington Common on April 19, 1775, when the Massachusetts men faced the British army. Peter Salem, like Attucks from Framingham, Massachusetts, fought at Lexington and was said later to have shot Major Pitcairn, who was leading the British assault at Bunker Hill. Prince Estabrook was wounded at Lexington; also present were Sam Croft and a man called Pompey. Two months later, at Bunker Hill, Salem and Estabrook fought in the ranks of the militia, as did two other African Americans, Cuff Whitemore and Salem Poore. The former gained a reputation for acquiring trophies from the field and was said to have made a brisk trade in the sale of British officers’ swords. The latter was commended for bravery by his commander at the battle. Crown or Congress On the British side, Dunmore continued to use African Americans in foraging roles and transferred as many as possible to the navy to serve as sailors. The Dunmore Proclamation had a drastic impact on the slave owners; patrols were stepped up in likely areas and owners pointed out that Dunmore was only interested in recruiting able-bodied men. This meant leaving wives, children, parents, and the infirm behind. Ultimately, the slave owners demanded protection and redress that came in the form of decla-

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rations such as that from the Virginia Convention. It directed that slaves who fled from the rightful owners to take up arms for the Crown would suffer the penalty of death. Nevertheless, African Americans continued to join the British forces. Other Southern states followed suit with similar declarations, but the tide could not be stemmed. The African Americans’ flight to the British Army was affecting the colonial economy. A solution was sought in which African Americans could be incorporated into the American army and thus forestall their enlistment with the British. Under intense pressure, Washington conceded that he would allow free men to join the Continental Army. By late 1775, the Continental Congress released an ambiguous statement on African American recruitment, which stated that free men: “who had served faithfully in the army might be reenlisted but no others.” The statement evidently referred to those who had been serving in the state militias and had proven themselves loyal to the cause of independence. States interpreted this statement in various ways. The Continental Congress was clear that the policy only referred to free men and that as far as the Continental Army was concerned, slaves were still not welcome. Regardless of the policy, the situation when recruiting officers were approached by African Americans was entirely different. How could either the recruitment officer or the African American verify whether he was a free man or not? Few had documentation; fewer could read or write. The simple expedient, given the pressing need for men and having been given permission to recruit African Americans, was for the recruitment officers to enlist all able-bodied African Americans who presented themselves. Recruiters also accepted African American slaves enlisted as substitutes for their masters. It was a legal transaction and the recruitment officers saw no real problem with it, neither did they object when free American Americans presented themselves with papers saying that they had been paid by a white man to serve in the

unit on their behalf as a substitute. The owners of the slaves being presented as a substitute would have granted their freedom before they were accepted. Provided this had been done, the recruiting officer could not turn the man away. What is not known is whether all of the slave owners kept their side of the bargain after the period of service had been completed. In a number of cases men who were so contracted found themselves returned to slavery after the war or period of enlistment. The problem was recognized after the war, but as in many other cases, the Continental Congress deferred the issue to the states for their own solution. While some of the states passed legislation confirming the freedom of African American slaves who had served under these or any circumstances, many more simply allowed the men to be returned to slavery. In September 1776, the Continental Congress created eighty-eight new battalions of troops and assigned recruitment quotas to each of the states. This forced officials to confront the issue of the enlistment of African Americans. The states found it almost impossible to meet their quotas; the smaller the white population, the greater the problem. The states in New England were the first to recognize the solution. Openly, they began to enlist slaves as quickly as they could to fulfil the quotas assigned to them by Congress. New Hampshire, for example, found that the small slave system had to be dismantled in order to facilitate the availability of African Americans. In contrast, the more Southern states opted to retain the slave economy and vigorously pursue the white population to meet their quotas. Of all of the Southern states, Maryland was the only one that decided to enact legislation allowing for the recruitment of slaves to cope with the demand for manpower. While the increasing recruitment of African Americans, whether slaves or free men, helped to cope with the quotas, another problem was beginning to establish itself as the war continued into 1776. Enlisted men were expected to serve for three months. This meant that no

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sooner had a unit begun to reach its optimum strength than men began to leave. This rapid turnover and gradual depletion meant that it was never clear just how effective or strong a regiment would ever be at a given time. African Americans provided the solution. Instead of being enlisted to serve three months, they were often recruited for a three-year term or for the duration of the war. Only by agreeing to this deal would slaves be promised their freedom at the end of the term. In many respects, the slaves had little or no choice but to accept. Most New England states adopted this policy, finding that slaves given the prospect of freedom after three years would readily accept, would be less likely to desert, and would be more willing to operate in areas remote from their homes. Although African Americans were providing an ever-increasing percentage of troops in the Continental Army, very few had any hope of being elevated beyond the rank of private. There were no African American officers in either the Continental Army or in the state militias; some did attain the rank of sergeant. During the period 1775–1777, the numbers of African Americans serving the American land forces remained relatively small. It was neither feasible or the policy to create independent African American units, but as enlistment increased, the options increased. Integration often gave way to segregation, particularly in New England. Aside from the racially based motivations for segregation, it was also believed that if African Americans served in single-race units, then their discipline and commitment to the regiment would be improved. This hope of an esprit de corps would lead to five all–African American units being formed. The first such unit was created at Rhode Island in February 1778. Among all of the New England states, Rhode Island had the greatest difficulties in filling the quotas with white men. In January, Rhode Island had failed to enlist enough men to create the two required battalions, so the state authorized the enlistment of slaves. State legislation would also undertake to

compensate slave owners for the loss of their property as freedom would be granted to the men put forward. Connecticut, following Rhode Island’s lead and in the face of strong opposition to the creation of an all–African American battalion, did not offer compensation. The result was that Connecticut did not have enough African Americans to provide a complete battalion until June 1780. Other states were ready to embrace the concept, notably South Carolina. The initiative there came from none other than the former president of the Continental Congress, Henry Laurens. A well-placed and successful merchant, he and his son John, who was an aide to Washington and a diplomat, proposed that 3,000 African Americans be raised in return for their freedom. The Continental Congress finally approved the idea, but it did not gain approval in South Carolina. The idea received less than a lukewarm response. Largely as a result of the fear of a slave insurrection as a result of arming slaves, the state legislature rejected the proposal and Laurens’s plan was dead. Of the five African American units that served in the American Revolution, the most famous was the 1st Rhode Island Regiment. It was commanded by a white officer, Col. Christopher Greene, and composed of around three hundred men. At the Battle of Rhode Island, one of the bloodiest encounters of the war, they held off three determined attacks by the British in the area around Providence and Newport, enabling the American troops to escape a trap. Although Connecticut had problems raising a complete battalion of African Americans, another unit had been operating since 1777. The 6th Connecticut Battalion (“The Colonials” or 6th Company) was a battalion in name only because it numbered only fifty-six men. Commanded by Colonel Humphrey, a white officer, the unit retained its separate identity until November 1782. It was formed in 1777 as a result of legislation passed by the Connecticut General Assembly, which called for the creation of a separate African American company of slaves. Owners would be compensated and the men

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The hand-painted flag for the Bucks of America. After the Revolutionary War Massachusetts Governor John Hancock presented this flag to the company in recognition of valor. (Massachusetts Historical Society)

freed at the end of their service. The unit was fiercely proud of its independence and identity, adding weight to the contemporary belief that all–African American units would have this esprit de corps. There was much sadness when the unit was incorporated into a larger 6th Connecticut Battalion, which replaced the earlier unit. One of the least well-known African American units of the American Revolution came from Massachusetts; their hand-painted standard is displayed at the Massachusetts Historical Society. Known as the “Bucks of America,” the unit’s status remains unclear. It may have been a private organization raised by Boston merchants to act as a security guard unit to protect their property during the war. A man called Middleton commanded the unit; he was an African American horse-breaker of some repute. Their banner or standard was presented to the

survivors of the unit by John Hancock at the governor’s mansion circa 1787. Two other partially black units from abroad made significant contributions to the war effort. Both the French and the Spanish had men of African descent in their ranks. The first came from French-held Santo Domingo and was called the West Indian Volunteer Chasseurs. In 1778, the French sent a large and imposing force of some 3,600 men, of whom 550 to 600 were of African descent. The unit served in Georgia in the autumn of 1779 during the siege of Savannah. The French were defeated and failed to take the city, and the troops returned to the French West Indies. Another unlikely source of African Americans was the Spanish troops of Bernardo de Galvez. Since 1762, Louisiana west of the Mississippi had belonged to the Spanish. African American militias had existed since the wars with the

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Native American Chickasaw and Natchez in 1736. While they had been originally raised when the area belonged to the French, the African American militias were still retained in integrated units. When the Spanish entered the American Revolution as allies of the French, Galvez at the head of around seven hundred and fifty men (of whom around a hundred were of African descent) moved on the British. Galvez captured Fort Charlotte (Mobile) and Fort George (Pensacola). His army’s contribution effectively tied down British troops and succeeded in denying the west to them as well as clearing west Florida and Louisiana of their forces. Naval Service The vessels that composed the naval forces opposing the British during the American Revolution came from three sources. The Continental Navy, the primary force, consisted of some fifty or so ships of various sizes and capabilities. Supporting the Continental Navy were the ships from the various colonies, which in some cases, rivaled the Continental force in numbers. The privateers were the third component of the sea forces. The latter operated under letters of marque (documents that authorized the captain of the vessel to operate under the flag and protection of a given country) from the Continental Congress that authorized them to make war on the British in the name of the American people. African Americans served as sailors on all three categories of vessels. Stephen Decatur’s the Royal Lewis had a crew that was almost entirely African American. In 1775 a recruiting poster in Newport sought, “ye able backed sailors, men white or black, to volunteer for naval service in ye interest of freedom.” For many years before the war, free African Americans had chosen a life at sea. Many had seen action or at least service in the Royal Navy or on a merchant vessel. Still more, either as servants or slaves, had served on board ships with their masters. White sailors had the reputation for jumping ship when conditions be-

came unbearable; African American sailors seemed to have accepted a harsher environment and were less likely to abscond. For slaves, in any case, the option was not there to desert. While a numerical superiority on a single vessel may have posed the threat of a mutiny, it was generally thought that having slaves at sea rather than on land helped to reduce the possibility of slave insurrections on the land. Free African Americans tended to favor the state navies if they chose naval service. The pay was superior to that received as a sailor in the Continental fleet, and there were greater opportunities for promotion and the bonus that the vessels would only be expected to operate in the territorial waters of the state, or close by. Also, the enlistment period in the state navies was usually much shorter than that of the Continental Navy. African Americans, perhaps serving several periods of enlistment in the state navies, could find themselves graded as full seamen, marines, and, in some cases, pilots. Compared to the opportunities on board a Continental navy vessel, where the majority of African Americans worked as cooks, gun crew members, or powder boys, state navy duty had real advantages. The state navies, however, could not compare with the opportunities on board privateers. Not only did the crew get to share any prize money from handing over a captured enemy vessel, but the system on board was radically more egalitarian. Few privateer captains were about to question a man whether he was a runaway or a free man; neither was he particularly interested in the reasons for the man offering his services. Captains needed crew members and gave them reasons to stay with the ship. African Americans, as were other crew members, were rewarded with extra pay and privileges according to service and performance. Many African Americans, although not serving in active combat, aided the American naval effort by working in docks and harbors. Shipyards were working at maximum capacity, and ship repairs were always needed due to the normal wear and tear on the wooden vessels, as well as a result of combat. African American ar-

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tisans were in great demand for such repair work throughout the course of the war. The approaches of the two navies differed about the question of captured African Americans. The majority of African Americans serving on American ships, if captured, were taken by the British to the West Indies to be sold as slaves to work on the sugar plantations. Most, if not all, African Americans serving in the Royal Navy who were captured by the Americans were either retained on the captured vessel or simply transferred to another ship in the fleet. A conservative estimate of the number of African Americans engaged in combat units, whether army or navy, has been put at around five thousand. This is probably an underestimate and does not include those of African descent who fought under the flag of a foreign power, as was the case of those employed by the French or the Spanish. Why were African Americans so willing to risk themselves? The simple answer was the promise of freedom, offered by both the Americans and the British. They could not have known that neither side would keep this promise in all cases. The free men, however, participated out of loyalty or patriotism to the cause to which they attached themselves during the conflict. Soldiers and sailors followed their beliefs about the right course of action for the American colonies whether they remained loyal to the Crown or joined the rebellion. The overall population in the colonies on the eve of the American Revolution was estimated at 22 million. The African American population (slave and free) accounted for about 4.5 million. For either side to ignore this large percentage of the population was foolhardy. Nevertheless, they did, as described above. In May 1775, the Committee of Safety of Massachusetts resolved that no slaves were to be admitted into the army “upon any consideration whatever,” although freemen of any race could enlist. George Washington instructed his adjutant general of the Continental Army, Horatio Gates, to tell all recruiting officers not to enlist any “stroller, Negro, or vagabond.”

African Americans had served with distinction and in considerable numbers throughout the whole of the American Revolution. Some, but certainly not all, African Americans used their service and loyalty to the newly constituted United States to secure for themselves and their families a comfortable and accepted existence. However, promises made by Congress and state legislatures were forgotten, and none of those who had served received the national recognition that they deserved. See also Attucks, Crispus; Boston Massacre; Colonial America; Dunmore Proclamation; 1812, War of

References and Further Reading Berlin, Ira, ed. Slavery and Freedom in the Age of the American Revolution. Blacks in the New World. Urbana, IL: United States Capitol Historical Society/University of Illinois Press, 1986. Bobrick, Benson. Angel in the Whirlwind: The Triumph of the American Revolution. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1997. Bradley, Patricia. Slavery, Propaganda, and the American Revolution. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1998. Buckley, Robert N. Slaves in Red Coats: The British West India Regiments, 1795–1815. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1979. Cox, Clinton. Come All You Brave Soldiers: Blacks in the American Revolution. New York: Scholastic, 1999. Davis, Burke. Black Heroes of the American Revolution. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1976. Davis, Lenwood G., and George Hill. Blacks in the American Armed Forces, 1776–1983: A Bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1985. Foner, Philip S. Blacks in the American Revolution. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1975. Greene, Robert Ewell. Black Defenders of America, 1775–1973. Chicago: Johnson, 1974. Greene, Robert Ewell. Black Courage, 1775–1783. Washington, DC: NSDAR. 1984. Hirschfeld, Fritz. George Washington and Slavery: A

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Documentary Portrayal. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1997. Johnson, Jesse J., ed. A Pictorial History of Black Soldiers (1619–1969) in Peace and War. Hampton, VA: Hampton Institute, 1969. Kaplan, Sidney, and Emma Nogrady Kaplan. The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1989. Laden, John R. A History of the American Revolution. New York: DaCapo, 1969. Mullen, Robert F. Blacks in America’s Wars: The Shift in Attitudes from the Revolutionary War to Vietnam. New York: Monad Press, 1974. Nalty, Bernard C. Strength for the Fight: A History of Black Americans in the Military. New York: Free Press, 1986. Tuchman, Barbara W. The First Salute, a View of the American Revolution. New York: Ballantine, 1988. Wood, W. J. Battles of the Revolutionary War— 1775–1781: Major Battles and Campaigns. Chapel Hill, NC: DaCapo Press, 1990.

Amistad Case (1839) In 1839 a group of forty-nine slaves, led by an African called Cinque, staged a shipboard revolt off the coast of Cuba. The slave ship Amistad (meaning, paradoxically, friendship) was a Cuban schooner (Cuba at the time was a Spanish colony). Its two surviving crew members were ordered by the former slaves to set sail back to Africa. Whether by accident or design, the Amistad sailed into U.S. waters off Long Island Sound. The incident and the events that followed did much to cement the grievances of slaves and to drive a philosophical wedge between the North and the South. The Africans were taken into U.S. custody, and Spain immediately demanded that they be extradited to Cuba to face charges of murder and piracy. Abolitionists in the United States rallied around and supported the case of the Africans as far as the Supreme Court, where for-

mer president John Quincy Adams agreed to help with the legal support organized by abolitionists. The abolitionists’ case was that the Africans had been illegally kidnapped and enslaved after Spain had outlawed the African slave trade. In March 1841 the Supreme Court finally concluded that the Africans had a right to claim their freedom. Ten months later, in January 1842, thirty-five of the surviving Amistad cargo returned to Africa. The Amistad case is seen as a precursor to the abolition of slavery in the United States. The revolt became a symbol for African Americans of militant resistance to slavery and of black pride. References and Further Reading Hoyt, Edwin Palmer. The Amistad Affair. New York: Abelard-Schuman, 1970. Jones, Howard. Mutiny on the Amistad: The Saga of a Slave Revolt and Its Impact on American Abolition, Law and Diplomacy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987. Kohn, Bernice. The Amistad Mutiny. New York: McCall Publishing, 1971. Walters, Ronald G. The Anti-Slavery Appeal: American Abolitionism after 1830. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976. Zinert, Karen. The Amistad Slave Revolt. North Haven, CT: Linnet Books, 1997.

Anderson, James, Jr. (1947–1967) An African American private in the U.S. Marine Corps who saved members of his own platoon by clutching a live enemy grenade to his chest and absorbing most of the explosion. Pfc. James Anderson Jr. was born on January 22, 1947, in Los Angeles, California, and joined the 2d Platoon, Company F of the 2d Battalion, 3d Marines, 3d Marine Division, and fought in Vietnam. Company F had been assigned to relieve a reconnaissance patrol in dense jungle to the northwest of Cam Lo. Anderson’s platoon

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was in the lead and had advanced about 200 meters when they engaged the enemy. Anderson and the others took up positions some 20 meters from the enemy and engaged in a firefight, with several men being wounded around him. An enemy grenade was thrown into the midst of the Marines’ positions. Anderson grabbed the grenade, pulled it to his chest, curled up in a ball, and, when the grenade went off, his body absorbed most of the explosion. Anderson’s heroic action saved the other platoon members from injury or death. In honor of Anderson, the USNS PFC James Anderson Jr., a maritime pre-positioning ship of some 49,500 tons was brought into service in 1985. The ship carries equipment to support U.S. Marine Corps operations. James Anderson Jr. was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism during the Vietnam War in a citation signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson. See also Austin, Oscar Palmer; Davis, Rodney Maxwell; Jenkins, Robert H., Jr.; Johnson, Ralph H.; Medal of Honor (appendix); U.S. Marine Corps; Vietnam War

tery came under attack from North Vietnamese troops. The battery’s defensive perimeter was penetrated, but Anderson continued to direct artillery fire down onto the enemy until two grenades were thrown at him. They knocked him over and wounded him in both legs. Although he could not stand, he propped himself up and continued to direct fire. When a third grenade landed in his gun pit, he picked it up and threw it, but the blast wounded him again. Although only partially conscious, Anderson refused to relinquish his command and continued to direct the defense. The enemy attack was defeated. Only then was the full extent of Anderson’s injuries known. He lost both his legs and part of one arm. For his conspicuous gallantry and heroism, Anderson was awarded the Medal of Honor. See also Medal of Honor (appendix); Vietnam War References and Further Reading Greene, Robert Ewell. Black Defenders of America, 1775–1973. Chicago: Johnson, 1974.

References and Further Reading Greene, Robert Ewell. Black Defenders of America, 1775–1973. Chicago: Johnson, 1974.

Antebellum Period

Anderson, Webster (b. 1933) A Medal of Honor winner, sergeant first class of Battery A, 2d Battalion, 320th Field Artillery, 101st Airborne Infantry Division who suffered horrific wounds while protecting his crew. Webster Anderson was born in Winnsboro, South Carolina, on July 15, 1933, and joined the army in 1953. While serving in Vietnam he was in action at Tam Ky in the early hours of the morning of October 15, 1967, when his bat-

After the War of 1812, the military forces of the United States returned to peacetime levels. The glut of potential white recruits into the army and the navy left little room for African Americans, regardless of their expertise or previous service. The official policies on the recruitment of African Americans remained unchanged; army regulations dating from 1820 and 1821 reinforced the exclusion of African Americans. Nevertheless, African Americans did serve as laborers, although not as armed servicemen. The situation for the navy was entirely different, given the harsh conditions on board vessels of the period and the certain dangers of sailing

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in the treacherous waters. Few whites volunteered to serve. As they had always done, covertly at least, naval captains signed on any able-bodied man who would be prepared to face the rigors of service. Officially, the navy banned the recruitment of African Americans to serve on board ships in 1816, but because of manpower shortages many crew members and those who worked in the shipyards were African American. Freedmen were specifically welcome, but this trend was abruptly challenged by the Southern states as they began to become increasingly alarmed as to the numbers of African Americans seen on naval vessels visiting or operating out of the ports in the South. In response, the navy sought to engineer the reduction (by natural attrition of the number) of African Americans to a limit of some 5 percent of the service. This process started in 1839 and was the policy until the outbreak of the Civil War. The opportunities for African Americans were no better in the militias. Only Louisiana allowed African Americans into the state militia. Following Nat Turner’s Rebellion of 1831, all Southern states sought to exclude African Americans from their militias. Nat Turner was a slave born on October 2, 1800, in Southampton County, Virginia. From an early age he had been credited with the ability to predict events; Turner was deeply religious and considered himself to be guided by visions. In 1830, by then owned by Joseph Travis, Turner viewed an eclipse of the sun that he took as a sign to start a slave insurrection. He planned the insurrection with Henry, Hark, Nelson, and Sam (no last names are recorded for these men). Early in the morning of August 22 the group murdered the Travis family in their home and then moved from house to house in the area, killing whites as they went—in all, fifty-five were killed. News of the slave revolt spread rapidly, and the rebels were soon captured by federal troops, state militia, and armed white citizens. Turner was apprehended on October 30, and his so-called confession was tran-

scribed by Thomas R. Gray, a local physician. He was tried, convicted, and hanged a few days later. The most famous of the slave insurrections, Turner’s rebellion terrified Southerners, prompting them to tighten laws to control slaves and prevent future insurrections. It hardened Southern opposition to abolition and abolitionists, whom many blamed for the uprising, and reinforced opposition to any arming of African Americans, slave or free. See also American Civil War; 1812, War of References and Further Reading Oates, Stephen B. The Fires of Jubilee: Nat Turner’s Fierce Rebellion. New York: HarperCollins, 1990. Paulson, Timothy J. Days of Sorrow, Years of Glory 1831–1850: From the Nat Turner Revolt to the Fugitive Slave Law. New York: Chelsea House, 1994.

Apache Wars (1877–1879 and 1880–1881) In the autumn of 1875, the 9th Cavalry, except for its officers an all–African American unit, was reassigned from Texas to New Mexico and southern Colorado to face hostile Apaches. After eight years in Texas, the unit was reassigned to relieve the 8th Cavalry in New Mexico. Logistically, this move entailed a massive overland march taking about three months. When C Troop (commanded by Capt. Charles D. Beyer) set out from Fort Brown on the Rio Grande, they traveled to Fort Clark, Pecos Station, Fort Selden, and then on to Fort Bayard (near Silver City, New Mexico). In all, the journey took three months, during which they covered more than 1,000 miles. May 1876 found the 9th stationed in six locations in New Mexico and one in southern Colorado. The regimental headquarters was Fort

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Union in northeast New Mexico. The transition had taken nearly a year and had exacted a heavy toll on the combat strength of the regiment, with slightly over half of the men listed in the unit reporting for duty. Initially, the regiment was assigned to various duties that involved the already fragmented deployment being stretched more thinly around the area. Aside from the principal concerns of dealing with hostile Native American Indians, the regiment was detailed to protect the mail routes, repair and build barracks and outposts, care for horse herds, and distribute supplies to remote detachments. The very real danger of Apache raids was uppermost in the mind of the commanding officer of the 9th, Col. Edward L. Hatch. Throughout the remainder of 1876, whatever elements of the regiment were available were constantly patrolling on horseback and carrying out preventive measures to dissuade the Apaches from raiding isolated settlements and Hispanic and Anglo settlers. Throughout this period, the 9th familiarized themselves with the area and began to explore the trails, valleys, mountains, and rivers. The Indian Department had decided to displace the Apaches and concentrate them in the vast San Carlos Reservation in Arizona. The decision, in hindsight, was misguided, and although a sizeable number of Apaches resigned themselves to living there, a minority refused to move. Significant absentees were Geronimo and Juh, both chiefs with a desire to retain their freedom to roam and both of whom had sizeable bands of warriors. Consequently as 1877 dawned, the 9th continued its efforts to keep the peace within the San Carlos Reservation, carry out its other duties, and attempt to prevent Geronimo and Juh and other Apaches from creating havoc. January set the tone for the year when it was discovered that the Chiricahua Apaches, supported by dissident Apaches from the Warm Springs and Mescalero groups, had agreed to increase the frequency of the raids. The affair began when a

small band of these Apaches fought a running battle with elements of the 6th Cavalry (a white unit) in Arizona and then had headed east into New Mexico. Captain Beyer’s C Troop was dispatched from Fort Bayard in pursuit, with a detachment of six Buffalo Soldiers, as the 9th and 10th Cavalry were called by Native Americans, and three Navaho scouts in the lead under Lt. Henry Wright. Wright and his men found the trail and followed it to an Apache camp that housed around fifty of the raiders, including women and children. Wright rode into the camp and ordered the Apaches to hand over their weapons and horses in return for his protection. While the negotiations were underway, the women and children slipped away, and there was a vicious fight in which five Apaches were killed. Wright extricated his command and withdrew with captured Apache horses to Fort Cummings. Four days later, C Troop found the renegades in the Boca Grande Mountains and overran the new camp, capturing the women and children, supplies, and some horses. The warriors, however, escaped. Wright recommended Corp. Clinton Greaves for a Certificate of Merit along with the rest of the men who had accompanied him into the Apache camp. He also asked that Greaves, who had used his carbine as a club to batter through the encircling Apaches to aid the escape, be awarded the Medal of Honor. Colonel Hatch approved the recommendations, but once the paperwork arrived on Gen. William T. Sherman’s desk, he rejected all of the Certificate recommendations and awarded Greaves the Medal of Honor (which he received on June 26, 1879). Similar situations and operations continued into 1877. The 9th covered large distances as they continued to attempt to control the huge area in which they were the only army representatives. Some six thousand Apaches lived in the harsh environment that stretched from the Colorado River in the west to the mountains to the east of the Rio Grande. Washington meant to move these people into the San Carlos Reserva-

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tion. The authorities had not reckoned on the intense determination of the Apaches not to be removed, and in Victorio (Apache Wolf), the Native Americans had found their leader. By the time that the frequent running battles, raids, and ambushes ignited into a full-scale guerrilla war in 1879, Victorio as leader of the Warm Springs Apaches was fifty-four years old. In the 1860s, he had been a warrior under Mangas Coloradas, a renowned Apache warrior and leader, from whom he had learned war craft. Victorio had never forgiven the U.S. Army for the torture, execution, and dismemberment of Mangas after he had been captured in 1863. Above all, Victorio resented the demands of the army and the steady erosion of the Apache lands and way of life. While the 9th was continuing its patrol activities in the region, Victorio struck in April 1879. His attacks were designed to hit hard and fast, and he sought never to be where the enemy expected him. The first attacks were aimed at white settlers in New Mexico; from there he headed toward the San Mateo Mountains, and then struck near Silver City. Elements of the 9th were immediately sent either in pursuit or to cover the more exposed settlements. Again it was Captain Beyer and C Troop with a temporarily assigned group of Buffalo Soldiers from I Troop who caught up with Victorio on May 29. Beyer had left Fort Bayard on May 25, learning from settlers in the White Diamond Creek and Gila River area that the Apaches had been seen there two or so days before. In the afternoon of May 27, C Troop found a fresh trail and realized that they were only hours behind the Apaches. Beyer pushed on until around midnight, camping for the night beside the North Star Road (which C Troop had built in 1877). By 5:00 a.m. the following day, the troop were underway once more, now encountering burning brush and woodland set alight by Victorio’s men. The cavalry were forced to proceed on foot, leading their horses around the blazes. Beyer’s men camped at 4:30 p.m. knowing that Victorio was only a few miles ahead.

C Troop climbed over the Mimbres Mountains and descended into a canyon the following day. As the Buffalo Soldiers deployed into a skirmish line, they could see the Apache camp about a half mile away. Victorio had chosen a good defensive position on a rocky summit surrounded by breastworks. As soon as Victorio realized that the cavalry had found him, he stood on the summit and waved a white flag, calling his intentions to negotiate. Beyer was unwilling to parlay with Victorio, and consequently, the two sides prepared to fight. Victorio sent the women and children to safety, while his men strengthened the defense works. Beyer, meanwhile, had ordered Wright’s men to within 200 yards of the Apache positions and sent five men to capture Victorio’s horses and mules. Victorio’s strength was estimated at around sixteen warriors, and Beyer was determined to force the issue and end Victorio’s defiance. At around noon, Beyer sent Sgt. Delemar Penn (I Troop) forward in command of a group of skirmishers to threaten Victorio’s left. As Penn’s men moved out, Beyer ordered the whole command to advance, which immediately drew Apache fire. Penn’s men managed to get around the rear of Victorio’s men, which forced them to retreat down the ridge and then disappear among the trees. Victorio’s casualties are unknown because his warriors carried away their dead and wounded. Beyer’s command was left with one dead and two wounded. C Troop burned Victorio’s supplies and continued to search for him in vain for a further fourteen days. Despite the failure to capture Victorio, Beyer was delighted with his men’s steadiness under fire and cited several for recognition of their gallantry, including Sergeant Penn. Although Victorio lost the fight and his horses, he was determined to continue the unequal struggle. His men hit several places in August, primarily to steal horses and weapons. On September 8, he killed five Buffalo Soldiers from E Troop who were guarding horses at Ojo Caliente. Victorio raided ranches and settle-

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ments on his way to Black Mountains after the attack. The 9th were quickly on Victorio’s trail, finding signs of his positions on September 16. He was believed to be based near the head of Las Animas Creek, which indeed he was, and he had chosen this position in the hope that he could draw the 9th out to fight him there. The 9th were ready to oblige, and a column consisting of B Troop (Capt. Byron Dawson) and E Troop (Capt. Ambrose E. Hooker) rode into the mountains until they reached the canyons near Las Animas Creek. On the morning of September 18, led by Lt. Col. Nathan A. M. Dudley, the Buffalo Soldiers rode straight into an ambush set by Victorio’s 150 men. Dawson’s men took the brunt of the attack, and soon both C and G Troops were riding to the sound of the guns to support the other two troops. The 9th attempted to flush Victorio’s men out of their positions, but even flank attacks failed to dislodge them. The Las Animas Creek was a debacle culminating in Dudley’s decision to withdraw at dusk for fear of the Apaches getting around the flanks of his command. Supplies, wagons, and baggage fell into Victorio’s hands, but at least one Buffalo Soldier had shown sufficient courage to make a recommendation for a Medal of Honor a certainty. Sgt. John Denny from Big Flats near New York braved enemy fire to retrieve a wounded comrade named Freedland. Denny was acting sergeant of B Troop and would not receive his medal until January 1895, less than three years before he retired as a corporal in September 1897. By then, Denny had been court-martialed on two occasions for brawling. Hatch immediately replaced Dudley with Maj. Albert B. Morrow, who pushed the 9th on to bring Victorio to battle once more. On September 24, 1879, the 9th caught up with Victorio on the Cuchillo Negro River. Lieutenant Wright and a group of his men were ambushed as they helped a wounded cavalryman, and it was only the prompt and courageous action of Sergeant Boyne that saved Wright and the oth-

ers when he charged the Apaches and scattered them as they were massing to fall on Wright’s command. On the afternoon of September 29, Morrow’s exhausted 200 reached the Ojo Caliente in the Mimbres Mountains. Victorio struck again, and the fight continued into the night. At least three Apaches were killed, but at dawn, Victorio’s men were sniping at the 9th’s encampment. The 9th deployed and pressured Victorio into abandoning his camp. Morrow had lost two more men, but it was clear that Victorio’s casualties were mounting and that he had lost sixty of the horses he had appropriated over the past few weeks. Still the 9th pressed Victorio for a final battle that would settle the issue. This did not happen. The 9th, having lost nine men during September, saw Victorio slip across the border into Mexico at the end of October. With the 9th’s involvement in the Ute War concluded, Colonel Hatch was able to concentrate all of the regiment’s efforts against Victorio in southern New Mexico. The Apaches had spent the winter months in Mexico, but in early 1880, Victorio crossed the border and faced the 9th one final time. Hatch organized the regiment into three separate entities under Major Morrow, Captain Carroll, and Captain Hooker and gave chase. This time, however, the 9th did not face the Apaches alone. Considerable reinforcements in the form of more African American troops had been deployed in the region. Under Col. Benjamin H. Grierson, the 10th Cavalry had moved out from Fort Concho, Texas, in the spring of 1880, supported by elements of two infantry regiments, the African American 24th and 25th. While the infantry covered the supply routes and garrisoned key positions, the 10th were free to pursue Victorio along with the 9th. In May, with the Buffalo Soldiers close behind, Victorio was forced to leave Arizona and head back toward New Mexico. Sgt. George Jordan of K Troop, 9th Cavalry, was first to hear that Victorio was about to fall on the settlement

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at Fort Tularosa. It was May 13, and Jordan’s detachment of twenty-five men was escorting a supply train when they got the news. Tularosa was at least a day’s hard ride away, but Jordan and his men were determined to reach the settlement first and protect the civilians. Marching through the night and taking the wagons with them, the Buffalo Soldiers managed to reach Tularosa at 6:00 a.m. on May 14, 1880. They had won the race, and Jordan was able to order his men to construct defense works, within which he placed the civilians before Victorio arrived, at the head of 100 Apaches. Jordan’s experience and determination had caught Victorio off-guard, and the Apaches were driven off. None of the soldiers or civilians was injured. It took the army ten years to reward Jordan with the Medal of Honor. The bulk of the 9th arrived at Tularosa on the morning of May 15, and Hatch sent two of the three groups he had formed in pursuit of Victorio. On May 23, 1880, a group of Apache scouts working for the 9th under the command of a civilian, Henry K. Parker, found Victorio on the southern bank of the Palomas River. Parker’s men ambushed Victorio and killed at least ten of his warriors and ran off over seventy of the Apache horses. As a result of this crushing setback, Victorio slipped across the Mexican border. It was a welcome break for the 9th, who had been in their saddles since January. Grierson’s 10th Cavalry controlled all of the water sources on the American side of the border, and when Victorio emerged once more, he was beaten back into Mexico. Victorio, however, was never destined to fall into the hands of either the 9th or the 10th. On October 14, 1880, General Joaquin Terrazas, leading a considerable force of Mexican troops, fell on Victorio’s depleted band of around sixty warriors at Tres Castillos. Victorio was killed, but half of his men, including an aging warrior called Nana, managed to escape and cross the border. On October 28, Nana and around thirty Apaches ambushed a 10th Cavalry patrol at Ojo Caliente, killing five of the Buffalo Soldiers. For the next six or seven months, under the remark-

able seventy-year-old Nana, the small band of Apaches crossed and recrossed the border on a series of raids. Despite the best efforts of the 9th and 10th, it seemed that no one in New Mexico was safe, particularly because just over twenty Mescaleros (Apaches) had slipped out of the San Carlos Reservation and joined Nana. There seemed to be no solution to the situation. The 9th, now seriously under strength, set off in pursuit. Hatch’s men were supported by four hundred or so infantry (eight companies) and a further two companies of Indian scouts. For a month from July 17, 1881, the 9th and the other supporting units harried Nana’s Apaches, fighting at least twelve skirmishes with him at various points during the pursuit. On August 12, K Troop 9th Cavalry, led by Captain Parker found Nana’s force of around forty to sixty Apaches in the Carrizo Canyon on the west of the Mimbres Mountains. Parker’s men were outnumbered by two or three to one. Sergeant Jordan led the troopers on the right, while Sgt. Thomas Shaw rode into the canyon with Parker. Nana’s Apaches decided to stand and fight. The skirmish lasted for an hour and a half, claiming the lives of five Apaches and two Buffalo Soldiers, with three others wounded. Parker’s men could not follow because they could not abandon the wounded men, but the captain recommended that both Jordan and Shaw be rewarded for their leadership with Medals of Honor. By the time that the awards were made in December 1890, Jordan had already been given a Medal of Honor and received a Certificate of Merit for his contributions in the Carizzo Canyon. On August 16, 1881, Lt. Gustavus Valois’s I Troop was at Canada Alamosa when they received news that Nana had attacked and killed a Mexican family on a ranch a short ride away. Valois dispatched Lt. George R. Burnett to lead fifteen men to investigate; the rest of the troop would follow. As Burnett had only graduated from West Point the previous year, Valois sent 1st Sgt. Moses Williams, who already had eleven years experience. They found the bodies of a woman and three children, and then fol-

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lowed the trail along the Cuchillo Negro Creek and into the Black Range. A group of thirty or so Mexican volunteers had fallen in with Burnett, making the total command about fifty men, but the pursuing force was still likely to be outnumbered by Nana. Burnett pressed and, on spotting the Apaches, ordered Sergeant Williams to command the right while sending some of the Mexican volunteers to the left. At 1,000 yards, the Apaches opened fire; Burnett’s return fire forced them back over a ridge. In textbook fashion, Burnett managed to fire and maneuver, each time threatening to turn the Apaches flank. In this way, the running battle covered around ten miles as far as the Cuchillo Negro Mountains. Here, Nana decided to make a stand, having lost his cattle, a larger part of his supplies, and several men killed and wounded. By then it was late afternoon, and Burnett feared that the Apaches would slip away during the night. Accordingly, he sent a messenger back to find Valois, suggesting that Valois moved to take a hill on the right of the Apache position, while Burnett’s men threatened the Apache left. Before Valois could take the hill, the Apaches seized it first, Burnett charged in on the left, but heavy fire forced him to stop and dismount his men. In the confusion, Burnett’s men thought that he had been killed and began to withdraw, but Sergeant Williams managed to rally them and return to the new positions. Valois’s command, meanwhile, was taking the brunt of the Apache fire. He ordered his men to fall back and sent word to Burnett to establish a new firing line to the rear. Under heavy fire, three of Burnett’s men were left stranded just 200 yards from the Apaches. Burnett, Sergeant Williams, and Private Whalley dodged enemy fire to reach the three men. As a result of this bravery under fire, Burnett recommended Sergeant Williams (awarded 1896) and Private Whalley (awarded 1890) for Medals of Honor. Burnett also recommended that Trumpeter Rogers, who had carried the message to Valois under fire, be awarded a Certificate of Merit (awarded 1891). Clearly, Valois

valued Burnett’s contribution in the engagement, as the fresh captain received a Medal of Honor in 1897. Burnett was right in assuming that Nana would use night to escape. Although I Troop continued the pursuit, the Apaches slipped back across the Mexican border. Before this, B Troop would encounter the elusive Nana on August 19, 1881. The leading element of the troop was commanded by Lt. George W. Smith operating to the north of Fort Cummings. The mounted men were following trails out of the Mimbres Mountains west toward the Mimbres River. Ahead was a group of cowboys, and Smith failed to scout ahead as the troop entered the Gavilian Canyon. Nana had set an ambush and in seconds, Smith and three of the troopers were killed, as were ten horses. Smith’s men were fortunate that Sgt. Brent Woods took over. Woods rallied the men and led them in an attack up the wall of the canyon and toward the Apache positions. Nana broke contact, and by the time that the rest of the company arrived under Lt. Charles Taylor and Capt. Byron Dawson, the Apaches had vanished. Woods would have to wait some time before his bravery and command skills were rewarded. In 1894 Dawson, now retired, submitted the necessary paperwork recommending the sergeant for a Medal of Honor. Supported by statements of other troop present after the death of Smith, the Medal of Honor was granted on July 12, 1894. Although most of Nana’s Apaches fled across the border with the 9th in pursuit, some remained and faced the Buffalo Soldiers again. Just to the north of the border, on October 4, F Troop (Captain Carroll) and K Troop (Captain Parker) managed to force the last of the Apaches into Mexico after a vicious skirmish. It is believed that Nana was present at this encounter. Effectively, this fight on October 4, 1881, ended the Apache Wars and the resistance of Nana, but the Native American would reemerge one more time in 1886, when he would join Geronimo.

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Ten years later, during the Pine Ridge Campaign, the culmination of twenty-four years service on the frontier would see the 9th riding once more into action against the Sioux, whose society and culture had been all but eradicated.

Utley, Robert M. Frontier Regulars, The United States Army and the Indian, 1866–1891. New York: Macmillan, 1974. Utley, Robert M. The Indian Frontier of the American West 1846–1890. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1984.

See also Buffalo Soldiers; Johnson, Henry (1824–1904); Medal of Honor (appendix); 9th Cavalry; 10th Cavalry; Ute Wars

Archer, Lee “Buddy,” Jr. (1922– )

References and Further Reading Amos, Preston E. Above and Beyond in the West: Black Medal of Honor Winners 1807–1890. Washington, D.C.: Potomac Corral, The Westerners, 1974. Athearn, Robert C. William Tecumseh Sherman and the Settlement of the West. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1956. Billington, Monroe Lee. New Mexico’s Buffalo Soldiers, 1866–1900. Niwot: University of Colorado Press, 1991. Brown, D. Alexander. Grierson’s Raid. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1954. Carroll, John M. The Black Military Experience in the American West. New York: Liveright, 1972. Cashin, Herschel V. Under Fire with the Tenth U.S. Cavalry. New York: Arno Press, 1969. Cox, Clinton. The Forgotten Heroes; the Story of the Buffalo Soldiers. New York: Scholastic, 1993. Downey, Fairfax. The Buffalo Soldiers in the Indian Wars. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1969. Herr, John K., and Edward S. Wallace. The Story of the U.S. Cavalry. Boston: Little, Brown, 1953. Higginson, Thomas Wentworth. Army Life in a Black Regiment. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1960. Laughlin, David. Buffalo Soldiers: An Illustrated 30 Year History of the 10th Regiment of the U.S. Cavalry. Tucson, AZ: Blue Horse Productions, 1991. Leckie, William H. The Buffalo Soldiers, A Narrative of the Negro Cavalry in the West. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1967. Savage, W. Sherman. Blacks in The West. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1976. Schubert, Frank N. Black Valor: Buffalo Soldiers and the Medal of Honor, 1870–1898. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1997.

Lee “Buddy” Archer was a career air force officer and one of the legendary Tuskegee Airmen, retiring with the rank of lieutenant colonel. After an impressive period at high school, Archer enrolled at New York University to study international relations. In early 1941, he applied for pilot training with the U.S. Army Air Corps. Although he passed the necessary entrance tests, he was refused on the grounds that the U.S. Army Air Corps did not admit African Americans. He left the university and joined the U.S. Army, and by May 1942 he had become an instructor at Camp Wheeler, Georgia. Archer then heard that African Americans were being accepted into pilot training at Tuskegee, and he made an immediate application. Archer graduated in the first class of 1943 and became a second lieutenant, assigned to the 302d Fighter Squadron (332d Fighter Group) that flew Curtis P-40 Warhawks. In January 1944, Archer retrained with Bell P-39 Airacobras, and his unit was transferred to Italy to fly a variety of missions including escort and ground attack missions (such as Anzio). In March 1944, the squadron was transferred to the 306th Fighter Wing and based at Ramitelli Air Base flying Republic P-47 Thunderbolts, although he would eventually be flying in North American P-51 Mustangs. Archer flew some 169 combat missions during the war and had at least five confirmed enemy kills. After the war, he returned to the United States and was assigned to the Tuskegee

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Army Air Field as chief of the Instrument Instructor School. Archer was later granted a regular commission and completed his studies at the University of California at Los Angeles. Throughout his long and distinguished career, he held a variety of posts including the chief of protocol for the French Liaison Office, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, White House Air Force-France project officer; and chief and executive officer of three international military organizations including the SHAPE Liaison Office, 36th North American Air Defense Division, and HQ USAF Southern Command, Panama. Archer received the Distinguished Flying Cross and was awarded citations from Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson, and the director of the CIA. Archer retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel after twenty-nine years in the military A P-51C NA Mustang is painted to represent “INA the Macon Belle” flown by Lt. Lee “Buddy” Archer of the 302d Fighter Squadron, 332d Fighter Group, and 15th U.S. Air Force and is on show at the Duxford Air Museum in England as a tribute to him. See also 332d Fighter Group; Tuskegee Airmen; U.S. Air Force; World War II References and Further Reading Francis, Charles E. The Tuskegee Airmen. Boston: Branden, 1988. Jakeman, Robert J. The Divided Skies: Establishing Segregated Flight Training at Tuskegee, Alabama, 1934–1942. Tuscaloosa, University of Alabama Press, 1992. Osur, Alan M. Blacks in the Army Air Forces during World War II: The Problem of Race Relations. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History, 1977. Rose, Robert A. Lonely Eagles: The Story of America’s Black Air Force in World War II. Los Angeles: Tuskegee Airmen Western Region, 1976. Sandler, Stanley. Segregated Skies: All-Black Combat Squadrons of WWII. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992.

Armed Forces Equal Opportunity Survey The Equal Opportunity Survey was carried out by the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) (September 1996 to February 1997). It was mailed to 76,754 enlisted members and officers in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard (up to the rank of captain in the Navy or Coast Guard or colonel in the other services). The survey attracted a 53 percent usable response rate. The survey was the most comprehensive ever conducted on the subject of race relations in the military; it was developed for the purpose of providing a better understanding of service members’ perceptions and experiences related to fair treatment and equal opportunity. The questionnaire asked service members about their overall racial/ethnic interactions, as well as about specific insensitive, discriminatory, harassing and even violent racial/ethnic interactions that had occurred in the 12-month period prior to filling out the survey.

The racial and ethnic groups that were surveyed (using the EOS [Equal Opportunity Survey] categories) are Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians/Pacific Islanders, and Native Americans/ Alaskan Natives. The main findings of the survey can be summarized as follows:

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1. Race relations in the military were perceived to be better than those in local civilian communities and had improved over the past five years, according to 28 percent of African Americans surveyed. 2. Most of the respondents reported that they had largely positive personal interactions with members of other races and ethnic groups and that socializing among these groups was common.

A r m e d Fo r c e s E q u a l O p p o r t u n i t y S u r v e y

evaluation prejudice (19 percent), discriminatory levels of punishment (9 percent), and training/test scores differentials (6 percent). 4. Some 37 percent felt that their families had suffered from a racially motivated incident. 5. Racially motivated “bothersome incidents” on a U.S. military installation were reported by 60 percent; 48 percent reported such incidents during duty hours; 47–57 percent of racial/ethnic minority group members said the offender was of a higher rank/grade. 6. In the complaints procedures, 54 percent claimed that a complaint made had been substantiated by the service, but some 48 percent said that nothing had been done, 53 percent said that the guilty party had been informally spoken to, and in 50 percent of the cases, the complaint had been discounted. 7. Some 45–56 percent of minorities said that “bothersome situations” caused them to lose trust in or have negative feelings about their coworkers, and 43–54 percent said that this affected their relationships with their supervisors. Between 40 percent and 49 percent said that these factors had made them seriously consider leaving the service. 8. When asked the question “Has the military paid too much or too little attention to racial/ethnic discrimination and harassment in the past several years?” African American responses were 62 percent (too little), 36 percent (right amount), and 3 percent (too much). 9. On the question of whether the military offers better opportunities to different racial and ethnic groups, see the accompanying table.

3. The majority of the respondents believed that the military offered freedom from harassment and discrimination. 4. A large percentage of the respondents claimed that they had suffered instances of “offensive encounters,” and a smaller percentage said that they had suffered from an actual fear of threat or harm. 5. African Americans and Hispanics felt that they had suffered discrimination in periodic reviews and evaluations. 6. Most of the respondents confirmed that they had received training on racial and ethnic harassment and discrimination in the twelve months prior to the survey and that they were aware of the reporting procedures in place. Most, however, stated that they had not reported incidents because they believed that no action would be taken or that the incident was not important enough to warrant a complaint. With reference to the key questions and responses by African American respondents, the main issues were these: 1. When asked, “Have you tried to avoid an assignment in the military because you thought you might be subjected to racial/ ethnic harassment or discrimination?” 18 percent responded yes. 2. Some 75 percent of African Americans said that they had experienced an “offensive encounter,” while some 13 percent felt the threat of harm from another member of the military. In terms of the offensive encounters, the figures for each of the services were Army (74 percent), Navy (79 percent), Marine Corps (80 percent), Air Force (70 percent), and Coast Guard (81 percent). 3. In terms of experiencing discrimination in their careers, African Americans reported that they had suffered assignment/career prejudice (18 percent),

Although more than fifty years had elapsed since the integration of the armed forces, there

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IN YOUR OPINION, HAVE OPPORTUNITIES GOTTEN BETTER OR WORSE OVER THE PAST 5 YEARS . . . IN THE MILITARY . . . ? Racial/Ethnic Group of Respondent

For Whites For Blacks For Hispanics For Asians/Pacific Islanders For Native Americans/ Alaskan Natives

White %

Black %

Hispanic %

Asian/ Pacific Islander %

16 62 59 52

53 39 43 43

45 58 47 47

48 62 58 50

23 65 57 51

49

37

43

51

41

was still considerable cause for concern. Defense Secretary William Cohen was quoted at a 1999 news conference announcing the publication of the survey results:

Native American/ Alaska Native %

See also Segregation and Racism in the Military; U.S. Air Force; U.S. Army; U.S. Coast Guard; U.S. Marine Corps; U.S. Navy References and Further Reading

There is no place for racism in our society and there is certainly no room for it in the military. . . . I believe that we have made greater strides in the military in breaking down the barriers to discrimination than perhaps the rest of our society. . . . To the extent that any of it exists, to the extent that there are complaints about lack of promotion, actions that involve discrimination, they have to be eliminated.

Scarville, Jacquelyn, Scott B. Button, Jack E. Edwards, Anita R. Lancaster, and Timothy W. Elig. Armed Forces Equal Opportunity Survey. Arlington, VA: Defense Manpower Data Center, Program Evaluation Division.

Ashley, Eugene, Jr. (1931–1968)

The survey results seemed to call into question the military’s reputation as the model for American race relations. Pentagon embarrassment over the results may have accounted for the withholding of the data from February 1997. The Department of Defense plans to use the survey results as a baseline set of measurements for future surveys. As former U.S. Army colonel William A. DeShields, director of the Black Military History Institute of America, noted in a November 1999 AP story, “Minorities do seem to get opportunities that aren’t always open on the outside. But that doesn’t mean everything is perfect. There are still problems.”

Sergeant First Class Ashley, a member of Company C, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), one of the few African American Special Forces troops in combat during the Vietnam War, died in combat near Lang Vei in Vietnam. Sergeant Ashley showed conspicuous gallantry as the senior Special Forces adviser detailed to organize a rescue mission to extract trapped U.S. advisers at Camp Lang Vei. Ashley supported the camp with explosives and illuminations motor rounds during the North Vietnamese attack. He lost communications with the camp and personally directed artillery support and air strikes.

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Ashley organized and equipped a group of local pro-American Vietnamese into an assault group. The sergeant led them in fire attacks on the enemy positions, although he and his forces were exposed to heavy machine gun and automatic weapon fire. As commanding officer, he led five assaults against dug-in enemy positions, contending with numerous suicide attacks on his bunkers by enemy troops laden with booby-trap satchel charges. In his fifth and final assault to clear the enemy and gain contact with the camp, he ordered air strikes within his own positions to clear the enemy troops barring his approach. The enemy was forced to withdraw, and Ashley’s command successfully captured a key hill summit. Despite being badly wounded, Ashley continued to direct his men and carry out his mission without any regard for his own safety. Eventually, the sergeant lost consciousness due to his machine gun wounds and was carried from the summit by his men. Unfortunately, an artillery round landed on his bearers, and Ashley was fatally wounded. His citation reads: SFC Ashley displayed extraordinary heroism in risking his life in an attempt to save the lives of his entrapped comrades and commanding officer. His total disregard for his personal safety while exposed to enemy observation and automatic weapons fire was an inspiration to all men committed to the assault. The resolute valor with which he led 5 gallant charges placed continual diversionary pressure on the attacking enemy and his valiant efforts carved a channel in the overpowering enemy forces and weapons positions through which the survivors of Camp Lang Vei eventually escaped to freedom. SFC Ashley’s bravery at the cost of his life was in the highest traditions of the military service, and reflects great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.

The North Vietnamese deployed seven tanks in the battle, the first time they had done so in the war. Despite the lack of antitank weapons, five of the seven enemy tanks were destroyed.

SFC Ashley was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on February 6–7, 1968, as part of Detachment A–101 Company C, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces. His body was buried at Rockfish Memorial Cemetery, Fayetteville, North Carolina. His Medal of Honor was presented to his family at the White House on December 2, 1969, by Vice-President Spiro T. Agnew. See also Vietnam War References and Further Reading Phillips, William R., and William C. Westmoreland. Night of the Silver Stars: The Battle of Lang Vei. Washington, DC: U.S. Naval Institute, 1997.

Attucks, Crispus (1723–1770) Crispus Attucks was born in 1723 in Framingham, Massachusetts, to an African slave father and Natick or Nantucket Indian mother. When he was sixteen, he was sold by his master, Colonel Buckminster, to Deacon William Brown. Attucks’s desire to be a free man and to work on boats was the reason for his escape from William Brown’s establishment in 1750. Brown placed an advertisement in the Boston Gazette offering a reward for the return of Attucks and warning vessels operating in the local area that he was likely to try for work on one of them. He did, however, gain employment on local vessels, variously as a sailor, a member of a whaling crew, and a rope-maker in Boston. On March 2, 1770, a fight broke out between several Boston rope-makers and three British soldiers, setting the stage for a conflict three days later that involved Attucks. He joined a group of about thirty men intent on harassing and taunting the British guard at the Boston Customs House. Seven redcoats under Capt. Thomas Preston came to his rescue. The crowd

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A painting of the Boston Massacre showing Crispus Attucks, one of the leaders of the demonstration and one of the five men killed by the British troops, as he is shot. (Bettmann/CORBIS)

(which by this point had grown to a mob) surged forward, and the soldiers fired, although Preston swore he never gave the order. Captain Preston and five of his men were later acquitted of the charge of murder. During the melee that followed, Attucks was one of the five men killed at what became known as the Boston Massacre. (The four other men were Samuel Gray, James Caldwell, Samuel Maverick, and Patrick Carr.) The Boston Massacre is described as the catalyst for the American Revolution that followed, and Attucks was recognized as the first to die for independence. He was about fifty years old when he died. Crispus Attucks was buried in the Park Street cemetery in Boston. In 1888 the city erected a bronze and granite statue on the common in

recognition of his actions. A Crispus Attucks Day was inaugurated by African American abolitionists in 1858, and he has been immortalized as “the first to defy, the first to die. . . . The first to pour out his blood as a precious libation on the altar of a people’s rights.” (The quotation is attributed to journalist and poet John Boyle O’Reilly [1844–1890].) See also Boston Massacre; American Revolution References and Further Reading Millender, Dharanthula. Crispus Attucks, Black Leader of Colonial Patriots. Indianapolis: Merrill, 1982. Zobel, Hiller B. The Boston Massacre. New York: W. W. Norton, 1970.

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Austin, Oscar Palmer (1948–1969) PFC Oscar Palmer Austin was an assistant gunner in Company E, 2d Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division in Vietnam, who gave his life in saving a fellow Marine near Da Nang. Oscar Austin was born in Nacogdoches, Texas, on January 15, 1948. After graduating from high school, he joined the Marine Corps at Phoenix, Arizona, on April 2, 1968. While operating some six miles west of Da Nang, on February 23, 1969, his unit was attacked by a large Vietnamese force that threatened to overrun the positions, including the observation post that Austin was defending. A fellow company member had been wounded and was unconscious, and Austin ran to help the man. An enemy grenade landed nearby, and he shielded the wounded comrade from the ef-

fects of the blast. Heavily wounded, Austin then encountered an enemy soldier who leveled his gun at the wounded man, whereupon Austin, still protecting his colleague, took the full force of the burst and was mortally wounded. Austin’s parents received his posthumous Medal of Honor from Vice President Spiro Agnew at the White House on April 20, 1970. In honor of Austin, a destroyer, the US Oscar Austin (DDG-79), was brought into service in 2000. Its motto is “honor and sacrifice.” See also Anderson, James, Jr.; Davis, Rodney Maxwell; Jenkins, Robert H., Jr.; Johnson, Ralph; Medal of Honor (appendix); U.S. Marine Corps; Vietnam War References and Further Reading Greene, Robert Ewell. Black Defenders of America, 1775–1973. Chicago: Johnson, 1974.

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b reconnoiter for a position, I observed two cylindrical objects pointing out of a slit in a mound at the very edge of the hill overlooking the flatland. At first I took these objects to be machine gun barrels. Crawling up under the opening I stuck my M-1 into the slit and emptied the clip into the aperture and discovered that an [artillery scope] which I had mistaken for a machine gun and two men, one of whom was slumped in a chair and the other wounded, trying to crawl into a corner where some “potato-masher” grenades were piled. Seeing this, I moved to the rear . . . and pulling the pin from a hand grenade, tossed it into the rear entrance. After the explosion I went into the position and discovered a powerful telescope and two telephones. I cut the telephone lines, placed a hand grenade in the cradle of the scope, pulled the pin, and moved out (Astor 1998, 287–288).

Baker, Vernon Joseph (b. 1919) In 1997 Vernon Baker received the Medal of Honor some forty-two years after showing exemplary leadership and bravery during World War II. Vernon Baker was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming, in 1919. When he first tried to enlist in the U.S. Army he was turned down initially; the enlistment officer told him there was no quota for African Americans. However, later he was accepted, and after completing his initial training he was attached to the 25th Infantry at Camp Wolters, Texas, as a company clerk. In 1942, after officer candidate school, he was commissioned a second lieutenant. He was transferred to Fort Huachuca, Arizona, and joined the 370th Infantry Regiment, which subsequently deployed to Italy as part of the 92d Infantry Division. In the spring of 1945 a new Allied offensive was planned, with the main objective being Bologna, Italy. Baker was the weapons platoon leader of Company C, 1st Battalion, of the 370th. They were moving on Castle Aghinolfi, a German strong point on a hill. Baker later recounted: I was ordered to set up my machine gun section to cover the approach of the riflemen to the objective proper. Upon moving forward to

Baker then moved forward and found a German machine gun post where the crew was eating breakfast. He shot both of the men and set up his own machine gun in the German post. Later, he shot a German who had thrown a grenade at him and then ran to where the dead German was lying. He found a concealed entrance to a German dugout and used two captured German grenades to blow the door off. A German soldier emerged, whom Baker shot

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before throwing another grenade inside the dugout, waited for the explosion, and then emptied a full magazine. Several other Germans were killed. Meanwhile, Baker’s company had been involved in a vicious fight with more Germans, and Baker returned to his company commander: While we were in the midst of this discussion the enemy began to zero in on our position with heavy mortars. As the first three rounds fell, Lieutenant Botwinik was injured by a fragment of one round, which fell less than five yards to the rear of his position. The mortar position could not be located at the beginning of the barrage but, as the firing continued, one soldier, glancing up into the air, happened to see what he thought at first was a flock of birds. It was soon discovered that the flock of birds was instead a barrage of mortar shells which had just been fired from a position behind a demolished house on the hill (Astor 1998, 289).

See also Medal of Honor (appendix); World War II References and Further Reading Astor, Gerald. The Right to Fight. Novato, CA: Presidio, 1998. Baker, Vernon, and Ken Olsen. Lasting Valor. Columbus, MS: Genesis Press, 1997.

Barnes, William H. (1830/1–1866)

Baker called in artillery via the artillery forward observer and neutralized the mortar battery. Later he led an attack toward the main objective through an enemy minefield. He destroyed two more enemy machine-gun posts with grenades, but German defenses were stiffening, and casualties were mounting, forcing Baker to withdraw. The following afternoon, with about seventy men, the battalion resumed its offensive and eventually routed the Germans, holding Castle Aghinolfi. Baker was recommended for the Distinguished Service Cross, while Capt. John Runyon, the white company commander, was recommended for the Medal of Honor. Runyon’s award was reduced, and it was not until 1997 that Baker was finally awarded the Medal of Honor in recognition of his leadership and bravery during the attacks. For many years Baker was openly critical of the discrimination that postponed his justified reward for his services during World War II.

William H. Barnes was a Medal of Honor winner at the Battle of New Market Heights, also known as Chaffin’s Farm, on September 29, 1864. Barnes was born near Leonardtown in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, in 1830 or 1831. A free man, he enlisted in the army in February 1864. As a private in Company C of the 38th United States Colored Troops (USCT), he was one of fourteen African Americans to be granted the Medal of Honor for gallantry during the Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, which was also known as New Market Heights. Barnes, although wounded, was one of the first to enter the Confederate defense works and carry the position. He was promoted to the rank of sergeant in January 1865. Barnes died of tuberculosis in Indianola, Texas, on Christmas Eve, 1866. See also American Civil War; Chaffin’s Farm, Battle of; Medal of Honor (appendix); Unites States Colored Troops (appendixes)

Battle Mountain, Korea (1950) The African American 24th Infantry Regiment had been created in the aftermath of the Civil War. It had served on the frontier during the

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1870s and 1880s and performed well during the Spanish-American War in Cuba (notably at San Juan Hill). The regiment also served during the Philippine insurrection (1899–1902) and became part of Gen. John Pershing’s expeditionary force to Mexico against Pancho Villa (1915– 1920). In 1950 the regiment was rushed to Korea, where it achieved less glory. The U.S. Army’s official history of the Korean War (published in 1961) described the regiment as often being “frightened and demoralized.” The regiment was vilified for its performance, but later studies would vindicate the regiment and identify the courage, resilience, and determination of its men. As a result of the North Korean offensive of 1950, the 24th Infantry was forced by the end of August to withdraw from the strategically important Hill 625. Hill 625, also known as Battle Mountain, lay on the southern tip of the Pusan perimeter, to which the 24th had been forced to pull back by the advancing North Koreans. From August to September 1950, the 24th had one of the most vital points on the Pusan perimeter. In thirty days, the unit retook Battle Mountain at least nineteen times. The defensive positions it occupied were not well planned. When the enemy attacked on September 1, the 2d Battalion of the 24th virtually collapsed as many soldiers panicked and fled, abandoning their equipment. The official army inquiry on the matter concluded that it was the worst wartime performance of any U.S. Army unit, past or present. The 24th became known among white troops as either the “Running 24th” or the “Bugout Brigade.” In early September 1950, the commander of the 25th Infantry Division (of which the 24th was a part), Maj. Gen. William B. Kean, requested that Eighth Army Headquarters relieve the 24th of its frontline duties. Gen. Douglas MacArthur ignored the request, and the 24th remained on duty until it was deactivated on October 1, 1951. In 1951 the 24th’s commander, Lt. Col. John T. Corley, was quoted as saying that the men of the 24th were every bit as tough and tenacious as his old 1st Infantry Division troops,

which he had commanded during World War II. Gen. Mark W. Clark is reported to have warned Corley that remarks like that would do him no service, and his superiors in the army administration were uncomfortable with his comments. Such comments seemed to confirm the belief of many African Americans that the official coverage of the 24th’s performance in Korea was an example of the racism that remained in the U.S. Army after it was officially integrated. The army’s report conflicted with the experience of the men on the ground. David Carlisle, an African American advocate of the 24th’s behavior, was a lieutenant with the unit, and Roger Walden was a company commander with the regiment. Walden reported that his company suffered some 50 casualties (dead, wounded, or missing) out of 130 men who had joined the battle. Carlisle presents the most compelling evidence of how the 24th performed during this period. When Carlisle left the army in 1951, the Californian began to seek justice for the 24th by countering the claims of cowardice during the engagements for Hill 625. Carlisle founded the 24th Infantry Regiment Association in 1975 and sought to persuade the army to rewrite its official histories. The army was noncommittal until 1987, when Carlisle won the support of then-Lt. Gen. Colin Powell and Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger. Carlisle was also backed by two Democratic members of Congress, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Les Aspin and Augustus Hawkins, California’s first African American congressman, first elected in 1962. (Hawkins had previously been involved in vindicating those involved in the Brownsville Incident of 1906 and after sixty-six years guided a bill through Congress to have their names cleared.) At length, John Marsh Jr., the secretary of the army, directed military historians to review the 24th’s record and prepare a new history of the troops’ performance in battle. In 1988, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution to honor the 24th’s military achievements between 1869 and 1951. Col. John Cash, an African American Korean War veteran and military historian (a

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distinguished military graduate of Rutgers University ROTC), was assigned the reappraisal task. Cash had been an infantry officer, a history professor at West Point, and a Latin American analyst with the Defense Intelligence Agency; he had held command positions in Korea, Vietnam, and elsewhere. He was accompanied back to Korea in October 1989 by six 24th Infantry veterans. His task was to consider the 24th’s performance and the claims of Lt. Col. Charles M. Bussey, commander of the 77th Engineers (the 77th had been engaged in support of the 24th), for the Medal of Honor. Bussey had been recommended for the Medal of Honor and the Distinguished Service Cross, but the recommendations had been rejected. Cash interviewed more than 250 former officers and enlisted men from the 24th, who confirmed that some of the 24th did run from battle in the early months of the war. The actions of the unit during March and April 1951, however, vindicated its overall performance. The second army history, Black Soldier, White Army: The 24th Infantry in Korea, was published in 1996, incorporating the research carried out by Cash to correct the record. The book emphasizes the inadequacy of the rotating regimental command until the arrival in September of Corley, who instituted reforms that made the regiment more effective. See also Buffalo Soldiers; Gifu; Korean War; Medal of Honor (appendix); 24th Infantry Regiment References and Further Reading Bowers, William T., William M. Hammond, and George L. MacGarrigle. Black Soldier, White Army: The 24th Infantry in Korea. Washington, DC: U.S. Army, Center of Military History, 1996.

Beaty, Powhatan (1837–1916) Beaty was the first sergeant in Company G, 5th U.S. Colored Infantry during the Civil War, having been raised to this rank two days after he enlisted. He went on to fight with distinction at the Battle of Chaffin’s Farm (September 29–30, 1864), earning the Medal of Honor, one of the few African Africans to be awarded this honor during the Civil War. Beaty was born on October 8, 1837, in Richmond, Virginia, and later moved to Ohio as a farmer. He briefly served in the Black Brigade of Cincinnati (September 2–September 20, 1862), when Confederate Gen. Kirby Smith threatened the city. The unit constructed fortifications around Cincinnati. Beaty entered military service on June 7, 1863, in Cincinnati, training at Camp Delaware, where he was posted to Company G, 5th U.S. Colored Infantry (127th Ohio Volunteer Infantry). Within two days of his enlistment Beaty was promoted to first sergeant. After a period of relative inactivity, in 1864, Beaty marched with Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler’s Army of the James to attack Richmond (Fort Harrison) north of the River James. Beaty participated in the series of battles known as the Battle of Chaffin’s Farm. The assault on New Market Heights was led by Brig. Gen. Charles Paine’s 3d Division of the 18th Corps, U.S. Colored Troops (USCT). The first assault against Gen. John Gregg’s Texas Brigade and the 24th Virginia Cavalry was sent in at 5.30 a.m. Almost 700 soldiers attacked the position with fixed bayonets and the percussion caps of the muskets removed to prevent accidental firing as the Colored Troops struggled through the Confederate defenses. The attack failed, and 365 men died. Beaty joined the second assault at 6 a.m. As Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler reported on October 11, 1864, Beaty took command of Company G after all of the white officers had been killed or wounded:

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their actions. Beaty was discharged on April 6, 1865, the day he received his Medal of Honor. Some 3,000 black soldiers were in action during the two-day battle, of whom about 1,302 died, or were wounded or missing. Beaty died on December 6, 1916, and was buried at the Union Baptist Cemetery, Cincinnati, Ohio. A twelve-foot portrait of him is on Richmond’s floodwall. A bridge on Virginia’s Route 5 crossing over interstate Route 895 was named the Powhatan Beaty Memorial Bridge. See also American Civil War; Medal of Honor (appendix); United States Colored Troops (appendixes) References and Further Reading Brinsfield, John. “The Battle of New Market Heights.” http://www.army.mil/soldiers/feb96/ p50.html. “Holland, Milton M.” http://www.nps.gov/rich/ holland.htm (accessed August 25, 2003). Powhatan Beaty, First Sergeant, Co. G, 5th U.S. Colored Troops, ca. 1900. (Library of Congress)

Bell, Dennis (1866–1953) Milton M. Holland, sergeant-major, Fifth U.S. Colored Troops, commanding Company C; James H. Bronson, first sergeant, commanding Company D; Robert Pinn, first sergeant, commanding Company I, wounded; Powhatan Beaty, first sergeant, commanding Company G, Fifth U.S. Colored Troops—all these gallant colored soldiers were left in command, all their company officers being killed or wounded, and led them gallantly and meritoriously through the day. For these services they have most honorable mention, and the commanding general will cause a special medal to be struck in honor of these gallant colored soldiers (quoted in “Holland” 2003).

Beaty and the others mentioned in the dispatch were awarded the Medal of Honor for

An African American member of Troop H, 10th U.S. Cavalry, who was one of five who won a Medal of Honor in action in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. Bell was born in Washington, D.C., on December 28, 1866. He joined the U.S. Army in his home city and was assigned to combat action in Cuba with Troop H, 10th Cavalry. At Tayabacoa on June 30, 1898, he landed and evacuated several wounded members of the 10th, despite intense enemy fire. Bell had been chosen for a hazardous mission to attack Spanish positions at the mouth of the San Juan River. He was one of twenty-eight volunteers to accompany about three hundred Cuban insurgents. The attackers came under heavy fire, and Bell, already a veteran, having

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Black, Barry C.

Black, Primus See Green Mountain Boys

Black, Barry C. (b. 1948)

A member of Troop H, 10th U.S. Cavalry, Dennis Bell was one of five African Americans who won a Medal of Honor in action in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. (Library of Congress)

served with the regiment in Montana, took part in the fifth attempt to rescue wounded comrades. He received his Medal of Honor on June 23, 1899, for his actions at Tayabacoa. Bell continued to serve with his regiment until at least 1902 and served in Texas and the Philippines. See also Medal of Honor (appendix); Philippine Insurrection; Spanish-American War; 10th Cavalry; U.S. Army References and Further Reading Schubert, Frank N. Black Valor. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1997.

A highly decorated, long-serving U.S. naval officer who attained the rank of rear admiral and was the first African American to become the chief of the Chaplain Corps. Black was commissioned as a naval chaplain in 1976 and subsequently served with naval support, the U.S. Naval Academy, the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, the Naval Training Center, USS Belleau Wood, Naval Chaplain School, Marine Aircraft Group 31, Naval and Education Training (Pensacola, Florida), and Fleet Chaplain of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet (Norfolk, Virginia). Black is also a well-respected academic with two doctoral degrees. During his long and continued service in the U.S. Navy, Black had been awarded the Legion of Merit Medal, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, two Meritorious Service Medals, two U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps commendation medals, and several medals and awards for campaigns and services. In 1995, he received a Renowned Service Award from the NAACP for his contributions to equal opportuny and civil rights. See also U.S. Marine Corps; U.S. Navy

Black Dispatches Black dispatches was the term used in the Union army to refer to intelligence received from African Americans during the Civil War regarding the dispositions and plans of Confederate forces. As Frederick Douglass wrote in 1862, “The true history of this war will show that the loyal army found no friends at the South so faithful,

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active, and daring in their efforts to sustain the government as the Negroes. Negroes have repeatedly threaded their way through the lines of the rebels exposing themselves to bullets to convey important information to the loyal army of the Potomac” (Markle 1995, 64–65). Although the term was first used to describe the information received on the front line from runaway slaves, it later became a more general description of information that came from placed agents in strategic areas, long-term penetrations of key Confederate facilities (such as in Jefferson Davis’s White House in Richmond), and information gleaned from other operations, including the Underground Railroad. Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee recognized the value of the Black dispatches to the Union cause when on May 22, 1863, he wrote: “The chief source of information to the enemy is through our Negroes” (quoted in Rose 2003). African Americans, given their status in the South, were rarely challenged or considered dangerous to the Confederacy. Much vital information was gathered by servants overhearing military planning. Regrettably, little is actually known about many of the African Americans who risked their lives to provide intelligence to the Union. Shortly after the war, the War Department in Washington gave many of the participants the files that had been created detailing their services. Many of these have since been destroyed. When the Confederates fled Richmond in 1865, all of their files, in particular, the counterintelligence information, were burned so that they would not fall into enemy hands. Of the more than twenty books published after the war by former spies on both sides, none was written by an African American. However, surviving files identify at least nine key African Americans who contributed to the Union intelligence network. George Scott George Scott was a runaway slave who provided vital information to Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, who commanded Fort Monroe on the James

River. Scott fled from a plantation near Yorktown, Virginia, and passed his impressions of the Confederate defense to Butler. On one of his spying missions, Scott discovered that the Confederates were planning to attack Newport News; this would cut off Fort Monroe from its supply routes. Butler ordered an attack on the Confederate positions to forestall the danger, but despite Scott’s accurate intelligence, the attack failed. John Scobell Allan Pinkerton, the founder of the Chicagobased detective agency, was the chief of intelligence for Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, commander of the Army of the Potomac. Pinkerton often operated under the alias of Major Allen. He quickly realized the value of former slaves, whom he found to be willing and able to provide intelligence on Confederate movements, fortifications, and supply lines. Pinkerton set up a system by which all former slaves (often called contraband), as well as others who had come from Confederate territory, would be debriefed by his agents. Ultimately, he decided that some should be sent back into Confederate territory to collect intelligence. John Scobell was one such agent; he was recruited toward the end of 1861. Scobell was an ideal choice, well educated, a freedman with a distinct aptitude for the various roles he would be assigned. Sometimes alone, at other times posing as a servant for a white Pinkerton agent, Timothy Webster, Scobell traveled widely throughout Virginia. He also had a productive working relationship with Carrie Lawton, Pinkerton’s best female operative. Local African Americans supplied Scobell with detailed intelligence. Scobell was a member of the Legal League (a pro-freedom underground organization operating in the South), and he used other members as couriers and contacts. Scobell operated successfully as a Pinkerton agent until Pinkerton terminated operations in November 1862, following McClellan’s replacement as commander of the Army of the Potomac by Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside.

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W. H. Ringgold W. H. Ringgold was another of Pinkerton’s African American agents. He had been working on a riverboat for six months on the York River in Virginia. When the boat was damaged in a storm, Ringgold headed for Baltimore and then on to Washington, D.C., where he met Pinkerton in December 1861. Ringgold’s first contribution was a detailed plan of Confederate defense works on the peninsula and the York River. McClellan was able to base much of his planning for the peninsular campaign on the information that Ringgold provided.

before the Confederates could wreck the facilities. The secretary of the navy detailed Smalls’s contribution in his annual report to the president. Robert Smalls’s contribution continued. On the evening of May 12, 1862, accompanied by his family and by other African American sailors, he boarded the armed coastal patrol ship Planter and sailed out of Charleston harbor. Posing as the captain (who had left the ship for home), Smalls passed under the noses of the Confederate fortifications, making the correct signals as required. When the Planter reached the blockading Union ships, he turned the vessel over to Union forces.

Mary Louvestre Mary Louvestre, a former slave, was working as a servant for an engineer in Norfolk, Virginia, who was involved in the refitting of the captured USS Merrimac, which would become the Virginia, the Confederacy’s first ironclad. Touvestre stole a set of the plans and fled north, delivering them to the Department of the Navy. As a result of the intelligence received, Union officials made the construction of the Monitor, their new ironclad warship, a priority. As it happened, the Virginia was able only to sink the Congress and the Cumberland (both Union frigates) and ground a third, the Minnesota, before the Union forces were able to challenge the ironclad. Robert Smalls One of the best known of the black intelligence agents was Robert Smalls, a freedman. In March 1862 he rowed out to a Union warship that was part of a flotilla assembled to attack Fernandina, Florida. He was able to report that the Confederates were preparing to evacuate Fernandina and Amelia Island. As a harbor pilot, Smalls realized the importance of Fernandina to the Union operations against Charleston and warned that the Confederates would destroy the port before they withdrew. Union troops launched an assault as a result of the intelligence and succeeded in capturing the port

Charlie Wright Charlie Wright came to prominence after Gen. Joseph E. Hooker took over command of the Army of the Potomac on January 27, 1863. The Union command lacked a coherent intelligence system since the departure of McClellan and the end of the Pinkerton operations. Hooker assigned Col. George H. Sharpe to create the Bureau of Military Information (BMI) to collect, collate, and analyze intelligence on the Confederacy. On June 12, 1863, Capt. John McEntee, a BMI intelligence officer, wired Sharpe after the Battle of Brandy Station. McEntee was operating with Union cavalry near Culpeper, Virginia. The telegram said: “A contraband [Charlie Wright] captured last Tuesday states that he had been living at Culpeper C. H. [Court House] for some time past. Saw Ewells Corps passing through that place destined for the Valley and Maryland. That Ewells Corps has passed the day previous to the fight and that Longstreet was them coming up” (quoted in Rose 2003). Wright’s information confirmed Hooker’s suspicions that Lee was heading for Maryland; accordingly Hooker’s troops shadowed Lee on the other side of the Blue Ridge Mountains, continually shielding Washington from Confederate attack. This movement directly led to the Battle of Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863).

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Charlie Wright was not given full recognition of his contribution until several years after the Civil War ended. It was then acknowledged that his information allowed Hooker to cover Washington; credit had originally been given to Union cavalry scouts. Without Wright’s information, Hooker could not have arrived at Gettysburg and seized the dominating terrain features before Lee. William A. Jackson Perhaps the most stunning contribution to the Black Dispatches came from African Americans in place in Richmond throughout the war. Two operated directly from the residence of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. The first was William A. Jackson, a slave working as a coachman for Davis, who delivered his first report on military conversations he had overheard to the Union command near Fredericksburg, Virginia, on May 3, 1862. Unfortunately records do not reveal exactly what Jackson told the Union commander, General Irvin McDowell, but it was significant enough for the general to wire it straight to the War Department in Washington. Mary Elizabeth Bowser The “Richmond Underground” was a Union spy ring operating under the guidance of Elizabeth Van Lew, who came from a socially prominent family in the Confederate capital. An African American agent, Mary Elizabeth Bowser, had been one of Van Lew’s slaves. Bowser had been given her freedom by Van Lew and sent north to be educated before the war began. After the spy ring was set up, Van Lew asked Bowser to come back to Richmond and pose as a servant at Davis’s home. Bowser secured a full-time post and had access to the house. She overheard conversations, saw vital documentation, and used her photographic memory to record every word in the papers. Bowser would regularly meet with Van Lew to pass on her intelligence. After the war, Van Lew persuaded the War Department in Washington to destroy the rec-

ords of her spy ring; consequently, little information on Bowser’s contributions remains on file. On June 30, 1995, Bowser was posthumously inducted into the U.S. Army Intelligence Hall of Fame at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Harriet Tubman Harriet Tubman, a former slave who became involved in the Underground Railroad, not only guided African Americans to the North in the years preceding the war, but also made vital intelligence contributions of her own. Tubman ceased operations in 1860, due to the increased difficulties of bringing friends and relatives to the north, spending the first two years of the war helping to settle and support those that she had saved from slavery. The Union turned to Tubman in the spring of 1863 as a potential source of intelligence data on South Carolina. Tubman organized a series of spying expeditions to the south, reporting directly to Col. James Montgomery, commanding officer of the 2d South Carolina Volunteers, an African American unit involved in guerrilla warfare. Tubman accompanied former slaves chosen by herself on some of the missions, at other times directing operations from Union lines. The intelligence was regular, accurate, and decisive on many occasions, notably during the Union raid up the Combahee River (June 1863) when Tubman led 150 of Montgomery’s men through the Confederate lines. The raid was devastating. Eight hundred slaves were freed, and millions of dollars of vital Confederate supplies were either destroyed or taken. Dabney Legend has it that during the fighting around Fredericksburg in 1863, a slave called Dabney, accompanied by his wife, managed to get through the lines and secure work at the headquarters of General Hooker. Dabney seemed to know the local area well and began to show more than a passing interest in the Union methods of using flags for signaling. Dabney’s wife

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was soon given permission to return to Confederate territory as servant to a white Southern woman returning home. Within days, Dabney was able to tell Hooker’s staff startlingly accurate details of Confederate troop movements and positions. Dabney confided that he and his wife had worked out their own signaling system using laundry hung on a line. His wife hung laundry in a particular order that would relay to Dabney the presence of a Confederate commander and the strength of his forces. It is not known whether Dabney’s story is completely true; no official records remain of his contribution to the Union intelligence effort. Many hundreds more slaves, runaways, and freedman and women made continuous reports to various representatives of the federal government throughout the war. The clandestine nature of their operations means that few records remain. See also Smalls, Robert; Tubman, Harriet; Underground Railroad References and Further Reading Fishel, Edwin C. The Secret War for the Union. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996. Markle, Donald E. Spies and Spymasters of the Civil War. New York: Hippocrene, 1995. Pinkerton, Allan. The Spy of the Rebellion. Chicago: A. G. Nettleton, 1883. Quarles, Benjamin. The Negro in the Civil War. Boston: Little, Brown, 1953. Rose, P. K. “The Civil War: Black American Contributions to Union Intelligence.” Center for the Study of Intelligence website: http://www.cia. gov/csi/books/dispatches/dispatch.html (accessed August 18, 2003). Ryan, David D. A Yankee Spy in Richmond: The Civil War Diary of “Crazy Bet” Van Lew. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1996. Taylor, M. W. Harriet Tubman. New York: Chelsea, 1991. U.S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office; 1880–1901, Vol. 25, Part 2.

Blackman, Epheram See Green Mountain Boys

Blake, Robert An African American runaway slave, who signed up with the U.S. Navy in Virginia, on April 16, 1864, and was awarded the Medal of Honor for his Civil War service. Blake was designated as contraband—a term used to describe runaway slaves behind Union lines—but was assigned to the steam gunboat Marblehead, which was a 691-ton gunboat that had been built in Newbury Port, Massachusetts, and commissioned in March 1862. The vessel was on blockade duty off the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina, and Blake had been serving on board for a year before officially enlisting. On December 25, 1863, the gunboat was engaged on the Stono River against Confederate positions on John’s Island. Blake’s Medal of Honor citation states: “Serving the rifle gun, Blake, an escaped slave, carried out his duties bravely throughout the engagement which resulted in the enemy’s abandonment of positions, leaving a caisson and one gun behind.” See also American Civil War; Medal of Honor (appendix); U.S. Navy

Boards of Examination for Officers in United States Colored Troops A system established on May 22, 1863, to attract white officers to serve in African American units. The boards met regularly in Cincinnati, Ohio; Davenport, Iowa; Nashville, Tennessee; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Washington,

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D.C., and later in Richmond, Virginia. They sought white officers of high intelligence and morals, with a commitment to African Americans. The boards’ goal, as Adj. Gen. Lorenzo Thomas, who was in charge of raising African American troops in the Mississippi Valley from 1863 to 1865, stated, was to recruit “only those for Officers whose hearts were in the work and who would exert themselves to the uttermost and treat the Negro kindly” (quoted in Glatthaar 2000). General Order No. 144 pronounced:

6. Appointments to each grade shall only be made from the candidates approved by the Board, and in the order of merit recommended by it. 7. The report of the Board, if adverse, shall be conclusive, and no person rejected by it shall be re-examined. 8. Other instructions will be communicated to boards if required.

The following rules are prescribed for the guidance of boards in examining applicants for commissions in regiments of colored troops:

Assessing intelligence was never a problem; candidates were tested on a variety of subjects including military tactics. The major long-term concern was the motivation of those who presented themselves to the board. In Tennessee, Capt. R. D. Mussey, who was in charge of organizing United States Colored Troops (USCT) units in the area, was clear on the position: “No person is wanted as an officer in a Colored Regiment who ‘feels that he is making a sacrifice in accepting a position in a Colored Regiment’, or who desires the place simply for higher rank and pay” (quoted in Glatthaar 2000, 39). One officer who was chosen, Henry Crydenwise, said of the officers in the USCT that they were “a better class of men, more moral, more religious, better educated and understand their business better than those in white reg’ts” (ibid.). For some, seeking to be an officer in the USCT meant that men could attain a salary and command much higher than in a white volunteer unit. Others saw it as a step toward uplifting the status of African Americans by ensuring that under their command, black soldiers would find a better place in society after the war. Others were attracted because they were committed abolitionists, but a good proportion simply believed that their experience as noncommissioned officers was much needed by the fledgling USCT regiments. While the boards sought to weed out unsuitable candidates, they were not always successful, and a considerable num-

1. The Board will sit every day, except Sunday, from 9 o’clock a.m. to 5 o’clock p.m. The place of sitting to be provided by the Quartermaster’s Department, and public notice given. 2. The Board will make to the AdjutantGeneral, for record in the Bureau for Colored Troops, reports of all persons examined, whether approved or rejected; the reports will be made weekly, or oftener when specially called for. 3. Each applicant must exhibit to the Board authority from the Adjutant-General to appear before it. Such authority will be given upon satisfactory recommendations of good moral character and standing in the community in which the applicant resided, or, if in the military service, on testimonials from his commanding officers. All such recommendations will be filed in the Bureau for Colored Troops. 4. Each applicant shall be subjected to a fair but rigorous examination as to physical, mental, and moral fitness to command troops. 5. The Board shall specify for what grade of commission the several applicants are fit, and shall also classify and number them according to merit or proficiency.

By order of the Secretary of War: E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant-General.

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ber of officers proved to be wholly inadequate in terms of field skills or their ability to lead men in battle. Although many of the officers were subsequently reassigned, many more stayed in their positions, with little interest in their men’s welfare or their rights. See also American Civil War; Bureau of Colored Troops; United States Colored Troops, Formation and Service Records of (appendix) References and Further Reading Glatthaar, Joseph T. Forged in Battle: The Civil War Alliance of Black Soldiers and White Officers. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2000. Redkey, Edwin S., ed. A Grand Army of Black Men: Letters from African American Soldiers in the Union Army, 1861–1865. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

Boston Massacre (March 5, 1770)

tucks found himself at the front of the mob and leveled his stick at one of the soldiers. He delivered the blow, and during the melee that followed, whether under orders or not, the British opened fire on the crowd. They hit eleven people with their musket balls, killing five—Attucks, Samuel Gray, James Caldwell, Samuel Maverick, and Patrick Carr. An investigation into the actions of the British troops exonerated them, but Attucks and the other four casualties had already become martyrs of the American Revolution. Civilian opinion regarding the Boston Massacre was mixed. Paul Revere attested that all of the members of the mob were respectable Boston inhabitants, while John Adams, a pro-liberty radical and Boston lawyer, provided a legal defense for the British soldiers. Adams later declared that Crispus Attucks was the leader of “a motley rabble of saucy boys, Negroes and Molattoes, Irish Teagues and outlandish Jack Tarrs.” For others the actions of those in Boston on the night of March 5 began the process of challenging British authority in America. British troops were subsequently removed from Boston. See also American Revolution; Attucks, Crispus

The Boston Massacre is considered to be a milestone in the events that led to the American Revolution. It occurred as a result of continued conflict between British soldiers garrisoned in Boston and local inhabitants. The event flared on March 5, 1770, when a mob challenged British soldiers. The soldiers fired, killing five men, among whom was a sailor described as a mulatto, Crispus Attucks. The exact chain of events that led up to the Boston Massacre remains murky. What is probable is that Crispus Attucks was among those drinking in a tavern on King Street in Boston when an alarm bell was heard ringing, warning that a British sentry was under attack. Attucks emerged from the tavern with a mob of other men to discover that the sentry was being pelted with snowballs by boys. As the mob approached the soldier, more troops arrived. Somehow At-

References and Further Reading Kaplan, Sydney, and Emma Nogrady Kaplan. The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1989.

Boyne, Thomas (1846–1896) Thomas Boyne was an African American soldier who served in the U.S. Army for twenty-five years, from 1864 to 1889, during which time he won a Medal of Honor in the Apache Wars. Boyne was born in Prince George’s County, Maryland, in 1846. In 1864 he joined B Battery

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of the 2d Colored Light Artillery and fought at Wilson’s Wharf and City Point (May–June 1864). His regiment was sent west at the end of the Civil War, and he was discharged in March 1866. Boyne adopted the name of Thomas Bowen, and claiming that he came from Norfolk, Virginia, reenlisted, serving in the 40th Infantry and later in the 25th until 1875, when he transferred into the 9th Cavalry. By the time he was sergeant in Company C of the 9th during the Apache Wars (1877–1879), he had already had fifteen years’ experience. Boyne was part of a detachment sent to intercept Victorio, leader of the Warm Springs Apache, in May 1879. They found him on May 20, with his men deployed behind defense works in a canyon in the Mimbres Mountains, New Mexico. After a failed attempt to parley, both sides opened fire, and during the engagement Boyne showed exemplary conduct and gallantry. 2d Lt. Henry H Wright wrote, “I was engaged in bringing in a wounded man with a few men and was surprised by the Indians, my horse was killed and corralled by hostiles when Sergeant Thomas Boyne commanded a detachment sent to my assistance, flanked and gallantly charged the Indians driving them off.” By the end of September 1879 Boyne had been involved in five engagements with Apaches, and during 1880 he participated in three more. Maj. Albert B. Morrow, senior officer of the 9th Cavalry, wrote of Boyne, “I have seen him repeatedly in action and in every instance he has distinguished himself. If any soldier deserves a Certificate of Merit or Medal of Honor, Sergt. Boyne does and I hope he may be so rewarded.” Boyne received his award on January 6, 1882, for bravery in action at Mimbres Mountain, New Mexico, May 29th, 1879, and at Cuchillo Negro, New Mexico, September 27, 1879. During the winter of 1884–1885 he served in the Indian Territory during the army’s attempts to prevent settlers from encroaching on the tribal lands. Throughout this period Boyne was stricken with frostbite. He spent most of

January 1885 at Fort Caldwell, Kansas, in the hospital. Boyne re-enlisted in July 1885 and served with the 25th at Fort Meade, Dakota, but his long service was beginning to affect his health, and he developed a hernia while at Fort Missoula, Montana, in October 1888, that prompted the army to discharge him in January 1889. He was granted a disability pension of $8 a month, which increased to $10 in 1893. In 1890 Thomas Boyne was admitted to the U.S. Soldiers’ Home in Washington, D.C., where he died of consumption on April 21, 1896. See also American Civil War; Apache Wars; Medal of Honor (appendix); 9th Cavalry; 25th Infantry Regiment; U.S. Army References and Further Reading Carroll, John M., ed. The Black Military Experience in the American West. New York: Liveright, 1969. Schubert, Frank. Black Valor. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1997.

Brashear, Carl Maxie (b. 1931) The first African American to become a U.S. Navy master diver, Carl Brashear was born in Kentucky on January 19, 1931, to sharecropping parents. At the age of seventeen, he joined the U.S. Navy as a steward and completed his basic training at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center in Michigan. He worked in the officers’ mess at Key West before being assigned to the USS Palau. He then served on the USS Tripoli, where he trained as a diver. His ambition was to become a deep-sea diver, but he failed his first course in 1960. Undaunted, Brashear finally completed the twenty-six-week course, graduating third in a class of seventeen. On January 17, 1966, a B-52 carrying four nuclear weapons and a KC-135 stratotanker

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collided off the southern coast of Spain. Three of the four nuclear weapons fell from the B-52 following the collision. One fell close to the village of Palomas but remained intact. A second also fell near the village, but it broke apart on impact, spreading radioactive material over the countryside, requiring the United States to remove 1,400 tons of contaminated earth to a storage site. The third weapon fell into the Mediterranean Sea, and Brashear was assigned to the USS Hoist to retrieve it. It was located on March 17, and Brashear was sent down to retrieve it on March 25. The bomb was brought to the surface at around 5 p.m., but there was a sudden sea swell, and as Brashear later recounted in an oral history: I got the crate, picking it up, and the boat broke loose. The engineer was revving up the engines, and it parted the line. I was trying to get my sailors out of the way, and I ran back down to grab a sailor, just manhandling him out of the way. Just as I started to leave, the boat pulled on the pipe that had the mooring line tied to it. That pipe came loose, flew across the deck and it struck my leg below the knee. They said I was way up in the air just turning flips. I landed about two foot inside of that freeboard. They said if I’d been two feet farther out, I’d have gone over the side. I jumped up and started to run and fell over. That’s when I knew how bad my leg was.

He became not only the Navy’s first African American master diver, but also its first amputee diver. Brashear achieved his goal of becoming a master diver in June 1970 and had attained the rank of senior chief boatswain’s mate. He retired in 1979. A film based on his life, Men of Honor, was released in 2000. See also U.S. Navy References and Further Reading Brashear, Master Chief Botswain’s Mate Carl M. Oral History of, November 17, 1989, U.S. Naval Station, Norfolk, VA: http://www.usni.org/hrp/ oralhistory/brashear.htm.

Brown, Jesse LeRoy (1926–1950)

Brashear was taken by helicopter to a Spanish air base, but the helicopter ran out of fuel, and it wasn’t until several hours later that he received treatment. He had lost a great deal of blood and appeared dead, when the doctor found a faint heartbeat. After an extensive operation in which he was given eighteen pints of blood, Brashear began to stabilize, but his leg was infected and he agreed to a below-knee amputation. The navy wanted to retire Brashear from active duty, but he disagreed and returned to diving school. He proved that despite the loss of one leg, he was still fit to carry out all duties.

Jesse Brown was the first African American to become a naval aviator and the first naval officer to be killed in action in the Korean War. Jesse Brown was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, October 13, 1926. He enlisted in the naval reserve in 1946 and after successfully completing preflight school and flight training he became a naval aviator in October 1948. He was assigned to 32d Fighter Squadron, where he became a section leader and rose to the rank of ensign in April 1949. During the Korean War Brown was awarded an Air Medal for his contribution to attacks on Sinanju, Songjin, and Wonsun. He also won, posthumously, on December 4, 1950, the Distinguished Flying Cross during a support mission to help Marines fighting around the Chosin Reservoir. He was flying his aircraft low when it was hit by ground fire. In 1973 the USS Jesse L. Brown, a destroyer escort, was named in his honor at Boston Naval Yard, making him the first African American naval officer to have a naval vessel named after him.

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See also Korean War; U.S. Navy

B r o w n , R o s c o e C . , J r.

Ens. Jesse L. Brown in the cockpit of an F4U-4 Corsair fighter, ca. 1950. The first African American naval aviator, he flew with Fighter Squadron 32 from USS Leyte. (U.S. Navy)

Brown, Roscoe C., Jr. (b. 1922) A member of the 332nd fighter group and flight leader of the 100th Fighter Squadron, Brown was credited with being the first 15th Air Force pilot to shoot down a German jet fighter. A graduate of Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C., and Springfield College, Springfield, Massachusetts, he became one of the Tuskegee Airmen and began flying missions in Europe in February 1944. In May he began long-range bomber escort duties. In July 1944, the squadron was issued with North American P-51 Mus-

tangs. Lieutenant Brown’s aircraft was nicknamed “Bunnie” after his daughter. On March 24, 1945, on an escort mission over Berlin led by Col. Benjamin O. Davis Jr., Brown shot down one of three German Messerschmitt 262 jet fighters, of only eight shot down during the war. A week later on March 31, 1945, Brown claimed a Focke Wulf 190, one of thirteen claims that day. He was promoted to captain and commanded the 100th until he returned to the United States in October 1945. Brown was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and an Air Medal (with eight Oak Leaf Clusters).

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Following the war, he earned a doctorate from New York University. He then began a career of distinguished public service and served as the director of the Institute for African American Affairs at NYU, president of Bronx Community College, and director of the City University of New York Graduate Center for Urban Education Policies, chairman of the New York City Regional Educational Center for Economic Development, and a host of other posts. The 100th Flying Training Squadron was reactivated on September 24, 1999, as part of the U.S. Air Force’s Reserves 340th Training Group. Brown was among sixteen former Tuskegee Airmen present at the reactivation ceremony at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, the squadron’s new home. See also 99th Pursuit Squadron; Tuskegee Airmen; U.S. Air Force; World War II References and Further Reading

Midshipman Wesley A. Brown, ca. 1949. He graduated in that year from the U.S. Naval Academy, the first African American to do so. (Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Academy Library)

Francis, Charles E., and Adolph Caso. The Tuskegee Airmen: The Men Who Changed a Nation. Wellesley, MA: Branden Publishing, 2000. Homan, Lynn M., and Thomas Reilly. Black Knights: The Story of the Tuskegee Airmen. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing, 2000.

Brown, Wesley Anthony (b. 1927) The first African American to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy, Wesley Brown was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on April 3, 1927. After attending Dunbar High School, in the District of Columbia, he entered the U.S. Naval Academy as a midshipman in 1945. He graduated four years later, becoming the first African American to complete a Naval Academy education. He was the only one of five African Americans in his class to graduate in 1949. The next African

American, Lawrence Chambers, would not graduate from the academy until 1953. During his first year at the academy he was given 140 out of a maximum of 150 demerits and very narrowly avoided being thrown out. After graduation Brown entered the Civil Engineering Corps. Even in the later stages of his naval career, he encountered naval officers who did not approve of African American officers being in the U.S. Navy. He retired in July 1969 with the rank of lieutenant commander. See also U.S. Navy References and Further Reading Astor, Gerald. The Right to Fight. Novato, CA: Presidio, 1998.

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Brown, Willa (Chappell) (1906–1992) Willa Beatrice Brown was born on January 22, 1906, in Glasgow, Kentucky. She became the first African American woman to be granted a commercial pilot’s license. Among other notable firsts, she also became the first African American officer in the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) in 1941, the federal coordinator of the CAP Chicago unit, and, in 1943, she became the first woman in the United States to have gained both a mechanic’s license and a commercial license in aviation. Brown was heavily influenced by Bessie Coleman (the pioneering African American pilot) and started taking flying lessons in 1934. She became a member of the Challenger Air Pilot’s Association and the Chicago Girls’ Flight Club, buying her own aircraft. In 1937 she also completed her master’s degree at Northwestern University in Chicago. Brown was the co-founder of the National Airmen’s Association of America in 1937, an organization whose goal was to help African Americans advance in the U.S. Army Air Force. In 1940, with air force Lt. Cornelius R. Coffey, Brown founded the Coffey School of Aeronautics, which trained some 200 pilots over the next seven years. Many of these men became members of the 99th Pursuit Squadron during World War II. Throughout this period, Brown lobbied for the inclusion of African Americans into the Civilian Pilot Training Program and the Army Air Corps, predecessor of the U.S. Air Force. In 1942, Brown took the post of training coordinator for the Civilian Pilot Training Program in Chicago. In 1972 Brown was appointed to the Federal Aviation Administration Women’s Advisory Board in recognition of her contributions to aviation in the United States. Brown became the first African American woman to run for Congress, failing on three occasions (1941, 1948, and 1950). She also tried to set up an African

American–run airport in the Chicago area during the late 1940s. Brown taught aeronautics at Westinghouse High School until the 1970s. She died on July 18, 1992. See also 99th Pursuit/Fighter Squadron; Tuskegee Airmen References and Further Reading Bolden, Tonya. The Book of African-American Women: 150 Crusaders, Creators, and Uplifters. Avon, MA: Adams Media Corporation, 1996.

Brownsville Incident (1906) Earlier known as the Brownsville Riot, this incident highlighted the racism to which African American soldiers were subjected by communities in which they were stationed. Members of the African American 24th and 25th Infantry Regiments, stationed at nearby Fort Brown, were accused of rioting in Brownsville, Texas, which led to the discharge “without honor” of 167 soldiers without trial. While on leave from campaigning in the Philippines, a group of between ten and twenty men of the 24th and the 25th Infantry Regiments were alleged to have run through the streets of Brownsville firing into buildings. The incident, which lasted around ten or fifteen minutes, took place on August 13. One man was killed, and several other people, including one policeman, were injured. Brownsville citizens immediately accused the African American infantrymen of causing the incident. On August 14, based on the assumption that the African American soldiers were guilty, a committee of community leaders began an informal investigation. Only eight of the twentytwo witnesses, who were not questioned under oath, claimed to have seen the soldiers actually carrying out the shootings. The investigation

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was concluded after two days with the committee deciding that the African American infantrymen were to blame. Meanwhile, the government and military authorities began to carry out the first of eight inquests into the riot. Five were performed by the military authorities, another by a citizens’ committee of Brownsville, and the others by the Texas Rangers, a statewide mounted police force, and a grand jury convened by the Senate Military Affairs Committee. None were able conclusively to identify the guilty parties. In his capacity as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, President Theodore Roosevelt instructed the inspector general of the army, Brig. Gen. E. A. Garlington, to conduct another investigation. Garlington also failed to identify the men responsible, noting that the African American troops had been severely provoked by locals. As with this investigation, various members of the units had been threatened with dishonorable discharges if they failed to cooperate. In any event, the men either refused to comment or claimed that they had no relevant evidence. Garlington interpreted this as a “conspiracy of silence” and recommended that all of the men be discharged “without honor,” adding that a “forceful lesson should be given to the Army at large.” He believed that this incident brought considerable dishonor to the army and stated: “The people of the United States, wherever they live, must feel assured that the men wearing the uniform of the Army are their protectors and not midnight assassins” (MacGregor and Nalty 1977, 3: 223–224). Garlington’s recommendations were accepted by Roosevelt, and the discharge of 167 men was approved. When Garlington’s recommendations were implemented, Roosevelt, who had previously had fairly good relations with the African American community, was universally condemned by black leaders. Newspaper editors accused him of deliberately postponing the announcement until after the elections to avoid losing black support; and the general black community reacted with anger and disbelief.

In 1972, under pressure from African American congressmen (principally Augustus Hawkins, a Democrat from California), a new investigation was undertaken by the secretary of the army, Robert F. Kroehlke. He found in favor of those who had been discharged and overturned the decision made by Roosevelt and Garlington. By then, however, only two members of the unit were still alive. Kroehlke concluded in his appraisal of the action that the “concept of mass punishment is repugnant to the American concept of justice,” and he ordered that the “discharges without honor” be revoked and changed to “honorable discharges” (MacGregor and Nalty 1977, 3: 224–225). References and Further Reading Krawczynski, Keith. “The Spanish American War and Aftermath.” In A Historic Context for the African-American Military Experience, ed. Steven D. Smith and James A. Ziegler. https://www.denix. osd.mil/denix/Public/ES-Programs/Conservation/ Legacy/AAME/aame2a.html (accessed August 25, 2003). Lane, Ann J. The Brownsville Affair: National Crisis and Black Reaction. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, 1971. MacGregor, Morris J., and Bernard C. Nalty (eds.). Blacks in the Armed Forces: Basic Documents. 8 vols. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1977. Nalty, Bernard C. Strength for the Fight. New York: Free Press, 1986.

Bryant, William Maud (1933–1969) Medal of Honor recipient William Bryant was born in Cochran, Georgia, on February 16, 1933, and joined the army in Detroit, Michigan. In March 1969 he was a sergeant 1st class of Company A, 5th Special Forces Group, 1st Special Forces, serving as the commanding officer of Civilian Irregular Defense Group Company

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321, 2d Battalion, 3d Mobile Strike Force in Long Khanh Province, Vietnam. His battalion had been surrounded by three enemy regiments, and Bryant had brilliantly commanded his unit throughout thirty-four hours of persistent attacks. The enemy fire was intense, but Bryant nevertheless freely moved around the battalion’s perimeter, praising the men, distributing ammunition, and directing fire. During a lull in the attacks, Bryant took a patrol out and came under heavy fire from the enemy. The patrol was pinned down, but Bryant held off an enemy attack on his own and helped the other men to repel further assaults. He returned to the perimeter with a wounded enemy soldier who died en route. Bryant led a further patrol with the aim of breaking through the enemy positions. He advanced 200 meters and was pinned down by enemy-held bunkers. Bryant attacked the enemy positions and called for gunship support. During the attack Bryant was seriously injured, but he overran the bunkers and killed three enemy soldiers. As he regrouped his men for a further attack, he was hit by an enemy rocket and mortally wounded. For his bravery Bryant was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. See also Medal of Honor (appendix); Vietnam War

Buffalo Soldiers A name given to African American soldiers in the post–Civil War West. In the aftermath of the Civil War, the federal government realized that it still needed to maintain a sizable peacetime army. The government needed a presence in the South, and it also had to maintain order on the increasingly violent and turbulent frontier to the west. In 1866 Congress began to debate the structure of this peacetime army. The army establishment itself

wished to remain white and not take advantage of the experience of many African American troops who had fought during the Civil War. Opposing them were those who favored an integrated force. The two sides compromised, and African American recruits were placed into segregated units. It was further agreed that the army, which consisted of thirty regiments, would be doubled in size. Forty-five units would be infantry, ten cavalry, and five artillery. This would give the army a total of 54,000 men. Of the thirty new regiments, six would be made up of African Americans. On August 1, 1866, the 9th and 10th Cavalry were created, along with the 38th, 39th, 40th, and 41st Infantry. As would be the pattern in the years to come, the majority of African American troops would serve in isolated garrisons on the frontier. The 9th and 10th and two of the infantry regiments were sent to Texas for border duty. The remaining two infantry regiments were assigned to occupational garrison duties in the South. In March 1869 the four infantry regiments were merged into two as part of the army’s plan to reduce the number of infantry regiments from forty-five to twenty-five. The 38th and the 41st became the 24th Infantry, and the 39th and 40th became the 25th. (For detailed regimental histories, see the individual units.) Debate continues about how these four regiments and, indeed, African American soldiers from this point on, became known as Buffalo Soldiers. There are two probable explanations. Most commonly, it is believed that Native Americans thought that the hair of African American troops resembled that of buffaloes. An equally plausible origin dates back to September 1867 when Pt. John Randall of Troop G, 10th Cavalry, was assigned the task of escorting two civilians on a hunting trip. The three men rode out of sight and were immediately confronted by seventy Cheyenne. The Native Americans killed the two civilians and Randall’s horse. Randall retreated to a nearby railroad track and fended the Cheyenne off with his pistol until a patrol

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Buffalo Soldiers of the 9th Cavalry ride back to their camp at the Lakota Sioux Pine Ridge Agency, South Dakota. (Western History Collection, Denver Public Library)

found him, whereupon the Cheyenne fled. He killed thirteen of them and was severely injured himself, with eleven lance wounds and a bullet in his shoulder. The Cheyenne reportedly described these new warriors “who had fought like a cornered buffalo; who like a buffalo had suffered wound after wound yet had not died; and who like a buffalo had a thick and shaggy mane of hair” (Starr 1981). However the nickname originated, the African American soldiers seemed comfortable with the association, and the 10th Cavalry even incorporated a buffalo into its crest. Until 1898, when the Buffalo Soldiers were assigned to Cuba and later the Philippines, they served continuously on the frontier. In these isolated posts they rarely came to the attention of the American public, even though seventeen won the Medal of Honor for their gallantry in campaigns against the Native Americans. They had a huge range of territory to monitor. The enormous frontier meant that the regiments were rarely posted as a single unit and that isolated companies were scattered across hundreds of miles. It has been estimated that African American troops were roughly one in five of all army soldiers assigned to the West—double their proportion in the army as a whole, as the

army concentrated them in the sparsely populated West, where their presence was deemed less offensive to whites. They typically served alongside the more numerous white units. The overall achievements of the Buffalo Soldiers cannot be considered without taking into consideration the fact that they continually had to endure racial prejudice and deal with the heritage of slavery. Particularly in the earlier years, many were former slaves; most were illiterate and had little or no education. In addition, there was a dearth of white regimental officers who would accept a posting to an African American regiment. Those who did found that the majority of the clerical work fell on their shoulders, whereas in white regiments, where the general level of education was higher, it would have been the responsibility of noncommissioned officers. The army did establish educational programs for all troops, usually with the army chaplains organizing the schools. George G. Mullins, for example, who was attached to the 25th, carried out extensive evening sessions that averaged 100 men every weekday from 1875 to 1879. During the day the chaplains would also organize lessons for the children of the regiment. The army agreed to pay for all the necessary classroom supplies in 1878, but they did not make attendance compulsory. Most of the men were unskilled laborers. They knew nothing of soldiers’ duties. Officers began with the basics of putting on a uniform and loading a rifle. Many Buffalo Soldiers also lacked skills with horses, which posed problems in the cavalry regiments. The African American soldiers relied heavily on their white officers in the early years, but later became proficient veterans in their own right. Neither the 9th nor the 10th generally had a full complement of white officers because the officers often preferred to hold a lower rank in a white regiment than to command an African American regiment. Although the army tried to send good officers to serve with the Buffalo Soldiers, the majority of these men would rather

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have served in a white regiment. However, among the officers who did serve with the Buffalo Soldiers, a higher proportion eventually rose to the rank of general than those who had served in white regiments. Throughout the whole period it was widely believed among whites that the African American soldiers were inherently inferior to their white counterparts. A writer in Public Opinion, 1899, wrote, “The young Negro is ebullient and full of animal spirits and more mutinous than the white man until thoroughly disciplined.” In the same year a former army surgeon wrote an article called The Evolution of the Colored Soldier, in which he quoted a white officer: “They don’t care what the danger is, so long as they have a white man for their leader, and they won’t follow their own color across the street to pick apples.” The army did little to dispel these myths, and its failure to deal with racial prejudice was further compounded by the fact that for around twenty years all four African American regiments served in the least inviting areas of the country. The army also did very little to show the men that they were valued. The 10th Cavalry, when it was being organized at Fort Leavenworth, was quartered by post commander Gen. William Hoffman on ground that was little better than a swamp. The general then complained to their commander, Colonel Grierson, that his men’s uniforms were muddy! The conditions in which the men lived were bad. The post’s surgeon at Fort Conchu described the food: “The bread was sour, the beef of poor quality and the canned peas not fit to eat.” An officer at Fort Quitman in Texas described the barracks in which the men lived as being “not fit to stable cattle in.” The cavalry were reliant on their mobility. Indeed, the quality of their horses often meant the difference between life and death, yet in the early years they were given discarded horses from the 7th Cavalry, and much of their equipment had been scavenged from Civil War battlefields.

The prevailing beliefs about race at the time led to hostility against the Buffalo Soldiers. The only times when the Buffalo Soldiers found themselves accepted to any great degree was when the local white citizens considered themselves closer to their African American protectors than to the more alien Native Americans and Mexicans. This was particularly true in towns close to reservations or near the borders. Racial tension at times erupted into violence. Some Buffalo Soldiers were murdered, and only on rare occasions were the perpetrators arrested. Perhaps one of the most striking examples occurred in January 1875, when Sgt. Edward Troutman and four enlisted men (Company G, 9th Cavalry) rode out of Ringgold Barracks, Texas, on a patrol. A group of ranch hands ambushed them and killed two of the privates. Troutman and the surviving men returned fire, killing one of the attackers. Nine Mexicans were arrested for the attack; one stood trial and was acquitted, and the other eight were released. Troutman and the two survivors were arrested, and Colonel Hatch and another officer were charged with burglary for taking the dead soldiers’ uniforms. It was only after a great deal of negotiation that the five men were released. The Buffalo Soldiers themselves could be subjected to gross miscarriages of justice. In August 1885 Corporal Hallon, a Buffalo Soldier at Fort Meade, South Dakota, was accused of murdering a doctor from Sturgis City. He was incarcerated at the local jail; two days after his arrest a mob broke in and lynched him. On June 10, 1888, Pvt. Robert Robinson was lynched. Robinson was stationed at Fort Shaw, Montana, and was said to have shot a man in the town of Sun River. He had been turned over to the sheriff by the military authorities but died a victim of mob violence before he could come to trial. Nevertheless, the desertion rate for African American troops was only around 4 percent, compared to similar white regiments whose desertion rate ran at around 25 percent. Equally, alcoholism was a severe problem in the army, particularly in the more isolated posts, yet

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among the Buffalo Soldiers alcohol abuse was virtually nonexistent. It may well be that the privations African Americans endured under slavery enabled them to cope better with the difficulties of army life on the frontier. The Buffalo Soldiers reenlisted at higher rates than did their white counterparts. Not only were there few comparable job opportunities for African Americans during this period, but regimental pride and loyalty played an important part. The enlisted men stayed with the regiments far longer than did white soldiers, and at least a few senior officers spent much of their careers with them. Colonel Hatch holds the record, having commanded the 9th Cavalry for twenty-three years; Colonel Grierson remained with the 10th for twenty-two, and Colonel Andrews of the 25th remained in command for twenty-one years. The Buffalo Soldiers played a vital role in establishing African Americans in the armed forces of the United States, and they contributed a great deal to the settlement of the West. However, few Americans were aware of them until they prepared to leave for Cuba shortly after the outbreak of the Spanish-American War. See also American Civil War; Apache Wars; Buffalo Soldier Postings (appendix); Freedmen’s Bureau; Medal of Honor (appendix); Mexican War; 9th Cavalry; Spanish-American War; 10th Cavalry; 24th Infantry Regiment; 25th Infantry Regiment; U.S. Army; Ute War References and Further Reading Carroll, John M., ed. The Black Military Experience in the American West. New York: Liveright, 1969. Cashin, Herschel V. Under Fire with the 10th Cavalry. New York: Bellwether, 1970. Downey, Fairfax D. The Buffalo Soldiers in the Indian Wars. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1969. Drinnon, Richard. Facing West. New York: New American Library, 1980. Dunlay, Thomas, W. Wolves for the Blue Soldiers: Indian Scouts and Auxiliaries with the United States Army, 1860–1890. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1982.

Fields, Elizabeth Arnett. The West. “1865–1897.” In A Historic Context for the African-American Military Experience, ed. Steven D. Smith and James A. Ziegler. https://www.denix.osd.mil/ denix/Public/ES-Programs/Conservation/Legacy/ AAME/aame2.html#4 The West 1865–1897 (accessed August 31, 2003). Fletcher, Marvin E. The Black Soldier and Officer in the United States Army, 1891–1917. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1974. Foner, Jack D. The United States Soldier between Two Wars: Army Life and Reforms, 1865–1898. New York: Humanities Press, 1970. Fowler, Arlen L. The Black Infantry in the West 1869–1891. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1971. Glass, Edward L. N. The History of the Tenth Cavalry, 1866–1921. Fort Collins, CO: Old Army Press, 1972. Kelley, William F. Pine Ridge, 1890: An Eye Witness Account of the Events Surrounding the Fighting at Wounded Knee. San Francisco: Pierre Bovis, 1971. Langellier, John P. Men A-Marching: The African American Soldier in the West, 1866–1896. Springfield, PA: Steven Wright, 1995. Leckie, William H. The Buffalo Soldiers: A Narrative of the Negro Cavalry in the West. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1967. Muller, William G. The Twenty Fourth Infantry Past and Present. Fort Collins, CO: Old Army Press, 1972. Nankivel, John H. History of the Twenty Fifth Infantry, 1869–1926. Fort Collins, CO: Old Army Press, 1972. Schubert, Frank N. Buffalo Soldiers, Braves and the Brass: The Story of Fort Robinson, Nebraska. Shippensburg, PA: White Mane, 1993. ———. Black Valor. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1997. Starr, Michelle, 1981. “Buffalo Soldier.” Army Magazine (January): 41–46. Steward, Theophilus G. The Colored Regulars in the United States Army. Philadelphia: Ame, 1904. Utley, Robert M. Frontier Regulars: The United States Army and the Indian, 1866–1890. New York: Macmillan, 1973. Wooster, Robert A. The Military and the United States Indian Policy, 1865–1903. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1988.

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Bulge, Battle of the (1944–1945) The Battle of the Bulge, the high point of the last German counteroffensive in the west in World War II, presented the U.S. forces with so massive a challenge that every available fighter had to be pressed into service. African American service troops were converted into infantry replacements to join existing white and African American formations in the line. The Battle of the Bulge, or Ardennes Offensive (December 16, 1944–January 25, 1945), began with the German attack (Operation Wacht am Rhein and the Herbstnebel plan) on the morning of December 16, 1944. Two later attacks on New Year’s Day 1945 attempted to create second fronts in the Netherlands (Operation Schneeman) and in northern France (Operation Nordwind). In the overall German plan, three armies, the 6th Panzer Army, 5th Panzer Army, and 7th Army, were to attack. The 6th Panzer Army, for political reasons, was to make the main effort and capture Antwerp. The 5th had the responsibility of hitting the center of the American lines promptly and capturing the rail and road center of St. Vith. After that, it would move toward Brussels. In the official order signed by Hitler on November 10, 1944, the 15th Army was added. The terrain was the dense Ardennes Forest, the weather chilly and foggy, thus eliminating the danger of Allied air support that would otherwise have rendered the whole plan impracticable. The Germans would have this advantage until around December 23. Due to the fog and the density of the trees, ground visibility was also poor, and traffic jams on both sides of the front would be inevitable due to the paucity of decent roads in the region. The only railroad on the entire front to cross from Germany into Belgium came to St. Vith (also a major road junction) making this the vital target in order to ensure supplies continued to reach the leading elements of the offensive. The German plan called for capture of St. Vith by 6 p.m. on December 17, but the defend-

ers held at St. Vith until late on December 21. On December 23, the weather cleared, and Allied planes finally came to the support of the besieged American troops. Gradually, the Allies closed the salient, with the 1st U.S. Army from the north linking up with the 3d from the south. St. Vith was recaptured on January 23, 1945. Some of the positions lost to the Germans were not regained until January 25, 1945. The Battle of the Bulge was the largest single engagement ever fought by the U.S. Army (some 500,000 Americans and 600,000 Germans were engaged). Two vital stands against the German offensive doomed the muchvaunted Wehrmacht. The 99th Infantry Division and the 291st Engineer Combat Battalion bore the brunt of the 6th Army attack on the first day and held. Meanwhile, the 7th Armored Division and the 106th Infantry Division, with elements of the 9th Armored Division and 28th Infantry Division, held St. Vith for four days beyond the German timetable. When the German offensive got under way, the 7th Armored was near Aachen but managed to move 60–70 miles to the south on the second day. The 99th and the 291st held their ground until reinforced by the 7th. Bastogne is thought to have been the key to the battle, but this is not the case. Famously, General Anthony McAuliffe (101st Airborne Division) replied “nuts” to the German demand for him to surrender, and by the third day the 10th Armored Division had broken through to Bastogne. Bastogne was strategically important, but its defense had not inhibited the forward movement of the lead elements of the German offensive, and it was left to rear-echelon German troops to clear the town. Symbolically, however, Bastogne served as a rallying point and a sign of American resistance. African American troops were, during the Battle of the Bulge, assigned at squad or company level to white infantry regiments; others were posted to African American or white armored units (a role for which they were not prepared). More than 4,000 African Americans would be assigned to infantry combat during

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this period, fighting for some eleven divisions in both the 1st and 7th Armies. As a distinct entity, the 761st Tank Battalion had just joined Patton’s Third Army and would fight from October 21, 1944, to the end of the war in Europe on May 6, 1945. This level of integration, a pragmatic response to the desperate need for U.S. reinforcements against the powerful German offensive, was not again achieved until the armed forces were desegregated in the 1950s. See also Service Units of World War II, African American; 761st Tank Battalion; U.S. Army; World War II Infantry Replacements References and Further Reading Astor, Gerald. Blood-dimmed Tide: The Battle of the Bulge by the Men Who Fought It. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1999. Eisenhower, John S. D. The Bitter Woods: Hitler’s Surprise Ardennes Offensive. New York: Putnam’s, 1969. MacDonald, Charles B. A Time for Trumpets: The Untold Story of the Battle of the Bulge. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1985. Toland, John. Battle: The Story of the Bulge. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999.

Bullard, Eugene Jacques (1894–1961) Soldier, aviator, spy, boxer, and medal winner from Georgia who was dubbed “The Black Swallow of Death.” Bullard was born in 1894. In 1902, and at the age of eight, while his father was in hiding from a lynch mob, he ran away from home. Bullard had nine siblings and roots reaching back to the slaves of French refugees from Haiti. As a child, he had always been told by his father about France and that men were equal there. Bullard reached Virginia by 1906 and stowed away on a German ship bound for Aberdeen. He

moved first to Glasgow, then to Liverpool, where he became a boxer. After visiting Paris in 1913, he answered the French call for volunteers in August 1914, joining the 3d Marching Battalion of the Foreign Legion. After five weeks’ training, he was sent to the Somme. He fought at Arras and Champagne. He then was posted to Verdun in February 1916, now a member of the 170th Infantry, the Swallows of Death. Here he earned the nickname that would last a lifetime. At Verdan, Bullard was wounded twice and was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Médaille Militaire. While recuperating, he joined the French Flying Corps, gaining his pilot’s license on May 5, 1917. In August, he applied to join the U.S. Army Flying Corps and passed the medical but was never offered a position. In November he was assigned by the French to Escadrille Spad 93 and in his first month shot down a German aircraft. Sergeant Bullard was dismissed from the French Air Force. The incident that nearly brought a courtmartial occurred in Paris while Bullard was on a twenty-four-hour pass. He climbed on board a troop truck to catch a lift back to his unit, only to be kicked by a French soldier who said to him: “There’s no room for your kind.” As the second kick came, Bullard grabbed the leg and punched the man in the face. The man was an officer. Bullard was not court martialed because of his medals, wounds, and record, but he was posted to a service battalion of the 170th. After the war, Bullard became a boxer, the leader of a jazz band, and a host at a nightclub. He married in 1924 and with his French wife had two children. In 1939, Bullard was approached by the Deuxième Bureau to spy on Germans in Paris. When the call came for U.S. citizens to leave France in the spring of 1940, Bullard instead joined the 51st Infantry engaged in the defense of Paris. He led a machine gun section until he was wounded in the back. Bullard headed for the American consulate in Bordeaux, where he obtained his first passport. He then crossed the French border into Spain, then left the continent from Lisbon, arriving in New York in July. With the assistance of the

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French Underground, his daughters joined him in February 1941. In 1954, Bullard returned to France to relight the flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and five years later became a Knight of the Legion of Honor. In 1960, at a reception in New York, Gen. Charles de Gaulle embraced Bullard after recognizing his legion uniform and medals. He died in 1961 and was buried at the cemetery of the Federation of French War Veterans at Flushing, New York, with full French military honors. See also Croix de Guerre; World War I References and Further Reading Buckley, Gail. American Patriots. New York: Random House, 2001. Carisella, P. J., and James W. Ryan. Black Swallow of Death. Boston: Marlborough House, 1972. Lloyd, Craig. Eugene Bullard, Black Expatriate in Jazz-Age Paris. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2000.

Bunker Hill, Battle of (June 17, 1775) An uncertain number of African Americans were present when Col. William Prescott’s troops, which totaled 860 men, occupied the Boston peninsula, which would trigger the Battle of Bunker Hill (properly known as the Battle of Breeds Hill). One account puts the number as high as 103 (Young 2003); little or nothing is known of most of these men. Peter Salem, Salem Poor(e), and Cuff Whittemore—Salem and Whittemore were both veterans of Lexington and Concord—helped fortify and man the rebel positions in the late afternoon of June 17, 1775. Soon after, British troops began landing from Boston and formed to storm the positions. The initial attacks failed, but the British, under Maj. John Pitcairn, held on. Although British casualties were high (some

1,150 killed or wounded), the rebels were swept from their positions after a brief struggle. For the British, it was a victory won at too great a cost, and it was an enormous propaganda win for the rebels. One of the British dead was Major Pitcairn. His death was attributed to Peter Salem, the slave of a man only known as Groton. Dr. Jeremy Belknap, the son of his former owner, noted that according to contemporary accounts, Salem shot Pitcairn through the head at the very moment of British victory. In the first published account of the battle, Historical and Topographical Sketch of Bunker Hill Battle, written in 1818 by Samuel Swett, the author states: “Amongst the foremost of the leaders was the gallant Maj. Pitcairn who excitingly cried ‘the day is ours’ when Salem, a black soldier, and a number of others shot him through and he fell” (quoted in Kaplan and Kaplan, 1989, 21). Salem was later to be lauded by the rebel officers and taken to meet George Washington. The African American contribution that day has been depicted in John Trumbull’s painting The Battle of Bunker Hill (1786). A black man (accounts differ as to who it is) is shown standing beside an officer with a sword. Interestingly, this man appears in the 1801 engraving of the picture, but his image was erased in later versions. Poor(e) was twenty-eight at the time, a freeman from Andover, Massachusetts. He was also credited with the death of another British officer, Lt. Col. James Abercrombie. In December 1775, fourteen rebel officers petitioned the General Court of Massachusetts to press the Continental Congress to reward Poor(e) for his services. They claimed “the Reward due to so great and Distinguished a Caracter, a Negro Man called Salem Poor, [who] behaved like an Experienced Officer, as Well as an Excellent Soldier” (Kaplan and Kaplan 1989, 22–23). There is no evidence that Poor(e) was ever rewarded in any way. Some evidence exists of other African Americans who may have been in the battle. These in-

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clude Jude Hall from Exeter, who fought with Nathan Hale’s New Hampshires; Season and Pharoh from New York County; two men from Arlington, Job Potama and Isaiah Bayoman; a man called Pompy from Braintree; and Robin of Sandowne, New Hampshire. Some accounts suggest the names of other African Americans who may have participated include Cuff Blanchard, Seymour Burr, Grant Cooper, Titus Coburn, Caesar Dickenson, Charlestown Eads, Alexander Eames, Cuff Hayes, Pomp Fisk, Caesar Jahar, Caesar Post, Sampson Talbot, and Cato Thifts. At present there is no other information about these men; further research may expand our knowledge of the African American contribution to this and other Revolutionary War battles. See also American Revolution; Lexington and Concord, Battles of References and Further Reading Bergman, Peter M., ed. Chronological History of the Negro in America. New York: New American Library, 1969. Drotning, Phillip T. Black Heroes in our Nation’s History. New York: Cowles, 1969. Fleming, Thomas. Liberty! New York: Penguin, 1997. Kaplan, Sidney, and Emma Nogrady Kaplan. The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1989. Peckham, Howard H. The War for Independence. New York: Bonanza Books, 1975. Young, Alfred F. Preface to George Quintal, Patriots of Color. Toronto: Eastern National Press, forthcoming 2004. http://www.nps.gov/bost/ patriotsofcolor/preface.htm (accessed August 25, 2003).

Bureau of Colored Troops In May 1863, the Bureau of Colored Troops (BCT) was established in Washington. Its role

was to oversee the creation of United States Colored Troop (USCT) regiments and to centralize the control of units that had already been created in some states and by field commanders. The imperative to create African American units had been recognized by the middle of 1862, by which time the Union army had suffered a series of defeats at the hands of the Confederacy. Recruitment was dropping among the white population of the North. Lincoln announced plans to enlist African Americans into the military under the Militia Act of July 17, 1862. On August 25, 1862, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton authorized Gen. Rufus Saxton to accept into service no more than 5,000 volunteers of African descent. In May 1863, the War Department formed the Bureau of Colored Troops to organize the recruitment and enlistment of African Americans as well as the appointment of their white officers (see sidebar). Within a few months, some thirty regiments had been raised. Washington had initiated the recruitment only because of the severe losses suffered by white troops. The officers were to be white; even regiments that had had African American officers found these men gradually replaced by white officers. By the end of the war around 178,975 African Americans (10 percent of the Union Army) were serving as soldiers in the U.S. Army and another 19,000 were serving in the navy. African Americans served as artillerymen and infantry and performed all noncombat support functions such as carpenters, chaplains, cooks, guards, laborers, nurses, scouts, spies, pilots, surgeons, and teamsters. By the end of the war, there were around eighty African American commissioned officers. The significance of the Bureau of Colored Troops was that it undertook a systematic and consistent approach to the recruitment and training of both slave and free African Americans from Confederate, border, and Northern states. To facilitate this, the bureau set up recruitment centers in the Border States and in the South where the Union army had gained control.

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WAR DEPARTMENT Adjutant General’s Office Washington, May 22, 1863 GENERAL ORDERS, No. 143. I. A Bureau is established in the Adjutant General’s Office for the record of all matters relating to the organization of Colored Troops. An officer will be assigned to the charge of the Bureau, with such number of clerks as may be designated by the Adjutant General. II. Three or more field officers will be detailed as Inspectors to supervise the organization of colored troops at such points as may be indicated by the War Department in the Northern and Western States. III. Boards will be convened at such posts as may be decided upon by the War Department to examine applicants for commissions to command colored troops, who, on application to the Adjutant General, may receive authority to present themselves to the board for examination. IV. No persons shall be allowed to recruit for colored troops except specially authorized by the War Department; and no such authority will be given to persons who have not been examined and passed by a board; nor will such authority be given any one person to raise more than one regiment. V. The reports of Boards will specify the grade of commission for which each candidate is fit, and authority to recruit will be given in accordance. Commissions will be issued from the Adjutant General’s Office when the prescribed number of men is ready for muster into service. VI. Colored troops may be accepted by companies, to be afterwards consolidated in battalions and regiments by the Adjutant General. The regiments will be numbered seriatim, in the order in which they are raised, the numbers to be determined by the Adjutant General. They will be designated: “—Regiment of U.S. Colored Troops.” VII. Recruiting stations and depots will be established by the Adjutant General as circumstances shall require, and officers will be detailed to muster and inspect the troops. VIII. The non-commissioned officers of colored troops may be selected and appointed from the best men of their number in the usual mode of appointing non-commissioned officers. Meritorious commissioned officers will be entitled to promotion to higher rank if they prove themselves equal to it. IX. All personal applications for appointments in colored regiments, or for information concerning them, must be made to the Chief of the Bureau; all written communications should be addressed to the Chief of the Bureau, to the care of the Adjutant General. by order of the secretary of war: E. D. Townsend, Assistant Adjutant General Source: Records of the Adjutant General’s Office 1780s–1917, Record Group 94, National Archives.

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Camp of the Tennessee Colored Battery at Johnsonville, Tennessee, 1864. (Library of Congress)

The approximate breakdown of the recruitment has been calculated along the following lines from a variety of sources: Northern states (freedmen), 33,000; Border States (Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, Tennessee, and Kentucky), 62,000; Louisiana, 24,000; Mississippi, 8,000; and other Southern states, 37,000. By the end of the war, 138 infantry regiments, 6 cavalry regiments, 14 heavy artillery units, and a single light artillery unit had been created. The bureau’s own calculations of the losses in the

USCT amounted to 68,178 men (although around half of these died of disease, not in combat). See also American Civil War; Freedmen’s Bureau; United States Colored Troops (appendixes); individual units References and Further Reading Cornish, Dudley T. The Sable Arm: Black Troops in the Union Army, 1861–1865. Lawrence:

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University Press of Kansas, 1987 (originally published New York: Longmans Green, 1956). Franklin, John Hope. From Slavery to Freedom: A History of Negro Americans. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1956. Glatthaar, Joseph T. Forged in Battle: The Civil War Alliance of Black Soldiers and White Officers. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1990. Quarles, Benjamin. The Negro in the Making of America. New York: Collier Books, 1964.

Williams, George Washington. A History of the Negro Troops in the War of the Rebellion, 1861–1865, Preceded by a Review of the Military Service of Negroes in Ancient and Modern Times. New York: Negro Universities Press, 1969. Originally published 1888. Wilson, Joseph T. The Phalanx: A History of the Negro Soldier of the United States in the Wars of 1775–1812, 1861–1865. Hartford, CT: American Publishing Company, 1890. Reprint Salem, NH: Ayer, 1992.

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c nected by the more tender relations of parents, wives, husbands, and sisters, and friends. As such we most affectionately address you. . . . Two hundred and twenty-seven years ago the first of our injured race were brought to the shores of America. They came not with glad spirits to select their homes in the New World. They came not with their own consent, to find an unmolested enjoyment of the blessings of this fruitful soil. The first dealings they had with men calling themselves Christians exhibited to them the worst features of corrupt and sordid hearts; and convinced them that no cruelty is too great, no villainy and no robbery too abhorrent for even enlightened men to perform, when influenced by avarice and lust. Neither did they come flying upon the wings of Liberty to a land of freedom. But they came with broken hearts, from their beloved native land, and were doomed to unrequited toil and deep degradation. Nor did the evil of their bondage end at their emancipation by death. Succeeding generations inherited their chains, and millions have come from eternity into time, and have returned again to the world of spirits, cursed and ruined by American slavery.

Call to Rebellion (1843) At the 1843 National Negro Convention in Buffalo, New York, Henry Highland Garnet (1815– 1882) of New York made an address to the slaves of the United States, urging them to stand and fight as their only means of achieving freedom. Brethren and fellow citizens: Your brethren of the North, East, and West have been accustomed to meet together in National Conventions, to sympathize with each other, and to weep over your unhappy condition. In these meetings we have addressed all classes of the free, but we have never, until this time, sent a word of consolation and advice to you. We have been contented in sitting still and mourning over your sorrows, earnestly hoping that before this day, your sacred liberties would have been restored. But, we have hoped in vain. Years have rolled on, and tens of thousands have been borne on streams of blood and tears to the shores of eternity. Whilst you have been oppressed, we have also been partakers with you; nor can we be free while you are enslaved. We, therefore, write to you as being bound with you. Many of you are bound to us, not only by the ties of common humanity, but we are con-

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African Americans supported them—although the one raider who was killed in the abortive attempt was the free African American Hayward Shepherd.

In 1822, Denmark Veazie, of South Carolina, formed a plan for the liberation of his fellowmen. In the whole of the history of human efforts to overthrow slavery, a more complicated and tremendous plan was never formed. He was betrayed by the treachery of his own people, and died a martyr to freedom. The patriotic Nathaniel Turner followed Denmark Veazie. He was goaded to desperation by wrong and injustice. By despotism, his name has been recorded on the list of infamy, and future generations will remember him among the noble and brave. Next arose the immortal Joseph Sinque, the hero of the Amistad. He was a Native American, and by the help of God he emancipated a whole ship-load of his fellow countrymen on the high seas. And he now sings of liberty on the sunny hills of Africa and beneath his native palm-trees, where he hears the lion roar and feels himself as free as the king of the forest. Next arose Madison Washington, that bright star of freedom, and took his station in the constellation of true heroism. He was a slave aboard the Brig Creole, of Richmond bound to New Orleans, that great slave mart, with a hundred and four others. Nineteen struck for liberty or death. But one life was taken, and the whole were emancipated, and the vessel was carried into Nassau, New Providence.

See also American Civil War; Amistad Case; Douglass, Frederick References and Further Reading Garnet, Henry Highland. Complete text of Call to Rebellion at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/ 4h2937t.html. Litwack, Leon F. North of Slavery: The Negro in the Free States, 1790–1860. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970. Schor, Joel. Henry Highland Garnet. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1977. Stampp, Kenneth M. The Peculiar Institution: Slavery in the Ante-Bellum South. New York: Vintage, 1956.

Camp Nelson, Kentucky

Garnet called on all slaves to resist, asking them to trust in God and the fact that there were 4 million slaves in America and that their concerted action would be irresistible. Although he condemned the slaveholders themselves as being oppressors and tyrants, Garnet did not understand why the slaves of the south “tamely submit.” Garnet’s incendiary call to rebellion was rejected by the convention; Frederick Douglass, who went on to become the leading black abolitionist in the country, spoke at length against it. When, sixteen years later, John Brown and his men raided the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), few

During the Civil War Camp Nelson was a major military recruitment and training center for African Americans and was the largest muster and training post in Kentucky. The camp was originally founded and constructed by Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside’s IX Corps of the Army of the Ohio in June 1863 as a supply depot for the army; it was closed in June 1866. Following the Confederate Conscription Act of February 1864, which eliminated resistance to recruitment of African Americans into the Union forces, Camp Nelson was flooded with African American recruits, and by the end of August some 2,000 men were undergoing training. By the end of 1865, some 40 percent of Kentucky’s male African American population (10,000) had passed through the camp. Camp Nelson was the third most important African American training center during the Civil War. Eight United States Colored Troops

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(USCT) regiments were formed here, in addition to mounted infantry units, cavalry, and light artillery. Initially, conditions were primitive as a vast tent-city grew to accommodate the men. For many of the recruits, however, especially those who were former slaves from the Southern states, life was considerably safer and more acceptable. The camp also served as a major supply depot on one of the most crucial logistical lines for the Union armies operating in the area and further south. As a result, Confederates often raided the camp. African American troops were stationed around the area, and units were deployed to protect the Louisville, Nashville, and Kentucky Central railroads. The troops also fought in raids on Big Springs and Fort Jones, among other engagements, including Glasgow, Taylorsville, Harrodsburg, Simpsonville, and Smithfield. Two of the regiments that trained at Fort Nelson, the 114th and 116th Colored Infantry, both eventually found themselves in Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler’s Army of the James, seeing action throughout Virginia. Both units were present when the Confederates surrendered at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. Although the majority of the regiments that had passed through the camp during the Civil War were mustered out in either 1865 or 1866, two of the units, the 114th and the 116th, were considered indispensable and were transferred to the Rio Grande region at the end of the war. These two units were not mustered out until 1867, much to the disgust of the soldiers who served in them. Sergeant-Major Thomas Boswell of the 116th wrote from Roma, Texas, in November 1865: We are in high hopes of being mustered out soon, but it seems that they have slighted us. Our corps is pretty much all gone home; but it is said we are retained because we are “slave State troops.” Is this a good reason for our retention? No. We earnestly hope that the Gov-

ernment will not be guilty of this great wrong toward us, as we have tried to do our duty. We are Kentucky boys, and there is no regiment in the field that ever fought better. We can boast of being heroes of eight hard fought battles, and this we deem sufficient recommendation for our discharge (Camp Nelson website).

See also American Civil War; Bureau of Colored Troops; United States Colored Cavalry (appendix); United States Colored Troops (appendixes) References and Further Reading Camp Nelson website: www.campnelson.org/history/ recruitment.htm (accessed July 2, 2003). Howard, Victor. Black Liberation in Kentucky Emancipation and Freedom, 1862–1884. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1983. Lucas, Marion Brunson. A History of Blacks in Kentucky: From Slavery to Segregation, 1760–1891. Frankfort: Kentucky Historical Society, 2001.

Carney, William Harvey (1840–1908) William Carney was an African American Civil War hero and winner of the Medal of Honor. He was born into slavery in Norfolk, Virginia, to William and Ann Dean Carney in 1840. His mother had been freed when her master, Major Carney, died, but his father was still in bondage when Carney was born. During his teenage years, Carney’s father escaped to the North and bought the family’s freedom. His family soon joined him, and they settled in New Bedford, Massachusetts, where the younger Carney worked at odd jobs and joined the local church. In early 1863 the Union Army called for African American volunteers and William Carney, at the age of twenty-three, enlisted in the Morgan

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Guards on February 17, 1863. During the spring Carney’s company was merged with others to become part of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment. When asked at the time why he had volunteered, Carney told the Liberator newspaper: “Previous to the formation of colored troops, I had a strong inclination to prepare myself for the ministry; but when the country called for persons, I could best serve my God serving my country and my oppressed brothers.” Together with forty-six other African American volunteers of Company C, 54th Massachusetts, Carney fought at the Battle of Fort Wagner, South Carolina, on July 18, 1863, one of the bloodiest battles of the war. The regiment was commanded by Col. Robert Gould Shaw, who was wounded just as the troops reached the summit of the fort. Carney was also wounded in the head, leg, and hip and he fell very close to Shaw. When Carney noticed that the soldier who carried the flag had been wounded, he pulled himself to his feet and took the flag. Carrying the flag aloft through a volley of enemy bullets across the battlefield, strewn with his dead and wounded comrades, and despite his agonies, Carney delivered the flag to a member of his own regiment, Louis F. Emilio. Amidst cheers from the rest of the men, Carney reportedly shouted: “Boys, the old flag never touched the ground!” Carney then fell to the ground. For his brave and selfless heroic efforts William Carney became the first African American Medal of Honor recipient. The issuing ceremony did not take place until May 23, 1900, making Carney the last African American Civil War veteran to actually receive the award (many such awards were presented long after the event). His citation read: “When the color sergeant was shot down, this soldier grasped the flag, led the way to the parapet, and planted the colors thereon. When the troops fell back he brought off the flag, under a fierce fire in which he was twice severely wounded.”

Carney was mustered out of the army with an honorable discharge because of injuries sustained at Fort Wagner in June 1864, and he returned to New Bedford, where he was employed as superintendent of street lights for the city. On October 11, 1865, William Carney married Susannah Williams of New Bedford. She was the first African American woman to graduate from the New Bedford High School and was one of the first black teachers employed in Massachusetts. They had one child, Clara Heronia, who later became a well-known music teacher in the New Bedford area. The couple moved to California to seek their fortune, and in 1867 Carney was employed as a shipping clerk in the office of James T. Hoyt, an assistant army quartermaster based in San Francisco. The Carneys returned to New Bedford in 1870, and William became employed as a letter carrier, the first African American in the area to do so. He retired in 1901. He was then asked by Massachusetts Secretary of State William H. Olin to take the job of messenger at the State House, Boston, a position he held until his death. Carney was the second African American to hold this position, the first being the abolitionist Lewis Hayden. Carney regularly led the Memorial Day parades, including the 1904 service when he was the chief orator at the Shaw Monument on Boston Common. He continued to be a popular speaker at patriotic events. Carney died on December 8, 1908, as a result of an elevator accident in the Boston State House. His funeral was well attended by state officials and all the flags in the Commonwealth were flown at half mast, the first time this was done for an African American man. Carney’s flag was enshrined in Memorial Hall and a bronze statue erected in his memory behind the monument to Robert Gould Shaw in the Massachusetts State House.

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See also American Civil War; 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment; Fort Wagner, Battle of; Medal of Honor (appendix); United

C a r t e r, E d w a r d A l l e n , J r.

States Colored Troops; Battles of (appendix); United States Colored Troops, Formation and Service Records of (appendix) References and Further Reading Aptheker, Herbert. A Documentary History of the Negro People in the United States. New York: Citadel Press, 1951. Duncan, Russell, ed. Blue-eyed Child of Fortune: The Civil War Letters of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1992. Greene, Robert Ewell. Black Defenders of America, 1775–1973. Chicago: Johnson Publishing, 1974. Lee, Irvin H. Negro Medal of Honor Men. 3d ed. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1969. Logan, Rayford W., and Michael R. Winston, eds. Dictionary of American Negro Biography. New York: Norton, 1982. Moebs, Thomas Truxton. Black Soldiers—Black Sailors—Black Ink. Chesapeake Bay, VA: Moebs Publishing, 1994.

Carter, Edward Allen, Jr. (1916–1963) A Medal of Honor winner who fought in the Chinese Army, the Spanish Civil War, and World War II, but was denied the chance to fight in Korea because the authorities suspected him of being a Communist. Edward Carter Jr. was born in Los Angeles, California, on May 26, 1916. He was the son of the Reverend E. A. Carter, a traveling missionary, and Mary Carter, who was from Calcutta, India. He grew up in India and then moved to Shanghai in China, where he attended a military school. Still in his teens, he ran away from home and joined the Chinese Nationalist Army and fought against the Japanese. Carter had risen to the rank of lieutenant when it was discovered that he was only fifteen years old. Reluctantly, he reenrolled in a Shanghai Military School and learned Chinese, Hindi, and German.

During the Spanish Civil War Carter joined the Abraham Lincoln Battalion and fought against Franco’s Fascists in Spain. In 1938 he was forced to flee Spain and headed for France and then back to the United States. He married Mildred Hoover in Los Angeles in 1940. Carter enlisted in the segregated U.S. Army on September 6, 1941, and before the United States entered World War II, he had been promoted to the rank of sergeant. In 1942 the army began to take an interest in Carter because he was believed to be a Communist. On May 18, 1943, an army intelligence officer at Fort Benning, Georgia, placed Carter under surveillance and began an investigation into his background. From then on all of his commanding officers were required to send secret reports to Fort Benning. In 1944 Carter was sent to Europe and assigned to transport supplies, but in December of that year, when General Eisenhower needed combat replacements and instituted the Ground Force Replacement Command, Carter was one of 4,562 African American soldiers to be attached to white-only infantry and armor regiments. He was a member of a security detachment assigned to protect Gen. George Patton and his staff. Carter finally saw action but had to accept a demotion to the rank of private as it was not acceptable for African Americans to command white troops. He served for some time in Patton’s Mystery Division, the 12th Armored Division, which in March 1945 carried out a secret offensive in which the troops removed their divisional insignia. On March 23, 1945, while traveling on a tank near Speyer, Germany, Carter came under German small arms and antitank weapon fire. He led three other men across an open field to deal with the enemy. Two of the others were killed and the third wounded, and Carter received five wounds. Eight German infantrymen moved to take him prisoner, but Carter killed six of them and captured the other two. He was recommended for the Medal of Honor, but this was reduced to the Distinguished Service Cross.

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He recovered from his wounds in less than a month and became a staff sergeant. By October 1945 he had been awarded the Purple Heart, the American Defense Service Medal, and the Combat Infantry Badge. After leaving the army shortly after the war, he attempted to reenlist in 1949 but was refused because of his supposed Communist connections. He died on January 30, 1963. On January 10, 1997, Carter’s body was exhumed and reburied with full military honors four days later at Arlington National Cemetery. On January 13 his son, Edward Allen Carter III, received a posthumous Medal of Honor from President Bill Clinton on his behalf. See also Abraham Lincoln Battalion; Medal of Honor (appendix); Spanish Civil War; World War II References and Further Reading Buckley, Gail. American Patriots. New York: Random House, 2001. Carter, Allene G., and Robert L. Allen. Honoring Sergeant Carter: Redeeming a Black World War II Hero’s Legacy. New York: HarperCollins, 2003.

Cash, John Anthony, Sr. (1936–1998) An African American colonel who served both in a combat and an intelligence role in the U.S. Army and, after his retirement, became a distinguished military historian. Cash was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and was a graduate of Rutgers University, where he also received a master’s degree in history. He received a second master’s degree in Latin American studies at the University of Wisconsin. He taught history at West Point and at Morgan State University. Cash trained Cuban nationals prior to the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, served as a company commander in Vietnam and defense attaché in El Salvador and

Brazil, and became an intelligence officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency. He was trained at Fort Benning, Georgia, and served as a captain in the 3d Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division in Vietnam between 1965 and 1966. In 1965 Cash was assistant operations officer at 3d Brigade headquarters at the time of the Battle of Ia Drang, where he did nonetheless see some action. He returned to Vietnam for a second tour of duty in 1972, where he was a historian in Vietnam and Thailand with the office of the chief of military history. After his retirement in 1992, Cash visited Korea in October 1989, where he accompanied six 24th Infantry veterans back to Battle Mountain to examine the regiment’s performance there and to substantiate Charles M. Bussey’s claim for a Medal of Honor. Cash interviewed more than 250 former officers and enlisted men from the 24th. Although he did uncover stories of the murder of a Korean peasant, a rape perpetrated by members of the 24th, and the surrender of 136 men, a whole company, to the enemy, he was able to establish that the 24th had been involved in a number of successful operations and had suffered heavy casualties protecting white units who had themselves run away. He found that the actions of the unit during March and April 1951 vindicated its overall performance. Black Soldier, White Army: The 24th Infantry in Korea was published in 1996, incorporating the research carried out by Cash to correct the record. The book emphasizes the inadequacy of the rotating regimental command until the arrival in September of a new commander, John T. Corley, who instituted reforms that made the regiment more effective. Cash retired from the U.S. Army in 1992 and died on August 24, 1998. He was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery on September 2. See also Korean War; 24th Infantry Regiment; U.S. Army; Vietnam War References and Further Reading Bowers, William, William Hammond, and George

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MacGarrigle. Black Soldier, White Army: The 24th Infantry Regiment in Korea. Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, U.S. Army, 1996. Cash, John A., John Albright, and Allan W. Sandstrum. Seven Firefights in Vietnam. Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, U.S. Army, 1970. Converse, Elliott V., 3d, Daniel K. Gibran, John A. Cash, Robert K. Griffith Jr., and Richard H. Cohn. The Exclusion of Black Soldiers from the Medal of Honor in World War Two. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1997.

Chaffin’s Farm (New Market Heights), Battle of (September 29–30, 1864) Of the sixteen African Americans awarded the Medal of Honor for valor during the Civil War, fourteen were honored for action at the Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, or New Market Heights, Virginia. No other single day’s battle in U.S. history involved so many black honorees. During the fall of 1864 Union forces launched several attacks to break through the Confederate defenses guarding Petersburg and Richmond. On the night of September 28, Union Gen. Ulysses Grant sent Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler’s Army of the James (Virginia) across the James River to attack Confederate defense works north of the river. This was Lee’s left flank defending Richmond. Butler’s troops marched for twelve hours from their positions at Petersburg, 17 miles northeast. At dawn, they found themselves facing elements of Hood’s Texas Brigade holding New Market Heights. Butler had chosen for one mission Brig. Gen. Charles Paine’s 3d Division of XVIII Corps, which were United States Colored Troops (USCT). Their objective, the Confederate earthworks, lay some 300 yards away, bisected by a stream, marshland, abates, and sharpened stakes. The assault began on September 29 at

Christian A. Fleetwood in uniform in an 1884 carte de visite. Fleetwood’s actions during the battle at Chaffin’s Farm near Richmond, Virginia, on September 29, 1864, led to his receipt of the Medal of Honor. (Library of Congress)

5:30 a.m. in clearing fog, Col. Samuel Duncan’s 3d Brigade leading. Duncan’s men suffered over 50 percent casualties, but a second assault went in at 6:00, this time getting to within 30 yards of the Texans. Meanwhile Fort Harrison, a key defensive position in the Confederate line, was under threat. The Texans holding the defense works against the USCT were ordered to reinforce the fort. Under cover of Virginian cavalry, the Texans withdrew, and the USCT swarmed over the Confederate positions. By 7:00, New Market Heights was in Union hands. African American troops accounted for 54 percent of the Union

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losses in the battle, although they accounted for only 20 percent of the total Union forces involved. The African American war correspondent Thomas Morris Chester, from the Philadelphia Press, was at the engagement September 29; he described the charge of the 4th and 6th USCT. The latter was led by William Birney, the son of the Alabama abolitionist James G. Birney. As the two regiments stormed the Confederate positions, the 4th lost its whole color guard. Alfred B. Hilton snatched up the Union flag, which had been presented to the regiment by African American women from Baltimore. Waving the flag above his head, he remained a defiant symbol until the order was given to retreat. His last words before dying were “Save the flag.” Sgt. Maj. Christian A. Fleetwood, one of the Medal of Honor awardees, brought the colors safely back to the Union lines. When Gen. Benjamin Butler presented Tiffany Medals to 200 of the 7th USCT, he proclaimed on October 11, 1864: “A few more such charges, and to command colored troops will be the post of honor in the American armies” (quoted in Scott 2003). See also American Civil War; Medal of Honor (appendix); United States Colored Troops, Battles of (appendix); United States Colored Troops, Formation and Service Records of (appendix) References and Further Reading Blackett, R. J. M., ed. Thomas Morris Chester: Black Civil War Correspondent. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1989. Cornish, Dudley Taylor. The Sable Arm: Black Troops in the Union Army, 1861–1865. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1987. Originally published New York: Longmans Green, 1956. Scott, Donald. “Camp William Penn’s Black Soldiers in Blue.” Written for America’s Civil War. http:// afroamhistory.about.com/library/prm/ blsoldiersinblue4.htm (accessed August 26, 2003). Sutherland, Jonathan. Battles of the American Civil War. Shrewsbury, UK: Airlife Publishing, 2002.

Champagne Offensive (1918) A major World War I offensive against the Germans in which the African American 93d Division, assigned to service in France in the autumn of 1918, was involved from September 28 to October 6. The 369th Regiment was posted to the front line with the French 161st Division, working alongside Moroccan troops. Casualties were extremely heavy. At the beginning of the day, the 3d Battalion had had 20 officers and 700 men, but as nightfall approached, they were down to 7 officers and 150 enlisted men. By the end of the offensive the 1st Battalion had been reduced to 3 officers and 100 men, the 2d to 10 officers and 300 men, and the 3d Battalion to 7 officers and 137 enlisted men. The 369th was in the line for nine consecutive days and failed in only one attack. They never gave up an inch of ground. The 371st Infantry, after its arrival in France on April 23, 1918, was placed under French command and nearly 200 men were added to the regiment, to form three new machine gun companies. Apart from the American khaki uniform, the regiment was equipped with French rifles, bayonets, helmets, pack, and other equipment. They received training in French tactics and finally joined the front line as part of the 157th French Infantry Division commanded by Gen. Mariano Goybet. After serving in the line for three months to the northwest of Verdun, it was decided that the regiment should participate in the much-anticipated September offensive in the Champagne region. The French had attempted to penetrate the German lines at this point before, and in almost every year of the war had launched major offensives, only to receive massive casualties and grave disappointment because little or no ground was taken. Nevertheless, by the late spring of 1918, the Germans, although capable of launching devastating counterattacks, were now firmly on the

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defensive, and when the 371st went over the top with their objectives clearly stated, they, like the majority of the other units involved, were considerably more successful than their predecessors. The regiment stormed Cote 188, Bussy Farm, Ardeuil, Montfauxelles, and Trieres. During their surge forward, they captured large numbers of German prisoners, forty-seven machine guns, eight trench mortars, three field artillery pieces, and a munitions depot. The regiment also captured some railroad cars stacked with supplies, wood, and hay. During their advance they had also brought down three German aircraft with rifle and machine gun fire. The regiment was directly involved from September 28 to October 6. Of the 2,384 officers and enlisted men, 1,065 were killed, wounded, or missing. The majority of these casualties were inflicted on the first three days of the offensive when the German resistance was at its strongest. The French awarded the 371st a Unit Citation. On January 27, 1919, Vice Admiral Moreau, representing the French government, decorated the Regimental Colors. One of the officers was also awarded the French Legion of Honor; thirty-four other officers were awarded the Croix de Guerre, as were eighty-nine of the enlisted men. The U.S. Army and government consequently awarded ten officers and twelve enlisted men the Distinguished Service Cross. The 372d made its first offensive moves on September 27 when it helped to push the Germans out of Bussy Farm. By September 30 they were placed at Trieres Farm, to relieve the 371st. They spent most of the following week helping to mop up pockets of German resistance around Monthois. By the end of the first week of October, all three regiments were relieved and sent to the rear to rest. See also Chateau-Thierry, Battle of; Croix de Guerre; Marne, Second Battle of the; 92d Division; 369th Infantry Regiment; 371st Infantry Regiment; 372d Infantry Regiment; World War I

References and Further Reading Barbeau, Arthur E., and Florette Henri. The Unknown Soldiers. New York: Da Capo, 1996. Gibbons, Floyd. And They Thought We Wouldn’t Fight. New York: Doran, 1918. Mason, Monroe, and Arthur Furr. The American Negro with the Red Hand of France. Boston: Cornhill, 1920. Scott, Emmett J. Scott’s Official History of the American Negro in the World War. Chicago: Homewood Press, 1919. Reprint: New York: Arno Press/New York Times, 1969.

Charlton, Cornelius (1929–1951) Medal of Honor winner Cornelius (Connie) Charlton was born in East Gulf, West Virginia, the son of a coal miner. He served in Korea on his second enlistment tour and was assigned to Company C, 24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. He quickly regained the sergeant’s stripes he had earned in his first tour of duty and was engaged near the 38th parallel in an attack on Hill 543 with the 8th Army in May 1951. His third battalion ran into difficulties, and Charlton took command of the platoon after his lieutenant had been wounded. He had already been recommended for a battlefield commission. In carrying out the assault on Hill 543, he took the lead and destroyed two enemy positions, killing six of the enemy. As he regrouped his men, he was hit in the chest by grenade fragments. Despite his wounds, he led another charge and carried the hill. Charlton then noticed another enemy emplacement, which he tackled on his own, firing as he ran toward the enemy bunker. He was again hit by grenade fragments, which killed him. Charlton’s award was posthumously made on March 19, 1952. Part of his citation reads: “The wounds received during his daring exploits resulted in his death but his indomitable courage,

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superb leadership, and gallant self-sacrifice reflect the highest credit upon himself, the infantry, and the military service.” He was buried in a family ceremony in Mercer County, West Virginia, due to what the U.S. Army called an administrative oversight; Charlton’s family charged that racism was the reason. In 1989 the army finally offered to move his remains to Arlington Cemetery, but family rejected the offer. Instead Cornelius Charlton was reburied at the American Legion Cemetery at Beckley on March 10, 1989. The reburial was witnessed by two army generals, a congressman, an assistant secretary of state, and an honor guard from Fort Knox. Charlton is the only African American among the 251 soldiers buried in the American Legion Cemetery. The USNS Charlton was built in San Diego, California, and was named after Sgt. Cornelius Charlton at a ceremony on December 11, 1999, officiated by Maj. Gen. Mario F. Montero, Jr. Charlton’s sister, Fairy M. Papadopoulos, christened the ship. A tree in the Bronx, where he lived before serving in Korea, was dedicated to his memory, and the bridge over the Bluestone Gorge in Mercer County still bears the name Charlton Memorial Bridge. See also Korean War; Medal of Honor (appendix); 24th Infantry Regiment; U.S. Army

Chateau-Thierry, Battle of (Battle of Belleau Wood, 1918) Two related actions took place, the first at Chateau-Thierry (June 3–4, 1918) and the second at Belleau Wood (June 6–26, 1918). Belleau Wood, on the Metz-Paris road, had been taken by the German Seventh Army at the end of May as part of the Aisne offensive. Held by four German divisions, it was recaptured by U.S. troops. Many African American troops, no-

tably the 369th Infantry Regiment, were involved in the engagement. Chateau-Thierry, 50 miles northeast of Paris, formed the tip of the German advance toward the French capital. It was defended by the U.S. 2d and 3d Divisions. The American troops, together with the French 10th Colonial Division, launched a counteroffensive on June 3–4 that pushed the Germans back across the Marne to Jauglonne. Two days later, the 369th took part in operations to clear the Germans out of Belleau Wood. When a French officer, on June 6, suggested to Col. William Hayward, the commanding officer of the 369th, that he should pull his men back in the face of intense German defensive fire, he replied: “My men never retire, they go forward or they die” (quoted in National Archives). During this engagement, a member of the 369th, Sgt. Bob Collins, was awarded the Croix de Guerre for his use of a machine gun under heavy fire. Maj. Gen. Omar Bundy’s 2d Division was heavily engaged, as was Gen. James Harbord’s 2d Marine Corps division, the latter being given the task of actually clearing the wood. The division had to advance across wheat fields devoid of cover, in the face of well-positioned German machine gun posts. The net result of the attack was the highest casualty rate in a single day (June 6) that the Marine Corps had ever suffered. The Germans tried to hold the wood; the Marines (and the 3d Infantry Brigade) took it before being forced out again. The woods changed hands no fewer than six times before the Germans were permanently pushed out. Over the course of the battle (June 6–26), total American casualties reached nearly 10,000, of whom 1,811 were killed. German losses are unknown, but at least 1,600 German prisoners fell into Allied hands. The battle represented the blunting of the last major German offensive of the war. In recognition of the contribution of U.S. Marines during the engagement, the Bois Belleau was renamed the Bois de la Brigade de Marine.

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See also Croix de Guerre; Marne, Battle of; Meuse-Argonne Offensive; 93d Division; 369th Infantry Regiment; World War I; World War I Recruitment Camps and Postings (appendix) References and Further Reading American Battle Monument Commission (ABMC). 93d Division: Summary of Operations in the World War. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1944. Barbeau, Arthur E., and Florette Henri. The Unknown Soldiers: African American Troops in World War I. New York: DaCapo, 1996. National Archives Digital Classroom. http://www. archives.gov/digital_classroom/lessons/wwi_369th _infantry/wwi_369th_infantry.html (accessed September 1, 2003).

Cherry, Frederick (1928– ) Frederick Cherry, a fighter pilot in the 35th Tactical Fighter Squadron based in Thailand, was the first African American pilot to be captured by the North Vietnamese and incarcerated at the “Hanoi Hilton” (Hoa Lo Prison). Born March 24, 1928, one of eight children in a poor Virginia family, Frederick V. Cherry graduated from Virginia Union College in 1951. He had already taken flight school tests at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. Of the twenty men in his group, he was the only African American, and he achieved the highest scores. He originally wanted to join the navy as a pilot, but the recruiter’s overt racism prompted him to join the U.S. Air Force. He flew fifty-one missions in F-84G fighter bombers over Korea. In 1965, now a major and fighter pilot with the 35th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Colonel Cherry flew bombing missions from his base in Thailand into North Vietnam. In October 1965 he was shot down flying a F-105D on a general bombing mission. Captured by the North Vietnamese, he was sent to the prisoner-of-war

camp known as the Hanoi Hilton. Here he and other prisoners suffered appalling conditions and daily interrogations and torture at the hands of their captors. After some time he was transferred to Cu Loc Prison (called “the zoo”), where he shared a cell with a white pilot, a navy lieutenant from Tennessee, Porter Halyburton. After an initial period of mistrust, they became friends and depended heavily on one another. Cherry had been wounded when he had been shot down, and only in February 1966 did the North Vietnamese operate on him. They gave him no anesthetic or medication, and the wound became infected. It is unlikely that Colonel Cherry would have survived had it not been for the care provided by Halyburton. By March Cherry was in a pitiful state and had lost nearly half of his weight. The North Vietnamese took off his torso cast, and washed him down with gasoline. He was given a blood transfusion and operated on twice more, in April and July 1966. He described the second operation: “They just took a scalpel and cut away the dead flesh, scraping at the infection on the bones. It was the worst straight pain I had yet known. They had my face covered with a sheet. And they kept raising it to see if I’m going to beg for mercy, going to scream. And each time they looked down at me, I would look at them and smile.” Halyburton continued to care for him, but four days after the second operation the Vietnamese began intensive interrogation on Cherry. He was kept in solitary confinement, and they wanted him to make a statement denouncing the U.S. government. He was interrogated between four and five hours a day; still his wounds were not healing, and finally the North Vietnamese gave him antibiotics. Cherry was finally released and returned to the United States in 1973. He was awarded the Air Force Cross, two Bronze Stars, and two Purple Hearts to add to his Distinguished Flying Cross and Silver Star. After the war and after Cherry’s retirement in 1981, he and Porter Halyburton continued to stay in touch.

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improve the education and the infrastructure of Haiti, attracting teachers through early abolitionist networks from Great Britain and the United States. But on March 28, 1811, with his power base secure, he declared Haiti a kingdom and crowned himself King Henri I. In August 1820 Christophe suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed. On October 2 of the same year, a military mutiny sparked a revolt on the island. Christophe apparently committed suicide shortly after this incident; rumor had it that his body was buried in quicklime to prevent it from being mutilated.

See also U.S. Air Force; Vietnam War References and Further Reading Terry, Wallace. Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans. New York: Ballantine Books, 1984.

Christophe, Henri (1767–1820) A Grenadian-born soldier and statesman, Christophe fought as a volunteer during the American Revolution and later crowned himself King Henri I of Haiti. Christophe’s parents were slaves who had been brought to Grenada to work on sugar plantations. Christophe became a cabin boy on a French ship and was then sold to a sugar planter on the island of St. Dominique, which would later be called Haiti. In terms of U.S. military history, Christophe is perhaps best remembered for his involvement in the failed Franco-American attempt to capture Savannah during the American Revolution in October 1779. He was, apparently, just twelve years old at the time and was a powder boy; it is said that he was wounded during the siege. It is said that Christophe served with the French-led Haitian Free Negroes known as the Fontages Legion, 545 strong. In 1794 Christophe was one of the leading Haitian figures fighting with the French against the Spaniards, who were trying to conquer the island. He became a general of slaves. Christophe had originally served as a sergeant, but he was made a general by revolutionary leader Jean Jacques Dessalines. Ultimately the Haitians turned against the French and defeated the armies of Napoleon Bonaparte to create a republic on November 27, 1803. Christophe was made president of the northern state in February 1807. He took active measures to

See also American Revolution References and Further Reading Bennett, Lerone, Jr. Before the Mayflower. New York: Penguin Books, 1978. Heatter, Basil. A King in Haiti: The Story of Henri Christophe. Farrar Straus and Giroux, 1972.

Cleburne’s Plan (1864) Maj. Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne proposed a highly controversial plan in the winter of 1864 in a desperate bid to turn the tide of the Civil War in the Confederacy’s favor—abolishing slavery and enlisting the newly freed African Americans into the Confederate Army. In Dalton, Georgia, on the night of January 2, 1864, Cleburne requested a meeting of all senior staff in the Army of Tennessee. After proving himself a brilliant tactical commander at the head of one of the army’s divisions throughout the fall of 1863, Cleburne had recently invested considerable time in drafting a secret proposal to arm slaves for the Confederacy. Over the objections of his staff officers, who had advance notice of what his proposal contained and feared it would cost him his military career, Cleburne shocked his colleagues by arguing that if the Confederacy abolished slavery, it would pro-

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vide half a million new African-American troops, clear the way for foreign recognition by such powers as Britain and France (both of whom had expressed serious concerns about supporting a government openly committed to a slave system), and deprive the North of a morally powerful motive for continuing the war. After hearing the outline of Cleburne’s argument, Commander of the Army Gen. Joseph E. Johnston quickly called the meeting to an end, expressing as much alarm at “Cleburne’s Memorial” as his senior staff and refusing to forward it to the War Department for its consideration. Word of Cleburne’s proposal spread, however, leaked by other attendees of the meeting who felt the idea deserved some consideration by Confederate authorities. Eventually it came to the attention of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, who ordered that the proposal immediately be suppressed. As the military campaign of the spring of 1864 began, interest in Cleburne’s plan subsided. The following November, Cleburne was killed at the battle of Franklin. Ironically, shortly after his death, the Confederate Congress debated a bill that included much of what he had proposed in his original plan, although without the provision to abolish slavery, instead leaving it up to the individual states as to whether or not to include emancipation as a reward for military service. Despite strong opposition, the Congress passed the bill on March 13, 1865, a sign of how desperate the Confederacy was to keep a fighting force in the field in the face of the advancing Union Army. The Confederacy’s military situation was too bleak for such a measure to have any significant effect, however, and the war ended a few months later without the measure being put into operation. See also American Civil War; Confederates, African American References and Further Reading Barrow, Charles Kelly, J. H. Segars, and R. B. Rosenburg, eds. Forgotten Confederates: An

Anthology about Black Southerners. Atlanta, GA: Southern Heritage Press, 1995. Blackerby, H. C. Blacks in Blue and Gray: AfroAmerican Service in the Civil War. Tuscaloosa, AL: Portals Press, 1979. Brewer, James. Confederate Negro: Virginia’s Craftsmen and Military Laborers. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1969. Henry, Robert. The Story of the Confederacy. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1931. Jordan, Ervin L. Blacks Confederates and AfroYankees in Civil War Virginia. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1995. Quarles, Benjamin. The Negro in the Civil War. Boston: Little, Brown. 1953. U.S. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compendium of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 128 vols., ser. 4, vol. 3. Washington, DC, 1880–1901. Wiley, Bell. Southern Negroes; 1861–1865. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1938. Wilson, Joseph T. The Black Phalanx: A History of the Negro Soldiers of the United States. Hartford, CT: American Publishing Company, 1892.

Coleman, Bessie (1892–1926) The first licensed African American pilot in the world, Coleman broke ground for future African Americans and set up the early infrastructure for African American pilot training. Bessie Coleman was born on January 26, 1892, in Atlanta, Texas. One of thirteen children born to her African American mother and American Indian father, she grew up in the cotton fields of Texas. An avid reader, by the end of World War I she had made up her mind that she would learn to fly—an extremely difficult task, given her race and sex. Refused in the United States, Coleman, on the advice of Robert S. Abbott, a Chicago newspaper publisher, learned French and contacted an aviation school in France. Finally, in 1921

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she earned her pilot’s license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, becoming the first African American pilot in the world. In 1921, on her return to America, Coleman’s aim was to open a flight school for African Americans. She quickly became a celebrity, appearing on newsreels and performing at air shows around the country. She also began giving lectures and was given the nicknames of “Queen Bess” and “Brave Bessie” by the press for her daring airborne feats. In 1923 she piloted the largest aircraft yet to be flown by a woman, a Benz LFG. Coleman’s dream of a flying school was close to becoming a reality by 1926, when she had raised almost enough money from stunt flying. Tragically, while test flying a World War I Jennie (U.S. Army Curtiss JN-4), at Paxon Field, Jacksonville, Florida, she was killed. After her death, African American aviator and promoter of black aviation William J. Powell organized the Bessie Coleman Aero Groups. In 1931 the first all–African American air show was held, and the following year Coleman’s school was finally opened for African American aviators. Powell’s book encouraging African Americans to enter the field of aviation, Black Wings (1934), was dedicated to Coleman. In 1995 she was honored with a commemorative stamp by the U.S. Postal Service. See also African American Women in the Military References and Further Reading Fisher, Lillian M. Brave Bessie: Flying Free. Dallas, TX: Hendrick-Long Publishing, 1995. Rich, Doris L. Queen Bess: Daredevil Aviator. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1995.

Colonial America From the beginning of the seventeenth century to the events that led to the outbreak of the American Revolution, a growing population of slaves, thought to number nearly 30,000 by the end of the seventeenth century, in addition to free blacks, were periodically pressed into military service to assist white male colonists in protecting the various colonies, but only at times of military crisis. Each of the colonies had its own militia units, and the laws that governed the creation and constituent parts of these militias differed widely, not only along racial lines, but in many cases as a result of immediate needs. Some of the colonies expressed explicitly that African Americans were either not welcome in the militias or simply not allowed to offer their services. For the most part, the colonial legislatures excluded African Americans, except when a colony faced some military threat, most often attack by Native Americans. African American men were again excluded after the threat had passed. During peacetime, white colonists feared arming blacks, both slave and free, concerned that a racial war would be the result, particularly if blacks chose to ally themselves with Native Americans. Although in reality such alliances were unlikely, the colonists’ racial attitudes, which classified both blacks and Native Americans as uncivilized heathens, made such a collusion too horrifying a possibility to ignore. Particularly in the Southern colonies, where the black population was significant and sometimes outnumbered whites, such concerns of racial warfare overcame fears of outside invasion in all but the direst of circumstances. Twice in Virginia’s early history, such a racial war seemed imminent: first during the Massacre of 1622 and then later during Bacon’s Rebellion of 1676. On both occasions, such clear racial distinctions between the combatants later proved to be erroneous, but the myth of blacks

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and Indians united against whites remained prevalent in many colonial minds. In addition, in conformity with white racial attitudes of the time, many colonists believed African Americans lacked the intelligence to competently handle firearms or participate in organized military maneuvers. Incompetent black troops seemed more of a liability than an asset, despite the need for manpower. Colonists had an additional reason to shy away from enlisting African Americans in military service if they were slaves. As a valuable commodity, slaves were too expensive for their owners to risk losing them in a battle or campaign; nor did colonists relish the idea of foregoing the profit from slave labor so that their workers could serve in colonial militias. Colonial legislatures never resolved the issue of how to compensate slaveowners for the loss of their laborers to military service, which effectually curtailed efforts to enlist these men. Slaves serving as militiamen also raised other issues of control, such as preserving the chain of command. Who would have the ultimate decision about what slaves would do, where they would be stationed, and how long they would be expected to remain in their units? Again, based on the principle of property, the assumption was that these decisions would lead to disputes between owners and officers, whose needs would most likely differ. Perhaps to offset owners’ concerns about such issues, some colonies offered incentives for slaveowners to allow their slaves to participate in colonial defense. North Carolina was one such colony, offering a land grant of 50 acres to settlers for providing each ablebodied male slave capable of bearing arms in times of crisis. All of these objections were overlooked by colonists in times when they faced the threat of invasion from an outside power. But in peacetime, no colony entertained the idea of African Americans in the militias. Recently, some historians have suggested that another reason to exclude African Americans from the militia was

because of the important social role the militia played in establishing a social hierarchy among white colonists—a social hierarchy that offered no place for African Americans. Although seemingly a minor consideration when compared to other likely objections to African American military participation, such a social motivation could have had a powerful effect on colonists struggling to define their own places in their fledgling communities. Exclusion in the early years was tradition rather than law. In 1639 Virginia became the first colony to explicitly state in legal terms that African Americans were prohibited from military service. Nevertheless, Virginia officials allowed African Americans to join militias on an ad hoc basis as the need arose. Other colonies followed similar patterns. Massachusetts, for example, enacted legislation in 1652 requiring that African Americans attend military training. Before the end of the century, the colonial legislature repealed and then reinstated the measure four times. In 1706, North Carolina’s colonial legislature passed a law actually requiring all able-bodied African Americans to turn out for military service along with the colony’s white males in the event of a Native American attack. Some colonies organized all-black fighting units, although such instances were rare. Nevertheless, South Carolina raised just such a unit during the Yemassee War of 1715, when faced with a nearly overpowering Native American threat. White settler John Pight personally raised an African American unit of so-called Indian fighters that worked in conjunction with the colonial militia conducting scouting operations and launching raids against Native American settlements. Throughout this period, colonial militias needed almost constant infusions of manpower to sustain their defenses, as a series of major wars, minor conflicts, and intermittent raids plagued all of the colonies at one point or another. Native Americans posed the most significant threat to white settlement. Initially, Native

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Americans fought to preserve their access to land and other natural resources in the face of rapid white settlement. Shortly after white settlers arrived in the New World, however, Native American considerations were complicated by a struggle for power among European nations, as each sought to colonize America and ally themselves with various Native American groups to either maintain control of their territory or gain new territory. Colonists often felt trapped by the political machinations of European governments and Native American groups, as each played the other against one another. Almost as unnerving for the white colonists was the fact that African Americans fought on all sides in these conflicts. For example, runaway slaves often sought shelter among Native Americans, who often—but not always—welcomed such outsiders. French and Spanish colonies also provided greater opportunities for blacks in their military organizations than were to be founded in the English colonies. Colonial governments in areas controlled by these two powers not only encouraged slaves in English colonies to flee to their borders with promises of emancipation, but they also either formed all-black units of fighting men or integrated blacks into existing units of soldiers, both of which had the potential of bringing economic and social rewards to blacks. The first of such units was organized in French-held Louisiana in 1736 to help protect the colony from attack by the Natchez Indians. The Spanish colony of Florida followed suit four years later with the formation of a similar unit, which was composed almost entirely of runaway slaves from Georgia and the Carolinas. Throughout all the colonies—be they English, French, Spanish, Dutch, or Swedish—the experiences of African Americans differed dramatically from colony to colony. In some areas, blacks were used exclusively as laborers or in a fighting capacity that forbade the use of firearms. The Dutch settlement in New Amsterdam provides such an example when the colonists chose to arm their slaves with hatchets

and pikes to defend the colony from Native American attacks but prohibited them from using firearms. The Carolinas adopted a policy of full integration for African Americans when faced with a series of Indian wars in the early days of their settlement. Conversely, Virginia excluded all slaves from military duty and restricted free blacks to noncombatant support roles. In every case, the military role each colonial government assigned to African Americans was highly dependent on the circumstances of each individual colony at that particular point of its history. None of the colonies maintained consistent policies toward African Americans throughout the colonial period, especially as the laws and social conventions concerning race and servitude were evolving in different directions throughout the New World. In general, African Americans proved willing to join colonial militias, although certainly some slaves were compelled to fight against their will by their owners. Those that joined voluntarily did so for a variety of reasons. Free blacks saw military service as an opportunity to both earn money and gain social stature. Slaves also earned money by serving, although their owners most likely confiscated most of their pay. Many slaves were drawn to the colonial military by the promise of freedom, either from colonial governments or their masters, although some colonies offered only monetary rewards rather than emancipation. For slaves, the dangers inherent in active military service were often considered insignificant when compared with the drudgery and toil of their daily lives. Some eagerly opted for militia duty because it was easier than the back-breaking labor they were normally compelled to do on farms and plantations. The willingness of African Americans to fight in the cause of colonial defense proved beneficial to all the colonies at various points throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. As European influence in America spread, colonists periodically found themselves fighting Native Americans along the whole of the frontier, an area that itself changed almost annually

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as settlement spread westward. Whether the war between these shifting powers was rooted in North America or simply an additional theater of engagement for a European conflict, African Americans were often present in locally raised units on a variety of sides in the wars and serving in almost all capacities. See also American Revolution References and Further Reading Donaldson, Gary A. The History of AfricanAmericans in the Military. Malabar, FL: Krieger, 1991 Franklin, John Hope. From Slavery to Freedom: A History of Negro Americans. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1956. Johnson, Jesse J., ed. A Pictorial History of Black Soldiers (1619–1969) in Peace and War. Hampton: VA: Hampton Institute, 1969. Kaplan, Sidney, and Emma N. Kaplan. The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1989. Lee, E. Lawrence. Indian Wars in North Carolina, 1663–1763. Raleigh: Carolina Charter Tercentenary Commission, 1963. Litwack, Leon F. North of Slavery: The Negro in the Free States, 1790–1860 Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961. Quarles, Benjamin. The Negro in the Making of America. New York: Collier Books, 1964.

and many of them joined integrated militia units. But under the direction of Richard Pierpoint (1745–1838), who was himself of African descent, thirty men created their own militia company known as the Coloured Corps. They fought at Queenston Heights in October 1812 and during the siege of Fort George in May 1813. The unit was disbanded shortly after hostilities ended. On December 11, 1837, the Coloured Corps regrouped under Thomas Runchey, who raised a company of 50 African Canadians who were placed under the command of James Sears. A second company was raised under Hugh Eccles, and together they had a combined strength of around 130 men. They fought during Mackenzie’s Rebellion in December 1837 and were disbanded in the summer of the following year, but had never been paid by the Canadian government. Sears paid his own men and was not reimbursed until 1840, but Runchey deserted and fled to the United States. See also 1812, War of References and Further Reading Meyler, David, and Peter Meyler. Stolen Life: Searching for Richard Pierpoint. Toronto: Natural Heritage, 1999.

Confederates, African American Coloured Corps (War of 1812) An African Canadian loyalist unit that was unique among the militia during the War of 1812. It was also known as Captain Runchey’s Company of Coloured Men. A thriving population of African Canadians lived in the Niagara Peninsula at the outbreak of the War of 1812. They were as keen as their white neighbors to show their loyalty to Britain,

Little has been written about the involvement of African Americans in the Confederate army during the Civil War, although the issue was extremely controversial for the Confederacy. Facing persistent manpower shortages in keeping its armies in the field, the Confederate government considered the enlistment of black troops, both slaves and free blacks, at several points during the conflict but repeatedly rejected the idea until the waning months of the war. At the

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national level, African American involvement remained limited to unofficial supporting roles. However, the Congress did not pass any laws prohibiting more formal recruitment, and many states either welcomed or compelled African Americans to participate in their war efforts, both as fighting troops and support staff. There was, in fact, significant African American involvement in the Confederate army from the outset of the war. A lack of record-keeping and a general tendency to overlook the contributions of Southern blacks have meant that it is virtually impossible to determine exactly how many African Americans served with or supported the Confederate war effort, but some historians estimate the number to be as high as 90,000 men, ranging in age from sixteen to sixty. Most filled positions as personal servants for their white masters, charged with keeping the officers’ quarters clean, polishing weaponry, cleaning clothes, grooming and feeding horses, and running various errands. They were also called upon to provide entertainment in the form of singing and dancing or to tend the wounded. These personal servants were almost certainly the slaves of the individual officers they served before the war and simply accompanied their masters to the battlefield and adapted their usual tasks to wartime conditions. Other African Americans laboring for the Confederate army performed more manual labor, constructing entrenchments and defensive works, working as camp cooks and launders, and burying the dead. Although the vast majority of Southern blacks who contributed to the Confederate war effort did so as either personal servants or manual laborers, others were actually enlisted as soldiers or scouts in state military organizations. In all, six states opted to induct slaves and free blacks into their state militias, with the result that Southern black troops fought on the battlefield in a large number of Civil War engagements. Despite the controversy surrounding the recruitment of African American soldiers, many Southern states moved to do so shortly after the

war began, recognizing the great potential to fill manpower shortages with both free blacks and slaves. Although these troops did not receive equal treatment as white troops, they were granted some form of compensation for their efforts and often were treated with a surprising degree of fairness considering the status of African Americans in Southern society. After the war, many black soldiers even applied for and received pensions for their service. For example, in June 1861, the Tennessee government ruled that the governor could, at his discretion, “receive into the military service of the State all male free persons of color, between the ages of fifteen and fifty, or such numbers as may be necessary who may be capable of actual service.” The governor was further authorized to “press free blacks into services if a sufficient number was not met.” The freedmen were to be paid $18 a month and receive the same rations and clothing as white soldiers. They appeared in two black regiments in Memphis by September 1861. In other cases, African Americans seized the initiative themselves and formed fighting units for the Confederacy, or at least for their states or local communities. In April 1861, 1,400 African American freedmen formed a militia regiment, the Louisiana Native Guards, and marched through New Orleans, stating their intention to protect the city. Louisiana had long boasted a unique and independent-minded free black community, which even before this date had made clear its reasons for fighting on Louisiana’s behalf. The previous December, in a letter written to the New Orleans’ Daily Delta, the freedmen stated: “The free colored population love their home, their property, their own slaves and recognize no other country than Louisiana, and are ready to shed their blood for her defense. They have no sympathy for Abolitionism; no love for the North, but have plenty for Louisiana. They will fight for her in 1861 as they fought in 1814–15.” Later that same year, a group of slave volunteers in Alabama formed a small division, and in Virginia, sixty freedmen formed a company,

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African American laborers on the James River, Virginia. (National Archives)

marching to Richmond to volunteer with the Confederate army, although the Confederate government declined their offer and sent them home. Reports of battles by Union officers during 1861 and early 1862 gave accounts of the involvement of African Americans at First Manassas (Bull Run; July 1861), where the “Richmond Howitzers” were said to have been partially manned by African American militiamen operating Battery 2, and at New Market, Virginia (December 1861). At the Battle of Big Bethel, Virginia, on June 10, 1861, a Union major, Theodore Winthrop, was mortally wounded. Sam, the body servant of Captain Ashe of Company D, 1st North Carolina Bethel Regiment, was one of the four men credited with firing the fatal shot. In April 1862, a white soldier in the 5th New Jersey Infantry under the command of Hiram Berdan reported shooting two African American Confederate sharpshooters. Newspaper reports

also told of African American units serving with Southern militia at Charleston; Mobile, Alabama; Nashville; New Orleans; Bowling Green, Ohio; and Lynchburg, Virginia. Gen. Stonewall Jackson also had a significant number of African American troops serving under him on his victorious Shenandoah Campaign in 1862. In fact, the participation of African Americans in Jackson’s fighting force elicited comment from Union scouts, as evidenced by the following report from the chief inspector of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, Dr. Lewis Steiner, who wrote of Jackson’s occupation of Frederick, Maryland:

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Wednesday, September 10: At 4 o’clock this morning the Rebel army began to move from our town, Jackson’s force taking the advance. The movement continued until 8 o’clock p.m., occupying 16 hours. The most liberal calculation could not give them more than 64,000 men. Over 3,000 Negroes must be included in

Confederates, African American

this number. These were clad in all kinds of uniforms, not only in cast-off or captured United States uniforms, but in coats with Southern buttons, State buttons, etc. These were shabby, but not shabbier or seedier than those worn by white men in the rebel ranks. Most of the Negroes had arms, rifles, muskets, sabers, bowie-knives, dirks, etc. They were supplied in many instances, with knapsacks, haversacks, canteens, etc., and they were manifestly an integral portion of the Southern Confederacy army. They were seen riding horses and mules, driving wagons, riding on caissons, in ambulances, with the staff of generals and promiscuously mixed up with all the Rebel horde (Heysinger 1912, 122–123).

Throughout the war, Northern newspapers printed with obvious amazement reports of black troops fighting for the Confederate cause. But the factors that influenced African Americans to fight for the Confederacy were complex. Many Southern blacks left behind families on the Southern home front; others felt an ambiguous though nevertheless powerful sense of loyalty to their masters, many of whom had been childhood friends before adulthood divided them so definitively along racial and social lines; others hoped to gain their freedom by service with the Confederates, thereby ensuring a more secure place for themselves and possibly their families after the war; and still others served under compulsion by their masters or saw military duty as the best means to bring them within the Union lines where they could make a bid for freedom. Remarkably, some Southern blacks professed a remarkable degree of loyalty to the Confederate cause, as evidenced by the experiences of an African American soldier named George Washington Yancey, who, according to his pension application after the war, had fought with the Confederates, been captured by Union forces three times, and each time escaped to return to Confederate service. Despite this record of contribution, African Americans were not formally enlisted in the

Confederate army until the waning days of the war, although both military and political leaders began discussing the idea with some vehemence after 1863, when the tide of war began to turn definitively against the South. The matter was raised suddenly by Maj. Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne in January 1864, when he presented a plan for black recruitment to fellow members of the senior staff of the Army of Tennessee. Most of the officers, including Commander-of-theArmy Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, viewed Cleburne’s proposal with abhorrence. In fact, Johnston refused to send Cleburne’s carefully argued “Memorial” onto the War Department for consideration. A few officers present saw the idea as at least worthy of consideration and wrote letters to friends and contacts in the government, urging them to read Cleburne’s proposal. When news of the plan reached Confederate President Jefferson Davis, he quickly wrote Johnston and ordered him to suppress Cleburne’s proposal, which Johnston accordingly did. Davis wrote that he “deem[ed] it to be injurious of the public service that such subject should be mooted or even known to entertain by persons possessed of confidence and respect of the people. If it be kept out of the public journal its ill effect will be much lessened.” But Davis had no alternative but to change his mind as the spring and summer military campaigns unfolded. Confederate battlefield defeats had seriously depleted the South’s manpower and morale was low following Sherman’s March to the Sea. During the winter of 1864– 1865, Confederate fortunes looked bleak indeed, particularly with Union troops closing in on the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia, from both the north and the south. Virginia’s Governor William Smith suggested that the government should enhance his state’s defences by arming its slaves and offering them freedom as a reward. He asked: “With two hundred thousand Negro soldiers already in the Union army, can we hesitate, can we doubt, when the question is, whether the enemy shall use our slaves against us or we use them against him; when the question may be between liberty

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and independence on one hand or our own subjugation and utter ruin on the other.” Gen. Robert E. Lee was also keen to receive more men and to enlist regiments of black soldiers, with the goal of gradually emancipating them, as well as the rest of the South’s slaves. On January 11, 1865, Lee wrote about the potential role of slaves in the South’s eventual victory or defeat, viewing them as a possible military asset, It is the enemy’s avowed policy to convert the able-bodied men among them into soldiers, and to emancipate all. His progress will destroy slavery in a manner most pernicious to the welfare of our people. . . . Whatever maybe the effect of our employing Negro troops, it cannot be as mischievous as this, I think, therefore, we must decide whether slavery shall be extinguished by our enemies and the slaves used against us, or use them ourselves at the risk of the effects which may be produced upon our social institutions. . . . The best means of securing the efficiency and fidelity of this auxiliary force would be to accompany the measure with a well digested plan of gradual and general emancipation. As that will be the result of the continuance of this war, and will certainly occur if the enemy succeeds, it seems to be most advisable to adopt at once. Every day’s delay increases the difficulty (U.S. War Department, 1012–1013).

The Northern government had struggled throughout the war with the issue of how to treat runaway slaves from the South, but in February 1865, Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant acted quickly in the face of reports that the Confederacy was preparing to arm their slaves in a desperate attempt to reverse its military fortunes. Grant ordered “the capture of all Negro men before the enemy can put them in their ranks,” prompting popular African American civil rights leader Frederick Douglass to tell U.S. President Abraham Lincoln that unless slaves were guaranteed freedom and land boun-

ties, then “they would take up arms for the rebels.” In the same month, the first African American seamen began serving formally in the Confederate navy, although as with the army, they had been serving informally for almost the entire course of the war. Believed to total 1,150 men, these Southern blacks served for the remainder of the war, and the last Confederate seaman to surrender was an African American on board the CSS Shenandoah in England in October 1865. One such African American seaman and slave named Horace King was an accomplished engineer and became known as the “Bridge Builder of the Confederacy.” The main issue remained whether or not to officially induct African Americans into the army, where their presence would have the most dramatic impact on the course of the war. The Confederate Congress hotly debated the issue throughout early 1865, with some members seeing no other option to arming slaves if the Confederacy were to survive, while others found the idea a violation of everything for which the Confederacy stood. In a more practical vein, the influential Senator Robert Hunter from Virginia thought the enlistment of slaves on a wide-scale basis would prompt mass runaways. He commented that “Negroes now are deterred from going to the enemy only by the fear of being put in the army. If we put them in they will all go over.” Also at issue was whether or not to emancipate those slaves who served with the military, a provision that was equally controversial. As a Confederate Congress member from Mississippi said during the debate: “All nature cries out against it. The Negro was ordained to slavery by the Almighty. Emancipation would be the destruction of our social and political system. God forbid that this Trojan horse should be introduced among us.” The bill that eventually took shape from these debates did not include a provision to emancipate those slaves who served with the Confederate army, leaving it up to the individual states whether emancipation would follow from military service, but many still saw

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the measure as one that threatened the very foundations of the Confederacy. Nevertheless, the Confederate Congress narrowly passed a bill for formal African American enlistment in the army on March 13, 1864, and Davis signed it. Within ten days, the army had issued General Order No. 14, moving to organize African American units with the intention of getting them in the field, most importantly in the defensive works around Richmond, as quickly as possible. Setting a quota of 300,000 men for the Confederate States Colored Troops, the Confederate government offered a one-time payment of $100 to every black soldier who signed up, and the army’s officers were ordered to treat the men humanely and to protect them from any injustices or oppression. There were still problems, however, as many of the owners of the slaves were unwilling to permit them to enter military service. General Lee’s assistant adjutant general, Charles Marshall, wrote on this problem to Lt. Gen. R. S. Ewell on March 27, 1865: General Lee directs me . . . to say that he much regrets the unwillingness of owners to permit their slaves to enter the service. If the state authorities can do nothing to get those negroes who are willing to join the army, but whose masters refuse their consent, there is no authority to do it at all. What benefit they expect their negroes to be to them, if the enemy occupies the country, it is impossible to say. He hopes you will endeavour to get the assistance of citizens who favour the measure, and bring every influence you can to bear. When a negro is willing, and his master objects, there would be less objection to compulsion, if the state has the authority. It is however of primary importance that the negroes should know that the service is voluntary on their part. As to the name of the troops, the general thinks you cannot do better than consult the men themselves. His only objection to calling them colored troops was that the enemy had selected

that designation for theirs. But this has no weight against the choice of the troops and he recommended that they be called colored or if they prefer, they can be called simply Confederate troops or volunteers. Everything should be done to impress them with the responsibility and character of their position, and while of course due respect and subordination should be exacted, they should be so treated as to feel that their obligations are those of any other soldier and their rights and privileges dependent in law & order as obligations upon others as upon theirselves. Harshness and contemptuous or offensive language or conduct to them must be forbidden and they should be made to forget as soon as possible that they were regarded as menials. You will readily understand however how to conciliate their good will & elevate the tone and character of the men (reprinted in Civil War Times [February 1998]).

Despite such problems, enormous numbers of slaves volunteered (or were forced to volunteer by their masters) for military duty. Fundraising for uniforms began taking place in and around Richmond, and the newly recruited colored troops trained and drilled in the streets of the city. Even this injection of fresh manpower could not stem the tide of Confederate defeat, however. Not only were the ultimate numbers of black soldiers inconsequential in the face of the seemingly unstoppable Union army, but they couldn’t be organized into an effective fighting force in enough time to halt a major Union advance. A few units did see action. For example, in Amelia County, Virginia, on April 4, 1865, a Confederate supply train was manned and guarded exclusively by infantry of the Confederate States Colored Troops. It was attacked by Union cavalry, and the ex-slaves fought off the charge for some time but were finally forced to retreat. The Confederacy was too exhausted to continue the fight, however, and Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, on April 9, 1865.

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GENERAL ORDERS, No. 14. I. The following act of Congress and regulations are published for the information and direction of all concerned: AN ACT to increase the military force of the Confederate States. The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That, in order to provide additional forces to repel invasion, maintain the rightful possession of the Confederate States, secure their independence, and preserve their institutions, the President be, and he is hereby, authorized to ask for and accept from the owners of slaves, the services of such number of able-bodied negro men as he may deem expedient, for and during the war, to perform military service in whatever capacity he may direct. SEC 2. That the General-in-Chief be authorized to organize the said slaves into companies, battalions, regiments, and brigades, under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of War may prescribe, and to be commanded by such officers as the President may appoint. SEC 3. That while employed in the service the said troops shall receive the same rations, clothing, and compensation as are allowed to other troops in the same branch of the service. SEC 4. That if, under the previous sections of this act, the President shall not be able to raise a sufficient number of troops to prosecute the war successfully and maintain the sovereignty of the States and the independence of the Confederate States, then he is hereby authorized to call on each State, whenever he thinks it expedient, for her quota of 300,000 troops, in addition to those subject to military service under existing laws, or so many thereof as the President may deem necessary to be raised from such classes of the population, irrespective of color, in each State, as the proper authorities thereof may determine: Provided, That not more than twenty-five per cent. of the male slaves between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, in any State, shall be called for under the provisions of this act. SEC 5. That nothing in this act shall be construed to authorize a change in the relation which the said slaves shall bear toward their owners, except by consent of the owners and of the States in which they may reside, and in pursuance of the laws thereof. Approved March 13, 1865. II. The recruiting service under this act will be conducted under the supervision of the Adjutant and Inspector General, according to the regulations for the recruiting service of the Regular Army, in so far as they are applicable, and except when special directions may be given by the War Department. III. There will be assigned or appointed for each State an officer who will be charged with the collection, enrollment, and disposition of all the recruits that may be obtained under the first section of this act. One or more general depots will be established in each State and announced in orders, and a suitable number of officers will be detailed for duty in the staff departments at the depots. There will be assigned at each general depot a quartermaster, commissary, and surgeon, and the headquarters of the superintendent will be at the principal depot in the State. The proper officers to aid the superintendent in enlisting, mustering, and organizing the recruits will be assigned by orders from this office or by the General-in-Chief. (continues)

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GENERAL ORDERS, No. 14. (continued) IV. The enlistment of colored persons under this act will be made upon printed forms, to be furnished for the purpose, similar to those established for the regular service. They will be executed in duplicate, one copy to be returned to this office for file. No slave will be accepted as a recruit unless with his own consent and with the approbation of his master by a written instrument conferring, as far as he may, the rights of a freedman, and which will be filed with the superintendent. The enlistments will be made for the war, and the effect of the enlistment will be to place the slave in the military service conformably to this act. The recruits will be organized at the camps in squads and companies, and will be subject to the order of the General-in-Chief under the second section of this act. V. The superintendent in each State will cause a report to be made on the first Monday of every month showing the expenses of the previous month, the number of recruits at the various depots in the State, the number that has been sent away, and the destination of each. His report will show the names of all the slaves recruited, with their age, description, and the names of their masters. One copy will be sent to the General-in-Chief and one to the adjutant and Inspector General. VI. The appointment of officers to the companies to be formed of the recruits aforesaid will be made by the President. VII. To facilitate the raising of volunteer companies, officers recruiting therefor are authorized to muster their men into service as soon as enrolled. As soon as enrolled and mustered, the men will be sent, with descriptive lists, to the depots of rendezvous, at which they will be instructed until assigned for service in the field. When the organization of any company remains incomplete at the expiration of the time specified for its organization, the companies or detachments already mustered into service will be assigned to other organizations at the discretion of the General-in-Chief. VIII. It is not the intention of the President to grant any authority for raising regiments or brigades. The only organizations to be perfected at the depots or camps of instructions are those of companies and (in exceptional cases where the slaves are of one estate) of battalions consisting of four companies, and the only authority to be issued will be for the raising of companies or the aforesaid special battalions of four companies. All larger organizations will be left for future action as experience may determine. IX. All officers who may be employed in the recruiting service, under the provisions of this act, or who may be appointed to the command of troops raised under it, or who may hold any staff appointment in connection with them, are enjoined to a provident, considerate, and humane attention to whatever concerns the health, comfort, instruction, and discipline of those troops, and to the uniform observance of kindness, forbearance, and indulgence to their treatment of them, and especially that they will protect them from injustice and oppression. By order: S. COOPER, Adjutant and Inspector General.

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References and Further Reading

Croix de Guerre

Barrow, Charles Kelly, J. H. Segars, and R. B. Rosenburg, eds. Forgotten Confederates: An Anthology about Black Southerners. Atlanta: Southern Heritage Press, 1995. Bellard, Alfred. Gone for a Soldier: The Civil War Memoirs of Private Alfred Bellard. Boston: Little, Brown, 1975. Blackerby, H. C. Blacks in Blue and Gray: AfroAmerican Service in the Civil War. Tuscaloosa, AL: Portals Press, 1979. Brewer, James. Confederate Negro: Virginia’s Craftsmen and Military Laborers. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1969. Brown, William Wells. The Negro in the American Rebellion: His Heroism and His Fidelity. Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1867. Glatthaar, Joseph T. Forged in Battle: The Civil War Alliance of Black Soldiers and White Officers. New York: Free Press, 1990. Hansen, Joyce. Between Two Fires—Black Soldiers in the Civil War. New York: Franklin Watts, 1993. Henry, Robert. The Story of the Confederacy. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1931. Heysinger, Isaac W. Antietam and the Maryland and Virginia Campaigns of 1862. New York: Neale Publishing, 1912. Jordan, Ervin L. Blacks Confederates and AfroYankees in Civil War Virginia. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1995. McPherson, James. For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought the Civil War. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. Priest, John Michael. Into the Fight—Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg. Shippensburg, PA: White Mane Books, 1998. Quarles, Benjamin. The Negro in the Civil War. Boston: Little, Brown, 1953. U.S. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compendium of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 128 vols. Washington, DC, 1880–1901, ser. 4, vol. 3. Webb, Garrison. Civil War Curiosities. Nashville, TN: Rutledge Hill Press, 1994. Wiley, Bell. Southern Negroes, 1861–1865. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1938. Wilson, Joseph T. The Black Phalanx: A History of the Negro Soldiers of the United States. Hartford, CT: American Publishing, 1887.

A French military decoration won by many African Americans during their tour of duty in France in World War I. The medal was created April 8, 1915, to commemorate feats of bravery in World War I and was reauthorized for World War II in 1939. The Croix de Guerre was awarded to both individuals and units in the US. Army for action in World War I. As the first to land in France, the African American 369th Infantry Regiment had the early opportunities to earn honors from the French government. In May 1918, Sgt. Henry Johnson was manning an observation post with Pvt. Needham Roberts when they heard German raiders cutting through barbed wire. Both of the men were wounded in the opening moments of the fire fight, Roberts severely, leaving Johnson to hold the post. He fought the Germans off with first his grenades, then his rifle, and finally his knife. Later, captured German documents would confirm that he had killed four Germans and wounded thirty-two others. Johnson was to become the first African American—indeed, the first American—to win the Croix de Guerre with Gold Palm. On June 6, 1918, the regiment was sent into the line at Chateau-Thierry to help clear the Germans out of Belleau Wood. A few days later, Sgt. Bob Collins was awarded the Croix de Guerre for using his machine gun to devastating effect, despite the heavy fire he himself was attracting from the enemy. The 370th Regiment was sent into action in July in the Argonne sector of the front. On July 16, Lt. Harvey Taylor, after receiving six wounds during a raid, was also awarded the Croix de Guerre. Early in September, at Soissons, another member of the regiment, Sgt. Matthew Jenkins was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Distinguished Service Cross for taking a fortified German tunnel and holding it without supplies or reinforcement for thirty-six hours with some of his Company F. The 370th Regiment, which pursued the re-

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Some of the men of the 369th Infantry who won the French Croix de Guerre for gallantry in action. Left to right, front row: Pvt. Ed Williams, Herbert Taylor, Pvt. Leon Fraitor, Pvt. Ralph Hawkins; back row: Sgt. H. D. Prinas, Sgt. Dan Strorms, Pvt. Joe Williams, Pvt. Alfred Hanley, and Cpl. T. W. Taylor. (National Archives)

treating Germans in the last week of the war, stormed a German artillery battery at Val St. Pierre and Logny. Over the course of the regiment’s stay at the front, some seventy-one soldiers were awarded the medal, in addition to the whole of Company C (who received the Croix de Guerre with palm, honoring an additional act of bravery). The 372d Regiment operating on the Champagne front had pushed the Germans out of Bussy Farm, fought at Sechault, and advanced on Ripont. During the fighting in September 1918, Corp. Clarence Van Allen had destroyed a German machine gun post (killing four and cap-

turing three) and had then captured a German trench mortar and its crew. He earned the Croix de Guerre with palm, the Médaille Militaire, and the Distinguished Service Cross. In all, the French awarded 152 Croix de Guerre to the regiment. Their French commanding general, Mariano Goybet, said in honor of them: “The ‘Red Hand’ sign of the division, has, thanks to you, become a bloody hand which took the Boche (Germans) and made him cry for mercy. You have well avenged our glorious dead” (Heywood 1928, 42). The 371st, another regiment of the 93d Division, held the highest honors, with 134 Croix de

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Guerre. The total cost in men to the division had been 584 killed, 2,582 wounded—some 32 percent of the division’s initial strength. When the 92d Division was moved up to Argonne to take part in what would be the last Allied push in the war, the four regiments, the 365th, 366th, 367th, and 368th, were placed on either side of the Moselle River. When the 7th Division’s attack floundered, and the French 56th Infantry could not move due to heavy enemy fire, the 1st Battalion of the 367th were thrown in to assist. Under Maj. Charles Appleton, the battalion hit the Germans in the flank and allowed the French to pull back and reform. Appleton’s battalion was awarded a unit Croix de Guerre. It was not just regular U.S. Army units that were winning the Croix de Guerre; Eugene Jacques Bullard had enlisted in the French Army in 1914. He was an African American of Haitian descent from Columbus, Georgia. In September 1914 he joined the French Foreign Legion and fought in many bloody battles. In 1916, by then in the French 170th Infantry, Bullard was awarded the Croix de Guerre. The 170th was popularly known as the Swallows of Death; Bullard was nicknamed the Black Swallow of Death. Throughout World War I African Americans continuously proved their valor and performed tasks on the battlefield often ignored by their own countrymen. In the last two days of the war, the great-great-great-grandson of Barzillai Lew, who had stood on Bunker Hill all those years before, won the Croix de Guerre: Frederick White, a seventeen-year-old from Cambridge, Massachusetts, survived a gun attack and German assault that wiped out most of his company. William Layton of the 369th had his Croix de Guerre in his possession for only a short period after his entire regiment was awarded the medal for their actions at Argonne. On his return to the United States in February 1919, his medal was stolen from under his pillow at Camp Upton, New Jersey. Nearly seventy years later, following the efforts of New Jersey Cong. Peter

Rodino, he was presented with a replacement by Col. Roger Lestac on board a French aircraft carrier in New York harbor. The next time African Americans would have the opportunity to win the Croix de Guerre would be in World War II, perhaps most notably the thousand men of the 490th Port Battalion. The whole unit was awarded the medal for their outstanding services to the assault troops on Utah Beach on D-Day (June 6, 1944). See also Bullard, Eugene Jacques; Bunker Hill, Battle of; Lew, Barzillai; 92d Division; 93d Division; World War I; World War II References and Further Reading Barbeau, Arthur E., and Florette Henri. The Unknown Soldiers. New York: DaCapo Press, 1996. Heywood, Chester D. Negro Combat Troops in the World War. Worcester, MA: Commonwealth, 1928. Miller, Warren H. The Boys of 1917. Boston: Page, 1939. Sweeney, W. Allison. History of the American Negro in the Great World War. Chicago: CaneoHenneberry, 1919.

Cromwell, Oliver (1753–1853) Oliver Cromwell was born in Columbus, New Jersey, and at the age of twenty-four he crossed the Delaware River with Washington as a member of the 2d New Jersey Regiment. He served with the regiment for some seven years, fighting at the battles of Brandywine, Monmouth, Princeton, Trenton, and Yorktown. He is portrayed, along with another African American, Prince Whipple, in the famous 1851 painting by Emmanuel Leutze, Washington Crossing the Delaware, of the memorable crossing on December 25, 1776. Cromwell also survived the awful winter at Valley Forge (1777–1778),

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Oliver Cromwell crossed the Delaware River with General Washington as a member of the 2d New Jersey Regiment. The crossing is depicted in this 1851 painting by Emmanuel Leutze. Cromwell appears directly in front of Washington. (Bettmann/CORBIS)

when the army languished with few supplies for several months. In 1783 Cromwell was given an honorable discharge, signed by Washington himself, for his faithful service during the Revolutionary War. Cromwell lived to the age of 100, when a number of newspapers and periodicals recalled his contribution during the war.

References and Further Reading Beach, E. Merrill. From Valley Forge to Freedom. Chester, CT: Pequot Press, 1975. Kaplan, Sidney, and Emma Nogrady Kaplan. The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1989. Peckham, Howard H. The War for Independence. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1958.

See also American Revolution; Trenton, Battle of

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d Davis, Benjamin Oliver, Jr. (1912–2002) The first African American to graduate from West Point in the twentieth century, commander of the first African American air unit to be formed, the first African American to be promoted to a four-star general in the U.S. Air Force. Benjamin Oliver Davis Jr. was born on December 18, 1912, in Washington, D.C., the son of Elnora and Benjamin Davis. His father, in 1940, became the first African American to be promoted to the rank of four-star general in the U.S. Army. Benjamin Davis Jr. lived on a number of military bases during his youth. After leaving Cleveland High School, Davis entered Cleveland Western Reserve University and then transferred to the University of Chicago. In 1932 Davis entered West Point. He was nominated for entry to the academy by the African American Chicago congressman, Oscar DePriest, and passed the entrance examinations. During his time at West Point, Davis was subjected by his classmates to a shunning technique known as silencing. This meant that Davis roomed alone and ate alone and was spoken to by other cadets only when on official business. This silencing made Davis more determined to succeed, and he graduated thirty-fifth

out of a class of 276 in 1936, becoming the first African American to graduate from the academy in forty-seven years. Davis also became one of only two African American line officers in the U.S. Army at the time, the other one being his father. He later wrote of the silencing during his time at West Point, “It was designed to make me buckle, but I refused to buckle. They didn’t understand that I was going to stay there, and I was going to graduate. I was not missing anything by not associating with them. They were missing a great deal by not knowing me” (Davis 1991, 28). With a commission as a second lieutenant, Davis applied to join the Air Corps but was refused because there were no black squadrons. Davis had recently married Agatha Scott, and the couple moved to Fort Benning, Georgia, where he spent the next year commanding an infantry company of black soldiers. In June 1937 Davis entered infantry school in Georgia. After graduating a year later, he accepted the position of professor of military science at Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, where he remained for the next four years. During his time at the institute, President Franklin D. Roosevelt approved changes about the enlistment of African Americans into the armed services, and a training program for African American pilots at the Tuskegee Institute was established. In

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May 1941 Davis entered the Advanced Flying School at the Tuskegee Air Base and received his pilot wings in the spring of the following year. He was given command of the 99th Fighter Squadron at Tuskegee, the first African American air unit to be formed. Davis, along with the 99th Pursuit Squadron, served in North Africa and Sicily during World War II. After four months of active service in the Mediterranean, he returned to America in October 1943 to take command of the 332d Fighter Group, a larger African American unit, based at Selfridge Field, Michigan. The unit was deployed to Italy in January 1944 and proved to be a highly efficient and effective force. On June 9 the unit, flying P-47 Thunderbolts and escorting B-24 bombers, flew to Munich, Germany, led by Davis. During this mission the unit successfully destroyed several Me–109s. For his leadership skills and bravery on this mission, Davis was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross—the first of many such awards. The medal was presented to Davis at the Ramitelli Air Base in Italy and was pinned on his chest by his father, Brig. Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Sr. In March 1945 the Tuskegee Airmen, led once more by Davis, flew a 1,600-mile roundtrip escort to Berlin; they never lost a bomber against the German force. For this mission, the unit won a Distinguished Unit Citation, and Davis was promoted to colonel. One of the Tuskegee Airmen said of Davis that he was “the most positive commander I ever had. He stressed the awful price of failure.” Another noted, “He was respected by most and hated by some, but it was because of the discipline he exacted that we were able to make the record we did” (Smithsonian 2003). Following the end of World War II Davis returned to America in June 1945 to take command of the 447th Composite Group at Codman Field, Kentucky. He then commanded the base and the 332d Fighter Wing at Lockbourne Army Air Base in Ohio. Between 1949 and 1953 Davis graduated from the Air War College in Al-

abama and was assigned to the deputy chief of staff for operations in Washington, D.C. Davis again saw combat during the Korean War when he assumed command of the 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wing of the Far East Air Forces (FEAF). Commanding this racially integrated flying unit, Davis was promoted to brigadier general, becoming the first African American to attain the rank in the U.S. Air Force. From 1954 until 1955 Davis served as director of operations and training at the FEAF headquarters in Tokyo and then took up the post of vice commander of the 13th Air Force in Taipei, Formosa (Taiwan). After serving as chief of staff in Ramstein and Wiesbaden, Germany, Davis returned to the United States in July 1961. In the positions of director of manpower and organization and deputy chief of staff, programs, and requirements, Davis remained at the headquarters of the U.S. Air Force until April 1965, when he was assigned as chief of staff for the United Nations Command and U.S. Forces in Korea. Davis became the first African American in any military branch of the United States forces to attain the rank of lieutenant general in 1965. During the Vietnam War Davis commanded the 13th Air Force at Clark Air Force Base in the Republic of the Philippines. In 1968 he was assigned as deputy commander in chief of the U.S. Strike Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida, with additional duties as commander in chief, Middle East, Southern Asia, and Africa. General Davis retired from military service in 1970, moving to Arlington, Virginia, and served as assistant secretary at the Department of Transportation for environment, safety, and consumer Affairs under President Richard M. Nixon until 1975. In 1978 Davis served, as his father had before him, on the Battle Monuments Commission. In 1991 he published his autobiography, Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., American. In 1998 President Clinton promoted him to the rank of four-star general on the retired

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list. At the presentation ceremony at the White House on Wednesday, December 9, 1998, the secretary of defense, William S. Cohen, said of Davis: General Davis is often held up as a shining example of what is possible for African-Americans. But today we honor him not only as a great African-American. We honor him because, like his father before him, he is a great warrior, a great officer, and a great American. The Tuskegee Airmen who stand in our midst today displayed incredible heroism in the skies of yesterday. Their record is as remarkable as it is renowned, never losing a plane that they were protecting to an enemy fighter in 10,000 sorties over North Africa and Europe. They were the first black fighter squadron, and by their great and good fortune they were led by then-Colonel Davis. In their first escort mission, he and 38 American fighters held off more than 100 German attackers. In perhaps their most spectacular mission, Colonel Davis led the Tuskegee Airmen on a 1,600-mile escort mission to Berlin. Until that day, the Allies had shot down only two of the new German jet fighters. But on that day alone, Colonel Davis and his Tuskegee Airmen downed three. . . . few did more than General Davis to prove that black and white Americans could not only serve together—indeed, that white soldiers would serve under a black superior— but that they could succeed together (Cohen 1998).

Also present was Davis’s nephew, Judge L. Scott Melville, who spoke of how his uncle had worked for dignity and honor: Black men, brown men, yellow men, red men and women of all colors could not acquire those attributes through birth, they had to earn them. Ben understood these rules of the American politics, and he was determined to overcome them. Not by demonstrating, not by denouncing, not by complaining, not by whining, but by succeeding. He was determined to succeed. This is what motivated him. He tried to instill in each of his officers the need to show by example that they were just as good as anybody else, and maybe even better (quoted in Lopez 2002).

At the Arlington ceremony, former members of the Tuskegee Airmen served as honorary pallbearers, and a heritage flyover, including two P51s, an F-16, and an F-15, honored Davis with a missing-man formation.

Davis died on July 4, 2002, and was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery. A memorial service was also held at the Bolling Air Force Base chapel that attracted many former Tuskegee airmen. Alan Gropman, chairman, Grand Strategy Department, National Defense University, said: Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. is an American hero. . . . General Davis risked his life for his

nation, for his people and also for his country. He believed all his adult life in racial integration and thought he could bring this essential reform to America once World War II began. If he demonstrated blacks could fly and fight and lead with the same skill and courage as whites, a notion foreign to white America of 1941, he believed he could destroy the myth of racial inferiority. The Tuskegee Airmen shared his vision and courage, and he and they succeeded” (quoted in Lopez 2002).

See also Davis, Benjamin O., Sr.; Korean War; 99th Pursuit/Fighter Squadron; Tuskegee Airmen; Vietnam War; West Point; World War II References and Further Reading: Astor, Gerald. The Right to Fight. Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1998. Buckley, Gail. American Patriots: The Story of Blacks in the Military from the Revolution to Desert Storm. New York: Random House, 2001.

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Cohen, William S. Speech, December 9, 1998. http: //www.defenselink.mil/speeches/1998/c19981209 -secdef.html (accessed August 2, 2003). Davis, Benjamin O., Jr. Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., American: An Autobiography. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991. Lopez, Todd. “Pioneering Tuskegee Airman Laid to Rest in Arlington.” July 17, 2002. http://www. defenselink.mil/news/Jul2002/n07172002_ 200207174.html (accessed August 2, 2003). Nalty, Bernard C. Strength for the Fight. New York: The Free Press, 1986. Reef, Catherine. Benjamin Davis, Jr. New York: Scholastic, 1992. Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum: http://www.nasm.si.edu/features/blackwings/ hstudent/bio_davis.cfm (accessed August 2, 2003).

Davis, Benjamin Oliver, Sr. (1880–1970) The first African American general in the U.S. Army and a major figure in the fight for the integration of the armed forces. Benjamin Oliver Davis was born in Washington, D.C., on July 1, 1877, into the household of Gen. John A. Logan, for whom Davis’s father, Louis, worked as a servant. He was also a messenger for the Department of the Interior. After attending M Street High School, Davis entered Howard University in 1897. There, he became a member of the cadet program and enlisted in the African American unit of the District of Columbia National Guard. During the Spanish American War, Davis enlisted in the 8th U.S. Volunteer Infantry, in a company that had been raised by Robertson Palmer, on July 13, 1898, serving as a temporary first lieutenant. Robertson Palmer was a 9th Cavalry veteran who enlisted Davis’s help in the training of the troops. The 9th Cavalry was commanded by Lt. Col. Archelaus M. Hughes, who had served with Nathan Bedford Forrest in

the Confederate Army during the Civil War. Yet Davis later said of this commander: “I do not remember any instance where he displayed any racial prejudice.” However, when the unit was sent to Chickamauga Park, Georgia, Davis encountered the harsh realities of Southern discrimination: I shall never forget my first visit to that city. It had a most depressive effect upon me. Much of my patriotism was dampened. As far as I was concerned and all persons classed as colored, this country, this land for which we were called upon to defend and if necessary make the supreme sacrifice was ‘not the land of the free’. No phase of American life is so discouraging to the colored people as segregation.

After the war with Spain ended, Davis was mustered out of the Volunteer Infantry on March 6, 1899, but reenlisted two months later as a private in Troop I, 9th Cavalry of the regular army. Progressing through the ranks of corporal and squadron sergeant major, Davis was commissioned a second lieutenant of cavalry on February 2, 1901. He was sent to the island of Samar in the Philippines with the 9th Cavalry but soon after was assigned to the 2d Squadron, 10th Cavalry, serving as adjutant at Fort Washakie, Wyoming. In 1902 Davis married Elnora Dickerson, with whom he had two children, Olive (1905) and Benjamin Jr. (1912). Between September 1905 and September 1909 Davis served at Wilberforce University, Ohio, the nation’s oldest private, historically African American university, in the role of professor of military science and tactics. For the next three years he served as military attaché in Monrovia, Liberia, returning in 1915 to Wilberforce as professor of military science for another two years. During this time at Wilberforce University, Davis’s wife Elnora died in childbirth. Davis was then posted to the Philippines as supply officer of the 9th Cavalry based at Camp

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Brig. Gen. Benjamin O. Davis watching a Signal Corps crew erecting poles, France, August 8, 1944. (National Archives)

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Stotsenburg, where he remained for the next three years. It was while he was in the Philippines that Davis began writing to a former Wilberforce colleague, Sadie Overton. When Davis returned to America, the two married. He then obtained a position as professor of military science and tactics at the Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, remaining there until 1924 when the couple moved to Cleveland, Ohio, and Davis took a position as instructor of the 372d Infantry of the Ohio National Guard. In July 1929 Davis returned once more to Wilberforce, spending just over a year at this institution before being detailed to carry out special duties for the Department of State related to the Republic of Liberia. Between 1930 and 1933 Davis frequently visited Europe on assignment with the Pilgrimage of War Mothers and Widows, his dedication to which brought him letters of commendation from the secretary of war and the quartermaster general. Davis then returned to Tuskegee Institute and Wilberforce University until 1938. In August 1938 Davis was given his first independent command and was assigned as instructor and commanding officer of the 369th Infantry, New York National Guard, later to become the 369th Coast Artillery Regiment, and subsequently, the 369th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion. On October 25, 1940, Davis became the first African American to be promoted to the rank of brigadier general and served as brigade commander at Fort Riley, Kansas, with the 2d Cavalry Division. In June 1941 he was assigned to Washington, D.C., to serve as assistant to the inspector general, remaining there until September of the following year. Davis believed strongly that rank superseded race. He said:

Negro officer above the grade of First Lieutenant, he is automatically assigned to another unit. The announcement of this policy has certainly shaken the morale of the 93d Division. Negro officers are required to meet the same qualifications, make the same sacrifices as white officers. I cannot believe the War Department is going to maintain policy that is so unjust or bad. I cannot see why it would be any more degrading or unjust or whatever it may be called, for a white man of lower grade to serve under a Negro officer of a higher grade than for a colored man to serve under a white man. There certainly should be no objection to Negroes commanding Negroes.

Soon after this statement, Davis was sent to the European theater of operations as adviser on “Negro problems,” returning to Washington at the end of this assignment. Davis had been appointed to the War Department Permanent Advisory Committee on Negro Troop Policies, with the responsibility for investigating racial incidents and solving racial problems. In this role he became heavily involved in instituting a proposal for the retraining of African American troops as combat soldiers. In 1945 he received the Distinguished Service Medal. His citation read:

The interpretation by the Commanding General of the 93d Division limits colored officers on duty with the division to the grade of First Lieutenant unless the 93d Division is designated as a unit in which Negro officers can serve in all grades. Upon the promotion of a

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For exceptionally meritorious service to the Government in a duty of great responsibility from June, 1941, to November, 1944, as an Inspector of troop units in the field, and as special War Department consultant on matters pertaining to Negro troops. The initiative, intelligence and sympathetic understanding displayed by him in conducting countless investigations concerning individual soldiers, troop units and other components of the War Department brought about a fair and equitable solution to many important problems which have since become the basis of far-reaching War Department policy. His wise advice and counsel have made a direct contribution to the maintenance of soldier morale and troop disci-

Davis, Calvin Clark

pline and has been of material assistance to the War Department and to responsible commanders in the field of understanding personnel matters as they pertain to the individual soldier.

Davis, Calvin Clark (d. 1944)

Based in Paris, France, Davis spent the year from November 1944 until November 1945 as special assistant to the commanding general, Communications Zone, European Theater of Operations. During this time Davis pinned the Distinguished Flying Cross on his son, Benjamin O. Davis Jr., at the Ramitelli Air Base in Italy. In January 1946, Davis once was serving as assistant to the inspector general in Washington, where he remained until his retirement on July 14, 1948. After fifty years serving his country, Davis received tributes at his retirement ceremony from numerous high-ranking officials, including President Harry S. Truman. After his retirement, Davis served as a member of the American Battle Monuments Commission and received multiple honors, including an honorary degree from Atlanta University, Georgia, the Croix de Guerre with palm from France, the Grade of Commander of the Order of the Star of Africa from the Liberian government, and the Bronze Star. Benjamin Oliver Davis Sr. died November 26, 1970, in Chicago. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors. See also African American Officers; Davis, Benjamin O., Jr.; 9th Cavalry; Philippine Insurrection; Spanish-American War; 10th Cavalry; World War II References and Further Reading Fletcher, Marvin E. America’s First Black General: Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., 1880–1970. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1989. Lee, Ulysses. The Employment of Negro Troops. Washington, DC: U.S. Army Center for Military History, 1966.

African American Calvin Clark Davis posed as a white man when he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in May 1941. Posthumously he received several medals for his gallantry; neither the Air Force nor his fellow aircrew ever knew that he was an African American. He died over Germany in 1944. Davis was born in Bear Lake, Michigan, where he was orphaned as a young child and raised by his sister. His family could trace their ancestry back to an African American slave and a white plantation owner. Davis graduated from Bear Lake High School in 1932, where he excelled at track. He could pass as white, and consequently when he enlisted with the 5th U.S. Army Air Force in May 1941, he was not challenged and subsequently joined the 90th Bomber Group of the 400th Squadron on May 15. The unit was known as the “Jolly Rogers” (not to be confused with a U.S. Navy fighter squadron of the same nickname, VF-17), and Davis became a member of the aircrew on board a B-24 Liberator. He would take part in more than fifty combat missions in the Pacific. Davis and the rest of the bomber crew were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for their heroism when they attacked a Japanese airfield in 1943. Davis’s aircraft had already been damaged, but they continued the attack out of formation to help protect the other bombers in their unit. Having completed the fifty missions, Davis was eligible to seek a noncombat role, but instead he volunteered for service in Europe, joining the 8th U.S. Army Air Force, 570th Squadron, 390th Bomber Group, known as the Jokers. He would now fly combat missions over Europe in a B-17. On November 30, 1944, while the squadron was attacking German oil refineries at Merseburg, Germany, his bomber Asterisk collided with another American aircraft. Davis, then a radio operator, and five other members of the crew were killed, while three managed to bail out.

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Davis’s story might well have remained undiscovered had one of his descendents, Calvin Murphy, not found a contemporary (2000) newspaper article about Davis and his exemplary service. Davis’s records had been destroyed in a fire in 1973. Nevertheless, Murphy contacted Michigan Cong. Peter Hoekstra and John Conyers Jr. to help him in his search for evidence. The war hero who had masqueraded as a white man to serve his country during World War II was belatedly honored in February 2002, when posthumously Murphy received on his behalf the World War II Victory Medal, the Purple Heart, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, the American Defense Service Medal, the Air Medal, and the Distinguished Flying Cross. See also U.S. Air Force; World War II

Davis, Rodney Maxwell (1942–1967) An African American of Company B, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for saving his platoon during action in Vietnam. Rodney Maxwell Davis was born in Macon, Georgia, on April 7, 1942. Shortly after his graduation from high school in 1961 he joined the U.S. Marine Corps on August 31 and was trained at Parris Island, South Carolina, until December. He then went on to the Marine Corps base at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, for combat training with the 2d Battalion of the 1st Infantry Training Regiment, graduating in February 1962. Davis joined Company K of the 3d Battalion, 2d Marines, 2d Marine Division as a rifleman until May 1964. He then became a private first class on April 1, 1962, and lance corporal on January 1, 1964. After serving for three years in England as a guard, during which time he be-

came a corporal and a sergeant, he was sent to Vietnam in August 1967. Davis became the platoon guide with Company B, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division and operated in the Quang Nam province during Operation Swift. On September 6, 1967, the 2d Platoon had been pinned down by heavy enemy fire in a trench line. Sergeant Davis encouraged the men and moved up and down the trench in full sight of the enemy. An enemy grenade landed in the trench, and he threw himself onto the grenade, his body absorbing most of the explosion. He saved the platoon from certain death. Davis was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. Davis had also won the Purple Heart, the Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, the Military Merit Medal, the Gallantry Cross with palm, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal. The USS Rodney M. Davis (FFG-60), whose motto is “by valor and arms,” was commissioned on May 9, 1987. See also Anderson, James, Jr.; Austin, Oscar Palmer; Jenkins, Robert H., Jr.; Johnson, Ralph H.; Medal of Honor; U.S. Marine Corps; Vietnam War References and Further Reading Greene, Robert Ewell. Black Defenders of America, 1775–1973. Chicago: Johnson, 1974.

Delany, Martin Robison (1812–1885) Maj. Martin Delany (sometimes spelled Delaney) was the highest-ranking African American to serve during the American Civil War. Delany was born a slave in Charles Town, Virginia (now West Virginia), on May 6, 1812. In 1823 his father purchased the family’s freedom. Delany’s mother had taught him to read as a child,

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and in 1831 he attended the Bethel African Methodist Church School in Pittsburgh. He also worked at this time as an assistant to a local doctor. In 1843 Delany launched an antislavery newspaper, The Mystery, and four years later he joined Frederick Douglass on the staff of the North Star, the newspaper Douglass had established. Delany briefly (November 1850–March 1851) attended Harvard Medical School; he was forced to leave by the opposition to his presence of the white students. He went on to practice in Pittsburgh. Delany traveled widely around the country, primarily campaigning against the Fugitive Slave Act. In 1852, Delany published the first of his monographs, entitled The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People in the United States, in which he suggested that African Americans should emigrate to Africa. Following up his beliefs, he led an expedition to West Africa—primarily Liberia and what is now western Nigeria—in 1859 to search for suitable places of settlement. Although these efforts never bore fruit, Delany considered the establishment of an African American nation in Africa to be the foundation of black liberation. Like his friend Douglass, Delany actively recruited African American troops during the Civil War, helping to raise the 54th Massachusetts. Also like Douglass, he attempted to promote the formation of truly all-black units, with African American officers as well as troops, and in February 1865 he secured an interview with President Abraham Lincoln to propose such a corps. Lincoln was favorably impressed with Delany and recommended him to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Shortly thereafter Delany received his commission in February 1865 and was sent to South Carolina to organize the raising of the 104th and 105th United States Colored Troops (USCT). The 104th was mustered into service in June 1865, after Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox. As a consequence, the 105th was never fully raised, but Delany remained with the 104th as a staff offi-

cer and military commander in Charleston and later as a subassistant commissioner in the Freedmen’s Bureau. After his wartime service, Delany resigned his commission on August 5, 1868, and in 1873 became a customs inspector in Charleston. He also became involved with the Liberian Exodus Joint Stock Exchange Company, an organization established to facilitate emigration to Liberia. Delany was later active in South Carolina politics, running unsuccessfully for the position of lieutenant governor as an Independent Republican in 1874. Delany died at Wilberforce, Ohio, on January 24, 1885. See also American Civil War; Douglass, Frederick; Freedmen’s Bureau References and Further Reading Levine, Robert S. Martin Delany, Frederick Douglass and the Politics of Representative Identity. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997. Levine, Robert S., ed. Martin R. Delany: A Documentary Reader. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003. Sterling, Dorothy. The Making of An Afro American, Martin R. Delany 1812–1885. New York: Da Capo Press, 1996. Ullman, Victor. Martin R. Delany: The Beginnings of Black Nationalism. Boston: Beacon Press, 1971.

Dorman, Isaiah (1821?–1876) An African American known to the Lakota Sioux as the “Black White Man”; a scout and interpreter who died in action at the Little Big Horn on June 25, 1876. Dorman had been earning the then-substantial pay of $100 per month during the Civil War as a War Department courier, carrying mail on foot between Fort Rice and Fort Wadworth,

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Nebraska (a 200-mile round trip). Dorman had been in this area since at least 1850, was well known to the Sioux, and counted Sitting Bull as a friend. In 1871, as an interpreter and guide, he was hired by the U.S. Army to help with the Northern Pacific Railroad survey. Prior to that he had been a woodcutter on the Missouri River and had moved in 1869 to the Standing Rock Indian Agency, where he lived with his Native American wife. He remained with the army in the role of a guide until October 1871, and then he became an interpreter at Fort Rice. Due to his knowledge of the Lakota language, he was employed by Col. George A. Custer and on May 14, 1876, accompanied him as the 7th Cavalry interpreter on the Little Big Horn expedition for $75 a month. He was accompanied by a white scout, Lonesome Charley Reynolds. When Custer’s troops encountered the Little Big Horn camp on the afternoon of June 25, 1876, Custer ordered Maj. Marcus Reno into the valley to attack the south end of the camp. Dorman, who apparently was recognized by the Sioux, was killed. Accounts of Dorman’s death conflict as to whether he was spared the mutilations inflicted on the white soldiers or whether the Lakota viewed him as a traitor and treated him accordingly. In all of the depictions of the Battle of Little Big Horn, Isaah Dorman’s presence is conspicuous by its absence. References and Further Reading Connell, Evan S. Son of the Morning Star. New York: Harper and Row, 1984. Katz, William Loren. The Black West. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1973.

Dorsey, Decatur (1836–1891) A sergeant who, while serving in the 39th United States Colored Troops (USCT), was

awarded the Medal of Honor at the Crater, in the Battle for Richmond, on July 30, 1864. Dorsey had been given his freedom by his master in Howard County, Maryland, and ultimately enrolled with the 39th USCT at Baltimore, Maryland. By May 1864 he had become a corporal and in July was promoted to sergeant. Dorsey was the color bearer for the regiment at the Battle of the Crater (July 30, 1864) when a desperate attempt was made to penetrate the Confederate lines around Richmond. He surged forward with the regiment and planted the colors on the Confederate entrenchments. When the regiment was driven back, Dorsey continued to show the flag and rally the men. Dorsey was given an honorable discharge in December 1865 while the unit was on garrison service in Wilmington, North Carolina. He died in 1891. He is buried in Flower Hill Cemetery, North Bergen, New Jersey. See also American Civil War; Medal of Honor (appendix); Richmond, Battles of; United States Colored Troops (appendixes)

Double V In December 1941 African Americans borrowed the “V for Victory” symbol from the British prime minister, Winston Churchill, and developed their own “Double V” campaign calling for both military success against Germany, Japan, and Italy and the defeat of racism at home. With segregation still in place, both in the military and in American society, the African American press highlighted and agitated against racism wherever they found it. The African American press had reached an average circulation of nearly 1.3 million by 1940, double that of six or seven years previously. By the end of the war it topped 1.8 million. Although increasingly popular, the African American press attracted severe criticism from all sections of the government, from the president to the Post Of-

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John Sengstacke (right), publisher of the Chicago Defender, a leading African American newspaper. In January 1941 Sengstacke urged African Americans to become conscientious objectors rather than fight for a country that denied them equal rights; later he supported black participation in the war if it was accompanied by progress at home. (Library of Congress)

fice. It was not so much the intent of their criticisms of discrimination; it was that the African American press often equated discrimination in the United States with Nazi policies against minorities. Yet ironically, later some African American servicemen would come to blame their own press for encouraging them into the war. The African American press became a target of military intelligence, who viewed the campaign against racism as being contrary to the best interests of the United States in a time of war. Despite discrimination in the armed forces, government officials believed that African Americans should be as determined as whites to protect the United States and not to undermine

the war effort by focusing on criticism of racism in the United States rather than the greater evils of Nazism and Fascism. When John Sengstacke, the founder of the Negro Newspaper Publishers Association and publisher of the Chicago Defender, in January 1941 urged African Americans to become conscientious objectors as their protest against discrimination in the military, the potential dangers of alienating the African American community were brought into focus. By the summer, however, Sengstacke’s editorializing on racism had changed. It then supported a more positive approach, as advocated by Harold M. Kingsley of the Chicago Church of the Good

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Shepherd. Kingsley had made a speech that summer, which was reported in the Chicago Defender. The main point of his argument was: “It is sound wisdom that we fight both of these battles at the same time.” Kingsley and Sengstacke now supported African Americans’ active involvement in any future war, which daily seemed more probable, coupled with the continued struggle against racism and discrimination at home. A meeting was called on December 8, 1941, with the army, headed by Gen. George C. Marshall, and some twenty African American journalists, publishers, editors, and columnists. The meeting had been scheduled long before the imminent threat of the declaration of war, but it happened to fall on the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which gave greater urgency to the imperative to settle the issue and secure the support of the African American press for the war effort. Marshall expressed his disappointment about the progress being made in the army in its efforts to stamp out discrimination and enforce a system of equality. He expressed satisfaction with the quality of African American enlisted men and hoped that in time an all–African American division would be created. Marshall was admitting that a considerable problem remained. Equally, he acknowledged that any short-term changes would involve a continuation of discrimination in the form of segregation and not integration and that it was clear that many of those in the African American press supported this—but conditionally, as a step toward full integration. It is unlikely that much of what Marshall told the assembled journalists either surprised or placated them, particularly toward the close of the meeting, when Col. Eugene R. Householder read a prepared statement that seemed to backtrack about much of what Marshall had said and what had been discussed: “The army is not a sociological laboratory. To be effective it must be organized and trained according to principles which will ensure success. Experiments to meet the wishes and demands of the champions of

every race and creed for the solution of their problems are a danger to efficiency, discipline and morale and could result in ultimate defeat.” The meeting broke up with the two sides no closer than they had been at the start. The newspaper representatives were angry and frustrated. As the United States geared up for war in those early months, the army remained recalcitrant; greater African American participation still meant segregation, despite the increasing number of directives specifically opening branches of the army and other armed services to African Americans. In response to this segregation, in the armed forces as well as in society in general, the Double V campaign was set off by a letter to the editor of the Pittsburgh Courier from a young man named James Thomson, titled “Should I Sacrifice to Live ‘Half American’?” He proposed a double campaign, against enemies “without” in the war and enemies “within”—racism and segregation—at home. His letter was published on January 31, 1942; a week later the Double V insignia appeared in the paper—the word “democracy” atop two interlocking V’s entwined with “Double Victory,” above the terms “at home” and “abroad.” The paper on February 19 reported an overwhelmingly positive response to the subtle campaign from its readers—“hundreds of telegrams and congratulations proving that without any explanation, this slogan represents the true battle cry of colored America. . . . in our fight for freedom we wage a two-pronged attack against our enslavers at home and those abroad who would enslave us. We have a stake in this fight. . . . We are Americans too!” The campaign gained momentum. Photographs of supporters, including whites both famous and ordinary, filled the paper. Double V clubs were formed across the nation; newspaper columns were devoted to them. Photographs of attractive young women, usually multitalented college students, were used to promote the concept. Double V pins, dresses, hats, and even

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hairdos were devised. Other African American newspapers joined the campaign; the Double V symbol appeared in such places as sheet music and posters. The U.S. Marines and the U.S. Coast Guard still adamantly refused to enlist African Americans. The U.S. Navy accepted them only as mess workers and stewards, and the army continued to segregate; there were only a handful in the U.S. Army Air Corps. Even the Red Cross, which had finally agreed to accept blood from African American donors, made it clear that such donations would remain segregated. The poet Archibald MacLeish led a delegation of administrators from the Office of Facts and Figures, a wartime propaganda agency, in another meeting with representatives of the African American press, attended by some fifty editors and civic leaders, in the spring of 1942. The purpose was to discuss methods to improve the morale of African American civilians and servicemen. In the face of the continued discrimination, African American newspapers continued to run stories that the government considered detrimental to the war effort and morale. When J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI, suggested that the African American press institute selfcensorship in the interests of the country, the reaction was that they would continue to report racism and discrimination whenever and wherever they found them. Hoover’s efforts to intimidate the black press were stymied by Attorney General Francis Biddle, who met with John Sengstacke in June 1942 and agreed that the traditional social criticism and muckraking of the African American press, of which the Double V campaign formed a part, were protected by the First Amendment. As the U.S. war commitment deepened, change became necessary. Consequently, by the middle of 1942, African American rights and penetration into the armed services had advanced markedly. As the progress continued, the Double V campaign and coverage became less critical. Racial policies were changing; the press

continued to urge them forward but was less openly hostile. By mid-1942, African Americans were accepted into the Marines, as well as into the Coast Guard, and the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps. There were also increasing numbers in the air corps, as well as a more welcoming attitude in the army. On the home front, the degree of alienation felt by the African American press had been softened by the fact that U.S. corporations were beginning to place advertisements in the African American newspapers with higher circulation. Cigarette manufacturers, such as Chesterfield and Philip Morris, now routinely ran advertising campaigns in the African American press. Pepsi-Cola, Seagram’s, and Esso also advertised. Biddle, longtime champion of equality, noted in a September 1943 speech in Philadelphia, “The Negro press throughout the country, although they very properly protest, and passionately, against the wrongs done to members of their race, are loyal to their government and are all out for the war” (Washburn 1986, 186). The turning point in the Roosevelt administration’s attitude to the black press had come in May 1943, when African American reporters were invited into the White House and Congress to cover the state visit of the Liberian president, Edwin Barclay. In July, at the suggestion of Biddle, an African American reporter was permanently included in the invitations to attend press conferences at the White House. Harry S. McAlpin of the Atlanta Daily World became the first African American correspondent accredited at a White House conference. Roosevelt shook him by the hand and said, “I’m glad to see you, McAlpin, and very happy to see you here.” McAlpin would be the only African American reporter to cover the funeral service of Roosevelt in April 1945. When Harry Truman took over, he met with representatives of the African American press, but he did not admit their reporters into the press galleries until 1947.

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awarded a Bronze Star and three others the Purple Heart. On March 3, 1945, Doughty celebrated his twenty-first birthday on Iwo Jima; he recalled that he was grateful to be alive and to have fresh food. Indeed a supply ship had arrived, and Doughty’s birthday meal consisted of very welcome bacon and eggs. Sometime later Doughty said: “I believe we had won something more than the war. We had proved to the American people that we were as good a Marine as the white Marine. And we said maybe they’ll lift all the bans throughout the country.”

References and Further Reading Goodwin, Doris Kearns. No Ordinary Time. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1994. Washburn, Patrick S. A Question of Sedition: The Federal Government’s Investigation of the Black Press During World War II. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.

Doughty, Gene (b. 1924) A twenty-year-old African American U.S. Marine squad leader and acting platoon sergeant who, although part of a support unit, fought at Iwo Jima in 1945. Doughty was a Montford Point Marine (Montford Point was an all-black Marine Corps training site at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina) from the Bronx, serving in the segregated 8th Ammunition Company. In February 1945 they sailed to Guam, not knowing that their final destination would be Iwo Jima, where they would take part in the largest U.S. Marine amphibious operation in the Pacific War. Doughty’s unit landed on D-Day plus five (five days after the initial landings), but the beachhead was not secure, and almost immediately the 8th drew Japanese artillery fire and mortars. There was only one landing beach and, although five days later the American flag was symbolically raised on Mount Suribachi, the fighting would continue between February 19 and March 25. On D-Day plus twenty-five, when Doughty’s unit was guarding an ammunition cache, Japanese and Korean slave laborers emerged from underground caves, some armed with spears and other obsolete weapons. They attacked Doughty’s men throughout the night, and as the marines held their perimeter, several of the unit and other marines who were fighting in close quarters were killed or wounded. At daylight Doughty estimated that at least a company of Japanese had been killed. One of his men was

See also Iwo Jima, Battle of; Montford Point Marines; U.S. Marines; World War II References and Further Reading Buckley, Gail. American Patriots: The Story of Blacks in the Military from the Revolution to Desert Storm. New York: Random House, 2001. Shaw, Henry I., Jr., and Ralph W. Donnelly. Blacks in the Marine Corps. Washington, DC: History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1975.

Douglass, Anna Murray (1813–1882) Anna Murray Douglass was born to recently freed parents near Denton, Carolina County, in eastern Maryland, the first person in her family to be born free. Her parents, Banbarra and Mary Murray, eventually had twelve children, of whom Anna was the eighth. At the age of seventeen, she moved to Baltimore, where she worked initially as a maid in a prominent household belonging to a French family called Montell. Anna then moved her employment to the home of the postmaster, Mr. Wells, on South Caroline Street, a position that she held for the next seven years. To try to improve her knowledge and way of life, Douglass

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began to attend the East Baltimore Improvement Society. It was at one of the meetings of this society that Douglass met a man called Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey. He was five years younger than she and was intent on escaping his life of slavery and had plans to leave for New York City. After meeting him, Anna decided to devote all of her energies to assisting Frederick. In 1838 Anna gave Frederick the money to escape. Once he was settled in New York, he sent for her. The two were married with the help of David Ruggles, who had taken Frederick into his home when he arrived in New York. The couple then moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, and Nathan Johnson formally introduced them to their new associates as Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Douglass. Douglass wrote of his new wife: “Instead of finding my companion a burden, she was truly a helpmeet. She went to live at service, and I to work on the wharf, and though we toiled hard the first winter, we never lived more happily.” Gradually, Frederick Douglass became prominently involved in the abolitionist movement and toured the country and Britain, lecturing and raising support for his cause. During his absences Anna raised their five children and cared for the home. Although she was virtually illiterate, she had also become an activist in her own right and belonged to the Massachusetts circle of reformers. She would meet weekly with antislavery women and annually organized the Anti-Slavery Fair in Boston’s Faneuil Hall. After the couple moved into their new home in Rochester, New York, in 1847, Anna also became involved in the care and protection of runaway slaves. Their home was very close to the Canadian border, and eventually it became an important station for the Underground Railroad. Those escaping from bondage in the south and en route to freedom in Canada would receive comfort and shelter in the Douglass home. Anna also worked as a laundress and shoe-binder. In 1872 the Douglass family moved to Washington, D.C. Anna died there after suffering a

paralyzing stroke in 1882. Her daughter later said of her mother: “The heroism of Frederick Douglass was a story made possible by the unswerving loyalty of Anna Murray” (Douglass Sprague 1896). See also American Civil War; Douglass, Frederick; Underground Railroad References and Further Reading Douglass Sprague, Rosetta. “Anna Murray Douglass, My Mother As I Recall Her” (1896). Frederick Douglass Papers, Library of Congress.

Douglass, Frederick (ca.1817–1895) Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey Douglass was a prominent African American abolitionist who was instrumental in convincing Washington during the American Civil War to authorize the recruitment of African Americans into the military. Frederick Bailey was born into slavery, probably in 1817, at Tuckahoe, near Easton, Maryland, to Harriet Bailey and an unknown white father. He adopted February 14 as his date of birth because his mother used to call him “her little valentine.” He was born on Holmes Hill Farm, which belonged to Aaron Anthony, but he was sent at an early age to live with his grandmother, Betsey Bailey, who lived only a short distance away from Holmes Hill Farm. It wasn’t until Douglass was six years old that he was introduced to his brother, Perry, and two sisters, Sara and Eliza. This meeting occurred when his grandmother took him to the Edward Lloyd plantation and abandoned him there to serve the master. In 1826 Douglass was sent to Baltimore, Maryland, to work for the Auld family. It was here that the lady of the house, Sophia, began to teach him to read. When her husband, Hugh, discovered this teaching, he ordered her to stop the lessons for fear that

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Douglass would become unfit for work as a slave. Determined to master the skills of reading and writing, Douglass began to teach himself secretly. As his skills increased, he began to read more and more political information, and by the age of thirteen, he began to dream of emancipation. After the death of Aaron Anthony, Douglass returned to the Lloyd plantation for a short time to be part of the division of the dead man’s property, but was sent back soon to Hugh and Sophia Auld in Baltimore. However, within the year he was again forced to leave Baltimore and sent to live at Thomas Auld’s farm close to the Lloyd plantation and work as a field hand. After a short spell of work for Edward Covey in 1833, he was sent to work for a farmer called William Freedland in January 1834. He had been sent to Covey in an attempt to crush his spirit by being worked and whipped mercilessly. After he had been at the Freedland farm for a year, in 1836, Douglass started an illegal school for African American children and began to plan his escape to the north. When his planned escape was discovered, Douglass was imprisoned, but he was released by Thomas Auld and set to work for a shipbuilder as an apprentice. He was allowed to collect his own pay each week, but it was handed over immediately to Thomas Auld for his keep, an act that filled Douglass with resentment. In 1837 Douglass joined the East Baltimore Mental Improvement Society, a black debating club that met in secret, and became involved in debating, at which he became proficient. At one of the meetings Douglass met his future wife, Anna Murray, a free African American woman working for a Baltimore family. In 1838 they became engaged. However, Douglass was still intent on escaping, and in the late summer of 1838 he borrowed money from Anna and bought a ticket to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dressed as a sailor and carrying the papers of a freed African American seaman, he boarded a train to Wilmington, Delaware, then proceeded to Philadelphia. When Douglass arrived in

Philadelphia, he cautiously asked directions to New York City, where he arrived on September 3, a “free man.” Once Douglass felt secure in the protection of the home of David Ruggles, an abolitionist and an officer in the New York Vigilance Committee, who had taken him in, he sent for Anna, and the two were married on September 15. The newlyweds moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where they lodged in the home of Nathan and Mary Johnson, and it was here that Frederick Bailey changed his name to Frederick Douglass (after marrying under the name Frederick Johnson) in his attempt to start a new life as a free man. Unable to find work in his trade because of the segregation laws in New Bedford, Douglass worked as a laborer. In June 1839 the Douglasses’ first child, Rosetta, was born, and the following year their son, Lewis Henry. By now Douglass had become involved in the local black community, the abolitionist movement, and he also became a member of the American Anti-Slavery Society. In August 1841 Douglass met the white leader of the American Anti-Slavery Society, William Lloyd Garrison, for the first time. During the meeting Garrison approached Douglass to become an agent for the society as a traveling lecturer and promoter of the Liberator and AntiSlavery Standard periodicals, a job that he enjoyed. Touring the northern states, Douglass told stories of his own slavery experiences initially, but later he began to develop his tales to incorporate those of hardship he had witnessed and racism he had experienced in the north. During 1842 he continued his lecturing tour through Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island along with Garrison and other prominent speakers. In 1843 Douglass was involved in the Hundred Conventions project. This was a six-month tour throughout the west of the country during which Douglass and his associates faced hostility and proslavery violence. He continued his work until his reputation began to dwindle, and he started to receive severe criticism in the

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A letter from Charles Douglass, one of Frederick Douglass’s two sons who enlisted in the 54th Massachusetts. (Library of Congress)

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press. During the winter of 1844–1845 Douglass decided to write his autobiography and included in the manuscript detailed accounts of his experiences while in the household of the Auld family. The abolitionist leader, Wendell Phillips, suggested that he should destroy the manuscript for fear of being sent back to Maryland, but Douglass was determined to publish it. Despite his fears of the publication, Wendell Phillips, along with William Lloyd Garrison, contributed to the introduction of the book, which was published in May 1845. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave became a bestseller immediately. However, although Douglass was overjoyed with the success of the book, it did, in fact, become another threat to his freedom. Under the laws of the country, all of the fugitive slave’s property could be seized by his former master, Thomas Auld. With this fear uppermost in his mind, Douglass decided to flee the slave catchers and to visit England to promote the American antislavery movement. By now, Anna Douglass had given birth to two more children, Frederick Jr. and Charles. Traveling on board the Cambria, a British steamship, Douglass docked in Britain and spent the next two years being welcomed into the homes of prominent citizens. Crowds flocked to hear him lecture, particularly in Ireland where he spoke in favor of Irish independence after meeting the Irish Catholic leader, Daniel O’Connell. Douglass wrote to William Lloyd Garrison in 1846: “Instead of the bright blue sky of America, I am covered with the soft gray fog of the Emerald Isle. I breathe and lo! The chattel becomes a man. I gaze around in vain for one who will question my equal humanity, claim me as a slave, or offer me an insult” (Douglass 1881, 248). In 1846 Garrison joined Douglass, and together they toured England and Scotland. In August of the same year, they attended the World Temperance Convention in London where Douglass was attacked by the Reverend Samuel Cox, an American delegate, for his controversial speech about the American Temper-

ance Movement. Douglass responded by charging Cox with bigotry and suggesting that many of the clergy were guilty of proslavery sentiments. Reluctantly, Douglass realized that he needed to return to America and continue his work to free those in bondage. His fear, however, was that he would be recaptured if he returned. His freedom came in the form of $710. 96 sent to Thomas Auld by some of Douglass’s English friends, and the necessary papers that gave Frederick his freedom were duly signed by Auld on December 5, 1846. Returning to America, once more aboard the Cambria, Douglass had earned a reputation for his work in Britain, but also received criticism for allowing his friends to buy his freedom, an option available to few slaves. He responded that although his freedom was a gift, he considered the Auld family to be his kidnappers, not his masters. In December 1847 the Douglass family moved to Rochester, New York, a pro-abolitionist town, where he began publishing a weekly newspaper, the North Star. The paper was to become the country’s best-known African American newspaper, but initially it received a mixed response and brought once more to Douglass a mixture of praise and criticism. Financially the family was struggling to survive; their fifth child, Annie, was born in 1849, and Douglass returned to the lecture circuit to sustain both the family and the newspaper’s production. Slavery was only one of Douglass’s targets in his newspaper. He wrote: “Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground.” And when attacking job discrimination against African Americans, he wrote: “We need mechanics as well as ministers; we must build as well as live in houses; we must construct bridges as well as pass over them” (Douglass 1881, 294). With a home situated close to the Canadian border, Douglass became heavily involved in the Underground Railroad, with his house an important station for runaway slaves from the

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south en route to Canada. Douglass became the superintendent of the Underground Railroad for the area and, together with his wife, sheltered many runaway slaves in their home. In 1851 the newspaper was renamed Frederick Douglass’s Paper, under which name it began to prosper and continue to grow in popularity until the 1860s. At around the same time Douglass also attended the annual general meeting of the American Anti-Slavery Society. His announcement at this meeting that he intended to urge his readers to become involved in politics forced a split with his former colleague, Garrison, who believed in moral suasion rather than political action to end slavery. In 1855 Douglass wrote his second book, My Bondage and My Freedom. John Brown, the militant white abolitionist, whom Douglass had met in 1847, was intent on starting a slave revolt in the south. In August 1859, shortly before his attack on Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, Brown wrote to Douglass, inviting him to attend a meeting in Pennsylvania and urging him to join the cause. Although they met near Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, Douglass refused Brown’s offer on the grounds that he was convinced this act would only increase opposition to the abolitionist cause among whites. Despite his refusal to join Brown, the newspapers, which had found evidence of their contacts, implicated him in the Harper’s Ferry raid. Douglass fled the country, traveling first to Canada and then sailing to England. It was soon after his arrival in England that Douglass received the news that his daughter Annie had died on March 1860, and he returned home in May. In addition to his antislavery work, Douglass had also become involved in the women’s rights movement in Rochester, speaking openly and urging women to fight for the vote. He also began campaigning for the end of segregation in the schools of Rochester, having employed private tutors for his children because they were not admitted to the town’s public schools. After the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, Douglass supported the new Republican president and opposed the spread of slavery into

Frederick Douglass (National Archives)

new territories. When South Carolina seceded from the Union, Douglass and other prominent abolitionists became the targets of angry and outspoken mobs who believed that their activities had caused the division of the country. In Lincoln’s inaugural speech in March 1861, he made it clear that it was his intention to uphold the Fugitive Slave Laws and that his priority was to restore the Union, not to end slavery, particularly in the states where it was firmly established. Douglass, however, along with other abolitionists, considered that the war was a fight to end slavery and identified two main objectives. First, he wanted the emancipation of all slaves in the southern and northern border states and, second, he wanted all African Americans to have the right to enlist in the army of the north. During the Civil War Douglass continued his lecturing career and openly called for Lincoln to

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grant freedom to slaves. On December 31, 1862, Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that from the following day all slaves in areas held by Union troops were free. Slavery was not, however, abolished in the border states or in areas that had previously been captured by Union troops. Douglass, jubilant at the news of the proclamation, wrote in Boston: “We were waiting and listening as for a bolt from the sky . . . we were watching . . . by the dim light of the stars for the dawn of a new day . . . we were longing for the answer to the agonizing prayers of centuries” (Douglass 1881, 358). Still paramount in Douglass’s mind, however, was the question of the enlistment of African American soldiers, and it took until the following year before Congress authorized black enlistment in the Union army. Among the first African American units to be formed was the 54th Massachusetts Company B Voluntary Infantry Regiment, and Douglass was asked by the governor of that state to help with the recruitment of soldiers. His sons, Lewis and Charles, were among the first to enlist in the African American regiment, and Douglass urged other blacks to also join the unit to end in a day the bondage of centuries. . . . A war undertaken and brazenly carried on for the perpetual enslavement of colored men calls logically and loudly for colored men to help suppress it. Only a moderate share of sagacity was needed to see that the arm of the slave was the best defense against the arm of the slaveholder. . . . Massachusetts now welcomes you to arms as soldiers. She has but a small colored population from which to recruit. She has full leave of the general government to send one regiment to the war and she has undertaken to do it. Go quickly and help fill up the first colored regiment from the North. I am authorized to assure you that you will receive the same wages, the same rations, the same equipment, the same protection, the same treatment, and the same bounty, secured

to the white soldiers. You will be led by able and skilful officers, men who will take a special pride in your efficiency and success. They will be quick to accord to you all the honor you shall merit by your valor, and see that your rights and feelings are respected by other soldiers (Douglass 1881, 344, 346).

Soon after the formation of the 54th Massachusetts, Douglass began to hear stories of unequal treatment of the African American enlisted men and stopped his recruitment activities. He published his concerns and requested a meeting with Abraham Lincoln to discuss the way African American soldiers were being treated by Union officers. Although uncertain about the assurances he received from Lincoln that the situation would be resolved, Douglass continued his recruitment efforts and was offered a commission on the staff of Gen. Lorenzo Thomas by Edwin Stanton, the secretary of war. However, apparently determining that Douglass would not be accepted by other officers, Stanton revoked the commission. Undeterred, Douglass continued with the recruitment of African American soldiers, and eventually they made up about 10 percent of the Union troops (one-third of whom died in service). By 1864 Douglass was still not happy with the treatment African American soldiers were receiving and, he also became concerned that George McClellan, who had shown little interest in the welfare of those soldiers or in the issue of ending slavery, might win the upcoming presidential election. Together with other supporters of presidential contender John C. Frémont, Douglass decided it would be prudent to continue to support Abraham Lincoln. In August Douglass attended another meeting with Lincoln, who asked him to draw up plans for leading slaves out of the South in the event that the Union did not win the war and slavery continued to exist in an independent South. The plan that Douglass compiled was superseded by the Union victory.

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After Lincoln’s second inaugural address, Douglass, along with other black supporters, was not invited to the evening reception at the White House. However, when Douglass contacted Lincoln about this exclusion, the newly re-elected president personally called for his attendance and greeted Douglass in a crowded room with the words “Here comes my friend Douglass.” After the Civil War, the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution officially abolished slavery in all areas of the country. There were, however, still restrictions on African Americans that Douglass wanted to see lifted. William Lloyd Garrison proposed at a meeting of the American AntiSlavery Society that the organization be disbanded, but Douglass opposed this proposal strongly, arguing that “slavery is not abolished until the black man has the ballot.” Although many abolitionists left the struggle, the society voted to continue, and Douglass began more travels on lecture tours, but this time he was fighting for black suffrage and the need for change in the southern state governments. President Andrew Johnson made it clear that his intention was to support the interests of Southern whites and to block voting rights for African Americans. However, the Republican Congress became resistant to Johnson’s plans and wanted the former slaveholders’ power to end, urging that the estates of the slaveholders be broken up and distributed to the African American freedmen. To reinforce their opinion in 1866, Congress passed two significant bills; the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill and the Civil Rights Bill. The Freedmen’s Bureau had been established the previous year, and this new bill extended the powers of this government agency in the assistance of southern African Americans. The Civil Rights Act gave African Americans the right of full citizenship in accordance with that received by all other American citizens. However, the question of African Americans having the right to vote was still unresolved. Douglass continued to press for that right.

Douglass’s fight for black suffrage continued until an amendment to the Civil Rights Act was ratified in July 1868, stating that no state could deny any person his full rights as an American citizen, although it did not guarantee African Americans the right to vote. Making it clear that he disapproved of President Johnson’s policies, Douglass refused an offer from the president to head up the Freedmen’s Bureau, although this post would have allowed him to deal first-hand with the needs of Southern African Americans. In 1868 Douglass campaigned for the Republican candidate, Ulysses S. Grant, and attacked the Democratic party for its apparent lack of concern for African Americans. During his famous speech “The Work before Us,” Douglass warned of the rise of secret societies and white supremacist organizations, such as the Ku Klux Klan, who were frightening African Americans into giving up the rights they had fought so hard to obtain. He pleaded in that speech: “Rebellion has been subdued, slavery abolished, and peace proclaimed, and yet our work is not done . . . we are face to face with the same old enemy of liberty and progress . . . the South today is a field of blood.” Once Grant won the election in 1868, the Fifteenth Amendment was passed, guaranteeing all men the right to vote, regardless of their race. Because the amendment excluded women, Douglass (a major supporter of the amendment) lost the approval of many notables in the women’s rights movement. In 1870 Douglass became the editor and subsequently the owner of the New National Era newspaper. Two years later his home in Rochester burned to the ground in a case of suspected arson. Douglass and his family moved to Washington, D.C., where he supported Grant in his campaign for re-election. Despite hopes that he would be offered a post under Grant, none was forthcoming, so Douglass continued his lecturing career, constantly opposing discrimination and eventually becoming the foremost spokesperson for African Americans.

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After Rutherford B. Hayes was elected president in 1877, Douglass received a political position on the staff, that of U.S. marshal for Washington, D.C. He and his family moved to Cedar Hill in Washington, and from this new home he visited his old home in Maryland and met with Thomas Auld, his former master. James Garfield, the Republican president who was elected in 1880, appointed Douglass to the post of recorder of deeds in Washington, a position that he held for the next five years. In 1881 he published his third autobiography Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. His wife, Anna, died after a long illness the following year. In 1884, Douglass announced his engagement to a white woman, Helen Pitts, who was twenty years his junior. Once again he had shocked society, but this time both black and white were upset by his actions. However, the two embarked on a happy marriage that lasted for the remaining nine years of Douglass’s life. From 1886 to 1887 Douglass and his wife traveled in Europe. In 1889, he was appointed resident and consul to Haiti and subsequently, chargé d’affaires for Santo Domingo by President Benjamin Harrison. On February 20, 1895, Frederick Douglass died of a heart attack at the age of seventyseven. His body lay in state in Washington, and crowds gathered to pay their last respects. African American public schools were closed for the day in his honor, and his body was accompanied by Helen Pitts and his surviving children to Rochester, where he was buried. See also American Civil War; Douglass, Anna Murray; 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment; Freedmen’s Bureau References and Further Reading Douglass, Frederick. Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, His Early Life as a Slave, His Escape from Bondage and His Complete History to the Present Time. Hartford, CT: Park, 1881. ———. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick

Douglass An American Slave. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University, 1960. ———. My Bondage and My Freedom. New York: Dover Publications, 1969. Foner, Philip S. The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass: Early Years 1817–1849. New York: International Publishers, 1950. ––––––. The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass: Pre–Civil War Decade 1850–1860. New York: International Publishers, 1950 ––––––. The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass: The Civil War 1861–1865. New York: International Publishers 1952. ––––––. The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass: Reconstruction and After. New York: International Publishers, 1955. Gregory, P. Lampe. Frederick Douglass—Freedom’s Voice, 1818–1845. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1998. Huggins, Nathan Irvin. Slave and Citizen: The Life of Frederick Douglass. Boston: Little, Brown, 1980. Quarles, Benjamin. Frederick Douglass. Washington, DC: Associated Publishers, 1948.

Draft Riots (1863) From July 13 to July 17, 1863, more than one hundred people were killed and many more injured in New York City riots sparked by the passage of the Conscription Act of 1863. New York City was decidedly Democratic, very antiwar and antiblack; Mayor William Marcy Tweed declared the war to be “a rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight.” The new Conscription Act allowed a man to buy himself out of the draft for $300, an amount out of reach for most ordinary people. At the same time, the Emancipation Proclamation had intensified the feelings of many working-class, particularly Irish, New Yorkers that they were being forced by the Protestant Republican establishment to fight for black freedom, only to lose their jobs to blacks after the war. They also did not share one

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A mob lynching an African American on Clarkson Street during the draft riots in New York City. (Harper’s Weekly, July 1863)

of the goals of issuing the Emancipation Proclamation—to encourage the enlistment of former slaves to swell the ranks of the Union Army. Although African Americans were not the original, and never the only, focus of the rioters, black homes, businesses, and schools were attacked by mobs, including the Colored Orphan Asylum, which was reduced to ashes. Several African American men were lynched; others were burned alive or beaten to death. A month later, in a letter to his friend James C. Conkling (August 26, 1863), containing remarks to be addressed to those who opposed emancipation and the formation of black fighting forces, President Abraham Lincoln wrote: You say you will not fight to free negroes. Some of them seem willing to fight for you.

There will be some black men who can remember that, with silent tongue, and wellpoised bayonet, they have helped mankind on to this great consummation; while I fear, there will be some white ones, unable to forget that, with malignant heart, and deceitful speech, they have strove to hinder it. See also American Civil War References and Further Reading Auchincloss, Louis, ed. The Hone and Strong Diaries of Old Manhattan. New York: Abbeville Press, 1989. McPherson, James M. The Negro’s Civil War. New York: Pantheon, 1965. Newton, Alexander H. Out of the Briars. Miami, FL: Mnemosyne, 1969.

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Drew, Dr. Charles Richard (1904–1950) An African American athlete, a Red Cross doctor, and a medical pioneer, Charles Richard Drew was born in Washington, D.C., on June 3, 1904. He attended Amherst College and became an all-American football player, graduating in 1926. He became a biology teacher at Morgan College and then decided to study at McGill University in Canada for a medical degree. He taught pathology at Howard College and became a resident at Freedman’s Hospital in Washington. After working and teaching at the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York, he received his medical degree from Columbia University.

His dissertation was to stand him in good stead because it focused on blood banks and the storage of plasma. Drew supervised New York City’s Blood Transfusion Association, and he developed the “Blood for Britain Campaign.” Refrigerated blood plasma was shipped from New York to Britain, which was by then under virtual siege from Nazi Germany. Drew then became the director of the New York City Red Cross Blood Bank and was in charge of collecting blood for the U.S. Armed Forces. In late 1941, with the United States at war, the military authorities ordered “white” blood from the Red Cross and, as a result, any African Americans who were wounded and needed blood received “white” blood via their transfusions. Drew could not donate blood to his own

After receiving first aid treatment in a practice air raid in Washington, D.C., the “victim” is moved to the hospital by the Medical Corps of the Office of Civilian Defense. The physician is Dr. Charles Drew. (National Archives)

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program. He resigned in the spring of 1942 over this policy and became the head of Howard University’s Department of Surgery and chief surgeon at the Freedman’s Hospital. In 1944 he became the hospital chief of staff and medical director, a post that he held until 1948. He was never allowed to join the American Medical Association, even though he was a surgical consultant to the surgeon general of the United States, a fellow of the International College of Surgeons, and the first African American examiner on the medical board that certified surgeons. At the age of forty-six, in 1950, he was involved in a car accident in North Carolina. It was rumored at the time that the local hospital had refused to admit him because he was African American. The hospital in fact did admit African American patients, although they were consigned to basement wards and treatment rooms, and the three white doctors who treated him made every effort to save his life, although they did not know who he was. See also World War II References and Further Reading Morais, Herbert Montford. History of the Negro in Medicine. New York: Publishers Co., 1967. Sterne, Emma Gelders. Blood Brothers: Four Men of Science. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1959.

Du Bois, William Edward Burghardt (1868–1963)

bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Harvard. He had earlier studied for two years at the University of Berlin in Germany. His thesis, The Suppression of the African Slave Trade in America, remains in print in Harvard’s Historical Studies series. After graduating, Du Bois accepted a teaching position at Wilberforce University in Ohio where he remained for the next two years. In 1896, he was offered and accepted a fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania to carry out a research project on racism in the state. He published The Philadelphia Negro (1899) as a result of his studies before moving to Atlanta University in Georgia, where he remained for the next thirteen years. In The Souls of Black Folk (1903), Du Bois made his case against the views of Booker T. Washington’s policy of accommodation in the chapter entitled “Of Booker T. Washington and Others.” Du Bois called instead for “ceaseless agitation and insistent demand for equality. . . . And the use of force of every sort: moral suasion, propaganda, and where possible even physical resistance.” In 1909 Du Bois became the director of publications and research of the newly formed National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), editing the Crisis magazine for the next twenty-five years. During World War I, under Du Bois’s leadership, this magazine’s circulation increased to over 10,000 by 1919. Although he supported U.S. entry into the war and African American participation in the war effort, his editorials in the Crisis continued to press for equitable treatment of black troops and the commissioning of black officers:

W. E. B. Du Bois was a leading African American activist, intellectual, and speaker. Du Bois was born on February 23, 1868, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. He became the local correspondent for the New York Globe while in high school and went on to Fisk University and then to Harvard University. In 1890 Du Bois became the first African American to receive a

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We, therefore, earnestly urge our colored fellow citizens to join heartily in this fight for eventual world liberty; we urge them to enlist in the army; to join in the pressing work of providing food supplies; to labor in all ways by hand and thought in increasing the efficiency of our country. We urge despite our deep sympathy with the reasonable and deep-seated feeling of revolt among Negroes at the persist-

Dunmore Proclamation

ent insult and discrimination to which they are subject and will be subject even when they do their patriotic duty. Let us, however, never forget that this country belongs to us even more than to those who lynch, disfranchise, and segregate. As our country it rightly demands our wholehearted defense as well today as when with Crispus Attucks we fought for independence and with 200,000 black soldiers we helped hammer out our own freedom. Absolute loyalty in arms and civil duties need not for a moment lead us to abate our just complaints and just demands. Despite the gratuitous advice of the white friends who wish us to submit uncomplainingly to caste and peonage, and despite the more timid and complacent souls in our own ranks, we demand and of right ought to demand

Make way for Democracy! We saved it in France, and by the great Jehovah, we will save it in the United States of America, or know the reason why.

In 1919 Du Bois represented the NAACP as an observer at the peace conference in France, where he also investigated the treatment of African American troops and helped organize the Pan-African Congress. He remained with the NAACP until 1934, when he resumed his duties at Atlanta University, completing two major works: Black Reconstruction and Dusk of Dawn before 1940, followed by The World and Africa. In 1945 he served as an associate consultant to the American delegation at the founding conference of the United Nations in San Francisco. By 1959 Du Bois had moved to newly independent Ghana, where he became a citizen, and directed the government-sponsored Encyclopedia Africana. He died in Accra on August 27, 1963, the night before the March on Washington.

1. The right to serve our country on the battlefield and to receive training for such service; 2. The right of our best men to lead troops of their own race in battle, and to receive officers’ training in preparation for such leadership; 3. The immediate stoppage of lynching; 4. The right to vote for both men and women; 5. Universal and free common school training; 6. The abolition of Jim Crow laws; 7. The repeal of segregation ordinances; 8. Equal Civil Rights in all public institutions and movements

See also National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; World War I References and Further Reading Du Bois, W. E. B., et al. Dusk of Dawn. An Essay Toward an Autobiography of a Race Concept. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1940. Reprint, New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, 1991. Lewis, David Levering. W. E. B. Du Bois: The Fight for Equality and the American Century, 1919–1963. New York: Henry Holt, 2000.

After the war, Du Bois urged the victorious African American troops to continue the fight at home: We return from fighting. We return fighting. By the God of Heaven, we are cowards and jackasses if now that the war is over, we do not marshal every ounce of our brain and brawn to fight the forces of hell in our own land. . . .

Dunmore Proclamation (November 7, 1775) On November 7, 1775, John Murray, the earl of Dunmore and royal governor of Virginia, desperate to raise forces to confront the rebels, issued a ground-breaking proclamation from his headquarters in Norfolk, inviting African Ameri-

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can slaves to flee from their masters and to join the British forces. Slaves were promised freedom in exchange for their military service. This contoversial measure, which had not been sanctioned by officiala in Britain, served immediatley to stiffen Southern white resistance to colonial rule as well as to promote slaves’ resistance to their bondage. Many of the slaves who responded to Dunmore’s call joined the Ethiopian Regiment, a unit of several hundred African Americans. Many of them wore uniforms bearing the inscription “Liberty to Slaves.” The statement was clear and unequivocal:

and willing to bear Arms, they joining His Majesty’s Troops as soon as may be, for the more speedily reducing this Colony to a proper Sense of their Duty, to His Majesty’s Crown and Dignity (Black Loyalists website).

Virginia was outraged, but it still took officials there more than a month to respond with their own declaration, which was signed by the president of the General Convention, Edmund Pendleton:

As I have ever entertained Hopes, that an Accommodation might have taken Place between Great Britain and this colony, without being compelled by my Duty to this most disagreeable but now absolutely necessary Step, rendered so by a Body of armed Men unlawfully assembled, firing on His Majesty’s Tenders, and the formation of a Army, and that Army now on their March to attack His Majesty’s Troops and destroy the well disposed subjects of the Colony. To defeat such treasonable Purposes, and that all such Traitors, and their Abetters, may be brought to Justice, and the Peace, and good Order of this Colony may be again restored, which the ordinary Course of the Civil Law is unable to affect; I have thought fit to issue this my Proclamation, hereby declaring, that until the aforesaid good Purpose can be obtained, I do in Virtue of the Power and Authority to me given, by His Majesty, determine to execute Martial Law, and cause the same to be executed throughout this colony: and to restore the Peace and good Order may the sooner be restored, I do require every Person capable of bearing Arms, to resort to His Majesty’s Standard or be looked upon as Traitors to His Majesty’s Crown and Government, and thereby become liable to the Penalty the Law inflicts upon such Offences; such as forfeiture of Life, confiscation of Lands, &.&. and I do hereby further declare that all indented Servants and Negroes, or others, (appertaining to Rebels) free that are able | 147 |

Whereas Lord Dunmore, by his proclamation, dated on board the ship William, off Norfolk, the 7th day of November, 1775, hath offered freedom to such able-bodied slaves as are willing to join him, and to take up arms, against the good people of this colony, giving thereby encouragement to a general insurrection, which may induce a necessity of inflicting the severest punishments upon those unhappy people, already deluded by his base and insidious arts; and whereas, by an act of the General Assembly now in force in this colony, it is enacted, that all Negro or other slaves, conspiring to rebel or make insurrection, shall suffer death, and be excluded all benefits of clergy. We think it proper to declare, that all slaves who have been, or shall be seduced, by his lordships proclamation, or other arts, to desert their masters’ service and take up arms against inhabitants of this colony, shall be liable to such punishment as shall hereafter be directed by the General Convention. And to that end all such, who have taken this unlawful and wicked step, may return in safety to their duty, and escape the punishment due to their crimes, we hereby promise to pardon them, they surrendering themselves to Col. William Woodford, or any other commander of our troops, and not appearing in arms after the publication hereof. And we do farther earnestly recommend it to all humane and benevolent persons in this colony to explain and make known this our offer or mercy to those unfortunate people (Black Loyalists website).

Dunmore Proclamation

Unfortunately for the slaves who joined Dunmore, a virulent smallpox outbreak decimated their numbers. Although by March 1776 the unit had many men, its numbers were greatly reduced by the summer of 1776. Dunmore had hoped that the Ethiopian regiment would grow to around 2,000 men, but in August he had to abandon the Potomac River as a result of the lack of regular reinforcements, smallpox, and poor supplies. The Dunmore Proclamation’s lasting effect was to force the hand of Washington and the Continental Congress. They at last began to recognize that if African American slaves were willing to throw their lot in with the British in exchange for freedom, they might also be willing to serve in support of the Revolution. By January 17, 1777, free African Americans and

slaves who were being used as substitutes for their masters were an integral part of the Continental Army and the various militias. See also American Revolution References and Further Reading Black Loyalists website: http://collections.ic.gc.ca/ blackloyalists/documents/official/dunmore.htm; http://collections.ic.gc.ca/blackloyalists/ documents/official/virginia_response.htm (accessed August 2003). Kaplan, Sydney, and Emma Nogrady Kaplan. The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1989. Quarles, Benjamin. The Negro in the American Revolution. New York: W. W. Norton, 1973.

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e Earley, Charity Adams (1918–2002) The first African American woman to attain the rank of lieutenant colonel in the United States armed forces and commander of the 6888th Central Postal Battalion, Charity Edna Adams was born in Kittrell, North Carolina, in 1918, and grew up in Columbia, South Carolina. She was the eldest of four children and the daughter of a minister and a teacher. Her father, who was fluent in Greek and Hebrew, instilled in her the need to study hard to develop through life. She graduated from the Booker T. Washington High School and enrolled at an African Methodist Episcopal institution, Wilberforce University in Ohio. Earley earned her B.A. in mathematics in 1938 and then returned to Columbia, where she embarked on a teaching career, attending graduate school at Ohio State University during the summer holidays to continue her studies toward a master’s degree. In 1942 Earley applied for and was accepted into the first Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), stationed at Fort Des Moines and attached to the 3d Platoon. She lived in segregated quarters with other African American women and served in a segregated unit. In August of the same year, she became the first African American to be commissioned an officer in

the WAAC and was assigned to the 3d Company, 3d Training Regiment, consisting of two white and one black platoons. She trained the women in a variety of procedures, claiming later in her autobiography that the African American officers were faster learners than white officers. Soon after, Earley was promoted from third to first officer (equivalent to second lieutenant and captain, respectively). On a visit to Columbia, she became involved in the civil rights movement while attending a meeting of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), of which her father was president. After the meeting, her parents’ home was watched all night by representatives of the Ku Klux Klan. In June 1943, now given the responsibility of training officer at the headquarters, Earley was transferred to Washington, D.C. From there she embarked on a tour of Massachusetts, New Jersey, and North Carolina. In the following year she was promoted to training center control officer; she was often the only African American officer assigned to the headquarters. Her objections to the formation of a separate training regiment for African Americans may well have influenced the army to abandon the idea. In December 1944 Earley was sent to Europe, arriving in London, then moving on to Scotland and Paris. In March of the following

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year she was given command of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion of 850 women with the responsibility for delivering mail to African American troops stationed in Europe. Based initially in Birmingham, England, she was transferred in April to Rouen, where the 6888th was to be based. The unit was the only African American WAAC battalion assigned to overseas duty. After World War II ended Earley was ordered back to the United States and the Pentagon headquarters of the WAAC. She left the service in March 1946, having attained the highest rank of any African American woman in the United States military during World War II, that of lieutenant colonel. Earley returned to school in Ohio and earned a master’s degree in vocational psychology. She worked for the Veterans Administration and for the Miller Music Academy before moving to Nashville, Tennessee, for a brief period. She became the dean of student personnel services at Tennessee A&I University there, then held a similar position at Georgia State University, Savannah. In 1949 she married Stanley A. Earley Jr., a medical student, and the two moved to Zurich, Switzerland, where Stanley Earley completed his medical studies. While there, Charity learned German at the University of Zurich and attended the Jungian Institute of Analytical Psychology, also based in Zurich. The couple returned to the United States at the end of Stanley’s studies and settled in Dayton, Ohio. The couple had a son and a daughter. Earley became a supporter of several organizations, including the United Way, the Black Leadership Development Program, the Dayton Metro Housing Authority, the Dayton Opera Company, the American Red Cross, and Sinclair Community College. She was also a volunteer with the United Negro College Fund, the Urban League, and the YWCA. In recognition of her hard work and dedication to public service, Earley was awarded multiple honors. In 1979 she was inducted into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame, and in 1982 the Smithsonian Institute included her in its “Black

Women Against the Odds” list of the 100 most important African American women. She also received a Brotherhood Award from the Dayton Area Conference of Christians and Jews and herself established the Charity Edna Earley Scholarship at Wilberforce University. In 1989 Earley published an account of her military experiences and travels in her book entitled One Woman’s Army, which was reprinted in 1996. She died in Dayton, Ohio, on January 13, 2002. See also African American Women in the Military; National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; 6888th Postal Battalion; World War II References and Further Reading Cloyd, Iris, ed. Who’s Who among Black Americans. Detroit: Gale Research, 1990. Creamer, Maureen. Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia. Brooklyn, NY: Carlson Publishing, 1993. Earley, Charity Adams. One Woman’s Army: A Black Officer Remembers the WAC. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1989.

1812, War of The Treaty of Paris (1783) that ended the American Revolution did not end the friction between Britain and its former American colonies. Not only did a great number of individuals still loyal to the Crown leave for Canada, not only were British troops slow in leaving the western frontier, but Native Americans, still supported by the British, threatened the peace on the frontiers. A tinderbox remained, only needing a single spark to reignite the conflict between the British and the newly independent United States. African Americans played a significant role in what later became known as the War of 1812, one of the less well-known conflicts of the United States. The war lasted for over two and a

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half years, ending in stalemate. If nothing else, it confirmed that the United States was to remain independent, but put a temporary hold on the new country’s dreams of expansion. The war began as a direct result of the British assertion of a right to stop and search American vessels in their hunt for former members of the Royal Navy. As far as the British were concerned, whatever their citizenship, they were deserters who should be apprehended and returned to service. Following immediate responses from Washington, including the placing of punitive tax duties on overseas imports, the war hawks in the administration took the upper hand in policy, realizing that an opportunity had presented itself to seize Canada from the British. What the hawks had underestimated was the resolve of the British. Despite the fact that the British were fully committed to a war in Europe against Napoleon, they were determined to maintain possession of their vast North American colonies to the north. Although there were a number of land engagements, much of the war was carried out at sea. Here, the U.S. Navy proved itself to be surprisingly effective. Coupled with the naval victories against the French following the Jay’s Treaty of 1796, the War of 1812 established American naval traditions for decades. The vast majority of African Americans who became involved in the War of 1812 served as seamen in the U.S. Navy rather than the land forces. But before any discussion of the role of African Americans on the U.S. side, it must be pointed out that many African Americans chose to fight on the British side, as they had done during the American Revolution. The African American Role on the British Side As had been the case during the American Revolution, African Americans were generally barred from serving as armed soldiers in the British army. The main exception to this was when African Americans served as musicians, for example, in British units such as the Glen-

garry Light Infantry of Upper Canada. It is true that, again as had been the case during the Revolution, wholly African American units did exist: The Coloured Corps, also from Upper Canada, which fought at Queenston Heights (October 1812) and on the Niagara peninsula in 1813, was composed of soldiers of African extraction from the Niagara region. On the whole, however, the British army remained white. The Royal Navy, always desperate to recruit by whatever means, was not as discriminatory as the army. There were no restrictions as to the racial background or source of their recruits, and as a consequence a number of African Americans from the United States as well as those who had fled to Canada saw action on board British vessels during the war. African Americans made up a small percentage of the ranks, but a significant one that the British valued and cultivated. In 1814, when the British attempted to institute naval operations against New Orleans, black British regiments from the West Indies were deployed and must have contributed significantly to the numbers in the invasion force. Probably the vast majority of African Americans from the United States in the British navy were former slaves. British operations along the eastern seaboard seem to have been aimed at disrupting the American economy, thus reducing the enemy’s capacity to wage war. Certainly part of this policy, along with the burning of plantations and the destruction of stocks of materials, was to free slaves, who could then be pressed into service in the Royal Navy. During the war some five thousand slaves fled from the plantations around the Chesapeake Bay area alone. When in the spring of 1813 the British mounted an expedition to the area, they were overwhelmed by the number of slaves wishing to be evacuated. As far as the African American slaves were concerned, they were simply responding to their belief that the British would once again issue something like Dunmore’s Proclamation. Although they were forbidden to instigate slave uprisings, the British commanders on the

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expedition were authorized to offer protection and freedom to slaves who assisted them. The following year the British expedition in the Chesapeake expanded under the command of Vice Adm. Sir Alexander Cochrane. The beneficial effects of the slave desertions had become apparent and in April 1814, Cochrane issued his own proclamation, which promised that all slaves who presented themselves to one of his vessels would be freed and allowed to serve with the British army or navy or have the choice of being resettled in Canada or the West Indies. In order to cope with the expected numbers of potential emigrants, the British set up an outpost on Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay. For the slaves of the region, Cochrane’s Proclamation was in many ways superior to Dunmore’s Proclamation. The latter had offered freedom only to able-bodied men who could serve in a military role during the American Revolution; Cochrane opened the offer to all slaves regardless of their intentions to fight for the British, or for that matter, their gender and age. The expected flood of emigrants materialized, and many African Americans chose to serve with the British armed forces. Not only did the British create a marine unit consisting of 200 men, but a considerable number of others were pressed into service as scouts, spies, and laborers to help improve the British defensive positions. It was the marine unit, however, that provided the most striking vindication of Cochrane’s policies. After training on Tangier Island in May 1814 under Adm. George Cockburn, the Corps of Colonial Marines was quickly sent into action. By the end of May, the men had already contributed to the capture of an enemy battery at Pungoteague, Virginia. British commanders were impressed with the Corps’ performance. Capt James Ross, commander of the Pungoteague expedition, wrote Cochrane, “Their conduct was marked by great spirit and vivacity, and perfect obediance” (quoted in Cassell 1972, 151). As a result, the marines served throughout the Chesapeake campaign and were involved in the British vic-

tory at the battle of Bladensburg (August 24, 1814), the burning of Washington (August 24, 1814), and the defeat at Baltimore (September 13–14, 1814). Both Cochrane and Cockburn wanted to step up the recruitment of African Americans, but the war was coming to an end, and nothing came of the plans. It is also worth pointing out that during the march on Washington, locals seemed to be more worried about the possibility that the black marines were the vanguard of a slave uprising than about the threat they presented as an integral unit in the British command. In the longer term, this fear may have had severe ramifications for African Americans, helping to explain later reluctance to allow African American units in the military. Although the African Americans who serve with the British could reason that their service would eventually lead to freedom, it was a prospect that was fraught with complications. As far as the Americans were concerned, the issue was clear: Although no blame could be attached to those slaves who were kidnapped, the fact that they then donned British uniforms and fought against the United States was another issue altogether. At the very least, their former owners had been hit economically and would not be disposed to forgiveness or acceptance of their property’s freedom. Accounts differ as to the fate of the African Americans who served with the British. The U.S. government alleged that the black British marines who fought at Baltimore, Bladensburg, and Washington had been misled, that having fought long and hard for the British they were rewarded by being resold into slavery in the West Indies after the conflict. Documentary evidence to support this allegation is lacking, and it is likely that it was merely American propaganda. Although some of the African Americans may have been resold in the West Indies, a considerable number were given their freedom and relocated in Canada. The British had abolished slavery in Canada, and the veterans, along with their families, were established in new homes, particularly in Nova Scotia. Some of the refugees were simply transported to Halifax and left

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on the docks with no relocation assistance; their fate is unknown. Several hundred African Americans, members of the Corps of Colonial Marines as well as other refugees, were settled as free farmers in Trinidad. The African American Role in Fighting for the United States Prior to the outbreak of the war, five of the northern states had abolished slavery, namely Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania. However, the social and political gains that had been achieved by African Americans during the American Revolution were seriously undermined by events that took place abroad in 1794. Slaves revolted in Haiti in 1794. The revolt was successful, and as a result the United States stepped back from the changes that the country had made and proposed to make in improving the lot of African Americans, both slave and free. At a stroke, slaves in the South faced far harsher conditions and less freedom in order to ward off any potential revolt, while free African Americans in the North lost their right to vote. When the United States gained control over French Louisiana, it took the immediate step of disbanding the African American militia, even though it had served the French loyally for many years. From the Treaty of Paris in 1783 to the outbreak of the War of 1812, the United States regular army consisted of a few hundred soldiers. It was only when the United States faced threats from Native Americans that Congress approved an increase in the establishment to around three thousand. With the Continental Navy gone and its vessels sold into private hands, the opportunities for African Americans in either branch of the military were limited. It had become a tradition, almost an obsession, for the United States to avoid having large numbers of military personnel on the payroll of the government. The militia and therefore the initial defense of the United States fell on the shoulders of the states that composed the

United States, as it had fallen on the colonies before independence. When Congress passed the Militia Act of 1792, it did not specifically exempt or exclude African Americans from the militia. It did call on the states to enroll all able-bodied white males between the ages of eighteen and forty-five. The act was read in very different ways by the states: North and South Carolina and Georgia were the only states that did not choose to exclude African Americans, and even these three Southern states had different policies: Georgia and South Carolina allowed African American enlistment as noncombatants, whereas North Carolina allowed them into the militias as armed troops. Ignoring these three states, the War Department chose to follow the lead of the majority of the states and to exclude African Americans from the regular military. This situation, at the time, probably had little impact or bearing on the army or the Marine Corps. For the navy, however, this policy posed a considerable problem, and so from the outset they ignored it, as a matter of necessity, just as they had done during the American Revolution, and as they continued to do for many years. Nevertheless, they could not recruit African Americans in any numbers until finally in March of 1813 Congress listened to their pleas and passed legislation allowing them to do so. The result of the opening up of the U.S. Navy produced a number of recruits far beyond the expectations of the authorities. African Americans believed that their continuing participation in the defense of the United States would result in gaining the freedoms and rights of other citizens. It should be remembered that the vast majority of African Americans did not at this time enjoy the rights enshrined in the Constitution, but the very real hope was that if they flocked to the flag to maintain U.S. independence, Congress and the public in general would recognize that African Americans were equal to their white counterparts and deserved to be valued as they were. In analyzing the figures, it becomes clear that in certain theaters of the war African Americans

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accounted for anything between 10 and 20 percent of the U.S. Navy. The higher figure has often been associated with operations on the Great Lakes, in particular the battle of Lake Erie (1813). By 1813, increasing numbers of African Americans deserted from the Royal Navy to serve on U.S. Navy vessels. Not only were the recruitment figures promising as far as the navy was concerned, but the naval commanders were also gratified by the quality of the men who began to serve in increasing numbers on their vessels. Commodore Isaac Chauncey said of his African Americans: “I have nearly fifty blacks on this boat, and many of them are among the best of my men” (Wilson 1890, 79). These words were part of a response to a complaint Chauncey received from Capt. Oliver Hazard Perry, who objected to the number of African Americans who had been detailed to serve in his command. Perry, however, was soon to change his opinion regarding African American sailors, when he faced a British fleet with his ten vessels at the battle of Lake Erie. In total, the men he commanded numbered around 400, no less than a quarter of whom were African Americans. The victory was in no small part attributed to the African Americans’ bravery and skill in battle. Perry wrote to the secretary of the navy following the engagement and told him that his African Americans had faced grave dangers and had never shown any signs of cowardice or fear. At least one active naval commander had become a convert. Recruitment was not the only means of bringing African Americans into the navy. Having virtually dismantled the fleet after the American Revolution, the U.S. Navy was faced with the prospect of combating the immense power of the Royal Navy with a sundry collection of ships not thought to exceed sixteen. Privateers were pressed into service to compensate for the small official navy. For many years, freedmen and runaways had plied their trade on such ships. As the war continued, more and more privateers were employed, and with them an in-

creasing number of African Americans, some, like their white shipmates, with distinctly disreputable backgrounds. But from the U.S. point of view, this move was necessary to increase the sea power of the fledgling nation. As for the African American role on land, at least for the duration of the first two years of the conflict, African American involvement in the land engagements was limited. Certainly, despite the legislation that forbade the involvement of African Americans in the regular army and the militias, some did sneak into the ranks. Largely, what little recruitment was allowed tended to occur in the state militias, usually at the discretion of the commanding officer or the company officers. African American recruitment, as had been the case in earlier wars and emergencies, was an expedient to swell the ranks to the recommended or required numbers. Where recruitment of this nature did take place, it was restricted to free men. In 1814, New York was the first state to recognize the fact that they were excluding a ready supply of able-bodied men who could provide the solution to the quotas and demands placed on them by Congress. Two all–African American regiments were raised comprising 2,000 free men and slaves (recruited with the permission of their owners). Since military operations in the northeast of the United States and the bordering Canadian regions had all but ceased, the African American regiments were dispatched to Sacket’s Harbor, a naval station in New York state on Lake Ontario. In Philadelphia, a number of free African Americans assisted in the construction of fortifications around the city; once the work was completed, they on their own initiative formed an armed company and were incorporated into the army. They did not, however, have the opportunity to fight for their country, as Philadelphia never became a theater of war and it was not considered necessary to transfer them elsewhere. One last use of African American troops on the U.S. side in the War of 1812 provides such a striking example, both of white distrust of Af-

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rican American troops and of how little that distrust was deserved, that it must be handled in some detail. The situation in Louisiana had a confusing background. The colony had been French, was then seized by the Spanish, then ceded back to the French in 1801, and finally sold to the United States in 1803. Whether French or Spanish, Louisiana had always had both white and African American militia units. When the first American governor, William C. C. Claiborne, had to address the militia issue within days of taking office, the initiative came from African Americans. They asked to continue to serve as militiamen, just as they had under the Spanish and the French. The first problem with this offer was that these militiamen, like their white counterparts, had pledged their allegiance to a foreign power. Claiborne accepted the offer nevertheless, but he ran afoul of white opinion in Louisiana; whites pointed at the slave insurrection in Haiti and argued that continuing to arm African American militia would place Louisiana in jeopardy. Claiborne failed to win the argument, and the African American militia units were disbanded. Everything changed in 1812: Louisiana had barely been granted state status, when its inhabitants found themselves singularly ill prepared to contribute to their own defense or the overall defense against Great Britain. Claiborne hastily devised a compromise, allowing all free men who had paid taxes for two years and owned property in excess of $300 to be recruited into the militia. Louisiana still refused to countenance African American officers, despite the fact that there were a number in the state who had both the experience and willingness to take on the role. Only six months after this decision, Claiborne nevertheless commissioned Isidore Honoré as a second lieutenant; he was a free man, and like his fellow African Americans he was required to muster once a month for drill purposes, to serve for ninety days in the event of a war or emergency, and not to operate outside the boundaries of Louisiana. Although the militia deployment limitations kept Louisiana African Americans out of the

war for some time, the impending British invasion of the South, to be launched from Jamaica in 1814, brought the war home to Louisiana. There was frantic activity in Louisiana, in particular New Orleans, during the summer of 1814. Commanding the Gulf Theater (U.S. 7th Military District, comprising Louisiana, Tennessee, and Mississippi Territory), Gen. Andrew Jackson called for all volunteers to rally round the flag, making a particular plea to African Americans. They would receive the same pay, conditions, rations, and bounties as white volunteers. Jackson did, however, propose to create segregated units, or, as he put it, “a distinct independent battalion or regiment” (quoted in Drotning 1969, 43). In this way, he argued, the African Americans would retain their own identity, rather than simply becoming part of an integrated unit, in which the American people would not recognize their contribution and give “applause and gratitude” (quoted in Drotning 1969, 43). Honoré and his militia reported to Jackson on December 12, 1814. Hundreds more African Americans had heeded Jackson and Claiborne’s call to arms. The newly re-instituted Battalion of Free Men of Color (which had been disbanded in 1804) swelled from 64 men in four companies to 353 in six companies. The battalion formally became part of the U.S. Army on December 16, 1814. It had its own twelve-man military band, and was commanded by the white officer Maj. Pierre Lacoste. Honoré was, however, not alone in being commissioned; Maj. Vincent Populus was appointed the ranking African American officer of the battalion and thus became the first African American to be elevated to this field rank in the U.S. Army. Two weeks later, the battalion was joined by Maj. Joseph Savary, also appointed by Jackson, with the task of raising a second battalion of free African Americans of 250 men. Savary had a fascinating background; he was an émigré from Santo Domingo, a former soldier in the French army, and the leading player in recruiting fellow émigrés into the battalion. Savary’s battalion was

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Choctaw volunteers and a mixed group of Major Daquin’s Battalion of Free Men of Colour, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1814. The latter were mostly attired in civilian clothes because they had been organized for only a few weeks. They are led by an officer distinguishable by his sword and sash. Facing them are members of the British 85th Regiment and members of the British 95th Regiment. (U.S. Army)

officially activated on December 19, 1814, and had a combat strength of 256. Initially, the second battalion was placed under the command of the white officer, Maj. Louis Daquin, but it was Savary who led them into battle. When the British landed and made initial probing attacks toward New Orleans before Christmas 1814, both battalions were deployed to cover the city. However, a much more testing time for the battalions and the rest of Jackson’s hastily mustered 4,500 lay ahead. On January 8, 1815, at the head of 8,000 veteran British soldiers fresh from Europe, Gen. Sir Edward Pakenham made his move on New Orleans. The two African American battalions were deployed into prepared positions on the outskirts of the city and fought off successive at-

tacks from a very determined enemy. By the end of the battle, British casualties had topped 2,000 for the loss of 21 American dead. Jackson said of the battalions’ contribution in a letter to Secretary of War James Monroe: “The two corps of colored volunteers have not disappointed the hopes that were formed of their courage and perseverance of their duty.” He went on to say that the British commander, who had been killed in the battle, “fell from the bullet of a freeman of color, a famous rifle shot of the Attakapas District” (quoted in Drotning 1969, 48). Although Claiborne and Jackson’s promises of pay and bounties were honored, Washington failed to fulfil all the obligations undertaken to the men. The men had been promised that they would receive land grants of 160 acres, but these never materialized. After the conflict had been concluded, the battalions gradually faded away and were officially disbanded in 1834. The advances made by African American militiamen, particularly in Louisiana, were lost once more, and it was not until the American Civil War that African Americans were recruited in numbers once again. In 1855, African American historian William Cooper Nell tried to draw attention to the African Americans who had served so valiantly in both the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Unfortunately, his words fell on deaf ears. The proof given during the War of 1812, especially in the naval combats and in the battle of New Orleans, that African Americans could and would fight valiantly for the United States, was ignored by a country with a guilty conscience about slavery and a dread of a revolt like Haiti’s. Only recently have these early fighters received their due. See also American Revolution; Coloured Corps; Dunmore Proclamation References and Further Reading Altoff, Gerard T. Amongst My Best Men: African Americans and the War of 1812. Put-in-Bay, OH: Perry Group, 1996.

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Bennett, Lerone, Jr. Before the Mayflower: A History of Black America. New York: Penguin Books, 1982. Cassell, Frank A. “Slaves of the Chesapeake Bay Area and the War of 1812.” Journal of Negro History 57, 2 (April 1972): 144–155. Drotning, Phillip T. Black Heroes in Our Nation’s History. New York: Cowles, 1969. Dupuy, R. Ernest, and Trevor N. Dupuy. The Encyclopaedia of Military History. New York: Harper and Row, 1986. Fields, Elizabeth Arnett. “African American Soldiers Before the Civil War.” In A Historic Context for the African-American Military Experience, ed. Steven D. Smith and James A. Ziegler. http://www.denix. osd.mil/denix/Public/ES-Programs/Conservation/ Legacy/AAME/aame1.html (accessed August 15, 2003). Foner, Eric, and John A. Garraty, eds. The Reader’s Companion to American History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991. Harley, Sharon. The Timetables of African-American History: A Chronology of the Most Important People and Events in African-American History. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995. Horton, James Oliver, and Lois E. Horton, eds. A History of the African American People. London: Salamander Books, 1995. Lanning, Michael Lee. The African-American Soldier; From Crispus Attucks to Colin Powell. Secaucus, NJ: Birch Lane Press, 1997. Nalty, Bernard C. Strength For the Fight. New York: Free Press, 1986. Quarles, Benjamin. The Negro in the Making of America. New York: Touchstone, 1996. Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr., ed. The Almanac of American History. New York: Perigee Books, 1983. Wilson, Joseph T. The Black Phalanx; African American Soldiers in the War of Independence, the War of 1812, and the Civil War. 1890. Reprint, New York: Arno Press, 1968.

8th United States Colored Troops (Civil War) An African American infantry regiment thrown into battle in 1864 with little training and near-

disastrous results. The 8th was organized at Camp William Penn, Pennsylvania, between September 1863 and January 1864. Additional companies were raised at Seaford and Wilmington, Delaware. The enlisted men were, for the most part, free Pennsylvanian African Americans, but some came from Maryland, Delaware, and Indiana, and a few were contrabands, or runaway slaves, who had come under the protection of the Union Army. The regiment’s commander, Col. Charles W. Fribley, was a white Pennsylvanian who had worked his way up from noncommissioned officer to become a captain in the 84th Pennsylvania Volunteers. He was appointed colonel of the 8th on November 18, 1863. Some concerns were raised over his lack of experience, not unusual at a time when officers were in short supply. He fell out with the commandant of Camp William Penn. Lt. Col. Louis Wagner preferred charges against Fribley, stating that the new colonel chose only to obey “orders when it suits him and disobey . . . when it does not suit him.” The charges were eventually dropped. On January 16, 1864, the regiment left Camp Penn and headed for New York, and from there they were shipped south to Hilton Head, South Carolina, where the commanding general of the Department of the South, Quincy A. Gillmore, reviewed the new arrivals and was much pleased with what he saw. The 8th was heavily engaged in its first combat on February 20th at the Battle of Olustee, Florida. It was one of three African American regiments present. The 8th was the focal point of the initial Confederate attack and suffered more than 300 casualties. Fribley was killed early in the battle. Although it was charged that it was not only Fribley’s inexperience but also that of his men that contributed to the large number of casualties, the well-trained and determined enemy would have tried the courage of any regiment. Some of the 8th fled after initially holding their positions against a much more experienced enemy, but many more stood, fought, and died during the decisive Confederate victory that ended Union attempts to re-

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establish a Unionist government in Florida in time for the 1864 election. Sgt. Maj. Rufus S. Jones of Pittsburgh explained what happened shortly after 3 p.m. on February 20, 1864: The 8th, having been on the railroad for a short distance, was ordered to change direction to the right, and received orders to go into the fight without unslinging knapsacks, or the sergeants taking off their sashes, which caused nearly all the first sergeants to be killed or wounded. Only one-half the regiment was loaded, so harmless had been the estimate placed upon the enemy, that he was not looked for short of Lake City, and not there, if any place was left open for retreat. The Battle of Olustee, or Ocean Pond, on the 20th of February, will be long remembered by the 8th, which suffered terribly in the conflict. No expectation of meeting the enemy is apparent, when not sufficient ammunition was brought along to fire over 60 rounds of musketry (Redkey 1992, 41–42).

El Caney, Battle of (July 1, 1898) The African American 25th Infantry took the leading role in the assault on the heavily defended hill, north of San Juan Hill, in Cuba during the Spanish-American War (1898). On July 1, as part of a series of assaults on the San Juan Heights, the last major obstacle before the Cuban capital, Santiago, the 25th Infantry led the advance on this strategic position. They advanced over difficult terrain under heavy fire. Sgt. M. W. Saddler of the 25th described the attack in the Indianapolis African American newspaper, The Freeman:

Later in 1864 the 8th served at Petersburg fighting at Chaffin’s Farm (New Market Heights, September 28–30) and Darbytown Road (October 13), finally being mustered out in November 1865. See also American Civil War; Chaffin’s Farm, Battle of; Olustee, Battle of; United States Colored Troops (appendixes) References and Further Reading Redkey, Edwin S. A Grand Army of Black Men: Letters from African American Soldiers in the Union Army, 1861–1865. New York Cambridge University Press, 1992.

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On the morning of July 1, our regiment, having slept part of the night with stones for pillows and heads resting on hands, arose at the dawn of the day, without a morsel to eat, formed a line, and after a half day of hard marching, succeeded in reaching the bloody battleground of El Caney. We were the last brigade of our division. As we were marching up we met regiments of our comrades in white retreating from the Spanish stronghold. As we pressed forward all the reply that came from the retiring soldiers was “There is no use to advance further. The Spaniards are entrenched in block houses. You are running to sudden death.” But without a falter did our brave men continue to press to the front. The first battalion of the 25th Infantry was ordered to form the firing line, in preference to other regiments though the commands were senior to ours. The enemy began showering down on us volleys from their strong fortifications and numberless sharpshooters hid away in palm trees and other places. Our men began to fall, many of them never to rise again, but so steady was the advance and so effective was our fire, that the Spaniards became unnerved and began over-shooting us. When they saw we were “colored soldiers” they knew their doom was sealed. The advance was continued until we were within 150 yards of the intrenchments;

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vates J. H. Jones, of Company D. and T. C. Butler, H Company, Twenty-fifth Infantry, entered the fort at the same time and took possession of the Spanish flag. They were ordered to give it up by an officer of the Twelfth United States Infantry, but before doing so they each tore a piece from it, which they now have. So much for the facts. I attribute the success attained by our line largely to the bravery and skill of the company officers who conducted the line to the fort. These officers are: First Lieuts. V. A. Caldwell and J. A. Moss and Second Lieut. J. E. Hunt. It is my opinion that the two companies first deployed could not have reached the fort alone, and that it was the two companies I ordered to their support that gave them the power to reach it. I further believe that had we failed to move beyond the Fourth Infantry the fort would not have been taken that night. The Twenty-fifth Infantry lost 1 officer killed (First Lieutenant McCorkle killed; Captain Edwards and First Lieutenants Kinnison and Murdock wounded) and 3 wounded and 7 men killed and 28 wounded (http:www.army. mil/cmh-pg/documents/spanam/BSSJH/ 25Inf2.htm).

then came the solemn command “charge!” Every man was up and rushing forward at headlong speed over the barbed wire and into the intrenchments, and the 25th carried the much coveted position.

Lt. Col. A. S. Daggett, commanding officer of the 25th, in his official report to the adjutant general of the 2d Brigade, 5th Corps, dated July 16, 1898, wrote: Feeling that the Twenty-fifth Infantry has not received credit for the part it took in the battle of El Caney on the first instant, I have the honor to submit the following facts: I was ordered by the brigade commander to put two companies (H, Lieutenant Caldwell, and G, Lieutenant McCorkle) or the firing line in extended order. The right being uncovered and exposed to the enemy, I ordered D Company (Captain Edwards) to deploy as flankers. The battalion was commanded by Capt. W. S. Scott. The battalion advanced about 300 yards under fire, the Fourth Infantry on its left, where the line found cover, halted, and opened fire on the blockhouse and intrenchments in front of it. After the line had been steadied and had delivered an effective fire I ordered a further advance, which was promptly made. As the Fourth Infantry did not advance, my left was exposed to a very severe fire from the village on the left. I immediately ordered Company C (Lieutenant Murdock), which was in support, to the front and E Company (Lieutenant Kinnison) from regimental reserve to take its place. Thus strengthened the four companies moved up the hill rapidly, being skillfully handled by company officers. On arriving near the fort the white flag was waved toward our men, but the fire from the village on our left was so severe that neither our officers nor Spanish could pass over the intervening ground. After about twenty minutes some of the Twelfth Infantry arrived in rear of the fort, completely sheltered from the fire from the village and received the white flag but Pri-

See also Buffalo Soldiers; Kettle Hill, Battle of; Las Guásimas, Battle of; San Juan Hill, Battle of; Spanish-American War References and Further Reading Gatewood, Willard B., Jr. “Smoked” Yankees and the Struggle for Empire. Letters from Negro Soldiers, 1898–1902. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1987. Lynk, Myles V. The Black Troopers or the Daring Heroism of the Negro Soldiers in the SpanishAmerican War. New York: AMS, 1971 (originally published Jackson, TN: M. V. Lynk Publishing House, 1899).

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Emancipation Proclamation (January 1, 1863) One of the most influential documents in American history, the Emancipation Proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863, in the midst of the nation’s tremendous civil war. Issued by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, it declared those slaves living within states that were currently rebelling to be free. The measure gave a powerful moral impetus to the Northern cause and proved a valuable wartime policy that helped the Union win the war. The issue of freeing the nearly 4 million slaves who resided in the United States in 1860 had sparked the war in the first place, prompting eleven Southern states to secede following Lincoln’s election to the presidency in November of that year. An antislavery Republican, Lincoln actually proved to be more moderate on the issue of abolition than many of his contemporaries, both North and South, recognized. Throughout the presidential campaign and during his first few years in office, he adamantly maintained that his goal was the preservation of the Union. Slavery interested him only in so far as it affected that goal. Once the war began in the spring of 1861, many abolitionists urged Lincoln to outlaw slavery formally, although only in the border states did slavery still exist in the Union after the South seceded. They argued that with nearly the entire South absent from the federal government, Lincoln had a unique opportunity to drive through the necessary legislation that would wipe out forever this horrible institution on American soil. Furthermore, they posited that slavery provided the Confederacy with additional manpower to wage the war and thus should be abolished on these grounds as well. Throughout 1861 and early 1862, Lincoln refused, believing that such a move complicated rather than clarified the North’s war aims, as well as prompting dangerous internal dissension within those states still a part of the Union. Abolitionists represented only a small proportion of the Northern population, and most

Americans feared the end of slavery, believing it would lead to racial mixing, the devaluation of white labor, and a whole host of other problems that threatened to undermine white society. Most Northerners supported the war to reunite the Union but were at best ambivalent about a war to free the slaves. In addition, the border states of Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri were crucial to the Union war effort, and none would tolerate having their slaves set free by the federal government. Such legislation would surely drive them to follow their Southern neighbors into the Confederacy. The more practical aspects of warfare brought the issue of slavery to the forefront of government thinking almost as soon as the war began. As Northern troops moved into Confederate territory, thousands of slaves fled behind Union lines, seeking sanctuary from their Southern masters. The Union army was faced with a perplexing question regarding these runaway slaves. Should they be treated as refugees or confiscated property? The issue actually sparked a great deal of controversy, which Congress sought to quell by passing the First Confiscation Act in August 1861. The legislation supported the action of field commanders like Gen. Benjamin Butler who had already declared runaway slaves within his jurisdiction to be confiscated property, which provided the runaways with a form of asylum but technically kept them slaves. Notably, several months before Butler’s stance, Lincoln had reversed the policy of Gen. John C. Frémont, who as commander of Union forces in Missouri had abolished slavery in the state. Such a step was far too radical for most Northerners to tolerate, particularly the moderate Republicans who held the reins of political power in the federal government at the time. The following year, an alliance of moderate and Radical Republicans in Congress pushed through more legislation designed to weaken the slave system in the United States without dismantling it. First, Congress passed a measure to end slavery within Washington, D.C., which had long been a source of embarrassment for many Northerners, even those who were not

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A contemporary depiction of the African American response to the Emancipation Proclamation. In the center panel, African Americans on hearing the news of the proclamation rejoice, looking at the Bible being held above them; in the left panel, Lincoln holds the proclamation; and in the right panel, a soldier on horseback hands out a copy of the proclamation. (Library of Congress)

actively involved in the antislavery cause. Second, Congress enacted the Second Confiscation Act in July, which formally allowed the federal government to seize the property of anyone in rebellion and freed any slaves that were captured in the process. Critics worried, though, that if a case ever came to court under this law, the federal government would have a difficult time proving that any one individual was actually in rebellion. By this point in the war, Lincoln had also begun to change his mind about the federal government’s official position on slavery. More and more, he felt the need for a stronger moral imperative to support the North through the current crisis engulfing the nation. Although racism was still prominent throughout the North, white Northerners’ attitudes toward blacks had begun to change ever so slightly. In

addition, his hopes of restoring the Union quickly and without significant change had faded. Recognizing that the Union could never be put back together as it had been in 1860, Lincoln decided to eradicate the blot of slavery when he had the chance, in the hopes that the hated institution would not serve as a stumbling block to reunion once the war was over. And perhaps most important, he began to view slavery as a powerful military tool for the Confederacy. If he could undermine it, he would bring the war that much closer to an end. Quietly, he began to draft a proposal to abolish slavery in the summer of 1862. On July 22, Lincoln presented the idea of freeing the slaves to his advisers in a full cabinet meeting. What Lincoln suggested was to free only those slaves who resided in rebelling states, which would leave slavery untouched within the

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The Emancipation Proclamation January 1, 1863 By the President of the United States of America: A Proclamation. Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit: That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom. That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be, in good faith, represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States. Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days, from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to wit: (continues)

border states and those areas of the Confederacy that had fallen under Union control up until that point. Reactions to the proposal ran the gamut but generally followed predictable lines. Those members of the cabinet who identified with the Radical Republicans supported the plan but argued for a broader measure that would utterly and completely abolish slavery everywhere in America; more moderate Republicans voiced a number of concerns, with the most dire being that the Northern backlash would result in an catastrophic Republican defeat in the November 1862 congressional elec-

tions that would leave Lincoln saddled with a Democratic Congress in the midst of the war. Lincoln listened as his advisors suggested various revisions to the proposal but made it clear that he sought the cabinet’s advice for the purpose of refining the language of the document and deciding when to enact it. Lincoln was already fully committed to the idea of emancipation and could not be swayed from such action. The timing of when to announce the proclamation became a crucial issue in the weeks ahead. With the finished document sitting in his desk unsigned and undated, Lincoln waited

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(continued) Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New Orleans) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which excepted parts, are for the present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued. And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons. And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defense; and I recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages. And I further declare and make known, that such persons of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service. And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington, this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-seventh. By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

for a Union victory on the battlefield before making the proclamation public. Secretary of State William Seward had cautioned Lincoln that to present such a monumental proposal to the world when the North’s military fortunes were suffering would appear an act of desperation rather than a heroic stance for moral justice. Lincoln agreed and thus kept the proclamation secret while he waited for a military triumph. In September, Lincoln got his chance. In one of the bloodiest battles of the war, or indeed of all of American history, the Union army man-

aged to turn back a Confederate advance into Maryland at the battle of Antietam on September 17. Although both sides suffered enormously in the engagement, the Federals’ diligence in breaking the Confederate assault eventually carried the day, and the North rejoiced. On September 22, Lincoln issued his preliminary proclamation to emancipate the slaves, declaring that it would go into effect on January 1, 1863, and citing his powers as a wartime commander-in-chief as authority for passing such a measure without supporting legislation from Congress. Always with an eye

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toward the historical importance of the events of his day, Lincoln said when he signed the proclamation, “If my name ever goes into history, it will be for this act, and my whole soul is in it.” The North’s initial reaction was generally more positive than Lincoln and his advisors had expected. Many thought the measure would result in chaos and race war in the South, thus bringing down the Confederacy once and for all. Abolitionists questioned the distinction drawn between slaves in rebelling and nonrebelling areas, with many noting that the proclamation thus did not actually free any slaves, as only those slaves outside of Union control would be affected by the policy. Most, though, saw the proclamation as a clear sign that the end of slavery had become inevitable if the Union won the war and consequently celebrated the proclamation. Furthermore, the proclamation did clarify the status of runaway slaves who had escaped through the Union lines, who numbered nearly 100,000 by this point of the war. And it removed the necessity of proving that individual slave owners were in rebellion against the Union, stating that slaves only needed to be from rebelling states. It also supplied a clear policy for the Union army in the campaigns ahead, during which millions of slaves came under Union control and gained their freedom. In the November congressional elections, Republicans did better than they had expected in the clearest indication of the Northern people’s response. African Americans greeted news of the proclamation with rejoicing, although many were quick to point out the inherent contradictions of freeing some slaves but not others. Nevertheless, most blacks saw it as a step in the right direction, as they struggled to achieve both political and civil rights. The proclamation also gave impetus to the effort to raise AfricanAmerican military units in the Union army. In the Confederacy, whites greeted news of the proclamation with outrage, believing that such a measure confirmed their fears of Northern attempts to incite a race war in the South.

Confederate authorities made strenuous efforts to prevent word of the proclamation from reaching the slaves, which proved only partially successful. In the end, though, the slaves did not rise up against their masters after receiving word that at least in the eyes of the Union government they were free. Instead, they waited for Union troops to reach their area and then joyously crossed over the lines toward freedom, prompting the federal government to create the Freedmen’s Bureau to assist ex-slaves in their liberation from bondage. In the months before the proclamation went into effect, Lincoln sought to offer the Confederates one more chance to return to the Union, even with their slaves, by suggesting a constitutional amendment that would grant slave owners compensation for gradually emancipating their slaves over a 35-year period. Congress failed to act on Lincoln’s suggestion, but it is extremely unlikely such an amendment would have enticed any Confederates to return to the Union anyway. Once the proclamation had taken effect in 1863, there was still the issue of slavery in the border states and other nonrebelling areas to address, as well as ensuring that slavery would not be reconstituted after the war ended. Toward this end, abolitionists continued to lobby for the passage of a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery, but their efforts did not prove successful until after the war ended, with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment in December 1865. See also American Civil War; Douglass, Frederick; Fifteenth Amendment; Fourteenth Amendment; Thirteenth Amendment; Underground Railroad References and Further Reading Franklin, John Hope. The Emancipation Proclamation. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1963. Henry, Christopher E. Forever Free: From the Emancipation Proclamation to the Civil Rights Bill of 1875 (1863–1875) New York: Chelsea House, 1995.

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Latham, Frank Brown. Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863: The Document That Turned the Civil War into a Fight for Freedom. New York: Franklin Watts, 1969. Wiggins, William H. O Freedom! Afro-American Emancipation Celebrations. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1987.

Europe, James Reese (1881–1919) James Reese Europe, a legendary African American bandleader and composer, was a member of the 369th Infantry Regiment, known as the Harlem Hellfighters. Europe was born in Mobile, Alabama, on February 22, 1881; his father had been born a slave. His parents, Lorraine and Henry Europe, were both talented musicians and made every effort to encourage their children to study music. When Europe was about ten, the family moved to Washington, D.C., living in a house a few doors away from the home of the Marine Corps bandmaster, John Philip Sousa. In 1903, after taking music lessons from Enrico Hurlei, assistant director of the Marine Corps Band, and winning music composition competitions, Europe moved to New York City to pursue a career in music. In 1910 he established the Clef Club, the first African American music union and booking agency. Two years later his Clef Club Orchestra became the first African American band and first jazz band to play at Carnegie Hall. On September 18, 1916, Europe enlisted in the 15th Infantry Regiment of the New York National Guard, a black regiment, and became one of the first African Americans to attend officer training and become a lieutenant. The 15th Infantry later became the 369th Infantry Regiment; it joined a French combat unit that nicknamed it the “Harlem Hellfighters.” The 369th had been assigned to the 16th Le Gallais Division of the 4th French Army, which had already

integrated units with troops from French colonies in Africa and was in great need of reinforcements, after being refused combat duty with white U.S. Army units. While his company was based in France, Europe was trained to command a machine gun company, becoming the first African American officer to lead troops in battle during the war. The men of the 369th Infantry earned a total of 170 French Croix de Guerre for bravery. Europe was gassed during a night raid and spent time recuperating in a French hospital. In December 1918 Europe’s citation to the French Croix de Guerre with Silver Star stated: This officer [Lt. James Reese Europe], a member of the 369th Infantry Regiment of the 93d Infantry Division, American Expeditionary Forces, was the first black American to lead United States troops in battle during World War I. The unit, under fire for the first time, captured some powerful and energetically defended enemy positions, took the village of Bechault by main force, and brought back six cannons, many machine guns and a number of prisoners.

Europe’s musical career continued during his Harlem Hellfighter days, when he formed what was reputed to be one of the finest military bands ever. He recruited musicians from Harlem and as far afield as Puerto Rico; the band entertained troops in camps and hospitals, performed for military officers and civilian officials, and toured France. After the end of World War I Europe’s popularity as a musician escalated. When he returned to Manhattan in February 1919 it was to a parade. His future life as a bandleader looked bright, and his popularity seemed certain to increase. But tragically, after only three months, in May 1919, Europe died at the hands of one of his band members. His drummer, jealous of the attention Europe was paying to his twin brother, also a band member, stabbed Europe in the neck with a penknife. Europe died later the same day. He was buried in Arlington Cemetery on May

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13, 1919, following a procession through Washington, D.C., that was attended by thousands. See also Croix de Guerre; 369th Infantry Regiment; World War I References and Further Reading Badger, Reid. A Life in Ragtime: A Biography of James Reese Europe. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. Glenn Watkins. Proof through the Night: Music and the Great War. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003.

Executive Order 9981 During World War II, African Americans argued that discrimination at home was incompatible with being expected to fight to end discrimination abroad. President Franklin D. Roosevelt responded on June 25, 1941, by issuing Executive Order 8802, directing that African Americans be accepted into job-training programs in defense plants, forbidding discrimination by defense contractors, and establishing the Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC). Harry Truman, Roosevelt’s successor, did not object when Congress terminated the wartime agency, but in December 1946 he set in motion the creation of a permanent FEPC. To achieve this, he created the President’s Commission on Civil Rights, charging it with the responsibility to recommend “more adequate means and procedures for the protection of the civil rights of the people of the United States.” On June 28, 1947, Truman addressed the 38th annual conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and thanked them for their “effective work for the improvement of our democratic processes. . . . It is my deep conviction that we have reached a turning point in the long history of our efforts to guarantee a freedom and equality to all our citizens . . . And when I say all Americans—I mean

all Americans” (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/ truman/psources/ps_naacp.html). In October 1947, the commission issued its report, “To Secure These Rights,” defining the civil rights agenda for the next generation. The commission recognized the restrictions on African Americans and asked that each person, regardless of race, color, or national origin, have access to equal opportunity in securing education, housing, and employment. Among its other proposals, the commission suggested laws against lynching and poll taxes, a permanent FEPC, strengthening of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, and elimination of segregation in the armed forces. The Southern states were strongly opposed when on February 2, 1948, Truman sent a message to the Congress calling for the immediate adoption of the commission’s proposals. Progress at the congressional level was blocked, and Truman was forced to use his executive authority. He strengthened civil rights, appointed the first African American federal judge, and appointed African Americans to key administrative positions. His actions culminated on July 26, 1948, when he issued Executive Order 9981 abolishing segregation in the armed forces and ordering an immediate move to full integration of African Americans throughout the military (see sidebar). In just under 500 words, racial segregation in the armed forces had been eliminated, on paper if not in reality. Its key elements were the following:

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1. The president’s policy of equality of opportunity for all people in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin; 2. The creation of the president’s sevenmember committee on equality of treatment in the armed services; 3. The authorization of the committee to examine existing rules and determine what changes would be necessary to carry out the policy of integrating the services; and

Executive Order 9981

EXECUTIVE ORDER 9981 Establishing the President’s Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity In the Armed Forces. whereas it is essential that there be maintained in the armed services of the United States the highest standards of democracy, with equality of treatment and opportunity for all those who serve in our country’s defense: now therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, by the Constitution and the statutes of the United States, and as Commander in Chief of the armed services, it is hereby ordered as follows: 1. It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin. This policy shall be put into effect as rapidly as possible, having due regard to the time required to effectuate any necessary changes without impairing efficiency or morale. 2. There shall be created in the National Military Establishment an advisory committee to be known as the President’s Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services, which shall be composed of seven members to be designated by the President. 3. The Committee is authorized on behalf of the President to examine into the rules, procedures and practices of the Armed Services in order to determine in what respect such rules, procedures and practices may be altered or improved with a view to carrying out the policy of this order. The Committee shall confer and advise the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of the Navy, and the Secretary of the Air Force, and shall make such recommendations to the President and to said Secretaries as in the judgment of the Committee will effectuate the policy hereof. 4. All executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government are authorized and directed to cooperate with the Committee in its work, and to furnish the Committee such information or the services of such persons as the Committee may require in the performance of its duties. 5. When requested by the Committee to do so, persons in the armed services or in any of the executive departments and agencies of the Federal Governemt shall testify before the Committee and shall make available for use of the Committee such documents and other information as the Committee may require. 6. The Committee shall continue to exist until such time as the President shall terminate its existence by Executive order. Harry Truman The White House July 26, 1948

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4. The directive to all executive departments and agencies of the federal government to cooperate with the committee in its work.

the Advancement of Colored People; World War II References and Further Reading

Opposition to the decision was widespread. The army chief of staff, Gen. Omar Bradley, said that the armed forces were not the place to undertake “social experiments.” Nonetheless, by the end of the Korean War in 1953, the American military was almost completely desegregated in organization and practice—not surprisingly, attitudes took much longer to change. See also Desegregation of the Armed Forces (appendix); Korean War; National Association for

Berman, William C. The Politics of Civil Rights in the Truman Administration. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1970. Code of Federal Regulations: Title 3—The President, 1943–1948 Compilation. Washington, DC: Federal Register Division, National Archives and Records Service, 1957. Dalfiume, Richard M. Desegregation of the U.S. Armed Forces: Fighting on Two Fronts, 1939–1954. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1969.

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f See also American Civil War; Emancipation Proclamation; Fourteenth Amendment; Thirteenth Amendment;

Fifteenth Amendment (1870) The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America was ratified in 1870. It prohibits both federal and state governments from infringing the right to vote on U.S. citizens. It was the last of the three amendments, which included the Thirteenth and Fourteenth, aimed at abolishing slavery and establishing minority rights. The key sentence of the short Fifteenth Amendment states: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any other State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” Before this amendment was approved, the states had the right to decide who could or could not vote. With its ratification, theoretically the Southern states had to introduce universal male suffrage. Nevertheless, it did not prevent certain sections of the South from employing violence and special restrictions that kept African Americans from voting. About seventy years later, only 5 percent of the southern African American population was registered to vote, and it was not until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that the courts actually began to enforce the Fifteenth Amendment.

References and Further Reading Banfield, Susan. The Fifteenth Amendment: AfricanAmerican Men’s Right to Vote. Springfield, NJ: Enslow, 1998. Gillette, William. Right to Vote: Politics and the Passage of the Fifteenth Amendment. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1965. Matthews, John Mabry. Legislative and Judicial History of the Fifteenth Amendment. New York: Da Capo, 1971.

55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment (Civil War) The sister regiment of the more famous 54th Massachusetts, also consisting of African American troops, who were presented their regimental colors only hours before the 54th made its glorious and ill-fated charge at Fort Wagner on July 18, 1863. Recruits began to muster at Readville in May 1863, adding to a number of recruits who had not been able to join the 54th

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Massachusetts, which was already up to its full complement. By May 31, five companies had been mustered into the new regiment, followed by two more on June 15, and the remaining three on June 22. Over 200 volunteers came from Ohio, including Joshua Dunbar, father of the poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar. The regiment marched from Readville toward Boston on July 21 and from there were shipped to Folly Island, near Charleston, South Carolina, where it joined Wild’s Brigade of Vogde’s Division of the 10th Army Corps. For the first two months the troops served as laborers on Morris Island, but in February 1864, the regiment was sent to Florida to take part in Gen. Truman Seymour’s expedition. Although six companies of the regiment marched out to support Seymour on February 19, they did not take part in the Battle of Olustee on February 20. By February 22, the whole regiment was in Jacksonville. On May 21, 1864, the 55th fought its first battle on James Island, South Carolina. Along with the 33d United States Colored Troops (USCT), it fought another battle on James Island on July 1–2. On November 30, operating with the 54th Massachusetts and the 32d, 35th, and 102d USCT, the regiment fought at the Battle of Honey Hill, South Carolina. Between December 7 and 9, 1864, along with the 32d, 34th, and 102d USCT, the 55th fought at Deveaux Neck, South Carolina. The regiment returned to James Island to fight another battle on February 10, 1865. Following the capture of Charleston on February 21, the regiment marched into the city on the following day and then joined Potter’s Division, fighting at Briggen Creek (February 25) and St. Stephens (March 1), South Carolina. The regiment returned to Charleston on March 10 and in the following week was sent for a month’s guard duty to James Island. While en route to another expedition, the regiment arrived at St. Andrews on April 21 when news reached them that the war had ended. Between May and August 1865, with its headquarters at Orangeburg, South Carolina,

the regiment was garrisoned around the state. On August 24 the troops marched to Charleston and five days later were mustered out at Mount Pleasant. The regiment had its final parade on September 25 and was then disbanded. The 55th Regiment, in 1863, suffered the same broken promise as the 54th Massachusetts that their pay would equal that of the white troops. They were offered $10 a month, minus $3 for clothing allowance, instead of the promised $13. The Massachusetts governor, John A. Andrew, sent Major Sturges (the paymaster for Massachusetts) and Edward W. Kinsley (a Boston merchant) to offer the men the difference from state funds on December 11, 1863. They declined the offer, and by April of the following year, the situation had not been resolved. In a letter to Edward Kinsley, Col. Alfred S. Hartwell, the commanding officer of the regiment, wrote: I can hardly write, talk, eat or sleep, I am so anxious and indignant that pay is not forthcoming, or official assurance of pay, for my men. Can anything be done to hasten this thing? No man staying home can imagine how great and terrible is the wrong done these men, and the distress they suffer. I do all I can to make things right, and there is a great deal to almost discourage us. The wives of the men, they say, often reduced to degradation that drives the husbands almost crazy. Leave nothing undone; my dear sir, to get us the greenbacks very soon (quoted in Dhalle).

Morale dropped as the situation continued, and it was not helped when Hartwell commissioned 1st Sgt. John Freeman Shorter, an African American, to the rank of second lieutenant on May 24. The commission was approved by Governor Andrew, but Gen. John P. Hatch refused to accept an African American commissioned officer. On June 5 Hartwell left for Washington to plead the case of the men who had still not been paid. On June 13 he wrote to the secretary of war: “Sir; application is respectfully made

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that this Regiment be mustered out of service of the United States, for the reason that the men have not been paid according to the contract made by the Government” (quoted in Dhalle). The pay issue was not settled until August 22, 1864, when the full pay was backdated to January 1, 1864. See also American Civil War; 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment; Fort Wagner, Battle of; Potter’s Raid; United States Colored Troops (appendixes) References and Further Reading Dhalle, Katherine. “History of 55th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.” http://www.coax.net/ people/lwf/55hist.htm (accessed September 6, 2003). Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of Rebellion. Vol. 3. New York: Thomas Woseloff, 1959. Gladstone, William A. United States Colored Troops, 1863–1867. Gettysburg, PA: Thomas, 1990.

54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment (Civil War) The 54th Massachusetts, although not the first African American unit that served in the Civil War, is undoubtedly the best known today—perhaps largely as the result of the 1989 film Glory. In February 1863, Massachusetts Governor John A. Andrew appointed twenty-five-year-old Robert Gould Shaw, son of a prominent white Boston abolitionist family, to command the unit, which was organized a month later at Camp Meigs in Readville, Massachusetts. Shaw, who had already served in the 7th New York National Guard and with the 2d Massachusetts Infantry, had seen combat in Antietam (September 17, 1862). As the first African American regiment to be formally organized in the northern Union states, the 54th would be a constant source of

interest to the press and the public as a measure of African American performance in battle. The unit attracted primarily free African Americans from the North, especially Massachusetts and Pennsylvania; however, a considerable number of men who fled the South also joined. Two of its more notable recruits were the sons of the former slave and ardent abolitionist Frederick Douglass. His son Lewis became a sergeantmajor in the regiment. The recruitment and training period tested the men’s resolve. Despite continued support from Andrew and Douglass, as well as the continued efforts by Shaw, the unit was often at the end of the supply chain, and it was a considerable time before the men received weapons, boots, and, above all, the much-awaited Union uniforms. Shaw was able to attract experienced drill sergeants to train the men, and the regiment was assigned to the Department of the South, where it disembarked at Hilton Head, South Carolina, on June 3, 1863. The regiment had been given a rousing farewell when it was reviewed by Governor Andrew on May 28, before boarding the De Molay. So successful had recruiting been for the 54th that there were sufficient men who could not be accommodated in that regiment to form the nucleus of the 55th Massachusetts. On July 8, it was assigned to Brig. Gen. Alfred Howe Terry’s expedition to James Island near Charleston, South Carolina, and accordingly proceeded to Stono Inlet. On July 16, Confederate forces under Gen. Alfred H. Colquitt, near Secessionville, attacked the expedition. Initial reports listed fourteen killed, eighteen wounded, and thirteen missing after the subsequent battle. When the Confederate force of more than 3,200 men hit the 54th’s picket line, held by three companies guarding one of the two causeways connecting Sol Legare Island with the mainland, on July 16, the untested African American troops fought bravely. There was vicious hand-to-hand fighting at the causeway because the Confederate infantry attempted to secure the crossing to allow its cavalry to break across the island and

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Storming Fort Wagner, an 1890 lithograph depicting the famous assault by the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, July 18, 1863, in which over 1,200 men were killed or wounded. (The Granger Collection)

cut off the Union retreat. The rest of the 54th rapidly fell into line and, in the face of continued Confederate pressure, held their positions, allowing most of the Union forces to retreat. Eventually General Terry ordered Shaw’s 54th to fall back to a new line on Battery Island, where it was protected by Union gunboats. The Confederates were able to sweep across Sol Legare Island, but then they suddenly turned to cross Grimball’s Causeway to James Island, in an attempt to trap the 10th Connecticut. Only the solid defense of the 54th had allowed the 10th to escape before the Confederates closed in. The regiment was then ordered, on July 18, to Morris Island to engage in operations against Fort Wagner under Gen. George C. Strong. Fort Wagner was one of the key Confederate defense positions protecting Charleston. The fortification had been under Union, naval, and land-

based artillery fire for several days, and the 54th, led by Shaw, offered to lead the assault on Wagner that evening. It was a disastrous and glorious action, during which Shaw, Captains Russell and Simpkins, and several others were killed. Lt. Col. E. N. Hallowell and 125 men were wounded. About 100 of the regiment were missing in action; many of them were apparently massacred by the Confederates. Sgt. William H. Carney, of Company C, was the first African American to be awarded the Medal of Honor after he rescued the regimental flag from the fallen color sergeant. He carried it to the top of the parapet of Fort Wagner and when the regiment retreated, he was wounded twice as he carried the flag back to friendly lines. During August the 54th was engaged in siege operations against Fort Wagner, and when the Confederates evacuated the position on September 7, the 54th was accorded the honor of

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being the first regiment to enter the field defenses. During the autumn of 1863 the 54th was engaged in the reconstruction and realigning of Forts Wagner and Gregg so that they could now be used against Charleston and Fort Sumter. Hallowell was promoted to a full colonel and returned as the new commander of the regiment on October 17. The 54th stayed in the area for the remainder of the winter. Toward the end of January 1864 the 54th was assigned to the command of Gen. Truman Seymour, who was undertaking an expedition to the Florida coast. The regiment left Morris Island on January 29 and arrived at Hilton Head on January 30, sailing for Jacksonville on February 5. The 54th arrived in Jacksonville on February 7 and after a week’s delay joined the expedition into the interior of Florida. The regiment was engaged in the action at Olustee, Florida, on February 20, where it was assigned rearguard duties. During the engagement, thirteen men were killed, sixty-six wounded, and eight were missing. The regiment remained in Jacksonville until mid-April and on April 17, now under the command of Lt. Col. Henry N. Hooper, it returned to Morris Island to engage in actions against Charleston. The regiment occupied fortifications on James and Morris Islands throughout most of the remainder of the year. On November 27, under the command of Hooper, eight companies were temporarily attached to Hartwell’s 3d Brigade of Hatch’s Coast Division. All but two of the companies participated in the battle of Honey Hill, South Carolina, on November 30, losing three killed, thirty-eight wounded, and four missing. The same companies were also engaged at Deveaux’s Neck, South Carolina, on December 6. Between December 19, 1864, and February 12, 1865, the 54th was on guard duty near General Sherman’s supply base at Pocotaligo, South Carolina, as part of Hatch’s division. During this time they made frequent forays along the Cambahee River. On February 13, the 54th accompanied Hatch in pursuit of the Confederates who had retreated toward Charleston and the Ashepoo

River. The regiment crossed the Cambahee River on February 16 and the Ashepoo River the following day. By February 23, it was in position on the Ashley River, facing Charleston. The city had already fallen to Union forces, amongst who were B and F Companies of the 54th, which had been detached on duties on Morris Island since November 1864. The Confederates had abandoned Charleston on February 17; the bulk of the 54th crossed the Ashley River on February 27 and was reunited with the two detached companies. The 54th remained in Charleston until March 12, when it embarked for Savannah, Georgia. On March 27, the regiment marched for Georgetown, South Carolina, arriving four days later. It was then attached to Potter’s division and began raiding operations on April 5. The regiment was involved in the battle at Boykins’s Mills on April 18, where three were killed and twenty-four wounded. Hostilities had officially ended on April 21, and by April 25 the regiment was back in Georgetown. On May 6, the 54th returned to Charleston where it was detached to various garrison duties until August 17 when it reassembled at Mount Pleasant and was officially mustered out on August 20. The men embarked on August 21 aboard the C. T. Thomas and Ashland, reaching Boston harbor on August 27 and 28. They were officially paid off on September 1, and on the following day, after a tearful review by Governor Andrew, the regiment paraded for the last time and was disbanded. The 54th was involved in pay disputes. As volunteers, the men had been promised by Governor Andrew that they would receive a regular soldier’s pay of $13 per month. In July 1863, on express orders from the War Department in Washington, D.C., their pay was reduced to $10 per month (from which $3 was deducted for uniforms), simply because they were African American troops. This classified the men as being no more than common laborers. After this, Washington offered to pay the men the $10 on several occasions, but each time, the men refused. Even when the Massachusetts legislature

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approved the payment of the missing $3 per month to be made by the state itself, in November 1863, the men still refused. The troops were adamant that as Union soldiers they were entitled to a full soldier’s pay from Washington. The impasse continued for eighteen months until, finally, in September 1864, the government agreed to their demand. During this entire period, the men had not received any pay. When the payment was finally made, some $170,000 was collected by survivors. A monument to Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th, designed by the famous sculptor Augustus St.-Gaudens, was dedicated on Boston Common in 1897. Participants in the ceremony included Booker T. Washington and Sgt. William H. Carney. An inscription on the monument comes from the address given by Governor Andrew on the departure of the regiment for war: “I know not, Mr commander, where in all human history to any given thousand men in arms there has been committed a work at once so proud, so precious, so full of hope and glory, as the work committed to you.” See also American Civil War; Carney, William Harvey; Fort Wagner, Battle of; Honey Hill, Battle of; Medal of Honor (appendix); Sol Legare Island, Battle of; United States Colored Troops (appendixes) References and Further Reading Blatt, Martin Henry. Hope and Glory: Essays on the Legacy of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2001. Cox, Clinton. Undying Glory: The Story of the Massachusetts 54th Regiment. New York: Scholastic, 1991. Duncan, Russell. Where Death and Glory Meet: Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Infantry. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1999. Emilio, Luis F. History of the 54th Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, 1863–1865. Boston: Boston Book Company, 1891. Greene, Robert Ewell. Swamp Angels: A Biographical Study of the 54th Massachusetts

Regiment, True Facts about the Black Defenders of the Civil War. Fort Washington, MD: Bo Mark/Greene, 1990. Hargrove, Julia. Historic Monuments: The Civil War’s 54th Massachusetts Regiment—The Shaw Memorial. Carthage, IL: Teaching and Learning Company, 2001. Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors and Marines in the Civil War. Vol. 4. Composed and compiled by the Adjutant General. Boston: Wright & Potter, 1937. Muelder, Hermann R. A Hero Home from the War: Among the Black Citizens of Galesburg, Illinois, 1860–1888. Galesburg, IL: Knox College Library, 1987.

59th United States Colored Troops (Civil War) An African American Civil War unit, originally the 1st Tennessee Colored Infantry—most of the men were from that state—that served from March 1864 to the end of January 1866. The regiment was formed from the 1st Tennessee Colored Infantry and additional drafts of freedmen. The white commander, Col. Robert Cowden, ordered the new recruits to burn their old clothes and bathe before being given their uniforms. He said: “Lo! He was completely metamorphosed, not only in appearance and dress, but in character and relations also. Yesterday a filthy, repulsive ‘nigger’, today a neatlyattired man; yesterday a slave, today a free man; yesterday a civilian, today a soldier” (quoted in McPherson 1991, 173). The regiment was sent to join the 1st Colored Brigade at Memphis, Tennessee, in June 1864. They were temporarily attached to the 3d Brigade to take part in Gen. Samuel D. Sturgis’s expedition in the same month to stop Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest from cutting the Union supply and communications lines, where they fought at the Battle of Brice’s Crossroads (Guntown), Mississippi, on June 10 and at Ripley (June 11), and Davis Mill (June 12).

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They were part of Gen. Andrew J. Smith’s expedition to Tupelo, Mississippi (July 5–21), where they fought at the battles of Camargo’s Crossroads (Harrisburg, Mississippi, July 13), Tupelo (July 14–15), and Old Town Creek (July 15). The regiment served in the defense of Memphis on August 21, 1864, and continued to serve in Tennessee until it was mustered out on January 31, 1866.

and the 57th’s men were among the first to be given official marriages after the war. See also American Civil War; United States Colored Troops (appendixes)

1st Kansas Colored (Volunteers) Infantry Regiment (Civil War)

See also American Civil War; United States Colored Troops (appendixes) References and Further Reading Glatthaar, Joseph T. Forged in Battle. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2000. McPherson, James. The Negro’s Civil War. New York: Ballantine, 1991.

57th United States Colored Troops (Civil War) Escaped slaves from Arkansas provided an estimated 5,500 troops for the Union army, including the 57th U.S. Colored Infantry, which was first known as the 4th Arkansas Regiment of African Descent. The regiment was formed in April of 1864 at Helena, Arkansas, and was part of the VII Corps. Initially the unit was to remain in the Helena area, but it was later transferred to Little Rock. It took part in Gen. Frederick Steele’s Camden expedition in Arkansas between March 23 and May 3 as bridge train guards, but in late May troops saw some action near Little Rock. The unit then marched to Brownsville, Arkansas; by the time the war ended, the regiment was split between Little Rock and Duval’s Bluff. Directly after the war, the unit was sent to Fort Smith, where they were used to patrol the local area and ensure that the large number in the area did not avenge their former treatment by plundering the property of their former masters. There was a Freedman’s Bureau at the fort,

An African American volunteer unit organized in August 1862 at Fort Scott, Kansas, under the instructions of Sen. James Lane, a prominent abolitionist, in defiance of the views and policies of President Abraham Lincoln and his secretary of war, Edwin Stanton, who opposed the formation of black units. The unit was commanded by a white officer, Col. James M. Williams, and consisted largely of runaway slaves from Arkansas and Missouri. Although the men of the 1st Kansas were not issued regulation uniforms until May 1864, they were the first African American troops to lose casualties to Confederate forces. At the skirmish at Island Mound, Missouri, on October 28, 1862, before the unit was officially mustered into the Union army, they fought with Confederate guerrillas operating in the area. Of the 500 men originally mustered, about half were present at Island Mound. Although they had received only basic training, the unit held off Confederates twice their number. The 1st Kansas became the 79th United States Colored Troops (USCT) on December 13, 1864, when they were officially incorporated into the Union army as a regiment on January 13, 1863. Confusingly, there was an existing 79th USCT, officially designated as the 79th USCT (Old); the 1st Kansas became the 79th USCT (New). The former 79th was renamed the 7th Infantry Corps d’ Afrique in Louisiana and was deactivated in July 1864. Operating as the 79th USCT, the unit fought a series of battles throughout 1863 until the

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end of the war. The unit’s most important fighting occurred at Honey Springs Indian Territory on July 17, 1863; the African American soldiers effectively repelled the Confederate attack. The unit’s worst day of fighting occurred at the Battle of Poison Spring where Confederate soldiers massacred black soldiers after the conflict. The regiment lost 117 men and no prisoners were taken at the second Battle of Jenkins’ Ferry (May 4, 1864); the 2d Kansas Colored Infantry Regiment, under the command of Brevet Col. J. H. Gillpatrick, used the battle cry “Remember Poison Spring” as they charged. See also American Civil War; Poison Spring Massacre; United States Colored Troops (appendixes) References and Further Reading Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1959. Gladstone, William A. Men of Color. Gettysburg, PA: Thomas Publications, 1993. Wilson, Joseph T. The Phalanx: A History of the Negro Soldier of the United States in the Wars of 1775–1812, 1861–1865. Hartford, CT: American Publishing Company, 1890. Reprint Salem, NH: Ayer, 1992.

Union Gen. Benjamin Butler, military governor of New Orleans, heard of the unit’s existence by May 1862 and requested that all of the unit’s men report to join the Union army. The regiment, commanded by a white officer, Lt. Col. Chauncey J. Bassett, was formally adopted into Federal service on September 27, 1862, the first African American regiment to be officially accepted by the Union army. Initially all other officers were African American. On April 19, 1864, it was designated the 73d Regiment, United States Colored Troops. The regiment also has the distinction of being the first officially recognized unit of African American troops to be engaged in combat, on May 27, 1863, when they fought with distinction and suffered very heavy casualties in the attacks on Port Hudson, Louisiana. African American officers Capt. André Cailloux and 2d Lt. John Crowder were killed in the attack. The enthusiasm African American troops could manifest was recounted in a September 2, 1863, letter from a white surgeon, Dr. Benjamin Fordyce:

1st Louisiana Native Guards (Civil War) The Louisiana Native Guards was an existing militia of freedmen in Louisiana at the outbreak of the war. Although they paraded with Confederate troops in 1861, they were not generally welcomed by the secessionists as an armed combat unit. The regiment was mustered and then disbanded by Confederate authorities in New Orleans. When the Union threatened the city in early 1862, the Native Guards were again called up but were unable to re-form the regiment before the city fell in April.

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Yesterday I saw a negro recruiting colored men for the First Louisiana Regiment—This Regiment was the one so awfully cut up at Port Hudson. This Negro’s Name is Lewis—He was wounded in the leg and relieved from duty in regiment and sent out recruiting. . . . when I saw this colored man who . . . had two brothers killed in the same battle another and his last and only brother now in hospital with his wounds received in the same battle, A man who was born a slave and had been a slave till within a year past, who had left a wife and family of children to fight for a government that had never guaranteed to him a single right above that of a hog or a horse till within one year past—when I heard him appeal to every strong bodied colored man he met; with an earnestness that secured seventy three in three days entirely alone . . . hurrying from place to place, inviting, urging everyman he met to come right along and join the army pointing to

African American Officers in the Louisiana Native Guards Of the more than one hundred African Americans who served as commissioned officers (out of a total of 125,000) in the various volunteer units of the Union army, 76 of them served in the 1st, 2d, or 3d Louisiana Native Guard regiments. The following list, compiled from company muster rolls on the day each regiment was mustered into service as well as military service records, details those African American officers attached to one of the three Native Guard units. Name Barrett, William B. Belley, William Bertonneau, Arnold Bourgeau, Alfred Butler, Charles Cailloux, André Carter, Edward Carter, Hannibal Case, George R. Chase, Edward P. Crowder, John Davis, Edgar De Gray, Louis Depass, John Depremont, Peter O. Detiege, Emile Dumas, Francis E. Fleury, Alphonse, Jr. Fog[y], Octave Follin, Joseph Forstall, Leon G. Gardiner, Peter A. Gibbons, Charles W. Gla, Jacques Adolph Glover, Calvin B. Hardin, William Hays, Solomon Holland, John C. Hubeau, Ernest Ingraham, James H. Isabelle, Robert H. Jones, Joseph Keeling, William F. Lanien, Louis D. Latting, John W. Lavigne, Victor Lawrence, Samuel Lesassier, Valdes

Rank

Regiment

Captain Captain Captain 1st Lieutenant 2d Lieutenant Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain 2d Lieutenant Captain 1st Lieutenant Captain 2d Lieutenant 1st Lieutenant Major 1st Lieutenant 2d Lieutenant Captain Captain Captain Captain Captain 1st Lieutenant 2d Lieutenant 2d Lieutenant Captain 1st Lieutenant Captain 2d Lieutenant 1st Lieutenant 1st Lieutenant 1st Lieutenant 2d Lieutenant 2d Lieutenant Captain 2d Lieutenant

2d 2d 2d 1st 1st 1st

Name Lewis, Alcide Lewis, James Longpre, Ernest Louis, Jules P. Mallet, Jules Martin, Theodule A. Merillion, Monroe Montieu, Joseph L. Moore, James E. Morphy, Ernest Morris, Morris W. Moss, Ehurd Oliver, Joseph C. Orillion, Oscar Paree, Paul Parker, Joseph G. Petit, Louis Pinchback, P. B. S. Rapp, Eugene Rey, Henry L. Rey, Hippolyte Rey, Octave Ringgold, Samuel W. Sauvinet, Charles S. Schermerhorn, Charles Scott, Lucien Sentmanat, Charles Snaer, Louis A. St. Louis, Hyppolite Tervalon, Francois Thibaut, Louis A. Thompson, Jasper Trask, Frank L. Villeverde, Joseph Warfield, Charles Watson, George F. Wellington, Joseph Wilkinson, Samuel J.

2d 1st 2d 1st 1st 2d 1st 2d 1st 2d 2d 1st 1st 3d 3d 3d 3d 2d 3d 2d 3d 2d 1st 2d 2d 2d 1st 2d 1st 3d 3d

Rank

Regiment

Captain Captain 1st Lieutenant 2d Lieutenant 1st Lieutenant 1st Lieutenant Captain 2d Lieutenant 2d Lieutenant 1st Lieutenant 1st Lieutenant 1st Lieutenant Captain 2d Lieutenant 1st Lieutenant 2d Lieutenant 1st Lieutenant Captain 1st Lieutenant Captain 2d Lieutenant 2d Lieutenant Captain 1st Lieutenant 2d Lieutenant 2d Lieutenant Captain Captain 2d Lieutenant 1st Lieutenant 2d Lieutenant 2d Lieutenant 2d Lieutenant Captain 2d Lieutenant 1st Lieutenant 1st Lieutenant Captain

1st 1st 3d 2d 1st 2d 2d 1st 3d 2d 1st 1st 3d 1st 1st 3d 3d 2d 1st 1st 3d 2d 2d 2d 3d 2d 1st 1st 1st 3d 1st 2d 2d 2d 1st 2d 2d 2d

Source: Native Guards home page:http://www2.netdoor.com/%7Ejgh/officers.html.

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The 1st Louisiana Native Guards disembarking at Fort Macombe, Louisiana. (CORBIS) his own sacrificies that he had already made and the inestimable privilege of owning himself and family as the reward—I admit I felt ashamed of all the feeble efforts I had made to recruit the army—I felt satisfied that an element of strength has been developed and brought to the aid of our government of which we had no adequate idea—In my opinion this element now so thoroughly aroused in the colored man is never again to be brutalized; It begins to realize its own strength and the fullness of its power (Fordyce 1996, 67).

References and Further Reading

The Chalmette National Cemetery in Chalmette, Louisiana, was established in May 1864 for Civil War dead. One hundred thirteen of the Louisiana Native Guards are known to be buried there; the last burial of a Guard veteran at Chalmette took place in 1929.

Fordyce, Benjamin A. Echoes: From the Letters of a Civil War Surgeon. Ed. Lydia A. Hecht. Longboat Key, FL: Bayou Publishing, 1996; cited at http:// ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/la/afriamer/ military/natguard.txt. Hollandsworth, James G., Jr. The Louisiana Native Guards: The Black Military Experience during the Civil War. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1995. Ochs, Stephen J. A Black Patriot and a White Priest: André Cailloux and Claude Paschal Maistre in Civil War New Orleans. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2000. Weaver, C. P. Thank God My Regiment’s an African One: The Civil War Diary of Colonel Nathan W. Daniels. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1998.

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1st North Carolina Colored Volunteers (Civil War) Once the coastal areas of North Carolina had come under Union control in 1862 and large numbers of ex-slaves sought refuge in the area, it seemed a natural development to recruit African American troops in the region. Massachusetts Governor John A. Andrew, an ardent abolitionist who had been instrumental in the formation of the African American 54th and 55th Massachusetts regiments, proposed to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton that he do the same in North Carolina. Edward A. Wild, colonel of the 35th Massachusetts, who had helped raise the 54th and 55th Massachusetts, was chosen to form and command a brigade of four regiments, known as the African Brigade. One of these was the 1st North Carolina Colored Volunteers, formed at New Bern, North Carolina, in the summer of 1863 from former slaves from Virginia and the Carolinas and commanded by Col. James C. Beecher, brother of the abolitionist writer Harriet Beecher Stowe. Beecher had been a lieutenant colonel in the 141st New York Infantry, whose flag had been made by a freed woman from North Carolina, featuring the Goddess of Liberty trampling a serpent on one side and the word “Liberty” on the other. Andrew and Wild wanted to recruit African American officers as well as men. John V. De Grasse, one of eight black physicians appointed to the Army Medical Corps during the Civil War, became assistant surgeon with the rank of major. African American minister John N. Mars was appointed chaplain. De Grasse was discharged in 1864, allegedly for drunkenness; it is probable that white hostility to black officers lay behind the discharge. Mars was unable to continue in his post for health reasons, and both officers were replaced by whites. Initially the men of the 1st served as laborers and garrison troops. In February 1864 the regiment became the 35th United States Colored Troops and fought at the Battle of Olustee

(Florida), losing some 230 men during the fighting. Beecher was on leave in the North, and the regiment was temporarily commanded by Maj. Archibald Bogle, who was believed to have been killed but had actually been captured and sent to Andersonville, the Confederate prison camp in Georgia. After Olustee the regiment was used in garrison duty in South Carolina and Florida. Beecher complained to the departmental commander: They have been slaves and are just learning to be men. It is a draw-back that they are regarded as, and called “Damned Niggers” by socalled “gentlemen” in uniform of US Officers, but when they are set to menial work doing for white regiments what those regiments are entitled to do for themselves, it simply throws them back where they were before and reduces them to the position of slaves again (Berlin, Reidy, and Rowland 1982, 493).

The regiment later fought in Florida at Black Creek and St. John’s River. On November 30, 1864, the 35th fought at the Battle of Honey Hill, South Carolina. The regiment was mustered out of service in June 1866. See also American Civil War; Olustee, Battle of; United States Colored Troops (appendixes) References and Further Reading Berlin, Ira, Joseph Reidy, and Leslie S. Rowland (eds.). Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861–1867, Series 2: The Black Military Experience. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982. Emilio, Luis F. A Brave Black Regiment. Salem, NH: Ayer, 1990. Originally Boston: Boston Book Co., 1894. Glatthaar, Joseph T. Forged in Battle: The Civil War Alliance of Black Soldiers and White Officers. New York: Free Press, 1990. Stephens, George E. A Voice of Thunder: The Civil War Letters of George E. Stephens. Ed. Donald Yacovone. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997.

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1st Rhode Island Regiment (American Revolution) A largely African American Revolutionary unit formed in February 1778. In February 1778—following sustained pressure from the Congress, George Washington, and Rhode Islander Gen. James Varnum— Rhode Island was called to supply two of the eighty-eight battalions required to replace the losses in the first few years of the war. On February 23, 1778, the Rhode Island General Assembly approved the enlistment of slaves into their two state regiments. The law stated: “Upon [a slave’s] passing muster, he is absolutely made free, and entitled to all the wages, bounties, and encouragements given by Congress to any soldier enlisting.” In return for releasing their slaves, the owners would be given up to $400 per man. In effect, the slaves were being purchased by the state and would then be used as soldiers until the conclusion of the war, upon which time they would be released and made free. The regiment was commanded by white officers: Col. Christopher Greene, who was not only a Rhode Islander but also one of Washington’s most promising young officers, assisted by Lt. Col. Jeremiah Olney and Maj. Samuel Ward. There was considerable opposition in the General Assembly for two reasons: some members believed that the slave soldiers would revolt and some that the use of slaves was inconsistent with the principles of war. As a result, in May 1778, it was proposed that the experiment to enlist slave soldiers in Rhode Island would end on June 10. It appears that did not happen, and slave soldiers were continually recruited during the war. The majority of the recruits came from the south of Rhode Island, where there was a higher concentration of slaves. However, a number did come from the small farming towns of the north, such as Primus Brown (of Johnston) and Pero Mowey (of Smithfield). Around 250 men joined the regiment, which was predominantly African American.

Greene commanded the regiment from 1778 until he died at Points Bridge in 1781, when the command was taken over by Lieutenant Colonel Olney. The regiment served for five years until the men were mustered out at Saratoga in June 1783. The regiment’s first major engagement involved fighting in their own state in August 1778 against Hessian mercenaries fighting for the British. The regiment was described by the enemy at the time as being, “chiefly wild looking men in their shirt sleeves, and among them many Negroes” (Kaplan and Kaplan 1989, 63–64). One of the veterans recalled the engagement at an antislavery conference in 1842 and said: When stationed in the State of Rhode Island, the regiment to which I belonged was once ordered to do what was called a flanking position; it was a post of imminent danger. They attacked us with great fury, but were repulsed. Again they reinforced, and attacked us again, with more vigor and determination, and again were repulsed. Again they reinforced, and attacked us the third time, with the most desperate courage and resolution, but a third time were repulsed. The contest was fearful. Our position was hotly disputed and as hotly maintained (quoted in Nell 1986, 127).

Although the battle must be considered a defeat, the regiment’s actions allowed the bulk of the Americans to escape from Rhode Island after the failure of the French to land reinforcements. The regiment later fought at Fort Oswego, Saratoga, Red Bank, and Yorktown, and at Points Bridge, where Colonel Greene was killed. Baron Von Closen, a general in the French army sent to aid the revolutionary forces, reviewed the regiment in 1781 and described them thus: “the most neatly dressed, the best under arms, and the most precise in its manoeuvres.” Another of the French generals, Marquis de

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Chastellux, wrote in his journal in January 1781: “The majority of the enlisted men are Negroes or Mulattoes; but they are strong, robust men, and those I saw made a very good appearance” (quoted in Kaplan and Kaplan 1989, 65). William Cooper Nell wrote of the death of Greene at Points Bridge, New York, in May 1781: “Colonel Greene, the commander of the regiment, was cut down and mortally wounded; but the sabers of the enemy only reached him through the bodies of his faithful guard of blacks, who hovered over him to protect him, and every one of whom was killed” (Nell 1986, 66). When the regiment was mustered out at Saratoga in June 1783, like the majority of the Continental Army, they were left to their own devices to find their own way home. Olney, commanding officer, said that he had, “The most affectionate regard and esteem for his men” and for their “valor and good conduct.” Olney was determined to ensure that they received the full benefits that had been promised to them when they had enlisted five years earlier. He was active in helping the men claim pensions and receive their unpaid wages from their years of service. On several occasions he also helped prevent the returning veterans from being re-enslaved by their former owners. See also American Revolution References and Further Reading Adams, Gretchen A. “‘Deeds of Desperate Valor’: The First Rhode Island Regiment.” http:// revolution.h-net.msu.edu/essays/adams2.html (accessed August 15, 2003). Kaplan, Sidney, and Emma Nogrady Kaplan. The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1989. Nell, William Cooper. Colored Patriots of the American Revolution. Salem, NH: Ayer, 1986. Originally Boston: R. F. Wallcut, 1855. Available at http://docsouth.unc.edu/nell/nell.html. Quarles, Benjamin. The Negro in the American Revolution. New York: W. W. Norton, 1973.

1st South Carolina Volunteers (Civil War) This all–African American unit was created by Union Maj. Gen. David Hunter, commander of the Department of the South, at Hilton Head, South Carolina, in May 1862. This first attempt to form the regiment failed because Hunter had not received authorization from the War Department, and the men had been involuntarily pressed into service. The regiment was finally organized under Brig. Gen. Rufus B. Saxton, and the first company was placed under the command of Capt. Charles T. Trowbridge. The sixty-two men of Company A first saw action between November 3 and November 18, 1862, when they accompanied an expedition to raid Confederate positions and economic targets along the Georgia and Florida coast. Ninety-four of the 155 slaves they liberated joined the regiment. On November 10, abolitionist Col. Thomas Wentworth Higginson assumed command of the regiment. He took them on an expedition up the St. Mary’s River between January 23 and February 1, 1863. During this expedition they fought their first engagement near Township Landing, with seven wounded and one killed. In March 1863 the regiment accompanied the 2d South Carolina Volunteers up the St. John’s River to occupy Jacksonville, Florida. Soon, however, Union commanders recalled the volunteers to South Carolina to serve as pickets at Port Royal. On February 8, 1864, the regiment became the 33d United States Colored Troops (USCT). Together with two other regiments they made an assault on Battery Gregg on James Island, near Charleston, and captured the fort on July 2, 1864. In December of the same year the regiment fought alongside the 55th Massachusetts at the Battle of Honey Hill. In 1865 the regiment saw garrison duty at Savannah and Charleston. They were mustered out of service on February 9, 1866, at Fort Wagner, South Carolina.

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First South Carolina Volunteers, the first all-black regiment formed during the Civil War, 1862. (Library of Congress)

See also: American Civil War; 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment; 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment; Fort Wagner, Battle of; Honey Hill, Battle of; United States Colored Troops (appendixes)

555th Parachute Infantry Battalion (Triple Nickles) (World War II)

References and Further Reading Higginson, Thomas Wentworth. Army Life in a Black Regiment. New York: W. W. Norton, 1984. Originally. Boston: Fields, Osgood, 1870. Meyer, Howard N. Colonel of the Black Regiment: The Life of Thomas Wentworth Higginson. New York: W. W. Norton, 1967.

Training began in December 1943 to create the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, the first all–African American parachute unit that would have both black officers and enlisted men. Although the 555th was not deployed overseas and did not see combat in World War II, it played a significant role in fighting what at the time was a secret war called Operation Fire Fly. The first African Americans reported for duty at Fort Benning, Georgia, for airborne training, with the battalion officially coming into existence on December 19, 1943. The men were

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Aspiring paratroopers ready to climb aboard an army transport at Fort Benning, Georgia, February 24, 1944. (Front to rear) Cpl. Elijah H. Wesby, Sgt. Robert S. Walden, Sgt. Jack D. Tillis, and Sgt. Daniel Weil. (Bettmann/CORBIS)

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segregated, and the officers were refused entrance to the officers’ club. From the beginning, however, the battalion displayed great determination and the professionalism that had become the hallmark of paratrooper units. The battalion was sent to the Pacific Northwest region of the United States in the spring of 1945 to become “smoke jumpers,” America’s answer to an almost unknown aspect of the Japanese war effort. The Japanese were attaching incendiary bombs to silk and paper balloons that floated on the jet stream across the Pacific to land in America. The 555th were there to make jumps into the forests during the summer of 1945 to fight these fires. They made more than 1,200 individual jumps. By the end of 1945 the battalion was attached to Gen. James Gavin’s 82d Airborne Division, and, at his insistence, they accompanied the division in their victory parade through New York in January 1946, wearing the division’s battle patches. The 555th was deactivated in December 1947. The men who had served in the 555th later served in other U.S. paratrooper units in Korea and in Vietnam. Some of the men joined the 2d Airborne Ranger Company (187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team) and became the first African Americans to make combat jumps in Korea. Thirty-three years after the formation of the 555th, a former private in the battalion, Roscoe Robinson Jr., became the commander of the 82d Airborne Division with the rank of major general. See also Korean War; Robinson, Roscoe, Jr.; Vietnam War; World War II References and Further Reading

Fleming, Benjamin (1782–1870) Benjamin Fleming was born of African Scottish descent on July 20, 1782, as a free man in Lewistown, Delaware. As a young man Fleming served on board coastal vessels and pilot boats in the Delaware area. In 1811 he joined the U.S. Navy and served on board the frigate USS Essex commanded by Capt. David Porter. Fleming served against the British during the War of 1812 on the Great Lakes. On October 8–9, 1812, he was part of a raiding party under Lt. Jesse Elliot, whose 100 men captured two British ships anchored on the Niagara River near Fort Erie, Ontario. Fleming was assigned to the brig USS Niagara under Elliot and fought with him at the battle of Lake Erie, September 10, 1813. Fleming was discharged from the navy in the spring of 1814, but, probably because of a Delaware law that prevented free African Americans from returning to the state, Fleming settled in Erie. He married on March 4, 1814, and the following year took over the fishing business of his late father-in-law. Fleming became something of a local celebrity and was lorded as the last survivor of Perry’s command at Lake Erie. He was a guest of honor at the dedication of the Perry monument in Cleveland in 1860. Three of his sons served during the American Civil War (two in the 83d Pennsylvania Volunteer Regiment and another in the 150th). Fleming died May 9, 1870; obituaries described him as the last of Oliver Hazard Perry’s men. In 1872 his widow, Catherine, applied for a War of 1812 widow’s pension; she was denied the $8 per month as she lacked the paperwork to prove her marriage and a death certificate for her husband.

O’Donnell, Patrick K. Beyond Valor: World War II’s Ranger and Airborne Veterans Reveal the Heart of Combat. New York: Free Press, 2000.

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See also American Civil War; 1812, War of; Lake Erie, Battle of; U.S. Navy

F l i p p e r, H e n r y O s s i a n

References and Further Reading

It is just possible that some of our readers may not know who Flipper is. For their benefit we make haste to explain that Flipper is the solitary colored cadet now at West Point. He is in the third class, and stands forty-six in the class, which numbers eighty-five members. This is a very fair standing, and Flipper’s friends declare that he is getting along finely in his studies, and that he is quite up to the standard of the average West Point student. Nevertheless they intimate that he will never graduate. Flipper, they say, may get as far as the first class, but there he will be “slaughtered” (quoted in Flipper 1878, 15).

Altoff, Gerard T. Among My Best Men: AfricanAmericans and the War of 1812. Put-in-Bay, OH: Perry Group, 1996. Thompson, Sara, and Karen James. Journey from Jerusalem: An Illustrated Introduction to Erie’s African American History, 1795–1995. Erie, PA: Erie County Historical Society, 1996.

Flipper, Henry Ossian (1856–1940) Henry Ossian Flipper was the fifth African American to enter West Point. Flipper was born to slave parents in Thomasville, Georgia, on March 31, 1856. His father managed to buy his own freedom and that of his wife and son, and they moved to Atlanta, where his father set up a shoemaker shop. Flipper had been taught to read by another slave. In Atlanta he began attending the Storr’s School, established by the American Missionary Association in March 1866. He then studied for three years at Atlanta University before being appointed to West Point in 1873, having been recommended by the congressman from the Fifth District, the Hon. J. C. Freeman. He was the fifth African American to enter the academy; the first four had all been dismissed for questionable reasons. As the Chicago Tribune wrote of Flipper’s chances of graduation: It is freely asserted that Flipper will never be allowed to graduate; that the prejudice of the regular army instructors against the colored race is insurmountable, and that they will drive away from the Academy by persecution of some petty sort any colored boy who may obtain admittance there (quoted in Flipper 1878, 15).

And the Louisville Ledger wrote:

Flipper wrote of his first day at West Point in his autobiography: What I had seen and experienced during the few hours from my arrival till tattoo filled me with fear and apprehension. I expected every moment to be insulted or struck, and was not long in persuading myself that the various reports which I had heard concerning Smith were true—I had not seen him yet, or, if I had, had not recognized him—and that my life there was to be all torture and anguish. I was uneasy and miserable, ever thinking of the regulations, verbal or written, which had been given me. How they haunted me! I kept repeating them over and over, fearful lest I might forget and violate them, and be dismissed. If I wanted any thing or wished to go anywhere, I must get permission of the cadet officers on duty over us. To get such permission I must enter their office cleanly and neatly dressed, and, taking my place in the center of the room, must salute, report my entrance, make known my wants, salute again, and report my departure. At the instant I heard the sound of a drum I must turn out at a run and take my place in the ranks (Flipper 1878, 35).

Despite the treatment he received at times during his studies, Flipper managed to maintain his dignity and studied hard. He shared a room

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Henry Ossian Flipper, who graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1877. (Bettmann/CORBIS)

with two other black cadets, James Webster Smith (during his first year) and Johnson Whittaker (during his last year), both of whom failed to graduate. Many of the white students refused to speak to him for fear of being labeled “the friend of a Negro.” Flipper graduated fiftieth out of a class of seventy-six and was commissioned as a second lieutenant assigned to frontier duty with the 10th Cavalry (the Buffalo Soldiers). His success in graduating from West Point made him the hero of many prominent African Americans throughout the country. Soon after his graduation, a New York reception in Flipper’s honor gathered 200 African American guests. He served at various military installments in the Southwest and while on his first assignment

at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, he perfected a drainage system that eliminated the stagnant water that had been the cause for the spread of malaria in the area. His system became known as “Flipper’s Ditch” and was given the status of a national landmark in 1977. During his service in the Department of Texas, Flipper was involved in the campaign against Victorio’s Mescalero Apaches, and during one of the battles of the Apache War, his unit rescued its own commander, who had been captured. In 1881 Flipper was transferred to Fort Davis in Texas, serving as a post commissary officer under the command of Col. William Shafter, who was generally considered to have an intense dislike for African Americans and for the Buffalo Soldiers in particular. Shortly after his arrival at Fort Davis, Flipper was arrested and tried on two charges, embezzlement and making false statements to Shafter. Flipper stated that he had hidden the money in his personal belongings because he felt it was the safest place to keep it and that he had told Shafter of his intention to do so. He was acquitted on the first charge but convicted of “conduct unbecoming an officer and gentleman.” Shafter denied any knowledge of Flipper’s intentions regarding the safety of the money. The local town merchants raised a collection to replace the missing funds in an attempt to clear Flipper’s name. But although the army’s judge considered the matter to be racially motivated, Flipper was dishonorably discharged from the army in 1882 at the instruction of President Chester A. Arthur. After his dismissal from the army Flipper worked as a civil and mining engineer and continued to plead his innocence until his death. He had learned Spanish at West Point, and while based in Mexico, he worked for American mining and petroleum companies, surveying land. He translated Spanish land deeds and titles for the Land Grant Court. He also served the American government in various capacities and gained a reputation as a likable and honest man. From 1893 until 1901 Flipper worked for the Department of Justice as a special agent and in 1919 was appointed in-

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terpreter and translator for a U.S. Senate committee. He served as a special assistant to the secretary of the interior (with the Alaskan Engineering Commission) and retired in 1931 at the age of seventy-five. Flipper also wrote several books about his experiences at West Point. When he died in Atlanta on May 3, 1940, his greatest regret was that he had been unable to clear his name regarding his dishonorable discharge from the army. Through the efforts initiated by Flipper’s descendants and friends, including Georgia teacher Ray MacColl, the army’s Board for the Correction of Military Records reviewed the circumstances of Henry Flipper’s dishonorable discharge, and in 1976 it was converted to an honorable one. The following year West Point established the Henry O. Flipper Memorial Award, which is presented annually to the cadet who best demonstrates leadership, self-discipline, and perseverance during the year. A memorial bust in the West Point library was also dedicated to his memory and honor. Henry Flipper in his autobiography made this comment about the professors at West Point during his time there: I have not a word to say against any of the professors or instructors who were at West Point during the period of my cadetship. I have every thing to say in their praise, and many things to be thankful for. I have felt perfectly free to go to any officer for assistance, whenever I have wanted it, because their conduct toward me made me feel that I would not be sent away without having received whatever help I may have wanted. All I could say of the professors and officers at the Academy would be unqualifiedly in their favor (Flipper 1878, 331–332).

1999, by President Bill Clinton, who described it as being “an event that is 117 years overdue.” The ceremony was attended by retired general Colin Powell, who wrote of Flipper in his autobiography: “We knew that the path through the underbrush of prejudice and discrimination had been cleared by the sacrifices of nameless Blacks who had gone before us, the Henry Flippers, and to them we owed everything” (Powell 1995, 278). See also Apache Wars; Buffalo Soldiers; Powell, Colin Luther; 10th Cavalry; Smith, James Webster; West Point References and Further Reading Atkinson, Rick. The Long Gray Line: West Point’s Journey to Vietnam. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1989. Flipper, Henry Ossian. Black Frontiersman: The Memoirs of Henry O. Flipper: First Black Graduate of West Point. Edited by Theodore D. Harris. Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 1997. ———. The Colored Cadet at West Point: Autobiography of Lieut. Henry Ossian Flipper, U.S.A., First Graduate of Color from the U.S. Military Academy. New York: Arno, 1969. Originally New York: H. Lee & Co., 1878. Gray, Valerie A. The Court Martial Trial of West Point Cadet Johnson Whittaker: A Headline Court Case. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow, 2001. Powell, Colin L. A Soldier’s Way. London: Hutchinson, 1995.

Forrest, George

On February 11, 1978, Flipper’s remains were exhumed from their unmarked grave in Atlanta and reburied with full military honors in Thomasville, Georgia. In this, his home town, the U.S. Post Office was named for him. The first posthumous pardon in American history was granted to Flipper on February 19,

Forrest first saw combat against the North Vietnamese from November 17 to 20, 1965. His unit was in Ia Drang, in the central highlands of Vietnam where North Vietnamese regulars were active. Forrest’s unit was in action at LZ (landing zone) Albany, which was an integral part of the battle. The battle began at LZ X-Ray, the focus of the heaviest fighting.

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For his action at LZ Albany, Forrest won the Silver Star. In 1993 a very nervous Forrest returned to Ia Drang. He described the men who had fallen there as “seventeen guys who could have been absolute national treasures. They were gallant, noble, afraid young men. . . . They did what they thought their country needed them to do” (Buckley 2001, 34). See also U.S. Army; Vietnam War References and Further Reading Buckley, Gail. American Patriots. New York: Random House, 2001. Cash, John A. Seven Firefights in Vietnam. Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, United States Army, 1985.

Fort Blakely, Battle of (March 31–April 9, 1865) The last major engagement of the Civil War in which large numbers of United States Colored Troops (USCT) were directly involved. Although it occurred at the same time as Lee was surrendering at Appomattox, and thus had no effect on the outcome of the war, the conflict provided the African American troops with a great sense of achievement and contribution. The Battle of Fort Blakely saw a concentration of African American USCT units There were nine infantry regiments in Brig. Gen. John Hawkins’s 1st Division—the 47th, 48th, 50th, 51st, 68th, 73d, 76th, 82d, and 86th—and two regiments in an engineer brigade—the 96th and 97th. Most of these regiments took part in the attack on Fort Blakely, the last major charge of the Civil War. The pressure on the Confederacy had been gradually mounting with the sieges of Richmond and Petersburg by Grant, the capture of Atlanta by Sherman, the Confederate defeat in Mobile Bay, and the end of Hood’s resistance in Tennessee. In the spring of 1865, Grant ordered Gen. Edward R. S. Canby to mount a sizable ex-

pedition against the city of Mobile, which had been bypassed for some time because the Union needed to deploy manpower elsewhere. To attack Mobile, Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely, which protected the city from their positions on the east side of Mobile Bay, had to be taken; only then could the batteries at Forts Huger and Tracy be reduced, allowing access to the city. The Confederates had scraped together the remnants of Hood’s army to reinforce the Mobile garrison, which by the autumn of 1864 had reached around 10,000. In overall command was Gen. Dabney H. Maury. Most of the troops who assembled for the final fight in the theater were veterans of many battles and skirmishes around the Mississippi Valley region. Canby planned an attack that required two columns, the first to move up from Mobile Bay to attack the Spanish Fort, while the second came from Pensacola to deal with Fort Blakely itself. It was an enormous logistical exercise; some 32,000 men were involved in the first column alone. They were moved up from Fort Gaines by steamboats and overland from Fort Morgan to Fish River. Others moved overland, and the force was assembled by March 27. They faced a garrison believed to hold about 3,500 men, all Confederate veterans, with artillery pieces. It was an unequal fight, and the Confederate lines at Spanish Fort were breached on April 8. The second column, under Gen. Frederick Steele, moved out from Pensacola on March 20. Initially, the column moved north to convince Confederate spies that the target was Montgomery, Alabama; its real intention was to approach Fort Blakely from the rear. The 13,000 men changed direction at Pollard, Alabama, and headed toward the Tensaw River. The Union troops hit Fort Blakely on April 1, overrunning the Confederate outlying positions. On April 2, the main force moved in on the defenses with infantry and artillery. The fort was not an easy target, with nine earthwork redoubts and forty artillery pieces; it was also protected by vessels of the Confederate Navy. The African American units, comprising

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Storming Fort Blakely, April 9, 1865. The Battle of Fort Blakely saw a concentration of Unites States Colored Troops units. (CORBIS)

more than one-third of the total Union forces of about 16,000, played a significant role in taking the fort, and the 73d Colored Infantry, from New Orleans, planted the colors on the fort’s parapet. The Confederate defenders (about 4,000 men) were overwhelmed by the Union’s superior numbers. When the attack was launched on the afternoon of April 9, 1865, it carried all before it. The Confederates lost some 3,400 men captured and 250 killed. Only 200 escaped. See also American Civil War; 1st Louisiana Native Guards; United States Colored Troops (appendixes) References and Further Reading Glatthaar, Joseph T. Forged in Battle: The Civil War Alliance of Black Soldiers and White Officers. New York: Free Press, 1990. ––––. The March to the Sea and Beyond: Sherman’s Troops in the Savannah and Carolinas Campaigns. New York: New York University Press, 1985.

Fort Fisher, Battle of (December 24, 1864, and January 13–15, 1865) More than 500 African American slaves and freedmen were engaged in the construction of

this Confederate fortification between 1862 and 1865. Ironically, the second Union assault on the fort included the 27th United States Colored Troops (USCT). Fort Fisher controlled a neck of land in southern North Carolina near the mouth of Cape Fear River. It was a vital position because it protected Wilmington, the most important blockade-running seaport of the Confederacy, from Union blockade. The fortification became the largest and one of the most important to the Confederacy. Col. William Lamb was sent to command Fort Fisher in July 1862. There he found a sand battery with approximately two dozen guns, but by January 1865 the fortification had been enlarged to cover a mile of sea defenses and onethird of a mile of land defenses. During the construction peak, approximately one-half of the 1,000 men were African American slaves or freedmen who worked with Confederate soldiers. The fort was constructed of earth and sand. On the sea, the defense perimeter had twenty-two guns in batteries of between 12 feet and 60 feet. On the land side, twenty guns were distributed on fifteen mounds that were more than 30 feet high, with bomb-proof powder magazines and interior rooms. The guns in Fort Fisher prevented the Union ships from stopping Confederate blockade runners, and both sides knew that the fall of the fort would strangle the supply routes to General Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Indeed, by

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1865, this was the sole remaining route. Blockade runners exchanged cotton and tobacco in Bermuda, the Bahamas, and Nova Scotia with British traders of weapons, food, and clothing. The first Union attempt to take the fort on December 24, 1864, failed, with the Union commanders believing that the fort was too strong to take by land. Consequently, when a new Union amphibious assault took place on January 15, 1865, it had been preceded by twoand-a-half days of bombardment from both the land and the sea. The 27th USCT was part of the almost 8,000-man assault that, after several hours of hand-to-hand combat, broke through the Confederate defenses and captured the fort on the evening of January 15. It is possible, but not confirmed, that the 30th USCT was also present during the fighting. Following the fall of Fort Fisher, the remaining Confederate fortifications defending Cape Fear and Wilmington were evacuated, and Union forces soon overran Wilmington, thus severing the last supply line to Lee’s army. See also American Civil War; United States Colored Troops (appendixes) References and Further Reading Robinson, Charles M. Hurricane of Fire: The Union Assault on Fort Fisher. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1998.

Fort Leavenworth, Kansas In 1827, Col. Henry Leavenworth established an army post overlooking the west bank of the Missouri River to help ensure the safety of the forts and settlements of the West. For over fifty years it served as a barracks, training facility, depot, and quartermaster station on the western frontier. In 1866 Congress authorized four black regi-

ments, including the 10th Cavalry, which was formed at Fort Leavenworth by Col. Benjamin Grierson on September 21, 1866. Together with the 9th Cavalry and the 24th and 25th Infantry, the 10th became part of the legendary Buffalo Soldiers. Fort Leavenworth had a long association with African American troops and with the 10th Cavalry in particular. On July 1, 1909, the U.S. Army created the Command and General Staff School Support Detachment, Colored, and on October 12, 1931, these troops became the 1st Squadron of the 10th Cavalry. Between 1931 and 1940, the 1st Squadron of the 10th Cavalry served at Fort Leavenworth. Like other military facilities, Fort Leavenworth discriminated against its African American soldiers. In 1938, for example, a detachment of African American cavalrymen were banned from using the base’s swimming pools. At the same time the families of the 10th Cavalry (operating as the fort’s labor pool) were banned from clubs and restaurants that accepted white soldiers and their families. Apart from the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks (established in 1875), the fort is best known for its training facilities. During World War II alone, some 19,000 officers attended courses at Fort Leavenworth. In 1946, the school became U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, a key center for officer training. A monument commemorating the Buffalo Soldiers sculpted by African American artist Eddie Dixon stands at Fort Leavenworth; it was inspired and dedicated by Colin Powell, the first African Amerian chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. See also Buffalo Soldiers; 10th Cavalry References and Further Reading Hughes, J. Patrick. Fort Leavenworth: Gateway to the West. Topeka: Kansas State Historical Society, 2000. Hunt, Elvid. History of Fort Leavenworth, 1827– 1927. New York: Arno Press, 1979.

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Color Guard of the 10th Cavalry at Fort Leavenworth,1931. Fort Leavenworth had a long association with African American troops and the 10th Cavalry in particular. (Bettmann/CORBIS)

Fort Pillow Massacre (April 12, 1864) Fort Pillow, built in 1861 on a steep bluff on the east bank of the Mississippi River 40 miles north of Memphis, Tennessee, was the site of the Fort Pillow Massacre—one of the most controversial events of the Civil War. Fort Pillow was garrisoned by 292 African Americans of the 6th U.S. Heavy Artillery and the 6th U.S. Colored Light Artillery and 285 whites of the 13th Tennessee Cavalry. The fort was surrounded on three sides on the morning of April 12, 1864, by at least 1,500 Confederates under Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest’s command. Forrest demanded an immediate surren-

der, declaring that no quarter would be given otherwise. When the Union forces hesitated, Forrest’s men stormed the fort and with their superior numbers, quickly overwhelmed the garrison. In the ensuing battle almost half the Union soldiers were killed; significantly, the death rate was twice as high among the African American troops. Stories of atrocities rapidly spread in the North, including live burials, the slaughter of women and children in the town south of the fort, and the burning alive of wounded soldiers. Public opinion was outraged, and a congressional Joint committee on the Conduct of the War investigated the massacre. Its report, published in May, supported the charges of many of

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A contemporary Northern depiction of the Confederate massacre of African American troops at Fort Pillow, April 12, 1862. Although the extent of such killings was unclear, the incident was brilliantly exploited by Union propagandists. (Library of Congress)

the Confederate atrocities. Although the issues are still debated among historians, most consider that many of the Union men, and particularly the African Americans, were killed after they had thrown down their arms and surrendered (although the most gruesome crimes were probably little more than rumor). Confederate hostility to the black troops, whom they refused to acknowledge as bona fide solders, was well known, and many eyewitness accounts told of brutal murders of the black soldiers, quoting the Southerners as yelling “No quarter!” and “Kill the damned niggers!” Forrest, who after the war headed the Ku Klux Klan, later said of the incident that he hoped “that these facts will demonstrate to the

Northern people that Negro soldiers cannot cope with Southerners” (quoted in Buckley 2001, 104). Despite the carnage, the effect of the events at Fort Pillow was not what the Confederates had intended. Across the country, African American troops vowed to avenge the murders at Fort Pillow; many subsequent accounts describe black troops going into battle with the cry “Fort Pillow.” The effect was heightened by the incident six days later at Poison Springs, Arkansas, where another 182 men were killed or wounded.

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See also American Civil War; Poison Spring Massacre; Saltville Massacre; United States Colored Troops (appendixes)

Fo r t Wa g n e r, B a t t l e o f

References and Further Reading Buckley, Gail. American Patriots: The Story of Blacks in the Military from the Revolution to Desert Storm. New York: Random House, 2001. Cornish, Dudley Taylor. The Sable Arm: Negro Troops in the Union Army, 1861–1865. New York: Longmans, 1956. Grant, Ulysses S. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant. New York: C. L. Webster, 1885–1886. U.S. Congress, House. Fort Pillow Massacre. Thirtyeight Congress, 1st Session, Report No. 65, approved April 24, 1864.

Fort Wagner, Battle of (July 18, 1863) The Battle of Fort Wagner, although a Union defeat, was significant as one of the first battles in which African Americans participated. Fort Wagner dominated the neck of the island, extending from the Atlantic in the east to Vincent’s Creek in the west. Some 150 yards from the walls, marshland covered the approaches so that at high tide there was little more than a 25-yard strip across which to attack the fortification. The walls were made of logs, sand, and turf, with projecting bastions that meant that assaulting troops would be caught in a crossfire. Inside, the garrison consisted of 1,700 Confederate infantry, supported by seventeen artillery pieces. The fort’s walls were protected by a 3-foot-deep moat. The assault began at 9.00 a.m. with a preparatory Union bombardment; the 54th would be sent in after dusk. The regiment would be supported, initially, by the rest of Strong’s brigade and, if the attack failed, by two more of Seymour’s brigades. The 54th’s orders were to take the fort with the bayonet. Shaw declared that he would carry the regimental flag himself if the standard bearer should fall. By early evening, with the support troops in position, the 630 men of the 54th stood ready to attack one mile from Fort Wagner. After a considerable wait, during which they were under fire from the Confederate ar-

tillery, the regiment started forward, Shaw leading the right and Lt. Col. Edward Hallowell, the left. As they approached within a few hundred yards of Fort Wagner, the regiment advanced despite the fire from Confederate batteries on nearby islands. The defenders of Fort Wagner awaited the moment when the 54th would be closely packed together between the marsh and the sea. Suddenly, fire erupted from the length of the fort, smashing holes in the advancing 54th. They pressed on, now at a run, across the dead ground, through the moat, and began to ascend the outer defenses of the fort. The 54th was under fire from all directions, but despite the mounting casualties, they reached the top of the rebel defenses. Shaw was hit as he reached the parapet, but the regimental flag was planted on the defense works by Sgt. William H. Carney. Gradually, the superior Confederate numbers forced the 54th back; the supporting columns were too far to the rear to give assistance at the crucial point. Hallowell had been wounded in the groin; others fell into Confederate hands. The regiment suffered 40 percent casualties in this one assault. Carney managed to make it back to the Union lines and was later rewarded for his bravery with the Medal of Honor. The Confederates buried Shaw along with the rest of his men in a pit. Shaw’s father told Gillmore, who attempted to retrieve the remains of the officer from the Confederates, his son’s rightful resting-place should be with his men. Christian A. Fleetwood, a free African American from Baltimore, noted, “This year [1863] has brought about many changes that at the beginning were or would have been thought impossible. The close of the year finds me a soldier for the cause of my race. May God bless the cause, and enable me in the coming year to forward it on” (quoted in McPherson 1965, 192).

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See also Carney, William Harvey; 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment; Shaw, Robert Gould; United States Colored Troops (appendixes)

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References and Further Reading Brown, William Wells. The Negro in the American Rebellion: His Heroism and His Fidelity. New York: Lee and Shepard 1867. Reprint New York: Johnson Reprint Corporation, 1968. Emilio, Luis F. A Brave Black Regiment: History of the Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Boston: Boston Book Company, 1894. Glatthaar, Joseph T. Forged In Battle: The Civil War Alliance of Black Soldiers and White Officers. New York: Free Press, 1990. McPherson, James M. The Negro’s Civil War. New York: Pantheon Books, 1965.

Forty Acres and a Mule As former Confederate land increasingly came under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army, it was managed very differently by different Union officers. In some cases, Union officers freely confiscated the land and distributed it to former slaves. The reasons for this were diverse; some saw the move as an outright condemnation of the Confederate slavery system and the “theft” of the slaves’ lives and labor, others as an overt way of punishing the rebels for their stand against legitimate government or as a means of wrecking the South’s economy. African Americans themselves, after years of working others’ land as slaves, also believed that they deserved their own land. The original concept of forty acres and a mule can be traced to the period before there was any formal federal policy on the redistribution and reparation issue. On January 12, 1865, Gen. William T. Sherman met in Savannah, Georgia, with Abraham Lincoln’s secretary of war, Edwin Stanton, and a delegation of twenty African American ministers. The ministers stressed that land was what the freed slaves needed most. Shortly after the meeting, Sher-

man issued Special Field Order Number 15 (see sidebar). In effect, he ordered that the Sea Islands on the coast of South Carolina and Georgia, which included the islands of Hilton Head, Port Royal, and St. Helena, as well as several other smaller islands that had been under Union occupation for four years, would be reserved for freedmen and that each family would receive up to forty acres of land. The families of men who enlisted in the Union army would qualify for the land. Although this provision did not appear in the order, Sherman also allowed freedmen the use of army mules not longer fit for military service—presumably the origin of the phrase “forty acres and a mule,” which, it came to be widely believed, had been promised to each former slave, not merely those in the area covered by Sherman’s order. Historians have debated the reasons for this order, which was expedient at the time. Sherman’s troops were beset by thousands of freedmen, displaced, poverty-stricken, and homeless. Sherman’s slender resources were stretched to the breaking point, and the order sought to relieve him of the responsibility for so many displaced people. Ever since he had invaded Georgia, the numbers of freedmen who followed his army had grown. He could no longer feed and clothe them, and the order was probably a means of jettisoning this burden. Sherman never saw this order as a comprehensive solution. The result was that some 40,000 freedmen settled in the area under the assumption that the government in Washington was giving them the land. The situation, however, was far more complex. In Washington there had been a continuing debate about what to do with the rebellious states after the war. Initially, at least, President Lincoln’s plan for restoration of the Southern states to the Union required that 10 percent of the male population of a given state officially swear allegiance to the Union. This plan was announced on December 8, 1863, as the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction.

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SPECIAL FIELD ORDERS, NO. 15. in the field, savannah, ga., January 16th, 1865. I. The islands from Charleston, south, the abandoned rice fields along the rivers for thirty miles back from the sea, and the country bordering the St. Johns river, Florida, are reserved and set apart for the settlement of the negroes now made free by the acts of war and the proclamation of the President of the United States. II. At Beaufort, Hilton Head, Savannah, Fernandina, St. Augustine and Jacksonville, the blacks may remain in their chosen or accustomed vocations—but on the islands, and in the settlements hereafter to be established, no white person whatever, unless military officers and soldiers detailed for duty, will be permitted to reside; and the sole and exclusive management of affairs will be left to the freed people themselves, subject only to the United States military authority and the acts of Congress. By the laws of war, and orders of the President of the United States, the negro is free and must be dealt with as such. He cannot be subjected to conscription or forced military service, save by the written orders of the highest military authority of the Department, under such regulations as the President or Congress may prescribe. Domestic servants, blacksmiths, carpenters and other mechanics, will be free to select their own work and residence, but the young and able-bodied negroes must be encouraged to enlist as soldiers in the service of the United States, to contribute their share toward maintaining their own freedom, and securing their rights as citizens of the United States. Negroes so enlisted will be organized into companies, battalions and regiments, under the orders of the United States military authorities, and will be paid, fed and clothed according to law. The bounties paid on enlistment may, with the consent of the recruit, go to assist his family and settlement in procuring agricultural implements, seed, tools, boots, clothing, and other articles necessary for their livelihood. III. Whenever three respectable negroes, heads of families, shall desire to settle on land, and shall have selected for that purpose an island or a locality clearly defined, within the limits above designated, the Inspector of Settlements and Plantations will himself, or by such subordinate officer as he may appoint, give them a license to settle such island or district, and afford them such assistance as he can to enable them to establish a peaceable agricultural settlement. The three parties named will subdivide the land, under the supervision of the Inspector, among themselves and such others as may choose to settle near them, so that each family shall have a plot of not more than (40) forty acres of tillable ground, and when it borders on some water channel, with not more than 800 feet water front, in the possession of which land the military authorities will afford them protection, until such time as they can protect themselves, or until Congress shall regulate their title. The Quartermaster may, on the requisition of the Inspector of Settlements and Plantations, place at the disposal of the Inspector, one or more of the captured steamers, to ply between the settlements and one or more of the commercial points heretofore named in orders, to afford the settlers the opportunity to supply their necessary wants, and to sell the products of their land and labor. IV. Whenever a negro has enlisted in the military service of the United States, he may locate his family in any one of the settlements at pleasure, and acquire a homestead, and all other rights and privileges of a settler, as though present in person. In like manner, negroes may settle their families (continues)

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SPECIAL FIELD ORDERS, NO. 15. (continued ) and engage on board the gunboats, or in fishing, or in the navigation of the inland waters, without losing any claim to land or other advantages derived from this system. But no one, unless an actual settler as above defined, or unless absent on Government service, will be entitled to claim any right to land or property in any settlement by virtue of these orders. V. In order to carry out this system of settlement, a general officer will be detailed as Inspector of Settlements and Plantations, whose duty it shall be to visit the settlements, to regulate their police and general management, and who will furnish personally to each head of a family, subject to the approval of the President of the United States, a possessory title in writing, giving as near as possible the description of boundaries; and who shall adjust all claims or conflicts that may arise under the same, subject to the like approval, treating such titles altogether as possessory. The same general officer will also be charged with the enlistment and organization of the negro recruits, and protecting their interests while absent from their settlements; and will be governed by the rules and regulations prescribed by the War Department for such purposes. VI. Brigadier General R. saxton is hereby appointed Inspector of Settlements and Plantations, and will at once enter on the performance of his duties. No change is intended or desired in the settlement now on Beaufort [Port Royal] Island, nor will any rights to property heretofore acquired be affected thereby. by order of major general w. t. sherman: Source: National Archives, Record Group 94, Special Field Orders, No. 15, Headquarters Military Division of the Mississippi, January 16, 1865, Orders & Circulars, ser. 44, Adjutant General’s Office.

Following Lincoln’s assassination, President Andrew Johnson followed the overall spirit of the 10 percent plan, in effect pardoning the Southern states. By 1865, some former rebels had been reelected to the U.S. Congress. The lands that had been confiscated and redistributed by Union officers during the war were returned to their former owners. There was an immediate uproar; the Radical Republicans, who had opposed Lincoln’s original plans to welcome the rebellious states and their leaders back into the Union fold, considered the Southern states to be unreconstructed rebels. They cited the harsh laws passed by the Southern states restricting the movement of the African American population as evidence that little had changed.

The Radical Republicans refused to sit with the reelected Southern congressmen and senators and began impeachment proceedings against Andrew Johnson. The Freedmen’s Bureau (Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands) was a federal agency, established by Congress on March 3, 1865, charged with supporting the rights and lives of the newly freed slaves. Most of the Radical Republicans had been abolitionists; they argued that in order to make reparations to the slaves and to ensure that the economic strength of the South was broken forever, the lands of the slave owners must be redistributed to the former slaves. Among those arguing the case was Cong. Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania, leader of the Radical Republicans in the House, who wanted to permanently

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crush the power of the Southern slaveowners and provide African Americans in the South with a solid economic base upon which they could become full and active citizens. The Freedmen’s Bureau, established six weeks after Sherman’s order, had also redistributed abandoned acreage to freedmen at the rate of up to forty acres; both displaced African Americans and whites who had supported the Union were eligible. The Sea Islands area was controlled by Gen. Rufus Saxton (inspector of settlements and plantations), a firm supporter of the freedmen who did everything in his power to make the redistribution work. Within the area, former slaves were being taught to read and write (this had been outlawed under the slave system). African American and white teachers came from all over the country to assist in the educational programs. Above all, the moves were beginning to achieve independence for the freedmen. Saxton was removed from his post in January 1866 by Andrew Johnson; the lands were returned to their former owners and the freedmen told that they should work for their former owners as paid laborers. At this stage, Sen. Charles Sumner and Cong. Thaddeus Stevens attempted to counter Johnson’s efforts by urging measures to break the power of the Southern aristocracy. They believed that the Sea Islands program had been successful, and Stevens proposed that some 394 million acres owned by about 70,000 Southerners be redistributed. It was a practical proposal that sought to give the bulk of the land to freedmen while the remainder would be sold to help balance the budget, reduce government borrowing, and provide pensions for war veterans. The Radical Republicans were unsuccessful; land redistribution did not take place in the South, and the freed African Americans largely became contract laborers and sharecroppers. On the Sea Islands many of the freedmen managed to retain their lands, but by the 1920s, most had been reduced to two to four acres. See also American Civil War; Freedmen’s Bureau

References and Further Reading Foner, Eric. Nothing But Freedom: Emancipation and its Legacy. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1983. ––––. Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution: 1863–1877. New York: HarperCollins, 2002. Stampp, Kenneth. The Era of Reconstruction: 1865–1877. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1965. Sterling, Dorothy. The Trouble They Seen: Black People Tell the Story of Reconstruction. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1976.

48th and 49th Volunteers (Philippines) Two African American volunteer regiments served in the Philippines at the turn of the nineteenth century. The 48th and 49th Volunteer Infantry had been authorized during President William McKinley’s administration. Although the enlisted men were volunteers, the majority of the officers were obtained from existing regular army, volunteer, or African American militia units. Five militia officers from the 3d North Carolina were given volunteer commissions, including David Gilmer, who became a captain and commanded a garrison in one of the towns on the Philippines. During this period there was considerable pressure, notably from the African American clergy, that African Americans should not involve themselves in imperial adventures or the oppression of Asians. They believed that African Americans were inflicting on Asians what the white population was inflicting on them at home. African American militia in Georgia in the late nineteenth century had suffered four murders at the hands of white citizens, and local juries had found the perpetrators not guilty of murder and accepted the plea of justifiable homicide. McKinley and the U.S. Army considered it an endorsement of their policies that these men had volunteered.

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The volunteer units arrived in the Philippines in early 1900, joining the African American regulars who had already been deployed. By the time the volunteers left the Philippines in 1901 at the end of their service period, the regiments had fought several engagements and performed well. The command structures of these volunteer regiments was mixed, with African American junior officers and white senior and staff officers. David Gilmer gained attention as an officer in the 49th Volunteer Infantry. In one incident he had been approached by a Filipino rebel who claimed that he wished to collaborate with the U.S. Army, offering to lead the 49th to attack a secret encampment. Gilmer had had sufficient training with the 3d North Carolina to distrust the man. As Gilmer’s unit approached the encampment, it came under fire from a Filipino ambush, but the men were able to cross a stream, outflank the enemy, and capture the ambush party intact.

can American slaves. Section 1 guaranteed the citizenship of former slaves and ensured their equal protection under the law, imposing on states the guarantees of civil rights contained in the U.S. Constitution and its amendments: All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

See also Philippine Insurrection References and Further Reading Fletcher, Marvin. The Negro Soldier and the Officer in United States Army, 1891–1917. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1974. Wolff, Leon. Little Brown Brother: How the United States Purchased and Pacified the Philippine Island at the Century’s Turn. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1961.

Fourteenth Amendment (1868) The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, known as the Reconstruction Amendments, were passed in the wake of the Civil War to end slavery, give African Americans the right to vote, and ensure other civil rights. The Fourteenth Amendment granted citizenship and civil liberties to the recently freed Afri-

The disabilities provided for in this section were removed by Congress in 1872 for all but congressmen, military officers, judiciary, and diplomats, and in 1898 for all persons affected. The fourth section explicitly denies any claim of compensation from slave masters or any other person who suffered financial losses while in rebellion, put beyond question the validity of federal wartime debt issues, and explicitly denies responsibility for Confederate debts.

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See also American Civil War; Emancipation Proclamation; Fifteenth Amendment; Thirteenth Amendment

Fo x , J o h n R .

References and Further Reading Bond, James Edward. No Easy Walk to Freedom: Reconstruction and the Ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1997. Nelson, William E. The Fourteenth Amendment: From Political Principle to Judicial Doctoring. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1988. Stiller, Richard. Broken Promises: The Strange History of the Fourteenth Amendment. New York: Random House, 1972.

14th Regiment Rhode Island Heavy Artillery (Civil War)

Esperanza was abandoned on May 19, and the majority of the regiment consolidated at Fort Parapet. Regimental returns for February 16, 1865, show the total strength of the unit at 1,452; about 300 men had died of disease. In April 1865 the first battalion was moved to Brashear City, and in June the second battalion moved to Donaldsonville, Louisiana. The regiment was mustered out at Camp Parapet on August 2, 1865; the majority of the men arrived in New York on October 15. Before going their separate ways they paraded along Broadway. The regiment had seen action at Fort Jackson, Louisiana, at Camp Parapet on April 30, 1864, and at Indian Village, Plaquemine, Louisiana, on August 6, 1864. See also American Civil War; United States Colored Troops (appendixes)

The regiment was organized at Providence between August 28, 1863, and January 25, 1864. The first battalion was transferred to New Orleans in December 1863 and from there to Pass Cavallo, Texas. The regiment became the 8th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery on April 4, 1864, and was renamed the 11th on May 21, 1864. The first battalion was deployed to join the Department of the Gulf in New Orleans, where it arrived on December 30. It was then assigned to garrison duties at Fort Esperanza on Matagorda Island, Texas. The second battalion sailed for New Orleans on January 8, 1864, arriving there on February 3. The battalion was deployed at Plaquemine, some 160 miles from New Orleans. It was involved in several skirmishes with Confederate guerrillas led by Captain Scott. The deployment of the third battalion was delayed due to an outbreak of smallpox, and it finally arrived in New Orleans on April 15 and sent to Fort Parapet. In March 1864 members of Companies A, C, and D were placed under arrest at Fort Esperanza for refusing to accept pay. The men had decided not to accept the $10 per month they were offered instead of the $13 they had been promised. The ringleaders faced court-martial and were sent to Fort Jefferson, Florida.

References and Further Reading Chenery, William H. The Fourteenth Regiment Rhode Island Heavy Artillery (Colored) in the War to Preserve the Union, 1861–1865. New York: Negro Universities Press, 1969. Originally Providence, RI: Snow & Farnham, 1898.

Fox, John R. (d. 1944) A lieutenant of the 366th Infantry Regiment of the 92d Infantry Division, posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for service in Italy. Assigned to the 598th Field Artillery Battalion, 2d Lt. John R. Fox, who had graduated from Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia, on August 15, 1941, was acting as a forward observer in the Italian town of Sommocolonia. On December 26, 1944, at 4:00 a.m. the Germans began a determined attack, and the American troops, who were outnumbered, began to give ground. Fox and some of the other members of his unit remained as observers on the second floor of a building. He maintained radio contact

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with headquarters; and at 8:00 reported that the Germans had infiltrated the town in considerable numbers. Fox called down artillery fire to disrupt the German attack, and as the Germans approached his position, he called for artillery to be brought down directly on the house he was occupying. The artillery commander questioned his decision, but Fox was adamant, apparently shouting, “Fire it! There is more of them than there are of us.” After the barrage nothing more was heard of Fox until several days later, when U.S. troops reoccupied the town and found the bodies of Fox and several of his men, around whom were littered the corpses of approximately 100 German soldiers. In an extraordinary omission, Fox was not granted any military honors until 1982, when he was awarded a posthumous Distinguished Service Cross. The citation read by Maj. Gen. James F. Hamlet (who had also served with the 92d in World War II) stated: “Lieutenant Fox’s gallant and courageous actions, at the supreme sacrifice of his own life, greatly assisted in delaying the enemy advance until other infantry and artillery could reorganize to repel the attack.” On January 13, 1997, President Clinton presented Arlene Fox, his widow, with her husband’s posthumous Medal of Honor. Frederic Davison, who had become operations officer of the 1st Battalion, said of Fox: Fox was there with the company commander and was the type of individual who was obsessed with being the best. He was that way when he was an anti-tank commander–terribly competitive. He would try to outshoot the gunner. Fox didn’t know fear. My guess would be that he probably counseled the company commander to get the hell out of that house and set up elsewhere, not to pull out of position. I would believe it in character that John Fox would call artillery in on his own position. I believe it in character that John Fox would do that knowing, not thinking it wouldn’t hit him, but that he was fully conscious and expecting to be killed. It was the trade off, to be killed by

them, surrender or get ourselves killed (Astor 1998, 283). See also Medal of Honor (appendix); World War II References and Further Reading Astor, Gerald. The Right to Fight. Novato, CA: Presidio, 1998.

Freedmen’s Bureau The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, or Freedmen’s Bureau, as it was generally known, was an organization set up by act of Congress, March 1, 1865, to oversee the transition from slavery to freedom—to reunite African American families that had been separated by slavery; assist them in finding fair, paid employment; protect their rights; and coordinate educational and relief programs. One of its responsibilities was to assist African American veterans to obtain the bounties they were due. When Maj. Gen. Oliver Otis Howard was appointed head of the Freedmen’s Bureau, he actively sought out officers who had led United States Colored Troops (USCT) during the war. The bureau faced four major difficulties from the outset. First, ex-slaves had to be told about their new rights and their relationship with their former owners. Second, labor contracts had to be prepared for the freedmen. Third, the bureau had to settle disputes between the exslaves and their former masters. Finally, the former slaves needed to have access to education for the first time. It became the difficult responsibility of the army of occupation in the Southern states to enforce the Freedmen’s Bureau decrees. USCT units were taunted and jeered at by Southerners; there were even instances in Louisiana and Texas of whites blacking their faces, dressing up in USCT uniforms, and perpetrating criminal

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acts in a desperate attempt to have the African American units withdrawn from the areas of occupation. In at least two cases, one in Louisiana and one in Florida, USCT troops took matters into their own hands against locals when the bureau failed to take prompt action. In the Florida case, some men of the 3d USCT fired on a civilian, grazing his cheek. Often, there was a narrow line drawn in maintaining U.S. Army discipline and dealing with harassment of African Americans by ex-Confederates. In most cases, the authorities punished the soldiers. Across the South, the Freedmen’s Bureau struggled to protect the families of not only exslaves in the general population—some 4 million in all—but also the families of USCT. Several units gave permission for their men to travel to their houses and bring their families into army camps. The bureau was strongly supported by the Radical Republicans in Congress, who considered that the rebellious South deserved punishment and that the federal government had an obligation to enable the freed slaves to function in society. President Andrew Johnson, who did not share these goals, did much to undermine the work of the bureau during Reconstruction in the South. Confiscated property (excluding slaves) was returned to many prominent former rebels who remained unrepentant of their actions during the war, gravely disappointing African Americans who had expected that the land confiscated from rebels would be redistributed to them. Lacking support in Washington, the bureau had to scale back its efforts. By the early 1870s it had ceased even its educational work, probably its most successful program, and its efforts to help veterans collect bounties. See also American Civil War; Emancipation Proclamation; Forty Acres and a Mule References and Further Reading Coffman, Edward M. The Old Army: A Portrait of the American Army in Peacetime 1784–1898. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986. Foner, Eric. Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished

Revolution 1863–1877. New York: Harper and Row, 1988. Glatthaar, Joseph T. Forged in Battle: The Civil War Alliance of Black Soldiers and White Officers. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1990. Sefton, James E. The United States Army and Reconstruction, 1865–1877. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1967.

Freeman Field Incident In April 1945, African American U.S. Army Air Force officers of the 477th Bombardment Group were arrested at Freeman Field, Indiana, for staging sit-ins at the officer’s club, from which they had been illegally barred. The men of the 477th, as part of the First Air Force, immediately protested. Col. Robert R. Selway Jr. conferred with his commanding general, Frank O’Donnell Hunter, who allegedly reassured him that his decision to bar African Americans was not based on color, creed, or race and that “I’d be delighted for them to commit enough actions so I can court-martial some of them.” Selway assured the general that he had spies in the 477th and would inform him of any plans that he heard the men were contemplating. On April 5, 1945, Selway was warned that more than 100 newly arrived African American officers intended to try to enter the officers’ club. Selway instructed the provost marshal to arrest any officer who tried to gain access. The men had been advised by their own lawyer, Lt. William Coleman Jr., who later became secretary of transportation (1975–1977), and by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). They had pledged themselves to nonviolence, although they knew they faced arrest. At around 10:00 a.m., the first of the officers pushed past the provost marshal and were arrested and confined to quarters. Over the next

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two hours, groups of officers repeated the procedure. Four officers were charged under Article 64, which carried the death penalty if found guilty of disobeying a direct order in time of war. The officers included Coleman Young later a long-serving mayor of Detroit (1973–1994). Hunter conferred with the deputy chief of air staff, Brig. Gen. Ray L. Owens, who backed him, stating, “They can’t claim discrimination, one officers’ club is student and the other is permanent.” Selway, however, was advised that he should release all but the three who had used physical force; he complied and temporarily closed the club. Selway then drew up a new set of regulations that clearly distinguished between the various ranks and grades as he saw them. Notably, he designated the African American squadrons as trainees. He then ordered all personnel to sign that they had read and understood the directive. When 101 officers refused, he had them arrested and sent to Godman Field, Kentucky. Both sides now searched for and found allies to support them. For the men, Truman Gibson, an African American lawyer and adviser to Presidents Roosevelt and Truman; Assistant Secretary of War John McCloy’s Committee on Special Troop Policies; the NAACP; and the Chicago Urban League, among others, responded. Selway and Hunter acquired a written opinion from the Air Force Judge Advocate’s officer, authorized by Air Corps Chief Hap Arnold. It stated that it was “a reasonable division of club facilities where circumstances make such division necessary or desirable from a practical disciplinary, or morale standpoint.” As it turned out, the Chief of Staff Marshal ordered that all of the men be released with the exception of Lts. Roger Terry, Marsden A. Thompson, and Shirley R. Clinton. The matter

was referred to the McCloy committee, where the charges were described by Truman Gibson as being “a fabric of deception and subterfuge.” The committee advised the secretary of war, Henry L. Stimson, that Selway and Hunter’s activities did not follow regulations. During the courts-martial of Terry, Thompson, and Clinton, it was alleged that the provost marshal had stated “colored officers are not allowed to enter the club whether they are base personnel or not.” The charges under Article 64 could not be proved, and the men were acquitted. Terry was fined $150 for pushing the provost marshal. Hunter, in particular, was livid, but was forced to endorse the verdict, commenting that “the sentence, although grossly inadequate is approved and will be duly executed.” Following the verdict Hap Arnold replaced the whole of the command structure at Freeman Field with African American officers. Selway himself was replaced by Col. Benjamin O. Davis Jr., who became the first African American U.S. Army Air Force base commander. See also Davis, Benjamin O., Jr.; Tuskegee Airmen; World War II References and Further Reading Dalfiume, Richard M. Desegregation of the US Armed Forces. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1969. Francis, Charles E. The Tuskegee Airmen. Boston: Branden, 1988. Gropman, Alan L. The Air Force Integrates 1945–1964. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History, 1978. Osur, Alan M. Blacks in the Army Air Forces during World War II. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History, 1977.

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g GI Bill (June 22, 1944) Also known as the Serviceman’s Readjustment Act, the GI Bill of Rights (known simply as the GI Bill) put higher education within the reach of veterans of World War II and later military conflicts. Since Congress enacted the legislation in the summer of 1944, billions of dollars have been invested in education and training for millions of veterans. Mindful of economic failures following post–World War I demobilization and with the memory of an army of angry Bonus Marchers hanging over them, postwar planners had begun investigating and planning for potential problems with the massive demobilization that would follow the end of World War II well before the conflict was over. In June 1943, the National Resources Planning Board looked at postwar manpower needs and recommended a series of government-funded education and training programs. The American Legion designed and campaigned for its own bill, ensuring passage of its main feature, a comprehensive assistance program for veterans. Other groups enlisted the aid of various congressmen and senators to suggest their own legislation. In all, Congress waded through nearly 600 bills concerning veterans’ affairs before drafting the final legislation. The GI program offered, in addition to the inno-

vative educational and training benefits, a massive network of provisions that among other things provided hospitalization, home and business loan guarantees, and unemployment payments. The bill was introduced in Congress in January 1944, had passed both houses by June 13, and was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 22. A World War II veteran, in order to receive the benefits, had to have served 90 days or more after September 16, 1940, and could not have been dishonorably discharged. Of the 15.4 million veterans of World War II, 7.9 million were educated in colleges or received on-the-job training through the GI Bill. The total cost for World War II veterans was estimated at $14.5 billion. An adjustment to the bill, which was approved by President Harry S. Truman on July 16, 1952, extended the program to veterans of the Korean War. The cost of the GI Bill for veterans of the Korean War was $4.5 billion. The program was again extended to apply to Vietnam War veterans; the extension was approved by President Lyndon B. Johnson on March 3, 1966. In all, 8.3 million Vietnam veterans took advantage of the program at a cost of $42 billion. In the post-Vietnam period, a new GI Bill program was made available for servicemembers

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who had served between December 31, 1976, and July 1, 1985. This program required servicemembers to make a financial contribution while they were on active duty, which the government matched two-for-one. Further extensions were made in 1996, and the bill is now more commonly known as the Montgomery GI Bill or the Active Duty Educational Assistance Program. The system is still very popular and successful, and is credited with helping millions of veterans graduate from college, get decent jobs, buy homes, start businesses, and receive adequate medical care for the injuries they received while serving in the military. These benefits have not been as forthcoming for African American veterans, however. Although technically none of the legislation makes any distinctions based on race, in practice black ex-servicemen and -women have not been able to take advantage of as many opportunities supposedly opened to them by the GI Bill as have their white counterparts. Especially in the South but to some extent throughout the United States in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, African Americans’ access to such programs was reduced to the vanishing point by local administration and inadequate segregated facilities. They were everywhere less likely to be eligible, less welcome, and less benefited than whites. Only at the very end of the twentieth century, as racism and prejudice declined throughout American society, can African American veterans be said to have truly participated in the wholesale advance promoted by the act’s provisions. See also Korean War; Vietnam War; World War II References and Further Reading Bennett, Michael J. When Dreams Came True: The GI Bill and the Making of Modern America. Washington, DC: Brasseys, 1977. GI Bill website. http://www.gibill.va.gov/. Greenberg, Milton. The GI Bill: The Law That Changed America. New York: Lickle Publishing, 1997. Olson, Keith W. GI Bill, the Veterans, and the

Colleges. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1982.

Gifu (1950) In the period preceding the Eighth Army’s deployment in Korea, the African American 24th Infantry Regiment of the 25th Division was based at Gifu in Japan. Unfortunately for the 24th, Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s chief of staff was Maj. Gen. Edward M. Almond, who had made the African American 92d Division’s life a misery during World War II. He was openly racist and hostile toward the African American troops, and over the course of his tenure he would resegregate units that had already become integrated. In addition, he seemed to enjoy refusing recommendations for medals for African American soldiers. In one such case, in February 1951, Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway, who had taken over from MacArthur, had recommended that Forrest Walker, an African American company commander in the 2d Division, be awarded the Silver Star. Almond not only blocked the award but transferred Walker into an all–African American unit. Gifu itself was something of a disciplinary nightmare for the U.S. Army. It was an American world within a sea of Japanese culture. Venereal diseases, drugs, and the black market were severe tests on both morale and army discipline. Although the Eighth Army had given the 24th responsibility for security duties on the Kobe base in Japan in 1948, they were now sent to Gifu, effectively ensuring their continued segregation. They were commanded first by Col. Mike Halloran and later by Col. Horton V. White, and the African American officers were positioned within the unit so that they did not command lower-ranking white officers. In addition, they were extremely poorly equipped and rarely trained. The African American officers, however, did their best to ensure that standards were maintained as much as possible.

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The highest-ranking African American officer in the unit was Lt. Col. Forest Lofton, commander of the 1st Battalion. (In early 1950 Lofton launched a campaign to eradicate the ever-growing drug problem on the base.) Immediately before the regiment was committed to action in Korea, Lofton apparently expressed concern that the regiment was not ready for war and said he wanted no part in the inevitable debacle of committing the men to ground operations in Korea. Lofton was reassigned and was left at Gifu to command the detachment that would maintain the facilities while the regiment was in Korea. Lofton did not make his reservations about the unit’s readiness public, and it was assumed at the time that he had been reassigned because the army had no intention of letting an African American, even a senior fieldgrade officer, lead men in combat. Halloran and White did little to ensure that the 24th was ready for Korea. The 24th was the strongest numerically in the theater, and as far as the Far East command of the army was concerned, it was the best equipped in the theater. In July 1950, along with three other African American units (77th Engineer Combat Company, 159th Field Artillery Battalion, and the 512th Military Police Company), the 24th was sent to Korea. All of the men expected the war to be over in a matter of weeks. They were even told to take their dress uniforms with them in preparation for a victory parade in Seoul. As it turned out, the majority of the men were in action from July 1950 until October 1951. It was a measure of the men of the 24th’s belief in themselves that the first Medal of Honor awarded in the Korean War went to a man in the regiment. See also Korean War; 24th Infantry Regiment; U.S. Army References and Further Reading Blair, Clay. The Forgotten War. New York: Times Books, 1987. Bowers, William T., William M. Hammond, and George L. MacGarrigle. Black Soldier, White

Army: The 24th Infantry in Korea. Washington, DC: Center of Military History, U.S. Army, 1996. Bussey, Charles M. Firefight at Yechon: Courage and Racism in the Korean War. Washington, DC: Brasseys, 1991.

Golden Thirteen By January 1944 there were an estimated 100,000 African American enlisted men in the U.S. Navy, but none had been commissioned as an officer. Under intense pressure from Washington and civil rights groups, the navy slowly started the process that would lead to the Golden Thirteen, the first African Americans to be commissioned in the navy. In September 1943 special assistant Adlai E. Stevenson wrote in a memorandum to Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, “I feel very emphatically that we should commission a few negroes. We now have more than 60,000 already in the Navy and are accepting 12,000 per month. Obviously this cannot go on indefinitely without making some officers or trying to explain why we don’t” (MacGregor and Nalty 1977, 6:141). Stevenson went on to recommend that ten to twelve African Americans be selected, from “top notch civilians” and a “few from the ranks.” Knox agreed two months later and set in motion plans to commission twelve line officers and ten staff officers. Knox was at pains to ensure that the men were not associated with what he considered to be “extreme views” (in other words, directly or indirectly involved in the civil rights movement). Sixteen African American enlisted men were called to Camp Robert Smalls (named after the African American Civil War hero), which was part of the Naval Training Station at Great Lakes, Illinois: A. Alves, Jesse W. Arbor, Samuel E. Barnes, Philip G. Barnes, Dalton L. Baugh, George C. Cooper, Reginald E. Goodwin, James E. Hare, Charles B. Lear, Graham E. Martin, Dennis D. Nelson, J. B. Pinkney, John W. Reagan, Frank

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Reunion of early African American U.S. Navy officers on board USS Kidd (DDG-993) in April 1982. They are (seated, left to right): Jesse W. Arbor; Dalton L. Baugh; William S. White; Samuel E. Barnes; (standing, left to right): George C. Cooper; James E. Hare; John W. Reagan; Graham E. Martin; Wesley A. Brown; Frank E. Sublett. Brown was the first African American graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. The others were members of the “Golden Thirteen,” the first group of African American naval officers, who were commissioned in 1944. (Courtesy of Surface Warfare Magazine, 1982; U.S. Naval Historical Center)

E. Sublett Jr., William S. White, and Lewis Williams. The men began their ten-week training course on January 1, 1944. In March 1944, thirteen of the group, the Golden Thirteen, became the U.S. Navy’s first African American officers on active duty. Arbor, Barnes, Baugh, Cooper, Goodwin, Hare, Martin, Nelson, Reagan, Sublett, and White were commissioned as ensigns; Lear was made a warrant officer. The navy appointed some of the men to Camp Robert Smalls to work on the recruit-training

programs, and others were assigned to small vessels operating out of ports on the East and West Coasts. None of the men were allowed to serve in the navy outside the continental United States for the duration of the war. Ten African American staff officers followed the Golden Thirteen. These ten men had been carefully selected from civilian life and were the first of the promised new batches of African American officers. After graduation from the Great Lakes training facility, they were commissioned either as ensigns or lieutenants. Two were posted to the Chaplain Corps, two to the Dental Corps, two to the Civil Engineer Corps, and the others to either the Medical Corps or the Supply Corps. The navy eventually commissioned fifty-eight African Americans during World War II; some were posted overseas to base units or stevedore battalions. In the majority of cases, the postings failed to reflect the abilities or background of the men, many of whom were clearly capable of command positions. The navy was also at pains to curtail these officers’ opportunity to command white naval personnel and to assign them to strictly African American units, where they had white officers to supervise them. As a direct result of this policy, by the end of the war, even though the service had enlisted 160,000 African Americans, only one had attained the rank of full lieutenant. Because the navy restricted its African American officers to positions where they commanded only African American troops, there were only two deepwater vessels capable of taking the Golden Thirteen, the USS PC-1264, a subchaser, and the destroyer escort USS Mason, and because none of the men had much seafaring experience, it proved difficult to assign all of them to these two vessels. Consequently, the men took different paths. Ensign Barnes initially served at Naval Training Center, Great Lakes, and later at the Naval Training and Distribution Center, Camp Peary, Williamsburg, Virginia. His final assignment was as division officer of Logistic Support Company 64, based in the U.S. Pacific Ocean ports. He returned to

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civilian life following his wartime military service and was honorably discharged in 1946. Ensign Cooper became Commodore E. Hall Downes’s personnel officer at Hampton Naval Training School. Ensign Martin became a battalion commander at Camp Robert Smalls and later joined Ensign Sublett, who had been posted to a yard boat in San Francisco. Martin and Sublett were later assigned to duties in Hawaii and the Marshall Islands. Ensign Nelson was the only one of the Golden Thirteen to become a regular commissioned officer. Ensign White later returned to his work as a lawyer and became a judge. See also Mason, USS; PC-1264, USS; U.S. Navy; World War II References and Further Reading MacGregor, Morris J., and Bernard C. Nalty, eds. Blacks in the Armed Forces: Basic Documents. 8 vols. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1977. Nelson, Dennis D. The Integration of the Negro into the U.S. Navy. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Young, 1951. Stillwell, Paul, ed. The Golden Thirteen: Recollections of the First Black Naval Officers. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1993.

Gravely, Samuel Lee, Jr. (b. 1922) Samuel Lee Gravely Jr., who served in the U.S. Navy from 1942 to 1980, was the first African American to serve as the commanding officer aboard a U.S. Navy warship, the first African American admiral, the first to rise to the rank of vice admiral, and the first to command a U.S. fleet. Gravely was born on June 4, 1922, in Richmond, Virginia. After attending Virginia Union University for two years, he began his naval career in September 1942, enlisting in the Naval

Capt. Samuel L. Gravely, Jr., speaking at the ceremony marking his promotion to flag rank, on board USS Jouett (DLG-29) at San Diego, California, June 2, 1971. Before his promotion to rear admiral, Captain Gravely was the Jouett’s commanding officer. (U.S. Naval Historical Center)

Reserves where he was trained as a fireman apprentice. The following year Gravely entered the V-12 Navy program designed to train qualified men as midshipmen and prepare them for commissioning as naval officers. When Gravely completed the program in December 1944, he became the first African American commissioned as an ensign from the Navy Reserve Officer Training Course. Gravely’s initial duty assignment as the assistant battalion commander for new recruits took place at Camp Robert Smalls, a naval training station at Great Lakes, Illinois. In 1945, Gravely served as a sailor aboard the USS PC-1264, one of only two submarine chasers with a primarily African American crew during World War II. The following year Gravely was released from active duty, but he remained in the Naval Reserve and returned

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to Richmond, Virginia, to complete his bachelor’s degree. Gravely, a lieutenant (junior-grade), was recalled to active duty in 1949 to recruit African Americans for the navy in response to President Harry Truman’s executive order to desegregate the military. Over the next decade, Gravely was assigned to sea and shore duty, including his service in the Korean War, and duty aboard the USS Iowa, USS Toledo, and USS Seminole. In 1955 Gravely transferred from the naval reserve to the navy. His first seagoing command was of USS Falgout in 1962. Gravely also commanded the USS Jouett, a major naval warship, in 1971 and was promoted to rear admiral that same year. He was the first African American to achieve flag rank in the navy. Other ships commanded by Gravely include the USS Taussig and the USS Theodore E. Chandler. In 1976, Gravely took command of the Third Fleet and, two years later, became the director of the Defense Communications Agency. Gravely retired on August 1, 1980, after thirty-eight years in the navy. Gravely encountered racism throughout his career; in the early years, he was banned from officers’ clubs. In 1977 the street in Richmond where he grew up was renamed Admiral Gravely Boulevard. See also U.S. Navy

trol, and in 1777 they declared Vermont an independent republic (in 1792 it became the fourteenth state). In May 1775, during the American Revolution, the Green Mountain Boys under Allen’s leadership captured Ticonderoga. A month later Allen impulsively attacked Montreal and was captured and sent to England to stand trial as a traitor. He was imprisoned in Cornwall and repatriated in 1778 in exchange for a British officer. During his imprisonment the Green Mountain Boys, led by Seth Warner and John Stark, won another victory at Bennington in August 1777—a notable achievement of the revolutionaries in the Saratoga campaign. Several of the Green Mountain Boys were definitely or most likely African American: Primus Black, Epheram Blackman, Abijah Prince Jr., and Barzillai Lew. Very little is known about these men, who reportedly participated in the battle at Ticonderoga. Alternative historical records place Black, Haynes, and Blackman at Lexington and Concord in April 1775. See also American Revolution; Haynes, Lemuel; Lew, Barzillai References and Further Reading Shalhope, Robert E. Bennington and the Green Mountain Boys: The Emergence of Liberal Democracy in Vermont, 1760–1850 (Reconfiguring American Political History). Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1997.

Green Mountain Boys Green Mountain Boys was the popular name for a group of armed bands formed before the American Revolution by Ethan Allen in the Green Mountains of what is now Vermont. Their original purpose was to prevent the New Hampshire Grants, as the area was then known, from becoming part of New York, to which the British had awarded it. They used threats, intimidation, and actual violence against New Yorkers to keep the region from New York’s con-

Guam Incident (1944) In 1944 African American naval personnel on Guam reacted violently to a rumor that an African American sailor had been murdered by white marines. African American naval personnel began arriving on the island of Guam in the summer of 1944. From the outset, there was considerable tension between the African American naval

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personnel and white marines, and there had been some unprovoked attacks by the white troops. An additional factor causing friction was the presence of native women and the rivalry among the troops for their attentions. On December 25, 1944, a rumor started that a white marine had murdered an African American sailor. As the rumor spread through the African American naval camps, about forty men assembled and broke into the armory. They took weapons and stole some trucks with the intention of driving to the marine base. The group was intercepted en route by U.S. Marine Corps Military Police (MP), disarmed, and arrested. The men were tried before a naval court for inciting a riot and for the unlawful possession of weapons. Of the men charged, forty-three were found guilty and sentenced to prison terms of between eighteen months and four years. There was an immediate outcry in the United States over the treatment of the men, and finally in January 1946, the last of them was released and cleared of the charges. A review of the evidence found that the African Americans had been under continual provocation for some time. An off-duty marine MP had fired at some African American sailors but had missed. Then a white sailor fatally wounded an African American marine during an argument about a local woman. An African American marine sentry then mortally wounded a white marine who had been harassing him. All of these incidents had occurred immediately prior to the men seizing the weapons and trucks. The review considered this provocation contributed to the “riot” and thus reduced the guilt of the men. See also Port Chicago Mutiny; Trinidad Disturbance; U.S. Marine Corps; U.S. Navy; World War II References and Further Reading Byers, Jean. A Study of the Negro in the Military Service. Washington, DC: Department of the Navy, 1974. Shaw, Henry, Jr., and Ralph W Donnelly. Blacks in

the Marine Corps. Washington, DC: History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1975.

Gulf War (1991) In the 1991 Gulf War, African Americans accounted for some 20 percent of all U.S. forces. It was also notable that two key African American superior officers, Colin Powell and Calvin Waller, were given positions of great importance in the prosecution of the conflict. In mid-1990 Saddam Hussein’s troops overran the kingdom of Kuwait and seemed poised to strike at the Saudi Arabian oil fields. The United States and Great Britain, supported by friendly Arab nations and a multitude of other countries, began to deploy around the SaudiKuwaiti border shortly thereafter. The rapid deployment of U.S. troops was led by the XVIII Airborne Corps and the U.S. Marines. By January 1991 some half a million troops were set to face the Iraqis in an operation that was to become known as Desert Storm. Throughout this period negotiations continued that were aimed at convincing the Iraqis to withdraw from Kuwait. Negotiations failed, and a massive and overwhelming bombing offensive, coupled with the insertion of elite forces from various nations, sought to soften the enemy before the inevitable offensive. Official sanction to use force offensively on the ground came on January 12, three days before the deadline set by the United Nations for the Iraqis to withdraw from Kuwait. The air campaign (Desert Storm) got under way on January 17, 1991. By the end of the first day, the majority of Iraqi missile sites in the west of the country had been destroyed; U.S. forces had lost two aircraft. When the ground offensive got under way on February 24, 1991, it took just 100 hours to cripple the Iraqi army. This stage of the war claimed the lives of 148 U.S. service members.

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The Iraqi cost has never been completely calculated, but some thirty-six divisions were decimated, 4,000 Iraqi tanks and armored fighting vehicles were destroyed, and at least 60,000 men were captured. On February 8, Colin Powell accompanied Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney to Riyadh for a last sight visit and authorization of the proposed ground war. Everything was now in place for the ground attack, but there was still some hope that a new deadline, noon on February 23, would tempt Saddam Hussein to withdraw. The Russians had been quietly trying to persuade Iraq to withdraw, but by February 23 large numbers of British Special Forces and some U.S. Ranger units had already been deployed across the border (British Special Forces did the bulk of the scouting missions, road watches, and sabotage following an agreement between Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf and General Sir Peter de la Billiere, the commander of British forces in the Gulf. U.S. F-117 stealth fighters were striking at all known Iraqi command, control, and intelligence centers. At 4 a.m. on February 24, U.N. forces crossed into Kuwait, and at 6 a.m. (Saudi time) President George Herbert W. Bush officially announced that the ground phase of Operation Desert Storm was under way. The coalition forces made swift progress. The Pan-African Corps struck toward Kuwait City, the VII Corps closed to deal with the much-vaunted (but ultimately ineffectual) Republican Guard, while other elements swung around the rear of the Iraqis to prevent them from escaping. When the coalition forces closed to combat, the inherent weaknesses and obsolescence of the Iraqi Republican Guard became all too obvious. By noon on February 26, VII Corps was driving the Republican Guard divisions into killing zones and U.S. Marines and Arab units had all but liberated Kuwait City (this was made official at some point in the morning of February 27). At 2 a.m. (Saudi time) on February 28, the coalition forces announced a cease-fire, by which time the Iraqi forces had been almost obliterated.

Although African Americans were fully integrated within the armed forces, African American servicemembers were featured prominently in propaganda photographs and authorized media images of the war. On one notable occasion, Schwarzkopf, in overall command of operations, was seen flanked by a grouping of predominantly African American troops. Given the fact that the African Americans were so completely integrated in all arms of the military, it is difficult to identify instances of what African Americans, specifically, did or did not do, as is possible for earlier conflicts. Colin Powell, a representative of the drastic changes within the post–World War II U.S. Army in regard to opportunity and recognition of African American performance and leadership, held a key position in the decision-making process and in the prosecution of the war as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Another African American in a prominent position was Lt. Gen. Calvin Waller, second in command to Schwarzkopf. Throughout the whole campaign, Powell and Schwarzkopf were a supremely confident and competent duo with a good working relationship. Powell, Schwarzkopf, and Waller had worked together since the 1970s. Waller is attributed with molding the U.S. theater command in the Gulf War by taking charge of contentious situations and acting as a direct liaison between Schwarzkopf and the U.S. Army high command in Washington. Schwarzkopf, Powell, and Waller recognized that it would take considerable time to build up sufficient forces to roll successfully across the Saudi border and deal with the large Iraqi army. The army had the highest percentage of African American personnel, at 30 percent; the navy followed with 22 percent; then the marines, 17 percent; and the air force, 13 percent. The total number of casualties for all operations in the Gulf War was 266, of whom 15 percent were African American. The youngest and the oldest U.S. servicemen to die during the conflict were African Americans. Robert D. Talley, from Newark, New Jersey, was just an

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An African American soldier stands next to an M110 Howitzer self-propelled gun in a Saudi Arabian desert during the Gulf War, December 29, 1990. (Peter Turnley/CORBIS)

eighteen-year-old private when he was killed in a “friendly fire” incident. Korean War veteran 1st Sgt. Joseph Murphy of the 102d Maintenance National Guard Unit was the oldest, at fifty-eight. African American women accounted for 48 percent of all women enlisted in the army and 40 percent of all women who had been assigned to the Gulf in all arms of the services. On January 21, 1st Lt. Phoebe Jeter, an African American from South Carolina, commanded a patriot missile battery that shot down a scud missile heading for Riyadh. At home, many leading African American commentators and political figures, including Jesse Jackson, openly criticized U.S. involvement in the Gulf War. They considered it to be unacceptable that the United States was taking action against people of color in the Third World. Others, however, including John Lewis,

the U.S. congressman from Georgia, who visited Saudi Arabia with an African American journalist from the Washington Post, Juan Williams, saw a very different side to the conflict. They noted that the African Americans deployed in the theater were very much a part of a family, a military family. They could not see why some prominent African American leaders were attempting to drive a wedge between African Americans at home and the African American troops deployed. In fact, from various polls taken during the period, the vast majority of African Americans at home fully supported Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. The Gulf War represents a milestone for U.S. military forces in many ways: Not only was the war prosecuted predominantly by professional, career soldiers, but it also incorporated large proportions of African Americans. Gone were the segregated units, gone was the reluctance

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to deploy African Americans, and gone was the exclusively white command structure that had for so long denied African Americans opportunity. See also Jeter, Phoebe; Powell, Colin Luther; U.S. Air Force; U.S. Army; U.S. Marine Corps

References and Further Reading Atkinson, Rick. Crusade. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1993. Powell, Colin. My American Journey. New York: Random House, 1995. –––––. A Soldier’s Way. New York: Random House, 1995. Woodward, Bob. The Commanders. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1991.

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h Hall, Charles “Buster” (1920–1971) Charles “Buster” Hall was a Tuskegee Airman and one of the first group of forty-three African American pilots. Born in Brazil, Indiana, on August 25, 1920, Hall was a graduate of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama and a member of the 99th Pursuit Squadron. He was the first African American pilot to shoot down an enemy fighter in World War II. On July 2, 1943, while escorting B-25s over Sicily, Hall claimed a Focke Wulf 190. At his victory celebration, he was awarded a bottle of Coca-Cola in lieu of a bottle of champagne. Some of his colleagues traveled 15 miles to obtain ice and packed the valued bottle (rare in the Mediterranean theater at that time) in the ice in a tin under an olive tree. His colleague, Louis R. Parnell, had obtained the bottle from Tunis, and before it was awarded to Hall it had been locked in the squadron’s safe. It would be several months before the men of the 99th added to their tally of enemy aircraft. On January 27, 1944, Hall added two more kills to his count, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross. Hall retired from the air force as a major. Back in United States he could not find an airline or commercial transport company that

would accept him as a pilot. Instead, he became a restaurant manager and an insurance agent in Oklahoma City. He died on November 22, 1971, and was buried in Hillcrest Cemetery, Ardmore, Oklahoma. See also 99th Pursuit/Fighter Squadron; Tuskegee Airmen; U.S. Air Force; World War II References and Further Reading Francis, Charles E., and Adolph Caso. The Tuskegee Airmen: The Men Who Changed a Nation. Boston: Branden Publishing, 1997. Homan, Lynn M., and Thomas Reilly. Black Knights: The Story of the Tuskegee Airmen. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing, 2001.

Hall, Prince (1735–1807) Prince Hall was prominent during the American Revolution and founder of the African Lodge of the Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons of Boston. Prince Hall was born the slave of William Hall in 1735. Very little is known of his early life, but it is known that he became a prominent

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member of the Congregational Church in 1762 and that he was freed by his master in 1770. Soon afterward, he opened a leather workshop in Boston, and he is thought to be one of the six African American men of Massachusetts listed in military records at the outset of the American Revolution. Although there is no documentary evidence to prove it, historians believe that Hall was involved in the fighting at Bunker Hill. He joined the British army Masonic lodge in Boston in 1775, and after the war ended, he and a group of other African Americans formed their own lodge, known at the time as African Lodge No. 1; Hall was its first grand master. It was attached to a Boston British regiment. His son, Primus, fought at the battle of Princeton. Twelve years later, in 1784, the African American lodge received a permanent charter. As the lodge’s worshipful master, Hall spoke out openly against slavery and protested against the lack of schools for African American children. He eventually opened a school of his own. He made several published speeches, protesting against mob violence against African Americans. Hall died in 1807 at the age of seventytwo. The following year, his lodge honored him by changing its name to Prince Hall Grand Lodge. See also American Revolution References and Further Reading Buckley, Gail. American Patriots: The Story of Blacks in the Military from the Revolution to Desert Storm. New York: Random House, 2001.

Harlem Hellfighters See 369th Infantry Regiment

Hastie, William Henry (1904–1976) William Henry Hastie, an African American race-relations adviser, was instrumental in shaping changes in the segregation policies of the U.S. armed forces and was later the first African American to become a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, then the highest judicial position ever attained by an African American. Hastie was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, on November 17, 1904. He graduated from Amherst College in 1925 and continued his studies at Harvard University where he completed his law degree in 1930 and his Doctor of Juridical Science in 1932. After a period of private practice and teaching, Hastie was recruited by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a race relations adviser, and in 1933 he took up a position as an assistant solicitor in the Department of the Interior. In 1937 he was appointed a judge of the federal District Court for the Virgin Islands and became the first African American federal magistrate. Between 1941 and 1943 he served as a civilian aide to Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, but on January 15, 1943, he resigned in protest over the continued discrimination and segregation of African Americans in the armed forces. In the same year, however, he was awarded the Springarn Medal, awarded by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for outstanding achievement by an African American, for “his distinguished career as a jurist and as an uncompromising champion of equal justice.” Throughout his life, Hastie worked tirelessly for the NAACP and acted as its legal counsel in numerous cases. He retired on June 2, 1971, still determined to bring integration and equality to all parts of American life. He died on April 14, 1976, at the age of seventy-one. Among his notable triumphs was forcing the American Red Cross to accept blood from African Americans

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William H. Hastie, civilian aide to the secretary of war, in conference with Undersecretary of War Robert Patterson. (Library of Congress)

and persuading the secretary of war to send the first African American fighter squadron into combat. See also National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

References and Further Reading McGuire, Phillip. He, Too, Spoke for Democracy. New York: Greenwood Press, 1988. Ware, Gilbert. William Hastie: Grace under Pressure. New York: Oxford University Press, 1984.

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Hawley, Nero (1758–1817)

Haynes, Lemuel (1753–1833)

Nero Hawley, the slave of Daniel Hawley, joined the 2d Connecticut Regiment during the American Revolution, serving as a replacement for his master. In 1777 Hawley joined Captain Granger’s company of the 2d Connecticut Regiment at Danbury, just at the time when his wife was expecting their second child. In November 1777 the regiment joined Gen. George Washington in Pennsylvania and in the first week of the following month fought at Whitemarsh, near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. From January 1 to March 1, 1778, Hawley worked for the headquarters unit under Capt. James Beebee, the son of Rev. James Beebee. In the summer of 1779 Hawley was part of the attempt to storm Stony Point by Gen. “Mad” Anthony Wayne. On November 4, 1782, Hawley was given his freedom, but he continued working for Daniel Hawley in his brick-making factory. Three years later Nero Hawley started his own brick-making factory, and in 1801 he bought the freedom of his four children. He received a veteran’s pension of $40.00 a year. He died in January 1817, at the age of seventy-five. His grave, in Riverside Cemetery, Trumbull, Connecticut, is on the Connecticut Freedom Trail, which honors important sites in the state’s African American history.

Lemuel Haynes was not only the first African American to be ordained by a Protestant church, but he also served in the Connecticut militia during the American Revolution. Haynes was raised on a farm in Granville, Massachusetts, where he was an indentured servant. He gained his freedom in 1774 at the age of twenty-one. No sooner had he gained his freedom than he joined a Connecticut militia regiment that just missed the battle at Lexington, but he was said to have fought at Concord and at the Battle of Ticonderoga in May 1775. Born in West Hartford, Connecticut, Haynes was the illegitimate child of an African American father and a white mother. He was abandoned as a baby and was indentured at the age of five months to Deacon David Rose of Granville. Rose raised Haynes like a son and encouraged the boy to attend a local public school and study theology. For some time, Haynes had also been training one day a week as a militiaman with Capt. Lebbeus Balls’s Granville Militia. Haynes wrote a number of poems and essays and in 1776 wrote “Liberty Further Extended,” an essay focusing on the slavery issue. He returned to Massachusetts after the American Revolution, studied Latin and Greek, taught in a school, and then, for the next fifty years, worked as a preacher and pastor. He was ordained as a Congregationalist minister in 1785. He married a white schoolteacher, Elizabeth Babbitt, in 1783. Haynes died in 1833 at the age of eighty years.

See also American Revolution References and Further Reading Beach, E. Merrill. From Valley Forge to Freedom: A Story of a Black Patriot. Chester, CT: Pequot Press, 1975. Buckley, Gail. American Patriots: The Story of Blacks in the Military from the Revolution to Desert Storm. New York: Random House, 2001.

See also American Revolution References and Further Reading Newman, Richard. Black Preacher to White America. Brooklyn, NY: Carlson Publishing, 1990.

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Healy, Michael Morris (1839–1903) Michael Healy was one of the most famous captains of the Revenue Cutter Service, the forerunner of the U.S. Coast Guard. He became a legend in Alaska. Michael Morris Healy was born on a Georgia plantation in September 1839, the fifth son of an Irishman who had come to Georgia in 1818 and a mother who was the daughter of a French-Spanish cotton baron and a Malian slave. Like his brothers, Michael was sent to school in the North, but at a young age he determined that he wanted a life at sea. After ten years on merchant ships, he joined the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service as a 3d lieutenant in 1865. He rose steadily through the ranks, and in 1874 he sailed the Rush around Cape Horn to San Francisco. He then spent the next twenty-one years in Alaskan waters, commanding the Bear between 1886 and 1895 and acting as attorney, policeman, judge, and doctor and the floating government of Alaska. In 1887 Healy found J. B. Vincent, who had been shipwrecked two years before on the Siberian coast. The following year he saved 160 men who had been caught in a vicious storm. In 1889 he was responsible for constructing a refuge station that still stands in Browerville, Alaska. In 1891 he began to import reindeer from Siberia into Alaska. Nicknamed “Hell Roaring Mike” for his barroom exploits in San Francisco, Healy was known for a drinking problem that contributed to his being court-martialed twice. He was reinstated before he was forced to retire by ill health. His African American heritage does not seem to have been widely known during his career. Healy’s name lives on in the icebreaker Healy, which was launched in 1997.

Lundberg, Murray. “Captain Michael Healy, Revenue Cutter Service.” http://www. explorenorth.com/library/yafeatures/bl-healy.htm (accessed August 15, 2003). Ransom, Mudge. Seas of the Bear. New York: Ayer, 1980.

Hector, Edward (1744–1834) Edward Hector, an African American private in an artillery regiment during the American Revolution, saved vital ammunition while retreating at the Battle of Brandywine (September 10–11, 1777). Hector was in Capt. Hercules Courtney’s company of the 3d Pennsylvania Artillery, where he was responsible for the ammunition wagons. Gen. George Washington’s troops were defeated by Gen. William Howe at the Battle of Brandywine, and in the confused retreat Washington ordered that all of the equipment should be abandoned and that the men should save themselves. Hector not only managed to save the ammunition wagons, but as he retreated he loaded the wagons with abandoned muskets that had been discarded by Washington’s men. See also American Revolution References and Further Reading McGuire, Thomas J., Craig A. Benner, and Kyle R. Weaver. Brandywine Battlefield Park: Pennsylvania Trail of History Guide. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2001.

Honey Hill, Battle of (November 30, 1864)

See also U.S. Coast Guard References and Further Reading Cohn, Michael, and Michael K. H. Platzer. Black Men of the Sea. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1978.

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Gen. John G. Foster organized an expedition, led by Maj. Gen. John Porter Hatch, to support Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman’s march from Atlanta to the sea. Foster planned to move from Hilton Head, South Carolina, up the Broad River to land at Boyd’s Neck and then march to Grahamville, South Carolina, and sever the Charleston to Savannah railroad line. He believed he would only encounter light resistance. Two brigades were formed, both of which had African American components. The first brigade included the 32d U.S. Colored Troops (USCT) (under Col. George W. Baird) and the 35th USCT (Col. James C. Beecher) under the command of Gen. E. E. Potter. The second brigade was almost exclusively African American, including eight companies of the 54th Massachusetts (Lt. Col. Hooper), eight companies of the 55th Massachusetts (Lt. Col. Charles Fox), the 26th USCT (Col. Silliman), and the 102d USCT (Col. Chipman), all under the command of Col. Alfred S. Hartwell of the 55th Massachusetts. The brigades were accompanied by artillery units from Rhode Island and New York and two squadrons of the 1st Massachusetts Cavalry. The force landed at about 11 a.m. on November 29 at Boyd’s Landing, and at around 4 p.m. the troops, with Potter’s men in the lead, headed for the railroad. They ran into Confederate pickets near Bolan’s Church on the Grahamville Road. The Confederates, having been alerted to the Union move, began to concentrate at Grahamville under Gen. Gustavus Smith at 8 a.m. the following morning. Elements of his force moved toward Bolan’s Church, but because of the strength of the opposition, they decided to fall back to Honey Hill, where defenses had already been constructed two years before. The defense works dominated ground that was clear and only had one practicable approach. Just before daybreak the Union troops had begun to advance, although not all of the units had yet arrived at Bolan’s Church. The first skirmishes began at around 9:15 a.m., about half a mile from the church. Gradu-

ally the Confederates fell back, encouraging the Union troops to advance. As Potter began to realize he was up against a determined and numerous opposition, he started to deploy his troops. It seems that from the outset the Union troops were thrown into the battle piecemeal. They considerably outnumbered the Confederates: Some 5,500 Union troops faced a Confederate strength of somewhere between 1,400 and 2,000 men. Determined attacks by the predominantly African American troops failed to dislodge the Confederates. From the rebel perspective, the Union troops were slow to form up in a battle line: “Upon its appearance about one hundred and twenty yards in front of the works, in a curve of the road, the infantry and artillery opened a murderous fire on the head of the Federal column, before which it melted away. Staggered by this fire the enemy recoiled and some time elapsed before they deployed in line of battle” (Jones 1874, 38). Gen. John P. Hatch ordered the troops to press forward and swing round to the left, but swampy ground prevented such a movement. Union artillery was ineffective, and finally the men of the 35th USCT charged up the road. They encountered such stiff resistance, however, that they fell back; Colonel Beecher was wounded twice. Although the Union troops seemed to have made no headway, General Smith feared he was going to be outflanked, and he pushed all of his men into the front line. Colonel Hartwell came forward with his brigade and deployed to the left of the road, advancing through a cotton field and a burning field of grass. His brigade charged three times into devastating fire, during which Hartwell was wounded in the hand and his horse was shot from underneath him. The five lead companies had taken 100 casualties in five minutes. Hatch still believed that the Confederates could be flanked, and he sent more troops into the exposed ground near the road. Still no headway was made, and casualties continued to

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mount. Finally, at dusk, with the 102d USCT and the 127th New York forming the rear guard, the Union army fell back. The number of Union soldiers killed, wounded, or missing amounted to 754, whereas the Confederates had lost barely 50 men, most of them wounded. Although some of the Union regiments had shown disorder and indecision, Potter later said in a report, I cannot close this report, without making honourable mention of the good conduct and steadiness displayed by the officers and men under the most trying circumstances. Exposed to a heavy fire from a concealed enemy who was strongly entrenched, and labouring under every disadvantage of ground, they maintained their position with the greatest tenacity and endurance. Nothing but the formidable character of the obstacles they encountered prevented them from achieving success. (Dyer 1959)

See also American Civil War; 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment; 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment; United States Colored Troops (appendixes)

References and Further Reading Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of Rebellion. Vol. 3. New York: Thomas Woseloff, 1959. Emilio, Captain Luis F. A Brave Black Regiment. Salem, NH: Ayer, 1990. Gladstone, William A. United States Colored Troops, 1863–1867. Gettysburg, PA: Thomas, 1990. Jones, Charles C., Jr. The Siege of Savannah in December, 1864, and the Confederate Operations in Georgia and the Third Military District of South Carolina during General Sherman’s March from Atlanta to the Sea. Albany, NY: Joel Munsell, 1874.

Houston Riots (1917) Twenty-three African Americans and sixteen whites died as the result of a series of clashes in Houston, Texas, following the beating of a soldier of the 3d Battalion, 24th Infantry. After a second tour of duty in the Philippines, the African American 24th Infantry Regiment was posted to Houston. Here the soldiers encountered the full extent of segregation policies still prevalent in the South. Jim Crow laws enforced segregation in many aspects of life, including on the street cars. Soon the men of the 24th were tearing down the screens separating the black and white sections of the cars. In some cases, they threatened to derail the cars. The troops were stationed at Camp Logan, where they had to deal with constant racist abuse from the workmen building the facility. As an army inspector was later to report: “This word ‘nigger’, appears in practically every disorder reported, and with the same result; a display of anger on the part of the solider, with profane and abusive language and threats of vengeance” (quoted in U.S. Army War College 1942, 4). The Houston police had a poor reputation in their dealings with the 30,000 African American residents of the city, despite the fact that African Americans made up more than 20 percent of the population. The relationship between the police and the African American community was bad, but it soon deteriorated beyond control. The spark for the rioting occurred on the morning of August 23, when a Houston police officer, Lee Sparks, was witnessed beating Sara Travers, an African American woman, during her arrest. Private Alonzo Edwards heard Travers’s cries and tried to intercede on her behalf, but was promptly beaten by Sparks and arrested for interfering with the duties of the officer. An off-duty African American military policeman, Cpl. Charles W. Baltimore, arrived on the scene and asked Sparks what had happened. Sparks beat him too, but Baltimore retreated, provoking Sparks to fire his pistol in the ensuing

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pursuit. Sparks arrested Baltimore in a nearby house in which he had taken refuge. The military authorities, in the form of the battalion adjutant, Capt. Haig Shekerjian, stepped in and secured the release of the two men. Shekerjian also managed to convince the Houston chief of police, Clarence L. Brock, to suspend Sparks, pending an enquiry into his attacks on the men. The prompt action did nothing to quell the anger that the incident had engendered among the African American troops. The regimental commander, Maj. Kneeland S. Snow, decided to restrict the men to their barracks. An investigating officer later stated, “Snow nor any of the officers of his command appeared to have the slightest suspicion of an outbreak” (quoted in U.S. Army War College 1942, 5). This was, in fact, not the case, for Snow had already been warned by one of his sergeants, Vida Henry, that there might be trouble. The men started distributing ammunition, loading their rifles, and making toward Houston. Among them was Baltimore, who clearly felt that despite his and Edwards’s release and despite the disciplinary charges against Sparks, little had been done to deal with the underlying roots of the incident: rampant racism. When the troops arrived in Houston, they started a two-hour orgy of violence whose principal target was the nearest police station to the camp. Four of the Houston police were killed in the assault, and another was mortally wounded. In one case, Capt. Joseph Mattes, a white officer in the Illinois National Guard, appeared on the scene in a car with three enlisted men and a member of the Houston police. The rioters spotted the police officer and assumed that everyone in the car was a member of the police. They riddled the car with more than fifty bullets, killing the captain and the police officer and wounding two of the enlisted men. In all, fifteen whites, including four policemen, were killed and twelve were wounded (one of whom, a policeman, later died of his wounds). Of the hundred or so rioters, one was shot by Houston citizens in a firefight; one was shot by

other rioters, who had mistaken him for a Houston police officer; and another was killed by “friendly fire” before the men had even left the camp. The final casualty was Vida Henry, the sergeant who had warned Snow of the impending trouble. He had taken command of the rioting men, and in dismay over the outcome and at the prospect of finding himself at the end of a hangman’s rope, he shot himself. Soon after the riot, the whole battalion was posted to Columbus, New Mexico, but the authorities were left in a quandary as to their next course of action. A military enquiry established that 156 men had missed roll calls during the period of the riot. However, the army prosecutors felt secure in establishing cases only against some of the rioters. The investigators were able to collect evidence against sixty-three of the men, largely by guaranteeing immunity for witnesses. The sixty-three faced charges that would carry the death penalty if they were found guilty of premeditated murder and mutiny during war. The court martial took place at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. The court found fifty-four of the defendants guilty; thirteen were to hang, forty-one were sentenced to life imprisonment, and four were convicted of lesser charges. Two hours before the official government statement on the decision, on December 11, 1917, Charles Baltimore and twelve of the others were hanged at Camp Travis, Texas. A second court-martial was convened to try another fifteen men accused of abandoning their posts to join the riot. Five of the men were convicted of desertion and murder and sentenced to hang; the other ten were convicted of other crimes and sentenced to terms of hard labor. The third and final court-martial ended in March 1918. About forty men were tried on various desertion and murder charges. Two of the accused were acquitted, and a third had the charges against him dropped. Twenty-three were found guilty of all charges, nine others were convicted of disobeying the orders to re-

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main in camp and of mutinous behavior, and the five remaining were found guilty of only one charge, disobedience of an order. Of the twentythree, eleven were sentenced to be hanged and the other twelve to life imprisonment. The fourteen convicted of disobedience were sentenced to varying periods of hard labor (Haynes 1976, 294–295). Sixteen of the men sentenced to death found themselves at the center of a formidable campaign for justice. The intensity of the protests and the thousands of letters in support of the men forced President Woodrow Wilson to look into the case. Secretary of War Newton D. Baker recommended that the sentence only be carried out for those who had been convicted of murdering a named individual. This meant that six of the men would hang in September 1918. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People continued to lobby for the release of those sentenced to prison terms. They were partially successful, obtaining reductions in sentences and early release for some of the men. The last of the convicted men was released from Leavenworth, Kansas, after serving twenty years. As for Lee Sparks, his racist attitude toward

African Americans continued, and in 1917 he was indicted for shooting and killing two African Americans while arresting them. A jury acquitted him after a few minutes of deliberation. Racism continued in Houston, but the African American National Guard unit stationed in the city (the 8th Illinois) took a belligerent and determined attitude toward the Jim Crow repression. The men of the 8th Illinois openly flouted Houston’s segregated seating arrangements on the streetcars and defied many other Jim Crow regulations. In order to avoid any further violence, the War Department finally withdrew the unit from the city. See also Jim Crow Military; 24th Infantry Regiment; World War I References and Further Reading Haynes, Robert V. A Night of Violence: The Houston Riot of 1917. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1976. Nalty, Bernard C. Strength for the Fight. New York: Free Press, 1986. U.S. Army War College. Colored Soldiers in the U.S. Army. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1942.

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i Iwo Jima, Battle of (February 19–March 26, 1945) African American U.S. Marine Corps units were involved in the Battle of Iwo Jima, the largest amphibious operation launched in the Pacific during World War II. The African American 8th Ammunition and 36th Depot Companies, attached to the VIII Field Depot Corps, landed at Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945, in support of the V Amphibious Corps. They were to win a Naval Unit Commendation for their contribution to the battle. African American units began their dangerous work unloading amphibious vehicles on February 19 and suffered their first casualties on February 22, when 2d Lt. Francis J. DeLapp and Cpl. Gilman D. Brooks of the 8th Ammunition Company were wounded. On February 25 Cpl. Hubert E. Daverney and Pvt. James M. Wilkins of the 34th Depot Company were killed, and Pfc. Sylvester J. Cobb, Sgt. William L. Bowman, Pfc. Raymond Glenn, Pvt. James Hawthorn Sr., and Pfc. William T. Bowen were wounded. On February 24 the 33d and 34th Depot Companies landed, and in early March the ammunition company suffered more casualties, despite the fact that the Japanese had been pinned

back to the northern point of the island. By mid-March the U.S. Marines considered the island to be secure, but on March 26, up to 300 Japanese managed to slip through the marine lines and launch an attack on rear units around the beaches in the west. The 36th Marine Depot Company was directly involved in the mopping up exercises and the confused fighting at night; the last of the Japanese were dealt with just after daylight. Pvt. James M. Whitlock and Pvt. James Davis were both awarded the Bronze Star for their gallantry during this conflict. Pfc. Harold Smith was killed during the action, as was Pvt. Vardel Donaldson. Four other African Americans were wounded. Once the fighting had subsided, Col. Leland S. Swindler, commanding the VIII Field Depot Corps shore party, noted in his report that he was “highly gratified with the performance of these colored troops, whose normal function is that of labor troops, while in direct contact with the enemy for the first time. Proper security prevented their being taken unaware, and they conducted themselves with marked coolness and courage. Careful investigation shows that they displayed modesty in reporting their own part in the action” (Shaw and Donnelly 1975, 39). After their duties on Iwo Jima, the four units were reassigned to the Hawaiian Islands in preparation for the planned invasion of Japan.

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Marines on the beach at Iwo Jima, March 1945. (From left to right) Pfcs. Willie J. Kanody, Elif Hill, and John Alexander. (C. Jones; National Archives) See also Okinawa, Battle of; U.S. Marine Corps; World War II References and Further Reading Garand, George W., and Truman R. Strobridge. Western Pacific Operations. History of the U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War Two. Vol. 4. Washington, DC: History Branch of the U.S. Marine Corps, 1971. Hough, Frank O. Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal.

History of the U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War Two. Washington, DC: History Branch of the U.S. Marine Corps, 1958. Shaw, Henry I., Jr., and Ralph W. Donnelly. Blacks in the Marine Corps. Washington, DC: U.S. Marine Corps, 1975. Shaw, Henry I., Jr., Bernard T. Nalty, and Edwin T. Turnbladh. Central Pacific Drive. History of the U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War Two. Vol. 3. Washington, DC: History Branch of the U.S. Marine Corps, 1966.

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j James, Daniel “Chappie,” Jr. (1920–1978) Daniel “Chappie” James Jr., a Tuskegee airman, rose to the rank of full general and was commander in chief of the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD). James was born on February 11, 1920, in Pensacola, Florida. He graduated from Washington High School in June 1937 and for the next five years attended Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in physical education and took civilian pilot training under a government-sponsored program. On November 3, 1942, he married Dorothy Watkins of Tuskegee, with whom he would have a daughter, Danice, and two sons, Daniel III and Claude. After graduating from Tuskegee, James worked at the institute as a civilian instructor pilot in the Army Air Corps Aviation Cadet Program. In January 1943 he entered the program as a cadet, and in July 1943 he received a commission as a second lieutenant and was transferred to Selfridge Field, Michigan. There he completed fighter-pilot combat training, after which he was assigned to a variety of different units throughout the country. In September 1949 James served in the Philippines as flight leader for the 12th Fighter-

Bomber Squadron, 18th Fighter Wing, at Clark Field. The following year he served in Korea, where he flew F-51 and F-80 aircraft and was involved in more than 100 combat missions. In 1951 James joined the 58th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron (FIS) at Otis Air Force Base in Massachusetts, becoming first its operations officer and then, in 1953, commander of the 437th FIS. Speaking of discrimination against African American airmen in the years after World War II, James said, I’ll be the first to admit that the Black enlisted man was not as well equipped to fight it [discrimination] and I didn’t provide much assistance to him. At that stage I was too busy moving ahead with my own career: I did talk to those who came to me. When I could put in a word for them, I would and whenever I would walk into an NCO or Airman’s Club I would make it a point to chat with them. But I didn’t try to set up some sort of organized session where I’d make myself available to them at all times to provide advice. Most of us were busy forging ahead at that time—trying to solidify our new found gains (quoted in Astor 1998, 416).

In August 1955 James was given command of the 60th FIS and received the 1954 Young Man

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J a m e s , D a n i e l “ C h a p p i e , ” J r.

The first African American four-star general, Daniel “Chappie” James, with his Phantom. (U.S. Air Force)

of the Year award for his community relations efforts. Two years later, in June 1957, he graduated from the Air Command and Staff College at Otis Air Force Base. James spent the next three years as a staff officer at the headquarters of the U.S. Air Force, and in 1960 he was transferred to the Royal Air Force Station, Bentwaters, England, serving as assistant director of operations. He was promoted to director of operations and in 1962 was promoted to deputy commander for operations for the 81st Wing. He then returned to the United States, serving first as director of operations, training, and then deputy commander for operations for the 4453d Combat Crew Training Wing at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona. During the Vietnam War, James, now in his mid-forties, took part in seventy-eight combat

missions into North Vietnam, particularly in the Hanoi and Haiphong areas. He led a flight into the Bolo MiG sweep, which destroyed seven North Vietnamese MiG-21s, the highest number in any Vietnam War mission. He was deputy commander for operations, then wing vice commander of the 8th Fighter Tactical Wing, operating out of Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base in Thailand. Increased administrative responsibilities came to restrict the number of combat missions he flew. But on one occasion he accompanied an air raid on Hanoi, where he had to shut down one of the engines on his Phantom, which had been punctured with fifty-six holes from anti-aircraft fire. Desperate for fuel, James radioed an airborne tanker and ordered his flight to refuel while his stricken craft headed for the rendezvous. The pilots in his group refused to leave him, stating that their radios were defec-

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tive and that they could not hear his orders. James and the others made their rendezvous with the tanker and flew safely back to Thailand. In December 1967 James was named wing vice commander of the 33d Tactical Fighter Wing at Elgin Air Force Base in Florida. He was also awarded the George Washington Freedom Foundation Medal in both 1967 and 1968, and he received Florida’s Outstanding American of the Year in 1969 as well as the Distinguished Service Award. By August 1969 he was commander of the 7272d Fighter Training Wing based at Wheelus Air Force Base in the Libyan Arab Republic. In 1970 he received the Arnold Air Society Eugene M. Zuckert Award for outstanding contributions to air force professionalism. His citation called him “[a] fighter pilot with a magnificent record, public speaker, and eloquent spokesman for the American Dream we so rarely achieve.” In 1970 he also became the deputy assistant secretary of defense (public affairs). He remained in this post until April 1973, when he was designated principal deputy assistant secretary of defense, and then in September 1974 he was named vice commander of the Military Airlift Command headquartered at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois. On September 1, 1975, James became the first African American to be promoted to fourstar general in the U.S. Air Force, and he was appointed commander in chief of NORAD/ADCOM (Aerospace Defense Command), based in Colorado. This joint role gave James the responsibility for operational command of all U.S. and Canadian air defense and for providing warning and assessment of hostile attacks from bombers or missiles. General James retired at the end of January 1978. He had the reputation of being extremely tough on African American officers, taking the attitude that they had to work harder than their white counterparts in order to gain rewards. Barely one month after his retirement, he suffered a heart attack and died. He was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.

See also Korean War; Tuskegee Airmen; U.S. Air Force; Vietnam War References and Further Reading Astor, Gerald. The Right to Fight. Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1998. Buckley, Gail. American Patriots. New York: Random House, 2001. Nalty, Bernard C. Strength for the Fight. New York: Free Press, 1986.

James, Miles (1829–1871) Miles James was one of several African American United States Colored Troops (USCT) to be awarded a Medal of Honor for gallantry on September 9, 1864, at the Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, or New Market Heights. James was born in Princess Anne County, Virginia, and enlisted in Company C, 36th USCT at Portsmouth, Virginia. At the high point of the Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, Cpl. James was shot in the arm, which was so damaged that it should have been immediately amputated. Nevertheless, he continued to load and fire his musket one-handed at a range of less than thirty yards from the Confederate positions. Throughout, he urged his men to continue pouring fire into the enemy. James had his arm amputated shortly after the battle, but he wrote a letter to Gen. A. G. Draper requesting that he not be discharged as African Americans were not yet free and he had not completed his job. Draper replied to the now Sergeant James by sending a letter to the hospital:

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Sergeant Miles James, Co. B, 36th USCT writes me from your hospital to urge that he be permitted to remain in the service. He lost his left arm in the charge upon New Market Heights, September 29, 1864. If it be possible, I would most respectfully urge that this

J a m e s , W i l l y F. , J r.

request be granted. He was made a sergeant and awarded a Silver Medal by Major General Benjamin Butler, for gallant conduct. He is one of the bravest men I ever saw; and is in every respect a model soldier. He is worth more with a single arm, than half a dozen ordinary men. Being a Sergeant he will have very little occasion as a file closer to use a musket. He could be a Sergeant of my Provost Guard, and could do duty in many ways. If consistent with your views of duty, I would be greatly obliged if you can make it convenient for him to return to his Regiment. (National Archives, James)

James remained with his regiment until October 13, 1865, when he was discharged. He died on August 28, 1871.

bridgehead over the Weser River, near Lippoldsberg, Germany. James was the lead scout and was pinned down for more than an hour by enemy machine-gun fire. He formulated a plan of attack and accurately designated targets as he advanced, until he was killed by the enemy machine gun fire while helping his fatally wounded platoon leader. The 7th U.S. Army Reserve, Command Reserve Center at Warner Barracks, Bamberg, Germany, was named after James in a ceremony in 2001. In the Medal of Honor ceremony, President Clinton put the record straight in honoring James and the other six African American medal recipients from World War II, Vernon Baker, Edward A. Carter Jr., John R. Fox, Ruben Rivers, Charles L. Thomas, and George Watson. He said,

See also American Civil War; Chaffin’s Farm, Battle of; United States Colored Troops (appendixes)

No African American who deserved the Medal of Honor for his service in World War Two received it. Today we fill the gap in the picture and give a group of heroes who also loved peace but adapted themselves to war the tribute that has always been their due. Now and forever, the truth will be known about these African Americans who gave so much that the rest of us might be free. Today we recognize seven men as being among the bravest of the brave. Each of them distinguished himself with extraordinary valor, in the famous words, “At the risk of his life, above and beyond the call of duty.”

References and Further Reading National Archives, Washington D.C. Miles James’ service records. Also on-line; available: http:// www.rootsweb.com/~ncusct/medals.htm.

James, Willy F., Jr. (1920–1945) Pfc. Willy F. James Jr., born in Missouri on March 18, 1920, was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously in 1997 in a ceremony presided over by President Bill Clinton. He is one of only seven African American World War II heroes to receive the award. James was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and enlisted in the U.S. Army on September 11, 1942. He was assigned to the “Timberwolves,” Company G, 413th Infantry Regiment, 104th Infantry Division. His unit had established a

See also World War II

References and Further Reading Baker, Vernon, and Ken Olsen. Lasting Valor. Columbus MS: Genesis Press, 1997.

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Jenkins, Robert H., Jr. (1948–1969) Robert H. Jenkins Jr., a young African American marine, gave his life to save a fellow soldier on March 5, 1969, in Vietnam. Jenkins was born on June 1, 1948, at Interlachen, Florida, and joined the U.S. Marine Corps at Jacksonville, Florida. While Jenkins was serving as a private in Company C of the 3d Reconnaissance Battalion of the 3d Marine Division at Fire Support Base, Argonne, a North Vietnamese force attacked the twelve-man reconnaissance team. Jenkins and another marine occupied a two-man foxhole and poured machine gun fire at the enemy until a grenade landed in their foxhole. Jenkins pushed his colleague aside and leapt on top of him to shield him from the blast of the grenade. Jenkins was badly wounded and finally succumbed to his wounds. He was posthumously awarded a Medal of Honor for his actions. A middle school in Palatka, Florida, is named after Jenkins, as is a veteran’s home in Lake City, Florida. See also Anderson, James, Jr.; Austin, Oscar Palmer; Davis, Rodney Maxwell; Johnson, Ralph H.; U.S. Marine Corps; Vietnam War

triot missile intercepts of incoming Iraqi Scud missiles. Although the attack lasted less than five minutes, her precision and discipline helped take down at least one Scud missile that night. In People magazine Jeter later said, “When we all started congratulating each other later on about how well we did, about the four scuds the Patriots took down that night, I felt so proud. I thought to myself ‘I can do anything. Anything I put my mind to, I can do.’” (quoted in Buckley 2001). As of November 2000, Jeter had reached the rank of major in the 130th Engineer Brigade. Largely as a result of the performance of women like Jeter during the first Gulf War, the U.S. Congress, while still denying women the opportunity to join infantry combat units, allowed women to become combat pilots in the U.S. Air Force, Navy, Army, and Marine Corps. Of the 540,000 Americans engaged in the first Gulf War, 30,000 were women. Of these, two were captured by the enemy, twenty-one were wounded in action, and fifteen were killed. Official figures do not reveal how many of these women were African American. See also African Americanization; Gulf War References and Further Reading Atkinson, Rick. Crusade. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1993. Buckley, Gail. American Patriots: The Story of Blacks in the Military from the Revolution to Desert Storm. New York: Random House, 2001. Powell, Colin. My American Journey. New York: Random House, 1995.

References and Further Reading Greene, Robert Ewell. Black Defenders of America, 1775–1973. Chicago: Johnson, 1974.

Jeter, Phoebe First Lt. Phoebe Jeter, from Sharon, South Carolina, was the only African American woman to direct the launch of a Patriot missile during the first Gulf War. On the night of January 21, 1991, Jeter spotted a tactical ballistic missile on her scope. She calmly directed successful Pa-

Jim Crow Military A series of laws and practices used to denote a system of racial segregation, the term “Jim Crow” became prominent in the late nineteenth century. Although it characterizes all forms of

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segregation, it was employed almost exclusively in relation to a widespread pattern of discrimination against African Americans from roughly the 1880s until the civil rights movement of the 1960s. African Americans faced Jim Crow treatment in all aspects of their lives—from education to health care, from their legal status in the courts to the way they were treated in stores and restaurants. The system of discrimination even extended to the military, which blacks joined in more and more numbers during the twentieth century following years of nearly outright exclusion, at least at a formal level. Only during the Civil War did the military adopt a more inclusive policy toward African Americans, but the persistence of Jim Crow laws and practices kept African Americans from receiving equal treatment with their white peers even then. The term “Jim Crow” originated in a song of the 1830s caricaturing African Americans. Daddy Rice, a white minstrel entertainer of the time, covered his face with charcoal so he resembled a black man and then performed a song-and-dance routine that presented a caricature of a stereotypical stupid African American. By the 1850s, this Jim Crow character, one of several derogatory images of African American inferiority in the nation’s popular culture, was a standard act in the minstrel shows of the day. During the period of reconstruction following the Civil War, white Southerners gradually adopted a series of laws and practices designed to remind African Americans of their secondclass status in American society. Although slavery had been abolished by the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865, many whites sought to reaffirm their belief in white racial superiority, which they did by making sure blacks did not receive equal treatment or equal opportunities. By the late nineteenth century, this informal yet all-pervasive system had spread throughout the South and had gradually and collectively come to be known simply as “Jim Crow.” This form of second-class citizenship received national attention and federal confirma-

tion with the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which declared that African Americans were entitled to “separate-but-equal” treatment in the United States. In effect, the decision endorsed segregation in all aspects of American life. In practice, the treatment African Americans received was rarely equal, and following the Supreme Court decision, which not only endorsed a Jim Crow system but widely publicized it throughout America, unequal facilities for African Americans emerged all over the country and discriminatory treatment for blacks intensified. Over the next several decades, separate facilities became the norm, with signs frequently declaring that water fountains, bus seats, restaurant tables, even doors, were for “coloreds only.” In the U.S. military, the situation for African Americans was no different. Jim Crow came to symbolize their segregation and disenfranchisement, which in practical terms indicated the conditions under which they were recruited, housed, and trained, and the limited opportunities available to them. In effect, Jim Crow represented the fact that African Americans in the military were effectively classed as subordinates of limited value. Despite African American enlistment in two world wars and a number of other conflicts in which the United States became embroiled, the segregation issue remained constant and unabated until after World War II. The general attitudes toward African Americans in the military can be summarized as follows:

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• The armed forces were to remain a pre-

dominantly white reserve and African Americans were neither welcome nor desired. • If the law required the services to accept African Americans, they would be segregated and posted to locations where contact with other units and the civilian population would be minimized. • In the event of war, volunteers and draftees of African American origin

Jim Crow Military

would be assigned to essentially support functions or labor duties. • The officer class of the service wished neither to attract nor to train African Americans. • If African American officers were a necessity, they would be assigned to African American units and steps would be taken to ensure that they had no seniority over white military personnel. • In times of peace, the African American component of any service would be reduced to the absolute (or statutory) minimum. These policies, some of which were formally stated and some of which were merely matters of practice, were transparently evident to African Americans and to anyone else who cared to examine the treatment blacks received in the military. Throughout the nineteenth century, Buffalo Soldiers, and those before them who served for extended periods in the U.S. Army, were segregated and often assigned to isolated locations on the frontier. There was a general reluctance to deploy the men in overseas conflicts, and in particular the African American regulars of the U.S. Army were not used overseas during World War I. Given that throughout this period African American troops were often assigned to isolated posts, they were inevitably at the end of the supply chain for equipment and training. Equally, the men had to live under very harsh military rule and were subject to discriminatory behavior and laws when they were on leave, a situation that was particularly notable in the case of units that were recruited, trained, or posted to the Southern states, although certainly discriminatory treatment was not limited to this region of the country. In many respects, the Jim Crow system, particularly in the late nineteenth century, was perpetuated by the assignment of white officers from the South to command African American units. It was generally accepted among military authorities in the decades im-

mediately after the Civil War that these men had the capacity and the experience in dealing with subservient former slaves. Only with the massive national effort to win World War II did these racial attitudes begin to change. As in other military conflicts, African American units served well during the war and often received positive coverage in the American press. The stirrings of a nascent civil rights movement that had started in the 1920s and 1930s also began to have an effect, mainly on African Americans themselves, many of whom began to agitate more openly for equal treatment and to promote the contributions African Americans made to all aspects of American society. In 1942, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) backed the “Double V” campaign. The movement was a spin-off of the federal government’s “V campaign”—“V” standing for “victory.” The NAACP stated that African Americans should be working not just for victory against America’s wartime enemies but also for victory against the forces of segregation and discrimination that worked within American society to denigrate African Americans. Hence, blacks must work for two victories: one on the battlefield and the other on the home front. Within a few years of the war ending in 1945, the U.S. military launched a concerted effort to end Jim Crow within its ranks. Significantly preceding a similar campaign in civilian American society, the military met with remarkable success and had swept away most of the Jim Crow system within just a few years, transforming the U.S. military into one of the most open institutions for African Americans and providing them with greater opportunities than almost any other avenue in American society.

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See also Armed Forces Equal Opportunities Survey; Brownsville Incident; Buffalo Soldiers; Double V; Executive Order 9981; Freeman Field Incident; Houston Riots; March on Washington; National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; Port Chicago Mutiny;

Joel, Lawrence

Segregation and Racism in the Military; Spartanburg Incident; Trinidad Disturbance; U.S. Air Force; U.S. Army; U.S. Army, the Interwar Period; U.S. Coast Guard; U.S. Marine Corps; U.S. Navy References and Further Reading Brandt, Nat. Harlem at War. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1996. Finkle, L. Forum for Protest: The Black Press during World War II. Rutherford, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1975. Lee, Ulysses S. The Employment of Negro Troops. Washington, DC: Center of Military History, U.S. Army, 1994. Moore, Brenda L. To Serve My Country, to Serve My Race: The Story of the Only African-American WACS Stationed Overseas during World War II. New York and London: New York University Press, 1996. Nalty, Bernard C. The Right to Fight: AfricanAmerican Marines in World War II. Washington, DC: Marine Corps Historical Center, 1995. Samuel, Lawrence R. Pledging Allegiance. Washington, DC, and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997. Silvera, John D. The Negro in World War II. 1945. Reprint, Manchester, NH: Ayer, 1974.

He was hit in the leg by a machine-gun burst and managed to bandage his own wound, but he continued to expose himself to enemy fire while treating the wounded, holding plasma bottles and kneeling beside the wounded men. He was hit a second time in the thigh but still dragged himself over the battlefield and treated more than a dozen more men before his medical supplies finally ran out. After replenishing his supplies, Joel crawled through intense gunfire to more wounded U.S. troops closer to the enemy. He only ceased treating the men when a superior officer ordered him to be evacuated. His selfless actions saved the lives of dozens of U.S. soldiers, and he was presented with his Medal of Honor by President Lyndon Johnson on March 9, 1967. Joel died on February 4, 1984, and was buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery. His hometown named a sports complex after him, and the U.S. Army named its health and dental clinic at Fort McPherson, Georgia, in his honor. See also Vietnam War

Johnson, Dwight H. (1947–1971) Joel, Lawrence (1928–1984) Lawrence Joel, an African American medical corpsman serving in Vietnam, won a Medal of Honor for giving medical care to wounded comrades while himself badly wounded. Joel was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on February 22, 1928. He served with the headquarters company of the 1st Battalion, 503d Infantry, 173d Airborne Brigade during Operation Hump in South Vietnam. Joel’s unit was attacked by a large number of enemy troops who mowed down the first squad of the company. Joel administered aid to the wounded as the U.S. troops pressed forward.

Dwight H. Johnson earned a Medal of Honor for his conspicuous gallantry in Vietnam on January 15, 1968. Johnson was born in Detroit, Michigan, on May 7, 1947. He served as specialist 5th class with Company B, 1st Battalion, 69th Armored, 4th Infantry Division near Dak To, Kontum Province, Republic of Vietnam. He was a tank driver when his unit made contact with a large North Vietnamese force. His vehicle threw a track and became immobilized. Johnson leapt out of the tank and engaged the enemy with a pistol, killing several of the North Vietnamese before he ran out of ammunition. Under heavy fire from antitank weapons, he snatched up a

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submachine gun and ran back to engage the enemy, killing several more. Out of ammunition once again, he closed to hand-to-hand combat and killed an enemy soldier with the stock end of his submachine gun. Johnson then climbed into his platoon sergeant’s tank and carried a wounded man from the tank to the safety of an armored personnel carrier. He returned to the tank and fired the main gun until it jammed. He left the tank again with a pistol and engaged several North Vietnamese troops close to the vehicle. He fought his way back to his own tank and began firing the externally mounted machine gun until the enemy troops withdrew. He was presented with the Medal of Honor by President Lyndon Johnson at the White House. He was assigned to the U.S. Army Recruiting Agency in Detroit, Michigan, and also served as a U.S. Army public affairs representative. On the evening of April 30, 1971, he was shot and killed while attempting to hold up a liquor store in Detroit.

army in President Jimmy Carter’s administration, she became the first African American woman to reach the rank of general and was appointed chief of the Army Nurse Corps. During her service she was awarded the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal, and Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster. She retired from the army in 1983 and now serves as emeritus Commonwealth Professor at the George Mason University School of Nursing in Fairfax, Virginia. See also African American Women in the Military; Alexander, Clifford L., Jr. References and Further Reading Department of Defense Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Equal Opportunity and Safety Policy. Black Americans in the Defense of Our Nation. Washington, DC, 1990.

See also Vietnam War

Johnson, Henry (1824–1904)

Johnson, Hazel Winifred Hazel Winifred Johnson was the first African American woman to be promoted to the rank of brigadier general and the first to be the chief of the Army Nurse Corps. Johnson was born in Pennsylvania and raised near Malvern in Chester County. She attended high school in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, studied for her nursing degree at Villanova University, and earned her master’s degree in nursing education from Columbia University and her doctorate in educational administration from Catholic University. Johnson joined the Army Nurse Corps in 1955 and served in a variety of hospitals in the United States and abroad. In September 1979, while Clifford L. Alexander was secretary of the

Henry Johnson was a Buffalo Soldier and Medal of Honor winner from Boydton, Mecklenburg County, Virginia. Johnson enlisted in Detroit, Michigan, and joined F Troop of the 10th Cavalry. After fighting in several engagements against the Cheyenne on the Republican River, he was promoted to corporal in January 1868. He became a sergeant in November 1869 but was reduced to a private in March 1871, possibly because of brawling. In June 1877 he joined D Troop of the 9th Cavalry, based at Fort Wallace, Kansas, eventually regaining his stripes. D Troop was posted to Fort Union, New Mexico; in 1878 it was sent to Colorado as part of the Ute expedition, and by the end of the year it was based for the winter at Pagosa Springs. Johnson organized the forward screen to

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protect the entrenchments and made a dangerous run to refill canteens during the four-day siege at Milk River on October 2–5, 1879. Throughout, according to his commander, Capt. Francis S. Dodge, Johnson was exposed to the fire from the Indians who were very near and at easy range. Johnson lost his stripes again and spent six months in prison in 1881 because of a courtmartial conviction. He accepted a discharge from the army in January 1883 at Fort Riley, Kansas, after his enlistment expired. After just two months, he rejoined the 10th at Fort Grant, Arizona, and after another fiveyear enlistment he joined the 9th and had been promoted to sergeant by 1889, but he lost his stripes again following a fight with a bartender at Fort Robinson, Nebraska. In 1890 he applied for a Medal of Honor for his gallantry at Milk River in 1879, supported by his former commander Dodge (now a major and paymaster) and endorsements from other soldiers from D Troop. The War Department granted his award on September 22, 1890. As a member of K Troop (9th Cavalry), Johnson saw action on the Pine Ridge Sioux Reservation in the winter of 1890, and in the spring of 1891 he and K Troop were transferred to Fort Myer, Virginia. In the summer of 1893, at the beginning of his sixth enlistment, Johnson and K Troop were sent back to Fort Robinson, where he applied for a Certificate of Merit, knowing that with it came a two-dollar-per-month bonus, but the War Department considered the Medal of Honor to be a fitting reward for a man who had shown such outstanding duty. In the spring of 1898, as the 9th was preparing to depart for Cuba, Johnson, now forty-nine, requested furlough. When he returned from furlough on July 26, he requested retirement and returned to the Washington, D.C., area. Johnson died in January 1904. He had been promoted to sergeant three times and had been reduced to private each time, but as a long-serving and respected soldier, he was buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery.

See also Buffalo Soldiers; 9th Cavalry; Ute War References and Further Reading Amos, Preston E. Above and beyond in the West: Black Medal of Honor Winners, 1870–1890. Washington, DC: Potomac Corral, Westerners, 1974. Leckie, William H. The Buffalo Soldiers: A Narrative of the Negro Cavalry in the West. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1967. Schubert, Frank N. Black Valor: Buffalo Soldiers and the Medal of Honor, 1870–1898. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1997.

Johnson, Henry (1897–1929) One of the most highly decorated soldiers of World War I, William Henry Johnson gained renown for almost single-handedly fighting off a 24-man German patrol while serving in the 369th Infantry Regiment, an African American unit assigned to the French for what would prove to be the last year of the war, 1918. The French immediately recognized Johnson’s gallantry, but the U.S. Army and government have been embarrassingly slow to do so, making Johnson’s deeds some of the most overlooked in the history of African Americans at war. Johnson was born in Albany, New York, in 1897. He worked as a railway porter before joining the 15th Infantry Regiment of the New York National Guard shortly before the United States entered World War I in 1917. Once the U.S. government had officially declared war against Germany, the 15th New York was incorporated into the U.S. Army as the 369th, an all-black infantry regiment. Shipping out to France with the rest of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in late 1917, the 369th was almost immediately assigned to support the 161st Division of the French army, which had suffered tremendous losses, along with the rest of the French army,

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over the course of four years of grueling warfare. Delegating African American units to the command of the French was a common practice in World War I, as U.S. military authorities were unenthusiastic about having black troops and labored under the impression that the French were better suited to command black soldiers, given their long tradition of enlisting units from French colonies in Africa. To some extent, they were right. The French harbored less prejudice than the Americans and treated the African American soldiers with a greater degree of equality than they could have expected from their own countrymen. Stationed on the frontlines of the fighting, the 369th quickly gained a great deal of combat experience and earned for themselves the reputation of being tough fighters. Their French colleagues hailed them as being perfectly suited to dangerous night patrols, not only because of their bravery but also because their skin color provided them with natural camouflage. The Germans had also learned a grudging respect for the black troops, erroneously calling them the “French Moroccans” because they did not realize American troops had supplemented the French force at this point of the lines. On the night of May 14, 1918, Johnson was a member of a five-man patrol ordered to advance to the very foremost of the French positions to listen for a possible German attack. Taking turns standing guard, Johnson and his compatriot Needham Roberts stood watch while the other three members of the team rested in a nearby dugout. Suddenly, the Germans launched a fierce grenade attack against the patrol’s position that seriously wounded both Johnson and Roberts. The concussion of the blast temporarily knocked the other three men unconscious. When the Germans followed the grenade barrage by launching twenty-four men in a frontal assault on the position, both Johnson and Roberts fought back despite their wounds. Roberts was nearly overcome, but Johnson managed to drive off the Germans by shooting some, injuring others by beating them over their heads with the butt of his rifle, stab-

bing others with his small “bolo” knife, and hurling grenades at the rest. Daunted by such a show of ferocity, the Germans retreated, leaving behind their dead and wounded and a considerable amount of weapons, ammunition, and supplies. Johnson and Roberts both remained conscious, although each man had sustained several severe wounds. Johnson was later reported to have received more than twenty wounds in the incident. Johnson was hospitalized and then returned to his unit, although he was given the option of receiving an honorable discharge and going home, an offer that Roberts accepted. Johnson, though, remained with the regiment, which the Allied forces dubbed the “Harlem Hellfighters,” for the rest of the war, gaining promotion to sergeant. The unit became famous for never having a single man captured or losing a foot of ground, despite high casualty rates. The U.S. Army paid scant attention to Johnson’s and Robert’s heroics, filing a routine report on the matter that did little to highlight the soldiers’ bravery. The French handled the matter differently, however, conducting their own investigation into the event. Their report stressed the men’s gallantry. In fact, the French commander in charge of the investigation later wrote to the U.S. commander of the AEF, Gen. John J. Pershing, that “the American report is too modest. As a result of oral information furnished me, it appears the blacks were extremely brave. This little combat does honor to all Americans.” As a result of the French report, both Johnson and Roberts received the Croix de Guerre with Gold Palm Leaf, one of the highest French military honors. They were the first Americans, black or white, to receive such an honor in the war. After the war, Johnson shipped home with his regiment, which marched in a victory parade in New York City on February 17, 1919. Because of his fame and because he never fully recovered from his injuries, Johnson was accorded a special car to ride in for the parade. Many hailed him as a the nation’s most popular African American hero, praise that former President

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Theodore Roosevelt topped by declaring him “one of the five bravest Americans.” Despite this glory, Johnson struggled during the 1920s. He left the army and returned to Albany, but permanently disabled by his injuries, he was unable to return to his job as a railway porter. Suffering from what would now be termed posttraumatic stress disorder, he began to abuse alcohol as an escape from the feelings of frustration, anger, and sadness that plagued him. At that time, few recognized the effect warfare could have on the combatants, and so his depression went untreated. He died at the young age of 40 in 1929. Roughly sixty years later, Johnson returned to the spotlight when the city of Albany named a street after him and placed a memorial to his feats nearby. State and local officials took a second look at the war record of this man who had been passed over during his lifetime for honors from the U.S. government. With the support of Johnson’s son Herman (who was also a war hero, flying with the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II), politicians such as Gov. George Pataki and several state assemblymen began to push for national recognition for Johnson. Their first effort was to locate Johnson’s grave, which some believed was in a pauper’s cemetery on the outskirts of Albany. Research proved that it was instead in Arlington National Cemetery, where a funeral with military honors had been held for the war hero on July 5, 1929. Secondly, Pataki initiated a campaign to convince the army and the government to give Johnson his due, albeit posthumously. In March 2002, the U.S. Army complied, awarding Johnson the Distinguished Service Cross. Efforts to secure the Medal of Honor for Johnson, a feat that requires presidential approval, continue. See also 369th Infantry Regiment; World War I References and Further Reading “American Hero: William Henry Johnson, New York National Guard.” StrategyWorld.com: http://www. strategypage.com/respect/articles/20020321.asp.

Press Releases from Gov. George Pataki’s Office, “Governor Pataki Honors WWI Hero Sgt. Henry Johnson,” January 10, 2002 http://www.state.ny. us/governor/press/year02/jan10_1_02.htm; and “Governor Urges Awarding Medal of Honor to Henry Johnson,” February 12, 2001. http://www. state.ny.us/governor/press/year01/feb12_2_01. htm. “WWI ‘Harlem Hellfighter’ Posthumously Nominated for Medal,” National Guard website, February 12, 2001 (http://www.ngb.army.mil/ news/2001/02/12/johnson.shtml).

Johnson, Ralph H. (1949–1968) As a nineteen-year-old African American marine, Ralph Johnson saved two other marines by taking the full blast of an enemy grenade in Vietnam. He was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously by President Richard M. Nixon in 1968. Johnson was born in Charleston, South Carolina, on January 11, 1949. He joined the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve in March 1967. He began his tour of duty in Vietnam on New Year’s Day 1968 and was a member of Company A, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division. On March 5, 1968, acting as a reconnaissance scout for Company A, he was part of a fifteen-man patrol manning an observation post on Hill 146. The patrol was part of Operation Rock, and the observation post overlooked the Quan Duc Valley, which was deep inside enemycontrolled territory. A North Vietnamese force of at least platoon strength attacked the position, and during the engagement a grenade landed in the foxhole occupied by Johnson and two other marines. Johnson shouted and hurled himself on top of the grenade, which saved the life of one of his comrades and also prevented the enemy from breaking through the perimeter. The Veterans Administration Medical Center

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in Charleston, South Carolina, was renamed in his honor in 1991. See also Anderson, James, Jr.; Austin, Oscar Palmer; Davis, Rodney Maxwell; Jenkins, Robert H., Jr.; U.S. Marine Corps; Vietnam War References and Further Reading Greene, Robert Ewell. Black Defenders of America, 1775–1973. Chicago: Johnson, 1974.

Julian, Hubert Eustace Fauntleroy (1897?–1983) Harlem’s “Black Eagle,” Hubert Eustace Fauntleroy Julian, was an early pioneer in aviation, known for performing a series of publicityseeking stunts that earned him fame and transformed him into a hero for young African Americans in the 1920s and 1930s. Born in Trinidad, Julian developed a love of aviation from the young age of twelve, when he witnessed his first airplane in an air show that also saw the same pilot’s crash and death. In subsequent years, as Julian attended schools in England and Canada in accordance with his parents’ wishes that he become a doctor, Julian nurtured his love of aviation and quickly abandoned any plans to join the medical profession. In the midst of World War I, he learned how to fly from Canada’s flying ace Billy Bishop and went to war as an aviator. In the early 1920s, Julian moved to Harlem, then on the verge of an African American cultural revival. He quickly established himself as a flamboyant activist, befriending Marcus Garvey (who instilled in him a lifelong interest in African history) and participating in local air shows with other notable black aviators. In 1923, he undertook a couple of high-profile parachute jumps, one to publicize the business of a Harlem optician and the other as a recruiting stunt for Marcus Garvey’s Black Eagle Flying

Corps. The press dubbed him the “Black Eagle,” a nickname that Julian loved and used for the remainder of his life. Critics denounced him as nothing but an egotistical self-promoter, but Julian maintained that his real aim was to prove that blacks were capable of anything whites could achieve and continued with his exploits. In 1924, Julian attempted a transatlantic crossing from New York to Liberia but mechanical problems downed the plane before it had even left the waters off New York. Giving up on the venture, in which he had broken his leg, he instead spent the rest of the 1920s performing in air shows all over the United States before once again turning his attention to Africa. In 1930, Julian traveled to Ethiopia, where he had been hired to train pilots for the fledgling Ethiopian air force. Although he initially enjoyed great success in Ethiopia (where he was rewarded with Ethiopian citizenship and installed at the rank of colonel in the Ethiopian air force), he later was asked to leave the country, after crashing one of the Ethiopian air force’s three planes. He was back in the United States before the year was out, where he re-embarked on his career as a barnstormer. He retained his rank, however, insisting that he be called “colonel” for the rest of his life. Julian returned to Ethiopia briefly when that country faced an invasion by Italy in 1935, but left again almost immediately following arguments with other aviators over the best use of air power in the coming campaign. Julian’s actions during the late 1930s took on a frenetic quality, as he first traveled to Italy where he professed open support for dictator (and conqueror of Ethiopia) Benito Mussolini, then returned to New York to announce that his real intention had been to assassinate Mussolini but he never had the opportunity, then worked briefly in France as a war correspondent for the New York Amsterdam News in the early days of the war, and finally moved to Hollywood where he became a producer for two motion pictures (Lying Lips [1939] and The Notorious Elinor Lee [1940]).

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During World War II, Julian felt grievously the racial hatred propagated by the Nazis and challenged German air marshal Hermann Goering to an air duel to prove that blacks were not inferior to whites. Goering never responded to Julian’s challenge but the gesture once again sparked a great deal of publicity. Instead, Julian served briefly in the Finnish air force, then attempted to rejoin the Canadian air force, but his eyesight had deteriorated to such an extent that he could no longer pass the necessary eye exams to be a pilot. He then served in the U.S. Army as a foreigner, ultimately applying for and receiving U.S. citizenship in 1942. He received an honorable discharge in 1943, being then forty-five years old and beyond the age at which infantrymen can serve.

After the war, Julian traded on his famous name once again and embarked on a series of international arms deals conducted by his company, Black Eagle Enterprises. In 1964, he published his autobiography, The Black Eagle. After a remarkable and well-publicized life, he died at the age of eighty-six in a veterans’ hospital in New York City. References and Further Reading Lewis, David Levering. When Harlem Was in Vogue. New York: Knopf, 1981. Nugent, John Peer. The Black Eagle. New York: Stein and Day, 1971.

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k shots by any one of my men, with the exception of two guerrillas in trees. Almost immediately afterward the hill was covered by the troops, both Rough Riders and the colored troops of the Ninth and some of the 1st. (Roosevelt 1899, 33)

Kettle Hill, Battle of (July 1, 1898) A part of the Battle of San Juan Hill, which turn was part of the battle for Santiago in Cuba in the Spanish-American War. Regular troops of the 9th U.S. Cavalry (black) formed a major part of the assault force, as did Col. Theodore Roosevelt’s 1st Volunteers (Rough Riders), which began the battle in reserve but soon surged to the fore under the urging of their impetuous leader. Kettle Hill (so named by American troops) was a high point north of the San Juan Heights ridge and the main Spanish fortifications on San Juan Hill.

First Lt. M. M. McNamee (commanding H Troop, 9th Cavalry) wrote the following in his report to the adjutant general (dated October 20, Fort Sill, Oklahoma):

Being on horseback I was, of course, able to get ahead of the men on foot, excepting my orderly, Henry Bardshar, who had run ahead very fast in order to get better shots at the Spaniards, who were running out of the ranch buildings. Some forty yards from the top I ran into a wire fence and jumped off Little Texas [his horse], turning him loose. He had been scraped by a couple of bullets, one of which nicked my elbow, and I never expected to see him again. As I ran up the hill, Bardshar stopped to shoot, and two Spaniards fell as he emptied his magazine. These were the only two Spaniards I actually saw fall to aimed | 239 |

[Lieutenant] Colonel Hamilton [regimental commander] formed the squadron in two lines, with intervals of 2 yards between troopers and distance of about 100 yards between the lines. Troop H was placed on the left of the second line. In this manner we were moved still farther to the right, and then forward about 200 yards, made by rushes. All this time we were under a heavy fire, which seemed to fly high, however, and was probably directed against troops in our rear, and still on the other side of the stream, [Acquadores Ford?] as a few men of our squadron were hit by it then. About noon we advanced about 100 yards further, and both lines became one, Captains Taylor and McBlain extending their troops to the right. Troop H was now the left center troop, with Captain Stedman’s Troop E on my left.

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Meantime the troops in front had done considerable firing by volley against the position of the enemy on the first hill and house directly in our front; and, which we could not see him on account of the trees, the fire from this point was now severe. The whole line now continued to fire volleys by troop till about 1 pm., when the word was given to charge. At this time the First Volunteer Cavalry [Rough Riders] that had been acting as reserve came up from the rear and formed our line, and the two organizations charged over the remainder of the bottom, across the San Juan River, and up to the top of the hill. The loss of Troop H in this charge was: Trumpeter Lewis Fort and Private Johnson killed, and Corporal Mason, Privates Prince, Nelson, and Edward Davis wounded. On the crest of the hill the troop, like others, were intermingled with other troops, but all lined up and poured a rapid fire on the main works of the enemy on the ridge beyond. At this time our brigade commander, Colonel Carroll, was wounded, and Colonel Hamilton killed. I rallied H Troop, getting some thirty men together at the time, and moved forward with the general advance on the main position. There being no bush or wire in our front to contend with, I determined to advance now in good order. The other troops of the squadron had been called to the right, I ordered Lieutenant Hartwick to follow in rear, deployed the troop into line, and, placing myself in front of the center troop, passed over the hill, down the slope, forded the upper end of the lake, and moved quickly up the slope to the Spanish works, but the enemy had given way (U.S. Army Center of Military History). See also Buffalo Soldiers; El Caney, Battle of; Las Guásimas, Battle of; San Juan, Battle of; Spanish-American War References and Further Reading Lynk, Myles V. The Black Troopers, or The Daring Heroism of the Negro Soldiers in the SpanishAmerican War. New York: AMS, 1971.

Roosevelt, Theodore. The Rough Riders. New York: Scribner, 1899. Samuels, Peggy, and Harold Samuels. Teddy Roosevelt at San Juan. College Station: Texas A and M University Press, 1997. U.S. Army Center of Military History. After-Action Reports. http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/ documents/spanam/bssjh/H-9Cav.htm.

Korean War (1950–1953) The first major conflict of the Cold War, the Korean War saw the United States go to war just five years after the end of World War II. The war caught American authorities by surprise, particularly as the armed forces were in the midst of a major adjustment—the task of ending segregation among their ranks. The war compelled the U.S. military to speed up its desegregation procedures and produced a fully integrated military earlier than anyone had expected. U.S. Policy and the Korean War On June 25, 1950, North Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel, which separated North Korea from South Korea. Formerly a colony of Japan, Korea had been divided into two distinct countries in the settlement that followed World War II, with the United Nations (UN) serving as a guaranteer of that division. Communist forces had quickly gained control of North Korea, but the situation in South Korea remained more volatile, with Communists waging a guerilla campaign against the established UN-backed government. The North Koreans had a dual aim: to unite the Korean Peninsula under one government and to ensure that that government supported a Communist regime. In the face of this invasion, the UN requested military support from several countries that had

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Soldiers wait for their orders in the back of a military transport, South Korea, July 18, 1950. (CORBIS)

been allied in World War II, most notably the British and the Americans. With this aid, the South Koreans managed to repulse the North Korean invasion, sweeping the North Koreans back up to the country’s border with China. The Chinese then joined forces with the North Koreans and swept the UN force south. Over the course of the next three years, fighting between the two sides drifted back and forth around the 38th parallel and up and down the Korean Peninsula, with neither side gaining a clear advantage. In 1953, the two sides agreed to a cease-fire that essentially restored the 38th parallel as the dividing line between two separate countries. In June 1950, however, the U.S. military was concentrating on its own affairs in addition to

the developing situation in the Far East. In July 1948, President Harry Truman had issued Executive Order 9981, calling for the desegregation of the American armed forces and establishing a presidential commission to ensure that this order was carried out. In the two years that followed Truman’s order and before the war started in Korea, the armed forces had been working under the supervision of the presidential commission (dubbed the Fahy Committee for its commissioner, Charles Fahy) to devise plans to integrate each branch of the service. The Army The army and the marines had proven the most recalcitrant regarding desegregation. In mid-

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January 1950, under increasing pressure from the Fahy Committee, the army finally issued new regulations concerning African American troops, stating that “[it is] the objective of the Department of the Army that Negro manpower possessing appropriate skills and qualifications will be utilized in accordance with such skills and qualifications” (Nalty 1986, 253). This policy change cleared the way for integration and marked an important first step. With the hurdle of appropriate assignments successfully negotiated, the army then attempted to replace the racial quota system (which had held African Americans to 10 percent of the total number of men enlisted) with a far fairer approach to recruitment. Applicants would now be accepted based on the scores they achieved on their classification tests, with the army compelled to accept anyone who achieved a score of 90 or higher. This system of testing was introduced in March 1950, although the army stated that it reserved the right to revert to the old system of racial quotas if the new testing method did not work to its satisfaction. Other branches of the service were implementing their own reforms when the war erupted in June 1950, causing all of the armed forces to shift their focus from peacetime reorganization to wartime preparations. Although the services had all made important headway in eliminating segregation, almost all African Americans were still serving in all-black units. Among the first to be deployed to Korea in the summer of 1950 was the 24th Infantry Regiment, part of an otherwise white division, the U.S. 25th. Unprepared for being thrust so suddenly into combat, the entire 25th Division was operating under strength and had been allowed little time for training in the conditions the men would face in Korea. Soldiers who had spent most of their service performing manual labor were suddenly expected to perform like well-trained combat troops and were being led by new officers, as the entire officer corps for the division had recently been reorganized. The division as a whole performed poorly, but the 24th came in for particular criticism. In one in-

stance, a whole company of the 24th retreated in the face of the enemy, leaving the company commander with a handful of soldiers and noncommissioned officers to hold the line. On another occasion, a whole battalion disappeared before the enemy closed, leaving the supporting artillery to fire directly on the advancing North Koreans to stem the attack. The 24th had particular problems, notably the fact that the regiment was racially segregated. Whereas other regiments could replace poor-quality soldiers, noncommissioned officers, and commissioned officers with moreexperienced men from other units, the 24th could replace enlisted men only with other African American troops, thus limiting its supply of manpower. Military authorities back in the United States frantically tried to implement the new recruitment and placement policies of the U.S. army but failed to do so with enough speed to aid the 24th in its first year in Korea. The majority of the potential replacements had served exclusively in support and labor roles, and thus, given their lack of skill and experience, the result was a gradual downward spiral in effectiveness for the regiment. In addition, the 24th had few friends in the upper echelons of the army. Its divisional commander Gen. William B. Kean, the Eighth Army chief Gen. Walton Walker, and MacArthur’s chief of staff Lt. Gen. Edward M. “Ned” Almond all considered African Americans unfit for combat. Based on the 24th’s less-than-glorious first combat performance, they seemed to be right. Certainly other combat units felt very ill at ease about relying on the 24th to cover their flanks or rear in the line. In addition, the 24th had traveled to Korea under the impression that it would be used for internal security measures; instead, it was expected to shore up the front as the South Korean resistance crumbled. Its commander, Col. Horton White, had similarly been misled as to its role and was mistaken as to the seriousness of the war: he had told his officers to expect a short period in Korea followed by a big parade marking an end to the conflict. The 49-year-old

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Pfc. Clarence Whitmore, voice radio operator of the 24th Infantry Regiment, reads the latest news during a lull in the battle, near Sangju, August 9, 1950. (National Archives) | 243 |

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White had been one of MacArthur’s intelligence officers during World War II and had never seen combat. White’s second-in-command and executive officer, Lt. Col. James B. Bennett, collapsed at Kumchon shortly after the regiment arrived in Korea, claiming he had suffered a heart attack. The general consensus of opinion was that he had feigned the attack to avoid serving with African American troops in combat. In any event, he was given an emergency medical evacuation from Korea. In August 1950, just two months after the arrival of the 25th Division, Kean reported that the 24th was so unreliable that he believed deploying the regiment could seriously undermine the whole UN effort in Korea. Although Kean was quick to damn the 24th, the regiment contained some men who were courageous enough to be recommended for the military’s highest award, the Medal of Honor: Pfc. William Thompson in August 1950, the first U.S. soldier to win the award in the war, and Sgt. Cornelius H. Charlton in June 1951. Brig. Gen. Edwin A. Zundel, the inspector general of the Eighth Army, proposed that racial integration could be the answer to the poor showing by the 24th and to the probability that other all–African American units would show the same low competence and poor esprit de corps. Zundel recommended that after a year’s tour of duty in Korea, the 24th be redistributed throughout the whole of the Eighth Army. He reasoned that many of the 24th’s men had exhibited low test scores on aptitude tests and suggested that when a unit had more than the average number of soldiers with low test scores, extra officers should be assigned to it. Others had made similar suggestions for sub-par units, even before the war began, but officials ignored the recommendations. Other African Americans, particularly those in integrated units, performed more capably in Korea. The 9th Infantry Regiment (part of the 2d Infantry Division) took a battering in the Naktong River sector in early September 1950. One of the new battalion commanders, Lt. Col.

Cesidio “Butch” Barberis, was assigned more than 200 African American replacements. He was not disappointed with them when the regiment assumed the offensive again on September 16. The men had had barely enough time to get to know one another, but they slogged through the North Korean defenses, crossed the Naktong River, and pushed deep into enemyheld territory. African Americans were fighting alongside white troops and performing well. Efforts at desegregation received a boost when Truman fired the supreme allied commander Gen. Douglas MacArthur in April 1951 and replaced him with Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway. MacArthur had already endorsed the use of African American replacements for white units, but desegregation continued to move slowly and ineffectively. Ridgway, however, firmly believed that segregation was “both un-American and un-Christian” (Ridgway 1967, 193). He also saw the pragmatic downfall of segregation and the way it undermined military effectiveness. Ridgway demanded that he be allowed to speed the army’s process of desegregation, noting that many white units were under strength because of the lack of replacements, while extra black soldiers were being assigned to trivial labor duties in Japan for lack of anything better to do with them. With the army’s acquiescence, Ridgway ordered his staff to effect a major reorganization of troops, sending replacements where they were needed and transferring men to the units where they could serve with the most efficiency. In the fall of 1951, he deactivated the 24th Infantry Regiment, sending those of its members who were eligible and had finished their tour of duty in Korea back to the United States. The majority were reassigned to what had been white units. In other cases, such as the African American 64th Tank Battalion, all of the men were reassigned and replaced by white troops. More than any other factor, it was the number of casualties that was the primary force compelling integration in the majority of combat units. The reaction to receiving African

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the Korean War ended in 1953, about 100 units would have an African American component. The following year, the army announced that its entire force had been fully integrated. The other branches of the armed forces also went through accelerated programs for desegregation, pushed by the urgency of war to organize and deploy their manpower in the most efficient manner. The Air Force

American troops blasting Yongdok with their 105-mm Howitzer, July 23, 1950. (U.S. Army Signal Corps)

American replacements into primarily white formations was mixed. Bradley Biggs, formerly of the 24th, returned to Korea for another tour of duty, this time assigned to the 64th Heavy Tank Battalion as a company commander. Biggs, an African American officer, had an all-white company, but he experienced no problems of command or control. Everett Copeland, interviewed for Gerald Astor’s book The Right to Fight, told of his radically different experience when he was sent as a replacement to the 7th Cavalry Regiment: Upon reporting for duty, the company commander in the traditional slavery manner, assigned me to duty as his personal radio communications man, to accompany him into battle carrying a pack radio strapped to my back. His first advice was, “Boy, I don’t know why they sent you people here. Now, when the going gets tough, you throw that radio and weapon down, put up your hands and surrender. Don’t try to be no hero. The enemy will recognize a nigger and go easy on him” (quoted in Astor 1998, 392).

Despite residual resistance to integration, desegregation was working its way through the whole of the army command, and by the time

Of all the branches of the service, the air force had perhaps shown the greatest acceptance for desegregation from the time Truman announced his ground-breaking executive order in 1948. The Korean War offered African Americans an opportunity to cement their position in the air force. With groups like the famed Tuskegee Airmen already organized, the air force had experienced African American pilots at its disposal when the war broke out. Men such as 1st Lt. Dayton Ragland and veteran air force pilot Capt. Daniel “Chappie” James, Jr. came to the fore. Ragland was later shot down and imprisoned by the North Koreans, but he survived to be exchanged in 1953. James, who had been a Tuskegee Airman, was the first African American air force pilot to down a North Korean jet. Flying first in aerial reconnaissance and then in the interdiction raids that pummeled the enemy supply routes, James made headlines with his exploits. For one such raid he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. After a period as a forward air controller, James returned to flying, completing 100 missions in F-80 jets. He later said of the predominantly white air force men and their reaction to him, “Over a few beers, I have even had white guys saying they like me, but you can keep all those others. They respect me. They have seen me roll in on that target when the flack was heavy, just like they did, and come scooting out the other side. They respect me” (quoted in Astor 1998, 396). Heading the 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wing

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in Korea was Benjamin O. Davis Jr. His command was multiracial but predominantly white, and so successful was he in molding the force into an effective fighting machine that he was to become the first African American in the U.S. Air Force to achieve the rank of brigadier general. As soon as the war began, the air force steadily redistributed African American airmen and began recruiting heavily among African Americans. As a result, the percentage of African Americans in the air force rose from 5 percent in 1949 to 8 percent in early 1950, although this figure dropped once the Air National Guard and reservists were called up for Korea because the majority of these men were white. Despite these positive signs that integration could be easily implemented in the air force, there were still set-backs for those who favored desegregation. For example, Lt. Gen. Earle E. Partridge, commanding general of the Far East Air Forces, maintained the opinion that African Americans were inherently inferior to their white counterparts, ignoring all evidence to the contrary among his own command. Furthermore, at bases in the United States, particularly in the South, airmen still faced prejudice and discrimination. Old traditions died hard, and the idea of “separate-but-equal” facilities was one that many whites, military and civilian, did not relinquish easily. Although the air force was moving in the right direction, integration still had a long way to go, as evidenced by the fact that during the whole conflict, fewer than 1,400 African Americans were officers in the air force (around 1 percent), and most of them did not see combat, with a few notable exceptions. The Marines Along with the army, the marine corps had vigorously resisted efforts to desegregate its ranks in the years before the war. When the Korean War began, roughly 1.5 percent of all marines were African Americans, showing the corps’ disinclination to recruit or accept blacks. Even

among this small number, a high percentage (close to one-third) were stewards rather than combat soldiers. By the time the armistice was signed in 1953, African American representation in the U.S. Marine Corps had risen to about 6 percent with a majority of these new black recruits serving as soldiers rather than servants. On the ground, African American marines were beginning to make inroads in the corps as well. Master Sgt. Gilbert “Hashmark” Johnson, who had been trained at the U.S. Marine Corps Montford Point Training Center in North Carolina during World War II, had made it to company first sergeant and would later become a battalion first sergeant. African Americans had also broken into the officer ranks, such as 2d Lt. Frank E. Petersen, the first African American Marine Corps aviator, who flew more than 60 combat missions in the early part of 1953. He would later become a general officer in the marines. Two more African American officers who chose the marines for their careers, Kenneth H. Berthoud and Hurdle L. Maxwell, both earned commissions and served in the corps for more than 20 years each. Nevertheless, the marine corps remained the slowest of the branches to integrate its troops. The Navy Despite the U.S. Navy’s claim to be the first service to fully open its doors to African Americans, practice was somewhat short of declared policy. During the period 1950–1955, African Americans accounted for just 4 percent of the navy’s complement, with a high number once again serving as stewards. In 1955, well after the Korean War, the navy was still assigning the majority of African Americans to the steward branch of the service, a circumstance that did not begin to change until the following year, when the navy assigned nearly 75 percent of its African American sailors to general duties. African Americans in the navy still tended to be assigned to the “lower decks” in support functions, but they were increasingly being inte-

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1st Lt. Alvin Anderson, one of the many repatriated POWs to return home aboard the Marine Phoenix, greets his family, September 14, 1953. (National Archives)

grated into the defensive rolls on board, manning guns and anti-aircraft positions. The first African American naval pilot was Ens. Jesse Brown, assigned to the USS Leyte. He was killed in the early months of the war on a combat mission over Changjin Reservoir in North Korea. The Korean War and African American Progress By early 1953, with the fighting in Korea stalled inconclusively, newly inaugurated U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower began actively pushing the UN to reach a peace agreement

with the North Koreans. Negotiations proved difficult, mainly because of the recalcitrance of South Korea’s leader, Syngman Rhee, who wanted to unite the Korean Peninsula under his own rule. The UN, with the United States exerting all its diplomatic acumen as well as threats of nuclear warfare, drove an agreement through, finally forcing Rhee to concede. The resulting armistice was signed on July 27, 1953, and essentially called for a return of the preJune 1950 status quo. Militarily, the war had been a stalemate, and a costly one at that, but it had ushered in integration with far less controversy than if such a policy change had been undertaken during

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peacetime. The exigencies of war compelled the military to adapt to changing circumstances. But the military soon learned that the eradication of segregation did not necessarily result in the end of racism and prejudice and that the effort to treat all its members with true equality was only just beginning. In the early 1950s, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), in an initiative led by activist lawyer (and future Supreme Court justice) Thurgood Marshall, became alarmed over rumors concerning the army’s disproportionately harsh punishments meted out to African American soldiers in Korea. Despite the small percentage of blacks serving in the military, they were twice as likely as white soldiers to be called up before a military disciplinary tribunal and to be convicted. Marshall traveled to Asia to investigate the situation, and his findings proved discouraging. He discovered significant inequalities in the way black and white soldiers were tried and sentenced. In general, he found that African American soldiers received longer, harsher sentences than white soldiers convicted of similar crimes. In addition, the tribunals were far more likely to convict black soldiers and tended to deliberate over their verdicts for substantially shorter periods of time. The dearth of African American officers called to sit on court-martial panels also worked against black defendants. Marshall even discovered that one man was tried, convicted, and sentenced to life imprisonment in just 42 minutes. He said, disgusted at the apparent injustice, “Even in Mississippi a Negro will get a longer trial than 42 minutes, if

he is fortunate enough to be brought to trial” (Nalty 1986, 258). Marshall’s persistence and the work of the NAACP compelled the military to address some of the problems they had highlighted. In fact, in several of the cases Marshall reviewed, the convictions were later reversed or the sentences reduced. Nevertheless, the problem of racism and discrimination in the military persists, with the Korean War marking merely an important milestone in the struggle for equal treatment in the armed forces, not the triumphant end. See also Davis, Benjamin Oliver, Jr.; James, Daniel “Chappie”, Jr.; 24th Infantry Regiment References and Further Reading Appleman, Roy. South to the Naktong, North to the Yalu. Washington, DC: Center of Military History, U.S. Army, 1961. Astor, Gerald. The Right to Fight. Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1998. MacGregor, Morris J. Integration of the Armed Forces, 1940–1965. Defense Studies. Washington, DC: Center of Military History, U.S. Army, 1981. Nalty, Bernard C. Strength for the Fight: A History of Black Americans in the Military. New York: Free Press, 1986. Ridgway, Matthew B. The Korean War: How We Met the Challenge. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1967. Shaw, Henry I., Jr., and Ralph W. Donnelly. Blacks in the Marine Corps. Washington, DC: History and Missions Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1975.

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l Lafayette, James (1748–1830) James Lafayette worked as a double agent during the American Revolution. Originally named James Armistead, he adopted “Lafayette” as his surname. He was born into slavery on William Armistead’s farm in New Kent County, Virginia, in 1748. William Armistead gave him permission to join the Marquis de Lafayette’s army in 1781. The Marquis de Lafayette was particularly impressed with James Armistead’s memory and intelligence and sent him into British camps to collect intelligence. He posed as a camp worker, first with Benedict Arnold’s troops and later with the men of Lord Cornwallis. He became a trusted servant and was privy to confidential conversations between the officers. He then passed on the information to other African Americans who passed the details on to the Marquis de Lafayette. Cornwallis sent Armistead to spy on the Marquis de Lafayette, and so his work as a double agent began, but he remained loyal to the American cause. It is widely believed that without the information he provided, George Washington would not have won at Yorktown. In 1784 the Marquis de Lafayette wrote a certificate detailing Armistead’s work and imploring that Virginia

grant him his freedom. He was finally freed in 1787, by which time he had taken Lafayette’s name as his own surname. Twenty-three years later, Virginia awarded James Lafayette a pension for his war contribution. It is also widely believed that James Lafayette was instrumental in convincing the marquis to press George Washington to free slaves. The Marquis de Lafayette did sponsor the Society of the Friends of the Blacks in Paris. The marquis returned to America for the last time in 1824, when he had his final meeting with the seventysix-year-old James Lafayette. At this time James Lafayette, dressed in an American uniform, sat for a portrait, the only known image of a man who had played such a vital role during the American Revolution. James Lafayette died at the age of eighty-two in 1830. See also American Revolution References and Further Reading Davis, Burke. Black Heroes of the American Revolution. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1991. Kaplan, Sydney, and Emma Nogrady Kaplan. The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1989.

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Ploski, Harry A., and James Williams. The Negro Almanac: A Reference Work on the African American. New York: Bellwether, 1983.

Lake Erie, Battle of (September 10, 1813) During the War of 1812 control of the Great Lakes was of considerable strategic importance to both the British and the Americans. For the Americans, the lakes could provide an opportunity to annex parts of Canada and to protect the long border, which was vulnerable to the British. For the British, the lakes and rivers could be used as invasion routes. Initially the British were unhindered by the small U.S. Navy, but by the end of 1812 the United States had begun a massive shipbuilding program and was purchasing merchant vessels. By the summer of 1813 the navy was active in most of the Great Lakes. A considerable number of the crews of these vessels were either free African Americans or slaves. On March 3, 1813, Congress had authorized the enlistment of African Americans. It has been variously estimated that African Americans accounted for 10–20 percent of all U.S. naval crews. In March 1813 Oliver Hazard Perry was given command of the Lake Erie flotilla based at Erie, Pennsylvania. He had eleven vessels but only 120 men. He made several written requests that his complement be increased to the 700 men he required. Among the reinforcements he eventually received were a large number of African Americans. His immediate superior, Commodore Isaac Chauncey, considered some of the African Americans to be among his best men. Neither Perry nor many of the other captains were particularly impressed with the general quality of the men that had been sent to them, African American or not. But the men were to prove their abilities on September 10, 1813, when Perry captured Capt. Robert Heri-

ott Barclay’s British squadron in a three-and-ahalf-hour battle near Put-in-Bay, Ohio. This engagement, also known as the Battle of Lake Erie, cost Perry 80 percent casualties on his flagship alone. The six British vessels were severely mauled and forced to surrender. It is estimated that the British suffered at least 41 killed and 94 wounded; Perry’s men suffered 27 killed and 96 wounded. There were a large number of African Americans present on the U.S. vessels, including Jesse Williams, who was aboard Perry’s flagship. Williams was wounded in action (he was later awarded a Silver Medal for his participation in an earlier engagement on December 29, 1812). Newport Hazard was also wounded on Perry’s flagship; Anthony Williams from Massachusetts fought on board the schooner Somers, and Cyrus Tiffany was later to become a good friend of Perry’s. Other African Americans are mentioned in the correspondence relating to the battle, including Jack Russell, who received prize money. Other individuals claimed to have fought in the battle but did not receive any recognition at the time. The widow of Robert Brown (or Bronen) received twelve dollars a month from his death in January 1865 until she died in December 1895. James Brown’s wife filed a claim in 1871, but her claim was rejected because she had lost her marriage certificate. In June 1878 Brown Boone’s wife had her claim similarly rejected. One of the clearest indications of the number of African Americans involved in the battle was a statement made in 1862 by Dr. Usher Parsons, the head surgeon under Perry during the battle, who recalled that one of every ten or twelve crew members was African American. The exact numbers of African Americans involved in the battle may never be known. See also 1812, War of; U.S. Navy References and Further Reading Altoff, Gerard T. Oliver Hazard Perry and the Battle of Lake Erie. Rev. ed. Put-in-Bay, OH: Perry Group, 1999.

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perimeter. An enemy hand grenade landed in front of PFC Langhorn and a few feet from personnel who had become casualties. Choosing to protect these wounded, he unhesitatingly threw himself on the grenade, scooped it beneath his body and absorbed the blast. By sacrificing himself, he saved the lives of his comrades.

Skaggs, David. The Battle of Lake Erie. Baltimore: Nautical and Aviation Publishing Company of America, 1995.

Langhorn, Garfield M. (1948–1969) Garfield M. Langhorn, an African American Vietnam hero, died while attempting to retrieve the bodies of 1st Lt. Sterling Edward Cox and WO James Birch Petteys, whose AH-1G Cobra helicopter had gone down behind enemy lines. For his gallantry he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. Langhorn was born on September 10, 1948, and was living in Riverhead, New York, at the time of his enlistment. He had barely a year in service with C Troop, 7th Squadron of the 17th Air Cavalry, when two fellow members of the unit were shot down near Pleiku, Republic of Vietnam. According to his citation, Pfc. Langhorn’s platoon was inserted into a landing zone to rescue 2 pilots of a Cobra helicopter shot down by enemy fire on a heavily timbered slope. He provided radio coordination with the command-and-control aircraft overhead while the troops hacked their way through dense undergrowth to the wreckage, where both aviators were found dead. As the men were taking the bodies to a pickup site, they suddenly came under intense fire from North Vietnamese soldiers in camouflaged bunkers to the front and right flank, and within minutes they were surrounded. PFC Langhorn immediately radioed for help from the orbiting gunships, which began to place minigun and rocket fire on the aggressors. He then lay between the platoon leader and another man, operating the radio and providing covering fire for the wounded who had been moved to the center of the small perimeter. Darkness soon fell, making it impossible for the gunships to give accurate support, and the aggressors began to probe the

Langhorn died on January 15, 1969. A statue has been erected in his honor at Riverhead Town Hall. See also Vietnam War

Las Guásimas, Battle of (June 24, 1898) In an engagement during the Spanish-American War, the 10th Cavalry (an African American unit), the 1st Cavalry, and the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry—the Rough Riders—stormed a ridge near Las Guásimas, capturing the Spanish blockhouse. The three units struck out three days after the landing to attack a Spanish strong point called Las Guásimas that controlled a pass through the mountains. The units disappeared in different directions through the dense jungle and reformed about half a mile from the Spanish positions. In the early morning, the U.S. troops formed a battle line and the commanding general, Gen. Joseph Wheeler, ordered a few artillery shots to be fired at the Spaniards to test their resolve. The enemy fired back, and it became clear that the position was held by at least 1,500 Spanish troops. Wheeler had only 1,000 men under his command. As the three units moved forward, they all seemed intent on closing with the enemy first and grabbing the glory for themselves. The Rough Riders took the lead and charged across the open ground in front of the strong point. The defenders stopped them in their tracks, but as the Spaniards saw the U.S.

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regulars emerging to engage them with volleys, they gave way and fled. The Rough Riders had suffered eight killed and thirty-four wounded, and the regulars had suffered eight killed and eighteen wounded. Although John J. “Black Jack” Pershing was not present at Las Guásimas (he was en route from a teaching post at West Point), he later said that the men of the 10th were responsible for “relieving the Rough Riders from the volleys that were being poured into them from that position of the Spanish line” (quoted in Astor 1998, 64). The correspondent of the Washington Post, who had been on the scene, wrote, “If it had not been for the Negro cavalry, the Rough Riders would have been exterminated. I am not a Negro lover. My father fought with Mosby’s Rangers and I was born in the South, but the Negroes saved that fight and the day will come when General Shafter will give them credit for their bravery” (quoted in Cashin 1970, 160). See also Buffalo Soldiers; El Caney, Battle, of; Kettle Hill, Battle of; San Juan Hill, Battle of; Spanish-American War References and Further Reading Astor, Gerald. The Right to Fight. Novato, CA: Presidio, 1998. Cashin, Herschel V. Under Fire with the Tenth Cavalry. New York: Bellwether Publishing, 1970. Morris, Edmund. The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. New York: Ballantine, 1979.

High School and then attended Bradley University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry at the age of twenty, and became a cadet commander of the Bradley Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps. When he graduated he became a second lieutenant in the Air Force Reserve Program. He completed his pilot training at Malden Air Force Base and later became an instructor pilot. He received a doctorate in physical chemistry from Ohio State University. At the age of thirty-one, Lawrence began work at the Air Force Weapons Laboratory at Kirkland Air Force Base in New Mexico. By the end of 1966 he had completed 2,500 flying hours, and by 1967 he had finished the Air Force Test Pilot Training School course. He became part of the space program on June 10. As a test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base in California, Major Lawrence flew F-104s to simulate the conditions that future space shuttle pilots would face. Unfortunately on December 8, 1967, while he was flying as a copilot and instructor in an F-104, the pilot lost control of the aircraft. The pilot managed to eject, but Lawrence died in the crash. During his all-too-brief career, he won the Air Force Commendation Medal and was a member of a unit awarded the Air Force Outstanding Unit Citation. On December 8, 1997, his contribution to the space program was finally recognized when his name was inscribed on the Astronauts Memorial Foundation Space Mirror in the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. On January 21, 2000, Ohio State University honored their former student by naming a lecture hall after him. See also U.S. Air Force

Lawrence, Robert H., Jr. (1935–1967) Robert H. Lawrence Jr., a U.S. Air Force pilot, was the first African American to be named to participate in the U.S. Air Force’s Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) Program, the predecessor of NASA’s Shuttle Program. Lawrence was born in Chicago, Illinois, on October 2, 1935. He graduated from Englewood

Lee, William (d. 1828) William Lee, also known as Will or Billy, was Gen. George Washington’s personal valet and favorite slave. Washington referred to him as his “black shadow.”

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George Washington and his family seated around a table. William Lee, Washington’s black servant, stands in the background. During the American Revolution, Lee accompanied Washington to war and looked after his paperwork. (Library of Congress)

Lee also worked for Washington as his butler until his brother Frank Lee assumed the position. Lee’s status within the household was high, and it is he that appears wearing the distinctive Washington livery in the famous painting by Edward Savage. Lee accompanied Washington on his fox-hunting trips and is described as being an accomplished horseman with a sturdy and athletic frame. During the American Revolution, Lee accompanied Washington to war and looked after his master’s paperwork. Shortly after the war, Lee broke one of his knees in a fall; several years later he broke the other. He retired and became a shoemaker at Mount Vernon. Lee had married during the war; his wife, a free African American named Margaret Thomas, worked at one of Washington’s headquarters. Although Washington did not take to Margaret, he gave Lee permission to move her to Mount Vernon to live

with him after the war. The marriage is thought to have taken place after 1799. In Washington’s will, he freed Lee and made arrangements for him to receive thirty dollars per year as well as food and clothing. Lee remained at Mount Vernon until he died around 1828. He was buried in the slave burial grounds at Mount Vernon. See also American Revolution

Leonard, Matthew (1929–1967) Matthew Leonard fell near Suoi Da, Republic of Vietnam, on February 28, 1967, and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

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Leonard was born in Eutaw, Alabama, on November 26, 1929, and entered service in Birmingham, Alabama. He served in Vietnam as a platoon sergeant with Company B, 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 3d Brigade, 1st Infantry Division. On February 23, 1967, the 1st Battalion was airlifted from its base camp at Lai Khe to Suoi Da, where it was assigned to act as the reserve for the 3d Brigade and to hold defensive lines at Suoi Da, Republic of Vietnam. Early the next day, the battalion received 120 rounds of mortar fire. Two men were killed and five were wounded. Six hours later, the battalion was airlifted to Route 4, north of Suoi Da, where the men took up night positions six kilometers south of Prek Klok. The battalion’s mission was to secure the road and carry out search-anddestroy operations. At 8 a.m. on February 28, Company B left the battalion’s position and proceeded east. Only 2.5 kilometers ahead of the company was a stream called Prek Klok; the men never reached it. Company B advanced a little more than one kilometer, and at 10:30 a.m., the 3d Platoon engaged the enemy, who was supported by three concealed machine guns. Capt. Donald S. Ulm of Company B marked the position of his men with colored smoke to enable the supporting artillery to fire. About twenty minutes after the 3d Platoon made initial contact with the enemy, communication with it was lost. Ulm directed the 1st Platoon to move to the left to prevent the 3d from being flanked, and the 2d Platoon moved to the right. At 12:30 p.m. contact was reestablished, and the company now formed an arc with the 3d in the center. Air strikes were now hitting the enemy positions. At 1 p.m. the 2d Platoon detected an enemy attempt to encircle the company, and elements of the 1st and 2d Platoons were moved northwest and southwest. By 2 p.m. the battle had begun to die down, and the U.S. Air Force had flown fifty-four sorties in the engagement. At 2:30 two other companies reinforced the northeast. These men now moved to assist Ulm. At approximately 3 p.m. they lost contact with the enemy. At 4:45 a third

company landed and secured a landing zone. Ulm’s men did not reach the landing zone until 9:30 that evening; they brought with them twenty-five dead and twenty-eight wounded. A sweep of the area revealed that 167 enemy troops had been killed. Among those killed was Platoon Sgt. Matthew Leonard who was awarded the Medal of Honor for organizing the platoon’s defensive position, redistributing ammunition, and leading his comrades in the first battle of Prek Klok after the platoon leader was wounded. An enemy bullet had shattered his hand while he was carrying a wounded man to safety, but he refused medical attention. When the enemy shifted a machine gun to sweep the platoon’s positions, Leonard charged the gun and killed the crew but was hit several times. The men last saw him alive, propped against a tree, continuing to fight. See also Vietnam War References and Further Reading Rogers, Bernard William. Vietnam Studies Cedar Falls—Junction City: A Turning Point. Washington, DC: Department of the Army, 1989.

Lew, Barzillai (1743–1821 or 1822) Barzillai Lew was a fifer and drummer at the Battle of Bunker Hill. There seems to be considerable dispute regarding Lew’s life, but what is certain is that his parents had married in December 1742 at Groton, Massachusetts, and he was born in Massachusetts in 1743. His father, Primus Lew, was manservant to a Captain Boyden, and his mother, Margaret, was a former servant in the house of Samuel Scripture. Primus Lew served in the French and Indian War in 1745 and accompanied William Pepperell’s New Englanders in their attack on the French fortifications at Louisburg, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.

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Barzillai Lew became a cooper and managed to amass $400 to buy the freedom of his future wife, Dinah Bowman, in 1767. It appears that he enlisted in the 27th Massachusetts on May 6, 1775, and served with Capt. John Ford at Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775. He then joined Joseph Bradley Varnum’s militia in his hometown, and by September 1777 he was en route to the attack on the British based at Fort Ticonderoga. Lew left a strong musical tradition in his family. After the American Revolution, he and his wife and their twelve children formed an orchestra and performed around the New England area, and many of his descendants were also musicians, including William Edward Lew, a professional pianist and singer; violinist Frederick Elliot Lewis; keyboardist Frederick Perry White; and jazz guitarist Frederick P. White Jr. Other descendants include Gerard N. Lew, who cofounded Chicago’s DuSable Museum of African American History, and Harry “Bucky” Lew, probably the first African American professional basketball player. See also American Revolution; Bunker Hill, Battle of References and Further Reading Ploski, Harry A., and James Williams. The Negro Almanac. New York: Bellwether, 1983. Southern, Eileen. Biographical Dictionary of AfroAmerican and African Musicians. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1982.

Lexington and Concord, Battles of (April 19, 1775) On April 15, 1775, Gen. Thomas Gage, British military governor of Massachusetts, was ordered to destroy the Americans’ military stores at Concord. Together the Battles of Lexington and Concord would only last about twenty minutes, but symbolically these two engagements

ignited the tinderbox of revolution and were a great propaganda coup for the revolutionaries. Among those engaged were a number of African American patriots, but the “facts” about them are contradictory; almost nothing can be historically verified. To undertake his mission, Gage assembled units made up of light infantry and grenadiers from the Boston garrison, to be commanded by Lt. Col. Francis Smith and the Marine Maj. John Pitcairn. A relief column for contingencies was also assembled under the command of Lord Hugh Percy; this force followed the main column by about six hours. American intelligence was good—it is believed that one of the spies for the Americans was Gage’s own wife—and when Gage’s men left at midnight on April 19, the British column of between 650 and 900 troops was reported. Paul Revere and William Dawes rode to warn the Americans. With the countryside alerted to the danger, American militiamen were deployed to meet the British. This was a turning point, for up to this point the revolutionaries had not put up armed resistance to the British. Several months earlier, the British had made a similar expedition to Salem without a shot being fired, although the Americans had succeeded in moving most of the stores and weapons before the British arrived. At Lexington, Capt. John Parker assembled his men on Lexington Green. He was determined to deny the British passage. He had a force of about seventy-five, including the African American slave Prince Estabrook. Smith’s forward units ran into Parker’s militiamen and, on Pitcairn’s instructions, they advanced intending to surround and disarm Parker’s band. Parker ordered his men to disperse, and someone—it is not known whether the first shot came from a British or American musket—fired a shot, which triggered scattered volleys. British discipline held, and eight revolutionaries were cut down and a further ten wounded; the Americans then scattered into the nearby woodland. With the road now clear, the British troops

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advanced on Concord. One of their targets was artillery pieces believed to be hidden at the farm of the provincial colonel, James Barrett. They encountered another group of armed men at the North Bridge. Various accounts suggest that there may have been as many as 400 Americans here, including Estabrook, who had presumably shadowed and overtaken the British column. Estabrook was wounded in this engagement. Other African American militiamen at the North Bridge were Peter Salem (from Framingham, Massachusetts, who had recently been freed so that he could enlist), Samuel Craft (from Newton, Massachusetts), father and son Caesar and John Ferrit (from Natick, Massachusetts), a man known as Pompy (from Braintree, Massachusetts), a man known as Prince (from Brookline, Massachusetts, the slave of Joshua Boylston), Pomp Blackman, and Lemuel Haynes (an indentured servant from Granville, Connecticut). The British fire swept the militia away, but by now it was clear that the whole countryside was up in arms. The British decided that discretion was the better part of valor and began a long and ruinous retreat back to Boston. At this point, the militia (the minutemen) came into their own. Revolutionaries were pouring into the area and staying under cover around the British route. Their snipers picked off British troops, who had no real chance of responding. Each time they turned to face the galling fire, the Americans melted into the undergrowth. If a relief column under Lord Percy had not been dispatched, the British may have fared much worse. Percy expertly used his two artillery pieces to disperse the pursuing Americans and gave Smith the opportunity to reorganize his troops. With Percy now assuming overall command, the British continued their retreat to Boston with much greater cohesion, but the Americans continued to harass them all the way back. By the end of the day, British casualties had reached around 273, whereas the Americans had lost 94. The American Revolutionary War had begun.

The revolutionaries used the victories and the British retreat as a propaganda tool to convince many more colonists to rally to their cause, for it is believed that before these battles the vast majority of the population of the colonies did not want conflict with Great Britain. See also American Revolution; Bunker Hill, Battle of; Haynes, Lemuel; Salem, Peter References and Further Reading Andrews, Joseph L. Revolutionary Boston, Lexington, and Concord: The Shots Heard ’Round the World. Beverly, MA: Commonwealth Editions, 2002. Brooks, Victor. The Boston Campaign: April 1775 to March 1776 (Great Campaigns). Conshohocken, PA: Combined Publishing, 1999. Davis, Lenwood, and George Hill, eds. Blacks in the American Armed Forces, 1776–1983. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1985. Sandel, Edward. Black Soldiers in the Colonial Militia: Documents from 1639 to 1780. Roseland, LA: Tabor-Lucas Publications, 1994. Tourtellot, Arthur Bernon. Lexington and Concord: The Beginning of the War of the American Revolution. New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1963.

Little Rock Nine On September 4, 1957, in direct contravention of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. Board of Education (1954, holding that separate-but-equal education violated the Fourteenth Amendment), the governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus, called out the National Guard to prevent nine African American teenagers from attending Little Rock High School. The incident was one of the few occasions when the predominantly white military was deployed to enforce equality. President Dwight D. Eisenhower was furious with Faubus and responded strongly, mobilizing the 101st Airborne to ensure that the African

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Armed troops escort African American students from Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. (Library of Congress)

American students were integrated in the school. He assigned each of the students a personal bodyguard from the 101st Airborne. Army vehicles brought the children to school, and about 350 fully armed paratroopers patrolled the buildings while a helicopter circled overhead. The first African American graduate was Ernest Green, who completed his studies on May 27, 1958. The whole incident, largely due to the efforts of John Chancellor of NBC and Harry Ashmore of the Arkansas Gazette, had become a media event. What may have escaped the country’s attention in previous years was now daily news, and the well-primed Little Rock Nine, supported by Daisy Bates of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, cut appealingly forlorn figures in the face of outright racism. See also Fourteenth Amendment;

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People References and Further Reading Williams, Juan. Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years, 1954–1965. New York: Viking, 1987.

Long, Donald Russell (1939–1966) Sgt. Donald Russell Long was killed in action in Vietnam, and for his bravery on June 30, 1966, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. Long entered service on April 16, 1963, in Ashland, Kentucky, and joined Troop C, 4th Cavalry, 1st Infantry Division. Troops B and C

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were carrying out a reconnaissance sweep when they were attacked by a Vietcong regiment supported by concealed mortars, recoilless rifles, and machine guns. Long abandoned his armored personnel carrier to carry wounded men to a helicopter. He and his platoon fought their way to the advance unit to reinforce and resupply the men. Long led the attack on the enemy positions and repelled their counterattacks with grenades and machine-gun fire, while standing unprotected on the top of his personnel carrier. When the Vietcong troops were on the verge of overrunning a nearby disabled carrier, Long helped remove the badly wounded and handed out arms and equipment to those who could still fight. Suddenly, an enemy grenade landed on the carrier deck, and Long threw himself onto the grenade to protect the others. Long’s family was presented with his award by Secretary of the Army Stanley Resor on February 8, 1968. Long was buried at the Union Baptist Church Cemetery in Blackfork, Ohio. See also Vietnam War

neer. They were talking about the planned refitting of the Confederate ironclad, the Virginia (formerly the Union ship Merrimac, which had been scuttled at Norfolk, Virginia, and the Confederates had raised). Both men were certain that the vessel would be powerful enough to destroy any Union ship. They left the plans and designs on a table, and early the following morning Mary entered the engineer’s office and traced the drawings. She then obtained permission to visit her former owners, but instead she made straight for the Union front lines. She probably received assistance from the Underground Railroad. When she presented herself to the Union troops, they took her seriously enough to escort her directly to Washington. She was able to present her copy of the drawings to Gideon Welles, the secretary of the navy. He offered her work and freedom, but she refused and returned to her master. As a direct result of her actions, the Union navy accelerated the construction of their own ironclad, the Monitor, in order to counter the new Confederate weapon. See also American Civil War; Black Dispatches; Underground Railroad

Louvestre, Mary References and Further Reading

Mary Louvestre was an African American slave in Norfolk, Virginia, at the time of the American Civil War. In the spring of 1863, while serving lunch to her master, John Louvestre, she overheard his conversation with a Confederate engi-

Mays, Joe H. Black Americans and Their Contribution toward Union Victory in the American Civil War, 1861–1865. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1984.

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m March on Washington (1941) As the spring of 1941 dawned, a low point for the Allied cause in both Europe and the Far East, the United States still stood apart from the conflict, merely supporting beleaguered Great Britain and the USSR through the provisions of the Lend-Lease Act (passed in March 1941). Defense industries were gearing up to meet the demand. The defense industries, like many other U.S. industries, were as openly racist as ever, and restrictions on African Americans there and in the military continued. The 230,000-strong peacetime U.S. Army had barely 5,000 African American members, and only 5 of these were officers. The Selective Service Act of 1940 had aimed to redress this inequity, but thousands of African Americans who had flooded to the recruitment centers had been turned away because the army did not have separate facilities and infrastructure for them. In the defense industries, despite the growing demand for output, African Americans were openly excluded and were explicitly unwelcome to apply for vacant positions. A spokesman for Standard Steel expressed the company’s policy thus: “We have not had a Negro working in 25 years and do not plan to start now.” North

American Aviation’s general manager was reported to have said, “Negroes will be considered only as janitors.” And Vultee Air of California proudly announced, “It is not the policy of this company to employ other than those of the Caucasian race” (all quoted in Goodwin 1994, 247). At the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Convention in September 1940, Eleanor Roosevelt had already pledged her support for making the United States a country of equal opportunity. Her husband, President Franklin Roosevelt, faced strong military and civilian opposition to such a program. The primary issue for the majority of African Americans and for African American civil rights leaders was the question of jobs—ensuring that African Americans got their fair share of jobs in the growing defense industries. Eleanor Roosevelt was approached by Walter White of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), among others, and she arranged for Robert C. Weaver, the administrator for federal job training for African Americans, to discuss the issue with Sidney Hillman, a labor union leader who had become the head of the labor division of the Office of Production Management. Weaver, who later became the first African American cabinet member (secretary of housing and urban development from

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1966 to 1969), was one of a select group who made up Roosevelt’s “black cabinet,” an informal group dedicated to highlighting racial issues and both indirectly and directly influencing the policies of the Roosevelt administration. Lack of immediate progress prompted A. Philip Randolph, head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, to call for action in early 1941: “You possess power, great power. The Negro stake in national defense is big. It consists of jobs, thousands of jobs. It consists of new industrial opportunities and hope. This is worth fighting for. To this end we propose that 10,000 Negroes march on Washington” (quoted in Goodwin 1994, 248). Randolph proposed that the march take place on July 1, 1941. By the beginning of June, march organizers had established committees in eighteen centers across the country. Intense lobbying of the president continued. Eleanor Roosevelt was a well-placed and determined champion, and even Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson recognized the need to respond. Stimson feared that if no response were made to moderates like Randolph, the whole civil rights movement would be hijacked by Communists with a far more radical and damaging agenda. The threat of a march had already begun to influence the president. In late May he had written to William Knudsen (a conservative and the head of General Motors) and Hillman (the leader of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, the head of an integrated body, and a noted liberal), both at the Office of Production Management, suggesting they should take “Negroes up to a certain percentage in factory order work. Judge them on quality—the first class Negroes are turned down for 3rd class white boys.” Their reply, however, was uncompromising: “If we set a percentage it will immediately be open to dispute; quiet work with the contractors and the unions will bring better results” (quoted in Goodwin 1994, 249). It seemed that the march would go ahead, much to the chagrin of the Roosevelts, who though they broadly agreed with Randolph’s po-

sition, did not agree with his tactics. In an effort to prevent the march, a meeting was arranged at the White House on the afternoon of June 18, 1941. In addition to the president and Randolph, also present were Knudsen and Hillman, Assistant Secretary of War Robert Patterson, Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, Aubrey Williams of the National Youth Administration, Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia of New York City, and Anna Rosenberg, the regional director of the Social Security Board for New York. Williams, La Guardia, and Rosenberg were noted liberals. Randolph opened by unequivocally demanding that the president issue an executive order banning segregation and racial discrimination in the defense industry. This was his price to call off the march. Roosevelt, desperate to seek a resolution, responded: “Well, Phil [Randolph], you know I can’t do that. . . . In any event I couldn’t do anything unless you called off this march of yours” (quoted in Buckley 2001, 271). Randolph was adamant that the president should give way before he would agree to call off the march, and he warned the president to expect 100,000 protesters instead of the originally predicted 10,000. This disclosure visibly shocked the president, and it was clear to many of those at the meeting that Randolph would not concede. Roosevelt finally bowed to the inevitable. He asked Randolph to organize a draft of an acceptable executive order. The draft was finished by a young government lawyer, Joseph Rauh, and became Executive Order 8802. At a stroke, it did all that Randolph and his supporters wished: It banned racial discrimination in industries working on government contracts, and it forbade discrimination in training. The executive order was well timed and a model of brinkmanship, since it came into force on June 25, 1941, just a few days before the planned march on July 1. With the concessions duly signed, Randolph and the civil rights movement canceled the march. Executive Order 8802 also established the Fair Employment Practices Commission

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(FEPC), which was directly responsible to the president. The commission was to have an immense impact on the war industries. For example, the aircraft industry employed no African Americans in 1940, but by 1942 it employed 5,000. Shipyard employment for African Americans rose in the same period from 5,000 to 14,000. The FEPC was destined to have a short life. In 1946 the Senate, dominated by the South, withdrew all of its funding. By then, however, employment of African Americans in war production industries had risen to 10 percent. See also Selective Service Acts; World War II References and Further Reading Buckley, Gail. American Patriots: The Story of Blacks in the Military from the Revolution to Desert Storm. New York: Random House, 2001. Goodwin, Doris Kearns. No Ordinary Time. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1994. Lash, Joseph. Eleanor and Franklin: The Story of Their Relationship, Based on Eleanor Roosevelt’s Private Papers. New York: Deutsch, 1971.

Marne, Second Battle of the (July 15–August 5, 1918) The Second Battle of the Marne was the last major German offensive of World War I. The engagement, in which the Germans both lost ground and lost the war, claimed the lives of tens of thousands of men. On July 15, just as the German offensive was getting under way, the 369th Infantry, an African American unit with some African American officers, took up positions at the front, replacing an exhausted Moroccan regiment. Col. William Hayward, commander of the 369th and operating under French overall command, was warned by his commanding officer, Gen. Henry Joseph Etienne Gouraud, to expect a major German assault on his four-mile section of the front. Hayward later said,

The first thing I knew all there was between the German Army and Paris on a stretch of front a little more than four miles long was my regiment of Negroes. But it was fair enough at that; all there was between us and Berlin was the German Army. They tried pretty hard to get by, but they never did. No German ever got into a trench with my regiment who did not stay there or go back with the brand of my boys upon him. (Hayward 1919, 94)

The German commander, Erich Ludendorff, convinced that an attack in Flanders was the way to win the war, had intended to draw the Allies away from Belgium and into the Marne as a diversion. He planned to then launch a massive offensive further to the north. The Germans had made an earlier attack toward Paris, and on July 15 twenty-three German divisions of the First and Third Armies dashed themselves against Gouraud’s French First Army (of which the 369th was a part). This blow came to the east of Reims while another seventeen divisions of the German Seventh and Ninth Armies launched an offensive against the French Sixth Army to the west. It was Ludendorff ’s intention to split the two main French armies, which were supported by about 85,000 U.S. troops and elements of Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig’s British Expeditionary Force. German attacks to the east failed, and at 11 a.m. on the first day of the offensive the attacks were called off. To the west of Reims, the situation was more critical. The Germans had succeeded in bursting through the French Sixth Army and crossed the Marne. The Allies counterattacked with the French Ninth Army supported by American, British, and Italian troops. The Germans’ hopes of further advances were shattered by July 17. On July 18 the Allied supreme commander, Gen. Ferdinand Foch, ordered a massive counteroffensive by twenty-four French divisions supported by American, British, and Italian units as well as by nearly 350 tanks. The German salient had to be pinched out; the French

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Cantonment behind the lines on the Marne Front, France. African American troops engage in vigorous exercises before going to the front. (National Archives)

Tenth and Sixth Armies managed to advance about five miles on the first day. Supporting attacks by the French Fifth and Ninth Armies made headway in the west. By July 20 the Germans were in retreat, and by August 3 they had lost all the ground they had gained since the major spring offensive of 1918. They dug in again around the Aisne and Vesle Rivers, halting the Allied counteroffensive on August 6. By the end of the battle, the Germans had lost a staggering 168,000 men. The French forces had taken the brunt of the fighting and had lost 98,000 men; the British, 13,000; and the United States, 12,000. After this decisive defeat, Ludendorff canceled his plans to launch his offensive in Flanders. The men of the 369th not only held their ground but were also involved in the counteroffensives against the German salient (also

called the Marne bulge). As part of the French 161st Division, they attacked Butte de Mesnil, a strong German position. It was their first participation in an advance, and they performed well. In one German counterattack, the regiment was subjected to a forty-five-minute bombardment during which about 9,000 shells were fired at them. The ensuing German infantry assault was thrown back. In mid-August the regiment was given a week’s respite after having spent 130 days on the line. When the 369th returned to the 161st after the rest, it officially became part of the division rather than being merely attached to it.

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Mason, USS

References and Further Reading American Battle Monument Commission (ABMC). 93d Division: Summary of Operations in the World War. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1944. Barbeau, Arthur E., and Florette Henri. The Unknown Soldiers: African American Troops in World War I. New York: Da Capo, 1996. Hayward, William. “Not One of the Famous 369th Was Ever Taken Alive.” Literary Digest 60, March 15, 1919.

Mason, USS (DE-529) (1944–1947) The USS Mason, an Evarts-class destroyer escort of 1,140 tons, was constructed at the Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts. It was named in honor of Ens. Newton Henry Mason, a pilot who was killed in action during the Battle of Coral Sea (May 8–9, 1942). The vessel, commissioned in March 1944, was the first U.S. Navy vessel to have a largely African American enlisted complement. It was employed on convoy escort duties in the Atlantic and Mediterranean through the remainder of World War II. The Mason was labeled “Eleanor’s Folly,” a reference to Eleanor Roosevelt, a vocal advocate

Sailors of the destroyer USS Mason (DE 529), commissioned at Boston Navy Yard on March 20, 1944, look over their ship, one of two ships during World War II to have a predominantly African American crew. (National Archives) | 263 |

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of desegregation of the armed forces. The vessel’s first captain, Lt. Cmdr. William Blackford, was the great-grandson of the abolitionist Mary Berkeley Minor Blackford. The Mason was a destroyer escort with 6 white officers and 160 African American enlisted men; by the time the vessel was decommissioned in 1945, all of the petty officers were African American. The vessel escorted six convoys across the North Atlantic. On one occasion it was escorting a convoy of merchant ships to England when a terrible storm struck, forcing the convoy to split up. The part of the convoy the Mason was then escorting had nearly reached its destination when the ship’s deck split, threatening the ship. As soon as emergency repairs had been carried out, the ship immediately returned to assist the rest of the convoy. As a result the crew was recommended for commendations by the captain and the convoy commander, Commander Alfred Lind, but they were never awarded. In the immediate aftermath of World War II, the vessel was used as a training and experimental ship, and it was finally decommissioned in October 1945 and sold for scrap in March 1947. In 1994 President Bill Clinton awarded the long-overdue commendation to the sixty-seven surviving crewmembers. In April 2003 the navy commissioned its newest guided missile destroyer USS Mason (DDG 87), in part to mark the contribution of the earlier ship of the same name to equality and desegregation in the U.S. Navy. See also U.S. Navy; World War II References and Further Reading Kelly, Mary Pat. Proudly We Served: The Men of the USS Mason. Annapolis, MD: U.S. Naval Institute, 1999.

Massacre Canyon (September 18, 1879) Troopers of the African American 9th Cavalry were ambushed at Massacre Canyon, in the Black Range Mountains in New Mexico, by the Apache guerrilla leader Victorio and about sixty of his men. On the morning of September 18, 1879, Company B, commanded by Lt. Byron Dawson, and Company E, under Capt. Ambrose Hooker, closed in on Victorio and his band of Apaches, whom the U.S. Army had been chasing for some months. Later estimates suggest that there may have been as many as 150 Apaches present, but this number may have included noncombatants. Led by Navajo scouts, the troopers entered the Las Animas Creek area, where there was a canyon in which Victorio and his men had set a trap. As the men advanced on foot into the canyon, the Apaches opened fire on three sides. In the ensuing battle, at least five troopers were killed and one was wounded, and, almost as grievous a loss, thirty-six of their horses were also killed. Lt. Col. Nathan A. M. Dudley was in overall command of the units. Companies B and E took the brunt of the fighting. Even when Companies C and G arrived, led by Capt. Charles D. Beyer and Lt. William H. Hugo, the cavalry could not dislodge the Apaches. Three Medals of Honor were awarded to men involved in the battle. One was awarded to African American Sgt. John Denny for retrieving wounded soldiers and carrying them to safety under fire. With wounded men and a great number of casualties among its mounts, the cavalry withdrew, leaving most of its equipment to be captured by the Apaches. Two officers were also awarded Medals of Honor: Lt. Mathius Day refused to leave his wounded behind and reentered the canyon to retrieve his men. Lt. Robert Emmitt (or Emmet) of G troop attempted to make a flank attack on the Apaches, and he and five of his men were surrounded. Nevertheless, he and his men held

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their position and prevented the Apaches from getting around the rear of the rest of the command. Emmitt held his position while his men retrieved their horses before they all made a successful escape. Immediately following the battle at Massacre Canyon, Victorio was pursued by more of the cavalry. Victorio managed to ambush the troops on September 24, 1879, on the Cuchillo Negro River and again on the twenty-ninth at Ojo Caliente. By then the 9th Cavalry was exhausted, and the men were relieved to see Victorio slip across the border into Mexico at the end of October. He did not return to the United States until the following year. As was typical of awards made during this period, it took a number of years before the Medal of Honor was presented to Sergeant Denny. He had to wait sixteen years; he did not receive his award until 1895. By then the sergeant had twice been reduced to a private for brawling. He retired as a corporal in September 1897. See also Apache Wars; Buffalo Soldiers; 9th Cavalry References and Further Reading Amos, Preston E. Above and beyond in the West: Black Medal of Honor Winners, 1870–1890. Washington, DC: Potomac Corral, Westerners, 1974. Schubert, Frank N. Black Valor. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1997.

Meuse-Argonne Offensive (September 26– November 11, 1918) The Meuse-Argonne offensive was the greatest U.S. offensive of World War I. The American Expeditionary Force (AEF) faced a veteran German army that had spent four years fortifying the rough, hilly terrain. The key Allied objective

was Sedan, but to take it the Germans would have to be driven off much of the ground they had occupied since 1914. The six-week operation directly involved units of the African American 92d and 93d Divisions. The AEF casualties were 26,277 killed and 95,786 wounded. The 92d Division was sent up to the front lines prior to the offensive. The most difficult task fell to its 368th Regiment, which was required to maintain a link between the American First Army (77th Division) and the French Fourth Army (37th Division). Officially the unit was expected not only to advance with the rest of the offensive but also to ensure that constant liaison was maintained between the two Allied forces on an 800-meter front. The regiment was unprepared for the task and had never before served as a liaison unit. It was not familiar with the terrain and had not been equipped with wire cutters, maps, or clear objectives. Unfortunately, when the 368th climbed out of the trenches to charge across no-man’s-land toward the enemy positions on September 26, a chain of events was set in motion that for the next thirty years would unfairly tarnish African Americans’ reputation for prowess in combat. As the 2d Battalion led off, with the 3d Battalion in support, it became immediately obvious that the massive artillery bombardment had done little to break up the German defenses. The path in front of them was littered with shell holes and intact barbed wire and trench works. Almost immediately, the regiment came under intense machine-gun fire. The lead battalions did not have wire cutters, and so instead of being able to advance directly toward their targets, they were forced to take circuitous routes. As a result, by the middle of the afternoon the regiment had lost contact with the 77th Division, and by the early evening the men no longer knew where the French 37th Division was either. Luckily, communications were reestablished before nightfall. The next day the two battalions of the 368th were directed to move in on German positions dug in around Clotilde. Again lack of equipment

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and maps made the advance a fiasco: Units became isolated, and there was no cohesion to the advance. Furthermore, when the 3d Battalion approached the main German defense line, it came under heavy artillery, machine-gun, and rifle fire and fled. The battalion commander withdrew his troops to their original positions. The 368th was reinforced that night by two companies from the 351st Machine Gun Battalion, by a squadron of the 10th French Dragoons, and by French artillery. The offensive was resumed the following morning, heading for Binarville. Again lack of equipment and ineffective artillery support forced the troops to withdraw. So far the 1st Battalion of the 368th had not been committed, but now the French command ordered them to the front in order to renew the attack. The 1st Battalion managed to push through and advance six miles beyond Binarville, since by then events elsewhere were beginning to force the Germans into a general withdrawal. The 369th Infantry Regiment, 93d Division, also an African American unit, was also involved in the Meuse-Argonne offensive. After the preliminary bombardment on September 25—more than six hours of continuous shelling—the regiment burst through what remained of the German defenses. To its left was the terrifying 2d Moroccan Division, notorious for using cold steel rather than bullets. On its right was the regular French 163d Regiment. The three units quickly ran into machine-gun fire, and all suffered high casualties. Nevertheless, they pressed the Germans hard, forcing them to evacuate their trench works and the nearby town of Ripont. Later in the offensive, the 369th helped capture the Bellevue Signal Station and the vitally important railroad junction at Sechault. Here the regiment encountered fortified German positions, and only by making a series of dashes from German strong point to German strong point was it able to clear the town of the Germans. The 369th had suffered 851 casualties in just five days. Col. William Hayward, the commander of the 369th, and the other officers of

the regiment were roundly criticized by the African American press and public for the enormous casualty rate. However, the regiment suffered the same proportion of losses as did other regiments, and the losses did much to expunge the bad reputation the 368th’s problems had given African American soldiers. Directly after the termination of the offensive, the men of the 369th were transferred to the Vosges region for much-needed rest and reorganization. See also 92d Division; 93d Division; 369th Infantry Regiment; World War I References and Further Reading Barbeau, Arthur E., and Florette Henri. The Unknown Soldiers. New York: Da Capo, 1996. Gibbons, Floyd. And They Thought We Wouldn’t Fight. New York: Doran, 1918. Mason, Monroe, and Arthur Furr. The American Negro with the Red Hand of France. Boston: Cornhill, 1920. Scott, Emmett J. Scott’s Official History of the American Negro in the World War. New York: Arno Press/New York Times, 1969.

Military Intelligence, African Americans in African American involvement in U.S. military intelligence dates to the American Revolution. James Armistead was a slave who in September 1781 played a key role in the deception operations against Gen. Charles Cornwallis, operations that were intended to prevent Cornwallis from withdrawing from Yorktown. Armistead had already worked for Gen. Marquis de Lafayette as a courier in the South, but it was at Yorktown that he played his most crucial role. Armistead, posing as a refugee, entered the British lines and offered his services as a spy. The British dispatched him back to the American lines, asking him to inform them of the

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Americans’ deployment. He brought back to the British a falsified American order to Gen. Daniel Morgan, telling him to bring up his reserves (which did not exist). Armistead told the British he had found the dispatch but could not read the contents. His deception helped pin Cornwallis in Yorktown on the defensive, which ultimately led to Cornwallis’s defeat at the hands of Gen. George Washington. Armistead was granted a life pension and his freedom, and at this time he adopted “Lafayette” as his surname. Strangely, when Cornwallis was wined and dined after the defeat, James Armistead Lafayette was one of the servants, but the British commander failed to recognize him. Saul Matthews, a contemporary of James Armistead Lafayette, was recruited by Col. Josiah Parker in 1781. Matthews was instrumental in collecting intelligence about British deployment around Portsmouth and the James River. He also led a reconnaissance that netted several British prisoners. The Virginia legislature granted him his freedom in 1792. The next major period of African American involvement in military intelligence came during the American Civil War. Among the many who did so was Mary Bowser, part of Elizabeth van Lew’s spy network based in Richmond, Virginia. In 1851, after van Lew’s father died, Bowser was among the family slaves given their freedom. Bowser was planted as a servant in the home of Jefferson Davis, and each night she traveled to van Lew’s house to report what she had overheard during the day. It is said that Bowser had perfect recall of the exact details of conversations and a photographic memory for documents. She continued to operate throughout the war and was never compromised. Bowser may have been the best-placed Union agent of the war; unfortunately, all records of the information she collected were destroyed after the war. Harriet Tubman had escaped from slavery in 1849, and in the early 1850s she began helping other slaves escape from the south. For several years, she operated as a conductor on the Underground Railroad, but later in the war she was

asked to provide intelligence on the Confederates in South Carolina. Tubman organized a group of recently freed slaves into a network to provide the intelligence, and she led a Union raiding party up the Combahee River; her knowledge of the area enabled her to avoid Confederate troops. In 1889 Congress authorized a system of military attachés, whose job it was to observe and report on the training and exercises of foreign armies, to be under the control of the Military Information Division (MID), which had been established four years earlier. One of the first attachés was the African American veteran Charles Young, who had served with the Buffalo Soldiers of the 9th and 10th Cavalries as well as the 25th Infantry. Young, who was fluent in Latin, Greek, French, Spanish, and German, served as the military attaché at the American legation in Port au Prince, Haiti, between 1904 and 1907. During his period of service in Haiti, he produced maps of the area and carried out a series of in-depth reconnaissance missions in the region. Following his work in Haiti, Young was transferred to the 2d Division of the War Department in Washington. The 2d Division was a newly created intelligence unit under the auspices of the general staff. After a spell as a field commander in the Philippines (1908–1912), Young was again sent as a military attaché to Liberia, where he advised the Liberian constabulary and supervised the improvement of communications and transport infrastructure. For his work in Liberia, he received the Springarn Medal, awarded by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for outstanding achievement by an African American. In 1916 Young played a key role in the punitive expedition mounted against Francisco “Pancho” Villa, and as a result he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and then, in 1917, to full colonel. As a result of illness (on the eve of his deployment, the U.S. Army retired him on medical grounds), he did not see active duty until he was recalled as military attaché to Liberia. He

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Marine Corps Air Station with Doppler radar. In the post–World War II era, the military intelligence branch has been eager to use the talents of America’s minority groups and has had a strong tradition of including African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans. (Chris Sorenson/CORBIS)

died on January 8, 1922, on a military intelligence mission to Lagos, Nigeria. During World War II, the Counterintelligence Corps (CIC) recruited just over seventy African Americans to serve as agents in the Caribbean command. More agents were recruited after 1944, and generally the U.S. military intelligence community was beginning to open up to African Americans. A number of African American civilians were also employed at the Signal Security Agency, based at Arlington Hall Station. They worked to break enemy codes and to protect U.S. communications from enemy agents. These African Americans were among the first to be employed directly by the government. In the immediate aftermath of World War II, African Americans were becoming increasingly integrated into the military. During the Cold

War, Col. Dallas C. Brown Jr. commanded Field Station Berlin, a listening post monitoring Russian military communications. In 1978 he was promoted to brigadier general, the first African American to be promoted to this rank in military intelligence. Other African Americans were close behind Brown in rising to prominence in military intelligence. Julius Parker Jr., who had attended the U.S. Army War College, took command of the 501st Military Intelligence Group in Korea in 1977. He later became the executive to the assistant chief of staff for intelligence. Parker was instrumental in organizing the U.S. Army’s first combat electronic warfare intelligence unit, and in 1980 he became the deputy chief of staff for intelligence, forces command. In 1981 he transferred to Europe, and in August 1984 he became the deputy director of the Defense Intelli-

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gence Agency. Parker took over command of the Intelligence Center and School in August 1985, and in July 1987, by now a major general, he became the first chief of the Military Intelligence (MI) Corps. He had activated fourteen of the eighteen MI battalions and four of its seven brigades. The first African American sergeant major of the MI Corps was George W. Howell. He joined the army’s 502d Airborne Infantry, 101st Airborne Division in 1954. During his thirty-one years in uniform, he served in the artillery, in the special forces, and ultimately in the signal and intelligence units in Germany, Thailand, Vietnam, and Hawaii. Between 1972 and 1975 he rose to the rank of command sergeant major at the U.S. Army Military Intelligence Center (at Fort Huachuca, Arizona). From 1975 to 1978 he worked with the 125th Signal Battalion in Hawaii, moving to the army’s Electronics Research and Development Command (in Adelphi, Maryland) and later to the Atmospheric Science Laboratory at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. His last posting was to the Intelligence and Security Command from 1982 until 1985, when he retired. Especially in the post–World War II era, the military intelligence branch has been keen to use the talents of America’s minority groups and has had a strong tradition of including African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans. See also American Civil War; American Revolution; Black Dispatches; Lafayette, James; Pancho Villa Campaign; U.S. Army; World War II; Young, Charles References and Further Reading Hamm, Diane L. Military Intelligence: Its Heroes and Legends. Arlington, VA: U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command, 1987. Jensen, Joan M. Army Surveillance in America, 1775–1980. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1991. Powe, Marc B., and Edward E. Wilson. The

Evolution of American Military Intelligence. Fort Huachuca, AZ: U.S. Army Intelligence Center and School, 1973.

Militia Act of 1792 The Militia Act of 1792 was an attempt to resolve the ongoing disputes between Federalists and Antifederalists over which government authority would control the nation’s primary military force—the federal government or individual state governments. The matter had proved so controversial that it had been deliberately passed over in the drafting of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights for fear it would make the ratification of either of these documents well nigh impossible. Instead, Congress tackled the issue in its second session, enacting a bill on May 8, 1792, that clearly outlined the specifications for state militias but granted states tremendous leeway in how they organized and managed these units. The president was granted authorization to call up the state militias but only after completing a number of specific steps designed as a check on his power. This act served as an important precedent for later questions regarding the balance of power between the federal government and the states. For African Americans, the law had an additional, far-reaching impact. In the act’s first section, it specifically limited participation in the state militias to white men, a provision that did not appear in an earlier version of the bill but was inserted just before its passage. Not only did the act serve as a model for state militias until well into the twentieth century (thus discouraging African Americans from serving in these organizations), but it also set a precedent for the federal army as well. Thus, this legislation reversed any gains African American soldiers and sailors had made during the American Revolution and ensured that their participation

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in the military throughout the nineteenth century would be limited at best. See also American Revolution; Colonial America References and Further Reading Kaplan, Sidney, and Emma Nogrady Kaplan. The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution. Rev. ed. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1989. Nell, William Cooper. Colored Patriots of the American Revolution. Salem, NH: Ayer, 1986. Wilson, Joseph T. The Black Phalanx: A History of the Negro Soldier of the United States in the Wars of 1775–1812, 1861–1865. 1890. Reprint, Salem, NH: Ayer, 1992.

Miller, Dorie (1919–1943) Doris (Dorie) Miller was an African American mess attendant second class on the USS West Virginia. During the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, he rescued fellow sailors and manned an anti-aircraft machine gun until the ship was abandoned, shooting down at least one Japanese bomber. Miller was born near Waco, Texas, in 1919, and at the age of nineteen he joined the U.S. Navy. When the United States entered World War II, he was coming to the end of his first term of enlistment, serving as a mess attendant on the battleship USS West Virginia. (At that time, the only positions open to African Americans in the Navy were mess attendants, stewards, or cooks.) A former fullback on his high school football team, Miller was his ship’s heavyweight boxing champion. In the early morning of December 7, 1941, Miller was doing laundry rounds when he heard the alarm for general quarters. He rushed to the deck and helped move wounded soldiers and officers through oil and water to the quarterdeck, “thereby unquestionably saving the lives of a

A 1943 armed forces recruiting poster showing Dorie Miller with his Navy Cross at Pearl Harbor. (Library of Congress)

number of people who might otherwise have been lost,” according to Lt. F. H. White, who was supervising the rescue operation. Miller then manned a 50 caliber Browning anti-aircraft machine gun (which he had not been trained to use) and fired until he ran out of ammunition and the order came to abandon ship. “It wasn’t hard,” Miller said. “I just pulled the trigger and she worked fine. I had watched the others with these guns. I guess I fired her for about fifteen minutes.” Accounts as to how many Japanese planes Miller was instrumental in shooting down range from one to four. After Pearl Harbor, Miller reported to the USS Indianapolis. On May 7, 1942, the commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet, Adm. Chester Nimitz, presented Miller with the Navy Cross, making him the first African American in the Pacific Fleet so honored. Miller returned to

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the United States in November 1942 and was assigned to the escort carrier USS Liscome Bay in the spring of 1943 where he was promoted to Ship’s Cook, Third Class. The Liscome Bay was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in the South Pacific on November 24, 1943. Miller, along with most of the crew, went down with the ship. Only 272 men survived the sinking of the vessel, and Miller was among the 646 who lost their lives. He was officially presumed dead on November 25, 1944. On June 30, 1973, a frigate, the USS Miller, was named in his honor. The story of Dorie Miller was featured in the film Pearl Harbor (2001), in which Miller was played by actor Cuba Gooding Jr. See also U.S. Navy; World War II References and Further Reading Goodwin, Doris Kearns. No Ordinary Time. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1994. Washburn, Patrick S. A Question of Sedition. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.

Montford Point Marines (World War II) The Montford Point Marine Training Center in North Carolina was the home of the first African American troops allowed to join the U.S. Marines. Two units trained there for combat assignments, and another 17,000 men trained for noncombat assignments during World War II. The U.S. Marine Corps was the last branch of the military services to accept African Americans. In 1942 the secretary of the navy ordered the navy—and the Marines, which was a component of the navy—to accept African Americans. Senior marine officers were frightened and more than a little confused; Gen. Ray A. Robinson recalled in an oral history interview that he stated to the Selective Service: “‘Eleanor [Roosevelt] says we gotta take in Negroes, and

we are just scared to death; we’ve never had any in, we don’t know how to handle them, we are afraid of them.’ [A Selective Service spokesman] said, ‘I’ll do my best to help you get good ones. I’ll get the word around that if you want to die young, join the Marines. So anybody that joins [has] got to be pretty good.’ And it was the truth. We got some awfully good Negroes.” (quoted in MacGregor 1981, chap. 4). Segregation was still the policy of the armed services, however, and in order to accommodate African Americans at all the Marines had to set up separate facilities. Montford Point, a large training reservation at Marine Barracks, New River (later renamed Camp Lejeune), North Carolina, was the center designated for African Americans. Although enlistment had begun on June, the black recruits were placed on inactive status until Montford Point was ready, on August 26. Initial plans called for creation of a single all-black unit of 1,200 men. However, this modest goal was quickly overtaken by events: a change in recruitment policy meant that over 15,000 African Americans were to be added to the Marine Corps. By 1946, Montford Point had trained over 19,000 black Marines, about 3,000 volunteers, and 16,000 draftees. By May 1943 the majority of the drill instructors and platoon sergeants at Montford Point were African American. These men pushed the recruits even harder than had the white noncommissioned training officers they replaced. The Marines’ strict segregation policies made it difficult to train African American units for combat, since every man in a unit, regardless of function, had to be black. With the relatively small size of the corps it was difficult to set up separate facilities to train sufficient men to fill all the slots. Only the 51st and the 52d Composite Defense Battalions would be trained for combat assignments. Other units were intended as ammunition, or depot companies—ironically many of these ended up in the thick of the action in the Pacific, despite their support role, suffering casualties and winning combat citations for their units. The 51st and 52d, on the other hand, were never deployed in combat

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during World War II; they became combat-ready just when the need for such troops was on the decline. The effective exclusion of African American Marines from combat, and the lack of any recruitment of black officers until the last months of the war, provoked protest from civil rights leaders, to little avail. The separate training facility at Montford Point was closed down in September 1949 following President Harry Truman’s executive order desegregating the armed services. See also U.S. Marine Corps; U.S. Navy; World War II References and Further Reading Holcomb, Thomas. “Enlistment of Men of Colored Race.” Testimony in Hearings of the General Board of the Navy. January 23, 1942. Operational Archives Branch, Naval Historical Center. Washington, DC. MacGregor, Morris J. Integration of the Armed Forces, 1940–1965. Defense Studies. Washington, DC: Center of Military History, U.S. Army, 1981. Available at http://www.army.mil/ cmh-pg/books/integration/IAF-FM.htm. Shaw, Henry I., Jr., and Ralph W. Donnelly. Blacks in the Marine Corps. Washington, DC: History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1975.

Senator Samuel Pomeroy of Kansas. Montgomery was finally authorized to raise an African American regiment, the 2d South Carolina Volunteers, for the Department of the South. The regiment was organized during the spring of 1863 in Beaufort and Hilton Head, South Carolina, largely from refugee ex-slaves. By June 1863 the unit had seen action in the occupation of Jacksonville, Florida, and at Darien, Georgia. In both cases, Montgomery had ordered his regiment to burn the Confederate towns. At Darien, the 54th Massachusetts was under the command of Col. Robert Gould Shaw, who was disgusted by the torching of the town. In August 1863 Montgomery was given command of a brigade that initially consisted of the 54th Massachusetts and 2d and 3d South Carolina Colored Infantry. In the 1864 Florida campaign Montgomery’s Brigade, then consisting of the 54th Massachusetts and the 1st North Carolina Colored Infantry, fought at the Battle of Olustee on February 20, 1864, where it distinguished itself and covered the retreat of the Union army. Olustee proved to be the highwater mark of Montgomery’s military career. See also American Civil War; 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment; 1st North Carolina Colored Volunteers; Olustee, Battle of; United States Colored Troops (appendixes) References and Further Reading

Montgomery’s Brigade (1863–1864) (Civil War)

Cornish, Dudley Taylor. The Sable Arm: Black Troops in the Union Army, 1861–1865. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1987. (Originally New York: Longmans Green, 1956.)

Colonel James Montgomery was a colorful and controversial figure. A Free-State irregular during the 1850s conflicts in Kansas, in the early days of the Civil War he had commanded a regiment there but fell out with other Free-Staters over the command of a newly organized African American regiment in Kansas. In December 1862 he left for Washington, D.C., where he met with President Abraham Lincoln, the prominent abolitionist George Stearns, and

Mulzac, Hugh (1886–1971) Captain Hugh Mulzac was the first African American merchant marine officer to command an integrated crew during World War II.

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Hugh Mulzac, the first African American merchant marine captain, and his family, Brooklyn, New York, 1940s. (Joseph Schwartz Collection/CORBIS)

Hugh Mulzac was born on the island of Saint Vincent in the West Indies and attended the Swansea Nautical College in South Wales before becoming a U.S. citizen in 1918. He continued his training with the Shipping Board in New York and became a captain in 1920. He was not allowed to command a ship due to his race and instead served as a mate and later as a chief cook. When he was first offered a ship with an all–African American crew, he is reputed to have said, “Under no circumstances will I command a Jim Crow vessel” (quoted in U.S. Maritime Service). As a result of his stance on this issue, he would have to wait twenty-two years for a command. He was placed in command of the SS Booker T. Washington in 1942.

His crew was fully integrated, including men of no fewer than eighteen different nationalities. He made twenty-two trips carrying about 18,000 troops to the European and Pacific theaters, and he saw the creation of his command as being the ultimate achievement of everything that he had fought for and dreamed of. On the day the Washington was launched, Mulzac said

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Everything I ever was, ever stood for, dreamed of, came into focus that day. The concrete evidence of the achievement gives one’s strivings legitimacy, proves that the ambitions were valid, the struggle worthwhile. Being prevented for those twenty-four years from doing the work for which I was trained had robbed life of

Mulzac, Hugh

its most essential meaning. Now at last I could use my training and capabilities fully. It was like being born anew (U.S. Maritime Service).

See also U.S. Navy; World War II References and Further Reading

The ship was turned over to the Maritime Commission in 1947, and Mulzac lost his command. He did not receive another officer’s position until 1960, as a night mate. Mulzac died in 1971, never having been fully recognized for his achievements. He received veteran’s status in 1988 after a lengthy court battle.

U.S. Maritime Service. “African-Americans in the U.S. Merchant Marine and U.S. Maritime Service.” http://www.usmm.org/africanamericans.html.

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n National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), originally called the National Negro Committee, was founded on February 12, 1909, to work for civil and political liberties for African Americans. Among the notable individuals who founded the multiracial group of activists were Ida Wells-Barnett, W. E. B. Du Bois, Henry Moscowitz, Mary White Ovington, Oswald Garrison Villard, and William English Walling. The NAACP’s involvement in championing the rights of African Americans in the U.S. military must be seen in the wider context of its struggles for civil and political liberties for the African American population as a whole. The NAACP’s first major involvement with the U.S. military occurred in 1917 when it worked to convince President Woodrow Wilson’s administration that African Americans should be commissioned as officers. As a result of its efforts, 600 African American officers were commissioned. Its next major involvement was in 1941, when it was instrumental in convincing President Franklin D. Roosevelt to order a policy of nondiscrimination in war-related industries and federal employment.

In 1948, under intense pressure from the NAACP, President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9981, which banned discrimination by the federal government and effectively began the period of complete desegregation of the U.S. armed forces. Prior to World War I, the NAACP was essentially a Northern organization, and in 1917 it had eighty branches with 9,282 members. By 1919 activity and membership had expanded to 310 branches and 91,203 members. Although a number of its key members were white, about 90 percent of the membership was African American. To a large extent, NAACP members were well educated, prosperous, and middle or upper class. Despite their attainments they continued to be marginalized, and they were significantly more sensitive to inequality and discrimination than less well educated African Americans of the time. After the NAACP’s struggle against segregation, perhaps its most significant campaign was that against the disenfranchisement of Southern African Americans. This continued drive to ensure broad African American suffrage eventually forced successive Washington administrations to realize that unless significant steps were made, they risked losing the African American vote. The NAACP, with a total membership of over 500,00, continues to launch campaigns and

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challenge U.S. Congress or the U.S. Supreme Court on issues related to African American rights. Its Armed Services Division works with the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments to ensure effective handling of discrimination issues and helps African American students who wish to attend U.S. military academies. See also Executive Order 9981 References and Further Reading Aptheker, Herbert, ed. A Documentary History of the Negro People in the United States: From the Reconstruction Years to the Founding of the NAACP in 1910. New York: Citadel Press, 1989. –––––. A Documentary History of the Negro People in the United States: From the Emergence of the NAACP to the Beginning of the New Deal. New York: Citadel Press, 1990.

National Guard First established in 1636 by the colony of Massachusetts for the purposes of home defense, the National Guard is the oldest military organization in the United States, although until the late nineteenth century, the units were known as militia rather than National Guard. Each National Guard is organized and administered by its own state, with the governor of the state serving as commander-in-chief except in times of national emergency, when the president fulfills this role. Throughout much of American history, the militia held the primary responsibility for defense, particularly in the colonial period, when militia units vastly outnumbered British regulars. Each colony determined its own eligibility requirements for the militia, but usually every able-bodied adult white male was expected to serve. The acceptance of black troops varied from colony to colony, although almost all allowed, or sometimes even compelled, African

American participation in times of crisis. Some colonies, such as North Carolina, armed all blacks and had them serve in fully integrated units. Other colonies, like Virginia, reluctantly armed free blacks only and used them mostly in support positions for labor. The circumstances in each colony and in each period of crisis changed dramatically over time. Militia units saw action in all of the colonial wars and skirmishes that marked this period in American history, from the Pequot War of 1637 to the Battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775. Most of these units contained some African American component. During the American Revolution, most black soldiers served in newly formed state militias rather than in the Continental army, which only grudgingly accepted them after the first year of the war. In the country’s first years as a nation, blacks were prohibited from joining the militia by the Militia Act of 1792, which Congress enacted primarily to resolve the dispute concerning whether state or federal institutions controlled the militias, but the law also specifically limited participation in the militia to white males. Informally, many blacks did serve in state militias, and just as in the colonial period, the state militias comprised the majority of the nation’s military strength, being far larger than the regular army and meaning that many African Americans participated in the numerous conflicts in which the nation became involved during this period, from Native American disputes to the War of 1812 against the British and the Mexican-American War of the 1840s. In fact, nearly 70 percent of the troops deployed in the Mexican-American War were from state militias. State militias on both sides also comprised a large percentage of the forces that fought in the Civil War, and African Americans were more welcome in these organizations than in the regular army and navy. During Reconstruction, Congress passed several pieces of legislation designed to allow African Americans greater opportunities to participate in state militias, and several states responded quickly to form

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Color bearers of the 15th Regiment Infantry (later the 369th), New York National Guard. The unit earned the nickname the “Harlem Hellfighters.” (National Archives)

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all–African American units. North Carolina was the first to form such a unit in 1874 with the creation of a five-company battalion of black militiamen. Ironically, South Carolina, the bastion of slavery’s defense, had a militia with more black soldiers than white. Many states did not limit the roles African Americans could play in militia organizations, permitting them to serve in all ranks, including as officers. Other states quickly followed the example of states in the Reconstruction South, so that by the 1880s, most states had at least one all–African American unit. Although these segregated units seemed to be flourishing, a white backlash against them began to emerge in the 1890s, prompting many states to disband them. Particularly in the South, with the effects of Reconstruction fading and racism on the rise, whites objected to large bands of armed blacks in their midst and called for an end to the units. State governments responded, and at the least severely limited the presence of black militia troops. Throughout these years, though, the National Guard, including its African American component, continued to play a major role in providing security, both domestically and abroad. Thousands of Guardsmen served in the Spanish-American War, where they once again far outnumbered the regular armed forces. They also helped quell civil disturbances such as riots and assisted in times of natural disaster like floods and fires. In addition, they had extensive ceremonial duties, marching in parades and providing honor guards at various state functions. Only a handful of black units remained at the outbreak of World War I in 1914. When the United States finally entered the conflict in 1917, these troops were quickly amalgamated into the American Expeditionary Force and deployed to Europe, where they acquitted themselves well. National Guardsmen also served in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, although by the second half of the twentieth century, the role of the National Guard in providing defense had diminished, eclipsed by the growth of the regular armed forces. The National Guard re-

mains an important component of the reservist system, however, and African Americans continue to occupy a significant place within the Guard. See also American Civil War; American Revolution; Antebellum Period; 1812, War of; Lexington and Concord, Battles of; Little Rock Nine; 92d Division; Powell, Colin Luther; Spanish-American War; 369th Infantry Regiment; U.S. Army; United States Colored Troops (appendixes); World War I; World War II References and Further Reading Black, L. Negro Volunteer Militia Units of Ohio National Guard, 1870–1954. Manhattan, KS: Sunflower University Press, 1976. Cooper, Jerry. The Rise of the National Guard: The Evolution of the American Militia, 1865–1920. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1998. Duncan, Stephen M. Citizen Warriors: America’s National Guard and Reserve Forces and the Politics of National Security. Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1997. Johnson, Charles, Jr. African American Soldiers in the National Guard: Recruitment and Deployment during Peacetime and War. Contributions in AfroAmerican and African Studies. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1992.

New Market Heights See Chaffin’s Farm, Battle of

New Orleans, Battle of (December 1814– January 1815) A conflict noted largely for a high number of indecisive battles, the War of 1812 ended with a spectacular U.S. victory at the Battle of New

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Orleans. Emerging triumphant from the battlefield was Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson, who quickly seized the American public’s attention as a hard-fighting, shrewd war hero. Jackson boasted that he had decimated an experienced British force with a rag-tag army that included exhausted Indian fighters, pirates, aristocrats, and blacks. Throughout the fall of 1814, American military authorities suspected that the British planned to launch an attack on the gulf region of the country. Ordered to put the area in a state of military readiness for the assault, Jackson issued a proclamation calling for volunteers in mid September. Among those he called to arms were African Americans. For free blacks, he offered monetary rewards in the form of land and farms; for slaves, he offered the promise of freedom if they fought in America’s defense. The response, particularly among free blacks, was tremendous. In fact, enough free blacks answered the call to form a battalion—the socalled Battalion of the Free Men of Color. Although Jackson had not arrived to personally oversee his command yet, he ordered his subordinates to train and arm the volunteers as best they could throughout the autumn. The Americans’ defense planning was hindered by not knowing where the British intended to strike, as both Mobile and New Orleans presented inviting targets. On December 2, Jackson joined his men, and just six days later, on December 8, the British force landed on American soil. The movement of the British troops quickly made their objective apparent: New Orleans. Jackson hurriedly ordered his men, particularly the slaves who many believed well suited to manual labor, to build defensive trench works around the city. After a few preliminary skirmishes in the swamps around New Orleans, the main battle occurred on January 8, 1815. Jackson had at his command roughly 5,000 troops, most of whom had never been tried in battle, while the British force comprised more than 8,000 regulars. The superior numbers and experience of the British proved no match for the defensive works

and determination of the Americans, however. By the end of the day, British losses totaled more than 2,000 men, including most of the general staff and both the commander of the operation and his second-in-command. Less than 50 Americans had died in combat. The British withdrew and returned to their base in the West Indies. The day after the battle, Jackson reneged on his promises of freedom for the slaves, ordered their weapons confiscated, and returned them to their owners. Free blacks fared better and did indeed receive the promised rewards of land or money, although they were banned from marching in the victory parade through the streets of New Orleans. Ironically, the battle had no impact on the course of the war, as British and American peace commissioners had reached an agreement on December 24, 1814, in Brussels, Belgium—more than two weeks before the battle occurred. News of the peace treaty had not reached either force in time to forestall more bloodshed. See also 1812, War of References and Further Reading Drotning, Phillip T. Black Heroes in Our Nation’s History. New York: Cowles, 1969. Logan, Rayford W., and Michael R. Winston. Dictionary of American Negro Biography. New York: W. W. Norton, 1982.

99th Pursuit/Fighter Squadron (World War II) The 99th Pursuit Squadron (later renamed the 99th Fighter Squadron) has the distinction of being the first African American pursuit or fighter unit and the first such unit to see combat. During World War II, the 99th provided ground support for Allied operations in North Africa and Italy. A new unit established in 1942,

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the 99th contained graduates who had been trained at Tuskegee Army Air Field and were commonly referred to as Tuskegee Airmen. The school was created exclusively to train African American pilots. There were concerns within the Army Air Corps that the difficult requirements for flight training, particularly for fighter pilots, would result in a very high dropout rate for the Tuskegee program, which might preclude training enough pilots for a squadron. In fact, the dropout rate for the aviation cadets in the Tuskegee program did not differ from those of comparable white units—around 50–60 percent—and there was no shortage of men wanting to enroll in pilot training. The first class of Tuskegee Airmen contained thirteen students, although only five would pass the rigorous testing to graduate. Determined to prove the value of African American pilots, the school demanded that all students meet the same standards as white pilots, and the course of study included a wide range of subjects, including meteorology, medicine, and engineering. The first training class graduated on March 7, 1942, and consisted of Capt. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. (a West Point graduate), Lt. George S. Roberts, Lt. Charles DeBow, Lt. Mac Ross, and Lt. Lemuel R. Curtis. Over the course of the war, several hundred graduates would join their ranks and form the backbone of the 99th Squadron. Davis, the first African American officer to fly solo, was appointed the unit’s leader. Initially, the Army Air Corps was unsure what to do with the 99th. The men had taken to calling themselves the “Lonely Eagles,” fearing they would never be allowed to serve in combat; it was to prove an inaccurate nickname. By early 1943, the pilots of the 99th had heard rumors that they were going to be sent to North Africa and increased the intensity of their training in their Curtiss P-40 Warhawk planes. By then, Davis, who had been promoted to lieutenant colonel in the interim, was officially the squadron commander. Secretary of War Henry

L. Stimson visited the Tuskegee airfield in February 1943 and was favorably impressed with the skill and enthusiasm of the pilots of the 99th. Subsequently, on April 1, 1943, the squadron was deployed for combat duty in North Africa, arriving in French Morocco on April 24 and subsequently moving to Tunisia on May 29. Attached to the 33d Fighter Group, the men of the squadron began flying ground support and ground attack missions within a few days of their arrival. Flying such missions, the 99th did not encounter many enemy aircraft, but on June 29 they joined the 324th Fighter Group and began flying missions over Sicily. Within a few days, Lt. Charles B. Hall claimed the first kill for the 99th, a German Focke-Wulf 190. From July 1943 to June 1944, the squadron flew ground support and ground attack missions, first from bases in Sicily and then from bases in Italy. During that time, criticism began to surface about the performance of the squadron, fueled in part by Col. William Momyer, the commanding officer of the 33d Fighter Group. While some of the criticisms would have applied to any squadron newly engaged in combat operations, other criticisms were more specific and had racial connotations. The primary charge was that the pilots of the 99th were not sufficiently aggressive toward the enemy as evidenced by the total of only one German aircraft shot down. This complaint failed to consider that by flying ground attack and ground support missions day after day, the pilots were unlikely to see any German aircraft unless those aircraft were on the ground. There was also the complaint that while Davis was in the air leading the squadron, it performed far better and was more aggressive than when he was not flying. As a West Point graduate and career army officer with a great deal of training for officership, Davis was markedly superior to his pilots in his ability to think tactically, which is hardly surprising. As the pilots gained experience and confidence, the grounds for this criticism began to disap-

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pear. In addition, the planes that the 99th flew, P-40s, were not designed to engage in aerial combat, particularly against superior German planes like the Messerschmitt 109s and FockeWulf 190s. The lack of maneuverability in the P-40s was why they had been relegated to a ground attack role. White squadrons flying P40s did not have a better record than the 99th, except that the 99th flew the same number of missions as the white squadrons despite having fewer pilots and aircraft. In September 1943, the 99th flew air cover in support of the Salerno landings on the mainland of Italy, and in October, after being assigned to the 79th Fighter Group, began to have a wider range of missions, including interdiction strikes against bridges, communications centers, railroad centers, and airfields throughout Italy. In January 1944, the squadron downed twelve aircraft and another four in February. In April, the 99th rejoined the 324th Fighter Group to support Allied ground forces in the Battle for Monte Cassino. In the spring of 1944, the pilots of the 99th underwent transition training on the Bell P-39 Airacobra and the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt as a prelude to the squadron becoming part of the 332d Fighter Group with the 100th, 301st, and 302d Fighter Squadrons, all of which were African American. Davis, promoted to colonel, was the commanding officer of this group. During the summer of 1944, the 99th transitioned to North American P-51 Mustangs, the aircraft with which the squadron, and the 332d Fighter Group, would secure its legend. The tails of the P-51s were painted red and the group’s pilots and their aircraft were called the Red Tails. With the P-51s came a new mission, that of escorting American bombers to targets in Germany and back. The measure of the success of the four African American fighter squadrons is that they escorted bombers over Germany over 200 times without ever losing a bomber; a remarkable and unmatched achievement. German aviators referred to the pilots of the 99th and the other three African American squadrons

Capts. Lemuel R. Custis (left) and Charles B. Hall, of the 99th Fighter Squadron of the U.S. Army Air Forces, chat while on leave in New York City, June 1944. In the year the squadron had been in combat, it had made more than 3,000 sorties and shot down 17 planes. (National Archives)

as schwartze Vogelmenschen (black birdmen), and the crews of American bombers called them Red-Tailed Angels. The 99th Fighter Squadron continued to fly missions over Europe until the end of the war in May 1945 and returned to the United States in June. Most of its pilots flew considerably more than the 50 missions considered a “tour of duty” for white pilots; some flew more than 100 missions during World War II. The increased number of missions greatly reduced a pilot’s chances of surviving European service. Back in the United States, the 99th was initially stationed at Godman Field, Kentucky, but moved to Lockbourne Army Air Base (later Air Force Base),

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Ohio in March 1946, where it remained until inactivated in July 1949. See also Davis, Benjamin Oliver, Jr.; Tuskegee Airmen; U.S. Air Force; World War II References and Further Reading Francis, Charles E., and Adolph Caso. The Tuskegee Airmen: The Men Who Changed a Nation. 4th ed. Boston: Branden, 1997. Harris, Jacqueline L. The Tuskegee Airmen: Black Heroes of World War II. Parsippany, NJ: Dillon Press, 1996. Homan, Lynn M., and Thomas Reilly. The Tuskegee Airmen. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 1998. –––––. Black Knights: The Story of the Tuskegee Airmen. Gretna, LA: Pelican, 2001. McKissack, Patricia, and Frederick McKissack. RedTail Angels: The Story of the Tuskegee Airmen of World War Two. New York: Walker, 1995. Sandler, Stanley. Segregated Skies: All-Black Combat Squadrons of WW II. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992.

92d Division (World War I) The 92d Division, made up of African American draftees commanded by graduates of the U.S. Army’s Fort Des Moines officer-training school, fought in France in World War I. Its complex history of poor training, political interference, and at times less-than-adequate conduct on the battlefield in World War I left it with a tarnished reputation. The 92d began with the singular disadvantage of being scattered for training around the country; it never assembled as a division in the United States. The initial draft of 40,000 men was reduced to 26,000. African American officers (up to company level) came from Fort Des Moines; other officers were surplus white National Guardsmen. The division was to be commanded by the head of the Fort Des Moines school, Gen. Charles C. Ballou. Ballou’s personality and failure to aggressively defend his

men against criticism contributed to many of the division’s problems, but it must be said in Ballou’s defense that the 92d was always at the end of the supply chain and was constantly short of materials and equipment. The 92d consisted of the 365th Infantry Regiment, whose men came from Texas and Oklahoma and which was commanded by Col. Vernon A. Caldwell; Col. Ralph B. Parrott’s 366th Infantry Regiment, made up of enlisted men from Alabama; the 367th Infantry Regiment, under Col. James A. Moss, New Yorkers and arguably the best regiment in the division; and the 368th Infantry Regiment, commanded by Col. William P. Jackson, made up of draftees from Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. The division also had its integral artillery support in the form of three field artillery regiments, the 349th, the 350th, and the 351st. The artillery men had hardly been trained before the division sailed to France on June 10, and by June 20 they had still been only partially instructed in the use of artillery. Furthermore, the 92d found itself assigned to the U.S. Second Army, commanded by Gen. Robert Bullard. A continuing, bitter feud between Bullard and Ballou hurt the division. Bullard hated African Americans, and he took any opportunity to snipe at the division. Ballou, for his part, recognized that some of his African American officers were below par but particularly resented the fact that his division had been the dumping ground for extremely incompetent white officers. Regrettably, many of Ballou’s white officers—and notably his chief of staff, Col. Allen J. Greer—shared Bullard’s opinion of the African American soldiers. The 92d’s arrival in France set the tone for its whole tour of duty. Gen. John J. “Black Jack” Pershing wanted to give the division to the British, but the British did not want it. In the end the 92d was loaned to the French. At Brest, the headquarters staff was billeted at a hotel, but the African American officers were sent to an unfinished barracks without beds. Luckily, the division interpreter, a French-speaking African American, Capt. Virgil Boutte, managed to get the officers into the hotel.

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When the artillery regiments arrived, they did not know their officers, and worse still, their equipment had not been shipped with them. They were poorly trained and had no means to improve their skills or get experience. Lack of equipment plagued the whole division. By August 1918 the 92d finally moved up to the front, replacing French troops in the SaintDié sector close to the German border. During the confusion of French troops moving out and the 92d moving in, the Germans launched an attack, preceded by artillery and gas; their target was Frapelle. On August 31 the 92d stopped the Germans at Frapelle, and on September 1 it beat off another attack at Ormont. As the action at the front died down, the 92d engaged in up to 13 aggressive patrols and raids a day. By September 19 it had also dealt with 11 German raids on its positions. Casualties had begun to mount; the men were raw and often made mistakes. Shortly after September 19, the division was moved to the Argonne sector to take part in the planned U.S. offensive. A fatal flaw in Pershing’s plan brought disaster to the 92d. The attack lines of the U.S. 77th Division and the French Fourth Army diverged, which created a gap of about 800 meters. The 368th Regiment joined a dismounted French cavalry regiment, the 11th Curassiers. (The ad hoc group was called Groupement Rive Droit or Groupement Durand). On the night of September 25, the 368th moved into position. The troops had no wire cutters, signal flares, grenade launchers, artillery support, or maps. When the offensive was launched, the regiment had made no headway, and on the second day, despite having taken Binarville, the regiment was in complete confusion. By the 28th, the regiment was advancing and retreating as it successively broke and rallied. Matters worsened on September 29–30, but the 368th had managed to penetrate the German defenses to a distance of six miles beyond Binarville. Total casualties for the 368th had been 48 killed and 200 wounded. The rest of

the division had been held in reserve, expecting to be thrown in as the battle developed, but the 368th was relieved on September 30 and then ordered to the rear on October 5. As a liaison unit, the 368th had failed. The 92d was sent to the Marbache sector on October 8; within a month 462 men had been killed or wounded. The African American officers were being blamed for everything, from patrol inefficiency to lack of planning to general mismanagement of the men. Pressure from Bullard continued, and his criticisms became self-fulfilling prophecies. On November 10, the division had one more opportunity to redeem itself in what was to be the last Allied offensive. The target was Metz, and the 92d Division was positioned on either side of the Moselle River, with the 368th held in reserve. The area was thick with German defenses, and the attackers were constantly under threat from enemy artillery fire and counterattacks. Nevertheless, after an initial struggle, all but the 366th made headway, and the 1st Battalion of the 367th aided the French 56th Infantry, which had been pinned down by heavy German fire. By the time the armistice was signed, all three lead regiments had made progress, at a cost of 500 men in just over a day. Bullard wrote in his diary that the 92d had “wasted time” and “dawdled.” In fact, in this offensive, the 92d had achieved more than any other unit under his command. The 92d won nearly two dozen Distinguished Service Crosses; it also suffered more than 1,500 casualties. The division was one of the first home, and it received a rapturous welcome in New York, but its war record would be forever diminished by Bullard’s words. See also 93d Division; World War I References and Further Reading Barbeau, Arthur E., and Florette Henri. The Unknown Soldiers. New York: Da Capo, 1996. Bullard, Robert L. Personalities and Reminiscences of the War. New York: Doubleday, 1925.

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–––––. American Soldiers Also Fought. New York: Longsman, 1936. Page, Arthur W. Our 110 Days’ Fighting. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1920.

93d Division (World War I) The African American 93d Division saw frontline service in World War I, during which time, it suffered 32 percent casualties. Nearly 600 of its men were killed, and more than 2,500 were wounded. The first regiment of the 93d Division arrived in France in December 1917. The 369th Infantry Regiment, formerly the 15th New York National Guard, was initially given duties laying railroad track with the Services of Supply (SOS), although the regiment had been trained as a combat unit. When the 93d arrived in France, Gen. John J. “Black Jack” Pershing was aware of the potential racial problems involved in using the new African American regiments. He wanted intact, preferably white, U.S. divisions to take their own place in the front line. In addition, the French had been pressing Washington for U.S. regiments to be inserted into their divisions as replacements. Pershing saw loaning the African American regiments to the French as a way to solve both problems. The 369th had received just three weeks’ training in the United States as an infantry unit and had then been assigned to other duties. The men now faced a greater challenge with the exchange of weapons and tactics. Swapping their Springfield rifles for the older French Lebel, the African American troops were expected to deliver bayonet charges after intense artillery bombardment rather than relying on the accuracy of their rifles. The French supplied the Americans with everything except their U.S. uniforms. Rations, too, were French, including a welcome two quarts of wine per man per day. Unlike the United States, the French had a

long tradition of integrating their nonwhite colonial troops, notably the Senegalese and Moroccans, into their armed forces, and the U.S. Army was irked by the ease with which the African American troops were incorporated into the French ranks. The 369th had left its U.S. camp at Saint-Nazaire on March 13, 1918, and moved to become part of the French 16th Division of the VIII Corps of the Fourth Army at Gwry-en-Argonie, where it was assigned a three-mile sector of the front. The regiment remained on the line for 191 days with just two periods of rest. During this period, as the fortunes on the front changed, it turned, defended, attacked, and counterattacked until the armistice in November 1918. The rest of the 93d Division arrived in France in April 1918, but the African American colonel of the 370th regiment, Col. Franklin A. Denison, was relieved of his command on July 12. He was replaced by a white officer, Col. T. A. Roberts. Roberts was the first white officer the 370th (formerly the 8th Illinois National Guard) had had in its twenty-four-year history. Roberts drew the venom of Capt. William S. Bradden, the regimental chaplain. In his history of the regiment, Under Fire with the 370th, Bradden called Roberts an “arch enemy, vilifier and traducer of the Negro soldier, the one who delighted to sign his private mail as coming from the ‘White Hope in a Black Regiment!’” (Bradden, n.d.). Despite Bradden’s opinion of Roberts, the new colonel seems to have been quickly brought around by the quality and application of his men. In August 1918 he wrote to headquarters:

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Please don’t think that after a month I am convinced that I have a world beater of a regiment—it hasn’t gone that far with me yet, but there is a lot of excellent material that is not doing as much for the cause as it is capable of doing; the men are willing and as apt in most ways as most troops that I have seen; the officers are generally good as far as I have been able to observe them. There are some weak spots that I have under observation and as

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soon as I am reasonably convinced that I am right, changes will be recommended (quoted in U.S. Army War College 1942, 62–63).

The 370th was blooded at Argonne in July 1918. During August the men of the 370th were involved in a counteroffensive in which they captured 200 machine guns, 45 mortars, 4 artillery pieces, and nearly 1,900 German prisoners. Roberts was finally of the opinion that the four regiments of the 93d should be united, but his advice was ignored and the regiments of the 370th were assigned variously to the 10th, 34th, 36th, and 73d French Divisions. By September 1918 they were part of the French 59th Division, and during this time Sgt. Matthew Jenkins earned both the Croix de Guerre and the Distinguished Service Cross. Jenkins, with Company F, stormed a German tunnel and held it for 36 hours under constant fire and attacks. On September 27 the 2d Battalion, 370th Regiment, took Ferme la Jolie at the cost of 40 men, but the action on September 30 remains controversial. The 370th was assigned to attack a heavily fortified German position beside the Aisue-Oise Canal; the assault was to go in at 9 in the evening. It is said that Roberts signaled for the attack across the canal to take place at 9 in the morning. Whatever the case, what is clear is that the regiment lost its way. It was later to be discovered, in an inspection by Maj. L. R. Fredenhall on October 5–6, that many of the African American officers could not read a map. The French commander, General Vincendon, said of the 370th, The 370th has contributed largely to the success of the 59th Division, and has taken in bitter strife both cannon and machine guns. Its units, fired by a noble ardour, got at times even beyond the objectives given them by the higher command; they have always wished to be in the front line, for the place of honor is the leading rank. They have shown in our advance that they are worthy of being there (quoted in Sweeney 1919, 154–155).

Fredenhall’s opinion was entirely different. He recommended that the regiment “be taken away from the French; that with the exception of four or five colored officers to be designated by Colonel Roberts, all of the officers be replaced by white officers; that it be trained for two weeks thereafter. It will then be a good regiment, as the men only require to be intelligently led” (quoted in U.S. Army War College 1942, 117–118). On October 6 the 370th was withdrawn from the front line, having taken nearly 500 casualties in just two weeks. By the last week of the war, the 370th was advancing through Belgium; one battalion captured a German battery at Val Saint Pierre. The 372d was led by Col. Glendie Young, a white officer who did not start his relationship with the regiment on a particularly good footing. He allowed the white officers to curtain off the majority of the officers’ barracks from the African American officers. Young’s replacement, Col. Herschel Tupes, asked that all of the African American officers be transferred out of the regiment, which did nothing to alleviate the simmering racial problems. A court of elimination was convened, manned by white officers of the 371st and 372d Regiments, to consider the quality of the African American officers. Of the twenty-one officers considered, twenty were found to be unsatisfactory, and the court recommended they be removed. During this time, an African American enlisted man was shot dead by a white officer of the regiment. Relations between the white officers and the African American members of the unit deteriorated rapidly. By September 27 the 372d was on the front line as part of the Champagne offensive. The regiment stormed Bussy Farm, fought at Sechault, and advanced on Ripont. It took more than sixty prisoners and captured much enemy equipment. On September 30 it held Trières Farm, and in the following week it cleared Monthois of German troops. Casualties had been high, and the 1st and 3d Battalions were combined into a single battalion. Cpl. Clarence Van

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Allen stormed a machine-gun nest, killing four Germans and capturing three more; later he captured a trench mortar battery crew. For these actions he was awarded the Croix de Guerre, the Médaille Militaire, and the Distinguished Service Cross. The 372d was then transferred to the Alsace region, but only four days before the armistice, six more of its men would be awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for their actions during a patrol, despite the relative quietness of the sector. Nearly all the men of the 93d’s fourth regiment, the 371st, were draftees from North and South Carolina; all of the unit’s officers were white. The regiment had arrived in France in April 1918 with the 370th and 372d, and under the command of Col. Perry L. Miles, it was dispatched to Rembercourt in the Verdun region. After two weeks of training and reorientation to become a French regiment, the 371st was attached, along with the 372d and the French 333d, to Gen. Mariano Goybet’s mauled French 157th Division, which was known as the Red Hand Division. Immediately, the 370th christened itself the Red Hand Regiment and adopted the divisional shoulder patch. Miles was delighted with the skills and élan of his men and said, I’d take my chance of going anywhere with these black soldiers at my back. So would any of the rest of the officers. We haven’t had any actual fighting experience yet—that’ll come in a week or two when we relieve a French regiment that’s just here in front of us holding the front lines—but we are not worrying about what’ll happen when we get our baptism of fire (quoted in Heywood 1928, 290).

in two days later to fill a gap between a Moroccan division and a French division. Attacking with bayonets against entrenched Germans, the 371st advanced just 500 yards on its first day. After this initially slow pace, the regiment helped capture Bussy Farm and then Trières Farm. The regiment suffered many casualties but also took a number of German prisoners; it succeeded in shooting down three German aircraft. By September 28 the regiment had advanced seven kilometers before being stopped by artillery and gas. Finally, in the last days of October, the regiment was relieved. Four of its officers had been killed and 41 wounded; 123 enlisted men had been killed and 873 wounded. Before the regiment was returned to the U.S. Army (losing its Red Hand Patch), General Goybet said of the troops, “They have scattered their dead without counting and the view of the battlefield is more eloquent than any report” (quoted in Barbeau and Henri 1996, 136). He awarded the whole of the regiment the Croix de Guerre with Palm, in addition to the individual awards that the men of the unit had already earned. Despite the many problems it faced, the 93d Division served valiantly for the Allied cause. See also 92d Division; 369th Infantry Regiment; World War I References and Further Reading

From July to September the regiment took part in patrols, raids, and at least one attack on German lines, but its real chance came at the end of the month, when it took part in the Champagne offensive. The four regiments of the 93d were together for the first time. Initially the 371st was held in reserve, but it was thrown

Barbeau, Arthur E., and Florette Henri. The Unknown Soldiers. New York: Da Capo, 1996. Bradden, William S. Under Fire with the 370th. Chicago: Self-published, n.d. Cobb, Irwin S. The Glory of the Coming. New York: Doran, 1918. Heywood, Chester D. Negro Combat Troops in the World War. Worcester, MA: Commonwealth, 1928. Little, Arthur. From Harlem to the Rhine. New York: Corvici, 1936. Stallings, Laurence. The Dough Boys. New York: Harper and Row, 1963. Sweeney, W. Allison. History of the American Negro in the Great World War. Chicago: CuneoHenneberry, 1919.

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U.S. Army War College. Colored Soldiers in the U.S. Army. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1942.

9th Cavalry The African American 9th Cavalry, also known as Buffalo Soldiers, began in 1866 and is still in existence today. In the course of its existence it has fought Native Americans in Texas, New Mexico, and the Dakotas; policed settlers trying to move into the Oklahoma Territory; taken part in the Spanish-American War in Cuba and the Philippines; and seen action in Korea and Vietnam. On July 28, 1866, President Andrew Johnson signed the Army Reorganization Act, which established the post–Civil War U.S. Army. In recognition of the fact that African American troops had provided valuable service during the war and that a number of experienced African American veterans were available, six all-black regiments were created, including the 9th Cavalry. The 9th Cavalry was recruited in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Louisville, Kentucky, and was hastily formed at Greenville, Louisiana, in response to the immediate need for mobile troops on the Texas frontier. For many years the 9th, like the other regular African American units, was commanded by white officers, but finding officers for the regiment was extremely difficult because few white officers were willing to serve with African Americans. (It was not until the 1880s, when West Point graduates Lt. John H. Alexander and Lt. Charles Young joined the regiment, that it had any African American officers.) The 9th was placed under the leadership of Col. Edward Hatch, who had been a brevet major general during the Civil War. Hatch had already established himself as one of the foremost cavalry commanders of his generation. Joining Hatch was Lt. Col. Wesley Merritt, a man with an equally outstanding wartime record.

In the early spring of 1867, although still under strength, particularly in regards to officers, the regiment was ordered to Texas. Discipline was brittle and training patchy, factors that contributed to a mutiny that broke out on April 9 in San Antonio. The disturbances were swiftly dealt with, and the regiment was scattered around smaller posts along the Texan frontier, but there were growing doubts that the regiment would be of any use at all. The 9th was one of only three cavalry units in the whole of western Texas. Thousands of square miles had to be covered by the hardriding men, supported by infantry when possible. The regiments also had to cover the Rio Grande, making their job harder. Their primary tasks were to ensure that the San Antonio to El Paso route was kept clear for travel and commerce and to deal with renegade Native Americans who refused to remain on reservations, bandits, and cattle thieves. When the 9th arrived in West Texas in the summer of 1867, the soldiers continually faced Native American raids for which they were ill prepared. But by the end of 1867, it became clear that the 9th was becoming accustomed to the odds against it. For example, when K Company, outnumbered twelve to one, faced a combined force of Kickapoos, Lipans, and Mexicans at Fort Lancaster, the company suffered just

A corporal in the Ninth Cavalry poses on his horse on the Lakota Sioux Pine Ridge Agency, South Dakota. (Western History, Denver Public Library)

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three casualties and managed to drive off the superior force. Gradually the 9th established its reputation as an effective fighting force. After gaining three years of experience in Texas, the 9th launched an offensive campaign against the Mescalero Apaches in January 1870, destroying their traditional camp sites, sources of food, access to weapons, and other infrastructure elements. It was during this campaign that a member of the regiment earned a Medal of Honor: Sgt. Emanuel Stance received the award for gallantry in no less than five encounters with the Apaches. The campaign did much to lessen the threat the Apaches posed to white settlers and the roads necessary to maintain communication and commerce in the southwest, but substantial threats from other Native American groups remained and kept the Buffalo Soldiers busy for the next several years. By 1875 racial hostility toward the regiment had become especially violent in Texas, and U.S. Secretary of War William W. Belknap threatened Governor Richard Coke that all federal troops would be withdrawn from Texas if the state government did not attempt to ease the tension. Either way, the U.S. Army moved the 9th to a new posting in the territory of New Mexico. Regimental headquarters were set up in Santa Fe, and units were posted at Forts Bayard, McRae, Wingate, Stanton, Union, Selden, and Garland. The 9th’s mission was to deal with uncooperative Native Americans, primarily those who had been consigned to the San Carlos Reservation but refused to stay there. Its first major conflict in the area, in September 1877, was against the Apache leader Victorio and his band of warriors who had fled from the San Carlos Reservation and begun raiding in the Upper Gila River area. Within a month, the 9th had forced Victorio’s surrender and return. Victorio again left the reservation and was cornered by members of the 9th in February 1878 at Ojo Caliente. He surrendered to the Buffalo Soldiers on the understanding that he would not be returned to San Carlos. The 9th was also involved in the El Paso Salt

War of December 1877 in which both Mexico and the United States claimed the salt deposits to the east of El Paso. After a major riot in San Elizario, Texas, Governor Richard B. Hubbard asked for federal help. It arrived in the form of several men of the 9th, who quickly quelled the disturbance. The following summer, the 9th was on the trail of the lawless participants—including William “Billy the Kid” Bonney—in the socalled Lincoln County War, a ruinous feud between rival cattle barons in New Mexico. The following year, the 9th again faced Native Americans. The Utes had been given a reservation in western Colorado, but after silver was discovered there in the 1870s, the reservation began attracting large numbers of white American miners. The Utes resisted the unwanted newcomers, and in March some members of the 9th were sent to patrol the southern border of Ute territory to keep the Utes and the minors from further conflict. Hatch and the 9th defused a difficult and volatile situation by allowing limited white settlement in contained areas. In September 1879, another group of Utes staged an uprising in response to demands by the federal Indian Agent Nathan Meeker that they give up their nomadic lifestyle and settle as farmers. The 3d and 5th Cavalries, supported by the 4th Infantry, marched into the White River area to quell the potential rising, but they ran into an ambush as they crossed the Milk River on September 29. Company D of the 9th, under Capt. Francis S. Dodge, rode to their aid, traveling continuously for 23 hours to reach the men. The Utes were overwhelmed when additional elements of the 5th arrived on October 5. For his role in the conflict, Sgt. Henry Johnson of the 9th was awarded the Medal of Honor. Meanwhile, in late August 1879, Victorio again led a group of Mescalero Apaches on a series of raids. They attacked a company of the 9th at Ojo Caliente and killed eight of the men on September 4. The 9th Cavalry followed Victorio across the border into Mexico but returned when they had exhausted their supplies. Victorio attacked Mexican citizens and was subsequently forced out of the country by Mexican

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troops. He slipped back across the border into the United States and hid in the San Andres Mountains. Colonel Hatch arrived in February to take personal command of the campaign; he proposed to cut off Victorio from his supporters on the Tularosa Reservation. The 9th moved in and confiscated horses and arms, which only succeeded in driving about fifty more Apaches into Victorio’s forces. Supported by elements of the 10th and the 6th Cavalries and by two companies of Native American scouts, from Arizona and Texas, the 9th criss-crossed the region in search of Victorio, initially having little success. They closed in on him in May 1880, but he fled across the border into Mexico, where he was trapped by the Mexican army. His forces were wiped out after refusing to surrender. For the rest of 1880 and into 1881, the 9th pursued a smaller band of Native Americans, Apaches now led by Nana (a former subordinate of Victorio), back and forth across the Rio Grande until the end of 1881, when Nana and his followers moved into Arizona. After some fourteen years of frontier duty, the 9th was transferred to Kansas and the Oklahoma Territory, with its headquarters based at Fort Riley, Kansas. The 9th was now effectively a garrison force with troops stationed at Forts Elliott, Hays, Sill, Reno, and Supply. The new posting brought the 9th into direct confrontation with white settlers, who had been encroaching on Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) since 1879. The regiment’s new role was not as Indian fighters but as policemen trying to keep settlers out of the Native American reserve. David L. Payne, the leader of the socalled Oklahoma Movement to settle white Americans in the territory, led several attempts to establish a settlement in the prohibited lands, and at each attempt, the 9th had to react more firmly. In 1882, he crossed into the Indian Territory four times and on one occasion, the troopers tied up Payne and his followers and threw them into their own wagons to get them out of the territory. Payne returned the following year with 900 followers, was placed under

Members of the 9th Cavalry (Buffalo Soldiers) pose in their wall tent camp on the Lakota Sioux Pine Ridge Agency, South Dakota. Hay has been scattered over the snow-covered ground for the horses, who have been covered with blankets. (Western History, Denver Public Library)

arrest, and was removed again, only to make another attempt in 1884. He died in October 1884, but the situation remained unresolved. William Couch, who had already made several attempts to enter the Indian Territory during 1883, took over leadership of the Oklahoma Movement and continued to agitate for white settlement of the area. In January 1885, the 9th found Couch and 300 followers encamped at Stillwater Creek. Hatch surrounded them with seven companies of cavalry supported by two howitzers and one company of infantry. After Couch stated that he would resist with arms any attempt to dislodge them, Hatch encircled the camp and cut off their supplies, essentially deciding to starve them out. Within five days, Couch and his followers were heading back to Arkansas City. In 1889, the U.S. government opened the territory to settlement, but by then the 9th had moved on. In June 1885, the 9th’s new headquarters were at Fort Robinson, with companies in Fort Duchesne, Utah; Fort Niobrara, Nebraska; and Fort McKinney, Wyoming. Here, the 9th was involved in putting down the Sioux Ghost Dance uprising of 1890. The Sioux had been restricted to six small reservations in North and South

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9th Cavalry Headquarters, 1893–1915 Chickamauga Park, Georgia Port Tampa, Florida Cuba Camp Wikoff, New York Fort Grant, Arizona Philippines

Fort Walla Walla, Washington Fort Riley, Kansas Fort D. A. Russell, Wyoming San Antonio, Texas Douglas, Arizona

Dakota and were enduring a miserable existence. The Ghost Dance religion, promising that the land would be returned to the Native Americans, swept through the Native American population. The Bureau of Indian Affairs’ new agent at the Pine Ridge Reservation adamantly opposed the new religion and called in the army to suppress it. Five companies of the 9th were among those sent into the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations to the heart of the disturbances that eventually led to the massacre at Wounded Knee. The 9th was not directly involved in the slaughter at Wounded Knee, but it did engage in at least two skirmishes with the Sioux, notably at the Pine Ridge Agency. More engagements followed as the Sioux reacted to the massacre and attacked the Drexel Mission. The 7th Cavalry arrived there first and were in danger of being overrun until the 9th rode to its rescue. Cpl. William O. Wilson of the 9th was awarded a Medal of Honor for his bravery during this engagement. This battle finally quelled the Ghost Dance movement and marked the last major campaign of the Indian wars.

April 23, 1893–April 30, 1898 May 2, 1898–June 13, 1898 June 20, 1898–August 14, 1898 August 20, 1898–September 27, 1898 October 5, 1889–July 28, 1900 October 5, 1889–July 28, 1900 October 6, 1900–September 20, 1902 June 2, 1907–May 15, 1909 February 6, 1916–December 31, 1916 October 24, 1902–October 19, 1904 October 23, 1904–April 29, 1907 June 15, 1909–March 11, 1911 March 15, 1911–July 9, 1911 September 13, 1912–December 25, 1915

During this period, the 9th was also engaged in dealing with civil disputes in the Johnson County area of Wyoming between cattlemen and settlers for the rights to land. The presence of the 9th brought racial issues to the fore once more because local authorities feared the African Americans would not be sympathetic to the white settlers. Six companies of the 9th established their headquarters at Camp Bettens near the town of Suggs. Here there was a gun battle between the 9th and locals over a dispute regarding a prostitute. Despite the problems between the Buffalo Soldiers and the local inhabitants, the companies remained at Camp Bettens until they were transferred back to Nebraska in 1892. Their regiment remained in Nebraska until the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in 1898. From 1898 to 1917 the 9th was almost continually on the move. The sidebar shows its many headquarters during this period. The battle honors of the 9th Cavalry in the Spanish-American War include its dismounted charge up San Juan Hill along with Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders and its extended and

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arduous duties on the Philippines from 1899 through the entirety of World War I. The 9th, like the other regular U.S. army African American regiments, sat out World War I. At the end of the war and during the interwar years, the 9th Cavalry was drastically reduced in size and primarily used as a service unit and to patrol the border with Mexico. It could not, however, be disbanded without the approval of Congress. In July 1942 the 9th Cavalry moved from Fort Riley, Kansas, to Fort Clark, Texas, to form part of the 4th Cavalry Brigade as part of the racially mixed 2d Cavalry Division. On October 20, 1950, the 9th Cavalry was redesignated the 509th Tank Battalion seeing action in Korea, but on November 1, 1957, the 9th Cavalry was reactivated as a fully integrated air cavalry unit. It saw action in Vietnam and exists today, in part as a mechanized infantry unit. It is intensely proud of its Buffalo Soldier heritage.

See also Apache Wars; Buffalo Soldiers; Buffalo Soldier Postings (appendix); Philippine Insurrection; Rough Riders; San Juan Hill, Battle of; Spanish-American War; Ute War References and Further Reading Carroll, John M., ed. The Black Military Experience in the American West. New York: Liveright, 1971. Kenner, Charles L. Buffalo Soldiers and Officers of the Ninth Cavalry, 1867–1898: Black and White Together. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999. Leckie, William H. The Buffalo Soldiers: A Narrative of the Negro Cavalry in the West. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1967. Wiggins Porter, Kenneth. The Negro on the American Frontier. New York: Arno Press, 1971. Winfrey, Dorman H., and James M. Day, eds. Texas Indian Papers. 4 vols., Austin: Texas State Library, 1959–1961; reprint, in 5 vols., Austin: Pemberton Press, 1966.

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o Okinawa, Battle of (April 1–June 22, 1945) The Battle of Okinawa saw the largest contingent of African American marines in any one battle during all of World War II, with up to 2,000 men who had been trained at the Montford Point Marine Training Center in North Carolina (the U.S. Marine Corps’ training base for African Americans) active during the campaign. No fewer than ten ammunition and depot companies saw action on Okinawa from April 1, 1945; many of them remained on the island until the end of the war. Aboard the USS Bladen the 1st and 3d Ammunition Companies and aboard the USS Berrien the 37th and 38th Depot Companies took part in the feint attack on the southeast coast of Okinawa. They came to within 500 yards of the shore on D-day, only to turn around, repeating the procedure the following day, in order to draw Japanese troops from the real attack, which was taking place on the west coast by the Tenth Army. The majority of the African American marines were supporting the 1st and 6th Marine Divisions on the island by April 3. There had been little Japanese opposition to the landings, because the Japanese had pulled back to defensive positions to the south. As the U.S. attacks

began to concentrate on the southern part of the island, the African American support units not only had the unenviable task of avoiding the numerous Japanese air raids but also faced the prospect of carrying supplies considerable distances inland. Casualties mounted throughout April, May, and June. As the fighting continued in the south, torrential rain made movement extremely difficult, only adding to the problems facing the support troops. In addition, a number of African American marine stewards were deployed on the island as stretcher bearers. At least one steward was killed and several were wounded as they brought the wounded back from the front lines to the beaches for transfer to the fleet for treatment. The island was considered secure on June 22, 1945, but mopping-up operations continued for another two weeks, a result of Okinawa’s strategic importance as a staging ground for the planned invasion of the Japanese mainland. The African American companies remained to build up and protect the burgeoning supply dumps. Before any of this equipment or ammunition could be used, the two atomic bombs that were dropped on the Japanese ended the war, and many of the African Americans found themselves part of the force that occupied Japan and parts of China.

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Olive, Milton Lee, III

A Marine of the 1st Division draws a bead on a Japanese sniper during the Battle of Okinawa. (National Archives) See also Iwo Jima, Battle of; U.S. Marine Corps; World War II References and Further Reading Garand, George W., and Truman R. Strobridge. Western Pacific Operations: History of the U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War Two. Vol. 4. Washington, DC: Historical Division, U.S. Marine Corps, 1971. Hough, Frank O. Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal: History of the U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War Two. Vol. 1. Washington, DC: Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1958. Shaw, Henry I., Jr., and Ralph W. Donnelly. Blacks in the Marine Corps. Washington, DC: U.S. Marine Corps, 1975. Shaw, Henry I., Jr., Bernard T. Nalty, and Edwin T. Turnbladh. Central Pacific Drive: History of the U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War Two. Vol. 3. Washington, DC: History Branch, U.S. Marine Corps, 1966.

Olive, Milton Lee, III (1946–1965) Medal of Honor awardee Milton Lee Olive III was born on November 7, 1946, an only child whose mother died very soon after his birth. Before Olive joined the army in 1964 in Chicago, Illinois, he had assisted civil rights workers in Mississippi, encouraging other African Americans to register to vote. Only a few years before, Emmett Till (also from Chicago) had been lynched in the area. When Olive’s family heard of his activities, his father took him back to Chicago. Olive began his tour of duty on Saturday, June 5, 1965. From Vietnam, where he served as a private first class, in Company B, 2d Battalion (Airborne), 503d Infantry, 173d Airborne Brigade, he wrote to his father, not mentioning that he had already been slightly wounded shortly after he had joined the unit: “Just a line to say hello . . .

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Olive, Milton Lee, III

President Lyndon Johnson presents the Medal of Honor to the parents of Pfc. Milton Olive III, who died in Vietnam to save four comrades by throwing himself on an enemy grenade. (CORBIS)

I’m over here in Never Never Land fighting this hellish war. You said I was crazy for joining up, well, I’ve gone you one better. I’m now an official U.S. Army Paratrooper. How does that grab you? I’ve made six jumps already.” Early in the morning of October 22, 1965, the paratroopers were inserted by helicopter into the vicinity of Phu Cuong. Soon after, the Vietnamese claimed their first kill, Pfc. George Luis, hit by a sniper’s bullet. According to Olive’s citation for the Medal of Honor, the unit was ambushed and “subjected to a heavy volume of enemy gunfire and pinned down tem-

porarily[;] it retaliated by assaulting the Viet Cong positions, causing the enemy to flee.” Olive’s comrades included Vince Yrineo, a Mexican American former sailor and career soldier, aged thirty-six at the time. The first lieutenant, Jimmy Stanford, had been rotated in only three days before. A career soldier who had joined the army in 1954, Stanford had been an enlisted man and had taken some eleven years to earn his promotion to lieutenant. His greatgrandfather had been a Confederate soldier, and his father had served in France during World War I. Stanford was a white Texan whose

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knowledge and experience of working with African Americans was scant. Olive and four other soldiers were moving through the jungle when an enemy soldier threw a grenade into their midst. Walking alongside Olive were two African American privates, “Hop” Foster, nineteen, and Lionel Hubbard, twenty, who both took cover as the enemy sprang the ambush. With bullets thudding into the tree stumps around them and grenades being thrown at them, the paratroopers began to return fire. A grenade landed a foot or so from Stanford; without a second thought Olive grabbed the explosive and pushed it under his body, which absorbed the bulk of the impact. Olive died just sixteen days before his nineteenth birthday. Both Yrineo and Hubbard were hit by shrapnel, and Stanford was bleeding heavily. In all, some twelve paratroopers were wounded. The Medal of Honor was awarded to Olive’s family in a ceremony at the White House by President Lyndon B. Johnson on April 21, 1966. Olive was buried in West Grove Missionary Baptist Cemetery near Lexington, Mississippi. He was memorialized by a new park, Olive Park, at the foot of East Ohio Street and the lakefront in Chicago. The Olive monument at the park is a large concrete slab faced with a bronze plaque bearing Olive’s likeness and his Medal of Honor citation. See also U.S. Army; Vietnam War References and Further Reading

which three of the eight Union regiments involved were African American. In February 1864, Maj. Gen. Quincy A. Gillmore, commander of the Department of the South, sent Brig. Gen. Truman Seymour from Hilton Head, South Carolina, to occupy Jacksonville, Florida, to secure the area for the Union, to capture cotton and timber supplies, and to recruit African American soldiers for the army. As they moved west, they met with little opposition as the Confederates, under Brig. Gens. Joseph Finegan and Alfred Colquitt, searched for a good defensive position. The Union forces, numbering some 5,500 men, included the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, the 8th U.S. Colored Troops (USCT), and the 1st North Carolina Colored Volunteers, all African American units. On February 20 they encountered Finegan’s 5,000 Confederates holding a narrow passage between Ocean Pond (a lake) and an impassable swamp. The battle was fought in open forest and raged for four hours after Finegan sent skirmishers forward to draw Seymour toward their main battle line. The Union regiments attacked several times. All attacks were repulsed, and when Finegan committed his reserves, Seymour’s men broke and retreated back toward Jacksonville. The failure of the Union troops at Olustee had been blamed on the lack of fighting spirit of the African American troops. Eyewitness accounts seem to contradict this opinion. In a letter dated March 1, 1864, 1st Lt. Oliver Willcox Norton (Company K, 8th USCT) wrote to his father about the battle:

Williams, Michael W. The African-American Encyclopedia. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 1993.

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I shall give you more particularly my ideas of the performance of our men. I want to be true and I cannot endorse all that has been said of them. First, I think no battle was ever more wretchedly fought. I was going to say planned, but there was no plan. No new regiment ever went into their first fight in more unfavourable circumstances. Second, no braver men ever faced an enemy. To have made these men fight well, I would have halted them out of range of the firing, formed my line, unslung knapsacks,

1 0 2 d U . S . C o l o r e d Tr o o p s

got my cartridge boxes ready, and loaded. Then I would have moved it up to the support of a regiment already engaged. I would have had them lie down and let the balls and shells whistle over them till they got a little used to it. (Norton 1990, 201–203)

Colored Troops; 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment; 1st North Carolina Colored Volunteers; United States Colored Troops (appendixes) References and Further Reading

And in a letter dated March 20, 1864, and printed in the Christian Recorder, Sgt. Maj. Rufus S. Jones of the 8th U.S. Colored Infantry Regiment, in his version of the battle, said, The Battle of Olusteee, or Ocean Pond, on the 20th of February, will be long remembered by the Eighth, which suffered terribly in the conflict. No expectation of meeting the enemy is apparent, when not sufficient ammunition was brought along to fire over sixty rounds of musketry. Colonel Charles Fribley, of the Eighth, fell, mortally wounded, a short time after going into the engagement. Major Loren Burritt then took command, and fell, badly wounded, and was born to the rear. Both field officers now being taken from the regiment, Captain R. C. Bailey, of Company B, being the Senior Captain, took command of the regiment, and knowing that the ammunition was exhausted, ordered the regiment to the rear of the FiftyFourth Massachusetts, which was now engaging the enemy successfully, and, had one more regiment come to its assistance the occupation of Jacksonville by so large a force as is now here would be useless. . . . It looked sad to see men wounded coming into camp with their arms and equipments on [after the battle], so great was their endurance and so determined were they to defend themselves till the death (Redkey 1992, 41–42).

Glatthaar, Joseph T. Forged in Battle: The Civil War Alliance of Black Soldiers and White Officers. New York: Free Press, 1990. Norton, Oliver Willcox. Army Letters, 1861–1865. Dayton, OH: Morningside Press, 1990. Redkey, Edwin S. A Grand Army of Black Men: Letters from African-American Soldiers in the Union Army, 1861-1865. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

102d U.S. Colored Troops (USCT)

The battle cost the Union forces some 1,861 casualties, and the Confederates, 946. It was one of the bloodiest battles of the war, with more than one-third of the engaged Union troops and nearly one-fifth of the Confederates killed or wounded. See also American Civil War; 8th United States

The 102d U.S. Colored Troops (USCT), an African American Civil War unit, never lost a battle. On August 12, 1863, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton ordered the governor of Michigan, Austin Blair, to raise an African American regiment. Both Blair and Stanton had been under considerable pressure from Henry Barnes, a militant abolitionist and editor of the Detroit Tribune, to create such a regiment. The African American recruits mustered at Camp Ward, where they suffered appalling conditions, living in inadequate buildings with little food. On December 8, 1863, 250 of the men were sent on a whistle-stop tour of Michigan in order to drum up additional recruits. On May 23, 1864, the unit, known as the 1st Michigan Colored Troops at its organization in February 1864, was redesignated the 102d U.S. Colored Troops. The regiment was officially called into action on March 28, 1864, and the troops left for Annapolis, Maryland. They first saw action at Baldwin, Florida, between August 11 and 12, 1864. Three days later, they would again be engaged at Baldwin. On November 30, 1864,

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while the regiment was destroying Confederate railroads at Honey Hill, South Carolina, a large number of Confederate cavalry attacked the unit. Despite receiving casualties, the regiment drove the enemy off and continued with its duties. December 7 saw the troops in action at Tullifinny, and two days later, they fought at Deveaux Neck. In February 1865, the 102d fought at Cuckwold’s Creek Bridge, Manchester, South Carolina, and on April 8 at Sumterville, South Carolina. Later the same month, the unit saw action at Spring Hill on the fifteenth, Swift Creek on the seventeenth, and at Boykin’s Mills on the eighteenth. The troops saw their last action at Singleton’s Plantation, South Carolina, on April 19, 1865.

Throughout their period of service, the men of the 102d gradually achieved the reputation of being even more effective in battle than the 54th Massachusetts Regiment. The 102d lost only 6 men in battle out of its strength of approximately 1,600—many fewer than the 129 lost to disease. By the end of the war, the unit had only suffered a 3 percent desertion rate. On September 30, 1865, the regiment left South Carolina and headed back to Detroit. The regiment was officially disbanded on October 17, 1865.

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See also American Civil War; 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment; Potter’s Raid; United States Colored Troops (appendixes)

p Pancho Villa Campaign (1916–1917) African American Buffalo Soldiers under Gen. John “Black Jack” Pershing fruitlessly pursued the Mexican rebel leader Francisco “Pancho” Villa in a punitive expedition. Pancho Villa, former bandit and now revolutionary leader, had rebelled against his friend Venustiano Carranza, the provisional president of Mexico and a client of the United States. The United States had been continually involved in Mexico since 1913, during the revolutionary period. It feared, among other things, that a civil war in Mexico would encourage the European states or Japan to use unrest as an opportunity to gain a foothold in the region. Gen. Victoriano Huerta had seized power in Mexico by murdering the first revolutionary president, Franciso Madero. President Woodrow Wilson refused to recognize the new Mexican government. Early in April 1914, Mexican troops detained a small group of U.S. sailors at the eastern oil port of Tampico. The Mexicans quickly released them, but Wilson ordered Rear Adm. Henry Mayo to intervene. Mayo ordered the Mexican garrison of Tampico to raise the Union flag and apologize for the insult. They refused, and U.S. forces began to build up in the region, with the U.S. Navy landing U.S. Army units and

elements of the U.S. Marine Corps. When intelligence was received that a German vessel was en route with weapons and ammunitions for Huerta’s army, the United States decisively intervened on April 21. U.S. troops were reinforced, and by the end of April Mexican resistance had been eliminated. Huerta resigned and fled from office in July 1914. Two years later, the civil war in Mexico still gave the U.S. government cause for concern. Villa and Emilio Zapata were in a war for power with revolutionary president Carranza. Villa clearly saw raiding in the United States as a way to collect funds and as a chance to champion the cause of Hispanics in the border areas; furthermore, he saw the United States as a target because of its support for Carranza. The U.S. Army was ordered to strengthen its forces on the border with Mexico. The army began to build up, but in the early morning of March 9, 1916, Villa slipped across the border into New Mexico and attacked the town of Columbus. The Villistas, as they became known, killed ten soldiers and eight civilians and wounded nine others. Their own casualties were higher; about seventy were killed, captured, or wounded. Leaving the town aflame, the Villistas headed back to Mexico with the Columbus garrison in pursuit. The soldiers followed the raiders for some distance into Mexico before losing them.

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Just one week later, Brig. Gen. John J. “Black Jack” Pershing, so-called because of his command of African American troops, led 5,000 men across the Rio Grande to deal with Villa. Pershing received constant reinforcements, and his command reached a peak of 15,000 men, which included the African American 10th Cavalry under Col. William C. Brown. Brown’s troops found the Villistas first on April 1 at a ranch in the village of Agua Caliente. Notably, the African American West Point graduate Charles Young, then a major, was given the responsibility of ensuring that the Villistas did not escape. Consequently, Young took his two troops of cavalry up to a hill overlooking the ranch and provided supporting fire. Brown supported Young’s men with a machine-gun unit led by Capt. Albert E. Phillips. Phillips fired his machine guns over the heads of Young’s men as they advanced on the ranch, and the defenders fled. (Parenthetically, this was the first time that U.S. troops had advanced into combat supported by machine guns.) After this engagement, the 10th headed for the city of Parral in northern Mexico. It discovered that the 13th Cavalry, under Maj. Frank Tompkins, had just been ambushed, and the men had dug in to defend themselves. The 10th rode at full speed to Santa Cruz de Villegas and relieved Major Tompkins’s command. Tompkins apparently said, so relieved to see the 10th, “By God, Young, I could kiss every black face out there.” Young replied, “If you want to, you may start with me” (Clendenen 1969, 257–259). Significantly, Tompkins’s cavalrymen had been fired on by 600 Mexicans who were not Villistas but members of Carranza’s army; they considered the Americans, not the Villistas, to be the real enemy. President Wilson mobilized the National Guard under the National Defense Act for duty on the border (June 1916), but meanwhile Pershing’s punitive expedition fought on. Pershing sent a composite force of eighty-two officers and enlisted men under Capt. Charles T. Boyd of the African American 10th Cavalry to make a

reconnaissance of the countryside around the village of Carrizal. Both Boyd and Capt. Lewis Morey, also of the 10th, assumed that Pershing meant they should fight their way into the town if necessary. On June 20 they found that the town was protected by a Mexican garrison. The U.S. troops advanced on foot under machinegun fire from the Mexicans. Boyd was shot twice before finally being killed. Troops C and K of the 10th Cavalry demonstrated great bravery and determination in the midst of an overwhelming attack. The Mexican troops numbered between 400 and 500, whereas the 10th Cavalry only had 50 men firing from the line. In addition, the Buffalo Soldiers were forced to continue fighting despite the loss of all the officers in their troops. The U.S. casualties were twelve killed, Morey and ten or twelve others wounded, and about twenty taken prisoner, but the U.S. troops had inflicted more than seventyfive casualties on the enemy. Wilson’s administration was under severe pressure to pull out of Mexico as it became increasingly likely that the United States would become embroiled in World War I. Nevertheless, Pershing did not begin to move back toward the border until January 1917; his last troops crossed into New Mexico on February 5. The punitive expedition had been a failure, but it had at least provided the U.S. Army and National Guardsmen with crucial military experience that would later be needed in Europe. Villa continued to harass Carranza, and in June 1919 he launched an attack on Juarez. During the attack the African American 24th Infantry, posted at El Paso, Texas, just on the other side of the Rio Grande from Juarez, was fired on by the Villistas. Supported by cavalry and artillery, the 24th crossed into Mexico and routed Villa’s men. The action at Juarez brought an end to Villa’s control of northern Mexico, and in 1923 he died.

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See also Buffalo Soldiers; 9th Cavalry; 10th Cavalry; 25th Infantry Regiment; 24th Infantry Regiment; Young, Charles

Pe t e r s e n , F r a n k E .

Commandant of the Naval District, who demanded that court-martial proceedings be instituted against Gravely for “conduct unbecoming an officer” and “for associating with enlisted men in the restaurant.” Purdon refused, and the commandant confined the officers and crew to the ship for the rest of their stay in Miami; the vessel sailed for Key West a few days later. PC-1264 was decommissioned on March 24, 1948.

References and Further Reading Clendenen, Clarence C. Blood on the Border: The United States Army and the Mexican Irregulars. New York: Macmillan, 1969. Toulmin, Harry A. With Pershing in Mexico. Harrisburg, PA: Military Service, 1935.

PC-1264, USS (1944–1948, World War II)

See also Gravely, Samuel Lee, Jr.; U.S. Navy; World War II

The USS PC-1264 was a 280-ton PC-461 class submarine chaser built at Morris Heights, New York. The vessel was commissioned in April 1944; it was one of two World War II navy ships that had a largely African American enlisted complement (the other was the USS Mason). The ship was decommissioned after World War II and transferred to the Maritime Commission for final disposition in March 1948. Eric Purdon, a white officer, became the first captain of this ship. The crew excelled during its training at the Submarine Chaser Training Center, Miami, and the Fleet Sound School, Key West, Florida. After the training the vessel was assigned to the Eastern Sea Frontier escort merchant convoys between New York; Key West, Florida; and Guantánamo, Cuba. In November 1944 Purdon recommended that the ship’s white petty officers be replaced with African Americans from the crew who had shown an aptitude for the tasks. The U.S. Navy Bureau of Personnel agreed and promoted the men; the experiment proved to be a success. Ens. Samuel L. Gravely, who would later become the navy’s first African American rear admiral, was assigned to the vessel toward the end of the war. Shortly after his transfer, some of the enlisted men were involved in a brawl in a Miami restaurant. The shore patrol came to mediate and noticed Gravely sitting at a table. He was arrested and charged with impersonating an officer. Gravely subsequently received an apology, but Purdon “received a summons to” the

References and Further Reading Purdon, Eric. Black Company: The Story of Subchaser 1264. Washington, DC: R. B. Luce, 1972. Veigele, William J. PC Patrol Craft of World War II: A History of the Ships and Their Crews. Santa Barbara, CA: Astral Publishing, 1998.

Petersen, Frank E. (b. 1931) At just twenty years old, Frank E. Petersen became the first African American naval aviator in the U.S. Marine Corps. This was among the earliest of his many firsts, including becoming the first African American Marine to command a fighter squadron, a fighter air group, an air wing, and a major U.S. Marine base. He was also the first to attain flag rank in the Marine Corps. Petersen was born on March 2, 1932, in Topeka, Kansas. In 1951 Petersen entered the Naval Aviation Cadet Program, having joined the U.S. Navy as a seaman apprentice in June 1950. In October 1952 he was made a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps on completion of his flight training. During the Korean War he was assigned to Marine Fighter Squadron 212 and flew sixty-four combat missions, for which

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he received six air medals as well as the prestigious Distinguished Flying Cross. He also gained the respect and admiration of those under his command, earning the nickname “the godfather.” During his career, Petersen was inspired by two African American military pioneers. Upon joining the service, he greatly admired the achievements of Jesse Brown, the first African American navy aviator who had died courageously in North Korea. During his flight training days, Daniel “Chappie” James, who would later become the first African American fourstar general, was a mentor for the young and determined aviator. He pursued higher education later in his career, funded by the military, and received a bachelor of science (1967) and masters in international affairs (1973), both from George Washington University. Other institutions he attended were the Amphibious Warfare School in Quantico, Virginia, the Aviation Safety Officers Course at the University of Southern California, and the National War College in Washington, D.C. Petersen spent thirty-eight years in the Marine Corps, from 1950 through July 1988. He had more than 4,000 hours in fighter and attack aircraft and had served in Korea in 1953 and Vietnam in 1968. Altogether, he took part in more than 300 combat missions. Petersen achieved a Senior Aviator designation of Silver Hawk in the marines and Gray Eagle in the navy. He also received the Purple Heart for his actions in North Vietnam in 1968 when he was forced to eject from a plane engulfed in flames from enemy fire. Frank E. Petersen retired from the Marine Corps on August 1, 1988, relinquishing his position as the commanding general of the Marine Development Education Command at Quantico, Virginia. Throughout his career he became affiliated with various educational and researchbased organizations. He has worked with the Tuskegee Airmen headquarters, served on the board of directors for the National Aviation Re-

search and Education Foundation from 1990– 1992, and held the position of vice-president for Dupont Aviation. See also James, Daniel “Chappie”, Jr.; Korean War; U.S. Marine Corps; U.S. Navy; Vietnam War References and Further Reading African American Publications. 2001. “Frank Petersen, Jr.” http://www.africanpubs.com/ Apps/bios/1075PetersenFrank.asp?pic=none. Petersen, Frank E. Into the Tiger’s Jaw: America’s First Black Marine Aviator—The Autobiography of Lieutenant General Frank E. Petersen. Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1998.

Philippine Insurrection (1899–1902) After the Philippines were ceded to the United States by the Spanish on December 10, 1899, rebels fought for more than two years to drive out the steadily increasing U.S. forces, which included a number of African American regular and volunteer units. Following the defeat of the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay on May 1, 1898, the Spanish realized they could not retain control of the Philippines. The rebel forces led by Emilio Aguinaldo, who had cooperated with the Americans in the war against Spain, thought the United States would grant the Philippines independence, but Washington recognized the strategic value of the Philippines and was not about to lose this opportunity of adding the islands to U.S. possessions. The United States paid Spain $20 million for the archipelago. Once the Philippine insurgents realized that the United States had no intention of leaving, the 12,000 U.S. regulars in the Philippines faced 40,000 rebel troops. Hostilities broke out in Manila on February 4, 1899, and eventually nearly 130,000 U.S. troops would be deployed,

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of which more than 4,000 would be killed or wounded. Although it is impossible to estimate the number of insurgent casualties, it has been suggested that at least 200,000 Filipino civilians died during the two-year conflict. It was during this insurrection that the first Americans were tried for what are now known as war crimes. Between August 1898 and March 1901 forty-four military trials were held for murder, rape, and burning villages. Many of the sentences were light, some no more than restriction to half-pay for a period of time. In 1899, Washington authorized the creation of the new 48th and 49th Volunteer Infantry Regiments, which were to be all–African American units. They would join the existing regular African American units, the 24th and 25th Infantries and the 9th and 10th Cavalries. In the summer of 1899 the first regular African American troops arrived in the Philippines. The 25th Infantry launched a dawn raid on November 18, 1899, on the town of O’Donnell on Luzon. They achieved complete surprise and captured more than 100 prisoners, 200 rifles, and 10,000 rounds of ammunition. On December 29, the 24th Infantry attacked 200 rebels who had dug in beside a river. Two of the African American soldiers were wounded, and the attack ended in failure, allowing the guerrillas to escape. In January 1900 the 25th launched an attack near Mount Arayat against a rebel base, where they managed to release five wounded American prisoners. During the war about twenty U.S. soldiers, African American and white, defected. The most famous was David Fagan, from Company I of the 24th Infantry. He joined the rebels on November 17, 1899, and for the next eighteen months he led insurgents. During his time with Gen. José Alejandrino, he fought his fellow Americans on at least eight occasions. It was said that he also murdered captured U.S. soldiers. The United States put a bounty of $600 on his head, and in December 1901 a bounty hunter produced a West Point ring and a decomposed head that he claimed were Fagan’s. It

E Troop, 9th Cavalry, en route to the Philippines, 1900. (U.S. Army Military History Institute)

is not clear how Fagan died. Of all of the other defectors, two African American privates from the 9th Cavalry, Edmond Dubose and Louis Russell, were the only ones to be executed. Throughout the war the African American press expressed considerable disgust over the fact that African American soldiers were being used to fight the Philippine independence movement. Ultimately U.S. Army professionalism, organization, and, above all, manpower overcame the extreme difficulties in operating in a country where a patrol would find it necessary to cross dozens of streams in a single mission. Capt. Joseph B. Batchelor, an officer in the 24th Infantry, recounted that their marches “had been a mere succession of fording of rivers and climbing of cliffs hardly any of them surmountable except by zigzag paths cut by shelves from a foot to eighteen inches wide.” He described the trails as “just passable through chilling nights and sweltering days” and said they “made 123 deep fords; crossed eighty miles of precipitous mountains in five days” (quoted in Fletcher 1974, 50–51). The insurgents were comparatively primitively armed, but both the U.S. troops and the insurgents faced hardship and fought viciously. On one occasion an officer in the 10th Cavalry was fined $150 and suspended for three months

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for torturing three Filipino priests. Others, like Fagan, were obviously impressed by a statement made by Aguinaldo in 1899: It is without honor that you are spilling your costly blood. Your masters have thrown you into the most iniquitous fight with double purpose—to make you the instrument of their ambition and also your hard work will soon make the extinction of your race. Your friends, the Filipinos, give you this good warning. You must consider your situation and your history, and take charge that the blood of Sam Hose proclaims vengeance (quoted in Cox 1991).

the United States Army, 1891–1917. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1974. Foner, Jack D. Blacks and the Military in American History. New York: Praeger, 1974. Wolff, Leon. Little Brown Brother: How the United States Purchased and Classified the Philippine Islands at the Century’s Turn. New York: Doubleday, 1961.

Pierce, Adam (b. 1756)

(Aguinaldo was referring to Sam Hose, an African American who had been buried alive in Georgia in 1899.) Despite the difficulties facing the U.S. soldiers, the war finally reached its conclusion in 1901 when Aguinaldo was captured. With his capture, organized resistance faltered. The volunteer troops began to return home, but in August 1906 members of the 24th Infantry, cooperating with the Philippine constabulary, hunted down and killed fifty rebels on Leyte. Perhaps the most significant aspect of the war for African Americans was the fact that because the 9th and 10th Cavalries and the 24th and 25th Infantries were isolated in their posts on the western frontier as Buffalo Soldiers, many of them had never been exposed to the levels of discrimination and racism they found in the Philippines, where they were exposed to the full control of the U.S. Army. See also Buffalo Soldiers; 9th Cavalry; Spanish-American War; 10th Cavalry; 25th Infantry Regiment; 24th Infantry Regiment References and Further Reading Cashin, Herschel V. Under Fire with the 10th Cavalry. New York: Arno Press, 1969. Cox, Clinton. “Monkey Business, Past and Present.” Brooklyn City Sun, March 1991. Fletcher, Marvin E. The Black Soldier and Officer in

Adam Pierce was a free African American soldier from New Jersey in Capt. John Noble Cummins’s company of the 2d New Jersey Regiment at the battle of Monmouth Court House (June 21, 1778) in New Jersey. On June 26, 1778, the British troops were camped around the village of Freehold in central New Jersey, and the Continental army was based near Englishtown just four miles south. A heat wave had worn down Gen. Sir Henry Clinton’s British troops, and he planned to march to Sandy Hook on the New Jersey coast and have his army board transport ships. Gen. George Washington seized this opportunity, and on June 28 he ordered Gen. Charles Lee to attack the British as soon as they began to march. Lee, however, delayed the assault, and when he encountered the British rear guard at Monmouth Court House, he immediately ordered a retreat. Only the presence of Gen. Anthony Wayne prevented the retreat from becoming a rout. Washington rode toward the sound of the guns, relieved Lee of his command, and began to re-form his bedraggled army. Clinton, meanwhile, seized the initiative and attacked; only the solid discipline instilled into the Continentals by Baron Frederick Von Steuben, the inspector general of the Continental army, saved it from disaster. Each successive attack by the British was repulsed, and by nightfall Clinton was retreating.

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In the thick of the fighting with the 2d New Jersey Regiment was Adam Pierce. His father and his uncle had both obtained their freedom and become seamen. They had married two Dutch sisters who had been indentured servants. Pierce was born in 1756 at Gouldtown, New Jersey, a community of free land-owning African Americans and one of the oldest African American settlements in the United States. Two of Pierce’s cousins, Richard Pierce and Anthony Pierce, also served in the American Revolution, another family member served in the War of 1812, and several served during the Civil War. A descendant, Harold E. Pierce, is a retired Air Force general. See also American Revolution

though severly burned, Pinckney carried him to safety up several decks and became the second African American to receive the Navy Cross. In February 2000, twenty-five years after his death, the Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig announced that a guided-missile destroyer would be named the USS Pinckney in his honor. It is due to be commissioned in 2003. In announcing the naming of the missile destroyer, Danzig said that Pinckney “embodied the Navy’s value of selfless sacrifice, at a time when the institution under-valued black servicemembers. His willingness to give so much, and sacrifice for an institution which gave him so little, makes these acts for which he earned the Navy Cross that much more heroic” (Navy Office of Information 2000).

References and Further Reading

See also U.S. Navy; World War II

Buckley, Gail. American Patriots: The Story of Blacks in the Military from the Revolution to Desert Storm. New York: Random House, 2001. Ward, Harry M. General William Maxwell and the New Jersey Continentals. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1997.

References and Further Reading Navy Office of Information. “Navy Secretary Names Destroyer to Honor World War II African American Hero.” Press release, February 2000. http://www.pinckney.navy.mil/PR.htm.

Pinckney, William (1915–1975)

Pitts, Riley Leroy (1937–1967)

William Pinckney, an African American U.S. Navy cook (third class), won the Navy Cross for gallantry while serving on board the USS Enterprise in 1942. On October 26, 1942, as part of the Guadalcanal Campaign, the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise was engaged in the Battle of Santa Cruz. The ship was hit, and an explosion wrecked an ammunition-handling room, killing four men. William Pinckney, from South Carolina, was trapped inside with another sailor, Gunner’s Mate James Raymond Bagwell, and as they tried to escape onto the hanger deck, the fumes rendered Pinckney’s colleague unconscious. Al-

On October 31, 1967, two weeks after his thirtieth birthday, Capt. Riley Leroy Pitts died in battle in Vietnam. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions. Pitts, born in Fallis, Oklahoma, graduated from the Municipal University of Wichita, Kansas, as a distinguished military graduate and was commissioned as a second lieutenant on June 5, 1960, through the Reserve Officer Training Corps and was ordered to active duty from Wichita. Pitts was serving as company commander of C Company, 2d Battalion, 27th Infantry in the 25th Infantry Division (the Wolfhounds). On

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October 31, 1967, his company was involved in an air assault on a suspected Vietcong location near Ap Dong, in Binh Duong Province, Republic of Vietnam. As the helicopters came in over the enemy position, they came under fire from automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades. Pitts and his men fought their way off the helicopters and managed to overcome the Vietcong advance force. The company then moved some 100–200 meters north, where they again came under heavy fire. They were pinned down for much of the rest of the day until Pitts spotted a well-hidden enemy bunker just fifteen meters from their position. Pitts took a captured enemy grenade from one of the other men and threw it, but it bounced back (when it hit the dense foliage) among the prone U.S. soldiers. Pitts threw his body over the grenade, but luckily it failed to detonate. The fire-fight continued, and Pitts continued to lead his men until he was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, which killed him instantly. Pitts had always had a reputation for being more concerned with the welfare of his men than with his own safety. See also Vietnam War

Poison Spring Massacre (April 18, 1864) African American soldiers of the 1st Kansas Volunteers were massacred by Confederate soldiers just six days after the Fort Pillow massacre. When Brig. Gen. Frederick Steele’s Union troops, more than 13,000 men, occupied Camden, Arkansas, on April 15, 1864, his supplies were virtually exhausted. His men had been on half-rations for three weeks, so he was compelled to send out a train of nearly 200 wagons, commanded by Col. James M. Williams, to forage for food. The column was guarded by four

guns and infantry and cavalry, mainly made up of the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers. The wagons proceeded westward and about twenty miles west of Camden began collecting corn. Williams intended to collect corn from other farms on the return route. Near Poison Spring, a Union relief column arrived, bringing Williams’s troop strength up to just over 1,000 men. Meanwhile, Gen. Sterling Price had dispatched about 3,100 Confederate cavalrymen under Brig. Gen. John S. Marmaduke and Brig. Gen. Samuel Maxey to prevent Union foraging. Marmaduke barred the road to Camden on high ground near Poison Spring. Williams deployed his men to face them at about 9:30 a.m. on April 18, using the wagons as a defensive line. Marmaduke attacked the front and south flanks of the wagon train; the men of the 1st Kansas took the brunt of the attack. They were able to beat off Marmaduke’s first charge, but when more Confederate troops emerged from the wooded ridge, the Union troops broke. By this time, half of the Kansas men were dead or wounded. The Union line collapsed, and the Confederates showed no mercy to the African American soldiers; they were hunted down and shot even when they surrendered. Much of the butchery was blamed on the Choctaw cavalrymen in the Confederate ranks. Confederate casualties were estimated at around 111. Williams retreated toward Camden as best he could, reaching safety at 11 a.m. He had lost 4 canons, 198 wagons, and 1,200 mules, and more than 40 percent of the 1st Kansas troops were killed or missing. His total casualties amounted to 301 men. Following the massacre, the 2d Kansas Volunteers, the sister unit of the 1st, vowed not to take Confederate prisoners. Other African American units in the West used “Remember Poison Spring!” as their battle-cry. True to their word, the 2d Kansas stormed Confederate positions at Jenkins’ Ferry, Arkansas, on April 30, 1864, inflicting 150 casualties while suffering the loss of only 15 men. Although they had in-

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tended to kill all Confederates, they took one prisoner by mistake. See also American Civil War; Fort Pillow Massacre; United States Colored Troops (appendixes) References and Further Reading Cornish, Dudley Taylor. The Sable Arm: Black Troops in the Union Army, 1861–1865. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1987. (Originally New York: Longmans Green, 1956.) Glatthaar, Joseph T. Forged in Battle: The Civil War Alliance of Black Soldiers and White Officers. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1990. Johnson, Robert Underwood, and Clarence Clough Buel, eds. Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. Vol. 4, Retreat with Honor. Secaucus, NJ: Castle, n.d.

Poor, Salem (1747–1834) A free black from Andover, Massachusetts, Salem Poor (or Poore) received recognition for his heroic fighting at the battle of Bunker Hill in the opening months of the American Revolution and went on to serve as an American soldier through much of the tribulations of the Continental army that followed. Born a slave in roughly 1747, Poor later purchased his freedom and married another free black named Nancy; they subsequently had one son. In May 1775, Poor joined the Continental Army, answering the call to arms for all ablebodied men in New England to besiege the British force holed up in Boston following the battles of Lexington and Concord in April of that year. On the night of June 16, the Continental army secretly moved from their base in Cambridge to a hill in neighboring Charlestown that gave the Americans an important strategic posi-

tion from which to bombard the British in Boston. When the British awoke on the morning of June 17 and saw the newly built fortifications, they immediately recognized the threat such an American position posed to their defenses and organized an assault against the hill. British overconfidence and the speed with which they launched an attack worked against them, and the British suffered tremendous casualties in their three attempts to assail the position. The last advance proved successful, however, and the Americans were forced to retreat and abandon the hill, but only after enormous loss of life on both sides. One British officer declared that another victory at such a price would cost them the war. The conflict became known as the battle of Bunker Hill, and despite the American defeat, it served as an inspiration to patriots throughout the colonies. Historians estimate that roughly three dozen African Americans fought in Bunker Hill, but Poor’s conduct elicited particular attention from his white compatriots. Six months after the fight, fourteen American officers presented a petition to the Massachusetts legislature requesting that Poor be singled out with a monetary reward for his heroic deeds. Unfortunately, the petition does not list these deeds, stating that “to set forth particulars of his conduct would be tedious.” No other account of Poor’s actions survives, but it is noteworthy that of the more than 3,000 Americans who fought at Bunker Hill, Poor is the only one to receive such recognition. Tradition credits Poor with having fired the shot that killed British Lt. Col. James Abercrombie. Such praise must have been welcome to Poor, especially as his position within the Continental army was becoming increasingly untenable. Less than a month after Bunker Hill, the newly installed commander of the Continental army, George Washington, announced that African Americans would not be recruited to serve, but those already enlisted in the army could remain, as long as they were free and not slaves. A few months later, Washington extended the policy to

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prevent African Americans from re-enlisting after their initial terms of service had expired. By November 1775, the Continental Congress had enacted legislation banning all African Americans from the Continental army, a policy that was once again changed within a few months to allow free blacks to serve in light of Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation inviting slaves to join the British army in exchange for their freedom. Despite his changing status within the army, Poor stayed with it and served under Washington for several more years, accompanying the general’s forces at Valley Forge and the battle of White Plains among other smaller engagements. Surviving records fail to indicate whether or not he ever received his reward from the Massachusetts government, but in 1975, the U.S. Postal Service commemorated him on a stamp in its “Contributors to the Cause” series. See also American Revolution; Bunker Hill, Battle of References and Further Reading Kaplan, Sidney, and Emma Nogrady Kaplan. The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1989. Nalty, Bernard C. Strength for the Fight. New York: Free Press, 1986. Quarles, Benjamin. The Negro in the American Revolution. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1961.

Port Chicago Mutiny (1944) Following a devastating explosion on board two cargo ships at the Naval Magazine in Port Chicago, California, some 258 African American survivors subsequently refused to load ammunition at the nearby Mare Island Naval Shipyard because the same unsafe conditions prevailed. Fifty of the men who still refused to return to work were charged with mutiny.

Damage resulting from the July 17, 1944, ammunition explosion at Port Chicago, California. This view looks south from the ship pier, showing the wreckage of Building A-7 (joiner shop) at the right. A piece of twisted steel plating lies just to the left of the long pole in left center. (U.S. Naval Historical Center)

On July 17, 1944, a massive explosion on board two ships caused the death of more than 320 U.S. Navy personnel, 202 of whom were African Americans. This was the worst domestic loss of life during World War II, and it accounted for about 15 percent of total African American naval casualties during the war. Compensation to bereaved families was originally set at $5,000 each, but Congressman John Rankin of Mississippi intervened and had the compensation reduced to $3,000. In addition, white survivors of the explosion were given a thirty-day leave. A month later, with the white survivors still on their leave, 258 African American loaders were ordered to work in a nearby port. Nothing had been learned from the disaster, and, unwilling to risk their lives once again, the men refused to load the ships. Fifty of them were charged with mutiny, a capital crime. (Those who were not charged with mutiny were penalized with the loss of three months’ pay.) The trial, in the fall of 1944, lasted thirty-two days. Although he was only an observer at the initial trial, the men were later defended by

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Thurgood Marshall, who was retained by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Marshall stated, “This is not fifty men on trial for mutiny. This is the Navy on trial for its whole vicious policy towards Negroes. Negroes in the Navy don’t mind loading ammunition. They just want to know why they are the only ones doing the loading!” (Allen 1989, 119). Although the military court found all fifty men guilty, none of them was hanged. They were all sentenced to long terms of imprisonment and Marshall continued to agitate until forty-seven of the convicted men were finally released in 1946. The Port Chicago explosion and the ensuing mutiny was a public relations nightmare for the navy. It exposed the indignities of the Jim Crow conditions in the navy, although the service would claim that the mutiny itself was a conspiracy. Fifty years later the navy still resisted the call to rescind the mutiny charges against the men. By July 1999 only two of the men were known to still be alive, and the NAACP was instrumental in obtaining a very belated pardon, granted in December 1999, for one of them, Freddie Meeks, who died in June 2003. See also Jim Crow Military; U.S. Navy; World War II References and Further Reading Allen, Robert L. The Port Chicago Mutiny. New York: Warner Books, 1989. Astor, Gerald. The Right to Fight. Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1998.

Port Hudson, Battle of (May 27, 1863) Among the troops deployed to besiege and eventually attempt to storm the Confederate-held Port Hudson, Louisiana, in 1863 were the 1st

and 3d Infantry Regiments (Louisiana Native Guards), African American units with white officers. Union Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks, having ensured that the defenses were totally surrounded and that positions had been built around them to prevent breakouts or reinforcement, ordered that a general assault be made on May 27. His plan called for simultaneous attacks to be made all along the Confederate perimeter. Union batteries opened fire shortly after dawn, but despite express orders to time the attacks to be made at the same time, Brig. Gen. Godfrey Weitzel, Brig. Gen. Cuvier Grover, and Brig. Gen. Halbert E. Paine (on the right) made their assaults in the morning, whereas Maj. Gen. Christopher C. Augur (in the center) and Brig. Gen. William T. Sherman (on the left) did not attack until later that afternoon. The 1st and 3d Infantry Regiments made three attempts on the Confederate defense works, but each time they were thrown back with heavy losses. They attacked the Confederate enemy batteries and infantry positions in the north after advancing through woodland and over an exposed plain. It was difficult terrain, with the plain covered in felled trees and brushwood. It is believed the men took nearly two hours to negotiate the terrain, during which time they were under constant fire from the Confederates. As the Union troops approached the enemy positions, the full weight of the enemy fire hit them, temporarily halting their progress (particularly after they had been fired on by concealed batteries). Nonetheless, the men recovered and pressed on, taking more casualties as they did so. Galling fire from well-positioned Confederate batteries swept the leading regiments, from Michigan, New York, and Massachusetts. Col. John A. Nelson and Brig. Gen. William Dwight conferred and called upon the 1st and 3d to take the lead and throw themselves at the battery on the left. The troops failed to take the battery, but General Banks commended the 1st

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and 3d and the African American 1st Engineers, saying, “No troops could be more determined or daring” (quoted in McPherson 1965, 185). As many as 600 African American soldiers fell as casualties that day. The attack on Port Hudson was the first major assault to involve African American troops. The bravery exhibited by the Louisiana Native Guards at Port Hudson proved how well African American troops could fight for the North, thus encouraging black recruitment and gaining the trust of fellow white soldiers, who had doubted that African American soldiers would be effective in battle. After the siege, Port Hudson became a recruiting center for black troops. See also American Civil War; 1st Louisiana Native Guards; United States Colored Troops (appendixes) References and Further Reading Cunningham, Edward. The Port Hudson Campaign, 1862–1863. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1994. Hewitt, Lawrence Lee. Port Hudson: Confederate Bastion on the Mississippi. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1988. McPherson, James M. The Negro’s Civil War. New York: Pantheon, 1965. Wilson, Joseph T. The Black Phalanx: A History of the Negro Soldiers of the United States in the Wars of 1775–1812, 1861–’65. Hartford, CT: American Publishing Company, 1892.

Potter’s Raid (April 1865) The African American 54th Massachusetts Regiment, under the command of Col. Edward N. Hallowell, and elements of the 32d and 102d U.S. Colored Troops accompanied Brig. Gen. Edward E. Potter on a raid in South Carolina. The expedition left Georgetown, South Carolina, on April 1, 1865, and by the fifth was in

the area of Johnson’s Swamp. It continued unmolested away from the Black River and into Thorntree Swamp, encountering the first Confederates on the seventh. The 102d was given orders to destroy the Kingstree Bridge over the Black River, but the Confederates had already destroyed it themselves. Two companies of the 54th were sent up to destroy Epp’s Bridge, but again they found it had already been destroyed. The Union troops continued toward Camden, and by April 9 they had crossed Pocotaligo Creek. The Confederates massed at Dingle’s Mill near Sumter on the day that Gen. Robert E. Lee was surrendering his Army of Northern Virginia at the Appomattox court house. The Confederates were driven from their positions, but they re-formed a mile and a half down the road. Again they were driven away, and Potter’s men captured Sumter. On April 10 the 32d was sent to destroy the railroad bridge at Maysville. Meanwhile, much of Sumter was reduced to ashes. On the eleventh the main force moved toward Manchester, while the 54th destroyed railroad equipment at Wateree Junction. Potter’s men then moved toward Camden and then to Statesburg, where they encountered light resistance. By April 16 they were just twelve miles from Camden, but on the eighteenth they encountered more Confederate troops at Boykin’s Mill, entrenched in rifle pits. The 32d went forward but found the swamp too deep. The 54th was sent to find another crossing, but when a bridge was found, Confederate snipers attempted to stop the men from crossing. First Lt. Edward L. Stevens of the 54th was shot dead; he was the last Union officer to die in the Civil War. The 54th pressed on, and the 102d found another crossing point, which forced the Confederates to retreat. On April 19 the Confederates attempted to stem the attack once more, but again the Union troops pushed through to Denkin’s Mill, where another sharp fight took place. The Confederates tried to stand again at Beech Creek, but they were brushed aside, and

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the Union column moved onto Middleton Depot. On April 21, a Confederate messenger brought Potter the news that a truce had been signed, ending Potter’s Raid. During the campaign, 32 locomotives were destroyed, as well as 250 boxcars, 5,000 bales of cotton, and 100 cotton gins and presses, in addition to vast quantities of stores and supplies. About 5,000 slaves were freed. Total Union losses were 10 killed and 72 wounded. See also American Civil War; 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment; Fort Wagner, Battle of; United States Colored Troops (appendixes) References and Further Reading Cox, Clinton. Undying Glory: The Story of the Massachusetts 54th Regiment. New York: Scholastic, 1993. Duncan, Russell. Where Death and Glory Meet: Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Infantry. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1999.

Powell, Colin Luther (b. 1937) With credits to his name like chairman of the Joints Chief of Staff and secretary of state, Colin Luther Powell ascended to the absolute pinnacle of the American military profession and is the highest-ranking African American government official in the nation. He is often courted as a possible candidate for the highest office, that of president The son of Jamaican immigrants, Powell was born in New York City on April 5, 1937. While attending City College of New York in the 1950s, he joined the U.S. Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), where he excelled, receiving a number of awards for his service. As a distinguished military graduate, he received a

commission in the regular army, rather than a commission in the army reserve with active duty on a less-tenured basis. He was assigned to the infantry. Over the course of the next several years, Powell completed many assignments, both at home and abroad, and continued to earn high marks and recognition, earning several promotions. In 1962, he became a military advisor to South Vietnam and began working directly in the field with units of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), then fighting a counterinsurgency against Communist forces. As an adviser, Powell was assigned to the U.S. Military Assistance Command in Vietnam (MACV). Powell’s initial assignment was as adviser to an ARVN infantry battalion operating in the A Shau Valley. The A Shau was a combination of stifling heat, double- and triple-canopy jungle, steep cliffs lining the valley, leech-infested streams, and areas that looked to be open fields from the air but that proved to be fields of elephant grass as much as 15 feet high. The ARVN mission was to prevent the flow of supplies from the People’s Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) to the insurgents in the south. While advising this unit, Powell suffered a minor wound in July 1963 when he stepped into a punji pit (pits dug into trails, with sharpened bamboo stakes in the bottom to impale anyone falling through the false top) and was taken out of the field to complete his tour at headquarters. He left Vietnam in November 1963, shortly after the overthrow of the South Vietnamese government. Powell attended the Infantry Officer Advanced Course at Fort Benning, Georgia, in 1964 and was selected to remain at the Infantry School there as an instructor after his graduation, staying in that capacity until 1967. He was promoted to major in 1966 after only eight years of service, rather than the usual ten or eleven years. Although the Vietnam War was to drastically decrease the years of service required for promotion, Powell’s promotions were constantly ahead of his peers and reflected consistently outstanding performance.

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During 1967–1968, he attended the Army’s Command and General Staff College (CGSC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, a necessary qualification for an officer to be promoted to lieutenant colonel or command a battalion-level organization. Powell graduated second in his class but felt isolated in Kansas as he watched the North Vietnamese Tet Offensive and its aftermath on television, and as the civil rights movement seemed to be shifting from protests to riots, following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Powell returned to Vietnam as a major in July 1968, serving first as the executive officer of an infantry brigade and then as the assistant chief of staff for operations of the American Division, a position normally filled by an experienced and senior lieutenant colonel. The American Division was an unwieldy organization, the largest division operating in Vietnam. Powell’s responsibilities included planning for and coordinating the operations of the three infantry brigades, the cavalry squadron (battalion), and the aviation group (brigade). Following his tour of duty with the American Division, Powell earned a business degree at George Washington University and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1970. After receiving his MBA, he spent a year with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) before going to South Korea to take command of an infantry battalion. Returning to the United States in 1974, Powell attended the National War College and was promoted to colonel in 1976. His next assignment, also in 1976, was as commander of an airborne brigade, meeting the final qualification for the position by passing the rigorous physical requirements of the air assault course at age thirty-nine. After a year as a brigade commander, he began the first of a series of assignments that ultimately would see him become the most powerful military officer in the United States. Over the course of the next decade or so, Powell displayed an aptitude for the kind of political assignments that gain military officers

recognition in Washington, which complimented his already proven skill at military assignments that brought him the respect of other soldiers. In 1977, Powell became a military assistant to secretary of defense Harold Brown. Two years later, he was promoted to brigadier general. He returned to a field command in 1981, but once again came back to Washington in 1983 as military assistant to the new secretary of defense, Caspar Weinberger. He was promoted to major general the same year. In 1986, he was promoted to lieutenant general and left Washington to take up command of a corps serving in West Germany. At the request of President Ronald Reagan, Powell returned to Washington and became deputy assistant for national security affairs in January 1987, working directly for Frank Carlucci, Reagan’s national security adviser. He replaced Carlucci as national security adviser later that same year and held the position until 1989. One of his responsibilities was to chair the National Security Council. His new role marked a singular achievement for Powell—an African American was the primary adviser to the president of the United States on national security issues. As President-elect George Bush worked to form his incoming administration in January 1989, Powell hoped for a high appointment, or at least to remain as national security adviser. Although Bush’s transition team made him some offers for various positions, Powell found them unacceptable and considered retirement amid a flood of offers for lucrative speaking tours and other related endeavors. He decided to continue his military service, however, and was promptly promoted to general. Later that same year, Bush nominated Powell to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff—the highest-ranking position in the American military establishment. He was quickly approved by the Senate and ended up serving both Bush and President Bill Clinton. Powell was a popular choice. Although he was a political general, he had acquitted himself well whenever he had served with troops, and many senior officers who might have preferred a “soldier’s soldier”

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for the job honestly thought that Powell was the best choice, considering the public nature of the job—such as meetings with the press, the need for communication with a civilian world, and his ability to see military affairs within a larger context. As a general who was commissioned through ROTC, rather than the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, he was seen by some observers, tending to be wary of the military, as possibly holding views closer to those of the American public than his West Point counterparts. Powell was to have a quick test of his ability to handle the job. Members of Reagan’s administration had already begun planning a gradual intervention in Panama, where former U.S. ally Gen. Manuel Noriega had embarked on a program of repression of his own people and harassment of Americans living in Panama that prompted serious concern in Washington. U.S. authorities decided to remove Noriega from power when he began openly courting alliances with long-time U.S. enemies Cuba and Libya and when he stopped abiding by the 1977 U.S.Panama treaty concerning use of the Panama Canal. When the Bush administration came into office in early 1989, planning for the intervention took on a new urgency, with the intention of intervening in Panama as soon as possible rather than conducting a gradual build-up of troops in the region. Powell supported the change and insisted that overwhelming force had to be used to insure that the goals of the operation were achieved. Once the operation actually began in December of that year, Powell personally meet the press to explain and justify it, projecting confidence and dealing with the media very effectively. Overall, the operation went well and served as something of a dress rehearsal for the main military event of his tenure as chairman of the joint chiefs. Powell’s defining moment in this position was the 1991 Gulf War. The invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi military forces on August 2, 1990, was the opening event of what was to prove the largest deployment of American military strength since

the Vietnam War. Although there were voices within the administration calling for immediate intervention, Powell was initially cautious, questioning what vital American interests were threatened, and asking about the efficacy of sanctions. When Iraqi military forces began to assume a threatening posture toward Saudi Arabia, however, Powell considered that vital U.S. interests were indeed at risk. In the buildup to the war that was eventually waged to force the Iraqis from Kuwait, the size and scope of the forces employed, the willingness to call up American reserve forces and ask for popular support, and placing military action within the framework of a working coalition while retaining American freedom of action were illustrative of the way that Powell believed American military power should be employed. The actual military campaign, planned and commanded by Gen. Norman A. Schwarzkopf, was preceded by a bombing campaign from January 16–February 23, 1991. The ground war began on February 23, and was dramatically and stunningly successful. The Iraqis agreed to a ceasefire on March 3, and Kuwait was subsequently liberated. The use of American military power in the manner exemplified in the Gulf War was soon given the nomenclature of the “Powell Doctrine.” The doctrine stresses warfare as a continuation of policy by other means, but only as a last resort and only when there is a clear risk to national security. Force, if used, should be overwhelming—far greater than that of the enemy. The public should support the effort and, if possible, should be involved, for example, through the activation of reserve forces. Finally, there must be a clear “exit strategy” from the conflict. Powell continued as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff until 1993. He opposed the American intervention in Somalia and was reluctant to commit American military forces to Bosnia. At the end of his appointed term as chairman of the joint chiefs, he retired from military service. He wrote and publicized his autobiography, My American Journey (1995), and spoke out on a number of issues related to for-

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eign relations and defense matters. In 1996, he felt compelled to declare that he would not pursue the presidency but would continue to serve in other capacities. On January 20, 2001, Powell became the sixty-fifth secretary of state of the United States—the first African American to hold the position. His confirmation had been unanimous and was popularly received on both sides of the political aisle. Powell’s few critics claim that he ignored the needs of African Americans while pursuing his own ambitions, but such assertions have done little to temper his popularity or his position as a role model for all Americans. He enjoys the respect of the leadership of both political parties and is widely viewed as a man of integrity and honor.

See also Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; Gulf War; Korean War; U.S. Army; Vietnam War References and Further Reading Atkinson, Rick. Crusade. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1993. “Biography: Colin Powell,” U.S. Department of State website: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/ 1349.htm. Powell, Colin. My American Journey. New York: Random House, 1995. Woodward, Bob. The Commanders. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1991.

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r Randolph, Asa Philip (1889–1979) A. Philip Randolph was born in Crescent City, Florida, on April 15, 1889. His father, Rev. James William Randolph, was an African Methodist Episcopal minister. It was with this grounding that Randolph was to become one of the key figures in the civil rights movement. Randolph moved to New York in 1911 and began attending City College, but he was increasingly drawn to politics and economics. Here he met Lucille Green, whom he later married, and Chandler Owen of North Carolina, who became a longtime friend. Randolph, Green, and Owen shared political ideologies; together, Randolph and Owen established the radical magazine the Messenger in 1917. In the early 1920s Randolph became involved in the formation of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, with whom he was associated for twelve years. Federal control of the railroads had ceased in 1920, and in August 1925 the Brotherhood was launched. It immediately drew vicious resistance from the Pullman Company, which opposed unionization. As an orator and leader, Randolph eventually won the support of the African American churches and newspapers, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the National Urban League. In 1935 the Pullman

Company was forced to come to terms with the Brotherhood. By now Randolph had emerged as one of the major African American leaders in the country. In the spring of 1941, Randolph began lobbying for a march on Washington to demonstrate to President Franklin D. Roosevelt the need for reforms in job hiring, with a primary focus on the recruitment of blacks in the defense industry. He was among other reformers and activists whose pressure on the president prompted his Executive Order 8802 on June 25, 1941, just days prior to the proposed march. Randolph canceled the march as a result of the order’s reforms. The order banned discrimination in the awarding of government contracts, including those to industries involved in wartime production; forbade discrimination in training; and created the Fair Employment Practices Commission. In 1947 Randolph founded the Committee against Jim Crow in Military Service and Training (which a year later became the League for Non-Violent Civil Disobedience against Military Segregation). In 1948, Randolph testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee, and finally, on July 26 of that year, President Harry S. Truman issued Executive Order 9981 ending discrimination in the armed services. During the 1950s Randolph continued to agitate for further civil rights, repeatedly calling for a march on Washington for jobs and free-

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Pfeffer, Paula F. A Philip Randolph: Pioneer of the Civil Rights Movement. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1996.

Red Ball Express (August 25– November 16, 1944)

A. Philip Randolph at a press interview in the 1960s. In a long career working for civil rights, Randolph struggled to obtain equal treatment for African Americans in the armed forces. (Library of Congress)

dom. He was a director of the march that took place on August 28, 1963, attracting over 250,000 people. After the march Randolph and Martin Luther King Jr. met with President John F. Kennedy. In 1964 the Civil Rights Act was signed. Randolph died in 1979, and among the many thousands of mourners was President Jimmy Carter. See also Executive Order 9981; National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; World War II References and Further Reading Anderson, Jervis. A. Philip Randolph: A Biographical Portrait. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1986.

The Red Ball Express was a World War II operation that ensured that adequate supplies reached the twenty-eight U.S. divisions advancing across France and Belgium. Approximately 75 percent of the drivers involved in the exhausting effort were African American. Following the elimination of any meaningful German resistance in July 1944 in France, the Allies found themselves in the difficult position of trying to pursue Germany’s Seventh Army. Each of the twenty-eight U.S. divisions was consuming vast amounts of supplies, which needed to be delivered daily—a daunting task. Most of the French posts were still occupied by the Germans and the rail system west of Paris had been destroyed by bombing. Following a thirty-six-hour brainstorming session, the Army Transportation Corps created the Red Ball Express (the name comes from a railroad phrase, to “red ball,” or express deliver, a package). Nearly 6,000 vehicles capable of carrying more than 12,500 tons were deployed to deliver supplies to the forward depots. Every available man, even those who had not driven before, was pressed into service. The trucks traveled between the beachhead and the front along roads closed to all other traffic. Regulations dictated that convoys should move in groups of five at 35 miles per hour, 60 feet apart with lead and follow jeeps, in a seemingly endless stream of trucks heading in both directions. Weight restrictions were often ignored. It was not unknown for drivers to make their way to the front to deliver fuel and ammunition to men actually engaged with the enemy. On one such occasion, truck drivers delivered jerry cans of

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Soldiers load trucks with rations bound for frontline troops. From left to right are Pvt. Harold Hendricks, Staff Sgt. Carl Haines, Sgt. Theodore Cutright, Pvt. Lawrence Buckhalter, Pfc. Horace Deahl, and Pvt. David N. Hatcher. The troops were assigned to the 4185th Quartermaster Service Company, Liège, Belgium. (Army Transportation Museum)

fuel to a Sherman tank while dangerously close to German positions. Military police (MPs) were stationed all along the route to help the drivers keep from getting lost, and engineers were deployed with tow trucks to pull any battle damaged or broken down trucks off the road to keep the convoys moving. The trucks and the men took a dreadful beating. During the first month 40,000 tires were worn out but most could be repaired; the greatest danger to the tires were the rations littered along their routes. On the return trip from the front, the trucks often ferried German prisoners of war. Many of the trucks had .50-caliber machine guns

mounted on their cabs, and in at least one case the gunner brought down an attacking plane. Each truck displayed the Red Ball insignia, which gave them the right of way over all other traffic. The majority of the vehicles covered a 700-mile round-trip from St. Lô to either Chartres (to the U.S. First Army) or to Dreux (to the U.S. Third Army). The Red Ball Express has been the subject of popular entertainment. A film, The Red Ball Express, starring Sidney Poitier, was made in 1952 (rather downplaying the role of African American drivers), and Paul Robeson performed a song based on the Red Ball Express. The effort continued for nearly three months,

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and at its peak the Red Ball Express trucks were using up to 300,000 gallons of gasoline per day. Without this almost superhuman effort, the Allied advance into France and Belgium and its pursuit of the retreating Germans would have been impossible. See also Robeson, Paul Leroy; World War II References and Further Reading Colley, David P. The Road to Victory: The Untold Story of World War Two’s Red Ball Express. Elmsford, NY: Brasseys, 2001.

Richmond, Battles of (1864) The capital of the Confederate government, Richmond, Virginia, held great symbolic and strategic importance for the South during the Civil War. Within a year of the outbreak of the war in 1861, Federal forces lay within striking distance of the capital, although the Confederates managed to repeatedly hold this threat at bay. In the spring of 1864, however, Union forces made their most determined attempt yet to capture Richmond, with the hard-bitten Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at their head. The campaigns of that spring spread out in a wide circle around the capitol but they may collectively be called the Battles of Richmond, for that city was their focal point. African American troops played a prominent role in these campaigns, which ranged from fighting at the Wilderness in early May through the brutal blood-letting at Cold Harbor in early June to the Battle of the Crater in late July, as the action moved progressively but inexorably south, eventually skirting Richmond itself and continuing around Petersburg. Unlike an earlier period in the war, African American troops had been accepted by federal authorities as a valuable fighting resource and organized into their

own units by this time. Although some had seen action before this massive campaign against Richmond, many were untried and eager for an opportunity to prove themselves. Some 25 miles south of Richmond, Petersburg was an important transportation hub for both the Confederate capital and the Army of Northern Virginia. When Union efforts to capture Richmond itself failed in June 1864, Grant decided to encircle Richmond from the south by seizing Petersburg, which would eventually strangle Richmond of supplies and limit the Confederate government’s ability to conduct the war. When a Federal assault on Petersburg also failed, Union leaders adopted a unique strategy to undermine Confederate defensive works around the city—they built a massive tunnel under the trench system with the idea of placing explosives in the tunnel and blowing up the Confederates and their defenses. African American troops of the Fourth Division, IX Corps, were selected to penetrate the Confederate line after 8,000 pounds of dynamite had been set off directly under the Confederate positions, an assignment that was given to them because they were fresh and enthusiastic. Reports circulated that the black troops were being specially drilled and trained to lead the assault, but in actuality they participated in digging the tunnel, with the understanding that they would then be granted the honor of leading the Union charge. At the last minute, though, Union leaders decided the use of African American troops was too politically risky, particularly since this unit had never been in battle before, and instead replaced the black troops with white, the First Division under Brig. Gen. James H. Ledlie. As planned, Federal troops with mining experience exploded the dynamite in the tunnel just before dawn on July 30, killing several hundred Confederate soldiers and destroying the Confederate battery. Ledlie’s First Division attacked what was left of the Confederate position but instead of rushing in to penetrate the breach, they hesitated, a move that quite likely cost the Union forces a clear victory and the surrender of

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Petersburg. Although other Federal troops, including several black regiments, followed Ledlie’s division, the Union advantage of surprise and disorder resulting from the explosion had been lost. The Federals were forced to withdraw, but not before suffering significant losses. Grant later testified before the Joint Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War that if African American troops had been allowed to lead the assault as originally planned, he thought the Federals would have carried the day. One African American soldier of the 39th U.S. Colored Troops, a newly freed slave named Decatur Dorsey, received the Medal of Honor for his actions in the engagement. The so-called Battle of the Crater was only one of several actions that occurred around Petersburg at this time, which in total claimed the lives of more than 1,300 African American soldiers, more than had been lost in any one place during the whole of the Civil War. Two months after the Battle of the Crater, African American troops were once again in the forefront of an attempt to strangle Richmond into submission. With pressure from the federal government and the Northern public for a more decisive victory against the Confederacy, Grant opted to launch a two-pronged attack, with one force assaulting the defenses around Richmond while the other assailed Petersburg. Grant hoped that somewhere along this long front, Union troops would discover a Confederate weak point. Also, a massive Union strike would prevent the Confederates from sending reinforcements to the Shenandoah Valley, where another Union campaign was slowly progressing. The movement against Richmond was led by Union Gen. Benjamin Butler, who had among his command the Third Division, African American troops led by Gen. Charles Paine. Paine’s men launched an attack against Confederate positions at New Market Heights, which had been well prepared with abatis (trees that had been cut down, sharpened, and then placed around defensive works facing out, positioned so as to impale advancing soldiers or at least

make it very difficult for them to climb over and reach the trenches beyond). With great energy and numerous conspicuous acts of valor, the Third Division drove the Confederates from their position, thus achieving what Union leaders hoped would be an instrumental breakthrough of the Confederate lines. Unfortunately, Federal troops in other sectors of the attack did not fare as well, and ultimately, the assault failed, as the Confederates managed to bring up reinforcements and establish new defensive lines that proved impenetrable. Casualties among the African American troops were high, as reported by Thomas Morris Chester, the only African American reporter on a Northern daily newspaper. Chester, of the Philadelphia Press, wrote of the action, In the attempt of the 4th and 6th Regiments to pass over the abattis, the 4th lost its entire color guard. Alfred B. Hilton of the 4th USCT, carried the American flag, which was presented to it by the colored ladies of Baltimore, to the very edge of the breastworks, and, lying down, held aloft the national colors. When they were ordered to fall back, this brave man was shot down, but is not dangerously wounded, and his first exclamation was, “Save the Flag!” Sergeant Major [Christian] Fleetwood successfully brought the colors back, riddled with some thirty rents, with no other loss to himself than a shot through his boot leg (quoted in Blackett 1989, 140).

Despite the Union defeat, though, the African American troops served with distinction by all account. In fact, Fleetwood and seven other African Americans received the Medal of Honor for their valor. Later, Butler presented 200 men specially struck medals in recognition of their gallantry during the engagements around New Market Heights. Although the Confederates managed to stave off defeat in the battles around Richmond throughout the fall and winter, they could not prevail over the Union’s superior numbers and

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relentless attacks. Richmond finally fell on April 2, 1865, with the African American 5th Massachusetts Cavalry at the head of the Union troops who poured into the Confederate capital. The commander of the 5th Massachusetts Cavalry, Francis Adams Jr., wrote on April 2, 1865, “To have led my regiment into Richmond at the moment of its capture is the one event which I should most have desired as the culmination of my life in the Army” (quoted in Cornish 1987, 282). Most of the rest of the army, including several units of black troops, were not present to witness Richmond’s surrender, having already turned northward to pursue the retreating Army of Northern Virginia. Petersburg fell the following day, and the Army of Northern Virginia surrendered just six days later, effectively bringing the war to an end. See also American Civil War; Chaffin’s Farm, Battle of; Confederates, African American; United States Colored Troops (appendixes) References and Further Reading Blackett, R. J. M., ed. Thomas Morris Chester, Black Civil War Correspondent. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1989. Cornish, Dudley Taylor. The Sable Arm: Black Troops in the Union Army, 1861–1865. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1987. Originally New York: Longmans Green, 1956. Trudeau, Noah Andre. Like Men of War. Boston: Little, Brown, 1998.

Rivers, Ruben (d. 1944) Ruben Rivers was one of three sons of Willie and Lillian Rivers from Holtuka, Oklahoma, who went into military service. Robert Rivers served in a supply unit in France, and Dewey Rivers served in New Guinea in the engineers. Ruben Rivers trained with the 761st Tank

Battalion at Camp Hood, Texas, and was the platoon sergeant for A Company. Soon after Dday, the unit was shipped out to Europe. The “Black Panthers,” as the 761st became known, was the first African American armored unit to be deployed. It entered combat on November 8, 1944, with the 26th Infantry Division. As the tanks advanced through France, they ran into a roadblock. Without regard for his personal safety, Rivers dismounted from his tank in the face of direct enemy small-arms fire, attached a cable to the roadblock, and moved it off the road. Just a few days later, the unit smashed through the towns of Obreck, Dedeline, and Château Voue. When Rivers was radioed not to advance to the next town, Rivers replied that he had already advanced through that town. November 16 found Rivers’s men spearheading an attack for the 101st Infantry Regiment and ahead of the other ten tanks in his company. They approached the town of Guebling, and Rivers’s tank hit a mine and had its right track sheered off. Rivers himself suffered a serious gash in his leg. His wound was dressed, but he refused to be given a painkiller, fearing this would impair his ability to carry out the responsibilities of command. His captain told him he should be evacuated, but again Rivers refused. Rivers led the attack the following morning, but by the evening his wound had become infected; again he refused to be evacuated. Throughout the night the unit was under heavy German fire, and in the morning the Germans launched a counterattack. During the engagement, Rivers fired his tank-mounted 76mm canon at the enemy until his tank was hit by high explosive rounds, and Rivers was killed. About two weeks later, his mother received the bad news, but his commanding officer had recommended him for a Medal of Honor to add to the Purple Heart and Silver Star he had already been awarded. Tragically, it took nearly fifty years for his family to receive the award on his behalf. The medal was finally presented on January 13, 1997. The citation read,

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For extraordinary heroism in action during the 15–19 November 1944 push toward Guebling, France. Though severely wounded in the leg, Sergeant Rivers refused medical treatment and evacuation, took command of another tank, and advanced with his company in Guebling the next day. Repeatedly refusing evacuation, Sgt. Rivers continued to direct his tank’s fire at enemy positions through the morning of 19 November 1944. At dawn, company A’s tanks began to advance towards Baugaktroff, but were stopped by enemy fire. Sergeant Rivers, joined by another tank, opened fire on the enemy tanks, covering company A as they withdrew. While doing so, Sergeant Rivers’ tank was hit, killing him and wounding the crew. Staff Sergeant Rivers’ fighting spirit and daring leadership were an inspiration to his unit and exemplify the highest traditions of military service.

Battalion in World War II. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1999.

Robeson, Paul Leroy (1892–1976)

That Rivers’s actions were recognized with the Medal of Honor was a result of a Shaw University research study to investigate why African American World War II veterans had been overlooked for the Medal of Honor. The study’s 272page report concluded that racism was the reason; it went on to recommend ten soldiers whose military records warranted the award. In January 1995 the findings were delivered to Washington, D.C., and in April of the following year Congress chose to recognize seven of the ten soldiers, all of whom had received less-distinguished awards for their military service. Only one of the seven nominees, 1st Lt. Vernon Baker of Saint Maries, Idaho, was alive to receive the medal. See also World War II References and Further Reading Pfeifer, Kathryn Browne. The 761st Tank Battalion (African-American Soldiers). New York: TwentyFirst Century Books, 1994. Wilson, Joe, Jr. The 761st “Black Panther” Tank

Paul Robeson was a prominent African American actor, singer, and activist who put his popularity among both whites and African Americans to work in support of the war effort during World War II. Robeson was born on April 9, 1892, in Princeton, New Jersey, the fifth child of Rev. William Drew and Maria Louisa Robeson. His mother had come from an abolitionist Quaker family, and his father had progressed through Lincoln University after having escaped slavery. At seventeen Robeson won a writing competition and entered Rutgers University on a fouryear scholarship. There he was an All-American football player and graduated as valedictorian. In 1923 Robeson graduated from Columbia University Law School and went to work in an otherwise all-white law firm. However, when a white secretary refused to take dictation from Robeson, he resigned and gave up his law career, turning instead to a successful and controversial stage and singing career marked by a mixture of sensation and media uproar. He traveled extensively throughout the United States and Europe performing African American spirituals and gypsy folk songs, and he became fascinated by the folk music of different cultures. Robeson became increasingly involved in leftwing and anti-imperialist causes. He supported the Spanish fight against fascism and gave charity performances to aid Loyalist refugees from the civil war in Spain. In 1938 he visited Spain, condemning the West’s indifference to the elected government and praising the Soviet Union’s support for the Spanish Loyalists. Robeson sang for the International Brigades and

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Paul Robeson, who had been a shipyard worker during World War I, leads Moore Shipyard workers in Oakland, California, in singing the “Star Spangled Banner,” September 1942. Later he told them: “This is a serious job—winning this war against fascists. We have to be together.” (National Archives)

planned to make a film about Oliver Law, African American commander of the Abraham Lincoln Battalion who had been killed in 1937. Law was the first African American officer to lead an integrated military force. Despite his enthusiasm for the project, Robeson was unable to obtain backing for the film, which was never made. After the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, Robeson, a dedicated antifascist, supported U.S. entry into the war. Once the United States declared war on Germany and Japan, he campaigned and gave concerts on behalf of the war effort. In the final year of World War II, he toured Germany, France, and Czechoslovakia performing for American

troops, and in October he received the Spingarn Medal, the highest honor of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Throughout his life Robeson remained dedicated to many left-wing and civil rights causes, which brought him to the attention of the FBI and the House Un-American Activities Committee, who considered him a Communist. He was blacklisted by record companies, prevented from traveling abroad, and isolated from more mainstream African American civil rights leaders. Not until 1974 did the FBI conclude that no further investigation of Robeson’s Communist tendencies was warranted. He died on January 23, 1976, at the age of

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seventy-seven. A library and a cultural center at Rutgers University are named for him. See also Korean War; World War II References and Further Reading Duberman, Martin Bauml. Paul Robeson. New York: Knopf, 1988. Robeson, Paul. Here I Stand. Boston: Beacon, 1971.

Robinson, John C. John C. Robinson was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, and despite his fame as an aviator in Chicago, there is a paucity of reliable information on his life and exploits. Robinson gained international fame as a pilot during the Italian invasion of Ethiopia at the outset of World War II when he took command of the Imperial Ethiopian Air Force’s handful of obsolete aircraft. In 1931 the Challenger Air Pilots Association, organized by Robinson, spearheaded the construction of the Robbins, Illinois, airstrip, the first airport built by and for African Americans. Robinson was one of the pioneer African American aviators who led the way for the Tuskegee Airmen in World War II. In 1936 he returned to Tuskegee, his alma mater, and began training pilots at the institution. See also Tuskegee Airmen References and Further Reading Gubert, Betty Kaplan. Invisible Wings: An Annotated Bibliography on Blacks in Aviation, 1916–1993. Afro-American and African Studies, Bibliographies and Indexes, no. 32. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994. Simmons, Thomas E. The Brown Condor: The True Adventures of John C. Robinson. Austin, TX: Bartleby Press, 1988.

Robinson, Roscoe, Jr. (1929–1993) Roscoe Robinson Jr., a West Point graduate, became the first African American to be promoted to four-star general. Robinson joined West Point in July 1947, in the class of 1951. He was commissioned in the infantry and became a platoon leader with the 3d Battalion, 188th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 11th Airborne Division. He served in Korea with the 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division as a platoon leader and then as a company commander and battalion intelligence officer. In 1945 Robinson joined the 11th Airborne Division and after a year became an instructor at Fort Benning, Georgia. He was promoted to captain in 1957, and in 1960 he joined the 82d Airborne, rising to company commander of E Company of the 504th Airborne Infantry Regiment. He attended the Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, graduating in 1963. After being awarded a master’s degree in 1964 from the University of Pittsburgh, he was assigned to the Office of Personnel Operations with the Department of the Army Staff. In 1967, first as a logistics staff officer and then as a battalion commander, he served in Vietnam with the 7th Cavalry, 1st Infantry Division. Here he earned the Distinguished Flying Cross, two Silver Stars, eleven Air Medals, and the Legion of Merit, to add to his combat infantryman’s badge and the Bronze Star he had earned in Korea. Robinson then attended the National War College. He was made a colonel in 1967, and between 1969 and 1972 he served as the executive officer for the chief of staff of the plans directorate at the headquarters of the Pacific command. He then returned to the 82d Airborne as the 2d Brigade’s commander in 1972. He was awarded a second Legion of Merit and was then promoted to brigadier general and given the role of deputy commanding general of

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Okinawa Base command in 1973. He became the commanding general of the garrison in 1975. Robinson returned to the 82d in 1976 as its commanding general, becoming the first African American to command the elite paratrooper unit. He then became deputy chief of staff for operations at the U.S. Army headquarters in Europe and then assumed command of the U.S. Army in Japan. In 1982 he returned to Europe as the U.S. representative to NATO’s Military Committee. Robinson retired in 1985 after thirty-four years of commissioned service, having achieved the rank of four-star general in 1982 and received numerous awards. He was awarded two Distinguished Service Medals and a Defense Distinguished Service Medal at his retirement. He died on July 22, 1993. Shortly before his death, in May 1993, a cadet review at West Point named him a distinguished graduate, saying, “[his] character, distinguished service and stature draw a wholesome comparison to the qualities for which West Point stands, and is epitomized by its motto–duty, honor, country.”

and infantry, who managed to penetrate the perimeter. According to Rogers’s citation for his Medal of Honor,

See also 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion; Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; Korean War; U.S. Army; Vietnam War; West Point

Rogers, Charles Calvin (1929–1990) Charles Calvin Rogers was born on September 6, 1929, in Claremont, West Virginia. He served in Vietnam with the 1st Battalion, 5th Artillery, 1st Infantry Division and was awarded the Medal of Honor for action at the Fishhook, near the Cambodian border in Vietnam on November 1, 1968. Early in the morning of November 1, 1968, Rogers’s fire support base came under intensive enemy bombardment; at the same time, the base was attacked by waves of enemy sappers | 326 |

Lt. Col. Rogers with complete disregard for his safety moved through the hail of fragments from bursting enemy rounds to the embattled area. He aggressively rallied the dazed artillery crewmen to man their howitzers and he directed their fire on the assaulting enemy. Although knocked to the ground and wounded by an exploding round, Lt. Col. Rogers sprang to his feet and led a small counterattack force against an enemy element that had penetrated the howitzer positions. Although painfully wounded a second time during the assault, Lt. Col. Rogers pressed the attack killing several of the enemy and driving the remainder from the positions. Refusing medical treatment, Lt. Col. Rogers reestablished and reinforced the defensive positions. As a second human wave attack was launched against another sector of the perimeter, Lt. Col. Rogers directed artillery fire on the assaulting enemy and led a second counterattack against the charging forces. His valorous example rallied the beleaguered defenders to repulse and defeat the enemy onslaught. Lt. Col. Rogers moved from position to position through the heavy enemy fire, giving encouragement and direction to his men. At dawn the determined enemy launched a third assault against the fire base in an attempt to overrun the position. Lt. Col. Rogers moved to the threatened area and directed lethal fire on the enemy forces. Seeing a howitzer inoperative due to casualties, Lt. Col. Rogers joined the surviving members of the crew to return the howitzer to action. While directing the position defense, Lt. Col. Rogers was seriously wounded by fragments from a heavy mortar round which exploded on the parapet of the gun position. Although too severely wounded to physically lead the defenders, Lt. Col. Rogers continued to give encouragement and direction to his

Rough Riders and Buffalo Soldiers

men in the defeating and repelling of the enemy attack.

Later in life Rogers became a Baptist minister, working with U.S. troops in Germany and promoting racial understanding within the U.S. Army. He died in Germany on September 21, 1990, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. See also Vietnam War

Rough Riders and Buffalo Soldiers (Spanish-American War) When the United States declared war on Spain in April 1898, more than 160,000 National Guardsmen entered federal service. One formation, the 1st New Mexico Cavalry, became the 2d Squadron, 1st Volunteer Cavalry, better known as the Rough Riders. The Rough Riders’ exploits were ruthlessly promoted, particularly by Lt. Col. Theodore Roosevelt, perhaps to the exclusion of recognition of the exploits of the many Buffalo Soldiers who fought alongside them in Cuba. At the very center of the dispute over the actual contribution of the Rough Riders is the emphasis Roosevelt placed on himself and his unit in the responsibility for the victory at San Juan Hill on July 1, 1898. By 1898 Roosevelt was a prominent political figure. Roosevelt and Brig. Gen. Leonard Wood were responsible for organizing the unit that would become the Rough Riders, and given that Roosevelt’s own publicist, Richard Harding Davis, was at the Battle of San Juan Hill, it is hardly surprising that the media at the time swallowed without question the story of the Rough Riders’ and Roosevelt’s heroics. It is often inferred from Roosevelt’s writings that the 2,000 African American troops who were also involved at the Battle of San Juan Hill

merely assisted the Rough Riders in carrying the day. The troops deployed to take San Juan Heights were a mixture of regular army regiments and volunteers. The Rough Riders were deployed for the assault on Kettle Hill, and although they were instrumental in overrunning that position, they fought alongside and were intermixed with troops of the African American 19th Cavalry and the white 1st Cavalry. Once Kettle Hill had been overrun, the troops there could see the other U.S. regiments poised to take San Juan Hill. Roosevelt later wrote, “There was very great confusion at this time, the different regiments being completely intermingled—white regulars, colored regulars and Rough Riders” (quoted in Astor 1998, 70). This mixed group surged up San Juan Hill together, fighting alongside one another. What is particularly significant about Cuba as a theater of war, as far as African American soldiers were concerned, was that they came before the eyes of America. The Buffalo Soldiers had been in the service of their country since 1866, but they had been assigned to frontier duties and their records were obscure. Cuba put the Buffalo Soldiers into sharp focus for the first time. The American public now knew they had four African American regular regiments in the army, and the troops were under close scrutiny from every quarter of society and the establishment. Roosevelt did indeed have a competitor to grab the headlines. The historian Rayford Logan has said of the Buffalo Soldiers, “Negroes had little, at the turn of the century, to help sustain our faith in ourselves except the pride that we took in the 9th and the 10th Cavalry, the 24th and 25th Infantry. Many Negro homes had prints of the famous charge of the colored troops up San Juan Hill” (Logan 1965, 335). The Rough Riders undoubtedly did contribute to the victories on Kettle Hill and San Juan Hill. Their casualty rate was at least comparable to those of the majority of regular units engaged. In just four and a half months in Cuba, one in three of them had either been

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killed, wounded, or laid low by yellow fever. Although there is no denying their valor or their determination to fight, the debate over their contribution compared to those of the regular white troops and the Buffalo Soldiers will inevitably continue. After all, there is a certain romance to the image of 1,200 men—a mixture of cowboys, Indians, Ivy League athletes, and sportsmen—charging up a hill in Cuba for their country. Roosevelt described July 1, 1898, as one of his greatest moments. It is perhaps also significant that the Rough Riders were not in Cuba for the long haul; they were one of the first units to leave Cuba in order to avoid more risk of illness after it became inevitable that the Spanish would have to surrender. They returned to the United States via Long Island, New York, and received heroes’ welcomes. To put their contribution into perspective, they had served for less than 140 days and were mustered out on September 16, 1898. In comparison, many of the Buffalo Soldiers had already served for

more than thirty years, and the majority of these regiments would remain in Cuba for a number of months after the end of the hostilities. Once their garrison duties had been completed, the Buffalo Soldier regiments drifted back into obscurity as they were reassigned to isolated outposts of America. See also Buffalo Soldiers; Kettle Hill, Battle of; 9th Cavalry; San Juan Hill, Battle of; SpanishAmerican War; 10th Cavalry; 25th Infantry Regiment; 24th Infantry Regiment References and Further Reading Astor, Gerald. The Right to Fight. Novato, CA: Presidio, 1998. Logan, Rayford W. The Betrayal of the Negro, from Rutherford B Hayes to Woodrow Wilson. New York: Macmillan, 1965. Nofi, Albert A. The Spanish American War, 1898. New York: Da Capo, 1997. Roosevelt, Theodore. The Rough Riders. New York: Modern Library, 1999.

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s Salem, Peter (1750?–1816) Peter Salem, one of the key African American figures of the American revolutionary period, is best remembered for fighting at the battle of Bunker Hill (June 17, 1775), during which he is reputed to have fired the shot that killed British Maj. John Pitcairn, who had earned fame for leading the advance troops at the Battles of Lexington and Concord two months earlier. Little is known of Salem’s early life. He was born a slave in Framingham, Massachusetts, around 1750. His owner was Jeremiah Belknap, who most likely named him after his hometown of Salem, Massachusetts. At some point, Belknap sold Salem to Maj. Lawson Buckminster (also of Framingham), who granted him his freedom in exchange for his enlistment in the colonial militia; this event most likely occurred in the spring of 1775. Like his fellow townsmen, Salem walked to Concord, Massachusetts, in the early morning hours of April 19 in a company led by the town militia’s Capt. Simon Edgel. Framingham had received word that British forces were marching on Concord to seize one of the province’s secret stashes of military supplies, gathered by the colonists during the preceding winter in light of mounting tensions between themselves and the British authorities. Salem did not fight at the

North Bridge but participated in harassing the British retreat back to Boston, a maneuver that cost the British dearly. A week later, Salem enlisted in Col. John Nixon’s 5th Massachusetts Regiment, which spent the next two months in Cambridge, Massachusetts, laying siege to the British forces holed up in Boston. On the night of June 16, 1775, Salem and his compatriots secretly mounted a hill in neighboring Charlestown that provided a perfect vantage point from which to bombard the British in Boston. The hill in question was actually called Breed’s Hill, although at the time the colonists mistakenly thought they were on Bunker Hill, which gave its name to the battle that followed. Working with remarkable speed and silence, the American troops hastily erected fortifications that caused the British severe alarm when they awoke the next morning to see their position in Boston compromised. Determined to remove the Americans from the hill, the British quickly organized an assault. Before the morning was out, three successive waves of British troops had hurled themselves at the American positions. Salem and his companions in the 5th Massachusetts were positioned on the right side of the American redoubt, and in the third assault, during which the Americans were finally forced to retreat, Salem managed to fire the fatal shot at Pitcairn, who was leading a troop of marine reinforcements. Suffering tremendous

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A depiction of Peter Salem shooting British Major John Pitcairn at the Battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775. Pitcairn had led the advance troops at the Battle of Lexington two months earlier, and his killing at Bunker Hill, where British losses were high, held great significance for the revolutionary forces. (Corbis-Bettmann)

losses, the British pressed on and seized the American position but at a horrific cost of lives. Pitcairn’s demise did little to slow the overall British effort, but it held great symbolic significance for the Americans, who rejoiced that the leader of the British troops at the Battle of Lexington had been brought to justice for his involvement in what amounted to a massacre of eight colonists. Like other African American militiamen, Salem’s position within the colonial military was tenuous at best in the months following Bunker Hill. When newly appointed commander-inchief of the Continental army George Washington arrived in Cambridge in early July, he declared that blacks would not be enlisted in the army, although those already serving were al-

lowed to complete their terms of enlistment (but could not re-enlist). The Continental Congress supported Washington’s position by passing legislation to that effect in November of that year. The same month, though, the British governor of Virginia Lord Dunmore issued a proclamation inviting all bondsmen (slaves and indentured servants) to join the British ranks in exchange for their freedom. This move prompted colonial officials to rethink their policy on African Americans, and they eventually grudgingly allowed them to serve in the Continental army, but only if they were already free. Salem reenlisted in January 1776 and fought at the battles leading up to the British surrender at Saratoga in October 1777, after which point the theater of operations shifted to the southern

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colonies and active fighting in the north drew to a close. Many New England soldiers returned to their homes at this time, although there is no record to indicate whether Salem did so or if he journeyed south to fight with the army there. Most likely, he went home. After the war, the details of Salem’s life are even more obscure. He apparently married a free black woman named Katy Benson and moved with her to Leicester, Massachusetts, where he built a log cabin. His profession was either a cane weaver or a furniture maker, although he does not appear to have been successful in his chosen line of work. He outlived his wife and died in a poorhouse in Framingham in 1816. The town of Framingham erected a monument to Salem in 1882. See also American Revolution; Bunker Hill, Battle of; Haynes, Lemuel; Lexington and Concord, Battles of References and Further Reading Brooks, Victor. The Boston Campaign: April 1775–March 1776. Great Campaigns. Conshohocken, PA: Combined Publishing, 1999. Davis, Lenwood, and George Hill, eds. Blacks in the American Armed Forces, 1776–1983. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1985. Sandel, Edward. Black Soldiers in the Colonial Militia: Documents from 1639 to 1780. Baton Rouge, LA: Tabor Lucas Publications, 1994. Tourtellot, Arthur Bernon. Lexington and Concord: The Beginning of the War of the American Revolution. New York: W. W. Norton, 1963.

Saltville Massacre (Battle of Saltville, October 2–3, 1864) In the Saltville Massacre, in the controversial aftermath of the Battle of Saltville (October 2–3, 1864) in southwest Virginia, wounded troopers of the 5th and 6th U.S. Colored Cav-

alry were abandoned on the battlefield and were subsequently murdered by Confederate soldiers. In the fall of 1864, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant gave Gen. Stephen Gano Burbridge, commander of the Military District of Kentucky, permission to plan and execute a raid on southwest Virginia. Burbridge’s intention was to destroy the Confederate saltworks located in Saltville, a key resource. The 5th U.S. Colored Cavalry, was established on June 30, 1864, by Adj. Gen. Lorenzo Thomas, who was responsible for organizing African American regiments in the Mississippi Valley. Col. James Brisbin, commander of the regiment, was determined that the poorly trained companies should be organized into an effective fighting unit. Some 600 men were mounted on untrained horses and armed with Enfield rifles, which could not be fired on horseback. When Burbridge learned of the formation of the unit, he ordered that it be attached to a white brigade for his raid. The detachment was assigned to Col. James F. Wade (6th U.S. Colored Cavalry) and left Mount Sterling four days after Burbridge’s main force, on September 20, 1864. They were accompanied by a small number of the 6th U.S. Colored Cavalry. On the march to Saltville, Burbridge’s men were dogged by Confederate Col. Henry Giltner’s brigade at Clinch Mountain and Laurel Gap, but they were within two miles of Saltville by the evening of October 1. At that point, the town was defended only by a single Confederate brigade and local militia, but by the time the Union troops formed up the following morning, 2,800 Confederate troops faced Burbridge’s 5,000. The Confederates held the high ground between Saltville and Burbridge’s men. The Union troops were initially able to push the Confederates off Sander’s Hill, and at around 10 a.m., they began a series of dismounted assaults on Chestnut Ridge. After two unsuccessful attempts to take the ridge, Burbridge threw in 400 men of the 5th U.S. Colored Cavalry along with the 12th Ohio Cavalry and the 11th Michigan Cavalry under

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Lt. Col. Robert Ratcliff. The 5th breached the Confederate defenses despite the Confederates’ anger at facing armed black troops on home territory, but after six hours of heavy fighting, Union forces were running low on ammunition. At about 5 p.m., the Union troops fell back, spurred on by the timely arrival of Gen. John Breckinridge’s Confederate cavalry reinforcements. Ratcliff ’s wounded men were left on the battlefield. According to the accounts of various Confederate soldiers that day, including George Mosgrove (Kentucky Cavalry), Capt. Edwin O. Guerrant, and even General Breckinridge himself, wounded Union soldiers, both black and white, were murdered where they lay. It is believed that Tennessee troops were largely to blame for the massacre, although how many were killed is hotly disputed. A conservative estimate of the number of men murdered at Saltville is 46, but contemporary accounts place the number as high as 150. There were precedents of Confederates summarily executing black soldiers in uniform, such as at Fort Pillow (April 12, 1864) and Poison Spring (April 18, 1864). The incident at Saltville prompted urgent exchanges of dispatches both in the Union and Confederate high commands, in which both sides condemned the massacre. In a letter, Breckinridge had placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of Gen. Felix H. Robertson, a Texan known as “Comanche Robertson”; troops under Robertson’s command are generally blamed for the massacre of the wounded. In the event Breckinridge could not discipline Robertson, who had already abandoned his command and fallen in with Joe Wheeler and his group of former Confederate soldiers turned brigands. Robertson died in Texas in 1928, unrepentant of his actions during the war. Another man accused of participation in the massacre was Champ Ferguson, a Kentucky guerrilla leader who supported the Confederacy. He killed Union Lt. Elza Smith, who had allegedly abused Ferguson’s wife and daughter in

a field hospital at Emory and Henry College on October 7, 1864. Ferguson was brought to trial after the war for the murder of Smith and fiftytwo other Union soldiers, black and white. He was convicted and hanged on October 20, 1865, one of only two men executed for war crimes during the war. See also American Civil War; Fort Pillow Massacre; Poison Spring Massacre References and Further Reading Davis, W. C. “The Massacre at Saltville.” Civil War Times Illustrated 9, February 4–11, 43–48. Foote, Shelby. The Civil War: A Narrative—Red River to Appomattox. New York: Random House, 1974. Marvel, W. “The Battle of Saltville: Massacre or Myth?” Blue and Gray Magazine, August 1991, 10–19, 46–60. Mays, Thomas D. The Saltville Massacre. Fort Worth, TX: Ryan Place Publishers, 1995. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series 1, vol. 39. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1892.

San Juan Hill, Battle of (July 1, 1898) The key battle of the Spanish-American War, the Battle of San Juan Hill presaged the fall of the Cuban capital of Santiago and the end of the war. A bloody fight that included gallant American charges up a formidable hill, the engagement captured the American public’s imagination, in part because of the number of reporters who were on the scene and submitted graphic and glorifying tales of the participants. A young publicity-minded lieutenant colonel named Teddy Roosevelt emerged as the hero of the battle at the head of his volunteer cavalry unit, dubbed the Rough Riders. But in truth, the battle involved thousands of American sol-

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diers, including all four African American regiments (9th and 10th Cavalry and 24th and 25th Infantry) of the U.S. army at that time. The effort to seize San Juan Hill actually involved capturing two other neighboring hills at the same time, Kettle Hill (a nickname for El Pozo) and El Caney. An American force under the overall command of Maj. Gen. William R. Shafter, composed of roughly 15,000 U.S. troops (2,000 of whom were African Americans), stormed the hills in quick succession on the morning of July 1, 1898. The three attacks were closely coordinated, leading to confusion within the ranks when the first stage of the attack—that against El Caney—took far longer than the military leadership had planned. The assaults on the other hills moved forward regardless but operated under something of a handicap, as fighting on El Caney bogged down important resources needed elsewhere. In total, nearly 8,000 men attacked San Juan Hill, a force that included 1,250 men from the four African American units. The Spaniards held fast against the first two assaults, prompting Shafter to throw in reinforcements. As the 24th Infantry and the other supporting units advanced, they passed three regiments along the road that had been shattered in their attacks. Cpl. John Conn of the 24th, in a letter to his sister, wrote, With a last look at our arms and ammunition—and yes a little prayer—we started, and such a volley as they sent into us! It was then that Sgt. Brown was shot almost at the river bank. We had to cut and destroy a barbed wire fence. How or by what means it was destroyed no one scarcely knows; but destroyed it surely was, and in that angry mob, nearly all their officers having been disabled, there was no organization recognized. Men were crazy. Some one said: “Let us charge,” and someone sounded “Let us charge” on a bugle. When that pack of demons swept forward the Spaniards stood as long as mortals could stand, then quit their trenches and retreated. When we joined the hill they were in full

retreat. It now seems almost impossible that civilized men could so recklessly destroy each other.

Conn’s version of the battle accurately captured the confusion that almost all sources later identified with this engagement, which seems to have been even more chaotic than other battles. Both officers and men later wrote that a mass of disorganized American troops, mixing units and races, charged up the hill and overwhelmed the Spanish on this third, frenzied assault. No doubt the inhospitable conditions in Cuba, including blistering heat, rampant disease, and the pervasive jungle terrain, contributed to the soldiers’ disorientation. As the New York Sun later reported, The soldiers leaped forward, charging and shooting across the field to the river. The steep banks were muddy, but our men dashed and slid down them, yelling like mad. Across the stream they went, and up the other side, the Spaniards pouring shot into them at a lively rate. They could no more stop the advance, however, than they could have stopped an avalanche. The yelling and enthusiastic Americans charged on the block house, driving the enemy before them. The enthusiasm of the Ninth Cavalry was at its highest pitch and so it was with the other troops. Only annihilation could drive them back; the Spaniards could not.

It is interesting to note that only the 9th came in for particular mention in this article. The reporter from the New York Mail and Express saved his praise for the men of the 10th: No more striking example of bravery and coolness has been shown since the destruction of the Maine than by the colored veterans of the Tenth Cavalry during the attack upon San Juan: Firing as they marched, their aim was splendid, their coolness was superb, and their courage aroused the admiration of their comrades. Their advance was greeted with wild | 333 |

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African American soldiers, veterans of Cuba, stand at attention, 1899. The four existing African American units—the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 24th and 25th Infantry— as well as newly organized African American volunteer units were sent to fight in Cuba. Seven African Americans won the Medal of Honor in the Spanish-American War. (CORBIS)

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songs, and plays all quickly appeared highlighting their service in Cuba. Ironically, in a period when racism was intensifying and blacks were increasingly subjected to discrimination, the Buffalo Soldiers emerged as African American heroes.

cheers from the white regiments, and with answering shouts they pressed onward over the trenches they had taken in close pursuit of the retreating enemy. The war has not shown greater heroism. The men whose own freedom was baptized in blood have proved themselves capable of giving up their lives that other may be free! (quoted in Cashin 1970, 159).

This view of the gallantry of the 10th was endorsed by Lt. John J. “Black Jack” Pershing soon after: “We officers of the Tenth Cavalry could have taken our black heroes in our arms. Their conduct made me prouder than ever of being an officer in the American Army” (quoted in Cashin 1970, 209). As veterans of several campaigns against Native Americans in the West, the African American soldiers were apparently well prepared for such fighting and did much to dispel concerns about their value as combat troops. But by all accounts, the victory at San Juan Hill was one that was shared by whites and blacks, regular army troops and volunteers. Although the Americans seized the hill, their losses were staggering, with more than 200 men killed in action and countless others wounded. The 24th alone suffered a 40 percent casualty rate. Five men of the 10th Cavalry received Medals of Honor for their bravery: Dennis Bell, Fitz Lee, William H. Thompkins, George Wanton, and Edward L. Baker, Jr. With victory secure, American newspapers rushed to publish their accounts of the battle, aided by the bevy of war correspondents who were either on the scene for the fight or came to the battlefield shortly thereafter. Roosevelt and his Rough Riders received the lion’s share of attention, in part because Roosevelt was accompanied by his own war correspondent who carefully documented (and some said embellished) the battlefield experiences of Roosevelt and his men. The American-American troops, commonly known as Buffalo Soldiers, received a great deal of attention as well. Even mainstream white newspapers seemed determined to emphasize their contributions to the victory. Books,

See also Buffalo Soldiers; El Caney, Battle of; Kettle Hill, Battle of; Las Guásimas, Battle of; Spanish-American War References and Further Reading Cashin, Herschel V., et al. Under Fire with the Tenth Cavalry. New York: Bellwether Publishing, 1970. Fletcher, Marvin E. The Black Soldier and Officer in the United States Army, 1891–1917. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1974. Schubert, Frank N. “Buffalo Soldiers at San Juan Hill.” Paper delivered at the Conference of Army Historians, Bethesda, MD, 1998. http://www. army.mil/cmh-pg/documents/spanam/BSSJH/ Shbrt-BSSJH.htm (accessed September 16, 2003).

Sargent, Ruppert Leon (1938–1967) Ruppert Leon Sargent was born in Hampton, Virginia, on January 6, 1938. He entered service at Richmond, Virginia, and served as a first lieutenant in Company B, 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment of the 25th Infantry Division in the Republic of Vietnam. He sacrificed his life to save his fellow soldiers in action in Hua Nghia Province, on March 15, 1967. Sargent was leading his company to investigate a Vietcong meeting house and cache of arms and equipment when he discovered a booby-trapped tunnel. As Sargent was preparing to destroy the tunnel’s cover with a grenade, an enemy soldier emerged. A platoon sergeant shot the man, and Sargent, the platoon sergeant, and a forward observer moved toward the tunnel

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entrance. Suddenly another Vietcong soldier sprang out and threw two hand grenades at the U.S. troops. Sargent fired three shots at the man and then threw himself over the grenades. Sargent was mortally wounded, but the other two men were saved from anything other than light wounds. Sargent was awarded the Medal of Honor for his prompt and selfless actions. The Ruppert Leon Sargent Memorial City Administration Building in Hampton, Virginia, was officially dedicated on October 5, 2002. Lieutenant Sargent’s company commander, Maj. Watty Smith, who had recommended him for the Medal of Honor, said of Sargent during the opening ceremony, “First, he had the ability to treat each soldier’s problem, regardless of how small, as though it was the most important problem in the world. Second, he had the ability to lead. Third, and most important, he loved his family and his God. On this day, I lost my best friend” (Manchu web page). See also Vietnam War References and Further Reading Manchu Web Page: http://www.manchu.org/linage/ sargent.htm.

landed in a position that was dominated on three sides by fortified enemy positions, and they were ambushed by about 1,000 enemy troops. Within a matter of minutes, about thirty of the men had been hit, and Sasser ran through a rice paddy to give aid to the fallen men. He extricated one man but was then hit with shrapnel from a rocket and was badly wounded in the shoulder. He refused medical attention himself and set about aiding other men who had been hit in the first barrage of fire. He received two other wounds that immobilized his legs, yet he managed to drag himself some 100 meters to aid another man. Bleeding heavily and in danger of becoming unconscious, he treated the man and then aided another group of U.S. soldiers to escape from an exposed position. Sasser continued to treat these men for another five hours until they could be evacuated. Together with World War II Medal of Honor winner Vernon Baker, Sasser cut the ribbon dedicating the Pentagon’s African Americans in Defense of Our Nation corridor, which honors African American Medal of Honor heroes, on February 19, 1997. He continues to dedicate his life to the memory of those who fell in Vietnam and other conflicts, supporting initiatives and the erection of memorials to their names and deeds. See also Vietnam War

Sasser, Clarence Eugene (b. 1947) Clarence Eugene Sasser was a private first class with the Headquarters Company of the 3d Battalion, 60th Infantry Regiment when, on January 10, 1968, he won the Medal of Honor for gallantry in Ding Tuong Province, Republic of Vietnam. Sasser was born in Chenango, Texas, on September 12, 1947, and he entered service in Houston on January 10, 1968. Sasser was serving as a medic with Company A, engaged on a reconnaissance patrol by air assault, when the unit came under small-arms, rocket, and machine-gun fire. The company had

Segregation and Racism in the Military Until the second half of the twentieth century, the U.S. military evinced an extremely ambivalent attitude toward African Americans within its ranks. In peacetime, the military generally eschewed blacks, and government authorities were quick to pass formal legislation limiting their participation in the armed services. During times of conflict, however, both civilian and mil-

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itary authorities often reevaluated their policies on African American participation and liberalized them, recognizing that blacks offered substantial resources of manpower. Pressed by wartime circumstances, local, state, and federal governments either formally changed their policies or informally altered their practices to allow African Americans to serve in the military in at least some capacity. As members of the armed forces, though, African Americans still received worse treatment than their white counterparts among the ranks. Often segregated into their own units, they tended to be poorly trained and given tasks that white troops or support units were unwilling to tackle. Although many served in armed combat and some performed heroic acts that might have earned them the grudging respect of soldiers around them, most blacks labored in supporting roles, performing manual labor and menial tasks that were unpleasant but necessary for successful military operations. The story of African Americans in the military is one of hardship, as they struggled to gain recognition and equal treatment in an organization that consistently undervalued them. The Colonial Period During the colonial period, African Americans, both free and slave, were accepted into the various militias of the individual colonies under a wide variety of circumstances. Each colony enacted its own legislation relative to black enlistment and followed its own practices. They were united only in concern for self-defense against a threat of shifting alliances between European colonial powers seeking to gain influence in North America and Native American groups fighting to preserve their way of life. A constant stream of major wars, minor conflicts, and individual raids kept much of colonial America in a state of wartime readiness throughout this period, although in general African Americans were excluded from all military service except in times of acute crisis. Then, most colonies—but not all—adopted policies either allowing or

compelling any males fit enough to carry a weapon, regardless of race or color, to fight for the cause of colonial defense. But just as each colony determined for itself when and if African Americans would serve in the armed forces, each colony also decided what form that service would take. In some colonies, like the Carolinas, African Americans served with their white compatriots under practically equal conditions and in integrated units. Several colonies drew sharp distinctions between free blacks and slaves, either by permitting one group and prohibiting the other or by allocating different kinds of tasks each group could perform. In general, colonial governments were much more likely to arm free blacks than slaves because white colonists harbored a deep-seated fear that slaves would rise in rebellion against their masters, as well as whites in general, if armed. Even in the northern colonies, where slavery was present albeit far less pervasive than in the colonies in the south, this concern over the possibility of a race war undermined any effort to use black labor to support the militia except when a colony faced the greater possibility of falling to a Native American enemy. Although many whites feared free blacks would also rise against whites, this possibility seemed far less likely than a slave rebellion. A secondary concern for slave owners was that they would lose the value of their slaves’ labor while they served in the militia, which could represent a significant revenue for large, labor-intensive, tobacco plantations. To entice African Americans to serve in the militia during periods of crisis, colonial governments offered a range of rewards or compensations. For free blacks, this compensation came in the form of monetary payment, with the outside possibility that service would help raise their social status, at least among other free blacks. Slaves were also offered bounties or cash bonuses for their service, but most were probably compelled to turn all or most of these funds over to their owners. A few colonial governments offered slaves freedom to come to the

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colony’s aid. With so many variables of cultural attitudes, economics, defense, and history among the colonies, the experience of African Americans in colonial America varied tremendously. Just as the outbreak of the American Revolution began to unite the individual colonies in a single cause, so too did it begin to standardize the experiences of African Americans in the military. When George Washington began to organize the Continental army in July 1775, he was at pains to point out to his recruiters that African Americans were not welcome in the army. The Continental Congress backed him up and formally excluded blacks in November of that year. A reversal was forced not by African Americans or by those opposed to the British Crown but by the British themselves, who with the Dunmore Proclamation, offered slaves and indentured servants their freedom provided they fought for the king. Lord Dunmore, the beleaguered governor of Virginia, made his offer in November 1775, hoping to deprive the colonists in Virginia of the manpower to fight British forces. In all, roughly 1,000 slaves and no indentured servants responded, an extremely disappointing turnout for Dunmore. The American public reacted with outrage to the proclamation, as they saw Dunmore’s act as an attempt to incite a race war. However, it also forced white Americans to reevaluate their position on African American soldiers, prompting them to recognize the contribution blacks could make to the war effort. Gradually over the course of the war, more and more African Americans enlisted in the new state militias, except in the Southern colonies of South Carolina and Georgia, where their recruitment was vigorously discouraged by state authorities. In all, historians estimate that more than 5,000 African Americans directly participated in several major battles of the American Revolution in all capacities within the army (infantry, cavalry, and artillery, as well as support positions). Although the Continental army became much more open to African Americans within its ranks, only the recruitment of free blacks

was encouraged. Slaves who fought with the troops were regarded with some suspicion and often relegated to noncombatant (and thus unarmed) roles. The colonial navies and later the Continental navy had a long tradition of enlisting African American sailors to fill the crews of their vessels. Some even rose to positions of quasi-command, and all enjoyed more equal treatment with their white counterparts in this branch of the service more than in the army. But despite African American contributions during the American Revolution, the U.S. Congress passed the Militia Act in 1792, which explicitly excluded anyone other than white male citizens from serving in the militia. The War of 1812 The War of 1812 again posed considerable problems in recruiting. The problem was especially severe for the army, because the navy had continued since the American Revolution to recruit both free and slave African Americans. In September 1814, Andrew Jackson, then a major-general, called upon African Americans in Louisiana to serve in the U.S. Army, offering free blacks exactly the same conditions of service and bounties that a white volunteer would receive, including a 160-acre farm per man. He offered slaves their freedom. But even though African American troops fought in the Battle of New Orleans (January 8, 1815), the promised rewards were not delivered, at least not for the slaves who had answered Jackson’s call to arms. The day after the battle, Jackson ordered their weapons confiscated and promptly returned them to their masters. Free blacks, however, were able to collect the compensation Jackson had promised them along with honorable discharges and pensions. The African Americans who had served with Jackson and other units during the War of 1812 were very badly treated in the war’s aftermath, as white Americans quickly chose to forget their involvement in the American victory. In 1820, with the crisis over and peace restored, the

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army again explicitly excluded African Americans, and in 1839 the navy followed suit by imposing strict quotas on the number of African Americans who could serve on their vessels. This latter move is thought to have been a response to the southern states’ fears of large numbers of armed and trained African Americans operating from their ports on naval vessels. The Civil War The Civil War brought renewed attention to the issue of enlisting African Americans in the military, not just because of the enormity of the war and the vast number of men involved in waging it, but also because of the role slavery played in precipitating the break between the North and South. Attempts in the early years of the war to recruit and train African Americans were violently opposed in both the Union and the Confederacy. Although the slave population of the South could not have reasonably expected any other form of response from the Confederacy, the opposition in the North was no less implacable. By 1862 Congress had finally permitted the recruitment of African Americans to serve in segregated labor units under white officers. The circumstances of war had already challenged Northerners policies toward African American troops, however, regardless of legislation enacted by Congress. Within weeks of the conflict’s opening battles, hundreds and then thousands of runaway slaves had escaped through the Union lines. Most simply wished to shed their bondage and build new lives as freedmen, but some sought an opportunity to join in the fighting. Unsure how to handle this unique situation, military authorities opted to classify these runaways as confiscated property and ordered them held in camps, at least temporarily. Gradually, more and more of these former slaves made their way into the Union ranks, usually to perform manual labor that freed white soldiers for active combat duty. As Union troops occupied greater amounts of Confederate territory, the number of slaves who wanted

to fight for the Union cause grew, and officers began organizing them into fighting all-black units. On May 22, 1863, the federal government, finally recognizing the de facto role African Americans were already playing in the Northern war effort, established the Bureau of Colored Troops specifically to recruit and train African American soldiers for the Union army. These troops were contained within segregated units officered by white men, and as the African American troops later discovered, they were paid a monthly stipend more suitable to laborers than to fighting men, despite promises made during recruitment that they would receive pay equal to that of their white counterparts. Such a discrepancy prompted many black troops to refuse their pay altogether in protest: although the men continued to serve in the military, they would not accept substandard pay and chose instead to serve without pay at all. In June 1864, under combined pressure by the men, the press, prominent African American leaders like Frederick Douglass, and white abolitionists, Congress finally agreed that African American troops would receive “white pay rates,” but only those who had been free before April 19, 1861, which excluded a great number of African American soldiers. Although the issue of equal pay received significant attention during the war, African American troops serving in the United States Colored Troops (USCT) and in the Massachusetts Volunteer Regiments and other militia were subjected to other forms of discrimination as well, always being forced to the end of the line for equipment, uniforms, and supplies. They were often garrisoned in unsanitary conditions and received substandard medical treatment; consequently, the death rates from disease were far higher than among white troops. African American soldiers also suffered the threat of falling into Confederate hands, for the Confederate Congress had already established that African Americans bearing arms against the South would be punished either by death or immediate enslavement. In a few notorious incidents

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on the battlefield—before, during, and after a conflict—African American men, and to a lesser extent their white officers, were summarily executed on the orders of Confederate commanders, notably at Fort Pillow and at Poison Springs. Paradoxically, African Americans might have received better treatment as members of the Confederate army, probably because they served alongside their white masters rather than in segregated units. Although the Confederate government refused to enlist African Americans until the very end of the war, many states employed both free blacks and slaves in their militias. Free blacks sought the monetary bounties offered by state governments for their service, while slaves were recruited with promises of freedom. The vast majority of African Americans in Confederate ranks were most likely compelled to serve by their owners. There are no clear figures as to the number of African Americans who served in the military in the South, but anecdotal evidence suggests that certain regiments may have contained as many African Americans as white men, particularly in the latter stages of the war. What is certain is that thousands of African Americans supported the Confederacy with their labor and construction, which undoubtedly enabled thousands of white Southern males to join the army and made them a valuable wartime asset for the Confederacy. African Americans were also common in both the Confederate and Union navies, as the need for men quickly overshadowed concerns about race. Neither service was popular with white men, as the fatality rate was high and the conditions in which sailors served extremely difficult. The Northern fleet, which massively increased the number of its vessels during the war, was forced to lift its arbitrary quota on African American recruits just to keep its ships fully manned. By 1862 African Americans could serve in any capacity on board a vessel in the Union fleet except as an officer. Any deliberate or accidental experiments in integration during the Civil War were ignored in

the conflict’s direct aftermath. The Confederate army was no more, and the Union forces were quickly downsized to those of a peacetime establishment. Considerable numbers of African American veterans, who were in many cases eager and prepared to continue to serve in the army, found there was little place for them. The scores of USCT regiments had been reduced to just four by 1869. These regiments, two cavalry regiments (the 9th and 10th Cavalry) and two corresponding infantry regiments (the 24th and 25th Infantry), were primarily assigned to isolated frontier duties, without opportunities for recognition or for general integration and acceptance in the population. The African Americans who served in them became known as Buffalo Soldiers. Frontier duties were arduous and dangerous, and all the regiments found themselves ostracized not only from the population in general but also from their fellow soldiers. In the West and the War with Spain There were still very few opportunities for advancement in the armed forces, and it was not until 1877 that any attempt was made to commission African Americans as officers. Between 1877 and 1890, twenty-three African Americans were admitted to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point; twenty-one attended; and three managed to survive the blatant racism and ostracism to graduate. The U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis was even more restrictive and harsh in its treatment of African Americans. The vast majority of common seamen who had managed to remain in the navy were restricted to menial posts, a state of affairs that would not change until 1941. Although the regular African American army regiments languished in isolation on the U.S. frontiers, almost constantly in the saddle or in pursuit of Native Americans who had defied the U.S. government, the federal authorities made them more prominent when the war broke out with Spain in 1898. African American troops were believed to be naturally immune to tropical diseases, making them ideal soldiers to fight

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role in the Philippines received some media coverage, when the press became bored with the continuing conflict, the African American regulars once more retreated into the shadows, and they would not be brought back into the headlines until the United States found itself embroiled in World War I. World War I

An 1898 photograph of two unidentified members of the crew of the cruiser USS Newark. The man on the left is wearing a steward's uniform—in the segregated navy, African Americans were restricted to such noncombat functions as cooks and stewards. (U.S. Naval Historical Center)

a war in the West Indies and the South Pacific where diseases such as malaria threatened to destroy more troops than any possible battle with the failing Spanish empire. This mistaken belief led to the loss of many lives in the next few years. The four African American regiments were all called upon to serve in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, or the Philippines. Because the overall American force was so small and the African American units comprised a correspondingly large proportion of that force, there was greater camaraderie and integration among the U.S. troops than at any time in American history since the revolution. Ironically, though, the African American presence received very little recognition in this little war that received such massive press coverage. Despite seeing the evidence of the abilities of the African Americans who had fought alongside him under withering fire from the Spanish troops and who had contributed to the much-publicized U.S. victory on San Juan Hill, future president Theodore Roosevelt openly criticized the African American troops and claimed the victory for his own Rough Riders. Although the African American

When the United States entered World War I, African Americans flocked to recruitment offices and draft boards all over the country. (Notably, the Selective Service Act of May 1917 did not exclude African Americans from registering for the draft.) But opportunities for African Americans were extremely limited in the army and navy, where most blacks were assigned to segregated support units with their primary activities being loading and unloading supplies, cooking, or providing for officers’ requirements. They held little hope of seeing combat. The Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Army Aviation Corps specifically barred African Americans from enlisting. Nevertheless, the U.S. army created two African American infantry divisions, the 92d and the 93d Divisions. No sooner had they been recruited, trained, and shipped to France, however, than the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) seemed reluctant to include either division among its forces. The 93d was assigned to the French and remained subordinate to them for the balance of the war. The 92d served as part of the American 1st Corps during the early part of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in late September 1918, with the exception of one infantry regiment and a field artillery brigade, both of which were assigned to an AmericanFrench liaison unit known as “Groupement Durand.” During early October, the 92d was attached to the French 38th Corps to serve in reserve of the French 1st Dismounted Cavalry. It returned to the American 1st Corps on October 4 and was reassigned to the 4th Corps the next day, where it remained until the armistice. Many U.S. military officials believed that it

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seemed a more natural fit to assign African American troops to work with the French military than to keep them within their own commands. The French had far more egalitarian attitudes toward African Americans, no doubt inspired by their own long-standing practice of enlisting native troops from French colonies in Africa. Many Croix de Guerre and other major French awards for gallantry were bestowed upon African Americans. Nevertheless, the African Americans who served in the last few months of World War I found themselves an army within an army, joined yet separated by culture from the French with whom they served and, more seriously, disconnected from the rest of the U.S. forces in Europe by both geography and prejudice. How the United States perceived the value and contribution of the African Americans who had fought in France was amply demonstrated by their reception at their homecoming: African Americans were often not allowed to participate in victory parades, and in the few instances when they were allowed to do so, they followed at the rear. The Interwar Years The men returned home to a familiar world and a period of severe racial tensions. As evidenced by the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan, an organization that had terrorized blacks in the South in the years after the Civil War, almost all African Americans suffered from increased discrimination in the 1920s. Lynching became a widespread practice in the period after World War I, as panicked white Americans began to lash out at anyone who did not represent their ideal of American society. Other minorities suffered as well, as did political dissidents such as communists and socialists, but African Americans received the worst treatment. Race riots inflamed twenty-eight cities throughout the United States. Once again, the armed forces had to reorganize after the war. As the military scaled back to a peacetime force, what few op-

portunities there had been for African Americans in these organizations evaporated. Against this backdrop emerged two highly critical reports of African American contributions to the U.S. military establishment. The first was compiled by the army’s Central Staff College in March 1920 and consisted largely of a survey of the white officers who had commanded black troops during the war. Although not all of the officers had agreed, the general consensus was that African Americans had performed badly in combat during the recent war and should be restricted to supporting roles (i.e., manual labor) in future conflicts. The major general who had commanded the 92d Division stated blatantly that black troops were more of a liability than an asset in warfare. The second report, entitled “The Use of Negro Manpower in War,” was completed by the Army War College in October 1925 and relied heavily on the results of various intelligence tests that the military had begun administering to its troops. The results of these tests claimed that African Americans scored significantly lower than whites and concluded that their brains were 10 percent smaller. The combination of the negative experience of field officers and the results of what was believed to be cutting-edge science was to have a devastating impact on the recruitment and retention, not to mention treatment, of African American servicemen for many years. Not until World War II did African American troops have a chance to contradict their battlefield reputation, and it was even later before scientists recognized the flawed nature of these early psychological tests. Meanwhile, blacks in the military suffered from a dual stigmatism. Opponents of their cause had both practical and scientific cause to label African American soldiers as of inferior quality and substandard intelligence. The army widely publicized the results of these two studies and used them to perpetuate and even expand its system of discrimination. The navy, despite its long history of greater equality of treatment for African Americans,

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adopted an even stricter policy toward blacks than the army in the years immediately after World War I. It embarked on an effort to deintegrate its ranks, restricting African Americans to the position of stewards until 1923, when it banned African Americans altogether for the following ten years. By 1932, the year before it began recruiting black stewards again, the navy had only about 400 African Americans out of its complement of more than 80,000 men. World War II As the inevitability of U.S. involvement in World War II became clear, the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt made some limited attempts to ensure that discrimination was not practiced in the armed services. Among other measures, Roosevelt signed the Selective Service Act on September 16, 1940, which set a 10 percent quota on African American enlistment and included a statement against discrimination in the armed forces. Those few African Americans who had remained in the services still operated in highly segregated conditions, however, and were at the lowest end of duty and responsibility. Furthermore, resistance to African Americans permeated the ranks of all branches of the armed forces, and segregation remained the official policy of the army. Commanders in the field simply did not wish to have African American troops, and although many African Americans registered for the draft, as they had done in the previous war, they were generally viewed with disdain. In all, over 900,000 blacks were enlisted in the military, 500,000 of whom were sent overseas during the war. There were very few opportunities for African Americans to become actively involved in combat during World War II, but the admirable performance of specific African American units in the field meant it was difficult for Americans to ignore entirely the contributions of African Americans. Nevertheless, the war did usher in a period of dramatic change for American race relations, in part because of a revived sense of black con-

sciousness that arose out of the racial conflicts of the 1920s and 1930s. African Americans increasingly joined organizations like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), formed to promote black civil rights, and began openly agitating for better treatment in American society. In 1941, even before the United States had formally entered the war, groups like the NAACP threatened to organize protest marches on Washington, D.C., to bring attention to their cause. No doubt motivated by a desire to head off such a protest, Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802 on June 25, aimed at ending discrimination within the defense industries. Measures such as these prompted change within the U.S. military, most notably opening the doors of the U.S. Marine Corps to African American men in 1942. The marine corps, technically a branch of the navy, had been the service most resistant to African American involvement and had been an exclusively white institution since its creation in the last few years of the nineteenth century. Like all other branches of the armed services, the corps both enjoyed and endured the difficulties of a massive increase in its establishment, but not if that expansion included the addition of African American troops. Marine Corps Commandant Maj. Gen. Thomas Holcomb stated in April 1941 that he would prefer 5,000 whites to 250,000 African Americans. Nevertheless, the following year, on April 7, 1942, the secretary of the navy made it an official enlistment policy not to exclude African Americans from the marines. The first African American marines, who served primarily in the Pacific in noncombat or support roles, all passed through the segregated Montford Point Marine Training Center in North Carolina. African Americans had to wait until November 1945 before the marine corps commissioned the first African American officer, 2d Lt. Frederick C. Branch. Other branches of the armed forces also began to change in response to federal pressure. The U.S. Air Force established the Division of

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Aeronautics of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, a training facility through which hundreds of African American pilots passed during the war years. These pilots saw combat over Europe in both fighter and bomber squadrons. Broadening the role of African Americans in the army proved a slow process, despite the army’s limited acceptance of African American troops. African Americans were generally posted to positions replacing white men who had been posted abroad, meaning that blacks were used to man supply facilities within the United States that supported American troops overseas. As many as three-quarters of all blacks who served during the war labored in such positions. There were notable exceptions, however, such as the African American support troops who were used in large numbers when the Germans launched their last westbound counteroffensive during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. During the battle, African American troops were used as replacement infantry, and the all–African American 761st Tank Battalion, known as the Black Panthers, began a glorious campaign in which it saw action for nearly six months, ranging from France to Austria. The navy established limited racial quotas for African American officers and for the total number of African Americans in the navy. In 1943, in response to congressional inquiries and civil rights protests, the navy initiated a program for the training of black officers. Among the first African American naval officers were the Golden Thirteen, but having commissioned these men, the navy found itself in a quandary as to what to do with them. The simple expedient was to post them to backwater locations. None saw combat, and only one remained in the service after the end of hostilities in 1945. Elsewhere within the navy, African Americans were serving as enlisted men both on vessels and in supply and port facilities. On July 17, 1944, two vessels exploded in the Port Chicago Naval Base, California. Of the 320 men who died in the explosions, 202 were African Americans, illustrating the high per-

centage of blacks who were working in such supply depots. Understandably, the survivors of the Port Chicago disaster were reluctant to work under the same conditions that had led to the deaths of their colleagues, and 258 of them refused to load ammunition at another port, where the same conditions prevailed, until there had been an inquiry and the conditions under which they labored had been substantially improved. Fifty of the men were charged with mutiny. It took what amounted to a kangaroo court just an hour and a half to convict the men and sentence them to long terms of imprisonment. They all received dishonorable discharges. Fifty years later, the navy still resisted the call to rescind the mutiny charges against the men. By July 1999, only two of the men were known to still be living. The NAACP was instrumental in obtaining a very belated pardon, granted in December 1999, for one of them. Other branches of the service were not immune to problems arising out of segregation. On April 5, 1945, at Freeman Field, Indiana, African American crewmen of the 477th Bombardment Group ignored the specific orders of the base commander, Col. Robert R. Selway, not to use the white officers’ club. His orders directly contravened prohibitions against such segregated facilities. The argument put forward by the air force was that although the African Americans were indeed officers, they were classified as trainees and were therefore ineligible to enter a club specifically set aside for supervisors. The air force arrested 101 African American officers and threatened them with courtmartial. Three were brought to trial, prompting the civil rights movement to bring pressure to bear on the air force against the prosecutions. The federal government urged the air force to drop the charges. The air force conceded but officially reprimanded each of the men, which remained on their records until 1995. Such events fueled the growing civil rights movement among the civilian population, which had initiated a wartime campaign to remind Americans that blacks did not receive equal

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treatment within society. In 1942, the “double V” campaign was launched by the black press and civil rights groups, urging African Americans to fight not only for victory against America’s foreign enemies but also for victory against domestic racial attitudes that kept African Americans in a state of second-class citizenship in the United States. By reaffirming African Americans’ patriotism, civil rights leaders hoped to ignite a movement for broader black acceptance and to gain recognition for the many contributions blacks made to American society. Korea The valiant efforts of African American soldiers during World War II and the increasing momentum of civil rights activities prompted the U.S. government to take a number of steps to end segregation and discrimination in the armed forces after World War II. Domestically, the prevalence of Jim Crow laws (local or state legislation that enshrined the principle of segregation) was coming under increased scrutiny, prompting extreme controversy in the United States as growing numbers of white Americans began to decry such overt policies of discrimination while others clung to segregation as a cherished way of life that helped preserve white racial superiority. Once again, the military entered into a period of reassessment and reorganization, just as it had after other major wars. In 1945 and 1946, the army convened a special board—known as the Gillem Board after its commanding officer Gen. Alvan C. Gillem Jr.— to review the army’s policies toward African Americans and suggest revisions to that policy. The stated goal behind the inquiry was to help the army learn how to use black manpower more efficiently. The results of the report, issued in April 1946, argued for a continuation of the army’s policy of segregation but urged officials to offer more opportunities for African Americans within segregated units—in other words, employ all-black units in a greater variety of tasks than just supporting roles.

Concurrently, a number of shocking incidents during which African Americans suffered violence at the hands of racist mobs prompted the federal government to review the entire system of racial policies in the United States. In late 1946, President Harry S. Truman created the President’s Commission on Civil Rights to carry out the investigation. The commission’s highly influential report condemned segregation in all forms, but specifically highlighted segregation in the armed forces, when it was issued in October 1947. Truman had also received in the meantime other reports related to segregation within the military, in particular one condemning the effects of such discriminatory policies on military training. A groundswell of public support for desegregation grew at the same time, with African American leaders organizing a number of public meetings and protests urging the end of segregation in the armed forces and even threatening that African Americans would refuse to serve in the military unless officials adopted a policy of desegregation. In response, Truman issued Executive Order 9981 on July 26, 1948, specifically banning segregation in the armed services. Historians still argue over what prompted him to take such a measure. He was no doubt influenced by a variety of factors, not least of which were the desire to bolster African American enlistments in the military as a valuable resource of manpower, a shrewd bid to win re-election by taking a stance on an issue of growing popularity that would help secure the African American vote, and an attempt to seize the high moral ground in the developing Cold War with the Soviet Union by ridding the country of a policy that seemed to so blatantly conflict with its ideals of equality. The executive order not only mandated the end of segregation but also established a presidential commission to ensure that the new policy was implemented. The various branches of the armed forces initially met news of the executive order with skepticism. Over the course of the next six months, army leaders in particular defended their policy

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of segregation and showed substantial reluctance to attempt any change. The army’s chief of staff, Gen. Omar Bradley, stated publicly that desegregation of the armed forces could not occur until American society had been desegregated as well. Other army leaders denounced the federal government’s efforts to make the military “an instrument for social evolution.” The army took no steps to integrate its ranks. The marine corps followed suit, but the navy and air force both agreed to fully integrate their services with all due speed. Over the course of the next year and a half, presidential and congressional pressure compelled each branch of the service to submit plans for integration to the Fahy Committee, the working name for Truman’s presidential committee to oversee integration. Eventually, all four branches (army, navy, air force, and marines) submitted a plan that was acceptable to the committee, and by the summer of 1950, official efforts to integrate the armed forces were under way. In the end, the dismantling of the system of segregation in the armed forces occurred faster than anyone had predicted, sped by the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950. When North Korea crossed the 38th parallel in that month, the United States was treaty-bound to support the South Korean regime. Initially U.S. deployment was restricted to naval and air force units, but U.S. ground troops were quickly deployed before the summer was out. When the Chinese provided support to the North Koreans, it became abundantly clear to Truman and the armed forces that the existing peacetime strengths of the military would be insufficient. African American recruitment had been high ever since authorities had begun the effort to desegregate the armed forces, and as casualties began to take their toll on still segregated white units, these men were replaced with blacks, thus enacting de facto integration in a very short span of time. As the war continued, traditional all-black units were disbanded, so that by 1954 the army could announce that it had no segregated units. The U.S. military served as a powerful example for those advocating desegre-

gation within all of American society, which followed in the 1950s and 1960s amid much violence and controversy. Despite its initial reluctance to integrate its ranks, the army quickly came to see the value of desegregation, encouraged by the ease with which segregation had been abolished, the strong performance of African American troops during the recent conflict, and a number of studies conducted in the early 1950s that found desegregated units to outperform their segregated counterparts. In all, by the mid 1950s, officials had reached the conclusion that integration improved military effectiveness. Nevertheless, the end of segregation did not necessarily mean the end of discrimination within the armed forces. Certainly prominent commissioned officers, noncommissioned officers, and enlisted personnel emerged in all branches of the services, from ace fighter pilots to highly motivated marines and naval personnel. Yet underneath, there was still racism and discrimination, which is perhaps most amply evidenced by disparate treatment of whites and blacks in disciplinary matters. By 1945, African Americans accounted for around 8.5 percent of the total personnel in the army, but they accounted for 17.3 percent of all those in rehabilitation centers, disciplinary barracks, and federal penitentiaries. By 1946, the figures had risen to 9.35 percent and 25.9 percent, respectively, and continued to climb over the next several years. In 1954, prominent African American attorney (and future U.S. Supreme Court Justice) Thurgood Marshall conducted a review of African American disciplinary cases of men serving with the U.S. occupation forces in Japan after hearing rumors that blacks were overrepresented among defendants. His findings were devastating. Half of the thirty-two men surveyed had been sentenced to death or life imprisonment. In cases where the court had considered verdicts for less than an hour, the lightest sentence handed down was ten years in prison, and most were for terms of up to fifty years. White soldiers convicted in similar courts martial did not receive nearly as

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harsh punishments, and the courts that tried them tended to deliberate longer over their verdicts and acquit them of wrong-doing more often. Marshall’s findings pointed to a pattern of mistrust and prejudice among military authorities in regard to the character of African American troops. Marshall’s study prompted a great deal of interest, particularly as the military’s success with integration was widely praised as an example for the desegregation of American society as a whole. Critics of the study claimed that blacks were court martialed with greater frequency because they were more likely to commit crimes than whites—that such behavior was a fundamental component of the African American character rather than an inequality in the way African Americans were viewed by their superior officers or in the treatment they received. Civil rights leaders disdainfully dismissed such claims, arguing instead that African Americans were the target of disciplinary measures because of the tendency of officers to take the worst possible view of an African American soldier’s behavior. The reporting officer would be likely to give a white soldier the benefit of the doubt; he probably would not extend this same courtesy to a black soldier. If African American troops were more likely to commit offenses worthy of disciplinary charges, civil rights leaders grudgingly conceded, they did so because of the inferior treatment they received from military authorities and because of the poor quality of the officers who led them. Although neither side would concede victory in this debate, military authorities accepted the arguments of the civil rights leaders and strove to correct the problems leading to disciplinary hearings by working to instill more discipline in African American troops, installing better leaders to guide them, and examining the procedures under which the judicial system functioned. Although the huge disparities between black and white courts martial have diminished, they still exist and continue to elude the efforts of military authorities, who contend that eliminating prejudice within their ranks requires a

similar eradication in American society as a whole. Vietnam Despite full integration, racism and discrimination continued in the armed forces well into the era of the Vietnam War. The conflict was the first since the American Revolution in which blacks and whites had served together in fully integrated units, and it marked the highest proportion of blacks to serve in the armed forces, as measured against the number of blacks in the population in general. Indeed, after having striven to serve in combat units throughout most of American history, African Americans went into combat in disproportionately high numbers during Vietnam, prompting some to question whether this fact stemmed from a belief among military officials that black soldiers were more expendable than whites. Civil rights leaders cited such facts as evidence of discrimination throughout the armed forces, supporting their case by other information such as the low percentage of African American officers in relation to the number of African American troops and the higher casualty rate among blacks because they served so disproportionately in front-line units. Several activists criticized draft boards, which were still predominantly run by whites but which targeted young, poor blacks, thus resulting in higher recruitment among African Americans. Few could argue that draft policies that provided exemptions for college students penalized the poor and discriminated against those from the lower economic strata of U.S. society, be they black, white, Native American, or Hispanic. Among the troops, racial tensions also began to rise during the course of the war, no doubt fueled by the controversial civil rights movement at home and the disturbing events of 1968, which included the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and a number of race riots in cities around the United States. A series of racially motivated acts of violence erupted among the soldiers, contributing to low

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morale among U.S. troops fighting in Vietnam. After the war, black and white veterans received similarly bad treatment from the American population for their part in such an unpopular war, but the experience did nothing to unite the two groups. The racial tensions of the war spilled over into veterans groups, with separate black and white organizations.

See also African American Enlistment; American Civil War; American Revolution; Apache Wars; Brownsville Incident; Buffalo Soldiers; Bulge, Battle of the; Bureau of Colored Troops; Confederates, African American; Croix de Guerre; Dunmore Proclamation; 1812, War of; Executive Order 9981; Fort Pillow Massacre; Freeman Field Incident; Golden Thirteen; Jim Crow Military; Korean War; Montford Point Marines; New Orleans, Battle of; Philippine Insurrection; Poison Spring Massacre; Port Chicago Mutiny; San Juan Hill, Battle of; Spanish-American War; Tuskegee Airmen; U.S. Air Force; U.S. Army; U.S. Marine Corps; U.S. Navy; Vietnam War; West Point; World War I; World War II

After Vietnam Even before the war ended, the U.S. government had created the Defense Race Relations Institute in 1971 with a mandate to teach the armed services how to formulate policies to combat racism and discrimination. The institute was renamed the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute in 1979, and from the outset its message was that there would be zero tolerance for racism within the armed forces, but critics of the policy argued that it was impossible for the military to eradicate deeply held racial prejudices that were rife within American society in general, and thereby affected the attitudes of its soldiers. Nevertheless, although discrimination remains a persistent problem in the military, the armed forces continue to offer some of the best opportunities for African American advancement in U.S. society. More than almost any other large organization in the United States, the military has striven to eradicate racial prejudice in the last several decades. Isolated incidents of racially motivated attacks have periodically refocused public attention on discrimination among the armed services, prompting further studies and efforts to undermine racism. Recent decades have also seen a gradual recognition in American society for the past contributions of African Americans to the U.S. military, culminating in Congress’ awarding of the Medal of Honor to a number of African Americans who had been overlooked for their service in World War II. Tragically, such recognition often came too late for the individuals involved—only one of these Medal of Honor recipients was still alive to receive his award.

References and Further Reading Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem. Black Profiles in Courage: A Legacy of African American Achievement. New York: William Morrow, 1996. Allen, Robert. The Port Chicago Mutiny. New York: Warner Books, 1989. Dalfiume, Richard M. Desegregation of the US Armed Forces: Fighting on Two Fronts, 1939–1953. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1969. Gropman, Alan L. The Air Force Integrates, 1945–1964. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History, 1978. Henderson, George, ed. Human Relations in the Military: Problems and Programs. Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1975. Lanning, Michael Lee. The African-American Soldier from Crispus Attucks to Colin Powell. Secaucus, NJ: Birch Lane Press, 1997. Leckie, William H. The Buffalo Soldiers. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1967. Mershon, Sherie, and Steven Schlossman. Foxholes and Color Lines. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998. Mullen, Robert W. Blacks in America’s Wars. New York: Pathfinder Press, 1973. Quarles, Benjamin. The Negro in the American Revolution. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1961. Wynn, Neil A. The Afro-American and the Second World War. New York: Holmes and Meier Publishers, 1976.

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Young, Warren L. Minorities and the Military. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1982.

Selective Service Acts (1917 and 1940) The Selective Service Acts of 1917 and 1940 differed radically in their treatment of African Americans. Selective Service Act of 1917 The Selective Service Act of 1917 obliged all able-bodied males between twenty-one and thirty-one years old to present themselves for enlistment. African Americans were overdrafted; that is, they made up a greater percentage of the men called up than their percentage in the population. Some 700,000 African Americans were registered by July 5, 1917, about 10 percent of the population, although African Americans accounted for some 13 percent of the final draftees. In all, 367,710 African American men were drafted during World War I, 89 percent of them in supply, service, or labor units. The few that found themselves in combat situations tended to be those with National Guard training or those from the Southern states. However, the War Department’s Mobilization Strategy almost completely prohibited the voluntary enlistment of African Americans on the grounds that the armed forces lacked units capable of absorbing them. In the first few weeks of the war, prior to the enforcement of the 1917 act, only 4,000 African Americans had managed to enlist (compared to 650,000 whites). There were, however, a number of African Americans already in the military when the war broke out. About 10,000 soldiers were in the 9th and 10th Cavalry (Buffalo Soldiers) regiments, all experienced and highly trained soldiers, and in the 24th and 25th Infantries, already battle-trained. In addition, there were

others whose military training allowed them to circumvent the haphazard selection process: Another 10,000 African Americans were integral parts of the National Guards of several states, including Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Tennessee, and the District of Columbia. An additional 10,000 African Americans served in the U.S. Navy. Due to the policies within the service, those in the navy were all noncombatants— such as cooks, mess orderlies, and stewards—in support roles. The only services in World War I with no African Americans were the Air Corps, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Army Field Artillery, and the Marine Corps. African American army draftees were organized into the 92d Infantry Division comprising the 365th, 366th, 367th, and 368th Regiments. The 93d Division, the other U.S. Army combat division made up of African Americans, consisted of former National Guardsmen; regiments were transferred wholesale into the new division. The 369th came from New York and the 370th from Illinois, the men of the 371st were South Carolinian draftees, and the remaining regiment, the 372d, was made up of National Guard units from the District of Columbia, Ohio, Massachusetts, and Maryland. However, approximately 75 percent of black draftees were assigned to services and support units—stevedore and labor battalions. Some 24 million American males were registered for the armed forces during World War I; the army provost marshal’s report noted, “Out of every one hundred colored citizens called thirty six were certified for service and sixty four were rejected, exempted or discharged; whereas out of every hundred whites called twenty five were certified for service and seventy five were rejected, exempted or discharged” (Scott 1969, 67). Selective Service Act of 1940 In the summer of 1940, following President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s decision to rearm, Congress began to discuss a new Selective Service

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Selectees at the reception area, Fort Benning, Georgia, July 21, 1941. African Americans were drafted under the Selective Service Act of 1940 but served in segregated units in World War II, the last war in which strict segregation was maintained. (U.S. Army)

Act. Of the army’s 230,000 peacetime members, fewer than 5,000 were African Americans. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) led the drive to ensure that the military would cease overt discrimination against potential African American or other minority recruits. Democratic Senator Robert Wagner of New York proposed an amendment to the selective service bill stating that volunteers should be accepted “regardless of race or color.” Another amendment by New York Rep. Hamilton Fish, a Republican isolationist but a supporter of the NAACP, introduced to the act as passed a prohibition on discrimination against African

Americans throughout the whole of the selection and training process, including draftees under the nondiscrimination clause. Fish had served as an officer in World War I in the African American 369th Infantry (Harlem Hellfighters). In the event, the 1940 act provided the military with escape clauses: Men had to be “acceptable,” and the requirement that there be “adequate provision” of “shelter, sanitary facilities, medical care and hospital accommodations” was interpreted in a way that perpetuated segregation. Roosevelt signed the act on September 14, and soon after recruitment centers were be-

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sieged by eager African Americans—who were turned away. Eleanor Roosevelt wrote a letter to her husband after she spoke at the September 1940 Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters convention: “There is a growing feeling amongst colored people [that] they should be allowed to participate in any training that is going on in the aviation, army, navy. This is going to be very bad politically besides being intrinsically wrong and I think you should ask that a meeting be held” (quoted in Goodwin 1994, 166). But it took the threat of a 100,000-strong march on Washington to force the president to issue the Executive Order 8802 prohibiting discrimination in the defense industry and in government. The debate over the desegregation of the armed forces raged throughout the war, even leading to the resignation from Roosevelt’s “black cabinet” (an informal group dedicated to highlighting racial issues and both indirectly and directly influencing the policies of the Roosevelt administration) of an African American Republican, William Hastie from Knoxville, Tennessee. By September 1941, the enlistment figures were gradually beginning to correspond to the population percentages, but segregation remained in place. African Americans had to decide whether shedding blood abroad would bring them closer to their desired goal of nondiscrimination at home. They saw white opposition to integration wherever they looked. Finally, the popular “double V” concept, borrowing Winston Churchill’s “V for victory” symbol, was born. It called for the defeat of the enemies of the United States abroad coupled with the end of the endemic racism at home. Hundreds of thousands of African Americans’ lives were touched by the Selective Service Acts. The 1917 act saw the first mass conscription of African American civilians into the military, a considerable step forward in equality. Nevertheless, in reality, few African Americans were allowed the opportunity to fight for their country. The interwar years saw little in the way of advances for African American career soldiers. Twenty-three years after the first Selective Ser-

vice Act, the 1940 act brought hundreds of thousands of African Americans into the armed forces and sparked changes across the whole of the military. Although they still served in segregated units (with a few notable exceptions in times of great crisis), African Americans would eventually serve in every theater of the war, and the white man’s army was no more. See also Double V; GI Bill; Hastie, William Henry; March on Washington; 92d Division; 93d Division; Segregation and Racism in the Military; Spartanburg Incident; World War I; World War II References and Further Reading Dalfiume, Richard M. Desegregation of the US Armed Forces: Fighting on Two Fronts, 1939–1953. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1969. Fabre, Michel. From Harlem to Paris: Black American Writers in France. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1991. Farwell, Byron. Over There. New York: W. W. Norton, 1999. Fletcher, Marvin E. The Negro Soldier and the United States Army, 1891–1917. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1974. Foner, Jack D. Blacks and the Military in American History. New York: Praeger, 1974. Goodwin, Doris Kearns. No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, The Home Front in World War II. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1994. Harrod, Frederick S. Manning the New Navy: The Development of a Modern Naval Enlisted Force, 1899–1940. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1978. Scott, Emmett J. Official History of the American Negro in the World War. New York: Arno Press, 1969.

Seminole-Negro Scouts (1870–1914) The Seminole-Negro Scouts, made up of descendants of escaped slaves who had married

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into the Native American Seminole tribe of Florida, operated as scouts for the U.S. Army against western Indian tribes between 1870 and 1914. Before the Civil War, the Seminoles often offered refuge to fugitive slaves. When the U.S. government moved the tribe from the swamplands of Florida to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) during the late 1830s to the 1840s, the former slaves also went west. To avoid being re-enslaved, a number slipped across the border into Mexico (where many later served in General Antonio Lopéz de Santa Anna’s army in the 1850s). After the Civil War, when slavery was no longer a threat, the Seminole-Negro chief John Horse wanted to return the tribe to the United States. Consequently, the first group of potential volunteers to the U.S. Army crossed the Rio Grande and headed for Fort Duncan, Texas, on July 4, 1870. The Seminoles’ sound knowledge of trails and hideouts proved invaluable in combating the persistent cattle raiding by the Native American Kickapoos and Lipans in the border region. John Kibbetts, second in command to Chief Horse, the leader of the first group of Seminoles to sign up with the army, was made a sergeant and led the other ten, who were attached to the 24th Infantry. The army was willing to overlook their unconventional behavior and dress because of their ability, knowledge, and bravery. As the first group of scouts proved their worth, more of the tribe made the journey back into the United States. Elijah Daniel’s band settled near Fort Clark, near Brackettville, Texas; twenty of his men enlisted in 1871. By 1873 there were about fifty scouts, accompanied by their families, almost equally split between Forts Duncan and Clark. During the next eight years, the scouts operated under the direct command of Lt. Lapham Bullis. In twenty-six expeditions, they fought twelve battles without sustaining a single casualty. The scouts, operating under the direct command of Lt. Lapham Bullis, became like an extended family. Bullis

even performed weddings and other functions more associated with the role of a chief than a ranking officer. In May 1873 Col. Ranald S. Mackenzie led twenty-four scouts and six companies of his 4th Cavalry into Mexico against Lipan, Apache, and Kickapoo villages. Nineteen of the Native Americans were killed, and forty women and children were taken prisoner. This raid proved to be a blueprint for several other missions in the following years. The Black Seminole scouts participated in the 1874–1875 Red River War, a campaign against Comanche, Kiowa, and other tribes attacking the increasing number of settlers in western Texas. The scouts’ independence and effectiveness was finally rewarded on September 20, 1874, when Adam Payne became the first Seminole to earn a Congressional Medal of Honor. During the Red River War, which pitched Colonel Mackenzie’s 4th Cavalry against a coalition of Arapaho, Comanche, Cheyenne, and Kiowa, Payne and three other scouts were a day’s march ahead of the main column. Twenty-five Comanche attacked the scouts, and Payne led the others to beat off the enemy and escape back to Mackenzie. Mackenzie’s citation described Payne as showing “gallantry on September 20th, when attacked by a largely superior party of Indians.” Mackenzie also wrote later, “This man has, I believe, more cool daring than any scout I have ever known” (quoted in Amos 1974, 3). Payne was not alone in showing conspicuous bravery in tight situations. Sgt. John Ward, Trumpeter Isaac Payne, and Pvt. Pompey Factor set out with the 24th Infantry in April 1875 on a hunt for a group of Comanche who had stolen seventy-five horses. By April 25 the troops had reached a shallow ford, Eagle’s Nest Crossing, on the Pecos River. Ward, Payne, Factor, and their commander, Bullis, soon discovered the Comanche. In a forty-five-minute firefight, during which the scouts and Bullis twice seized the horses, three of the enemy were killed. Under heavy fire from about thirty Comanche, the four men narrowly

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escaped being surrounded. Bullis recommended his three men for Medals of Honor, which were delivered nearly a year later. By April 1876 relations between the white settlers in Bracketville and the scout community at Fort Clark had deteriorated. The Bracketville residents considered the scouts dangerous squatters. On May 19 two of the Seminoles were shot, one fatally, the other, Chief Horse, was injured by an unknown gunman. There was much talk among the Seminoles of leaving the United States and returning to Mexico and Chief Horse led a small exodus back to Nacimiento, Mexico. On New Year’s Day 1877 the distrust claimed another life. Adam Payne, the Medal of Honor winner, was shot by a deputy sheriff at a dance at Fort Clark. Payne was wanted in connection with the stabbing of an African American soldier, but the deputy did not try to arrest him; he simply shot him from behind with both barrels of his shotgun. Five scouts, including Factor, deserted as a result. In a remarkable display of leniency, the army forgave Factor when he surrendered on May 25, 1879, and restored him to duty, but it docked his pay during his absence. By 1884, only six scouts remained on active duty. The Seminoles’ closest officer, Bullis, rose to the rank of brigadier general. He retired in 1904 and died in San Antonio in 1911. The scout unit was disbanded in 1914. Soon after, the whole tribe was evicted from its military reservation around Fort Clark. Between 1870 and 1914, when the scouts were finally disbanded, 152 men had served in the U.S. Army, most with the family names Bruner, Daniels, Factor, Bowleg, Payne, Wilson, and Washington. References and Further Reading Amos, Preston E. Above and beyond in the West: Black Medal of Honor Winners, 1870–1890. Washington, DC: Potomac Corral, Westerners, 1974. Dunlay, Thomas W. Wolves for the Blue Soldiers: Indian Scouts and Auxiliaries with the United

States Army, 1860–1890. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1982. Katz, William Loren. Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage. New York: Atheneum, 1986. Porter, Kenneth Wiggins. The Negro on the American Frontier. New York: Arno Press/New York Times, 1971. Schubert, Frank N. Black Valor: Buffalo Soldiers and the Medal of Honor, 1870–1898. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1997.

Service Units of World War II, African American Large numbers of African American troops served in U.S. Army support units in almost every theater of World War II. Initially, at least, the army found it easier to ship out small African American service units, even though they may not have been trained to carry out a particular role. African American engineer and quartermaster units were among the first to be shipped overseas. These units were in great demand, and it was rare that field commanders objected to these specialist units because of their race. They began to be shipped to the South Pacific, Iran, and India in early 1942. These early units were not as well trained as later ones, yet they were generally more valuable than units that arrived later to carry out less-urgent work. African American engineer units arrived ahead of ground troops at Port Moresby in New Guinea, and similar units were used immediately after successful invasions in the later parts of the Pacific War to prepare facilities, infrastructures, and defenses. Other such units cut trails and clearings in Canada, Alaska, and Burma; provided a garrison in Liberia and antiaircraft defenses on Trinidad; and protected the routes to Australia and the Philippines. A number of African American companies were later attached to army and marine divisions and took

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part in the invasions of Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Saipan, and Tinian. African American engineer and quartermaster troops were present at Anzio and Salerno, and the only U.S. barrage balloon unit (large dirigibles giving air cover), also African American, was deployed to help protect the Normandy beaches. African American quartermaster and transport companies were generally attached to infantry or armored divisions. Ambulance companies tended to be attached to divisions and hospitals, and medical sanitary companies dealt with the evacuation of wounded. Large numbers of African American companies formed ordnance ammunition battalions, ensuring the army’s ammunition supply. Smoke-generation companies, which provided smoke screens to cover attacks, were used extensively in Europe, and hundreds of African Americans participated in the Red Ball Express operation following the breakout from the Normandy beaches. African American truck drivers and engineers worked in Iran and Burma and on innumerable Pacific islands. Hospitals were also manned by African Americans in Burma, Liberia, the Pacific, and Great Britain, and an African American Women’s Army Corps unit ensured that mail reached troops in the front lines. The sheer volume of work involved in ensuring that the army could continue to fight meant that many of these African American units worked on twenty-four-hour shifts, but for the most part, their contribution is unrecognized. There were probably at least 4,000 small African American support units in operation during World War II. Given that many of the roles in which they were to later excel had been out of bounds to them in the United States, the learning curve was extremely steep. Few had had the opportunity to work in heavy construction or to be truck drivers or telephone repair men. Even fewer had operated bulldozers or cranes or set up intricate communication systems in hostile territories. On-the-job training was very much the order of the day.

The 810th and 811th Engineer Aviation Battalions The 810th and the 811th Engineer Aviation Battalions were probably the first African American units to be shipped out to the Pacific in the immediate aftermath of Pearl Harbor. Newly activated—the 810th on June 26, 1941, and the 811th December 7 of the same year—and with white officers, they were part of Task Force 6814, which left for Australia on January 1, 1942. Their story is typical of African American service units during the war. The men of the 811th had only spent a month acquainting themselves with equipment, in snowy conditions, and, compared to the 810th, the unit was barely trained. The convoy arrived at Melbourne on February 26. After spending a week in Australia, the men embarked on March 7 bound for New Caledonia, where they would be attached to the Americal Division at Noumea Harbor. The 810th worked on unloading ships, and the 811th proceeded some thirty miles up the coast to Boulopan to begin road construction. Once the 810th’s equipment arrived, it moved to the Nepoui Peninsula to take over the construction of an airfield, which was needed before an invasion of the Solomon Islands could be launched. Additional fighter airstrips and an emergency airfield were also constructed. The units worked twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and on August 1 a squadron of B-17s was able to land. On September 7, 1942, Company B of the 810th headed for Espíritu Santo in the New Hebrides, but as it approached it discovered that a Japanese task force was also heading for the area. Two officers and forty-five men were stranded ashore, but the next day the ship returned and the whole company was able to build an airfield for bombers. This company did not rejoin the rest of the battalion until after it had arrived on Guadalcanal on May 2, 1943. By this time, the white officers had been gradually replaced, and all the company’s officers were African American. On Guadalcanal, beginning on

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The 810th Engineer Battalion, stationed at MacDill Field, Florida, moving to the new bombing range in the Gulf of Mexico, known as Mullet Key, October 1941. (U.S. Army)

June 15, the unit built a series of airfields for the Thirteenth Air Force. The 810th completed its tour on Guadalcanal in July 1944. It was then assigned to build a hospital for the 41st Field Hospital at Biak and then was attached to the invasion force heading for Luzon, arriving in the Philippines on January 13, 1945. Among many other duties, the unit built roads, trenches, and a thousandbed hospital at San Fabian. The unit was finally posted home in December 1945. The 811th remained until early 1944 on New Caledonia, where, among many other duties, it erected a B-24 hangar in twenty-one days. The unit then moved to Guadalcanal in March 1944 and in September embarked for Honolulu. After jungle and amphibious training, the unit left Hawaii on March 28, 1945, bound for Iwo Jima,

where it built airstrips and quarters for bomber formations. While carrying out these duties, the 811th captured a number of Japanese who were still hiding in caves on the island. The 810th and 811th shared the distinction of having the longest tours of duty overseas of all African American service units. The 91st and 96th Engineer General Service Regiments The 91st and 96th Engineer General Service Regiments also arrived in Australia in early April 1942. The 96th was involved from April to June in building three 7,000-foot landing strips by hand. Some of the battalion was shipped out to Port Moresby, New Guinea, where the men im-

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proved the two existing airfields. These men were the first U.S. troops in New Guinea. The Australian units protecting the city had been under continual Japanese aircraft attacks since February, but the unit’s work enabled twenty-six Airacobra airplanes to be brought in, which could be employed on interception duties. The men themselves manned anti-aircraft defenses around the airstrips. Most of the unit’s equipment arrived on May 5, and three days later the battalion itself became part of the defense of Port Moresby, for a Japanese invasion was thought to be imminent. The battalion continued to work throughout the summer, and in early September the 91st Engineers arrived from Australia. The 96th continued to work on both the causeway to the harbor from Tatana Island and later on generally enlarging the base. By September 14 the Japanese were only thirty-two miles away from Port Moresby. They were stopped by the Australians, and on the twenty-fifth they began to retreat toward Kokoda. During the spring of 1943, the 96th Engineers were working at Milne Bay, Oro Bay, and Augusta on New Guinea. From June to July 1944, they were assembled at Oro Bay for additional training, and on July 21 they headed for Maffin Bay, southwest of Wakde Island, off Indonesia; they carried out construction and maintenance duties on Wakde Island, despite the fact that the remnants of the Japanese garrison were still active. They managed to build a runway in order to enable American aircraft to bomb Japanese positions at Sarmi. The regiment remained at Cape Opmarai, New Guinea, until April 1945. Japanese troops were active in the area until at least February 1945. The 96th was commended by Gen. Douglas MacArthur, and during a review marking the anniversary of its arrival on New Guinea, Brig. Gen. Hanford McNider addressed the 96th thus: Fellow soldiers, a year ago today, when you stepped ashore as the first American troop unit in New Guinea, you were making history.

You’ve been making it ever since. You’ve had a part in the building and upkeep of all our airfields; and thus you have helped make possible the destruction of the convoy in the Bismarck Sea, the flying of the infantry over the mountains, a hundred enemy actions. You’ve contributed your share to every crack we have taken at the Japs. You’ve carried out important works projects even unloaded ships so we could eat and fight. You’ve built roads and the mains which give us power and light. You’re one of the workingest outfits in this man’s Army. All of us here are proud of you. All America will be proud of you when your record gets into the histories. Some of you have been to war with the tanks. You all know about bombs from hanging them on planes and having them hung on you. You’ve been good soldiers and you are going to be good soldiers. The harder we work and the better we do our jobs, the quicker you and I are going to get back to where we belong—to the United States of America, which is all wrapped up in that flag which you are saluting today. (From “Summary of the History of the 96th Engineer General Service Regiment” [Lt. Nils R. Holmes, April 21, 1944], quoted in Lee 1966, 602).

The 91st’s story was somewhat different. It had arrived in Australia without any equipment and woefully undertrained. The 91st was attached to the 46th Engineers, who were engaged in building three landing strips. For a time the men worked by hand with the 46th, but on April 23 they were ordered to construct an airfield near Giru in Queensland. The men made the best use they could of whatever equipment was at hand, which included borrowing tractors from local farmers. Some of the equipment finally arrived in mid-July, but it was not until August that the bulk of the unit’s heavy equipment finally arrived in Australia. During this time a provisional battalion was created from the 91st and sent to the Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, where it was to maintain and improve an airfield. The first B-17s were able to land there on October 28. In early

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September the 91st joined the 96th in New Guinea, where it would remain until the middle of 1944. By that time it had completed a bewildering array of different construction projects. The 394th Quartermaster Battalion had been activated at Oakland, California, on June 27, 1941, with just three companies. A fourth company was added in January 1942, and the battalion sailed for Brisbane in mid-February, arriving on March 9. The unit carried out numerous duties in the Brisbane area and in the Northern Territory and then moved to Port Moresby in November 1942. By now it had been redesignated as a Transportation Corps Port Battalion, and it was still in Port Moresby in April 1944. By that time, the front was several hundred miles away. While the Engineer and Port units were operating in the Pacific, other African American Engineer Units were sent to Alaska and Canada to build the Alcan Highway, which runs across the wilderness from Dawson Creek, British Columbia, to Fairbanks, Alaska. Three of the seven regiments assigned to these duties were African American, accounting for 3,695 men of the 10,607 engineers assigned to the highway construction. The 93d General Service Regiment arrived in April 1942 and constructed the highway from Tagish toward the McClintock River and then toward Teslin. Meanwhile, the 97th General Service Regiment worked on the section from Slama toward the Tanana River and then south toward the Alaskan border with Canada. The 95th General Service Regiment, beginning in June, was engaged on improving the road between Fort Saint John and Fort Nelson. The last section of the road was completed on October 25, 1942, and for a time the 97th remained in the area carrying out road maintenance and other duties. The 93d and 97th later served in the Pacific; the 95th was transferred to Europe. Road Building in the Far East Another major road-building project, in December 1942, also involved African Americans. Some 60 percent of the 15,000 U.S. troops engaged in

building the road from Ledo in Assam, India, to Kunming, China, were African American. The first two units assigned to duties were the 45th Engineer General Service Regiment and the 823d Engineer Aviation Battalion. They were the first African American units in the theater. The road was intended to connect with the old Burma Road, and it passed through heavily jungled, unsurveyed territory. On the 103-mile stretch between Ledo and Shinbwiyang, Myanmar, 100,000 cubic feet of earth had to be moved for each mile. Construction work began on December 15, 1942, and proceeded at a slow pace into February 1943. There was constant risk of Japanese attacks, but on December 27, 1943, Shinbwiyang was reached, three days ahead of schedule. Much of the rest of the old Burma Road was still in Japanese hands. More African American units began to arrive in early 1944, including quartermaster units, which were engaged in bringing ammunition and supplies up the road to support the combat troops. Maintaining the integrity of the road was a considerable strain on the engineer units, particularly during the monsoon season. The 3304th Quartermaster Truck Company was assigned to various duties in April 1943, including receiving airdropped supplies near the front. These airdrops, often improvised and experimental, were successful, and the 518th Quartermaster Battalion (Mobile) arrived in the theater and operated out of Dinjan and Sookerating, in India. Some of the men were assigned to the aircraft of the 2d Troop Carrier Squadron and pushed the supplies out of the aircraft over the targets. Other elements of the unit operated in the forward areas with the 3304th. The 518th was engaged in these duties until December 1944 and achieved remarkable success, despite having received only ten days’ training on airdrop procedures. By October 1944 the Ledo Road had nearly been completed. The 1327th Engineer General Service Regiment and the 352d Engineer General Service Regiment (which had been operating in Iran since January 1943) arrived to assist in the last push and to engage in convoy duties.

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By December of the same year, the majority of the quartermaster truck companies operating on the road were African American. The first full trip to Kunming was ready in January 1945, and half of the drivers were African American. The road, renamed the Stillwell Road, was officially opened on February 1, 1945. Of the fifty-eight truck companies operating the road, fifty-two were African American. Three African American general service regiments of the four were engaged in maintenance, four of the seven aviation battalions were African American, and both of the dump truck companies and one of the light pontoon companies were African American units. In May 1945 the 858th Engineer Aviation Battalion was sent to China, where it remained until the end of the war in the Pacific. One of the four African American hospitals operating overseas was also based in Burma, and the 2d and 43d Veterinary Companies were in operation in the area. Liberia

about 358,000 were based in the United States. By December 1944 these figures had rapidly changed, with only about 214,000 remaining in the United States and about 477,000 serving overseas. According to the December 1944 figures, 169,678 of these were quartermaster troops, 111,012 were engineers, and 64,458 were assigned to transportation duties. The number of African Americans serving overseas continued to rise, and in April 1945 only about 189,000 remained in the United States whereas about 511,000 were serving overseas. These vast numbers of African American troops assigned to overseas duties did not always avoid problems either with other nonU.S., white troops or with civilians. African American troops began arriving in Great Britain in 1942, and by August 1944, 154,000 African Americans had been assigned to the European theater (compared to 81,870 in the North African theater). In July 1942 Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower issued a statement regarding British–African American relations:

In early 1942 Liberia gave the United States carte blanche to build and defend commercial and military airfields on its territory. A task force was constructed, largely made up of African American units. African Americans began arriving in June 1942, including a detachment of men to train the Liberian Frontier (Guard) Force. The troops built Roberts Field and the necessary infrastructure for a major airfield. The possible threat against Liberia failed to materialize, and gradually the troops assigned to Liberia were transferred to duties elsewhere. The 41st Engineers found themselves first in Corsica and later in France and Germany. African American instructors, hospital staff, and others remained scattered in Liberia until the end of the war. Mass Overseas Deployment In March 1944 some 314,000 African American army personnel were serving overseas, and

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1. The presence of Negro troops in this Theater will present a variety of problems that can only be solved by constant and close supervision of Commanding Officers. It is the desire of this Headquarters that discrimination against the Negro troops be sedulously avoided. So far as London and other cities and leave areas where both Negro and White soldiers will come on pass and furlough, it would be a practical impossibility to arrange for segregation so far as welfare and recreation facilities are concerned. The Red Cross has been notified that Negro soldiers will be accorded the same leaves and furlough privileges as other soldiers and consequently they can expect them to come into their clubs. The Red Cross has been informed that wherever it is not possible to provide separate accommodations, the Negro soldiers be given the same accommodations in the club on the same basis as White soldiers.

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2. A more difficult problem will exist in the vicinity where both White and Negro soldiers are stationed, particularly with reference to dances and other social activities. This Headquarters will not attempt to issue any detailed instructions. Local Commanding Officers will be expected to use their own best judgement in avoiding discrimination due to race, but at the same time, minimizing causes of friction between White and Colored Troops. Rotation of pass privileges and similar methods suggest themselves for use, always with the guiding principle that any restriction imposed by Commanding Officers applies with equal force to both races. (From the letter “Headquarters ETOUSA to Commanding Generals and Commanding Officers” [July 16, 1942], quoted in Lee 1966, 623–624.)

Implementing these orders fell to Maj. Gen. John C. H. Lee, who was then commander of the Services of Supply and therefore commander of most of the African American units based in Great Britain. With the gradual buildup of troops in the country, the policy had to be continually reiterated. Eventually many units created what became known as Good Conduct Committees, which held sessions to discuss race relations. Consistent with British domestic policy, the British government instructed local police forces not to become involved in policing establishments that the U.S. Army had placed out of bounds for African American troops. It was not the policy of the British government to condone or support any form of discrimination, even of foreign nationals. By May 1944 there were 1.5 million Americans in Great Britain, and twenty-three African American Red Cross clubs. Parts of the United Kingdom had considerable concentrations of African Americans. In Southampton, for example, twenty-five of the twenty-seven port companies, eight of the fifteen truck companies, two truck battalion headquarters, three quartermaster service companies, a fumigation company, a

gas supply company, all of the medical sanitary companies, and an engineer general service regiment were all African American. Once the Normandy invasion had succeeded, many African American units moved across the English Channel and into continental Europe. Large numbers of African American support troops were to be found in virtually all of the depots, groups, regiments, and hospitals in each sector. In some cases, African Americans accounted for up to 50 percent of the manpower in a sector. African Americans were important participants in the Red Ball Express operation, a hastily constructed attempt to ensure the supply of the rapidly advancing U.S. First and Third Armies after August 1944. Between August 25 and November 13, 1944, an average of 899 trucks per day were engaged in the Red Ball Express. The majority of the units involved, whether unloading supplies in French ports, driving the trucks to the front, or unloading them for distribution, were African American— hardly surprising, since 73 percent of all of the truck companies in the Motor Transport Service were African American. A similar operation, known as the White Ball Route, began on September 25 and ran from Le Havre and Rouen toward Beauvais and Reims. And nearly 50 percent of the truck companies that manned another operation, the Red Lion Route, which moved 500 tons of gasoline each day for thirty days beginning September 16, 1944, were African American companies. Other similar operations during this period, considerably less well known than the Red Ball Express, involved such disparate units as the 467th and 519th Truck Battalions and units such as the 3877th and 3917th Gas Supply Companies, who from August until V-E day participated in supplying divisional units with up to 165,000 gallons of gasoline each day. In the Mediterranean theater, units such as the 22d Quartermaster Group, which had landed at Casablanca on November 18, 1942, were engaged continuously, not only in North Africa but later on mainland Italy. By October

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1943 the 22d had some 13,000 men under its command, of whom half were African American. With the exception of the troops deployed in the European theater, large numbers of African American troops were gradually converted into garrison forces as successive Pacific islands were declared secure. Toward the end of 1944, several more African American support units in the Pacific theater became closely involved in amphibious landings against Japanese-held islands, such as the 394th Port Battalion at Leyte and the 442d and 592d Port Companies, as well as the three African American amphibian truck companies who were involved in the Iwo Jima landings in February 1945. Comparatively few African Americans were actually involved in the D-day landings in June 1944. Several trucks and infantrymen were lost when the 666th Truck Company was shelled near Schmitt, Germany. Approximately 500 African Americans were engaged on Omaha Beach and 1,200 on Utah Beach, although many units were deployed in the immediate aftermath of the invasion. During Operation Market Garden, the 666th lost several drivers while resupplying the 82d and 101st Airborne Divisions. Between January 1 and March 31, again in support of the 82d Airborne, the 666th carried an estimated 2,800 tons and 17,350 soldiers, for which it received a commendation. Prior to that, during the Battle of the Bulge, African American units, specifically the 3967th Troop Transport Company, were engaged with German ground troops then attached to the 7th Armored Division in Belgium. For the most part, the wartime duties of African American troops assigned to service units were routine, but given their poor training, many of the units managed almost impossible achievements. The contributions toward the war effort made by these units should not be underestimated; even the baker or laundry companies were essential, not to mention the men who constructed roads or airfields out of the wilderness or who drove thousands of miles along dangerous highways in the pitch dark. Af-

rican American troops in these units generally enjoyed good relations with other military units and with the civilians of other nations, who realized the value of their contribution. See also Red Ball Express; U.S. Army; World War II References and Further Reading Bowker, Benjamin C. Out of Uniform. New York: W. W. Norton, 1946. Bykofsky, Joseph, and Harold Larson. The Transportation Corps: Operations Overseas. United States Army in World War Two. Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, 1957. Goldberg, Alfred. The Army Air Forces in World War Two. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1949. Kenney, George C. Gen. Kenney Reports. New York: Duell, Sloan, and Pearce, 1949. Lee, Ulysses Grant. The Employment of Negro Troops. Washington, DC: Center of Military History, U.S. Army, 1966. Milner, Samuel. Victory in Papua. United States Army in World War Two. Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, 1957. Motter, T. H. Vail. The Persian Corridor and Aid to Russia. United States Army in World War Two. Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, 1952. Romanus, Charles F., and Sunderland Riley. Stillwell’s Mission to China. United States Army in World War Two. Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, 1953. ———. Stillwell’s Command Problems. United States Army in World War Two. Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, 1956. ———. Time Runs Out in CBI. United States Army in World War Two. Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, 1959. Rosten, Norman. The Big Road. New York: Rinehart and Co., 1946. Smith, Robert Ross. The Approach to the Philippines. United States Army in World War

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Two. Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, 1958.

ing but the best in my Army. I don’t care what color you are as long as you go up there and kill those Kraut sons of bitches. Everyone has their eyes on you and is expecting great things from you. Most of all your race is looking forward to you. Don’t let them down and damn you, don’t let me down! (quoted in Anderson 1979, 21).

761st “Black Panthers” Tank Battalion (World War II) The 761st Tank Battalion, known as the “Black Panthers,” was the first African American armored unit to enter combat in World War II. The 761st was part of the 5th Tank Group, which would eventually be commanded by Col. LeRoy Nichols and manned by African American enlisted men and white officers. The 761st was activated April 1, 1942, the second activated unit of the 5th Tank Group, and was based at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. It had an effective strength of 36 officers and 593 enlisted men. (The first component of the future 5th Tank Group was the 758th Tank Battalion [Light], in March 1941, and the third tank battalion to be manned by African American troops was the 784th, which would not be activated until April 1, 1943.) The 761st moved to Camp Hood, Texas, on September 15, 1943, and on October 10, 1944, it landed on Omaha Beach, Normandy. By then its strength had risen to thirty-six officers (thirty of them African American) and 676 African American enlisted men. The last words Camp Hood’s training center commander, Brig. Gen. Ernest J. Dawley, said to the battalion were, “When you get there, put in an extra round of ammunition, and fire it for General Dawley” (quoted in Anderson 1979, 20). The Second Army commander, Lt. Gen. Ben Lear, rated the unit “superior.” The battalion was welcomed to the Third Army, under Lt. Gen. George S. Patton Jr., who welcomed them saying, Men, you’re the first Negro tankers to ever fight in the American Army. I would never have asked for you if you weren’t good. I have noth-

The battalion saw its first action in capturing the towns of Moyenvic and Vic-sur-Seille on November 8, 1944. The following day, they encountered the German 11th Panzer Division, but 1st Sgt. Samuel Turley sprayed the enemy positions with a machine gun from a ditch, saving the lead company from disaster when it ran into antitank defenses. Turley died to save the battalion. On November 10 Sgt. Warren Gamaliel Harding Crecy, his tank destroyed, took command of another tank, destroyed a German antitank gun, and then directed artillery fire on the enemy positions. Later that day, he wiped out several German machine guns. Crecy came to embody the spirit of the battalion, with one desire: to kill the Germans. When the 761st took Obreck, Dedeline, and Château Voue, another African American, Sgt. Ruben Rivers, came to the fore. On November 10, en route to Guebling, his tank hit a German mine. Although seriously injured, he refused to be evacuated until the battalion had safely crossed the river and entered Guebling. A Bailey bridge (a temporary metal bridge, moved in sections, that could be put up across a river in a matter of hours) was erected on November 17. Rivers led the attack and took on two German tanks, knocking them both out. He engaged two more and forced them to retreat. By dawn Rivers’s leg was badly infected, and he was told that if he was not evacuated, he would lose it. The sergeant refused to leave his men. Later, he directed fire onto German antitank guns, but his tank was drawing heavy tracer and highexplosive rounds. The turret was penetrated, and Rivers was killed.

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The 761st pushed on from late December 1944 to early February 1945. They fought a ferocious two-day battle at Tillet, Belgium, and later acted as the armored spearhead of the 103d Infantry Division’s push through the Siegfried Line. They continued operations on the Siegfried Line into mid-March, capturing vital positions on the defensive line. From March 20 to 23, 1945, the 761st captured seven German towns, 80 heavy weapons, 200 horses, 400 vehicles, and thousands of small arms and inflicted 4,000 German casualties. The battalion was fighting elements of several German divisions. It was one of the first U.S. units to link up with the advancing Soviet armies when they reached Steyr, Austria, on the Enns River on May 5, 1945. The 761st had fought almost continuously for six months, attached to the 26th, 71st, 79th, 87th, 95th, and 103d Infantry Divisions as well as with the 17th Airborne Division. It had been operating with the Third, Ninth, and Seventh Armies during that time. It had lost 71 tanks and suffered a 50 percent casualty rate, but it had captured 30 towns, 34 tanks, nearly 500 wheeled vehicles, 113 field guns, thousands of smaller weapons, 4 airfields, 3 supply dumps, and several concentration camps. The battalion was credited with killing, wounding, or capturing more than 130,000 German soldiers. The battalion’s motto was “Come out fighting,” and the 761st had done just that during its short career. It was dedicated June 1, 1946, in Germany. In 1978 President Jimmy Carter awarded the 761st the Presidential Unit Citation for its service from October 31, 1944, to May 6, 1945. See also Bulge, Battle of the; Rivers, Ruben; World War II References and Further Reading Anderson, Trezzvant W. Come Out Fighting. Long Island, NY: 761st Tank Battalion and Allied Veterans Association, 1979. Wilson, Joe.761st Black Panther Tank Battalion in World War II: An Illustrated History of the First

African American Armored Unit to See Combat. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1999.

Sims, Clifford Chester (1942–1968) Clifford Chester Sims, an African American staff sergeant, was born in Port Saint Joe, Florida, on June 18, 1942, and served in Company D, 2d Battalion (Airborne), 501st Infantry, 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army. While leading a squad near Hue, Republic of Vietnam, on February 21, 1968, he gave his life to save other members of his unit. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. At 10 a.m. on February 21, 1968, Delta Company began to find articles that had apparently been discarded by the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) in an area where an estimated 100 NVA troops had recently spent the night. At 1:30 p.m. the company crossed a rice paddy along a small stream, with Charlie Company to its left. As it approached the stream, it was met with a hail of fire from a series of bunkers lining the opposite shore. The 2d Platoon, which had been in reserve, then advanced, filling in the positions between the 1st and 3d Platoons. Staff Sergeant Sims, a squad leader in 2d Platoon, led his squad in a furious attack against the enemy force that had pinned down 1st Platoon. After moving forward approximately thirty meters, Sims saw a brick structure full of burning ammunition. Realizing the danger, he immediately moved his squad. While the squad was leaving the area, two members were injured when the ammunition exploded, but Sims’s prompt actions undoubtedly prevented more serious casualties. Sims and his squad continued through the dense woods amid heavy enemy fire. As they were approaching a bunker, they heard the unmistakable noise of a concealed booby trap being triggered in front of them. Sims warned his men of the danger and unhesitatingly hurled

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himself upon the device as it exploded, taking the full impact of the blast. In so protecting his fellow soldiers, he willingly sacrificed his own life. On August 21, 2003, Florida Governor Jeb Bush presided over the dedication ceremony of Florida’s 4th Veterans’ Nursing Home in honor of Clifford Chester Sims in Springfield, Florida.

Postal Directory. The 6888th kept an updated information card on every individual in the theater, often having to update cards almost daily. The battalion worked three eight-hour shifts, seven days a week, and each shift handled about 65,000 pieces of mail. See also Earley, Charity Adams; Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps

See also Vietnam War

References and Further Reading Moore, Brenda L. To Serve My Country, to Serve My Race: The Story of the Only African-American WACS Stationed Overseas during World War II. New York and London: New York University Press, 1996.

6888th Postal Battalion (World War II) The African American 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, part of the Women’s Army Corps, was the only unit of African American women to serve overseas in World War II. In 1945, after the Allies swept across Europe, the armed forces faced an enormous problem with the sorting and distribution of mail to the service personnel. Mountains of parcels and correspondence were building up in warehouses in Great Britain, largely as a result of manpower shortages. The 6888th, under the command of Maj. (later Lt. Col.) Charity Adams and with a total strength of 31 officers and 824 enlisted women, was deployed to sort out the problem. Although most of the members of the 6888th were postal clerks, other members held service and support positions and operated the mess halls, motor pools, and supply rooms, making the 6888th almost entirely self-sufficient. The battalion arrived in Birmingham, England, in January 1945, and by May the backlog had been significantly reduced. The unit was then transferred to Rouen, France, to deal with a similar problem. The work was expected to take some six months, but it was accomplished in only three months. The 6888th was responsible for the redirection of mail to all U.S. personnel in the European theater of operations—some 7 million people. Any mail that could not be delivered as addressed was sent for redirection to the

614th Tank Destroyer Battalion See Thomas, Charles

Smalls, Robert (1839–1915) Robert Smalls, a former slave, captured a Confederate vessel, turned it over to the Union authorities, and won promotion to the rank of captain in the U.S. Navy. Smalls was born in Beaufort, South Carolina, on April 5, 1839; his mother, Lydia, was a slave, and his father may have been her master, John McKee. When John McKee died in 1848, Smalls and his mother became the property of Henry McKee, with whom they moved to Charleston in 1851. In Charleston, Smalls met Hannah Jones, a hotel maid fourteen years his senior, whom he married on December 24, 1856. The couple had two daughters, Elizabeth Lydia (b. 1858) and Sarah Voorhees (b. 1863), and a son Robert Jr. (b. 1861), who died at the

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age of three. Smalls took any employment he could find in Charleston, striving to buy his family’s freedom. He worked as a waiter at the Planter’s Hotel, as a lamplighter for the city, and as a rigger and sail-maker. As a trusted slave, at the outbreak of the Civil War, Smalls had been employed as a sailor on the steamer Planter and had gained familiarity with the local waterways. When the Planter was rented by the Confederate government for use as a troop ship, together with other members of the African American crew, Smalls planned an escape, hoping to slip from the ship’s mooring and sail to the safety of the Union blockade fleet just outside Charleston harbor. On the night of May 13, 1862, the opportunity arose when Gen. Roswell Ripley and other white Confederate officers of the Planter went ashore to attend a party. The families of the African American crew (including Smalls’s wife and daughters) had been hiding in other vessels nearby. Once they had quickly and quietly jumped aboard the steamship, Smalls, who had actually been acting as pilot, although as a slave he was not given the title, got the vessel underway. Donning the absent captain’s clothing, Smalls ordered the hoisting of the Confederate and South Carolina flags and sounded the departure signal as he backed the Planter from its mooring. The knowledge he had gained while aboard the Planter stood him in good stead for sailing the vessel out of Charleston harbor, through the Helena Sound, down the Beaufort River. His mimicking of the actions and gestures of the captain of the steamship helped allay any suspicion the port authorities might have had about the ship’s sailing. The African American crew members and their families hoisted the white flag of surrender as they approached the USS Onward, a Union blockade runner, and they handed the valuable vessel over to the enemy of the Confederates, along with information about mines and code signals. The daring escape was reported in newspapers worldwide. A $4,000 reward for his capture was offered by the Confederate government. In the North Smalls was hailed as a war hero, and

Engraving published in Harper’s Weekly, 1862, of Robert Smalls, pilot of the Confederate ship Planter, who ran his ship out of Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, in the early morning of May 13, 1862, and delivered it to Union forces. The Planter carried several other African Americans to freedom in this daring escape. (U.S. Naval Historical Center)

his story influenced the debates raging over the continued existence of slavery and the use of African Americans as soldiers. The commander of the Union’s Department of the South, Gen. David Hunter, sent Smalls to Washington, D.C., to discuss the formation of black regiments with the president and Secretary of State Edwin Stanton; as a result Stanton authorized Hunter to recruit 5,000 African American volunteers in South Carolina. Commissioned as a second lieutenant and attached to Company B, 33d Regiment, U.S. Colored Troops, Smalls remained as pilot on the Planter with only a short break during service on the Keokuk. In November 1863 the Planter was involved in an engagement in which Smalls took command of the vessel while its captain hid in the coal bin. Smalls was then promoted to the rank of captain in the U.S. Navy, the first and only African American to be so promoted during the war.

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During the remainder of the war, Smalls worked as a recruiter of African American troops for the Union army. He later became a respected South Carolina politician and purchased his former owner’s home in Beaufort. After winning promotion to the rank of major general in the South Carolina Militia and being elected to the South Carolina Constitutional Convention, Smalls assisted in the drafting of documents that would eventually help the black suffrage movement and contributed to the purchase of a school for African American children. He was elected to five terms (1875–1887) in the U.S. House of Representatives and became paramount in the introduction of legislation to protect the rights of children. In 1883 Hannah Smalls died in their Beaufort, South Carolina, home. Smalls had been trying unsuccessfully to collect a pension from the U.S. Navy. Eventually he was awarded $30 a month, and in 1900 he was awarded $5,000 for his role in the capture of the Planter. In 1890 he had remarried, to Annie Wigg, with whom he was to have a son, William Robert Smalls (b. 1892). The Honorable Robert Smalls died on February 23, 1915, after a long illness. He was buried at the Tabernacle Baptist Church, and a memorial bust of him was erected in front of the African Baptist Church, also in Beaufort. His former home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. See also American Civil War; United States Colored Troops (appendixes); U.S. Navy References and Further Reading Astor, Gerald. The Right to Fight: A History of African Americans in the Military. Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1998. Cohn, Michael. Black Men of the Sea. New York: Dodd Mead, 1978. Cooper, Michael L. From Slave to Civil War Hero: The Life and Times of Robert Smalls. New York: Lodestar Books, 1994. Nalty, Bernard C. Strength for the Fight. New York: Free Press, 1986.

Uya, Okon Edet. From Slavery to Public Service: Robert Smalls, 1839–1915. New York: Oxford University Press, 1971.

Smith, James Webster (1850–1876) James Webster Smith was born into slavery in Columbia, South Carolina, in 1850. After the Civil War, African Americans began to develop educational systems, and Smith attended school through the Freedmen’s Bureau, one function of which was to provide education for the newly freed slaves and which was headed at the time by Gen. Oliver Otis Howard, the founder of Howard University. While living in Hartford, Connecticut, Smith came to the attention of a former Union officer, David Clark, who assisted him with his studies and helped him enroll in Howard University after he graduated from Hartford Public High School. According to William McFeely’s biography of Ulysses S. Grant, Clark said that Smith was “a remarkable scholar, of excellent character.” In 1870 General Howard asked the senator for South Carolina to recommend Smith for entry into West Point, and that July Smith successfully passed the entry examination. His attendance at the academy was not popular with his classmates, and Smith lived an isolated life, often abused and harassed by his fellow students, forced to dine alone, and often served cold meals. On one occasions, the white cadets chose to pour the contents of their slop pans over him in the middle of the night. Being an outspoken young man who was bent on righting the wrongs of racial inequality, Smith did not take this lying down. He wrote to Clark, complaining of the treatment he was receiving. Clark had the letters published in the Hartford Courant and managed to bring Smith’s accusations about his treatment at West Point to the attention of the general public. His letters sparked a congressional court

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of inquiry, which resulted in the court-martials of several of the white cadets who had been involved in the racist acts. During his time at West Point, Smith himself was twice disciplined as a result of disagreements with his fellow students and threatened with court-martial. The military court recommended that Smith be dismissed from the academy, but this recommendation was revoked by the then secretary of war, William W. Belknap; instead, Smith was ordered to repeat his freshman year. In his third year of study at West Point, Smith’s roommate was Henry O. Flipper, another African American student, who was also harassed by the white cadets. Flipper managed to overcome this difficulty and became the first African American to graduate from West Point. After failing a philosophy examination while repeating his freshman year, Smith was dismissed, and he left West Point in 1874. He returned to South Carolina and began a career teaching at an agricultural school for former slaves, the South Carolina Agricultural and Mechanical Institute (now South Carolina State University at Orangeburg). At the age of twentysix, he died of tuberculosis in Orangeburg, South Carolina, leaving no family. A posthumous commissioning ceremony was held for Smith at the South Carolina State University on September 22, 1997. Speaking at the ceremony, U.S. Representative John Spratt said, “I come to join the Secretary of the Army in righting a longstanding wrong. By commissioning James Webster Smith in the United States Army, we give his memory the justice that was denied him in 1874. We also acknowledge the wrongs he was forced to suffer as the first black cadet to enter West Point” (Spratt 1997). See also Flipper, Henry Ossian; West Point References and Further Reading Atkinson, Rick. The Long Gray Line: West Point’s Journey to Vietnam. Glasgow, UK: William Collins, 1990.

Flipper, Henry Ossian. Black Frontiersman: The Memoirs of Henry O. Flipper: First Black Graduate of West Point. Compiled and edited with introduction and notes by Theodore D. Harris. Fort Worth, TX: Texas Christian University Press, 1997. ———. The Colored Cadet at West Point: Autobiography of Lieut. Henry Ossian Flipper, U.S.A., First Graduate of Color from the U.S. Military Academy. Introduction by Quintard Taylor. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1998. McFeely, William. Grant: A Biography. W. W. Norton, 1992. Spratt, John. Remarks at the Posthumous Commissioning Ceremony for James Webster Smith. On-line; available: http://www.house.gov/ spratt/news_archive/97_98/sph_08.htm.

Sol Legare Island, Battle of (July 16, 1863) At the Battle of Sol Legare Island, three companies of the African American 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment under Col. Robert Gould Shaw, a young white officer, faced a Confederate brigade under Gen. Alfred Holt Colquitt, coming under fire for the first time. As part of the continuing campaign to strangle the Confederacy economically, the Union was targeting the Confederate-held city of Charleston, South Carolina, which was defended by a number of garrisons in the James Island area. The 54th Massachusetts formed part of Gen. Quincy Gillmore’s land forces. Hard on the heels of the Union victories convening most of Morris Island, South Carolina, in July 1863, Confederate forces had been cleared from the area with the exception of Fort Wagner (which the 54th would famously face later in the month). On July 6, however, three companies of the 54th were posted as pickets on Sol Legare Island, between Folly Beach and James Island,

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near one of the two causeways that connected it to the mainland. General Colquitt’s Confederate troops, numbering some 3,200, poured out of Secessionville and moved toward the James Island lines. They overran the 54th’s outposts and then ran into the main bulk of the 54th. Shaw and his men held the line against a determined Confederate cavalry attack followed by an infantry assault. The 54th staged a fighting withdrawal. The Confederates could not be stopped despite Union artillery fire and support from Union gunboats. Although the engagement was a defeat for the Union troops, the 54th’s stubborn resistance allowed the bulk of the Union troops to escape. Of the forty-six men who were killed during the engagement, forty-three came from the 54th. In its initial engagement, the regiment gained recognition as an effective fighting unit. See also American Civil War; 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment; Fort Wagner, Battle of; United States Colored Troops (appendixes) References and Further Reading Burchard, Peter. One Gallant Rush: Robert Gould Shaw and His Brave Black Regiment. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1965. Emilio, Luis F. A Brave Black Regiment: History of the Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Boston: Boston Book Company, 1894.

Spanish-American War (1898) The Spanish-American War was a conflict that sought to end Spanish oppression in Cuba and the Philippines at a time when, in contrast, the United States was doing little to deal with its own discrimination at home. African American regulars and volunteers were among those thrown into the fighting.

Prelude to War Although popular wisdom holds that the war between the United States and Spain began with the sinking of the battleship Maine on February 15, 1898, which claimed the lives of 260 Americans, of whom 22 were African American, the conflict has a much longer history. The United States was flexing its imperial muscles in the late nineteenth century and was actively seeking areas in the Pacific and the Caribbean to act as coaling and maintenance stations for its fleets. Cuba’s strategic location had already attracted the attention of U.S. expansionists, and American economic interests were heavily involved in Cuba, but it was not until the Spanish authorities began to enforce extremely repressive policies on the island that there was widespread interest in the United States in occupying Cuba. The Cubans had revolted against the Spanish in 1868; hostilities had lasted for ten years. When the Cuban people rose up again in 1895, there were growing calls in the United States for some kind of intervention. Cuba was barely 100 miles from the Florida coast, and the revolutionaries found friends in the United States. Money and weapons flowed to the Cuban revolutionaries while a corresponding flood of refugees sought work and safety in New York and other major population centers in the United States. The press constantly published stories of atrocities carried out by the Spanish authorities against the insurgents. Increasingly, President Grover Cleveland found himself under pressure to intervene, a course of action he wished to avoid. In 1896 the Spanish government sent Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau to take command of the colonial troops in Cuba. He quickly instituted new policies intended to starve the rebels of support. The country was criss-crossed with block houses and barbed-wire fences, and the population was herded into detention camps and towns. All the new policies achieved was to bring starvation to the Cuban population. In the United States, Weyler was portrayed as a

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butcher. Weyler was replaced by the Spanish government by October 1897 with a more moderate general. The subtext behind these moves was that many political leaders hoped the United States would acquire naval bases and influence in Cuba. But when Cleveland was replaced by President William McKinley in 1897, it became clear that the new president no more wanted war with Spain than had his predecessor. February 1898 saw extensive rioting in Havana. U.S.Spanish relations plummeted when a private letter written by Enrique Dupuy de Lôme, the Spanish minister in Washington, was stolen from a Havana post office and passed to the New York Journal. The letter described McKinley as “weak and a bidder for admiration of the crowd. A would-be politician who tries to leave a door open behind himself while keeping on good terms with the jingoes in his party” (American Military History, 322). Despite the fact that the minister resigned and Spain offered an apology in his letter, President McKinley’s prestige was damaged by the tone of arrogance in the letter. Nevertheless, a diplomatic resolution of the brouhaha over the letter, as well as to the problems in Cuba, was still the preferred course of action within McKinley’s administration. The U.S. battleship Maine was sent to Havana in an attempt to protect U.S. interests and seemed to be a calming pressure on both the Spanish and the Cubans. Without warning, however, an explosion ripped through the ship on February 15, 1898, detonating the ammunition, and in a frighteningly short period the battleship sank to the ocean floor. A U.S. court of enquiry determined that a mine had been placed below the keel, but later studies have suggested that the sinking may have been caused by an explosion in the ship’s coal bunkers. McKinley realized that the time for diplomacy had ended and that under increasing pressure he would have to use the armed forces to intervene in Cuba. Facing a potential defeat in the upcoming elections, he bowed to public outrage and asked Congress to authorize inter-

vention. He made his submission on April 11, 1898, and on April 20 Congress declared that Cuba should be a free and independent country. On April 25, Congress declared that a state of war had existed between the United States and Spain since April 21. Mobilization of Troops and African American Involvement The war revealed a contradictory morality in U.S. policies, supposedly seeking to end oppression abroad while doing nothing to stop it at home. For African Americans, the U.S. position was clearly contradictory, yet many wished to show their loyalty to their country and felt that opposition to the war would do little to aid them at home. The conflict lasted just over 100 days. The “splendid little war,” as John Hay, the secretary of state, dubbed it, made great use of the four existing African American regular army regiments (the 9th and 10th Cavalries and the 24th and 25th Infantry Regiments) as part of the U.S. invasion force. The mustering point was Florida, and when hostilities broke out, three of the African American regiments were stationed in the West. In March the 24th Infantry became the first to arrive in Tampa. The War Department also authorized the creation of the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th U.S. Volunteer Infantries. These units had African American troops and mostly white officers, but these were exceptions. Benjamin O. Davis Sr. was just eighteen years old when he became a lieutenant in the 8th Volunteer Infantry. His regiment was ordered to Chickamauga Park, Georgia, in October 1898. The regiment faced severe racial hostility, but Davis became the battalion adjutant after impressing the camp commander, who had actually been a Confederate officer under Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest during the American Civil War. Another notable African American who had hoped to be involved in the Spanish-American War was Charles Young, a thirty-four-year-old former first lieutenant of the 9th Cavalry. Young

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had graduated from West Point in 1889 and was, on paper, qualified to lead combat troops. He was at the time an instructor at Wilberforce University, so he wrote to the War Department, asking to be returned to his regiment. In the event, although the 9th Cavalry went to Cuba, Young did not. He was given a wartime brevet rank of major and assigned to the 9th Ohio U.S. Volunteers, with whom he served in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina. The four regular African American units served under the overall command of Maj. Gen. William R. Shafter; the two cavalry regiments were assigned to Gen. Joseph Wheeler’s cavalry division. The 24th was assigned to Maj. Gen. Jacob F. Kent’s 1st Division and the 25th went to the 2d Division, commanded by Brig. Gen. Henry W. Lawton. The majority of Florida citizens found it impossible to believe that the servicemen were unwilling to submit to the same kind of treatment that local African Americans were forced to accept. Frequently the soldiers came across signs proclaiming, “No niggers and dogs allowed in here.” On many occasions, the black soldiers tore down the signs. In one instance, in Lakeland, troopers of the 10th Cavalry fired their rifles into two shops displaying these signs, a drugstore and a barbershop, and then opened fire on a crowd of people. One person was killed and several were wounded. As if this open hostility to troops preparing to engage on an overseas mission was not enough, racial tension reached explosive proportions on June 6, 1898. Some white Ohio volunteers kidnapped a two-year-old African American boy and started to use him for target practice. Although the boy was returned to his mother unharmed, members of the 24th and 25th rampaged through Tampa, firing their pistols, wrecking shop premises, and gate-crashing brothels. The 2d Georgia Volunteer Infantry was sent to deal with the riot as provost guards and local police stood impotently by. The Georgian volunteers waded into the African American rioters, and more than thirty people were seriously injured. The Army sought to remove the African American

troops from Florida as quickly as possible, including by the simple expedient of placing them on board ship for a week before they sailed out of Tampa Bay to Cuba. The army’s race to increase the size of the regular army had meant mobilizing some 17,000 men in Tampa alone. Most of the regular army was included among the eighteen regular and two volunteer infantry regiments and the ten regular and two volunteer cavalry squadrons. In addition, there was one mounted cavalry squadron, six artillery batteries, and a Gatling gun (machine-gun) company. The fleet left Tampa on a seven-day trip to Cuba and landed at Daiquiri on June 22, 1898. Naval Activity Prior to the landing, not only had U.S. ships been sent to blockade Cuba, but an additional squadron had been formed after intelligence had been received that Adm. Pascual Cervera y Topete was approaching the Atlantic coast with a Spanish fleet. Meanwhile, Washington had cabled Commodore George Dewey of the Asiatic Squadron to assemble his ships in Hong Kong and prepare to attack the Philippines. McKinley gave him leave to make his attacks on April 24, and Dewey sailed into Manila Bay on the night of April 30. The next morning, he located the Spanish fleet and crippled it without suffering any losses to his own forces. He also silenced the land batteries defending Manila harbor. Dewey lacked sufficient landing forces to take Manila and requested reinforcements from the United States. He also obtained the assistance of Emilio Aguinaldo, the Filipino insurgent leader. Dewey also had to deal with the presence of British, French, and German naval forces in Manila Bay. They were there to protect their own nationals, but all three had an eye to grab the Philippines should the opportunity arise. The Germans were particularly interested in the Philippines and had a considerable force in Manila Bay under Rear Adm. Otto van Diederichs, but when it became clear that the

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United States was serious about taking the Philippines, the Germans withdrew. Meanwhile, in the Atlantic, there had been no sign of Admiral Cervera, and the U.S. Navy was nervous about attempting a landing before his fleet had been pinpointed. On May 19 intelligence suggested that Cervera had slipped into the bay at Santiago de Cuba. Adm. William T. Sampson investigated the rumor and engaged the Spanish vessels and forts at the entrance to Santiago de Cuba harbor. He landed U.S. Marines to secure a naval base east of Santiago, and in a brief skirmish the marines secured Guantánamo Bay. Land War in Cuba The U.S. Army needed to move swiftly in order to reinforce Sampson, so they pushed forward their invasion plan to June 22. As the U.S. troops landed at Daiquiri, a boat carrying some of the 10th Cavalry capsized and two of the men were drowned. But almost immediately the U.S. troops began to fan out into the dense tropical forests with the objective of capturing the capital, Santiago de Cuba. In order to do this, the Spaniards had to be driven from Las Guásimas, which was to the southeast of Santiago. The Spanish were dug in behind stone walls on a steep, high ridge. General Wheeler gave the task of dealing with the Las Guásimas contingent to the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry (better known as the Rough Riders), a semiprivate army of cowboys and Ivy League men under the command of Col. Leonard Wood (with Lt. Col. Theodore Roosevelt as second-in-command) and the 1st and 10th Cavalries. The three regiments marched for a whole day, and in the early hours of June 24, they struggled through the jungle toward the Spanish defensive positions. When they reached them, the 10th Cavalry, in particular, showed extreme courage and constantly charged the Spanish positions. After an hour’s fighting, the Spaniards were driven off the ridge and retreated toward Santiago. The U.S. troops were exhausted by their long march and exer-

tions on the battlefield and were unable to pursue them. Lt. John J. “Black Jack” Pershing, who was serving as the regimental quartermaster, noted that the 10th Cavalry “[relieved] the Rough Riders from the volleys that were being poured into them from that portion of the Spanish line” (quoted in Astor 1998, 71). The U.S. troops continued inland, and by June 30 they had established themselves on a plain overlooked by the San Juan Heights. The Spanish had dug in on the three strategic hills: San Juan Hill, El Pozo (Kettle Hill), and El Caney. These were the outer defenses of Santiago. The U.S. troops would have to capture each of the hills, despite the facts that they were difficult positions to assault and that on El Caney, for example, the Spaniards had fortified a stone church and built a fort and four wooden blockhouses. The U.S. troops were severely outnumbered. The Spaniards were reputed to have 200,000 men in Cuba, with some 36,000 directly opposing the Americans in the Santiago area. Six thousand U.S. troops had landed on June 22, and another 11,000 had landed on the twentyfourth. They had the support of about 5,000 Cuban insurgents under Gen. Calixto García Iñiguez. The U.S. troops planned to storm El Caney first and then to concentrate on San Juan and El Pozo. Lawton’s men, including the 25th Infantry, would attack El Caney, then they would turn to assist Wheeler and Kent in their assault on San Juan Hill and El Pozo. The U.S. troops had the benefit of dense forest to hide their maneuvers, and in the early morning of July 1, 6,600 U.S. troops, including more than 500 men of the 25th Regiment, moved into position below San Juan Heights. An artillery bombardment opened up on El Caney at dawn, but it was ineffective in wrecking the fortifications and failed to have any immediate impact on the 500 or so Spanish defenders. Lawton formed up his troops, with the 25th in reserve, and launched them across a clearing toward the Spanish defense works. His men broke into the works by noon after suffering very high casualties, and it was clear that the majority of his

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At the Battle of Las Guásimas, near Santiago, Cuba, June 24, 1898, the African American 10th Cavalry (one of the Buffalo Soldier regiments) joined the Rough Riders in storming the Spanish strong point that controlled a pass through the mountains. (CORBIS)

men would be unable to continue in the assault to take the village of El Caney. The men of the 25th, however, were comparatively fresh, and they were sent forward to resume the assault. The 25th had to run the gauntlet of Spanish snipers, but it reached the shelter of a hollow in the hill and its own marksmen pinned down the defenders. This allowed the bulk of the troops under Lawton to surge forward and capture the remaining strong points. The battle, which had been rather optimistically predicted to last ten minutes, had lasted ten hours and had cost 450 U.S. casualties. Above all, it had also prevented Lawton’s men from contributing to the attacks on San Juan Hill and El Pozo. The U.S. commanders had planned to attack

not only at El Caney but also along two other paths, one across Kettle Hill and the other bypassing Kettle Hill. The force consisted of about 8,000 men, including 1,250 men of the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 24th Infantry. Major General Shafter decided that he could no longer wait for Lawton’s men, and he positioned his troops across the San Juan River; his troops then advanced out of the jungle and into an open meadow directly under Kettle Hill and San Juan Hill. The Spanish troops had no lack of targets, and the U.S. commanders were convinced that their men would be slaughtered. The troops advanced with the infantry on either flank and the dismounted cavalry division in the center. Theodore Roosevelt and company

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officers of the 9th Cavalry urged the troops forward under a withering fire. Companies of the 10th Cavalry joined in as the troops began to surge forward. All cohesion was lost as they scrambled toward the Spanish positions on Kettle Hill. When the standard bearer of the 3d Cavalry fell, African American Sgt. George Berry of the 10th Cavalry grabbed the 3d’s standard along with his own and surged forward. Another 10th Cavalry sergeant, Horace Bivins, directed a battery of machine guns forward to pin down the Spaniards as the U.S. troops continued their advance. The future secretary of the navy (in World War II) Frank Knox, a member of the Rough Riders, found himself with troopers from the 10th Cavalry, whom he later described as some of the bravest men he had ever seen. The U.S. troops pushed forward through the trenches and the barbed-wire defenses. Officer casualties were high; more than half fell. By late afternoon, the two hills had been taken. Despite the confusion and mounting casualties, the 24th Infantry, the 71st New York Infantry, and the 9th Infantry managed to clear the Spanish defenders, and by late afternoon the two hills had been captured. More than 1,000 U.S. troops had been killed or wounded, and the 24th had suffered 40 percent casualties. The thoroughly exhausted survivors of the attacks on these two hills precariously held on to their acquisition until they were relieved by Lawton’s troops, who marched all night to reinforce them after they had recovered sufficiently. Pershing would later write in his memoirs, “White regiments, black regiments, regulars and rough riders representing the young manhood of the North and South, fought shoulder to shoulder, unmindful of race or color, unmindful of whether commanded by an ex-Confederate or not, and mindful only of their common duty as Americans” (quoted in Astor 1998, 71). From the heights, the U.S. troops could see Adm. Cervera’s fleet at anchor in Santiago de Cuba Bay. The Spanish admiral now knew that his dash across the Atlantic had been for naught and that his ships were in grave danger. He had

no option but to try to break through the American squadron that was blockading the port. He was outnumbered, and all of his six ships were sunk in just under four hours on July 3. On the same day, with the Spaniards still occupying trenches and blockhouses in front of the capital, a truce was signed. On July 16, 1898, the Spanish commander in Cuba surrendered to the U.S. forces and Spain asked for peace terms the following day. Aftermath in the Caribbean Before the majority of U.S. troops left Cuba in August, five African American soldiers had been awarded the Medal of Honor and twenty the Certificate of Merit. There had been considerable suffering from yellow fever throughout the conflict, and thousands of soldiers had been sent to the Siboney Field Hospital. The army’s medical department lacked the manpower and facilities to deal with the situation, and many of those who worked in the hospitals also fell victim to the fever. Col. Charles Greenleaf called for volunteers for hospital duty, knowing that whoever offered ran the risk of catching the infection. Several of the regiments stationed for a time in Cuba refused to send men, but the 24th Infantry agreed to assist and arrived at Siboney on July 16. The conditions were horrific and filthy, and as Colonel Greenleaf later wrote in Leslie’s Weekly of November 3, 1898,

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There is more real heroism in marching into a fever-stricken tent and staying there day and night than there is in making a single charge up any hill. Yet, I made the demand, asking the colonel of the regiment to appeal to his men so that, say, a dozen of them would come as volunteers to work in the hospital. “Tell him that when they go in they will have to stay in, and that I want no man who is not willing to face the danger.” He made the call [and] not twelve, not a hundred men, but every single man in the regiment [came forward]. There was not one Negro who stayed behind. [it was]

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as fine a bit of heroism as was developed in the whole war.

About sixty-five men worked as nurses, and more helped as cooks and on burial parties. During their six-week stint at the hospital, only twenty-four of the men of the regiment failed to catch the fever and thirty-one men of the regiment died. After the troops left Cuba in August, the 10th Cavalry was sent to Texas, the 24th Infantry to Utah and Wyoming, and the 25th to Arizona and New Mexico. Some 6,000 African Americans served in eight volunteer regiments in response to McKinley’s call for volunteers. These units included the 3d Alabama, 8th Illinois, 1st Indiana (A and B companies), 23d Kansas, 6th Massachusetts (Company L), 3d North Carolina, 9th Ohio, and 6th Virginia. Some of the units had not been fully mustered by the time the fighting ceased. The 3d Alabama found itself stationed at Mobile, Alabama; the 1st Indiana was sent to Fort Thomas and Chickamauga Park, Georgia; the 3d North Carolina served at Camp Rowland, Knoxville, Tennessee; and the 9th Ohio at Camp Russell A. Alger, Falls Church, Virginia; Camp Meade, Middleton, Pennsylvania; and Summerville, South Carolina. The 6th Virginia served in Virginia at Camps Corbin and Rowland. Only the 8th Illinois and the 23d Kansas saw action in Cuba. They were given the tricky task of maintaining the peace between Spaniards and Cubans in Santiago and San Luis. They also guarded 5,000 Spanish prisoners of war prior to their repatriation to Spain. During their tour of duty, they were involved in many civil engineering tasks to improve Cuba’s infrastructure. Company L of the 6th Massachusetts saw action in Puerto Rico in an expedition under Lt. Gen. Nelson Appleton Miles. On July 21 about 3,000 troops sailed from Guantánamo Bay. Miles had originally planned to land at Cape Fajardo on the northeast of Puerto Rico and had hoped that from there he could establish his base and then work westward toward San Juan, the capital. En route he changed his plans be-

cause he felt he required naval assistance to attack the capital. He therefore landed on the southeast coast of Puerto Rico, at Guánica, where he met with virtually no opposition, and immediately moved to occupy the port of Ponce. By early August Miles had almost 10,000 troops under his command, and from Ponce he launched four columns toward San Juan. The Puerto Ricans welcomed the U.S. troops and throughout the whole campaign there were fewer than fifty U.S. casualties. Company L had fought a skirmish near Guánica and had participated in the advance toward San Juan, which surrendered when it was surrounded on August 13, 1898. Company L remained in Puerto Rico after the surrender, engaged in peacekeeping duties, and returned to the United States in October 1898. About 3,000 men had joined the four African American U.S. Volunteer Units (7th–10th). The U.S. Army called these four regiments the “immune regiments.” It was assumed that because they were largely drawn from the southeastern parts of the United States, the men would already have been exposed to yellow fever and would therefore be immune to the disease and its effects in Cuba. Medically speaking, and as is demonstrated by the numbers who died of yellow fever, this was nonsense. Some 7 percent of the 9th, the only unit to see service overseas, died of yellow fever. The unit spent from August 1898 to April 1899 in Cuba carrying out garrison duties, and it was quickly proved that the men were no more immune to yellow fever than were men from the northern states. The remaining African American volunteer regiments were stationed at various points in the United States: the 7th at Lexington, Kentucky, and at Macon, Georgia; the 8th at Fort Thomas, Kentucky; and the 10th also at Lexington, Kentucky, as well as at Augusta, Georgia. The Philippines Meanwhile, although the military operations had come to an end in the Caribbean, the issue of the Philippines was still unresolved. Dewey

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had killed nearly 400 Spaniards and sunk ten of their ships on the morning of May 1, but the Spaniards still controlled the capital, Manila, and U.S. forces were en route to the Philippines by August. At the same time, Emilio Aguinaldo, the leader of the Philippine insurrectionists, agreed to assist the Americans in their war against the Spaniards in exchange for independence. On August 17 the United States declared military occupation of the Philippines, and at the end of 1898 Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States for $20 million. Aguinaldo organized an army of 70,000 men, established a government, and called on all foreign powers to recognize the Philippines’ independence. On February 4, 1899, he attacked the Americans occupying Manila, and although he was decisively defeated, it would take two more years to quell the archipelago. In the meantime, the 24th and 25th Infantry regiments, made up of African American troops, had been sent to the Philippines to take part in the suppression of Aguinaldo’s rebels. In addition, the 48th and 49th Infantry, both African American units, were created and sent to the Philippines. The conflict in the Philippines was long, ruinous, and frustrating, much like the guerrilla warfare that U.S. troops would face in Vietnam some sixty years later. The slow trickle of casualties bit into all of the U.S. troops deployed in the Philippines. This aftereffect of the Spanish-American War ground on until 1902, when the majority of the U.S. troops were again back in the United States. Many of the African American regulars returned to the Philippines for a second tour of duty between 1906 and 1908, and although the rebels had been suppressed, there were still police actions against the hostile Moros tribe. After the War

assassination that year. He had seen the 9th and 10th Cavalry’s bravery and determination on San Juan Hill. He had even told an African American journalist that he could wish “no better man beside me in battle than these colored troops showed themselves to be.” But after the war in Cuba was over, he claimed the victory at San Juan Hill for the Rough Riders. At first he said, “No one could tell whether it was the rough riders or the men of the 9th who came forwards with greater courage to offer their lives in the service of their country” (Astor 1998, 70). But he later changed his story and contended that the African Americans were only led to bravery as the result of their white officers. The African American volunteer regiments were soon disbanded. The temporary wartime commissions of African American officers were rescinded in peacetime. Indeed, between 1899 and 1948 fewer than ten African Americans were made commissioned officers in the regular army. Benjamin O. Davis Sr. was one of them. He had been mustered out in 1899 from the 8th Volunteers but he enlisted a common soldier, being sent to Utah with Troop I of the 9th Cavalry. He was finally commissioned in 1901, but not as a regular officer. Perhaps the last words regarding the Battle of San Juan Hill should be reserved, first, to the former Rough Rider, Frank Knox: “I joined a troop of the 10th Cavalry, colored, and for a time fought with them shoulder to shoulder, and in justice to the colored race I must say that I have never saw braver men anywhere. Some of those who rushed up the hill will live in my memory forever” (quoted in Katz 1973, 275–276); second, to Black Jack Pershing: “Our regiment has done valiant service. No one can say that Colored troops will not fight; eighteen per cent of the regiment killed or wounded, fifty per cent of the officers killed or wounded and all fought valiantly” (quoted in Astor 1998, 70); and finally, to the correspondent Stephen Bonsal:

Theodore Roosevelt, who had been second in command of the Rough Riders, was vice president in 1901 and succeeded McKinley after his

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I was not the only man who had come to recognize the justice of certain Constitutional

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amendments in the light of the gallant behavior of colored troops throughout the battle, and indeed the campaign. The fortune of war had, of course, something to do with it in presenting to the colored troops the opportunities for distinguished service, of which they invariably availed themselves to the fullest extent; but the confidence of the general officers in their superb gallantry, which the event proved to be not displaced, added still more, and it is a fact that the services of no four white regiments can be compared with those rendered by the four colored regiments (quoted in Astor 1998, 72).

Spanish Civil War (1936–1938)

See also Davis, Benjamin Oliver, Sr.; El Caney, Battle of; Kettle Hill, Battle of; Las Guásimas, Battle of; 9th Cavalry; Philippine Insurrection; Rough Riders and Buffalo Soldiers; San Juan Hill, Battle of; 10th Cavalry; 25th Infantry Regiment; U.S. Army, U.S. Navy; Young, Charles References and Further Reading American Military History. Washington, DC: Center of Military History, U.S. Army, 1989. Astor, Gerald. The Right to Fight: A History of African Americans in the Military. Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1998. Cashin, Herschel V., and Charles Alexander. Under Fire with the Tenth Cavalry, Being a Brief, Comprehensive Review of the Negro’s Participation in the Wars of the United States. New York: Arno Press, 1969. Dierks, Jack Cameron. A Leap to Arms: The Cuban Campaign of 1898. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1970. Fletcher, Marvin E. The Negro Soldier and the United States Army, 1891–1917. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1974. Katz, William Loren. The Black West. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1973. Lynk, Myles V. The Black Troopers, or The Daring Heroism of the Negro Soldiers in the SpanishAmerican War. New York: AMS, 1971. Nalty, Bernard C. Strength for the Fight. New York: Free Press, 1986.

The Spanish Civil War was a monumental European struggle that captured the imagination of African Americans as an opportunity to confront the innate racism of fascism and Nazism. By the time Spain’s King Alfonso XIII went into exile in 1931, Spanish fascists had taken control of the country, although disaffection with their rule was widespread and growing throughout the early 1930s. In the February 1936 elections, the fascists were defeated at the polls, losing power to the Popular Front, a coalition of socialists, liberals, regionalists, trade unionists, and Communists. Not content to accept this electoral defeat, the fascists, under the leadership of Gen. Francisco Franco (former chief of staff of the Spanish army), attempted to stage a coup, which did not achieve a clear enough result to avoid the outbreak of a civil war. As fighting broke out all over the country, fascist German dictator Adolf Hitler offered logistical support to Franco and his forces, hoping to indirectly secure a fascist victory that would provide Hitler with another strong ally in Europe. Italy, also under fascist leadership, offered its support as well. With Germany and Italy openly flouting the League of Nations’ August 1936 Non-Intervention Pact, which forbade the sale of arms to Spain, the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, and Mexico began sending arms and material to the antifascists, who despite their ideological differences became known collectively as the Republicans. America stayed out of the conflict, with Congress passing a Neutrality Act that made it illegal for American citizens to involve themselves. The law was generally well accepted in the United States, even though opinion polls showed that about 75 percent of the American population supported the Republicans. Faced with a massive fascist force that meant almost overwhelming odds against them, the Republicans turned to the Communist International, through which they obtained illegal arms

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and volunteers. Such assistance came at a price, however, as the Communists repeatedly attempted to compel the Republicans to proclaim their allegiance to communism. Despite the Soviet Union’s insistence that the Spanish Civil War was a struggle between fascism and communism, the Republicans demurred from openly embracing communism. Regardless of the ideological maneuvers going on behind the scenes, many countries offered the Republicans aid, most of it informally. This much-needed support manifested itself in the form of the International Brigades (multinational volunteer troops), most of whom were more concerned with weakening fascism in Europe than in the fate of Spain. Foremost among these antifascist advocates were ethnic minorities, particularly in the United States. Although Italian fascism had few racial connotations, German fascism was built around theories of racial superiority. With Hitler inexorably gaining power and influence in Europe, many Americans began to see this kind of fascism as a real threat, even though the United States lay on the other side of the world. Few people in America relished the idea of a new fascist state being established in Europe. African Americans were among the largest groups who flocked to join the American International Brigade. Initially, there were two American battalions, the Abraham Lincoln Battalion and the George Washington Battalion. Many of the volunteers were veterans of World War I and had experience in the National Guard. Although by far the largest ethnic minority in the battalions were Jews (who comprised nearly one-third of all enlistments), about 100 of the 2,800 Americans in the units were African Americans. Within the battalions were the John Brown and Frederick Douglass Field Artillery Companies, further commemorating champions of American freedom. The Americans soon joined the five International Brigades (11th–15th Brigades), forming part of the 15th Brigade. Each brigade had a political commissioner who was responsible for

educating the men about the reasons for the war. Brigade members also gave the Popular Front salute and adopted Spanish clothing and greetings. When the American volunteers left New York on December 26, 1936, they could not have predicted their impact on the defenses of Barcelona, Madrid, or Valencia, nor did they know they would spend nearly four months in the front-line trenches. They sailed for Le Havre, traveling third class, cramped into small cabins, aboard the French Line’s Normandie. The French were pro–Popular Front, and the French premier, Léon Blum, despite his official neutrality, smoothed the units’ progress. On paper, the Americans were to stay in expensive hotels in the center of Paris, but in reality they crowded into small working-class establishments on the outskirts of the city. Finally, after waiting for orders, the volunteers headed south to the French border town of Perpignan. Although the border was closed, the volunteers reached Spain after an eighthour climb through the Pyrenees. With several African Americans to the fore (including Oliver Law and Walter Garland), the battalions began their rudimentary training. By the summer of 1937, the Americans had fought in the successful defense of Madrid in the battles of Jarama and Brunete. At the first Republican offensive, at Brunete on July 5, 1937, the Americans suffered a 50 percent casualty rate. It was at this point that the Washington Battalion was incorporated into the Lincoln Battalion, with African American Capt. Oliver Law serving as the commander. Five days later, Law was mortally wounded leading an attack in the wheat field at Brunete’s Mosquito Ridge. Other African Americans showed conspicuous gallantry throughout the offensive. For example, Vaughn Love’s bravery earned him a place at an officers’ training school. Later in 1937, the battalion found itself in the role of shock troops during the Republican offensive campaigns. On the Aragon Front, in attempts to draw pressure away from the

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Basque capital of Bilbao, the battalion lost a large number of men. Later, the offensives around Teruel in December saw more losses in attempts to protect Valencia. Meanwhile, heavy fighting continued in central Spain around Madrid and in the struggle for possession of Barcelona. Also in this campaign around Aragon, two African Americans, Paul Williams and James Peck, both of whom were among the thirty-one Russian-trained advisers, flew in combat. Williams came from a family with long military traditions in the army and navy, but he was attracted to aviation. He was born near the airfield at Youngstown, Ohio, and at the age of sixteen he received flying lessons in return for helping out with aircraft repairs. After studying aeronautical engineering at Carnegie Tech, he joined the Ohio School of Aeronautical Engineering. There, for the Ohio Aero Company, he designed a commercial monoplane. When Williams arrived in Spain at the age of twenty-eight, he had vast experience as a test pilot and instructor and had served in the U.S. Navy as a lieutenant. Peck also had a pilot’s license and was an aviation writer for a number of magazines and journals. He had failed to be accepted in either the U.S. Army or U.S. Navy flying schools. His flying skills were later proven by his five confirmed kills during his stint in Spain. The Battle of Teruel (December 1937–February 1938) was the beginning of the end for the Republican cause. It began well enough for the Popular Front, as it gained ground to the north of Valencia. Unfortunately, the offensive occurred during one of Spain’s coldest winters, and the International Brigades found themselves fighting in subzero temperatures amid blizzards. One high point for the Americans during that bleak Spanish winter was the arrival of Paul Robeson. Robeson performed for the troops, raising their spirits as best he could. He had already become involved in the Spanish Civil War prior to his arrival in December 1937, by organizing a benefit concert at the Royal Albert Hall

in London to raise funds for Basque children suffering during the conflict. During the three-month battle, the Republican forces suffered more than 15,000 casualties, followed by the fascists’ counteroffensive in the spring and summer of 1938. The Americans were among the rest of the International Brigades, or what remained of them, in holding the rear as the Republicans were forced back in the face of the massive assault. The Republican retreat toward Barcelona was hampered by the Ebro River, which lay between them and this relatively safe haven. One of the last to leave the Republican defenses, the Abraham Lincoln Battalion suffered huge casualties, with very few of the Americans making it safely across the river, as the orderly withdrawal collapsed into a rout in the face of 200,000 fascist troops. By summer, the Abraham Lincoln Battalion had dwindled to just 450 Americans. Its ranks were augmented by Spanish peasants eager to fight alongside men who had captured the imagination of the Republicans. It also continued to receive new enlistments from America. Despite the casualties, the setbacks, and the difficulties of getting into Spain, American recruits still trickled into the battalion. Nevertheless, this unofficial American support, as well as the aid granted by other antifascist countries, did little to offset the enormous contributions being made by Germany and Italy. Finally, in an effort to persuade the fascists that only Spaniards should fight for the fate of their country, the Republican prime minister, Juan Negrín, issued an order on October 4, 1938, stating that the Republican International Brigades would be withdrawn from the conflict. The Republicans’ attempt to make the conflict solely a Spanish affair failed, however, and the fascists continued to use German and Italian men and materials to complete their conquest of the peninsula. Nevertheless, the Republicans disbanded the International Brigades. Two hundred surviving Americans from the Abraham Lincoln Battalion marched proudly through the streets of Barce-

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lona for the last time, amid cheering crowds throwing flower petals, bound for the United States on the Paris and the Normandie, which were awaiting them in the docks on the nearby coast. It was not a triumphant arrival home for the survivors. Including those who had been shipped home after being wounded, about 1,800 former members of the Abraham Lincoln Battalion survived, but as far as the U.S. government was concerned, they were all communists and therefore suspect, as one of communism’s stated goals was to foment an international communist revolution to topple all noncommunist governments. Many of the battalion’s veterans appeared on government watch lists. But as tensions mounted in Europe and Germany took on an increasingly aggressive role, many Americans began to view fascism as a greater threat to American democracy than communism. More than a third of the battalion’s veterans joined the army, 400 the merchant marines, and 9 the Office of Strategic Services, the predecessor to the Central Intelligence Agency. In 1986, 120 survivors of the Abraham Lincoln Battalion met once again with their International Brigade comrades-in-arms in Madrid. Fascism was dead by this point, although Spain had remained a fascist state far longer than either Germany or Italy, both of whose fascist dictatorships had crumbled following their defeat in World War II. Spain, however, emerged as a socialist monarchy in the 1970s, following Franco’s death, the ascension to the throne of King Juan Carlos, and the adoption of a democratic constitution. Given the limited opportunities offered to African Americans in the U.S. Army, the more egalitarian structures of the International Brigade allowed men to rise to positions of authority on the basis of merit and ability, rather than race. Thus, the Spanish Civil War and the struggle against the early flowering of totalitarianism in Europe captured the imagination of African Americans and provided some with a tangible means of displaying their opposition to fascism.

See also Abraham Lincoln Battalion; Robeson, Paul Leroy References and Further Reading Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives: http://www.albavalb.org/index.html. Brandt, Joe, ed. Black Americans in the Spanish People’s War against Fascism. New York: International Publishers, n.d. Collum, Danny D., ed. African Americans in the Spanish Civil War. New York: Hall and Co., 1992. Hamilton, Virginia. Paul Robeson: The Life and Times of a Free Black Man. New York: Harper & Row, 1974. Lawson, Don. The Abraham Lincoln Brigade. New York: Crowell, 1989. Merriman, Marion, and Warren Lerude. American Commander in Spain. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1986. The Spanish Revolution and Civil War: http:// geocities.com/CapitolHill/9820/. Yates, James. Mississippi to Madrid. Seattle, WA: Open Hand Publishing, 1989.

Spartanburg Incident (1917) A serious incident was narrowly averted in October 1917 when African Americans of the 15th New York Infantry were on the verge of retaliating against ill treatment by racist locals. The 15th New York (later the 369th) was assigned in October 1917 to have twelve days of training at Camp Wadsworth in Spartanburg, South Carolina, prior to being shipped to France. From the very beginning, Spartanburg set an antagonistic tone. The spokesman for the chamber of commerce was quoted in the New York Times as saying,

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I can tell you for certain that if any of those colored soldiers go into any of our soda stores and the like and ask to be served they’ll be knocked down. Somebody will throw a bottle. We don’t allow Negroes to use the same glass

Stance, Emanuel

that a white man may later have to drink out of. We have our customs down here, and we aren’t going to alter them.

The 15th’s commanding officer, Col. William Hayward, assembled his men when they arrived and asked them to swear they would not resort to violence whatever the provocation. The trouble started on the unit’s first Sunday in Spartanburg. Capt. Napoleon Bonaparte Marshall, a graduate of Harvard University, was told to get off a street car. He complied. Lt. James Reese Europe, an African American officer of the 15th, asked Noble Sissle, the regimental drum major who became a noted singer and composer, to fetch a newspaper from a hotel. Sissle reported, When I went to the stand, I was roughly grabbed in the collar from behind, and before I realized what had happened my service hat was knocked from my head. A gruff voice roared “Say, nigger, don’t you know enough to take your hat off?” I reached for my hat and as I did so received a kick accompanied by an oath. Lost for words, I stammered out: “Do you realize you are abusing a United States soldier and that is a government hat you knocked to the floor?” “Damn you and the government too,” the man replied. “No nigger can come into my place without taking off his hat!” (Kimball and Bolcom 1973, 65).

African American Emmett J. Scott, special adjutant to the secretary of war, whom he had asked to speak to the men. Washington ordered the 15th to be shipped out to France from Camp Whitman, New York, in late October. See also Europe, James Reese; 93d Division; 369th Infantry Regiment; World War I References and Further Reading Fish, Hamilton. Memoir of an American Patriot. Washington, DC: Regnery Gateway, 1991. Kimball, Robert, and William Bolcom. Reminiscing with Sissle and Blake. New York: Viking, 1973. Little, Arthur W. From Harlem to the Rhine. New York: Corvici, 1936.

Stance, Emanuel (Edmund) (c. 1847–1887)

The hotel lobby was full of white soldiers from the 12th and 71st New York Infantries; they were so incensed by the hotel owners’ attitude that they wanted to tear the building down. Suddenly Lieutenant Europe strode into the lobby, shouted “Attention,” and quelled the potentially ugly scene. When the news of the attack on Sissle reached the men of the 15th in camp, they started for town intending to wreck it, but they were stopped by Hayward, who caught up with them on horseback. Hayward then set off for Washington to sort the situation out and returned with the eminent

Emanuel Stance was born into slavery in Carroll Parish, Louisiana, although the exact date of his birth is unknown and few details of his early life were recorded. It is clear, however, that Stance could read and write by October 2, 1866, when he joined the newly formed African American 9th Cavalry at Lake Providence, Louisiana. His age at the time was recorded as nineteen and he was listed as a farmer, but Stance was so short (a little over 5 feet tall) that the African American enlistment officer, Lt. John Maroney, was not certain he was suitable for one of the new African American regiments, which later collectively became known as the Buffalo Soldiers. Stance nevertheless succeeded in enlisting as a member of Company F of the 9th Cavalry, and he began his six-month training course. By February 1867 he had been promoted to corporal and was based in Carrolton, Louisiana. The following month, the 9th Cavalry was transferred to San Antonio, Texas, on frontier duty. He remained there until June 1867 when he was moved to Fort Davis, Texas. In July of the same

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year, he was promoted to sergeant, and during the following two years, he was involved in five different encounters with hostile Native Americans. In December 1868 Stance’s Company F was involved in an attack by a hundred Mescalero Indians. The Buffalo Soldiers managed to hold off the attack, losing very few men. The company moved to Camp Quitman (later to be called Fort Quitman), where it suffered sixteen different Native American attacks, all successfully repelled. In September 1868 as part of the 9th Cavalry, Company F members managed to spring a surprise attack on 200 Native Americans camped close to Horsehead Hills. They killed twenty-five and wounded and captured many more. Only one of the Buffalo Soldiers was killed in this attack. A group of men from Stance’s Company F was transferred to Fort McKavett, Texas. There, in early 1870, they were involved in a skirmish with 200 Comanche and Kiowa Indians close to the Brazos River. They chased the Indians for eight miles; the Native American warriors suffered twenty-five casualties, and three men from Company F were wounded. On May 20, 1870, at Kickapoo Springs, Texas, Stance rode out from Fort McKavett with twelve other members of Company F in search of Kickapoo Indians who had been raiding the local settlements and who had captured two white children, brothers, from a farm 40 miles from the fort. Stance’s orders from Capt. Henry Carroll were “to endeavor to the utmost to intercept the Indians that stole the two children of Phillip Buckmeier of Loyal Valley” (Schubert 1997, 19). During their search for the children, the soldiers came across a band of Native Americans who were herding stolen horses. Stance immediately gave the order to charge, which forced the warriors to scatter and allowed Company F to retrieve the horses. The next day, Stance and his troops encountered another band of Native Americans, who were attempting to ambush government wagons. Again Stance and his men drove off the Indians and recaptured the horses.

Despite an Indian counterattack later in the day, Stance and his troops managed to successfully recover the younger of the two children they had been searching for. The older boy, however, was not to return home for another eight years. For his heroism and gallantry at Kickapoo Springs, Stance was recommended for and received the Medal of Honor, the first African American to win the award since the Civil War (awarded July 9, 1870). Captain Carroll wrote of Stance’s actions, “The gallantry displayed by the sergeant and his party as well as good judgment used on both occasions, deserves much praise” (quoted in Schubert 1997, 21). And Stance said of his Medal of Honor, “I will cherish the gift, as a thing of priceless value and endeavor by my future conduct to merit the high honor conferred upon me” (quoted in Schubert 1997, 21). However, Stance’s conduct did not always meet the standard set by the army, and by April 1871 his rank had been reduced to private, probably as a result of either drinking, fighting, or not showing up for duty. He was promoted again to sergeant at least four times before 1880, but each time he was again reduced to private. He was always keen to reinvent his identity, and on one occasion, he changed his name to Edmund Stance before reenlisting. In 1882, approaching the age of forty and having served for sixteen years, Stance reenlisted in Company F, still under Captain Carroll, and was promoted to sergeant for the fifth time. But by the time Company F was transferred to Fort Robinson in 1885, Stance’s behavior had still not improved; he was often involved in brawls with the other men and was accused of bullying his men. His treatment of his troops was often described as outdated. Stance was found shot dead on Christmas morning 1887. The evidence gathered at the time implicated members of Stance’s own regiment. One member of Company F, Pvt. Miller Milds, was charged with the murder, but he was later released for lack of evidence, and the killing remains unsolved.

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See also Apache Wars; Buffalo Soldiers; 9th Cavalry; 10th Cavalry

ing to surrender. The enemy’s actions caused the American forces to cease fire and to come out into the open. As the company started forward and when within about 100 meters of the trench line, the enemy jumped back into their trenches and greeted Corporal Stowers’ company with interlocking bands of machine gun fire and mortar fire causing well over fifty percent casualties. Faced with incredible enemy resistance, Corporal Stowers took charge, setting such a courageous example of personal bravery and leadership that he inspired his men to follow him in the attack. With extraordinary heroism and complete disregard of personal danger under devastating fire, he crawled forward leading his squad toward an enemy machine gun nest, which was causing heavy casualties to his company. After fierce fighting, the machine gun position was destroyed and the enemy soldiers were killed. Displaying great courage and intrepidity, Corporal Stowers continued to press the attack against a determined enemy. While crawling forward and urging his men to continue the attack on a second trench line, he was gravely wounded by machine gun fire. Although, Corporal Stowers was mortally wounded, he pressed forward, urging on the members of his squad, until he died. Inspired by the heroism and display of bravery of Corporal Stowers, his company continued the attack against incredible odds, contributing to the capture of Hill 188 and causing heavy enemy casualties. Corporal Stowers’ conspicuous gallantry, extraordinary heroism and supreme devotion to his men were well above and beyond the call of duty, follow the finest traditions of military service and reflect the utmost credit on him and the United States Army.

References and Further Reading Leckie, William H. The Buffalo Soldiers: A Narrative of the Negro Cavalry in the West. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1967. Miller, Robert. Buffalo Soldiers: The Story of Emanuel Stance. Morristown, NJ: Silver Press, 1995. Rickey, Don, Jr. Forty Miles a Day on Beans and Hay: The Enlisted Soldier Fighting the Indian Wars. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1963. Schubert, Frank N. Black Valor: Buffalo Soldiers and the Medal of Honor, 1870–1898. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1997. ———. “The Violent Word of Emmanuel Stance, Fort Robinson, 1887.” Nebraska History 55 (Summer 1974): 203–219. Utley, Robert M. Frontier Regulars: The United States Army and the Indian, 1866–1890. New York: Macmillan, 1973.

Stowers, Freddie (d. 1918) Cpl. Freddie Stowers, a native of Anderson County, South Carolina, died heroically in World War I on September 28, 1918. In 1991, seventy-three years after his death, he was awarded the Medal of Honor, which was presented to Stowers’s two surviving sisters by President George H. W. Bush. The citation reads: Corporal Stowers . . . distinguished himself by exceptional heroism . . . while serving as a squad leader in Company C, 371st Infantry Regiment, 93rd Infantry Division. His company was the lead company during the attack on Hill 188, Champagne Marne Sector, France, during World War I. A few minutes after the attack began, the enemy ceased firing and began climbing up onto the parapets of the trenches, holding up their arms as if wish-

At the ceremony presenting Stower’s Medal of Honor, President Bush said, Today, Corporal Freddie Stowers becomes the first black soldier honored with the Medal of Honor from World War I. . . . Seventy-three years ago, the Corporal first was recommended | 381 |

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for a Medal of Honor, but his award was not acted upon. In 1987, then-Congressman Joe DioGuardi and . . . the late Mickey Leland . . . discovered the Stowers case while conducting other research. And the Army took up the case. And last November, the Secretaries of the Army and Defense recommended that Corporal Stowers receive the Medal of Honor. . . . It’s been said that the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands at times of challenge. On September 28th, 1918, Corporal Freddie Stowers stood poised

on the edge of such a challenge and summoned his mettle and his courage (Bush 1991). See also World War I References and Further Reading Bush, George Herbert Walker. “Remarks at a Ceremony for the Posthumous Presentation of the Medal of Honor to Corporal Freddie Stowers.” April 24, 1991. http://bushlibrary.tamu. edu/papers/1991/91042403.html.

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t 10th Cavalry (1866–1898) The 10th Cavalry was one of the two regular African American mounted units (with the 9th being the other) created under the terms of the post–Civil War act known as the Army Reorganization Act, enacted by the federal government on July 28, 1866. Convinced that African Americans could make a contribution to the country’s armed forces after their service in the war, Congress mandated that the army must maintain six all-black regiments: two cavalry units and four infantry units. (Three years later, Congress revised this number to four, reorganizing the four infantry units into just two units to supplement the two existing cavalry units.) From the regiment’s formation, recruiting was a problem, particularly for officers, who according to army policy had to be white. Unfortunately, few white officers relished the idea of leading black troops. The regiment was initially under the command of Col. Benjamin H. Grierson. By the end of 1866, the 10th had only a handful of officers assigned to it. Recruitment efforts in the upper South proved a dismal failure, but finally, after opening recruiting stations in Philadelphia, Boston, New York, and Pittsburgh, Grierson managed to scrape together eight companies of men and the officers to lead them, although the regiment remained below its full enlistment strength of 1,092 soldiers.

The 10th’s headquarters were established at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in early 1867, and this location served as the base for the first organized company, A Company, when it arrived in February to protect railroad construction workers from Native American attacks. As each company was formed, it traveled to join A Company. During the regiment’s months at Fort Leavenworth, Grierson did what he could to protect the men from the obvious prejudice of the fort commander, Gen. William Hoffman, who had a low opinion of black troops and objected to having them stationed at Fort Leavenworth. On August 7, the regiment moved to Fort Riley, Kansas, where four new companies were created (see Table 1). By this point, the regiment contained some 25 officers and 702 enlisted men, who were stationed at its headquarters and posted at Fort Hays, Fort Harker, and various points along the Smoky River in Kansas. In early August 1867, members of the regiment fought their first engagement, near the Saline River some 40 miles northeast of Fort Hays. Two officers and 34 enlisted men engaged in a running six-hour skirmish against a party of around 300 Cheyenne Indians. The commanding officer, Capt. George Armes, was wounded, and a sergeant was killed. Later that month, Armes fought another action with 40 troopers and some 90 men of the 18th Kansas Volun-

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TABLE 1. THE TROOPS OF THE 10TH CAVALRY Troop

Color of Horses

Created

Officers

Troop A Troop B Troop C Troop D Troop E Troop F Troop G Troop H Troop I Troop K Troop L Troop M

bay bay bay bay bay gray bay black bay bay sorrel mixed (known as the calico troop)

Feb. 18, 1867 April 1, 1867 May 15, 1867 June 1, 1867 June 15, 1867 June 21, 1867 July 5, 1867 July 21, 1867 Aug. 15, 1867 Sept. 1, 1867 Sept. 21, 1867 Oct. 15, 1867

Capt. Nicholas Nolan; Lts. G. W. Graham and G. F. Raulston Capt. J. B. Vande Wiele; Lts. J. D. Myrick and J. W. Myers Capt. Edward Byrne; Lts. T. C. Lebo and T. J. Spencer Capt. J. W. Walsh; Lts. Robert Gray and R. H. Pratt Capt. G. T. Robinson; Lt. J. T. Morrison Capt. G. A. Armes; Lts. P. L. Lee and J. A. Bodamer Capt. H. T. Davis; Lts. W. B. Kennedy and M. J. Amick Capt. L. H. Carpenter; Lts. T. J. Spencer and L. H. Orleman Capt. G. W. Graham; Lt. Silas Pepoon Capt. C. G. Cox; Lts. R. G. Smither and B. F. Bell Capt. R. Gray; Lt. C. E. Nordstrom Capt. H. E. Alvord; Lts. P. L. Lee and W. R. Harmon

Source: Bigelow, John. “The Tenth Regiment of Cavalry.” http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/R&H/ R&H-10CV.htm.

teers against a Cheyenne force of somewhere between 500 and 1,000 warriors. In this engagement, which occurred in the same region as the first, 1 trooper was killed and 19 were wounded, along with 15 volunteers and 2 scouts. These fights proved fairly typical for the 10th, which spent much of its early years engaged in skirmishes with various groups of Native Americans attempting to resist the efforts of the U.S. government to keep them contained on reservations and away from white settlements. The regimental headquarters remained at Fort Riley until April 17, 1868, with the men undergoing drills. Deployed throughout Kansas and the nearby Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma), they patrolled the Union Pacific Railroad line and nearby fledgling white settlements. During this period, the only engagement fought was some 45 miles from Fort Hays, when a 10-man contingent of Troop D drove off an attack by some 50 or 60 Cheyenne. Regimental headquarters were next transferred to Fort Gibson in the Indian Territory, and elements of the 10th took part in the campaign led by Gen. Philip Sheridan against Black Kettle’s Cheyenne. The high points of the regiment’s involvement are detailed in Table 2.

In 1868, the 10th was redeployed following a period of increased tension between the U.S. government and Native American groups in the region, which had culminated in a series of violent conflicts. The previous year, the Comanche, Kiowa, Kiowa-Apache, Arapaho, and southern Cheyenne had signed the Treaty of Medicine Lodge with the U.S. government. The terms of the treaty stipulated that in exchange for food, weapons, and other supplies, the Native Americans would remain on their reservations in Indian Territory. Disputes about the quality and quantity of supplies erupted shortly after the treaty was signed, however, prompting a number of Indian raids against white settlements in Kansas. In November 1868, the army sent the 10th to Indian Territory to compel the Native Americans to accept the terms of the treaty and stay on the reservations. Conversely, they were also charged with ensuring that white settlers did not attempt to infringe on the reservations. During harsh winter conditions, the 10th moved into Indian Territory to establish new headquarters at Medicine Bluff Creek, which later became Camp Wichita. The fort was completed in August and renamed Fort Sill. For the

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TABLE 2. THE 10TH CAVALRY IN SHERIDAN’S BLACK KETTLE CAMPAIGN Date

Engagement

September 15, 1868

Troop I (Captain Graham) attacked by 100 Native Americans; 10 horses killed or captured, 7 Native Americans killed.

September 17, 1868

Troop H (Captain Carpenter) and Troop I (Captain Baldwin) ride to the aid of Lieutenant Colonel G. A. Forsyth, A.D.C. to General Sheridan, besieged by a force of 700 Native Americans on an island in the Republican River.

October 14, 1868

Troop I escort Major Carr (5th Cavalry) to his command and are attacked by 500 Native Americans at Beaver Creek. The Native Americans are driven off, Carpenter is breveted to colonel by Sheridan, and the men receive the general’s acclaim. Troop I is back at Fort Wallace on October 21, having ridden 230 miles in seven days.

next six years, half the regiment would be posted here and the remainder at Camp Supply, another base the regiment had established within Indian Territory. The regimental headquarters left Fort Sill on June 5, 1872, and returned to Fort Gibson, but the move proved only temporary. They returned to Fort Still once again on April 23, 1873. At the end of the month, the regiment was transferred to Texas, with its units scattered between Fort Richardson, Fort Griffin, and Fort Concho. The headquarters remained at Fort Sill until March 27, 1875. Elements of the regiment took part in Sheridan’s campaign in the Indian Territory against the Kiowa and Comanche during 1874–1875. On October 25, 1874, Troops B and M (accompanied by a company of the 11th Infantry) succeeded in capturing over 200 Native Americans and 1,500 ponies near Elk Creek and conveyed them to Fort Sill. The Native American leaders were to be incarcerated at Fort Marion, Florida, but on April 6, 1875, Black Horse, a Cheyenne leader, was shot while attempting to escape, which prompted half of the Cheyenne to slip across the Canadian River into Indian Territory. Troops D and M were part of the force sent to pursue them, following them for ten days, after which many of the Cheyenne surrendered. The skirmish, however, cost the 10th eleven wounded and one killed. On April 17, 1875, the regimental headquarters moved to Fort Concho and the men were

once again redistributed to forts throughout Texas, including Fort Griffin, Fort McKavett, Fort Davis, and Fort Stockton, with two units remaining in Indian Territory. Although the headquarters remained at Fort Concho for the next seven years, the troops were deployed across the whole of west Texas. The regiment now faced a different foe, the Apache. Typical campaigns of this period are detailed in Table 3. In July 1882, the regimental headquarters moved once again, this time to Fort Davis, where it remained until March 30, 1885. This period marked a relatively quiet time for the regiment, but in 1885, the 10th was transferred to Arizona. In the march from Camp Rice to Bowie Station, Arizona, all twelve troops of the regiment were together for the first time. At Bowie Station, they went their separate ways once more, with the headquarters being established at Fort Apache on May 20. The new troop headquarters proved aptly named, as the 10th spent much of the next two years in operations that concerned the Apaches. The Apache leader Geronimo had long thwarted the efforts of the U.S. Army to keep him contained on a reservation. With several hundred followers, he had eluded capture dozens of times in the 1870s and 1880s, traveling freely throughout the American Southwest and northern Mexico. Attributed with many acts of violence and mayhem, he had become a hero to Native Americans and a villain to white Americans. In May 1886, he once again slipped

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TABLE 3. APACHE CAMPAIGNS, 1876–1880 Troops Involved

Date

Commander

July 1876

B, E, and K

Lt. Col. Shafter, 24th Infantry

July 10, 1877

A

Capt. Nolan

July 30, 1880

A, C, and G

Col. Grierson

Campaign Details During campaign in Mexico, 20 men of Troop B (Lt. Evans) and 20 Seminole scouts (Lt. Bullis) march 110 miles in 25 hours and surprise a camp of Lipan and Kickapoo near Saragossa, Mexico. Ten Native Americans are killed and 4 captured, and 200 horses are taken. Scouting mission to Staked Plain loses way and is without water for 96 hours. Four men die. In operations against the Mescalero Apaches, Grierson and 6 men are attacked between Quitman and Eagle Springs, New Mexico. Lieutenant Finley and 15 men of Troop G reinforce and are supported by Troop C (Captain Viele) and Troop A (Captain Nolan). The engagement lasts four hours, with 1 trooper killed and Lieutenant Colladay wounded. At least 7 Native Americans are killed and a number wounded. The enemy is forced to flee across the Rio Grande

through the grasp of the U.S. Army, fleeing to Mexico with roughly 400 warriors. Four troops of the 10th (troops D, E, H, and K) joined the force pursuing him. Although some of the troops were reassigned during the next few months, elements of the 10th were still with the army of Gen. Nelson A. Miles when it finally captured Geronimo in early September. Later that same month, Troop H was involved in the last battle of the Apache Wars when the troop trapped the Apache leader Mangas and forced him to surrender. By then, the regimental headquarters had moved to Fort Grant and toward the end of the year, it moved again, this time to Santa Fe. The following year, parts of the regiment were involved in a campaign against the “Apache Kid,” one of Geronimo’s followers. Grierson was promoted to brigadier general in 1890 and retired. For the first time in its history, the 10th had a new commander—Col. J. K. Mizner. (He remained with the regiment for seven years, until he too was promoted to brigadier general.) In 1890, the regimental headquarters moved back to Fort Grant, and the following year, the regiment was involved in operations against the Hopi in Arizona. In August

1891, Mizner requested that the regiment be reassigned to duties north of the 36th latitude (they had already endured the heat of the southern climate for twenty years). As a result, the 10th was dispatched to Montana in May 1892, with the regimental headquarters established at Fort Custer and elements of the regiment posted at Forts Assiniboine and Keogh (Montana), Fort Buford (North Dakota), and Fort Leavenworth (Kansas). In April 1894, the regiment was sent to escort the railroad train of Coxey’s Army, a mass of unemployed protestors traveling to Washington, D.C., to lobby for an aggressive federal spending program to ease the burdens of the financial crisis of 1893–1894. The army hoped a military presence would prevent the protestors from committing acts of violence in their zeal for social reform. Whether the sight of the 10th had such a chilling effect or not is unknown, but the protest proceeded in an orderly fashion. In the summer of 1896, the whole regiment was deployed against the Cree Indians, who had fled their reservation in Canada and were being rounded up and returned. It was here that the regiment had its first association with John J.

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Pershing—then a lieutenant but later the commander in chief of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I—when he led Troop D on a 600-mile pursuit of a band of Cree. Pershing was associated with the 10th for much of the rest of his military career, earning himself the nickname of “Black Jack.” In June 1897, Mizner was replaced with Col. Guy V. Henry. During this year, the regiment engaged in actions in the Tongue River Indian Agency, where they arrested a number of Cheyenne who had been causing disturbances there. By the end of the year, the troops of the regiment were brought together at Forts Assiniboine and Keogh, where they remained until assigned to duties in the Spanish-American War. The outbreak of war between Spain and the United States sent thousands of American troops to battlefields in Cuba, including all four African American regiments. With all of the service these regiments had seen in the West over the preceding thirty years, and with much of the force in Cuba being composed of newly formed volunteer regiments, the black troops were some of the most experienced on the scene, as their conduct would attest. Particularly in the famed Battle of San Juan Hill, African American troops performed with exceptional valor and skill during the Spanish-American War, earning an unprecedented outpouring of praise from the general public. The 10th was singled out by several American newspapers for their heroic assault of San Juan Hill, becoming heroes in both the African American community and the population in general. Books, songs, and plays were written to emphasize their glory. The 10th remained in Cuba as an occupation force after the war ended and then served in the same capacity in the Philippines, which the United States had also secured from the Spanish. In 1913, the regiment returned to the American Southwest. As Native Americans no longer posed a threat to white settlement in the region, the regiment was assigned to patrol the border with Mexico, seeing some action during the disturbances related to Pancho Villa. Villa

was a Mexican revolutionary who earned the ire of the United States in 1916 after he shot several Americans and harassed a town in New Mexico. Pershing, specifically requesting the presence of the 10th, led a large force of U.S. troops into Mexico to catch Villa, who managed to elude his captors. The show of U.S. force at least convinced Villa not to return to the United States. After spending a grueling eleven months in Mexico trying to capture Villa, the 10th returned to the United States, where it began a period of relative inactivity. It remained in the United States during both world wars, assigned to garrison duties at various forts. In 1944, it was deactivated but was reconstituted as a tank battalion in 1958, by which time the U.S. Army was fully integrated. See also Apache Wars; Buffalo Soldiers; Buffalo Soldiers Postings (appendix); Rough Riders and Buffalo Soldiers; Spanish American War; U.S. Army References and Further Reading Bigelow, John. “The Tenth Regiment of Cavalry.” http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/R&H/R&H10CV.htm (accessed July 15, 2003). Glass, Edward. History of the Tenth Cavalry. Fort Collins, CO: Old Army Press, 1972. Leckie, William H. The Buffalo Soldiers, A Narrative of the Negro Cavalry in the West. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1967. Rodenbough, Theophilus Francis, and William L. Haskin, eds. The Army of the United States, Historical Sketches of Staff and Line with Portraits of Generals-in-Chief. New York: Maynard, Merrill, 1896. Wharfield, Harold B. 10th Cavalry and Border Fights. El Cajon, CA: Privately printed, 1965.

Terrell’s Texas Cavalry See 34th Regiment

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Thirteenth Amendment

Thirteenth Amendment (1865) The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution expressly put an end to slavery when it was ratified on December 6, 1865. The road to the Thirteenth Amendment was not an easy one. In fact, in February 1861, as part of its futile efforts to head off armed conflict in the last few months before the Civil War, Congress had passed a thirteenth amendment, guaranteeing the legality of slavery in the slave states. Hostilities, however, began before the amendment could be ratified. The legislation that actually became the Thirteenth Amendment was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, while the Civil War was being fought and while Southern legislators held no voice in its enactment. Consequently, it passed easily by a vote of 38 to 6. Given the absence of Southern members of the House of Representatives, the requirement of a two-thirds majority should have been a foregone conclusion. However, abolition was seen as a Republican policy, and only 4 Democrats voted in favor of the amendment. This gave a vote of 93 in favor and 65 against, so it did not pass the two-thirds majority rule. It required all of Abraham Lincoln’s political skills during his 1864 reelection campaign to convince the House of Representatives to take another vote on the amendment. This time, on January 31, 1865, it passed with the statutory two-thirds majority of 119 to 56. It was further agreed that in order for the Southern states to rejoin the Union, they would have to adopt the Thirteenth Amendment. See also American Civil War; Emancipation Proclamation; Fifteenth Amendment; Fourteenth Amendment References and Further Reading Hoemann, George H. What God Hath Wrought: The Embodiment of Freedom in the Thirteenth Amendment. New York: Garland, 1987. Schleichert, Elizabeth. The Thirteenth Amendment:

Ending Slavery. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers, 1998. Vorenberg, Michael. Final Freedom: The Civil War, the Abolition of Slavery, and the Thirteenth Amendment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.

30th Connecticut Volunteers (Civil War) The 30th Connecticut Volunteers, an African American regiment comprising four companies, was organized at Fair Haven, Connecticut, in March 1864. Though the ranks of the 30th Connecticut Volunteers were not entirely filled, the regiment was sent to Virginia where frontline troops were urgently needed. Upon their arrival in May 1864, the four companies were consolidated with the 31st United States Colored Troops. The 31st was organized under the command of Col. Henry C. Ward at Hart’s Island, New York, starting April 29, 1864. The process was completed in the field in Virginia by November 14, 1864. The regiment was mustered into service on the basis of three years service. The regiment was assigned to the Middle Department until April 1864, then until November 1864 became part of the 1st Brigade, 4th Division of the IX Corps. After this date and until August 1865, the regiment became part of the 1st Brigade, 1st Division of the XXV Corps, the only army corps in U.S. history to be composed entirely of Black infantry regiments. The regiment was finally mustered out of service in the District of New Bern, North Carolina, on November 7, 1865. Typically for African American units during the Civil War, the regiment lost more men from disease than as a direct result of enemy actions. Two officers and 45 enlisted men were killed in action or mortally wounded. Comparatively, the regiment lost 1 officer and 164 enlisted men to diseases.

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Between May and June 1864, the regiment was engaged in duties between the Rapidan and James Rivers, Virginia; it was also engaged at the Battle of Cold Harbor (June 2–12, 1864), at Petersburg (June 15–19, 1864), and in siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond (June 16–April 2, 1864), during which it was involved in a mine explosion (July 30, 1864). Between August 18 and 21 the regiment was assigned to duties on the Weldon Railroad, and on September 28 it saw action at Fort Sedgwick. The regiment was also engaged at Hatcher’s Run, October 27–28. The regiment was then assigned to the Bermuda front until March 1865, and then returned to Hatcher’s Run (March 26–28). From March 28 to April 9, 1865, the regiment fought in the Appomattox Campaign and was engaged at Hatcher’s Run (March 29–31), the fall of Petersburg (April 2), and the pursuit of Robert E. Lee’s army (April 3–9). The regiment was present at the surrender of Lee and his army at Appomattox Court House (April 9) and then remained in the Department of Virginia until May. Through May to June, the regiment transferred to Texas where it served along the Rio Grande until November 1865. See also American Civil War; United States Colored Troops (appendixes) References and Further Reading Connecticut. Attorney General’s Office. Catalogue of Connecticut Volunteer Organizations (Infantry, Cavalry and Artillery,) in the Service of the United States, 1861–1865. Hartford, CT: Brown and Gross, 1869. Connecticut. Attorney General’s Office. Record of Service of Connecticut Men in the Army and Navy of the United States during the War of the Rebellion. Hartford, CT: Case, Lockwood, Brainard, 1889. Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. Vol. 2. Dayton, OH: Morningside, 1979.

35th United States Colored Troops See 1st North Carolina Colored Volunteers

34th Regiment (Civil War) Terrell’s Texas Cavalry, as the 34th Regiment was commonly known, was a unique mounted Confederate unit that openly recruited African Americans, Native Americans, and Hispanics. Recruitment was based on riding and weapon skills rather than color. Alexander Watkins Terrell, a Virginian who resided in Texas, formed and commanded a number of Confederate regiments during the American Civil War. He originally commanded the 1st Arizona Rangers and later the 32d, 34th, 35th, 36th, and 37th Texas Cavalry. Officially the 34th Texas was designated as the 34th Texas Cavalry (Dismounted, Alexander’s). It was created as a battalion in April 1863 but later became a full regiment. In this remarkable multiracial unit, which included white as well as African American, Hispanic, and Native American Confederates, one of the company commanders, Capt. José Rodriguez, was Hispanic. In his company there was an African American third sergeant, James Washington. The unit entered service on June 20, 1863, and served in the Galveston area as a dismounted unit. It appears that during this period there was a regimental mutiny, and a hundred men deserted. In November 1863 the regiment saw action at Sabine Pass, La Vaca, and Velasco. Shortly afterward the regiment was transferred to Col. Xavier B. DeBray’s brigade of Brig. Hamilton P. Bee’s division at Camp Wharton, Jones’s Creek. In February 1864 Bee’s division returned to Galveston, and in the following month marched to the aid of Taylor’s army, which was facing the

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Union Red River Campaign. The regiment fought at Mansfield on April 8, Pleasant Hill on April 9, and later in the month joined the 1st and 35th Texas Cavalry as a brigade led by Terrell. The unit also fought at Bayou Lanourie on May 7 and covered the retreat after the battle of Yellow Bayou on May 18. The regiment was on picket duty during the autumn and winter months into 1865 around the Atchafalaya River and was then stationed in Alexandria until April 1865, from whence it moved to Grand Marshall, Texas. It is unclear as to when the regiment disbanded or what became of all of the men, but it is likely that this took place some time in May at Wild Cat Bluff, near the Trinity River.

Candidate School at Camp Wolters, Texas. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in March 1943 and was then deployed with the 614th to Metz, France, in August 1944 to join Patton’s Third Army. Thomas’s C Company was lead element of a task force of the 614th assigned to capture the enemy-held French town of Climbach, 5 miles from the Siegfried Line. The available accounts of exactly what happened as Thomas led his unit toward Climbach differ. His scout car was disabled by enemy artillery and small arms fire. The Medal of Honor citation gives this account: Although wounded by the initial burst of hostile fire, Lieutenant Thomas signaled the remainder of the column to halt and, despite the severity of his wounds, assisted the crew of the wrecked car in dismounting. Upon leaving the scant protection which the vehicle afforded, Lieutenant Thomas was again subjected to a hail of enemy fire which inflicted multiple gunshot wounds in his chest, legs, and left arm. Despite the intense pain caused by these wounds, Lieutenant Thomas ordered and directed the dispersion and emplacement of two antitank guns which in a few moments were promptly and effectively returning the enemy fire. Realizing that he could no longer remain in command of the platoon, he signaled to the platoon commander to join him. Lieutenant Thomas then thoroughly oriented him on enemy gun dispositions and the general situation. Only after he was certain that his junior officer was in full control of the situation did he permit himself to be evacuated.

See also American Civil War; Cleburne’s Plan; Confederates, African American References and Further Reading Spencer, John. Terrell’s Texas Cavalry. Austin, TX: Eakin Publications, 1982.

Thomas, Charles L. (1920–1980) 1st Lt. Charles Thomas exhibited “extraordinary heroism” during an engagement with German troops on December 14, 1944, for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor fifty-three years later. Thomas was born in Birmingham, Alabama, on April 17, 1920. As a child, he moved with his family from Alabama to Detroit and graduated from Cass Technical High School in 1938. He then worked with his father at the Ford Motor Company River Rouge factory as a molder and metal pourer, at the same time enrolling at Wayne State University. He was drafted into the U.S. Army on January 20, 1942, as a private who was assigned to the 614th Tank Destroyer Battalion and sent to Tank Destroyer Officer

Later Thomas explained why he had not allowed himself to be evacuated immediately: “This was hardly the place to . . . I knew what had to be done. They say men under stress can do unusual . . . I know I hung onto one thought, deploy the guns and start firing or we’re dead” (quoted in Cohen). For five hours Thomas’s command continued, despite severe casualties, to hold and re-

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turn fire, allowing other U.S. troops to approach the town and overrun the German positions. Thomas himself was evacuated to England and from there to the Percy Jones Hospital (Battle Creek). Meanwhile, the 614th drove on into Germany and Austria. Lt. Col. John Blackshear, a white commander, recommended Thomas for the Distinguished Service Cross. Thomas was promoted to captain and received the award in March 1945 in a ceremony in Detroit. In response to the accolade, he said: “I was just trying to stay alive out there” (quoted in Cohen). The engagement also led to the 614th becoming the first African American formation to be awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation. Collectively, for engagements throughout the entire war, the 614th received eight Silver Stars, twenty-eight Bronze Stars, and seventy-nine Purple Hearts. Thomas was officially discharged from the army in 1947 (by which time he had been promoted to major). He never recovered full use of his right hand, and continued to receive disability payments until he died. Thomas married in July 1949 and had two children; he worked at Selfridge Field as a technician and later as a computer programmer for the Internal Revenue Service. For many years after the war, old comrades in arms who happened to meet him could not believe that Thomas had survived his wounds at Climbach and were amazed that he was still alive. Thomas was a modest man who never asked for recognition of what he had done. In 1995, Thomas became one of the seven African Americans to have the recognition of their contributions and bravery upgraded to Medal of Honor status, after three years of study done by historians for the Pentagon. Unfortunately, the ceremony, which took place on January 13, 1997, at the White House, came seventeen years too late for Thomas, who had died in 1980. See also Medal of Honor (appendix); U.S. Army; World War II

References and Further Reading Cohen, Warren. “Recognizing Valor.” Michigan History Magazine, January/February 1997. http:// wjcohen.home.mindspring.com/otherclips/ thomas.htm (accessed July 16, 2003). Motley, Mary Penick, ed. The Invisible Soldier: The Experience of the Black Soldier, World War II. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1975.

Thompson, William Henry (1927–1950) William Thompson was born in New York and entered service in the Bronx; he was assigned to Company M, 24th Infantry Regiment, part of the 25th Infantry Division, for service in Korea. He became the first African American to be awarded the Medal of Honor since the SpanishAmerican War. The citation reads: Pfc. Thompson distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. While his platoon was reorganizing under cover of darkness, fanatical enemy forces in overwhelming strength launched a surprise attack on the unit. Pfc. Thompson set up his machine gun in the path of the onslaught and swept the enemy with withering fire, pinning them down momentarily, thus permitting the remainder of his platoon to withdraw to a more tenable position. Although hit repeatedly by grenade fragments and small-arms fire, he resisted all efforts of his comrades to induce him to withdraw, steadfastly remained at his machine gun and continued to deliver deadly, accurate fire until mortally wounded by an enemy grenade.

The thinly explained reorganization under the cover of darkness alludes to the fact that it was believed at the time that the 24th ran from the enemy assaults in the area near Haman,

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Korea, on August 6, 1950. Indeed, Thompson’s own commanding officer, Lt. Col. Melvin Blair, tried to block the application for the Medal of Honor. The situation at the time was that the North Koreans were driving on Pusan from the west along the Chinju-Masan corridor. This had forced Lt. Gen. Walton H. Walker, Eighth Army commander, to concentrate his troops in this area. Reinforcements were arriving in the form of the 5th Regimental Combat Team and the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade (some six battalions of infantry, supported by tanks and artillery). Walker planned to counterattack where he was already the strongest. It seemed that the best option was to order the Eighth Army to mount an attack in the Chinju-Masan area between August 5 and 10, and then to launch a general offensive in the middle of the month and drive west to Yosu. The army would then head north on the Sunch’on-Chonju-Nonsan axis toward the Kum River. It was decided that there were insufficient resources to mount the second phase of the operation, but the initial attacks would go ahead. This would, at least, relieve enemy pressure against the perimeter in the Taegu area by forcing the diversion of some North Korean units southward. The 5th Air Force, over August 5–6, interdicted all enemy movement in the proposed area of operations, and on August 6 Walker approved the launching of ground operations (by the units collectively known as Task Force Kean, after Maj. Gen. William Kean of the 25th Division). The offensive was intended to get under way at 0630 on August 7; collectively some 20,000 men were to be involved in the operations. The situation had, however, taken a different turn on August 6, when the North Koreans ambushed Companies I and L of the 24th Infantry west of Haman. Most of the men fled before the enemy attack, and the whole of the 3d battalion retreated to the rear. But not all had fled; Pfc. William Thompson of the Heavy Weapons Company set up his machine gun in the face of

the onslaught and fired at the enemy until he was killed by grenades. His efforts permitted the remainder of his platoon to withdraw to a safer position. See also Korean War; Medal of Honor (appendix); 24th Infantry Regiment; U.S. Army References and Further Reading Bowers, William T., William M. Hammond, George L. MacGarrigle. Black Soldier, White Army: The 24th Infantry Regiment in Korea. Washington, DC: Center of Military History, U.S. Army, 1996.

370th Infantry Regiment (World War I) This regiment, formerly the 8th Illinois, a National Guard unit, served as part of the French army during the final stages of World War I as a component of the all–African American 93d Infantry Division. The 370th Infantry was called in to service in July 1917 and was the only regiment in the U.S. army with an almost complete complement of African American officers. From August 1917 until the unit sailed for France in March 1918, the 370th trained at Camp Logan in Houston, Texas, and Camp Stuart in Newport News, Virginia. Initially the 370th was combined with another African American National Guard unit, the 369th Regiment (15th New York), to form the 185th Brigade, under Brig. Gen. Albert H. Blanding. The 369th, however, preceded the 370th in France by around five months, with the 370th arriving in April 1918. Shortly after landing in France, the regiment lost its senior African American officer, an event that led to nearly continual leadership problems for the rest of the regiment’s tour in France. Col. Franklin A. Denison was relieved of his command, ostensibly on the account of illness.

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Most likely, though, Denison was removed from the regiment because of a damaging report submitted to military authorities the previous month that proclaimed the regiment to be unfit for combat. Written by the American liaison officer to the French, Capt. George Marvin, the report claimed that the African American officers could not speak French, hated their French equipment and refused to use it, and were incompetent in every respect. With such examples before them, Marvin doubted whether the men would be fit for combat duty in the near future. Following Denison’s departure, the regiment received a new commanding officer, Col. T. A. Roberts. He was the first white officer of the regiment in its 24-year history. Unsurprisingly, he drew huge criticism from the men, and notably the chaplain, William S. Bradden, who later penned a memoir about his experiences with the unit in which he vilified Roberts. The men felt that Roberts was not worthy of their respect and refused to trust this man who had been forced on them; rather they gave their allegiance to the remaining senior African American officer, Lt. Col. Otis Duncan. As more highranking African American officers began to be transferred out of the regiment, rumors circulated that Roberts was behind it, hoping to purge the unit in preparation for an all-white senior staff. Whether or not Roberts was the driving force behind the reorganization, he certainly seemed to warm to his men quickly and began hailing the regiment’s as-yet untapped potential to his superiors. And despite the men’s concern over the reassignment of several black officers, most of the leadership for the regiment remained in African American hands. In the midst of this turmoil over the command structure, the 370th was sent up to the front in July 1918 during the German summer offensive. The unit did well in combat, with Lt. Harvey Taylor winning the regiment’s first Croix de Guerre after taking six wounds during a raid on July 16. By August, the regiment had been fully blooded in a counteroffensive, taking nearly 2,000 prisoners and masses of equip-

ment. Roberts was delighted with the regiment’s performance, but he recognized the long-term problems of keeping the unit as an isolated regiment, apart from the rest of the 93d. He made suggestions that the 93d be united and receive the support of French artillery, but his recommendations were continually ignored. Instead, the 370th found itself attached to a range of different French divisions, as it participated in numerous battles along the front. By the end of the summer and despite the unit’s capable combat performance, the relationship between Roberts and the regiment plunged to an all-time low, fueled by continuing rumors of Roberts’s indifference for his men’s lives. Many of these rumors were circulated by Bradden, whose animosity for Roberts only seemed to grow during this period. More ill-will followed after an Allied attack on heavily fortified enemy positions on the Aisne-Oise Canal became muddled in late September, causing some units to get lost and compromising the safety of other units. The French leader of this operation later accused the regiment’s black officers of being the cause of the assault’s failure, reportedly saying that “barring the Colonel, Regular Officer (White) of the American Army, all units, battalions, companies and sections are commanded by black officers of pronounced inefficiency. They are vain strap-wearers, of no military knowledge and showing lamentable lack of conscientiousness in their work” (U.S. Army War College, 126). The French senior staff disagreed over whether or not the regiment had been responsible for the failed assault, but many of them reached the conclusion that African American leadership had been a contributory factor. Roberts defended the 370th and its conduct, including the officers, although he ultimately admitted: “The regiment was not as efficient as the French regiments. A marked improvement was manifest as the operation progressed, but the fact remains as above [that the French did not appreciate the value of the regiment]” (Roberts n.d., 2). His defense of the unit was

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too measured to quiet the 370th’s most vocal critics, however. The controversy over this operation prompted several changes in the regiment’s officers, resulting in a few more African American leaders being transferred to other units. During the last weeks of the war, the 370th performed well in numerous engagements. Overall, the regiment fought admirably but not spectacularly enough to dispel the many concerns American and French military authorities had about African American troops. During the conflict, 71 of the men were awarded the Croix de Guerre and 21 received the Distinguished Service Cross, which was a respectable record. By the time the armistice was signed in mid-November, the regiment was deep inside Belgium. In the months after the war, the 370th carried out various mundane duties in France, helping to repair damaged roads, bridges, and railways, which had suffered greatly during the war as had the rest of the French infrastructure. In early February 1919, the regiment sailed from Belgium to New York and then traveled by train to Chicago. Arriving there on February 17, the men enjoyed a reception hosted by the city and then marched in a victory parade before continuing on to their base at Fort Grant, where the army began to decommission them. By March 12, 1919, the last of its officers and men had been honorably discharged, and the regiment was officially disbanded. See also 371st Infantry Regiment; 372d Infantry Regiment; 369th Infantry Regiment; World War I References and Further Reading Barbeau, Arthur E., and Florette Henri. The Unknown Soldiers: African-American Troops in World War I. New York: Da Capo, 1996. Bradden, William S. Under Fire with the 370th Infantry, A.E.F. Chicago: self-published, n.d. Roberts, T. A. Report. National Archives. RG 120, file 293–11–4. Sweeney, W. Allison. History of the American Negro in the Great World War. Chicago: CuneoHenneberry, 1919.

U.S. Army War College. The Colored Soldiers in the U.S. Army. Carlisle, PA: Army War College, n.d.

371st Infantry Regiment (World War I) This regiment of African American draftees served with the 93d Division in France during World War I. It was composed of men from North and South Carolina who performed excellently throughout their tour of duty. In October 1917, 3,380 men—largely from the Carolinas, but reinforced by others from Alabama, Georgia, and Florida—were assigned to Camp Jackson in Greenville, South Carolina, for training. Over the course of training, roughly two-thirds of the original recruits were replaced by fitter African American men. Their regiment, the 371st, was commanded by the white officers Col. Perry L. Miles and Lt. Col. Robert M. Brambila. Although Miles was from Ohio, the bulk of the officers, who were also white, were from the Southern states. Even the regimental chaplain was white. Whether or not the men resented the absence of black officers, though, the regiment began to shape up nicely by the winter of 1917. In January 1918, the 371st joined the 372d to compose the 186th Brigade of the 93d Division. Their brigade commander was Brig. Gen. John H. Harries, who left for France with his headquarters staff on February 18, 1918. The regiment followed in April. Like the rest of the 93d division’s infantry regiments, the 371st was assigned to the French, who continued their training before sending them to the front. Just two weeks after arriving at their training base, Maj. Gen. John J. Pershing, commander-in-chief of the American Expeditionary Forces, came to inspect the regiment. His impression was conveyed to Miles after his visit via an aide: “He was particularly struck with the attitude of your men and feels that you have in your hands material with which

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to make a regiment that will be a high credit to the American Expeditionary Forces” (Heywood 1928, 157). Combat was soon to follow, as the 371st together with the 372d and the French 333d Infantry moved up to reinforce the ranks of Gen. Mariano Goybet’s 157th Division. The 157th had heroically defended Verdun in 1916 during one of the bloodiest engagements of the war and commemorated its participation in the battle by each man wearing a red hand shoulder patch, a convention that the 371st immediately adopted. Miles was jubilant at the opportunity for the men to prove themselves in combat. From July to September 1918, the regiment busied itself with combat patrols and raids and one assault on the German lines. The French infantry commander of the 157th, Col. Augustine Quillet, was delighted with the men, but Goybet had criticisms of some of the white officers, feeling that they lacked battlefield expertise and rarely knew where or how to deploy their men. Toward the end of September, the regiment moved up to Champagne to take part in the great Meuse-Argonne offensive. Initially, the 371st was held in reserve, but after two days of fighting, it moved up between a French and a Moroccan division. The 371st was instrumental in the capture of Bussy Farm and made attacks at Trières Farm before outrunning its artillery support. By September 28, the regiment had pushed forward to a depth of nearly 4.5 miles before facing a determined German counterattack. Encountering poisonous gas for the first time, coupled with an artillery barrage and frenzied German assaults, the regiment held, but at a high cost; casualties, dead and wounded, reached close to 1,000 men. The regiment retired from the front in the first week of October and was sent to the Vosges area. With the war drawing to a close roughly one month later, this marked the last of the combat the men saw. For their actions in Champagne during September 26–October 7, nearly 200 men received either the Croix de Guerre or the Distinguished Service Cross, more than any

other regiment in the 93d Division. Nevertheless, the regiment was ordered to remove its red hand patch. The 371st returned to the United States and demobilized in February 1919. The regiment was then formally disbanded. See also 93d Division; 370th Infantry Regiment; 372d Infantry Regiment; 369th Infantry Regiment; World War I References and Further Reading Barbeau, Arthur E., and Florette Henri. The Unknown Soldiers: African-American Troops in World War I. New York: Da Capo, 1996. Heywood, Chester D. Negro Combat Troops in the World War. Worcester, MA: Commonwealth, 1928. Scott, Emmett J. The American Negro in the World War. Chicago: Homewood, 1919. Stallings, Lawrence. The Doughboys. New York: Harper and Row, 1963.

372d Infantry Regiment (World War I) The 372d, a regiment of the 93d Division in France during World War I, consisted of African American National Guardsmen from across the country, led by both African American and white officers. The regiment served under French command, and the French army assigned it numerous combat missions, thinking highly of its performance. The regiment was drawn from six understrength National Guard units from Washington, D.C., Ohio, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Tennessee, and Maryland and was established at Camp Stuart, Virginia, in January 1918. Even with this combination, 250 additional men were needed, and draftees were assigned from Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan. The 372d was commanded by two white officers, Col. Glendie B. Young and Lt. Col. Albert

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W. Cole. At first, two of the three battalions were commanded by African American officers, but one, the 1st Battalion commander Maj. James E. Walker, was almost immediately replaced, on the grounds of ill health, by a white officer. The regiment set sail for France on March 18, 1918, with poor morale among the men and the African American officers, in part because of disputes with the unit’s white leaders. Worse was to come, and morale reached an all-time low when the regiment set foot on the continent, particularly after Young allowed the white officers to curtain off the larger portion of the officers’ barracks to create segregated facilities, thus contributing to already heightened racial tensions. Although Young was replaced with a new commanding officer, Herschel Tupes, morale continued to plummet, particularly when Tupes asked of Maj. Gen. John J. Pershing, commander-in-chief of the American Expeditionary Forces, that all of his African American officers be replaced with white men. He argued that not only were African Americans used to taking orders from white officers, but that African American officers were neglectful of the men, supervised them poorly, and lacked initiative. Tensions became even more heightened when Tupes placed some of the African American officers under arrest for insubordination. Tupes called for a Court of Elimination to determine once and for all whether the black officers were fit to lead the men. The court was made up of white officers from the regiment and others drafted in from the 371st. Twenty of the first twenty-one officers to come before the court were adjudged unsatisfactory, and the court recommended their removal. When news of the verdicts spread to the men, white military police were sent into the barracks to keep order, as military authorities feared an open mutiny by the African American troops. Paul C. Davis, writing in the Virginia Quarterly Review in 1948, quoted a white observer at the time as saying: “The inference is that its standards were sub-par. But it is difficult to justify on any

grounds such a flagrant shock to the morale of the unit. It is such instances of tactless handling of colored troops, isolated though they may be, which brings down on the services the condemnation of the Negro press.” Regardless of the internal turmoil within the regiment, it was expected to fight. The 372d was moved up to Champagne for the major Meuse-Argonne offensive in September. Taking up positions in the trenches, it launched its first attack on September 27. The 372d helped take Bussy Farm and pressed on toward Ripout. After fighting at Sechault, the unit was pulled back to Bussy Farm, having captured sixty Germans and a quantity of equipment. On September 30, they replaced the 371st at Trières Farm, which they then fortified before helping to terminate German resistance at Monthois. The men received a break in combat operations during the first week of October, being replaced by the French 70th Regiment. Although the U.S. authorities were slow to recognize its contribution, Gen. Mariano Goybet (commanding officer of the French 157th Division, of which the 372d formed a component) was very complimentary about the regiment’s collective and individual valor. Later in October, the regiment served with the 157th Division in the Arnould sector of Alsace, where they made numerous aggressive patrols and raids. During these engagements, a group of six men from the 372d won Distinguished Service Crosses for their actions in penetrating the enemy positions four days before the armistice. Despite the valor of the men, throughout the whole period of the regiment’s time in France, the number of African American officers decreased. When the armistice came on November 11, the regiment was sent to Granges-sur-Vologne, where it received a warm and grateful welcome from the local inhabitants. The French government awarded the whole regiment the Croix de Guerre with palm, in addition to the regiment’s individual awards, which included 151 Croix de Guerre and 21 Distinguished Service Crosses.

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See also 370th Infantry Regiment; 371st Infantry Regiment; 369th Infantry Regiment; 93d Division; World War I References and Further Reading Barbeau, Arthur E., and Florette Henri. The Unknown Soldiers: African-American Troops in World War I. New York: Da Capo, 1996. Davis, Paul C. “The Negro in the Armed Forces.” Virginia Quarterly Review 24 (1948): 499–520. Heywood, Chester D. Negro Combat Troops in the World War. Worcester: MA: Commonwealth, 1928. Scott, Emmett J. The American Negro in the World War. Chicago: Homewood, 1919.

369th Infantry Regiment (Harlem Hellfighters) Originally the 15th New York National Guard and popularly known as the Harlem Hellfighters, the 369th Infantry Regiment was the most famous African American unit in World War I. Fighting with the French Army during the final year of the war, it saw more combat than any other black troop during the conflict. Among its men were bandleader James Reese Europe and war hero Henry Johnson. Despite a number of deficiencies in its training, the unit came to be known as the best of the American regiments assigned to the French. In 1913, New York’s Governor Charles S. Whitman authorized the creation of a new regiment for the New York National Guard. The unit would be composed of both black soldiers and black officers, with some white officers serving as well. Designated the 15th New York, the regiment was not actually organized until 1916, when it established its headquarters in a dance hall in Harlem. Recruitment proceeded quickly, with some of the foremost figures in the African American community enlisting in the regiment, as well as several socially prominent

white officers, including William Hayward who became the regimental commander. Initially comprising ten companies of 65 men, by the spring of 1917 the regiment had grown to 1,378 enlisted men and 47 officers. Not long after, the unit was considered at full strength, just as the United States formally entered World War I in early April of that year. Despite the popularity of the unit, though, it suffered from a lack of resources. With no armory of their own, the men trained in the New York streets, gaining rifle practice at shooting clubs. They lacked uniforms and equipment, and they were not inspected by officials, but they had the benefit of Europe’s forty-four-strong regimental band, which included the talents of musician, composer, and singer of drum major Noble Sissle. In July 1917, the regiment was posted for training at Camp Whitman in Poughkeepsie, New York, compelled to share just 250 rifles among the 2,000 men. After poor basic training, the unit was sent on guard duties around the New York area, but finally in the fall of 1917, they were sent for further training to Camp Wadsworth at Spartanburg, South Carolina. After just twelve days at Spartanburg, the 15th was shipped to Camp Mills on Long Island and then to Camp Merritt in New Jersey, before finally shipping out to Europe in December 1917. Arriving in France in January 1918, the regiment became the 369th Regiment of the 93d Infantry Division. The unit spent a frustrating period operating for the Services of Supply (SOS) laying railroad tracking, as U.S. military officials wrestled with what to do with the black troops, especially as more African American units were due to arrive in France shortly. Ultimately, the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) offered the black units to the French in answer to France’s long-unheeded calls for much-needed replacements. On paper, the loan was temporary, made “with the provision that they were to be returned for the formation of the 93d Division when called for. Unfortunately, they soon became identified with the French

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A painting by H. Charles McBarron, “Hell Fighters” from Harlem, depicts the 369th Infantry in action, Sechault, France, September 29, 1918. During most of its tour in Europe the regiment was attached to the French 16th Division, VIII Corps. (U.S. Army)

and there was no opportunity to assemble them as an American Division,” commander of the AEF Gen. John J. Pershing wrote later in his memoirs. Whether U.S. leaders ever wanted to bring the African Americans back under their direct control or not is doubtful. As the 369th languished on supply duty, Europe and his band were deployed on a 2,000mile concert tour that lasted for thirty-seven days and raised morale among all the Allied troops. There was no question that the 369th had the finest regimental band in Europe at that time, and some even claim that this tour introduced the French to jazz, which enjoyed enormous popularity in the country after the war ended. Whether such claims are true or not, Europe and his band quickly became famous in France. Shortly after the band’s return, the 369th was officially lent to the French. They broke camp at St. Nazaire on March 18, 1918, to join Gen. Henri Gourund’s Fourth French Army. Now a part of the 16th Division of the French VIII Corps, the 369th took their place on the front line at Givry-en-Argonne, where the men established reputations as hard fighters. They drilled with intensity, quickly learned the surrounding

terrain of the French countryside, and were considered naturals for dangerous night patrols (in part because the color of their skin prevented them from having to use shoe polish to provide camouflage). In May 1918, Pvts. Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts, stationed in no-man’s-land in an observation post, were attacked by a German raiding party. In the fight that followed, both men were seriously wounded but managed to inflict even more damage on the 24-man German unit and run it off. For their gallantry, they both received France’s highest military honor, the Croix de Guerre, but as Johnson received his first (Roberts was still recovering from his wounds), he became the first American to claim this award. He was subsequently promoted to the rank of sergeant and became a hero both in France and the United States. The ferocity with which Johnson and Roberts drove off the German attack only fueled the regiment’s already growing reputation as fierce fighters. When the Germans launched their spring offensive in 1918, the 369th helped hold the line at Chateau-Thierry, and in June 1918, it was sent to clear Belleau Wood of Germans. By early July, the regiment was sent to help hold the line against the Germans in the Butte de Mesnil (Minancourt). It was here that the 369th took part in new tactics designed by Gourand. Fearing an impending German assault en masse, he ordered that all of the frontline trenches be abandoned, to reduce casualties in the preliminary German artillery bombardment. Members of the 369th were left behind to fire rockets when the Germans reached the French positions, which would signal the French artillery to bombard the densely packed German assault troops. The 369th suffered five and a half hours of bombardment and did not lose a single man. Col. Hayward later said of the operation:

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enue a few days later. Following the parade, the city entertained the regiment at the 71st New York Infantry’s armory, the first and only time that the whole regiment was assembled under one roof.

front little more than four miles long was my regiment of Negroes. But it was fair enough at that; all there was between us and Berlin was the German Army. They tried pretty hard to get by, but they never did. No German ever got into a trench with my regiment who did not stay there or go back with the brand of my boys upon him (quoted in Library Digest, March 15, 1919, 94–96).

See also Europe, James Reese; Johnson, Henry (1897–1929); 92d Division; 93d Division; World War I

As the German offensive petered out, the 369th helped the 161st French Division to wipe out the enemy salient at Butte de Mesnil. During a German counterattack, the 369th endured a bombardment over a 45-minute period that included 9,000 German shells landing on or near its position. By mid-August, exhausted and depleted, the men of the 369th were given a week’s rest, after spending 130 days in the front line. Then the regiment was transferred from the 16th French Division to the 161st French Division, taking part in the Champagne offensive of September. The 369th was assigned to help lead the attack and on September 26, at a huge cost, drove 2.5 miles forward. The regiment continued on despite mounting casualties, and after punching through desperate German defenses for over 8.5 miles, it was pulled out to refit and reorganize in mid-October. The 369th remained in the Vosges Mountains area until the armistice was signed on November 11, but on November 26, it marched to the Rhine, being the first Allied unit to reach the river. Over the period of French service, the regiment had spent 191 days in the line, 5 days longer than any other U.S. unit. It could boast never losing a foot of ground or allowing a single man to be captured. In all, the men of the 369th received 170 Croix de Guerre, and lost 1,500 men in battle. Even U.S. Secretary of War Newton D. Baker had to admit that the 369th was the most serviceable regiment sent to the French, despite its mediocre training. The 369th returned to New York on February 2, 1919, with a victory parade held along Fifth Av-

References and Further Reading Barbeau, Arthur E., and Florette Henri. The Unknown Soldiers: African-American Troops in World War I. New York: Da Capo, 1996. Cobb, Irvin S. The Glory of the Coming. New York: Doran, 1918. Harris, Bill. The Hellfighters of Harlem: AfricanAmerican Soldiers Who Fought for the Right to Fight for Their Country. New York: Carroll and Graf, 2002. Heywood, Chester D. Negro Combat Troops in the World War. Worcester, MA: Commonwealth, 1928. Little, Arthur. From Harlem to the Rhine. New York: Corvici, 1936. Pershing, John J. My Experiences in the World War. 2 vols. New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1931. Stallings, Laurence. The Dough Boys. New York: Harper and Row, 1963.

332d Fighter Group (World War II) The 332d Fighter Group had over 450 African American fighter pilots flying P-40, P-39, P-47, and P-51 aircraft during World War II. The men of this fighter group were commonly known as the Tuskegee Airmen, having graduated from the U.S. Army Air Forces training school at Tuskegee Airfield in Alabama. The 332d Fighter Group comprised the 99th, 100th, 301st, and 302d Fighter Squadrons of the U.S. Army Air Forces and was commanded by Col. Benjamin O. Davis Jr., who later be-

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came the first African American general in the Air Force. The first component of the 332d Fighter Group to see action during the war was the 99th Fighter/Pursuit Squadron. Composed of the first graduates of the Tuskegee Air School, it waited nearly a year before being deployed overseas. Many military authorities harbored serious doubts about whether African Americans would be able to successfully fly planes in combat, but by the spring of 1943, the U.S. Army finally stopped stalling and sent the unit to North Africa. There, it received its first combat assignment on June 2, being ordered to bomb and strafe a small island in the Mediterranean in preparation for an Allied landing. One month later, Lt. Charles Hall achieved the 99th’s first kill after shooting down a German Focke Wulf FW-190 fighter. Roughly six months behind the 99th in filling their ranks, the other three squadrons of the 332d Fighter Group deployed to the Italian campaign in January 1944. In July 1944, they were joined by the 99th Fighter/Pursuit Squadron, and from this point onward the group’s reputation as an elite fighting unit came into its own. In a sign of solidarity, the pilots of the 332d Fighter Group painted the tails of their P-51 Mustangs red and became known as the “RedTail Angels.” Their wartime record quelled any concerns about the abilities of African Americans to serve as pilots. By the end of the war, the 332d was the only fighter group to never lose an escorted bomber to German fighters. It shot down a total of 111 enemy fighters, including a number of the new Messerschmitt ME262 jets. The 332d Fighter Group also destroyed countless targets during ground attack missions and sank a German destroyer with machine gun fire, a feat never before accomplished or since repeated. In achieving this notable record, 66 pilots of the 332d Fighter Group lost their lives in combat. See also Davis, Benjamin Oliver, Jr.;

99th Pursuit/Fighter Squadron; Tuskegee Airmen; U.S. Air Force; World War II References and Further Reading Francis, Charles E., and Adolph Caso. The Tuskegee Airmen: The Men Who Changed a Nation. Boston: Branden, 1997. Harris, Jacqueline L. The Tuskegee Airmen: Black Heroes of World War II. Parsippany, NJ: Dillon Press, 1996. Homan, Lynn M., and Thomas Reilly. Tuskegee Airmen. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Tempus Publishing, 1998. ———. Black Knights: The Story of the Tuskegee Airmen. Gretna, LA: Pelican, 2001. McKissack, Patricia, and Frederick McKissack. RedTail Angels: The Story of the Tuskegee Airmen of World War Two. New York: Walker, 2001. Sandler, Stanley. Segregated Skies: All-Black Combat Squadrons of WWII. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992.

Trenton, Battle of (December 26, 1776) The Battle of Trenton during the American Revolution was a brilliant piece of military strategy, executed by the capable hands of American Gen. George Washington. At a stroke, Washington took close to 1,000 prisoners, 6 artillery pieces, over 1,000 muskets, and 40 barrels of rum, while risking half of his own crumbling army. African Americans played a role in this important victory. Following a perilous nighttime crossing of the Delaware River, Washington and his men entered the town of Trenton at about 8:30 on the morning of December 26. Most of the Hessians (German mercenary soldiers in British pay) were asleep, no doubt recovering from their Christmas celebrations of the day before. The numerous Hessian sentries had been easily surprised and overcome by American troops, thus aiding Washington’s attempt at stealth. Un-

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prepared and disorganized, the Hessians put up little defense, and within an hour and a half the fighting was over. In total, the Americans captured 900 Hessians with just over 30 enemy dead or wounded; 500 men escaped. A surprisingly large number of African Americans seem to have been present at the Battle of Trenton. As is the case with the majority of battles of this period, a few African Americans were most likely present in every regiment, but in this battle, even more fought than usual, for reasons that historians have not been able to discern. Individuals such as Pomp Devereux, who served in Glover’s 14th Continental Infantry, were almost certainly African American, and no fewer than six African Americans served in the 26th, including Scipio Dodge, Hanobel, Sipeo, Nathaniel Small, Luther Jotham, and Thomas Semor. There were two African Americans in the 20th Continentals (Dick Fortune and Cesar Cipeo), one from Massachusetts (Primus Hall), and four from Connecticut (Samuel Pompey, John Pompey, Abraham Pharoe, and Cudgo Shephard). Two other men, Peter Jennings and Philip Rodman, may have been African American, although it is unclear where these men came from and to which unit they were attached. No account of African Americans in the military would be complete that did not acknowledge their presence as fighting men at the battle often seen as the turning point of the American Revolution. See also American Revolution References and Further Reading Kaplan, Sidney, and Emma Nogrady Kaplan. The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1989. McDowell, Bart. The Revolutionary War. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society, 1967. Nell, William Cooper. Colored Patriots of the American Revolution. 1855. Reprint, Salem, NH: Ayer, 1986.

Quarles, Benjamin. The Negro in the American Revolution. New York: W. W. Norton, 1973.

Trinidad Disturbance (July 1943) The event known as the Trinidad Disturbance involved fourteen Seabees of the 80th Construction Battalion, an entirely African American unit in the navy, who in July of 1943, complained over the mistreatment their unit was experiencing and were given dishonorable discharges. The 80th Construction Battalion was stationed in Trinidad in July 1943. Here the men of the battalion encountered the full force of racial discrimination and segregation and a commanding officer unwilling to listen to their grievances. They were housed in segregated facilities, with limited liberty and no opportunities for promotion. The commanding officer initially showed some concern and invited twelve members of the battalion to discuss their grievances in his office. Arising out of the discussions, the men requested that the chaplain organize a committee of African American naval personnel and senior white officers to deal with race matters. Several days after the meeting, the commanding officer decided that the men’s request was subversive to naval discipline and announced that nineteen of the men would be given dishonorable discharges. When news of this decision reached the United States, several African American organizations launched a campaign to overturn the decision. After a year the men were still discharged, but their dishonorable discharges had been converted to “undesirability discharges under honorable conditions.”

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References and Further Reading Nelson, Dennis Denmark. The Integration of the Negro into the United States Navy, 1776–1947, with a Brief Historical Introduction. Washington, DC: Department of the Navy, 1948.

Tubman, Harriet (c. 1820–1913) Ex-slave Harriet Tubman, most famous for her work in rescuing slaves with the Underground Railroad during the 1850s, also employed her many skills on behalf of the Union Army during the Civil War. Tubman was born in 1820 or 1821 into slavery in Bucktown, Dorchester County, Maryland. She was abused repeatedly while a slave and escaped at the age of twenty-five via the Underground Railroad set up by abolitionists and former slaves to help slaves flee to the North and sometimes on to Canada. The so-called railroad was actually a string of safe houses and hiding places in the South that slaves could use on their journey north. Once in the North, it was not long before Tubman had become actively involved in an abolitionist group in Philadelphia. When Congress enacted the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, it became illegal to help a runaway slave, but such legislation did little to deter Tubman from helping her fellow bondsmen. The following year, she embarked on her first mission with the Underground Railroad. Over the next decade, Tubman became the most famous “conductor” on the Underground Railroad, gaining the moniker “Moses of her people.” Undeterred by a $40,000 reward placed on her head, Tubman returned to the South nineteen times during the 1850s, guiding over 300 slaves to Canada and freedom. In the years before the Civil War, Tubman was a defiant opponent of the Fugitive Slave Law, not only laboring for the Underground

Harriet Tubman, who extended her work on the Underground Railroad to spying for the Union behind Confederate lines. (Library of Congress)

Railroad but also snatching runaway slaves from the authorities in New York. If circumstances had not prevented her, she would have joined John Brown’s raid on the arsenal and armory at Harper’s Ferry on October 16, 1859, and she was greatly disappointed at not being able to take part. During the war, Tubman continued her rescue efforts across enemy lines and also worked as a nurse, scout, and spy. In 1862, Massachusetts Governor John Andrew helped arrange for her to work in Beaufort, South Carolina, as a nurse for the Union Army and among the recently freed slaves on the Carolina Sea Islands. Tubman recalled her nursing experiences to her biographer Sarah Bradford:

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“Well, Missus, I’d go to de hospital, I would, early eb’ry mornin’. I’d get a big chunk of ice, I would, and put it in a basin, and fill it with water; den I’d take a sponge and begin. Furst man I’d come to, I’d thrash away de flies, an’ dey’d rise, dey would, like bees roun’ a hive. Den I’d begin to bathe der wounds, an’ by de time I’d bathed off three or four, de fire and heat would have melted de ice and made de water warm, as’ it would be as red as clar blood. Den I’d go an’ git more ice, I would, an’ by de time I got to de nex’ ones, de flies would be roun’ de fust ones, black an’ thick as eber.” In this way she worked, day after day, till late at night; then she went home to her little cabin, and made about fifty pies, a great quantity of ginger-bread, and two casks of root beer. These she would hire some contraband to sell for her through the camps, and thus she would provide her support for another day; for this woman never received pay or pension, and never drew for herself but twenty days’ rations during the four years of her labors” (quoted in Bradford 1869, 97–98).

By early 1863, Tubman had begun the dangerous duties of scout and spy for the Union forces in South Carolina. Employing former slaves from the area, Tubman organized a network of spies and reported the gathered intelligence to Col. James Montgomery, commander of the 2d South Carolina Colored Infantry, a unit made up entirely of former slaves. In her own missions, Tubman often adopted the disguise of a field hand or a poor farmer’s wife. In late May 1863, Gen. David Hunter requested Tubman’s assistance to personally guide a raiding party up the Combahee River. In the gathering dusk on June 2, Tubman led Montgomery and 150 soldiers in gunboats past Confederate picket lines and up the river. The raid was a success and destroyed significant amounts of Confederate supplies while bringing back over 700 slaves. After the expedition, Gen. Rufus Saxton reported to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton: “This is the only military command in

American history wherein a woman, black or white, led the raid and under whose inspiration it was originated and conducted” (quoted in Lewis). Tubman was also present at Fort Wagner to see the unfortunate yet glorious demise of Col. Robert Gould Shaw and harrowing experiences of the all–African American 54th Massachusetts Infantry. Tubman received glowing testimonials from a number of Union generals for her exploits during the war and received a medal from Britain’s Queen Victoria. On the other hand, she was never paid her back pay, and the U.S. War Department adamantly refused to pay her a pension, despite the fact that her claim was supported by Secretary of State William Seward, Col. Thomas Wentworth Higginson, and Saxton. After the war ended, Tubman returned to her home in Auburn, New York, where she had settled with her parents and some of the rest of her family. Although still an active campaigner for African American civil rights, she also joined the women’s rights movement and the temperance crusade. Tubman died in New York on March 10, 1913, at the approximate age of ninety-three. See also American Civil War; 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment; Montgomery’s Brigade; Underground Railroad References and Further Reading Bradford, Sarah E. Harriet: The Moses of Her People. 1901. New York: J. J. Little & Co. –––––. Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman. 1869. Reprint, Salem, NH: Ayer, 1986. Lewis, Jone Johnson. “Harriet Tubman: Fugitive Slave, Underground Railroad Conductor, Civil War Nurse and Soldier, Women’s Rights Advocate and Social Reformer.” http://womenshistory. about.com/library/weekly/aa020419c.htm (accessed July 17, 2003). Rose, P. K. “Black Dispatches: Black American Contributions to Union Intelligence during the Civil War.” http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/

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dispatches/dispatch.html (accessed September 18, 2003).

Turner, Henry McNeal (1834–1915) An eloquent and vocal proponent of civil rights in the years leading up to the Civil War, Henry McNeal Turner proved a persuasive recruiter for the United States Colored Troops (USCT), also serving as their chaplain. As such, he was the first of the Union army’s fourteen African American chaplains during the Civil War and was by far the most influential. The son of free black parents, Turner was born in Newberry, South Carolina, on February 1, 1834. His mother and maternal grandmother raised him, imbuing him with the importance of gaining an education and tales of his family heritage, which supposedly included an African prince on the paternal side. Turner’s mother, Sarah Greer, secretly engaged teachers to teach her son how to read, although such an act constituted a crime in South Carolina at this time. With the fear of discovery and prosecution hanging over him, Turner’s education proved sporadic. Legend has it that an elderly slave taught him to read, but Turner claimed later in life that an angel had descended from Heaven to teach him. At the age of fourteen, Turner took a job as a janitor at a small law firm in Abbeville, South Carolina. It was here that he received a more solid educational foundation. Some accounts state that the lawyers in the firm recognized Turner’s intelligence and decided to train him in a wide variety of subjects, including science, mathematics, history, law, and theology. Other sources claim that the lawyers simply enjoyed testing Turner’s memory by telling him scraps of information and then seeing if he could recall them at a later date, by which means he learned the basics of many academic subjects. Which-

ever version is closer to the truth, Turner left the firm in 1853 with a decent education, a sharp mind, and a driving ambition. This latter attribute manifested itself as a career in the ministry. Turner had already spent several years as a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, during which time he had undergone a religious conversion that made a lasting impact on him. In 1853, he became a licensed minister and embarked on a speaking tour that took him throughout the South, gaining him hundreds of converts in camp meetings and revivals. He had a booming voice and an eloquence that inspired his listeners with religious fervor. His education brought added depth to his sermons, but his ability to connect with ordinary people on a basic and fundamental level prevented him from preaching over their heads. Such a combination proved enormously successful and would make Turner an influential public figure throughout his life. Within a few years, though, Turner began to feel constrained by the Methodist Church, feeling that it did not offer many opportunities for African Americans. In 1858, he journeyed to St. Louis, where he joined the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, which was the largest African American denomination in the country. Indeed, it was the largest African American organization of any kind at that time in America. As a pastor in churches in both Baltimore and Washington, D.C., Turner spent the next several years denouncing slavery and racism from the pulpit. When not undertaking his ministerial duties, he was raising funds for various social causes to assist African Americans, an effort that took on added urgency after the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. Turner was instrumental in organizing aid for the hundreds and then thousands of slaves seeking freedom behind the Union lines. In this capacity, and as an influential black minister in the nation’s capital, he established numerous connections with prominent politicians, including the Radical Republicans Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner.

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Turner’s sermons took on new direction as the war progressed, as he increasingly called for the enlistment of African American troops. Once the federal government embarked on such an effort in 1863, Turner actively recruited for the USCT. President Abraham Lincoln appointed Turner the chaplain of the USCT’s 1st Regiment, a post that Turner joyfully accepted, conscious of the fact that he was the first African American to serve in such a post. The unit saw most of its action in the campaign against the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia, in 1864 and early 1865, specifically at the siege of Petersburg, Virginia, and then at the fight for Fort Fisher in North Carolina, both of which served as vital supply centers for Richmond. Turner’s duties as chaplain included not only overseeing the spiritual welfare of his men, but also writing letters to the families of those who had fallen in combat, caring for the wounded, acting as a buffer and gobetween for the men and their white officers (particularly when tensions were high between the two groups), and teaching the men to read. This last duty was particularly important to Turner, who believed that African Americans must be well educated to raise their status as a group and as individuals within the United States. In addition, Turner shared his experiences with thousands of readers by writing frequent dispatches for the Christian Recorder, the AME’s newspaper. By this means, Turner helped publicize the accomplishments and the unique contributions of African American troops fighting in the Civil War. For example, at the battle for Fort Fisher, Turner recounted both the fierce fighting and how the Confederates’ fear of armed African Americans affected the engagement: Never have I seen grape and canister [buckshot fired from cannons] used so effectively as the rebels used it on our troops on this occasion. At one time I thought they would never stand it; neither do I believe they would have stood, but for the fact that they knew black

troops were in the rear, and if they failed, the colored troops would take the fort and claim the honor. Indeed, the white troops told the rebels that if they did not surrender they would let the Negroes loose on them (Turner 1971).

At the end of the war, President Andrew Johnson appointed Turner a chaplain in the regular army, a distinct honor considering that most African Americans were no longer welcome in the armed forces. He was reassigned to Atlanta, Georgia, but soon after arriving there, he resigned from the army. Instead, he threw himself back into church affairs, embarking on a walking tour of Georgia that resulted in the formation of over 100 new congregations for the AME. Along the way, he recruited not only parishioners but ministers as well, encouraging African Americans who exhibited the slightest talent for public speaking to become preachers in the church. Turner also became active in the Republican Party of Georgia, helping to draft the new state constitution under the Reconstruction government and gaining office as a state legislature in 1868 along with fourteen other African Americans. The Democratic Party of the Old South remained a force to be reckoned with in Georgia, however, and it managed to form a coalition that demanded the expulsion of the African American legislators. Turner kept up a threeday filibuster, during which he impressed even his enemies with his eloquence and the forcefulness of his arguments, but to no avail. By a narrow vote of 83 to 82, the legislature voted to expel the blacks. Not content with removing him from office, Turner’s enemies initiated a series of rumors questioning his management of public financial affairs under his control and his marital fidelity. (He had married Eliza Ann Preacher in 1856, and the couple had subsequently produced fourteen children.) Both charges sullied his reputation, but he returned to the legislature in triumph after Congress ordered the state government to reverse the con-

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troversial expulsion of African Americans. He was defeated for reelection shortly thereafter, however, and retired from politics. Disgusted with the prejudice and discrimination African Americans confronted in all aspects of American society, Turner grew increasingly bitter. He moved around Georgia and became even more involved in church affairs, being elected a bishop in 1880. He remained a controversial figure, however, ordaining a woman minister in 1885 (which the church leadership later reversed), advocating a prohibition movement in Atlanta, and championing the Back-toAfrica movement. More and more, Turner began to see the only hope for African American prosperity lay in returning to Africa, where blacks would be free of white racism once and for all. His championship of the so-called Black Exodus only intensified in the remaining years of his life, as African Americans suffered from increasing discrimination during the 1890s and early 1900s, bolstered by the spread of Jim Crow laws and additional Supreme Court decisions countenancing “separate-but-equal” facilities for blacks. Although suffering from several strokes, Turner remained in the public spotlight by making such statements as “God is a Negro” and “Hell is an improvement on the United States where the Negro is concerned.” He died in 1915, hailed by many as an inspiration to such African American leaders as W. E. B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey. See also American Civil War References and Further Reading Angell, Stephen W. Bishop Henry McNeal Turner and African-American Religion in the South. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1992. Redkey, Edwin. Black Exodus: Black Nationalist and Back-to-Africa Movements, 1890–1910. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1969. Turner, Henry McNeal. Respect Black: The Writings and Speeches of Henry McNeal Turner, ed. Edwin Redkey. New York: Arno Press, 1971.

Tuskegee Airmen (World War II) The first African American pilots in the U.S. military, the Tuskegee Airmen were trained at Tuskegee Army Air Field (TAAF) in Alabama in the early 1940s. With the United States in the midst of fighting World War II, many of these pilots saw combat shortly after graduating from the training program, traveling overseas as part of the 332nd Fighter Group, the most famous unit to be formed of Tuskegee Airmen. In 1940, U.S. military leaders began exploring the idea of training black pilots to fly combat missions. Although African Americans continued to operate within segregated units of the military, authorities recognized that they provided a valuable source of manpower, which could be employed to expand the fledgling air corps, particularly as the United States faced the possibility of entering the war that was already raging in Europe. As military pilots were also officers, there were concerns about elevating African Americans to positions where they could technically be of superior rank to whites, but nevertheless, the need for pilots overrode these objections and drove the effort forward. In keeping with the military’s policy of segregation, the army established a separate training facility for African American pilots at the Tuskegee Institute, a nearly sixty-year-old school for blacks in Alabama. The Tuskegee Institute had gained a reputation for sound scholarship, numbering among its former professors men like Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver. The U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) signed a contract with the Tuskegee Institute for preflight training of African American pilots, including such subjects as navigation, meteorology, mathematics, and engineering. At first, the Tuskegee Institute faced a severe funding crisis, being unable to provide the necessary facilities to teach these subjects to so many students. A grant from the Julius Rosenwald Fund of Chicago in March 1941

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solved this problem by awarding $200,000 to the school to fund this program. Meanwhile, the Air Force had decided in January 1941 to build an airfield near Tuskegee where African American cadets could complete their pilot training. Construction of the TAAF, located about seven miles northwest of the institute, began on July 15, with a target completion date of November 8. Also in July, the base commander Maj. James A. Ellison was installed, being given the primary role of ensuring the base was ready for training new pilots in the fall. From the outset, Ellison encountered racial problems with the local community, which did not relish the idea of having so many African Americans posted to the area. The first cadets began arriving in November 1941, but at that point there was only one runway. The pace of construction quickened, as housing, administrative buildings, and a hospital were completed over the sprawling grounds of 1,650 acres. For those who arrived in these early months, the conditions were somewhat primitive, and construction work was still going on all around them. But by September 1943 the majority of the base had been built; it now had four runways and 225 assorted buildings, as well as an auxiliary airfield a few miles from the main base. The first class contained thirteen cadets, who underwent a grueling course of study that mirrored that undergone by white pilots in other programs, as the army was adamant that black pilots meet the same high standards as their white counterparts. Initially, pilots were training on single-engine planes, with an option later in the program to train on twin-engine planes. The pilots were college graduates or undergraduates and undertook a specialty area of study, such as medicine, intelligence, operations, or advanced engineering, as well as aviation. In January 1942 Col. Frederick Kimble took over command of the training school from Ellison. Kimble was well liked by the men, despite his insistence that all facilities remain segregated in the school, just as Ellison had done be-

fore him. Both men were white and illustrated the army’s determination to keep the administration of the school in the hands of white officers. As more experienced men arrived to carry out the training, the scope of the curriculum expanded, allowing an enormous variety of training programs to be offered by Tuskegee by early 1942. The first group of Tuskegee airmen began their advanced training in January 1942, which included air combat, advanced navigation, tactics, gunnery, armament, maintenance, and engineering. As soon as advanced training had been completed, the men started flying Curtiss P-40 Warhawks from April 1942. As Tuskegee was pretty much the last base to get equipment, at times the men had to fight over the handful of serviceable aircraft in order to get their necessary flying hours logged. In March 1942, the first class graduated five of its members who passed the difficult program. Among them was Capt. Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., a West Point graduate and a talented aviator. Over the next four years, nearly 1,000 cadets would earn their pilots’ wings at the school. In recognition of his skill and seniority, Davis was placed in charge of the first African American air unit, the 99th Fighter Squadron, which was posted overseas the following year and saw combat in North Africa and Italy. Other graduates soon joined the 99th. As Tuskegee produced more and more pilots, other units were formed to accommodate them, including the 100th, 301st, and 302d Fighter Squadrons. All four units were part of the 332d Fighter Group of the 15th Air Force, a unit that eventually contained about 450 Tuskegee graduates. By 1943, the War Department had decreed that the USAAF must have a 10 percent African American component, and as a consequence of this policy, Tuskegee was used as a place to which African American servicemen could be sent if they were not wanted elsewhere. The base received many African Americans who had passed through officer candidate school, and consequently, by the end of 1944, for every one

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Tuskegee Airmen listening to their chief flight instructor, C. Alfred “Chief ” Anderson, a pioneer African American aviator. Third from the left is Benjamin O. Davis Jr., who assumed command of the 99th Pursuit/Fighter Squadron in August 1942 and went on to become the first African American air force general. (U.S. Air Force)

enlisted man there was one officer. Tuskegee became a center for some of the best-educated African Americans of their generation. By the end of 1942, 121 cadets were in flight training at Tuskegee, in addition to those who had already been assigned to the 332d Fighter Group. Col. Noel Parrish took over from Kimble in December 1942 and commanded the training school nearly until its closure in 1946. Parrish was a white Southerner but an atypical one. He strongly believed that African Americans were as capable as their white counterparts and did not approve of segregation. He was determined that the men should not only receive equal treatment during training, but should be given the opportunity to contribute to the war effort,

which he feared the army almost certainly did not intend to allow. Segregation, therefore, was not strictly adhered to under Parrish’s command. The first and most famous unit trained at Tuskegee was Davis’s 99th Fighter/Pursuit Squadron. After its formation, the 99th waited several months for an overseas assignment and was finally deployed to North Africa in April 1943, where it conducted strafing, dive bombing, and bomber escort missions over Sicily and mainland Italy. In October 1943, Davis, now a colonel, returned to the United States to assume command of the 332d Fighter Group, comprised of three additional Tuskegee-trained fighter squad-

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Chronology of the Tuskegee Airmen May 1939 Two pilots of the National Airmen’s Association meet with Missouri Senator Harry S. Truman, who then sponsors a bill to allow African American pilots to serve in the Civilian Pilot Training Program. December 1940 The Army Air Corps submits a plan to the War Department for an experiment to form an all–African American fighter squadron of thirty-three pilots. January 16, 1941 The 99th Pursuit Squadron is formed by the War Department. It will be trained at the Tuskegee Army Air Field in Tuskegee, Alabama. July 19, 1941 Tuskegee Army Air Field officially opens. March 7, 1942 The first group of Tuskegee pilots graduates. August 24, 1942 Lt. Col. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. takes command of the 99th Pursuit/ Fighter Squadron. April 15, 1943 The 99th heads for North Africa. July 2, 1943 Capt. Charles B. Hall is the first Tuskegee pilot to shoot down an enemy aircraft, an FW-190; he also hits an ME-109. August 1943 Lt. Col. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. leaves the 99th to command the 332d Fighter Group. October 7, 1943 The 99th is attached to the 79th Fighter Group of the Twelfth Air Force. January 1944 Lt. Col. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. and the 332d arrive in Taranto, Italy, and are attached to the Twelfth Air Force. January 27, 1944 Fifteen Tuskegee Airmen support Allied amphibious landings at Anzio. They destroy eight enemy aircraft. June 25, 1944 The 332d Fighter Squadron sinks a German destroyer with P-47 machinegun fire. June 1944 The 99th Squadron is attached to the 332d Fighter Group, which in turn is attached to the Fifteenth Air Force. July 18, 1944 Capt. Lee Rayford leads sixty-six P-51s on a bomber escort mission over southern Germany. When German fighters attack over the target, the Tuskegee Airmen shoot down eleven German fighters, and Lt. Clarence “Lucky” Lester claims three kills. July 24, 1944 Lieutenant Colonel Davis leads

fifty-three P-51s over southern Germany, destroying three enemy aircraft and numerous ground targets. July 27, 1944 Captain Rayford leads fifty-two P-51s escorting B-24 bombers. Despite being outnumbered, the Airmen shoot down eight enemy planes. August 1944 The 332d is involved in the invasion of southern France, escorting bombers, and on-ground attack missions in Romania and Czechoslovakia. September 10, 1944 Four pilots of the 332d are awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. March 15, 1945 The all–African American 477th Bombardment Group is moved from Godman Field, Kentucky, to Freeman Field, Indiana. March 24, 1945 Lieutenant Colonel Davis leads fifty-four Tuskegee aircraft to protect bombers over Berlin. They fly a round trip of 1,600 miles, beating off German fighter attacks and claiming three more enemy jet fighters. March 31, 1945 The Tuskegee Airmen’s best day, with thirteen confirmed enemy fighter kills. April 1, 1945 Protests are made against the strict segregation at Freeman Field enforced by Commander Col. Robert Selway. April 5, 1945 The segregation issue continues, with 2d Lt. Roger C. Terry and Lt. Marsden Thompson refused entry to the officers’ club on the base. April 9, 1945 African American officers on the base are ordered by base commander Colonel Selway to sign a document verifying that they have seen Regulation Order 85–2 requiring the segregation of the base officers’ club. In what was called the Freeman Field Incident (or Mutiny), 101 officers refuse. April 26, 1945 Tuskegee Airmen claim the last enemy aircraft kills in their theater of operation. June 1945 Col. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. is named commander of the 477th Composite Group. August 12, 1995 Tuskegee Airmen are finally cleared of their involvement in the Freeman Field Incident.

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rons, the 100th, 301st, and 302d. The 332d Fighter Group was sent to Italy in February 1944 and immediately began flying air patrols with the 12th Air Force. By the summer of 1944, the four squadrons of the 332d were flying P-51 Mustangs on long-range bomber escort missions with the 15th Air Force. They painted the tails of their Mustangs red and became known as the “Red-Tailed Angels,” winning renown for not losing a single one of the bombers they were escorting during the course of the war. With the fame of the Tuskegee Airmen growing, pilots continued to pass through Tuskegee throughout 1944 and 1945, but by October 1945, with the war over, the military began to scale back many of its operations, meaning fewer cadets were sent to train as pilots. The final class to pass through Tuskegee graduated in June 1946 with just nine men. On June 30, 1946, the base was officially deactivated. In all, the Tuskegee Airmen amounted to 992 men. Their contribution to the war effort, however, massively outweighed their small numbers. From the point when the 99th Pursuit Squadron was assigned to North Africa in 1943 until the end of hostilities in 1945, the Tuskegee Airmen lost just sixty-six men, in addition to the thirty-two that were made prisoners of war after having bailed out of their planes. At the same time, they shot down or destroyed 409 enemy aircraft, destroyed 950 vehicles on the ground, and on one very notable occasion, disabled a destroyer with machine-gun fire, a feat never performed before or after that day. An even more significant lasting testament, both to the men’s prowess as pilots and to their determination to prove their capabilities, is the fact that on over 200 combat escort missions, not a single bomber under their protection was ever shot down by the enemy. The base itself was nearly lost to future generations in 1976, when it was proposed that an oil refinery be built on the site. Following a public campaign to save it, President Bill Clinton approved Public Law 105–355 on November 6, 1998, designating Tuskegee Airfield as the

Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site, a lasting memorial to the African American pioneer aviators. See also Davis, Benjamin Oliver, Jr.; Freeman Field Incident; 99th Pursuit/Fighter Squadron; 332d Fighter Group; U.S. Air Force; World War II References and Further Reading Francis, Charles E., and Adolph Caso. The Tuskegee Airmen: The Men who Changed a Nation. Boston: Branden, 1997. Hardesty, Von, and Dominick Pisano. Black Wings: The American Black in Aviation. Washington, DC: National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, 1983. Harris, Jacqueline L. The Tuskegee Airmen: Black Heroes of World War II. Minneapolis: Dillon Press, 1996. Homan, Lynn M., and Thomas Reilly. Tuskegee Airmen. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Tempus Publishing, 1998. –––––. Black Knights: The Story of the Tuskegee Airmen. Gretna, LA: Pelican, 2001. McKissack, Patricia, and Frederick McKissack. RedTail Angels: The Story of the Tuskegee Airmen of World War Two. New York: Walker, 2001. Murphy, John D. “The Freeman Field Mutiny: A Study in Leadership.” Research paper presented to the Research Department of the Air Command and Staff College in partial fulfillment of graduation requirements. http://www.au.af.mil/ au/awc/awcgate/acsc/97-0429.pdf (accessed July 18, 2003). Sandler, Stanley. Segregated Skies: All-Black Combat Squadrons of WWII. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992.

25th Infantry Regiment One of two African American infantry regiments in existence in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the 25th saw service in the American West, the Spanish-American War, World War II, and the Korean War.

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On July 28, 1866, Congress enacted the Army Reorganization Act, which determined the shape of the post–Civil War army. Among the provisions of the act was an edict calling for the formation of six regiments of African American soldiers. Black troops had proven their worth during the war, and the federal government saw the potential of black units to supply needed manpower for the army. Toward that end, the U.S. Army established two cavalry regiments (9th and 10th) and four infantry regiments (38th, 39th, 40th, 41st) late in 1866. Less than three years later, Congress called for a second reorganization of the army in an act passed on March 3, 1869. The four African American infantry regiments were specifically ordered to consolidate into two: the 24th and the 25th regiments. The 25th comprised the 39th (originally organized in Greenville, Louisiana, and serving in that state and Mississippi) and the 40th (organized in Washington, D.C., and stationed in Virginia and the Carolinas). Both regiments had been part of the occupation forces stationed in the South during Reconstruction. The units were moved to New Orleans and consolidated in April 1869, producing a single infantry regiment of 1,045 men (including the white officers). Col. Joseph A. Mower was the new commanding officer; under him were Lt. Col. Edward W. Hinks and Maj. Zenas R. Bliss. Companies of the regiment were stationed at various forts in Louisiana, where they performed routine garrison duties. By the end of 1869, the regiment had dwindled to around 500 effectives, as men left the regiment with the expiration of their periods of enlistment. Mower died on January 6, 1870, and was succeeded by Col. J. J. Reynolds, who was sent to command the Department of Texas the following April. In May 1870, the regiment boarded a steamer to Indianola, Texas, and marched to San Antonio. The various companies then took up posts at Fort McKavett, Fort Duncan, Fort Clark, Fort Stockton, Fort Davis, and Fort Quitman. In December 1870, Reynolds and Hinks were

succeeded by Col. John D. Stevenson and Lt. Col. George L. Andrews. In May the following year, the regiment marched into western Texas to its new headquarters at Fort Davis. The regiment was to spend ten years in Texas, building and repairing telegraph lines, military posts, and roads; contributing to the development of the Texas infrastructure; carrying out various guard and escort duties; and scouting for Native Americans who resisted the army’s efforts to keep them confined on reservations, a task that resulted in many inconsequential skirmishes. In the summer of 1876, one company of the 25th joined the 24th Infantry in Col. William R. Shafter’s expedition into Mexico; and in 1878, Company B was involved in a final expedition into Mexico. Both forays were in pursuit of Native Americans who had previously eluded capture by the U.S. Army. In April 1880, the regiment was ordered to Dakota Territory, replacing the 1st Infantry. The regiment began its move in May but was not fully established until August. Regimental headquarters was set up at Fort Randall, with additional garrisons at Forts Hale and Meade. The regiment’s primary duty was to protect settlers in the Keya Paha and Niobrara Rivers region and railroad workers completing the Northern Pacific Railway from Indian attacks. The men were also charged with the construction and repair of telegraph lines. During the 1880s and 1890s, companies of the regiment served at various posts in the Dakotas, Minnesota, and Montana. In May 1881, soldiers of the 25th were sent to the Rosebud Indian Agency because settlers along the Keya Paha and Montana Rivers feared violence during the Sun Dances, an annual summer Native American religious ritual. The infantrymen stayed at the reservation until the ritual was completed and then returned to Fort Randall without incident. Also in the spring of 1881, the regiment was involved in relief efforts for settlers along the Keya Paha River. In November 1882, most of the regiment was moved to Fort Snelling, Montana. The regimental headquarters was established there, al-

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though some companies were retained in the Dakota Territory in Forts Hale and Meade. Until 1888, there were very few events of note apart from the fact that Fort Hale was abandoned and the companies that had been garrisoned there moved to Fort Sisseton in the Dakota Territory. In the spring of 1888, the army ordered the regiment to exchange posts with the 3d Infantry, who were based in Montana Territory. The new regimental headquarters was set up at Fort Missoula with the remainder of the companies at Forts Custer and Shaw. During its stint in the Upper Great Plains, the 25th was engaged in intermittent combat with the Sioux and was later assigned the task of establishing a military cemetery at Little Bighorn, where Lt. Col. George A. Custer and his men had been massacred by a coalition of Native Americans in 1876. During 1890–1891, elements of the regiment were involved in the Pine Ridge Campaign. Four companies of the 25th were sent to Fort Keogh as reserves but did not see action. In the summer of 1891, Fort Shaw was abandoned, and the garrison was established at Fort Buford in North Dakota. Early in 1892, trouble erupted in the mining town of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, between mine owners and the unions. Three companies of the 25th were dispatched to Coeur d’Alene in July of that year. The men were deployed to control the violence, guard the railroads, escort mediators, and carry out arrests. In 1893 and 1894, the 25th was deployed in a similar role when labor disputes threatened the Northern Pacific Railroad. Between July and August, various detachments of the regiment guarded railroad property against strikers. The regiment remained in Montana and North Dakota until the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, although the companies posted at Fort Buford moved to Fort Assiniboine in Montana in 1895, and those at Fort Custer moved to Fort Harrison in 1897. An unusual aspect of the 25th’s history was its experiment with bicycles at Fort Missoula. In

July 1896, eight selected volunteers, led by Lt. James Moss, began training according to a newly written drill manual to learn how to ride their bicycles in formation and carry out maneuvers. The bicycles were designed to carry a 70-pound load, including two day’s rations. After a month of training, the volunteers underwent a rigorous practice run, bicycling from Fort Missoula to Lake McDonald, a journey of nearly 130 miles. On August 19, the bicycle corps left Fort Missoula and headed over the Rocky Mountains to Fort Harrison, averaging around 6 miles per hour. They arrived at Fort Harrison eight days later. On September 1, they headed back to Fort Missoula, arriving there on September 8, having traveled nearly 800 miles in just under 130 hours of riding. The following summer, another field exercise was organized, this time with twenty men. The destination was far more ambitious: Moss intended to cycle all the way to St. Louis, nearly 2,000 miles east. The volunteers managed to cover just over 50 miles a day and made the whole trip in forty days. (They made the return trip by train.) Although Moss was positive in his report, he estimated that the men had pushed their bicycles for at least 300 miles. The army decided in the end that the bicycle corps experiment, which the army had originally predicted would lead to 50,000 men on bicycles, was not worth adopting, deciding instead to investigate another recent invention—the automobile. In April 1898, shortly after the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, the 25th was transferred to Florida and then deployed to Cuba. The men of the regiment fought as part of the Fifth Army Corps, assaulting San Juan Hill and Santiago in July 1898. The Battle of San Juan Hill marked the first time that all four African American regiments of the regular army served together, and all four performed admirably. The force that assaulted San Juan Hill was a mixture of regular and volunteer troops. After years in the American West, the 25th—along with the 9th, 10th, and 24th—was one of the more experienced units on the field. In the haphazard bat-

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tle that followed, all four regiments earned the respect of their white colleagues and praise from the American public for their gallantry under fire. In the United States, the Buffalo Soldiers became popular heroes in the weeks following the battle, serving as the inspiration for books, songs, and plays about both their conduct during the war and their duties on the western frontier. After the war, the 25th returned to the United States and was briefly stationed in Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. By the end of 1899, it was on its way to another overseas assignment, this time in the Philippines, where it enhanced an impressive record by helping to suppress the rebellions there against the islands’ occupation by U.S. forces following the defeat of the Spanish. The regiment returned to the United States in 1902 and held a variety of assignments in Nebraska, Oklahoma, Hawaii, and Arizona. In World War II, as part of the 93d Division, the regiment was assigned to the Pacific Theater and saw action in New Guinea, the Northern Solomons, and the Bismarck Archipelago. The regiment served briefly in the Korean War but was officially deactivated when the army phased out segregated units in the early 1950s. See also Buffalo Soldiers; Buffalo Soldiers Postings (appendix); Spanish-American War References and Further Reading Andrews, George. “The Twenty-fifth Regiment of Infantry.” In Rodenbough, Theophilus Francis, and William L. Haskin, eds. The Army of the United States with Historical Sketches of Staff and Line with Portraits of Generals-in-Chief. New York: Maynard, Merrill, 1896. http://www. army.mil/cmh-pg/books/R&H/R&H-25IN.htm (accessed August 13, 2003). Fowler, Arlen L. The Black Infantry in the West, 1869–1891. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1971. Nankivell, John H. The History of the Twenty-fifth Regiment United States Infantry, 1869–1926. Ft. Collins, CO: Old Army Press, 1972.

24th Infantry Regiment One of two all–African American regiments in the U.S. Army during the second half of the nineteenth century, the 24th spent most of its early career in the American West before fighting in the Spanish-American War and World War II. The regiment is best remembered for its role in the Korean War, however, where its controversial performance fueled the debate over desegregation of the armed forces. On July 28, 1866, the federal government passed the Army Reorganization Act, which provided a framework for the army following the massive changes the institution underwent during the Civil War. The act also specifically called for the formation of six all–African American regiments to be permanently established within the army: two cavalry units (9th and 10th) and four infantry units (38th, 39th, 40th, and 41st). In March 1869, Congress again ordered a reorganization of the army, mandating among other things that these four infantry units should be amalgamated into just two regiments. The 24th was created by combining the 38th and the 41st. The 38th had been organized at St. Louis, Missouri, in late 1866, and early in 1867 was assigned to protect railroad workers in Kansas, where the unit saw some action when it was attacked by Cheyenne while posted at Fort Wallace. The 41st was sent almost immediately after its organization to the Rio Grande with its headquarters at Fort McKavett, Texas. Both regiments spent the majority of their time carrying out routine garrison duties and assisting in the construction of roads and telegraph lines. In April 1869, the 38th and 41st were combined to form the 24th Infantry Regiment. The new unit was assigned to northwest Texas with their regimental headquarters at Fort McKavett with troops posted at Forts Brown, Clark, Duncan, and Ringgold after the spring of 1872. They stayed at this location for eleven years, charged with protecting over 300 miles of frontier. During this period, the men engaged in sev-

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eral small skirmishes with the region’s Native American groups, which U.S. forces were attempting to either confine to reservations or force to adopt Western ways and live in accord with white settlers. In 1875 the regiment, led by Lt. Col. William Shafter, embarked on a major campaign against the Comanche, who had consistently challenged U.S. authority in the region. In addition to the 24th, the campaign also included elements of the 10th Cavalry, one company of the 25th, and several Native American scouts. The force spent five months in the field, chasing Comanche and destroying their villages, with the bulk of the command returning to Fort Duncan in November. Companies D and F accompanied Shafter across the Rio Grande in the spring of 1876 to pursue Kickapoo and Lipan Native Americans, who had proven nearly as recalcitrant as the Comanche. In the summer of 1876, portions of the 24th participated in Shafter’s larger expedition into Mexico that included elements of the 8th and 10th Cavalry and the 25th Infantry. The infantry’s role was that of guarding the railroad over the Rio Grande. In 1878 the 24th reoccupied Forts Conchu, Davis, and Stockton and from here four companies were involved in the campaign against Victorio, an Apache war chief who had embarked on a series of raids in Texas and northern Mexico in protest of the poor conditions on the San Carlos Reservation. The companies of the 24th involved in the campaign served as camp and supply train guards. During this period, one platoon from the regiment was temporarily assigned to the 2d artillery and trained in the use of Gatling guns, a recent invention that was the forerunner of machine guns. The Buffalo Soldiers never used the weapons in combat, however. In the latter stages of 1880 the regiment moved from Texas to the Indian Territory, where the regimental headquarters was established at Fort Supply. The majority of the regiment occupied Forts Reno and Sill, with one company at Fort Elliott, Texas. Here the 24th fought numerous skirmishes with Apache, Cheyenne, Co-

manche, and Kiowa, all of whom had grievances with the U.S. government regarding conditions on the reservations. Tensions between the Americans and the Indians only increased during the 1880s, when white settlers began to illegally move into Indian Territory, land that the U.S. government had assured the Native Americans would be theirs for all time. U.S. Army troops were typically caught in the middle of these two forces, seeking to restrain the Indians from committing acts of violence against the settlers and trying to prevent the settlers from becoming established in the region. Although skirmishes were common, the period was one of relative peace for the 24th. In the spring of 1888, the regiment was reassigned to Fort Bayard, New Mexico, and several Arizona forts (Apache, Bowie, Grant, Huachuca, and San Carlos). They spent another eight years of fairly calm garrison life in this area, mainly being occupied with escort duties. In 1896 the regiment was transferred to Fort Douglas, near Salt Lake City, Utah, but local authorities petitioned Washington to have the 24th reassigned elsewhere, not wanting African American soldiers in the area. Nevertheless, the regiment stayed until April 1898, when they were sent to Cuba during the Spanish-American War. By that time, the local community had come to accept the blacks troops, and all of the shops closed in Salt Lake City as the population turned out to wish the 24th well in the war. In Cuba for the Battle of San Juan Hill and the attack on Santiago, the 24th served with all three of the other African American regiments for the first time. With more experience than the volunteer regiments that accompanied the regular army on the campaign, all of the African American regiments performed well in the Spanish-American War, earning praise from their comrades in arms and from the American public. After the war ended in Cuba, the 24th was sent to the Philippines to deal with an insurrection against U.S. authority there before returning to the United States. For the next several decades, the 24th enjoyed a fairly peaceful period of U.S. history,

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and the men were posted to a number of stations around the West. One company, Company L, served for three years in Skagway, Alaska, to maintain law and order during the Yukon Gold Rush. The regiment remained in the United States during World War I, as did the other African American units of the regular army. The 24th saw little action during World War II, but it was part of the occupation force stationed in Japan at the close of the conflict. It was during the early stages of the Korean War, though, that the 24th came under close scrutiny by both U.S. military authorities and the American public as controversy raged over the federal government’s committed stance to desegregate the armed forces. The performance of the regiment in Korea remains to this day the subject of fierce debate. In the immediate aftermath of World War II, the regiment found itself based at Gifu as part of the occupation force in Japan. The Eighth Army, of which it was a part, languished in Japan, enjoying a comparatively peaceful existence, during which time alcoholism and drug abuse became endemic among all the troops, black or white. Despite this general tendency, the 24th not only had a good military reputation in terms of drilling and such issues, but the men were also well known for their sporting abilities. As with other all-black units, leadership remained a problem for the 24th. Only a handful of the regiment’s officers were African American, and many white officers assigned to the regiment believed that they had been transferred there as a punishment for past mistakes. The tension between white and black officers and between white officers and black enlisted men was not more exacerbated than in any other African American unit, though. In early July 1950, the regiment was given orders to embark for Korea, and like the majority of the Eighth Army, it was poorly trained, badly equipped, and distinctly lacking in experience. Segregation had only served to heighten these problems. The first African American unit to be sent to Korea, it was widely believed that the 24th would never be committed into combat. In-

deed it is said that one of the African American chaplains had actually suggested that the 24th should not fight a “white war.” As it turned out, the 24th was possibly more ready than any of the other regiments in its division, as it had three full-strength battalions, whereas the majority of the regiments in the division had only two. In terms of equipment, the regiment was still using worn World War II materials, yet the 3d Battalion, when it was committed into action at Yechon on July 20, 1950, participated in the first military success for the allied forces in the war. By late July, the regiment was stationed near the town of Sangju and from the outset began to suffer a series of reversals. Initially at least, the competence or courage of the men and their officers was not questioned. However, such was the nature of the war and of the habits into which most of the division had fallen that the regiment often withdrew at the first sound of gunfire. This was not a wholesale condition; several of the smaller units within the regiment were perfectly prepared to stay at their posts and suffered high casualties as a result. Rumors began to spread about the regiment, claiming that they had abandoned a wounded white officer on the battlefield. As a result, other units were reluctant to work alongside the 24th. It became a common belief that the African Americans were afraid of the dark, that they did not dig foxholes, and that they lacked the intelligence to clean their weapons. Between August and September around the Pusan perimeter, with the 24th now west of Masan, casualties were becoming critical, and in several cases a company would lose up to five commanders in a month. The men who were being shipped in to replace the enlisted killed or wounded were basically raw recruits. The quality of the noncommissioned officers had also fallen, and as a result, not only did the self-confidence of the regiment begin to fail, but it also lost most of its ability to fight effectively. Some of the new recruits could not even load or fire their rifles. Despite these growing problems, the 24th held its part of the line. There were numerous examples of elements of the regiment

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showing great courage and fortitude, as during the struggle for Battle Mountain, when Company C was decimated. But the regiment’s capable performance did little to dispel the accusations floating around the Eighth Army that African Americans made poor soldiers, a view that received confirmation when the divisional commander Maj. Gen. William B. Kean suggested that the 24th’s ineptitude could cost the allies the entire war. In such an atmosphere, racial tensions mounted dramatically and morale, particularly among the men of the 24th, plummeted. Even more damaging was the impact of these reports about the 24th, many of them unsubstantiated, back in the United States where the effort to desegregate the army was in full swing. Both sides touted the poor example of the 24th as supporting evidence for their cause. Those wishing to keep the army segregated argued that blacks’ abysmal behavior during conduct illustrated their general inability to be good soldiers, which would hinder the military effectiveness of any unit of which they were a part. Those urging desegregation countered that the problems of the 24th highlighted inequalities in training and leadership for black soldiers that would ultimately undermine military effectiveness but would be eradicated if all units were fully integrated. Despite the heat with which this controversy raged, efforts to desegregate the army moved forward, slowly under Supreme Allied Commander Douglas MacArthur but with greater speed under his successor, Omar Bradley. On September 1, the regiment was stationed south of Haman when a large enemy attack punched through the 2d Battalion. South Korean troops supporting the regiment fled, and as the enemy tore into the rear areas, only Companies E and G held, while Company F managed to extricate itself by fleeing to the north. Effectively the 2d Battalion ceased to exist as a fighting unit on that day. The new regimental commander, Col. Arthur J. Champeny, had only recently taken over and had approved the tactical positions of the 2d Battalion. He was not

well loved by the regiment and had an extremely low opinion of African American soldiers. In the immediate aftermath of this debacle, Kean made a recommendation to the Eighth Army that the 24th, and all other African American regiments, be immediately disbanded. As a result, the army ordered a series of interviews with African American and white officers in the regiment, which ultimately pointed to leadership failures and tactical incompetence as the reasons behind the regiment’s poor performance. It was decided that the 24th should be disbanded, but the critical situation in Korea delayed this move, compelling military authorities to keep the regiment in the field despite serious concerns over its fitness for duty. Champeny was replaced by Col. John T. Corley, who instituted a number of court martial hearings, one of which led to a death sentence against an African American lieutenant in the regiment. Meanwhile, the 24th was still expected to function, relying very heavily on a hard core of experienced enlisted men to supplement the increasing numbers of recruits. New white officers were also posted to the regiment, many of whom had been veterans of World War II. When U.S. forces landed at Inchon on September 15, 1950, the 24th took part in the breakout from Pusan and fought through to Seoul. By late November, the regiment was north of Kunu-Ri, near the Chinese border, when the Chinese counterattacked, but the regiment managed to inflict a large number of casualties on the enemy. Companies E and G held off the Chinese before slipping through the lines held by the 9th Infantry. In the west, the 1st Battalion lost Company C when it was surrounded and forced to surrender. The 3d Battalion, having been reconstituted, managed to withdraw in reasonably good order. The battalion was holding a position, unaware that the rest of the regiment had already retreated, when the enemy attacked and the battalion again collapsed. Still the regiment was not disbanded and returned to the combat zone in February 1951. Its performance on the Han River crossing in March was exemplary. However, its attack

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General of the Army Douglas MacArthur inspecting troops of the 24th Infantry on his arrival at Kimpo airfield for a tour of the battlefront, February 21, 1951. (National Archives)

across the Hant’an in the following month was another debacle, with the 3d Battalion collapsing once again. This time, the divisional commander had had enough of the regiment and was determined to monitor their performance more closely. The regiment performed well during the retreat prompted by the Chinese Spring Offensive and showed competence when the Eighth Army launched counterattacks in May and June. In August Col. Thomas D. Gillis took over command of the 24th at a time when the regiment was holding one of the weakest parts of the line. He had been warned of the 24th’s reputation by the divisional commander, and within days of having taken over he relieved a

number of officers of their commands. Gillis was soon to realize that not all that he had been told of the regiment was strictly true. He was delighted when the 2d Battalion’s Company F made a spirited bayonet and grenade attack on September 15, but this was the last chance for glory for the regiment. On October 1, the 14th Regiment replaced the 24th in the line, and the eighty-two-year-old, all–African American regiment effectively ceased to exist. Had it remained in Korea, it would have become an integrated unit, probably switching personnel with the white 34th Regiment.

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See also Desegregation of Armed Forces (appendix); Korean War

2 9 t h C o n n e c t i c u t Vo l u n t e e r I n f a n t r y

References and Further Reading Bowers, William T., William M. Hammond, and George L. MacGarrigle. Black Soldier, White Army: The 24th Infantry in Korea. Washington, DC: United States Army Center of Military History, 1966. Bussey, Charles M. Firefight at Yechon: Courage and Racism in the Korean War. Washington, DC: Brassey’s, 1991. MacGregor, Morris J., Jr. Integration of the Armed Forces, 1940–1965. Washington, DC: United States Army Center of Military History, 1981.

29th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry (Civil War) The 29th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, an African American regiment that served in the Union Army during 1864–1865, was organized at Fair Haven and mustered on March 8, 1864. On March 19, the regiment marched for Annapolis, Maryland, and then to Beaufort, South Carolina, in early April where it served duty until August 8. For its initial months of service, the 29th Connecticut was attached to the 1st Brigade, 3d Division of the X Army Corps (Army of the James). Then in December it was transferred to the 2d Brigade, 3d Division, XXV Corps until January 1865 when it became part of the 1st Division. In May 1865 the regiment was transferred to the XXII Corps and then finally to the 2d Brigade, 1st Division of the XXV Army Corps (Department of Texas) until October 1865. The regiment was mustered out on October 24, 1865, and after a two-week stay in New Orleans was honorably discharged at New Haven, Connecticut, on November 25, 1865. The regiment first saw action during the Battle of the Crater (July 30, 1964), outside Petersburg, Virginia, where the men fought with great verve and gallantry. They participated in siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond

The 29th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry Regiment at Beaufort, South Carolina, where it was quartered from April to August 1864. The unit saw action at a number of battles in Virginia in the last year of the Civil War. (Library of Congress)

between August 13, 1864, and April 2, 1865, and occupied the Confederate capital on April 3. The regiment saw action at New Market Heights and Fort Harrison (September 28–29), Chaffin’s Farm (September 29–30), Darbytown Road (October 13), and the battle of Fair Oaks (October 27–28). One officer and 44 enlisted men were lost in combat and 153 men died from disease during the period of service. Lloyd G. Seymour, a member of the regiment, felt so positive about the experience of the 29th Connecticut during the war that on August 14, 1865, he wrote to Connecticut Governor William A. Buckingham to ask that an African American company become a permanent part of the state militia. References and Further Reading Connecticut. Adjutant General’s Office. Catalogue of Connecticut Volunteer Organizations in the Service of the United States, 1861–1865 and Brief Summaries, Showing the Operations and Service of the Several Regiments and Batteries. Hartford, CT: Brown and Gross, 1869.

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Croffut, W. A., and John M. Morris. The Military and Civil History of Connecticut during the War of 1861–65, Comprising a Detailed Account of the Various Regiments and Batteries, through March, Encampment, Bivouac, and Battle; Also Instances of Distinguished Personal Gallantry, and Biographical Sketches of Many Heroic Soldiers; Together With a Record of the Patriotic Action of Citizens at Home, and of the Liberal Support Furnished by the State in Its Executive and Legislative Departments. 3d ed. New York: Ledyard Bill, 1869. Jones, Mark. “From the Connecticut State Archives: Voices from the Past.” http://www.cslib.org/ connector/0701/voices.htm (accessed July 19, 2003).

23d Kansas Volunteer Infantry This unit was one of the three African American regiments sent to garrison Cuba after the surrender of Spanish forces in Santiago on July 4, 1898, the only one that was completely African American. The regiment was raised initially as a voteseeking exercise by Kansas governor John W. Leedy, but it was strongly supported by African American newspapers. It was formed in July 1898 at Camp Leedy in Topeka; the eight companies were all African American, including the officers and commanding officer, Lt. Col. James Beck. After training, the regiment left from New York (August 25), arriving in Santiago (August 31) before entraining to San Luis, arriving there on September 1. Cuba was occupied by Spanish and Cuban guerrillas as well as American troops, and the three settled down to an uneasy peace. The American occupation zone was commanded by Brig. Gen. Leonard Wood, who set up a series of programs to improve the conditions of the island, whose infrastructure had suffered greatly during the war. Along with the other two African American regiments, the 8th Illinois and the

9th from Louisiana, they guarded 5,000 Spanish prisoners awaiting repatriation. Meanwhile, the prisoners were used for repair work and construction projects. Despite the paucity of official records, a diary and letters written by Lt. William B. Roberts of the 23d give fascinating insights into the life of the unit throughout the occupation. Writing from San Luis, he made it clear that the relationships among the three African American regiments were good, the main problems arising from the threat of disease. The troops were barracked around the old Spanish prison in San Luis, and only once did they face a serious prospect of battle. A month or so after the arrival of the 23d, some 1,500 Spanish troops were discovered in the hills surrounding the town. The 2,000 African American soldiers were poised to march out to confront them. In the event the Spanish surrendered. After some disputes and problems with the local Cubans, arising out of the theft of a pig by drunken soldiers of the 9th, all three regiments were moved further away from San Luis. The 23d remained in the area until February 28, 1899, when it was ordered to entrain for Santiago. The regiment then boarded the steamer Minnewaska, bound for Newport, Virginia. The 23d left Cuba for good on March 1, 1899, arriving stateside on March 5. The regiment proceeded by train to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, reaching there on March 10. Just a month later, on April 10, 1899, the 23d was mustered out. The Kansas adjutant general was pleased to report in his conclusion of the official history of the 23d that the regiment had responded well to training and was well disciplined. He praised both the officers and enlisted men, referring to commendations from Brigadier General Wood and other senior officers. Only fourteen men had died during the occupation of Cuba; ten from disease in Cuba, two of disease in the United States, one in a railroad accident, and one stabbed to death en route to Kansas.

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References and Further Reading Coston, William Hilary. The Spanish-American War Volunteer. 1899. Reprint, New York: Books for Libraries, 1971. Fletcher, Marvin E. The Black Soldier and Officer in the United States Army, 1891–1917. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1974. ———. “The Black Volunteers in the SpanishAmerican War.” Military Affairs 38 (April 1974): 48–53. Lovett, Christopher C. “‘To Serve Faithfully’: The Twenty-Third Kansas Volunteers and the Spanish-American War.” Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains 21 (Winter 1998–1999).

Tye, Colonel (Titus) (1753–1780?) Colonel Tye was a legendary African American British loyalist. A runaway slave, he became a guerrilla leader during the Revolutionary War, with the honorary title of colonel, although he was never commissioned in the British army. Titus was owned by John Corlies from Shrewsbury (Monmouth County, New Jersey) and was around twenty-two years old in 1775. For the most part, the Quaker families of the area (of which the Corlies were one) had begun to free their slaves in the 1760s. Unlike other families, the Corlies did not follow the normal practice of granting freedom once their slaves had reached the age of twenty-one. The Corlies were thus one of the last slave-owning families in the region. On June 8, 1775, Lord Dunmore (John Murray), the royal governor of Virginia had fled Williamsburg following rebel protests after he seized the gunpowder being stored in the city’s magazine. On November 7, 1775, he issued a proclamation that not only declared martial law, but also offered indentured servants and African American slaves freedom if they joined His Majesty’s armed forces.

Coincidentally, the day after Dunmore’s Proclamation was issued, Titus fled from his master and presented himself to the British. He assumed the adopted name of Tye and joined the Ethiopian regiment. Here he quickly found respect and probably first saw action at the battle of Monmouth, during which he captured a rebel militia captain. Swiftly, he rose in the unofficial ranks and became known as Colonel Tye, and in July 1779 he executed a daring raid on Shrewsbury. This raid was the first of many on rebel homes in the Monmouth area, Tye being able to make use of his intimate knowledge of the region to strike and disappear without trace. He led a mixed band of African Americans and whites, all refugees and runaways, paid by the British to destabilize the region. Tye was also part of the group of loyalists known as the Black Brigade who, in operations with the Queen’s Rangers (another Britishbacked guerrilla unit), helped protect New York during the winter of 1779. The twenty-four African Americans of the Black Brigade were also involved in raids on rebel sympathizers during that winter. In 1780, Colonel Tye, as he had by now become known, led a series of three actions into Monmouth County. The events in June seem to have taken place around the middle of the month, as on June 12 Tye led an attack on Barnes Smock, a leader of rebel militia in the area. Smock was captured along with twelve of his supporters, and their artillery was destroyed. Three days before, Tye had struck at Joseph Murray, a hated rebel leader who had been associated with the summary execution of loyalists. Tye killed the vigilante before moving on. The New Jersey governor, William Livingston, invoked martial law, which only served to convince hundreds more African Americans to flee to British-held New York. Tye’s raids continued throughout the summer, aimed at demoralizing the rebels and depriving them of arms and manpower to resist the British. Tye’s tactics were so effective that most of the raids were successfully completed without the loss of any of his men. In Septem-

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ber 1780, Tye led another attack on a prominent local rebel leader, Capt. Josiah Huddy. Huddy held off Tye’s raiders for an hour or two, until Tye fired his home. During the short siege, Tye received a musket wound in the wrist, and tetanus and lockjaw set in some two days later, leading to death. Tye’s command was taken over by the former Black Pioneer Col. Stephen Blucke. Blucke successfully led the men throughout the rest of

the war, and they were still operating after the British surrender at Yorktown. See also American Revolution; Dunmore Proclamation References and Further Reading Wilson, Ellen Gibson. The Loyal Blacks. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1976.

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u Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad is the name given the legendary means of escape for runaway slaves that operated before the American Civil War. It provided a means by which able-bodied male African Americans could escape to the North, many of them ultimately to fill the ranks of the African American regiments raised during the Civil War. The Underground Railroad can actually trace its history back to the very beginnings of slavery in North America, although the name is more closely associated with the peak of its activities, commonly held to be between 1830 and 1865. The railroad was neither related to locomotives, nor was it underground. It was rather a cooperative network of abolitionists, sympathizers, and former slaves, all intent on facilitating escape from the South to the Northern states or Canada. There were also routes that took fugitives to Mexico and the West Indies. The railroad was not formally organized; the majority of the work was carried out by religious groups and a variety of individuals from different ethnic backgrounds. It is almost impossible to estimate the number of fugitives who were helped by the railroad, but the figures must be in the tens of thousands. Slaves arrived in North America in the early 1600s, and it is widely held that the first Afri-

cans arrived as indentured servants at the British colony of Jamestown in 1619. By the mid-1600s, slavery was widespread across New England and the other British colonies, and in 1755 all thirteen colonies had slaves. But it was only in 1793, with the passing of the first Fugitive Slave Act and the invention of the cotton gin, that the need for slave labor in the South rose dramatically and the controls over the institution became more formalized. Cotton production in the South rose from 13,000 bales in 1792 to 5,000,000 in 1860. Slaves were also needed for the other vital cash crops, including tobacco, sugar, rice, and indigo. In the period 1790 to 1860 the slave population rose from 700,000 to 4 million. Despite this trend, there was always opposition to the institution of slavery, and in the early nineteenth century an abolitionist movement grew strong, calling for emancipation and equal rights for African Americans. Free African Americans and Quakers formed the American Anti-Slavery Society and the New England AntiSlavery Society. Churches such as the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and the Abyssinian Baptist Church, formed by African Americans moving away from white-dominated churches, also became prominent in the cause of abolition. In another approach to gaining freedom for slaves, the 1820s saw the establishment of two

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colonies in Africa, Sierra Leone and Liberia; the American Colonization Society organized the transportation of at least 12,000 African Americans to Africa and other places outside of the United States. Prominent African Americans also helped to relocate at least 3,000 African Americans to Africa, the Western Territories, and Canada. However laudable these attempts were, they did nothing to undermine the basic existence of slavery and provided no organized assistance for African American slaves who chose to flee from their masters. Isolated examples of organized assistance to escaping slaves occurred as early as 1786, when Philadelphia Quakers assisted runaways from Virginia. In 1787 a Quaker named Isaac T. Hopper operated in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, hiding and helping fugitives. By 1831 many of these disparate groups had linked up, albeit informally, and a Kentucky runaway, Tice Davids, is credited with having coined the term “underground road,” when he was hidden by a prominent abolitionist, John Rankin, in Ripley, Ohio. Each successful escape spawned more runaways, despite the fact that the only evidence of success visible to their fellow slaves was the fact that they had not been returned to their masters in chains. The Underground Railroad ran its clandestine operations relying on codes related to railroad jargon, referring to the fugitives as passengers and those who helped them as conductors. James Fairfield, a prominent member of the group and a white abolitionist, traveled into the South and posed as a slave trader in order to free as many people as possible. By 1849 the group was beginning to include prominent African Americans. In that year Harriet Tubman escaped from Maryland, and she later made almost twenty sorties into the South and freed 300 slaves (including many members of her family and friends). Some of those involved were even more successful, such as John Parker, who, after he had bought his own freedom and become a successful businessman, made frequent boat trips to Kentucky and Virginia to collect runaways from the Ohio River. It

has been estimated that he organized the escape of at least 900 individuals. Equally important, three African American abolitionists in the North, William Still, Robert Purvis, and David Ruggles, set up vigilance committees to organize transportation and shelter. The vast majority of those who escaped were men, largely because they could better endure the physical hardships involved and because it was more usual for male slaves to travel than for women and children. Once one family member had reached freedom, he would attempt to raise funds to buy his family or to organize their escape. Former “passengers” on the railroad included such prominent African Americans as Frederick Douglass. The Southern states deployed slave catchers, and the slaves’ masters themselves swept the area for their lost property. It was therefore necessary for the slaves and their conductors to travel at night and rest during the day. Food and clothing was always a problem, and it was difficult to trust anyone outside of the immediate group for fear that even slaves would turn the fugitives over to the authorities. At the very least, runaways would suffer physical violence, and in many cases males in particular would be lynched and their bodies hung on their master’s plantation as a warning to those who might wish to follow in their footsteps. For the first part of the journey the fugitives were often on their own, as the network tended not to extend deep into the South, and it was only in the Border States and the North that they could expect help from the Underground Railroad. The North Star was the beacon to follow, as it would inevitably take the slave away from the South. They had to travel through wilderness areas, avoiding the main roads, although much later it was possible, with more covert help, to travel by railroad or boat. One of the other major problems was that the fugitives must not look like slaves, which was a challenge, since the fugitives were rarely well clothed. Elaborate disguises were used, sometimes involving the theft of clothing from their masters; women dressed as men, men dressed

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Slavecatchers invading a barn that served as a station on the Underground Railroad. The illustration comes from the classic 1872 work Underground Railroad by the African American abolitionist William Still. (Library of Congress)

as women, and fairer skinned African Americans posing as whites. Frederick Douglass disguised himself as a sailor to escape to New York, and Henry “Box” Brown had himself nailed into a shipping crate and transported by train from Richmond to Philadelphia. Once the fugitives reached a member of the Underground Railroad, they were normally passed from station to station, the stations being located between 10 and 30 miles apart. Candles or lanterns were placed in the buildings at night to light the way, and once the fugitives arrived, they would be hidden in cellars, attics, concealed rooms, caves, and even swamps. By the 1840s there was widespread antislavery feeling in the North; the numbers of runaways had increased, and the abolitionists had become more vocal and visible. In 1850 the U.S. Congress passed a stricter version of the

Fugitive Slave Act, effectively ordering federal officials to assist in the capture of runaways; the Northern states could no longer be considered a safe haven for the fugitives. This new law led to widespread kidnapping: slave catchers from the South would take African Americans, regardless of their status, and sell them as slaves in the South. The Underground Railroad had to extend its operations into Canada and similarly, in the South, into Mexico and the West Indies. By the late 1850s the differences of opinion regarding slavery threatened to tear the nation apart. The Underground Railroad continued to provide assistance and a safe haven for fugitives, and in certain areas, by the end of the decade, plantations were virtually deserted. The Underground Railroad’s operations did not cease in 1861 when the American Civil War broke out, but if anything continued with more intensity and purpose. Many of the men who

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served in the United States Colored Troops were former runaway slaves. Upon reaching the North, under the terms of new laws and conditions established in Washington, they were free men; in the South they were considered initially as contraband, in effect meaning that they were property valuable to the Confederate war effort. Nevertheless, many of these men were keen to return to the South as armed troops and contribute toward the North’s war against their former masters. Thus the Underground Railroad made a significant contribution to bringing African Americans into the Union army. See also American Civil War; Douglass, Frederick; Emancipation Proclamation; Thirteenth Amendment; Tubman, Harriet; United States Colored Troops (appendixes) References and Further Reading Bradford, Sarah E. Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman.1869. Reprint, Salem, NH: Ayer, 1992. Fradin, Dennis Brindell. Bound for the North Star: True Stories of Fugitive Slaves. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. Parker, John P., and Stuart Seely Sprague. His Promised Land: The Autobiography of John P. Parker, Former Slave and Conductor on the Underground Railroad. New York: W. W. Norton, 1996. Ripley, C. Peter, Brenda E. Stevenson, and Larry Gara. Underground Railroad Handbook. Washington, DC: National Park Service, 1998. Still, William. The Underground Railroad. Chicago: Johnson Publishing, 1870.

U.S. Air Force The U.S. Air Force, like other branches of the armed forces, was both slow and reluctant to admit African Americans to its ranks. Nevertheless, once the process of change had begun, it became an unstoppable force, and by the end of the twentieth century, African Americans were at the heart of the service.

Prior to World War I, there was not only a complete lack of opportunity for African Americans to become aviators in their country’s armed forces but very little opportunity for anyone to do so; the U.S. Army had only recently established its “Air Service.” Perhaps the first African American to seek a connection with what later became the United States Air Force was a maverick named Eugene Jacques Bullard. Bullard had joined the French Foreign Legion in 1914. He was wounded twice after transferring to a regular French Army unit and then decided to transfer his talents to the French Air Force. He joined a pursuit squadron in May 1917, and on November 7 he shot down a German aircraft, receiving credit for his first confirmed “kill.” He offered his services to the U.S. Army on several occasions, but each time it turned him down, as the army did not accept African American pilots in the air service. The U.S. Army continued to refuse African American pilots until the Tuskegee Institute and several other training facilities around the country had successfully trained African Americans to fly and service aircraft. The government-sponsored Civilian Pilot Training Program began at the Tuskegee Institute in 1939, graduated its first students in May 1940, but it would still be several months before African Americans were finally allowed to fly for their country, despite demonstrated successes in the civilian sector. As part of a series of announcements by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in September 1940, African Americans were informed that it was the intention of the U.S. Army to allow them to join the Air Corps. At the beginning of 1941, thirty-three African Americans made the trip from Maxwell Field, Alabama, Fort Devens, Massachusetts, and Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. They were to begin a five-week aviation course under Capt. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. (an African American West Point graduate) and Capt. Noel Parrish. After successful completion, they attended an advanced course lasting thirty weeks to learn aerobatic skills and

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Address of welcome in August 1941 to Army Air Corps cadets in front of the Booker T. Washington Monument on the grounds of the Tuskegee Institute, of which Washington had been the first president. (National Archives)

hone their gunnery abilities. These men formed the nucleus of the 99th Pursuit Squadron, a fighter squadron that became the most famous of the units manned by those who came to be known as the Tuskegee Airmen. Elsewhere, other African American pilots had to wait somewhat longer. In May 1943, at Selfridge Field, Michigan, under the direction of Col. Robert R. Selway Jr., African Americans began training as bomber crews. By July 1944 Mather Field in California and Hondo Army Airfield, Texas, were training upwards of 100 African Americans as navigators and gunners. The 99th Fighter Squadron was declared ready for combat in September 1942 and was deployed to Morocco in April 1943. Even though this move lessened the distance between the men and the front, there was no immediate intention to commit them to battle. They became part of the 33d Fighter Group of the 12th

Air Force. One of the first combat missions took place on June 2, 1943, when the squadron claimed its first enemy kill. Nonetheless, later in the month the 99th was transferred to the 324th Fighter Group and began to fly escort missions between Tunisia and Sicily. Generally, however, the U.S. Army was still determined not to use African American fighter crews extensively. The commander of the 33d Fighter Group, William M. Momyer, had not helped the issue when he complained about the 99th Squadron to Maj. Gen. Edwin J. House (12th Air Support Command Headquarters). He had not only accused the squadron of not being aggressive, but claimed that it lacked discipline. He also criticized on Col. Benjamin O. Davis Jr., the squadron’s commander, for asking that the men be given a three-day break. Momyer found this request inconceivable, as the squadron had not flown the average seventy

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Fliers of a P-51 Mustang Group of the 15th Air Force in Italy relax in the shadow of one of their Mustangs, August 1944. Left to right: Lt. Dempsey W. Morgan Jr., Lt. Carroll S. Woods, Lt. Robert H. Nelson Jr., Capt. Andrew D. Turner, and Lt. Clarence P. Lester. (National Archives)

missions that most of the white pilots in the same fighter group had flown over the preceding nine months. House agreed with Momyer and recommended that the squadron be reassigned to the Northwest African Coastal Air Force. When the suggestion reached the desk of Gen. Henry “Hap” Arnold (commanding general, Army Air Forces), he sought and received Roosevelt’s approval, and the 99th was removed from combat. The squadron’s commander, Davis, was shortly afterwards recalled to the United States to train the 332d Fighter Group. Later, defending the 99th, as well as his own request for a brief period of respite, Davis told the Advisory

Committee on Negro Troop Policies that the P-40s were not ideally suited to air-to-air combat and that his men had been in action solidly for two months and were down to twenty-six pilots instead of the average thirty-five in the corresponding white units in the fighter group. The advisory committee suspended Arnold’s decision to withdraw the 99th and, now under the leadership of Maj. George “Spanky” Roberts, an African American, the squadron was committed to combat over Anzio in January 1944. It protected the invasion force, shooting down at least twelve German aircraft. The unit was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation, and its success prompted the War Department to commit the

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all–African American 332d Fighter Group overseas. Meanwhile the U.S. Army had decided to press ahead with the creation of an African American medium bombardment group, the 477th, also largely as a result of the 99th’s performance. The 99th joined the 100th, 301st, and 302d in the newly created 332d Fighter Group, and by the end of the war the 332d had carved itself a considerable reputation. Not only did the flyers of the fighter group never lose a bomber that they had been assigned to escort on raids into Germany, but they also completed 15,000 sorties and 500 dive bombing and strafing missions. Despite this success, it was not all plain sailing from this point on as far as African American aviators were concerned. Serious incidents threatened the whole process of accepting African Americans as pilots. The first involved the 477th Bombardment Group, in training at Selfridge Field, Michigan. On January 1, 1944, three of the 477th’s black officers were told by Col. William L. Boyd, Selfridge’s base commander, that they were not to use the officers’ club, despite army regulations to the contrary. Boyd was reprimanded, however, and the 477th was transferred to Godman Field, Kentucky. The white officers used the officers’ club at nearby Fort Knox, avoiding the issue of integrating the facilities. The next major changes to affect the Army Air Force were the implications of the recommendations of the Gillem Board, named for its chairman, Lt. Gen. Alvan C. Gillem Jr., which proposed the full integration of African Americans in the U.S. Army in November 1945. Since the Air Force was still an integral part of the U.S. Army at this point, the report of the board, entitled The Utilization of Negro Manpower in the Post-War Army, affected this branch of the service as much as the remainder of the army. Although the Army Air Force was soon to become the U.S. Air Force, a separate service, the implications and future was clear. The issuing of Executive Order 9981 by President Harry Truman on July 26, 1948, officially

ended racial segregation in the armed forces. It did not, however, have any major impact on deeply ingrained attitudes. Each service faced the challenge of changing attitudes in order to offer equal opportunity to serve and equal conditions to all Americans, regardless of their color. A long-term consequence was that the executive order effectively eliminated all existing African American units, no matter how impressive their war records. The abolishment of African American units, however, did not happen immediately. As the United States found itself increasingly embroiled in the conflict between North and South Korea after 1950, a war that eventually claimed over 36,000 American lives, there were still African American units in the armed services. Nonetheless, integration of military units was in progress, and in many respects Korea helped to accelerate the process. Benjamin O. Davis Jr., who, after a distinguished role in World War II, had become the first African American general in the U.S. Air Force, quite rightly pointed out to the War Department that the air force had been instrumental in blunting the huge infantry assaults against the United Nations forces by the North Koreans and the Chinese. Among the men engaged in air combat over Korea during this time was Maj. Daniel “Chappie” James Jr., a former member of the 477th Bombardment Wing, which had been activated in January 1944. James, like many of the other pilots of his era, had had to make the transition from piston-driven aircraft to jets during the Korean conflict. He was to become the first African American commander of an integrated air force squadron and ultimately an air force four-star general. James was in a perfect position to take full advantage of the air force’s moves toward integration in the years immediately after World War II; he had been transferred to the 12th Fighter-Bomber Squadron at Clark Field in the Philippines in September 1949. Over Korea he was known by the call sign “Black Leader,” and he flew with professionalism and dash. After the Korean War, it becomes more and

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more difficult to discuss the African American role in the air force as a separate strand of air force history. In general, it is possible to say that, although African American pilots were still in short supply in the 1960s, increasing numbers were attracted to the U.S. Air Force rather than to the U.S. Navy, as it was believed that the former service had a much more progressive attitude. The Vietnam War was the first major conflict in which African Americans were completely integrated into the U.S. armed forces, and a general account of the role of the air force in that war will give an idea of what African American pilots were doing. In April 1962 Washington finally admitted that U.S. Air Force pilots had been flying combat missions over Vietnam. There was no means of knowing at the time that the fight against the Vietminh, who had now been dubbed the Vietcong, or Vietnamese Communists, would continue for well over a decade. In 1964 the U.S. Air Force was putting the finishing touches to a plan for an operation, rolling thunder, that was intended to bomb North Vietnam into submission, as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s overall strategy of ensuring that South Vietnam did not fall to the Communists. The North Vietnamese attacked a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin on August 2, 1964. On August 5, Johnson ordered the Air Force to attack an oil depot and several other targets in North Vietnam. On October 22, 1965, Col. Fred V. Cherry of the 35th Tactical Fighter Squadron earned the dubious honor of becoming the first African American to be shot down and captured by the North Vietnamese. He spent a considerable time in the notorious Hanoi Hilton, the North Vietnamese prison that was the principal detention center for captured U.S. air crews, a nightmarish place where U.S. personnel were tortured and starved. He was not to return home until 1973. By January 1972, President Richard Nixon had initiated negotiations with North Vietnam to end the conflict. It was finally decided in late 1972, that a peace treaty was viable. It was

signed in Paris on January 27, 1973, and within sixty days all U.S. troops were out of Vietnam. The last planeload left on March 29, 1973. Beginning prior to the negotiations the U.S. Air Force had been engaged in heavy bombing missions on Hanoi and Haiphong, and even while negotiations were beginning to bear fruit toward the end of 1972, B-52s were flattening military and civilian targets across Vietnam. This continuation of the air war led to a number of American pilots becoming prisoners of war. Even after the last U.S. troops had officially left Vietnam in March, the U.S. Air Force continued to bomb Cambodia until August 14, 1973. Thus U.S. pilots, including African Americans, were still being shot down and were still falling into enemy hands. The post-Vietnam U.S. Air Force gradually moved from a vast and lumbering service, reliant on draftees, to a far more professional voluntary organization. Recruiters actively sought out African Americans, and by the time the U.S. Air Force deployed for Operations desert shield and desert storm prior to and during the 1991 Gulf War, 13 percent of the entire service was African American. Like the other services, the U.S. Air Force, through the commitment of Jimmy Carter to civil rights and the commitment of Ronald Reagan to strengthening the military, had been transformed into an integrated, professional force, attracting highly qualified African Americans as career aviators. With pinpoint precision, the U.S. Air Force contributed to the destruction of Iraq’s military machine with a minimum number of casualties to the Allies. Some time after, as a testament to how far the U.S. Air Force had moved, the wrongs visited on the Tuskegee Airmen were finally put right. In 1945, 101 of the men had been reprimanded for their part in the Freeman Field incident. In 1995 it was decided that these reprimands would be struck from their records. In 1997 at Walterboro, South Carolina, a monument was erected in honor of the Tuskegee Airmen. The town had been extremely hostile to the African American pilots and now made its

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peace with the men by this tribute. In 1998, at the age of 85, Benjamin O. Davis Jr. finally received his fourth star, after persistent lobbying by men who had served with him during World War II and after. See also Bullard, Eugene Jacques; Davis, Benjamin Oliver, Jr.; Executive Order 9981; Freeman Field Incident; Gulf War; James, Daniel “Chappie,” Jr.; Korean War; National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; 99th Pursuit/Fighter Squadron; Selective Service Acts; Tuskegee Airmen; Vietnam War; World War I; World War II References and Further Reading Belknap, Michael R. The Employment of Blacks by the Federal Government. New York: Garland, 1991. Berlin, Ira, Joseph Reidy, and Leslie S. Rowland, eds. Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861–1867. Series 2, The Black Military Experience. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982. Binkin, Martin. Blacks and the Military. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1982. Buchanan, A. Russell. Black Americans in World War Two. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 1977. Dalfiume, Richard M. Desegregation of the U.S. Armed Forces: Fighting on Two Fronts, 1939–1954. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1969. Davis, Lenwood G., and George Hill. Blacks in the American Armed Forces, 1776–1983: A Bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1985. Department of Defense. A Pictorial Documentary of the Black American Male and Female Participation and Involvement in the Military Affairs of the United States of America. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1991. Donaldson, Gary A. The History of AfricanAmericans in the Military. Malabar, FL: Krieger Publishing, 1991. Ferguson, William. Black Flyers in World War Two: Prepare for Combat. Cleveland, OH: William Ferguson, 1987. Foner, Jack D. Blacks and the Military in American

History: A New Perspective. New York: Praeger, 1974. Francis, Charles E. The Tuskegee Airmen: The Story of the Negro in the U.S. Air Force. Boston: Bruce Humphries, 1955. MacGregor, Morris J. Integration of the Armed Forces, 1940–1965. Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 1985. http://www.army.mil/ cmh-pg/books/integration/IAF-FM.htm# TABLE%20OF%20CONTENTS (accessed September 24, 2003). Mullen, Robert F. Blacks in America’s Wars: The Shift in Attitudes from the Revolutionary War to Vietnam. New York: Monad Press, 1974. Nalty, Bernard C. Strength for the Fight: A History of Black Americans in the Military. New York: Free Press, 1986. Nalty, Bernard C., and Morris J. MacGregor. Blacks in the Military: Essential Documents. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1981. Osur, Alan M. Blacks in the Army Air Forces during World War Two: The Problem of Race Relations. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History, 1977. Sandler, Stanley. Segregated Skies: All Black Squadrons of World War Two. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992. Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr. The Age of Roosevelt: The Politics of Upheaval. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1960. Silvera, John D. The Negro in World War Two. Baton Rouge, LA: Military Press, 1964. Wynn, Neil A. The Afro-American and the Second World War. New York: Holmes and Meier, 1975.

U.S. Army In many respects the experiences of African Americans in the U.S. Army mirrors that of African Americans in all branches of the armed forces. But of all the branches, the army has had the most disparate history with African Americans, alternately banning them and accepting them only to offer them the greatest opportunities in the military during the second half of the twentieth century.

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Colonial Practices The colonists’ early experiences with and practices toward African Americans set the tone for later policy in many respects. In times of danger, every able-bodied man was expected to turn out to defend his colony whether that colony was British, French, Spanish, or Dutch. Freed blacks and even slaves were often enlisted to help with colonial defense as the need arose. On the other hand, the fear of slave revolts provided a compelling reason for whites to prevent the arming of African Americans, particularly in the slaveholding areas of the South. In general, each colony enacted its owns rules and regulations regarding African American participation, and even within colonies, these rules and regulations changed dramatically over time. Regardless of each colony’s practices, the forces they raised were colonial militias, not regular armies. The only official armies functioning in North America during the colonial period belonged to the European powers who had established colonies in the New World, and black participation in these bodies was rare, if not nonexistent, on the North American continent.

The American Revolution The U.S. Army is directly descended from the Continental Army, formed on June 14, 1775, in the opening months of the American Revolution. Each state’s militia served in conjunction with the Continental Army, and as during the colonial period, each state established its own policies for its militia, leading to a great deal of variation among militia units. Initially, the bulk of the soldiers in the Continental Army came from New England, where fighting had first erupted between the British and their colonists, sparking the revolution. Among the troops originally enlisted to fight in the Continental Army were numerous African Americans, many of whom were free men. With the profitability of slavery already declining in the northern colonies, it was not uncommon for slave owners to offer their slaves freedom in ex-

change for their service in the army, a bargain that northern colonial governments encouraged. As a result, African Americans fought in the battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775, and Bunker Hill in June 1775. Commander-inchief of the army Gen. George Washington banned the enlistment of African Americans in the Continental Army in July of that year, but allowed those already enlisted to remain. In November, the Continental Congress made all African Americans, free or enslaved, officially ineligible for service. However, as the military advantage of arming African Americans became evident, this policy was soon reversed, under Washington’s influence, to allow the enlistment of free African Americans. Prompting the Americans to revise their policy toward African Americans was the British view of black manpower. Early in the war, the British recognized that enlisting blacks in their military would supply much-needed replacements for regular troops while preventing the Americans from using this pool of manpower. In addition, if the blacks were slaves, their enlistment with the British Army would undermine the American economy by depleting the labor force. On November 15, 1775, Virginia’s royal governor, Lord Dunmore, issued a proclamation offering freedom to all American bondsmen (slaves or indentured servants) if they fought for the British. Few indentured servants responded to Dunmore’s call, but close to 1,000 slaves did. Dunmore’s Proclamation came as a rude shock to American leaders, who quickly saw how the loss of African American support could hurt the revolutionary cause. In response, the Continental Congress changed the policy in early 1776, allowing African Americans to serve in the Continental Army but only if they were free. Throughout this period it seems those African Americans serving with the army were fully integrated and operated within interracial units. What is also clear at this stage is that the recruitment officers, most interested in ensuring that companies and regiments were up to strength, were never averse to signing a man even if he could not prove that he was free. As

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had been the case prior to the American Revolution, many slaves or poor free men found themselves in either the colonial militias or the Continental Army as replacements for white men who chose not to fight. It seems that African Americans were so common in all units that even the British remarked that they scarcely ever saw an enemy regiment that was all white. At the height of the hostilities, African Americans were serving in both the Continental Army and the state militias, whether as free men, slaves posing as free men, slaves who had been promised freedom for their duty, or slaves serving as substitutes for their masters. A handful reached the rank of sergeant, but none became officers, either in the militias or in the Continental Army. Integrated units were not universal, however. Although most African Americans were incorporated into regular army units, Rhode Island introduced in January 1778 the first segregated unit after the state had failed to recruit enough white men for the two battalions that Congress had required it to raise. Recruitment focused on slaves because the state’s white male population had already been enlisted in other state regiments. With an offer of freedom for slaves, and compensation to their owners, some 250 men joined the regiment. Over the course of the war, the 1st Rhode Island Regiment, led by the white officer Col. Christopher Greene, also included some free African Americans, Native Americans, and whites, the addition of the latter component ending the regiment’s short history of segregation. The regiment was particularly commended for its role in the Battle of Long Island. Connecticut also strove to create an all–African American battalion, but because the state did not offer slaves their freedom in exchange for their service, the battalion did not reach establishment strength until June 1780. Prior to that, Connecticut had a small company of less than sixty African American men operating as the 6th Company. Massachusetts also had an ad hoc African American unit called the Bucks of America, who were apparently deployed to guard parts of Boston during the war.

After the Revolution In the immediate aftermath of the American Revolution, both the Continental Army and the state militias moved swiftly to divest themselves of African American troops. This move was made in all the states, regardless of the fact that by 1784 Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island had all taken steps to abolish slavery, usually through programs of gradual emancipation. The Haitian slave revolt of 1794 panicked Americans so much that free blacks in the North lost their right to vote, and in the South, slaves faced even harsher conditions, thus further discouraging the use of black troops. Even a free black militia unit that had originally been raised as early as 1736 by the French in Louisiana was ordered to disband. A significant piece of legislation regarding African Americans in the land forces at this time was the Militia Act of 1792. Enacted by Congress to clarify the relationship between the states and the federal government in regards to control of the various state militias, the act passed on May 8, which had undergone several significant revisions in the preceding days, specifically stated that only white men could serve in the militia. In 1798, the War Department extended this decision to all branches of the armed forces and officially excluded African Americans.

The War of 1812 and After Although much of the fighting associated with the War of 1812 occurred at sea, many significant land battles transpired as well, and almost all of them had African American participants, despite the official policy of the military and the state militias. Once again the British sought to undermine American military effectiveness by offering freedom to any slaves who joined their ranks, a call that brought a few thousand slaves to fight for the British in 1813. In the South, African Americans also fought in the last major land battle of the War of 1812

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at the Battle of New Orleans in early January 1816. Louisiana had already organized a state militia unit of free blacks—the Battalion of Free Men of Color, a unit that had three African American second lieutenants. These men were the first African American commissioned officers in any U.S. state militia. When the battalion officially became part of the U.S. Army just weeks before the battle, Maj. Vincent Populus became the first African American to hold a field grade rank in the army. Following the War of 1812, once again the U.S. Army discharged many of its troops to limit itself to peacetime strength. With the possible exception of African American laborers, the army became almost exclusively white. In 1820 and again in 1821, U.S. Army Regulations reiterated the ban on recruiting African Americans. Nevertheless, African Americans fought in all three of the Seminole Wars (1816–1858), for both the government (mainly in various state militias) and for the Seminole Indians, who welcomed runaway slaves and encouraged the men to become warriors against the U.S. government. Between 1846 and 1848 the army fought the Mexican-American War, which involved roughly 1,000 African Americans among the 50,000 volunteers who served in the conflict. Officially the U.S. Army still banned African American participation. Nevertheless, there are records of African Americans serving in the New York 1st Regiment of Volunteers and the 4th Artillery Regiment, as well as the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 13th Infantry Regiments. Notably, following the British pattern, the Mexican Army had attracted a number of runaway slaves, holding out the promise of freedom in return for military service. The Civil War Although the American Civil War ostensibly began as a struggle between the ideas of federalism and states’ rights, by 1863 and the implementation of the Emancipation Proclamation, it had effectively, in the eyes of African Americans, become a war of liberation. Nevertheless,

as with prior conflicts and many of those that followed, both the federal government and most states were initially reluctant to raise African American troops. Given the nature of the conflict, President Abraham Lincoln faced some stark choices. Even though most people in the Northern states did not own slaves, they still did not consider African Americans to be their equals. Even by the latter stages of the war, a minority of Union troops considered the emancipation issue to be what they were fighting for; most simply wanted the restoration of the Union. The trickiest situation regarding the recruitment of African American soldiers involved the border states of Maryland, Kentucky, Delaware, and Missouri, all of which had remained in the Union but had significant slave-owning populations. Lincoln was of the firm opinion that arming African Americans would drive these four states into the arms of the Confederacy. However, African Americans also offered a large potential pool of manpower that could help the North win the war quickly and decisively. When Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers in April 1861, large numbers of African Americans offered their services, with African American communities often agreeing to pay for the black troops’ expenses. Such offers were made in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Massachusetts, but in every case, state authorities declined, opting not to enlist African American troops in the opening months of the war. Denied the opportunity of fighting on the front lines, many African Americans created informal home guard units. Some communities decided to employ African Americans as manual laborers, thus freeing white men to serve in combat. For example, in September 1862, Cincinnati formed the Black Brigade to build defenses around the city. But all early requests by African Americans to serve as soldiers were rejected by both the federal government and the U.S. Army. The role that African Americans would play in the Union war effort was soon complicated by the number of runaway slaves who fled behind Union lines during the war. In the first few

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months of the war, Union Army officials had returned escaped slaves to the South in accordance with the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, maintaining that since the federal government did not accept the South’s secession from the Union the law was still in effect. But in June 1861, Gen. Benjamin Butler, while commanding the Department of Virginia, seized African American runaways and refused to send them back to the South on the grounds that they were Confederate property and therefore contraband. Butler then put the slaves to work in labor parties, compensating them with a small wage. The net result was to increase the number of African Americans fleeing north, safe in the knowledge that they would not be returned to their masters. On August 6, 1861, Congress sanctioned Butler’s policy by enacting the First Confiscation Act, which decreed that the U.S. government would seize all property of rebelling Southerners, including slaves. As first hundreds and then thousands of runaways fled North, the federal government was increasingly faced with the issue of what to do with them. The army placed these refugees in contraband camps; fed, clothed, and housed them; and employed them in labor details to support the Union war effort. For the first time in its history, the army undertook what proved to be a massive program of social welfare, out of which eventually emerged the Freedmen’s Bureau, which helped hundreds of thousands of slaves make the transition to freedom. The labor supplied by the former slaves in these camps substantially aided the Union war effort. It is believed that nearly 200,000 African Americans operated as laborers for the Union Army during the war, and most of them came from these camps. These men were not formally organized and technically speaking were not enrolled as part of the Union Army. The First Confiscation Act, however, did not presage a uniform federal policy regarding slavery. When Gen. John C. Frémont attempted to abolish slavery in Missouri, Lincoln quickly and decisively reversed the order and removed Fré-

mont from command. Always, the federal government kept in mind its need of the border states and strove not to adopt policies that alienated them more than necessary to successfully pursue the war. Lincoln also squashed a proposal by Secretary of War Simon Cameron to abolish slavery and employ African Americans as combat troops. Cameron’s suggestions were too radical and controversial for an administration that was desperately trying to suppress a rebellion in the South without sparking another rebellion in the North. Americans in neither region were prepared to arm African Americans. Nevertheless, the ferocity of the war quickly brought about a variety of societal changes that forced many Americans to reexamine their attitudes about both slavery and African Americans. More and more, Northerners began to agree on progessively radical efforts to bring the war to a successful conclusion. On July 17, 1862, Congress enacted the Second Confiscation Act, which authorized the president to deploy contraband slaves for military service. Just one week later, the military governor of the South Carolina Sea Islands, Gen. Rufus Saxton, began raising five African American regiments, totaling 5,000 men. Although the army approved of Saxton’s efforts, it did not adopt a wholesale plan to enlist African Americans soldiers. However, other commanders in the Union Army had also decided to arm African Americans, with or without the sanction of army high command. Butler again proved a path breaker in this area. In the spring of 1862, he had quietly allowed a unit of the Louisiana Native Guards to join his command after he had captured New Orleans, although he proved reluctant to use these troops in combat. In the summer of that year, though, he allowed his subordinate Gen. John W. Phelps to organize five companies of former slaves with the intention of employing these men on the battlefield. Butler subsequently mustered these men into the 1st Regiment of the Louisiana Native Guards on September 27, followed shortly thereafter by the 2d Regiment on October 12 and the 3d on November 24. The same thing

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was happening in other regions of the war as well. Operating in Kansas, Gen. James H. Lane offered African Americans on August 6, 1862, $10 per month to serve as soldiers. His two regiments consisted of free men from the Northern states and fugitive slaves from Missouri. The 1st Kansas Colored Infantry went into action at Butler, Missouri, on October 29, 1862. In the Department of the South, Maj. Gen. David Hunter created the 1st South Carolina Volunteers, a unit of former slaves that saw action at Darien, Georgia, on November 13, 1862. With these examples of fighting African American soldiers before them, the federal government and the American public became more accepting of the idea of blacks serving in the Union Army, even as combat troops. Although the Union Army had a much larger manpower pool from which to draw than the Confederate Army, a series of battlefield reversals in late 1862 and early 1863 had caused a sharp drop in morale, leading to more desertions and more difficulties in recruiting new troops to sustain the federal war effort. Also, more Americans began to undergo the ideological transformation that Lincoln underwent during this period: by 1863, it had become apparent to many that too much damage had been inflicted on both sides to ever reconstruct the Union as it had been before the war, even if the Union managed to win the conflict. Therefore, the idea of emancipation became more attractive, as in increasing numbers Northerners began to view slavery as the root cause of the disagreement between the North and South. The best solution to both win the war and rebuild the Union seemed to be to eradicate the bone of contention: slavery. Emancipation would both undermine the Confederates’ ability to wage the war and contribute to the Union’s ability to win it by making available thousands of additional troops. Consequently, it did not seem unreasonable to many Americans that if the war was about freeing African Americans then they should take an active part in winning it. A secondary benefit of enlisting blacks in the armed forces was the idea that military service would better equip them to deal

with their freedom in the future by instilling in them the twin virtues of discipline and order. The ideas of freeing the slaves and arming blacks did not always go hand in hand, and many Americans supported one idea but not the other. But by the summer of 1863, the tide of public opinion had begun to turn in favor of these proposals, urged on by abolitionists and civil rights leaders who fought for both plans. When Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, freeing all slaves in areas currently in rebellion, he clarified the federal government’s policy on slavery and cleared the way for enlisting African Americans in the U.S. military. Shortly after the Emancipation Proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863, the U.S. Army began actively recruiting African American troops with the assistance of civil rights leaders such as Frederick Douglass and Henry McNeal Turner. State governments also undertook the effort to enlist African American troops, especially states where abolitionist sentiment was strong, such as Massachusetts. On January 26, 1863, Massachusetts Governor John Andrew began raising the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. So successful was the recruitment drive that there were sufficient men to raise the 55th as well. African American units from other states quickly followed. Thousands of African Americans responded to the call to serve, despite rumors that Confederate authorities had vowed to shoot any African American taken prisoner barring arms for the Union. Abolitionists expressed disappointment that more free blacks had not joined, as close to 80 percent of all recruits were former slaves. Some of these slaves were recruited in the most despicable manner, being virtually impressed by Union commanders who forced all adult male slaves in some southern communities to fight for the Union. However, the majority of slaves welcomed the chance to join the Union Army and fight their former masters. To provide organization for this burgeoning force, the War Department issued General Order No. 143 on May 22, 1863, which estab-

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The 26th U.S. Colored Volunteer Infantry on parade at Camp William Penn, Pennsylvania, 1865. (National Archives)

lished the Bureau of Colored Troops. Maj. Charles Foster, a strong supporter of the deployment of African American troops, was appointed the bureau’s first chief. The bureau sought to bring a level of professionalization to the newly formed black units, using only professional recruiters and taking steps to make the segregated African American regiments more integrated and uniform in terms of size and training under white officers and some black noncommissioned officers. By December, some 50,000 African Americans had been successfully inducted into more than 70 regiments, a figure that only increased as the Union Army captured more and more Confederate territory. Collectively, the African American units were organized as the United States Colored Troops (USCT). The first USCT regiment was officially mustered into the Union Army on June 30, 1863. Camp William Penn in Philadelphia became

one of the major centers for training the enlisted men, and over ten USCT units were mustered there. White officers and black noncommissioned officers received training at a special school in nearby Philadelphia, and white officers were forced to undergo rigorous examinations before being commissioned in the USCT, although once commissioned, they were more likely to gain promotion than their colleagues who commanded white troops. Gradually all African American regiments were redesignated as USCT units, eventually bringing the USCT to a strength of 135 infantry regiments, 6 cavalry regiments, 12 heavy artillery regiments, and 10 batteries of light artillery. In all, African Americans came to account for roughly 7 percent of the Union Army, representing nearly 200,000 men. Collectively, the units fought in over 250 battles during the Civil War. The men of the USCT faced far more chal-

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lenges than their white counterparts, being engaged in a constant battle against discrimination. The Confederacy reacted vehemently to both the Emancipation Proclamation and the subsequent arming of African Americans, with the Confederate Congress issuing legislation on May 1, 1863, stating that white officers of these troops would be summarily executed and that African American enlisted men in uniform would be returned to slavery. As far as the African American troops were concerned, they believed that the Confederates would offer them no quarter. As it turned out, most African American prisoners were treated very much as white captives were. They were exchanged, hospitalized if they needed it, and not shot on sight. However, there were some notable exceptions, the most infamous of which occurred on April 12, 1864, when Confederate Gen. Nathan B. Forrest stormed the Union outpost at Fort Pillow on the Mississippi River in Tennessee. The exact details of the battle are not only shrouded in mystery, but hotly debated. Many accounts speak of the incident as a massacre, in which wounded African American soldiers were buried or burned alive. When word of the Fort Pillow massacre spread, it served only to make African American soldiers fight more stubbornly and ferociously. The men also faced discrimination from the Union Army itself. USCT soldiers typically received the dregs of supplies, uniforms, and rations. Black soldiers tended to receive worse medical care than whites and were forced to live in areas of substandard housing and poor sanitation. In the unit’s early days, the men had to fight a pay discrepancy that resulted in their wages being one-quarter less than their white counterparts. In protest, many of the men declined their reduced wages, an act that no doubt caused hardship for their families. The dispute continued for nearly a year until Congress, under increasing public pressure, finally agreed to equalize soldiers’ pay in June 1864. And finally, despite the formation of the USCT with the goal of putting African American troops into combat, Union officials proved reluctant to de-

ploy the men in battle, assigning them instead to labor duties. The unit’s white officers campaigned tirelessly to get their men into action and did finally succeed but only with tremendous effort. When given the opportunity, African Americans proved anxious to prove themselves in battle, and they did so time and time again, despite lingering prejudices within the army that blacks could not fight. Perhaps the most celebrated turning point in the fortunes of African Americans and their reputation as fighting men needed a tragedy. On July 18, 1863, on Morris Island, South Carolina, the 54th Massachusetts under the command of Col. Robert Gould Shaw dashed themselves against the Confederate bastion of Fort Wagner, which protected the approaches to Charleston. The attack was ruinous but brought the unit significant glory, although Shaw and many of his men did not live to see it and the fort remained in Confederate hands. The American public celebrated the 54th’s heroism, however, as soon as reports of the assault began appearing in the newspapers. From that point on, African Americans were increasingly sent into action, notably at Olustee in Florida, Honey Hill in South Carolina, Petersburg in Virginia, and Nashville in Tennessee. The cost was high, though. One estimate claims that some 36,523 enlisted men in the USCT never returned home, many dying of disease or complications from their wounds. Frontier Duty Following the end of hostilities and the reestablishment of the Union, the U.S. Army rapidly reduced its forces once more. Nonetheless, many of the African American regiments were still under arms for up to a year after the official end of the war in the spring of 1865. By 1866, the U.S. Congress was actively considering including African Americans in the regular postwar army. For the next forty years or more, the U.S. Army was primarily involved in domestic operations, notably as occupational troops in the South during the period of Reconstruction

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and also on the western frontier, where disputes with Native Americans had slowed white settlement and development. In July 1866, the federal government enacted the Army Reorganization Act, which would specify the shape of the post–Civil War army. Recognizing the potential of African American manpower but still unconvinced of blacks’ aptitude as soldiers, Congress ordered that just six of the army’s sixty regiments be designated as all–African American units: four infantry regiments and two cavalry regiments. In many respects, the duties of the U.S. Army during this period made it more acceptable to use African American troops, despite the reservations of the American public at large. Those troops could be consigned to duties on the western frontier, where racial problems would be limited, as would their interaction with most of American society. Consequently, on August 1, 1866, the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 38th, 39th, 40th, and 41st Infantry Regiments were officially designated as African American units. Two infantry regiments and both of the cavalry regiments were posted to Texas, while the remaining two infantry units were sent on occupational duties in the South. In March 1869, after Congress had authorized an additional army reorganization, the 38th and 41st were merged to become the 24th Infantry Regiment, and the 39th and 40th became the 25th Infantry Regiment. The African Americans who served during this period have become popularly known as Buffalo Soldiers, most likely as a result of descriptions emanating from Native Americans who believed the blacks’ hair was reminiscent of a buffalo. Whatever the origins of the name were, African American troops soon adopted it with pride. The Buffalo Soldiers served on the western frontier almost continuously from 1866 until 1898, fighting numerous engagements against Native American groups during which they won many battle honors. Throughout this period the four African American regiments were shifted periodically to cover an enormous frontier, stretching from Texas to California and from Canada to Mexico.

Operating in difficult terrain and often with companies deployed in scattered forts and settlements, the men had not only to contend with periodic outbreaks of hostilities arising out of U.S. government policy with regard to Native Americans, but also with a harsh environment that in many respects was almost completely lawless. For example, the 9th Cavalry was instrumental in subduing the Apache during their six-year assignment in New Mexico in the late 1870s, and it was also involved in the difficult disputes that arose in Oklahoma when white settlers attempted to illegally occupy Indian Territory in the 1880s. In addition, the 9th was present in the summer of 1890 when the Sioux made their last rising against the U.S. government beginning at the Pine Ridge Reservation, before being shipped overseas in 1898, where it served with particular distinction in the Spanish-American War. The experiences of the 10th Cavalry ran along very similar lines, and both the 24th and 25th Infantry Regiments were also involved in some of the most important military campaigns on the western frontier, where they often served as support units for the cavalry. With the army leadership beginning to accept the idea that African Americans would be a permanent component of its force, an effort began to provide black soldiers on the frontier with the rudiments of education, with the particular goal of educating noncommissioned officers to handle the many administrative duties associated with their rank. There had been regimental schools run by army chaplains to educate men within the African American regiments during the Civil War, and these ventures became the pattern for educating the men in the African American regiments assigned to the frontier. Between 1875 and 1879 in the 25th Infantry alone, around 100 of the men attended classes each day. The army also encouraged the development of other skills among the black troops, including carpentry and blacksmithing. Of great importance were equestrian skills, not only those involved in riding but also the skills involved in the care of their mounts. Although

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army officials promoted these measures, it was ultimately up to the regimental commanders to determine the scope and breadth of any educational training. There was no doubt, though, that African American troops received worse treatment than their white counterparts, particularly in terms of supplies. Transporting food, clothing, weapons, ammunition, and other essentials for frontier life posed significant problems for the army’s Inspector General’s Office, even when those supplies were destined for white troops. The white troops, however, received first priority on these materials, with black troops receiving what was left over. There were instances when the U.S. Army Quartermaster’s Department made the decision to send the African American cavalry regiments worn-out nags and saddles that had been discarded by white cavalry units and should have been burned. When there were problems with the civilian communities, the U.S. Army sometimes acted in support of their men, despite the ingrained racial prejudice embodied in military policies. Nevertheless, severe problems between black troops and white civilians continued. Several African American soldiers were murdered by white citizens, notably in Texas in January 1875. Two African American soldiers were lynched, one in Montana in 1885, another in Wyoming in 1888. There seems to have been a general increase in racial difficulties after 1890, largely as a result of the end of the wars against the Native Americans. With no more frontier to protect, African American troops found themselves posted to more settled areas where they were increasingly likely to interact with the white civilian population. This period also saw the first African American in the Signal Corps, when W. Hallett Greene was accepted on September 26, 1884, and effectively opened opportunities for African Americans in the hospital and ordnance corps, as well as the quartermaster and commissary departments. Just as significant were the first African Americans at West Point. Although James Webster Smith was the first African

American to enter West Point in 1870, he did not graduate. Instead, this honor went to Henry Ossian Flipper, who graduated from the academy in June 1877. Other African American graduates followed, including John H. Alexander in 1887 and Charles Young in 1889. However, Young was the last African American graduate from the academy until 1936. The Spanish-American War and After At the close of the nineteenth century, the U.S. Army turned its attention to a new region: the West Indies. Spain had long dominated that area, but by this time, the Spanish Empire was deteriorating and many Spanish colonies began agitating for independence. Chief among them was Cuba, where revolutionaries had been seeking to throw off Spanish control for decades. As Cuba lay so close to American shores and maintained so many commercial ties to the United States, the U.S. government monitored the situation in the colony closely while its own relations with the Spanish government worsened. On February 15, 1898, the USS Maine, a U.S. Navy battleship, exploded while anchored in a Cuban harbor, resulting in the sinking of the battleship. Of the 260 American servicemen who lost their lives, 22 were African American seamen. Lacking evidence to the contrary, Americans quickly decided that the Maine had been sabotaged by operatives of the Spanish government, a diplomatic crisis developed that soon led to the outbreak of war. On April 11, 1898, President William McKinley called for the U.S. Congress to authorize the use of armed force to end Spanish oppression of Cuba. On April 20, Congress agreed and declared Cuba to be independent. At the opening of hostilities, the U.S. Army had some 5,500 African American troops under arms in the four regular army regiments, the 24th and 25th infantries and the 9th and 10th cavalries. These men were later supplemented by the creation of volunteer units. After reorientation, the four regular regiments were assigned to three divisions of the U.S. invasion force.

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Even before the troops could be moved to Cuba, though, there were racial problems in Florida that caused the army to deploy all African American troops to Cuba without further delay. They became part of the push toward the Cuban capitol of Santiago, the key objective of the campaign. The 10th Cavalry first saw action at Las Guásimas on June 24, the first American victory of the 114-day war. African American troops were involved in the most famous engagement of the campaign, popularly known as the Battle of San Juan Hill. The battle actually occurred over three hills, but San Juan became the most famous, in part because of the ferocity of the fighting on that hill and in part because future president Theodore Roosevelt and his troop of Rough Riders played a major role in this fight. As some of the most experienced troops on the battlefield, all four African American regiments performed exceptionally well, earning the respect of their fellow soldiers and the praise of the American public. The 9th and 10th cavalries earned particular distinction for their heroic conduct under fire. Five African Americans were awarded Medals of Honor for their gallantry, and twenty more the Certificate of Merit. Although Roosevelt and the Rough Riders received the lion’s share of publicity, the black troops were honored in the United States as well, with books, plays, and songs being written in their honor. Several thousand African Americans served in state volunteer regiments that were associated with the National Guard, but few of these units arrived in Cuba in time to see any combat. In addition to the state volunteers, the War Department quickly moved to create a number of United States Volunteer Regiments, which were nicknamed “Immune Regiments” because they were supposed to consist of men who had already been exposed to yellow fever, which had proven more deadly than Spanish fire in the contest. Contrary to the belief that these men would be immune, however, a large number of them fell to tropical diseases. Some 4,327 African Americans served in the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th U.S. Volunteers. Only the 9th saw active

service; while the others remained in the United States. During the Spanish-American War, the United States had managed to wrest the Philippines from the Spaniards, but native revolutionaries sought true independence for the country, not merely a change in colonial masters. During the insurrection that followed, the four regular army regiments of African American troops saw service in the Philippines. Generally speaking their performance was extremely creditable; notable victories included San Mateo on August 12, 1899, and Iba in January 1900. The African American regulars returned to the United States in 1902, then spent two years between 1906 and 1908 on garrison duties in the Philippines once more. Between the Spanish-American War and World War I, there were serious racial incidents at Brownsville, Texas, in 1906 involving the 24th and 25th Infantries, and at Houston, Texas, in 1917 involving the 24th Infantry. In both cities, regular army African American soldiers, reacting to what they saw as violence directed against them, took up arms and used them against white civilians and officials, which resulted in loss of life. There were also other less serious incidents between African American soldiers and, most frequently, local police attempting to enforce Jim Crow laws, but the overall effect was to raise the level of concern about the role of African American soldiers, particularly if trained for armed combat. No immediate changes in army policy occurred as a result of these concerns, but the army became increasingly sensitive to how it employed black troops. Nevertheless, the 10th Cavalry Regiment and some elements of the 24th Infantry Regiment were part of Brig. Gen. John J. Pershing’s punitive expedition into Mexico in March 1916, the most significant military engagement for the U.S. Army between the Spanish-American War and World War I. Pershing’s expedition had been organized in response to the attack by Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa and a force of 400 men on the town of Columbus, New Mexico, which had resulted in the deaths of

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eighteen Americans. The commander of the 10th and long a supporter of the use of African American troops, Pershing was ordered by President Woodrow Wilson to take a military force into Mexico to capture Villa or at least discourage any additional raids across the U.S. border with a show of force. The two-pronged expedition ranged as far as 300 miles into Mexico, but after eleven months, the force was withdrawn without securing Villa. The operation was generally considered a failure, although Villa did not make any more raids across the border. World War I On April 6, 1917, the United States entered World War I, which had already been raging on the European continent for three years, bringing horrible devastation and loss of life along the massive front that snaked through much of France. At that time, the U.S. Army numbered just 75,000 men, 20,000 of whom were African American and serving in the four segregated regular army regiments (the 9th and 10th cavalries and the 24th and 25th infantries). To bring the military up to wartime strength, the federal government quickly enacted a draft, passing the Selective Service Act on May 18. By the terms of the act, over 24 million men became eligible for military service, over 2 million of whom were African American. Throughout the whole of the war, only half a dozen African Americans sat on the draft boards, which critics claimed discouraged African American recruitment. Despite this bias in enlistments, the army was far ahead of other military departments, opening opportunities for blacks to serve in almost every branch except the pilot section of the aviation corps. During World War I, African Americans served in cavalry and infantry regiments; engineer, signal, medical, hospital, ambulance, and veterinary corps; supply and ammunition trains; coast and field artillery; and depot brigades. Blacks also served as regimental adjutants, judge advocates, chaplains, intelligence officers, chemists, surveyors, draftsmen, truck drivers, and mechanics.

The marines, on the other hand, excluded African Americans entirely from their forces. The navy and coast guard, although not barring blacks from serving, discouraged enlistment by bluntly telling them that they would be employed only as mess men, water tenders, and coal passers. Rather than serve in these degrading positions, most African American men went to army recruiting stations in the hopes of serving in a combat unit. The War Department announced that the best educated and strongest African Americans would be allowed to become combat troops. African Americans who were laborers in civilian life and, perhaps, illiterate, would either not be welcome or be used to create labor battalions. As it turned out some 200,000 African Americans served in the American Expeditionary Force, and some 80 percent of these men found themselves in labor battalions. Although African Americans contributed slightly less than 10 percent to the entire expeditionary force, they provided roughly a third of all the labor troops. Many American leaders clung to the idea that employing African Americans as laborers followed blacks’ natural inclinations and would free up white men to fight the war, an opinion that proved hard to alter. What is perhaps the most perplexing aspect of the U.S. Army’s policy was the decision not to deploy its four African American regiments as combat troops overseas, particularly as all four regiments had significant battlefield experience. Initially the explanation was that use of African American troops could spark racial incidents in Europe. Although a handful of experienced men from these units (some 1,600) were reassigned to the new African American units, the 92d and the 93d Infantry Divisions, the majority of the men in the new divisions were inexperienced, or at best had experience serving in the National Guard. The question of African American officers remained a contentious issue throughout the war. The official army policy of using white officers was based on the belief that African Americans could not command men of their own color, and

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as a consequence, the new divisions were given a predominantly white command structure. Nonetheless, there was sufficient pressure from civil rights activists and the African American community to bring about the creation of an African American U.S. Army Officer’s training facility at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. Between June and October 1917, some 1,250 men attended the facility, with around 250 being prior noncommissioned officers from the regular African American regiments. Some 639 men were commissioned as captains or first or second lieutenants on October 15, 1917, most of whom were assigned to the 92d Division. Other segregated facilities produced another 700 African American officers, which meant that over 1,350 African American officers served at one stage or another during the war, 0.7 percent of all of the U.S. Army’s officers. At the same time, 13 percent of draftees were African American. The lot of African American enlisted men during World War I showed little improvement over the conditions of those who had served during the Civil War. Indeed, some African American troops in Virginia were actually issued mothballed Union uniforms. Poor training, inadequate provisions, and end-of-the-line equipment were commonplace. It was clearly the policy of the War Department and the U.S. Army never to allow any of these men to fight. Still the large numbers of African American noncombatant troops deployed, notably in the supply, signals, and engineer branches of the service, made significant contributions to the overall war effort. Some African Americans did fight, but only after intense pressure from the African American press and the civil rights movement at home. One result of this pressure was that the 93d Infantry Division was assigned to the French Army, where it was re-equipped and much more fairly handled than would almost certainly have been the case in U.S. service. The division carved out for itself a relatively good reputation and was engaged in some of the bitterest fighting of the last year of the war. The 92d Infantry Division, however, did not

have the advantage of serving with the French Army and thus avoiding many of the discriminatory practices prevalent in the U.S. Army. The 92d was commanded by Gen. Charles C. Ballou as part of the American Second Army under Gen. Robert Bullard. The two men disliked each other intensely, and Bullard had extremely negative opinions about the abilities of African American soldiers. Often elements of the division were deployed or given objectives that they could not reasonably be expected to achieve. Their performance overall was lackluster, but no worse than some white divisions. Unfortunately, there were deliberate, as well as uninformed, attempts to portray the performance of the 92d Division in negative terms, leading to conclusions about the lack of competence of African American officers and soldiers that in turn strongly influenced U.S. Army policy on African Americans for many years. The Aftermath of World War I Despite the U.S. Army’s treatment of African Americans during World War I, a large number of them opted to reenlist, largely as the result of the poor economic condition of the country after the war. White men, however, tended to leave the army, seeking better pay and employment opportunities elsewhere. Increasingly alarmed that there would be a disproportionate number of African Americans in the army, military authorities imposed a restriction on the enlistment numbers and discouraged as many African Americans as possible from enlisting or re-enlisting. The army did not have the option to disband the four regular African American regiments without the explicit permission of the U.S. Congress. Instead, the army reduced these four long-standing regiments to almost hollow shells and by this means, systematically reduced the number of African Americans in the service. The U.S. Army’s conclusions regarding the value and performance of African American soldiers were based to a large extent on testimony given by those who had commanded African American troops during World War I. In 1919,

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the assistant commander of the General Staff College requested that all officers who had commanded African American troops during the war comment on their soldiers’ performance, evaluate it, and make recommendations about the future use of African Americans in the army. With individuals such as Ballou in prominence, the general consensus seemed to be that African Americans were more of a liability than an asset. Ballou and many others were firmly of the opinion that as most of the African Americans were descendants of slaves, they had inherited cowardice, stupidity, superstition, and lack of initiative. Such racial stereotypes were used to provide explanations of why the 92d Infantry Division in particular had not performed well. There were dissenting voices, such as Lt. Col. Vernon A. Caldwell, who had commanded African American units in Cuba, the Philippines, and France. He believed that African American troops should be deployed, though he held that they should be organized in units smaller than regimental size. His recommendation was to place an African American company in each of the regular army regiments. A single dissenting voice, however, was not going to sway the U.S. Army, and the plans formulated during the interwar period for using African Americans reflected racist assumptions about the inability of blacks to lead and the perceived danger of forming divisions that would be completely African American. At the same time, the plans were based on the conviction that units smaller than a division must not be integrated, and that most African Americans belonged in labor battalions, not combat units. World War II As the United States moved toward involvement in World War II, deeply held beliefs about the racially determined characteristics of African Americans predominated the thinking of the U.S. Army. Even Secretary of War Henry Stimson believed that blacks were incapable of making good officers and that only white officers could make the men excel. Above all, he was de-

termined not to allow integrated units. Army Chief of Staff Gen. George C. Marshall consistently warned President Franklin D. Roosevelt that he should not place too much trust in a race that Marshall insisted had not shown any initiative in battle during previous conflicts. In May 1940, when Roosevelt requested Congress’ permission to expand the armed forces, the industrial psychologist Walter V. Bingham was brought in to resurrect an intelligence test, an early version of the Army General Classification Test (AGCT), which the army used to assess and classify all recruits. The pilot program was run in late 1940, but the War Plans and Training Division failed to incorporate any African Americans in the test study. Equally, the majority of the men who were tested (something in excess of 5,000) all came from the northeast of the United States, which at the time had the highest level of literacy in the country. The results of this program became the standard against which African Americans were measured, consigning the majority of them to support duties and physical labor throughout World War II. Prior to mass mobilization, regular army African Americans accounted for 4,000 of the army’s establishment strength of 118,000. They only accounted for 5 of the commissioned officers in the regular army and 360 of the 100,000 officers in the Army Reserve. Despite the restrictions already in place regarding African American involvement in the U.S. Army, it was the army that absorbed the majority of African American recruits, with substantially fewer blacks going to the other branches of the armed forces. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and many other organizations, such as the Committee on the Participation of Negroes in the National Defense, called on the army to sweep aside segregation, not only on the grounds of reducing discrimination, but also citing the country’s best interests. There was continual pressure on the U.S. Army and, as importantly, on Roosevelt himself, who realized that to estrange African

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American voters could possibly mean failure in forthcoming elections. On September 5, 1940, the president roundly criticized the U.S. Army, pointing to the adverse publicity it had been receiving from the African American community. He directed the War Department to prepare a statement highlighting equalities of opportunity that would be offered to African Americans in the armed services. Just a week later, Roosevelt was told by the army chief of staff that the army was already planning to create a number of new African American regiments, and that it was perfectly willing to accept African Americans into the service, in proportion to their representation in the population. From late September, a number of announcements from the White House aimed to reassure the African American community. The first indicated that of the 400,000 men needed for the U.S. Army in the first draft under the terms of the Selective Service Act, some 36,000 would be African American. Despite these announcements, the army’s policy on African Americans was still confusing. During a conference in September 1940 a number of key individuals—including executive secretary of the NAACP Walter White, administrator of the Urban League T. Arnold Hill, and African American labor leader A. Philip Randolph—had been assured by the president that he did not favor segregation or blocks on applications to any area of the U.S. Army and the National Guard and that he would work toward an army without segregation. However, the U.S. Army and the War Department were quoted as claiming at exactly the same time that African Americans would not be integrated and that they would have to prove themselves to be dependable before the army would consider using them in combat. Collectively, around 1.8 million African Americans faced the prospect of being called up, a number roughly in line with the estimate that African Americans constituted 10 percent of the eligible male population. In practice, though, the number of African American men actually drafted proved to be far less than would have been expected based on the number of Af-

rican Americans in the general population, particularly in the first round of enlistments. Initially, 5 percent of recruits (about 96,000 men) were African American, but by December 1942, the proportion had risen to 17 percent (roughly 420,000 men). Such a disparity points to a discrepancy in the number of eligible recruits and the number of men actually drafted. In the first round of the draft, many African Americans had simply been passed over, selected for service but never called up. Between January and September 1941, only 4,449 African Americans were actually enlisted in the U.S. Army, and by the beginning of 1943, official figures suggested that 300,000 African Americans were still waiting to be inducted (figures drawn from Jefferson 1998). Moreover, in the period from 1941 to 1943, nearly 20 percent of registered African American males failed to report to the induction boards after they had been selected. In May 1943 in Detroit alone, 15 men were imprisoned for draft dodging. By 1946 African Americans accounted for 18 percent of all the draft dodgers who had been prosecuted and imprisoned for draft evasion (figures drawn from Jefferson 1998). To some extent these figures may reflect the fact that the U.S. Army simply could not cope with the vast numbers of men being called into service at that time. In addition, though, army authorities had no clear plan as to how they were going to employ large numbers of African Americans. By early 1941, though, thousands of African American draftees began arriving at various reception centers throughout the United States. Centers included Fort McPherson, Fort Screven, Camp Blanding, Fort McClellan, Fort Devens, Fort Jackson, Fort Huachuca (which between April and May 1942 took 6,000 men), Fort Benning, Fort Leonard Wood, Fort Knox, Camp Claiborne, Fort Still, Camp Lee, Camp Davis, Fort Riley, Fort Clark, Fort Bragg, and Camp Gruber. The training was intensive and demanding; free time was limited, and in many cases there were few recreational facilities for the men. At various places there were racial problems; men stationed at Fort Jackson barely

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dared to visit Atlanta for fear of discrimination and violence. In Tampa, Florida, there were incidents of running battles in the streets, and in New York interregimental rivalries had more than a hint of racial overtones. Two of the more dangerous incidents occurred in Gurdon, Arkansas, when members of the African American 94th Engineer Battalion were involved in a gunfight with state troopers. In January 1942, there was another similar gun battle in Alexandria, Louisiana. Equally worrying was a major skirmish in Bisbee, Arizona, when members of the 369th Infantry Regiment, amounting to nearly 200 men, fought a running battle with 100 military and civilian police. Many of the young African Americans involved were from northern states and had a hard time tolerating the racism that surrounded them in the South. There seemed to be extreme difficulties facing the U.S. Army as they procrastinated in their decision to deploy the men and give them more meaningful duties. Progress was being made, however. The 93d Infantry Division, after having had basic training at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, spent six weeks on maneuvers in the Louisiana area. They were then moved to Camp Clipper, where the inspector general, Maj. Gen. Virgil L. Peterson, declared the unit ready for combat action overseas. Consequently, after six months of intensive training, the men boarded four transport ships bound for the South Pacific. The 92d Infantry Division, having been trained at various camps in Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, and Arkansas, also moved to Louisiana for additional training, but they had to wait until June 1944 before they boarded transport ships for Italy. One of the other significant units under training was the 761st Tank Battalion, which was at Fort Hood, Texas, in September 1943. This African American unit was finally committed to Gen. George Patton’s 3d Army in mid-1944, where it saw significant action. The 24th Infantry Regiment, along with the African American 76th and 77th Antiaircraft Units, was sent to the New Hebrides in the South Pacific and Guadalcanal in the western Pacific in 1942. They remained

in the area until March 1944, when part of the unit was sent to Bougainville, another island in the region. In short, a few units were deployed overseas, but it was a slow process, and it by no means always resulted in troops having a chance at combat. In the most striking instance of deployment overseas not leading to combat, the 2d Cavalry Division had been posted to North Africa, but as soon as they arrived they were disbanded and reformed as labor units. Surprising results were received from a survey carried out by the War Department on the former members of the African American 2d Cavalry Division. Only 27 percent actually regretted not having been committed to combat (Jefferson 1998). A veteran of the unit later said that the men had experienced so much conflict with their officers that they didn’t “have much energy left” for fighting the Germans (cited in Rose 1947, 26–31). The U.S. Army came under severe criticism for its slow deployment of African Americans abroad. In August 1942, the War Department created the Advisory Committee on Negro Troop Policies, chaired by Assistant Secretary of War John J. McCloy and including Brig. Gen. Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., the first African American general in the U.S. Army who was at this time posted to the Inspector General’s Office, and Truman Gibson, a prominent African American lawyer who had become a civilian aide to the secretary of war. After a meeting at the beginning of 1943, they urged the secretary of war to immediately dispatch African American troops to combat zones. This action, they argued, would be the only way to defuse the increasing racial tension caused by keeping these troops in the United States. Stimson chose to ignore their recommendations and instead continued the policy of converting African American troops to service units in order to release white troops for combat duty, a policy that had brought about the dismemberment of the 2d Cavalry Division. The secretary defended his actions by claiming that African Americans were not being committed to combat because of their poor educational attainments and consequent inability to learn

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how to handle modern weapons. Not surprisingly, Stimson drew the wrath of the African American press, of African American leaders, and of the various civil rights organizations. In February 1944, the advisory committee met once again and presented recommendations to Stimson to commit African American infantry, artillery, and other units to action. Stimson met with McCloy just a week later and finally agreed that elements of the 92d Division would be committed. At around the same time, elements of the 93d Infantry Division, operating as the 25th Regimental Command Team, were engaged in combat against the Japanese on Bougainville. They performed well, and the 593d Field Artillery Battalion, an integral part of the division, received a special commendation for its efficiency. On New Georgia and the Russell Islands in the Pacific theater, the 368th and the 369th were engaged in running battles with the Japanese. Prior to these engagements, the 24th Infantry Regiment had been serving on Guadalcanal between March and August 1943. The 1st Battalion had been sent to Bougainville in February 1943, earning the respect of corps commander Gen. Oscar W. Griswold, who commended the unit for its combat prowess. In late 1944, the 1st Battalion was sent to Saipan and Tinian in the Mariana Islands, ostensibly on garrison duty. Saipan in particular, however, was not secure, and many hundreds of Japanese were still at large. The unit was given the responsibility of securing the island. In the summer of 1945, the 24th was sent to the Kerama Islands, where it accepted the surrender of the Japanese garrison, the first formal surrender following the end of hostilities in the Pacific. In Europe, the U.S. Army was beginning to deploy not only increasing numbers of African American support troops, who engaged in such operations as the Red Ball Express following the breakout from the Normandy beaches, but also combat units. The 92d Infantry Division duly arrived at Naples in August 1944 to become part of the 1st U.S. Armored Division of the IV Corps. The

370th Regimental Combat Team was engaged in action on the Gothic Line, a German defense line, and later elements of the division were assigned to Task Force 92, detailed to capture Massa. Casualties were extremely high, particularly among the 370th. Despite enormous sacrifices, Division Inspector General Gen. Charles Welch claimed that the 370th had shown poor judgment and a basic inability to use combat techniques during the actions in October 1944. The 92d’s commander, Edward Almond, proceeded to court-martial, demote, or transfer many of the platoon leaders and noncommissioned officers. A crisis meeting took place in November with Maj. Oscar J. Magee of the Intelligence Division, at which William J. McCaffrey, the 92d’s chief of staff, was unequivocal in his condemnation of his men’s ability to fight. It was clear from what he said that he had no confidence in the men and that he pitied white officers who had been assigned to the division to lead the men. Much later, when the situation had been fully investigated, it became clear that Almond’s command of the 92d Division had been run on extremely racist lines. African American officers were considered inferior, as were African American noncommissioned officers. Perhaps the statistics speak for themselves, as between October 1944 and May 1945, at Almond’s instigation, some 1,800 of his African American men were sent to courts-martial, and 1,500 were transferred out of the division. Col. Howard Green, who commanded the 366th Infantry before he was relieved of his command toward the end of 1944, claimed that, much as Almond had been able to damage his regiment, his men’s self-respect had remained intact. While the 92d struggled to establish its reputation as an effective force, other African American units were being given a better chance to prove their combat prowess. In December 1944, during the last great German counteroffensive of the war, known as the Battle of the Bulge, the 333d and 969th Field Artillery Battalions (African American units of the VIII Corps Artillery) had severely disrupted German

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attempts to take Bastogne. The 969th received a Distinguished Unit Citation, supported by Maj. Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor, commander of the 101st Airborne Division, which had been aided by the 969th’s support. Another opportunity offered itself as well, this time to an African American armored unit. The 761st Tank Battalion had been assigned to the 26th Division and found themselves under the command of the notoriously blunt and blustery Patton. He made a point of meeting with the men almost as soon as they had been assigned to his command and told them that he was not concerned with what color they were; he had asked for them because they had been recommended to him, and now they must prove to everyone that they could kill Germans effectively. The 761st entered combat near Metz and spent 183 days in combat across France, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, and Austria, operating at various times with the 26th, 71st, 79th, 87th, 95th, and 103d Infantry Divisions, as well as the 17th Airborne Division. Its biggest tests came at Morville-les-vic in Alsace, where it engaged a line of German pillboxes successfully, and at Tillet in Belgium in January 1945, where the unit was engaged against the 15th SS Panzer Division for five days. Despite its outstanding performance in these actions, the unit had to wait thirty years before it received its Presidential Unit Citation. The Aftermath of World War II By the time World War II ended in 1945, the U.S. Army had recognized the inherent inefficiencies of the existing segregated system for employed African American manpower. The federal government had also reached the conclusion that segregation was no longer in the national interest. The U.S. Army conducted two reviews of African American performance. One, organized by Assistant Secretary of War John McCloy, involved a questionnaire sent to commanders just two weeks after the end of the war in Europe. The results of McCloy’s study indicated that the army command structure had

found African Americans to have performed unsatisfactorily during the recent war, and many attributed this poor performance to the practice of segregation. A popular suggestion among the officers was to retain only the very best of the African American troops in the peacetime military and to organize them in small units. The second survey was conducted by the civilian aide to the secretary of war, Truman Gibson, and focused more on public perception of African American soldiers. Gibson’s report also reported a low perception of African American performance during the war, and civil rights leaders posed a powerful argument placing the blame squarely on the military’s policy of segregation. They adamantly maintained that if segregation were eradicated, African American soldiers would perform as well as their white counterparts. In consequence of these reports, McCloy recommended to Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson that an entirely new army policy be framed with regard to African Americans. Patterson endorsed McCloy’s suggestion and organized a review board for that purpose almost immediately. Meeting for the first time on October 1, 1945, and named after the board’s chairman Lt. Gen. Alvan C. Gillem, Jr., the Gillem Board was empowered to frame a postwar policy on the use of African American manpower to achieve maximum efficiency in the U.S. Army. Its deliberations included sixty witness interviews and a review of mountains of paperwork. In the end, the board made eighteen recommendations, the most significant of which called for an alteration in the army’s segregation policy so that it could make the most effective use of all individuals within its structure regardless of race. Specifically, the recommendation called for the creation of African American platoons that would service within otherwise white companies, to place African American companies within white battalions, and to incorporate African American battalions into white regiments. The board wanted to scrap quotas for African American officers allowing the army to have a complement of African American officers that

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could possibly be assigned to command white soldiers. Many civil rights leaders were disappointed in the Gillem Board’s recommendations, which stopped far short of full integration, but military authorities were generally receptive to the board’s suggestions. The federal government, however, also felt that the Gillem Board’s recommendations had not gone far enough to address the issue. After much debate, President Harry Truman issued Executive Order 9981 on July 26, 1948, officially ending racial segregation within the armed forces. At the same time, Truman also established a presidential committee, named the Fahy Committee after its leader Charles Fahy, to ensure that the order was implemented. Over the next several years, the Fahy Committee worked with the several branches of the armed services to desegregate their forces. The army proved particularly reluctant to implement the policy change, with several senior army officials stating that desegregation simply could not be enacted in the army without destroying its effectiveness. Other army leaders questioned whether the military could not be integrated without greater integration of American society in general and criticized the federal government for making the army the means of social experimentation. Nevertheless, plans for desegregation moved forward under the watchful eyes of the Fahy Committee and civil rights leaders. The Korean War As the United States found itself increasingly embroiled in the conflict between North and South Korea from 1950, a war that eventually claimed 140,000 American lives, there were still African American units in all parts of the armed services. Nonetheless integration was under way, and in many respects Korea helped accelerate this process. The U.S. Army’s experience of integrated units during the Korean War showed that those that had undergone the process of integration performed better than those that were all–African American. The still segregated 24th In-

fantry was especially held to be an example of poor performance by a segregated unit, although the exact nature of its performance is still a matter of controversy. On October 1, 1951, the 24th was deactivated, thus ending the U.S. Army’s long tradition of African American combat units. Noncombatant segregated units still existed, however. Despite the order to desegregate, almost half of the U.S. Army’s African American manpower remained in units that had not been integrated. The practice of segregation only ended on October 30, 1954, when the secretary of defense was finally able to officially announce that the last of these units had been integrated. In the decade that followed the Korean War, concrete steps were taken to fully implement Truman’s executive order. Although there were individuals who resisted the demand for equality and clung to the concept of segregation, their efforts, although sometimes disruptive and damaging, were in vain. Life on military installations became integrated, from military units to barracks to base schools and housing. Some problems remained, however, mostly due to actions based on individual prejudices and preconceptions. There was still discrimination in the way that assignments were made, in the way that soldiers were assessed for promotion, and in the way that military justice was applied, but the armed forces led American society in the degree of equality and respect given to African Americans. In this atmosphere, which despite the remaining problems was full of optimism, a number of young African American military officers began careers that would see them rise to the highest level of military positions and civilian service. One of them, Colin Powell, would become chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff—America’s top-ranking military official—and later, after his retirement from the military, U.S. secretary of state. Nevertheless, a tremendous problem still existed in many parts of the country in terms of the racial discrimination faced by African Americans, particularly in off-post life. Most pronounced in the south, where Jim Crow laws

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Weapons squad leader fighting with the 2d Infantry Division north of the Chongchon River points out the North Korean position to his machine gun crew, November 20, 1950. (National Archives)

remained in effect, but present in varying degrees throughout the country, racial discrimination ranged from relatively subtle discrimination in rental housing or home sales to hotels that refused accommodation to African Americans. Many blacks found the contrast between military and civilian life difficult to accept. During the 1950s, there was a rising chorus of demands that the U.S. government take action to end discrimination in off-base housing, schools, and public accommodations, which contributed to the fledgling civil rights movement that would come to fruition in the 1960s. The Vietnam War and After Although the United States had only reluctantly accepted the reestablishment of French colonial rule in Vietnam after the end of World War II, the U.S. government did provide logistical and

financial support for the French military effort against the Communist Viet Minh national insurgents seeking an independent Vietnam. With the decisive defeat of the French at Dien Bien Phu on May 7, 1954, the United States assumed a more active role in the governance of Vietnam. At the Franco-Vietnamese peace conference in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1954, the Viet Minh were forced to accept a temporary division of the country into northern and southern halves. The Viet Minh established the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) in the north, while the United States was instrumental in establishing the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), and the government of Ngo Dinh Diem, in the south. Elections were planned for 1956 so that the Vietnamese could elect a single government and unite the country, but they never occurred. That, and Diem’s policies, led to the

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rise of an insurgent movement in South Vietnam against Diem’s government, a revolution that the North Vietnamese decided to actively support. The first American military advisers to the South Vietnamese arrived in Vietnam in 1955 as the situation in Vietnam began to spiral out of control. By the end of 1959, the number of American advisers had reached 760, and two advisers had been killed. By the end of 1964, there were 23,300 American military personnel in Vietnam, but 1965 saw the arrival of more than 160,000 additional American soldiers. A steady escalation of American troop strength followed until a peak of 536,100 was reached in 1968. In the United States, responding to the demands of civil rights leaders and a growing sense of public anger, President John F. Kennedy, at the urging of Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, reactivated the President’s Committee on Equal Opportunity in the Armed Forces, chaired by Gerhard Gesell, which was to attempt to find a possible solution to the off-post discrimination faced by members of the U.S. military and to increase the number of qualified African Americans volunteering for military service. Before the recommendations of the Gesell Committee could be implemented, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered a massive increase in the number of American soldiers in Vietnam in 1964, and the nature of the war changed with U.S. Army units beginning to actively fight the war. The U.S. Army combat units sent to Vietnam in this early escalation were trained, existing units, with a percentage of African American soldiers higher than the percentage of African Americans in the national population. Many of these soldiers were volunteers who had seen the U.S. Army as an opportunity for advancement denied them in other aspects of American society. A lack of education among these volunteers resulted in a high proportion of them serving in front-line combat units rather than in more sophisticated, technical roles behind the lines. There was also inequity within the draft. Deferments for college attendance and certain oc-

cupations favored middle- and upper-class whites. Consequently, draftees tended to be poor, under-educated, from urban areas, and African American. Draft boards were also overwhelmingly white in composition with seven state boards having no African American members, leading to charges that the boards were unreasonably biased toward enlisting blacks and passing over whites. A combination of voluntary enlistment and the draft served to place an unusually high percentage of African American soldiers in harm’s way during 1965–1968, a fact reflected in the casualty lists. From 1961 to 1965, less than 10 percent of Americans in the military were African American compared to 13 percent of the U.S. population, but almost 20 percent of the combat-related deaths in Vietnam during that period were African American. In 1965 alone, almost 25 percent of the men killed in combat in Vietnam were African American, and in 1968, approximately half of the men in infantry and cavalry units in Vietnam were African American. Starting in 1966, however, the leadership of the army and the Marine Corps worked to reduce the number of African American casualties. They succeeded to the point that by the end of the Vietnam War, the percentage of African Americans killed in combat was roughly in line with national population percentages. This controversy about African Americans’ place within the military occurred against the backdrop of a civil rights movement to end racial discrimination in the United States. Civil rights leaders questioned the role of African Americans in the war, and many suggested that there was a deliberate effort to place African Americans in combat in lieu of whites. Despite the distance between Vietnam and the United States, the racial strife of the period did carry over to Vietnam, becoming most common in rear areas, and the same tensions could be felt in U.S military installations all over the world. The racial tensions of the time were issues of the entire society, not just the army or the army in Vietnam.

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U.S. Army Pfc. Jerome Alexander and Sp4c. George Lightfoot, Company B, 2d Battalion, 1st Infantry, 196th Light Brigade, fire at a suspected Viet Cong position during a search-and-destroy mission west of Tay Ninh, South Vietnam. (National Archives) | 452 |

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The army that saw service in Vietnam was an integrated army, a fact that was not lost on African Americans—even while they were sometimes critical. African Americans served with distinction in Vietnam in every department of the army, proving that they could fight as well as their white counterparts and perform successfully in any role, and then re-enlisting at a higher rate than white soldiers. In the closing days of the Vietnam War, President Richard M. Nixon, responding to overwhelming condemnation of the military draft and charges that those with education, money, and connections could avoid military service through many loopholes, appointed a commission to study the viability of an all-volunteer military force. The commission’s report was favorable, and on July 1, 1973, the U.S. government ended the draft and replaced it with an all-volunteer force. Under the new volunteer plan, the percentage of African Americans increased significantly. In the Persian Gulf War of 1991, 23 percent of all military personnel were African Americans, and 17 percent of total deaths in both combat and non-combat were African Americans. The performance of American military forces, and particularly the army, in the Gulf War led to increased respect for the armed services and increased the willingness of African Americans to volunteer for military service, viewing the military services either as a means to better themselves and their future or as a career. By the time of the Iraqi War of 2003, African Americans, comprising about 14 percent of the American population, made up 21 percent of military personnel, but only 15 percent of positions considered to be combatant. In fighting in Iraq, to April 10, 2003, some 19 percent of casualties (where race could be determined) were African American, a figure that highlights the nature of hostilities in Iraq, where support troops were suddenly subjected to combat conditions and a significant number of the total casualties were caused by irregular military action.

Honoring African Americans Starting in the 1980s, the U.S. Army and a succession of White House administrations did their belated best to honor African Americans who had shown exceptional bravery but had never received recognition for their efforts. In May 1991, Cpl. Freddie Stowers of the 371st Regiment finally received a Medal of Honor, which had been recommended back in September 1918 for his bravery during the Champagne Offensive, when 40 percent of his company were killed or wounded. President George Bush bestowed the honor on Stowers’ 88-year-old sister and his great-great-nephew, Sgt. Douglas Warren, who was serving in Saudi Arabia with the 101st Airborne Division. On January 13, 1997, President Bill Clinton officiated at the ceremonies that saw Pvt. George Watson, formerly of the 29th Quartermaster Regiment, who had died after saving several soldiers in the Pacific Ocean in 1944, recognized with a Medal of Honor. Among the other men whose medals were finally presented on this day was 1st Lt. John R. Fox (366th Infantry, 92d Division), Sgt. Ruben Rivers (761st Tank Battalion), Maj. Charles L. Thomas (614th Tank Destroyer Battalion), Sgt. Edward Carter, Jr. (56th Armored Infantry, 12th Armored Division), and Pfc. Willie F. James (415th Infantry Regiment). All of these African American men had died in combat, but they were ably represented by Lt. Vernon Baker (370th Regiment, 92d Division), at 77 the only man left alive of the seven who received their Medals of Honor that day. Baker commented:

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I was a soldier and I had a job to do. I was an angry young man. We were all angry. But we had a job to do, and we did it. I knew things would get better, and I’m glad to say that I’m here to see it—the only thing that I can say to those that are not here with me is, thank you, fellas, well done. And I will always remember you (quoted in Bennett 1997).

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See also African American Officers; American Civil War; American Revolution; Antebellum Period; Apache Wars; Baker, Vernon Joseph; Battle Mountain, Korea; Boards of Examination for Officers in United States Colored Troops; Buffalo Soldiers; Bureau of Colored Troops; Carney, William Harvey; Cash, John Anthony, Sr.; Cleburne’s Plan; Colonial America; Confederates, African American; Davis, Benjamin Oliver, Sr.; 1812, War of; Flipper, Henry Ossian; Fort Pillow Massacre; Fort Wagner, Battle of; Fox, John R.; Gulf War; Iwo Jima, Battle of; Korean War; Medal of Honor (appendix); Militia Act of 1792; National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; National Guard; Olive, Milton Lee, III; Olustee, Battle of; Pancho Villa Campaign; Philippine Insurrection; Powell, Colin Luther; Red Ball Express; Selective Service Acts; Seminole-Negro Scouts; Service Units of World War II, African American; Smith, James Webster; Sol Legare Island, Battle of; Stowers, Freddie; U.S. Army, Interwar Period; United States Colored Artillery (appendix); United States Colored Cavalry (appendix); United States Colored Troops (appendixes); Vietnam War; West Point; Wham Paymaster Robbery; World War I; World War II; World War II Infantry Replacements; Young, Charles; individual units References and Further Reading Anderson, Trezzvant. Come Out Fighting: The Epic of the 761st Tank Battalion, 1942–1945. Salzburg: Salzburger Druckerei und Verlag, 1945. Arnold, Thomas St. John. Buffalo Soldiers: The 92nd Infantry Division and Reinforcements in World War Two, 1942–1945. Manhattan, KS: Sunflower University Press, 1990. Barbeau, Arthur E., and Florette Henri. The Unknown Soldiers: Black American Troops in World War One. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1974. Belknap, Michael R. The Employment of Blacks by the Federal Government. New York: Garland, 1991. Bennett, James. “Medals of Honor Award at Last to

Black World War II Soldiers.” New York Times, January 14, 1997. Berlin, Ira, Joseph Reidy, and Leslie S. Rowland, eds. Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861–1867. Series 2, The Black Military Experience. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982. Bigelow, John, Jr. Reminiscences of the Santiago Campaign. New York: Harper, 1899. Binkin, Martin. Blacks and the Military. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1982. Buchanan, A. Russell. Black Americans in World War Two. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 1977. Bykofsky, Joseph, and Harold Larson. The Transportation Corps, Operations Overseas: The United States Army in World War Two. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1957. Cashin, Herschel V. Under Fire with the 10th U.S. Cavalry. New York: Arno Press, 1969. Coffman, Edward M. The War to End All Wars: The American Military Experience in World War One. New York: Oxford University Press, 1968. Cornish, Dudley T. The Sable Arm: Black Troops in the Union Army, 1861–1865. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1987. Originally New York: Longmans Green, 1956. Dalfiume, Richard M. Desegregation of the U.S. Armed Forces: Fighting on Two Fronts, 1939–1954. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1969. Davis, Lenwood G., and George Hill. Blacks in the American Armed Forces, 1776–1983: A Bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1985. Department of Defense. A Pictorial Documentary of the Black American Male and Female Participation and Involvement in the Military Affairs of the United States of America. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1991. Donaldson, Gary A. The History of AfricanAmericans in the Military. Malabar, FL: Krieger Publishing, 1991. Eaton, Clement. A History of the Southern Confederacy. New York: Free Press, 1954. Fletcher, Marvin. The Black Soldier and Officer in the United States Army, 1891–1917. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1974. Foner, Jack D. The U.S. Soldier between Two Wars:

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Army Life and Reforms, 1865–1898. New York: Humanities Press, 1970. ———. Blacks and the Military in American History: A New Perspective. New York: Praeger, 1974. Foner, Philip S. Blacks in the American Revolution. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1975. Fowler, Arlen L. The Black Infantry in the West, 1869–1891. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1971. Gladstone, William A. United States Colored Troops, 1863–1867. Gettysburg, PA: Thomas Publications, 1990. Glatthaar, Joseph T. Forged in Battle: The Civil War Alliance of Black Soldiers and White Officers. New York: Free Press, 1990. Glass, Edward L. N. History of the 10th Cavalry, 1866–1921. 1921. Reprint, Fort Collins, CO: Old Army Press, 1972. Hargrove, Hondon. Buffalo Soldiers in Italy: Black Americans in World War Two. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1985. Heywood, Chester D. Negro Combat Troops in the World War: The Story of the 371st Infantry. Worcester, MA: Commonwealth Press, 1928. Jefferson, Robert F. “African Americans in the U.S. Army during World War II.” In A Historic Context for the African-American Military Experience. Edited by Steven D. Smith and James A. Ziegler. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1998. https:// www.denix.osd.mil/denix/Public/ES-Programs/ Conservation/Legacy/AAME/aame4.html#Race, %20Labor,%20and%20War: Johnson, Charles, Jr. African American Soldiers in the National Guard: Recruitment and Deployment during Peacetime and War. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1992. Johnson, Jessie J., ed. A Pictorial History of Black Soldiers (1619–1969) in Peace and War. Hampton, VA: Hampton Institute, 1969. Kaplan, Sidney, and Emma Nogrady Kaplan. The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1989. Leckie, William H. The Buffalo Soldiers: A Narrative of the Negro Cavalry in the West. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1967. Lee, Ulysses. The Employment of Negro Troops. Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, 1966.

Little, Arthur W. From Harlem to the Rhine: The Story of New York’s Colored Volunteers. New York: Covice Friede, 1936. Lord, Francis A. They Fought for the Union. New York: Bonanza Books, 1960. MacGregor, Morris J. Integration of the Armed Forces, 1940–1965. Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 1985. http://www.army.mil/ cmh-pg/books/integration/IAF-FM.htm# TABLE%20OF%20CONTENTS. McGuire, Phillip, ed. Taps for a Jim Crow Army: Letters from Black Soldiers in World War Two. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 1983. McPherson, James M. The Negro’s Civil War. New York: Pantheon, 1965. Mays, Joe H. Black Americans and their Contribution towards Union Victory in the American Civil War, 1861–1865. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1984. Motley, Mary P. The Invisible Soldier: The Experience of the Black Soldier in World War Two. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1975. Mullen, Robert F. Blacks in America’s Wars: The Shift in Attitudes from the Revolutionary War to Vietnam. New York: Monad Press, 1974. Nalty, Bernard C. Strength for the Fight: A History of Black Americans in the Military. New York: Free Press, 1986. Nalty, Bernard C., and Morris J. MacGregor. Blacks in the Military: Essential Documents. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1981. Patton, Gerald. War and Peace: A Black Officer in the American Military, 1915–1941. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1981. Quarles, Benjamin. The Negro in the Civil War. Boston: Little, Brown, 1953. ———. The Negro in the American Revolution. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1961. ———. The Negro in the Making of America. New York: Collier Books, 1964. Redkey, Edwin S. A Grand Army of Black Men: Letters from African-American Soldiers in the Union Army, 1861–1865. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Rose, Arnold M. “Army Policies toward Negro Soldiers—A Report on a Success and a Failure.” Journal of Social Issues 3 (Fall 1947): 26–31. Schubert, Frank N. On the Trail of the Buffalo

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Soldier. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1995. Scipio, L. Albert. The Last of the Black Regulars: A History of the 24th Infantry (1869–1951). Silver Spring, MD: Roman Publications, 1983. Scott, Emmett J. Scott’s Official History of the American Negro in the World War. 1919. Reprint, New York: Arno Press, 1969. Shapiro, Herbert. White Violence and Black Response: From Reconstruction to Montgomery. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1988. Silvera, John D. The Negro in World War Two. Baton Rouge, LA: Military Press, 1946. Utley, Robert M. Frontier Regulars: The United States Army and the Indian, 1866–1891. New York: Macmillan, 1973. Wilson, Joseph T. The Black Phalanx: A History of the Negro Soldiers of the United States in the Wars of 1775–1812, 1861–1865. 1890. Reprint, New York: Arno Press, 1968. Wynn, Neil A. The Afro-American and the Second World War. New York: Holmes and Meier, 1975.

U.S. Army, Interwar Period (1918–1941) Despite the wholesale deployment of African American troops in the front line and in service units during World War I, the policies of the armed services toward racial minorities had changed little by the beginning of the interwar period. By the end, though resistance to using African Americans was still strong, changes were at least planned. It had proved to be impossible to simply return to the status quo before the war, partly because of the movement of increasing numbers of African Americans from the South to northern cities in search of manufacturing jobs. The pressure was on. It was in the U.S. Army that the most important changes took place; the other services tended to take their cue from the army.

The Dilemma after World War I Despite the (rather belated) acceptance and involvement of African Americans in the army in the latter stages of World War I, relatively few African Americans were able to choose the U.S. Army as a career path after the war. With limited economic opportunities at home, the army was still seen as an honorable profession by African Americans, and it fell to the African American press and civil rights organizations to press the army to see to it that African American citizens received full recognition and were able to achieve their potential in the organization. The general African American public fully expected that the courage and the loyalty of the 404,348 African American troops who had served during World War I would be taken as ample demonstration of their patriotism and loyalty to the country. The two African American divisions, the 92d and the 93d, had received considerable public and official attention during the conflict. Not all of the press was complimentary, but on the other hand, it was not only the African American press that contained examples of bravery under fire. Newspapers in Boston and Pittsburgh, for example, featured stories from which the African American public and U.S. citizens in general derived inspiration. What had shocked and dismayed African Americans across the country was the abuse from white officers, the discriminatory treatment, and the rumor that African American troops were being used as either shock troops or as laborers. Rumors were also rife of arrests, courtsmartial, and examples of cowardice. The enforced retirement of a respected and successful African American officer, Col. Charles Young, on the eve of what he and many others expected to be his appointment to a field command, brought universal astonishment. As evidence later attested, the court-martial figures and the accusations of misconduct were much inflated. Without doubt, the command structure of the African American units, the men’s own inexperience, the lack of equipment, and the contradic-

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tory orders they received, all taken together made the extent to which their performance was adequate even more remarkable under the circumstances. But those who were in the position of making the decisions seemed to be unable to realize how well the men had done. It became a common feeling among those in command that in the event of another war, African American troops should not be deployed in combat. They should be used either as laborers or as support units for white units. If that turned out to be the case, any freedom, or at least relative lack of restriction, that had been seen during World War I would be much more curtailed in future conflicts. In 1917, when the United States entered World War I, there was no distinct policy as to the employment of African Americans. The army, however, was determined to frame its own policy, and it was to the testimony of commanders in the field that the planners turned after the war. The testimony related to the 92d Division, the only African American division to operate as part of American forces in France. Testimony was from regimental and higher level commanders who condemned both African American officers and enlisted men. The evidence these commanders gave supported the conclusion that African American troops should not be assigned to combat duty. This conclusion was reinforced by similar evidence from the 93d Division, although it was at variance from the opinions of the French, with whom the regiments of the 93d served. The testimony of officers in the field who praised the performance of African Americans was ignored. The commanders of the four regular African American regiments (two cavalry, two infantry) that had not seen service in France were not consulted. Decisions were made based on the performance of non-regulars (volunteers, National Guardsmen, second draftees) by officials who had not actually led them in battle. The War Department recognized that in the event of a major war, a considerable number of African Americans would have to be mobilized.

What they had to decide was how these troops could be deployed into militarily efficient units. Since their plan was to use as few African Americans as possible in the peacetime army, the vast majority of those who were used in a major war would have little army experience. One approach was to ensure that, where deployed, African Americans would have white officers and noncommissioned officers. This was the proposal favored by the War Department; the alternatives were far more drastic. On the one hand the number of African Americans mobilized could be reduced to such a small figure that there would be no complications. Alternatively, instead of creating all–African American units, the army could integrate. The first alternative would simply bring the same problems that had been prevalent in almost every regiment ever since African American units had been mobilized. Racial prejudices would be reinforced, and African Americans could quite rightly claim lack of opportunity and incentive, since they could not hope to become officers. The other two options were politically dangerous. If African American involvement were to be diminished, that would mean disbanding the four African American regiments, and white units would have to be created to replace them. As for integration, at this stage of U.S. history, African Americans invariably held subordinate positions in society. It was unthinkable that an African American would have a superior rank to a white man, yet in a fully integrated army, that would be inevitable. Lack of Opportunity for African Americans In 1866 and 1869, four African American regiments were firmly established by Congress. Four infantry regiments were merged into two in 1869, but the status of the two cavalry regiments and the two infantry regiments that remained was further reinforced by the Revised Statutes of 1878. The National Defense Act of 1920 stated that regular African American regiments were no longer required, but it was

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successfully argued that the 1920 defense act did not repeal the legislation governing their existence. The four regiments were retained. Legislative action would be required in order to deactivate the African American regiments; therefore the judge advocate general suggested a simple compromise. The regiments would be reduced in size, as had been the case in 1890. By 1921 six troops of the 9th and seven of the 10th had been demobilized or inactivated. Effectively, only African Americans who had been in the U.S. Army before April 1917 were retained. On June 30, 1922, it was the turn of the 24th Infantry to be reduced, yet the number of those offering themselves for reenlistment on the same day that they had been discharged was still high. The expedient hit upon was to cease new enlistments, and the net result was that opportunity to join or to gain promotion in African American regiments was rare. In 1926 an expansion of the Air Corps had been ratified by U.S. Congress, which took place, incrementally, over the next five years, but overall, the army continued to shrink. The fifth increment, in 1931, meant that existing forces would have to be cut, resulting in further cuts to the four Regular Army units. The Air Corps did not accept African American enlistment, and so there was nowhere for the men to go. Comparatively speaking, the regiments were overstrength. With the economic depression of the 1930s, more African Americans wished to join the U.S. Army, but there was nowhere for them to be deployed. There were now calls for equality, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), in particular, saw the reductions in the African American regiments as incompatible with the army’s claim that they were not discriminating against African American soldiers. By gradual reduction the four regiments were effectively withering away, mere skeletons of what they had once been. Even the resumption of enlistment in 1934 did little to practically help African Americans join up. The four regiments were posted to remote locations, and enlistment required the

physical presence of the volunteer to inquire whether there were any vacancies. The army did not help, as they did not provide funds for recruits to travel to these distant locations. In order to join the 25th, a trip to southeastern Arizona, where the regiment was stationed, was necessary. Under such conditions, the regiments themselves found it difficult to find and train qualified and fit young African American men. The opportunities for training were few, as each regiment had numerous elements on detached duties and there were few opportunities for anything other than routine work. There had been a major change starting in the 1890s, in that African American units had been created for the National Guard, but during World War I, only the 369th Infantry (established as the 15th Infantry Regiment, New York National Guard on June 2, 1913) reached its full strength. Many suffered the fate of the 372d, which, although it consisted of two battalions and the nucleus of a third, was split between the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, and Ohio, with a further unit created in 1940, based in New Jersey. Any hope of training the 372d as a cohesive combat unit was in vain. Elsewhere, the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) for the most part only accepted African Americans at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and Wilberforce University in Ohio. At some northern universities, a few African Americans were allowed into ROTC, but only a few. African American reserve officers eligible for service numbered just 353 in 1940, and the consequence was that the only African American reserve regiment that was close to a full staff was the 428th Infantry in the District of Columbia. In 1940, Junior ROTC facilities were established at the Hampton Institute, Virginia, the Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, Prairie View College, Texas, and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College. There were other facilities in Washington and Chicago. Citizen’s Military Training Camps had been authorized by Congress in 1920 to provide training for young men in the summer, but like the National

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Guard units, these camps were largely unknown to the African American public, and as a result, comparatively few African American citizens offered their services.

izenship; that the Negro constitutes an appreciable part of our military manhood; that while not the best military material, he is by no means the worst; that no plan of mobilization for the maximum effort can afford to ignore such a fraction of the manhood, especially in these times when war makes demands upon the physical defectives and the women; and finally, that in a democracy such as ours political and economic conditions must be considered, and that decision must rest upon these two considerations alone (quoted in Lee 1966, 32–33).

Army Attempts to Solve the Problem The army sought to deal with the thorny problem of how African Americans would be deployed in the event of a war in a 1922 plan, which effectively remained at the core of army thinking until the development of a new plan in 1937. According to the 1922 plan: 1. There would be no expansion of the four regular army regiments. 2. Since the states would retain control of the National Guard, the 1922 plan was limited to considering units in the Organized Reserves on a federal level. 3. Each corps area commander was to submit a plan for utilizing African American personnel in his area. Each corps area was expected to plan for use of approximately half of the African Americans in the corps area. It seems that these policies were based on the following assumptions: 1. That the army recognized that policy had to appear to be fair but recognized the fact that a readily acceptable solution might not be forthcoming. 2. That in principle African American troops would be used in combat, but only because the white population, if African American troops were not used, would unfairly have to shoulder all the losses in a war. In the plan itself, the authors of the plan explained some of their assumptions as follows: That the Negro is a citizen of the United States, entitled to all of the rights of citizenship and subject to all of the obligations of cit-

The studies upon which the plan was formulated addressed the three most challenging issues: (1) the use of African Americans as combat troops, (2) the size and home stations of African American units, and (3) the race of officers for African American units. As far as the use of African Americans as combat troops was concerned, psychological test data from World War I were used to indicate the probable intelligence of potential recruits. The test data were interpreted to mean that African Americans were less intelligent than their white counterparts. Nonetheless, the results showed a spread of intelligence across all of the recognized grades. It was therefore concluded that, although the tests indicated that large numbers of African Americans would be barred from combat duty by testing, this was no reason in itself not to use psychological tests in order to sift the entire population. With regard to the size and deployment of African American units, the plan suggested that generally speaking these units should be smaller than their white counterparts. It was not deemed advisable to group these units as divisions, but to scatter them among white divisions, based on the evidence that African American units had performed well when grouped with white units in the past. The third issue, which really focused on African American officers, was again considered on the basis of testimony from World War I that blamed African American officers for the com-

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parative lack of success of the 92d and the 93d Divisions. The inference was that white officers would provide “proper” leadership, which African American troops would not receive from African American officers. On the other hand, the study did not rule out the possibility of African American officers: It is not reasonable to accept that the Negro will be willing to serve in the ranks with no hope of a commission. Moreover, it cannot be fairly stated that no Negro possesses the necessary qualities of leadership to make him an efficient officer. Not all our white officers are selected from the ranks of the most intelligent. As a matter of fact, we commission many white officers of only average intelligence. It follows that there must be some Negroes of intelligence equal to some of the whites who we commission. The trouble in the past has been that we have not demanded from the Negro the same standard of intelligence, grade for grade, as from the white (quoted in Lee 1966, 33–34).

The corps commanders were explicitly told not to create African American units if they did not have qualified African American officers to command them. Effectively this would mean that corps commanders had carte blanche not to accept African Americans. The plan was approved on December 23, 1922, and sent to the corps commanders on December 27. The corps commanders in turn were required to submit their mobilization plans, which were approved on July 12, 1923. The question of the use of African American manpower remained a sensitive issue, and, as a result, corps commanders were advised not to circulate the information contained in the plans. African American units were barely mentioned, even in the War Department’s own plans, and in 1928 corps commanders were still not allowed to show their mobilization plans to units that would have African American troops. This order was not rescinded until 1938.

A plan based on a new set of studies came into existence in 1931. The fundamental assumptions remained the same: 1. That potential African American manpower was around 10 percent. 2. That African Americans should bear their share of responsibility in a war. 3. That military realities had to be the basis for policy, unlike World War I where political and racial issues took precedence over what could be considered to be sound military policy. 4. That unless the War Department had sound policies for the use of African Americans in combat units, prior to the outbreak of a war, they would be forced to use them as combat troops by necessity or political pressure once hostilities had gotten under way. One major difference was that the 1931 plan stipulated that African American units would not be deployed in combat roles until after war had broken out and hostilities had begun. This would mean that competent officers could be deployed in white regiments rather than having to be reserved for African American ones. It was hoped that for at least the first year of hostilities, the responsibility of combat would rest on the shoulders of white troops. After this period African American units would be mobilized, and large African American formations would only be created once the smaller units had demonstrated their ability to conduct combat operations. The 1933 plan of mobilization showed that African Americans would account for only 31,245 of the 1,526,380 men in the initial mobilization. In other words, this figure was just 2.05 percent of the available total American manpower; proportionately, it should have been 9.45 percent, or approximately 144,000 men. The War Department began another study of manpower in 1937; they hoped to avoid the problems that had arisen during World War I. In

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1917 the first manpower registration of African Americans and whites between twenty-one and thirty years had identified 9,562,581, or 89.87 percent, whites, and 1,078,333, or 10.13 percent, African Americans. A widely disproportionate number of African Americans had been placed in the Class 1 category for unlimited service: Some 556,917 of the Class 1, or 51.65 percent of the available men, were African American, while 3,110,659, or 32.5 percent of the available men, were white. From early June to early September 1917 just 4,000 African Americans were called up, as opposed to 650,000 whites, which caused numerous complaints from the white population. Between September and December, however, the situation was reversed, and large numbers of African Americans were drafted, which led to complaints, both from the African American community and from white farmers, who were losing their agricultural workers. The 1937 plan aimed to mobilize African Americans and whites proportionately and to call up the correct proportions from day one. However, due to the low numbers of African Americans in military units prior to mobilization, a disproportionate draft would have to be instituted to redress this imbalance before proportional call-ups could go into effect. The problem was readily apparent, in that African Americans only accounted for 1.8 percent, or 6,500, of the total of 360,000 in the regular army and the National Guard. Calculations were made on the basis of mobilizing a million men, which meant that 88,000 African Americans would have to be called up, in addition to the 552,000 whites to achieve the correct overall proportion. It was further recommended that African American combat units have half again as many company officers as white units. It was still widely believed that African Americans needed more training, closer supervision, and better-qualified noncommissioned officers in order to become effective soldiers. The 1937 plan and the studies on which it was based were kept quiet, and publication and

circulation suppressed. The Army War College and the War Department seem to have firmly believed that if the 1.8 percent African American manpower became public knowledge, it would lead to the call for either the creation of new African American regiments, or the replacement of white regiments with African American ones. The mobilization regulations of 1937 took a significant period of time to be processed and published, and when they were, they included clear instructions as to how matters relating to African Americans were to be expressed:

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1. African American manpower was to be indicated in the mobilization plans at a percentage of the total mobilized strength equal to the correct ratio of African American manpower to total manpower. 2. Each corps was to provide African American manpower that reflected the ratio of African Americans to the total manpower of their area’s male population, and each corps would therefore have different African American ratios. 3. As much as possible, consistent with defense needs, African Americans were to serve in combat units, as opposed to service units, in the same proportion as whites. 4. African American units would be mobilized to full wartime strength as early as possible where that was believed to be useful for purposes of training. 5. Excluding African Americans assigned to labor pools and the like, African Americans were to be assigned to African American formations, and the warrant officers and enlisted men of those formations should all be African American. 6. Reserve officers for African American units of the Organized Reserves could be African American. Chaplains for African American Regular Army units could

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be African American. Officers for African American organizations in garrison could be African American. National Guard units would have some positions in their African American units that could be filled by African Americans. All such assignments would depend on the availability of qualified African American personnel. 7. African American officer candidates would only be recruited in proportion to the number of replacements needed, and these candidates must be fully qualified. 8. The ratio of African Americans assigned to service command and the War Department (rather than to regiments) in an area should be at least in proportion to their representation in the population of that area. The War Department fixed percentages of African Americans for each of the nine corps areas based on the white and African American populations: 1st Corps 2d Corps 3d Corps 4th Corps 5th Corps 6th Corps 7th Corps 8th Corps 9th Corps

1.26 percent 4.26 percent 11.25 percent 33.37 percent 6.45 percent 4.25 percent 5.58 percent 10.52 percent 1.03 percent

African American troops were to be assigned primarily to reserve infantry, cavalry, or artillery regiments, harbor defense units, ammunition trains, engineer/general service regiments, the quartermaster service, ordnance companies, service command units, and the War Department overhead installations. What is particularly significant is that the Protective Mobilization Plan of 1940, which arose from the 1937 policy, shows that instead of the African American manpower percentage of between 9 and 10

percent (as a proportion of the total manpower), only 5.81 percent of enlisted men were African American. Most of these men, as can be seen in the Protective Mobilization Plan, were assigned to the infantry, the engineers, and the quartermasters. All other areas of the army either had no African American units or very small ones. An analysis of the disposition of African American units in the Protective Mobilization Plan shows that the vast majority of African Americans were to be assigned to noncombat service units. The War Department’s Organization and Training Division (G-3) undertook a further examination of the provisions of the Protective Mobilization Plan in the summer of 1940. Some of the units no longer existed or were no longer required, and their absence would cause an imbalance between African Americans in combat units and service troops. G-3 recommended that African Americans be allowed to join all arms and services of the U.S. Army, with the exception of the Air Corps and the Signal Corps. Separate African American battalions would provide harbor defense and antiaircraft units, and would initially be commanded by African American officers. These could later be replaced with white officers if necessary. Splitting African American units into such small groups would make it very difficult to incorporate these battalions into a larger formation, while at the same time it would deal with the problem of deploying African American officers. The War Plans Division and the Personnel Division disagreed with G-3 with regard to exempting African Americans from the Air Corps and Signal Corps. The War Plans Division gave this explanation:

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It is neither desirable nor practicable in a major mobilization to exclude Negro manpower per se from any Arm or Service. Furthermore, it is the opinion of this Division that Negro manpower can be as successfully employed in some capacities in both the Air Corps and the Signal Corps as it is in the other Arms and Services. Any limitation in the use of Negroes in the Arms and Services must be predicated

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A group of African American men enlist in the United States Army Air Corps, March 24, 1941. They will be assigned to the 99th Pursuit Squadron at Chanute Field, Illinois. This is the first time the Army Air Corps has opened its enlistment to African Americans. (Bettmann/CORBIS)

upon the actual availability of personnel with required qualifications rather than upon any arbitrary elimination of the Negro as a whole on the grounds of lack of technical capacity. Our greatest difficulty with the Negro troops in the World War came not primarily from a lack of technical capacity, but from psychological factors and from faulty leadership (quoted in Lee 1966, 46–47).

The Personnel Division held that excluding African Americans from the Air and Signal Corps would make it impossible to maintain correct racial proportions within the U.S. Army, and would mean that African Americans would

not incur their share of the risks of war. Nevertheless, the Air and Signal Corps, as far as G-3 was concerned, were not going to employ African Americans. G-3 pointed out that the chief of the Air Corps had taken a firm stand against using African Americans, at least until a complete African American unit could be established. Congress had already established that the Air Corps was not to train African Americans as pilots; the Civil Aeronautics Authority was given the responsibility of training African American pilots. These pilots, however, could not be used by the Air Corps. The inherent problem was that pilots were officers, and it was considered unthinkable that African American

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officers should have authority over white enlisted men. The Signal Corps based its opposition on the grounds that it would be difficult to recruit competent African Americans, although they were willing to consider a separate African American stream of companies or battalions to service an African American division, if one were ever to be organized. There were other major considerations. If African American troops were to be assigned to white divisions, as the Personnel Division had also recommended, this would mean that in each of the active divisions in the regular army and the National Guard, an African American regiment would supplant a white regiment. It was G-3’s view that this would inhibit the combat efficiency of the units who had already trained together, and they doubted whether a mixed division would be efficient in combat. As far as the African American media and public were concerned, the mobilization regulations were unknown; nevertheless, it was widely believed that African American troops would both be segregated and probably be used as laborers in the event of war. Those who did have some knowledge of the proposals did not feel that the plans were equitable. The War Department found itself in a difficult position; their Public Relations Bureau wrote on October 11, 1939:

ment had the following less than adequate position:

The War Department has given serious thought to questions involving the induction of Negroes into the military service. However, the War Department is not an agency which can solve national questions relating to the social or economic position of the various racial groups composing our Nation. The War Department administers the laws affecting the military establishment: it cannot act outside the law, nor contrary to the will of the majority of the citizens of the Nation (quoted in Lee 1966, 49).

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1. African Americans would be mobilized in proportion to the percentage they represented of men of military age. 2. African Americans would be mobilized early in order to build up and maintain the correct 9 to 10 percent figure. 3. They would be trained longer, if necessary, in order to ensure that they were fully trained. 4. African Americans would be assigned to all arms and services as long as they qualified. 5. African American troops would be used in combat, and the same ratio of African Americans would be assigned to combat units as was true of whites so that, statistically, an African American soldier would have as much chance as a white soldier of being assigned to a combat unit. This was the official position of the War Department, despite the fact that not all branches of the armed services had agreed to this, nor was it likely to be technically possible in all types of combat units. 6. Initially, African Americans would be assigned to all–African American units. These would be kept deliberately small and could be assigned to larger, white formations if necessary. 7. Larger African American troop units would only be routinely deployed into combat-ready units after smaller units of African Americans had proved themselves in combat. 8. Some positions for officers within African American units could be either African American or white, but African American officers would have to meet the same standards as white officers and be similarly trained. 9. In African American units it would be desirable to have 50 percent more officers than in white units.

U.S. Coast Guard

10. African American officers could only command African American troops. 11. Initially, African Americans would be assigned to the Reserve and National Guard units and various service units. 12. As it turned out, these well-laid plans underwent a number of changes, many of which would not fit easily with accepted aspects of the use of African American troops. Various parts of the U.S. Army and the other services fought tooth-and-nail to retain the vestiges of policy that had been in place since World War I. Only the urgent need for more troops during World War II led to significant steps toward integration. See also National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; Selective Service Acts; U.S. Army; World War I; World War II; Young, Charles References and Further Reading DuBois, William E. B. The Gift of Black Folk. Boston: Stratford, 1924. Lee, Ulysses. The Employment of Negro Troops. Center of Military History United States Army: Washington, DC. 1966. MacGregor, Morris J. Integration of the Armed Forces, 1940–1965. Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 1985. http://www.army.mil/ cmh-pg/books/integration/IAF-FM.htm# TABLE%20OF%20CONTENTS. MacGregor, Morris J., and Bernard C. Nalty, eds. Blacks in the United States Armed Forces: Basic Documents. 13 vols. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1977. Scott, Emmett J. Scott’s Official History of the American Negro in the World War. Chicago: Homewood Press, 1919.

U.S. Coast Guard As the smallest of the five armed services, the U.S. Coast Guard has had a complex and long-

standing relationship with African Americans. Initially, the Coast Guard discouraged African Americans, slave or free, from participating. During World War II, though, the organization led all the branches of the armed services in integrating its ranks. Surprisingly, after the war, the Coast Guard lagged behind the rest of the military in ensuring that African Americans were accorded opportunities to serve in all ranks. On August 7, 1789, the first session of the U.S. Congress established the Coast Guard to combat smuggling and ensure the safety of ships in American waters. Originally named the Revenue Marine when it came into service on August 4, 1790, it soon became known as the Revenue Cutter Service. From the very beginning, the ships had a number of African American slaves on board in the roles of cooks, stewards, and seamen. Even the first commissioned officer of the Revenue Cutter Service, Hopley Yeaton, was accompanied on many of his voyages by his slave, Senegal. After Congress banned the international slave trade in 1807, the Revenue Cutter Service took on the added responsibility of policing U.S. waters for those attempting to violate the law and import slaves from Africa or the West Indies. During the first ten years after the act had been passed, Revenue Cutter Service vessels stationed in Southern ports intercepted literally dozens of ships and recovered around 500 slaves. Until 1843, both slaves and free blacks were employed in the Revenue Cutter Service, although their participation was discouraged by the organization’s leadership and they were relegated to low-level jobs as cooks, stewards, and ordinary seamen. On November 2, 1843, the service enacted a new regulation that specifically prohibited slaves from working aboard its vessels. Slaves were barred “from ever being entered for the Service, or to form a complement of any vessel of the Revenue Marine of the United States” (cited in U.S. Coast Guard Historian’s Office). While both the army and navy changed their policies toward African Americans dramatically

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during the Civil War, the Revenue Cutter Service continued to treat blacks as they always had. The first sign of change came in March 1865, when President Abraham Lincoln awarded Michael Healy a commission as a third lieutenant, making him the first African American officer in the service. Healy enjoyed a long and successful career with the service, being promoted to second lieutenant in 1866 and first lieutenant in 1870. Sailing mostly in the northern seas around Alaska, Healy was appointed commanding officer of a vessel in 1877—the first African American to command a ship in the armed forces. He was considered to be one of the finest sailors ever to sail in the treacherous seas in the north and continued to receive promotions for the rest of his career. Stationed in Alaska, he was responsible for seizing sealers, drawing maps, dispensing justice, and carrying out a wide variety of missions. Through these many functions, he became one of the most distinguished individuals in Alaska at that time. At the close of the nineteenth century, the United States became embroiled in a diplomatic wrangle with Spain, primarily over the status of the Spanish-held colony of Cuba, which had been agitating for its independence. Diplomacy quickly failed, and the United States found itself at war with the ailing Spanish Empire. With the island of Cuba lying so close to U.S. waters, the Revenue Cutter Service played a significant role in the naval portion of the Spanish-American War, with one battle involving a naval vessel receiving more attention than any other. On May 11, 1898, the Revenue Cutter Hudson sailed into the Spanish-held Cardenas Bay, along with two U.S. Navy gunboats and a torpedo boat. The service’s two-gunned Hudson was to take part in a raid on the Spanish defenses, picking its way through the minefield, toward the seemingly defenseless Spanish gunboats lashed to the sugar wharves. The U.S. torpedo boat, the Winslow, accompanied the Hudson as they closed with the Spanish ships and instantly the Winslow came under fire from the Spanish land batteries. In the first 20 minutes the Hudson fired 135

shells, its guns ably manned by, among others, an African American steward called Savage. With the Spaniards firing at the U.S. vessels from five different points in a period of around 30 minutes, the Winslow eventually suffered a critical hit; its boiler was destroyed, and the crew could no longer steer it. Gradually, the Winslow drifted toward the shore. The Spaniards then turned their attention to the Hudson, which was maneuvering to tow the Winslow out of danger. The Hudson’s commanding officer, 1st Lt. Frank H. Newcomb wrote in his report: Each and every member of the crew from the boatswain down to Moses Jones, the colored boy who attached himself to the after gun and never failed to have a shell ready when it was needed, did his whole duty cheerfully and without the least hesitation. This appears more the remarkable in view of the fact that none of them had ever been under fire before, and that the guns were without protection or shelter of any kind. They deserve the most substantial recognition in the power of the Government for their heroic services upon this occasion (quoted in U.S. Coast Guard Historian’s Office).

On the recommendation of President William McKinley, Congress passed the following resolution:

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In the face of a most galling fire from the enemy’s guns, the reserve cutter Hudson commanded by First Lieutenant Frank H. Newcomb, United States Revenue Cutter Service, received the disabled Winslow, her wounded commander and remaining crew. The commander of the Hudson kept his vessel in the very hottest fire of the action, although in constant danger of going ashore on account of the shallow water, until he finally got a line fast to the Winslow and towed that vessel out of range of the enemy’s guns, a deed of special gallantry. I recommend that, in recognition of the single act of heroism of First Lieutenant Frank H.

U.S. Coast Guard

Newcomb, United States Revenue Cutter Service, above set forth, the thanks of Congress be extended to him, and to his officers and men of the Hudson, and that a gold Medal of Honor be promised to Lieutenant Newcomb, and a silver Medal of Honor to each of his crew who served with him at Cardenas (quoted in U.S. Coast Guard Historian’s Office).

After the war ended, the Revenue Cutter Service returned to its normal peacetime duties, which had not changed much over the preceding 100 years, being charged with patrolling American waters for smugglers and helping ships and sailors in distress. In 1915, Congress ordered the merger of the Revenue Cutter Service with the Life-Saving Service, naming the new organization the U.S. Coast Guard. The Life-Saving Service had only existed since 1878, and African Americans seemed to have enjoyed relative equality with their white counterparts during that time. The men in this service were responsible for patrolling the beaches in search of floundering ships or sailors in distress, manning lifeboats and buoys, and maintaining lifesaving stations. The first African American lifesaving station keeper was Richard Etheridge, who was appointed in 1880 as keeper of the Pea Island Life-Saving Station in North Carolina. This station was also manned exclusively by African Americans. When the United States entered World War I in April 1917, the newly formed U.S. Coast Guard assisted the U.S. Navy, both in providing homeland defense and in manning vessels sent into the war zone to transport troops, supplies, weapons, and ammunition. Many African Americans participated in this effort, although they were still generally held to low-level positions. No other African American officers had been commissioned after Healy, and African Americans were found almost exclusively in the lowest ranks and the worst jobs, such as cooks, stewards and messmen. Notably, the vast majority of African Americans in the Coast Guard served on shore duty, particularly in positions requiring large amounts of manual labor.

In the spring of 1942, shortly after the United States entered World War II, the Coast Guard was compelled to reevaluate the way in which it employed African Americans. In April of that year, the navy announced that African Americans would be admitted into the general service of the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Marines, and the U.S. Coast Guard, but this announcement did not offer as many opportunities for African Americans as it seemed to on first appearance. Other than in the capacity of messmen, blacks did not have many opportunities to serve aboard U.S. ships, as authorities strictly adhered to a program of segregation. So although African Americans would be more encouraged to join the Coast Guard by the navy’s announcement, they would be restricted mostly to shore duties. Compelled by the urgency of war, the Coast Guard moved quickly to implement the new policy, enlisting 150 African American volunteers later that spring and sending them to Manhattan Beach Training Station in New York. Although the classes were integrated, the barracks and messes were still segregated. Those who qualified after the four weeks of basic training could then go on to train for a variety of roles in the service, including radiomen, coxswains, electricians, yeomen, and pharmacists. But before officials had a chance to evaluate the success or failure of this new policy, the federal government declared that all recruitment for the branches of the military would occur through the draft. The Selective Service Act, which mandated the terms of the draft, included a provision for racial quotas, which brought many more African Americans into the Coast Guard. Initially, the majority of the African American volunteers and draftees were assigned to shore duties, which remained strictly segregated but allowed for promotion, even to officer ranks. Those serving aboard ships as messmen had assigned battle stations that they might be required to take during combat situations but were otherwise restricted to menial positions. Only a handful of all–African American vessels existed in the Coast Guard at this time, one of

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which provided material assistance in sinking a German U-boat (submarine) in 1943. The question of whether or not the Coast Guard should integrate its ships remained at the forefront of the minds of the organization’s leaders. The general shortage of manpower meant that white sailors rotated off their ships for shore duty for periodic breaks from combat were not easily replaced with other white sailors. African American sailors were the obvious replacements, but authorities feared heightened racial tensions among an integrated crew. Therefore, blacks were stuck with shore duty, while whites had trouble getting their share of shore duty. The problem lay in two contradictory policies: segregation and rotating sea and shore duties. Coast Guard authorities were convinced that both policies were essential to maintaining vessels’ combat effectiveness. Nevertheless, the Coast Guard began to experiment with desegregation in 1943. In June of that year, Lt. Charlton Skinner proposed to captain a ship with an integrated crew. Coast Guard authorities approved the plan in November, and Skinner compiled his crew aboard the weather ship, USS Sea Cloud. Of the 173 men aboard, the crew included 4 African American officers and 50 African American petty officers and seamen. The Sea Cloud saw service off the coasts of France, Greenland, and Newfoundland and assisted in the sinking of a German Uboat in June 1944. Throughout these assignments, there had been remarkably little racial tension among the crew, marking the experiment a success. One other Coast Guard vessel, the USS Hoqulan, operated with an integrated crew and had a similar experience. By July 1944, some 25 percent of African Americans in the U.S. Coast Guard were officers, the highest percentage in all of the armed services, even though African Americans only accounted for 2.1 percent (5,000 men) of the total manpower of the Coast Guard. The war also saw other advancements by African Americans in the Coast Guard. In 1944, Lt. (JG) Clarence Samuels became the first African American to command a major U.S. Coast

Guard vessel (Light Vessel No. 115) since Michael Healy. In the same year, Ens. Harvey Russell became the first African American graduate of the Coast Guard Officer Candidate School in Yorktown, Virginia. In 1945, Olivia Hooker, D. Winifred Byrd, Julia Mosley, Yvonne Cumberbatch, and Aileen Cooke became the first African American women to enter the SPARs, the women’s reserve of the Coast Guard, established in 1942. The U.S. Coast Guard’s successful integration policy during World War II prompted the U.S. Navy to begin integration, which it did in 1945 with its auxiliary fleet. Within a few years of the war’s end in 1945, the Coast Guard had become fully integrated, officially adopting a policy of merit-based assignments and promotion. It served as a model for integration when the other branches of the armed services adopted, or were forced to adopt, policies of integration after President Harry Truman signed Executive Order 9981 on July 26, 1948, officially ending segregation. However, African Americans still faced discrimination. At his inauguration parade in January 1961, President John F. Kennedy noted that there were no African American cadets in the Coast Guard Academy unit. He immediately called Secretary of the Treasury Douglas Dillon and ordered him to ensure that African Americans were enrolled in the next academy class. In 1966, Merle Smith became the first African American to graduate from the academy; the first African American women graduates were Angela Dennis and Daphne Reese in 1983. Likewise, African Americans were slow to rise to the top ranks of the organization. In 1977, Bobby C. Wilks became the first African American to reach the rank of captain in the Coast Guard. In the following year, Manson K. Brown became the first African American to command the Cadet Brigade in the Coast Guard Academy’s history. Not until 1998 did the Coast Guard commission its first African American admiral, Erroll M. Brown. These milestones occurred noticeably later than in other branches of the armed forces, despite the Coast Guard’s initial acceptance of integration.

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Crew members manning the 20 mm guns of a Coast Guard fighting ship in the early 1940s. (CORBIS)

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See also Healy, Michael Morris; Selective Service Acts; Spanish-American War; U.S. Navy; World War II References and Further Reading Carbone, Elisa. Storm Warriors. New York: Alfred A Knopf, 2001. Greene, Robert E. Black Defenders of America, 1775–1973. Chicago: Johnson Publishing, 1974. MacGregor, Morris J. Integration of the Armed Forces, 1940–1965. Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 1985. Strobridge, Truman R. Blacks and Lights: A Brief Historical Survey of Blacks and the Old U.S. Lighthouse Service. Washington, DC: U.S. Coast Guard Historians Office, 1975. Townsend, Linda E., and Dupree Davenport. A History of Blacks in the Coast Guard from 1790. Washington, DC: Department of Transportation, 1977. U.S. Coast Guard Historian’s Office. “A History of African Americans in the Coast Guard.” January 1999. http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/history/h_ Africanamericans.html (accessed August 8, 2003).

United States Colored Troops See Bureau of Colored Troops; U.S. Army; United States Colored Artillery (appendix); United States Colored Cavalry (appendix); United States Colored Troops (appendixes); individual units

United States Colored Troops of Kentucky (Civil War) African Americans from Kentucky provided significant numbers of men to serve in various units of the United States Colored Troops (USCT), as the African American regiments

that fought for the Union in the Civil War were called. At least 23,703 men from Kentucky served in two cavalry, four heavy field artillery, and seventeen infantry regiments. The first unit to be created was the 4th U.S. Colored Field Artillery (Heavy) in June 1863, and the last, the 125th U.S. Colored Infantry, was formed at Louisville, Kentucky, between February 12 and June 2, 1865. The men served across Kentucky, as well as fighting in a number of engagements elsewhere. Notably, those who stayed on garrison duty within the state saw action against Confederate guerrillas at Ghent, Haddix’s Ferry, Harrodsburg, Lexington, and Owensboro. African Americans from Kentucky also saw action in Virginia at Saltville, Marion, Petersburg, Richmond, Fort Harrison, Hatcher’s Run, Portsmouth, and Bermuda Hundred; in Tennessee at Union City, Fort Donelson, Johnsonville, and Nashville; in North Carolina at Fort Fisher, Sugar Loaf Hill, Federal Point, Fort Anderson, Wilmington, Kinston, Goldsboro, Cox’s Bridge, Raleigh, and Bennett’s House; and in Arkansas at Duvall’s Bluff. The 109th, 114th, 116th, and 117th U.S. Colored Infantry witnessed the surrender of Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865. In the aftermath of the war a number of the regiments were sent to Texas and were engaged in operations along the Rio Grande until September 1866. The regiments involved in these operations to discourage French interference in Mexico were the 109th, 114th, 116th, 117th, 118th, and 122d. The 125th U.S. Colored Infantry not only had the distinction of being the last regiment to be formed when the unit ceased to exist on December 20, 1867, but it also became the last U.S. Colored Troop unit in the U.S. Army. The 5th U.S. Colored Cavalry Regiment was created on October 24, 1864, and initially saw action in Virginia and Kentucky. It was engaged in Burbridge’s Raid into southwestern Virginia (September 20–October 17, 1864) and later in Stoneman’s Raid (December 10–29, 1864).

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Throughout the first eight months of 1865 the regiment operated in Kentucky and Tennessee; it was transferred to the Department of Arkansas in August 1865, where it remained until it was mustered out on April 20, 1866. The 6th U.S. Colored Cavalry Regiment also saw action during Stoneman’s Raid, and in January it was transferred to Camp Nelson and Paducah, Kentucky. From March to May 1865 the regiment was in operations in Tennessee. In addition to the 4th U.S. Colored Field Artillery (Heavy) Regiment, Kentucky also provided men for the 8th and the 12th regiments. The 4th had formerly been known as the 2d Regiment Tennessee Heavy Artillery (African descent). It operated in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas until it was mustered out on February 25, 1866. The 8th was first designated 1st Regiment Kentucky Heavy Artillery (African descent), then the 7th, and finally the 8th. The regiment operated largely from Paducah, Kentucky, but saw action at Haddix’s Ferry, on August 27, 1864. The regiment was mustered out of service on February 10, 1866. The 12th saw postings exclusively in Kentucky, most frequently at Camp Nelson and at Bowling Green. The regiment was mustered out of service on April 24, 1866. See also American Civil War; United States Colored Artillery (appendix); United States Colored Cavalry (appendix); United States Colored Troops (appendixes) References and Further Reading Brown, Kent Masterson. The Civil War in Kentucky: Battle for the Bluegrass State. Mason City, IA: Savas Publishing, 2000. Colling, Benjamin Franklin. Fort Donaldson’s Legacy: War and Society in Kentucky and Tennessee, 1862–1863. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1997. Harrison, Lowell H. Civil War in Kentucky. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1995. Sears, Richard D. Camp Nelson, Kentucky: A Civil War History. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2002.

U.S. Marine Corps Although now a fully integrated service of the armed forces, the U.S. Marine Corps was the last to accept African American enlistment into its ranks during World War II. Nevertheless, there is evidence to suggest that African Americans have been present in the Marine Corps since April 1776. Early History According to the few still existing muster and pay rolls of the American Revolutionary period, three African Americans served in the ranks of the Continental Marines (the U.S. Marine Corps predecessor) and ten others were marines with the state navies of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. Evidence suggests that a slave belonging to William Marshall from Wilmington, Delaware, was recruited into the Continentals by a Capt. Miles Pennington in April of 1776 to serve on the vessel Reprisal. The man, variously known as Keto and John Martin, had joined with the permission of his master. His service was cut short when the ship went down with nearly all hands off the coast of Newfoundland in October 1777. Two other contemporaries were definitely fighting troops. The first was Isaac Walker, who appears on the muster rolls of Capt. Robert Mullan’s company of Continental Marines at Philadelphia on August 27, 1776. He is clearly identified as being an African American. On October 1, he was joined by an individual intriguingly described as “Orange . . . Negro” (quoted in Shaw and Donnelly 1975, ix). Both of the men remained on the musters until at least April 1, 1777, which suggests that they may have fought at the second battle of Trenton on January 2, 1777, and at the battle of Princeton on January 3, 1777. The Continental Marines ceased to exist in 1784, but ten years later Congress agreed to the building of six frigates, which were each to contain a complement of marines. An order from the secretary of the navy on March 16, 1797,

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effectively barred African Americans from serving on board these new ships within the marine companies. On July 11, 1798, Maj. William Ward Burrows was appointed the commandant of the newly reformed Marine Corps. Burrows reiterated the secretary of the navy’s instruction not to recruit African Americans, as evidenced in a letter to Lt. John Hall, who was a Marine Corps recruitment officer operating in Charleston, South Carolina: “You may enlist as many Drummers and Fifers as possible, I do not care what Country the D & Fifers are of but you must be careful not to enlist more Foreigners than as one to three natives. You can make use of Blacks and Mulattoes while you recruit, but you cannot enlist them” (quoted in Shaw and Donnelly 1975, ix). Few records related to the nineteenth century detail the recruitment and muster rolls of the fledgling U.S. Marine Corps. Although it was acceptable practice for African Americans to serve as seamen on board ships where marines were also deployed, it is not clear whether African Americans in any number managed to be accepted into the Marine Corps itself. It is probable that those who were recruited were musicians, along the lines of the instructions from Burrows, not strictly speaking fighting men, but that is not to say that they did not face the same dangers and deprivations as the other men in the Marine Corps. Still, officially the Marine Corps was for whites only. World War II One hundred and fifty years of whites-only tradition came under threat June 25, 1941, with President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order No. 8802, which forbade racial discrimination in the defense industries and the government and established the Fair Employment Practices Commission, and the Selective Service Act of 1940, which outlawed discrimination in selection and training in the armed forces. Brig. Gen. Thomas E. Watson was given the task by the U.S. Marine Corps Commandant Maj. Gen. Thomas Holcomb to implement

Executive Order No. 8802. The Corps, however, as the service most resistant to change, took the position that African Americans were utterly unsuited to become marines. Generally, the requirements of the order were considered an unnecessary nuisance, given the fact that the Corps was preparing for their inevitable involvement in a new world war. After Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Holcomb gave evidence at a General Board of the Navy on January 23, 1942, and stated that the efficiency of the Corps would be impaired if they were forced to take African Americans into the service. Holcomb, however, realized that he was fighting against a tide of opinion that he could not stem and added additional reasons for not wanting to accept African Americans into the Corps at that time. He first referred to the question of the availability of officers to train the African Americans, stating that he would need “the best type of officer on this project, because it will take a great deal of character and technique to make the thing a success, and if it is forced upon us we must make it a success.” But the numbers of available officers were limited: “They simply can not be spared if we are going to be ready for immediate service with the fleet.” From the Corps perspective, his concluding remarks are particularly telling: “The Negro race has every opportunity now to satisfy its aspirations for combat, in the army—a very much larger organization than the Navy or Marine Corps—and their desire to enter the naval service is largely, I think, to break into a club that doesn’t want them” (cited in Shaw and Donnelly 1975, 1). Roosevelt, Congress, and African Americans in general would have none of this, and the pressure mounted on Holcomb and the Corps to institute plans for the acceptance of African Americans without any further delay. Though the navy still drew criticism because it allowed African Americans only into the steward service or auxiliary roles, and the other services because they still maintained very strict segregation, at least the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force had already put plans into action. The Corps was lag-

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gotten 40,000 white people. It just scared us to death when the colored were put on it. I went over to Selective Service and saw General Hershey, and he turned me over to a lieutenant colonel—that was in April and he was one grand person. I told him, “Eleanor [Roosevelt] says we gotta take in Negroes, and we are just scared to death; we’ve never had any in; we don’t know how to handle them; we are afraid of them.” He said, “I’ll do my best to help you get good ones. I’ll get the word around that if you want to die young, join the Marines. So anybody that joins [has] got to be pretty good!” And it was the truth. We got some awfully good Negroes (quoted in Shaw and Donnelly 1975, 1–2).

Howard P. Perry, the first African American to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps. Breaking a tradition of 167 years, the Marines started enlisting African Americans on June 1, 1942. (National Archives)

ging behind in developing a plan, and it was inevitable that they drew the greatest criticism from the administration, the press, activists, and the African American population. On April 7, 1942, in a statement from the secretary of the navy, Frank Knox, it was announced that the Marine Corps, the navy, and the coast guard would all be recruiting African Americans as soon as was practicable once training facilities were in place. The navy moved first, on June 1, by recruiting 1,000 African Americans per month for general service, with no restrictions on the branches of the navy open to African Americans. A century and a half of opposition from the Marine Corps ended with the statement that in July 1942 a full battalion of African Americans would be created. Future general Ray A. Robinson told the story this way: When the colored came in, we had the appropriations and the authority, and we could have

Holcomb appointed the South Carolinian Col. Samuel A. Woods Jr. to lead the training of the African American marines. He had had twenty-five years service in the Corps, and he became the first commanding officer of the 51st Composite Defense Battalion and the Montford Point Camp, which would serve as the training center for the men. Woods presented his plans in April 1942; with a budget of $750,000, he proposed the establishment of a new camp that would take 1,000 African Americans for a sixmonth training program culminating in the establishment of the first battalion. The officers of the battalion would be white, but the noncommissioned officers would be eventually drawn from the best of the recruits. On May 15, Holcomb sent out letters of instruction to the Recruiting Divisions (Central, Eastern, and Southern), with the public announcement of the recruitment drive being made five days later. Men started reporting to the recruiters on June 1. Interestingly, Holcomb had decided to ensure that the first African American battalion should contain representatives from all parts of the United States, and he allotted recruitment targets to each of the three divisions. Five hundred of the men would come from the South, while the eastern and central regions would provide 200 each. Although the Corps had accepted that Afri-

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can American recruitment was inevitable, it is clear that the intention from the outset was not to create an integrated force. The men would be required to have the same aptitudes and fitness required of white recruits, but they would not only be set apart in segregated units, their role would be restricted by the terms of their enlistment. The recruits would be designated as Class III(c) of the Marine Corps Reserve, and therefore assigned to inactive duty in a General Service Unit; moreover, their contracts were stamped with the word “Colored.” The first two African Americans to enlist on the first day of the recruitment at Pensacola, Florida, were Alfred Masters and George O. Thompson. The first batches of recruits were specifically chosen for abilities that qualified them to help get the camp ready for the main influx of men. Most of the recruits had a burning desire to join what they figured was the best fighting service, and many also simply wanted to be the first to break down the final barrier in the armed forces. Some of the men were not averse to lying in order to be accepted into the Corps, such as a young Bostonian named Obie Hall who claimed to be a truck driver when questioned by a recruiting sergeant. In fact he was not, but the white lie ensured that Hall would become the first man of the first squad of the first platoon when he reported to Montford Point on September 2, 1942. The battalion was officially activated on August 18, 1942, and the first three recruit platoons consisted of forty men each, with several newly designated members of the Special Enlisted Staff (SES), a unit specifically assigned to each of the platoons. There was a shortage of white noncommissioned officers, and it was hoped that African Americans qualified to become NCOs could quickly be identified from the initial batch of recruits. The 51st Composite Defense Battalion was to consist of 1,200 men, who would continue to arrive at Montford Point until the target had been reached. There was a good deal of sifting out, and the attrition rate was around 50 percent. The facility consisted of a headquarters building, a chapel, two

warehouses, a theater, a barbershop, a beer hall, a dispensary, a mess hall, quarters for the SES, a generator plant, a motor transport compound, an officers’ club, and 120 prefabricated huts for the men. The nearest town was Jacksonville, and as the camp was located beside the New River, the men were plagued by mosquitoes. The most colorful character of this period in the history of the African American Marine Corps was a man who had been a regular in the 25th Infantry Regiment and a navy mess attendant and steward, Gilbert Johnson. At the age of thirty-seven he had volunteered to join the U.S. Marine Corps; he later became known as “Hashmark” Johnson. There were other men who had considerable previous service, including George A. Jackson, who had been a lieutenant in the 10th Cavalry. He and Johnson went on to become well-known drill instructors. Among the other men were a number of college graduates, including Charles F. Anderson, who became the first African American sergeant major in the Marine Corps, and Charles W. Simmons, a man with postgraduate qualifications who also became a sergeant major. Two men emerged as expert exponents of hand-to-hand combat, Arvin L. Ghazlo, who was a former bodyguard, and Ernest Jones. The first recruits finished their initial training at the end of November and were sent to Camp Lejeune for live fire training. Of the first group nearly 200 of the men now proudly wore their marksman or sharpshooter badges. On November 19, sixteen men were made private first class, and these men were the first among many who would remain at Montford Point in order to see the rest of the battalion through their training. There was a rude awakening in December 1942, when the men were first given a short period of leave that enabled them to visit Jacksonville, only to find the town, warned of their coming, virtually closed. The Montford Point authorities rallied to their aid and organized trucks to take them to larger towns outside the state, but on their return they encountered the full Jim Crow discrimination. They were made to sit at the back of buses or refused a ride

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altogether. On at least one occasion the marines banded together, threw off the bus driver, and drove the bus back to Montford Point themselves. By late December some of the men were being trained to use artillery pieces, and by now the rifle company of the 51st had been created. Again when the men were allowed leave over the Christmas period, several were arrested for impersonating marines: so little was known of their existence. In January 1943, under the terms of the Selective Service Act, the Marine Corps was required to increase African American recruitment up to the statutory 10 percent. This meant that among the 99,000 men the corps would recruit during 1943, nearly 10,000 would need to be African American. It was, therefore, proposed that a stepped-up recruitment system be instituted, calling for 400 recruits in February and March, 800 in April, 1,300 in May, and 1,000 for each month for the rest of the year. This meant that Montford Point had to be enlarged, and in keeping with the policy of segregation, part of the solution was not to draft troops into Composite Defense Battalions but to create a stewards branch, which was authorized on January 1, 1943. It was agreed that the February and March intake would be absorbed into the 51st, a new camp would be established, and a Mess Attendant’s School and an Officers, Cooks, and Stewards School would be formed. The vast majority of Montford Point marines were relegated to noncombat battalions. The first batches of the previous year’s recruits enjoyed the advantages of promotion and the promise of some kind of combat duty. On March 11 the Headquarters and Service Company, Headquarters Battalion, was created and the recruit Depot Battalion was activated. Colonel Woods, who had commanded the Montford Point camp, was replaced by Lt. Col. W. Bayard Onley, and by April hundreds of new recruits were pouring in. The majority of the white drill instructors had left Montford Point by the end of April, to be replaced with African American drill instructors, including Hashmark

Johnson. If anything, the new African American drill instructors made the new recruits’ lives more miserable than their white predecessors had done. Johnson even referred to himself as an ogre; he was determined that every single man who graduated from the camp would bring glory to the Corps and honor to his race. With the arrival of prominent musicians such as Lt. Robert Troup Jr., the camp established a rich reputation for its music. By the closing months of 1943, the 51st and other depot companies were preparing to embark for the Pacific, and a number of stewards were ready to take up positions in officers’ messes around the world. There had been a change of plan regarding the 51st, and it was recommended that it become a heavy defense battalion and that the rifle company and the 75 mm Howitzer battery be detached to form an infantry battalion. The men still believed that they would be used only for labor duties, but on June 7, 1943, the word “composite” had been dropped from the unit’s title, and a machine gun group and an artillery group had been added. The men still continued their training throughout 1943, and by July the company had reached 1,700 men; it was now clear that the unit would be split, and the 52d Defense Battalion was slated to begin organization at the beginning of 1944. On August 20, 1943, the U.S. Marine Corps suffered its first African American casualty, Cpl. Gilbert Fraser Jr., who died in a fall. The main road from the camp to the artillery area was named after him. The battalion left Montford Point and took over the Camp Knox site in September 1943; here they continued with their combat training. An inspection of the unit, which included Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox and the commandant of the Marine Corps, General Holcomb, indicated that the men were ready for action. Lt. Col. Floyd A. Stephenson sought orders for his 51st and discovered that their embarkation instructions had been delayed, but that he would have to lose 400 men in December to begin the formation of the 52d. At around the same time, white noncommissioned officers and

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instructors were transferred out of the 51st and replaced with African Americans, which meant that embarkation was imminent. Finally, in early January preparations began, and by January 19 the majority of the 51st had finally left for their embarkation ports. Shortly before the departure, there was a potentially serious incident involving some of the last of the 51st still at Montford Point, who became involved in a brawl with military police. Cpl. Rolland J. Curtiss was wounded in the melee, but it could not be established who fired the shot. Nevertheless, the majority of the men were now at San Diego and proudly wearing their United States Marine Corps badges, with the 51st emblazoned above. Even here, at Camp Elliott, the men faced discrimination when they were told to sit at the back of the cinema. It was here, too, that they lost Lieutenant Colonel Stephenson, who was replaced by Col. Curtis W. LeGette, who had been in the Marine Corps since 1910. On February 11 the troops left for the Ellice Islands to relieve the 7th Defense Battalion. They were to provide garrisons for Nanomea Island, Funafuti, and Nukfeteau. The first detachment was landed on February 25 and the remainder on February 27. The islands were something of a backwater, and although the bases needed to be protected, they were rarely used except for emergencies and repairs. The period was dominated by continued practice and boredom, interrupted only by a few shots at an enemy submarine on March 28. The efficiency of the battalion, despite constant training, was a grave concern to the new commander, but by July the battalion was involved in preparations to move to a more forward area of the theater. The 51st sailed on September 8 and headed for Eniwetok Atoll, a major support base for the Mariana Islands. They arrived on September 14, and took over responsibility for a number of islands. Again they trained and retrained. On December 13, 1944, LeGette was replaced by Lt. Col. Gould P. Groves, who had known the battalion since 1943. Again the men lapsed into

boredom, and although there were a number of alerts, they failed to see the enemy. On June 12, 1945, elements of the battalion were detached and sent to Kwajalein, but still they saw no combat. In late November the battalion was replaced, and they sailed for Pearl Harbor, docking at San Diego on December 10. The battalion was formally disbanded on January 31, 1946. Meanwhile, the 52d, based on its cadre of 400 men from the 51st, was entrusted to Col. Augustus W. Cockrell, who had been commissioned into the corps in 1922. The 52d did not suffer the same difficulties in training that had inevitably been present at first, and the men proved to be quickly proficient. After some reorganization in the summer of 1944, on July 12, Lt. Col. Joseph W. Earnshaw took over the battalion, and in August training was completed at Montford Point. After further reorganization on August 15, the battalion was ready for embarkation. By August 19 effectively two different parts of the battalion had been established, and by August 24 the 52d had arrived at Camp Pendleton, California. On September 21, 1944, the battalion left San Diego for Pearl Harbor, then sailed on to the Marshall Islands on October 8. Their destination was the Majuro Atoll. Here part of the battalion was disembarked on October 17, but the remainder sailed on, landing at Kwajalein Atoll on October 22. Both groups were engaged in test firing. Potentially, they could face the enemy, who still occupied a number of the islands in the area. A detachment was deployed to reconnoiter and clear some of the smaller atolls of Japanese troops, and in December the battalion took their first Japanese prisoners. By April 1, 1945, the fluid front line of the Pacific War had moved closer to Japan, and the 52d was identified as a unit to become engaged in the Okinawa operations. The first detachments landed at Guam on March 24, and here there were still hundreds of Japanese troops who had become isolated after

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the main fighting had ceased. The 52d sent out patrols and laid ambushes and claimed their first enemy kill on April 1. On April 13 more enemy soldiers were encountered, and this pattern continued throughout the month and into May. On May 5, after all of the battalion had been reunited, they started intensive training for another move forward, now under the command of Lt. Col. Thomas C. Moore. A date of June 15 was given. It was clear to the corps that the men had performed extremely well on Guam and that they were experienced enough to deal with more aggressive opposition. As it turned out, the move was delayed, and although loading had started on July 9, the movement order was cancelled and they remained on Guam. This was a great disappointment to the men, but they continued their patrols and engagements with pockets of Japanese resistance. In the event, movement orders did come, but the movement took them farther away from combat. The 52d sailed to Kwajalein and Eniwetok to relieve the 51st. After the end of the hostilities many of the men who had been in the battalion long enough to warrant a return to the United States were given permission at the beginning of February 1946. Many of the other men were transferred to Saipan to form the Heavy Anti-Aircraft Group (Provisional). The troops arriving back in San Francisco who had been with the original volunteers in 1942 were processed and discharged through Camp Pendleton. On March 13, 1946, the remaining men still part of the 52d Defense Battalion embarked at Guam and headed for San Diego, arriving there on March 26, where they were discharged at Camps Pendleton and Lejeune. By May 15, 1946, after the last discharges were completed, the 52d Defense Battalion ceased to exist. The unit was redesignated the 3d Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion (Composite) and was finally disbanded on May 15, 1947. The remaining men were temporarily transferred into provisional depot companies, and some were sent to join the headquarters company at Montford Point.

While the 51st and 52d Defense Battalions waited impatiently for combat opportunities, it was the units who had not been designated as combat units that found themselves in the firing line and suffered casualties during the war. Those soldiers who found themselves in combat came from the troops that were originally designated as labor units, such as those in the depot and ammunition companies. It was these men who accounted for most of the 7 African American Marines who were killed in combat, the 78 who were wounded, the 9 who suffered from combat fatigue (probably what is now designated post-traumatic stress disorder), and the 35 who died from a variety of other causes. Given the nature of the type of war facing the United States in the Pacific, it was necessary to have a sophisticated means of supplying, supporting, and reinforcing the combat units. It was essential that all forms of transportation be smoothly organized in a foolproof way. The enormous distances between each area of contact with the enemy meant difficulties that must not be underestimated, and the logistical headaches involved required the deployment of an almost equal number of men to those who were actually engaged in combat. The U.S. Marine Corps established a system by which each support unit was responsible for dealing with specific types of supplies. They were also responsible for the salvaging and recycling of equipment when possible and appropriate. Initially, the Marine Corps lacked their own stevedores and had to use combat troops to perform this function. By 1943 the increasing numbers of African American troops entering the U.S. Marine Corps offered a solution to the supply problem. Many thousands of the men who graduated from Montford Point were transferred into supply units. The first unit, the 1st Marine Depot Company, was activated at Montford Point on March 8, 1943, commanded by Capt. Jason M. Austin Jr. It consisted of two platoons and a headquarters, amounting to 3 officers and 110 enlisted men. Initially, as was the pattern with most of the African American

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units, they had white noncommissioned officers, but these were replaced with African American noncommissioned officers as men moved up through the ranks. By 1944 all of the depot companies leaving Montford Point had their full complement of African American NCOs. This process of replacing white NCOs with African Americans was formalized on March 14, 1943, in a set of instructions issued by the commandant of the Marine Corps known as Letter of Instruction 421. It instructed unit commanders to find African Americans “having the requisite qualities of intelligence, education and leadership to become non-commissioned officers” (quoted in Shaw and Donnelly 1975, 30). Between March and September 1943, ten depot companies were created. It was then decided that a different form of unit structure would be created, a form that became known as a marine ammunition company. These companies would work alongside white ordnance companies in field and base depots. It was the ammunition company’s role to load, unload, and guard ammunition. They would be responsible for moving the ammunition from its point of arrival to the front line. The first such unit, the 1st Marine Ammunition Company, was again created at Montford Point, under 2d Lt. Placido A. Gomez on October 1, 1943. The training of these units was fairly basic, and the men were given just two months to become proficient in handling ammunition. The units were given a white staff noncommissioned officer and eight officers to help instill in the men the safety requirements of the role they were fulfilling. Each of the ammunition companies consisted of four platoons, with a total of 251 enlisted men. The emphasis was on teamwork, as the men were very reliant upon one another, due to the dangerous nature of the work involved. Between October 1943 and September 1944 one ammunition company and two depot companies were created each month at Montford Point. The last of the twelve ammunition companies was activated on September 1, 1944, and the last of the marine depot companies was acti-

vated on October 1, 1945, by which time there were fifty-one in existence. There were considerably different attitudes about these men who were being posted into these two different sorts of unit. The officers of the depot companies did not expect their men to see combat, and so often only required the men to have strong backs and stamina; the officers of the ammunition companies knew their men were likely to find themselves under fire, and so took the infantry training very seriously. Still, all of these men were armed and trained (to some extent) with rifles and side arms. The 1st Marine Depot Company left Montford Point just three weeks after it had been organized, arriving at San Diego on April 5, 1943. On April 16 they boarded the USS Hunt and two days later sailed for New Caledonia. This became the route taken by most of the depot and ammunition companies en route to the Pacific. The 1st was bound for the 1st Base Depot, which was supporting the U.S. Marine operations in the Solomons, where they had just ended the battle of Guadalcanal. A second depot company, the 4th, was created in New Caledonia in April, which absorbed existing quartermaster personnel. They were moved to the island of Banika, north of Guadalcanal, to help support U.S. Marines as they pushed into the Solomons. A number of the following units, both depot and ammunition companies, also moved into this area by the middle of 1944 in the final operations aimed at eliminating Japanese resistance in New Britain. When the 1st Marine Depot Company arrived in Noumea in May, it provided vital relief to the hard-pressed troops on the base. By June 30, the 2d and 3d companies, which had been formed at Montford Point in April, also arrived at Noumea. The 4th Marine Depot Company accompanied the 1st to Guadalcanal on board the USS Crescent City, leaving on August 5 and arriving on August 12. They were then shipped on to Banika, arriving on August 13. From then on for a short period they experienced Japanese bombing raids. Other African American units were transferred straight from Montford Point

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to Hawaii, Samoa, the Gilberts and Marshalls, and Pearl Harbor itself. By the spring of 1944 African American U.S. Marine units were spread across the whole of the Pacific from Hawaii to Guadalcanal. On June 15, 1944, the U.S. Marine Corps turned its attention to Saipan in the Marianas. The 7th Field Depot was assigned to deal with supplies for the 2d and 4th Marine Divisions of the V Amphibious Corps. These included the 3d Marine Ammunition Company and the 18th, 19th and 20th Marine Depot Companies. Simultaneously the 5th Field Depot, based on Guadalcanal, was to provide support for the 3d Marine Division and the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade (III Amphibious Corps), who were due to attack Guam. The 5th Field Depot included the 2d and 4th Marine Ammunition Companies. African American Marines landed on Saipan on D-Day (June 15, 1944). Here the 3d Marine Ammunition Company came under intense Japanese artillery fire but escaped without injury. Pfc. Leroy Seals, in another African American unit, was wounded and died of his injuries the following day. Although the support troops were not designated as combat units, they were forced to assist in the defense of the beachhead perimeter and beat off Japanese counterattacks. Depot companies also landed on June 15, with both the 18th and 20th in support of the 4th Marine Division and the 19th in support of the 2d. They unloaded ammunition and equipment under heavy fire near Charan Knoa, and four of the 18th’s men were wounded by mortar fire. During the night of June 15, Japanese infiltrators managed to slip through a gap between the 23d and 8th Marines, and the 18th Depot Company assisted in dealing with them. The exploits of the depot companies and ammunition companies are amply evidenced by a contemporary press account by the commander of the 20th Marine Depot Company, Capt. William C. Adams: My company landed about 2 p.m. on D-Day. We were the third wave, and all hell was breaking when we came in. It was still touch

and go when we hit shore, and it took some time to establish a foothold. My men performed excellently. I had previously told them: “You are the first Negro troops ever to go into action in the Marine Corps. What you do with the situation that confronts you, and how you perform, will be the basis on which you, and your race, will be judged. . . .” They did a swell job. . . . Among my own company casualties, my orderly was killed. My men are still living in foxholes (quoted in Shaw and Donnelly 1975, 34).

June 15 also saw the death of the first African American U.S. Marine as a direct result of close enemy combat. Pvt. Kenneth J. Tibbs died of wounds received on D-Day. Other African American units continued to be fed in to Saipan, and several more men were hit and wounded while performing their arduous work. The fighting wore on, as the Japanese continued to press the U.S. Marines, seemingly without respite. The contributions of the African American troops were already being felt, and the Commandant, Gen. Alexander A. Vandergrift, remarked: “The Negro Marines are no longer on trial. They are Marines, period” (quoted in Shaw and Donnelly 1975, 35). The next target for the marines was Tinian, which was assaulted at the end of July 1944. The 3d Ammunition Company was deployed with the assault troops, but took no casualties. By this time the 3d Ammunition Company, the 18th, 19th, and 20th Depot Companies had all received Presidential Unit Citations for their support of the 4th Marine Division. The final target in the Marianas for the Marines was the island of Guam. It had been intended that the assaults would be made on June 18, 1944, but due to the stubborn resistance of the Japanese on Saipan, the operation was delayed for over a month, and the landings went in on July 21. Again African American support units were deployed, with the 2d Marine Ammunition Company supporting the 3d Marine Division and the 4th Marine Ammunition Company supporting the 1st Provisional Marine

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Brigade. The marines and the supporting naval vessels pulverized Guam prior to the landings, but they still ran into determined Japanese resistance, which threatened to break up Marine assaults as they formed on the beaches. On DDay itself one African American was wounded, and the same night the 4th Ammunition Company foiled a Japanese attack on their ammunition dump. They suffered no casualties but killed fourteen of the enemy. On July 24 three of their numbers were wounded by Japanese artillery fire. The island was finally secured on August 10. However, despite the official proclamation that Guam was secure, there was still Japanese at liberty on the island. As late as September 27, 1944, two members of the 4th Ammunition Company were wounded by the enemy on the island. In December 1944, Pfc. Luther Woodward followed footprints near the ammunition dump he had been posted to guard. He discovered a group of six Japanese hiding in a native hut. He opened fire, killing one and wounding another, and the survivors ran. Woodward returned to his unit and persuaded five other men to help him find the Japanese. Woodward killed another of the enemy, as did a colleague, and for his gallantry Woodward received the Bronze Star on January 11, 1945. This was later upgraded to the Silver Star. African American support units were also involved in other U.S. Marine operations, notably the battle for the island of Peleliu in the Palau Islands. The 11th Marine Depot Company and the 7th Marine Ammunition Company were assigned to the 16th Field Depot, which was supporting the 1st Marine Division. Operations against the Palau Islands began at the end of August, and on September 15 U.S. Marines landed on Palau itself. Here the men faced near fanatical resistance, and the African American Marines were involved on the beaches for the first few days and were then assigned to moving the ammunition to the ebbing front line. A number of the men were wounded between September 20 and 24. The last casualty suffered by African American Marines on the is-

land was that of Cpl. Charles E. Cane, who was wounded on October 9. The commander of the 1st Marine Division, Maj. Gen. William H. Rupertus, was delighted with the way in which the men had supported his division and, in letters of commendation to the commanding officers of the 7th Ammunition Company and the 11th Marine Depot Company, stated: “The Negro race can well be proud of the work performed . . . as [the men involved] have demonstrated in every respect that they appreciate the privilege of wearing a Marine uniform and serving with Marines in combat. Please convey to your command these sentiments and inform them that in the eyes of the entire division they have earned a ‘Well Done’” (quoted in Shaw and Donnelly 1975, 37). The 8th Ammunition and 36th Depot Companies were present at the largest U.S. Marine amphibious operation in the Pacific against the island of Iwo Jima. The deceptively tiny volcanic island saw intense and ruinous fighting from the moment V Corps landed on February 19, 1945. The two African American units landed on D-Day and under constant artillery fire managed to avoid casualties until February 22. A white officer and an African American corporal were wounded on that day, and on February 25 six of the men were wounded, two of whom later died of their injuries. As the fighting moved to the north of the island, it seemed that the conflict was beginning to draw to a close. A few further casualties to the African Americans occurred in early March, and then, just as it appeared that the fighting was about to end, came a vicious Japanese counterattack. On March 26 an ad hoc group of up to 300 Japanese launched an attack on the beaches in the west. Understandably the Marines, having been assured ten days earlier that the island was secure, were not expecting this assault. In the pitch black there was chaos, and the 36th Marine Depot Company was in the thick of the fighting. Two of their men were later awarded Bronze Stars. Once the fighting was finally ended, again the African Americans drew praise, this time from the commander of

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the 8th Field Depot, Col. Leland S. Swindler. Not only was he delighted with their performance and danger awareness, not to mention courage, but he was also particularly impressed with their reluctance to claim any attention for their roles. Directly after the final securing of Iwo Jima, the African American troops returned to the Hawaiian Islands to prepare for the next major offensive. The largest concentration of African American U.S. Marines to become directly involved in combat occurred at Okinawa, starting on April 1, 1945. Okinawa was a key island, close to the Japanese homeland, and the invasion of Okinawa was the last conventional invasion before the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan. The 1st, 3d, and 12th Ammunition Companies, together with the 5th, 18th, 37th, and 38th, all attached to the 7th Field Depot, arrived on DDay, April 1, 1945. Before hostilities ended on the island, the 9th, 10th and 20th had also arrived. The 1st and 3d Ammunition Companies, together with the 5th, 37th, and 38th Depot Companies, took part in the landing on the southeast of the island with the 2d Marine Division. This attack was a feint, as the main thrust was on the western coast, consisting of the III Amphibious Corps and the U.S. Army’s XXIV Corps. By April 3 the bulk of the African American Marines had landed on the island, and they were supporting the 1st and 6th Marine Divisions. Initially the Marines swept inland and occupied most of the northern parts of the island, with the Japanese concentrating in the south. Casualties among the African American troops began to mount during April, as they were operating close to the front lines. When the U.S. forces moved south, the difficulties in resupplying the men became more acute. Again casualties began to rise during May and June. Other African Americans operating as stewards in the U.S. Marine Corps were deployed as stretcher bearers, and a number of these were killed or wounded while retrieving wounded men from the battlefield. Henry Shaw and Ralph Donnelly, in their official history, Blacks in the Ma-

rine Corps, estimate that more than 2,000 African Americans who had passed through Montford Point served on Okinawa. Officially hostilities ended on the island on June 22, but as Okinawa was so strategically placed, the African American units had much to do to help build up the enormous supply dumps that were being established. When the war ended in August 1945, many of the men traveled to Kyushu as part of the occupying army. Preparations had been made for an offensive against the island, but of course the Japanese did not resist the occupation of the island or the major Japanese naval port of Yokusuka. The 24th, 33d, 34th, 42d, and 43d Depot Companies, along with the 6th, 8th, and 10th Ammunition Companies, landed at Sasebo between September 22 and 26, 1945, with the 36th Marine Depot Company arriving in late October. The United States had been prepared for the worst, not expecting the Japanese to accept the occupation without entering into hostilities. As it was, the Marine Corps was able to begin demobilization of its troops as early as November, with the 24th Depot Company and 6th Ammunition Company disappearing first. By January 1946 more African American units were on their way back to Guam for demobilization, while others made the voyage back to Montford Point for disbandment in June 1946. The 8th Ammunition Company, however, remained on Guam for the time being. Even units that had only been in existence for a year, such as the 42d and 43d Depot Companies, were disbanded on March 14 in Japan. When the 10th Ammunition Company boarded the SS Dashing Wave on April 5, 1946, they were the last African American unit to leave Japan. They were disbanded at Montford Point in May. Other units had been sent to Northern China, and they found an altogether different state of affairs, as there was a civil war being fought between the Chinese Nationalist and Communist forces. The role of the U.S. Marines was to repatriate Japanese nationals. The 1st Ammunition Company and the 5th, 37th, and 38th Depot Companies started land-

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ing at Tangku on September 30. The Chinese reacted to the African Americans with wariness. The vast majority of Chinese had never seen anyone of African descent; they firmly believed that the men had either painted their skins or had been in the sun for too long. For a period of time they were convinced that if the men washed the color would come off. After their initial reserve, the Chinese took to the African Americans, and there were no instances of problems. Over the first few months, hundreds of thousands of Japanese were repatriated, and by January 1946 it became clear that the U.S. Marine contingents could be downsized. Three companies left on January 7, 1946, and were officially disbanded on February 21. The last African Americans to leave China were the 37th and 38th Depot Companies and the 12th Ammunition Company in early March. They were disbanded at the beginning of April at Montford Point. World War II had seen twenty-four of the sixty-three African American units in the Marine Corps engaged in combat across the Pacific. In most of these units, the soldiers had worked six days a week on twelve-hour shifts, ensuring that the supply channels of the U.S. Marines remained efficient and that the combat troops were never short of supplies or ammunition. As the operations became more numerous and strenuous, the workload only increased. As for the relationship between the white Marines and the African Americans, there were a number of racial incidents as late as December 1944, which were extensively investigated by a court of inquiry, whose findings ran to 1,200 pages. Many of these incidents occurred while the troops were based on Guam. In general, the findings of the court of inquiry were that African American marines had for the most part not been involved in the worst incidents, but rather the clashes had been between white marines and African Americans from the U.S. Navy. The morale and discipline of African American marines was found to be good,

though there was some resentment of policies that discriminated against African Americans. The Postwar Years By the summer of 1946 all that remained of the African American units were the 8th Ammunition Company and the 49th Depot Company. They were officially deactivated on September 30, 1947, by which time both of the units were down to skeleton strength. The men who had served during World War II had indeed been Marines in the truest sense of the word, despite the fact that they had often found themselves stranded in backwaters, dealing with hundreds of thousands of tons of supplies, and guarding them against an enemy that never came. The U.S. Marine Corps had not managed to raise the 10 percent of African Americans it had promised in 1943. The paper strength of the U.S. Marine Corps in October 1944 was 475,000, of whom 15,131 were African American. What had happened, however, was that the Marine Corps was steadily moving toward having African American officers. In the summer of 1944, the first batch of enlisted men with a college or university education were admitted into the U.S. Navy’s V-12 Program. It was still the intention that African American officers should not be put in command of white troops. Nevertheless, three African Americans were selected to attend officer training by March 1945; these were Sgt. Maj. Charles F. Anderson, Sgt. Maj. Charles W. Simmons, and 1st Sgt. George F. Ellis Jr. None of the three passed the course, one being given a medical discharge and the other two failing for academic reasons. It is interesting to note that Anderson later became a lawyer, Ellis a doctor, and Simmons a college professor and author. The breakthrough finally occurred with former Pfc. Frederick C. Branch, who was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve on November 10, 1945. He later saw active service in Korea. Three more African Americans joined the V-12 Pro-

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gram in 1946, two of whom returned to active service as officers. There were still grave questions surrounding the role of African Americans in the Marine Corps in the wake of World War II, above all concerning the men who wished to reenlist. The Bureau of Naval Personnel officially announced in a circular letter on February 27, 1946, that there would be no more restrictions on the grounds of race. The Marine Corps had a proposed postwar establishment strength of 100,000, and it was proposed that African Americans should account for 2,800 of these men, most of whom would be assigned to the stewards branch. A proposal to allow African Americans into the Aviation Branch was reversed in June 1946. In May 1946 the Marine Corps declared that it was not its responsibility to settle matters of racial discrimination without clear guidelines from the government. During 1946, African American recruitment into the Marine Corps was, officially at least, suspended. Montford Point was again chosen as the training center for any potential African American recruits, and preparations were under way to install the necessary drill instructors, including Hashmark Johnson, to handle the volunteers. The first men started arriving in June 1946. Further training facilities were required, and McAlester, Oklahoma, was chosen as an additional center. Here the men suffered a great deal of discrimination from the locals and were restricted to the east end of the town of McAlester on their infrequent visits. It was quickly realized that the African Americans should be removed from McAlester and sent to an area that had a large existing number of African American civilians. To this end, Port Chicago, California, and Earle, New Jersey, were chosen, and by January 1947 these bases were in operation. Meanwhile, the projected number of African Americans had been cut progressively from 2,800 to 1,500, and on July 1, 1947, African American enlistment was suspended. By mid1947 African American strength in the Marine

Corps had reached 2,200, including stewards. Plans were considered to transfer the vast majority of those men who were not already stewards directly into the stewards branch, but, under pressure, the Marine Corps reconsidered. Events elsewhere were to take the decision away from the U.S. Marine Corps, as on November 23, 1947, the Committee Against Jim Crow in Military Service and Training was established, thus beginning a push for effective integration of African Americans into the military in all arms of the service. By March 17, 1948, President Harry Truman, in the wake of asking Congress for a peacetime draft, began to realize that African Americans would not accept segregation any longer. The peacetime draft was signed into law on June 24, and Executive Order 9981 passed on July 26. With it was set up the Fahy Committee, which was intended to ensure that the Marine Corps, along with the other services, instituted a policy of equal treatment and opportunity. On June 23, 1949, an order to the whole navy, ALNAV 49447, was issued by the secretary of the navy, Francis P. Matthews. It is considered the landmark declaration of racial policy aimed at ending segregation and discrimination for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. It expressly forbade inequality on the basis of race, color, or religion; it mandated that there be no more segregation or separate facilities and that advancement and training be offered without prejudice. By November 18, 1949, the U.S. Marine Corps had overturned all of its previous regulations relating to African American Marines, including the requirement of segregated units. From then on African Americans were deployed in the Marine Corps on the same terms as whites. This effectively ended Montford Point’s existence as a segregated training facility. This landmark year also saw the first African American woman join the U.S. Marine Corps Women Reserves, and on September 9, Montford Point was finally deactivated, with the 200 or so men there being transferred to other units. The U.S.

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Marine Corps had come a long way in seven years, from accepting its first African Americans and putting them in segregated units to becoming a fully integrated service. Despite its tardiness in accepting African Americans, the Marine Corps could not resist the overwhelming pressure, not to mention legislation, which demanded its full integration. The Korean War When the Korean War broke out in 1950, some 1,500 African Americans were serving in the Marine Corps, and the corps as a whole only amounted to 74,279. By 1953, African American strength in the corps had risen to 14,731 out of a total strength of 249,219, effectively increasing African American membership of the corps from 2 to 6 percent. It is also significant to note that in 1950 a quarter of African Americans were in the stewards branch, but of the 1953 total, only just over 500 were in this section of the corps. African Americans were present with the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, manning the Pusan perimeter in July 1950. More men arrived throughout August and September to engage in the attack on Inchon and the liberation of Seoul. African Americans were being posted to units both individually and wholesale and performed every function across the corps. As integration progressed, it becomes increasingly more difficult to identify the exact movements and combat actions of African Americans. Some of the men stand out for their displays of valor, such as Pfc. A. C. Clark, who was wounded twice in action while evacuating two wounded marines on December 13, 1952. Clark was serving with H Company, 3d Battalion, 5th Marines, and during his action he destroyed an enemy machine-gun post, killing the three-man crew, and was awarded the Silver Star. In the previous August he had already been awarded the Bronze Star after saving his wounded platoon leader. Elsewhere African American NCOs were brought in and commanded white platoons.

Even Hashmark Johnson arrived in Korea and was given a series of jobs, which only months before would never have been open to a man of his color. African American officers were also beginning to filter into Korea, the first of which was Lt. William K. Jenkins. He had the distinction, while serving as platoon leader for Company B, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, of being the first African American Marine Corps officer to lead troops into combat. Frank E. Petersen became the first African American to be commissioned into the Marine Corps from the Naval Aviation Cadet Program. He flew sixty-four combat missions, winning six Air Medals and a Distinguished Flying Cross, and by 1973 had reached the rank of lieutenant colonel. Edgar R. Huff, who had had a long association with Montford Point, also served in Korea, and in September 1952 he became the first African American to become a battalion sergeant major. Toward Full Integration Directly after the Korean War, Marine Corps strength dropped from 205,275 in 1954 to 154,242 in 1960, but the numbers of African Americans in the corps remained at around 12,500, both male and female. The stewards branch itself had a number of African Americans who reached ranks as high as warrant officer, but on March 1, 1954, the policy of accepting steward-only enlistments was finally ended. It was expected that many of the African Americans in the stewards branch would opt for general Marine Corps service, but in fact the branch only lost about 10 percent of its men. A real stigma had been attached to serving white officers during the 1940s, but that was no longer the case. Not all of the integration was as smooth as in the combat units, and it was only with the increase in pressure for integration in all areas of society, symbolized by the historic Brown v. Board of Education ruling by the Supreme Court on May 17, 1954, that segregated schools and housing on bases was ended. Officially de-

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segregation of these facilities occurred throughout the armed forces on September 1, 1955. As the Marine Corps entered the 1960s, there were a number of violent clashes between African American and white members of the corps. Rising African American consciousness led many of the newer recruits to openly challenge aspects of Marine Corps life that had been accepted by the older veterans. There were signs that aspects of the Marine Corps had not been effectively integrated. By 1962, for example, several Marine Corps bases, including Bridgeport, California, and Charleston, South Carolina, had no African Americans due to housing considerations. Equally there were no African American recruitment officers. Again there was considerable pressure from the White House, this time from the Kennedy administration, demanding that Robert S. MacNamara, the secretary of defense, ensure true equal opportunity in the armed forces. One of the difficult problems facing the corps and the other sections of the armed forces was that local communities, particularly in the South, were still resistant to allowing African Americans to use civilian facilities or services. Steps had to be taken, for example, to place areas near military bases off-limits if they still maintained segregated housing. If such a move went into effect, it would effectively wreck the local economy, which was dependent on the dollars spent by servicemen. This, if nothing else, would force local communities to reconsider their discriminatory opinions and practices. A large number of landmark court cases proceeded during the 1960s on issues involving housing and education. When movement was not swift or white communities balked at the changes being imposed, a number of racial incidents occurred. A series of racial incidents at Camp Lejeune in 1969 led to armed conflict between African American and white Marines and locals, ending in a large number of arrests. The conclusions of a House of Representatives subcommittee of the Armed Services Committee proved to be very embarrassing for the Marine Corps. The corps and its commandant,

Gen. Leonard F. Chapman Jr., were forced to accept that they had problems. By this time the United States was deeply involved in Vietnam, and many of the so-called fragging incidents that happened there, when soldiers threw fragmentation grenades in officers’ tents, were in all probability racially motivated. That race hatred was behind much of the fragging was certainly a common belief among white officers. The corps was also grappling with two less serious problems associated with African American behavior and appearance. There was a trend during this period for African Americans to grow their hair long, and the corps was at pains to point out that Afro hairstyles should not exceed 3 inches and that sideburns were prohibited. More difficult were the clenched-fist salutes associated with Black Power. Although the corps outlawed these during official ceremonies, it accepted the practice in other circumstances as being a way of expressing unity and a greeting between African American marines. By May 1967 only 155 of the 23,000 officers in the Marine Corps were African American, and steps were beginning to be made to increase this proportion. By September 30, 1973, the number of African American officers on active duty had risen to 378, an increase achieved by focusing on recruiting college graduates. African American enlisted men now accounted for 17.41 percent of the corps. Much of this increase could be attributed to Lt. Col. Frank E. Petersen Jr., who filled the role of special assistant to the commandant for minority affairs. During the Vietnam War, some 448,000 U.S. Marines served in the theater between 1965 and 1973; 41,000 were African Americans. African Americans were involved in the war from the very beginning, not only in the role of enlisted men, but as officers and noncommissioned officers at squad, platoon, and company level. African Americans also served in the Marine Corps as aviators. They were present at many of the major engagements, including Khe Sanh and Da Nang, as well as during the Tet Offensive. Many thousands of the men were awarded Navy Crosses, Silver Stars, Distinguished Flying

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U.S. Marines of the Special Landing Force approach the beach in Rung Sat swamp, South Vietnam. (National Archives)

Crosses, Bronze Stars, and other medals, including the Purple Heart. Five African Americans from the U.S. Marine Corps were awarded Medals of Honor, including Pfc. James Anderson Jr., who was killed at Cam Lo on February 28, 1967, while serving with Company F, 2d Battalion, 3d Marines. Anderson has the distinction of being the first African American U.S. Marine to win a Medal of Honor. Other Medal of Honor winners were Sgt. Rodney M. Davis, Pfc. Ralph H. Johnson, Pfc. Oscar P. Austin, and the last man to win a Medal of Honor in Vietnam, Pfc. Robert H. Jenkins Jr. Although the men who have served in integrated units from Korea to the present day have showed their own gallantry, valor, and dedication to the corps, it is the men who reported to Montford Point in August 1942 that began the African American association with the U.S. Marine Corps. It is, therefore, understandable that indi-

viduals such as Sgt. Maj. Gilbert H. “Hashmark” Johnson retain the respect and affection of the men who followed him. A living endorsement of Johnson’s importance was poignantly made on April 19, 1974, when a ceremony reactivated Montford Point as Camp Gilbert H. Johnson. See also Desegregation of Armed Forces (appendix); Gifu; Korean War; Medal of Honor (appendix); Petersen, Frank E; Vietnam War; World War II References and Further Reading Garand, George W., and Truman R. Strobridge. History of the U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War Two. Vol. 4, Western Pacific Operations. Washington, DC: Historical Division, 1971. Hough, Frank O. Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal: History of the U.S. Marine Corps Operation in

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World War Two. Washington, DC: Headquarters U.S. Marine Corps, 1958. Middlebrook, Lewis F. History of Maritime Connecticut during the American Revolution, 1775–1783. 2 vols. Salem, MA: Essex Institute, 1925. Shaw, Henry I., Jr. The United States Marines in North China, 1945–1949. Washington, DC: Historical Branch, 1968. ———. The United States Marines in the Occupation of Japan. Washington, DC: Historical Branch, 1969. Shaw, Henry I., Jr., Bernard T. Nalty, and Edwin T. Turnbladh. Central Pacific Drive: History of the U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War Two. Vol. 3. Washington, DC: History and Museums Division, U.S. Marine Corps, 1966. Shaw, Henry I., Jr., and Ralph W. Donnelly. Blacks in the Marine Corps. Washington: U.S. Marine Corps. 1975. http://www.mcu.usmc.mil/ftw/ files/black.txt (accessed August 8, 2003). Stillman, Richard J., II. Integration of the Negro in the U.S. Armed Forces. New York: Praeger, 1968.

U.S. Navy African Americans have always been an integral part of American naval operations, and up through the Civil War they took their place in combat, forming a more substantial part of that branch of the service than of any other. Then, as whites began to find the navy more attractive, African Americans came to be limited to service positions, and between the two world wars discouraged from serving even there. It took World War II to really open the navy to African Americans again, and even then old practices hung on, at least until the Vietnam War. Before the American Revolution Before 1775, the British colonies that later made up the United States did not have a navy. The vessels that were eventually pressed into action by both the Continental Navy and the

navies of the various colonies during the American Revolution probably already had a considerable number of African American sailors. Life on board ship was not especially appealing; not only was it hazardous, but also the living conditions were poor and the food even worse. Any sea captain would be prepared to take any man who presented himself, and no questions were asked of a man who might very well have been a runaway slave. Poor African Americans, even if they were free, were often left with no alternative but to seek employment at sea. As a result, the early naval experiences of African Americans were wholly on integrated vessels. The American Revolution The early U.S. Navy basically consisted of any vessel that could be pressed into service against the British. Consequently, to support the Continental Navy, which had approximately fifty vessels of various types, there were the colonial, or state, navies, some of which were almost as large as the Continental Navy itself. Supporting these two more official types of navies were the numerous privateers, who operated under letters of marque received from the Continental Congress or individual colonies. Judging from the names on manifests and lists of ships’ crews, there were African Americans in each of these three categories and on nearly every vessel, even in the British Navy. Given the choice, African Americans opted to serve in the state navies rather than the Continental Navy, since the pay was better and the opportunities more varied. In the Continental Navy African Americans were often relegated to the lowest positions on the vessel. Both the state navies and the privateers were much more egalitarian. African Americans were also involved in naval duties in the dockyards, and increasingly the skills of African American artisans were needed to ensure the vessels remained afloat. African Americans in either an American or British vessel faced an uncertain future if captured. Those discovered on British ships tended

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to be pressed into service on American vessels, and African Americans on American ships captured by the British were often transported to the West Indies as slaves. The Continental Navy was disbanded after the American Revolution, and any ships that it had were sold. It was not until the United States became involved in an undeclared naval war with France in 1798, known as the Quasi War, that the U.S. Navy Department was finally established, and it is certain that African Americans fought in that war. Again, with difficulties in attracting white sailors, the navy enlisted African Americans as a means of filling the crews. The War of 1812 In June 1812 the United States declared war on Great Britain, and according to official records African Americans accounted for between 10 to 20 percent of all naval personnel, at least in some theaters. There were mixed feelings about their performance; individual captains were either concerned about the numbers in their crews or perfectly happy with their competence. Capt. Oliver Hazard Perry, who led the U.S. fleet in the Battle of Lake Erie, had 100 African Americans spread among the 400 sailors who manned his 10 vessels. He at first complained about the presence of African Americans in the reinforcements he had been sent, but their performance during the battle prompted him to write to the secretary of the navy, praising their courage and hard work. Working alongside the U.S. Navy at this time were a number of privateers. Again these vessels probably had a considerable number of African Americans among their crews. The U.S. Navy, after the War of 1812, still continued to enlist free African Americans. However, in 1816 the service banned any employment of slaves. There were continual concerns, particularly from the Southern states at this time, regarding the numbers of African Americans in the navy. As a consequence, in 1839, enlistments of African Americans were

pegged at 5 percent, a figure that remained in force until the Civil War. The Civil War During the Civil War, while the federal government and the U.S. Army dragged their heels or outright rejected offers from African Americans to serve in the army, there was no such discrimination as far as the navy was concerned. On September 25, 1861, the U.S. Navy officially sanctioned the enlistment of African Americans. Its greatest problem, however, was dealing with the thousands of slaves who presented themselves to their vessels as soon as they were spotted. Certainly in the early years of the war, having been rejected by the army, African Americans were keen to make some contribution, and as a result the secretary of the navy, Gideon Welles, began to address the problem in September 1862. He recognized that the high numbers of would-be sailors could not be ignored and that commanders should employ them for basic duties aboard vessels. As in all previous conflicts, the navy found it difficult to attract white sailors. The Northern states were not keen for their men to join the navy, as any that did were not counted in the recruiting quotas. The fugitive slaves offered to fill the gap in manpower. Any physically fit man would find employment and $10 a month. There was no segregation, due to the conditions on board the vessels, and it is believed that by the end of the war between 19,000 and 30,000 African Americans had served in the Union Navy, a full 25 percent of the entire strength. This is a much more significant figure, proportionately, than the 7 percent of the Union army who were African Americans. Perhaps the most celebrated early contribution of African Americans occurred on May 12, 1862, when a twenty-three-year-old slave, Robert Smalls, hijacked the Confederate steamer Planter and, under the noses of the Confederate artillery protecting Charleston harbor, guided the vessel to the Union blockade

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lines. Smalls was later awarded a bounty for the vessel by the U.S. Congress, and in the aftermath of the war he entered politics. Also during the Civil War, many African Americans formed labor details, loading and unloading supplies and equipment for the navy. A handful became navigators or engineers, and in the latter stages of the war most of the sailors were trained to fight, rather like Marines. A number of African American seamen were particularly adept at handing the heavy artillery pieces on board the ships, which helped prompt the U.S. Army into deploying African American artillery units. African Americans on board naval vessels served in all ranks below petty officer. Three African American sailors won Medals of Honor at the battle of Mobile Bay in August 1864, including John Lawson, who was serving aboard the USS Hartford in its attack on the

Landsman John Lawson of the U.S. Navy, who was one of three African Americans awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism aboard the USS Hartford during the Battle of Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. (U.S. Naval Historical Center)

Tennessee, Fort Morgan, and other Confederate vessels. Lawson, although he was wounded and the rest of his gun crew were out of action, continued to man the artillery piece throughout the whole action. It is believed that around 800 African American sailors were killed in action during the American Civil War, and another 2,400 are believed to have died from diseases. New Restrictions after the Civil War: A White Man’s Navy Directly after the Civil War the U.S. Navy chose to reverse its integration policy toward African American sailors. Although the past 100 years had seen considerable African American recruitment and employment within the U.S. Navy, the policy now was to restrict their deployment solely to the stewards branch. By 1917, the number of African Americans in the navy had dropped to less than 7,500. Gradually, in the fifty years between the end of the Civil War and World War I, the U.S. Navy had transformed itself into what was called in 1907 the “Great White Fleet.” The old, antiquated wooden vessels had been completely replaced by a steam-driven steel navy, symbolized by the sixteen battleships, painted white, that were displayed in 1907. The navy had become far more attractive to white recruits. Those African Americans who remained were restricted to serving as laborers and servants, and in other low-ranking positions. The men were segregated and excluded from all of the key roles on board ships and in the dockyards. During Reconstruction, when African American political power was at a high point, three African Americans did attempt to work their way through the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, despite its known rigors; the four-year program failed at least 30 percent of all midshipmen. African Americans had to contend with extreme racial prejudice as well. James H. Conyers from South Carolina was the first African American candidate; he failed on academic grounds. Alonzo McClen-

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Cooks on the deck of the USS Ossipee, 1887. After the Civil War African Americans were almost completely restricted to positions of cooks and stewards in the navy. (U.S. Naval Historical Center)

Mess attendants on board the USS Bushnell (AS-2) during World War I. (U.S. Naval Historical Center)

nan, who was also from South Carolina, chose to abandon his studies at the academy and study medicine instead. The third African American candidate, from Mississippi, Henry E. Baker, was unfairly dismissed from the academy and chose to become a clerk in the U.S. Patent Office, although he was offered reinstatement. In the latter stages of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth, African Americans were finding it increasingly difficult to gain entrance to or even to remain in the stewards branch. It was the U.S. Navy’s view that Asian Americans were far better at the job and made better servants than African Americans. This trend was accelerated when the United States effectively gained control over the Philippines, and by the time the country joined World War I in 1917, Filipinos outnumbered African Americans in the U.S. Navy. Even though over 2.2 million, or 9.63 percent of all the registered males eligible to serve during World War I were African American, the U.S. Navy sought to discourage their enlistment. They were told that they would only be deployed as mess men or as laborers. As a direct consequence of this policy, the vast majority of African Americans chose to join the army rather than the navy. This preference accounts for the fact that only 1 percent of the navy’s manpower

during the whole of World War I was black. African Americans were barred from enlisting in the navy from 1919 to 1932; after that they could join only as mess men. The small number of African American sailors in 1919, who served in racially mixed crews, were allowed to remain until retirement. One such sailor, John Henry (“Dick”) Turpin, had become the first African American chief petty officer (the highest enlisted rank) in 117. He had been in the navy since 1896 and survived the sinking of the USS Maine in 1898. He retired in 1925. World War II Despite a few relatively minor changes during the interwar period, on Sunday, December 7, 1941, the U.S. Navy was a predominantly white service. The Japanese bombing of the U.S. Pacific fleet and the subsequent destruction of or damage to 19 vessels, in addition to the 150 aircraft and 2,335 men lost, meant one thing: war had come, and with it a growing need for the U.S. Navy to radically rethink its entire recruitment policy. Manpower was undoubtedly a major concern, but changes in military policy toward African Americans also owed much to the lobbying of civil rights leaders and the related

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desire of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and other politicians to garner votes from a growing African American constituency. War was officially declared against Japan the following day. The existing African American servicemen were restricted at this stage to the stewards branch or labor duties in naval dockyards. The U.S. Navy lacked a single African American officer. All that would change by the end of the war. Theoretically, at least, in four years time, any position in the U.S. Navy would be open to African Americans. On that day when Japanese aircraft flew unchecked over U.S. soil, the first African American act in the U.S. Navy had also been played out. Dorie Miller from Texas was a steward on board the West Virginia, and after having helped to evacuate wounded men from the burning battleship, he ran to man an antiaircraft machine gun. Although the mythology that has gathered around Miller has made for exaggerated claims, the fact remains that the untrained machine-gunner accounted for at least two and possibly as many as six Japanese aircraft. The U.S. Navy, in typical style, referred to Miller in their reports as “an unnamed Negro Messman” (Reddick 1947, 205). Finally, in March 1942 Miller was publicly recognized, and in May he was awarded the Navy Cross. Miller died on board the Liscome Bay on November 24, 1943. The accelerated changes that swept through the U.S. Navy during World War II must be put in the context of the position that African Americans had found themselves in, in the immediate aftermath of World War I. At the close of hostilities of World War I the U.S. Navy had a total complement of 435,398 men, of whom 1.2 percent, or 5,328, were African American (Reddick 1947, 203). This figure gradually reduced until the early 1930s, largely as a result of Filipinos joining the U.S. Navy. Then Filipino recruitment dropped, and by 1932 African Americans were again recruited, but only as mess men, members of the stewards branch. Rigid segregation was thus achieved, and due to the poor conditions and lowly status of mess men,

very few of the men ever served more than one term of enlistment. By June 1940 the African American complement in the U.S. Navy had climbed to a little over 2 percent (Mueller 1945, 112), and it was around this time that there was a call for 200 additional African Americans to serve as stewards and fulfil similar duties. The attitude toward African Americans at this time is best summed up by Frank Knox, who was then secretary of the navy: “I am convinced that it is no kindness to Negroes to thrust them upon men of white race. One branch of the Navy is reserved exclusively for negroes, and that is messmen” (letter to Senator Arthur Capper, August 1, 1940, quoted in Krawczynski 1998). In September 1940 Walter White (secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People [NAACP]), A. Philip Randolph (president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters), and T. Arnold Hill (National Youth Administration) coauthored a memorandum to Roosevelt, Knox, and the assistant secretary of war, Robert P. Patterson, asking them to improve the lot of African Americans within the national defense program. They threatened that 100,000 African Americans would march on Washington. Patterson framed new proposals, which Roosevelt immediately accepted; from now on African Americans in the military would represent their equivalent proportions in the population, every service would accept African Americans, and African Americans would be accepted as officers. The conditions were that it might take some time, particularly in the event of war, and that segregation within the military would continue. It took Secretary Knox until June 1941 to commission a committee to look at African American opportunities, both in the U.S. Navy and in the U.S. Marine Corps. After six months of work the committee recommended that no change be made to the policy of limiting African Americans in the navy to the mess service. Early 1942 saw Japanese fortunes in the ascendant; the brunt of the defense of the Pacific Islands fell to the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Ma-

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rine Corps. There was an immediate need to enlarge the armed forces, but Knox still refused to consider allowing African Americans into the U.S. Navy in roles other than mess men, despite continuous pressure from the NAACP and other civil rights organizations. In frustration, the NAACP wrote directly to the president and asked him to intercede, and on January 9, 1942, he ordered Knox to find other forms of employment for African Americans in the navy. Knox asked the navy’s General Board to accept 5,000 African Americans for general service, but on February 3 the board’s recommendation was that African Americans remain only in the stewards branch, arguing that white personnel would not accept African Americans in any other role. Roosevelt refused to accept the position, suggesting that the board find special posts and assignments for African Americans that would not cause racial tension within the service. Finally, on February 25, 1942, the board recommended that African Americans be allowed to enlist for general service, but that they not be assigned to the main fleets. Segregation was to be maintained. Roosevelt agreed, and on March 31, 1942, he and Knox ordered the navy to institute the new policy. Knox could now announce that African American volunteers would be accepted for general service in the U.S. Navy from June 1, 1942. There was no intention, however, of curtailing the numbers of African Americans who were being tucked away in the stewards branch. The general service enlistment quota of 277 men per week would provide just over 14,000 African American sailors in the first year. Segregated training camps were established to handle the men at the Great Lakes Training Center in Illinois. The largest, Camp Robert Smalls, named after a black Civil War hero, provided special morale-building activities along with the standard military training. Men who qualified for specialist training either remained in segregated schools at Great Lakes or were transferred to the Hampton Institute in Virginia. A handful of the men were also sent to the Navy

Technical Training Station in Memphis, Tennessee, to train as aviation machinist mates. A few other men went to Camp May, New Jersey, to attend the Soundman School there, or to the Messmen’s School, based in Bainbridge, Maryland. The U.S. Navy faced a considerable problem with the large numbers of illiterate African Americans, whom they would have normally sent directly into the stewards branch. However, the branch was virtually full, and the navy had to establish educational facilities that would run alongside the basic naval training. It is believed that up to 15,000 African American recruits attended the series of twelve-week courses, designed to reach the fourth-grade reading level required for general service positions. Most of the new recruits were sent to segregated construction battalions (CB Special Battalions—hence the name Seabees). These men worked as stevedores and underwent basic training in segregated facilities at Camps Bradford and Allen, outside Norfolk, Virginia. The units were not intended to be deployed as combat troops. Nonetheless, there were a number of occasions when African American Seabees had to join in the fighting. Up until the issuance of Executive Order 9279, which placed the U.S. Navy, along with the other armed services, within the Selective Service system, the navy had accepted volunteers only. From December 5, 1942, they were now expected to increase their African American complement to 10 percent. By this stage the navy was already taking 1,500 African Americans per month into the stewards branch and a further 1,200 into general service. There now seemed to be no other alternative than to consider using mixed crews, but the Bureau of Naval Personnel, Knox, and even Roosevelt were opposed to this move. According to the Bureau of Naval Personnel, from February 1943 until June 1945 African American strength in the U.S. Navy rose from 26,909 to 165,500, while the percentage of African Americans serving in the stewards branch fell from 68 percent to 45 percent. Although

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theoretically the new racial policies opened up a vast number of naval professions to African Americans, the majority of the men were still being assigned to shore duties or, at the very best, small segregated coastal vessels, and many of them had still not been given the opportunity to serve overseas. They were still living under strictly segregated conditions and were very tightly controlled in terms of their leave and locations they could or could not visit during leave. They rarely received promotions in rank. When African American Seabees protested mistreatment in a discriminatory navy, they often faced severe punishment. In July 1943, 19 members of the 80th Construction Battalion received dishonorable discharges for lodging a complaint with their commanding officer. A year later 44 African American stevedores at Port Chicago were sent to prison for refusing to work in dangerous conditions after two ammunition-laden ships exploded, killing 300 men. In both case the charges were revoked following sustained lobbying from the civilian African American community. Although the U.S. Navy was reluctantly assigning African Americans to the general service, the authorities were far less willing to make rapid steps in terms of African American officers. In September 1943 the assistant secretary of the navy, Adlai E. Stevenson, pointed out to Secretary Knox that the U.S. Navy was going to have difficulty explaining why the navy had 60,000 African Americans in the service and were enlisting black men at a rate of 12,000 a month, yet they had no African American officers. In November 1943 Knox finally bowed to the inevitable and proposed to commission twenty-two African Americans as officers. Twelve of them would have line duties, and ten would be assigned as staff officers. The screening process was designed to exclude any man who had ever professed strong civil rights convictions. The Golden Thirteen, as the first African American officers were known, twelve line officers and a warrant officer, received their segre-

gated training at the Great Lakes Training Center, begun on January 1, 1944. Notably, none of the men were allowed to serve overseas. The navy then selected ten African American civilians to be trained as staff officers in the summer of 1944; three eventually found employment in the supply corps, three in the medical corps, and two each in the chaplain’s corps, the dental corps, and the civil engineer corps. This move was a very belated and token effort on the part of the U.S. Navy, as collectively these men accounted for a large proportion of the sixty African American officers who ultimately served in the U.S. Navy during the war. The U.S. Navy was beginning to realize that it would not be able to continue assigning African Americans to essentially segregated support functions—that it was inevitable that the call would come for African Americans to be assigned to seagoing naval vessels. As was its normal practice, it attempted to preempt this call. To forestall criticism of continued segregation and its policy of ensuring that no African Americans outranked white servicemen, the navy decided to experiment with predominantly African American crews. On January 29, 1944, the U.S. Navy commissioned the USS Mason, which was to have a complement of 183 men, of whom all but 40 would be African American. The destroyer escort vessel would have white officers and a predominantly African American crew. Within two months a second vessel had been identified, the PC-1264, which was to become engaged in convoy escorts between New York and Cuba; 50 of its 61 sailors were African American. The major difference between the PC-1264 and the USS Mason was that the plan for the former vessel proposed to replace all of the white petty officers, once African Americans had been trained sufficiently to take up the posts. This process took six months, and for fifteen months the PC-1264 was the only U.S. naval vessel with a complete complement of African American enlisted men. The venture convinced the navy that African Americans were capable of serving and running modern vessels.

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Peace celebrations at the Naval Amphibious Base, Manus, Admiralty Islands, August 15, 1945. Members of the 22d Special Naval Construction Battalion cheer the news of Japan’s acceptance of peace terms. (National Archives)

Neither of the vessels actually engaged the enemy; nevertheless, they were fully trained and perfectly capable of protecting themselves and whatever vessels they were escorting. However, the experiment also showed that maintenance of a segregated navy was inefficient and expensive. Forrestal Begins a Period of Rapid Change A major change in U.S. Navy policy occurred in the immediate aftermath of the death of Secretary Knox on April 28, 1944. A far more pragmatic man, James A. Forrestal, who had been the undersecretary of the navy since August 1940, took over. He expanded the experiments with African American sailors by integrating the crews of twenty-five larger auxiliary vessels. The project’s success prompted the Bureau of Naval Personnel on March 6, 1945, to officially begin assigning African Americans to the general service personnel of the auxiliary. In turn, on July 1, 1945, segregated training at Great Lakes ceased, and from that time on African Americans were trained alongside white recruits. In March 1945 Forrestal appointed another individual who was to have a marked impact on

integration within the U.S. Navy. Lester B. Granger of the National Urban League covered over 50,000 miles and visited nearly sixty-seven naval centers in six months, collecting information regarding the experiences of African Americans in the service. He found that commanders adhering to the 1944 pamphlet Guide to Command of Negro Naval Personnel, which recommended policies to boost morale among and ensure fair treatment of African American servicemen, reported fewer racial problems. Granger suggested a number of key policies that assisted the transition that was under way in the U.S. Navy. The Gillem Board, appointed to study the question of integration in the armed services, which delivered its findings in November 1945, had carefully studied the U.S. Navy’s progress in terms of integration. In the immediate aftermath of World War II the U.S. Navy had begun to integrate African Americans into their officer schools and specialist training facilities. They had also taken steps to ensure that integration was under way in their recruit training centers and in the WAVES. The secretary of the navy, James Forrestal, officially ended segregation within the U.S. Navy in February 1946; this was formalized in Circular Letter 48–46, issued by the chief of Naval Operations: “Effective immediately, all restrictions governing types of assignment for which Negro naval personnel are eligible are hereby lifted. Henceforth, they shall be eligible for all types of assignments in all ratings in all activities and in all ships of the naval service.” Thus the U.S. Navy moved into the postwar years with what has been called “the most progressive African American policy of all the armed forces” (quotations from Krawczynski 1998). But if the official policy was integration, the reality was rather different. After the war, even though African Americans served in all branches, opportunities for African Americans shrank as the number of available positions decreased. Most African Americans still served in the (unofficially) segregated stewards branch, and only a handful of officers were African

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Americans. Morris MacGregor, in his Integration of the Armed Forces, 1940–1965, suggests that the navy had simply returned to its old pre–World War I tradition of white officers, nonwhite servants, and an integrated general service. That much was easy; beyond that, the navy had no real desire to go. However that may be, the navy was proud of its integration policy and explained the apparent inconsistencies on the grounds of the high standards required for running the navy and the fierce competition for available positions. The navy was perhaps thus less concerned than the other branches of the armed services by Executive Order 9981, issued by President Truman on July 26, 1948, which officially ended racial segregation in the armed forces. More pressure to change the reality of the situation came during the years after Truman’s order, and the stewards branch was generally seen as the biggest problem. In 1949, 66.12 percent of the African Americans in the navy were still in the stewards branch. As for the racial makeup of the branch, according to MacGregor, “In 1949 it had 10,499 Negroes, 4,707 Filipinos, 741 other nonwhites, and 1 white man” (chap. 16). The standards for admission were lower, rising to high rank was impossible, and the men were treated like servants. Lt. Dennis D. Nelson, who had been one of the Golden Thirteen and who was a powerful voice for reform, made an appeal that shows the depth of the problem. In a memo to the Public Relations Department sent in March of 1948, he urged that all members of the service should “refrain from the use of ‘Boy’ in addressing Stewards. This has been a constant practice in the Service and is most objectionable, in bad taste, shows undue familiarity and pins a badge of inferiority, adding little to the dignity and pride of adults” (quoted in MacGregor 1985, chap. 9). Small wonder that educated African Americans, the kind the navy wanted to attract in order to meet demands for a higher proportion of African Americans as both regular enlisted men and officers, were put off, seeing the navy as basically still a white man’s world.

The stewards branch was the biggest problem, but the simplest way of resolving it was constantly rejected. The commissary was predominantly white, and merging the two branches would have meant instant integration. Instead, all sorts of measures were taken to improve the status of the stewards, and the proportion of African Americans in the navy who served in the stewards branch did drop to 23.35 percent by 1958 (MacGregor 1985, chap. 16). However, those who replaced the African Americans were also nonwhite, from the Philippines or other parts of the western Pacific. The image of racial segregation remained. Toward Full Integration The Korean War (1950–1953) was the first U.S. war in which all the services were at least nominally integrated, and it was clear that African Americans looked on the war as a test of the government’s commitment to ending segregation. In the navy practice was far from declared policy. In the early 1950s African Americans accounted for just 4 percent of naval personnel, with the highest number serving as stewards. African Americans still tended to be assigned to the “lower decks” in support functions, but they were increasingly being integrated into defensive roles on board, manning guns and antiaircraft positions. The first African American naval pilot was Ens. Jesse Brown, assigned to the USS Leyte. He was killed in the early months of the war on a combat mission over Changjin Reservoir in North Korea. In 1955, well after the Korean War, the navy was still assigning the majority of African Americans to the steward branch of the service, a circumstance that did not begin to change until the following year, when the navy assigned nearly 75 percent of its African American sailors to general duties. By the time the U.S. Navy faced its next major challenge in the Vietnam War, it was a much more completely integrated service. The navy received its first harsh awakening to the implications of this new conflict on August 2, 1964, when North Vietnamese patrol boats attacked a

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naval destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin. The U.S. Navy played an important role in interdicting enemy attacks and launching air offensives against the Vietnamese throughout the conflict. Integrated or not, the navy had clearly not solved all its racial problems, and it saw its share of the difficulties that became so marked throughout the country after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968. It was at a naval installation at Cam Ranh Bay in South Vietnam that hooded sailors with a burning cross raised a Confederate flag soon after the assassination. In 1970, a potential battle between African American and white sailors at the Great Lakes Naval Base in Illinois was avoided by an officer who was able to make peace. In that same year, Adm. Elmo R. Zumwalt began to work on ending various still common discriminatory practices and on increasing the percentage of African Americans in the ranks and in the officer corps. Nevertheless, racial violence broke out in 1972 on the USS Kitty Hawk and the USS Constellation. Progress continued to be made, if slowly, toward fully incorporating African Americans into all ranks in the navy. In 1971 Samuel L. Gravely Jr., who had been a sailor on board the USS PC1264 during World War II, became the first African American admiral. It was not until 1996 that an African American, J. Paul Reason, reached the rank of four-star admiral; he commanded the Atlantic Fleet from 1996 to 1999, when he retired. In 2001 there were nine African Americans with the rank of admiral. By the mid-1990s the percentage of African Americans in the navy as a whole, only about 5 percent in 1970, had risen to 18 percent, exceeding that in the air force. Still, as in the rest of the armed services and in American society as a whole, full equality for African Americans was still more promise than fact. As the navy became increasingly technical, underrepresentation of African Americans in more technical fields and the elite forces continued. For example, in 1997 only 9 percent of navy SEALs were African American, half their overall proportion in the navy. But at the end of

Seaman Daniel J. Lewis stands watch as lookout on the bridge of the submarine USS John Adams (SSBN-620), December 1969. (U.S. Navy)

the twentieth century, after over two centuries of African American participation in the navy, there were encouraging signs that discrepancies in opportunities for specialization and promotion were continuing to diminish—probably at a faster rate than in the civilian economy.

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See also African American Officers; American Civil War; American Revolution; Antebellum Period; Brashear, Carl Maxie; Brown, Jesse LeRoy; Brown, Wesley Anthony; Colonial America; Desegregation of the Armed Forces (appendix); 1812, War of; Executive Order 9981; Golden Thirteen; Gravely, Samuel Lee, Jr.; Guam Incident; Gulf War; Korean War; Lake Erie, Battle of; Mason, USS; Miller, Dorie; Mulzac, Hugh; National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; PC-1264, USS; Philippine Insurrection; Port Chicago Mutiny;

U.S. Navy

Selective Service Acts; Smalls, Robert; Spanish-American War; Trinidad Disturbance; Vietnam War; Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Services; World War I; World War II; Z-Gram 66 References and Further Reading Belknap, Michael R. The Employment of Blacks by the Federal Government. New York: Garland, 1991. Berlin, Ira, Joseph Reidy, and Leslie S. Rowland, eds. Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861–1867. Series 2, The Black Military Experience. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982. Binkin, Martin. Blacks and the Military. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1982. Buchanan, A. Russell. Black Americans in World War Two. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 1977. Byers, Jean. A Study of the Negro in Military Service. Washington, DC: Department of the Navy, 1947. Coffman, Edward M. The War to End All Wars: The American Military Experience in World War One. New York: Oxford University Press, 1968. Dalfiume, Richard M. Desegregation of the U.S. Armed Forces: Fighting on Two Fronts, 1939–1954. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1969. Davis, Lenwood G., and George Hill. Blacks in the American Armed Forces, 1776–1983: A Bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1985. Department of Defense. A Pictorial Documentary of the Black American Male and Female Participation and Involvement in the Military Affairs of the United States of America. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1991. Donaldson, Gary A. The History of AfricanAmericans in the Military. Malabar, FL: Krieger Publishing, 1991. Foner, Jack D. Blacks and the Military in American History: A New Perspective. New York: Praeger, 1974. Foner, Philip S. Blacks in the American Revolution. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1975. Harrod, Frederick S. Manning the New Navy: The Development of a Modern Naval Enlisted Force, 1899–1940. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1978.

Kaplan, Sidney, and Kaplan, Emma Nogrady. The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1989. Krawczynski, Keith. “African American Navy, Marine, Women’s Reserves, and Coast Guard Service during World War II.” In A Historic Context for the African-American Military Experience. Edited by Steven D. Smith and James A. Ziegler. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1998. https://www.denix.osd.mil/denix/Public/ ES-Programs/Conservation/Legacy/AAME/ aame3a.html#7%20African%20American%20 Navy (accessed August 9, 2003). MacGregor, Morris J. Integration of the Armed Forces, 1940–1965. Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 1985. http://www.army.mil/ cmh-pg/books/integration/IAF-FM.htm#TABLE %20OF%20CONTENTS (accessed August 9, 2003). Mueller, William R. “The Negro in the Navy.” Social Forces 24 (1945): 110–115. Mullen, Robert F. Blacks in America’s Wars: The Shift in Attitudes from the Revolutionary War to Vietnam. New York: Monad Press, 1974. Nalty, Bernard C. Strength for the Fight: A History of Black Americans in the Military. New York: Free Press, 1986. Nalty, Bernard C., and Morris J. MacGregor. Blacks in the Military: Essential Documents. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1981. Nelson, Dennis D. The Integration of the Negro into the U.S. Navy. New York: Farrar, Strauss and Young, 1951. Quarles, Benjamin. The Negro in the Civil War. Boston: Little, Brown, 1953. ———. The Negro in the American Revolution. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1961. ———. The Negro in the Making of America. New York: Collier Books, 1964. Reddick, L. D. “The Negro in the United States Navy during World War II.” Journal of Negro Education 32 (1947): 210–219. Silvera, John D. The Negro in World War Two. Baton Rouge: Louisiana Military Press, 1964. Wilson, Joseph T. The Black Phalanx: A History of the Negro Soldiers of the United States in the Wars of 1775–1812, 1861–1865. 1890. Reprint, New York: Arno Press, 1968.

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Wynn, Neil A. The Afro-American and the Second World War. New York: Holmes and Meier, 1975.

Ute War (1879) The Ute War, also called the “Meeker Massacre,” deserves special mention in any treatment of the role of African Americans in the military because African American cavalrymen, known as “Buffalo Soldiers,” were so deeply involved in the conflict. In spite of the racial prejudice and discrimination endured by African Americans after the Civil War, the Buffalo Soldiers of the 9th and 10th Cavalry regiments fought in skirmishes and battles on the western frontier for twenty-four years and earned a reputation as outstanding soldiers. Capt. Francis S. Dodge and the D company of the 9th Cavalry Regiment, an all–African American unit created by the Army Reorganization Act of 1866, saved besieged white soldiers during the Ute War, a Native American uprising on the White River of northwest Colorado. Trouble had been developing on the three Ute reservations, as the Indian Department and white settlers put increasing pressure on the dwindling lands of the Utes. In September 1879, tension mounted when Nathan C. Meeker, the U.S. government Indian agent for the Ute White River Reservation, attempted to culturally transform the Native Americans into pious farmers. When Meeker plowed a Ute pony racetrack, the Indians retaliated and publicly beat the Indian agent. Meeker sent two couriers requesting military support, one to Maj. Thomas T. Thornburgh, commandant at Fort Frederick Steele, Rawlins, Wyoming, and another to Capt. Francis S. Dodge commander of the 9th Cavalry camped near the Grand River. When the Ute Indians learned that he had called for federal reinforcements they attacked the White River Agency in late Septem-

ber 1879, killed Meeker and several of his assistants, and captured his wife and daughter. News of the incident cause a national outrage against Native Americans and encouraged the government to relocate the Ute tribes to Utah reservations. Meanwhile, on September 29, 1879, Thornburgh and nearly 200 men from the 4th Infantry and 5th Cavalry and 25 wagons entered the reservation boundaries near Milk Creek. As the soldiers watered their horses, the Utes under Chief Colorow ambushed the soldiers. Thornburgh and twelve other men were instantly killed, and the troops, now under the command of Capt. J. Scott Payne (5th Cavalry), formed a barricade with the wagons and were put on the defensive for several days. Meeker’s courier found Dodge on October 1, 1879. The captain and company D of the 9th Cavalry and approximately forty Buffalo Soldiers and their officers immediately set out for the White River Reservation to assist Thornburgh’s men. He issued 225 rounds per man to the Buffalo Soldiers. Dodge and his men covered seventy miles on the first day and arrived within sight of Payne’s command just before first light on October 2. As Dodge and his men rode into the defensive perimeter, they found the troops there in a pitiful plight. Over the next three days, the Utes continued their attacks, often taunting the Buffalo Soldiers with cries of “Black-whitemen!” and at other times singing: “Soldiers with black faces, you ride into battle behind the white soldiers; But you can’t take off your black faces, and the white-face soldiers make you ride behind them” (quoted in Emmitt 1954, 219–220). During the siege, all but four of D company’s horses were killed and forty-two men of Thornburgh’s former command were wounded, but the arrival of the Buffalo Soldiers raised the morale of the troops, and all hoped that fresh reinforcements would arrive. On October 5, 1879, Col. Wesley Merritt arrived with five companies of the 5th Cavalry, the vanguard of some 2,000 men who had en-

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trained from Cheyenne, Wyoming, to Rawlins and then covered 160 miles in forty-eight hours. Another force of around 1,000 men was moving up from New Mexico. As Merritt’s men appeared, the Utes withdrew with the 5th in pursuit. Within days peace negotiations brought military operations to a close. For their bravery, both Captain Dodge and African American Sgt. Henry Johnson received Medals of Honor. Dodge was later to say of his men that they had “proven themselves good soldiers and reliable men” (quoted in Santala 1994, 63). See also Buffalo Soldiers; Johnson, Henry (1824–1904); Medal of Honor (appendix); 9th Cavalry

References and Further Reading Amos, Preston E. Above and Beyond in the West: Black Medal of Honor Winners, 1870–1890. Washington, DC: Potomac Corral, The Westerners, 1974. Emmitt, Robert. The Last War Trail: The Utes and the Settlement of Colorado. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1954. Leckie, William H. The Buffalo Soldiers: A Narrative of the Negro Cavalry in the West. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1967. Santala, Russel D. The Ute Campaign: A Study in the Use of the Military Instrument. Fort Leavenworth, KS: U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, 1994. Schubert, Frank N. Black Valor: Buffalo Solders and the Medal of Honor, 1870–1898. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1997.

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v Vietnam War (1954–1975) The Vietnam War marked a significant change in the way that African Americans contributed to America’s military efforts. African Americans who served in a military capacity during the colonial period often did so as volunteers in an unofficial capacity or with a local militia. From the Civil War through the Korean War, segregated African American units, usually officered by whites, performed in both combat and support capacities. In 1948 President Harry Truman ordered the military establishment to desegregate. Although the navy and air force accomplished integration by 1950, the army, with the vast majority of African American servicemen, did not achieve desegregation until after the Korean conflict. Vietnam, then, marked the first major combat deployment of an integrated military and the first time since the turn of the century that African American participation was actually encouraged. In 1962 President John F. Kennedy reactivated the President’s Committee on Equal Opportunity in the Armed Forces. Chaired by attorney Gerhard Gesell, and known as the Gesell Committee, the panel explored ways to draw qualified African Americans into military service. In 1964 African Americans represented approximately 13 percent of the U.S. population

but less than 9 percent of the nation’s men in arms. The committee found uneven promotion, token integration, restricted opportunities in the National Guard and Reserves, and discrimination on military bases and their surrounding communities as causes for low African American enlistment. Before the government could react to the committee’s report, the explosion of U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia, previously limited to financial aid and military training and advisers, changed the problem. As U.S. forces were introduced into Vietnam in ever-increasing numbers in the mid-1960s, the expanded military, a discriminatory draft, and other government programs brought not only increased African American participation but accusations of new forms of discrimination. U.S. involvement in Vietnam unfolded against the domestic backdrop of the civil rights movement. From the outset, the use, or alleged misuse, of African American troops evoked charges of racism. Civil rights leaders and other critics, including the formidable Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., came to view the Vietnam conflict as racist—“a white man’s war, a black man’s fight.” King maintained that black youths represented a disproportionate share of early draftees and that African Americans faced a much greater chance of seeing combat than did their white counterparts. The draft did pose a major concern. Selective

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Marine in the 3d Marine Division searches for snipers north of Con Thien, which overlooked a principal North Vietnamese infiltration route into South Vietnam. (National Archives)

Service regulations offered deferments for college attendance and a variety of essential civilian occupations that favored middle- and upperclass men, who were overwhelmingly white. “Safe havens” from service in Vietnam existed in the National Guard and the reserves, but slots in these institutions were even more subject to discrimination and favoritism. The vast majority of draftees were poor, undereducated, and urban—blue-collar workers or unemployed. Furthermore, African Americans were woefully underrepresented on local draft boards; in 1966 blacks accounted for only slightly more than 1 percent of all draft board members, and seven state boards had no African American representation at all. “Project 100,000,” a program launched in 1966 that was part of President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, was aimed at enhancing the opportunities of underprivileged youths from poverty-stricken urban areas by offering more lenient military entrance requirements. It largely failed. More than 350,000 men enlisted under Project 100,000 during the remainder of the war; 41 percent were African American and 40 percent drew combat assignments. Casualty rates among these soldiers were twice those of other entry categories. Few Project 100,000 inductees received training that would advance

military careers or create better opportunities for civilian life. Some reforms were introduced into the draft system in 1967, when deferments for graduate students and teachers were eliminated, raising the proportion of college-educated personnel in Vietnam from 6 percent in 1966 to 10 percent four years later. A national lottery, a much fairer system implemented in early 1970, had little effect on who served in Vietnam, as U.S. personnel needs there were already being drastically reduced. Likewise, the implementation in 1973 of the all-volunteer armed forces, which eliminated the unfair aspects of the draft, came too late in the war to have much impact. African Americans often did supply a disproportionate number of combat troops, a high percentage of whom had voluntarily enlisted. Although they made up less than 10 percent of American men in arms and about 13 percent of the U.S. population between 1961 and 1966, they accounted for almost 20 percent of all combat-related deaths in Vietnam during that period. In 1965 alone African Americans represented almost one-fourth of the army’s killed in action. In 1968 African Americans, who made up roughly 12 percent of army and Marine total strengths, frequently contributed half the men in front-line combat units, especially in rifle squads and fire teams. Under heavy criticism, army and Marine commanders worked to lessen black casualties after 1966, and by the end of the conflict, African American combat deaths amounted to approximately 12 percent—more in line with national population figures. Final casualty estimates do not support the assertion that African Americans suffered disproportionate losses in Vietnam, but this in no way diminishes the fact that they bore a heavy share of the fighting burden, especially early in the conflict. Destructive racial disturbances in many American cities in the mid-1960s had negative effects on the military, but the widespread violent reaction to the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King brought the greatest racial turmoil to the armed forces. Racial strife, rarely an

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issue among combat units because of shared risk and responsibility, became most evident in rear areas and on domestic installations. At the Navy base at Cam Ranh Bay in South Vietnam, white sailors donned Ku Klux Klan–like outfits, burned crosses, and raised the Confederate flag. African American prisoners, many of whom were jailed for violent crimes, rioted at the U.S. Army stockade at Long Bình; one white soldier was killed and several others were wounded during the upheaval, which spread over weeks. The Marine base at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and the army’s Fort Benning, Georgia, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and Camp Pendleton, California, were among the important domestic posts to witness serious racial problems. These disturbances, with their implications not only for equity and fairness but also for military effectiveness, prompted the military to undertake a study to determine the cause of racial unrest in the armed services. Air Force Col. Lucius Theus, an African American career officer who had worked his way up through the ranks, having entered the Army Air Corps as a private in 1942, chaired the committee. Theus had broad administrative experience in the air force and had served as deputy base commander at Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam. The committee’s work resulted in “The Report of the InterService Task Force on Education in Race Relations” (July 31, 1970), which recommended education in race relations for all military personnel and a race relations education board to set policy and approve curricula for the program. As a direct result of the Theus Committee report, the Defense Race Relations Institute (DRRI) was established at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, in June 1971—probably not coincidentally, just a month after another racial disturbance at Travis Air Force Base in California. It was clear, however, that education by the DRRI to make all military personnel aware of racial difficulties would be only a beginning; the “impersonality, insensitivity, and indifference [to racial problems] of commanders at various levels of the chain of command” that were observed af-

ter the Travis riots would require “commitment to change, strong leadership at all levels, sensitivity to problems, and the resolve to take action when necessary.” A month after another disturbance at Laredo Air Force Base in Texas, Air Force Chief of Staff General John D. Ryan sent a letter to all commands clearly stating: “I desire that you, your commanders and supervisors support the USAF Equal Opportunity and Race Relations Education program with the same vigor and enthusiasm as that given the flying mission” (quotations from Osur 2001). Other measure were taken to address racial problems in the services. Particularly during the

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Seaman Lawrence W. Overton loading magazines for his M-16 rifle from 5.56 x 45mm ammunition stripper clips, as he assumes the watch on the USS Harnett County (LST-821), May 1969. Harnett County was then operating on the Vam Co Dong River, South Vietnam. (U.S. Navy/ Ed Nelson)

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tenure of Adm. Elmo Zumwalt, who became chief of naval operations in June 1970, the navy attempted to deal with discrimination within its ranks and to actively recruit more African Americans into the enlisted ranks as well as increase the numbers of black midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy. The other service academies also undertook more aggressive recruiting of African Americans in order to augment the small number of African American officers. Zumwalt issued a number of so-called Z-grams, general communications to the navy dealing with issues of racial discrimination. By 1974 his policies were beginning to bear fruit: African Americans accounted for more than 8 percent of naval personnel, up from 5.5 percent a few years earlier. African Americans played a major role in Vietnam. Contrary to popular impression, a large proportion of African American servicemen were well-trained, highly motivated professionals; some twenty received the Medal of Honor, and a number of the African American officers who served there became general officers—the most notable example being Colin Powell. Despite the likelihood of seeing hazardous duty, African Americans reenlisted at substantially higher rates than whites. In 1964 blacks represented less than 9 percent of all U.S. armed forces; by 1976 they made up more than 15 percent. The percentage of African American officers doubled between 1964 and 1976, yet they still accounted for less than 4 percent of the total. These statistics suggest that although full equality was far from being achieved, participation by African Americans in the Vietnam War strengthened their position in the armed forces beyond what had been achieved in most sectors of civilian society at the time.

See also African Americanization; Joel, Lawrence; Medal of Honor (appendix); National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; Olive, Milton Lee, III; U.S. Air Force; U.S. Army; U.S. Marine Corps; U.S. Navy; Z-Gram 66 References and Further Reading Binkin, Martin, Mark J. Eitelberg, et al. Blacks in the Military. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1982. Cash, John. Seven Firefights in Vietnam. Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History U.S. Army, 1970. Coffey, David. “African American Personnel in U.S. Forces in Vietnam.” In Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History, ed. Spencer C. Tucker. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 1998. Dougan, Clark, Samuel Lipsman, et al. A Nation Divided. Boston: Boston Publishing, 1984. Foner, Jack D. Blacks and the Military in American History. New York: Praeger, 1974. Goff, Stanley, and Robert Sanders, with Clark Smith. Brothers: Black Soldiers in the Nam. Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1982. Hauser, William L. America’s Army in Crisis: A Study of Civil-Military Relations. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1973. Nalty, Bernard C. Strength for the Fight: A History of Black Americans in the Military. New York: Free Press, 1986. Osur, Alan M. “Black-White Relations in the U.S. Military, 1940–1972.” http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/ aureview/1981/nov-dec/osur.htm (created November 13, 2001; accessed September 24, 2003). Terry, Wallace. Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans. New York: Ballantine Books, 1984.

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w Walker, William (d. 1864) During the Civil War, Sgt. William Walker (Company A, 3d South Carolina Colored Infantry) was tried and executed for leading a mutiny in the ranks at Camp Bennett, Hilton Head, South Carolina. It was claimed that on November 19, 1863, Walker took command of his company and led the men into the tent of Col. Augustus Bennett, their company commanding officer, who later testified against Walker during the soldiers’ January trial. Walker told the men to stack their arms and announce that they would no longer serve duty for $7 per month. The colonel told the men to take their weapons and return to duty or be shot. Walker then instructed Company A to leave its arms and return to quarters. The root cause of the action was the Union Army’s decision to pay African Americans $7 per month instead of the same pay issued to white soldiers. According to William Walker’s court martial statement written in January 1864, he voluntarily entered the regiment after he was promised the same wages and allowances as were issued to all U.S. soldiers. After the soldiers of Company A learned that lower wages were issued to African Americans, they allegedly refused further duty. Walker insisted that he exercised no command over the other men.

Nevertheless, a military court was convened at Hilton Head, South Carolina, from January 9–12, 1864, in which Walker was charged with several counts, including mutinous conduct, conduct prejudicial to good order and military discipline, mutiny, and breach of arrest. Not only were the men in the 3d South Carolina Colored Infantry paid unequal wages, the regiment did not receive proper training, and was largely used for labor duties (against General Gilmore’s instructions). Like Walker, the men had enlisted on the basis that they would be paid the full rate. Likewise, the soldiers in the 3d South Carolina Volunteers were not read the Articles of War, and therefore did not realize that their actions contrary to the army laws and regulations (i.e., that they constituted mutiny, which was punishable by death). Walker was found guilty on a majority verdict, and before the case could be referred to the president, the sentence of death was carried out on March 1, 1864. Walker’s case was specifically mentioned during the U.S. Senate debate on the payment of African American troops and used as an example to buttress the case for reform.

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See also American Civil War; United States Colored Troops (appendixes)

Wa l l e r, C a l v i n

References and Further Reading Buckley, Gail. American Patriots: The Story of Blacks in the Military from the Revolution to Desert Storm. New York: Random House, 2001. Hamilton, William J., III. “The Court Martial of William Walker, 3rd SC Colored Infantry.” http:// www.awod.com/gallery/probono/cwchas/walkertr. html (accessed August 13, 2003). Westwood, Howard C. Black Troops, White Commanders, and Freedmen during the Civil War. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1992.

Waller, Calvin (1937–1996) Gen. Calvin Waller of the U.S. Army, an African American, was the deputy commander during Operation desert storm in the Gulf War (1991). Waller, commander in chief Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Colin Powell, had all crossed paths on numerous occasions prior to their involvement in the Gulf War. Waller, like his two contemporaries, was a career soldier and had been, like them, a young officer in Vietnam. He had shared training at Fort Leavenworth with Schwarzkopf and had worked closely with Powell at the Pentagon during the 1970s and 1980s in the Defense Department. Waller was considered to be something of a genius in terms of logistics, and he came to Desert Storm with the unenviable task of dealing with 540,000 troops. He had been personally requested for the job by Schwarzkopf during the latter’s buildup in Saudi Arabia, known as Operation Desert Shield. Waller was among the first generation of African American officers to rise to high command in the U.S. Army in the wake of the Vietnam War. He served as deputy commander of Fort Lewis under Schwarzkopf between 1986 and 1987 and then commanded the 8th Infantry Division in Germany in 1989.

Waller arrived in Saudi Arabia in December 1990 and had precious little time to prepare the troops for the impending ground offensive. It was widely believed that Waller was one of the few men who could deal with Schwarzkopf ’s brusque manner and volatile temper. It is significant that it was Waller who called Schwarzkopf on February 28 to inform him that President George Bush had decided to announce a ceasefire after just 100 hours of the offensive. Waller’s message did cause friction between the two men, as Schwarzkopf believed that it would allow considerable numbers of Iraqi troops to extract themselves unmolested. Waller was very vocal in the war against drugs and constantly agitated for action to dissuade African American youth from using drugs and to encourage them to attend school regularly. Waller retired in 1991 and moved into private life as a senior vice president in industry. He was a strong supporter of the belief that every American citizen should perform two or three years’ service to the country and that some form of mandatory public service should be instituted, very much along the lines of the Civilian Conservation Corps, which had been run by the U.S. Army during the 1930s. At the age of fifty-eight Calvin Waller suffered a heart attack and died. See also Gulf War; Powell, Colin Luther References and Further Reading Atkinson, Rick. Crusade. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1993. Gordon, Michael R., and Bernard Trainor. The Generals’ War. Boston: Little Brown, 1995. Powell, Colin L., with Joseph E. Persico. My American Journey. New York: Random House, 1995.

Walley, Augustus (1856–1938) Augustus Walley served in the 9th Cavalry and saw action on the frontier and in Cuba and the

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Philippines during the Spanish American War, winning a Medal of Honor in 1881. Walley was born into slavery on March 10, 1856, in Reisterstown, Maryland. After the Civil War he worked as a laborer until November 26, 1878, when he joined Troop I of the 9th Cavalry at Baltimore. He remained with the regiment until he was discharged on November 25, 1883. On August 16, 1881, Walley saw action against Apaches in the Cuchillo Negro Mountains, New Mexico, where he saved the life of Private Burton, whose horse had bolted and then thrown him. Despite the presence of Apaches who continually fired at him, Walley saved the trooper, and he was recommended for a Medal of Honor by Lt. George R. Burnett. Walley received his Medal of Honor on October 1, 1890, and was additionally awarded a Certificate of Merit on the recommendation of Col. Edward Hatch, the regiment’s commander. Walley saw action in Cuba, where at the battle of Las Guásimas (June 24, 1898), he rescued Major Bell of the 1st Cavalry, who had been shot through the leg on the battlefield. Walley was awarded another Certificate of Merit for this gallantry. By now Walley was serving with the 10th Cavalry, having re-enlisted November 26, 1883, the day after his initial enlistment ended. He continued to serve until 1907, completing twenty-nine years in the army. He was recalled to active service on May 1, 1918, and finally retired on March 8, 1919. Augustus Walley died in Baltimore on April 9, 1938. See also Apache Wars; Buffalo Soldiers; Las Guásimas, Battle of; Medal of Honor (appendix); 9th Cavalry; Spanish-American War; 10th Cavalry References and Further Reading Beer, W. F., and O. F. Keyed. Deeds of Valor: How America’s Heroes Won the Medal of Honor. Detroit: Perrien-Keydel, 1903. Leckie, William H. The Buffalo Soldiers: A Narrative of the Negro Cavalry in the West. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1967.

Wanton, George Henry (1868–1940) George Wanton was an African American career soldier who served with the 10th Cavalry for thirty-six years. He was born in Paterson, New Jersey, on May 15, 1868, and enlisted in Troop M of the 10th U.S. Cavalry in 1889. In 1892, he received a promotion to corporal (he had been demoted to private by the time he won the Medal of Honor). Prior to his enlistment in the U.S. Army he had joined the U.S. Navy in 1884, and after four years of enlistment he was discharged in 1888. As a member of the 10th Cavalry, Wanton was sent to Cuba during the Spanish American War. On June 30, 1898, units of the 10th Cavalry aboard the USS Florida attempted a landing at Tayabacoa on the east coast of Cuba to link up with General Maximo Gomes’s Cuban insurgents. The landing took place near a Spanish-held blockhouse, and the U.S. troopers were ambushed. The bulk of the men were evacuated, but some sixteen or so wounded were abandoned and were captured by the Spaniards. Back on board ship, volunteers were called to help free the prisoners, despite the fact that several attempts had already been made and had failed. Privates Wanton, Dennis Bell, Fitz Lee, and William H. Thompkins volunteered and put ashore on a launch. Wanton and the others surprised the Spanish forces and rescued the prisoners, managing to get them back to the USS Florida and safety. For this deed, Bell, Lee, Thompkins, and Wanton were all awarded the Medal of Honor on June 23, 1899, the citation for each reading: “Voluntarily went ashore in the face of the enemy and aided in the rescue of his wounded comrades; this after several previous attempts at rescue had been frustrated.” Wanton was subsequently promoted to sergeant in 1898 and continued to serve with the 10th Cavalry until he retired from service in 1925. Wanton served as an honorary pallbearer at the burial of the Unknown Soldier of World War I at the ceremony at the Memorial

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Amphitheater of the Arlington National Cemetery in 1921. Master Sgt. George Henry Wanton died on November 27, 1940, at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. He was buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery.

Disregarding his safety, 1st Lt. Warren with several of his men began maneuvering through the hail of enemy fire toward the hostile positions. When he had come to within 6 feet of one of the enemy bunkers and was preparing to toss a hand grenade into it, an enemy grenade was suddenly thrown into the middle of his small group. Thinking only of his men, 1st Lt. Warren fell in the direction of the grenade, thus shielding those around him from the blast. His action, performed at the cost of his life, saved 3 men from serious or mortal injury. First Lt. Warren’s ultimate action of sacrifice to save the lives of his men was in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflects great credit on him, his unit, and the U.S. Army.

See also Spanish-American War; 10th Cavalry References and Further Reading Fletcher, Marvin. The Black Soldier and Officer in the United States Army, 1891–1917. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1974. Freidel, Frank. The Splendid Little War. Boston: Little, Brown, 1958. Funston, Frederick. Memories of Two Wars: Cuban and Philippine Experiences. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1911. Halstead, Murat. Full Official History of the War with Spain. New Haven, CT: Butler and Alger, 1899. Lee, Fitzhugh, ed. Cuba’s Struggle against Spain. With a Story of Santiago by T. Roosevelt. A Description of the Destruction of the “Maine” by R. Wainwright. New York: American Historical Press, 1899.

Warren was born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 16, 1946, entered service in New York, and started his tour of duty in Vietnam on September 7, 1968. Warren was platoon leader of Company C, when they were ambushed west of Dau Tang, Tay Ninh (Caw Koin), at a rubber plantation. The Medal of Honor was presented to Warren’s family at the White House by President Richard Nixon on April 7, 1970. He is buried at the Long Island National Cemetery, Farmingdale, Long Island.

Warren, John E., Jr. (1946–1969)

See also Medal of Honor (appendix); Vietnam War

1st Lt. John E. Warren Jr., U.S. Army, Company C, 2d Battalion (Mechanized), 22d Infantry, 25th Infantry Division was killed in action in Tay Ninh Province, Republic of Vietnam, January 14, 1969. The citation for his Medal of Honor read:

Washington, William G. (d. 1952)

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. 1st Lt. Warren distinguished himself at the cost of his life while serving as a platoon leader with Company C. While moving through a rubber plantation to reinforce another friendly unit, Company C came under intense fire from a well-fortified enemy force.

Six years before the integration of the U.S. Army, William Washington became the first African American commanding officer in the U.S. Army when he arrived at Aberdeen Proving Ground in November 1942. Major Washington became the commander of Company D, 2d Regiment; he had joined the U.S. Army as an enlisted man in 1914 and had spent twenty| 508 |

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eight years as such before he was made an officer. Washington was known as a perfectionist, determined to work his way through the segregated environment of the U.S. Army. The fact that Washington survived in the U.S. Army during the deep cuts of the period between the two world wars amply shows his ability and commitment to the service. Washington was initially assigned to Fort Douglas, Arizona, after basic training, and from 1916 to 1922 he served in the Philippine Islands. Upon his return to the United States he became post ordnance sergeant of harbor defense at the Columbia River, later serving in the same position at the Presidio in San Francisco. Washington had another tour of duty in the Philippine Islands from 1931 to 1933, then served in San Francisco, and was later transferred to Savannah, Illinois. Washington was promoted to captain in May 1942 and briefly served as a captain at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, before being transferred to the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in 1942 and promoted to major. He retired two years later after having served thirty years in the U.S. Army. In a letter of praise, Col. James W. Mosteller Jr., his commander at Daniel Field, Georgia, said of Washington: “During this entire period your record was without a blemish, and such a period of enlisted service without one instance of company punishment is unusual and exceptional. Upon your relief from active duty I desire to commend you for your long and efficient service, and the excellent record that you have earned” (quoted in Heimbach). When he left the U.S. Army in 1944, the South Carolinian moved to California to become a farmer. He died in 1952. See also U.S. Army; U.S. Army, Interwar Period References and Further Reading Heimbach, Meghan. “William B. Washington was APG’s First African American Company Commander.” Aberdeen Proving Ground News, n.d. http://www.defenselink.mil/specials/

AfricanAm2003/apg.html/ (accessed August 14, 2003).

Watson, George (1915–1943) One of the seven African Americans who fought in World War II who were finally recognized with Medals of Honor in 1997, Pvt. George Watson was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and drafted into the U.S. Army in September 1942, training at Fort Benning, Georgia. He was assigned to the 2d Battalion, 29th Quartermaster Regiment, and was posted to the Pacific Theater. On March 8, 1943, Watson and his unit were on board the USAT Jacob near Porloch Harbor, New Guinea, when they came under attack from Japanese aircraft. The vessel was hit several times, and the order to abandon ship was given. Watson swam back and forth, retrieving those who could not swim or who were injured, dragging them onto life rafts. Unfortunately, as the vessel finally sank beneath the waves, the swell pulled Watson under, and he was never seen again. Watson was a good swimmer, and he had willingly passed his own life preserver to another man. For his gallantry he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the first African American winner of the award during World War II. A memorial was set up to him at Manila American Cemetery on the Philippines and another at the George Watson Memorial Field at Fort Benning. On January 13, 1997, Watson’s award was upgraded to the Medal of Honor and bestowed posthumously by President Bill Clinton at the White House. Watson died with no known next of kin, and his Medal of Honor and citation are now housed at the U.S. Army Quartermaster Museum, Fort Lee, Virginia. In 1997 the Navy christened the USNS Watson (T-AKR-310) in his honor.

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See also Medal of Honor (appendix); World War II

Staff Sergeant Forte and his fellow soldiers risked their lives and epitomized the Army core values with their exemplary behavior, efficiency and fidelity during their military service. It is for this reason—we are honoring, remembering and recognizing the acts of Staff Sergeant Forte. We owe a great debt of gratitude for the ultimate sacrifice he made. He and the other 10 courageous soldiers shared the common bonds of the Armed Forces which is duty and sacrifice (quoted in Whistine).

Wereth Massacre (December 17, 1944) Eleven African American prisoners of war were tortured and executed by German SS troops in Wereth, Belgium, on December 17, 1944. The story did not surface until 1996, when a television news show reported what had happened and the men began to receive belated recognition. On December 16, 1944, a surprise German counterattack in the Ardennes area of Belgium, beginning what is known as the Battle of the Bulge, hit U.S. and Allied troops in the midst of snowstorms. S.Sgt. Thomas James Forte of the 333d Field Artillery Battalion and ten other African American enlisted men were separated from the unit by the sudden German attack. Initially, Forte and the men were hidden in a farmhouse by Belgian civilians, but an SS patrol captured them. After the patrol disarmed the Americans, they were temporarily held captive and then marched out of Wereth, never to be seen alive again. Medical reports on the bodies showed that the men had been systematically tortured before being murdered. The case remained classified for many years after the war as one of the 268 atrocities committed by SS troops during the Ardennes offensive. In 1998, Maj. Gen. James W. Monroe, commander of the U.S. Army Industrial Operations Command, presented posthumous awards to Sergeant Forte’s relatives. Listed as murdered in 1944, in addition to Sergeant Forte, were Cpl. Mager Bradley, Pfc. George Davis, Pfc. George Motten, Pfc. Due Turner, Pfc. Jim Leatherwood, Privates Curtis Adams, Nathaniel Moss, and W. E. Pritchett, Technician 4th Class James Stewart, and Technician 5th Class Rob Green. Monroe said of the men at the ceremony:

See also Bulge, Battle of the; World War II References and Further Reading Whistine, Bob. Army News Service, April 20, 1998. Available in abbreviated form as “World War II Veteran Killed in Action Receives Posthumous Purple Heart.” The Edge Online 6, no. 2 (Summer 1998). http://www.osc.army.mil/ea/edge/sum1998.htm (accessed August 14, 2003).

West Point The most elite army training institution in the country, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point resisted the introduction of African American cadets until the second half of the twentieth century. Those who attended the school before that time faced widespread discrimination, as administrators, teachers, and fellow students all attempted to discourage them from completing their degrees. With the dramatic social changes wrought in both the army and American society since 1950, though, West Point has finally welcomed African American cadets, providing them with the education and training to excel as army officers. Founded in 1802 on the site of a strategically important fort during the American Revolution, West Point was long a bastion of elitism, even

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among whites. Cadets were nominated into the academy by U.S. senators and representatives from the candidates’ respective states and were subjected to rigorous entrance examinations that included both academic and physical components. The academic tests included an assessment of candidates’ skills in mathematics, grammar, history, and geography. The physical examination was carried out in order to eliminate the possibility that any cadet was carrying either an infectious or chronic disease. Those who gained admittance faced five years of grueling coursework from their instructors, exacting training from their officers, and humiliating hazing from their peers. Upon graduation, cadets were commissioned second lieutenants in the U.S. Army. With the prestige of West Point backing them up, many went on to illustrious military careers. For the first sixty years of the school’s existence, the question of whether or not to admit African Americans was moot. Since blacks were banned from service in the army, they were obviously not eligible for enrollment at West Point. The Civil War, though, marked the reversal of this prohibition of African Americans from the military. With thousands of black soldiers in arms by 1865, the issue of African American officers emerged as a major controversy among military authorities, political figures, and the general public. Most Americans disdained the idea that blacks could command white troops, and thus very few African Americans were elevated to the officer corp. Nevertheless, some African Americans strove to break this racial barrier, particularly during the period of Reconstruction, when Americans’ views regarding racism were challenged continuously in both the North and the South. With the passage of the Thirteenth (1865), Fourteenth (1868), and Fifteenth (1870) Amendments abolishing slavery, conveying citizenship on African Americans, and granting them the right to vote, respectively, critics of the idea of commissioning African American officers had less ground on which to stand. Consequently,

the first African American cadet was nominated and accepted to West Point in 1870. Admission to West Point, however, did not presage acceptance. In fact, the cadet, a South Carolinian named James Webster Smith, faced tremendous discrimination on all fronts during his time at West Point and was almost completely isolated during his tenure. He was forced to repeat his freshman year as a punishment for arguing with a cadet who had stepped on his toes, part of a systematic campaign of harassment. He eventually began to have academic problems and was dismissed in 1874. It is clear that his time at West Point was extremely difficult; he was both humiliated and viciously treated by his fellow students. Shortly after Smith’s departure, another African American cadet faced even more severe treatment. Johnson Chestnut Whittaker faced the same program of harassment and discrimination that prevented him from earning his degree, but although he completed his five years of course work on schedule in 1880, he was beaten and tortured before he could take his final examinations. In an episode that has never been adequately explained by anyone in authority at West Point, Whittaker was found in his room, “bleeding and insensible, bound hand and foot to his bedstead. His head was partly shaved, and his feet and hands slashed” (Marszalek 1994). Despite the racism prevalent at all levels of American society, the incident sparked a public outcry and massive press coverage, leading to a congressional investigation. At the resulting court of inquiry, school authorities accused Whittaker of inflicting the injuries himself in order to avoid the final examinations. He was consequently court-martialed and dishonorably discharged. Although a subsequent court reversed this decision, Whittaker was never allowed to take his examinations and thus failed to graduate from West Point. Not until 1877 did the first African American graduate from West Point. Former slave Henry Ossian Flipper from Thomasville, Georgia,

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endured a difficult five years at the academy, during which he lived as a social outcast among the other cadets, much as Smith and Whittaker had done before him. Indeed, he had roomed with both Smith and Whittaker during his first few years at the school, having enrolled in 1872. Unlike his roommates, though, he was allowed to graduate with his class, receiving his commission and taking up his assignment with the all–African American 10th Cavalry, with whom he spent several years on frontier duty. Perhaps the public furor over Whittaker’s treatment had discouraged fellow cadets or school authorities from preventing Young’s graduation. Exactly ten years later, Flipper was followed by another African American West Point graduate, John H. Alexander. After graduation, he was assigned to a post at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, and then became a military instructor at Wilberforce University. His career proved brief,

John Hanks Alexander, who graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1887. He served with the Buffalo Soldiers in the West. (CORBIS)

however, as he died of a heart attack only seven years after graduating from the academy. The third African American to graduate from West Point was Charles Young, who followed Alexander by two years, graduating in 1889. Young embarked on what was to become an exemplary career, but he was the last African American to graduate from West Point until 1936. Although Congress had nominated twenty-seven African Americans for admission to the academy between 1870 and 1889, only twelve had passed the entrance examinations, and of those twelve, only two—Young and Alexander—finished their degrees. West Point had a notoriously high attrition rate even among white cadets, but blacks cadets faced additional challenges that proved to be insurmountable for all but a few. Between 1889 and 1936, several African Americans attended West Point but none graduated. Finally, cadet Benjamin O. Davis Jr. bridged the racial gap by graduating in June 1936. He too had received harsh and almost unbearable treatment from his peers during his time at West Point. He roomed alone, was forced to eat his meals at a separate table, and was spoken to by his fellow students only when it was absolutely necessary to convey orders. Davis eventually became the leader of the Tuskegee Airmen and the first African American to be promoted to the rank of general in the Air Force. His graduation also blazed a trail for the graduation of other African American cadets, although there were still only a handful of them. As the U.S. Army underwent the massive process of desegregation in the late 1940s and early 1950s, West Point experienced similar changes, finally lifting the prohibition on African Americans participating in social functions and sports teams in 1951. Although African American officers continued to represent just 2 percent of the U.S. Army’s officer corps until well into the 1960s, the weakening of racial barriers was slowly but inexorably occurring at West Point as well as in the rest of the army and American society, spurred forward by a powerful civil rights movement. Although change has

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been gradual at the academy since the 1950s, the outward signs of hostility toward African Americans have now passed into uncomfortable memory, and African American cadets receive the same treatment as their white peers. Like all U.S. military institutions, the academy now represents a microcosm of U.S. society, with a representative group of African Americans, and its administration works hard to eradicate any lingering remnants of discrimination. The rise of affirmative action programs in the United States in the 1970s caused West Point officials to reexamine the academy’s admissions procedures, particularly after school administrators publicly stated the desirability of a diverse student population. Officials rejected the adoption of a quota system, which would admit a specified number of African Americans regardless of their ability to pass the entrance examinations. Instead, the administration opted to set a goal of 10–12 percent for African American admissions, striving to meet this goal not by reducing standards for black cadets but by devoting more time to recruiting blacks so that the pool of initial candidates for admission would be larger and therefore more likely to produce acceptable applicants. Race, however, is not factored into the admissions policy, and all cadets, black or white, must meet the same tough admission standards. Officials confidently maintain that this policy will eventually bring about the desired results. In 2003, 8 percent of the academy’s student body was African American, making West Point the most ethnically diverse of all three military academies. However, African Americans represent roughly 13 percent of the American population, a discrepancy that illustrates how far West Point still has to go before it reaches its goal of truly representing American society. As for those first African American cadets who faced such hardships in their efforts to graduate, the federal government finally took steps to rectify the wrongs done to them at West Point. In 1995, President Bill Clinton posthumously awarded Whittaker his degree from West Point. Two years later, at the urging of

South Carolina’s Democratic Congressmen John Spratt and Jim Clyburn and Republican Senator Strom Thurmond, Clinton did the same for Smith. See also Buffalo Soldiers; Davis, Benjamin Oliver, Jr.; Flipper, Henry Ossian; Smith, James Webster; Young, Charles References and Further Reading Ambrose, Stephen E. Duty, Honor, Country: A History of West Point. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996. Atkinson, Rick. The Long Gray Line. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1989. Flipper, Henry Ossian. Black Frontiersman: The Memoirs of Henry O. Flipper, First Black Graduate of West Point. Ed. Theodore D. Harris. Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 1997. Flipper, Henry Ossian. The Colored Cadet at West Point. Ed. with intro. by Quintard Taylor Jr. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1998. Grant, John, James L. Lynch, and Ronald H. Bailey. West Point: The First Two Hundred Years. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot Press, 2002. Gray, Valerie A. The Court Martial Trial of West Point Cadet Johnson Whittaker: A Headline Court Case. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers, 2001. Marszalek, John F. Assault At West Point: The CourtMartial of Johnson Whittaker. New York: PrenticeHall, 1994. Washington, Wayne. “West Point and White House Go Opposite Ways on Diversity,” Boston Globe, February 2, 2003.

Wham Paymaster Robbery (May 11, 1889) During the Wham Paymaster Robbery in Arizona, Buffalo Soldiers, as the African American troops who served on the frontier were called, faced an outlaw ambush. Ten of the soldiers won medals or certificates for the bravery they showed in the encounter.

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For twelve years Maj. Joseph W. Wham had organized the payroll deliveries to U.S. Army garrisons in the area. When he left Fort Grant with his assistant Hamilton Lewis (B Company, 24th Infantry), his escort was made up of nine infantrymen of the all–African American 24th Infantry and two soldiers of the all–African American 10th Cavalry; they were detailed to guard the $28,345.10 that Wham was carrying in an Army ambulance. Sgt. Benjamin Brown (Company C of the 24th) led the detail, accompanied by Cpl. Isaiah Mays (B Company), Squire Williams (K Company), Benjamin Burge (E Company), Julius Harrison (B Company), Oscar Fox, George Arrington, George Short, and James Young, all of the 24th, and Thornton Harris and James Wheeler of the 10th. The payroll was bound for Fort Thomas, due north, but the route went northwest, edging along the western slopes of the Graham Mountains, traveling through Cedar Springs. The portion of the route passed was bordered by cliffs on the right and rocky terrain on the left. As the two wagons, the second carrying the escort, crested the low hill, it was clear that the trail had been blocked by a boulder. As Brown and the escort advanced toward the obstructions, a shot rang out. In the next half an hour, the twenty or so outlaws fired nearly 500 shots at the men. Despite their wounds, nearly all of the men continued firing back, but they were pinned down. The outlaws scrambled from their cover and seized the sacks of gold before Corporal Mays managed to walk and crawl 2 miles to Cottonwood ranch to raise the alarm. Fort Grant dispatched K Company of the 24th Infantry to track down the outlaws, but after three days they gave up the hunt. Wham recommended that Brown and Mays should receive the Medal of Honor and that the other eight men should be awarded Certificates of Merit. He believed that two of the men, Fox and Short, had hidden themselves for the duration of the fight, but in fact they had been wounded. The 10th’s commander, Lt. Col. George C. Hunt, merely passed the commendations on but

the 24th’s colonel, Zenas Bliss, published a regimental order expressing appreciation for their actions. There was some debate from higher ranking officers in Washington on account of the fact that the payroll had been lost, but the awards were finally approved by Redfield Proctor, the secretary of war, on February 1, 1890. Arrington, Wheeler, Lewis, and Young were no longer in the army by the end of 1890. Corporal Mays stayed in the army until the summer of 1893. By then, after an argument with his commanding officer, he had been reduced to a private, fined $10, and reassigned to D Company in Fort Bayard, New Mexico. Sergeant Brown later qualified as a distinguished marksman and by 1904 was ranked fifty-fourth best shot in the entire army. He suffered a stroke that year while assigned to Fort Assiniboine, Montana, and died in Washington, D.C., the next year. See also Apache Wars; Buffalo Soldiers; 10th Cavalry; 24th Infantry Regiment References and Further Reading Dowsey, Fairfax D. The Buffalo Soldiers in the Indian Wars. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1969. Schubert, Frank N., ed. On the Trail of the Buffalo Soldier: Biographies of African Americans in the U.S. Army, 1860–1917. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1995. ———. Black Valor: Buffalo Soldiers and the Medal of Honor, 1870–1898. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1997.

Williams, Cathay (1842–1892?) Cathay Williams was a remarkable woman. Posing as a man, “William Cathey” (as she called herself) served in the African American 38th Infantry Regiment from November 1866 to October 1868—the only female Buffalo Soldier. Williams was born to a slave mother (her fa-

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ther was a freeman) near Independence, Missouri, in about 1842. Her mother worked for planter William Johnson, who moved the family to Jefferson City when Williams was a little girl. When the war broke out the Union Army came to Jefferson City and took Williams and other African Americans with them as paid servants. She became a cook, ultimately working for Gen. Philip Sheridan in Washington and during Union raids in the Shenandoah Valley. At the end of the war she was employed at the Jefferson Barracks in Missouri. On November 15, 1866, Williams enlisted in the army for a three-year term in St. Louis. Her story, in her own words, appeared ten years later in the St. Louis Daily Times (January 2, 1876). One reason she gave for having enlisted was that she wanted to make her own living and not be dependent. “Only two persons,” she said, “a cousin and a particular friend, members of the regiment, knew that I was a woman.” They never betrayed her; she passed what must have been a cursory fitness exam and her sex was not revealed until October 1868 when she was given a medical discharge. During her time with the 38th Infantry, Williams performed all the duties of a soldier, standing guard, carrying her pack and rifle, and marching with her company from Fort Riley, Kansas, to Fort Harker and later to Fort Union, New Mexico. In September her company was sent to Fort Cummings and finally to Fort Bayard, New Mexico, a 47-mile trek accomplished in one day. There is no record of the regiment engaging in combat during Williams’s enlistment. Williams’s health apparently deteriorated in the army. She was hospitalized on at least five occasions with different illnesses. On the recommendation of an assistant surgeon and of her own captain, Williams received a certificate of disability and was discharged at Fort Bayard on October 14, 1868. Having left the army, she traveled to Fort Union and worked as a cook until 1870, then as a laundress in Pueblo, Colorado. After two years she moved on to Las Animas County, where she

spent another year before finally settling down in Trinidad, Colorado. In June 1891 she applied for an invalid pension based on her military service. Her application, which was sworn to before a county clerk, claimed that she was the William Cathey who had served as a private in Company A, 38th U.S. Infantry. She asked for an invalid pension on account of her deafness, rheumatism, and neuralgia. On September 9, 1891, she was examined by a doctor from the Pension Bureau; among other things he noted that all of her toes had been amputated. In February of the following year the Pension Bureau rejected her claim. Nothing is known concerning Cathay Williams after the rejection of her invalid pension claim. She is not listed in the 1900 census for Trinidad, and it must be assumed that she either died prior to the census or moved to another location. What is known about Williams is that, under the name of “William Cathey,” she was the only documented African American woman to serve in the U.S. Army before women were officially permitted in the service. See also African American Women in the Military; American Civil War; Buffalo Soldiers; 9th Cavalry; 10th Cavalry References and Further Reading Blanton, DeAnne. “Cathay Williams: Black Woman Soldier, 1866–1868.” Minerva 10 (1992): 1–12. http://www.buffalosoldier.net/CathayWilliams FemaleBuffaloSoldierWithDocuments.htm (accessed August 14, 2003).

Wilson, William Othello (1867–1928) William Wilson is the only known deserter to be awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery. As a corporal in the 9th Cavalry, Wilson won his Medal of Honor during the Pine Ridge Campaign (1890–1891).

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Wilson enlisted on August 21, 1889, at the age of twenty-two. He had been born in Hagerstown in western Maryland and was promoted to the rank of corporal in December 1890 with a reputation for being one of the best marksmen in his unit. He also had a reputation for wearing a long, black leather coat, a broad-brimmed, white hat, and a large pair of spurs on his boots. His flamboyant appearance seems to have been accepted by his officers. On December 30, 1890, a day after the massacre at Wounded Knee Creek, Wilson was with troops D, F, I, and K of the 9th, protecting a supply train. Shortly after first light a large band of Sioux attacked the troops. The cavalry, under Capt. John S. Loud, formed a circle with the wagons and decided to send a rider to seek reinforcements. Wilson offered to carry the dispatch, and as he sped out of the encampment he was pursued by eight or ten warriors. He outran them with help from his fellow cavalrymen, who opened fire on his pursuers from the encampment, and found Maj. Guy V. Henry, who saddled up his men and rode off to relieve the besieged wagon train. After a brief skirmish the Sioux broke off, and the wagons were successfully driven to their destination. On New Year’s Day, acting on the orders of Major Henry, his adjutant described Wilson’s ride as “one involving much risk as the Indians knowing what was intended would endeavor to intercept the messenger, and overwhelmed by numbers certain death would follow” (quoted in Schubert 1997, 126). A copy was sent to Regimental Headquarters at Fort Robinson. Wilson stayed with the regiment in Pine Ridge throughout the freezing winter until March 1891. A few days before the regiment was due to leave Wilson decided to head to Chadron, Nebraska, where he stayed in a hotel. He was immediately recognized, and the army had him arrested for desertion. He was also charged with the theft of a rifle and the forgery of a civilian name on checks in the amount of $200. Wilson denied the desertion charge and said: “My reason for being in Chadron was a

drinking spell and while I was under the influence of drink I found myself in Chadron having been constantly on duty for about four months as acting commissary sergeant at Pine Ridge Agency and Battalion 9th Cavalry in the field which was the most mental strain to which I have been subjected to in my life” (quoted in Schubert 1997, 127). Wilson was locked up at Fort Robinson, and in May a court martial was convened. In the event, he was found guilty only of absence without leave and check forgery. He was sentenced to four years’ hard labor and forfeiture of pay, and he lost his corporal’s stripes. But because the reviewing authority, Gen. John R. Brooke, did not believe the forgery charge to be accurate, the sentence was rejected except for the demotion in rank. Rather than being daunted by this setback, Wilson asked to be awarded the Medal of Honor, and his officers were still prepared to support him. Lt. Powell wrote: “It is with pleasure that I commend the very gallant conduct of the within named applicant and invoke the bestowal upon him of a Medal of Honor to which in my judgement he is unquestionably entitled” (quoted in Schubert 1997, 129). Within a month the Medal of Honor was on its way to Wilson. In August 1893, as a private in H Troop based at Fort Duchesne, Wilson set off for Bellvue near Omaha, Nebraska, to represent the regiment in the annual marksmanship contest. He attended, but he only made it back as far as Denver. He claimed that he had lost his train fare and asked for a duplicate ticket and money to pay for his meals. It was at that point that Wilson disappeared with his carbine and revolver. Wilson made no attempt to hide; he went back to his native Hagerstown, where he married, had seven children, and worked as a teacher, a cook, and a carpenter. The army never seemed to be interested in dragging him before a court martial again, and he remained in Hagerstown until he died in Washington County Hospital on January 18, 1928. It was

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only after his death that it became public knowledge that he had won the Medal of Honor, as he had never spoken of it since he had made his decision to desert the army. See also Buffalo Soldiers; Medal of Honor (appendix); 9th Cavalry References and Further Reading Schubert, Frank N. Black Valor: Buffalo Soldiers and the Medal of Honor, 1870–1898. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1997.

Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps The official entry of African American women into the U.S. Army was made possible by the work of those women who, during World War II, were able to bring about the creation of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, later called the Women’s Army Corps. Shortly before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Representative Edith Nourse Rogers of Massachusetts introduced a bill to the House of Representatives with the intention of setting up a semimilitary organization of 25,000 women. The organization was to be called the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), and it was hoped that these women would fill U.S. Army noncombat posts and free men to fight. The proposal had the approval of army chief of staff George C. Marshall. As it turned out, the U.S. Congress had more pressing concerns during 1941 (the lend-lease bill, price controls, war plant production, and so on). Rogers therefore introduced another bill in January 1942, suggesting the creation of the corps with a projected strength of some 150,000. Unlike the previous attempt, this new bill also included an amendment providing that the women should be enlisted and given the same status as men in the U.S. Army. This amend-

ment provoked vigorous debate; although Congress recognized the need to mobilize women for the war effort, many were averse to giving women military status and the accompanying privileges of servicemen. Nonetheless, the basic premise was accepted, and Congress approved the creation of the corps on May 14, 1942, without the amendment. On the following day President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the compromise bill, and the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps was created. The bill initially authorized the U.S. Army to enlist 150,000 officers and enlisted women, aged twenty-one to forty-five. They were to be noncombatants and organized separately in terms of pay, housing, supply, training, and medical care. There was no stipulation that they could not serve overseas. In order to stress the separation between the corps and the U.S. Army, the grades were created in such a way as to ensure that there would be no direct comparisons. The WAAC grades of third officer, second officer, first officer, field director, assistant director, and director are broadly comparable to the U.S. Army’s second lieutenant to colonel. For the enlisted women, the grades of auxiliary, junior leader, leader, staff leader, technical leader, first leader, and chief leader can be seen as parallel to U.S. Army grades from private to master sergeant. Until November 1, 1942, whatever the equivalence of the grades, the WAAC personnel drew lower pay, but after this date the pay structure was equalized. As a result of Congress and the U.S. Army being clear about the fact that the WAAC was not a military organization, the personnel were not governed by the usual Articles of War; consequently, the director of the WAAC drew up the WAAC regulations covering appointment, enlistment, promotion, discipline (a code of conduct with punishments for breaches), training, uniforms, pay, and discharge. The new regulations mirrored those in the U.S. Army, and in fact issues not covered in the WAAC regulations were referred to U.S. Army regulations.

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The first WAACs arrived at Fort Des Moines on July 20, 1942; included in this first batch were some 440 officer candidates (who would attend the WAAC Officer Candidate School). Graduates were commissioned as third officers after a six-week training program. Around 150 women arrived every two weeks to attend the WAAC Officer Candidate School (OCS). The first 125 WAAC enlisted personnel arrived on the same day to begin a four-week training course, but as the problems were ironed out in the training and new facilities were constructed, the size of these drafts was increased. From the outset, the quality of the officer candidates was high; around 40 percent were college graduates, with the average age of thirty. The enlisted personnel, with an average age of twenty-four, had some 60 percent high school graduates. Initial recruitment figures (to June 30, 1943) had been set at 25,000, but this figure was reached by November 1942. The secretary of war, Henry L. Stimson, increased the target for June 30, 1943, to the full 150,000, while ensuring that additional training facilities were in place. Shortly before the end of 1942, at Daytona Beach, Florida, a second WAAC training facility was up, followed by Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia; Fort Devens, Massachusetts; and Camp Ruston, Louisiana. Practical issues now came into play, with renewed calls for the WAAC to be granted full military status. WAACs serving overseas were not entitled to enhanced terms of pay, nor were they covered under the government’s life insurance. If any WAACs, such as the 200 or more who were serving in Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s North African theater in Algeria, became sick or was wounded, they would not receive veterans’ hospitalization, neither would their parents receive death gratuities. One of the other major concerns was the status and fate of the women should they fall into enemy hands; under the terms of their enlistment, they would have no protection under international agreements related to prisoners of war. Representative Rogers and Director Oveta Culp Hobby received the approval of Marshall

for their draft of a bill to present to Congress (January 1943), but it was not fully approved by the two houses and signed by the president until July 1, 1943. The act now called for the official creation of a Women’s Army Corps within the U.S. Army. Thus the WAAC now became the WAC. No limitations were set on the size of the corps, and the age range of those eligible for enlistment was extended from twenty to forty-nine. The old WAAC grades disappeared, translated into equivalent grades in the U.S. Army. The maximum grade available was colonel, but this was restricted to the director of the corps. Otherwise the highest rank possible was lieutenant colonel, while enlisted women could rise to the highest rank, that of master sergeant. There were still inconsistencies in the system, and the women who had served in the WAAC could not count this time toward their overall length of service. From this point forth, however, the WAC was subject to all of the conditions, regulations, codes, and privileges of the U.S. Army. As for African American women, they were as determined to serve the country as their male counterparts. Back in 1940, there had been a policy adopted by the War Department to accept African Americans on a quota basis (10 percent as a reflection of their percentage of the population). Also in 1940, the Selective Service Act specifically prohibited discrimination on the grounds of color or race. The U.S. Army, however, was reluctant to undertake what it saw as an experiment in social change, and this reluctance was coupled with the fact that segregation was ingrained in the service. If the U.S. Army was to accept African Americans, then it would be on an equal but separate basis. This was intended, of course, to include the training, but by 1942 African Americans and whites were training at the same officer candidate schools, and they were training together at specialist and technical training schools. While these developments were taking place, basic training remained segregated; it was under these conditions that the WAAC and later the WAC began to develop their racial policies.

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In England, Maj. Charity Adams Earley and Capt. Abbie N. Campbell inspect the first contingent of African American members of the Women’s Army Corps assigned to overseas service, February 15, 1945. (National Archives)

The first WAAC OCS class of 440 women that arrived at Fort Des Moines in July 1942 had just 40 African Americans. Initially, training of these women was segregated, but this practice was changed in November 1942 after continued pressure from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Training, housing, and messes were desegregated for officer candidates, although the enlisted women were still segregated. The women in both groups were assigned to segregated units, and all training of African American enlisted women was carried out by African American officers and noncommissioned officers. There was no limitation, however, to the specialist areas to which the African American

women could be assigned, and at specialist training schools the races were mixed. The major problem arose when the women were assigned to units. It was usually the case that each U.S. Army post had one women’s unit, officially either African American or white. In practice, however, women were assigned to these units regardless of their color, and expedience meant that they would not be segregated once they had arrived on post. Despite these gradual moves, the number of African American women in either the WAAC or the WAC never approached the recommended figure of 10 percent. The total number of African American women who entered the services (July 1, 1942–June 30, 1945) managed to reach just 5.1 percent (a total of 6,527 women).

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AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE WOMEN'S ARMY CORPS, 1945–1978

1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978

African American Officers

Total Officers

African American Warrant Officers

117 15 9 4 12 18 30 40 38 31 29 32 28 24 27 28 52 56 63 85 98 236 264

5,733 1,793 1,035 611 626 686 1,010 1,171 1,109 964 876 847 808 740 732 735 901 1,073 1,249 1,446 1,921 2,409 2,636

0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 4 6 6 6 8 12

Total Warrant Officers

African American Enlisted

Total Enlisted

Total African Americans

Total

44 18 5 42 23 22 39 57 55 52 48 44 43 39 39 39 19 21 19 22 31 45 68

3,732 658 310 121 340 629 1,015 1,291 1,131 838 954 1,029 937 909 1,015 1,155 2,396 3,184 5,450 8,031 9,681 11,293 14,412

90,180 16,699 7,094 4,699 4,260 6,551 10,883 10,228 8,760 6,787 7,716 7,770 7,156 7,074 7,837 8,279 12,349 16,457 26,328 37,703 44,461 46,094 50,292

3,849 673 319 125 352 648 1,046 1,332 1,169 869 983 1,061 965 933 1,042 1,183 2,453 3,188 5,519 8,122 9,785 11,537 14,688

95,957 17,896 8,134 5,352 4,909 7,259 11,932 11,456 9,924 7,803 8,640 8,661 8,007 7,853 8,608 9,053 13,269 17,551 27,596 39,171 46,413 48,548 52,996

Notes: Figures refer to ends of fiscal years; end of fiscal year changed from June 30 to September 30 in 1977. No statistics were maintained on African American personnel from 1961 to 1971. Source: Strength of the Army Reports (STM-30), 1945–1959 and (DCSPER 46), 1960–1978; Report, ODCSPER, Ten Year Review of Equal Opportunity in the Army, 10 December 1974, Tables 9, 17; Third Annual Assessment of Army Equal Opportunity Programs, March 1979.

After the war, women continued to serve in the WAC while Congress debated the permanent role of women in America’s armed forces. The Women’s Armed Services Integration Act, signed by President Harry S. Truman in June 1948, changed the status of the WAC and made its members eligible for both the Regular Army (WAC RA) and the Army Reserve. The WAC played a significant role in the U.S. Army through both the Korean and Vietnam wars as well as in its other operations and peacetime responsibilities. In 1978, in order to end the discrimination

implied by women’s separate status in the U.S. Army, the WAC was officially disbanded and women became full and equal members of the army and the Army Reserve. See also African American Women in the Military; World War II References and Further Reading MacGregor, Morris J., Jr. Integration of the Armed Forces, 1940–1965. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1981. Morden, Bettie J. The Women’s Army Corps,

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1945–1978. Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 2000. http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/ books/wac/index.htm (accessed September 16, 2003). Sparrow, John C. History of Personnel Demobilization in the U.S. Army. Department of the Army Pamphlet 20–210. Washington, DC: Center for Military History, 1954. Treadwell, Mattie E. The Women’s Army Corps. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1954.

Women’s Reserve of the U.S. Navy (WAVES) The creation of the Women’s Reserve of the U.S. Navy, known as the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), in July 1942 potentially represented an opportunity for African American as well as white women. Initially, however, the secretary of the navy, Frank Knox, refused to allow African American women to be accepted. This decision was overturned on July 28, 1944, largely as a result of accusations by Thomas E. Dewey, the Republican presidential candidate in the 1944 election, that Roosevelt’s administration was discriminating against African American women. It was therefore decided in October 1944 that African American women would be admitted into the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the U.S. Marine Corps. The first commander of the WAVES was Capt. Mildred McAfee (later Mildred McAfee Horton), who took a leave of absence from the presidency of Wellesley College to accept this post. She, together with noted African American educator Mary McLeod Bethune, helped the secretary of the navy push through the decision to admit African American women to the WAVES. However, the process facing African American women wishing to enter naval service was somewhat difficult and protracted, and by the

end of World War II there were still only 72 African American women in the WAVES, of a total of over 90,000 women serving or in training. In December 1944 the first two African American female naval officers, Lt. Harriet Ida Pickens and Ens. Frances Wills, graduated from the Naval Reserve Midshipmen’s School at Northampton, Massachusetts, and received their commissions. They were the only African American WAVES officers to serve during World War II. Enlisted WAVES received “boot camp” training at Iowa State Teachers College in Cedar Falls and later at Hunter College in New York City. From boot camp they went for specialized training to Oklahoma A&M University in Stillwater and Indiana University in Bloomington. WAVES, who by law served only in the United States (including Hawaii), played a very important part in the navy’s mission. The constituted 55 percent of uniformed personnel serving at Navy Department headquarters in Washington handled 80 percent of the navy’s mail service, and played an integral part in naval communications and logistics. WAVES also performed a variety of other specialized tasks, such staffing aircraft control towers and providing instrument flight training to male pilot trainees. Although WAVES did not receive the same benefits as male naval personnel, could not serve overseas, and were limited as to the rank they could obtain, they made a distinguished name for themselves during the war and paved the way for women to enter naval service in the postwar world. After the defeat of Japan in September 1945, the Navy moved to demobilize; all WAVES were to be discharged within six months. Many WAVES re-enlisted in the Naval Reserve during this period, however, while Congress was petitioned to pass legislation making women a permanent part of the U.S. Navy. In July 1948 President Truman signed the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act, which made it possible for women in the Naval Reserve to apply for the entrance into the regular Navy.

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Frances Wills (left) and Harriet Ida Pickens are sworn in as apprentice seamen by Lt. Rosamond D. Selle, New York City. In December 1944, Wills and Pickens became the navy’s first African American WAVES officers. (U.S. Navy)

See also African American Women in the Military; World War II

Military History, 1985. http://www.army.mil/ cmh-pg/books/integration/IAF-FM.htm# TABLE%20OF%20CONTENTS (accessed August 16, 2003).

References and Further Reading MacGregor, Morris J., Jr. Integration of the Armed Forces, 1940–1965. Washington, DC: Center of

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World War I (1914–1918) World War I offered the first real opportunity for large numbers of African Americans to serve their country in a time of war after the American Civil War. The African American presence in the armed forces since 1865 had gradually become smaller, and despite significant contributions during the Indian Wars, the Spanish American War, the Philippine Insurrection, and the punitive expedition against Pancho Villa, the African American held a poor reputation as a fighting man. Unfortunately, with the U.S. Army decision not to deploy the 20,000 men of the four existing African American regular units (9th and 10th Cavalry and 24th and 25th Infantry), which were probably the most experienced in the army, the opportunity fell only to inexperienced African American National Guardsmen, volunteers, and draftees. Moreover, due to the army’s reluctance to deploy African American troops in Europe, coupled with the fact that the United States joined the war only toward the end, in 1917, the opportunity was limited, and the army establishment’s view of the men was mixed, to say the least. Making Ready for War In the United States few African Americans served in the armed forces, and those that did so faced segregation and discrimination. At the same time, the U.S. government and public could not fail to notice that since the outbreak of the war, some of the major belligerents were using significant numbers of troops from both Africa and Asia. The French alone deployed over 275,000 troops from Africa and another 260,000 from North Africa. Unfortunately, in the early years, these men like so many others faced a new form of warfare, one that pitted human flesh against mass machine guns and massed artillery. The use of colonial troops in the role of shock or assault troops had resulted in a higher casualty rate than for white units.

U.S. opinion of the worth of troops of color was divided strictly along racial lines. The majority of African Americans were most struck by what they read of the extreme gallantry shown by African troops fighting for the French and for the British. They noted that the Germans were offering rewards for the capture of any African soldiers, whom they believed to be the most proficient in the use of edged weapons. As far as the Woodrow Wilson administration and the bulk of the white population were concerned, however, the occasions when African colonial troops failed to perform or fled in combat, even though their failures were no more marked than those of their white counterparts, served to reinforce existing beliefs about the capabilities of black soldiers. In the months preceding the U.S. declaration of war against Germany, the U.S. Army had already put plans in place to draft African Americans. Indeed, twelve days before the American declaration of war on April 6, 1917, the First Separate Battalion (Colored) of the District of Columbia National Guard was mobilized in order to guard strategic positions in the capital. It is widely believed, however, by those scholars who question the motives behind this decision, that the act was based, not on any recognition of the abilities of African Americans, but on the belief that the Germans would find it much more difficult to infiltrate an agent into an African American unit than a white one. The African American population was on the eve of responding as positively as it had done during the Civil War to the call to fight for their country, even against a backdrop of continued discrimination, racism, and the ever-present lynching. The year 1916 had seen over fifty lynching incidents, and a similar number in 1917, the majority, but not all, taking place in the racially segregated South. The growing problem was recognized by President Woodrow Wilson, who also recognized the fact that the lynching could undermine the war effort and the participation in every respect of the vastly important African American population. His

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hands were tied, however, as the lynching issues were state business. In the summer of 1917 new racial clashes flared across the country, notably in East St. Louis, Illinois. After four days of rioting, over a hundred African Americans had been murdered or seriously injured, as had at least eight whites. The press roundly condemned the rioting, but on July 28 over 25,000 African Americans took part in demonstrations in New York. African Americans in the U.S. Army were not immune to racial discrimination and intimidation either, but both in and out of uniform, the large percentage of African Americans who had never experienced slavery were not prepared to suffer the same kind of indignities their forbears had. They asked to be treated as Americans, and despite racial tensions, they wanted to serve their country, but they were more likely to resist injustice. The U.S. Army had extensively used the four regular African American units in its wars of expansion in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The units were not deployed abroad, but consigned to distant and desperately isolated posts on the frontier. Whenever they came into contact with civilian U.S. society, they encountered the Jim Crow laws, which still shaped the lives of African Americans, especially in the South, but they would not accept this treatment and habitually chose to confront it or seek revenge, as the circumstances dictated. Both the Brownsville incident (August 1906) and the Houston riot (August 1917) did much to tarnish the already stained reputation of African American regular soldiers, and their behavior during the riots served to confirm the white South in its beliefs about the inferiority, even savagery, of African Americans and to justify unequal treatment. On the eve of America’s entrance into the Great War, the 20,000 men in the four regular regiments of African American troops could have been posted fairly quickly directly to France. African American National Guardsmen would require considerable training before deployment. The third group, African American

civilians, would clearly take the largest period of preparation and training, as would any men without military experience. When the Selective Service Act of May 18, 1917, was passed, it required that all males between twenty-one and thirty-one register, regardless of race. There was little African American opposition to the draft, but in the South, white factory and plantation owners were concerned that if conscription affected both whites and blacks, a severe labor shortage could result. From the beginning those who were called to be processed faced discrimination. The effect of this discrimination, which also involved allwhite draft boards, seems to have been that African Americans were actually more likely to be drafted, perhaps partly because whites believed that the African Americans would largely be used as laborers, as indeed turned out to be the case. To take one example, in Fulton County, Georgia, of the 202 African Americans examined, only 6 were given exemptions, while 526 of the 815 white draftees were turned down on medical grounds. Some 2,290,527, or 9.6 percent of those drafted, were African American. Of the 1,078,331 African Americans examined in June, 51.6 percent, or 556,917, were put into Class I, which meant that they were immediately available. In stark contrast, 3,110,659, or 32.5 percent, of whites were placed in the same category. Of the Class I draftees, 24 percent of whites were inducted and 36 percent of African Americans. Throughout the war, although African Americans accounted for 10.19 percent of those registered, they provided 12.6 percent of those inducted. The figures were more striking in the South, where African Americans accounted for between 30 and 58 percent of the inducted draftees. Technically, under the draft laws, those who refused or failed to register, or who failed to appear when selected by lottery for industries were considered as deserters. Taken together with those who deserted while in service, African Americans deserted at a rate of 9.81 percent, compared to a white desertion rate of 3.86 percent (Barbeau and Henri 1974, 36).

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Those African Americans who worked for white employers were more likely to be exempted, whereas African Americans who ran their own farms or businesses were much more likely to be inducted. Equally, there were a number of instances when notices of induction were deliberately lost or intercepted so that “friends” of those involved in the registration process could collect the bounty for turning in a deserter. When the African American conscripts were called for training, there was grave concern as to where this training should take place. White Southerners in particular were uncomfortable with the prospect of having large numbers of uniformed and armed African Americans concentrated in their midst. It was proposed by South Carolina, among other states, to send all Southern African American draftees into training camps up North. The Houston riot of 1917 had unnerved the South, and the War Department suggested that a “safe ratio” be applied to determine the number of whites and African Americans in each training camp. This approach, it was felt, would ensure that the African American draftees were outnumbered by two to one. The approach had logistical problems, however, as white draftees would have to be called up first and assigned to training camps, and then the appropriate number of African Americans assigned to that camp. A large majority of the men found themselves in segregated camps, at least initially following induction, where the isolation and lack of facilities caused enormous hardships. Fortunately, they were supplied with some of the essentials by a segregated YMCA, both in the United States and later in France. Also involved in ensuring that recreational facilities were available were the far more racially liberal Knights of Columbus and the Salvation Army. The Red Cross, although segregated, involved itself in ensuring that African American sick and wounded were properly looked after in hospitals and in towns and cities that they passed through. African American chaplains were organized by the Federal Council of Churches,

and the War Camps Community Service, despite a severe lack of funds, tried to provide recreational facilities and activities. The training of the troops presented an even greater challenge, given the still dominant racist attitude that branded African Americans as having a blood lust or being at a different stage of evolution from whites. Senior military advisors even believed that African Americans were morally weak, were riddled with character deficiencies, and were naturally cowards. Taking the varying views on African American training into account, the Army chief of staff, Tasker Bliss, in August 1917 offered six plans for dealing with African American draftees. Plan one suggested that African American troops would be stationed in the same areas as whites but in a segregated part of the camp. This first plan would at least ensure that African American draftees would receive the same levels of training as their white counterparts and that they would be sent to camps with white men and other African Americans from their own states. The second plan was to assign 48,000 African Americans into combat units, one with each of the sixteen National Army Cantonments, with the rest of the African American draftees being used as laborers. The inevitable consequence of this option was that considerable numbers of African Americans from the South would be sent into northern states to be organized in regiments. The third plan suggested that African American troops be stationed in segregated facilities at least one mile from existing white camps. This plan was potentially the most expensive and, for that reason alone, it was never seriously considered. Plan four suggested the creation of two African American training facilities in the South that would handle all African American draftees. Again, this was never a viable option, particularly if the camps were built in Southern states. Plan five recommended that eight northern training camps handle all African American draftees and that they not receive full training or weapons until they reached France. The logistics of moving thousands of African Ameri-

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cans from the South to northern states was a major consideration in the rejection of this plan. The sixth plan proposed the delaying of the African American draft and, when it did come, that the draftees be sent to the training facility nearest to their homes, where they would receive basic training and then be immediately shipped to France in support roles only and not as combat troops. This was the option that Tasker Bliss favored; nevertheless, in conversations with W. E. B. Du Bois, a prominent African American intellectual and activist and one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Secretary of War Newton D. Baker reportedly indicated that 30,000 African Americans would be used as combat troops and 50,000 would serve in labor and supply functions. No clear plan was ever worked out. The troops for the two African American divisions were trained at either existing facilities or facilities being built primarily for white troops. The majority of African American soldiers were used as labor and trained in similar locations (Barbeau and Henri 1974, 42–43). Pseudo-scientific evidence was used to support the notion that African Americans were not suitable for combat. It was held that African Americans generally were not mentally or physically capable of being combat troops and should be confined to labor duties. Psychologists saw the mass drafts of World War I as an excellent opportunity to carry out extensive intelligence tests to discover whether these widely held racialist convictions were valid. The base results of the comparative studies of white draftees and African American draftees seemed to provide strong evidence to support the notion that African Americans were mentally inferior to whites. With the advantage of hindsight, it is now clear that these early mass intelligence tests were not administered in an even-handed manner and that the test batches of individuals were unrepresentative and chosen in a biased way. At the time, however, the results were accepted as showing that the average African American

draftee had a mental age of 10.1 years compared to 13.15 years for whites. Even at the time, however, the extent to which the results said anything about the natural intelligence of African Americans was called in question. Col. Robert M. Yerkes of the U.S. Army collated many of the intelligence test results and published them with his conclusions in 1921. From the bare figures, Yerkes showed that both African Americans and whites in the north outscored their counterparts in the South, and that Northern African Americans tended to score higher than white draftees from the South. In 1917, however, most observers who looked at the tests saw them as confirming that African Americans were in general not intelligent enough to be combat soldiers. As far as the physical suitability of African American draftees was concerned, many African Americans were accepted as being suitable, despite having disabilities that would have disqualified a white man. Then their relative lack of physical fitness was used to prove that African Americans were not capable of combat duty. Undoubtedly the most important factor affecting the physical condition of the men, both African American and white, was comparative economic prosperity. Nevertheless, any evidence that suggested that African Americans were inherently not fit to be combat troops was exploited by opponents of African American advancement. Writing for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, in the March 5, 1919, issue, two U.S. Army doctors, A. G. Love and C. B. Davenport, reported that African American combat troops were 19 percent more likely to report sick than white troops. They overlooked the fact that hygiene, medical inspections, and hospital facilities in African American camps were extremely poor compared to the facilities offered to white troops and that the draft boards had accepted African Americans who were already chronically ill. None of the weaknesses of this study and other similar studies were realized at the time. Rather they served to reinforce the generally held view that African

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Americans should serve as laborers and not soldiers. While the draftees faced their own peculiar problems in being accepted, graded, assigned, and trained for their roles as either laborers or combat soldiers, equally challenging problems faced African Americans who applied to become officers. The vast majority of African Americans deemed to have officer potential came from the Northern states, the middle class, and the college educated. Nevertheless, they still had to face the racist convictions of a predominantly white world. The first officer training camp (OTC) was established at Plattsburgh, New York, soon followed by thirteen others. These camps were not, however, open to African Americans. It fell to Gen. Leonard Wood to propose that a separate African American OTC be established, and from the outset individuals such as the African American writer and NAACP associate, James Weldon Johnson, and the NAACP president, Joel E. Spingarn (a white man), urged the very best African Americans to come forward; they contended that the U.S. Army wanted the camp to fail and wanted the African American officers to prove the army wrong. Howard University, a primarily African American institution, managed to convince 1,500 students to volunteer, and at the same time offered facilities at the university for the new African American OTC. Instead, a decision was made on May 12, 1917, to establish a camp in Des Moines, Iowa. The army set the age bracket at twenty-five to forty, but the bulk of the early volunteers were college students under the age of twenty-five. Although the army leadership did not believe that African Americans could successfully command in combat, it accepted the inevitable, while placing restrictions not applied to white officer candidates on the African American officer trainees. Despite the fact that 13 percent of the draftees who would form the rank and file were African American, no more than 2 percent of the officer candidates were to be African American. This 2 percent figure was in fact not achieved; only 0.7 percent of officers serving

during World War I were African American. Those who made it through OTC to serve with a regiment faced far more stringent and regular tests of their competence than did whites, along with the prospect of being removed from command for the slightest indiscretion or hesitation. The final proviso was that African American army officers should not attain a field rank, which effectively capped promotion at the rank of captain. When the Des Moines officer training camp opened in July 1917, of the 1,250 candidates, around 250 were noncommissioned officers from the four existing African American regular regiments. The balance consisted of 1,000 civilian volunteers. The 24th Infantry Regiment’s second in command, Gen. Charles Ballou, was transferred to command the camp. Initially, the men were trained for ninety days, but this was later increased by a month. Graduation was deferred because the men would have no troops to lead, as the induction of African Americans had been postponed. The first graduations took place on October 15, with 639 commissions—all that remained of the original batch of candidates. Of that number, 204 became second lieutenants, 329 first lieutenants, and 106 captains. The majority of the captains were former regular army noncommissioned officers. Most of the officers were eventually assigned to the 92d Division, although some, not posted to the infantry regiments, found themselves in field artillery, engineer, signal, or machine gun units. The bulk of these men had received no training in these auxiliary units, and when they found themselves posted to France with their regiments, they quickly had to learn their new duties. The net result for the artillery officers, for example, was that their white commanding officers considered the African Americans unsuited to the task and asked for them to be replaced by white men. Over a period of months the majority of these officers were replaced, as were a number of the captains assigned to infantry regiments. The Des Moines course closed immediately after the graduation of the first class of African

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American officers. The training of African American officer candidates had to take place at established, white officer training centers, where the training of the African Americans was delegated to the existing camp staff. The reception accorded the African Americans varied widely, with some centers practicing strict segregation in all things while others integrated the courses of instruction, albeit usually for practical reasons. The number of additional African Americans commissioned as officers through the other centers was about 700. The following examples should indicate the different environments that African American officer candidates encountered. A class of ninety-six artillery officers, out of which only forty-four graduated, began training at Camp Meade, Maryland, but were then relocated to Camp Taylor, Kentucky, where they moved from one area to another, six different times. Similarly, only six of the twenty-four African American artillery officer candidates completed their course at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, whereas at Camp Hancock, Georgia, forty-three of the fifty-six who were trained by British and French officers to be machine-gun specialists completed their program. Many of those who graduated were initially assigned as replacements, but the prejudice against having African Americans outrank white soldiers made their lives difficult. Some of the new officers were warned not to expect white subordinates to salute them, but to be prepared to watch those same soldiers salute white officers of inferior rank. White officers tended to believe that African Americans needed a white officer to direct them and that African American troops would not readily accept orders from a black officer. African American regiments found themselves officered by predominantly white men, usually from the South. The most outstanding African American officer of the period, the 10th Cavalry’s Col. Charles Young, was a West Point graduate who had served with great distinction throughout his entire career. In 1917 he was recommended for promotion, but was ordered

to the military hospital in San Francisco for a physical examination. The examination determined that he was unfit for active duty and he was retired from active service on the day before other colonels, junior to him in seniority, were elevated to the rank of brigadier general. Young had been diagnosed previously with Bright’s Disease and high blood pressure, which may have afforded the army leadership a way to avoid promoting an outstanding officer to a very visible rank. If nothing else, the cruel way in which Young’s hopes for a command were disappointed highlights the fact that the U.S. Army had a distinct political agenda in their opposition to African American officers, and that opposition had little to do with their actual competence. As it turned out, any problems with African American officers during World War I were primarily the result of inadequate training. The Combat Units The two largest African American formations during World War I were the 92d and 93d Divisions. It is important to note that the 93d was designated as a provisional division, as initially it consisted of three infantry regiments of the National Guard and one regiment made up from draftees. The three National Guard units had already been rejected for racial reasons by white divisions; they consisted of the 15th New York Regiment, the 8th Illinois, the 1st Separate Battalion of Washington, D.C., the 9th Separate Battalion of Ohio, and individual companies from as far afield as Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Tennessee. Most of the formations that made up the division were understrength; some had only white officers, and only African American officers, and some had a mix. The story of the 15th New York, which later became the 369th Infantry Regiment, is typical of the experience of these troops, of the discrimination and racism they suffered. The unit was formed in the autumn of 1916 by William Hayward, who became the colonel of the regiment. Initially the unit comprised 650 men, but

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A 1918 poster by Charles Gustrine entitled “True Sons of Freedom: Colored Men—The First Americans Who Planted Our Flag on the Firing Line” celebrates the role of African Americans in World War I. (Library of Congress)

by the spring of 1917 this number had grown to over 1,400. The officers were white, and in the early months the officers were understrength by at least two-thirds. Although the regiment boasted the fact that both James Reese Europe and Noble Sissle, legendary jazz musicians, were leaders of their 44-man regimental band, they had nowhere to train, nor did they have sufficient weapons or any assistance from outside the regiment. In May 1917, with just 250 rifles for 2,000 men, they began training at Camp Whitman, New York, but they lacked uniforms, equipment, and supplies. No sooner had they completed their training than they were scattered on guard duty throughout New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. It was therefore impossible for Hayward to institute any form of additional training, but in the autumn of 1917 the regiment was finally sent to Spartanburg in South Carolina for fur-

ther training. They were met with the most severe forms of racism, and local spokespersons predicted that these northern African Americans would only bring trouble to South Carolina and that they could not expect the locals to behave toward them in any different way than the local African American population. Although steps were taken from the outset to prevent tensions and potential incidents, there were numerous ugly scenes. If nothing else, the tensions in Spartanburg hastened the 15th’s transition from a New York National Guard unit to the 369th Infantry Regiment and its embarkation to France. The 8th Illinois National Guard was mobilized in March 1917 and proceeded to Camp Logan for its training, narrowly missing the Houston riots. It therefore arrived in Texas at a time of high racial tension, and once again this hastened the unit’s transition and embarkation to Europe as the 370th Infantry Regiment. Among the smaller units that later became part of the 93d, additional difficulties existed. The 1st Separate Battalion of Washington, D.C., was placed on guard duty around the capital, and Kentucky Representative Robert Y. Thomas wrote to Wilson’s secretary, Joseph Tumulty: You had better take these nigger soldiers away as guards of the tunnel and put some white men there. The nigger soldiers spend a good deal of their time socially at night, in talking to nigger women who congregate around that place. I do not know whether you know it or not; but I know that a nigger knows nothing about patriotism, love of country, or morality, and if in the army at all, should be commanded by white officers. If they are not they are going to make trouble wherever they go (National Archives RG165, Item 9397–13, July 6, 1917; quoted in Barbeau and Henri 1974, 78).

At Camp Sheridan, Montgomery, Alabama, a member of the 9th Separate Battalion of Ohio was kidnapped by white racists, prompting

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other members of the unit to go out and search for him. Thirty-five of them were arrested by white military police, and the battalion was confined to barracks. It was decided to merge all of the various smaller units into the 372d Infantry Regiment, and all of the men were ordered to present themselves at Camp Stuart, Virginia, in January 1918. The first battalion consisted of the men from Washington, and the second battalion contained the Ohio, Maryland, Tennessee, Massachusetts, and Connecticut National Guardsmen. In order to bring the unit up to full strength, 250 African American draftees from Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio also joined the regiment. The regiment had a mix of African American and white officers, but all of the senior positions were exclusively reserved for white men. The regiment sailed for France on March 30, 1918. The final unit of the 93d Division, the 371st Infantry Regiment, consisted of 3,380 men organized at Camp Jackson in October 1917. These were predominantly draftees from North and South Carolina, with considerable numbers from Alabama, Florida, and Georgia. Again the majority of the officers were white and from the South. Most of the men had come directly from the harsh conditions in the Southern economy, and of the initial batch two-thirds of the men were replaced on the grounds that they were unfit for duty. The 92d Division initially consisted of 40,000 men who, after weeding out, were reduced to 26,000, 4,000 of whom were sent to Tuskegee and Hampton, among other technical schools, for further training. Most of the African American officers had come from Des Moines, while the balance consisted of white National Guardsmen officers who were not needed elsewhere. Gen. Charles C. Ballou was given command of the division, and even in the early months he realized the uphill struggle that he and his men would face, with a lack of equipment and lack of opportunity to train. The division was never concentrated in one place while on U.S. soil.

The first regiment of the 92d, the 365th, had drawn its men largely from Oklahoma and Texas; the 366th were mainly from Alabama. The 367th were New Yorkers, and the 368th were from Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. Alongside the three infantry regiments were three field artillery regiments, which were severely undertrained; they remained at home when the division sailed for France on June 10, 1918. Members of the division suffered from racial abuse at their various training posts as they prepared for embarkation; when they did sail, they had not completed their training, and their officers, whether African American or white, were arguably ill prepared. The Labor Units Although the men in the two infantry divisions eventually saw combat, the vast majority of African American draftees were simply transferred into a temporary existence that resembled the chain gang. African Americans accounted for at least 30 percent of laborers in the army, reflecting the commonly held belief that they were not only inferior but that they should be barred from the most important task of fighting. Their availability for labor was seen as an ideal opportunity to release white men to fight in the war. A confidential memorandum of October 1917 suggested that 70 percent of all African American draftees should be used in labor units. Here they could carry out all the menial tasks, releasing white men to deal with the real matter in hand. By September 1917, 83,400 men had reported to National Army Camps as part of the first draft call. To begin with they were organized into stevedore regiments, but later, in January 1918, 3,500-man labor battalions were formed. The men in these battalions were to carry out a variety of labor duties in the United States. If the quality of the white officers was poor in the fighting divisions, then the army found the very worst white officers to command these men. As late as March 1918 African Americans were restricted to the rank of corporal. White noncommissioned officers tended to

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be housed separately, and it was not until the last months of 1918 that African Americans were promoted to the rank of sergeant. It was difficult for these soldiers to accept the fact that they had been called to arms yet would not have any prospect of seeing combat. The training was along strict military lines with weapons and drills, yet the army discipline was nothing but discipline; it never led to combat duty. In September 1918 it was recognized that at least a third of the units were capable of combat action, but they lacked weapons, and there was no real will to prepare additional African American soldiers for the battlefield. For the men and the African American population at large, this situation was simply a return to the mistreatment and humiliation of slave period existence. On several occasions the men were hired out to contractors to build roads or other projects, with their officers pocketing their wages, making them feel even more strongly that they were being treated like slaves. The few African Americans assigned to labor units who did make the voyage across the Atlantic to the war in Europe eventually found themselves in labor battalions collectively called the Services of Supply (SOS) in the later stages of the war. They operated in the forty-six engineer service battalions, forty-four labor battalions, twenty-four labor companies, fifteen pioneer infantry regiments, three stevedore regiments, two stevedore battalions, and two butchery companies. The stevedores were responsible for ensuring that the American Expeditionary Force was in a fit state to march off the transport ships and straight to the front line, if required. Their ability to deal with vast amounts of equipment staggered the Allies, especially the French. In September 1918 at Bordeaux, African American stevedores dealt with 800,000 tons of materials, and at Brest they unloaded food supplies at a rate of 2,000 tons per day. Elsewhere African Americans were felling trees, building and repairing roads and railroads, and burying the dead. Some operated close to the front lines and received casualties from enemy artillery fire.

Despite their sterling work, they were generally despised, and most senior officers had a very low opinion of them. It is true that, at least on paper, these units no longer had the disadvantage of being labeled labor battalions, with all the connotations of punishment and discipline. But dressing the units up as SOS did little to change the boredom and frustration of being assigned to what was still essentially a manual labor role. Experience in Combat The 369th Infantry Regiment, being the first African American unit to land in France, found itself initially assigned to the SOS. They had had just three weeks of training and barely knew how to fire a rifle, yet they were designated as combat troops; they were not wanted. As the year turned, and still the general staff debated as to what to do with them, it was initially decided to make them pioneer infantry, which effectively meant that they would be battlefield laborers. Eventually a compromise of sorts was reached, with the arrival of the balance of the 93d Division. The French were desperate for more combat units, and it was decided that they would be lent to the French, which the U.S. Army considered an ideal solution; it was believed that the French, having experience in dealing with African troops, would be better suited to working with African American soldiers. True, there was a cultural, administrative, and equipment-based problem with the integration, and there was still the difficulty that the units had not been adequately trained, but on the whole the experiment was a success. The French replaced the Springfield rifle with their own Lebel and intended to use the troops, just as they did their own French Africans, as charging infantry, reliant on the bayonet. Apart from French helmets, the regiments retained their American uniforms but everything else was French, as, too, was the enormous improvement in the rations. Within the French Army, the African Americans found equality of a kind they had never en-

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countered while serving in the U.S. Army. The American Expeditionary Force headquarters wrote a confidential document aiming to explain the position of the African American in the United States, entitled “Secret Information Concerning Black American Troops.” It was penned by a Colonel Linard, a French officer serving at American Expeditionary Force (AEF) headquarters, and beseeched the French to ensure that the African Americans be kept separate from whites in order to prevent “race mongrelization.” French officers were implored not to eat with African American officers, not to encourage familiarity, and, above all, only to praise the men when absolutely necessary. It was implied in the document that the 15 million African Americans in the United States represented a very real threat to the continued domination of the whites at home (Aptheker 1956, 119). When the document was read to the French National Assembly in July 1919, it was universally condemned. The French Chamber of Deputies reaffirmed their desire to ensure that all men, regardless of race or religion, should be treated on an equal basis and therefore condemned the American attitude out of hand. It was the men of the 369th who saw action first, when they charged at Chateau-Thierry and at Belleau Wood. When the rest of the 93d arrived in France in April 1918, they, too, saw action within three months. All suffered high casualties at Argonne and Champagne, and by the time the war had ended, some 32 percent of the entire division had been killed or wounded. The experience of these men within the French army was wholly different from that of the African American draftees who formed the 92d Division. From the beginning the relationship between General Ballou, who commanded the 92d, and Gen. Robert Bullard, who was the commanding officer of the American Second Army, colored the men’s entire experience. Ballou, for his time, was relatively fair, and he jealously protected his division against his commanding officer. Bullard’s attitude to the men was influenced by the fact that they were not only

draftees but also African American, and he wanted the men to be used purely in the SOS. Bullard believed all of the stereotypes prevalent about African American men at the time and was not ready to risk them in combat. His position was supported by the majority of white officers within the division. When the regiment arrived in France it was grossly underequipped and typically undertrained. Ballou was caught between the dictates of the U.S. Army and the needs of his division. The troops were required to muster every hour of the day in order to check that none were missing or engaged in activities disapproved of by the authorities. By August 1918 the 92d joined French troops close to the German border, in the Saint-Dié sector, and on August 31 the men saw their first action at Frapelle, when the Germans tried to assault their lines. By mid-September they had successfully defended against eleven enemy attacks, and they were now redeployed to become part of the American push in the Argonne region. They were taken out of the Saint-Dié line and into the new front. The 368th Infantry Regiment was brigaded with the 11th Cuirassiers and assigned to an 800-yard gap between the American 77th Division and the nearest unit of the French Fourth Army. The 368th had traveled over 100 miles in open railway flat cars in the pouring rain and moved into their trenches on September 25. The regiment and a dismounted French cavalry regiment were combined into a taskforce-type organization, Groupement Durand, which was to be responsible for maintaining the cohesion of the offensive line. The 368th lacked the training, experience, and equipment to carry out the task. Unsurprisingly, there was a breakdown in communications and, without heavyduty wire cutters to cut through the barbed wire, the regiment found it impossible to make headway when the offensive was under way on September 26, although the night of September 27, they had taken the town of Binarville, and on the following day, after a five-hour artillery barrage, the regiment found itself almost iso-

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lated, with pockets of German resistance to their rear. During the fighting, the confusion was often intense, communications were poor, and at times various units retreated without permission. Fortunately, Allied successes elsewhere led the Germans to pull back, and by September 30 they had advanced 6 miles beyond Binarville. The regiment had suffered over 250 casualties. The confusion on the battlefield, due in part to the regiment’s inexperience and the complexity of its mission, had marked its performance as a failure, and, together with the other three regiments of the division, the 368th was withdrawn on October 5. The U.S. Army decided that African American officers and noncommissioned officers had been the root cause of the failure of the regiment to fulfil its role. Courts martial were instituted, and five of the leaders were found guilty of cowardice on the battlefield and sentenced to death. They were later exonerated by a War Department investigation, which concluded that the regiment had performed as well as could be expected, given its inexperience and lack of equipment. It was also suggested that contradictory orders had been given to the lead units, which added to the chaos. The 368th was not the only American unit to perform badly during the offensive. The white 35th Division had also descended into chaos, yet no action was taken against its leaders. The 92d Division was then moved to the Marbache sector on October 8, and the division suffered over 450 casualties during the next month. Certainly Gen. Bullard saw only the negative side of the story, as evidenced in a diary entry he wrote on November 1, 1918: The Negro Division seems in a fair way to be a failure. It is in a quiet sector, yet can hardly take care of itself, while to take any offensive action seems wholly beyond its powers. I have been here now with it three weeks and have been unable to have it make a single raid upon the enemy. Their Negro officers have an inadequate idea of what is expected of soldiers, and their white officers are too few to leaven the lump (Bullard 1925, 294–295).

Objective evidence contradicts Bullard entirely. During this period the 366th defeated a German attempt to capture a strategic bridge, supporting artillery effectively ended German offensive actions in the area, and continued patrols were being carried out, capturing enemy prisoners and leading to the decoration of a number of the troops. November 10 found the division on either side of the Moselle River and part of the last Allied offensive of the war; the target was Metz. The 365th and 366th were deployed on the East Bank and the 367th on the West, with the 368th in reserve. The three regiments performed well, and by the time news of the armistice filtered through to them the following day, they had reached their objectives, at the cost of 500 killed or wounded. Total casualties for the division during the war had reached 1,700. Again Bullard criticized the division, despite their best attempts to prove their combat prowess. He accused the division of wasting time and not attacking in an effective manner, and he considered their performance to be inferior to the actions of the other American divisions to their left and right. But still he could not deny that the division had met its objectives. Thanks to Bullard’s negative reports, it was considered in U.S. Army circles that African Americans were inherently cowardly. Even those who recognized that the African American officers were doing their level best in a difficult situation suggested that their efforts were largely aimed at contributing to the progress of their race rather than fulfilling the wishes of their country. African American troops did have their supporters, and most of the senior white officers at regimental level recognized that the men consistently performed well under fire and generally accepted any hardships without question. Given the fact that the 92d, in particular, had lacked any serious training and had never had the opportunity to serve together until they arrived in France, their performance, by and large, was considerably better than that of the majority of white units under similar circumstances.

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Even after the armistice on November 11, 1918, African American units still remained active in Europe. The 369th was moved into Germany to occupy enemy towns and was the last to leave the area on December 10, when it rejoined the rest of the American troops in France. To the west of the Moselle River, for the very first time, the 92d assembled as a division. It was largely a question of ensuring that all of the combat troops did not get themselves into difficulties now that the hostilities had ended. Huge numbers of African American SOS were deployed throughout France to deal with the thousands of bodies that lay unburied on the battlefields. Equally there were millions of unexploded shells and thousands of miles of barbed wire. These would all have to be dealt with in order to ensure that the French soil was ready for the spring harvest. In the Romagne region alone, some 6,000 African Americans reburied 23,000 corpses. Despite all of their combat sacrifices and contributions to the war effort, none of the African American troops were allowed to march in the Victory Parade in Paris. Significantly, however, black troops who had served with the French and the British were included in the parade. African American servicemen had donated 300,000 francs to the War Orphan’s Fund, despite the fact that many of the men had had their pay withheld. As the men began to assemble for embarkation to the United States, there was almost a pathological terror among the American authorities, who feared that the African Americans would cause problems among the French population. The African American units were largely restricted to barracks and denied any opportunity to meet with women. There was also a fear emanating from the American Expeditionary Force headquarters, as evidenced in a secret report written at the end of January 1919, that the African American officers in particular would cause future problems at home, now that they had seen the equality of French Africans. This tension was heightened when it was learned that W. E. B. Du Bois, who was considered a

radical, planned to meet the 92d Division in January. Du Bois had traveled to France to represent the NAACP at the peace conference and to monitor the treatment of African American troops. Intelligence officers were instructed to report on all of his movements and conversations with African American officers and to forward the confidential information immediately to the intelligence services. The military police, as they had been throughout the period, were astonishingly brutal toward African American troops, and there was a Senate investigation into the execution of sixty-two men, many of whom were African Americans. The U.S. Army denied that any illegal executions had taken place, and there was little recorded evidence that any firing squads or hangings had been authorized during the short period African Americans were in Europe. However, the Graves Registration Service testified that they had reburied men who had been hanged, and an officer came forward to testify that he had supervised the execution of two African Americans at a base in France in January 1919. No real conclusions were reached, and the investigations petered out. When the men began returning home, it was the 369th, parading along Fifth Avenue in New York, that was given the best reception accorded African American servicemen. Marching on the streets of New York in French phalanx formation to French martial music, played by the 369th band under the leadership of James Reese Europe, the 369th was then entertained at the 71st New York Infantry armory by the city’s officials. As for those returning to the South, it was reported that several of the men had their uniforms taken away from them at railroad stations and that in Missouri African American troops refused to take the last place in the parade line. For the most part the men were eager to return to their normal lives, but still the debate about their contribution raged. Col. Allen J. Greer, the chief of staff of the 92d Division, was still corresponding with likeminded individuals, charging that the division’s African American officers and men were cow-

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New York’s African American 369th (old 15th) Regiment (the Harlem Hellfighters) marched along Fifth Avenue in a victory parade to the beat of its famous band. Regimental hero Henry Johnson, the first American to be awarded the French Croix de Guerre with Gold Palm, is standing in the open automobile holding a bouquet. (National Archives)

ards. Osceola McKaine, an African American lieutenant who had served with the 92d, complained to the War Department about the libels that Greer was spreading. The onus was put on McKaine to prove that Greer had written libelous documents. Again the issue gradually subsided as more and more of the men involved returned to civilian lives. Although a large number of African American officers had served during World War I, it was considered by the U.S. Army that it would not be a sound policy to retain very many of them. Those who were retained joined (or rejoined) the four regular African American regiments, but only until those regiments reached estab-

lishment strength. The majority of American veterans returning to the United States and the uncertainties of civilian life were supported by the veterans’ organization, the American Legion, but, particularly in the South, African Americans were virtually barred from the organization. Although sometimes allowed to form segregated posts, African American veterans were not eligible to hold national posts in the American Legion or to attend national conventions. For the veterans who returned to the South, an altogether more sinister environment awaited them. The concept of having uniformed African Americans within the population, men who had been exposed to the “liberal attitudes” of the

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French, was intolerable to the racists and the Ku Klux Klan. There were a number of incidents in Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, and Wyoming. Lynching went on an upward spiral from 1917, and in 1918 more than fifty African Americans were murdered in this way. There were other cases of lynching in Georgia, Louisiana, and North Carolina, and by the end of 1919, more than seventy African Americans had been lynched, eleven of whom had been burned alive. Several Southern politicians condoned the lynching incidents, claiming that the men had been rapists and therefore deserved this summary justice. Amongst the victims of 1919 were at least ten African American veterans, one of whom, Daniel Mack, was taken by a mob from a jail in Sylvester, Georgia, and beaten to death. In Pine Bluff, Arkansas, another veteran was chained to a tree and shot for refusing to step off a pavement when ordered to do so by a white woman. There were also a number of riots in the summer of 1919, believed to have exceeded thirtyeight across the whole of the country; the period was dubbed the Red Summer, as a result of the blood that was spilled during that time. The general attitude seems to have been that the African American veterans had been “spoiled” by seeing how a society that did not fear “mongrelization of the races” treated those of African descent, and that they had returned to the United States determined not to be treated in the same way as they had been before their service in Europe. They were deemed to be defiant and, above all, capable for the first time of defending themselves physically. It was therefore simply a question of the white population defending themselves against these arrogant African Americans. There was also considerable criticism from the African American veterans of individuals within their own community who had for many years championed their cause, but now found themselves superficially accepted by the establishment. Among those singled out for criticism were Emmett Scott and Robert Moton. The former had asked that evidence of the army’s dis-

crimination be suppressed, and Motom had called upon the African American veterans not to do anything that would destroy their newly found reputation as fighting troops who were loyal to their country. While these men and many other leaders called for patience, much of the African American press called for direct action. The African American publication Challenge wrote of the race riots in October 1919: We are fully ignored by the President and law makers. When we ask for a full-man’s share they cry “insolent.” When we shoot down the mobist that would burn our properties and destroy our lives, they shout “Bolshevist.” When a white man comes to our side armed with the sword of righteousness and square dealing, they howl “Nigger-lover and bastard.” If we take our grievances to Congress they are pigeon-holed, turned over to moths. We are abandoned, cast off, maligned, shackled, shoved down the hills toward Golgotha in “The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave” (quoted in Barbeau and Henri 1974, 179–180).

There was much talk about the “new Negro,” and certainly the war seems to have produced a more intense feeling of solidarity among the African American population. African Americans had answered the nation’s call to fight in the first major conflict since the American Civil War, but rather than seeing them as proving their loyalty to the nation, the white population had simply viewed their contribution as part of a growing danger. The French had given them a kind of recognition their own countrymen for the most part denied them; the armed forces moved to use African Americans as little as possible as soon as the war was over.

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See also Champagne Offensive; ChateauThierry, Battle of; Croix de Guerre; Du Bois, William Edward Burghardt; Europe, James Reese; Houston Riots; Marne, Second Battle of the; 92d Division; 93d Division; Spartanburg Incident; 370th Infantry Regiment; 371st Infantry Regiment; 372d Infantry Regiment;

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369th Infantry Regiment; U.S. Army; U.S. Army, Interwar Period; Young, Charles References and Further Reading Aptheker, Herbert. Toward Negro Freedom. New York: New Century, 1956. Barbeau, Arthur E., and Florette Henri. The Unknown Soldiers: Black American Troops in World War I. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1974. Bullard, Robert L. Personalities and Reminiscences of the War. New York: Doubleday, 1925. Farwell, Byron. Over There. New York: W. W. Norton, 1999. Hagood, Johnson. The Services of Supply. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1927. Krawczynski, Keith. “World War I.” In A Historic Context for the African-American Military Experience. Edited by Steven D. Smith and James A. Ziegler. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1998. https://www.denix.osd.mil/denix/Public/ ES-Programs/Conservation/Legacy/AAME/ aame3.html (accessed August 15, 2003). Little, Arthur. From Harlem to the Rhine. New York: Corvici, 1936. Mason, Monroe, and Arthur Furr. The American Negro with the Red Hand of France. Boston: Cornhill, 1920. Scott, Emmett J. Scott’s Official History of the American Negro in the World War. Chicago: Homewood Press, 1919. Sweeney, W. Allison. History of the American Negro in the Great World War. Chicago: CuneoHenneberry, 1919.

World War II While fighting the greatest war in history, the U.S. armed forces also faced concerted pressure to end segregation and unequal treatment and opportunity for African Americans. Because of that pressure and because of the needs of the armed services, some changes did occur, and the results of those changes were enough that the ground was prepared for the full integration of the armed services in the decade following

the war. This entry is not primarily concerned with the achievements of African Americans during the war or with telling the story of what happened during the war chronologically; that material will be found in the entries on the various branches and individual units and people. Rather it looks at each branch of the armed services, discussing the forces for change, the forces that worked against change, and the extent of what was gained. African American leaders embodied their calls for change in the Double V campaign, V for victory abroad against fascism and V for victory at home against all forms of discrimination. Civil rights leaders felt that if the U.S. Army and the other armed services could be persuaded to end inequality, then civilian institutions and businesses would be forced to follow. The U.S. Army especially came under extraordinary pressure, as it was in process of becoming the largest employer in the United States, and the stage was set for major confrontation. On the other hand, by comparison the U.S. Army was the most progressive of all of the armed services, at least in the sense that it had regular African American units, something no other service had. The U.S. Army From the outset, the U.S. Army recognized that it was expected to lead the way, but army leaders spoke in strong terms of the army’s reluctance to engage in what they described as social experiments. Claiming that they had a war to fight first and foremost, the army leaders hoped to avoid the pressing demands that were being made to end segregation. They would certainly make no move unless supported, or better yet, ordered by Congress; accordingly, though important changes did happen, the lot of African Americans within the service changed much less than those who pressed for change hoped. Mobilizing for War The U.S. Army’s mobilization policy was firmly based on its leaders’ attitudes to the experience

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Members of the African American 9th Cavalry Regiment (Buffalo Soldiers) at Fort Riley, Kansas, ride in the army’s new speedy vehicle, which became famous as the jeep, in May 1941. On the eve of World War II the army was the only branch of the U.S. military that had any African American units. (U.S. Army)

of World War I. The traditionalists pointed to what they saw as the lackluster performance of wholly African American units such as the 92d Division during the last war, making it the main support of their resistance against the increasing calls from civil rights activists to eliminate a repeat of the 1917 mobilization policy. The U.S. Army recognized the fact that it would have to mobilize African Americans, but it proposed to use them as segregated units only. Above all, the U.S. Army constantly referred to issues such as military efficiency and claimed that integration would impair the service’s ability to fight the war. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Washington establishment found themselves in the unenviable position of having to placate both the civil rights activists and the War Department (not to mention taking into account the sensibilities of the white Southerners who formed an important segment of the Democratic Party). Given the impending U.S. involvement in the war, there was little time to force the two parties together and reach a compromise. Roosevelt met with African American representatives on September 27, 1940, but rather than waiting for a policy to be imposed upon

them, U.S. Army leaders quickly released a policy statement on October 9. The U.S. Army promised that with the expansion of the service, it would recruit and utilize African Americans in proportion to their population in the country. This would mean that some 10 percent of the U.S. Army would be African American, and what was more, they would be employed in both combat and noncombat roles. The army would not, however, countenance the integration of African Americans in mixed units. All African Americans, including both the officers and the enlisted men, would be used solely in segregated units. The army went on to claim that the practice of segregation was well founded and that it worked; it saw no convincing reason to amend its policies in that respect. As far the U.S. Army was concerned, it had presidential approval for this stance, and indeed Roosevelt had not made it clear that segregation was unacceptable. Unfortunately for Roosevelt, the call to end segregation in the armed services came at a time when he was embroiled in a presidential campaign to secure a third term, and he was dependent on the support of urban African Americans, as well as of the white Southern

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wing of the Democratic Party. His opponent, Wendell L. Willkie, had come out solidly behind the civil rights demands, and Willkie had begun to attract considerable numbers of the voters upon whom Roosevelt had been relying in order to win a third term. Roosevelt could afford neither to distance himself entirely from the U.S. Army, nor to appear to fully support their mobilization policy. His resulting actions were seen by many as just tinkering with the system and not addressing the fundamental problems. Part of his immediate reaction involved elevating Col. Benjamin O. Davis Sr., Col. Campbell C. Johnson, and Judge William H. Hastie to positions of power and importance. Davis became a brigadier general, the first African American ever to hold this rank. Colonel Johnson was promoted from his post at Howard University (where he had commanded the Reserve Officers Training Course) to special aide to the director of the Selective Service. Judge Hastie, then dean of Howard University, became the civilian aide to the secretary of war. Hastie faced the most difficult role; on the one hand the War Department wanted to use him as a public relations representative to deflect criticism, a role like that Emmett J. Scott had played during World War I. On the other hand, the civil rights activists expected Hastie to force through rapid changes. In the event, Hastie not only had his own agenda, but his own method of handling the seemingly incompatible calls for his time and support. Hastie knew that a quick fix would never solve the long-term, underlying problems; what he had to prove was that segregation was not efficient. For the first ten months or so, Hastie busied himself with observing the situation from the ground up. He quickly noted that segregation was certainly counterproductive in terms of building morale in the African American troops. His second major observation was that using African Americans only in segregated units did not make the best use of their talents. Above all, he believed that segregation and discrimination were fundamentally at odds with the nation’s championship of democracy, which all claimed

to be defending in this war; in a word, segregation was hypocritical. Hastie began to frame a proposal for progressive integration; he began with calls to assign individual African Americans with particular talents and expertise without regard to their race. Hastie met strong resistance in the form of Henry L. Stimson (secretary of war) and Gen. George C. Marshall (chief of staff). They both supported the tradition of segregation, stating that it had been in place since 1863 and that they saw no reason to place faith in African Americans, who they believed showed little initiative in combat. They said as much to Roosevelt, as can be seen in Stimson’s diary (October 25, 1940, quoted in MacGregor 1985, chap. 2). Stimson’s attitudes were typical of the times in being contradictory in the extreme; on the one hand he claimed that he supported the civil rights of all Americans, while on the other he opposed integration. As late as January 1942, Stimson was noting in his diary that social equality would never be achieved, as widespread interracial marriages would never become common (January 24, 1942; quoted in MacGregor 1985, chap. 2). Marshall’s objections to Hastie’s proposals centered on the expected impact of integration on the efficiency of the armed services. He claimed that the U.S. Army was not the place, nor was the war the time to tackle a fundamental social problem such as integration. On a more practical level, he recognized the inherent problems of training African Americans in the Southern U.S. Army recruitment centers, where they would be subject to Southern laws and customs with their own distinctive approach to race. Marshall also seems to have believed that African Americans were not as intelligent or as skilled as whites and that his massive task of preparing the U.S. Army for war would be hindered if he was forced to put African Americans in roles to which they were not suited. As far as senior U.S. Army officials were concerned, to allow the passage of integration at this crucial time, when the nation was on the verge of entering the hostilities, would put the country at risk

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of a social revolution and with it the destruction of a system that had already been proven. Marshall was present at a conference on December 8, 1941, the very day that the United States entered the war. Addressing the assembled African American editors and publishers, he told them that there would be changes and that he was not altogether satisfied with the progress made so far. On the other hand, Col. Eugene R. Householder, the adjutant general, also addressed the conference, and his words expressed the real consensus among army leaders: The Army is made up of individual citizens of the United States who have pronounced views with respect to the Negro just as they have individual ideas with respect to other matters in their daily walk of life. Military orders, fiat, or dicta, will not change their viewpoints. The Army then cannot be made the means of engendering conflict among the mass of people because of a stand with respect to Negroes which is not compatible with the position attained by the Negro in civil life. . . . The Army is not a sociological laboratory; to be effective it must be organized and trained according to the principles that will insure success. Experiments to meet the wishes and demands of the champions of every race and creed for the solution of their problems are a danger to efficiency, discipline and morale and would result in ultimate defeat (quoted in MacGregor 1985, chap. 2).

Allies lost the war, the question of African American equality was a lost cause. He urged the African American community to rally around the flag and trust that changes would be forthcoming when victory was achieved. The same argument had been used in World War I, and real integration had not come. If integration did come soon after World War II, it was partly because the changes the army accepted under political pressure had enough impact to make it clear that segregation was a completely inefficient way of using manpower, partly because African Americans had more of a chance to prove themselves in combat, and partly because society was changing. The Problems of Deployment

In effect, although the civil rights activists did not know it, this was the army’s last word. Despite the feeling shared by many that segregation was on a par with Nazi racial policies, the U.S. Army had spoken and was immobile. John J. McCloy, the assistant secretary for war, was ready to accept this position; the issue of African Americans serving in segregated or integrated units was not, he believed, the paramount concern. In any case, he felt, the vast majority of U.S. citizens would not countenance integration. His primary worry was that African Americans were more concerned with the integration issue than winning the war, and if the

Just one year after the nation entered the war, 399,454 African Americans were under arms in the U.S. Army, a full 7.4 percent of the enlisted men. The problem was what to do with them. Under pressure from Roosevelt, the army had agreed to open all arms of the service to African Americans but had insisted on keeping them in segregated units. In theory, all arms of the service were to have African Americans in numbers proportionate to the national population, which was about 10 percent. Opening all components of the U.S. Army to African Americans proved to be a more difficult process than had been anticipated. In addition to opposition from within the service itself, it was simply not practical to create or realign units with specific functions in order to reach the 10 percent figure. Although the army increased the number of African Americans in the service, African Americans were unevenly distributed; the Air, Signal, and Medical Corps each had just 2 percent, the infantry had reached 5 percent—all under the 10 percent that had been promised. The bulk of African Americans found themselves attached elsewhere, or rather unattached: unassigned and miscellaneous detachments had 27 percent African American membership. A full quarter of the Engineer Corps was African American and 15 percent of the

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Quartermaster Corps. What this meant was that most African Americans were either in support units or simply unwanted, being kept unused and becoming more and more discontented. The disproportionate nature of the assignments can be traced partly to a deeper form of discrimination and inequality; they were not simply the result of overt racism within the U.S. Army, even though the insistence by the army on segregation exacerbated the problem. Segregated and inferior education was the basic problem. In March 1941, the U.S. Army had introduced the Army General Classification Test (AGCT). The system placed all of the enlisted men in one of five categories. Officers and specialists were taken from the top three groupings, and what were in reality unskilled laborers from the bottom two. These test results pointed to an underlying problem. Beneath the veneer of equality of opportunity in the United States lay the fact that the majority of African Americans had come from neighborhoods where, educationally, economically, and culturally, they were disadvantaged. Numerically speaking, more whites than African Americans scored in the lower categories, but since they were a much lower percentage of the whole and could be assigned anywhere, the U.S. Army could absorb almost any number of poorly rated white soldiers, whereas the large percentage of low-rated African Americans had to be assigned to the limited number of African American units. A secondary problem was the assignment of the well-educated African Americans; they too would have to be assigned to units that would have a preponderance of poorly rated men. The inevitable outcome would be that their talents would be wasted. From the outset, the segregation policy caused other enormous unforeseen problems; not only was segregated housing for the men at a premium, but also there was a distinct lack of experienced officers and noncommissioned officers to train them. As a result, many of the men remained unassigned or awaiting training. The Bureau of Selective Service increased the pressure by pointing to many African Americans

who should have been called up but who had been passed over, suggesting that the quota system be scrapped altogether and urging the army to accept more African Americans. The army’s response was to create new African American units to absorb more men, even though many of the units had no clear role or purpose and the army could not train them at the time. The U.S. Army Air Forces Of all of the components of the U.S. Army, the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) was the most resistant to accepting African Americans. In the 1940 mobilization plans, the USAAC (U.S. Army Air Corps, as it was known from 1926 to 1941) had avoided having an allotment of African Americans. It would take time to train African American ground crews, and in the meantime African American pilots could not be used, because these pilots would outrank the white men in the ground crews. The chief of the USAAF, Maj. Gen. Henry H. Arnold, had explained in a memo in May of 1940 that African American pilots were out of the question, “since this would result in having Negro officers serving over white enlisted men. This would create an impossible social problem” (quoted in MacGregor 1985, 26). When it came to the mobilization plans of 1941, the War Department insisted that the Army Air Force accept African Americans. Recruitment was to be accelerated, and the chief of staff set targets, the result of which was some 77,500 African Americans in the USAAF by 1943. Initially, the USAAF decided to establish some nine squadrons, which were to be primarily concerned with the maintenance of their airfields. On January 16, 1941, however, Undersecretary of War Robert P. Patterson announced the creation of an African American fighter squadron. The men who trained for that squadron faced segregated training facilities at Tuskegee, Alabama, which did not equal the white facilities that had been established at Maxwell Airfield. The training facility at Tuskegee created far more African American pilots than could easily

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Newly commissioned officers from Officer Candidate School, Fort Benning, Georgia, May 29, 1942. During World War II African Americans continued to be woefully underrepresented in the officer corps. (National Archives)

be absorbed into a single fighter squadron. The net result was the creation of the 332d Fighter Group, encompassing a further three African American squadrons, all of which were in a combat theater by 1944. By late 1943, the USAAF had decided to create the 477th Bombardment Group; now the deficiencies of the segregated training facilities came home to the service. Tuskegee had been supremely efficient in turning out quality fighter pilots, but it lacked the facilities to deal with the additional demands of training bombing crews. Equally, the disproportionate numbers of African Americans who found themselves graded low in the AGCT meant that the available African American manpower to fill the 477th was limited. As a result of these two factors, the 477th did not become operational until after hostilities had ended. The

pilots, navigators, and bombardiers who served in this unit had had to be temporarily assigned to previously white-only training facilities even to achieve this level of training; that they were so assigned was a singular example of the USAAF’s ability to place expedience over tradition. Nonflight African American officers were initially destined for segregated training facilities, despite the fact that Robert A. Lovett (assistant secretary of war for air) promised Hastie that the training would be integrated. When the Technical Training Command announced the creation of a segregated training program in 1942, even though the decision was quickly rescinded, it brought about Hastie’s resignation. In January 1943, the Army Air Force made another promise, this time to Lovett, that African American officer candidates would be posted

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throughout the schools regardless of their color. In practice, the majority found themselves at either Tuskegee or Godman Fields, although some were assigned to an integrated facility at Miami Beach. While the Army Air Force was struggling to cope with African American pilots and officers, it used the tried and tested creation of temporary units and unassigned status to absorb the masses of enlisted men. From 1943, literally hundreds of training squadrons, quartermaster and engineer companies, as well as base security units, were created. By the end of the war, there was practically no Army Air Force base in the world without its contingent of African Americans doing service work.

ipation of African Americans and counter the accusations of discrimination from abroad. His suggestion drew the support of the NAACP, but the implacable opposition of the U.S. Army, for many of the reasons already mentioned. Despite this outright opposition, by the end of 1942 the U.S. Army was considering assigning some African Americans to white units. The proposal came from Col. Edwin W. Chamberlain (Organization-Mobilization Group of G-3); it did not, however, reflect any belief in real integration, nor would it have promoted equal treatment. He argued: 1. Units of African American troops were less useful to the U.S. Army than units of white soldiers, given that the majority of African American soldiers scored poorly on the AGCT. 2. It was therefore a waste of resources and manpower to concentrate these men into wholly African American units; moreover, these segregated units only perpetuated the divisions between African Americans and white troops. 3. The creation of African American units should therefore be halted, and African Americans in categories IV and V of the AGCT should be assigned to white units (on a ratio of one African American to nine whites). 4. These men would provide the 10–20 percent of the unit that only required the most basic of training, and they would serve as drivers, cooks, orderlies, and the like. 5. African Americans with higher AGCT scores could then be concentrated in the existing African American units, where their superior intellect would increase the overall efficiency of the unit.

Problems in Deployment in the Infantry and Cavalry The challenge of what to do with all the African American units that were being formed in the infantry and cavalry was complicated by the decision that had been made following World War I not to create segregated African American divisions. The U.S. Army capped the largest African American infantry unit at regimental level; elsewhere, African American armored and artillery units consisted of either squadrons or battalions. In October 1940, the two regular African American cavalry regiments, the 9th and the 10th, were combined with white regiments to form the 2d Cavalry Division. This continued to be the formula used; African American units were incorporated as parts of predominantly white formations. Prior to World War II, African American leaders had agreed with the policy of not creating wholly African American divisions. They did not share the mistaken belief of the military establishment that the World War I divisions had not fought well, but they believed that separate divisions would perpetuate segregation in the U.S. Army. In the early weeks of the war, individuals such as Walter White, executive secretary of the NAACP, called on the U.S. Army to create an integrated division of volunteers, an action that would at one stroke raise the morale and partic-

Although Chamberlain strongly denied any racial discrimination in his overall proposal, the underlying attitude behind his approach can be best summed up by his own statement in a memo that his ideas involved no more racial in-

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Troops of the 10th Cavalry, a Buffalo Soldier regiment, present arms while in bivouac at Fort Riley, Kansas, May 1941. Despite the regiment’s long combat history, it was combined with the 9th Cavalry to form the all–African American 2d Cavalry Division, which was then converted to a service rather than combat role in 1944. (U.S. Army)

tegration than “the employment of Negroes as servants in a white household” (quoted in MacGregor 1985, 29). In the event, Chamberlain’s proposals were not adopted, and another solution was sought to absorb the increasing numbers of African Americans in the U.S. Army. In any case, Chamberlain’s ideas had already drawn considerable opposition from both the civil rights movement and the armed forces. Reluctantly, the U.S. Army turned its policy, active since the end of the previous war, on its head and authorized the creation of all–African American divisions, hoping that they would absorb the enormous numbers of unassigned men. In the spring of 1942, the 93d Division was reactivated, followed by the 92d later in the year. In February 1943, the 2d Cavalry Division became an all–African American organization. The process was under way, and each of the three divisions could absorb 15,000 African Americans. By 1943, however, the quota system was being challenged in a new way. Paul V. McNutt, chairman of the War Manpower Commission, wanted to abolish the quota system; he doubted

whether it was legal, and he was responding to increasing criticisms that African Americans were not being called up in sufficient numbers. The critics pointed out that white men regardless of their marital status found themselves drafted, while large numbers of young African Americans were overlooked by the draft. Stimson defended the legality of the system, in part by explaining that African Americans could only be inducted into the services at the rate that the services could handle. He also explained that since few African Americans were assigned to combat duties, their casualty rates would be lower, and thus more white men would have to be called up as replacements. McNutt planned to abandon the quota system once the backlog of African American inductees had been cleared and set the date for the end of the quota system as January 1944. In fact, the quota system remained in place throughout the war because of a fundamental change in the manpower equation. Before March 1943, the problem was that more African Americans were available than the army could accommodate, necessitating a quota to keep the percentage of Af-

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rican Americans to the level the army considered manageable. In March, however, the situation changed. The manpower requirement necessitated by the magnitude of the war began to affect African Americans as well as whites, and the U.S. Army began to require more African Americans than were immediately available. This meant the quota system could no longer be perceived as keeping African Americans out of the army. By September 1944 African Americans accounted for some 9.6 percent (701,678) of the U.S. Army. African American women had peaked at 6 percent of the volunteer Women’s Auxiliary Corps (later the Women’s Army Corps), despite the fact that a target of 10 percent had been set (MacGregor 1985, chap. 2). The U.S. Army had to face the manpower shortages squarely and adopt a radical new plan. The attempt to maintain a balance for African Americans between combat troops and service troops was abandoned. Immobile stateside African American combat units, unwanted by combat commands abroad, were converted into service troops in order to free white troops for combat. The most notorious example of this policy was the treatment of the 2d Cavalry Division, which included the 9th and 10th Cavalry, African American regiments with a ninety-year record of service. The units of the division were inactivated and converted to service troops after arriving in North Africa in March 1944. Responding to growing criticism of the policy, Stimson deepened a growing controversy by claiming that African American combat units had not been able to master modern combat techniques, hence their conversion from combat to service operations. In spite of some commitment of African Americans to combat, designed to alleviate political pressure (see below), the army continued to assign most African Americans to service units for the rest of the war. The Demoralizing Effects of Segregation From the beginning of the war African American soldiers suffered a gradual deterioration in morale as a result of the U.S. Army’s overall pol-

icy of keeping them in segregated units and marginalizing them as combat-ready troops. The net result was a vicious circle of poor morale, poor performance, and poor discipline. Moreover, the bulk of African American soldiers were based in camps in the South, and whenever they left the camps they were subject to the often draconian laws that controlled the lives of the local African American populations. Segregation in the camps themselves had never been the avowed policy of the U.S. Army, but the practice of segregating all facilities soon became common there too. African Americans found themselves assigned to poor-quality barracks and substandard facilities, particularly in terms of recreation. Hastie summed up the problem in a memo to the secretary of war: “The traditional mores of the South have been widely accepted and adopted by the Army as the basis of policy and practice affecting the Negro soldier. In tactical organization, in physical location, in human contacts, the Negro soldier is separated from the white soldier as completely as possible” (September 22, 1941, quoted in MacGregor 1985, 35). In November 1941, the Red Cross blood banks became segregated. The U.S. Army’s surgeon general defended the policy, despite the fact that the Red Cross admitted that there were no reasonable scientific grounds for such segregation. As it turned out, the Red Cross retained its segregated blood banks throughout the war, regardless of the constant pressure from African American groups and civil rights activists, including the NAACP. The net result was yet another cause of demoralization for African Americans, both in the military and in the public at large, and this at a time when the Red Cross was calling for ever more donors to cover the inevitable demands of combat casualties. The nature of the officers who commanded African American units was another contributing factor in the demoralization of African American troops. By 1942, only 0.35 percent of African Americans in the U.S. Army were officers, despite the fact that there were severe shortages of officers in all of the African American units (MacGregor 1985). Steps were put in

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place to increase the number of African American officers, but given the prejudices of white commanders, that did not solve the problem. It was clear that many of the senior white officers of the units did not consider that African Americans were capable of filling the role of officer. The lack of segregated facilities for African American officers ruled out postings to many U.S. Army bases, coupled with the fact that many local communities openly campaigned to keep African American officers away from their area. Even when there were facilities for the African American officers, another major concern undermined their positions. The U.S. Army had a long tradition of not allowing African American officers to outrank or command white officers serving in the same unit, the net result being that the enlisted men did not consider African American officers to be full-fledged superiors, which adversely affected the credibility and effectiveness of black officers. The white officers assigned to African American units tended to be Southerners, following a tradition that could be traced back through many of the conflicts since the end of the American Civil War, a tradition that was based on the belief that Southerners knew how to handle African Americans. These Southerners in many cases came from rural backgrounds and tended to collide culturally with the predominantly urban African Americans. To add to the problem, many of the white officers were of low caliber, assigned to African American units because they were unwanted elsewhere. In August of 1942, Stimson acceded to the demands that a permanent body be set up to monitor racial issues, suggest reforms, and address the thorny problem of training and use of African American troops. Assistant Secretary McCloy had been placed in charge of the Advisory Committee on Negro Troop Policies. In the beginning, however, the committee did little but collect and pass on information. An attempt was made to have more African Americans sent overseas, which seemed the most hopeful way of defusing the situation. In May 1942, the War Department issued a direc-

tive to the U.S. Army (Air, Ground, and Services Forces). African American troops were now to be sent overseas in proportion to the percentages of men in the three sections of the U.S. Army. Each of the theater commanders would be informed that African Americans were to be dispatched to their commands, and they were not to be given the opportunity to refuse them. At this point in the war, the majority of the men were to be sent to Great Britain, and the initial batches were to be service troops. Although Great Britain did not object to the dispatch of African American troops, other foreign nations lodged complaints. In the case of some of the West Indian islands, they feared that well-paid African Americans would undermine the local economies by stimulating calls for higher rates of pay within the islands. Panamanian authorities objected to the deployment of a single African American unit. Both Chile and Venezuela refused to have African Americans on their soil. Even Alaska complained of African American deployment, but since Alaska was a U.S. territory, all objections were overruled. A compromise of sorts was reached in the case of Iceland, Greenland, and Labrador, since Stimson stated that northern climates were probably not suitable for African Americans anyway. As a result of these objections, a policy of sorts was established of assigning no African Americans either to bases in the far north or to countries that lodged objections. Although theater commanders had no choice but to accept African Americans whether they wanted them or not, it was still up to the commanders to decide who would be sent into combat. In many cases, the commanders resorted to not asking for troops as reinforcements in order to avoid having African Americans sent to their commands. While the overseas commanders avoided racial tensions and problems by effectively keeping African American units at home, the pressure cooker threatened to explode on the U.S. bases dotted around the country. There were widespread disciplinary problems arising out of dull routines and severe local laws, problems that often led to violence, either instigated

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by the African American troops or in response to violence meted out to them by a hostile local population and law enforcement system. There was a continuous merry-go-round of disciplinary charges, investigations, exonerations, and attempts at reform, but little was done that actually cut to the heart of the matter. The men felt underused and sidelined, despite all the talk of their being used in proportion throughout all of the commands of the U.S. Army. It also seems that wherever a little piece of the United States was exported to a foreign land, along with it went Jim Crow, an ever-present specter of military discrimination. Despite local laws and mores accepting the presence of African Americans, the U.S. Army did its best to impose segregation, and nowhere more than in Great Britain. Here, the African Americans were warmly welcomed as allies, in what had been some of the bleakest and loneliest times for a country set against the Axis forces since 1939. In the United States, the attitude toward African Americans was most often one of intolerance, which led to situations that threatened to become riots. Disciplinary problems that spilled out of the camps were less than skillfully handled by military police. The most serious incidents in the United States during the summer of 1943 occurred in camps in California, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Texas. Elsewhere, in U.S. Army camps across the world, smoldering resentment threatened to erupt into violence, much to the alarm of the Advisory Committee on Negro Troop Policies, the War Department, and local military commanders. At the same time, support for continuing the policy of segregation came from an unlikely source. The Office of War Information commissioned a survey in 1943, the results of which were published in July, asking respondents in five cities in the United States for their views on segregation. The Negroes’ Role in the War: A Study of White and Colored Opinions showed that some 25 percent of the African American public supported segregation in the U.S. Army (quoted in MacGregor 1985). The Special Service Division Research Branch commissioned

two U.S. Army surveys, What the Soldier Thinks (December 1942) and Attitudes of the Negro Soldier (July 1943). A staggering 38 percent of African American soldiers actually approved of segregated units, a low percentage compared to the 88 percent of white troops who approved, but still surprisingly high, and over half of the African Americans surveyed preferred separate facilities on the bases (MacGregor 1985). How these findings squared with the resentment toward segregation can be explained by an observation made by the Special Services Division: “Many of the Negroes and some of the whites who favor separation in the Army indicate by their comments that they are opposed to segregation in principle. They favor separation in the Army to avoid trouble or unpleasantness” (quoted in MacGregor 1985, 44). Efforts at Reform and Some Successes In December 1943, some twenty-five civil rights groups met to frame their demands on the presidential candidates in the coming year’s election. Hastie had already resigned, discouraged with the lack of progress so far, and joined in the attacks on the U.S. Army and its segregation policies; he was replaced by Truman K. Gibson Jr. Gibson too was a lawyer, a graduate of the University of Chicago, and had become Hastie’s assistant in 1940. Following Hastie’s resignation on January 29, 1943, Gibson became the acting civilian aide, officially replacing Hastie on September 21, 1943. Gibson urged the president and the U.S. Army to act before political pressure forced changes and warned them that what they did or did not do would affect the result of the election. The civil rights groups had made the following demands:

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1. Full integration (at the very least in volunteer units) 2. Abolition of racial quotas 3. Institution of a race relations education program in the U.S. Army 4. More assignment of African Americans to combat duties

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5. Removal of African American troops from areas in which discrimination or violence had occurred 6. Abolition of the blood plasma segregation system in the Red Cross 7. Abolition of segregated facilities in the U.S. Army With vociferous support from the African American media as well as anti-administration newspapers such as the Chicago Tribune, it seemed possible that a negative response from the administration and the U.S. Army would mean that marginal states could be lost to the president, giving Gibson some powerful leverage. Gibson was no less opposed to racial segregation than Hastie had been, but he advocated practical changes that could be made one step at a time rather than global policy change. He was able to make himself heard in the War Department, and he worked closely with the Advisory Committee on Negro Troop Policies, led by McCloy. The Advisory Committee on Negro Troop Policies was convinced that the root cause of the racial problems the army was encountering was the failure of local commanders to take the issue seriously and in general to take full responsibility for discipline and morale. Marshall incorporated some of the committee’s recommendations in a letter to field commanders, making clear that any commander who did not deal adequately with racial issues would be removed from his post. He did not, however, follow the committee’s advice to have individual commanders report back to him on the steps they had taken. Most importantly, he ignored the committee’s recommendation that African American troops should be sent into combat zones, even though the committee considered that the best way to improve the morale of African American troops. The committee then addressed the problem of the African American press, which had not followed the example of such important leaders as Hastie in criticizing the army judiciously, but had actually heightened racial tension by its inflammatory coverage of any story that put the army’s handling of race relations in a bad light.

There had already been calls from some sections of the U.S. Army to censor the African American press in the belief that the constant criticisms were detrimental to army morale. Marshall was urged by the Army Service Forces to warn the African American press in July 1943 that they should show a little more caution in their reporting and in their editorials, since running material that could be construed as being incitement could well bring charges of sedition against the newspaper. Marshall shied away from a direct confrontation and appointed African Americans to the Bureau of Public Relations to help ensure that positive stories related to African Americans in the U.S. Army received the due attention of African American journalists. Although the move was in some ways effective, in that more accurate and positive stories were reported in the African American press, the editorial coverage was still highly critical of the basic policy of segregation and the refusal of the War Department to send African American combat units overseas. In March 1944, the committee was again pressing Stimson to commit African Americans to combat and to ensure that any necessary retraining was undertaken at the earliest opportunity. Above all, the committee believed that African American troops needed to feel that they were an asset and not an impediment to the U.S. Army. In a memo, McCloy directly addressed the army’s usual argument:

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There has been a tendency to allow the situation to develop where selections are made on the basis of efficiency with the result that the colored units are discarded for combat service, but little is done by way of studying new means to put them in shape for combat service. With so large a portion of our population colored, with the example of the effective use of colored troops (of a much lower order of intelligence) by other nations, and with the many imponderables that are connected with the situation, we must, I think, be more affirmative about the use of our Negro troops. If present methods do not bring them to combat efficiency, we should change those methods.

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That is what this resolution purports to recommend (quoted in MacGregor 1985, chap. 2).

On March 4, 1944, with the blessing of Stimson, the committee met with the U.S. Army staffers to work out possible combat assignments for the African American 92d and 93d Divisions. Regimental combat teams were to be selected, with the 92d providing a team of volunteers and the 93d an existing unit. In this way, the fighting qualities of both ordinary African American troops and volunteers could be assessed. It was hoped that the experiences gained in the close monitoring of their performance would provide a blueprint for the deployment of greater numbers of African Americans in the not too distant future. Even while steps were being taken to prepare the 92d and 93d Infantry Divisions for overseas deployment, African American units already overseas, but assigned to service or labor duties, were being returned to a combat-capable status. In January 1944, the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, which was performing service command duties for the New Georgia Group Service Command, moved from Guadalcanal to Bougainville, where it undertook the work of unloading ships. The 1st Battalion was the last African American battalion that had all white officers. In response to the War Department’s message urging the prompt use of African American ground combat units, it was transferred from service duties to the role of regimental reserve for the 148th Infantry Regiment. On March 11, 1944, while reinforcing two battalions of the 148th, two men of the 1st Battalion were killed. The following night, the 1st Battalion conducted its first combat patrol and encountered a Japanese patrol of eight men. In the firefight that followed, the 1st Battalion’s patrol lost one man and killed one Japanese soldier—the first enemy casualty inflicted by African American ground troops. Later in March, African American artillery units began missions in support of operations near Bougainville. The 93d Infantry Division, comprising the 368th Regimental Combat Team (RCT), the

369th RCT, and the 25th RCT, whose personnel had been chosen in preparation for an early combat role, had arrived in the Solomon Islands by the end of February 1944. The division moved to Guadalcanal, but the 368th and 369th quickly moved on to occupation and security assignments throughout the New Georgia Group of islands. The men of the 25th RCT, however, underwent refresher training before departing on March 22, 1944, for the southern region of Bougainville, where the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry was already deployed. On March 30, the 25th RCT went under the operational control of the U.S. Army’s Americal Division and began operations with the Americal within twenty-four hours. Each of the regiment’s battalions was attached to one of the Americal Division’s regiments, and the 25th’s supporting artillery and the separate 594th Artillery were attached to the Americal Division Artillery. The 93d Divison’s supporting units were also attached to the Americal Division as appropriate. The 370th RCT was selected to be the advance unit for the division and was formed at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, on April 4, 1944. It sailed from Virginia for the Italian front on July 15 and arrived at Naples, Italy, on July 30, 1944. It immediately began a series of exercises and evaluations, assigned to IV Corps (and shortly afterward, also the 1st Armored Division) and working closely with white staff of the corps headquarters and the 1st Armored Division. One of its artillery units, the 598th Field Artillery, undertook its first fire mission on August 29. The following day, troops of the 370th began offensive operations and captured its first prisoners of war. The rest of the 92d Infantry Division arrived during October and November. The 371st RCT arrived by October 18, the 368th RCT by November 8, and the last divisional support units by November 22. The infantry and artillery units of the 92d Division became available for combat operations soon after their arrival; the 371st RCT began combat operations on October 31, 1944. Gradually the process of converting inactive

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African American units into combat-ready troops got under way, helping to alleviate the tensions in the United States. Realizing that many of the officers in these units were not effective leaders, Lt. Gen. Lesley J. McNair (head of Army Ground Forces) declared that officers graded “excellent” would be replaced, if it was practicable, before their unit shipped abroad. It was, of course, often not practicable. This process was a slow one; for the most part African American troops were still jammed into inadequate camps around the United States and subjected to the same levels of discrimination from the U.S. Army and the local communities as ever, despite Marshall’s letter urging commanders to deal with issues of discrimination. A month before part of the 93d was committed to Bougainville, the War Department finally responded to the urging of the Advisory Committee on Negro Troop Policies and issued clear guidelines to the local commanders on the official U.S. Army racial policies, along with instructions on how to develop African American leadership within the units still in camp. In terms of what had gone before, Command of Negro Troops (War Department Pamphlet 20–6, February 29, 1944) was a major breakthrough and served as the blueprint for later policies adopted by the other armed services. Above all, the pamphlet was objective and looked at African American rights within the context of the U.S. Army. The pamphlet clearly reflected the committee’s aim of improving the conditions of African American troops by demanding that commanders take greater responsibility, asserting unequivocally that all races could fight equally well provided they were properly led. Another publication in October of 1944 conveyed the same basic message; Army Service Forces Manual M-5 (Leadership and the Negro Soldier) stated: War Department concern with the Negro is focused directly and solely on the problem of the most effective use of colored troops. . . . The Army has no authority or intention to participate in social reform as such but does view the

problem as a matter of efficient troop utilization. With an imposed ceiling on the maximum strength of the Army it is the responsibility of all officers to assure the most efficient use of the manpower assigned (quoted in MacGregor 1985, 35).

As long as the army persisted in using only segregated units, of course, full efficiency could not possibly be achieved. But segregation of camp facilities was another matter. On March 10, 1943, the War Department had issued a directive ordering those in charge of armed service facilities to remove signs labeling facilities as being for either black or white troops. It had been a forlorn hope to expect that the signs would be torn down overnight, and in any case certain units and camps were exempt from the edict. A reinterpretation was issued on July 8, 1944, instructing commanders that they could allocate particular facilities to a named unit, but that facilities such as post exchanges and theaters should be available to all troops regardless of color. Most significant in the changes was that government-owned transport was now to be fully opened to all U.S. Army troops and that no local color bars would be imposed on African American soldiers using government vehicles. Unfortunately, as had been the case with the previous directive, there was a distinct lack of will to impose the changes. For the most part the directive was ignored or fudged to convert color bars into unit bars, effectively the same thing under the current conditions of African American segregated units. The impact was not felt in many of the camps, and continued restrictions led to incidents such as the one that occurred at the officers’ club at the Indiana base, Freeman’s Field, when African American officers were arrested when they tried to assert their right to enter a still segregated facility. That incident prompted the committee to reiterate the directive in clearer terms to the commanders of bases, who were told that segregation was not acceptable in the cases of clubs and messes; in effect this meant that the only acceptable form of segregation officially sanc-

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tioned by the U.S. Army was segregation by unit. There would still be segregated African American units, but in operational respects the U.S. Army was to be integrated. Acting Secretary Patterson explained the thinking in a letter to Governor Chauncey Sparks of Alabama: The War Department has maintained throughout the emergency and present war that it is not an appropriate medium for effecting social readjustments but has insisted that all soldiers, regardless of race, be afforded equal opportunity to enjoy the recreational facilities which are provided at posts, camps and stations. The thought has been that men who are fulfilling the same obligation, suffering the same dislocation of their private lives, and wearing the identical uniform should, within the confines of the military establishment, have the same privileges for rest and relaxations (September 1, 1944; quoted in MacGregor 1985, chap. 2).

By this stage, the committee had succeeded in dragging the U.S. Army further than would have been thought possible and could take pride in the fact that many of the discrimination issues had been resolved. There were, however, major race tensions and still some examples of racial incidents occurring here and there. One problem, of course, was that African American soldiers now experienced an intolerable duality of legal systems. On bases and in governmentowned vehicles the U.S. Army racial policy would apply, but the moment the troops stepped out of the camps or boarded a local bus, the local Jim Crow laws would be in effect. The other problem was that segregated units were still the norm. Two Experiments in Integration In at least two areas, however, enough integration was achieved to make it easier to move toward full integration after the war. One of these areas was officer training, the other, the approach to integration in Europe in 1945, caused by the desperate need for men.

As far as officer training was concerned, the army’s policy at the beginning of the war reflected the experience of World War I. In 1917, an African American officer candidate training facility had been established in Des Moines, Iowa. The army had operated an African American officer training course at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, from June to October 1917. Although 1,250 men attended the course, there was only one graduating class of 639 officers on October 15, 1917. The Des Moines African American training course was then closed and the training of African American officers was delegated to the existing officer training centers, where the reception of African Americans varied widely. Some of the centers practiced strict segregation while others integrated their courses (usually for practical reasons). The number of additional African Americans commissioned as officers through the other centers was small, only about 700. Whether the army deliberately admitted unqualified candidates to the Des Moines course to ensure failure of the program and to bolster support for the belief than African Americans were incapable of being trained or functioning as officers has long been debated. Clearly, different admission standards did apply. White officer candidates had to be college graduates, while African American officer candidates only had to be high school graduates. In addition, the army’s personnel system proved unwilling or unable to route African American college graduates to Des Moines, sending many of them to labor units. There had also been charges that the training at Des Moines was irrelevant to the realities of combat in World War I, but that statement was true of all of the officer candidate centers. Most significantly, the Des Moines school did not address the gap of life experiences separating most African American men from white men in 1917, and did begin to prepare them to lead men and react to life-or-death situations without delay. The goal for African American leadership in the military had been different in 1917. At that time, the goal had been to ensure that as many

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African American men as possible were trained to serve as officers in African American military units. African American leaders had called for a segregated officer training course because they thought it more likely to be established rather than a program of integration and because they feared that African American officer candidates would be harshly and unfairly treated if they were attending a white officer training center. By World War II, African American leaders saw integration of officer training programs as both the goal of sound officer training for African Americans and as an important civil rights goal. The U.S. Army collectively maintained the firm opinion that African Americans were simply not suited for the officer corps. If the U.S. Army was to be required to train African American officers, then they should be schooled alongside white candidates and held to the same standards, so that only the very best graduated. According to the mobilization plans of 1937, African American officers were assumed, but only as many as necessary to provide officers for the African American units designated to have African American officers. They were, however, to be trained in integrated facilities. When a large number of officer training schools were established in 1941, General Davis assumed that integration was agreed and that schools would provide, not African American or white officers, but American officers, officers whose status rested firmly on their abilities. If the War Department and Davis had expected race not to be an issue in the training of officers, they were mistaken. What seems to have happened was that commanders, having a bias against African American officers, made it hard for African Americans to apply and succeed. Certainly, few African Americans were selected for officer training. Of the nearly 2,000 candidates between July 1941 and October 1941, only 17 were African American. By the end of the year, the figure had risen by just 6 students. A quota system seemed to some civil rights leaders to be the answer, and in fact Hastie had suggested one before the schools were established. The U.S. Army claimed that the imposi-

tion of quotas would be a political gesture, would result in unqualified men being commissioned as officers, and could be seen as discriminating against worthy white candidates. In fact, explicit quotas turned out not to be necessary; the wholesale rejection of African American candidates terminated when the authorities made it clear that considerable numbers of African Americans were expected to present themselves at the schools for training. Local commanders now began approving applications and ensuring that increasing numbers of potential African American candidates had access to the relevant paperwork. This meant real integration, and it naturally raised some objections. In Florida, for example, some members of the House of Representatives objected when the Air Corps School at Miami became integrated. In a letter to Representative John J. Sparkman of Alabama, the White Supremacy League’s president, Horace Wilkinson, complained that at Fort Benning white candidates had to eat and sleep with African Americans, calling such treatment “the most damnable outrage that was ever perpetrated on the youth of the South” (August 24, 1943; quoted in MacGregor 1985, chap. 2). The War Department gave a neutral answer to this and other complaints, stating that it was simply impractical to separate the two races all of the time, due to the small numbers of African Americans involved. It was both efficient and economical to end segregation in this case, an argument that set an important precedent. The second significant breakthrough came with the infantry replacement crisis that began to become acute in the European theater in the summer of 1944. Ground Force Replacement Command had been converting service units into infantry for a time, but African Americans had not been involved. The process needed to be accelerated when the Germans launched their Christmas offensive in the Ardennes, the Battle of the Bulge, which cost the United States more than 41,000 killed, wounded, or missing. Lt. Gen. John C. H. Lee’s Communication Zone contained thousands of African Amer-

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icans, and his proposals to Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower to use these men as infantry replacements was accepted. On December 26, 1944, Lee sent out a call for African American volunteers to join combat units (limited to privates in the top four AGCT categories). Any noncommissioned officers would have to accept a drop in rank to be considered. In Lee’s own words: “It is planned to assign you without regard to color or race to the units where assistance is most needed, and give you the opportunity of fighting shoulder to shoulder to bring about victory. Your relatives and friends everywhere have been urging that you be granted this privilege” (letter to Commanders of Colored Troops, quoted in MacGregor 1985, chap. 2). Although the need for infantry replacements was crucial to the continued prosecution of the war, Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) was afraid that if Lee’s call came to be known to civil rights activists, it would lead to increased demands for total integration. Eisenhower issued a revised version of the letter that was a general appeal for volunteers, not a call to African Americans specifically, and that dropped the promise of individual assignment on a nonracial basis. The response from African American service troops was overwhelming, placing severe strain on the continued operations of the service units in which they had served and the ability of the army to retrain them. Accordingly, only 2,500 were assigned to combat duties; a further 3,000 were turned down. By January 1945, the men assembled for six weeks of intensive training, at the end of which some fifty-three platoons were created (each with a white lieutenant and a sergeant). All but two of the platoons were assigned to infantry divisions (the other two being sent to armored divisions). Sixteen of the platoons were sent to the Sixth Army Group and the remainder to the First and Seventh Army Groups. In the First Army, the African American platoons were deployed on the basis of three per division, but in the Seventh Army, the platoons were grouped into provisional companies and assigned to armored divisions to serve in the in-

fantry battalions. The general performance of the men seemed better when they were used at platoon level; the company-sized units failed to live up to expectations, partially because they had not been trained to operate like this and lacked the command structure and experience. When the hostilities ended, the African American infantry replacements found themselves reassigned to African American units. The integration of platoons into companies had been only an experiment, and as an experiment it was evaluated. During May and June 1945, the Research Branch of the Information and Education Division (attached to Eisenhower’s headquarters) carried out a survey to see how the overall deployment of the African American units had worked. Some 250 men from seven divisions were interviewed; these white company officers and platoon sergeants were asked about the combat performance of the African Americans. A further 1,700 questionnaires were distributed to enlisted men to elicit their attitudes toward the African Americans. Not one African American was asked about his views, his recollections of the experience. The main results of the interviews and the questionnaires can be summarized as follows:

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1. According to more than 80 percent of the officers and noncommissioned officers, the African Americans had performed well in combat. 2. Some 69 percent of the officers and 83 percent of the noncommissioned officers believed that there was no reason why African Americans could not be as effective as infantry as white soldiers, given the same training and experience. 3. The enlisted men for the most part admitted that they had disliked the idea of serving with African Americans, but some 75 percent had discovered, once they actually went into combat together, that their misgivings had been unfounded. 4. Some 77 percent of the officers and noncommissioned officers felt more fa-

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vorably toward African Americans after working closely with them. The more intense the combat and pressure, the better the relationships that had developed. 5. The camaraderie between white troops and African Americans had been much better than had been expected. Early distrust had largely changed into mutual respect and even friendliness. 6. Many of the officers stated that the inclusion of African American platoons in white companies was useful because African Americans and whites competed with one another. 7. Generally, only those enlisted men who had not actually had contact with African Americans still felt suspicion and hostility (figures and facts drawn from MacGregor 1985, chap. 2). The Army Service Forces commanding general, Brehon B. Somervell, thought it inadvisable to release the findings of the investigations, seeing the test as inadequate and fearing that it would give the civil rights movement the ammunition to demand integration in the Pacific theater. He believed that this would adversely affect operations, but more significantly he felt that accelerating the integration progress would alienate many sections of the media who had so far supported the War Department and that they could, in turn, influence the American public to oppose universal military training after the war. Like Somervell, Gen. Omar N. Bradley believed that the experiment should not be used as a basis for significant conclusions. He believed that not only were the African American troops used as infantry atypical (in the sense that they were selected from the higher AGCT categories), but that they had only participated in the last stages of the war when German resistance had already been broken. He also believed that once the common enemy, the Germans, had been defeated, there was considerable risk of racial friction if close associations between African American and white troops were continued. Bradley suggested that continued experi-

ments with African Americans be carried out with more typical troops and that whole companies be assigned to white regiments to maintain a degree of segregation, as a way of avoiding racial friction once combat was over. At the least, what had been proved was that a significant number of African Americans had been willing to risk their lives even in the closing stages of the war when they could have enjoyed comparative safety and comfort in the areas to the rear. The volunteers had shown that they were willing to respond patriotically when called and that they were capable of performing well in combat. Above all, the incorporation of segregated African American platoons into white companies had not proved to be the grave danger so often feared by the U.S. Army; it had not led to racial and social turmoil, but to mutual respect. By the end of the war it was clear that the Double V campaign had not achieved all its goals as far as the U.S. Army was concerned. Progress had been made in opening specialized training to African Americans, in removing the barriers of segregation in army facilities, and in providing integrated training to African American officers; the integration of African American platoons in white companies had been successful. Nevertheless, segregated units were still official policy, with all their attendant disadvantages. By the end of World War II there was good reason to hope that the days of the U.S. Army being able to continue to protect their segregation policy were over and that in the postwar years, integration would prove to be an inevitable step forward. The U.S. Navy Before the war, the navy was essentially the preserve of whites, with African Americans present almost exclusively as servants. By the end of the war, not only had the numbers of African Americans in the general service become significant, experiments in integration had convinced the navy that integration was practical, and after the war, the navy was the first of the major branches to adopt integration as an official policy. Full in-

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tegration and real equality were still many years away, but a beginning had been made. The Prewar Navy: A Policy of Exclusion In June 1940 African Americans in the U.S. Navy made up just 2.3 percent of the establishment strength of 170,000, or 4,007 men (MacGregor 1985, chap. 3). Of that number, 4,001 were members of the stewards branch; the other 6 were regular navy men, specifically retained in that status when changes to navy enlistment regulations in 1922 required that all African Americans enlisting or re-enlisting in the navy join the stewards branch. Over the next few years the African American regular navy, except for these six, left the navy. Although officially this policy ended in 1932, in practice the navy did not welcome African Americans except as stewards. The stewards branch had its own uniform and insignia with the maximum rating of chief steward and no authority over men in the mainstream of the U.S. Navy. The men’s duties were to work in the officers’ mess and take care of menu plans, quarters, and supplies. Even though they were not part of the regular U.S. Navy structure, the men were assigned battle stations. Thus Dorie Miller, an African American and the first hero of World War II, after finding his battle station on the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, wrecked by a Japanese torpedo, went on deck, where he manned a machine gun and is credited with shooting down at least two Japanese aircraft. By the time Miller was surrounded by fire and incoming enemy aircraft, African Americans in the U.S. Navy had been increased slightly to 2.4 percent (5,026) all of whom were assigned to the stewards branch. In July 1940, Frank Knox had become the new secretary of the navy. Unfamiliar with the service, he had little choice but to rely on the advice of the senior navy leadership, who upheld the status quo. Knox seems himself to have believed that real change was not practical in a time of war. Those who worked with him, James

V. Forrestal, Ralph A. Bard, and Adlai E. Stevenson, were a different matter, especially Forrestal and Stevenson, who both played important roles in the changes of the war years. The real force for change, however, was President Franklin D. Roosevelt. When Knox had been less than two weeks behind the secretary’s desk, the Bureau of Navigation (which at the time had the principal role in personnel issues), asked him to sign a letter to New York’s lieutenant governor, Charles Poletti, effectively endorsing the current naval policy on race issues. The letter made the following points: 1. Exclusion of African Americans from any role other than mess man was the only practical solution, as segregation was not practicable on board ship. 2. From the U.S. Navy’s experience, African Americans were incapable of maintaining discipline, particularly if they had command over white sailors. 3. All–African American units or crews were not an acceptable solution, as the service needed men who could be assigned anywhere. 4. In the U.S. Navy’s opinion and based on experiments with crews made up of other races, all–African American crews would not be effective. Agreeing with these points, Knox suggested that the better home for the African American was in the U.S. Army. Knox drew considerable criticism for his statement, and in September 1940 he requested that the navy’s General Board prepare reasoned arguments why African Americans should not be enlisted in the service. The result was an extension of the points raised in the letter to Poletti, fully endorsed by the chief of Naval Operations and the Bureau of Navigation. A conference at the White House on June 18, 1941, simply confirmed this position, in the presence of the president and representatives from the African American community. Knox reiterated the position that African Americans could not be used for general service in the U.S.

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Navy “because men live in such intimacy aboard ship that we simply can’t enlist Negroes above the rank of messman” (quoted in MacGregor 1985, chap. 3). Where Knox and Roosevelt differed was on the question of whether African Americans should be admitted into general service in the U.S. Navy at all. They both agreed that integration was impractical, particularly in a time of war, but Roosevelt felt that there could be a compromise and that African Americans could be accepted, but segregated. His first suggestion was to put some “good Negro bands” aboard the battleships and see how things developed from there (quoted in MacGregor 1985, chap. 3). Knox did not respond to Roosevelt’s suggestion to deploy African Americans musicians as a means of promoting good will between the races, but it was clear that the issue was not going to go away. In response to increasing protests against the navy’s policy, within weeks Knox appointed a new committee to conduct an investigation, a committee consisting of personnel officers from both the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps. It took some six months to carry out its deliberations. The majority report brought forward many arguments and finally concluded that no change needed to be made, since “within the limitations of the characteristics of members of certain races, the enlisted personnel of the Naval Establishment is representative of all the citizens of the United States.” In the same set of recommendations, the minority report suggested that a limited number of African Americans could be deployed for general duties “on some type of patrol or other small vessel assigned to a particular yard or station” (Letter, Chief, Bureau Navy, to Chairman, General Board, January 22, 1942, quoted in MacGregor 1985, 63). The minority report went on to suggest that this limited experiment would silence African American criticisms of the U.S. Navy by using African Americans as something other than servants, and that useful information on how well they performed could be gleaned without wholesale recruitment.

The War Begins: Pressures for Change The majority report was of course accepted, but the NAACP petitioned the president, demanding that the issue be taken up in light of the massive recruitment campaign that had followed Pearl Harbor. President Roosevelt turned to the Fair Employment Practices Committee, whose chairman, Mark Abridge, entered into discussions with Assistant Secretary Bard. Abridge pointed out to Bard that the U.S. Navy had actually regressed in terms of racial policy and that it was inconceivable that African Americans should be excluded from general service, given that they had served in the last world war. Abridge, however, had no power to enforce the committee’s view, and Knox still clung to the notion that now was not the time to radically change the structure of the navy. One reason Knox gave for rejecting the idea of segregated general service was that the African American population could not provide him with even a single vessel’s complement of competent sailors. Roosevelt, however, was adamant, and on January 15, 1942, he instructed Knox to find a way of using African Americans in the U.S. Navy in roles other than stewards. The job of framing such a system was passed on to the General Board, with instructions to create a plan that would allow some 5,000 African Americans to be accepted into general service. The General Board met on January 23, 1942. Inspector General of the Navy Rear Adm. Charles P. Snyder, who had clearly been won over by the minority report, suggested that African Americans should be admitted into the Musician’s Branch and the Aviation Branch, as well as on auxiliary ships, transports, and other smaller vessels. Snyder went on to suggest that segregated training schools be established and that the notion of segregated general service be accepted, since some form of change was inevitable. Snyder’s suggestions were spurned by the Bureau of Navigation; their spokesman, Capt. Kenneth Whiting, replied: “The sponsors of the program desire full equality on the part of

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the Negro and will not rest content until they obtain it” (quoted in MacGregor 1985, 65). Even more vociferous was Maj. Gen. Thomas Holcomb (commandant of the Marine Corps): If we are defeated we must not close our eyes to the fact that once in they [African Americans] will be strengthened in their effort to force themselves into every activity we have. If they are not satisfied to be messmen, they will not be satisfied to go into the construction or labor battalions. Don’t forget the colleges are turning out a large number of well educated Negroes. I don’t know how long we will be able to keep them out of the V-7 class. I think not very long (quoted in MacGregor 1985, 65).

As far as Holcomb was concerned, the entry of African Americans into general service in the U.S. Navy would be “absolutely tragic”; he saw them as trying “to break into a club that doesn’t want them” (quoted in MacGregor 1985, 65). His views, profoundly felt, were echoed by the Bureau of Aeronautics, the Bureau of Yards and Docks, and, to some extent, the U.S. Coast Guard. As a consequence of this stiff opposition from all quarters, the General Board reported on February 3, 1942, that it was unable to submit a workable plan and that it recommended the proposals to recruit African Americans into the general service be abandoned. If the U.S. Navy policy of admitting African Americans only as mess men was discrimination, then the navy was merely reflecting the norms of discrimination in society in general. A Policy of Segregation Roosevelt did not feel that integration was practicable during the war years, but at the same time he refused to accept that exclusion was the only alternative. The General Board was sent instructions to keep looking for a solution; forced to come up with a compromise, the board asked all areas of the U.S. Navy to submit lists of assignments and stations (other than the stewards

branch) that could accept African Americans. Based on those recommendations, the board recommended the establishment of a battalion of African American marines and one of African American Seabees (members of construction battalions, or CB Special Battalions), all–African American crews in some of the Coast Guard cutters, and the assignment of a considerable number of African Americans to shore defense craft and other base-related duties. On April 7, 1942, Knox declared that African American volunteers would be accepted into the U.S. Navy at the rate of 277 per week and that they would be eligible for general service, including all areas of the Navy, Coast Guard, and the Marine Corps. The target figure for the first year was set at 14,000. As far as the African American community was concerned, the reaction was mixed. The NAACP was cautiously optimistic that this would be the first stage toward equality; the National Negro Congress was delighted with Knox’s announcement. On the other hand, the limitations were obvious: African Americans would be segregated, only able to reach the rank of petty officer, and unable to serve at sea on any of the navy’s major vessels in the fleet (with the exception of members of the stewards branch). Critics of the policy condemned it as just another instance of the system that had caused so much trouble in the U.S. Army and in society at large. On April 21, 1942, Knox approved plans for the construction of Camp Barry (later renamed Camp Robert Smalls), part of the vast Great Lakes Training Center. Although the new camp was on the land of the main center, it reflected the U.S. Navy’s overall policy toward African Americans; it was a part of the larger whole, but still segregated. An advanced training school at Hampton, Virginia, was also earmarked for the recruits. The enlistments got under way on June 1, 1942, with the promised targets of men (277 per week) starting at Great Lakes later in the month. Simultaneously, the doors were opened for additional mess men and Seabees. A somewhat controversial figure was placed in command of the Camp Smalls facility—the son

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of the founder of the Hampton Institute. Lt. Cmdr. Daniel Armstrong had submitted a proposal to Knox in April 1942 suggesting ways that African Americans could be used in the U.S. Navy and offering ideas as to how they should be trained. Knox was clearly impressed with Armstrong, but the lieutenant commander’s approach to training came under severe criticism for its somewhat paternalistic approach. Armstrong believed that African Americans needed to receive vocational training, which would suit their culture. Segregated education, away from the influences of the white-dominated society would produce well-trained men, in his view. From the point of view of the better-educated African Americans who passed through the facility, as well as of outside commentators, this was just another form of discrimination. To begin, before the draft swelled the number of African Americans assigned to the camp, the course lasted twelve weeks; this was later reduced to eight. About a third of the men graduated as Class A, which meant that they were eligible for specialist occupations (e.g., electricians, mechanics, signalmen). Those who achieved this grading either remained at Camp Smalls for advanced training or were transferred to Hampton. The rest were sent to naval stations or local defense or district vessels where they replaced white sailors (seamen, third class). Around eighty of each of the intakes were assigned as unskilled laborers at ammunition depots. Compared to the thousands of men that the U.S. Army had to handle as a result of the Selective Service, the small numbers of volunteers the U.S. Navy had to cope with were manageable; indeed, at times it appeared that there would be difficulty in even reaching the modest numbers of under 300 men per week. Part of the problem was that around half of the men who did apply were turned down for physical reasons. In addition, there was obviously severe competition from the U.S. Army, and it seemed that African Americans on the whole preferred the U.S. Army to the U.S. Navy. Chief of Naval Personnel Rear Adm. Randall Jacobs was concerned that as the months

passed the U.S. Navy was becoming even less attractive to young African Americans. Various reasons were suggested, including the notion that African Americans were afraid of the sea; the real cause was probably the U.S. Navy’s reputation since the beginning of the century as a white man’s preserve. African American reservists of World War I vintage were wheeled out to visit the recruitment centers around the country and assure the young men of the opportunities in the U.S. Navy. Gradually, by this process, the recruitment fortunes of the U.S. Navy began to change. The opportunities were, however, still limited; by February 1, 1943, of the 26,909 African American volunteers (2 percent of the total enlisted figure), some 19,227 had been placed in the stewards branch against just 6,662 in general service and 2,020 in the Seabees (MacGregor 1985, chap. 3). While the U.S. Navy worked on recruiting more African American volunteers, the U.S. Army had been complaining that they were forced to take a higher percentage of African Americans than the navy. Others criticized the reliance on volunteer recruitment on the grounds of efficiency. On December 5, 1942, Roosevelt mandated that volunteer recruitment should no longer be an option for any man between eighteen years and thirty-eight years old to be subject to the draft, effective February 1943. This policy not only meant the end of volunteer recruitment, it placed the Selective Service under the control of the War Manpower Commission. The Impact of the Draft Under the new recruitment conditions, the U.S. Navy would be able to designate the number of African Americans required each month on a quota basis, but the Bureau of Naval Personnel proposed to keep the figures roughly in line with the numbers they had been recruiting up to this point from volunteers. In other words, with the support of Knox, they proposed to continue to accept 1,200 or so a month for general service and 1,500 for the stewards branch; oth-

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erwise they argued, it would be necessary to have mixed crews in the fleet. Roosevelt conceded that this was not policy and that Knox should so inform the director of Selective Service, Maj. Gen. Lewis B. Hershey. Under the terms of the Selective Service Act, which prohibited racial discrimination, it was actually illegal to make separate demands for African Americans or whites. Paul V. McNutt, the chairman of the War Manpower Commission, told Knox that men should be called up on the basis of their order number and not their color. Moreover, the net percentage of African Americans in all services had only reached 6 percent, a little more than half of their component part of the population (MacGregor 1985, chap. 3), and the navy was clearly doing much less than the army to reach the 10 percent figure. On February 22, 1943, Roosevelt wrote the following memorandum to Knox: I guess you were dreaming or maybe I was dreaming if Randall Jacobs is right in regard to what I am supposed to have said about employment of negroes in the Navy. If I did say that such employment should be stopped, I must have been talking in my sleep. Most decidedly we must continue the employment of negroes in the Navy, and I do not think it the least bit necessary to put mixed crews on the ships. I can find a thousand ways of employing them without doing so. The point of the thing is this. There is going to be a great deal of feeling if the Government in winning this war does not employ approximately 10 percent of negroes—their actual percentage of the total population. The Army is nearly up to this percentage but the Navy is so far below it that it will be deeply criticized by anybody who wants to check into the details. Perhaps a check by you showing exactly where all white enlisted men are serving and where all colored enlisted men are serving will show you the great number of places where colored men could serve, where they are not serving now—shore duty of all kinds, together with the handling of many kinds of yard craft.

You know the headache we have had about this and the reluctance of the Navy to have any negroes. You and I have had to veto that Navy reluctance and I think we have to do it again (February 22, 1943; quoted in MacGregor 1985, 80).

Knox ordered the Bureau of Naval Personnel to produce new quota figures that would raise the number of African Americans in the U.S. Navy as soon as possible. The bureau, desperate to maintain some form of control over the men admitted into the service, offered a rise to 5,000 a month in April 1943; after that for each month of the year it would increase to 7,350. This was a significant increase, given the 2,700 currently being accepted. In order to defuse the potential challenges from McNutt, the U.S. Navy through Knox promised him that 10 percent of the men inducted for the rest of the year would be African American, a total of 71,900 for the year. This offer fell far short of what was needed to bring the African American contingent in the U.S. Navy to 10 percent and to accommodate the backlog of registered African American inductees. McNutt’s own revised figures called for the U.S. Navy to draft some 125,000 African Americans before January 1944; the U.S. Navy agreed to the increase, and from this time on appears to have accepted all the African Americans the Selective Service could send them. The navy never reached 10 percent of African Americans in their total enlisted strength, but by the end of the war, African Americans accounted for 11.1 percent of the total the U.S. Navy had drafted (MacGregor 1985, chap. 3). What remained was the problem of assigning the vast new numbers of African Americans, given the fact that segregation was still in place. Twenty-seven new African American Seabee battalions were created for overseas deployment, many African Americans were assigned to harbor craft and local defense units, and the rest were sent to guard shore stations (up to 50 percent of the strength in the posts). The U.S. Navy was concerned with the possible racial problems that might arise from the sudden in-

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flux and set out the following two operating rules governing the deployment of the men: African Americans would be assigned only where they were needed; and as far as possible, African Americans from the Northern states would not be posted to Southern commands. In addition, the Bureau of Naval Personnel would determine the number and the roles of African Americans assigned to a particular post rather than leaving it to the discretion of the local commander. Once the men were assigned, the local commander could not change their duties without prior consultation with the bureau. Bureau representatives would also be sent to naval stations to ensure that local commanders were complying with the instructions Suggestions regarding the assignment of African Americans to the larger vessels in the fleet were rejected by the U.S. Navy, despite the fact that they feared that concentrating the men on shore stations might make trouble. And in fact, there were already rumblings of discontent from the men, who felt that they were marginalized and assigned to backwaters with little hope of combat or promotion. As far as African American women were concerned, they were still excluded from the WAVES and the Women’s Reserve of both the Coast Guard and the Marine Corps, as well as the Nurse Corps. Eleanor Roosevelt pressed the U.S. Navy on the question in November 1943, but as the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery explained, African American nurses were not needed, despite the fact that there were shortages, as 500 white nurses were being trained who would fill the vacancies. There was room for 7,700 African Americans in the small craft service; some 38,000 men (by mid 1944) were still consigned to service in the stewards branch, the ultimate symbol of being a second-class member of naval personnel. With the massive leap in combat-ready vessels had come an increased need for stewards, and recruitment offices had often assigned African Americans with superior education and training to the stewards branch. Unsurprisingly, these men did not make the best servants. In an attempt to raise standards in the stewards branch,

the navy built training schools for stewards at Norfolk, Virginia, and at Bainbridge, Maryland, but these if anything made the problem worse by making the men feel more isolated. The whiteofficered 7,000 Seabees and 5,000 laborers or construction workers were assigned to the Pacific theater, where most of the men labored long and hard loading and unloading vessels. Most assignments for African Americans in the U.S. Navy were in the United States. Most of the men were commanded by less than satisfactory white officers. By 1943, only the U.S. Coast Guard had African American officers; in the navy only a limited number of petty officer positions were available in the few shore posts, and the competition for those positions was intense. The smoldering resentment of many of the better-educated African Americans began to bubble to the surface, largely as a result of the fact that many had been assigned to unskilled labor duties and had no chance of promotion. Not only did they bitterly resent the fact that they were expected to do these jobs and that they would not have the opportunity to fight, but they were articulate, and their resentment affected others. The basic problem, of course, was segregation. Not only did it limit the positions African Americans could hold, it affected every aspect of their lives. Many who came from Northern states were now experiencing it for the first time, both in all the facilities in their camps and when they ventured out into civilian society, particularly if they were stationed in the South, where segregation was rigidly enforced by both the military and the civilian police forces. Given these factors and the frustration they created, racial strife was inevitable. The first serious incident took place at St. Julien’s Creek, Virginia, in June 1943. Some 640 African Americans were serving at the ammunition depot there, and about half of them rioted over segregated seating for a radio show. A month later in the Caribbean, over 700 men in the 80th Construction Battalion conducted a protest regarding transport segregation. The U.S. Navy placed the blame on poor leadership, and at least one

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of the commanding officer was relieved of his command. The Special Programs Unit: New Attempts at Reform After these incidents, the Bureau of Naval Personnel set up the Special Programs Unit to oversee everything connected with African American enlistment, theoretically including taking over from the Enlisted Division the responsibility of assigning African Americans. When it was established in August 1943, however, only three officers were assigned to the unit; nonetheless, they did good work, and from these small beginnings eventually came the blueprint for the full integration of the U.S. Navy. The unit worked on the problem of the large concentrations of men in the United States, and more were sent overseas. The unit established a new training center for illiterate African American draftees at Camp Robert Smalls; some 15,000 men passed through the twelve-week course (providing the equivalent of a fifth-grade education), before it was merged with a similar facility for white draftees toward the end of the war. The unit also took on the problem of better-educated African Americans who had received some form of specialist training but were not being assigned appropriately. These mismatched assignments were particularly prevalent in the South. In December of 1943 the Bureau of Naval Personnel solved the problem by accepting the unit’s recommendations that African American sailors should not be assigned to what could be described as civilian duties (i.e., stevedores and maintenance crews). The only exceptions in the United States were the supply facilities at Boston and Norfolk. The only really effective way to ease racial tension, however, was to open the fleet to African Americans, and the unit pressed for the chance to prove that African Americans were up to the job. Finally, toward the beginning of 1944, the bureau assigned some 196 African Americans and 44 white officers and petty officers to the USS Mason, a new destroyer. At the

same time, the PC-1264, a patrol vessel was assigned 53 African American seamen and 14 white officers. The USS Mason was considered satisfactory on its shakedown cruise, and those petty officers who were African American were considered competent, although it was charged that discipline could have been better. The experiment revealed that the African American enlisted men were perfectly capable of handling the vessel and that integration could work. The white noncommissioned officers lived closely with the men, yet there were no signs of racial tension. The Special Programs Unit also worked on opening up more opportunities for advancement to African Americans, urging that African Americans be promoted in accordance with their abilities and in greater numbers. The Bureau of Naval Personnel responded by speeding up the process of promoting African Americans, even stating that it was acceptable to promote those who were qualified, whether or not the unit to which they were assigned already had a full complement of noncommissioned officers. Initially, local commanders chose to interpret the instructions in a detrimental manner to African Americans, as they took the view that since the men could not qualify for sea duty then, ipso facto, they were not qualified. It took a further, more explicit order from the bureau in January 1944 to close this loophole in the interpretation. The bureau was motivated by the growing realization that African American units would have better discipline and better morale if they had more African Americans in positions of power. They set up an African American leadership course at the Great Lakes training facility, with the aim of assigning two men to each of the African American base companies operating abroad. Twelve African Americans who had worked in education and public relations as civilians were also assigned to the recruitment centers around the country. The African American petty officer training program was expanded, and the bureau was considering the training of African American commissioned officers.

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The crew of the U.S. Navy submarine chaser PC-1264 salutes the U.S. flag as the 173-foot-long escort vessel is commissioned, May 1, 1944. The PC-1264 was one of two navy vessels during World War II with largely African American crews. The experiment of segregated vessels, although it proved administratively inefficient, helped overcome the resistance to integration. (National Archives)

Knox argued that the U.S. Navy needed a large well-trained force of African American enlisted men before it could possibly consider commissioning African American officers, but his objections were overcome by the arguments of his special assistant Adlai Stevenson. In a memo to Knox in September of 1943, Stevenson argued that, given the induction of some 12,000 African Americans each month, the U.S. Navy could not ignore the inevitable calls from the African American community and the administration for African American officers. He reasoned that the higher the proportion of African Americans in the navy, the greater the pressure and accusations of discrimination would be. Stevenson recommended that they should immediately commission ten or a dozen of the very best African Americans and that they should not make a great issue of the matter, treating it as a matter of course.

In theory, African Americans could become commissioned officers in the U.S. Navy in any of the three usual ways. The U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, however, had no African Americans enrolled, and the V-12 program, an accelerated officer training program that was part of the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps, had only twelve African Americans enrolled in the integrated colleges around the country. No African Americans had been selected from the final route, a direct commission from the enlisted ranks or civilian life—in fact this route was rarely used. The V-12, which produced some 80,000 officers over the course of the war, was the preferred route as far as the U.S. Navy was concerned. In December 1943, the bureau sent out a circular to all commanders asked for African American enlisted men to be transferred to the program, but the bureau realized that few African American officers would be produced in time.

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On December 15, 1943, Knox finally approved the selection of twelve line and ten staff officers from a list of enlisted men. He was reluctant to repeat the procedure and wanted to review the progress of the men before he approved any more commissions for African American enlisted men. Sixteen men reported for segregated training at Great Lakes on January 1, 1944; only twelve of the men were granted commissions, even though all successfully completed the course, because the bureau made a last-minute decision to commission only twelve African Americans. One of the noncommissionees had performed so well in the course that he was made a warrant officer (he lacked a college degree). The Golden Thirteen, as they became known, entered the U.S. Naval Reserve as line officers on March 17, 1944. The Bureau of Naval Personnel designated the new ensigns as “Deck Officers Limited–Only,” a category usually given to men who had physical or educational deficiencies. None of the men had disabilities of any kind, and all of them were professionals in civilian life. By the end of the summer, another ten African Americans had been commissioned as staff officers, this time after having trained alongside white officers. The bureau had recognized that maintaining segregated training facilities made no economic sense. These men had been recruited from civilian professions to serve in the Chaplain, Civil Engineer, Dental, Medical, and Supply Corps. The African American officers now numbered twenty-two, just over a third of the sixty African Americans who would be commissioned during the war. The small numbers of African American officers did little to help with the problems of officering the large numbers of African American sailors. For the most part, the bureau had been assigning white officers from the Southern states, according to the old notion that they understood African Americans and how to handle them. Worse yet, when asked by the bureau to supply men suitable for duty with African American units, commanders took the opportunity to divest themselves of officers who were neither

performing well nor popular. There had to be another way of approaching the situation, and the Special Programs Unit looked at the noncommissioned officers currently working at the Great Lakes training facilities. Not only had these men been working with African Americans for some time, but they tended to be experienced and capable; as a result a program was instituted in January 1944 to commission some of the men and assign them to African American units. Nevertheless, most of the officers would still be inexperienced in working with African Americans, and the Special Programs Unit decided to tackle the attitudes of these officers directly. The message of equality was the focus of the Guide to the Command of Negro Naval Personnel (Bureau of Naval Personnel, February 1944). Even having the pamphlet published had been a struggle; many key figures in the U.S. Navy wanted to ignore the whole issue of racial tensions, and others dismissed the work of the Special Programs Unit as sociological tinkering. The pamphlet’s wording pulled no punches: The idea of compulsory racial segregation is disliked by almost all Negroes, and literally hated by many. This antagonism is in part a result of the fact that as a principle it embodies a doctrine of racial inferiority. It is also a result of the lesson taught the Negro by experience that in spite of the legal formula of “separate but equal” facilities, the facilities open to him under segregation are in fact usually inferior as to location or quality to those available to others. . . . The Navy accepts no theories of racial differences in inborn ability, but expects that every man wearing its uniform be trained and used in accordance with his maximum individual capacity determined on the basis of individual performance (quoted in MacGregor 1985, 83).

Forrestal Takes Over and Real Integration Begins Things were about to change irrevocably, and the traditionalists in the U.S. Navy had clearly

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lost the initiative. One crucial factor in increasing the pace of change was the sudden death of Frank Knox on April 28, 1944, and his replacement by Undersecretary James Forrestal. Forrestal was not a radical, he was a realist, and he was able to impress on the service the fact that segregation was inefficient, that integration would be genuinely efficient, and that it was necessary for fairness, a factor that the U.S. Navy had ignored for many years. A full year before Knox died, the Planning and Control Activity personnel had suggested that African Americans be assigned to the larger vessels in the fleet. At the time Admiral Jacobs had said, “You couldn’t dump 200 colored boys on a crew in battle” (quoted in MacGregor 1985). This suggestion and several more during 1943 had met with similar comments. Forrestal, ever the realist, and not prepared to sacrifice the efficiency of the fleet, reasoned that it might not be practicable to introduce integration on ships actually engaged in combat, but he was determined to tackle the problem of the vast numbers of African Americans on shore duty. On May 20, 1944, Forrestal proposed his plan to integrate some of the fleet auxiliary vessels in a memo to the president, forcefully pointing out the drawbacks of the situation as it stood: “From a morale standpoint, the Negroes resent the fact that they are not assigned to general service billets at sea, and white personnel resent the fact that Negroes have been given less hazardous assignments” (quoted in MacGregor 1985, 84). Forrestal received Roosevelt’s blessing to assign African Americans to the large auxiliary vessels, up to a limit of 10 percent of the crews. If the experiment worked, he would assign more African Americans to other vessels as the opportunities arose. In early August of 1944, official word went out from Adm. Ernest J. King, the chief of Naval Operations, to the commanding officers of twenty-five of the largest fleet auxiliaries that African Americans would soon be assigned to them. The plan was to have 15 percent of the men be third-class petty officers (as much as possible volunteers culled from long-

term shore duty), 43 percent from Class A schools, and 42 percent from recruit training (MacGregor 1985, chap. 3). King instructed the commanding officers to ensure equality of assignment, promotion, and training, and he advised that the white sailors be fully informed of the situation and trained in order to prevent racial tension. The experiment was a success; the African Americans were not separately berthed, and the men were assimilated into the crews without incident. It was now decided that all of the auxiliary fleet could be integrated. In March of 1945 the chief of Naval Personnel submitted a plan to gradually assign African Americans to all of the auxiliary vessels, up to a limit of 10 percent, and King approved it. In April, the Bureau of Naval Personnel took the next step—assigning African American officers to the integrated vessels, the first man being sent to the USS Mason. Although the bureau issued clear instructions to the commanders of the vessels regarding the priming of their crews to expect African American officers, the process was not always followed. Still, the reasons for that neglect were not always resistance to change; in fact, the words of the commander of the USS Chemang to a new African American officer provide a glimpse of the changing attitudes of the fleet: “I’m a Navy Man, and we’re in a war. To me, it’s that stripe that counts—and the training and leadership that it is supposed to symbolize. That’s why I never called a meeting of the crew to prepare them, to explain their obligation to respect you, or anything like that. I didn’t want anyone to think you were different from any other officer coming aboard” (quoted in MacGregor 1985, chap. 3). Forrestal was also concerned about the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service; the Women’s Reserve of the U.S. Navy), whose director, Capt. Mildred H. McAfee (who had been president of Wellesley College), had been recommending the recruitment of African American women for some two years. She hoped that accepting African Americans into the women’s auxiliary would deflect some of the criticisms leveled at the U.S. Navy.

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The Bureau of Naval Personnel had been firmly opposed to the recruitment plan, on the grounds that the women in the auxiliary were designed to free their male counterparts for other positions. The bureau argued that there were already sufficient African American males to fill all of the posts available to them, and so African American women were unnecessary. Tentative plans had been made in April 1943 to induct some 5,000 African American women into the WAVES, but the plan was never seen through, and Knox seems basically to have opposed and tried to delay any admission of African Americans. Shortly before his death, the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was pressing him hard to change his stance on the issue, but it fell to Forrestal to sort out the policy. Acting with the advice of McAfee, the Bureau of Naval Personnel, and the Special Programs Unit, Forrestal made his recommendations to the president on July 28, 1944. He called for integrated training for African American WAVES and assignment to continental U.S. bases, preferably where there were already a significant number of African American males. The president, hoping to avoid controversy during his election campaign, told Forrestal not to put the plan into effect yet, but then Thomas E. Dewey made a speech in Chicago, accusing the White House of discriminating against African American women. Swiftly, Roosevelt told Forrestal to get the recruitment under way. On December 21, 1944, the first two African American WAVES officers graduated from Smith College, with enlistment beginning just a week later. By July 1945, the U.S. Navy had managed to train only seventy-two African American WAVES at the Hunter College Naval Training School, but they had been trained in a completely integrated program, and the Special Programs Unit considered the integration of the WAVES one of their greatest accomplishments. It not only worked, it served as a blueprint for the future integration of male recruitment. Forrestal was clearly pleased with the progress that had been made so far, but as a realist, he knew that he would have to have the support of

the high command of the U.S. Navy before any major and lasting changes could be made. In a Columbia University oral history interview, Lester Granger (an official with the National Urban League in charge of industrial relations, who later became Forrestal’s special representative on racial matters) recalled a meeting between Forrestal and Admiral King: He [Forrestal] said he spoke to Admiral King . . . and said “Admiral King, I’m not satisfied with the situation here—I don’t think that our Navy Negro personnel are getting a square break. I want to do something about it, but I can’t do anything about it unless the officers are behind me. I want your help. What do you say?” He said that Admiral King sat for a moment, and looked out the window and then said reflectively, “You know, we say that we are a democracy and a democracy ought to have a democratic Navy. I don’t think you can do it, but if you want to try, I’m behind you all the way.” And he told me, “And Admiral King was behind me, all the way, not only he but all of the Bureau of Personnel. They’ve been bricks” (quoted in MacGregor 1985, chap. 3).

With the news that King and Admiral Jacobs (chief of Naval Personnel) had promised their support, many of the Special Programs Unit’s ideas received much more attention. In August 1944, King stated that he wished all commands to pay close attention to the qualifications of officers who commanded African American units; in December he focused on the Pacific Command (where there were high concentrations of African American base companies) to ensure that the employment and advancement of African Americans was reformed. Back in March 1944, the Bureau of Naval Personnel had authorized African American cooks and bakers to be eligible for duty in other commissary branches of the service, and in June all of the cooks and stewards were told to wear chief petty officer uniforms, which they had not been eligible to wear until this point. (This order was not without its drawbacks, since it

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meant that the enlisted men in the stewards branch were the only ones left wearing uniforms that distinguished them from other naval personnel.) On February 21, 1945, the Bureau ordered that the ammunition depots, both in the United States and abroad, limit the African American component to 30 percent, a move designed to break up the large concentrations of the men languishing on routine duty. The base companies in the Pacific were also given a more appropriate military structure. In terms of segregated training, the Bureau made a number of major changes, primarily to reduce costs by closing duplicate facilities for the training of specialists. The last of the all– African American training facilities was officially closed in June 1945, by which time African Americans were training alongside their white counterparts in dozens of schools and training facilities. It took a considerable amount of time for some of the policies and plans to work their way through the U.S. Navy’s cumbersome bureaucratic systems, and some never made it. A plan to integrate the whole of the logistical support system floundered and was eventually rejected, as was the suggestion that repair units attached to the amphibious program be racially mixed. On August 30, 1944, King himself rejected the idea that net tenders and mine vessels be integrated, on the grounds that the vessels needed to have the most expert seamen and the most experienced officers. Also in August, the Bureau of Naval Personnel authorized commanders to look for African American recruits in the general service to transfer into the stewards branch. In the rush to accept as many African Americans into general service, there had been a severe dip in the numbers of men entering the stewards branch, and this part of the service was desperately undermanned. Later, in July 1945, an example of the U.S. Navy’s old ways came to the surface when it was discovered by the bureau that the African American trainees at Bainbridge Naval Training Center were being organized into all–African Ameri-

can companies. The basis of this regressive step was that in the past the smaller numbers of African Americans had had to be integrated (as per instructions and for practical and economic reasons), but when numbers increased, and African Americans began arriving in company-sized classes, the training center simply kept the companies intact. Thus, although progress had been made, full integration was by no means achieved, and many African Americans were still assigned to menial jobs. Three major incidents in the last twelve months of the war seemed to express the frustrations African Americans still felt. The first, at Port Chicago, California, gained national attention. On July 17, 1944, at Port Chicago (located on an arm of San Francisco Bay currently part of the Concord Naval Weapons Station), while two ammunition ships were being loaded, an explosion killed some 300 people, of whom 250 were African Americans from a segregated labor battalion. Unsurprisingly, many of the men who survived the disaster refused to work on the vessels and the docks under the same conditions. Fifty of the men were charged with mutiny and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. It took the intervention of Thurgood Marshall (then national counsel for the NAACP) and Lester Granger (of the National Urban League), supported by the African American press and various African American organizations, to have the sentences set aside and the men returned to active duty. In December 1944, on the Pacific island of Guam, bubbling resentment and months of interracial problems between African American seamen and white U.S. Marines boiled over into violence. On December 24, 1944, a series of shootings in the town of Agana claimed the lives of one African American and a white marine. Mistakenly believing the dead African American to be a sailor, African Americans from the Naval Supply Depot commandeered vehicles and drove into the town in force and confronted the military police. As it happened, no further vio-

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lence occurred that night, but on Christmas Day two trucks full of armed African Americans drove onto the marine base, sparking a riot. In the aftermath, some forty-three of the African Americans were charged and sentenced to up to four years imprisonment. Several of the white marines were also court-martialed and sentenced. This time, NAACP head Walter White went to Guam to investigate the situation, appearing as a witness before the Marine Court of Inquiry. White was able to show the court that the men had suffered from discrimination for many months and were poorly led. With the aid of civil rights lawyers, the men were released in early 1946. In California at Port Hueneme in March 1945, a Seabee battalion chose an entirely different approach to highlight the problems that it had been facing. A thousand men went on a hunger strike for two days but continued to work. The resulting publicity forced the navy to investigate. The investigation led to the commander being removed and the unit assigned to new duties abroad. Rather belatedly, even those most bound by tradition in the U.S. Navy began to realize that one of the principal ways of avoiding repetition of these incidents was to integrate and disperse African Americans throughout the service, thus removing the main weapons African American sailors had used hitherto, solidarity and collective action. Adm. Chester W. Nimitz (commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet) was quoted by Walter White as advising a captain of an attack cargo vessel: “If you put all the Negroes together they’ll have a chance to share grievances and to plot among themselves, and this will damage discipline and morale. If they are distributed among other members of the crew, there will be less chance of trouble. And when we say we want integration, we mean Integration” (quoted in MacGregor 1985, chap. 3). Forrestal continued to press for steadily increasing integration. In March 1945, Lester Granger of the National Urban League began

work with the Department of Defense. Granger concentrated on potential and actual racial problems in the service, a continuation of his work with the Urban League. Granger brought his practical approach to integration to the issue of African American equality in the U.S. Navy, and he was able to adjust his argument to each of the target groups in the service and touch the concerns each had. Granger recognized that the discussions should begin with issues of survival, of comfort, and of security, rather than the question of justice. As far as the members of the command structure of the U.S. Navy were concerned, he focused on efficiency; he talked to them about the risks to their goals and objectives that came from not using the men under their command in the most efficient manner. As far as African Americans in the U.S. Navy were concerned, Granger focused on instilling in their minds the need to take advantage of all opportunities for training in order to improve themselves and ultimately make themselves invaluable to the service; in this way they would be accepted and needed and would attain equality. Granger urged Forrestal to create an advisory council consisting of representatives from each of the branches of the U.S. Navy to oversee the service’s racial policies, and to appoint an African American as an executive agent for the council working out of Forrestal’s own offices. Forrestal was reluctant to add another formal organization, even though the Special Programs Unit was too busy to do the whole job. Instead of adopting Granger’s suggestions, Forrestal opted for an informal committee and asked Granger to join it. Forrestal seems to have been content with the reforms that were already in progress, and with some reason. In March 1945, the surgeon general announced that the service would be accepting and recruiting African American nurses. In June, the Bureau announced that recruitment and training of men assigned to general duties would be integrated in the name of efficiency. In July, the service began integrating

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training for submariners and naval aviators. All through this period, Granger was visiting facilities around the country, aiming to get as many commanders on his side as possible. By August 15, 1945, V-J Day, the U.S. Navy was clearly moving toward becoming fully integrated. By that date, some 164,942 African Americans were enlisted in the U.S. Navy. Admittedly that was still only 5.3 percent of the total enlisted strength, well below the 10 percent figure that had been specified as reflecting the proportion of African Americans in the U.S. population at large (MacGregor 1985, chap. 3). Nonetheless, it did represent a doubling of the percentage of African Americans who had been in the service before the opening of hostilities. A more important problem was that most of this number had not yet been affected by the new integration policies. Only a handful were officers: sixty, including six women, four nurses, and two WAVES. Of the 164,942, around 68,000 were still in the stewards branch; 58,000 were ordinary seamen, but large numbers of them were still in segregated labor or base battalions and companies. These figures represented the wartime navy, swelled by draftees, and did not tell the whole story. As far as the regular U.S. Navy was concerned, the figures were even less impressive. There were just 7,066 African American regulars, accounting for 2.14 percent of the total, and most of them were in the stewards branch. If African American reservists wanted to remain in the service, then they would have to compete with the many thousands of white sailors in what would be a vastly reduced postwar U.S. Navy. Once the majority of the wartime reservists and draftees were released by the U.S. Navy, there was a grave danger that the service would return to its old ways and that African American involvement would be both limited and, in effect at least, segregated. Nevertheless, Forrestal felt that the rapid changes during the war had been sufficiently successful that the command structure of the U.S. Navy was now convinced that an inte-

grated postwar navy was both desirable and efficient. Only about six months after the war, Forrestal officially declared the U.S. Navy an integrated service, the first of the branches of the armed services to take this step. African American involvement would be from top to bottom, with no further restrictions either on assignment or promotion. World War II had changed the navy forever, though the full realization of the promise of integration and equal treatment still took many years. U.S. Marine Corps Legally, the Marine Corps came under the Department of the Navy, and the U.S. Marine Corp’s Commandant, Maj. Gen. Thomas Holcomb, whose frank opposition to allowing any African Americans in all-white Corps has already been quoted, was under the command of the secretary of the navy in larger matters that involved general policy, such as racial policy. How that policy was carried out was left to the commandant. Accordingly, the story of the place of African Americans in the Marine Corps was quite different from that of the navy; while the U.S. Navy moved from segregation to at least a measure of real integration, the Marine Corps, a small, elite, traditionally all-white service, moved from complete exclusion of African Americans to acceptance, but rigid segregation. The New Policy of Segregation Holcomb was quite frank, at least during meetings with the U.S. Navy’s General Board. He told them, when Marine Corps expansion was discussed in April 1941, “If it were a question of having a Marine Corps of 5,000 whites or 250,000 Negroes, I would rather have the whites” (quoted in MacGregor 1985, chap. 4). He did not voice these views in public, but he was firm in his opposition to including African Americans, calling it impractical because the Corps was too small to have racially segregated units. At the same time, he gave instructions to

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his medical examiners that if any African Americans were to apply to the Corps, they should be turned down on medical grounds. As discussed earlier, under pressure from Roosevelt, Knox had by April of 1942 promulgated a plan for admitting African Americans into general service in the U.S. Navy, including the Marine Corps. Forced to take some step, Holcomb offered to recruit 1,000 African Americans for a segregated composite defense battalion. The unit would incorporate artillery (antiaircraft and seacoast), a light tank platoon, a rifle company, and other supporting units. The men would be trained in a segregated camp and assigned to a remote location where they would operate on their own as a fully independent unit. As far as the Navy’s General Board was concerned this step seemed acceptable, and Knox was informed that it was the only option, as it was impractical to assign African Americans to an amphibious combat unit. The official position was that men in such units had to be able to be reassigned from one unit to another when necessary because of casualties, and that could not be done with African Americans without destroying segregation. Also, the Corps had a distinct lack of the kind of experienced noncommissioned officers who would be needed in a combat unit and to assign any number to an African American unit would be a waste of the talents of this limited number of men. Enlistment got under way on June 1, 1942, with the first men beginning their training on August 26 at Montford Point (part of the Marine Barracks reserve at New River, North Carolina—now Camp Lejeune). These men eventually became the 51st Composite Defense Battalion under the command of Col. Samuel A. Woods Jr. The major problem facing African Americans and their involvement in the Marine Corps was the fact that the service had had no experience or knowledge of them. The Marine Corps had been exclusively white by tradition, and frankly the Corps was frightened and alarmed at what was happening. A senior official in the Division

of Plans and Policies, Gen. Ray A. Robinson, recalled his feelings in 1942 in an oral history interview in 1968: It just scared us to death when the colored were put on it. I went over to Selective Service and saw Gen. Hershey, and he turned me over to a lieutenant colonel [Campbell C. Johnson]—that was in April—and he was one grand person. I told him, “Eleanor [Mrs. Roosevelt] says we gotta take in Negroes, and we are just scared to death, we’ve never had any in, we don’t know how to handle them, we are afraid of them.” He said, “I’ll do my best to help you get good ones. I’ll get the word around that if you want to die young, join the Marines. So anybody that joins is got to be pretty good!” And it was the truth. We got some awfully good Negroes” (quoted in MacGregor 1985, chap. 4).

Roosevelt’s abolition of volunteer enlistments and the establishment of quotas in December 1942 meant that Holcomb could expect to have to cope with a further 15,400 African Americans in 1943. In actuality, the Corps only managed to process some 9,916 inductees during the year, but by 1946 (when the draft was terminated) the Corps had around 16,000 African Americans. Considering the overall throughput of African Americans during the whole of the period, this figure rises to 19,168, of whom 3,129 were volunteers, making roughly 4 percent of the enlisted men (MacGregor 1985, chap. 4). Even though the percentage was not high, the insistence that all must be put in strictly segregated units made these numbers a major challenge to deal with, and that challenge was intensified by the fact that an estimated 70 percent of these men scored in the two lowest categories of the General Classification Test (GCT). In terms of numbers, more whites than African Americans scored in these low categories, but the whites could be scattered throughout the service, whereas the perceived need to keep Af-

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rican Americans segregated meant that all segregated units were burdened with many lowscoring men. Equally, those who scored higher were kept in these units, with no chance of going into combat or becoming officers. Finding Assignments for African Americans The service struggled to find assignments for all these men. The Division of Plans and Policies suggested creating more defense battalions, a messmen’s (stewards) branch, and new units to provide messengers and chauffeurs, clerks and janitors. That last suggestion was dropped because it would have made such bad press. As many men as possible were absorbed into new defense battalions, but any expansion in the number of defense battalions was limited by the number of available African American officers and noncommissioned officers. It was felt that noncommissioned officers in particular had to be African American, as the army’s experience was held to show that any integration at that level would cause racial tensions in the service. White noncommissioned officers were unavoidable at first, but they should be replaced by African Americans as soon as possible to avoid racial tensions and improve African American morale. This solution followed the same path as the U.S. Army—Southern noncommissioned officers were employed, as the Corps felt that they understood how to supervise African Americans. General Holcomb was not satisfied with this solution, yet at the time there seemed to be no other option. As soon as was practicable, he wanted the Southern white sergeants removed from the African American units and replaced. Certainly Holcomb wanted the experiment of enlisting African Americans to be a success, and he proclaimed that “all Marines are entitled to the same rights and privileges under Navy Regulations” and expected African American marines to “become a credit to the Marine Corps” (quoted in MacGregor 1985, chap. 4). He told his commanders to keep him informed as to how the African American marines were

settling into the Corps and their duties. At the same time, in May 1943 he expressed this conviction to those in command: “It is essential that in no case shall there be colored non-commissioned officers senior to white men in the same unit, and desirable that few, if any be of the same rank” (quoted in MacGregor 1985, chap. 4). In effect, this meant that African American corporals on the eve of promotion to sergeant would be transferred out of any unit that still had white corporals. The new messmen’s branch was established in January 1943. The Corps already had a mess branch, which of course was all white, but that was now entitled the commissary branch. As for the messmen’s branch, it was soon redesignated the stewards branch in conformity with the U.S. Navy. Men were only supposed to enter this service if they freely volunteered, according to Secretary Knox’s instructions. In direct contravention to this edict, recruiters were told to persuade around half of the African Americans recruited in the early months of the war to sign up for the stewards branch, as it had been assessed that a steward would be needed for every six officers (though this ratio was later scaled down). By July 5, 1944, African Americans in the stewards branch had reached a high point and accounted for some 14 percent of all African Americans in the Corps. This figure of around 1,400 remained static for the remainder of the war. By that time that the bulk of the defense battalions had been deployed in the Pacific, the course of the war had unmistakably changed in favor of the Allies. The Japanese were on the defensive, unable to launch any meaningful offensive actions. The need for the defense battalions had passed. What was needed were men to support the huge logistical problems of conveying war materials to the fluid fronts; equally large numbers of men were needed to replace losses from the costly amphibious assaults on each of the ever more tenaciously held islands, as the Allies closed in on the enemy’s mainland. It was therefore decided that special units should be created to support the logistical ef-

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forts, and the Division of Plans and Policies authorized the establishment of fifty-one depot companies and twelve ammunition companies of African Americans. Although many of the units served in base and service depots, a considerable number of them were deployed under fire. Their role was to move supplies into a new battle zone directly after the landings, secure supply dumps, and make certain that the wounded were safely evacuated. Up to 8,000 African Americans served in these units, accounting for some 40 percent of the enlistment numbers. These men had not been specifically trained for combat, whereas the African Americans in the composite defense battalions, who had received combat training, were never used in that capacity. The support troops won a number of combat citations, not to mention praise from other marines and commanders in the field. Training and Deploying African Americans Training was completely segregated at Montford Point. After the initial eight-week training period, men assigned to the defense battalions were sent off for specialist training, and sixty men from each of the ammunition companies attended ammunition and camouflage school (after which they were promoted to the rank of corporal). Ammunition companies had white sergeants (ordnance specialists), since the Corps felt that more experienced men were needed in these positions; the depot and defense units followed the general rule of having African American noncommissioned officers. All specialist training was segregated, white instructors being replaced by African Americans as quickly as possible. The depot companies, as labor units, might find themselves assigned to a Pacific post after as little as two weeks of training. By comparison, the 51st Defense Battalion had spent some two months on intensive training before they were committed to the Pacific theater. By the time the 51st and the 52d were ready to be committed to the Pacific, the Corps had decided to begin to dismantle the composite bat-

talions. Unlike the eighteen white defense battalions, all but one of which were retrained and reassigned as anti-aircraft artillery battalions to serve with amphibious assault groups, the 51st and the 52d were assigned to the Marshalls and Guam, respectively, now relegated by the course of the war to distant backwaters, though the 52d did engage successfully with pockets of Japanese resistance. Among all of the services of the armed forces, the Corps was the last to make significant changes to its racial policies. The Corps seemed impervious to criticism and complaints from the African American press and civil rights groups, not to mention the comments of the men already within the Corps. Each time, the Corps explained that due to its size, duplicate facilities were untenable and uneconomical, and integration was not an option. It took President Harry S. Truman’s order in March of 1948 to desegregate the whole armed forces, with the legislation that followed, to bring about integration— World War II had only brought the Corps from rigid exclusion to rigid segregation. The U.S. Coast Guard Unlike the Marine Corps, the U.S. Coast Guard had had a long tradition of African American involvement in the service prior to World War II, and it was, albeit on a small scale, the most successful of the services in its treatment of African Americans, demonstrating to the others how efficient and trouble-free real integration could be. Like the Marine Corps, the Coast Guard was not simply part of the U.S. Navy; nominally at least, it was part of the Treasury Department, but in 1915 a statute was issued that stated that the Coast Guard would become an effective part of the U.S. Navy when the president deemed it necessary and it would, at this point, come under the jurisdiction of the secretary of the navy. Accordingly, the U.S. Coast Guard was placed under the secretary of the navy on November 1, 1941, and it remained so until the order was rescinded on January 1, 1946.

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Thus the Coast Guard came under the Chief of Naval Operations in terms of cooperating and contributing to the operations of the U.S. Navy, but it was still expected to carry out its normal duties (port security, ice-breaking, navigational aid to shipping, and the like). The Chief of Naval Operations, therefore, had to make sure that his calls on the Coast Guard did not impede their ability to carry out these tasks. This duality of purpose and responsibility was recognized formally by Secretary Knox in March 1942. In terms of recruitment, training, and assignment of Coast Guard personnel, the service maintained its administrative independence, embodied in the Commandant’s Advisory Board and the Personnel Division. On the other hand, the Coast Guard came under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Navy when parts of its service operated under U.S. Navy control. The Background The Coast Guard, like the U.S. Navy, had a tradition of enlisting African Americans in its general service, and unlike the navy it had continued that tradition in the twentieth century. On the other hand, it had restricted the numbers of African Americans and curtailed the opportunities open to them in the service. Still, in 1939, cadres of African Americans were present in the service. A group served at Pea Island, North Carolina, operating a lifesaving station; others served at lighthouses and on tenders on the Mississippi River. All of these men had been part of the Lighthouse Service, which was transferred to Coast Guard control that year. A handful of African Americans were serving in integrated crews; some notable individuals were even commanding vessels. Other African Americans were in the stewards branch, which in the small vessels of the Coast Guard meant close contact with the rest of the crew. On the whole, though, African Americans served in segregated conditions, and the whites who to a great extent made up the Coast Guard came from backgrounds (the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia, the Outer Banks of North Carolina)

that made them unlikely to be happy with integration. The Policy of Segregation and Its Drawbacks In January 1942, when discussions began about formally accepting African Americans into the general service of the naval establishment, the initial reaction of the Coast Guard, voiced by Commander Lyndon Spencer, mirrored what had been said by the service’s larger partners, the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps. It was not practical to take African Americans into the general service because segregation could not be maintained on a ship, and integration was not something to be undertaken in wartime. In fact, he believed that due to the size of the vessels in the Coast Guard, maintaining segregation would be even more difficult; nevertheless, he added, “if we have to we will take some of them” (quoted in MacGregor 1985, chap. 4). When it was clear that taking African Americans was unavoidable, Coast Guard commandant Rear Adm. Russell R. Waesche suggested a plan that called for the enlistment of some 500 African Americans into the general service. He told the chairman of the General Board, Vice Adm. Walton R. Sexton, that 300 of the men would serve on the smaller vessels and the balance would be deployed on shore duties. He made no suggestions with regard to training petty officers, but told Sexton that as over half of the men serving on the smaller vessels were of this rank, it was assumed that some of the African Americans would over time apply and be accepted as petty officers. On February 24, 1942, Waesche identified some eighteen vessels (tenders and patrol boats) that would have African American crews. Training would take place at the Manhattan Beach Training Station, New York, although he believed that the men would need a longer period of basic training than was usually the case. Advanced training would then follow, when the men would be grouped into units to take over everything except petty officer duties on a given vessel.

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It was proposed that a cap of 150 would be enlisted in the first instance and that the program would then be frozen until the first group had been trained and assigned, and had served on board long enough for meaningful conclusions to be drawn from the overall experience. In this way, the commandant would have the flexibility to amend the program in the light of what was discovered. A substantial number of other African Americans would be assigned to port duty. Despite the objections of the General Board to the plan, which did not seem to them to allow for adequate segregation, the first 150 men were duly sent to Manhattan Beach, and formed into a separate training company. Due to the size of the facility, the men were trained on an integrated basis, but housed and messed in segregated facilities. Four weeks later, the qualified men went off for further training, while the rest were assigned to the captains of the ports for shore duties. By August 1942, around three hundred African Americans had been recruited, trained, and then assigned to general duties; simultaneously several hundred African Americans were joining the stewards branch. The Impact of the Draft Up until December 1942, all the Coast Guard had to deal with was a small number of African American volunteers. Then, like the rest of the naval establishment, it had to deal with larger numbers coming in through the draft. These numbers were of course not as large for the Coast Guard; it only inducted 15,296 draftees in all between 1943 and 1946. Of these, 13 percent (1,667) were African American. By the end of the war, around 5,000 African Americans had served in the Coast Guard, recruited at a rate of 137 against 1,000 whites per month in 1943 alone. As opposed to the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps, the Coast Guard could not deal with this influx by forming large segregated units. The stewards branch already had 1,500

African Americans in place as of January 1943, and could only absorb half of those who entered. The rest of the men had to be assigned to general service. By the end of the war, some 2,500 African Americans had served in the U.S. Coast Guard Stewards Branch, performing similar duties to those assigned to the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps. Given the small size of the vessels, however, stewards were assigned to important battle stations, giving them more of a chance to play significant roles. For example, in February 1943 a steward who was also a gun captain on board the cutter Campbell led a group of stewards in manning a gun and helping to sink an enemy submarine. The group won a citation for their efforts. The size of the ships also made it possible for some African Americans to move out of the stewards branch and into general service, largely as a result of the fact that the vessels’ white officers had a much better opportunity to see the African American stewards at work and how they performed on battle stations. Still, about 63 percent of African Americans in the Coast Guard were stewards (in other words, servants) for the whole war. As for African Americans in general service, the majority of them were assigned to captains of the ports, district commanders, and headquarters units. These men operated security and labor details, were assigned to stores or radio operations, and were assigned to local Coast Guard stations, a second all–African American base being established at Tiana Beach, New York. African Americans also served in beach patrols, which had been created in 1942; these outposts accounted for around 11 percent of all of the Coast Guard manpower and were designed to watch out for enemy infiltration along the coastlines. African Americans also staffed a number of segregated horse and dog patrols. The overall manpower policy of the Coast Guard called for a rotation of all guardsmen from shore to sea and sea to shore. Given that the policy of the Coast Guard was segregation and that segregation could not be maintained

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on board ship, the 2,400 African Americans on shore duty stayed on shore duty. This practice threatened to cause racial problems, since it meant African Americans were denied sea duty and whites had less chance for promotion on land. Experiments in Integration Lt. Carlton Skinner recommended changing this policy, perhaps partly because of his own firsthand experience of the limitations of the racial policy at work. Skinner had served for two years on board the USCGC Northland, and as executive officer he had recommended that an African American steward who was a qualified mechanic be promoted to a motor mechanic petty officer. The request had been turned down on racial grounds, but Skinner appealed on the man’s behalf and won. In June 1943, Skinner recommended creating a completely integrated ship, in which African American seamen could be given experience at sea. Despite the fact that his immediate superior marked Skinner’s request as “disapproved,” Adm. Russell Waesche, the Coast Guard commandant, decided to approve the training. In November 1943, Skinner was transferred to the USS Sea Cloud (IX 99), operating in the North Atlantic. Skinner was by now a lieutenant commander, and Waesche approved the transfer of African American apprentice seamen to the vessel in batches of twenty every time the vessel put into port. The men came direct from the Manhattan Beach training facility. Skinner was appointed captain of the Sea Cloud on the second patrol, and gradually began building an integrated crew. The experiment was a success, and although the vessel was decommissioned in November 1944, the Sea Cloud had met all fleet and operational requirements and was officially credited with helping to sink a German submarine in June 1944. Four African American officers and 50 petty officers and seamen had been part of the 173man crew, as an integrated unit, yet there had been no racial problems on board ship. The only

racial tension occurred when the vessel put into the Boston Navy Yard, and then it consisted merely of hostility from some departments of the yard. Skinner had ensured that his African American officers were accepted in the officers’ clubs, and when the men had served on shore duties, they were sent as integrated groups. Despite Skinner’s and the Sea Cloud’s undoubted successes, at least one officer charged that the experiment was simply a means of answering criticism of the Coast Guard’s refusal to use African Americans at sea. However that may be, Waesche did not have the experiment publicized, following Skinner’s original suggestion to avoid publicity in order to make the experiment a more valid one. Skinner’s original hope was that African Americans could be used throughout the fleet and treated according to their ability rather than their race, but in fact the only other completely integrated vessel to serve during the war was the destroyer escort Hoquim, which operated from the base at Adak on the Aleutian Islands in 1945, also commanded by Skinner. Again the experiment was a success. It seems likely that Skinner and the lessons learned from the Sea Cloud and the Hoquim helped to hasten the integration of the U.S. Navy’s auxiliary fleet. It is certain that at least one of Forrestal’s assistants consulted Skinner on his views during the integration process. What most distinguished the U.S. Coast Guard from the other armed services during World War II was their lack of concern as to whether African Americans outranked whites. By the end of the war, around 965 African Americans served as petty officers or warrant officers, many of them in situations where they outranked whites. It was a question of expedience; the service simply did not have the capacity to assign all the African American petty officers to segregated positions. At the same time, a few African Americans became commissioned officers and two commanded integrated crews. The Coast Guard also recruited a few African American women into their SPARs, as the women’s reserve was called, joining with the

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U.S. Navy at the specific request of the President to do so in the latter stages of 1944. Given the fact that recruitment for the Women’s Reserve was suspended on November 23, 1944, it was not a great surprise that only five African American women had been recruited. These women trained at the Manhattan Beach facility and were assigned to Coast Guard district offices without any regard to their color. Of course it is true that the experience of African Americans in the Coast Guard needs to be seen in the context of the larger-scale recruitment, training, and deployment that was under way during the war. Comparatively, the service was tiny, and the percentage of African Americans was never higher than 2.1 percent, significantly lower than in the other services, and of course well below the 10 percent of the population of the United States that was generally held to be African American at that time. Nevertheless, the Coast Guard set an important example of how well integration could work, once the world war and the political pressures of the time forced it to change. World War II as a Turning Point From the initial period leading up to the United States joining the Allies in the hostilities, it was clear that the president and many of his wellplaced and senior advisors knew that African American involvement, to a greater or lesser degree, was essential in the prosecution of and the continued support for a major world war. It was also essential because of political pressure; the president could not afford to alienate African American voters, who formed a significant part of his political base. Unfortunately, political pressure also came from Southern whites, who played so large a role in the Democratic Party of that time. Given this situation, as well as the resistance to change within the armed services, it is not surprising that the first steps involved making greater use of African Americans, but maintaining segregation and keeping African American participation in combat to a minimum.

Many factors led to increased change: continued pressure from the leaders of the African American community, the African American press, and the broader civil rights movement; increased need for manpower as the war dragged on; the basic inefficiency of segregation; racial incidents that pointed up the frustrations of those who were underused or misused, as well as discriminated against. Although more African Americans were finally sent overseas and into combat, sometimes even in integrated units, integration remained an occasional experiment or the result of unavoidable necessity. When given the opportunity, often at the last moment and in many cases hopelessly undertrained and badly equipped, African Americans were determined to prove their value to their country. Those who had the best chance to do so are still celebrated: the Tuskegee Airmen, the Montford Point Marines, the crews of the USS Mason, and the integrated Coast Guard vessels. Many more—in adverse conditions, sometimes coming under fire, still completely segregated, with virtually no hope of going into combat or winning advancement—toiled ceaselessly to load and unload ammunition and supplies and to support the war effort in many other thankless jobs, whether in the continental United States, in Europe, or in the Pacific. Given the reluctance of the U.S. military to accept African Americans at any level in the armed forces, their contribution seems all the more remarkable.

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See also African American Enlistment; African American Officers; African American Women in the Military; Desegregation of Armed Forces (chronology); Double V; Golden Thirteen; Guam Incident; Iwo Jima, Battle of; Jim Crow Military; Miller, Dorie; Montford Point Marines; National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; Port Chicago Mutiny; Segregation and Racism in the Military; Selective Service Acts; PC-1264, USS; Tuskegee Airmen; U.S. Air Force; U.S. Army; U.S. Army, Interwar Period; U.S. Coast Guard; U.S. Marine Corps; U.S. Navy; Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps;

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Women’s Reserve of the U.S. Navy; World War II Infantry Replacements References and Further Reading Francis, Charles E. The Tuskegee Airmen: The Story of the Negro in the U.S. Air Force. Boston: Bruce Humphries, 1955. Furer, Julius Augustus, Charles Eddison, and Ernest McNeill Elder. Administration of the Navy Department In World War II. Washington, DC: Department of the Navy, 1959. Ginzberg, Eli. The Negro Potential. New York: Columbia University Press, 1956. Greene, Robert E. Black Defenders of America, 1775–1973. Chicago: Johnson Publishing, 1974. Hastie, William H. On Clipped Wings: The Story of Jim Crow in the Army Air Corps. New York: NAACP, 1943. Kaplan, Hyman R. This Is the United States Coast Guard. Cambridge, MD: Cornell Maritime Press, 1971. King, Samuel. Marginal Man and Military Service: A Review. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1966. Lee, Ulysses. The Employment of Negro Troops. United States Army in World War II: Special Studies. Washington, DC: Center of Military History United States Army, 1966. http://www. army.mil/cmh-pg/books/wwii/11–4/index.htm# contents (accessed August 22, 2003). MacGregor, Morris J., Jr. Integration of the Armed Forces, 1940–1965. Washington, DC: Center of Military History, United States Army, 1985. http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/integration/ IAF-fm.htm (accessed August 16, 2003). Mandelbaum, David G. Soldier Groups and Negro Soldiers. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1952. Motley, Mary P., et al. The Invisible Soldier: The Experience of the Black Soldier, World War II. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1975. Murray, Florence, ed. Negro Handbook, 1946–1947. New York: A. A. Wyn, 1948. Osur, Alan M. Blacks in the Army Air Forces during World War II: The Problem of Race Relations. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1977. Purdon, Eric. Black Company: The Story of Subchaser 1264. Washington, DC: Luce, 1972. Shaw, Henry I., Jr., and Ralph W. Donnelly. Blacks

in the Marine Corps. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1975. Stouffer, Samuel A., et al. Studies in Social Psychology in World War II. Vol. I, The American Soldier: Adjustment during Army Life. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1949. Strobridge, Truman R. Blacks and Lights: A Brief Historical Survey of Blacks and the Old U.S. Lighthouse Service. Washington, DC: Office of the USCG Historian, 1975. Treadwell, Mattie E. The Women’s Army Corps. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1954.

World War II Infantry Replacements By December 1944, the U.S. Army was facing something of a manpower crisis in the European theater. There was a gap between numbers of casualties and the numbers of infantrymen available to replace them. The Ground Force Replacement Command (GFRC) put a program in place in July 1944 to bridge the gap; it aimed to retrain men from other arms of the service as infantrymen. Progress was slow, and the problem was exacerbated by the falling numbers of men being sent from the United States to Europe. In early December 1944 it was estimated that by the end of the month, the army would be short about 29,000 riflemen. Just a week later, the Germans launched their last great counteroffensive in the west, the Ardennes offensive, which made the situation even worse. Even without the casualties that the Ardennes offensive caused, the army’s own offensive operations would have been seriously impaired. Plans had been laid to deal with the shortages, and it had been proposed that all physically fit service personnel would be redeployed as infantrymen. Notably, Lt. John C. H. Lee’s Communications Zone units could provide some 20,000 men. Men from new divisions, straight from basic training, would be posted into veteran divisions

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as a matter of course, and limited-assignment men (that is, less-able soldiers) would fill the service positions. Lee also consulted Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, among others, proposing that African American men who were physically qualified be deployed to serve as infantrymen. The level of panic and crisis helped override many of the anticipated objections to the move, and Eisenhower, Gen. Omar N. Bradley, and the other army commanders agreed with the proposition. Lee now needed assistance to swing the operation into force, and he consulted with Brig. Gen. Henry J. Matchett (of the GFRC) and the African American Brig. Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Sr. (special adviser and coordinator to the theater commander on Negro troops). Unsurprisingly, Davis was very enthusiastic, and by Christmas Day 1944, a plan had been formed to train African American volunteers as infantry replacements. The call went out on December 26, and by the twenty-seventh it had been relayed to all of the troops. It read: 1. The Supreme Commander desires to destroy the enemy forces and end hostilities in this theater without delay. Every available weapon at our disposal must be brought to bear upon the enemy. To this end the Commanding General, Com Z, is happy to offer to a limited number of colored troops who have had infantry training, the privilege of joining our veteran units at the front to deliver the knockout blow. The men selected are to be in the grades of Private First Class and Private. Non-commissioned officers may accept reduction in order to take advantage of this opportunity. The men selected are to be given a refresher course with emphasis on weapon training. 2. The Commanding General makes a special appeal to you. It is planned to assign you without regard to color or race to the units where assistance is most needed, and give you the opportunity of fighting shoulder to shoulder to bring about victory. Your comrades at the front are anxious to share the glory of vic-

tory with you. Your relatives and friends everywhere have been urging that you be granted this privilege. The Supreme Commander, your Commanding General, and other veteran officers who have served with you are confident that many of you will take advantage of this opportunity and carry on in keeping with the glorious record of our colored troops in our former wars. 3. This letter is to be read confidentially to the troops immediately upon its receipt and made available in Orderly Rooms. Every assistance must be promptly given qualified men to volunteer for this service (Letter, Headquarters Com Z to Commanders of Colored Troops, December 26, 1944, quoted in Lee 1966, 689).

Initially only 2,000 men would be accepted, both because this was the maximum capacity of the GFRC and because it would not be too heavy a toll on the service units, whose functions could not be impaired by a sudden depletion in manpower. The highest-scoring and best-qualified men would be chosen first, and no one below grade IV on the Army General Classification Test would be taken. The volunteers would be chosen by January 9, 1945, and would be expected to report to the 16th Reinforcement Depot (in Compiègne, France) by the next day. There they would be unassigned and attached to the GFRC. Once retrained, the men would be assigned to combat units without regard to their race. This was a remarkable innovation, for up to this point in the history of the U.S. Army, no official move had ever been made to mix African American soldiers into white units. Equally important was the fact that the men would be assigned on an individual basis, replacing men lost without any regard to a quota system. A copy of the letter circulated to the troops eventually found its way onto the desk of Lt. Gen. Walter B. Smith at the Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF). He felt that the letter was explosive and that the War Department would never agree to the plan.

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He asked Lee to change the contents of the letter, but Lee demurred. Consequently, Smith fired off a letter to Eisenhower: Although I am now somewhat out of touch with the War Department’s Negro policy, I did, as you know, handle this during the time I was with General Marshall. Unless there has been a radical change, the sentence which I have marked in the attached circular letter [the sentence “It is planned to assign you without regard to color or race to the units where assistance is most needed, and give you the opportunity of fighting shoulder to shoulder to bring about victory”] will place the War Department in very grave difficulties. It is inevitable that this statement will get out, and equally inevitable that the result will be that every negro organization, pressure group and newspaper will take the attitude that, while the War Department segregates colored troops into organizations of their own against the desires and pleas of all the negro race, the Army is perfectly willing to put them in the front lines mixed in units with white soldiers, and have them do battle when an emergency arises. Two years ago I would have considered the marked statement the most dangerous thing that I had ever seen in regard to Negro relations. I have talked with Lee about it, and he can’t see this at all. He believes that it is right that colored and white soldiers should be mixed in the same company. With this belief I do not argue, but the War Department policy is different. Since I am convinced that this circular letter will have the most serious repercussions in the United States, I believe that it is our duty to draw the War Department’s attention to the fact that this statement has been made, to give them warning as to what may happen and any facts which they may use to counter the pressure which will undoubtedly be placed on them. Further, I recommend most strongly that Communications Zone not be permitted to issue any general circulars relating to negro pol-

icy until I have had a chance to see them. This is because I know more about the War Department’s and General Marshall’s difficulties with the negro question than any other man in this theater, including General B. O. Davis whom Lee consulted in the matter—and I say this with all due modesty. I am writing this as I may not see you tomorrow morning. Will talk to you about it when I return (Smith, letter to Eisenhower, January 3, 1944, quoted in Lee 1966, 690).

An amended letter was sent, with a covering note that ordered the destruction of the original communication. The new version read: 1. The Supreme Commander desires to destroy the enemy forces and end hostilities in this theater without delay. Every available weapon at our disposal must be brought to bear upon the enemy. To this end the Theater Commander has directed the Communications Zone Commander to make the greatest possible use of limited service men within service units and to survey our entire organization in an effort to produce able bodied men for the front lines. This process of selection has been going on for some time but it is entirely possible that many men themselves, desiring to volunteer for front line service, may be able to point out methods in which they can be replaced in their present jobs. Consequently, Commanders of all grades will receive voluntary applications for transfer to the Infantry and forward them to higher authority with recommendations for appropriate type of replacement. This opportunity to volunteer will be extended to all soldiers without regard to color or race, but preference will normally be given to individuals who have had some basic training in Infantry. Normally, also, transfers will be limited to the grade of Private and Private First Class unless a noncommissioned officer requests a reduction. 2. In the event that the number of suitable negro volunteers exceeds the replacement needs of negro combat units, these men will | 578 |

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be suitably incorporated in other organizations so that their service and their fighting spirit may be efficiently utilized. 3. This letter may be read confidentially to the troops and made available in Orderly Rooms. Every assistance must be promptly given qualified men who volunteer for this service (letter Headquarters Com Z, December 26, 1944).

Unfortunately, the revised letter appeared too late, and many of the commanders of African American units had already received the original on December 28, 1944, and had distributed copies to relevant sections of their commands. It is worth noting that there were no African American infantry units in Europe; that African American artillery, tank, and tank destroyer units (such as the 333d Field Artillery Battalion and the 761st Tank Battalion) were desperate for replacements; and that the revised letter implied volunteers would find themselves primarily in these units. The situation was becoming muddy and confused. After-the-fact interpretations suggest that it was not Eisenhower’s intention to place African Americans in white units. It seems that Eisenhower’s preferred solution was to deploy African American volunteers into existing African American units first and then to use any excess volunteers to create new trainee units that could be assigned to any army group; the initial goal would be to establish a full battalion. These African American units “could be substituted for white units in order that white units could be drawn out of line and rested” (Supreme Headquarters American Expeditionary Force G1, January 8, 1945). But the bulk of the volunteers had already answered the call by the time the revised letter was in common circulation. By February 1945, 4,562 African American troops had volunteered, including many noncommissioned officers who were prepared to take the drop in rank. The first batch of 2,800 volunteers was ordered to report to the GFRC throughout January and in early February. This group was a mix

of men, dominated by some 38 percent from the engineers. Of the rest, 29 percent were former quartermasters, 20 percent came from transportation, 9 percent were signalmen, 2 percent came from ordnance, and the remaining 2 percent came from all other branches of the service. About 63 percent had been truck drivers, duty soldiers, longshoremen, basic soldiers, construction foremen, and cargo checkers. Only 10 percent of the first batch were over the age of thirty. Some 22 percent were high school graduates, higher than the 18 percent of African Americans in the army as a whole who were high school graduates. The men were formed up into the 47th Reinforcement Battalion, 5th Retraining. Training was under the command of Col. Alexander George at the 16th Reinforcement Depot based at Compiègne. It was apparent from the outset that the men were well motivated, and the absenteeism and discipline records were excellent. Toward the end of January 1945, the retraining was coming to a close, and the problem of deploying the men needed to be cleared up. The GFRC was only really geared to provide individual replacements for units; it was not able to create a battalion from scratch. There was now an added complication: Responsibility for these men transferred from Lee to the newly arrived Lt. Gen. Ben Lear. Lear’s new instructions, which he received from Lee, were that Eisenhower “now desires that these colored riflemen reinforcements have their training completed as members of Infantry rifle platoons familiar with the Infantry rifle platoon weapons.” Lee told him, “It is my feeling that we should afford the volunteers the full opportunity for Infantry riflemen service. Therefore we should not assign them as Tank or Artillery reinforcements unless they express such preference. To do otherwise would be breaking faith, in my opinion” (Lee, memo to Lear, February 1, 1945). In any event, forty-five to forty-seven overstrength platoons could be created, and the first of the 2,253 men considered ready on March 1 were organized as thirty-seven platoons. Of these, twenty-five would be transferred to the

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command of Twelfth Army Group and the balance to the command of the Sixth Army Group. Each of the platoons was met by a platoon leader and sergeant at the depot, and the army groups were given the discretion to use the men as they saw fit, either as platoon-sized reinforcements or as larger groups, and eventually as whole battalions as more men became available. Of the men assigned to the Twelfth Army Group, three platoons were given to each of the divisions, and each division gave one platoon to each of their regiments, reinforcing one of the regiment’s companies. Brig. Gen. Charles Latham, speaking shortly after the war, said of the new divisions, “They had had some sort of training before they joined us, but we wanted to make sure they knew all the tricks of infantry fighting. We assigned our best combat leaders as instructors. I watched those lads train and if ever men were in dead earnest, they were” (before American Council on Race Relations, New York City, July 12, 1946; quoted in Lee 1966, 695). Most of the divisions welcomed the men with open arms. They were personally addressed by the divisional commander and given the division’s patches. The general experience was that they were incorporated and accepted quickly and used just like any other platoon. The army and theater headquarters were especially interested in the performance and casualty rate of the platoons. For the most part, average casualty figures were the same as or in some cases slightly higher than those of similar white platoons. There were inherent contradictions between the way the original letter said the men would be used and the way they were eventually used, and now those contradictions came back to haunt the army. All of the men were privates; some had been noncommissioned officers willing to lose their rank to fight. Now the platoons had no real rank structure, and the divisional commands struggled with grades and promotions. Some of the men were clearly eligible to be promoted to noncommissioned officers, and others showed the aptitude for officer training.

By the end of March, the divisions were beginning to realize that the men were very credible replacements, and for the most part, the combat élan of the platoons was exceptional. Several of the men had already been recommended for the Bronze Star. General Davis made a tour of the divisions to collect his own impressions of the men’s first month. At Twelfth Army Group, General Bradley was well satisfied; Gen. Courtney Hodges (of the First Army) reported that his African American troops were excellent. The general impression, from army group to regimental level, was that the new platoons were functioning well. The experience of the African American platoon assigned to the 60th Infantry Regiment was typical of the approach of these men, who had been thirsting for action ever since they had arrived in Europe. On April 5, 1945, the African American platoon had taken part in the capture of Lengenbach, running into stiff opposition from the die-hard German defenders. On April 9, Pfc. Jack Thomas was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for leading his squad against an enemy force that had blocked a road. Under heavy fire, he scattered the Germans with grenades and fired a rocket at a solitary German tank. Not content with this, he then scooped up a member of the rocket launcher team who had been wounded and carried him to cover. The 104th Infantry Regiment gave General Davis the following report:

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Morale: Excellent. Manner of performance: Superior. Men are very eager to close with the enemy and to destroy him. Strict attention to duty, aggressiveness, common sense and judgment under fire has won the admiration of all the men in the company. The colored platoon after initial success continued to do excellent work. Observation discloses that these people observe all the rules of the book. When given a mission they accept it with enthusiasm, and even when losses to their platoon were inflicted the colored boys accepted these losses as part of war, and continued on their mission. The Company Commander, officers, and men

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of Company “F” all agree that the colored platoon has a calibre of men equal to any veteran platoon. Several decorations for bravery are in the process of being awarded to the members of colored platoons (letter, Davis to GI Inspection Section, April 25, 1945).

Maj. Gen. Edwin F. Parker, commander of the 78th Division at Remagen, told Davis that he wanted more African American platoons. The 99th Division reported that their African American troops performed in an excellent manner at all times while in combat. These men were courageous fighters and never once did they fail to accomplish their assigned mission. They were particularly good in town fighting and were often used as the assault platoon with good results. The platoon assigned to the 393d Infantry is credited with killing approximately two Germans and capturing 900. During this action only three of their own men were killed and fifteen wounded (Headquarters 99th Division, letter to Commanding General XII Corps, June 21, 1945).

Not all of the reports were complimentary; the twelve platoons that had been assigned to the Seventh Army were handed over to the 12th Armored Division, whose lack of infantry had become critical. The unit had already had a less-than-ideal experience with the 827th Tank Destroyer Battalion, an African American unit, and great things were not expected of the new African American infantry platoons. The platoons’ new role was to support tank operations, for which they had no experience. They were assigned to the armored infantry battalions of the division and soon picked up the fundamentals of this form of combat. On March 26 four more platoons arrived from Sixth Army Group and joined the 14th Armored Division, attached to the Combat Command Reserve and designated as the Seventh Army Provisional Infantry Company No. 1 attached to the 56th Armored Infantry Battalion. When the 14th moved to the

Third Army on April 23, the company moved with them. Four days earlier, General Davis had visited the battalion and discovered that the company had not yet been deployed as a whole unit, but detachments had already been committed to combat. A notable episode had occurred on March 23 at Speyer: African American Sgt. Edward A. Carter Jr. led three men across a field toward an enemy position after coming under heavy fire. Two of his men were killed and a third wounded, but the sergeant continued to move in on the German position. He was forced to take cover after receiving five wounds, but when eight Germans attempted to capture him, he killed six of them and captured the other two. Using the prisoners as a shield, he recrossed the field and delivered the prisoners for interrogation. The men attached to the 14th Armored Division were in continual combat from April 5 to May 3, 1945, as the division moved through Bavaria. The first real opportunity for combat came as two of the platoons took Mainz. At Creussen on April 15, the 94th Reconnaissance Squadron found itself surrounded by enemy troops and called for reinforcements, which it received in the form of part of the 25th Tank Battalion and one African American infantry platoon. As the reinforcements approached Gottsfeld at around 11:45 a.m., they came under fire from German antitank guns, and two tanks were knocked out. The African American platoon dismounted from the tanks and, under heavy fire, managed to clear the Gottsfeld by 3 p.m. The tanks were able to move forward once again, knocking out five enemy tanks; the combined force was able to enter Creussen at 5 p.m. The African American platoons of the Combat Command Reserve operated in the area until about April 17, patrolling the area and capturing large numbers of German prisoners. As far as the 14th were concerned, the African American troops had proved themselves. Gen. Alexander Patch was still unconvinced, and he complained to General Davis that the men were not suited to be used as armored

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infantry. Davis carefully explained that the men had been trained as riflemen and were learning on the job and that in his opinion they were performing well above expectations. This was an issue that required a solution, and a series of communications between Generals Davis and Lear and Gen. Jacob L. Dever and General Patch suggested that the men be used only in infantry divisions commensurate with their training. Alternatively, it was suggested that they receive additional training for use in armored divisions. The result was that Maj. Gen. Roderick Allen (commander of the 12th Armored Division) visited General Patch on May 12 to discuss the matter. But by then the hostilities were over, for Patch had decided on May 11 that the issue need not be pursued and that Allen would arrange for the men to receive company training. The men’s morale and performance were undoubtedly affected by the size and nature of their deployment. The larger groups, of company size, felt somewhat distanced from the units they fought alongside. The smaller groups, operating at either platoon or even squad level, had become integral parts of the units to which they were assigned. For the most part, the experiment simply proved that integration of African Americans was positive and that continued segregation was counterproductive. Examples of the benefits of integrating the smaller formations were widespread, and platoon and company commanders were generally very positive and complimentary. What had also been a decisive factor in the success of the program was the lack of friction or instances of racial problems. Time and time again, the African Americans had proved firsthand to their white counterparts that they were not afraid to take the same risks. When opportunities arose for rest and recreation, the races mixed, eating together and socializing. One company commander was quoted as saying, “The premise that no soldier will hold black skin against a man if he can shoot his rifle and does not run away proved to be substantially true. Most of the white men of

the company soon became highly appreciative of the Negroes’ help and warmly applauded their more colorful individual and combat exploits” (Lewis 1945, 4). With hostilities in Europe now giving way to occupation, with its very different requirements and function, there were some concerns about retaining the African American elements with the white units. The African Americans, as redeployment got underway, feared they would be transferred back into service units. A large group of the men were transferred to a combat engineer battalion and began work on constructing redeployment camps. Redeployment was based on a points system throughout the army, and the majority of the African Americans had fewer points than did white troops because they had only been deployed as combat troops since the beginning of 1945. Those with higher point totals (about 1,000 men) were sent to the 69th Infantry, which was bound for America. Another group was sent to the 350th Field Artillery Battalion, an African American unit with a low redeployment status, which meant that the men were able to retain their status as combat troops. The African American combat troops feared that they would not have the opportunity to return to the United States along with the divisions in which they had fought. They would lose the honor of returning home as acknowledged combat troops, and given that many of the men hoped discrimination in the army was coming to an end, this was a matter of great concern. The use of African American rifle platoons had dealt with the last major hurdle in the army: No longer would these men be considered only worthy of driving a truck or digging latrines. World War II proved that African Americans could be deployed for longer and in more varied roles than they had ever before been permitted. By the end of the war, some 10 percent of the army’s total manpower were African Americans. What remained was to review the deployment and make sure that the lessons were not forgotten.

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The McCloy Committee was already at work to establish a clearer postwar policy on the deployment and use of African Americans, but on October 4, 1945, the War Department appointed Lt. Gen. Alvan C. Gillem Jr. to head a board of officers to investigate and prepare a new policy on the employment of African Americans in the army. The tide had now begun to turn inexorably toward integration. In the summer of 1945 the chief historian of the army, Dr. Walter L. Wright Jr., wrote to Col. John M. Kemper: With your general conclusion regarding the performance of Negro troops, I tend to agree: They cannot be expected to do as well in any Army function as white troops unless they have absolutely first-class leadership from their officers. Such leadership may be provided, in my opinion, either by white or by Negro officers, but white officers would have to be men who have some understanding of the attitude of mind which Negroes possess and some sympathy with them as human beings. What troubles me is that anybody of real intelligence should be astonished to discover that Negro troops require especially good leadership if their performance is to match that of white troops. This same state of affairs exists, I think, with any group of men who belong to a subject nationality or national minority consisting of under-privileged individuals from depressed social strata. American Negro troops are, as you know, ill-educated on the average and often illiterate; they lack self-respect, selfconfidence, and initiative; they tend to be very conscious of their low standing in the eyes of the white population and consequently feel very little motive for aggressive fighting. In fact, their survival as individuals and as a people has often depended on their ability to subdue completely even the appearance of aggressiveness. After all, when a man knows that the color of his skin will automatically disqualify him for reaping the fruits of attainment it is no wonder that he sees little point in trying very

hard to excel anybody else. To me, the most extraordinary thing is that such people continue trying at all. The conclusion which I reach is obvious: We cannot expect to make first-class soldiers out of second or third or fourth class citizens. The man who is lowest down in civilian life is practically certain to be lowest down as a soldier. Accordingly, we must expect depressed minorities to perform much less effectively than the average of other groups in the population. So far as the war in progress is concerned, the War Department must deal with an existing state of affairs and its employment of Negroes must parallel the employment of the same group in civilian American society. Yet, it is important to remember that the civilian status of Negroes in this country is changing with a rapidity which I believe to be unique in history; the level of literacy is rising steadily and quickly and privileges other than educational are being gained every year (personal letter to Kemper, July 3, 1945, quoted in Lee 1966, 704).

Wright’s words were prophetic, and before another ten years had elapsed segregation in the military would be over. Progress toward desegregation had been helped by the sacrifices of the men who volunteered when the U.S. Army was in dire need in Europe from the end of 1944 through 1945. See also: Carter, Edward Allen, Jr.; Davis, Benjamin Oliver, Sr.; Double V; Segregation and Racism in the Military; U.S. Army; World War II References and Further Reading Carter, Joseph. The History of the 14th Armored Division. Atlanta, GA: Love, 1946. Hoegh, Leo A., and Howard J. Doyle. Timberwolf Tracks: The History of the 104th Infantry Division, 1942–1945. Washington, DC: Infantry Journal Press, 1946. Lee, Ulysses. The Employment of Negro Troops. U.S. Army in World War II; Center of Military History

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Publication 11/4. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1966. Lewis, Robert. “Negroes under Fire.” The Progressive and LaFollette’s Magazine 9 (September 9, 1945): 4. Mittelman, Joseph B. Eight Stars to Victory: A History of the Veteran Ninth U.S. Infantry

Division. Columbus, OH: 9th Infantry Division Association, 1948. Star, Shirley. “Negro Soldiers.” In The American Soldier: Adjustment during Army Life, ed. Samuel A. Stouffer et al. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1949.

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y Young, Charles (1864–1922) Charles Young was the third African American to graduate from West Point (in 1889) and the first to attain the rank of lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army. He was born in Maylick, Kentucky, in 1864 and graduated from high school in Ripley, Ohio. He was first assigned duty in the 10th Cavalry at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, and he spent the remainder of his military career attached to all–African American regiments. An accomplished linguist, with a good command of Latin, Greek, French, Spanish, and German, Young served as professor of military science at Wilberforce University. From 1894 and throughout the Spanish American War (1898) he commanded the 9th Ohio Volunteer Infantry and was brevetted major. In 1903 he was acting superintendent of parks at Sequoia and General Grant National Parks in California, and married Ada Barr, with whom he had two children, Charles Noel, born in 1907, and Marie, born in 1909. Young was one of the first military attachés, controlled by the Military Information Division, at the U.S. legation in Port au Prince, Haiti. He made extended military reconnaissance of the country and the neighboring Republic of Santo

Domingo and produced detailed maps of the local terrain between 1904 and 1907. In 1908 he was sent to the Philippines to command a squadron of two troops, following which time he went to Liberia for more attaché duty. His responsibility there was to advise the Liberian constabulary and to supervise the construction of roads. For his efforts and achievements in Liberia, Young received the Spingarn Medal. The Spingarn Medal, founded in 1914, has been awarded annually by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to an African American who has demonstrated distinguished merit and achievement during the year. During the 1916 punitive expedition in Mexico, Young commanded a squadron of the 10th Cavalry. On March 9, 1916, at Agua Caliente, Mexico, Major Young led a squadron in a cavalry pistol charge against the Villista forces, routing the 150 men led by General Francisco Beltran; Young’s squadron received no casualties. On April 12 his squadron relieved the wounded Maj. Frank Tompkins at Hacienda Santa Cruz de la Villegas, an action that may have prevented a war with Mexico. Young was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1916 for his operations in Mexico, eventually rising to the rank of colonel the following year and for a short time in command of Fort Huachuca.

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Young was expected to become the first African American general to take part in World War I, as General Pershing had included him on the list of officers to be considered for brigade or higher command. But prior to the outbreak of this war he appeared before the American Expeditionary Force promotion board and was found to be physically unfit to serve overseas. In a determined attempt to prove his fitness and gain permission to command his black troopers in France during World War I, Young rode on horseback from Ohio to Washington, D.C., to press his claim to serve during the war. When his medical records were finally released they showed that he suffered from chronic nephritis (Bright’s disease), but these were hardly debilitating conditions and did not preclude his being recalled later to serve in Africa, reinforcing the suspicion that the army had enforced Young’s retirement so as not to allow an African American to reach the rank of general. Young was later recalled to serve once more as military attaché in Liberia, and he died while on a research expedition in Lagos, Nigeria, on April 8, 1922. His body was returned to the United States and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery; his home in Ohio is a registered National Historical Landmark. W. E. B. Du Bois, historian and one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), wrote of his longtime friend Young in an issue of The Crisis after the colonel’s death: The life of Charles Young was a triumph of tragedy. No one ever knew the truth about the Hell he went through at West Point. He seldom even mentioned it. The pain was too great. Few knew what faced him always in his army life. It was not enough for him to do well—he must always do better; and so much and so conspicuously better, as to disarm the scoundrels that ever trailed him. He lived in the army surrounded by insult and intrigue and yet he set his teeth and kept his soul serene and triumphed. He was one of the few

Maj. Charles Young of the 10th Cavalry, 1916. In 1916, Young played a key role in the campaign against Pancho Villa, which prompted his promotion to lieutenant colonel and then full colonel in 1917. (National Archives)

men I know who literally turned the other cheek with Jesus Christ. He was laughed at for it and his own people chided him bitterly, yet he persisted. When a white Southern pigmy at West Point protested at taking food from a dish passed first to Young, Young passed it to him first and afterward to himself. When officers of inferior rank refused to salute a “nigger,” he saluted them. Seldom did he lose his

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Yo u n g , C h a r l e s

temper, seldom complain. . . . He is dead. But the heart of the Great Black Race, the Ancient of Days—the Undying and Eternal—rises and salutes his shining memory: Well done! Charles Young, Soldier and Man and unswerving friend (quoted in Finley 1993). See also Buffalo Soldiers; 9th Cavalry; Pancho Villa Campaign; Philippine Insurrection; Spanish-American War; 10th Cavalry; West Point; World War I References and Further Reading Chew, Abraham. A Biography of Colonel Charles Young. Washington, DC: Pendleton, 1923.

Cox, Clinton. The Forgotten Heroes. New York: Scholastic, 1993. Finley, James P. “Roll Call: Colonel Charles Young— Black Cavalryman, Huachuca Commander, and Early Intelligence Officer.” Huachuca Illustrated: A Magazine of the Fort Huachuca Museum, vol. 1, 1993. http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/comment/ huachuca/HI1-19.htm (accessed September 16, 2003). Leckie, William H. The Buffalo Soldiers: A Narrative of the Negro Cavalry in the West. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1967. Scott, Edward Van Zile. The Unwept: Black American Soldiers and the Spanish-American War. Montgomery, AL: Black Belt Press, 1995.

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z Z-Gram 66 (December 17, 1970) The so-called Z-Grams were policy directives issued by Adm. Elmo Russell Zumwalt Jr. while he was chief of naval operations between July 1, 1970, and July 1, 1974. Z-Grams are more properly known as Z-NavOps. During Zumwalt’s period in office, he issued 121 Z-Grams, the most important of which, as far as African Americans were concerned, was Z-Gram 66, which was issued on December 17, 1970. ZGram 66 was written as a result of the gradual reduction in African American participation in the Vietnam War. Following is the full transcript of Z-Gram 66: Z-gram #66: (Equal Opportunity); dated December 17, 1970 Equal Opportunity in the Navy 1. The purpose of this NavOp is to express my wholehearted support of the policies on equal opportunity strongly reaffirmed by the secretary of the Navy in AlNav 51, to express my general guidance for implementation of these policies, and to direct implementation of a few of the actions we can take immediately. 2. Last month, [Navy] Secretary [John H.] Chafee and I, along with other senior offi| 589 |

cials of the Navy Department, met on one occasion with representative black Navy officers and their wives and later with a representative group of black enlisted men and their wives. Prior to these meetings, I was convinced that, compared with the civilian community, we had relatively few racial problems in the Navy. However, after exploring the matter in some depth with these two groups, I have discovered that I was wrong—we do have problems, and it is my intention and that of Secretary Chafee to take prompt steps toward their solution. 3. What struck me more than anything else was the depth of feeling of our black personnel that there is significant discrimination in the Navy. Prior to these meetings, I sincerely believed that I was philosophically prepared to understand the problems of our black Navy men and their families, and until we discussed them at length, I did not realize the extent and deep significance of many of these matters. 4. There are two keys to the problem. First, we must open up new avenues of communication with not only our black personnel, but also with all minority groups in the Navy so that we may learn what and where the areas of friction are. Second, all of us in the Navy must develop a far greater sensitivity to the problems of all our minority groups so that

Z-Gram 66

that a minority group wife is included in the Navy wives ombudsman concept set forth in Ref B. C. The programs already begun by ComNavSupSysCom to ensure that the special needs of minority groups are recognized and provided for shall be expedited, namely:

we may more effectively go about solving them. Our meetings here in Washington were a beginning, but no more than that. Much remains to be done. 5. For example, I am particularly distressed by the numerous examples of discrimination black Navy families still experience in attempting to locate housing for their families. This situation and others like it are indicative in some cases of less than full teamwork being brought to bear by the whole Navy team on behalf of some of our members and failure to use existing authority and directives to enforce their rights (SecNav Inst 5350.12). In some places housing personnel are tacitly contributing to discrimination in housing. 6. Secretary Chafee and I have asked our staffs to begin work with other members of the Navy Department to make an in-depth investigation of this problem and present to us within 60 days proposals which will help alleviate the most acute housing problems. Meanwhile, there are many things that can be acted upon immediately. Therefore, by 15 January 1971 I expect action to be taken as follows:

1. Suitable cosmetics and other products for black personnel and their dependents will be stocked in Navy exchanges. 2. Ship’s stores will stock black grooming aids. 3. Every base and station will employ, as soon as possible, at least one qualified black barber/beautician in major barber and beauty shops, and will work toward the goal of having sufficient barbers/beauticians qualified in hair care for black personnel to provide service for all black patrons. 4. All major commissaries shall stock foods and produce frequently requested by minority groups. As a minimum, specific recommendations should be solicited from minority personnel and their families and acted upon by local commissary managers.

A. Every base, station and aircraft squadron commander and ship commanding officer shall appoint an aware minority group officer or senior petty officer as his special assistant for minority affairs. This officer or petty officer should have direct access to the commander/commanding officer and will be consulted on all matters involving minority personnel. Excepting those commands already having minorityaffairs officer billets, the initial assignment will be on a concurrent duty basis. (I carefully weighed this item with my desire, as expressed in Ref A, to reduce collateral duty assignments. However, after discussing this with several black officers I became convinced that they would in fact cherish this as a collateral duty.) B. All shore based commanders shall ensure

D. Special services officers which deal in discount tickets for various entertainment programs will also obtain discount tickets to events of special interest to minority groups whenever such tickets are available. E. A representative selection of books, magazines and records by and about black Americans will be made available in Navy libraries, wardrooms, clubs and other reading areas. Any of the above which can’t be accomplished within the time specified above will be reported via chain of command together with a summary of circumstances preventing timely implementation. | 590 |

Z-Gram 66

7. In order that I may reach a more complete understanding of the problems experienced by our minority personnel, in addition to SecNav/OpNav/BuPers team visits I am directing my special assistant for minority affairs, LCdr Norman, to visit major naval activities within CONUS to meet with individual commanding officers and with minority military personnel and their dependents. By learning in depth what our problems are, I believe we will be in a better position to work toward guaranteeing equal opportunity and treatment for all of our Navy people. 8. This is the first of my reports to you on minority affairs. Secretary Chafee and I will be looking into all areas of minority affairs and will be issuing further reports as our problems become more clear and their solutions become more apparent. It is evident that we need to maximize our efforts to improve the lot of our minority Navymen. I am convinced that there is no place in our Navy for

insensitivity. We are determined that we shall do better. Meanwhile, we are counting on your support to help seek out and eliminate those demeaning areas of discrimination that plague our minority shipmates. Ours must be a Navy family that recognizes no artificial barriers of race, color or religion. There is no black Navy, no white Navy—just one Navy—the United States Navy. E. R. Zumwalt, Jr., Admiral, U.S. Navy Chief of Naval Operations See also U.S. Navy; Vietnam War References and Further Reading Naval Historical Center Web site. “Z-Gram # 66.” http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq93-66.htm. Zumwalt, Elmo, Jr. On Watch: A Memoir. New York: Quadrangle/New York Times, 1976. Zumwalt, Elmo, Jr., and Elmo Zumwalt III. My Father, My Son. New York: Macmillan, 1986.

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Chronology

1639

1705

Virginia passes the first legislation excluding African Americans from the militia forces.

Virginia passes legislation preventing African Americans from holding military office.

1652

1707

Massachusetts passes a law requiring African Americans and Native Americans living with, or servants to, English settlers to be given military training in case of Native American attacks.

South Carolina passes legislation requiring militia captains to ensure that each white militiaman brings with him an armed African American slave. 1708

1656 Massachusetts repeals the 1652 law in response to fears of African or Native American uprisings.

South Carolina recruits African American slaves to protect Charleston against Native American raids.

1660

1715

Connecticut excludes African and Native Americans from military call-up.

A Native American tribe, the Yamasee, lead an uprising in the Carolinas. Despite North Carolina’s misgivings about arming African American slaves, many African American militiamen help crush the rebellion.

1676 Nathaniel Bacon of Virginia offers freedom to slaves joining his rebellion to seize Native American lands. Virginia suppresses the revolt, known as Bacon’s Rebellion, without recruiting slaves for its forces. 1689 During King William’s War, African Americans in the regular militia are forced to fight against France and its Native American allies.

1719 South Carolina rescinds the law offering freedom to slaves who kill or capture the enemy; a cash bounty is offered instead. 1723 Virginia allows recruitment of African Americans to serve as trumpeters, drummers, and laborers.

1703 Slaves are enlisted in South Carolina to fight in Queen Anne’s War (1702–1713). Freedom is offered for killing enemy soldiers or taking them prisoner.

1729 French Louisiana recruits African American slaves for a border war with Native Americans.

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Estabrook fight in the Battles of Lexington and Concord (April 19).

1735 Free African Americans serve as officers for Louisiana, leading African American slave units in wars against Native Americans.

May. Several African Americans participated in the storming of Fort Ticonderoga by Ethan Allen’s Green Mountain Boys.

1744–1748 During King George’s War, both freed and enslaved African Americans serve in militia units from New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. African Americans also serve on privateers operating out of Boston. 1747 South Carolina authorizes enlistment of half the able-bodied slave population between sixteen and twenty years of age to serve in the militia in times of emergency.

June. After assuming command of the Continental Army, George Washington issues orders not to recruit African Americans. He later rescinds the instruction to allow the enlistment of freemen. African Americans Peter Salem, Salem Poor (Poore), and Cuff Whittemore all serve in the Battle of Bunker Hill (June 17). Peter Salem allegedly shoots a British major, John Pitcairn. Salem Poor receives a commendation for his bravery in the battle (December 5). July. American general Horatio Gates instructs his recruiting officers not to enlist African Americans, free or slave.

1754–1763 During the French and Indian War many African Americans see service in militia from across New England; notable individuals, including Benjamin Negro and George Gire, receive recognition of their service in the form of a pension. 1770 Runaway slave Crispus Attucks is killed in the Boston Massacre (March 5). He is shot after he attacks a British officer and knocks the musket from the hands of a grenadier. 1774 Massachusetts begins recruiting African Americans into their militia companies. British general Gage turns down the offer of slaves in Boston to enlist in loyal militias in return for their freedom. New York offers freedom to slaves who serve in the militia for three years.

September 26. South Carolina’s Edward Routledge’s proposal to dismiss all African Americans already enlisted in the Continental Army or militias is defeated in the Continental Congress. Washington agrees to recruit only white troops from this point. October 8. In a change of policy, Washington announces that only free African Americans will be considered for enlistment, this is ratified by the Continental Congress. November 7. The Dunmore Proclamation is released offering freedom to male slaves who would serve in loyalist regiments. Over 500 African Americans respond (only 300 are recruited) and the Ethiopian Regiment is formed in Virginia. They fight in the defense of Norfolk (December 11) but are beaten. Some six months later, the 300-man regiment has been halved following a smallpox epidemic. November 28. The Continental Congress establishes the Continental Navy; free and slave African Americans are welcome to enlist.

1775

December 30. George Washington issues a general order encouraging the enlistment of free African Americans in recognition of large numbers offering their service.

Massachusetts decrees that only free African Americans may serve in the militias.

1776

African Americans Pomp Blackman and Prince

Virginia officially welcomes free African Americans | 594 |

Chronology

into the militia; Massachusetts and New Hampshire follow suit. South Carolina, and later many of the other Southern states, pass legislation decreeing the death penalty for slaves who join the British army or navy. February 21. Washington issues an order reminding recruiters that slaves are not to be enlisted in the Continental Army. June. Charleston faces British attack and pressgangs all African Americans to work on field defenses. The South Carolina Committee of Safety pays slave masters ten shillings per day to lease their African Americans; in the event of death or maiming, slave owners are compensated. September 26. African American hangman Bill Richmond executes Connecticut officer Nathan Hale in New York for spying.

June 28. At the Battle of Monmouth in New Jersey, over 700 African American soldiers fight in the engagement. August. Over 300 slaves, recruited by Continental Army officers under Washington’s orders, enlist and fight in the unsuccessful attempt to seize Newport. August 24. In a report by Adj. Gen. Alexander Scammell of the Continental Army, he claims that some 755 African American soldiers are serving in fourteen brigades. Quamino Dolly, an African American slave, acts as a guide and scout for Lt. Col. Archibald Campbell, helping his British force seize Savannah, Georgia. 1779 South Carolina becomes the first state to object to the Continental Congress’s approval of the recruitment of slaves as soldiers and seamen for the duration of the war.

1777 Virginia announces that African Americans will be enlisted only if they can show a Certificate of Freedom. Maryland and other Northern states, to ensure that they meet the Continental Congress’s new recruitment quotas, allow slaves to enlist.

Austin Dabney, the only African American present at the Battle of Kettle Creek in Georgia (February 14), shows great courage in the fighting.

The widespread use of African American slaves does not become a substitute for white men being called up. Rhode Island establishes that all African American battalions be commanded by white officers. There slaves are offered equal pay and freedom. Edward Hector, serving in the 3d Pennsylvania Artillery, fights at the Battle of Brandywine (September 11). He is given a cash reward for his bravery. October. Connecticut issues a proclamation freeing slaves who sign up for the state militia.

March. South Carolina and Georgia reject the Continental Congress’s call to recruit 3,000 African American slaves to serve in segmented units. Congress suggests that the slaves be given $50 and their freedom after the war, and that the slave owners be compensated. Later, Gen. Nathanael Greene’s plan to recruit African Americans is defeated by the objections of South Carolina’s John Laurens, formerly Washington’s aide-de-camp and liaison officer between America and France. The African American slave Pompey, an American spy, obtains a British password that allows Gen. Anthony Wayne’s troops to capture the enemy fort at Stony Point, New York.

April. Massachusetts votes to continue integrating African Americans into militia units despite pleas to create segregated units.

June. British general Sir Henry Clinton offers freedom to all African American slaves who join loyalist militias. This action signals an increase in African American recruitment by both sides during the war.

June 10. The Rhode Island Assembly halts African American recruitment in response to fears about the loss of slaves in Newport and how it would affect the economy.

June 21. After declaring war on Britain, Spanish Louisiana troops, including freemen and slaves of African descent led by black officers, help capture Pensacola and Mobile from the British. Several

1778

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Chronology

black soldiers and officers later are awarded medals for bravery. During the siege of Savannah, Georgia (September 3–October 28), over 500 freemen from Haiti serve in the French fleet under Adm. Jean Baptiste d’Estaing. Around 14 percent of the 3,600-member French expeditionary force are African Americans, including the future ruler of an independent Haiti, Henry Christophe.

June. An all–African American unit, the Connecticut Colonials, is formed. The unit will serve for two years, finally being disbanded in November 1782. At that point, some fifty-two freemen and slaves are incorporated into white units. September 23. Two African Americans are instrumental in the capture and later execution (October 2) in New York of the British spy Maj. John André, an adjutant to General Clinton.

The New York General Assembly allows slaves to join the military. In return for three years’ service, they will gain their freedom. June. Maryland passes legislation enabling free African Americans to enlist; some 750 answer the call. October 19. After General Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown, Virginia, it is revealed that his African American spy, James Armistead, was in fact a double agent. 1782 The British free all African Americans who enlisted before November 30.

September 3. Hostilities end between America and Britain with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. By

In recognition of their services during the war, Austin Dabney is granted his freedom by Georgia and James Armistead receives his from Virginia.

Congress reexcludes African Americans and Native Americans from the regular army. 1792 May. Congress restricts militia enlistment to white citizens only; state militia laws follow suit. 1798

1781

Responding to the reenslavement of African American veterans in the South, Virginia passes legislation guaranteeing them freedom for their military service.

1786

1791

1780

1783

the end of the war some 5,000 African Americans have served in the Continental Army and an additional 5,000 in state militia units.

Secretary of War James McHenry and Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Stoddert issue directives prohibiting the enlistment of African Americans in the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps. Despite the racial enlistment policy, many African Americans serve in the naval war against France (1798–1800). The war against France was only a war in name— it was carried out only at sea and involved U.S. and French vessels harassing one another. African Americans were already in the U.S. Navy and therefore served as they had always done. 1800 Caesar Lloyd Cummings, employed as a clerk and messenger, is the sole surviving African American in the U.S. Marine Corps. The African American population reaches 1,002,037, or 18.9 percent of the population. Ninety percent of these are slaves. African American slave Gabriel Prosser begins organizing a slave rebellion in Virginia. August 20. Prosser musters hundreds of slaves to march on Richmond, six miles from his owner’s property. The plan fails due to poor weather and treachery.

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Chronology

September. Prosser is arrested after being turned in by a slave in Norfolk. He and thirty-five others are hanged for insurrection.

1812 The War of 1812 breaks out between the United States and Great Britain. The British recruit slaves for the Royal Navy and arm runaway slaves in Florida.

1801 Spain cedes Louisiana to France, which has existing African American militia. 1802 In Henrico County, Virginia, a slave called Arthur writes a recruiting leaflet to start another rebellion. A copy of the leaflet is passed to the authorities by a slave. 1803

The U.S. privateer Governor Tompkins is attacked by a British frigate. John Johnson and John Davis, both African Americans, are mortally wounded in the engagement. Louisiana passes legislation to allow free African Americans to serve in the state militia. The African American population reaches 1.4 million, of whom 84 percent are slaves. 1813

Haitian rebel leader Toussaint L’ouverture dies in a French prison and Napoleon Bonaparte restores slavery to the island, as well as Martinique and Guadeloupe. Former slave Jean-Jacques Dessalines (1758–1806) defeats the French and forces the sale of Louisiana to the United States. In New Orleans, free African American militiamen offer their services to the U.S. Army; they are turned down.

March 3. The U.S. Navy, due to severe manpower shortages, authorizes the enlistment of free African Americans. September 10. The Battle of Lake Erie ends in a U.S. victory, with approximately 25 percent of Adm. Oliver Hazard Perry’s sailors being African American. 1814

1807 President Thomas Jefferson signs a bill stating that the United States will no longer engage in the slave trade beginning January 1, 1808. June 22. Three African American sailors—William Ware, David Martin, and John Strachan—are forcibly removed from the USS Chesapeake by British troops from the HMS Leopard three miles off the Virginia coast. The British arrested the men as deserters. Two of the sailors are eventually returned to the United States and the third dies in England. 1811 A slave rebellion led by African American Charles Deslondes, originally from Santo Domingo, flares up in New Orleans. Local militia hang the captured rebels on the spot. African American militia are involved in the mopping-up exercises.

Sir Alexander Cochrane’s British fleet anchors in Chesapeake Bay, offering freedom to African American slaves who bear arms for the Crown. Up to 5,000 respond and Rear Adm. George Cockburn creates the Black Marines. May. Escaped African American slaves in the service of the British Royal Marines, under Acting Ens. William Hammond, fight their first action as they storm a U.S. coastal defense battery at Pungoteague, Virginia. August. The Black Marines fight at the Battle of Bladensburg in Maryland. August 2. Around 1,000 New York African Americans assist in the construction of defense works at Brooklyn Heights to defend the city against the British. September. Philadelphia authorities enlist the support of African American clergy to recruit African Americans for help in the building of defenses

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Chronology

around the city in the wake of the British capture of Washington, D.C. The African Americans build defense works to the south of Philadelphia, on the west bank of the Schuylkill River. September 11. African American troops take part in the Battle of Plattsburg, which aims to protect the Hudson Valley and New York City. September 21. Gen. Andrew Jackson pleads for free African Americans in Louisiana to join his army. He offers equal pay and the same bounty and land grants given to white volunteers. African Americans join segregated units officered by white men and African American noncommissioned officers. October. New York authorizes the creation of two African American militia units to be led by white officers. Freemen will receive equal pay, and slaves who join with the permission of their masters are offered freedom at the termination of hostilities. December 12. Two African American battalions raised by Col. Michel Fortier, Sr., one of which is led by 2d Lt. Isidore Honoré, form in New Orleans. Vincent Populus becomes the first African American field-grade officer. 1815 Although the Battle of New Orleans is fought two weeks after the Treaty of Ghent (which officially ends the War of 1812), Gen. Andrew Jackson deploys in the engagement two battalions of African American troops, amounting to 430 men. For the British, African American troops and West Indians also take part in the engagement. Also present is freed African American Maj. Joseph Savary, leading 200 freemen to fight for the Americans. March 3. Following the end of hostilities, Congress votes to exclude African Americans from the military and establishes a peacetime army of 10,000 men. The War Department issues a statement criticizing the value and conduct of African Americans during the war. 1816 The U.S. Navy decides to exclude African American slaves from serving on their vessels or in their dockyards.

1817 November–December. The U.S. Army mounts an expedition to destroy the Negro Fort (on the Apalachicola River in Spanish Florida), which is manned by African American runaway slaves. The fort is captured and destroyed, putting an end to attacks on U.S. settlements in the wake of the War of 1812. 1818 A number of African American runaway slaves ally with Seminole Indians and fight against the U.S. Army during the First and Second Seminole Wars. 1819 Joseph Savary, who had recruited free African Americans from St. Domingue and Cuba, receives a pension for his war service. 1820 Congress decides to exclude free African Americans from enlisting in the U.S. Army. State militias follow suit. The Missouri Compromise declares that all land north of the Ohio River, with the exception of Missouri, shall not be slave-owning. Harriet Tubman is born in Maryland. Her slave name is Araminta, or Minty. 1821 New U.S. Army regulations are announced that limit recruitment to free white males. Austin Dabney, a free African American veteran of the American Revolution is finally rewarded for his military service by being granted a 112-acre farm by the Georgia legislature. December. Denmark Vesey begins organizing his African American slave rebellion in the Charleston, South Carolina, area. 1822 May 30. Peter Devany, a slave, betrays Vesey.

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Chronology

1835–1843

June 22. Vesey is captured and later hanged along with thirty-six other African Americans.

John B. Russwurm starts Freedom’s Journal, the first African American newspaper.

The Second Seminole War takes place. Continued resistance from the Seminole Indians and their African American allies prolongs the conflict. The war ends in victory for the U.S. Army at a cost of $40 million and 1,800 deaths.

1829

1836

September. David Walker, an African American abolitionist and publisher from Boston, publishes “Walker’s Appeal” in Freedom’s Journal.

The U.S. Congress passes the notorious gag rule, which disallowed debate on slavery and the slave trade.

1827

African Americans are excluded from the Ohio state militia.

African American fifer Peter Allen is listed among the dead when 300 Texans are massacred after surrendering to Mexican forces at Goliad. Allen was a musician in Captain Wyatt’s company.

David Walker flees to Canada after death threats from the South and dies mysteriously.

1837–1838

1831

African American Josiah Henson serves with the British in the Colored Volunteers during the Canadian Rebellion.

1830

Texans begin their war of independence against Mexico. A free African American, Greenbury Logan, is one of the first to settle in Texas and fight in this conflict.

1838

January. Militant white abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison publishes the first edition of the Liberator on New Year’s Day.

Frederick Douglass becomes a free man after escaping from slavery in Baltimore, Maryland. He changes his name to Douglass from Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey.

August. Nat Turner’s rebellion takes place in Southampton County, Virginia. Turner and about seventy followers kills sixty white slave owners. The rebellion is brutally put down.

The Underground Railroad is established. It also becomes known as the Business of Egypt on account of Canada being dubbed “the promised land.”

1833

1839

Great Britain abolishes slavery and compensates former slave owners with £20 million. The United States now stands alone as the only major slaveowning country. 1834 The New Orleans Free Men of Color, who had fought during the two previous wars, are disbanded. The Liberator’s readership is now 75 percent African American.

The U.S. Navy establishes a quota of 5 percent for the number of African Americans recruited into naval service following complaints from white sailors regarding the number of African Americans in the navy. The restrictions are announced in a circular by the acting secretary of the navy, Isaac Chauncey. The Liberty Party is founded by James G. Birney, a former slave owner from Alabama and member of the Anti-Slavery Society.

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1840 Richard Hildreth publishes Despotism in America, a highly influential antislavery text. 1842 The Senate debates and passes a bill put forward by Senator John C. Calhoun of South Carolina to exclude African Americans from the U.S. Navy, except in the capacity of manual laborers. The bill is passed in the Senate but not brought to a vote in the House. 1844 The Liberty Party holds a convention in Buffalo, where a runaway slave, the Reverend Henry Highland Garnet, calls for a general strike and a slave revolt.

Mexican cavalry and U.S. troops blockading a Mexican town. African Americans are largely excluded from the war due to increasing tensions over the race issue, except in the roles of service and support. However, over 1,000 African Americans serve in the U.S. Navy during the war in blockades of Mexican ports. 1847 For two years after the publication of his book, Frederick Douglass is forced into exile in Great Britain and Ireland because he is still officially a wanted man for being a runaway slave. Funds are raised by Ellen Richardson to buy his freedom. 1850–1859 An estimated 3,000 African American and white Underground Railroad “conductors” smuggle approximately 75,000 runaway slaves into Canada.

1845 The gag rule of 1836 is abolished.

1850

Abolitionist Frederick Douglass publishes Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass in Boston.

California applies to join the Union as a free state.

John L. O’Sullivan (1813–1895), who helps direct the purpose of the nation for the next fifty years, coins the term “manifest destiny,” calling for the annexation of continental North America, including California, Texas, western Canada, and Alaska. Integral is the concept of liberty for all.

The Fugitive Slave Act encourages the kidnapping of African Americans because alleged runaways can be seized in any state, cannot testify, cannot call for witnesses, and can be immediately transported to their supposed master, regardless of the period that has elapsed between their escape and their capture.

1846–1848

1851

President James K. Polk initiates the MexicanAmerican War for the possession of Texas and California. The war culminates with U.S. victories at the Battles of Buena Vista and Veracruz in Mexico. African Americans in the U.S. Navy assist in the capture of California.

Harriet Tubman begins her long association with the Underground Railroad. 1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

1846 The Wilmot Proviso is passed by the U.S. Congress, prohibiting the introduction of slavery into any new territories gained by the United States. April 24. The Mexican-American War begins. The war breaks out following a skirmish between

1853 Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes A Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which is based on a conversation with a former slave and now Canadian resident, Josiah Henson.

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1854

1859

The Kansas-Nebraska Act allows new territories to decide whether they shall be a slave-owning state.

August. The violently fervent abolitionist John Brown plans his attack on the arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, to seize the weapons to arm African Americans for a slave revolt.

1855 In Kansas, proslavery and abolitionist groups clash, forming their own militias. In May, abolitionist John Brown joins the Liberty Guards, a guerrilla band that killed five during the Pottawatomie Massacre. 1856 James Buchanan becomes president. Senator Charles Sumner, an abolitionist, is physically attacked in the U.S. Senate by South Carolina representative Preston Brooks.

October 16. John Brown’s Provisional Army of the United States meets at a farm five miles from Harpers Ferry. There are seventeen whites and five African Americans. October 17. En route to the armory, Brown’s men shoot and kill African American Hayward Shepherd. By noon, militia have arrived, later joined by Lt. Col. Robert E. Lee and Lt. J. E. B. Stuart, who assume command. October 18. Now surrounded, Brown receives a note from Lee demanding his surrender. Brown refuses and Stuart leads the assault. Shortly after dawn, the raid is over.

May. Following a proslavery attack on Topeka, Kansas, John Brown and his sons are part of a group that massacres proslavers at nearby Pottawatomie Creek.

October 25. Brown and his men are indicted by a grand jury. Their trial begins the next day. November 2. Brown is found guilty and sentenced to hang in a month.

1857 Dred Scott v. Sandford. Scott, who was born a slave, had been taken to the non-slave owning part of Louisiana by his master. When his master died, Scott applied for freedom on the grounds that slavery was outlawed in the territory. A Missouri court rejected his claim, but Scott’s supporters asked the Supreme Court to make a ruling. The Supreme Court ruled that Scott did not have the rights of a free citizen to sue in a federal court and that he was property and nothing more. The ruling, which overturned the decision of the circuit court of St. Louis, excluded all African Americans from U.S. citizenship and drove a larger wedge between the proslavery lobby and the abolitionists. 1858 The Oberlin Rescue takes place when local inhabitants of Oberlin, Ohio, rescue an escaped slave, John Price, from the local marshal and take him to Canada. Those involved later give themselves up and are met with substantial acclaim.

December 2. John Brown is hanged, with future Confederate commanders Robert E. Lee, J. E. B. Stuart, and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson present. December 8. Brown is buried in New York. 1860 November 6. Abraham Lincoln is elected president. December 20. South Carolina secedes from the Union. 1861 The Civil War starts. Free African Americans begin to petition Abraham Lincoln for the right to bear arms in defense of the Union. Initially they are ignored. Julia Ward Howe writes the words of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” to the same tune as the popular “John Brown’s Body.” At the outbreak of the war, African American slaves account for 3,950,511 of the South’s population of

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8,099,674; the North’s white population is 18,901,917.

welcome to enlist for military service. They are offered $8 per month plus clothing and rations.

January–February. Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas secede from the Union.

July. After the First Battle of Bull Run, President Lincoln calls for 50,000 African Americans to serve in the war effort as auxiliary workers.

January 21. New York and other non-slave-owning states pledge allegiance to the Union.

July 22. In the Crittenden Resolution, the U.S. House of Representatives states that it is not the intention or desired outcome of the war to end slavery but to preserve the Union.

January 29. Kansas joins the Union. February 4–8. The first Confederate convention is held in Montgomery, Alabama, and adopts a constitution.

July 25. The U.S. Senate approves the Crittenden Resolution. August 6. Congress passes legislation to confiscate property of military value to the Confederacy. This includes slaves being used in support functions and as construction labor, creating the “contraband” class of African Americans.

February 9. Jefferson Davis is elected president of the Confederate States of America. March 4. Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as president of the United States. April. Free African Americans in New Orleans, Louisiana, form their own Native Guard battalion, officered by African Americans. The state government approves African American commissions, and informs Confederate authorities in Richmond in November. Like most state militias, service conditions prohibit deployment outside of the state. After the capture of New Orleans by the Union, many of the men would later fight in the United States Colored Troops (USCT). April 12. Fort Sumter, South Carolina, is attacked by Confederate troops. April 15. Lincoln officially declares a state of insurrection. He pleads for the enlistment of 75,000 men to serve for a period of three months. The U.S. Army refuses to accept African American volunteers, and Lincoln concedes the point in an attempt to placate the border states. The U.S. Navy authorizes the enlistment of escaped slaves into service. April–May. Virginia, Arkansas, and North Carolina secede from the Union. April 19. Frederick Douglass begins his drive to convince the federal government to enlist African American troops. May 24. The term “contraband” (referring to refugee slaves) is first used by Gen. Benjamin Butler at Fort Monroe, Virginia. June. Tennessee announces that free African Americans between the ages of fifteen and fifty are

August 30. Operating in St. Louis, Missouri, Capt. John C. Frémont confiscates Confederate property and frees slaves. September. The U.S. secretary of the navy officially authorizes the enlistment of African Americans into the service. The U.S. Marine Corps makes a statement suggesting that African Americans will be enlisted, but in practice, enlistments are rare. October. Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Sherman lands on the South Carolina coast with his troops and vows not to interfere with the slavery tradition. After the Union defeat at Ball’s Bluff, Virginia, Frederick Douglass complains that the U.S. Army still refuses to accept African Americans. He declares that African Americans were good enough to fight for George Washington but not for George B. McClellan, the Union commander in chief. November. General McClellan instructs his army commanders to return runaway slaves to their owners. African American sailors are part of Comdr. Samuel F. DuPont’s forces that capture Port Royal Island and the South Carolina Sea Islands, 50 miles from Charleston.

1862 Union General David Hunter raises a regiment of African Americans to help defend the coastline of

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August 14. At a meeting of free African Americans, Lincoln suggests that African Americans be relocated in Central America.

South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Hunter becomes known as “Black David” because of his attempts to emancipate and arm all able-bodied male African Americans. Hunter’s first African American casualty is the volunteer John Brown.

August 21. Jefferson Davis issues a statement denouncing generals David Hunter and John Phelps for their determination to recruit slaves into the Union army.

January 15. The U.S. War Department receives a request from Gen. Thomas W. Sherman to provide teachers for the Port Royal area of South Carolina to begin an education program for former slaves. February 4. The Virginia House of Delegates discusses the possibility of recruiting free African Americans into the Confederate army, but nothing is agreed upon. March. U.S. Congress forbids the return of runaway slaves. April. President Lincoln ratifies the abolition of slavery in Washington, D.C., and authorizes funds to facilitate voluntary emigration of African Americans to Haiti or Liberia.

August 25. U.S. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton authorizes Brig. Gen. Rufus Saxton to raise 5,000 African American troops on equal pay and rations following the failure of McClellan’s Peninsular Campaign. September. African Americans are recruited into segregated Louisiana Native Guard regiments by Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, Union commander of the Department of the Gulf. Confederate troops marching through Maryland are said to include at least 3,000 African Americans among their 64,000 men.

May. The 1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry is created at Beaufort by Maj. Gen. David C. Hunter.

September 16. Lincoln’s colonization suggestion of August 14 is rejected by Frederick Douglass.

May 13. The Confederate gunboat Planter is hijacked by African American Robert Smalls in the Charleston harbor and surrendered to the U.S. Navy.

September 22. The Emancipation Proclamation is announced by Lincoln.

June. Sen. James H. Lane of Kansas creates the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers, consisting of runaways and African Americans confiscated from their owners in Missouri and Arkansas. July 17. Congress authorizes the Militia Act and the Second Confiscation Act, which authorize the U.S. Army to use African Americans as combat troops. In practice, the majority at this point remain in support functions. August. Hunter’s 1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry is officially accepted by the War Department. Lane’s 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers swells to 500 ex-slaves and begins training at Fort Leavenworth. Col. James Montgomery forms a battalion of troops, Montgomery’s Brigade, containing African Americans, Native Americans, and whites. August 11. From his headquarters in Corinth, Mississippi, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant orders the use of fugitive slaves for army support functions.

September 27. The 1st, 2d, and 3d regiments of the Louisiana Native Guard become the first all–African American regiments to be officially mustered into the Union army. October 10. At the request of Jefferson Davis, Virginia drafts 4,500 African Americans as laborers to build defense works around Richmond. October 27–28. During the Battle of Island Mound in Missouri, 225 African Americans of the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers acquit themselves well in the two-day engagement, suffering ten killed and twelve wounded. October 28. Montgomery’s Brigade defeats Confederate guerrillas at Butler, Missouri. November 3–10. At St. Helena Island during an expedition led by Lt. Col. O. T. Beard, Company A of the 1st South Carolina Negro Regiment participates in what is probably the first African American combat engagement of the Civil War. December 23. Davis signs a proclamation ordering the execution of captured white officers in

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command of African American troops. Enlisted African Americans falling into Confederate hands will be dealt with by the state from which they are perceived to have originated.

African Americans enlisting or being used as substitutes. A payment of $300 will avoid conscription. March 14. The Battle of Port Hudson involves five African American regiments from Louisiana. Despite gallant fighting, the attacks on the fortified position fail and heavy casualties are inflicted on the regiments.

1863 U.S. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, decrees that African American troops are to be considered as auxiliaries and paid $10 per month, less $3 for clothing, compared to $13 for white troops.

March 21. Frederick Douglass issues his “Men of Color, to Arms” declaration.

William Wells Brown, a former Kentucky slave, publishes The Black Man, a frank description of life as a slave.

March 26. Adj. Gen. Lorenzo Thomas receives orders from Stanton to muster African American regiments in the Mississippi Valley area.

The son of David Walker, the first African American abolitionist publisher, is elected to the Massachusetts legislature.

March 30. The 54th Massachusetts Volunteers are officially mustered into the Union army.

January 1. President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation enters into effect. Former Confederate slaves will now be welcomed into the Union Army. January 12. Jefferson Davis’s proclamation of December 23, 1862, is approved by the Confederate Congress. January 20. Stanton gives Governor John Andrew of Massachusetts authorization to recruit African American troops. January 31. Company A, 1st South Carolina Negro Regiment unofficially becomes the first unit of former slaves to join the U.S. Army. February 9. Governor Andrew orders the creation of the African American 54th Massachusetts Volunteers. February 21. At Camp Meigs in Readville, Massachusetts, the first twenty-five volunteers enlist with the 54th Massachusetts Volunteers. Lincoln writes to Andrew Johnson, the military governor of Tennessee, “the bare sight of 50,000 armed and drilled black soldiers upon the banks of the Mississippi would end the rebellion at once.” Thomas Wentworth Higginson’s 1st and 2d South Carolina Volunteers, composed of African Americans, capture Jacksonville, Florida. March 3. Congress passes the Conscription Act, calling for all males between the ages of twenty and forty-five to be enlisted. The act does not exclude

May. Massachusetts orders the creation of the 55th Massachusetts Volunteers, which will also be composed only of African Americans. Camp William Penn in Pennsylvania is established as a base for training African American enlistees. May 1. The Corps d’Afrique is established under General Order No. 40 by Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks. It is proposed that the corps will have eighteen regiments of all arms. The Confederate Congress decrees that white officers commanding African American troops will be hanged as inciters of servile insurrection. Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, a former slave trader, offers $1,000 for the head of “a commander of a nigger regiment.” May 18. At Sherwood, Missouri, the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers are involved in an engagement with Confederates. May 22. The War Department issues General Order No. 143, opening the door for African Americans to become part of the regular U.S. Army. The order creates the United States Colored Troops, into which nearly all African American regiments will be absorbed. May 27. The 1st Louisiana Native Guard makes six charges against the Confederate defense works at Port Hudson, Louisiana. May 28. The 54th Massachusetts Volunteers leave camp bound for South Carolina.

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June. The Combahee River raid in South Carolina takes place, led by Col. James Montgomery and Harriet Tubman, successfully freeing 800 slaves and destroying millions of dollars of Confederate property. June 3. The 54th Massachusetts Volunteers march through Beaufort, South Carolina. June 6. Under General Order No. 47, the Louisiana Native Guard regiments are redesignated infantry regiments of the Corps d’Afrique. Existing African American officers in three of the regiments are replaced with white officers. June 28. At the Battle of Milliken’s Bend in Vicksburg, Mississippi, African American troops successfully hold off large Confederate forces with the support of U.S. gunboats. July. Union Gen. Quincy A. Gillmore issues an order stating that there will be no distinction between African American and white troops under his command.

Ulysses S. Grant acknowledges the value of African American troops as soldiers and their potential contribution to the war effort. August 29. General Order No. 64 charges the provost marshal general with the task of recruiting African Americans into the Corps d’Afrique, following disappointing enlistment numbers under General Banks’s direction. September 6. Fort Wagner is occupied by Union forces after Confederate forces evacuate. September 17. General Order No. 77, issued by General Gillmore, declares that African American troops should not be used to carry out ancillary duties for white soldiers. October 11. The African-descent regiment, first the Iowa Volunteers, which consists of nine complete companies, is mustered into the Union army. 1864

July 4. The 1st Louisiana Native Guard takes part in the final assault on Vicksburg.

January 2. Confederate officers in the Army of the Tennessee propose to recruit African Americans into the army in exchange for their freedom.

July 13–16. Draft riots occur in New York, predominantly involving Irish Americans. Union troops restore order after the lynching of several African Americans and widespread destruction of property. African Americans are blamed for starting the Civil War by the rioters.

January 8. Massachusetts senator Henry Wilson introduces a bill to encourage African American enlistment. The bill also proposes to deal with the pay differentials between African American and white volunteers.

July 17. The 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers take part in the Battle of Honey Springs, Indian Territory. July 18. The Battle of Fort Wagner takes place in South Carolina, with the 54th Massachusetts Volunteers earning praise despite their failed attempts to storm a Confederate fort protecting Charleston. The unit’s commander, Robert Gould Shaw, is killed along with 116 enlisted men; 156 are wounded or captured. For his bravery during the battle, Sgt. William Carney becomes the first African American to be awarded the Medal of Honor. August. African Americans begin to be enlisted by Iowa to help meet the state’s quota for military recruits. August 23–24. In two letters, the first to Lincoln and the second to the adjutant general, Gen.

February, 1. The South Carolina Volunteer Infantry is redesignated the 33rd United States Colored Troops (USCT). February 20. The Battle of Olustee in Florida ends in defeat for the Union army. Present at the engagement are the 8th and 35th USCT and the 54th Massachusetts Volunteers. March 11. African American 1st Sgt. Stephen A. Swails of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteers is commissioned a second lieutenant by Governor John Andrew. April. The first regiment of the Corps d’Afrique is redesignated the 7th Regiment, USCT. April 8. The U.S. Senate approves the Thirteenth Amendment. April 12–13. Around 300 African American and white soldiers are killed by Confederate troops led

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by Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest in the so-called Fort Pillow massacre in Kentucky.

The U.S. paymaster gives $170,000 in back pay to the 54th Massachusetts Volunteers.

April 18. The 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers takes part in a campaign south of Little Rock, Arkansas, under Maj. Gen. Frederick Steele. When the expedition runs into Confederate opposition, it retreats and the 1st Kansas suffers high casualties when wounded or surrendered men are massacred.

September 12. Jefferson Davis receives a letter from Gen. Robert E. Lee requesting that African Americans be used in support functions for the army.

May 24. Under the command of Gen. Edward A. Wild, African American troops garrisoning Fort Pocahontas, or Wilson’s Landing, roughly handle the lead elements of a Confederate army driving into Virginia. June 15. Congress finally agrees to pay African American troops on an equal basis with whites. They also free any still-enslaved wives and offspring of African American soldiers serving in the Union army. The U.S. House of Representatives fails to approve the Thirteenth Amendment. June 19. While serving aboard the USS Kearsarge off the coast of France, Joachim Pease, an African American sailor, wins the Medal of Honor for his gallantry during the sinking of the Confederate raider Alabama. July 8. The Thirteenth Amendment is officially supported by President Lincoln. July 30. The infamous “crater” is created in the Confederate defense works at Petersburg, Virginia. Over 1,300 African American troops die during the Petersburg campaign. August 1. The U.S. War Department announces that African American troops, providing they were free men on April 19, 1861, will receive full pay backdated to January 1, 1864. August 5. The Battle of Mobile Bay takes place, and African American John Lawson, despite injuries sustained onboard the USS Hartford, keeps firing his gun throughout the engagement and is later awarded the Medal of Honor. September. Gen. William T. Sherman complains to the Federal government that he does not want the organization of African American troops under his command.

September 28. The Battle of Fort Harrison takes place, with African American troops helping take the key defensive position. September 29. The Battle of Chaffin’s Farm (New Market Heights) is fought in Virginia. Thirteen of the USCT regiments are engaged in the battle and thirteen African American infantrymen would later be awarded the Medal of Honor. November–December. Despite Sherman’s protestations about the presence of African American troops, they take part in his “March to the Sea” through Georgia and are involved in the raids and destruction of Confederate war assets. November 7. Davis suggests that the Confederate army buy slaves of its own and free them after a period of service. They would be used in support functions. November 8. Lincoln is reelected president of the United States. November 30. The Battle of Honey Hill, South Carolina, takes place. Five African American regiments are present, including the 54th and 55th Massachusetts Volunteers. December. The 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers becomes the 79th Regiment, USCT. December 3. The first all–African American U.S. Army Corps, the 25th, is created. It will be the only one. December 6. Lincoln asks Congress to revisit the Thirteenth Amendment. December 18. Jefferson Davis authorizes the use of African Americans to build defense works to shield Atlanta from Sherman’s advancing Union army. December 21. The 3rd U.S. Colored Cavalry begins its wartime participation in raids toward Vicksburg, Mississippi.

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1865 Martin R. Delany becomes the first African American to be promoted to the rank of major in the U.S. Army. President Abraham Lincoln proposes to grant the vote to educated or veteran African Americans. Zimri Lew, a veteran of the 55th Massachusetts Volunteers and great-grandson of the American Revolution veteran Barzillai Lew, dies in South Carolina of dysentery.

April 2. The Confederate capital, Richmond, Virginia, is abandoned and African American troops of the 5th Massachusetts Cavalry are among the first to enter the city. April 3. Enlistment of African Americans into the Confederate army officially begins. African American residents of Richmond warmly welcome a visit by Lincoln to their city.

January 1. The U.S. House of Representatives debates the Thirteenth Amendment for a second time. January 11. Gen. Robert E. Lee writes a letter in which he recommends granting immediate freedom to African Americans who enlist in the Confederate army, and freeing their families either at the end of their service, at the end of the war, or at their death. January 15. The 1st Regiment of the United States Colored Troops (USCT) are involved in the amphibious attack on Fort Fisher, guarding the harbor of Wilmington, North Carolina.

April 9. After taking part in the Petersburg and Richmond campaigns, African Americans are present to witness Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House. Among the Confederates paroled in the aftermath are thirty-six African Americans. April 14. John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate fanatic, shoots Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. April 15. Lincoln dies and is replaced by his vice president, Andrew Johnson.

January 31. The U.S. House of Representatives passes the Thirteenth Amendment. February. Singing abolitionist and pro-Union songs, the 54th and 55th Massachusetts Volunteers are the first Union regiments to enter Charleston, South Carolina.

May 11–14. The Battles of White’s Ranch and Palmetto Ranch take place in Texas. The 62d Colored Infantry Regiment takes part in the latter engagement, the last battle of the Civil War. May 12. Gen. Oliver O. Howard becomes head of the new Freedmen’s Bureau, which assists in the postwar settlement of African Americans. August. The 54th Massachusetts Volunteers is mustered out.

February 18. In a letter, Lee not only agrees with proposals to enlist free African Americans and former slaves to fight for the Confederacy, but also concedes that they would make good soldiers. March 3. Under pressure, the War Department rescinds its statement of August 1, 1864, which discriminated against those who were not freed men before April 19, 1861. Now all African American soldiers will receive equal back pay from their day of enlistment. March 4. Lincoln is inaugurated as president of the United States for a second term. March 13. Jefferson Davis authorizes legislation to recruit 300,000 slaves into the Confederate army, with the promise of freedom if they are honorably discharged.

March 31–April 9. The Battle of Fort Blakely, Alabama, takes place. Eleven USCT regiments take part in the engagement.

December 18. The Thirteenth Amendment is ratified by twenty-seven states, with only Delaware, Kentucky, New Jersey, and Mississippi rejecting the amendment. 1866 Across the South, in the aftermath of the Civil War, states recruit large numbers of African Americans to ensure Republican control of the states and to maintain law and order. Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia create African American National Guard units, with black company and field-grade officers, unlike the majority of existing federal units.

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May 1–3. Race riots in Memphis, Tennessee, claim the lives of forty-six African Americans. Houses, schools, and churches are burned by whites. These events prompt the creation of Fort Pickering, to be garrisoned by African American troops who will patrol the city. July 28. Against severe opposition, Republican congressmen manage to establish the concept that African Americans would serve in the armed forces during peacetime. The ensuing reorganization of the U.S. Army creates six African American regiments, four infantry and two cavalry. The 9th and 10th Cavalry, as well as the 38th, 39th, 40th, and 41st Infantries, of African Americans are excluded from the artillery, as it was believed that they lacked the necessary technical experience and skills.

charged with the task of dealing with the Ku Klux Klan. June 11. Native Americans attack Camp Wichita, Texas, in an attempt to drive off 10th Cavalry horses. 1870 Robert Brown Elliot becomes the first African American to command the South Carolina National Guard. May 20–21. For his efforts during an action with the Kickapoo Indians in Texas, Sgt. Emanuel Stance of the 9th Cavalry is awarded the Medal of Honor. July. James W. Smith from South Carolina becomes the first African American to be admitted to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

1867 August. Riding out of Fort Arbuckle, Kansas, Company F of the 10th Cavalry engages Sioux Indians. September 19. Troop G of the 9th Cavalry engages Native Americans 45 miles from Fort Hays, Kansas.

July 4. Maj. Zenas R. Bliss recruits Seminole Negro (mixed African American and Seminole Native American blood) scouts to operate with the army against Native Americans in Texas. Four of the scouts will later be awarded the Medal of Honor.

1868 1871

February. The 10th Cavalry engages in patrols against Comanche and Kiowa Indians. June. Gen. Philip Sheridan orders the 10th Cavalry to Fort Gibson, Nebraska, for future operations against the Comanche and Kiowa. September 15. Troop I, 10th Cavalry, holds off 700 Lakota and Cheyenne warriors for eight days, until they are relieved by Troop H at Arikaree Island, Republican River, Nebraska. October. Troop I, 10th Cavalry, is attacked by 500 Native Americans en route to Beaver Creek, Nebraska.

January 24. Comanche Indians kill African American frontiersman Britton “Brit” Johnson and two African American cowboys. May. The 10th Cavalry escorts Gen. William T. Sherman to arrest Native American leaders at Fort Sill, Indian Territory (Oklahoma). September 19. Troop B of the 10th Cavalry is attacked by a large Native American war party at Fort Sill. 1872 John Henry Conyers from South Carolina becomes the first African American to be admitted to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. He later resigns without completing his studies.

1869 The four African American regular army regiments (38th, 39th, 40th, and 41st) are reorganized into two infantry regiments, the 24th and 25th. African American Robert Brown Elliot becomes adju tant general of South Carolina. His militia are

December 26. The Medal of Honor is awarded to seaman Joseph B. Noil after he saves a colleague who had fallen overboard.

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wounded and three of the cowboys are shot and killed. Nine Buffalo Soldiers, the generic name given to African Americans in U.S. Army, probably by Native Americans, are indicted for murder.

1874 June 26. After suffering four years of racism and ostracism, James Webster Smith leaves West Point without completing his studies.

March 2. Rutherford B. Hayes becomes president of the United States, and in a deal with the Democrats the military reconstruction period is terminated.

August 22–23. The 10th Cavalry fights off 400 Comanche and Kiowa at the Wichita Agency.

April 24. Many African American National Guard units in the Southern states are deactivated following the withdrawal of federal troops from Louisiana.

1875 April–December. Companies of the 24th and 25th Infantry and the 10th Cavalry survey the Great Plains. April 6. Elements of the 10th Cavalry escorting the Cheyenne Indian leader Black Horse are ambushed at Cheyenne Agency, Indian Territory. They chase the Native Americans for 400 miles. April 25. Pompey Factor, Isaac Payne, and John Ward win the Medal of Honor for their actions at Eagle’s Nest Crossing, Pecos River, Texas, while serving with the Seminole Negro scouts.

September 28. Seminole Negro scouts and Buffalo Soldiers cross the Rio Grande into Mexico.

October 19. Seminole Negro scouts discover and destroy a large Native American camp near Laguna Sabinas, Texas. November. Shafter’s Expedition ends after a 2,000mile journey. 1876 June 25. While operating as an interpreter with the U.S. Army, African American Isaiah Dorman is reputedly killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn along with elements of Gen. George Armstrong Custer’s 7th Cavalry.

1877 March. At St. Angela, Texas, cowboys cut the sergeant’s stripes from the uniform of an African American sergeant in the 10th Cavalry. In the ensuing fight one soldier is killed and another

June 15. African American Henry O. Flipper, a former Georgia slave, becomes the first African American to graduate from West Point. July. Forty members of the 10th Cavalry march 400 miles in eighty-six hours without water, in search of Native Americans.

July 14. The 10th Cavalry and the 24th and 25th Infantry, with Seminole Negro scouts, begin their four-month tour with Shafter’s Expedition into the Staked Plains, Texas.

July 30. Seminole Negro scouts are attacked by Lipan and Kickapoo Indians at Saragossa, Mexico.

June 10. Elements of the 10th Cavalry and Seminole Negro scouts intercept Mexican revolutionaries at Devil’s River on the Rio Grande.

October–December. Seminole Negro scouts cross and recross the Rio Grande and search the Santa Rosa Mountains for Native Americans. 1879 Henry O. Flipper joins the 10th Cavalry. September 4. Apache Indian chief Victorio attacks Company E of the 9th Cavalry, killing five of the Buffalo Soldiers. September 16. Two companies of the 10th Cavalry are ambushed by Victorio in the Black Range mountains in New Mexico. 1880 January–May. The 9th Cavalry carries out operations in southern New Mexico against Apache Indian leader Victorio. May 12. Mescalero warriors are chased to the Rio Grande by the 10th Cavalry. July. Lt. Henry O. Flipper of the 10th Cavalry rides

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100 miles in twenty-one hours after spotting Victorio’s scouts. August 6. The Battle of Rattlesnake Springs, Texas, takes place. Victorio is ambushed by the 10th Cavalry but flees under cover of darkness. August 11. The 10th Cavalry continues its pursuit of Victorio to the Rio Grande.

first African American troops to serve east of the Mississippi River when they are ordered by the secretary of war to move from Fort Myer in Washington, D.C., to Nebraska. 1892 Troopers of the 9th Cavalry shoot up Suggs, Wyoming, after enduring racial harassment.

1881 Tennessee is the first Southern state to segregate its public transportation. 1882 Henry O. Flipper is court-martialed for embezzling funds. The Medal of Honor is awarded to African American Thomas Boyne, a member of the 9th Cavalry, for his bravery in two actions with Native Americans in New Mexico.

Former slave Allen Allensworth joins the U.S. Army as a chaplain. He later establishes schools for African American soldiers and their children at Fort Supply, Indian Territory, and Fort Bayard, New Mexico.

Soldiers of the 9th Cavalry save an African American Civil War veteran from being lynched in Crawford, Nebraska. 1896

Lt. James Moss leads a detachment of the 25th Infantry on a 1,000-mile cycling maneuver. 1897 Lt. James Moss and twenty-four volunteers of the 25th Infantry cycle 1,900 miles from Fort Missoula to St. Louis, Missouri.

1887 African American John Alexander of Ohio becomes the second African American graduate of West Point.

1898 Benjamin O. Davis Sr. joins the District of Columbia National Guard as a lieutenant.

1889 African American Charles Young becomes the third African American to graduate from West Point. May 11. The Wham Paymaster Robbery takes place; Sgt. Benjamin Brown and Cpl. Isaiah Mays are later awarded the Medal of Honor for defending the paymaster from robbery.

May 25. Troop K of the 9th Cavalry becomes the

Members of the 9th Cavalry open fire in a saloon near Fort Concho, Texas, after Texas Rangers make several physical attacks on African American soldiers.

The “worthies” of Salt Lake City, Utah, send a delegation to Washington complaining about the deployment of the 24th Infantry at Fort Douglas.

1886

1891

1893

February 15. Twenty-two African American sailors are among the 250 men killed when the USS Maine is blown up in the Havana harbor. April 19. The 24th Infantry leaves Salt Lake City, Utah, en route to Cuba via Tampa, Florida, to fight in the Spanish-American War. They are given a rousing farewell. April 21. The Spanish-American War begins. All four African American regular army regiments will see action. Sixteen regiments of African American

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volunteers are recruited. One of the regiments will see action.

African American volunteers, the 48th and 49th, will also see service in the Philippines.

May 1. John Jordan, an African American gunner’s mate on board the USS Olympia, participates in firing the first shell at the Spanish fleet during the Battle of Manila Bay.

November 17. David Fagan, an African American enlisted man in the 24th Infantry, deserts the army and joins the Filipino rebels.

June 6. In Tampa, Florida, shortly before embarking for Cuba, the 24th and 25th Infantry are involved in brawls with the 2d Georgia Volunteer Infantry and racist local businessmen as a result of the rumor that Ohio volunteers had used an African American child for target practice. June 24. The Battle of Las Guásimas takes place. In the first major engagement of the Spanish-American War, the 10th Cavalry is among those engaged under the command of former Confederate general Joseph Wheeler.

November 17–18. The 25th Infantry storms the island of Luzon in the Philippines. 1900 Congress authorizes the creation of ten new U.S. Army regiments; none will be open to African Americans. January. The 25th Infantry frees American prisoners near Mount Arayat in the Philippines. 1901

July 1–2. The Battles of San Juan Ridge, Kettle Hill, and El Caney take place. The 24th Infantry and the 9th and 10th Cavalry are involved in these major engagements. Edward Baker, Jr., wins the Medal of Honor for his bravery during these battles.

The U.S. Navy decides on a new policy that precludes encouraging the recruitment of African Americans. Current African American servicemen are reduced to support roles.

1899

February. In the immediate aftermath of the capture of the Filipino rebel leader Emilio Aguinaldo, the 48th and 49th Volunteer Infantry are sent back to the United States and disbanded.

African American National Guard units from Virginia are inactivated following President William McKinley’s instruction to attach the 1st and 2d Infantry battalions to the 6th Virginia Infantry. African American officers’ ability to command is questioned and the officers resign. The 9th Cavalry becomes the first African American unit to be assigned as part of the regular garrison of the Washington Presidio. March. The 9th U.S. Volunteer Infantry, an African American unit, arrives in Cuba. March 2. The 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 48th and 49th Volunteer Infantry are ordered to the Philippines. May 15. L Company of the 24th Infantry becomes the first African American unit to be stationed in Alaska. July. The 24th Infantry is transferred from the Washington Presidio to fight in the Philippine Insurrection with the other three existing African American regular regiments. Two regiments of

April. Charles Young, the third African American to graduate from West Point, is sent to the Philippines for an eighteen-month tour of duty. May 19. Benjamin O. Davis Sr. becomes the first African American enlisted man to be commissioned as a second lieutenant in the regular U.S. Army. December. David Fagan, the 24th Infantry deserter, is killed by a bounty hunter. 1902 Following the reduction in federal control of the National Guard under the terms of the Militia Act, African Americans are excluded from what had been the state militias, with the exception of six states and the District of Columbia. 1903 African American cavalry become the first black troops to patrol California national parks, while

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Capt. Charles Young of the 9th Cavalry is appointed acting superintendent of Sequoia National Park for the duration of the summer. During Theodore Roosevelt’s visits to San Francisco and the Presidio, members of the 9th Cavalry become the first African Americans to be part of a presidential honor guard. 1906 A study by the U.S. Army War College is initiated that will conclude that African Americans have neither the intelligence nor the technical skills to be allowed to join artillery units. Chaplain Allen Allensworth becomes the first African American lieutenant colonel in the regular U.S. Army. The U.S. Army now has only four African American officers, including Charles Young and Benjamin O. Davis, Sr.

1916 March. Following a raid into New Mexico by Pancho Villa, the Mexican bandit leader, President Woodrow Wilson sends two African American regiments as part of Brig. Gen. John J. Pershing’s force to capture Villa. October. African American Eugene Jacques Bullard, having served in the French Foreign Legion and the French infantry, joins the French Air Service. He will fly over twenty combat missions, receiving a number of French decorations for gallantry. 1916–1917 African Americans account for 2 percent, or 20,000 men, of all regular army and National Guard units. Only three African Americans are commissioned officers. 1917

August 13. A brief but violent riot by members of the 25th Infantry takes place in Brownsville, Texas, during which one white man is killed and another wounded.

Dr. Lewis T. Wright serves as a first lieutenant in the Medical Corps. He pioneers the injection of smallpox vaccines, which later becomes common practice for the regular U.S. Army.

November 6. One hundred sixty-seven members of the 25th Infantry (three companies) are dishonorably discharged for their involvement in the Brownsville riot.

Qualified African American nurses are excluded from the American Red Cross on the basis that the U.S. Army will not accept African American women.

1907–1908

African American Lloyd A. Hall is appointed the assistant chief inspector of powder and explosives at the U.S. Ordnance Department.

The 25th Infantry carries out operations in the Philippines against Moro tribesmen. 1908 November. Fourteen of the men dishonorably discharged from the 25th Infantry in November of the previous year are allowed to reenlist. 1909 April. African American Matthew Henson, Adm. Robert E. Peary’s assistant, accompanies Admiral Peary and four Eskimos on an expedition to reach the North Pole.

Col. Charles Young, the highest-ranking African American officer, is forced to retire due to ill health. This is on the eve of the possibility of his being placed in command of an all–African American unit, which was vigorously opposed by Washington authorities. Vertner W. Tandy becomes the first African American officer in the New York National Guard. He joins as a first lieutenant and is later promoted to the rank of major. Later, he becomes a prominent architect. Alton Augustus Adams becomes the first African American bandleader in the U.S. Navy.

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the 365th, 366th, 367th, and 368th Infantry Regiments) is activated, composed of draftees.

March 25. African American major James E. Walker’s District of Columbia National Guard is assigned the task of protecting Washington, D.C.

October 5. Emmett J. Scott, the former secretary of Booker T. Washington, becomes special assistant to the U.S. secretary of war. His responsibility is to ensure that there is no discrimination in the application of the Selective Service Act.

April. The American Negro Loyal Legion informs Washington that 10,000 African American volunteers are standing by for an immediate draft into the army. April 4. Following President Woodrow Wilson’s request to Congress to declare war on Germany, the U.S. Senate agrees. April 6. The U.S. House of Representatives agrees with the war declaration on Germany. May 18. In the Selective Service Act, Congress authorizes the registration and drafting of all males between twenty-one and thirty years of age. On the first day 700,000 African Americans volunteer. May 19. Fourteen officer-training camps are established by Congress for white officers. The first all–African American officer-training school is established at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. May 21. Leo Pinckney becomes the first African American to be drafted into the U.S. Army for World War I. June. Four hundred African American merchantmen are among those first shipped to France. June 5. The first of four registrations for World War I begins. Some 2,290,527 African Americans would register, accounting for 9.63 percent of the total registration. June 15. African American officer-training classes begin at Fort Des Moines. Two hundred and fifty of the initial class are noncommissioned officers from the 24th and 25th Infantry and the 9th and 10th Cavalry. August 23. The Houston Riots take place when African Americans of the 24th Infantry from Camp Logan attack a police station, killing sixteen citizens and police and wounding twelve others. The riots are the culmination of several weeks of intense racial harassment. Many of the soldiers will be given life sentences and twenty-nine are condemned to hang. October. The African American 92d Infantry Division (known as the Buffalo Division, comprising

October 15–17. The first 639 African American officers are commissioned from Fort Des Moines. The school will eventually produce 1,400 commissioned officers. December. The 93d Infantry Division (the 369th, 370th, 371st, 372d Infantry Regiments) is created. December 11. Without prior notification, the first African American to be condemned to die as a result of the Houston Riots is executed. December 12. The 369th Infantry Regiment (known as the Harlem Hellfighters) becomes the first African American unit to be sent to Europe. Prior to their embarkation, members of the regiment are involved in the Spartanburg incident in South Carolina. 1918 The Committee on Public Information accredits Ralph Waldo Tyler as the only African American war correspondent with the responsibility to report specifically on African American war news. In Manhattan, Kansas, a theater owner is fined after refusing to allow an African American sergeant to enter the premises. March 10. The 369th Infantry Regiment is transferred to the French 16th Division. April. The 372d Infantry Regiment arrives in France and is later attached to various French divisions. June. The 371st Infantry Regiment is attached to the French 157th Red Hand Division. July. W. E. B. Du Bois writes an editorial in The Crisis, the publication of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, calling on African Americans to close ranks with white Americans to support the combat troops in France.

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The 370 Infantry Regiment joins the French 36th Division on the Meuse-Argonne front.

September 16. Six more African Americans are executed as a result of the Houston Riots.

July 6. The 369 Infantry faces a German attack at Minacort.

September 20. The 368th Infantry Regiment of the 92d Division is moved to engage German forces in the Argonne Forest region.

July 18. The 369th Infantry is involved in the Marne counteroffensive. July–August. The 370th is involved in the Oise-Aisne offensive. August. The 92d Infantry Division is sent to the front, where they will remain under fire until November 1918.

September 28. The 372d Infantry joins the Champagne offensive and takes Bussy Farm. October 1. The 372d Infantry relieves the 371st Infantry at Trieres Farm and captures the railroad center at Monthois.

The 369th Infantry’s band is ordered to the rear to undertake a tour of camps and hospitals to help raise morale.

October 7. The 372d Infantry is relieved by the French 125th Division.

August 7. A confidential memorandum is written by French liaison officers at the American Expeditionary Force headquarters, advising French officers how they should deal with African American troops. They are advised to keep their distance from African American men, only give praise when absolutely essential, and ensure that they have no opportunity to meet French women. August 12. The 92d Division moves to the front line at St. Dié to the southeast of Metz. August 24. The commander of the 372d Division requests that his African American officers be replaced with white men.

The 92d Division is transferred to the Marbache sector. November. Charles Young is reinstated by the U.S. Army after having ridden a horse from Ohio to Washington, D.C., to prove his fitness. He is not given the command he craves and instead is sent to Fort Grant, Illinois, to train African American recruits. The 1st Battalion, 367th Infantry Regiment, is awarded the Croix de Guerre for its combat performance and bravery at Metz. The 369th Infantry is the first Allied force to reach the Rhine River.

August 30. The 92d Division defeats a German counterattack at Frapelle. September. African American servicemen in Services of Supplies (SOS) units unload an average of 25,000 tons of military supplies per day. The Black Yankees, the 809th Pioneer Infantry, suffer enormous losses from a Spanish influenza epidemic during their fourteen-day voyage to France. September 3. African American troops are the target of propaganda leaflets from the Germans, urging them to turn their backs on the Allies and fight for Germany. September 14. The 371st Division is ordered to Somme Bione, Champagne, to take part in the Meuse-Argonne offensive.

September 26–October 5. The 369th Infantry takes part in the Meuse-Argonne offensive.

November 7. The 92d Division suffers 500 casualties but takes its objective before the armistice is declared. November 10. The 92d Division is ordered to take the heights to the east of Champeny. November 11. The 370th Infantry fights in the last engagement of World War I when they capture a German train moments before the armistice. November 13. Following the flu epidemic, the Army Nurses Corps admits eighteen African American nurses; half are sent to Camp Grant, Illinois, and the others assigned to Camp Sherman, Ohio. They will live in segregated housing but will work in integrated hospitals.

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1919

1922

African American veterans of World War I return home and with the exception of the 369th Infantry Regiment, which parades in New York with white soldiers, all others are mustered out with little acclaim.

Joseph H. Ward becomes the first African American to head a Veterans’ Bureau hospital as the chief medical officer at Tuskegee, Alabama.

Major rioting about race occurs in Illinois, Nebraska, Texas, and Washington, D.C., during which ten war veterans are among the seventy-five African Americans lynched by white mobs.

The 24th Infantry Regiment, now stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia, is reduced in size to just over 800 men. Former Canadian Air Corps African American veteran Hubert Julian hits the headlines by parachuting onto the rooftop of a Harlem optician’s store for publicity.

The U.S. War Department imposes restrictions on the enlistment of African Americans into the army, only welcoming reenlistments. February. W. E. B. Du Bois travels to Paris to represent the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People at the peace conference. He goes on to organize the Pan-African Congress. March 15. The American Legion, a veterans group, is formed in Paris, France. African American veterans are allowed to join, but in segregated positions. May 9. James Reese Europe, a famous African American musician and composer who had been in the 369th Infantry during World War I, is murdered by Herbert Wright. July 14. African American soldiers are banned by the U.S. Army from taking part in the victory parade on Bastille Day in Paris. July 28. African American veterans meet at the 370th regimental armory in Chicago, determined to protect themselves with weapons during the height of the Chicago race riots.

January 8. Col. Charles Young, the U.S. Army’s highest-ranking African American officer, dies while on military liaison duty in Nigeria. Bessie Coleman, the first African American licensed female pilot, makes her first exhibition flight in Chicago. 1923 Bessie Coleman makes a flight in the largest aircraft yet flown by a woman. The U.S. Navy ceases recruitment of African American stewards, preferring Filipinos. 1924 Hubert Julian parachutes onto the roof of City College, New York. July 4. Julian fails in his attempt to fly from Harlem to Liberia. 1925

1920 June. The four regular African American regiments, the 9th and 10th Cavalry and 24th and 25th Infantry, survive an army downsizing after Congress passes the National Defense Act.

A report from the Army War College recommends that African Americans should not be used as military pilots due to their inherent cowardice and lack of intelligence.

1921

1926

The 3d Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, is disbanded, having languished in New Mexico after the 1917 Houston Riots.

Bessie Coleman dies when her aircraft crashes during an exhibition flight at Jacksonville, Florida.

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1929

December 1937–February 1938. African Americans are involved in the long-running Battle of Teruel in Spain.

Alonzo Parham joins the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He is the first African American candidate to join since Charles Young. Parham leaves after one year.

1938

1932 African Americans are now able to enlist in the U.S. Navy, ending a restriction that had been in place since the end of World War I. The majority are admitted into the Filipino Steward’s Branch.

Willa B. Brown and her former flight instructor, Cornelius R. Coffey, found the National Airmen’s Association of America and establish the Coffey School of Aeronautics. The school will train African American pilots and act as a preliminary training base for the Tuskegee Airmen. Benjamin O. Davis Sr. becomes commander of the 369th Infantry Regiment.

Benjamin O. Davis Jr., son of Benjamin O. Davis Sr., who both go on to become generals, arrives at West Point. He would become a significant influence in World War II when African American combat pilots were deployed.

October 4. Republicans decide to withdraw the International Brigades from Spain. October 29. The last of the 200 U.S. members of the International Brigade leave Spain via Barcelona.

1936 Benjamin O. Davis Jr. graduates from West Point. He is only the fourth African American to graduate and the first to receive his commission in the twentieth century.

1939

The U.S. Naval Academy admits James Johnson, but due to ill health he resigns after eight months.

The number of African American troops in the U.S. Army drops to 4,000. In response the army mounts a campaign to increase its African American component to 10 percent, which would reflect the black percentage of the general U.S. population.

December. The first African American volunteers leave New York bound for the Spanish Civil War.

By this year some 100 African Americans have become certified civilian pilots.

1937

The 47th and 48th Quartermaster Regiments are created by the U.S. Army. They are wholly African American.

The U.S. Naval Academy admits George Trivers as a cadet; he leaves after one month due to academic problems. Willa B. Brown becomes the first African American woman to obtain a commercial pilot’s license. African Americans join the Abraham Lincoln Battalion and head to Spain to fight in the civil war. February 23. The Abraham Lincoln Battalion fights its first battle of the Spanish Civil War at Pingarron Hill. March. Salaria Kee, a nurse from Harlem, sails for Spain. She will be the only African American nurse to serve in Spain. July 5. African Americans are involved in the Brunete offensive in Spain.

Wyoming senator Harry Schwartz begins his attempts at persuading the secretary of war to allow African Americans into the Army Air Corps. May. African American Rayford W. Logan heads the newly formed Committee for the Participation of Negroes in National Defense. The committee is instrumental in inserting nondiscriminatory clauses in the 1940 Selective Training and Service Act. The African American newspaper Chicago Defender and the National Airmen’s Association of America support black pilots Chauncey Spencer and Dale White in their attempts to convince Congress to include African Americans in the Civilian Pilot Training Program. Missouri senator Harry S. Truman is among those who support their efforts.

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June 27. The Civilian Pilot Training Program is created by Congress. Only one of the existing schools participating in the program will accept African American pilots. Willa B. Brown lobbies the Army Air Corps to include African Americans. The Army Air Corps continues to exclude African American pilots, but seven other schools enroll African Americans for flight training. September 3. Following the German invasion of Poland, Great Britain and France declare war on Germany. The United States reiterates its neutrality. 1940 The U.S. War Department begins preparations for the country’s inevitable involvement in World War II, suggesting a 6 percent quota for African American troops in the armed forces, despite African Americans accounting for 10 percent of the population. Benjamin O. Davis Sr. becomes the first African American brigadier general and given command of the 4th Brigade of the 2d Cavalry Division at Fort Riley, Kansas, which includes the 9th and 10th Cavalry.

October. The War Department confirms its segregation policy and establishes a quota for African American enlistment. October 1. Dr. Charles Richard Drew, an African American, becomes the director of the First Plasma Division, Blood Transfusion Association. He is a blood plasma pioneer who created the blood-bank system. October 9. Roosevelt issues a statement claiming that desegregation would not be in the interest of national security and defense. November 1. African American William H. Hastie, the dean of Howard University Law School, is appointed civilian aide to the secretary of war in matters of black rights. December 18. The U.S. Army Air Corps finally concedes on the issue of flight training for African Americans by formulating plans to set up a specialist facility at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. 1941

August 1. The first chemical decontamination company, an all–African American unit, is created by the U.S. Army as part of its continuing attempts to absorb increasing numbers of African American recruits. August 15. The 41st General Service Engineer Regiment is created, another all–African American U.S. Army unit. September 15. The Selective Training and Service Act is signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It calls for the first peacetime draft in American history.

The 366th Infantry Regiment is activated by the U.S. Army and becomes the first regular army unit to have African American officers. Willa B. Brown is appointed the training coordinator for the Civil Aeronautics Administration and becomes a teacher in the Civilian Pilot Training Program. By the end of the year some 97,725 African Americans are serving in either the European or Pacific theaters in World War II.

September 17. African American leaders and spokespersons present a seven-point mobilization program to the secretary of the navy and the assistant secretary of war. Among many issues raised are the desegregation of the armed forces and the inclusion of African Americans in flight training.

January. Ernest Calloway becomes the first African American to refuse to be inducted into the U.S. Army on the grounds of segregation. The labor organizer and civil rights spokesperson is a member of the group Conscientious Objectors against Jim Crow. He is imprisoned and becomes the first of 400 African Americans classified as conscientious objectors during World War II. Others refuse on religious grounds or due to the quota system.

September 27. President Roosevelt meets with prominent African American leaders on the issue of segregation and the entrance of African Americans into the branches of the military.

A. Philip Randolph, the labor and civil rights leader and founding president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, proposes a march on Washington, D.C., to protest against both military

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discrimination and labor practices. The march is set for July 1941.

Americans begin their flight instruction phase of training.

January 9. Henry L. Stimson, the secretary of war, approves the foundation of the flight-training program at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.

September. Fourteen percent of U.S. Army recruits, and 25 percent of those drafted, are African American.

January 13. The first African American armored unit, the 78th Tank Battalion, is created.

September 2. Capt. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. becomes the first African American in the U.S. Army Air Corps to complete a solo flight.

February. The 1st Battalion, 351st Field Artillery Regiment, is activated at Camp Livingston, Louisiana. It will later be designated the 351st Field Artillery Battalion. March. The 78th Tank Battalion begins its training program at Fort Knox, Kentucky. May 8. The 78th Tank Battalion is redesignated the 758th Tank Battalion and later becomes one of the three African American tank battalions (together with the 761st and 784th) that will form the 5th Tank Group. The battalions consist of African American enlisted men and white officers. June. An investigative committee is set up to examine African American opportunities in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps. June 25. Roosevelt issues Executive Order 8802, aiming to end discrimination in the war industry. It establishes the Committee on Fair Employment Practice and aims to defuse the call for a march on Washington. June 29. Brig. Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Sr. is assigned to the U.S. Army Inspector General’s Office to carry out inspections of African American troops. July. The U.S. Army establishes its integrated officers’ cadet schools. In the first six months over 2,000 are admitted; only 21 are African American. July 19. At the Tuskegee Institute, African American pilots begin their training with the U.S. Army Air Corps. August 4. At Huntsville Arsenal, Alabama, construction begins on a factory that will manufacture colored smoke munitions, toxic gases, and incendiary weapons. The factory will employ large numbers of African Americans. The ceremony is led by commanding officer Col. Rollo C. Ditto. August 25. At the Tuskegee Institute, African

October. Frank Knox, the secretary of the navy, confirms U.S. Navy policy to admit the majority of African Americans into the Steward’s Branch. October 25. At the Redstone Arsenal in Alabama, the Ordnance Corps begins construction of a chemical ammunition, rifle grenade, and bomb factory that will employ large numbers of African Americans. December 7. At Pearl Harbor, U.S. Navy messman Dorie Miller, an African American, is one of those killed during the preemptive Japanese attack on the U.S. naval facility. He is credited with shooting down several Japanese aircraft while manning a machine gun on the USS Arizona. 1942 The U.S. Army combines the African American 9th and 10th Cavalry into the 2d Cavalry Division and at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, creates the first World War II African American infantry division, the 93d. Following a number of critical articles in African American newspapers about treatment of African Americans in the United States and black participation in the war effort, the U.S. Justice Department threatens to take action against twenty editors and charge them with sedition. Lt. Della H. Raney becomes the first African American chief nurse in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps while serving at the Tuskegee Army Air Field, Alabama. January 9. The U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps are instructed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to accept African Americans into their regular military units. January 17. In Alexandria, Louisiana, African American soldiers are involved in a fight with local law enforcement officers.

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February. Plans are approved for the construction of the Alcan Highway through Canada to Alaska, enabling a link from the United States to its most threatened region. The African American 93d, 95th, and 97th Engineer General Service Regiments will help build this road link. The commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, Rear Adm. Russell R. Waesche, proposes the enlistment of 150 African Americans, to be trained at Manhattan Beach, New York. February 3. The U.S. Navy’s General Board presents its proposal to enlist 5,000 African Americans in positions not within the Steward’s Branch. It is rejected by President Roosevelt and U.S. Navy Secretary Frank Knox because they wanted integration, not a compromise. February 25. The U.S. Navy’s General Board resubmits its African American enlistment plans. March. John Roosevelt (Jackie) Robinson is drafted and attends basic training at Fort Riley, Kansas. He applies for the Officers Candidate School and is rejected. Robinson, a superb athlete who later broke the color bar in major league baseball, needs the contacts and influence of African American boxer Joe Louis to reverse the decision.

Claiborne, Louisiana, with predominantly African American officers. April 2. After being assigned to the 93d Infantry Division, the 24th Infantry Regiment leaves Fort Benning for San Francisco prior to embarkation to the Pacific. April 7. The U.S. Navy announces the opening up of its General Service Branch to African Americans. In practice African Americans are still restricted to steward and labor duties, or shore installations and harbor craft. May. The U.S. Coast Guard begins accepting African American recruits into all areas of the service. May 4. The 24th Infantry Regiment is assigned to garrison duty in the New Hebrides. May 15. The Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) is created, changing to the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) in 1943. Charity Adams Earley later becomes the first African American woman to be commissioned. May 22. The 332d Fighter Group, consisting of the 100th, 301st, and 302d Fighter Squadrons, is activated at Tuskegee Army Air Field. June. The first of 167,000 African Americans are inducted into the U.S. Navy under the terms of the Selective Service Board. The first African American trainees report to Camp Robert Smalls at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station. The first African American man to report is Doreston Carman Jr.

At Manhattan Beach, New York, the first 150 African American volunteers for the U.S. Coast Guard begin training. African American civilians account for less than 3 percent of those employed in war production. March 7. Capt. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. and four other African Americans graduate from the Tuskegee airfield program. They are assigned to the 99th Pursuit Squadron. March 31. Roosevelt and Knox approve the U.S. Navy’s plans to allow African Americans into general service positions. April. The African American 91st and 96th U.S. Army Engineer Battalions arrive in Australia to build allied airfields. April–May. Fort Huachuca receives 6,000 men who are eventually assigned to the 93d Infantry Division. April 1. The 761st Black Panther Tank Battalion, an African American unit, is activated at Camp

June 1. The U.S. Marine Corps breaks its 167-year tradition of being a whites-only section of the armed forces. Howard P. Perry is the first of 20,000 African Americans to serve in the marines during World War II. They will all be trained at Montford Point, North Carolina. June 18. Harvard University medical student Bernard W. Robinson becomes the first African American to be given a reserve commission as a doctor in the U.S. Navy. July 20. At Fort Des Moines, Iowa, the first forty African American women recruits begin officer training. Although the women are trained alongside white officer trainees, they live in segregated facilities.

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July 30. Roosevelt signs and enacts the necessary legislation to create the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) military unit. Initially the secretary of the navy excludes African American women on the grounds that there are few African American men serving on U.S. Navy vessels. August. Following the successful incorporation of the first 150 African Americans into the U.S. Coast Guard, more are recruited and trained, with 300 posted on active duty. August 26. Howard P. Perry reports to Montford Point as the first-ever African American member of the U.S. Marine Corps. Some 12,738 African American marines will serve overseas during World War II. The U.S. Marine Corps creates the first two African American combat units, the 51st and 52d Defense Battalions. They are placed under the command of Samuel A. Woods Jr. to form the 51st Composite Defense Battalion. By the end of World War II African Americans would account for just 2 percent of the U.S. Marine Corps’ total manpower, including 8,000 serving as ammunition loaders and stevedores. The Advisory Committee on Negro Troop Policies is formed, chaired by Assistant Secretary of War John J. McCloy. Also on the committee is Brig. Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Sr., who is now with the Inspector General’s Office. September. The War Shipping Agency appoints Hugh Mulzac as captain of the SS Booker T. Washington. He had been asking for his own ship for twenty-five of his thirty-five-year naval service.

by the U.S. Army at Fort McClellan, Alabama. Some 12,000 enlisted men and 600 African American officers will serve in the division during World War II. Two hundred of the 92d Infantry officers are white. November. In Bisbee, Arizona, 200 men of the 369th Infantry are involved in a gun battle with 100 military and civilian police. Two of the men are killed and 15 wounded. Two hundred are arrested and some will receive 50-year prison sentences. November 20. The Alcan Highway opens to U.S. Army traffic. November 23. Congress creates the SPARs (Semper Paratus, Always Ready), the U.S. Coast Guard Women’s Reserve. In the early months of the unit, African American women are excluded. December. Assistant Secretary of War John J. McCloy, chairing the Advisory Committee on Negro Troop Policies, recommends the creation of an African American parachute battalion. The U.S. Coast Guard terminates its limited African American volunteer enlistment and begins shifting to general recruitment. December 5. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9279, which compels the military to accept at least 10 percent African Americans into the armed forces. 1943 Clarence Samuels becomes the first African American to be commissioned by the U.S. Coast Guard and is eventually assigned to captain the cutter Sweetgum. The U.S. Marine Corps sends the first African American unit, the 1st Marine Depot, overseas.

Two hundred African Americans from Chicago report to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, to attend the Engineer Replacement Center for combat engineer training. October. The first thirty-six African American women graduate from the officer-training facility at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, and are inducted into the WAAC. The U.S. Navy accepts the first African Americans into the new Construction Battalions. Training begins at Camps Bradford and Allen in Virginia. October 15. The 92d Infantry Division is reactivated

William Baldwin becomes the first African American to be recruited into the U.S. Navy for general service. The first African American military doctors and nurses are sent overseas to Liberia. John Roosevelt Robinson is commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. The U.S. Office of War Information appoints its first African American photojournalist, Gordon A. Parks Sr.

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By the end of the year 504,000 African American troops are serving either in the European or Pacific theaters.

African American pilots receive training at Selfridge Field, Michigan, including Daniel “Chappie” James, who will become a four-star general.

January 5. As a result of continuing segregation and discrimination in the armed forces, Judge William H. Hastie resigns his post as a civilian aide to the secretary of war.

May 27. The U.S. government announces that all businesses operating in a discriminatory manner will be excluded from war contracts.

February. African American personnel in the U.S. Navy reaches 26,909. From February until November 1943, African Americans account for 13 percent of U.S. Coast Guard recruits. Some 5,000 will serve in the coast guard during the war (2 percent of the total number). February 13. The Women’s Marine Corps is created and becomes the only auxiliary service to continue throughout the war to exclude African Americans. February 22. African Americans, while serving as stewards onboard the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Campbell, ram and sink a German U-boat. The African American gun crew commander is awarded the Bronze Star and other members of the crew receive decorations. February 25. The 555th Parachute Infantry Company (known as the Triple Nickels), an African American unit, is created under the orders of U.S. Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall. March. The African American 93d Infantry Division begins maneuvers in Louisiana. March 8. African American private George Watson saves several fellow soldiers before drowning when their ship is sunk by Japanese aircraft off New Guinea. He is one of six African Americans to posthumously receive their Medals of Honor at a ceremony on January 13, 1997.

June. Ohio congresswoman Frances Payne Bolton introduces an amendment to the Nurses’ Training Bill that bans racial discrimination. This allows over 2,000 African American women to enroll in the Cadet Nurse Corps. The U.S. Coast Guard cutter USS Seacloud becomes the first integrated vessel following Lt. Comdr. Carlton Skinner’s proposals. Half of its crew are African American as well as four of its officers. The 616th–619th Bombardment Squadrons become the all–African American 477th Bombardment Group. June 2. The 99th Pursuit Squadron flies its first combat mission from Tunisia over the Mediterranean. June 20. A race riot in Detroit, Michigan, claims the lives of twenty-five African Americans and nine whites, and is only put down when federal troops take control. The riot erupted as a result of white resentment to Southern African Americans taking an increasing number of war industry jobs. July. Fourteen African American members of the 80th Construction Battalion are discharged after disturbances in Trinidad. July 2. Lt. Charles Buster Hall claims the first enemy aircraft kill for the 99th Pursuit Squadron. July 25. The USS Harmon becomes the first U.S. Navy vessel to be named after an African American, Leonard Roy Harmon, who was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross. The vessel is launched at Quincy, Massachusetts.

April 1. The 784th Tank Battalion is activated, bringing the African American 5th Tank Group up to full strength. April 24. The 99th Pursuit Squadron deploys in Morocco for further training.

August. The Special Unit of the U.S. Navy’s Bureau of Naval Personnel is established to help with full integration.

May. Sgt. Gilbert Hashmark Johnson, formerly of the 25th Infantry Regiment, replaces the last white U.S. Marine Corps drill instructor at Montford Point.

August 21. The WAC appoints its first African American major, Harriet M. West, who later serves at the WAC headquarters’ Bureau Control Division in Washington, D.C., as chief of planning.

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September. Despite calls from the African American press since Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Army decides not to create a volunteer integrated division. Adlai E Stevenson, the assistant secretary of the navy, suggests in a letter to Navy Secretary Frank Knox that African Americans be commissioned in the U.S. Navy. October. Col. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. takes command of the 332d Fighter Group at Selfridge Field, Michigan. November. The USS Seacloud, under Lt. Carlton Skinner, begins operations in the North Atlantic.

Army training film The Negro Soldier. The movie meets with critical acclaim, highlighting the contributions of African American troops in the army, and is credited with helping to quicken the pace of desegregation. African American soldiers, largely in segregated units, now account for nearly 9 percent of the U.S. Army. Segregation and the use of African American troops in the U.S. Army becomes a key issue in the presidential campaign. January 1. The first thirteen African American enlisted men are selected as line officers for the Great Lakes Naval Training Station. They will become known as the “Golden Thirteen.”

November 9. Brig. Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Sr. writes a memorandum calling for the end of Jim Crow practices in the U.S. Army. November 30. The 79th Fighter Group accomplishes a record twenty-six missions, nine having been flown by the 99th Pursuit Squadron. December. The number of African Americans in the U.S. Navy breaks the 100,000 barrier by 1,573. The first units of the 93d Infantry head for the South Pacific.

January 27–28. The 99th Pursuit Squadron shoots down twelve enemy aircraft over Italy. Capt. Clarence Jamison’s flight accounts for five kills in just five minutes. January 29. The U.S. Navy commissions the USS Mason, which will have a predominantly African American crew.

December 15. At Fort Hood, Texas, the 761st Tank Battalion begins advanced armor training in medium tanks.

February. The 51st Defense Battalion becomes the first African American combat unit for the U.S. Marines to be sent to the Pacific. Although the battalion does not see combat, it is assigned to guard duty on the Ellice and Marshall Islands.

December 19. The first African American paratrooper is enlisted. Walter Morris is the first volunteer who will join the 555th Parachute Infantry Company, now authorized by Army Ground Forces Headquarters.

The U.S. Navy publishes Guide to Command of Negro Naval Personnel, which discourages segregation and focuses on promoting equal opportunities.

December 30. The 555th Parachute Infantry Company is officially activated at Fort Benning, Georgia.

February. The Advisory Committee on Negro Troop Policies requests and recommends that African American units be committed to combat. The 99th Pursuit Squadron is engaged in the Allied air assault on Monte Cassino, dropping bombs on the Benedictine monastery.

1944 The U.S. Marine Corps promotes its first African American warrant officer, James E. Johnson, and its first sergeant major, Charles F. Anderson. African American civilians now account for 8 percent of the workforce engaged in war production. Brig. Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Sr. acts as a consultant, Stuart Heisler as the director, and Carlton Moss as the writer for Frank Capra’s U.S.

February 23. The Bureau of Naval Personnel’s Special Unit succeeds in convincing the U.S. Navy to create two all–African American vessels commanded by white officers. March. The Golden Thirteen become the first thirteen African Americans to be commissioned in the U.S. Navy. Forty-seven more will be commissioned during World War II by the navy.

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Subchaser PC-1264 is commissioned by the U.S. Navy with a predominantly African American crew. The 366th Infantry Regiment leaves Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia, bound for North Africa. March 11. The first battalion of the 24th Infantry Regiment is placed under the command of the 148th Infantry Regiment and becomes the first African American unit to go into combat in World War II. Soldiers of the 24th Infantry fight the Japanese on their first day on Bougainville in the Solomon Islands. Privates Leonard Brooks and Annias Jolly are the first African American infantrymen to be killed in ground combat in World War II. March 17. The 100th, 301st, and 302d Fighter Squadrons, forming the 332d Fighter Group, first see combat action. In July 1944 the 99th Fighter Squadron will join the group and collectively the squadrons will fly 1,578 missions and 15,533 sorties. For the loss of 66 men, they will destroy 261 enemy aircraft and damage an additional 148. March 20. The USS Mason becomes the first largely African American warship in the U.S. Navy. Its captain, Lt. Cmdr. William M. Blackford, and the crew ensure that despite detractors, their war service is successful. March 28. The 93d Infantry Division, of which the African American 25th Infantry Regiment is included, engages the Japanese at Bougainville. April 4. The 93d Infantry suffers its first casualties during an ambush on Bougainville.

American, Pvt. Warren Capers, is also present on DDay and wins a Silver Star for his contribution in setting up a dressing station that treats over 300 wounded men. African American infantry medic Bruce M. Wright lands on Omaha Beach as part of the third wave and earns a Purple Heart for his actions. June 15. The 3d Marine Ammunition Company and the 18th and 20th Depot Companies, African American units, land on Saipan. The 3d Marine helps beat back a Japanese counterattack. These units become the only African American auxiliary marines to unexpectedly see combat action. June 25. Capt. Wendell Pruitt and Lt. Gwynne Pierson, both African Americans, sink a German destroyer in Trieste Harbor with their machine guns. Pruitt receives the Air Medal with six Oak-leaf Clusters and the Distinguished Flying Cross. June–July. Staff Sgt. Timerlate Kirven and Cpl. Samuel J. Love, Sr., of the 2d Marine Division become the first African Americans to be awarded Purple Hearts by the U.S. Marine Corps after being wounded on Saipan. July. The 99th Fighter Squadron is assigned to the 332d Fighter Group. The subchaser PC1264 becomes the first vessel of its kind to be crewed by African Americans. Officers are white, but the first African American officer is assigned to the vessel in 1945. African Americans now account for 25 percent of commissioned officers in the U.S. Coast Guard, the highest percentage of African American officers in the armed forces.

May. The 366th Infantry Regiment arrives in Italy and is assigned to guard air bases. May 10. Having arrived in Europe, the 2d Cavalry Division, consisting of the 9th and 10th Cavalry, are deactivated and the troops are reassigned to various units in North Africa. June. The USS Seacloud helps sink a German submarine in the North Atlantic. The first troops of the 92d Infantry Division pass through Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia, and leave for northern Italy. June 6. The 320th Negro Anti-Aircraft Barrage Balloon Battalion is the only African American unit to take part in the initial D-Day landings. An African

July 6. Following his refusal to sit at the rear of a military bus at Fort Hood, Texas, Lt. John Roosevelt Robinson, an African American officer in the 761st Tank Battalion, is arrested and court-martialed. He is later acquitted because the War Department recognizes that the U.S. Army has violated its order to prohibit racial discrimination. July 12. African American Capt. Joseph Elsberry shoots down three enemy aircraft in a single mission over Germany. July 15. The 370th Regimental Combat Team of the 92d Infantry Division leaves for Europe.

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July 17. At Port Chicago, California, the E. A. Bryan and the Quinalt Victory explode while sailors are loading ammunition. Of the 320 killed, 202 are African American. A large number of the 390 injured are also African American. This one event accounts for 15 percent of all African American casualties during World War II. July 30. The 370th Regimental Combat Team of the 92d Infantry Division joins the Fifth Army in the Mediterranean. It later becomes part of IV Corps of the Fifth Army. August. Following the U.S. Navy’s Special Unit recommendations, the secretary of the navy, James V. Forrestal, approves the integration of African American sailors on twenty-five auxiliary ships.

The U.S. Coast Guard’s SPARs announce the immediate admission of African American women. By mid-1945 it will only have five African American members. October 10. The 761st Tank Battalion lands at Omaha Beach, Normandy, France, and is assigned to the 26th Infantry Division, XII Corps, of Lt. Gen. George S. Patton’s Third Army. October 13. African American private Ernest A. Jenkins is awarded the Silver Star by Patton for his gallantry during the liberation of Chateau Dun in France. October 18. While protecting convoy NY-119, the USS Mason runs into a storm off the British coast. The ship is instrumental in saving a number of smaller vessels by escorting them safely into port.

The 92d Infantry Division is deployed to face the German-held Gothic Line. They make several assaults and begin to chase the retreating Germans deeper into northern Italy. August 9. At Port Chicago, California, orders are given to recommence ammunition loading onto vessels. Over 250 African American sailors refuse to obey orders. Fifty of the men are later courtmartialed by the U.S. Navy and 208 are convicted of lesser offenses.

October 19. The WAVES are opened to African American women, but fewer than a hundred will serve in the auxiliary during World War II. The first seventy-two include two women who will later become officers (Lt. Harriet Ida Pickens and Ens. Frances Wills). The first African American WAVE is Bessie Garret. October 20. The U.S. Coast Guard’s SPARs begin enlisting African American women. The first is Olivia J. Hooker.

August 25. African Americans, accounting for 75 percent of the drivers, begin the Red Ball Express military operation, a logistics mission to bring much-needed fuel, ammunition, and supplies to the front from the depot areas in France. August 27. The 370th Regimental Combat Team of the 92d Infantry Division first sees action on the Arno River, Italy. October. The 371st Regimental Combat Team of the 92d Infantry Division arrives in Europe. During offensive operations against the Germanheld Gothic Line in Italy, the 92d Infantry Division, under Maj. Gen. Edward M. Almond, is forced to retreat, giving ammunition to the U.S. press regarding misgivings about African American combat efficiency. The 52d Defense Battalion, the second U.S. Marine Corps African American combat unit, arrives in the Pacific to serve in the Marshall Islands, Guam, Eniwetok, and Kwajalein.

November. The 365th Regimental Combat Team of the 92d Infantry Division arrives in Europe. Elements of the 92d Infantry Division use mortar fire to contribute to the destruction of a number of enemy defensive positions in Italy. The first African American woman war correspondent, Elizabeth B. Murphy Moss (Phillips), receives her certification but is forced to return to the United States due to ill health before she can post her first report. November 8. During an assault on the towns of Moyenvic and Vic-Sur-Seille, the 761st Tank Battalion becomes the first African American armored unit in combat. For his role in the action, Staff Sgt. Ruben Rivers is awarded a Silver Star for his gallantry and leadership. November 15. Staff Sgt. Ruben Rivers is wounded in action but refuses to be evacuated. November 16. The Red Ball Express military

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operation ends, having transported 412,193 tons of supplies from Normandy to the Rhine in 6,000 trucks. November 19. Staff Sgt. Ruben Rivers is killed in action and posthumously receives the Medal of Honor in January 1997.

1945 Although the 761st Tank Battalion is nominated for a Presidential Unit Citation, it does not receive the award until 1978. At Godman Field, Kentucky, Col. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. assumes command of the 477th Composite Group. He becomes the first African American placed in command of a U.S. Army Air Forces base. The 477th Composite Group consists of members of the 332d Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group.

November 25. The 555th Parachute Infantry Company, now renamed Company A, 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, begins training at Camp Machall, North Carolina. November 30. The 366th Infantry Regiment is assigned to the 92d Infantry Division. December. The 24th Infantry Regiment is posted to Saipan and Tinian, ostensibly as garrison troops but it is engaged in clean-up operations to snuff out remaining Japanese resistance. December 14. At Climbach, France, Lt. Charles L. Thomas receives multiple wounds while storming the village under heavy enemy fire. He later dies of his wounds and is one of the seven African Americans awarded the Medal of Honor in January 1997. December 16, 1944–January 16, 1945. The Battle of the Bulge takes place. During the engagement, the U.S. Army forms ad hoc integrated units comprised of 2,500 African American volunteers in 40-man platoons that are attached to white units. They fight to repulse a major German counteroffensive in the Ardennes. The U.S. Army grudgingly acknowledges that the emergency experiment is successful. December 26. While serving as a forward artillery observer, 1st Lt. John R. Fox of the 366th Infantry Regiment, 92d Infantry Division, calls down friendly fire on his own position at Sommocolonia in Italy to stop a determined German counteroffensive. He is posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in January 1997. December 31, 1944–February 2, 1945. After the failure of the German Ardennes offensive, the U.S. Army resumes offensive operations in the Ardennes area. Among those at the forefront of the attacks to relieve Bastogne is the 761st Tank Battalion, which manages to penetrate the German positions in three places.

By the summer, the U.S. Navy ends its policy of maintaining segregated training facilities. January. The 761st Tank Battalion fight a five-day engagement with the German 15th SS Panzer Division around Tillet, Belgium. January 12. The Stilwell Road, a strategic military route connecting India, Burma, and China, opens for the first convoy of supplies to Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist Chinese troops. Several thousand African American troops are involved in the building of the overland route. January 23. The U.S. Army Nurse Corps bows to pressure from the National Association of Colored Nursing to end its racial restrictions. January 25. The U.S. Navy Nurse Corps begins to allow African American women to enlist. February. The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, under the command of African American Maj. Charity Adams Earley, becomes the only African American WAC unit to be posted abroad. It will serve in Birmingham, England, and Rouen and Paris, France, with personnel working seven days a week and handling over 65,000 letters and packages per shift. February 8. Gen. Mark W. Clark, commander of the Fifth Army, restructures the 92d Infantry Division. Harry S. McAlpin becomes the first African American accredited to attend a White House press conference. He represents the Atlanta Daily World. February 19–March 25. The Battle of Iwo Jima takes place and claims at least twelve African American casualties out of the 6,000 marines killed and 20,000 wounded.

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March. The white 442d and 473d Infantry Regiments are assigned to the 92d Infantry Division after the 365th and 366th have their numbers stripped to reinforce the 370th. This makes, for the first time, the 92d Infantry Division an integrated division. The 365th and 366th Infantry Regiments of the 92d Infantry Division advance across the Serchio Valley in Italy and capture the Cinquale Canal. Lester B. Granger of the National Urban League is appointed by the secretary of the navy, James V. Forrestal, to investigate the treatment of African Americans in the U.S. Navy. Granger will cover 50,000 miles and visit sixty-seven naval bases in six months. His recommendations to assign African Americans to sea duties, i.e., to assign more to general service, not just to Steward’s Branch or shore duties, are ordered to be implemented by Forrestal. March 6. The Bureau of Naval Personnel announces that African Americans will be assigned to fleet auxiliary ships.

and 38th Depot Companies of the U.S. Marine Corps are engaged. Fourteen men are wounded during the engagements. April 5. After being arrested for breaking illegal color bars (the base barred African American officers from using facilities), at Freeman Field, Indiana, 101 African American members of the 477th Bombardment Group are accused of mutiny. Despite official policy, the base commander had continued to enforce segregation. Three African American officers are court-martialed and the other men are given reprimands. The actions taken against the men are set aside or removed from their records by the U.S. Air Force in 1995. April 5–6. During fighting near Viareggio, Italy, 2d Lt. Vernon J. Baker is awarded the Medal of Honor for destroying two enemy defensive positions, ensuring wounded men are evacuated, and leading an assault against the enemy through a minefield. He is the only African American still alive in January 1997 when he and six others are belatedly awarded their decoration. April 7. Operating as a scout, Pfc. Willy F. James Jr. is killed during an attempt to retrieve his platoon leader in Lippoldsberg, Germany, and is posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in January 1997.

March 9. Ens. Phyllis Mae Dailey becomes the U.S. Navy’s first African American nurse. March 14. The 366th Infantry Regiment is deactivated as a combat unit and becomes two service units.

April 11. African American troops of the Third Army are present at the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany. It is likely that these were members of the 761st Tank Battalion.

March 20–23. The 761st Tank Battalion breaks through the Siegfried Line, the last major German defense position in the west. They capture seven German towns in their assault.

April 26. The 332d Fighter Group claims the last four enemy aircraft kills in the Mediterranean. By this time the unit had flown 1,578 combat missions, shot down 111 enemy aircraft, and destroyed 150 planes on the ground.

March 23. African American Staff Sgt. Edward A. Carter is wounded by German troops near Speyer, Germany, but manages to kill six Germans and capture two others. For his actions he would be posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in January 1997.

April 30. The Italian campaign comes to an end, with the 92d Infantry Division having suffered 25 percent casualties. Among the 12,000 decorations are 95 Silver Stars, 2 Distinguished Service Crosses, a Distinguished Service Medal, and 16 Legions of Merit.

March 24. The 332d Fighter Group is awarded a Presidential Unit Citation for its operations in escorting bombers over Germany. April. Pilot Wendell Pruitt dies while performing a victory roll over the Tuskegee airfield. April 1–June 21. The Battle of Okinawa takes place. The African American 1st, 3d, and 12th Ammunition Companies and the 5th, 18th, 37th,

May. The 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion is assigned to the western United States to deal with Japanese incendiary bombs attached to paper balloons landing in Oregon and California. During

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their period of service they make over 1,000 parachute jumps.

1946 February. Aiken, South Carolina, police attack African American World War II veteran Isaac Woodard, who is blinded as a result of the attack after an argument with a bus driver.

May 5. The 761st Tank Battalion joins up with Russian forces at Steyr, Austria. June. The U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, accepts Wesley A. Brown as a cadet. He will become the first African American to graduate and be commissioned in June 1949. July. The 24th Infantry Regiment is posted to Okinawa to carry out similar duties performed in Saipan and Tinian. July 1. The chief of naval personnel discontinues the training program for African American recruits at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station as part of the navy’s integration policy. August. The 24th Infantry Regiment is posted to Ryukya to carry out similar duties performed in Okinawa, Saipan, and Tinian. August 22. The 24th Infantry Regiment, commanded by Col. Julian G. Herne Jr., accepts the first Japanese surrender of ground units, on Aka Island. September. By this time over 695,000 African Americans are serving in a wide variety of roles in the U.S. Army.

April. The Gillem Board publishes its report, Utilization of Negro Manpower in the Postwar Army Policy. The report recommends that the U.S. Army’s future policy should eliminate, at the earliest practicable moment, any special consideration based on race. African American commentators and activists are stunned that the board does not challenge the issue of segregation in the army. Later, Secretary of the Army Kenneth Royall will describe the proposed policy as “equality of opportunity on the basis of segregation.” July. In Monroe, Georgia, two African American veterans and their wives are dragged from their car by a racist white mob that then riddles their bodies with sixty bullets. July 30. U.S. Attorney General Tom Clark announces that President Harry S. Truman has instructed the Justice Department to proceed with all its resources to investigate the Monroe, Georgia, atrocity and other crimes of oppression so as to ascertain if any federal statute can be applied.

September 1. Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson appoints a board of three general officers to investigate the U.S. Army’s policy with respect to African Americans. They are to prepare a new policy for the integrated and efficient use of African Americans. Heading the board as chairman is Gen. Alvan C. Gillem Jr. The board will become known as the Gillem Board.

September 12. Truman writes to the National Urban League, stating that government has an obligation to see that the civil rights of every citizen are fully and equally protected.

September 22. The 758th Tank Battalion is deactivated at Viareggio, Italy.

1947

October. The 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion becomes part of the 82d Airborne Division when it is moved from Camp Machall to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. October 1. The Gillem Board holds its first meeting and continues its deliberations for the next four months. November 10. Pfc. Frederick C. Branch becomes the first African American commissioned as a reserve officer in the U.S. Marine Corps.

December 6. The President’s Committee on Civil Rights is established.

John W. Lee becomes the first African American to hold a commission in the regular U.S. Navy. May. President Harry S. Truman is presented with a report from the President’s Advisory Commission on Universal Training. It concludes that “nothing could be more tragic for the future attitude of our people, and for the unity of our Nation, than a program [the proposed Universal Military Training program] in which our Federal Government forced our young manhood to live for a period of time in an atmosphere that emphasized or bred class or racial difference.”

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October. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People presents “Statement on the Denial of Human Rights to Minorities in the Case of Citizens of Negro Descent in the USA; and an Appeal to the United Nations for Redress” to the United Nations.

March 30. As the representative of the Committee Against Jim Crow in Military Service and Training, A. Philip Randolph testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee. He contends that African Americans will refuse to serve in the armed forces if legislation does not end segregation.

October 29. The President’s Committee on Civil Rights issues its report, To Secure These Rights. The committee roundly condemns segregation, specifically in the armed forces. The report concludes with the opinion that only legislative or administrative action will be able “to end immediately all discrimination and segregation based on race, color, creed or national origin in . . . all branches of the Armed Services.”

April 26. A delegation of some sixteen African American leaders informs Secretary of Defense James V. Forrestal that African Americans are likely to react very aggressively if segregation is not outlawed in the armed forces.

November. Truman receives a memorandum from Clark Clifford, special counsel to the president (1946–1950), stating his opinion that the president, in order to win the 1948 presidential election, will have to focus on civil rights and the issues affecting African Americans in particular. The Committee Against Jim Crow in Military Service and Training is established by labor and civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph and black Republican Grant Reynolds. 1948 January. After considering his options, President Harry S. Truman determines that segregation in the armed forces and the civil service can only be ended by administrative action in the form of an executive order, rather than through the legislative process. February 2. Truman tells Congress that he has instructed the secretary of defense to take steps to have the remaining instances of discrimination in the armed services eliminated as rapidly as possible. March 22. Truman has a meeting with leading African Americans who try to convince him to insist on desegregation amendments to legislation being considered in Congress regarding the reintroduction of the draft. March 27. The “Declaration of Negro Voters” is issued by twenty African American organizations meeting in New York. The declaration demands that every vestige of segregation and discrimination in the armed forces be forthwith abolished.

May. Truman’s staff considers advising the president that it may be prudent to establish a committee to oversee the integration program in the armed forces. June 25. The creation of the League for Nonviolent Civil Disobedience Against Military Segregation is announced by Randolph. June 29. Randolph tells Truman that unless he issues an executive order to end segregation in the armed forces, it is probable that African Americans will seek to resist the draft. July 13. Minneapolis mayor Hubert H. Humphrey, a member of the platform committee at the Democratic National Convention, proposes that the party call for the abolition of segregation in the armed forces. The proposal is rejected, despite the support of Truman and his advisors. A more moderate stance is adopted in order not to alienate the Southern delegates and supporters. July 14. Delegates at the Democratic National Convention overwhelmingly vote to overrule the platform committee and the Truman administration’s moderate approach. They vote for a more liberal policy that incorporates the desegregation of the armed forces. Truman’s staff works on drafting an executive order to end segregation, while the president decides to follow the suggestion of his advisors and set up a committee to oversee the desegregation program in the armed forces. July 26. Truman signs Executive Order 9981, establishing the President’s Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services as the overseeing body to monitor the implementation of the desegregation program. Due to the ambiguity of the executive order, some army

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staff officers leak to the press that they do not consider that 9981 forbids segregation.

1949

July 27. Gen. Omar N. Bradley, the army chief of staff, states that in his opinion a desegregated army will only come into existence when American society is no longer segregated itself. July 29. Truman is forced to make it clear at a press conference that Executive Order 9981’s primary purpose is to end segregation in the armed forces. August 2. A. Philip Randolph and other representatives of the League for Nonviolent Civil Disobedience Against Military Segregation meet with J. Howard McGrath, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. McGrath assures them that the President’s Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services will end segregation in the armed forces as intended by Executive Order 9981. Convinced of his sincerity and given reassurances, Randolph and the other representatives issue a statement ending the organization’s civil disobedience campaign. August 14. Secretary of the Army Kenneth Royall admits to the press that “segregation in the army must go.” He is not convinced that it will happen immediately. September 18. The members of the President’s Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services are announced by the White House. The chairman is Charles Fahy and subsequently the committee is known as the Fahy Committee. The body will have five members, two of whom are African American. October 9. Preemptively, the U.S. Navy announces that it will be continuing and extending its policy of integration that it began in the last few months of World War II. December. Secretary of Defense Forrestal receives a proposal from Royall that an experimental integrated unit be established in the army. In this way, the U.S. Army could assess the process and effects of integration. Stuart Symington, the secretary of the air force, presents Truman with an integration plan for the U.S. Air Force. It proposes to assign African Americans to units on the basis of merit and not on the basis of color or creed.

Sfc. Edward Carter, a veteran of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and World War II, is dishonorably discharged because he was seen as a communist. The American Civil Liberties Union takes up his case. Col. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. attends the U.S. Air Force’s Air War College. Wesley Brown becomes the first African American to complete the U.S. Naval Academy’s program at Annapolis. January 12. President Harry S. Truman has his first meeting with the Fahy Committee. Also present are the secretaries of the army, navy, air force, and defense. January 13. Representatives of the armed services are called to the first of the hearings set up by the Fahy Committee. Secretary of the Army Kenneth Royall defends the U.S. Army’s segregation policy; the U.S. Marine Corps follows suit and admits that only 1 of its 8,200 officers is African American. Secretary of the Navy John L. Sullivan admits that only 5 of the U.S. Navy’s 45,000 officers are African American, but states that the Navy is committed to a policy of integration. Secretary of the Air Force Stuart Symington also agrees to institute a policy of desegregation. January 22. The U.S. Air Force prematurely announces to the press that it has completed its plans for a desegregated service. March 28. The Fahy Committee calls the secretaries of the army, navy, and air force to testify. The secretary of the U.S. Air Force and the secretary of the U.S. Navy testify that they are opposed to segregation in their services and confirm that policies are in place or are being developed to achieve integration. The secretary of the U.S. Army testifies that he wishes to maintain a segregated service and states that the army is not an instrument for social evolution. April 1. Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson issues directives to Symington, Sullivan, and Royall clearly stating his department’s commitment to equality of opportunity and employment in the armed services. May 11. Johnson decides to approve the U.S. Air Force integration plan, but flatly rejects those

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proposed by Sullivan and Royall for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army, respectively. The Fahy Committee makes additional recommendations to the army and navy, including the army ending its 10 percent African American enlistment quota and desegregating all of its units. June 7. The revised U.S. Navy integration plan is accepted by Johnson. The U.S. Army revised plan is rejected once more and Johnson makes a formal statement to the U.S. Army insisting that it incorporates the recommendations of the Fahy Committee before he approves the plan. July 5. Gordon Gray, the new secretary of the army, and Gen. Omar N. Bradley, the army chief of staff, make the formal presentation of a revised U.S. Army plan to the Fahy Committee. The army still proposes to maintain segregation and the 10 percent African American recruitment quota. July 25–27. Speaking as the representative of the Fahy Committee, Charles Fahy tells Truman, Johnson, and Gray that the U.S. Army plan for integration will not be accepted until the army embraces the spirit of Executive Order 9981. August–September. Fruitless discussions continue between the Fahy Committee and representatives of the U.S. Army to resolve the disparity of the army’s integration plan to those of the other two services. September. Daniel “Chappie” James joins the 12th Fighter-Bomber Squadron at Clark Air Base in the Philippines. September 27. The U.S. Army sends a copy of its revised plan to Johnson. The Fahy Committee is apprised of the dispatch, but does not receive a copy of its own. September 30. Johnson approves the revised U.S. Army plan, which still incorporates the maintaining of segregated units and the 10 percent African American enlistment quota. October 6. For public relations purposes, Truman announces to the press that the U.S. Army plan is a “a progress report” and not a completed and approved document. He reaffirms his commitment to ensuring that the U.S. Army follows the lead of the other two services and ends segregation. October 11. Truman receives a letter from Fahy

stating that the revised U.S. Army plan would not end segregation in the service. November. The U.S. Army again revises its integration plan, which still includes segregated units and the 10 percent recruitment quota. The Fahy Committee warns the U.S. Army that it has no hope of having the plan approved and that it is the intention of the committee to release a statement to the press roundly condemning the plan. December. Truman and the White House ask the Fahy Committee not to issue a condemnation of the U.S. Army plan to the press. Instead, they ask that the Fahy Committee reissue recommendations to the U.S. Army with advice as to steps needed to modify the plan to achieve the goal of approval. African American Bradley Biggs, formerly of the 555th Parachute Battalion and the 82d Airborne Division, becomes a company commander at Gifu, Japan. December 15. The White House is presented with the Fahy Committee’s recommendations and suggested modifications to the U.S. Army integration plan. The Fahy Committee stands by the phasing out of segregation and the termination of the recruitment quota. December 27. Gray and Fahy meet and discuss the issue. Gray concedes on the point of segregated units, but reserves the right to institute this as a rolling program over a period of time 1950 January 14. The U.S. Army’s integration plan is finally approved by the Fahy Committee. The 10 percent African American recruitment quota remains an issue to be dealt with at a later date. January 16. President Harry S. Truman is apprised of the approval of the U.S. Army’s integration plan by the Fahy Committee. The plan is officially issued as Special Regulations No. 600–629–1 by the U.S. Army. February 1. The continuing operation of the Fahy Committee is approved by Truman until such a time that the U.S. Army formally accepts the abolition of the 10 percent recruitment quota for African American enlistments.

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March 1. Gordon Gray, the secretary of the army, discusses the matter of the 10 percent recruitment quota with Truman. He tells the president the U.S. Army will abolish the 10 percent recruitment quota, but if there is a larger than 10 percent influx of African Americans into the army that the president had already stated that the army would have the right to reinstate the quota. He bases his assumptions on the long discussions held over the past several months with the president on this issue. March 13. Seemingly assured by Truman’s conversation with Gray, the U.S. Army agrees to abolish its 10 percent recruitment quota for African Americans. The change of policy will enter into effect in April 1950. March 27. Truman thanks Gray for the change of policy and tells him: “I am sure everything will work out as it should.” May 22. Freedom To Serve, the last report of the Fahy Committee, is published and submitted to Truman. In thanking the committee, the president expresses hopes that the recommendations are carried out and “within the reasonably near future, equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons within the armed services would be accomplished.” With this, the Fahy Committee effectively completes its work. June. The U.S. Army encounters severe difficulties as it tries to predict the levels of recruitment for African Americans. Training camps are told, unofficially, that training should be integrated. Meanwhile in Korea, the problem of replacing white border casualties in combat units and the sudden influx of African American recruits speeds up the integration process as African American replacements are assigned to previously segregated, white-only units. June 24–25. North Korea crosses the 38th parallel and invades South Korea. June 27. Truman orders the Seventh Fleet into the Strait of Taiwan and commits air support for South Korean forces. June 29. The U.S. administration realizes that the South Koreans are incapable of dealing with the North Korean invasion without U.S. ground troops.

July. The 24th Infantry Regiment, the 159th Field Artillery Battalion, the 77th Engineer Combat Company, and the 512th Military Police Company, all African American units, are sent to Korea. July 2. Gen. Douglas MacArthur is given command of Korean military operations and asks for ground troops. July 6. Truman officially winds up the operations of the Fahy Committee, despite the fact that members of the committee feel there is still work to be done in monitoring the implementation of the integration plans in the three services. July 10. The four African American units land at Pusan, South Korea. July 20. The 25th Infantry Division (which includes the 24th Infantry Regiment, the 77th Engineer Combat Company, and the 159th Field Artillery Battalion) begins a sixteen-hour battle to recapture Yechon to the north of Pusan. July 21. Future Lt. Col. Charles M. Bussey mans 2 machine guns during the Yechon offensive and kills 258 North Koreans despite being wounded twice. July 31. 1st Lt. Leon A. Gilbert, an African American, acting commander of Company A, 24th Infantry Regiment, is charged with desertion in the face of the enemy. He is initially sentenced to death but this is commuted to fifty years imprisonment. August. After having won a Distinguished Service Medal in the spring following his rescue of a fellow pilot from an aircraft accident, Daniel “Chappie” James rejoins his squadron in Korea. August 6. Pfc. William H. Thompson, of the 24th Infantry Regiment, covers the retreat of his company by manning a machine gun. He is mortally wounded and is the first soldier to win a Medal of Honor in Korea. It is the first African American Medal of Honor to be awarded since the SpanishAmerican War. August 31. The 24th Infantry Regiment is forced to withdraw from Battle Mountain (Hill 625); it is later accused of cowardice. September 15. MacArthur masterminds landings at Inchon behind enemy lines. September 16. The 9th Infantry Regiment, led by

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white Lt. Col. Cesido Butch Barberis and including a battalion of African Americans, crosses the Naktong River. October. James is awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for close ground support at Namchonjom, North Korea. November. Truman reduces Gilbert’s sentence from fifty years to twenty years’ imprisonment, following pressure from senators, congressmen, and civil rights groups. November 23. The 25th Infantry Division faces twoand-a-half enemy divisions while en route to Yalu. November 25. U.S. troops face an enormous counteroffensive by the North Korean and Chinese forces. December. James completes his 100th Korean combat mission.

African American pilot Daniel “Chappie” James is promoted to the rank of major. 1953 Daniel “Chappie” James becomes the first African American officer to lead an integrated fighter squadron when he assumes command of Otis Air Force Base, Massachusetts. The American Civil Liberties Union finally ends Edward Carter’s appeal to rejoin the U.S. Army, the former sergeant having been branded as unAmerican by the Establishment. Lawrence Chambers becomes the second African American to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. April. Lt. Frank E. Petersen, only the fourth African American to complete the Naval Aviation Cadet Program, begins his Korean tour of duty. He will fly sixty-four combat missions.

1951 Project Clear, a U.S. Army study, claims that integration would improve efficiency.

July 27. The Korean armistice is signed.

January. In Korea, the Eighth Army unofficially adopts the policy of integrating African Americans into white-only units once the all–African American units have reached official combat strength.

September. President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends a military and economic task force to Saigon, concluding that the French will win the war in Vietnam. October. The U.S. Army makes an official announcement that 95 percent of African Americans serving in the army are now in fully integrated units.

March 18. The Department of Defense announces that all basic training in the armed services will be integrated from this point onward. April. The commander of the United Nations Command in Korea, Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway, requests that the U.S. Army approve the integration of African Americans into all units under his command. June 2. Sgt. Cornelius H. Charlton, an African American, is killed while leading three assaults on an enemy ridge near Chipo-Ri. He is awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor. July 26. The U.S. Army approves Ridgway’s request and makes an announcement that within six months all units assigned to Japan, Korea, and Okinawa will be integrated. October 1. The 24th Infantry Regiment is deactivated because of desegregation.

1952

1954 The last segregated support units are desegregated. May 7. French-held Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam falls to the Viet Minh after a fifty-six-day siege. May 17. The U.S. Supreme Court rules that segregated schools are unconstitutional, ending a twenty-year court battle by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. 1955 January. The United States establishes the Military Assistance and Advisory Group in Saigon and begins training South Vietnamese troops.

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1962

August 13. African American World War II veteran Lamar Smith is murdered in Mississippi for registering African American voters.

Colin Powell receives word of his transfer to Vietnam.

October. Ngo Dinh Diem declares himself president of the Republic of Vietnam.

December. Powell arrives in the A Shau Valley near Vietnam’s border with Laos. He is a field adviser to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam.

1957 Daniel “Chappie” James is posted at the Pentagon as a lieutenant colonel. African American Colin Powell reports to the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps facility at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

1963 January 2. The Battle of Ap Bac takes place in the delta region of Vietnam and ends in disaster. February 7. Colin Powell and his Army of the Republic of Vietnam battalion help initiate Operation grasshopper to clear out North Vietnamese troops.

Ngo Dinh Diem’s repression in South Vietnam triggers guerrilla action by the Viet Minh. September 4. The so-called Little Rock Nine case hits the headlines as nine African American teenagers are prevented from entering a school in Arkansas. Eventually the Little Rock Nine will be given bodyguards from the 101st Airborne Division.

April 3. An enemy mortar attack nearly kills Powell. November 1. Now holding the rank of captain, Powell reports to Tan Son Nhut Airport to travel to the Infantry Officer’s Advanced Course at Fort Benning, Georgia. Ngo Dinh Diem’s government is overthrown by Gen. Duong Van Minh. Diem, his brother, and chief adviser are murdered the next day.

1959 Colin Powell graduates from City College of New York, and enters the U.S. Army.

1964

Benjamin O. Davis Jr. is promoted to the rank of brigadier general.

Lt. Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. becomes chief of staff for U.S. forces in Korea and chief of staff for the United Nations Command.

1960 Daniel “Chappie” James becomes director of operations for the 81st Tactical Fighter Wing in Great Britain.

1965

As a lieutenant, Colin Powell commands a company of the 3d Armored Division. February 1. In Greensboro, North Carolina, four African American college students, one of whom is wearing a Reserve Officers’ Training Corps uniform, are refused service at a segregated lunch counter. This triggers nationwide civil rights protests and thousands of arrests.

African American Capt. John Cash begins his first tour of duty in Vietnam. May. Colin Powell completes the Infantry Officer’s Advanced Course at Fort Benning and becomes an instructor at the school.

1961

October. Col. Fred V. Cherry of the 35th Tactical Fighter Squadron is shot down over North Vietnam. He is the first African American to be captured by the North Vietnamese and is later sent to the infamous Hoa Lo prison, nicknamed the Hanoi Hilton.

Colin Powell is transferred to Fort Devens, Massachusetts, with the 1st Battle Group, 4th Infantry, of the 2d Infantry Brigade.

October 22. Pfc. Milton L. Olive III sacrifices his own life while with the 173d Airborne Brigade in order to save other soldiers. He becomes the first | 633 |

Chronology

African American enlisted man to win a Medal of Honor in Vietnam.

Over 160 violent racial attacks take place throughout the year at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

1966

1970

Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara launches Project 100,000, aiming to admit 100,000 unemployed and poorly educated U.S. citizens into the armed forces.

Daniel “Chappie” James is awarded his first general’s star.

1967 Colin Powell is assigned to the Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. African Americans in the U.S. Army are reenlisting at a rate twice that of their white counterparts. October 31. Capt. Riley Leroy Pitts is killed in action at Ap Dong and becomes the first African American officer to ever win a Medal of Honor. He is one of 9,300 Americans killed in Vietnam in 1967. 1968 U.S. forces suffer 14,592 dead throughout the year. African Americans account for 20 percent of combat troops and 14.1 percent of casualties. April 1. The Tet offensive in Vietnam is launched by the North Vietnamese. July. Colin Powell returns to Vietnam as the executive officer of the 3d Battalion, 1st Infantry, 11th Infantry Brigade, Americal Division. He is based in Quang Ngai.

March. African American airmen react violently when white servicemen are rumored to be setting up a Ku Klux Klan group at the air base at Goose Bay, Labrador. Charges are brought against African Americans and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People helps to defuse the situation. July 10. Racial disturbances occur at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, Illinois, and later are investigated by the Bureau of Naval Personnel and the Office of the Secretary of the Navy. Sweeping changes are made in the wake of these incidents. December 17. Adm. Elmo R. Zumwalt, the chief of naval operations for the U.S. Navy, issues the directive “Equal Opportunity in the Navy.” 1971 The U.S. Navy launches its BOOST Program to raise educational levels of minority groups in the service. March. The mayor of Berlin, Germany, criticizes residents for discriminating against African American servicemen.

November. Powell is almost killed in a helicopter crash in Vietnam.

May 21. Racial fighting at Travis Air Force Base, California, leads to the arrest of 135 men.

1969 Daniel “Chappie” James is in command of Wheelus Air Force Base in Libya when he confronts Libyan dictator Col. Muammar Khadafy, who is leading a column of half-tracks to seize the military facility. James confronts Khadafy face-to-face and says, “Move your hand away from that gun!” The Libyan leader and the column of half-tracks withdraw. Forty-five African Americans enter West Point as first-year cadets.

Forty African Americans enter West Point as firstyear cadets.

June 24. The Defense Race Relations Institute is established at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida. November. Gen. Michael S. Davison, commanding general of U.S. Army, Europe, launches an African American educational literacy program supported by Maj. Gen. F. E. Davison, the second-highest-ranking African American in the U.S. Army. They meet with representatives of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the National Urban League at Berchtesgaden, West Germany.

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1972

1977

Capt. John Cash returns to Vietnam.

Clifford L. Alexander becomes the first African American secretary of the army. He is appointed by President Jimmy Carter. There are nine African American generals at this time.

African Americans account for 7.3 percent of enlisted men and 1 percent of officers in the U.S. Navy and 13.7 percent of enlisted men and 1.5 percent of officers in the U.S. Marines. In the U.S. Air Force, African American enlisted men amount to 12.6 percent and officers 1.7 percent.; in the U.S. Army, the figures are 17.1 percent and 3.9 percent.

1978 January. Gen. Daniel “Chappie” James retires.

Fifty-one African Americans enroll at West Point as first-year cadets. October 12. African American and white sailors brawl onboard the USS Kitty Hawk. Twenty-seven African Americans are charged.

November 3. Racial violence breaks out on the USS Constellation during a training exercise off the coast of California.

January 27. The United States and Vietnam sign a peace treaty in Paris. Prisoners of war will be exchanged and the United States agrees to leave Vietnam within sixty days. March 29. The last aircraft containing U.S. troops leaves Vietnam. August 14. U.S. bombing in Vietnam is officially ended by order of Congress. 1975 Daniel “Chappie” James becomes the first African American four-star general and takes command at North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) in Colorado.

December. Colin Powell reaches the rank of brigadier general. 1979

October 16. African American and white sailors fight each other on the USS Hassayampa. Eleven African Americans are charged.

1973

February. James dies and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

July. The Defense Race Relations Institute becomes the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute. 1981 Clifford L. Alexander leaves office as secretary of the army. There are now thirty African American generals, including Colin Powell and Hazel Winifred Johnson, the first African American woman general. Col. Fred V. Cherry retires from the U.S. Air Force. African Americans account for 33.2 percent of enlisted men and 7 percent of officers in the U.S. Army, 12.2 percent of enlisted men and 2.7 percent of officers in the U.S. Navy, 22 percent of enlisted men and 4 percent of officers in the U.S. Marine Corps, and 14.4 percent of enlisted men and 4.8 percent of officers in the U.S. Air Force. 1982

1976

Colin Powell becomes the deputy commanding general of the U.S. Army Combined Arms Combat Developments Activity, based at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Colin Powell becomes a colonel and is placed in command of the 2d Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

December. African Americans account for 4.4 percent of officers and 19.4 percent of enlisted men in the National Guard or reserve units.

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those who lose their jobs when the armed services downsize.

1983 Colin Powell chairs Project 14 to investigate the U.S. Army’s future over the next four years. December 4. African American Robert O. Goodman Jr., an electronics warfare officer, is shot down over Lebanon by Syrian forces and is taken prisoner. He is later released due to a visit to Syria by the Rev. Jesse Jackson. 1985

December 1. 184,000 allied troops are in place in Saudi Arabia for Operation Desert Shield. African Americans account for 20 percent of U.S. troops (30 percent in the U.S. Army, 22 percent in the U.S. Navy, 17 percent in the U.S. Marine Corps, and 13 percent in the U.S. Air Force) in the Persian Gulf region. 1991

Colin Powell warns Caspar Weinberger of the IranContra Affair. African Americans account for an average of 8 percent of West Point cadets. 1986 July. Colin Powell becomes a three-star general and is placed in command of V Corps in Frankfurt, Germany. 1987 Brig. Gen. Fred A. Gordon becomes the first African American commandant of West Point.

January 21. African American Lt. Phoebe Jeter is the first African American woman to direct a Patriot missile battery to shoot down Iraqi Scud missiles. February 28. President George Bush announces a cease-fire in the Gulf War. Of the 266 U.S. soldiers killed, some 15 percent are African American. Among the dead, the youngest is Pvt. Robert D. Talley (eighteen years) and the oldest is 1st Sgt. Joseph Murphy (fifty-eight years), both African Americans. May. Bush awards African American World War I veteran Freddie Stowers’s sister his posthumous Medal of Honor.

November. Colin Powell becomes the first African American National Security Adviser.

May 1. Maj. Gen. Marcelite J. Harris becomes the first African American woman in the U.S. Air Force to become a two-star general.

1988

1994

A campaign is launched by supporters to award the Medal of Honor to Sgt. Henry Johnson and Dorie Miller, Ship’s Cook, 3d Class, African American veterans of World War I and World War II, respectively.

July. A memorial is dedicated in Concord, California, to the sailors killed in the accidental explosion of two ships at Port Chicago in July 1944.

1995 1989 Former African American veteran Duery Felton of the 1st Infantry Division becomes the curator of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Collection. August. Colin Powell becomes chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 1990 Thousands of African American soldiers are among

Johnson C. Whittaker posthumously receives his U.S. Army commission over 100 years after being dismissed from West Point after an incident that was probably racially motivated. The official reprimands of African American members of the 477th Bombardment Group following the Freeman Field incident in 1945 are stricken from their service records. Shaw University (named after Robert Gould Shaw, colonel of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, who

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Chronology

was killed in the assault on Fort Wagner), North Carolina, is nominated to investigate potential African American Medal of Honor recipients and the fact that no African Americans received the Medal of Honor in World War I or World War II.

who was awarded the medal for his numerous acts of bravery in Germany in 1945), and Pfc. Willy F. James (a member of the 415th Infantry Regiment who displayed bravery at Lippoldsberg, Germany, in 1945).

December. Two white soldiers, neo-Nazis and supporters of the racist National Alliance, stationed at Fort Bragg and a third man murder an African American couple. James Burmeister and Malcolm Wright, both of the 82d Airborne Division and a third soldier, Randy Meadows, carried out the murders. Burmeister and Wright were convicted and sentenced to life. Meadows pleaded guilty to conspiracy and being an accessory.

February 22. Maj. Gen. Marcelite J. Harris retires from the U.S. Air Force.

1996 African Americans account for 9.8 percent of U.S. Marine Corps personnel, with 6.5 percent of the officers and three men with the rank of general.

1998 Master Chief Vincent Patton III, an African American, is appointed as the principal adviser to the commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard. February 1. Lillian Fishburne is promoted to the rank of rear admiral, becoming the first female African American flag officer in the U.S. Navy.

1997

July 23–24. Five African American troops who fought during the Battle of the Bulge are belatedly granted their Bronze Stars: 1st Sgt. Vincent R. Malveaux; Sgt. J. C. Wade; Pfc. Andrew W. Nix Jr.; T5g. Mate Montgomery; and former Sgt. Marteller Pollock Jr.

In Walterboro, South Carolina, a monument to the Tuskegee Airmen is dedicated.

1999

African Americans account for 17.4 percent of total U.S. Navy personnel, with 5.9 percent of the officers and 2.2 percent of the admiral class.

February. West Point’s first African American graduate, Henry O. Flipper, receives a presidential pardon, more than 100 years after his court-martial for misappropriation of funds.

January 13. Vernon Baker is the only living recipient of the Medal of Honor conferred on African American veterans by President Bill Clinton in a ceremony at the White House. Baker, a member of the 370th Regiment, 92d Division, is awarded his medal for gallantry at Castel Aghinolfi, Italy, in 1945. Posthumous awards are given to Pvt. George Watson (a member of the 29th Quartermaster Regiment who had already been the first African American to win the Distinguished Service Cross in World War II), 1st Lt. John R. Fox (a member of the 366th Infantry Regiment, 92d Division, who was killed in 1944 at Serchio, Italy), Staff Sgt. Ruben Rivers (a member of the 761st Tank Battalion who was commended for his action at Guebling, France, in 1944), Maj. Charles L. Thomas (a member of the 614th Tank Destroyer Battalion who received the medal for his bravery at Climbach, France, in 1944), Staff Sgt. Edward Carter, Jr. (a member of the 56th Armored Infantry Regiment, 12th Armored Division,

2000 November. More than 100 U.S. Navy divers and their families attend the premiere of the movie Men of Honor, which chronicles African American navy diver Carl Brashear’s struggle against racism. 2001 January 20. Retired general Colin Powell becomes the first African American secretary of state. May 25. Senate Resolution 97, referred to the Judiciary Committee, resolves that the Senate (1) honor the bravery and dedication of the Buffalo Soldiers throughout United States and world history, (2) honor one of the Buffalo Soldiers’ most distinguished heroes, Col. Charles Young, for his lifetime achievements, and (3) recognize the

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continuing legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers throughout the world.

at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Davis is buried at Arlington National Cemetery and his memory is honored with a heritage flyover.

2002 2003

March 6. U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth says written directions by the U.S. Army to promotion boards urging that they consider “past personal or institutional discrimination” are unconstitutional because they give preference to one race or gender over another. July 4. Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Jr., 89, the legendary commander of the Tuskegee Airmen, dies

Colin Powell leads the accusations against Iraq, claiming that it has been less than candid regarding its disclosures concerning weapons of mass destruction. In his address to the United Nations Security Council on February 5, Powell outlines U.S. intelligence data on Iraq’s weapons programs.

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United States Colored Artillery, Formation and Service Records of

Independent Battery, United States Colored Light Artillery

4th Division, District of East Tennessee, Department of the Cumberland, to March 1865. 1st Brigade, 4th Division, District of East Tennessee, to March 1866.

Date Raised December 23, 1864

Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Knoxville, to January 1865. Operations against Wheeler in East Tennessee, August 15–25, 1864. Operations in northern Alabama and East Tennessee, January 31–April 24, 1865. Stoneman’s operations from East Tennessee into southwestern Virginia and western North Carolina, February– April 1865. At Greenville and in District of East Tennessee, to March 1866.

Muster Point(s) Leavenworth, Kansas Date Disbanded July 22, 1865 Place Disbanded Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to District of North Kansas, Department of Kansas, to July 1865. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Leavenworth and Fort Leavenworth, to July 1865. 1st Regiment, United States Colored Heavy Artillery

3d Regiment, United States Colored Heavy Artillery Date Raised March 11, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from 1st Tennessee Heavy Artillery (African Descent). Designated 2d United States Colored Heavy Artillery, March 11, 1864, and 3d Heavy Artillery, April 26, 1864.

Date Raised February 20, 1864 Muster Point(s) Knoxville, Tennessee

Date Disbanded April 30, 1866

Date Disbanded March 31, 1866

Place Disbanded District of West Tennessee

Place Disbanded District of East Tennessee Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 2d Brigade, 4th Division, XXIII Corps, Department of Ohio, to February 1865. 2d Brigade,

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to District of Memphis, Tennessee, Department of Tennessee, to June 1864. Memphis, Tennessee, District of West Tennessee, to July 1865. 2d Infantry Brigade, District of West Tennessee,

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United States Colored Artillery

to September 1865. District of West Tennessee to April 1866.

Place Disbanded Vicksburg, Mississippi

Engagements and Campaigns Served as garrison at Fort Pickering and in defenses of Memphis, Tennessee, and in District of West Tennessee, to April 1866.

Total Casualties Lost during service 4 officers and 124 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 697 enlisted men to disease. Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, District of Vicksburg, to February 1865. Unattached, Post of Vicksburg, Department of Mississippi, and Department of the Gulf, to May 1864.

4th Regiment, United States Colored Heavy Artillery Date Raised March 11, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from 2d Tennessee Heavy Artillery (African Descent). Designated 3d Heavy Artillery, March 11, 1864, and 4th Heavy Artillery, April 26, 1864.

Engagements and Campaigns Garrison duty at Vicksburg, to May 1866. Expedition from Vicksburg to Rodney and Fayette, September 29–October 3, 1864. Expedition from Vicksburg to Yazoo City, November 23–December 4, 1864.

Date Disbanded February 25, 1866 Place Disbanded Pine Bluff, Arkansas

6th Regiment, United States Colored Heavy Artillery

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to District of Columbus, XVI Corps, Department of Tennessee, to August 1864. District of Columbus, Department of Ohio, to June 1865. Department of Arkansas, to February 1866.

Date Raised March 11, 1864

Engagements and Campaigns Garrison duty at Fort Halleck, Columbus, Kentucky, to June 1865. Union City, Tennessee, September 2, 1864. Near Fort Donelson, Tennessee, October 11, 1864. Moved to Arkansas, June 1865, and duty at Pine Bluff, to February 1866. 5th Regiment, United States Colored Heavy Artillery Date Raised March 11, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from 1st Mississippi Heavy Artillery (African Descent). Designated 4th Heavy Artillery, March 11, 1864, and 5th Heavy Artillery, April 26, 1864. Date Disbanded May 20, 1866

Muster Point(s) Organized from 2d Mississippi Heavy Artillery (African Descent). Designated 5th Heavy Artillery, March 11, 1864, and 6th Heavy Artillery, April 26, 1864. Date Disbanded May 18, 1866 Place Disbanded Department of the Gulf Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to Post of Natchez, Mississippi, District of Vicksburg, Mississippi, Department of Tennessee, and Department of Mississippi, to February 1865. Post of Natchez, Department of Mississippi, to April 1865. Department of the Gulf, to May 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Natchez, Mississippi, and Vidalia, Louisiana, to May 1866. Skirmish near Vidalia, July 22, 1864. Attack on steamer Clara Bell, July 24, 1864. Expedition from Natchez to Gillespie’s Plantation, Louisiana, August 4–6, 1864. Concordia

| 640 |

United States Colored Artillery

Bayou, August 5. Expedition from Natchez to Buck’s Ferry and skirmish, September 19–22, 1864. Expedition from Natchez to Waterproof and Sicily Island, September 26–30, 1864. Expedition from Natchez to Homichitto River, October 5–8, 1864. Expedition from Vidalia to York Plantation, Louisiana, October 26–27, 1864. Skirmish at Black River, October 31–November 1, 1864.

Place Disbanded Department of the Cumberland

8th Regiment, United States Colored Heavy Artillery

Date Raised April 4, 1864

Date Raised April 26, 1864 Muster Point(s) Paducah, Kentucky

Muster Point(s) Organized from I Corps d’Afrique Heavy Artillery. Designated 7th Regiment Heavy Artillery, April 4, 1864, and 10th Regiment Heavy Artillery, May 21, 1864.

Date Disbanded February 10, 1866

Date Disbanded February 22, 1867

Place Disbanded Department of Kentucky

Place Disbanded New Orleans, Louisiana

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to Paducah, District of Columbus, Kentucky, XVI Corps, Department of the Tennessee, to August 1864. Paducah, District of Columbus, Kentucky, Department of the Ohio, to February 1865, and Department of Kentucky, to February 1866.

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to defenses of New Orleans, Department of the Gulf, to October 1864. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, United States Colored Troops, Department of the Gulf, to November 1864. Defenses of New Orleans, to February 1867. Expedition to Lake Verret, Grand Bayou, and the Park, April 2–10, 1865 (Company G).

Engagements and Campaigns Garrison duty at Paducah, to February 1866. Operations against Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest in Kentucky, March 16–April 14, 1864. Action at Fort Anderson, Kentucky, March 25, 1864. Expedition from Paducah to Haddix Ferry, July 26–27, 1864. Skirmish near Haddix Ferry, August 27, 1864.

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to District of Nashville, Department of the Cumberland, to May 1865. 10th Regiment, United States Colored Heavy Artillery

Engagements and Campaigns On garrison duty at New Orleans and in the Department of the Gulf during entire term. 11th Regiment, United States Colored Heavy Artillery Date Raised April 4, 1864

9th Regiment, United States Colored Heavy Artillery Date Raised October 8–November 1, 1864

Muster Point(s) Organized from 14th Rhode Island Colored Heavy Artillery. Designated 8th Heavy Artillery, April 4, 1864, and 11th Heavy Artillery, May 21, 1864.

Muster Point(s) Clarksville and Nashville, Tennessee

Date Disbanded October 2, 1865

Date Disbanded May 5, 1865

Place Disbanded New Orleans, Louisiana

| 641 |

United States Colored Artillery

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to defenses of New Orleans, Department of the Gulf, to October 1865.

Lexington, and other points in Kentucky, to November 1865.

Engagements and Campaigns Garrison duty at New Orleans and other points in the defenses of that city, to October 1865.

14th Regiment, United States Colored Heavy Artillery Date Raised March 17, 1864

12th Regiment, United States Colored Heavy Artillery Date Raised July 15, 1864

Muster Point(s) Organized at New Bern and Morehead City, North Carolina, from 1st North Carolina Colored Heavy Artillery

Muster Point(s) Camp Nelson, Kentucky

Date Disbanded December 11, 1865

Date Disbanded April 24, 1866

Place Disbanded Department of North Carolina

Place Disbanded Department of Kentucky

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to defenses of New Bern, Department of Virginia and North Carolina, to January 1865. Subdistrict of New Bern, Department of North Carolina, and Subdistrict of Beaufort, North Carolina, Department of North Carolina, to December 1865.

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 2d Brigade, 1st Division, District of Kentucky, Department of the Ohio, to January 1865. Military District of Kentucky and Department of Kentucky, to April 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Garrison duty in District of Kentucky, at Bowling Green, Camp Nelson, and other points, to April 1866.

Engagements and Campaigns Garrison duty at New Bern and other points in the Department of North Carolina, to December 1865. References and Further Reading

13th Regiment, United States Colored Heavy Artillery Date Raised June 23, 1864 Muster Point(s) Camp Nelson, Kentucky Date Disbanded November 18, 1865 Place Disbanded Kentucky Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to Military District of Kentucky, Department of the Ohio, to February 1865, and to Department of Kentucky, to November 1865. Engagements and Campaigns Garrison duty at Camp Nelson, Smithland,

Beecham, Robert K. As If It Were Glory: Robert Beecham’s Civil War from the Iron Brigade to the Black Regiments, ed. Michael E. Stevens. Madison, WI: Madison House, 1998. Cornish, Dudley Taylor. The Sable Arm: Black Troops in the Union Army, 1861–1865. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1987. Current, Richard Nelson. Lincoln’s Loyalists: Union Soldiers from the Confederacy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. Denney, Robert E. The Civil War Years: A Day-byDay Chronicle. New York: Gramercy Books, 1992. Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. 3 vols. New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1959. Gladstone, William A. United States Colored Troops, 1863–1867. Gettysburg, PA: Thomas Publications, 1990. | 642 |

United States Colored Artillery

Glatthaar, Joseph T. Forged in Battle: The Civil War Alliance of Black Soldiers and White Officers. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2000. Hansen, Joyce. Between Two Fires: Black Soldiers in the Civil War. New York: Franklin Watts, 1993. Higginson, Thomas Wentworth. Army Life in a Black Regiment. Williamstown, MA: Corner House Publishers, 1984. McPherson, James M. Marching Toward Freedom: Blacks in the Civil War, 1861–1865. New York: Knopf, 1968.

———. The Negro’s Civil War: How American Blacks Felt and Acted during the War for the Union. New York: Pantheon, 1965. Redkey, Edwin S., ed. A Grand Army of Black Men: Letters from African American Soldiers in the Union Army, 1861–1865. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Wilson, Joseph T. The Black Phalanx: A History of the Negro Soldiers of the United States in the Wars of 1775–1812, 1861–1865. 1890. Reprint, Salem, NH: Ayer Company Publishers, 1992.

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United States Colored Cavalry, Formation and Service Records of

August 3. Duty at Newport News and at Portsmouth and in District of Eastern Virginia until May 1865. Cos. E and I detached at Fort Powhatan and Harrison’s Landing August 1864 to May 1865. Moved to City Point, Va., thence sailed for Texas June 10. Duty on the Rio Grande and at various points in Texas until February 1866.

1st Regiment, United States Colored Cavalry Date Raised December 22, 1863 Muster Point(s) Camp Hamilton, VA Date Disbanded February 4, 1866

2d Regiment, United States Colored Cavalry

Place Disbanded Texas

Date Raised December 22, 1863

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to Fort Monroe, Va., Department of Virginia and North Carolina, to April 1864. Unattached Williamsburg, Va, Department of Virginia and North Carolina, to June 1864. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, 18th Corps, Army of the James, to August 1864. Defenses of Portsmouth, Va., District of Eastern Virginia, to May 1865. Cavalry Brigade, 25th Corps, Department of Virginia and Department of Texas, to February 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Fort Monroe and Williamsburg, Va., until May 1864. Reconnaissance in Kings and Queens County February 1864. Butler’s operations on south side of James River and against Petersburg and Richmond May 4–28. Capture of Bermuda Hundred and City Point May 5. Swift Creek May 8–10. Operations against Fort Darling May 12–16. Actions at Drury’s Bluff May 10–14–15 and 16. In trenches at Bermuda Hundred until June 18. Baylor’s Farm June 15. Assaults on Petersburg June 16–19. Siege of Petersburg until August. Action at Deep Bottom July 27–28. Ordered to Fort Monroe

Muster Point(s) Fort Monroe, VA Date Disbanded February 12, 1866 Place Disbanded Texas Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to Fort Monroe, Va., Department of Virginia and North Carolina, to April 1864. Unattached Williamsburg, Va, Department of Virginia and North Carolina, to June 1864. 2d Brigade, 3d Division, 18th Corps, Army of the James, to August 1864. Unattached 3d Division, 18th Corps, to December 1864. Unattached 25th Corps, Department of Virginia, to May 1865. Cavalry Brigade, 25th Corps, Department of Virginia and Department of Texas, to February 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Fort Monroe, Portsmouth, and Williamsburg, Va., until May 1864. Demonstration

| 645 |

United States Colored Cavalry

on Portsmouth March 4–5. Action near Suffolk March 10. Reconnaissance from Portsmouth to the Blackwater April 13–15. Butler’s operations on the south side of James River and against Petersburg and Richmond May 4–28. Capture of Bermuda Hundred and City Point May 5. Swift Creek May 8–10. Operations against Fort Darling May 10–16. Actions at Drury’s Bluff May 10–16. Near Drury’s Bluff May 20. Duty in trenches at Bermuda Hundred until June 13. Point of Rocks June 10. Richmond Campaign June 13–July 31. Baylor’s Farm June 15. Assaults on Petersburg June 16–19. Siege of Petersburg and Richmond June 16, 1864, to February 18, 1865. Duty before Petersburg until July 1864. Moved to Deep Bottom July 25. Action at Deep Bottom July 27–28. Strawberry Plains, Deep Bottom, August 14–18. Actions at Deep Bottom September 2 and 6. Chaffin’s Farm September 29–30. Darbytown Road October 7. Battle of Fair Oaks, Darbytown Road October 27–28. Near Richmond October 28–29. Duty in trenches north of James River until February 1865. Ordered to Norfolk February 18. Duty in District of Eastern Virginia at Norfolk, Suffolk, etc., until May. Ordered to City Point, Va.; thence sailed for Texas June 10. Duty on the Rio Grande and at various points in Texas until February 1866. 3d Regiment, United States Colored Cavalry Date Raised March 11, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from 1st Mississippi Cavalry (African Descent) Date Disbanded January 26, 1866 Place Disbanded Department of Mississippi Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 1st Brigade, United States Colored Troops, District of Vicksburg, Miss., Department of the Tennessee, to April 1864. Winslow’s Cavalry Brigade, District of Vicksburg, to December 1864. 3d Brigade, Cavalry Division, District of West Tennessee, to January 1865. Unattached Cavalry, District of West Tennessee, to June 1865. 1st

Brigade, Cavalry Division, District of West Tennessee, to January 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Vicksburg, Miss., and in that district until December 1864. Action at Roach’s Plantation, Miss., March 30. Columbus, Ky., April 11 and 13 (detachment). Expedition from Haines’ Bluff up Yazoo River April 19–28. Near Mechanicsburg April 20. Expedition from Vicksburg to Yazoo City May 4–21. Benton May 7 and 9. Yazoo City May 13. Near Vicksburg June 4. Expedition from Vicksburg to Pearl River July 2–10. Jackson July 7. Utica July 13. Grand Gulf July 16. Bayou Tensas, La., August 26. Expedition from Goodrich Landing to Bayou Macon August 28–31. Expedition from Vicksburg to Deer Creek September 21–26. Near Rolling Fork September 22–23. Expedition from Vicksburg to Rodney and Fayette September 29–October 3. Expedition from Natchez to Woodville October 4–11. Fort Adams October 5. Woodville October 5–6. Operations in Issaqueena and Washington Counties October 21–31. Steele’s Bayou October 23. Expedition from Vicksburg to Gaines’ Landing, Ark., and Bayou Macon, La., November 6–8. Rolling Fork November 11. Expedition from Vicksburg to Yazoo City November 23–December 4. Big Black River Bridge November 27. Moved to Memphis, Tenn. Grierson’s Expedition from Memphis, Tenn., to destroy Mobile & Ohio Railroad December 21, 1864–January 5, 1865. Franklin Creek December 21– 22, 1864. Okolona December 27. Egypt Station December 28. Franklin January 2, 1865. Moved to Memphis from Vicksburg, Miss., January 5–10. Duty there and in District of West Tennessee until April. Expedition from Memphis to Brownsville, Miss., April 23–26. Moved to Vicksburg April 29–May 1 and operating about Natchez for the capture of Jeff Davis May. Operations about Fort Adams May 3–6. Duty in District of West Tennessee and Department of Mississippi until January 1866. 4th Regiment, United States Colored Cavalry Date Raised April 4, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from 1st Corps d’Afrique Cavalry

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United States Colored Cavalry

Date Disbanded March 20, 1866 Place Disbanded Department of Mississippi Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to defenses of New Orleans, La., Department of the Gulf, to August 1864. District of Port Hudson, La., Department of the Gulf, to October 1864. 1st Brigade, 2d Division, United States Colored Troops, Department of the Gulf, to December 1864. District of Port Hudson, La., Department of the Gulf, to July 1865. Department of Mississippi to March 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Duty in the defenses of New Orleans, La., at New Orleans, Carrollton, Camp Parapet, and Donaldsonville, District of LaFourche, until August 1864. Ordered to Baton Rouge, La., August 8, and duty in the defenses of that post until July 1865. Expedition to Clinton August 23–29, 1864. Action at Olive Branch, Comite River, August 25. Expedition from Port Hudson to Jackson April 11–13, 1865. Duty at various points in the Department of Mississippi until March 1866.

North Carolina, May 1864. Hinks’ Colored Division, 18th Army Corps, to June 1864. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, 18th Army Corps, to July 1864. Point Lookout, Md., District of St. Mary’s, 22d Army Corps, to March 1865. Unattached, 25th Army Corps, Department of Virginia, to June 1865. Department of Texas to October 1865. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at City Point, Va., as infantry until June 16, 1864. Before Petersburg June 16–19. Siege of Petersburg June 16–28. Moved to Point Lookout, Md., June 30, and duty there guarding prisoners until March 1865. Ordered to the field and duty near Richmond, March; near Petersburg, April; near City Point, May; and at Camp Lincoln until June 16. Ordered to Texas and duty at Clarksville until October. 5th Regiment, United States Colored Cavalry Date Raised October 24, 1864 Muster Point(s) Camp Nelson, KY Date Disbanded March 20, 1866

5th Regiment, Massachusetts Cavalry (Colored)

Place Disbanded Department of Arkansas

Date Raised May 5–8, 1864

Total Casualties Regiment lost during service, 35 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 1 officer and 151 enlisted men to disease. Total 187.

Muster Point(s) Camp Meigs, Readville, MA Date Disbanded October 31, 1865 Place Disbanded Texas Movement Orders and Attachments At Camp Stoneman, Giesboro Point, Md., May 8–12. Dismounted and moved to Camp Casey, near Fort Albany, May 12. 2d Battalion moved to Washington May 6–8, and to Camp Casey May 9. 3d Battalion moved to Washington May 8–10, and to Camp Casey May 11. Regiment moved to Fortress Monroe, Va., thence to City Point, Va., May 13–16. Attached to Rand’s Provisional Brigade, 18th Army Corps, Department of Virginia and

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 1st Division, District of Kentucky, Department of Ohio, to February 1865. Military District of Kentucky and Department of Arkansas, to March 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Participated in Burbridge’s Raid from Kentucky into southwestern Virginia September 20–October 17, 1864. Action at Saltville, Va., October 2. At Lexington, Ky., October 19. Harrodsburg, Ky., October 21. Stoneman’s Raid into southwestern Virginia December 10–29. Near Marion December 17–18. Capture of Saltville and destruction of salt

| 647 |

United States Colored Cavalry

works December 20–21. Duty at Ghent, Paducah, LaGrange, Crab Orchard, and Camp Nelson until August 1865 and in the Department of Arkansas until March 1866. 6th Regiment, United States Colored Cavalry Date Raised October 24, 1864 Muster Point(s) Camp Nelson, KY Date Disbanded April 15, 1866 Place Disbanded Duvall’s Bluff, AK Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 1st Division, District of Kentucky, Department of Ohio, to February 1865. Military District and Department of Kentucky to December 1865 and Department of Arkansas to April 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Stoneman’s Raid into southwestern Virginia December 10–29, 1864. Capture and destruction of lead mines December 17. Near Marion December 17–18. Saltville December 20–21. At Camp Nelson and Paducah, Ky., until March 1865. At LaGrange, Tenn., until May. At Camp Nelson, Wild Cat, and Danville, Ky., until July. At New Haven and Catlettsburg, Ky., until October. At Covington, Ky., until December. At Louisville, Ky., and Helena, Ark., until January 1866. References and Further Reading Beecham, Robert K. As If It Were Glory: Robert Beecham’s Civil War from the Iron Brigade to the Black Regiments, ed. Michael E. Stevens. Madison, WI: Madison House, 1998.

Cornish, Dudley Taylor. The Sable Arm: Black Troops in the Union Army, 1861–1865. University Press of Kansas, 1987. Current, Richard Nelson. Lincoln’s Loyalists: Union Soldiers from the Confederacy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. Denney, Robert E. The Civil War Years: A Day-byDay Chronicle. New York: Gramercy Books, 1992. Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of Rebellion. 3 vols. New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1959. Gladstone, William A. United States Colored Troops, 1863–1867. Gettysburg, PA: Thomas Publications, 1990. Glatthaar, Joseph T. Forged in Battle: The Civil War Alliance of Black Soldiers and White Officers. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2000. Hansen, Joyce. Between Two Fires: Black Soldiers in the Civil War. New York: Franklin Watts, 1993. Higginson, Thomas Wentworth. Army Life in a Black Regiment. Williamstown, MA: Corner House Publishers, 1984. McPherson, James M. Marching Toward Freedom: Blacks in the Civil War, 1861–1865. New York: Knopf, 1968. –––––. The Negro’s Civil War: How American Blacks Felt and Acted during the War for the Union. New York: Pantheon, 1965. Redkey, Edwin S., ed. A Grand Army of Black Men: Letters from African American Soldiers in the Union Army, 1861–1865. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Wilson, Joseph T. The Black Phalanx: A History of the Negro Soldiers of the United States in the Wars of 1775–1812, 1861–’65. Hartford, CT: American Publishing Company, 1890. Reprint Salem, NH: Ayer, 1992.

| 648 |

United States Colored Troops, Formation and Service Records of

moved to Beaufort, October 2.) Regiment moved to Hilton Head, January 1864. Expedition to Jacksonville, February 6–8.

1st Regiment, South Carolina Infantry (Colored) Date Raised January 31, 1863

1st Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Muster Point(s) Beaufort, South Carolina

Date Raised May 19–June 30, 1863

Date Disbanded February 8, 1864 Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to District of Beaufort, X Corps, Department of the South, to January 1864. Barton’s Brigade, District of Hilton Head, South Carolina, X Corps, to February 1864. Designation of regiment changed to 33d United States Colored Troops. Engagements and Campaigns Before muster, three companies on expedition along coasts of Georgia and Florida, November 3–7 (Company A), and Doboy River, November 8. Duty at Beaufort, and Port Royal Island, to March 1863. Expedition from Beaufort up St. Mary’s River in Georgia and Florida, January 23–February 1. Skirmish at Township, January 26. Expedition from Beaufort to Jacksonville, Florida, March 6–10. Occupation of Jacksonville, March 10–31. Camp Jackson, March 10. Operations near Jacksonville, March 23–31. Skirmish near Jacksonville, March 29. At Beaufort, to January 1864. Expedition up South Edisto River, July 9–11, 1863. Action at Williston Bluff, Pon Pon River, July 10. Expedition to Pocotaligo, South Carolina, November 23–25, (Companies E and K). Skirmish near Cunningham’s Bluff, November 24. (Companies C and K at Hilton Head, South Carolina, to September 1863, then

Muster Point(s) District of Columbia Date Disbanded September 29, 1865 Place Disbanded North Carolina Total Casualties Regiment lost 4 officers and 67 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 1 officer and 113 enlisted men to disease. Total: 185. Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to U.S. forces, Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia, Department of Virginia and North Carolina, July–October 1863. U.S. forces, Yorktown, Virginia, Department of Virginia and North Carolina, to April 1864. 1st Brigade, Hincks’s Colored Division, XVIII Corps, Army of the James, Department of Virginia and North Carolina, to June 1864. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, XVIII Corps, to December 1864. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, XXV Corps, to December 1864. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, XXV Corps, to March 1865. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, X Corps, Department of North Carolina, to August 1865.

| 649 |

U n i t e d S t a t e s C o l o r e d Tr o o p s , Fo r m a t i o n a n d S e r v i c e R e c o r d s o f

Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Yorktown, Virginia, to April 1864. Expedition from Norfolk to South Mills, Camden Court House, etc., North Carolina, December 5–24, 1863. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler’s operations south of James River and against Petersburg and Richmond, Virginia, May 4–June 15. Action at Wilson’s Wharf, May 24. Assaults on Petersburg, June 15–18. Siege of Petersburg and Richmond, June 16–December 7, 1864. Explosion of mine, Petersburg, July 30. Demonstration on north side of James River, September 28–30. Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, New Market Heights, September 28–30. Fort Harrison, September 29. Battle of Fair Oaks, October 27–28. Expedition to Fort Fisher, North Carolina, December 7–27. Second expedition to Fort Fisher, January 7–15, 1865. Capture of Fort Fisher, January 15. Sugar Loaf Hill, January 19. Sugar Loaf Battery, February 11. Fort Anderson, February 18–20. Capture of Wilmington, February 22. Northeast Ferry, February 22. Campaign of the Carolinas, March 1–April 26. Advance on Goldsboro, March 6–21. Occupation of Goldsboro, March 21. Cox’s Bridge, March 23–24. Advance on Raleigh, April 9–13. Occupation of Raleigh, April 13. Surrender of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston and his Confederate army at Bennett’s House, April 26. Duty in Department of North Carolina, to September.

Department of the Gulf, February 1864–July 1865. Department of Florida, to January 1866.

2d Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Movement Orders and Attachments Ordered to Department of the South. Attached to 4th Brigade, Morris Island, South Carolina, X Corps, Department of the South, to November 1863. 3d Brigade, Morris Island, X Corps, to January 1864. Montgomery’s Brigade, District of Hilton Head, South Carolina, X Corps, to February 1864. 2d Brigade, Vogdes’s Division, District of Florida, Department of the South, to April 1864. District of Florida, Department of the South, to October 1864. 4th Separate Brigade, District of Florida, Department of the South, to July 1865. Department of Florida, to October 1865.

Date Raised June 20–November 11, 1863 Muster Point(s) Arlington, Virginia Date Disbanded January 5, 1866 Place Disbanded Florida Total Casualties Regiment lost 3 officers and 24 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 11 officers and 135 enlisted men to disease. Total: 173. Movement Orders and Attachments Ordered to Department of the Gulf, December 1863. Attached to District of Key West, Florida,

Engagements and Campaigns Duty at New Orleans, Louisiana, and Ship Island, Mississippi, to February 13, 1864. Ordered to Key West, February 13. Affair at Tampa, Florida, May 5. Operations on west coast of Florida, July 1–31. Expedition from Fort Myers to Bayport, July 1–4. Expedition from Cedar Key to St. Andrew’s Bay, July 20–29. Fort Taylor, August 21. Station No. 4, February 13, 1865. Attack on Fort Myers, February 20. Operations in vicinity of St. Marks, February 21–March 7. East River Bridge, March 4–5. Newport Bridge, March 5–6. Natural Bridge, March 6. Duty in District of Florida, to January 1866. 3d Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised August 3–10, 1863 Muster Point(s) Camp William Penn, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Date Disbanded October 31, 1865 Place Disbanded Florida

Engagements and Campaigns Siege of Forts Wagner and Gregg, Morris Island, August 20–September 7, 1863. Action at Forts Wagner and Gregg, August 26. Capture of Forts Wagner and Gregg, September 7. Operations against Charleston from Morris Island, to January

| 650 |

U n i t e d S t a t e s C o l o r e d Tr o o p s , Fo r m a t i o n a n d S e r v i c e R e c o r d s o f

1864. Moved to Hilton Head, and Jacksonville, Florida, February 5–7, and duty there as Heavy Artillery, to May 1865. (One company at Fernandina, Florida.) Expedition from Jacksonville to Camp Milton, May 31–June 3, 1864. Front Creek, July 15. Bryan’s Plantation, October 21. Duty at Tallahassee, Lake City, and other points in Florida, May–October, 1865. 4th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised July 15–September 1, 1863 Muster Point(s) Baltimore, Maryland Date Disbanded May 4, 1866 Place Disbanded North Carolina Total Casualties Regiment lost 3 officers and 102 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 1 officer and 186 enlisted men to disease. Total: 292. Movement Orders and Attachments Moved to Fort Monroe, Virginia, October 1, 1863; then moved to Yorktown, Virginia. Attached to 2d Brigade, U.S. forces, Yorktown, XVIII Corps, Department of Virginia and North Carolina, to April 1864. 2d Brigade, Hincks’s Colored Division, XVIII Corps, to June 1864. 2d Brigade, 3d Division, XVIII Corps, to December 1864. 2d Brigade, 1st Division, XXV Corps, to January 1865. 2d Brigade, 3d Division, XXV Corps, to March 1865. 2d Brigade, 3d Division, X Corps, Department of North Carolina, to August 1865. Department of North Carolina, to May 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Yorktown, to May 1864. Expedition from Yorktown to Matthews County, October 4–9, 1863. Wistar’s Expedition against Richmond, February 6–8, 1864. New Kent Court House, February 8. Expedition to Bottom’s Bridge in aid of Kilpatrick’s cavalry, March 1–4. Expedition into King and Queen County, March 9–12. Expedition into Matthews and Middlesex Counties, March 17–21. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler’s operations south of James

River and against Petersburg and Richmond, May 4–June 15. Skirmish at Bermuda Hundred, May 4. Duty at Spring Hill on Appomattox River, to June. (Built Fort Converse on Bermuda Hundred line.) Attack on Fort Converse, May 20. Before Petersburg, June 15–18. Siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond, June 16–December 7. Mine explosion at Petersburg, July 30. Dutch Gap, September 7. Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, New Market Heights, September 28–30. Battle of Fair Oaks, October 27–28. First expedition to Fort Fisher, North Carolina, December 7–27. Second expedition to Fort Fisher, January 7–15. Assault and capture of Fort Fisher, January 15. Sugar Loaf Hill, January 19. Sugar Loaf Battery, February 11. Fort Anderson, February 18–20. Capture of Wilmington, February 22. Northeast Ferry, February 22. Campaign of the Carolinas, March 1–April 26. Advance on Goldsboro, March 6–21. Occupation of Goldsboro, March 21. Cox’s Bridge, March 23–24. Advance on Raleigh, April 9–18. Occupation of Raleigh, April 14. Surrender of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston and his Confederate army at Bennett’s House, April 26. Duty in Department of North Carolina, to May 1866. 5th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised August–November 1863 Muster Point(s) Camp Delaware, Ohio Date Disbanded September 20, 1865 Place Disbanded Carolina City, North Carolina Total Casualties Regiment lost 4 officers and 77 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 2 officers and 166 enlisted men to disease. Total: 249. Movement Orders and Attachments Moved to Norfolk, Virginia, November 1863. Attached to U.S. forces, Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia, Department of Virginia and North Carolina, to January 1864. 2d Brigade, U.S. forces, Yorktown, XVIII Corps, Department of Virginia and North Carolina, to April 1864. 2d Brigade, Hincks’s

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Colored Division, XVIII Corps, Army of the James, Department of Virginia and North Carolina, to June 1864. 2d Brigade, 3d Division, XVIII Corps, to December 1864. 3d Brigade, 1st Division, XXV Corps, to December 1864. 3d Brigade, 3d Division, XXV Corps, to March 1865. 2d Brigade, 3d Division, X Corps, Department of North Carolina, to August 1865. Department of North Carolina, to September 1865. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Norfolk and Portsmouth, to January 1864. Wild’s Expedition to South Mills and Camden Court House, North Carolina, December 5–24, 1863. Action at Sandy Swamp, North Carolina, December 8. Moved to Yorktown, January 1864, and duty there until May. Wistar’s Expedition against Richmond, February 6–8. Expedition to New Kent Court House in aid of Kilpatrick’s cavalry, March 1–4. New Kent Court House, March 2. Expedition into King and Queen County, March 9–12. Expedition into Matthews and Middlesex Counties, March 17–21. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler’s operations on south side of James River and against Petersburg and Richmond, May 4–June 15. Capture of City Point, May 4. Fatigue duty at City Point and building Fort Converse on Appomattox River, to June 15. Attack on Fort Converse, May 20. Before Petersburg, June 15–18. Bailor’s Farm, June 15. Siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond, June 16– December 6. In trenches before Petersburg, to August 27. Mine explosion at Petersburg, July 30. Moved to Deep Bottom, August 28. Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, New Market Heights, September 28–30. Fort Harrison, September 29. Battle of Fair Oaks, October 27–28. In trenches before Richmond, to December. First expedition to Fort Fisher, North Carolina, December 7–27. Second expedition to Fort Fisher, January 7–15. Assault and capture of Fort Fisher, January 15. Sugar Loaf Hill, January 19. Federal Point, February 11. Fort Anderson, February 18–20. Capture of Wilmington, February 22. Northeast Ferry, February 22. Campaign of the Carolinas, March 1–April 26. Advance on Kinston and Goldsboro, March 6–21. Occupation of Goldsboro, March 21. Cox’s Bridge, March 23–24. Advance on Raleigh, April 9–14. Occupation of Raleigh, April 14. Surrender of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston and his Confederate army at Bennett’s House, April 26. Duty at Goldsboro, New Berne, and Carolina City.

5th Regiment, Massachusetts Cavalry (Colored)) Date Raised May 5–8, 1864 Muster Point(s) Camp Meigs, Readville, Massachusetts Date Disbanded October 31, 1865 Place Disbanded Texas Total Casualties Regiment lost 7 enlisted men killed and 116 enlisted men to disease. Total: 123. Movement Orders and Attachments 1st Battalion moved to Washington, D.C., May 5–8, 1864. At Camp Stoneman, Giesboro Point, Maryland, May 8–12. Dismounted and moved to Camp Casey, near Fort Albany, May 12. 2d Battalion moved to Washington, D.C., May 6–8, and to Camp Casey, May 9. 3d Battalion moved to Washington, D.C., May 8–10, and to Camp Casey, May 11. Regiment moved to Fort Monroe, Virginia, then to City Point, Virginia, May 13–16. Attached to Rand’s Provisional Brigade, XVIII Corps, Department of Virginia and North Carolina, May 1864. Hincks’s Colored Division, XVIII Corps, to June 1864. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, XVIII Corps, to July 1864. Point Lookout, Maryland, District of St. Mary’s, XXII Corps, to March 1865. Unattached, XXV Corps, Department of Virginia, to June 1865. Department of Texas to October 1865. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at City Point as infantry until June 16, 1864. Before Petersburg, June 16–19. Siege of Petersburg, June 16–28. Moved to Point Lookout, June 30, and duty there guarding prisoners until March 1865. Ordered to field and duty near Richmond, March; near Petersburg, April; near City Point, May; and at Camp Lincoln until June 16. Ordered to Texas and duty at Clarksville until October. 6th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised July 28–September 12, 1863

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Muster Point(s) Camp William Penn, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Date Disbanded September 20, 1865 Place Disbanded North Carolina Total Casualties Regiment lost 8 officers and 79 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 5 officers and 132 enlisted men to disease. Total: 224. Movement Orders and Attachments Moved from Philadelphia to Fort Monroe, Virginia, October 14; then to Yorktown, Virginia. Attached to U.S. forces, Yorktown, Department of Virginia and North Carolina, to January 1864. 2d Brigade, U.S. forces, Yorktown, XVIII Corps, Department of Virginia and North Carolina, to April 1864. 2d Brigade, Hincks’s Colored Division, XVIII Corps, Army of the James, to June 1864. 2d Brigade, 3d Division, XVIII Corps, to August 1864. 3d Brigade, 3d Division, XVIII Corps, to December 1864. 2d Brigade, 1st Division, XXV Corps, to December 1864. 2d Brigade, 3d Division, XXV Corps, to March 1865. 3d Brigade, 3d Division, X Corps, Department of North Carolina, to August 1865. Department of North Carolina, to September 1865. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Yorktown, to May 1864. Wild’s Expedition to South Mills and Camden Court House, North Carolina, December 5–24, 1863. Wistar’s Expedition against Richmond, February 2–6, 1864. Expedition to New Kent Court House in aid of Kilpatrick’s cavalry, March 1–4. New Kent Court House, March 2. Williamsburg, March 4. Expedition into King and Queen County, March 9–12. Expedition into Matthews County, March 17–21. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler’s operations south of James River and against Petersburg and Richmond, May 4–June 15. Capture of City Point, May 4. Fatigue duty at City Point and building Fort Converse on Appomattox River, to June 15. Attack on Fort Converse, May 20. Before Petersburg, June 15–18. Bailor’s Farm, June 15. Siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond, June 15–December 17. In trenches before Petersburg and fatigue duty at Dutch Gap Canal, to August 27. Moved to Deep Bottom, August 27. Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, New

Market Heights, September 29–30. Fort Harrison, September 29. Battle of Fair Oaks, October 27–28. In trenches before Richmond, to December. First expedition to Fort Fisher, North Carolina, December 7–27. Second expedition to Fort Fisher, January 7–15. Bombardment of Fort Fisher, January 13–15. Assault and capture of Fort Fisher, January 15. Sugar Loaf Hill, January 19. Sugar Loaf Battery, February 11. Fort Anderson, February 18–20. Capture of Wilmington, February 22. Northeast Ferry, February 22. Campaign of the Carolinas, March 1–April 26. Advance on Kinston and Goldsboro, March 6–21. Occupation of Goldsboro, March 21. Cox’s Bridge, March 23–24. Advance on Raleigh, April 9–14. Occupation of Raleigh, April 14. Surrender of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston and his Confederate army at Bennett’s House, April 26. Duty in Department of North Carolina.

6th Regiment, Louisiana Infantry (Colored) Date Raised July 4, 1863 Muster Point(s) New Orleans, Louisiana Date Disbanded August 13, 1863 Place Disbanded New Orleans Movement Orders and Attachments Duty at New Orleans.

7th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised September 26–November 12, 1863 Muster Point(s) Baltimore, Maryland Date Disbanded November 15, 1866 Place Disbanded Baltimore Total Casualties Regiment lost 1 officer and 84 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 1 officer and 307 enlisted men to disease. Total: 393.

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Movement Orders and Attachments Duty at Camp Benedict, Maryland, to March 1864. Ordered to Portsmouth, Virginia, March 4, then to Hilton Head, South Carolina, March 7–10, and to Jacksonville, Florida, March 14–15. Attached to post of Jacksonville, District of Florida, Department of the South, to July 1864. District of Hilton Head, Department of the South, July 1864. Jacksonville, District of Florida, Department of the South, to August 1864. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, X Corps, Army of the James, Department of Virginia and North Carolina, to December 1864. 1st Brigade, 2d Division, XXV Corps, to January 1866. Department of Texas, to October 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Jacksonville, to June 1864. Cedar Creek, April 2. Near Jacksonville, May 6. Near Camp Finnegan, May 25. Near Jacksonville, May 28. Expedition to Camp Milton, May 31–June 3. Camp Milton, June 2. Moved to Hilton Head, June 27. Expedition to North Edisto River and John’s and James Islands, July 2–10. Near Winter’s Point, July 3. King’s Creek, July 3. Skirmishes on James Island, July 5 and 7. Burden’s Causeway, John’s Island, July 9. Moved to Jacksonville, July 15. Expedition to Florida Camp, Gulf Railroad, July 22–August 5. Moved to Bermuda Hundred, Virginia, August 6–11. Siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond, August 1864–April, 1865. Demonstration north of James River, August 16–20. Russell’s Mills, August 16. Strawberry Plains, August 16–18. Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, New Market Heights, September 28–30. Darbytown Road, October 13. Battle of Fair Oaks, October 27–28. Near Richmond, October 28. In trenches before Richmond, to March 27, 1865. Appomattox Campaign, March 27–April 9. Hatcher’s Run, March 29–31. Fall of Petersburg, April 2. Pursuit of Confederate general Robert E. Lee, April 3–9. Appomattox Court House, April 9. Surrender of Lee and his army. Moved to Petersburg, April 11, and duty there until May 24. Moved to Indianola, Texas, May 24–June 23. Duty on Rio Grande and at various points in Department of Texas, to October 1866. Moved to Baltimore, October 14–November 4. 7th Regiment, Louisiana Infantry (Colored) Date Raised July 10, 1863

Muster Point(s) New Orleans, Louisiana Date Disbanded August 6, 1863 Place Disbanded New Orleans Movement Orders and Attachments Duty at New Orleans. 8th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised September 22–December 4, 1863 Muster Point(s) Camp William Penn, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Date Disbanded December 12, 1865 Place Disbanded Philadelphia Total Casualties Regiment lost 4 officers and 115 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 132 enlisted men to disease. Total: 251. Movement Orders and Attachments Left Philadelphia for Hilton Head, South Carolina, January 16, 1864. Attached to Howell’s Brigade, District of Hilton Head, Department of the South, to February 1864. Hawley’s Brigade, Seymour’s Division, District of Florida, Department of the South, to April 1864. District of Florida, Department of the South, to August 1864. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, X Corps, Army of the James, Department of Virginia and North Carolina, to December 1864. 2d Brigade, 2d Division, XXV Corps, to April 1865. 1st Brigade, 2d Division, XXV Corps, and Department of Texas, to November 1865. Engagements and Campaigns Expedition from Hilton Head, to Jacksonville, Florida, February 5–6, 1864. Occupation of Jacksonville, February 7. Advance into Florida, February 8–20. Camp Finnegan, February 8. Battle of Olustee, February 20. Retreat to Jacksonville and duty there until April. Moved to St. John’s Bluff, April 17, and duty there until August. Raid on Baldwin, July 23–28. Moved to Deep Bottom, Virginia, August 4–12. Action at Deep Bottom,

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August 12. Duty at Deep Bottom and in trenches before Petersburg, to September 27. Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, New Market Heights, September 28–30. Fort Harrison, September 29. Darbytown Road, October 13. Battle of Fair Oaks, October 27–28. In trenches before Richmond, to March 27, 1865. Appomattox Campaign, March 28–April 9. Hatcher’s Run, March 29–31. Fall of Petersburg, April 2. Pursuit of Confederate general Robert E. Lee, April 3–9. Appomattox Court House, April 9. Surrender of Lee and his army. Moved to Petersburg, April 11, and duty there until May 24. Sailed from City Point for Texas, May 24. Duty at Ringgold Barracks and on Rio Grande, Texas, to November, 1865. 9th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised November 11–30, 1863

30–July 10. Engaged, July 7 and 9. Duty at Beaufort, to August. Moved to Bermuda Hundred, Virginia, August 4–8. Siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond, August 1864–April 1865. Demonstration on north side of James River, August 13–18. Skirmishes at Deep Bottom, August 14–15. Russell’s Mills, August 16. Moved to Bermuda Hundred front, August 18, then to Petersburg, August 24, and duty in trenches until September 26. Demonstration on north side of James River, September 26–30. Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, New Market Heights, September 28–30. Fort Gilmer, September 29. Darbytown Road, October 13. Battle of Fair Oaks, October 27–28. In trenches before Richmond, to April 1865. Occupation of Richmond, April 3. Duty at Richmond, Petersburg, and City Point, to June. Moved to Brazos Santiago, Texas, June 7–July 1, then to Brownsville. Duty at Brownsville and on Rio Grande, Texas, to October 1866.

Muster Point(s) Camp Stanton, Maryland

10th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Date Disbanded November 20, 1866

Date Raised November 18, 1863

Place Disbanded New Orleans, Louisiana

Muster Point(s) Virginia

Total Casualties Regiment lost 1 officer and 46 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 2 officers and 266 enlisted men to disease. Total: 315.

Date Disbanded May 17, 1866

Movement Orders and Attachments Duty at Benedict, Maryland, to March 1864. Moved to Port Royal, South Carolina, March 3–7. Attached to District of Hilton Head, South Carolina, Department of the South, to April 1864. District of Beaufort, South Carolina, Department of the South, to August 1864. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, X Corps, Army of the James, Department of Virginia and North Carolina, to December 1864. 2d Brigade, 3d Division, XXV Corps, to January 1865. 2d Brigade, 1st Division, XXV Corps, to January 1866. Department of Texas, to November 1866.

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to Drummondstown, Virginia, Department of Virginia and North Carolina, December 1863–April 1864. 1st Brigade, Hincks’s Colored Division, XVIII Corps, Army of the James, Department of Virginia and North Carolina, to June 1864. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, XVIII Corps, to July 1864. Unattached, XVIII Corps, to August 1864. 3d Brigade, 3d Division, XVIII Corps, to December 1864. 3d Brigade, 1st Division, XXV Corps, to January 1865. 3d Brigade, 3d Division, XXV Corps, January 1865. Attached Brigade, 1st Division, XXV Corps, to June 1865. Department of Texas, to May 1866.

Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Hilton Head, to April 1864, and at Port Royal, to June. Ashepoo Expedition, May 24–27. Expedition to John’s and James Islands, June

Place Disbanded Texas

Engagements and Campaigns Camp near Crany Island, to January 12, 1864. | 655 |

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Moved to Drummondstown, eastern shore of Virginia, and duty there until April. At Yorktown, Virginia, to May. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler’s operations on south side of James River and against Petersburg and Richmond, May 4–June 15. Capture of Fort Powhatan, May 5. Wilson’s Wharf, May 24 (detachment). At Fort Powhatan, to July 6. On Bermuda Hundred front in operations against Petersburg and Richmond, to August 27. At City Point, Virginia, to April 2, 1865. Moved to Bermuda Hundred, then to Richmond, April 2–3. Return to City Point, April 6, and duty there until June 1.

Corps, Department of Arkansas, to January 1865. Colored Brigade, VII Corps, to February 1865. 2d Brigade, 1st Division, VII Corps, to April 1865. Consolidated with 112th and 113th Regiments to form new 113th Regiment, United States Colored Troops.

11th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry (new organization)

12th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Date Raised January 23, 1865

Date Raised July 24–August 14, 1863

Muster Point(s) Organized from 7th United States Colored Heavy Artillery

Muster Point(s) Tennessee

Engagements and Campaigns Post and garrison duty at Fort Smith, to November 1864. Action at Fort Smith, August 24. Moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, November 1864. Action at Boggs’ Mill, January 24, 1865. Duty at Little Rock and Lewisburg, Arkansas, to April 1865.

Date Disbanded January 1866

Date Disbanded January 12, 1866

Place Disbanded Department of the Cumberland

Place Disbanded Department of the Tennessee Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to post and defenses of Memphis, Tennessee, District of West Tennessee, to July 1865. 2d Infantry Brigade, District of West Tennessee, to September 1865. Department of the Tennessee, to January 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Memphis and in District of West Tennessee, Department of the Tennessee, to January 1866. 11th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry (old organization) Date Raised December 19, 1863–March 3, 1864 Muster Point(s) Fort Smith, Arkansas Date Disbanded April 22, 1865 Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 2d Brigade, District of the Frontier, VII

Total Casualties Regiment lost 4 officers and 38 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 242 enlisted men to disease. Total: 284. Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to defenses of Nashville Camp, Northwestern Railroad, Department of the Cumberland, to October 1864. 2d Colored Brigade, District of the Etowah, Department of the Cumberland, to January 1865. Defenses of Nashville Camp, Northwestern Railroad, District of Middle Tennessee, to May 1865. 3d Subdistrict, District of Middle Tennessee, Department of the Cumberland, to January 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Railroad guard duty at various points in Tennessee and Alabama on line of Nashville Camp, Northwestern Railroad, to December 1864. Repulse of Gen. John Bell Hood’s attack on Johnsonville, November 2 and 4–5. Action at Buford’s Station, Section 37, Nashville Camp, Northwestern Railroad, November 24. March to Clarksville, Tennessee, and skirmish near that place, December

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2. Battle of Nashville, December 15–16. Pursuit of Hood to Tennessee River, December 17–28. Action at Decatur, Alabama, December 27–28. Railroad guard and garrison duty in Department of the Cumberland, to January, 1866.

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to post of Gallatin, to January 1864. Post of Chattanooga, Tennessee, Department of the Cumberland, to November 1864. Unattached, District of the Etowah, Department of the Cumberland, to December 1864. 1st Colored Brigade, District of the Etowah, to May 1865. District of East Tennessee, to August 1865. Department of the Tennessee and Department of Georgia, to March 1866.

Date Raised November 19, 1863 Muster Point(s) Nashville, Tennessee Date Disbanded January 10, 1866 Place Disbanded Department of the Cumberland Total Casualties Regiment lost 4 officers and 86 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 265 enlisted men to disease. Total: 355. Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to defenses of Nashville Camp, Northwestern Railroad, Department of the Cumberland, to November 1864. 2d Colored Brigade. District of the Etowah, Department of the Cumberland, to January 1865. Defenses, Nashville Camp, Northwestern Railroad, District of Middle Tennessee, Department of the Cumberland, to May 1865. 3d Subdistrict, District of Middle Tennessee, Department of the Cumberland, to January 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Railroad guard duty in Tennessee and Alabama on line of Nashville Camp, Northwestern Railroad, to December 1864. Repulse of Gen. John Bell Hood’s attack on Johnsonville, Tennessee, September 25, and November 4–5. Eddyville, Kentucky, October 17 (detachment). Battle of Nashville, December 15–16. Pursuit of Hood to Tennessee River, December 17–18. Railroad guard and garrison duty in Department of the Cumberland, to January 1866.

Date Raised November 16, 1863–January 8, 1864

Date Disbanded March 26, 1866 Place Disbanded At Greenville and in Department of the Tennessee

13th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

14th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Muster Point(s) Gallatin, Tennessee

Engagements and Campaigns Garrison duty at Chattanooga, to November 1864. March to relief of Dalton, Georgia, August 14. Action at Dalton, August 14–15. Siege of Decatur, Alabama, October 27–30. Battle of Nashville, Tennessee, December 15–16. Overton’s Hill, December 16. Pursuit of Gen. John Bell Hood to Tennessee River, December 17–28. Duty at Chattanooga and in District of East Tennessee, to July 1865. At Greenville and in Department of the Tennessee, to March 1866. 15th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised December 2, 1863–March 11, 1864 Muster Point(s) Nashville, Tennessee Date Disbanded April 7, 1866 Place Disbanded District of Middle Tennessee Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to post and District of Nashville, Department of the Cumberland, to August 1864. Post of Springfield, District of Nashville, Department of the Cumberland, to March 1865. 5th Subdistrict, District of Middle Tennessee, Department of the Cumberland, to April 1866.

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Place Disbanded Department of Tennessee

Engagements and Campaigns Garrison and guard duty at Nashville, Columbia, and Pulaski, Tennessee, to June 1864. Post duty at Springfield, Tennessee, and in District of Middle Tennessee, to April 1866.

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to post of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Department of the Cumberland, to April 1864. Post and District of Nashville, Department of the Cumberland, to December 1864. 1st Colored Brigade, District of the Etowah, Department of the Cumberland, to January 1865. Post and District of Nashville, Department of the Cumberland, to April 1866.

16th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised December 4, 1863–February 13, 1864 Muster Point(s) Nashville, Tennessee Date Disbanded April 30, 1866 Place Disbanded Middle and East Tennessee Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to post of Chattanooga, Department of the Cumberland, to November 1864. Unattached, District of the Etowah, Department of the Cumberland, to December 1864. 1st Colored Brigade, District of the Etowah, Department of the Cumberland, to January 1865. Unattached, District of the Etowah, to March 1865. 1st Colored Brigade, Department of the Cumberland, to April 1865. 5th Subdistrict, District of Middle Tennessee, to July 1865. 2d Brigade, 4th Division, District of East Tennessee and Department of the Cumberland, to April 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Chattanooga, Tennessee, to November 1864. Battle of Nashville, December 15–16. Overton Hill, December 16. Pursuit of Gen. John Bell Hood to Tennessee River, December 17–28. Duty at Chattanooga and in Middle and East Tennessee, to April 1866. 17th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised December 12–21, 1863 Muster Point(s) Nashville, Tennessee Date Disbanded April 25, 1866

Engagements and Campaigns Duty at McMinnville and Murfreesboro, to November 1864. Battle of Nashville, December 15–16. Overton Hill, December 16. Pursuit of Gen. John Bell Hood to Tennessee River, December 17–27. Decatur, December 28–30. Duty at post of Nashville and in Department of Tennessee, to April 1866. 18th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised February 1–September 28, 1864 Muster Point(s) Missouri Date Disbanded February 21, 1866 Place Disbanded District of East Tennessee Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to District of St. Louis, Missouri, Department of Missouri, to December 1864. Unassigned, District of the Etowah, Department of the Cumberland, December 1864. 1st Colored Brigade, District of the Etowah, Department of the Cumberland, to January 1865. Unassigned, District of the Etowah, Department of the Cumberland, to March 1865. 1st Colored Brigade, Department of the Cumberland, to July 1865. 2d Brigade, 4th Division, District of East Tennessee and Department of the Tennessee, to February 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Duty in District of St. Louis and at St. Louis, to November 1864. Ordered to Nashville, Tennessee, November 7. Moved to Paducah, Kentucky,

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November 7–11, then to Nashville. Occupation of Nashville during Gen. John Bell Hood’s investment, December 1–15. Battle of Nashville, December 15–16. Pursuit of Hood to Tennessee River, December 17–28. At Bridgeport, Alabama, guarding railroad to February 1865. Action at Elrod’s Tan Yard, January 27. At Chattanooga, Tennessee, and in District of East Tennessee, to February 1866. 19th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

20th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised February 9, 1864 Muster Point(s) Riker’s Island, New York Harbor Date Disbanded October 7, 1865 Place Disbanded Nashville, Tennessee

Date Raised December 25, 1863–January 16, 1864

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to Department of the East, to March 1864. Defenses of New Orleans, Louisiana, Department of the Gulf, to December 1864. District of West Florida and Southern Alabama, Department of the Gulf, to February 1865. Defenses of New Orleans, to June 1865. District of LaFourche, Department of the Gulf, to October 1865.

Muster Point(s) Camp Stanton, Maryland Date Disbanded January 15, 1867 Place Disbanded Rio Grande, Texas Movement Orders and Attachments Duty at Camp Stanton, Benedict, Maryland, to March 1864, and at Camp Birney, to April. Attached to 2d Brigade, 4th Division, IX Corps, Army of the Potomac, April–September 1864. 2d Brigade, 3d Division, IX Corps, to December 1864. 3d Brigade, 3d Division, XXV Corps, to January 1865. 3d Brigade, 1st Division, XXV Corps, to January 1866. Department of Texas, to January 1867. Engagements and Campaigns Campaign from Rapidan to James River, Virginia, May–June 1864. Guard trains through the Wilderness. Before Petersburg, Virginia, June 15–18. Siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond, Virginia, June 16, 1864–April 2, 1865. Mine explosion at Petersburg, July 30, 1864. Weldon Railroad, August 18–21. Fort Sedgwick, September 28. Poplar Grove Church, September 29–30. Hatcher’s Run, October 27–28. Actions on Bermuda Hundred front, November 17–18. Duty at Bermuda Hundred, to March 1865. Appomattox Campaign, March 28–April 9. Hatcher’s Run, March 29–31. Assault and capture of Petersburg, April 2. Pursuit of Gen. Robert E. Lee, April 3–9. Appomattox Court House, April 9. Surrender of Lee and his army. Duty at Petersburg and City Point, to June. Moved to Texas, June 13–July 3. Duty at Brownsville and on Rio Grande, to January 1867.

Engagements and Campaigns Ordered to Department of the Gulf, March 1864, arriving at New Orleans, March 20. Moved to Port Hudson, Louisiana, March 21, and to Pass Cavallo, Texas, April 21. In District of Carrollton, Louisiana, June. At Plaquemine, July. At Camp Parapet and Chalmette, August 1866. At Camp Parapet and in District of Carrollton, to December. Ordered to West Pascagoula, Florida, December 26. Return to New Orleans, February 1865, and duty there until June. At Nashville, August. 21st Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised March 14, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from 3d and 4th Regiments, South Carolina Colored Infantry Date Disbanded October 7, 1866 Place Disbanded South Carolina and Georgia Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 3d Brigade, Vogdes’s Division, District of Florida, Department of the South, to April 1864.

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Morris Island, South Carolina, Northern District, Department of the South, to October 1864. 1st Separate Brigade, Department of the South, to February 1865. Garrison of Charleston, South Carolina, Department of the South, to August 1865. Department of the South, to October 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Jacksonville, Florida, to April 1864. Moved to Hilton Head, South Carolina, then to Folly Island, South Carolina, April 18. Duty on Folly Island, Morris Island, and Coles Island operating against Charleston, to February 1865. Expedition to James Island, South Carolina, June 30–July 10. Action on James Island, July 2. Occupation of Charleston, February 18. Garrison duty at Charleston and Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, to August 1865, and at various points in South Carolina and Georgia, to October 1866. 22d Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised January 10–29, 1864 Muster Point(s) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Date Disbanded October 16, 1865

Engagements and Campaigns Duty near Yorktown, to May 1864. Expedition to King and Queen County, March 9–12. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler’s operations south of James River and against Petersburg and Richmond, May 4–June 15. Duty at Wilson’s Wharf, James River, protecting supply transports, then constructing works near Fort Powhatan, to June. Attack on Fort Powhatan, May 21. Before Petersburg, June 15–18. Siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond, June 16, 1864–April 2, 1865. Deep Bottom, August 24. Dutch Gap, August 24. Demonstration north of James River, September 28–30. Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, New Market Heights, September 29–30. Fort Harrison, September 29. Battle of Fair Oaks, October 27–28. Chaffin’s Farm, November 4. In trenches before Richmond, to April 1865. Occupation of Richmond, April 3. Moved to Washington, D.C., and participated in obsequies of President Abraham Lincoln, and afterward to eastern shore of Maryland and along lower Potomac River in pursuit of assassins. Rejoined XXV Corps, May 1865. Moved to Texas, May 24–June 6. Duty along Rio Grande, to October 1865. 23d Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Place Disbanded Rio Grande, Texas

Date Raised November 23, 1863–June 30, 1864

Total Casualties Regiment lost 2 officers and 70 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 1 officer and 144 enlisted men to disease. Total: 217. Movement Orders and Attachments Ordered to Yorktown, Virginia, January 1864. Attached to U.S. forces, Yorktown, Department of Virginia and North Carolina, to April 1864. 1st Brigade, Hincks’s Division (Colored), XVIII Corps, Army of the James, to June 1864. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, XVIII Corps, June 1864. 2d Brigade, 3d Division, XVIII Corps, to August 1864. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, XVIII Corps, August 1864. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, X Corps, to September 1864. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, XVIII Corps, to December 1864. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, XXV Corps, December 1864. 1st Brigade, 1st Division,

XXV Corps, and Department of Texas, to October 1865.

Muster Point(s) Camp Casey, Virginia Date Disbanded November 30, 1865 Place Disbanded Rio Grande, Texas Total Casualties Regiment lost 4 officers and 82 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 1 officer and 165 enlisted men to disease. Total: 252. Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 2d Brigade, 4th Division, IX Corps, Army of the Potomac, April–September 1864. 2d Brigade, 3d Division, IX Corps, to December 1864. 3d Brigade, 3d Division, XXV Corps, December

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U n i t e d S t a t e s C o l o r e d Tr o o p s , Fo r m a t i o n a n d S e r v i c e R e c o r d s o f

1865. 3d Brigade, 1st Division, XXV Corps, and Department of Texas, to November 1865.

Date Disbanded December 6, 1865

Engagements and Campaigns Campaign from Rapidan to James River, Virginia, May–June 1864. Guarding wagon trains of Army of the Potomac through the Wilderness. Before Petersburg, June 15–18. Siege of Petersburg and Richmond, June 16, 1864–April 2, 1865. Mine explosion at Petersburg, July 30, 1864. Weldon Railroad, August 18–21. Fort Sedgwick, September 28. Poplar Grove Church, September 29–30. Boydton Plank Road, Hatcher’s Run, October 27– 28. Bermuda Hundred, December 13. Duty on Bermuda Hundred front, to March 1865. Appomattox Campaign, March 28–April 9. Hatcher’s Run, March 29–31. Fall of Petersburg, April 2. Pursuit of Gen. Robert E. Lee, April 3–9. Appomattox Court House, April 9. Surrender of Lee and his army. Duty in Department of Virginia, to May. Moved to Texas, May–June. Duty at Brownsville and along Rio Grande, Texas, to November.

Place Disbanded Fort Pickens, Pensacola Harbor

24th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Engagements and Campaigns Duty in defenses of New Orleans, to July 1864. Garrison at post of Barrancas, Florida (six companies), and at Fort Pickens, Pensacola Harbor (four companies), to December 1865.

Date Raised January 30–March 30, 1865 Muster Point(s) Camp William Penn, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Date Disbanded October 1, 1865

26th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Place Disbanded Richmond, Virginia

Date Raised February 27, 1864

Movement Orders and Attachments Moved to Washington, D.C., May 5, and duty at Camp Casey, to June 1. At Point Lookout, Maryland, guarding prisoners, to July 16. Moved to Richmond and duty in Subdistrict of Roanoke, Headquarters at Burkesville, to September. Moved to Richmond. 25th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Movement Orders and Attachments Sailed for New Orleans, Louisiana, on steamer Suwahnee, March 15, 1864 (right wing). Vessel sprung a leak off Hatteras and put into harbor at Beaufort, North Carolina. Duty there in defenses, under Gen. Henry Wessells, to April, then proceeded to New Orleans, arriving May 1. Left wing in camp at Carrollton. Attached to defenses of New Orleans, Department of the Gulf, May–July 1864. District of Pensacola, Florida, Department of the Gulf, to October 1864. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, United States Colored Troops, Department of the Gulf, October 1864. 1st Brigade, District of West Florida, to January 1865. 3d Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, District of West Florida, to February 1865. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, District of West Florida, to April 1865. Unattached, District of West Florida, to July 1865. Department of Florida, to December 1865.

Muster Point(s) Riker’s Island, New York Harbor Date Disbanded August 28, 1865 Place Disbanded Beaufort, South Carolina

Date Raised January 3–February 12, 1864

Total Casualties Regiment lost 2 officers and 28 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 3 officers and 112 enlisted men to disease. Total: 145.

Muster Point(s) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Movement Orders and Attachments Ordered to Department of the South, April 1864.

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Attached to District of Beaufort, Department of the South, to October 1864. 2d Separate Brigade, Department of the South, to January 1865. 1st Separate Brigade, Department of the South, to February 1865. 2d Separate Brigade, Department of the South, to June 1865. Department of the South, to August 1865. Engagements and Campaigns Reported at Beaufort, April 13, 1864, and post duty there until November 27. Expedition to John’s and James Islands, July 2–10. Operations against Battery Pringle, July 4–9. Actions on John’s Island, July 5 and 7. Burden’s Causeway, July 9. Battle of Honey Hill, November 30. Demonstration on Charleston & Savannah Railroad, December 6–9. Action at Devaux’s Neck, December 6. Tillifinny Station, December 9. McKay’s Point, December 22. Ordered to Beaufort, January 2, 1865, and duty there until August. 27th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

28th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Date Raised January 16, 1864

Date Raised December 24, 1863–March 31, 1864

Muster Point(s) Camp Delaware, Ohio

Muster Point(s) Indianapolis, Indiana

Date Disbanded September 21, 1865

Date Disbanded November 8, 1865

Place Disbanded Department of North Carolina Movement Orders and Attachments Ordered to Annapolis, Maryland. Attached to 1st Brigade, 4th Division, IX Corps, Army of the Potomac, to September 1864. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, IX Corps, to December 1864. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, XXV Corps, to December 1864. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, XXV Corps, to January 1865. 3d Brigade, 3d Division, XXV Corps, to March 1865. 3d Brigade, 3d Division, X Corps, Department of North Carolina, to July 1865. Department of North Carolina, to September 1865. Engagements and Campaigns Campaign from Rapidan to James River, Virginia, May–June, 1864. Guard trains of Army of the Potomac through the Wilderness. Before Petersburg, June 15–19. Siege of Petersburg and

Richmond, June 16–December 7, 1864. Mine explosion at Petersburg, July 30, 1864. Weldon Railroad, August 18–21. Poplar Grove Church, September 29–October 1. Boydton Plank Road, Hatcher’s Run, October 27–28. On Bermuda Hundred front, to December 1. First expedition to Fort Fisher, North Carolina, December 7–27. Second expedition to Fort Fisher, January 7–15, 1865. Bombardment of Fort Fisher, January 13–15. Assault and capture of Fort Fisher, January 15. Sugar Loaf Hill, January 19. Federal Point, February 11. Fort Anderson, February 18–20. Capture of Wilmington, February 22. Northeast Ferry, February 22. Campaign of the Carolinas, March 1–April 26. Advance on Kinston and Goldsboro, March 6–21. Cox’s Bridge, March 23–24. Advance on Raleigh, April 9–14. Occupation of Raleigh, April 14. Bennett’s House, April 26. Surrender of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston and his army. Duty in Department of North Carolina, to September.

Place Disbanded Corpus Christi, Texas Total Casualties Regiment lost 2 officers and 45 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 1 officer and 164 enlisted men to disease. Total: 212. Movement Orders and Attachments Left Indianapolis for Washington, D.C., April 24, then moved to Alexandria, Virginia. Attached to defenses of Washington, D.C., XXII Corps, April–June 1864. White House, Virginia, Abercrombie’s command, to July 1864. 2d Brigade, 4th Division, IX Corps, Army of the Potomac, to September 1864. 2d Brigade, 3d Division, IX Corps, to December 1864. 3d Brigade, 2d Division, XXV Corps, to April 1865. Attached 1st Brigade, 1st Division, XXV Corps, to April 1865. District of St.

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Mary’s, XXII Corps, to May 1865. Department of Texas, to November 1865. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Alexandria, to June 1864. Moved to White House, June 2. Engaged, June 21. Accompanied Gen. Philip H. Sheridan’s cavalry through Chickahominy Swamps to Prince George Court House, with several skirmishes. Siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond, July 1864–April 1865. Mine explosion at Petersburg, July 30, 1864. Weldon Railroad, August 18–21. Poplar Grove Church, September 29–October 1. Boydton Plank Road, Hatcher’s Run, October 27–28. On Bermuda Hundred front and before Richmond, to April 1865. Occupation of Richmond, April 3. At City Point, Virginia, and St. Mary’s, Maryland, in charge of prisoners, April 6–May 12. Moved to City Point, then to Texas, June 10–July 1. Duty at Brazos Santiago and Corpus Christi, to November. 29th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond, June 19, 1864–April 3, 1865. Mine explosion at Petersburg, July 30, 1864. Weldon Railroad, August 18–21. Poplar Grove Church, September 29–October 1. Boydton Plank Road, Hatcher’s Run, October 27–28. On Bermuda Hundred front and before Richmond, to April 1865. Appomattox Campaign, March 28–April 9. Duty in Department of Virginia, to May. Moved to Texas, May–June, and duty on Rio Grande, to November. 29th Regiment, Connecticut Infantry (Colored) Date Raised March 8, 1864 Muster Point(s) Fair Haven Date Disbanded November 25, 1865 Place Disbanded New Haven, Connecticut

Date Raised April 24, 1864

Total Casualties Regiment lost 1 officer and 44 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 1 officer and 152 enlisted men to disease. Total: 198.

Muster Point(s) Quincy, Illinois Date Disbanded November 6, 1865 Place Disbanded Rio Grande, Texas Total Casualties Regiment lost 3 officers and 43 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 188 enlisted men to disease. Total: 234. Movement Orders and Attachments Ordered to Annapolis, Maryland, May 27, 1864, then to Alexandria, Virginia. Attached to defenses of Washington, D.C., XXII Corps, to June 1864. 2d Brigade, 4th Division, IX Corps, Army of the Potomac, to September 1864. 2d Brigade, 3d Division, IX Corps, to December 1864. 3d Brigade, 2d Division, XXV Corps, and Department of Texas, to November 1865. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Alexandria, to June 15, 1864. Moved to White House, Virginia, then to Petersburg, Virginia.

Movement Orders and Attachments Left for Annapolis, Maryland, March 19. Moved to Beaufort, South Carolina, April 8–13, and duty there until August 8. Attached to District of Beaufort, Department of the South, April–August 1864. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, X Corps, Army of the James, Department of Virginia and North Carolina, to December 1864. 2d Brigade, 3d Division, XXV Corps, to January 1865. 2d Brigade, 1st Division, XXV Corps, to April 1865, District of St. Mary’s, XXII Corps, Department of Washington, to May 1865. 2d Brigade, 1st Division, XXV Corps, Department of Texas, to October 1865. Engagements and Campaigns Moved from Beaufort to Bermuda Hundred, Virginia, August 8–13, 1864. Siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond, August 13, 1864–April 2, 1865. Demonstration on north side of James River, August 13–20, 1864. Deep Bottom, Strawberry Plains, August 14–18. Duty in trenches before Petersburg, August 25–September 24. New

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Market Heights and Fort Harrison, September 28–29. Chaffin’s Farm, September 29–30. Darbytown Road, October 13. Battle of Fair Oaks, October 27–28. Duty in trenches before Richmond, to April 1865. Occupation of Richmond, April 3 (first infantry regiment to enter city). Moved to City Point, April 18, then to Point Lookout, Maryland, and duty there guarding prisoners until May 28. Moved to City Point, May 28–30, then sailed for Texas, June 10, arriving at Brazos Santiago, July 3. Marched to Brownsville and duty there until October. 30th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised February 12–March 18, 1864

October 27–28. First expedition to Fort Fisher, North Carolina, December 7–27. Second expedition to Fort Fisher, January 7–15, 1865. Bombardment of Fort Fisher, January 13–15. Assault and capture of Fort Fisher, January 15. Sugar Loaf Hill, January 19. Federal Point, February 11. Fort Anderson, February 18–20. Capture of Wilmington, February 22. Northeast Ferry, February 22. Campaign of the Carolinas, March 1–April 26. Advance on Kinston and Goldsboro, March 6–21. Action at Cox’s Bridge, March 23–24. Advance on Raleigh, April 9–14. Occupation of Raleigh, April 14. Bennett’s House April 26. Surrender of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston and his army. Duty at various points in North Carolina until December. 31st Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Muster Point(s) Camp Stanton, Maryland

Date Raised April 29, 1864

Date Disbanded December 10, 1865

Muster Point(s) Hart’s Island, New York

Place Disbanded North Carolina

Date Disbanded November 7, 1865

Total Casualties Regiment lost 3 officers and 48 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 2 officers and 177 enlisted men to disease. Total: 230. Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 1st Brigade, 4th Division, IX Corps, Army of the Potomac, to September 1864. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, IX Corps, to December 1864. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, XXV Corps, to December 1864. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, XXV Corps, to March 1865. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, X Corps, Department of North Carolina, to July 1865. Department of North Carolina to December 1865. Engagements and Campaigns Campaign from Rapidan to James River, Virginia, May–June 1864. Guard trains of Army of the Potomac through the Wilderness and to Petersburg. Before Petersburg, June 15–18. Siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond, June 16–December 7, 1864. Mine explosion at Petersburg, July 30. Weldon Railroad, August 18–21. Poplar Grove Church, September 29–October 1. Boydton Plank Road, Hatcher’s Run,

Place Disbanded Rio Grande, Texas Total Casualties Regiment lost 3 officers and 48 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 1 officer and 123 enlisted men to disease. Total: 175. Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 2d Brigade, 4th Division, IX Corps, Army of the Potomac, to September 1864. 2d Brigade, 3d Division, IX Corps, to December 1864. 3d Brigade, 2d Division, XXV Corps, and Department of Texas, to November 1865. Engagements and Campaigns Campaign from Rapidan to James River, Virginia, May–June 1864. Guard trains of Army of the Potomac through the Wilderness. Battles of Cold Harbor, June 2–12. Before Petersburg, June 15–19. Siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond, June 16, 1864–April 2, 1865. Mine explosion at Petersburg, July 30, 1864. Weldon Railroad, August 18–21. Fort Sedgwick, September 28. Hatcher’s Run, October 27–28. On Bermuda Hundred front,

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to March 1865. Moved to Hatcher’s Run, March 26–28. Appomattox Campaign, March 28–April 9. Hatcher’s Run, March 29–31. Fall of Petersburg, April 2. Pursuit of Gen. Robert E. Lee, April 3–9. Appomattox Court House, April 9. Surrender of Lee and his army. Duty in Department of Virginia, to May. Moved to Texas, May–June, and duty on Rio Grande, to November. 32d Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Occupation of Camden, April 17. Boydkin’s Mills, April 18. Beach Creek near Statesburg and Denken’s Mills, April 19. Garrison duty at Charleston, Beaufort, and Hilton Head, to August. 33d Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised February 8, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from 1st South Carolina Colored Infantry

Date Raised February 7–March 7, 1864

Date Disbanded January 31, 1866

Muster Point(s) Camp William Penn, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Place Disbanded Department of the South

Date Disbanded August 22, 1865 Place Disbanded Hilton Head, South Carolina Total Casualties Regiment lost 2 officers and 35 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 113 enlisted men to disease. Total: 150. Movement Orders and Attachments Ordered to Hilton Head, South Carolina, April 1864, arriving April 27. Attached to Bailey’s Brigade, District of Hilton Head, Department of the South, to June 1864. Morris Island, South Carolina, Northern District, Department of the South, to October 1864. 3d Separate Brigade, Hilton Head, Department of the South, to November 1864. 2d Brigade, Coast Division, Department of the South, to December 1864. 2d Separate Brigade, Department of the South, to June 1865. Department of the South, to August 1865. Engagements and Campaigns Ordered to Hilton Head, April 1864, and duty there until June. Moved to Morris Island and duty there operating against Charleston, South Carolina, to November. Expedition to Boyd’s Neck, November 28–30. Battle of Honey Hill, November 30. Demonstration on Charleston Camp, Savannah Railroad, December 6–9. Devaux’s Neck, December 6. James Island, February 14, 1865. Occupation of Charleston, February 18. Potter’s Expedition, April 5–25. Dingle’s Mills, April 9. Statesboro, April 15.

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to U.S. forces, Port Royal Island, South Carolina, X Corps, Department of the South, to April 1864. District of Beaufort, South Carolina, Department of the South, to July 1864. Folly Island, South Carolina, Northern District, Department of the South, to October 1864. 1st Separate Brigade, Department of the South, to March 1865. District of Savannah, Georgia, and Department of the South, to January 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Port Royal Island, District of Beaufort, to July 1864. Expedition to James Island, South Carolina, June 30–July 10. James Island near Secessionville, July 2. Duty on Folly and Morris Islands operating against Charleston, South Carolina, to November. Demonstration on Charleston Camp, Savannah Railroad, December 6–9. Devaux’s Neck, December 6. Tillifinny Station, December 9. Ordered to Folly Island, December 9. Near Pocotaligo Road, December 20. At Pocotaligo, South Carolina, to February 1865. Occupation of Charleston, to March 8. Moved to Savannah, March 8, and duty there until June 6. Moved to Augusta, Georgia. Duty there and at various points in Department of the South, to January 1866. 34th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised February 8, 1864

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Muster Point(s) Organized from 2d South Carolina Colored Infantry

Hilton Head, then returned to Jacksonville, January 1865. Duty at Jacksonville and at various points in Florida, to February 1866.

Date Disbanded February 28, 1866

35th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Place Disbanded Florida Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to Montgomery’s Brigade, District of Florida, Department of the South, February 1864. 3d Brigade, Vogdes’s Division, District of Florida, Department of the South, to April 1864. Morris Island, South Carolina, Northern District, Department of the South, to June 1864. District of Beaufort, South Carolina, Department of the South, to August 1864. District of Florida, Department of the South, to October 1864. 4th Separate Brigade, Department of the South, to November 1864. 1st Brigade, Coast Division, Department of the South, to December 1864. 2d Brigade, Coast Division, Department of the South, to January 1865. 4th Separate Brigade, District of Florida, Department of the South, and Department of Florida, to February 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Provost duty at Jacksonville, Florida, to March 30, 1864. Moved to Palatka, Florida, March 30–31, and to Picolata, April 12. Ordered to Folly Island, South Carolina, April 13, then to Morris Island and duty there, operating against Charleston until May 20. Moved to St. Augustine, Florida, May 20, then to Tybee Island, South Carolina, May 22. Expedition to Ashepoo River, May 24–27. Action at Ashepoo River, May 26. Moved to Hilton Head, South Carolina, June 30. Expedition to James Island, South Carolina, July 1–10. Near Winter’s Point, July 3. King’s Creek, July 3. Actions on James Island, July 3, 9–10. Burden’s Causeway, July 9. Return to Jacksonville, July 31. Expedition to Enterprise, August 2–5. Raid on Florida Railroad, August 15–18. Action at Gainesville, August 17. Duty at Jacksonville, Palatka, and Magnolia Springs, to November. Ordered to Hilton Head, November 25. Expedition to Boyd’s Neck, South Carolina, November 28–30. Battle of Honey Hill, November 30. Expedition to Devaux’s Neck, December 1–6. Action at Devaux’s Neck, December 6. Moved to

Date Raised February 8, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from 1st North Carolina Colored Infantry Date Disbanded June 1, 1866 Place Disbanded Department of the South Total Casualties Regiment lost 4 officers and 49 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 1 officer and 151 enlisted men to disease. Total: 205. Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to Montgomery’s Brigade, District of Florida, Department of the South, February 1864. 2d Brigade, Vogdes’s Division, District of Florida, Department of the South, to April 1864. District of Florida, Department of the South, to October 1864. 4th Separate Brigade, Department of the South, to November 1864. 2d Brigade, Coast Division, Department of the South, to December 1864. 4th Separate Brigade, Department of the South, to March 1865. 1st Separate Brigade, Department of the South, to August 1865. Department of the South, to June 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Expedition to Lake City, Florida, February 14–22, 1864. Battle of Olustee, February 20. Duty at Jacksonville, Florida, to November. Operations on St. John’s River, May 19–27. Horse Head Landing, May 23. (Four companies detached on expedition to James Island, South Carolina, July 1–10, and King’s Creek, South Carolina, July 3.) Raid from Jacksonville on Baldwin, July 23–28. South Fork, Black Creek, July 24. Black Creek near Whitesides, July 27. Raid on Florida Railroad, August 15–19. Ordered from Jacksonville to Hilton Head, South Carolina, November 25, Expedition to Boyd’s Neck,

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November 28–30. Battle of Honey Hill, November 30. Return to Jacksonville and duty there until March 1865. Ordered to Charleston, South Carolina. Duty there and at various points in Department of the South, to June 1866. 36th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Department of Virginia, to May. Moved to Texas, May 24–June 6. Duty along Rio Grande and at various points in Texas, to October 1866. 37th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised February 3, 1864

Date Raised February 8, 1864

Muster Point(s) Organized from 3d North Carolina Colored Infantry

Muster Point(s) Organized from 2d North Carolina Colored Infantry

Date Disbanded February 11, 1867

Date Disbanded October 28, 1866

Place Disbanded Department of the South

Place Disbanded Texas Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to U.S. forces, Norfolk and Portsmouth, Department of Virginia and North Carolina, to April 1864. District of St. Mary’s, Department of Virginia and North Carolina, to June 1864. Unattached, Army of the James, to August 1864. 2d Brigade, 3d Division, XVIII Corps, to December 1864. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, XXV Corps, to December 1864. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, XXV Corps, and Department of Texas, to October 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia, to April 1864. At Point Lookout, Maryland, District of St. Mary’s, guarding prisoners until July 1864. Expedition from Point Lookout to Westmoreland County, April 12–14. Expedition from Point Lookout to Rappahannock River, May 11–14, and to Pope’s Creek, June 11–21. Moved from Point Lookout to Bermuda Hundred, Virginia, July 1–3. Siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond, Virginia, July 3, 1864–April 2, 1865. Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, New Market Heights, September 29–30. Battle of Fair Oaks, October 27–28. Dutch Gap, November 17. Indiantown, Sandy Creek, North Carolina, December 18 (detachment). Duty north of James River before Richmond, to March 27, 1865. Appomattox Campaign, March 27–April 9. Occupation of Richmond, April 3. Duty in

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to U.S. forces, Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia, Department of Virginia and North Carolina, to April 1864. 1st Brigade, Hincks’s Colored Division, XVIII Corps, Army of the James, to June 1864. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, X Corps, to July 1864. Unattached, Army of the James, to August 1864. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, XVIII Corps, to December 1864. 3d Brigade, 3d Division, XXV Corps, to January 1865. 3d Brigade, 3d Division, Terry’s Provisional Corps, Department of North Carolina, to March 1865. 2d Brigade, 3d Division, X Corps, Department of North Carolina, to August 1865. Department of North Carolina, to February 1867. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Norfolk and Portsmouth, to April 1864. Expedition to Westmoreland County, April 12–14. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler’s operations on south side of James River and against Petersburg and Richmond, May 4–June 15. Capture of Fort Powhatan, May 5. Duty there and at Wilson’s Wharf, to September 28. Moved to Deep Bottom, September 28–29. Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, New Market Heights, September 29–30. Battle of Fair Oaks, October 27–28. In trenches before Richmond, to December 7. First expedition to Fort Fisher, North Carolina, December 7–27. Second expedition to Fort Fisher, January 7–15, 1865. Bombardment of Fort Fisher, January 13–15. Assault and capture of Fort Fisher, January 15.

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Sugar Loaf Hill, January 19. Federal Point, February 11. Fort Anderson, February 18–20. Capture of Wilmington, February 22. Northeast Ferry, February 22. Campaign of the Carolinas, March 1–April 26. Advance on Kinston and Goldsboro, March 6–21. Cox’s Bridge, March 23–24. Advance on Raleigh, April 9–14. Occupation of Raleigh, April 14. Bennett’s House, April 26. Surrender of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston and his army. Duty at various points in North Carolina and in Department of the South, to February 1867.

Brownsville and at various points on Rio Grande and at Brazos Santiago, Indianola, and Galveston, Texas, to January 1867. 39th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised March 22–31, 1864 Muster Point(s) Baltimore, Maryland Date Disbanded December 4, 1865

38th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Place Disbanded Department of North Carolina

Date Raised January 23, 1864

Total Casualties Regiment lost 38 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 3 officers and 239 enlisted men to disease. Total: 280.

Muster Point(s) Virginia Date Disbanded January 25, 1867 Place Disbanded Texas Total Casualties Regiment lost 1 officer and 42 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 2 officers and 192 enlisted men to disease. Total: 237. Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to U.S. forces, Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia, Department of Virginia and North Carolina, to June 1864. Unattached, Department of Virginia and North Carolina, to August 1864. 2d Brigade, 3d Division, XVIII Corps, Army of the James, to December 1864. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, XXV Corps, to December 1864. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, XXV Corps, and Department of Texas, to January 1867. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Norfolk and Portsmouth, to June 1864. Operations against Petersburg and Richmond, June 1864–April 1865. Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, New Market Heights, September 29–30. Deep Bottom, October 1. Battle of Fair Oaks, October 27–28. Duty in trenches north of James River before Richmond, to April 1865. Occupation of Richmond, April 3, 1865. Duty in Department of Virginia, to May. Moved to Texas, May 24–June 6. Duty at

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 1st Brigade, 4th Division, IX Corps, Army of the Potomac, to September 1864. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, IX Corps, to December 1864. 2d Brigade, 1st Division, XXV Corps, to December 1864. 2d Brigade, 3d Division, XXV Corps, to January 1865. 2d Brigade, 3d Division, Terry’s Provisional Corps, Department of North Carolina, to March 1865. 2d Brigade, 3d Division, X Corps, Department of North Carolina, to August 1865. Department of North Carolina, to December 1865. Engagements and Campaigns Campaign from Rapidan to James River, Virginia, May–June 1864. Guard trains of Army of the Potomac through the Wilderness and to Petersburg. Before Petersburg, June 15–19. Siege of Petersburg and Richmond, June 16–December 7. Mine explosion at Petersburg, July 30. Weldon Railroad, August 18–21. Poplar Grove Church, September 29–October 1. Boydton Plank Road, Hatcher’s Run, October 27–28. On Bermuda Hundred front, to December. First expedition to Fort Fisher, North Carolina, December 7–27. Second expedition to Fort Fisher, January 7–15, 1865. Bombardment of Fort Fisher, January 13–15. Assault and capture of Fort Fisher, January 15. Sugar Loaf Hill, January 19. Federal Point, February 11. Fort Anderson, February 18–20. Capture of Wilmington, February 22.

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U n i t e d S t a t e s C o l o r e d Tr o o p s , Fo r m a t i o n a n d S e r v i c e R e c o r d s o f

Northeast Ferry, February 22. Campaign of the Carolinas, March 1–April 26. Advance on Kinston and Goldsboro, March 6–21. Cox’s Bridge, March 23–24. Advance on Raleigh, April 9–14. Occupation of Raleigh, April 14. Bennett’s House, April 26. Surrender of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston and his army. Duty at various points in Department of North Carolina, to December. 40th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised February 29, 1864 Muster Point(s) Nashville, Tennessee Date Disbanded April 25, 1866 Place Disbanded District of East Tennessee Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to defenses of Louisville Camp, Nashville Railroad, Department of the Cumberland, to June 1864. Defenses of Nashville Camp, Northwestern Railroad, Department of the Cumberland, to December 1864. Defenses of Louisville & Nashville Railroad, Department of the Cumberland, to April 1865. 2d Brigade, 4th Division, District of East Tennessee, Department of the Cumberland, to July 1865. 1st Brigade, 4th Division, District of East Tennessee, to August 1865. Department of the Tennessee, to April 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Railroad guard duty entire term, Nashville & Louisville Railroad; Nashville Camp, Northwestern Railroad; and in District of East Tennessee. Action at South Tunnel, Tennessee, October 10, 1864. 41st Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised September 30–December 7, 1864 Muster Point(s) Camp William Penn, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Date Disbanded December 14, 1865

Place Disbanded Philadelphia Movement Orders and Attachments Ordered to join Army of the James in Virginia, October 18, 1864. Attached to 1st Brigade, 3d Division, X Corps, to December 1864. 2d Brigade, 3d Division, XXV Corps, to January 1865. 2d Brigade, 1st Division, XXV Corps, to January 1865. 2d Brigade, 2d Division, XXV Corps, and Department of Texas, to December 1865. Engagements and Campaigns Guard duty at Deep Bottom, Virginia, to October 20, 1864. Moved to Fort Burnham on line north of James River, before Richmond, October 27. Battle of Fair Oaks, October 27–28. In trenches before Richmond and picket duty on Chaffin’s Farm, to January 1, 1865. Near Fort Burnham, to March 27. Moved to Hatcher’s Run, March 27–28. Appomattox Campaign, March 28–April 9. Hatcher’s Run, March 29–31. Fall of Petersburg, April 2. Pursuit of Gen. Robert E. Lee, April 3–9. Appomattox Court House, April 9. Surrender of Lee and his army. Moved to Petersburg, April 11, and duty there until May 25. Embarked for Texas, May 25, arriving at Brazos Santiago, June 3. Moved to Edenburg and guard and provost duty there until November. Consolidated to a battalion of four companies, September 30. Mustered out at Brownsville, Texas, November 10, 1865. 42d Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised April 20, 1864 Muster Point(s) Chattanooga and Nashville, Tennessee Date Disbanded January 31, 1866 Place Disbanded Department of Georgia Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to District of Chattanooga, Department of the Cumberland, to November 1864. Unattached, District of the Etowah, Department of the Cumberland, to December 1864. 1st Colored Brigade, District of the Etowah, to January 1865.

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Unattached, District of the Etowah, to March 1865. 1st Colored Brigade, Department of the Cumberland, to July 1865. 2d Brigade, 4th Division, District of East Tennessee, July 1865. Department of Georgia, to January 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Guard and garrison duty at Chattanooga in District of East Tennessee, and in Department of the Cumberland and Department of Georgia during entire term.

28–April 9. Hatcher’s Run, March 29–31. Fall of Petersburg, April 2. Pursuit of Gen. Robert E. Lee, April 3–9. Appomattox Court House, April 9. Surrender of Lee and his army. Duty at Petersburg and City Point, to May 30. Moved to Texas, May 30–June 10. Duty on Rio Grande opposite Matamoras, Mexico, to October. 44th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised April 7, 1864

43d Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Muster Point(s) Chattanooga, Tennessee

Date Raised March 12–June 3, 1864

Date Disbanded April 30, 1866

Muster Point(s) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Place Disbanded Department of Georgia

Date Disbanded November 30, 1865 Place Disbanded Philadelphia Total Casualties Regiment lost 3 officers and 48 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 188 enlisted men to disease. Total: 239. Movement Orders and Attachments Moved to Annapolis, Maryland, April 18. Attached to 1st Brigade, 4th Division, IX Corps, Army of the Potomac, to September 1864. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, IX Corps, to December 1864. 3d Brigade, 3d Division, XXV Corps, to January 1865. 3d Brigade, 1st Division, XXV Corps and Department of Texas, to October 1865. Engagements and Campaigns Campaign from Rapidan to James River, Virginia, May–June 1864. Guard trains of Army of the Potomac through the Wilderness and to Petersburg. Before Petersburg, June 15–19. Siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond, June 16, 1864–April 2, 1865. Mine explosion at Petersburg, July 30, 1864. Weldon Railroad, August 18–21. Poplar Grove Church, September 29–October 1. Boydton Plank Road, Hatcher’s Run, October 27–28. On Bermuda Hundred front and before Richmond, to March 1865. Moved to Hatcher’s Run, March 27–28. Appomattox Campaign, March

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to District of Chattanooga, Department of the Cumberland, to November 1864. Unattached, District of the Etowah, Department of the Cumberland, to December 1864. 1st Colored Brigade, District of the Etowah, Department of the Cumberland, to January 1865. Unattached, District of the Etowah, to March 1865. 1st Colored Brigade, Department of the Cumberland, to July 1865. 2d Brigade, 4th Division, District of East Tennessee, July 1865. Department of the Cumberland and Department of Georgia, to April 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Post and garrison duty at Chattanooga, to November 1864. Action at Dalton, Georgia, October 13, 1864. Battle of Nashville, Tennessee, December 15–16. Pursuit of Gen. John Bell Hood to Tennessee River, December 17–28. Post and garrison duty at Chattanooga in District of East Tennessee, and in Department of Georgia, to April 1866. 45th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised June 13–August 19, 1864 Muster Point(s) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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Date Disbanded November 4, 1865 Place Disbanded Brownsville, Texas Movement Orders and Attachments Moved to Washington, D.C. (four companies), July 1864. Attached to Provisional Brigade, Casey’s Division, XXII Corps, and garrison duty at Arlington Heights, Virginia, to March 1865. Rejoined regiment at Chaffin’s Farm, Virginia, March 14, 1865. Six companies moved to City Point, Virginia, September 20, 1864. Attached to 2d Brigade, 3d Division, X Corps, Army of the James, to December 1864. 2d Brigade, 2d Division, XXV Corps, and Department of Texas, to November 1865. Engagements and Campaigns Demonstration on north side of James River and battle of Chaffin’s Farm, New Market Heights, September 28–30, 1864. Fort Harrison, September 29. Darbytown Road, October 13. Battle of Fair Oaks, October 27–28. In trenches before Richmond, to March 1865. Moved to Hatcher’s Run, March 27–28. Appomattox Campaign, March 28–April 9. Hatcher’s Run, March 29–31. Fall of Petersburg, April 2. Pursuit of Gen. Robert E. Lee, April 3–9. Appomattox Court House, April 9. Surrender of Lee and his army. Duty at Petersburg and City Point, to May. Moved to Texas, May–June. Duty at Edinburg on Mexican frontier, to September 8, and at Brownsville, to November. 46th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised May 11, 1864

Colored Troops, District of Vicksburg, to January 1865. 2d Brigade, post and defenses of Memphis, Tennessee, District of West Tennessee, to February 1865. New Orleans, Louisiana, Department of the Gulf, to May 1865. Department of Texas, to January 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Post and garrison duty at Milliken’s Bend and at Haynes Bluff, Mississippi, to January 1865. Actions at Mound Plantation, Mississippi, June 24 and 29, 1864. Ordered to Memphis, January 1865, and garrison duty there until February 1865. Ordered to New Orleans, February 23, and duty there until May 4. Ordered to Brazos Santiago, Texas, May 4. Duty at Clarksville and Brownsville on Rio Grande, to January 1866. 47th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised March 11, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from 8th Louisiana Infantry (African Descent) Date Disbanded January 5, 1866 Place Disbanded Texas Total Casualties Regiment lost 1 officer and 30 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 3 officers and 398 enlisted men to disease. Total: 432.

Place Disbanded Rio Grande, Texas

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 2d Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, District of Vicksburg, Mississippi, to October 1864. 2d Brigade, 4th Division, XVI Corps, to November 1864. 2d Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, District of Vicksburg, to February 1865. 2d Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, Military Division of West Mississippi, to June 1865. Department of the Gulf, to January 1866.

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to post of Milliken’s Bend, Louisiana, District of Vicksburg, Mississippi, to November 1864. 2d Brigade, 1st Division, United States

Engagements and Campaigns Post and garrison duty at Vicksburg, Mississippi, to October 1864. Expedition from Haines Bluff up Yazoo River, April 19–23. Near Mechanicsburg,

Muster Point(s) Organized from 1st Arkansas Infantry (African Descent) Date Disbanded January 30, 1866

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April 20. Lake Providence, May 27. Moved to mouth of White River, Arkansas, October 15. Duty there and at Vicksburg, to February 1865. Ordered to Algiers, Louisiana, February 26, then to Barrancas, Florida. March from Pensacola, Florida, to Blakely, Alabama, March 20–April 1. Siege of Fort Blakely, April 1–9. Assault and capture of Fort Blakely, April 9. Occupation of Mobile, April 12. March to Montgomery, April 13–25. Return to Mobile and duty there until June. Moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, then to Texas, and duty on Rio Grande and at various points in Texas, to January 1866. 48th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Blakely, April 9. Occupation of Mobile, April 12. March to Montgomery, April 13–25. Duty there and at Mobile until June. Moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, then to Texas. Duty at various points on Rio Grande, to January 1866. 49th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised March 11, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from 11th Louisiana Infantry (African Descent) Date Disbanded March 27, 1866

Date Raised March 11, 1864

Place Disbanded Department of Mississippi

Muster Point(s) Organized from 10th Louisiana Infantry (African Descent) Date Disbanded January 4, 1866 Place Disbanded Texas Total Casualties Regiment lost 3 officers and 59 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 1 officer and 464 enlisted men to disease. Total: 527.

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 1st Colored Brigade, District of Vicksburg, Mississippi, to April 1864. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, District of Vicksburg, April 1864. 2d Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, District of Vicksburg, to October 1864. 1st Brigade, 4th Division, XVI Corps, to November 1864. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, District of Vicksburg, to June 1865. Department of Mississippi, to March 1866.

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 1st Colored Brigade, District of Vicksburg, Mississippi, to April 1864. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, District of Vicksburg, to February 1865. 3d Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, Military Division of West Mississippi, to May 1865. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, District of West Florida, to June 1865. Department of the Gulf, to January 1866.

Engagements and Campaigns Post and garrison duty at Vicksburg, Mississippi, and at various points in Department of Mississippi for entire term.

Engagements and Campaigns Garrison duty at Vicksburg, Mississippi, to February 1865. Expedition from Vicksburg to Rodney and Fayette, September 29–October 3, 1864. Ordered to Algiers, Louisiana, February 26, 1865; then to Barrancas, Florida. March from Pensacola, Florida, to Blakely, Alabama, March 20–April 1. Siege of Fort Blakely, April 1–9. Assault and capture of Fort

Muster Point(s) Organized from 12th Louisiana Infantry (African Descent)

50th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised March 11, 1864

Date Disbanded March 20, 1866 Place Disbanded Department of the Gulf

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Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 2d Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, District of Vicksburg, Mississippi, to October 1864. 2d Brigade, 4th Division, XVI Corps, to November 1864. 2d Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, District of Vicksburg, to February 1865. 2d Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, Military Division of West Mississippi, to June 1865. Department of the Gulf, to March 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Post and garrison duty at Vicksburg, Mississippi, to February 1865. Expedition from Haines Bluff to Yazoo River, April 19–23, 1864. Near Mechanicsburg, April 20. Expedition from Vicksburg to Rodney and Fayette, September 29–October 3. Ordered to Algiers, Louisiana, February 26, then to Barrancas, Florida. March from Pensacola, Florida, to Blakely, Alabama, March 20–April 1. Siege of Fort Blakely, April 1–9. Assault and capture of Fort Blakely, April 9. Occupation of Mobile, April 12. March to Montgomery, April 13–25. Duty there and at Mobile until June. Moved to New Orleans, Louisiana. At Greenville, June 16. Duty at various points in Department of the Gulf until March 1866.

Engagements and Campaigns At Lake Providence, to May 1864. Post and garrison duty at Goodrich Landing, Louisiana, to December 1864. Action at Langley’s Plantation, Issaquena County, March 22, 1864. Flod, Louisiana, July 2. Waterford, August 16–17. Duty at Vicksburg, Mississippi, to February 1865. Moved to Algiers, Louisiana, February 26; then to Barrancas, Florida. March from Pensacola, Florida, to Blakely, Alabama, March 20–April 1. Siege of Fort Blakely, April 1–9. Assault and capture of Fort Blakely, April 9. Occupation of Mobile, April 12. March to Montgomery, April 13–25. Duty there and at Mobile, to June. Ordered to New Orleans, then to Texas. Duty on Rio Grande and at various points in Texas, to June 1866. 52d Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised March 11, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from 2d Mississippi Infantry (African Descent) Date Disbanded May 5, 1866 Place Disbanded Departments of Mississippi and the Gulf

51st Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 2d Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, District of Vicksburg, Mississippi, to October 1864. 2d Brigade, 4th Division, XVI Corps, to November 1864. 2d Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, District of Vicksburg, to February 1865. Maltby’s Brigade, District of Vicksburg, and Department of Mississippi, to May 1866.

Date Raised March 11, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from 1st Mississippi Infantry (African Descent) Date Disbanded June 16, 1866 Place Disbanded Texas Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to post of Goodrich Landing, District of Vicksburg, Mississippi, to December 1864. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, District of Vicksburg, to Feburary 1865. 2d Brigade, 1st Division, Steele’s Command, Military District of West Mississippi, to June 1865. Department of the Gulf, to June 1866.

Engagements and Campaigns Post and garrison duty at Vicksburg, Mississippi, to June 1865. Action at Coleman’s Plantation, Port Gibson, July 4, 1864. Bayou Liddell, October 15. Duty at various points in Departments of Mississippi and the Gulf, to May 1866. 53d Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised March 11, 1864

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1865. Actions at Fort Gibson, September 16, 1864. Cabin Creek, September 19. Cow Creek, Kansas, November 14 and 28. Ordered to Little Rock, Arkansas, January 1865. Action on Arkansas River, January 18. Duty at Little Rock and at various points in Department of Arkansas, to December 1866.

Muster Point(s) Organized from 3d Mississippi Infantry (African Descent) Date Disbanded March 8, 1866 Place Disbanded Department of Mississippi Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 1st Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, District of Vicksburg, Mississippi, to October 1864. 1st Brigade, 4th Division, XVI Corps, to November 1864. Department of Arkansas, to February 1865. District of Vicksburg and Department of Mississippi, to March 1866.

54th Regiment, Massachusetts Infantry (Colored)

Engagements and Campaigns Post and garrison duty at Haines Bluff, District of Vicksburg, to October 1864. Expedition to Grand Gulf, March 12–14. Action at Grand Gulf, July 16. Moved to St. Charles, Arkansas, on White River, October 1864, and duty there until February 1865. Action on White River, near St. Charles, October 22, 1864. Moved to Vicksburg, Mississippi, February 1865, and duty there; at Macon, Meridian, and other points in Department of Mississippi, to March 1866.

Date Disbanded September 1, 1865

54th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised March 11, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from 2d Arkansas Infantry (African Descent) Date Disbanded August 8–December 31, 1866 Place Disbanded Department of Arkansas Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 2d Brigade, Frontier Division, VII Corps, Department of Arkansas, to February 1865. 2d Brigade, 1st Division, VII Corps, to August 1865. Department of Arkansas, to December 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Helena, Arkansas, to May 1864. Ordered to Fort Smith, Arkansas, and duty there until January

Date Raised May 13, 1863 Muster Point(s) Readville, Massachusetts

Place Disbanded Boston, Massachusetts Total Casualties Regiment lost 5 officers and 104 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 1 officer and 160 enlisted men to disease. Total: 270. Movement Orders and Attachments Left Boston on steamer De Molay for Hilton Head, South Carolina, May 28, arriving there June 3. Attached to U.S. forces at St. Helena Island, South Carolina, X Corps, Department of the South, to July 1863. 3d Brigade, 1st Division, Morris Island, South Carolina, X Corps, July 1863. 3d Brigade, Morris Island, to August 1863. 4th Brigade, Morris Island, to November 1863. 3d Brigade, Morris Island, to January 1864. Montgomery’s Brigade, District of Hilton Head, to February 1864. Montgomery’s Brigade, District of Florida, February 1864. 3d Brigade, Ames’s Division, District of Florida, to April 1864. Folly and Morris Islands, Northern District, Department of the South, to October 1864. 1st Separate Brigade, Department of the South, to November 1864. 2d Brigade, Coast Division, Department of the South, to February 1865. 1st Separate Brigade, Northern District, Department of the South, to March 1865. 1st Separate Brigade, District of Charleston, South Carolina, Department of the South, to June 1865. 3d Subdistrict, District of Charleston, Department of South Carolina, to August 1865.

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Engagements and Campaigns At Thompson’s Plantation near Beaufort, South Carolina, June 4–8, 1863. Moved to St. Simon’s Island, June 8–9. Expedition up Altamaha River, June 10–11. At St. Simon’s Island, June 12–24. At St. Helena Island, June 25–July 8. To Stono Inlet, July 8. Expedition against James Island, July 9–16. Affair Legaresville, July 13. Secessionville, July 16. Moved to Morris Island, July 16–18. Assault on Fort Wagner, July 18. Siege operations against Forts Wagner and Gregg, Morris Island, July 18–September 7, and against Fort Sumter and Charleston, September 7, 1863–January 28, 1864. Capture of Forts Wagner and Gregg, September 7, 1863. Moved to Hilton Head, January 28, 1864. Expedition to Jacksonville, Florida, February 5–7. Capture of Jacksonville, February 6. Expedition to Lake City, Florida, February 7–22. Battle of Olustee, February 20. Duty at Jacksonville, to April 17. Moved to Morris Island, April 17–18. Duty on Morris and Folly Islands, to November 1864. Expedition to James Island, June 30–July 10. Actions on James Island, July 2 and 9–10. Six companies in charge of rebel prisoners under fire of Charleston Batteries, September 7–October 20. Eight companies moved to Hilton Head, November 27. (Companies B and F at Morris Island until February 1865.) Expedition to Boyd’s Neck, South Carolina, November 29–30. Boyd’s Landing, November 29. Battle of Honey Hill, November 30. Demonstration on Charleston Camp, Savannah Railroad, December 6–9. Moved to Graham’s Neck, December 20. Connect with Gen. William T. Sherman’s army at Pocotaligo, South Carolina, January 15, 1865. March to Charleston, January 15–February 23, skirmishing all the way. (Companies B and F occupy Charleston, February 18.) Regiment on duty at Charleston, February 27–March 12. At Savannah, Georgia, March 13–27. At Georgetown, South Carolina, March 31–April 5. Potter’s Expedition to Camden, April 5–25. Seven Mile Bridge, April 6. Destruction of Eppes’ Bridge, Black River, April 7. Dingle’s Mills, April 9. Destruction of Rolling Stock at Wateree Junction, April 11. Singleton’s Plantation, April 12. Statesburg, April 15. Occupation of Camden, April 17. Boykin’s Mills, April 18. At Georgetown, April 25. Duty at Georgetown, Charleston, and various points in South Carolina, April 25–August 17.

Mustered out at Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, August 20, 1865. 55th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised March 11, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from 1st Alabama Infantry (African Descent) Date Disbanded December 31, 1865 Place Disbanded Louisiana Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 1st Colored Brigade, District of Memphis, Tennessee, XVI Corps, to April 1864. Fort Pickering, Memphis, District of West Tennessee, to June 1864. 3d Brigade, Infantry Division, Sturgis’s Expedition, to June 1864. 1st Colored Brigade, District of Memphis, District of West Tennessee, to January 1865. 2d Brigade, post and defenses of Memphis, to February 1865. 2d Brigade, United States Colored Troops, District of Morganza, Louisiana, Department of the Gulf, to April 1865. District of Port Hudson, Louisiana, Department of the Gulf, to December 1865. Engagements and Campaigns Post and garrison duty at Memphis, to June 1, 1864. Sturgis’s Expedition from Memphis into Mississippi, June 1–13. Battle of Brice’s Cross Roads near Guntown, June 10. Ripley, June 11. Davis’ Mills, June 12. Duty at Memphis, to August 1. Smith’s Expedition to Oxford, Mississippi, August 1–30. Action at Waterford, August 16–17. Garrison duty at Memphis, to February 1865. Ordered to New Orleans, Louisiana, February 23; then to Morganza, February 28, and duty there until April. Garrison duty at Port Hudson, Baton Rouge, and other points in Louisiana until December 1865. 55th Regiment, Massachusetts Infantry (Colored) Date Raised June 22, 1863

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Muster Point(s) Readville, Massachusetts Date Disbanded September 23, 1865 Place Disbanded Boston, Massachusetts Total Casualties Regiment lost 3 officers and 64 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 2 officers and 128 enlisted men to disease. Total: 197. Movement Orders and Attachments Left for Newberne, North Carolina, July 21, 1863, arriving there July 25. Moved to Folly Island, South Carolina, July 30–August 3. Attached to Wild’s African Brigade, Vogde’s Division, North End, Folly Island, X Corps, Department of the South, to October 1863. 3d Brigade, Vogde’s Division, Folly Island, X Corps, to February 1864. 3d Brigade, Ames’s Division, District of Florida, to April 1864. Folly and Morris Islands, Northern District, Department of the South, to November 1864. 2d Brigade, Coast Division, Department of the South, to January 1865. 1st Separate Brigade, Department of the South, to March 1865. 1st Separate Brigade, District of Charleston, Department of the South, to June 1865. District of Charleston, Department of South Carolina, to August 1865. Engagements and Campaigns Fatigue duty on north end of Folly Island and in trenches on Morris Island, August 9–September 5, 1863. Fatigue duty on Forts Wagner and Gregg, Morris Island, and operations against Fort Sumter and Charleston, September 17–October 28. Camp on Folly Island, to February 1864. Expedition to John’s Island, February (Company F). Moved to Jacksonville, Florida, February 13–16, and provost duty there until March 11. Advance to Baldwin, February 19–20. (Company F detached as garrison at Fort Fribley, Jacksonville, February–April.) Companies B and I at Yellow Bluff, February 28–April 17. Regiment ordered to Palatka, Florida, March 11, and duty there until April 17. Moved to Folly Island, April 17–18. Duty there until November 27. Demonstration on James Island, May 21–22. Expedition to James Island, June 30–July 10. Action on James Island, July 2. Moved to Hilton Head, South Carolina, November 27–28. (Company G detached at battery on Long Island, and Company

H at Fort Delafield, Stono Inlet, to February 12, 1865.) Hatch’s Expedition up Broad River to Boyd’s Neck, November 29–30. Battle of Honey Hill, November 30. Demonstration on Charleston Camp, Savannah Railroad, December 6–9. Devaux’s Neck, December 6. At Boyd’s Landing, to January 11, 1865. Moved to Hilton Head, then to Fort Thunderbolt, near Savannah, Georgia, January 11–13. Duty at Forts Jackson, Bartow, and Battery Lee, to February 1. Moved to Hilton Head, then to Beaufort, South Carolina, February 1. Expedition up South Edisto River, February 1–6. Moved to Stono Inlet, February 6. Expedition to James Island, February 9–10. Expedition to Bull’s Bay, February 11–15. Moved to Mount Pleasant, February 19–20. Expedition to Santee River, February 21–March 10. Duty at and near Charleston, to May 7. Expedition to Eutaw Springs, April 6–12. Moved to Sumpterville, May 7–8; then to Orangeburg, May 19, and provost duty there until August. Mustered out August 29, 1865. 56th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised March 11, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from 3d Alabama Infantry (African Descent) Date Disbanded September 15, 1866 Place Disbanded Arkansas Total Casualties Regiment lost 4 officers and 21 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 2 officers and 647 enlisted men to disease. Total: 674. Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to District of Eastern Arkansas, VII Corps, Department of Arkansas, to August 1865. Department of Arkansas, to September 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Post and garrison duty at Helena, Arkansas, to February 1865. Action at Indian Bay, April 13, 1864. Muffleton Lodge, June 29. Operations in Arkansas, July 1–31. Wallace’s Ferry, Big Creek, July 26.

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Expedition from Helena up White River, August 29–September 3. Expedition from Helena to Friar’s Point, Mississippi, February 19–22, 1865. Duty at Helena and other points in Arkansas until September 1866.

Engagements and Campaigns Post and garrison duty at Natchez and in Department of Mississippi for entire term. Expedition from Natchez to Gillespie’s Plantation, Louisiana, August 4–6, 1864.

Date Raised March 11, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from 4th Arkansas Infantry (African Descent)

59th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Date Disbanded December 31, 1866

Date Raised March 11, 1864

Place Disbanded Department of Arkansas Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to District of Eastern Arkansas, VII Corps, Department of Arkansas, to May 1864. 1st Brigade, 2d Division, VII Corps, to January 1865. Colored Brigade, VII Corps, to February 1865. 2d Brigade, 1st Division, VII Corps, to August 1865. Department of Arkansas, to December 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Garrison duty at Helena and Little Rock, Arkansas, to August 1864. (A detachment on Steele’s Camden Expedition, March 23–May 3, 1864, as bridge train guard.) Skirmish near Little Rock, April 26, 1864. Operations against Shelby, north of Arkansas River, May 13–31. Skirmishes near Little Rock, May 24 and 28. March to Brownsville, Arkansas, August 23, and to Duvall’s Bluff, August 29. Duty there and at Little Rock until June 1865; then at various points in Department of Arkansas guarding property and on post duty until December 1866.

Date Raised March 11, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from 6th Mississippi Infantry (African Descent)

Place Disbanded Department of Mississippi Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to post of Natchez, Mississippi, District of Vicksburg, to April 1866.

57th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

58th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Date Disbanded April 30, 1866

Muster Point(s) Organized from 1st Tennessee Infantry (African Descent) Date Disbanded January 31, 1866 Place Disbanded District of West Tennessee Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 1st Colored Brigade, District of Memphis, Tennessee, Department of Tennessee, to June 1864. 3d Brigade, Infantry Division, Sturgis’s Expedition, to June 1864. 1st Colored Brigade, District of Memphis, District of West Tennessee, to February 1865. Fort Pickering, Memphis, District of West Tennessee, to July 1865. 2d Brigade, District of West Tennessee, to September 1865. Department of Tennessee, to January 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Post and garrison duty at Memphis, Tennessee, to June 1864. Sturgis’s Expedition from Memphis into Mississippi, June 1–13. Battle of Brice’s Cross Roads, Guntown, June 10. Ripley, June 11. Davis’ Mill, June 12. Smith’s Expedition to Tupelo, Mississippi, July 5–21. Near Ripley, July 7. Pontotoc, July 11–12. Camargo’s Cross Roads, Harrisburg, July 13. Tupelo, July 14–15. Old Town Creek, July 15. Post and garrison duty at Memphis and in District of West Tennessee, to January 1866.

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Repulse of Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest’s attack on Memphis, August 21, 1864.

Place Disbanded District of Alabama

60th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Total Casualties Regiment lost 1 officer and 37 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 2 officers and 316 enlisted men to disease. Total: 356.

Date Raised March 11, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from 1st Iowa Colored Infantry Date Disbanded October 15, 1865 Place Disbanded Duvall’s Bluff, Arkansas Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to District of Eastern Arkansas, VII Corps, Department of Arkansas, to April 1865. 2d Brigade, 1st Division, VII Corps, to August 1865. Department of Arkansas, to October 1865. Engagements and Campaigns Post and garrison duty at Helena, Arkansas, to April 1865. Expedition from Helena to Big Creek, July 25, 1864. Action at Wallace’s Ferry, Big Creek, July 26. Expedition to Kent’s Landing, August 11–13. Expedition up White River, August 29–September 3 (Companies C and F). Scout to Alligator Bayou, September 9–14 (detachment). Scouts to Alligator Bayou, September 22–28 and October 1–4. Expedition to Harbert’s Plantation, Mississippi, January 11–16, 1865 (Company C). Moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, April 8, 1865, and duty there until August 20. Moved to Duvall’s Bluff, then to Jacksonport, Arkansas. Duty there and at various points in Subdistrict of White River in White, Augusta, Franklin, and Fulton Counties; Powhatan on Black River; and Batesville, to September. 61st Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised March 11, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from 2d Tennessee Infantry (African Descent) Date Disbanded December 30, 1865

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to District of Memphis, Tennessee, XVI Corps, Department of Tennessee, to June 1864. 1st Colored Brigade, Memphis, Tennessee, District of West Tennessee, to February 1865. 1st Brigade, United States Colored Troops, District of Morganza, Department of the Gulf, to April 1865. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, District of West Florida, to June 1865. Department of Alabama, to December 1865. Engagements and Campaigns Post and garrison duty at Memphis, to July 1864. Smith’s Expedition to Tupelo, Mississippi, July 5–21. Camargo’s Cross Roads, July 13. Tupelo, July 14–15. Old Town Creek, July 15. Smith’s Expedition to Oxford, Mississippi, August 1–30. Repulse of Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest’s attack on Memphis, August 21. Near Memphis, August 24. Eastport, October 10. Moscow Station, December 2–3. Duty at Memphis, to February 1865. Ordered to New Orleans, Louisiana, February 23; then to Morganza, Louisiana. Ordered to Barrancas, Florida, March 17. Ordered to Blakely, Alabama, April 15. Duty there and in District of Alabama until December. 62d Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised March 11, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from 1st Missouri Colored Infantry Date Disbanded March 31, 1866 Place Disbanded St. Louis, Missouri Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to District of St. Louis, Department of Missouri, to March 1864. District of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Department of the Gulf, to June 1864. Provisional Brigade, District of Morganza,

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Department of the Gulf, to September 1864. 2d Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, District of Morganza, Department of the Gulf, to September 1864. Port Hudson, Louisiana, Department of the Gulf, to September 1864. Brazos Santiago, Texas, to October 1864. 1st Brigade, 2d Division, United States Colored Troops, Department of the Gulf, to December 1864. Brazos Santiago, to June 1865. Department of Texas, to March 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Ordered to Baton Rouge, March 23, 1864, and duty there until June. Ordered to Morganza, and duty there until September. Expedition from Morganza to Bayou Sara, September 6–7. Ordered to Brazos Santiago, September, and duty there until May 1865. Expedition from Brazos Santiago, May 11–14. Action at Palmetto Ranch, May 12–13. White’s Ranch, May 13. Last action of war. Duty at various points in Texas until March 1866. Ordered to St. Louis via New Orleans, Louisiana. 63d Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised March 11, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from 9th Louisiana Infantry (African Descent) Date Disbanded January 9, 1866 Place Disbanded Memphis, Tennessee Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to post of Natchez, Mississippi, District of Vicksburg, Mississippi, to February 1865. Subdistrict of Vidalia, District of Natchez, Department of Mississippi, to January 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Post and garrison duty at Natchez, to February 1865. Skirmish at Waterproof, Louisiana, April 20, 1864. Ashwood, Mississippi, June 25. Camp Marengo, September 4. Bullitt’s Bayou, September 14 (Companies B and G). Post and garrison duty at Vidalia and Bullitt’s Bayou, to January 1866. (A detachment at Helena, Arkansas, District of Eastern

Arkansas, Department of Arkansas, to February 1865. Companies B and K at Memphis, February 1865.) 64th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised March 11, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from 7th Louisiana Infantry (African Descent) Date Disbanded March 13, 1866 Place Disbanded Department of Mississippi Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 1st Division, Unassigned, United States Colored Troops, District of Vicksburg, Mississippi, to May 1864. District of Natchez, Mississippi, District of Vicksburg, to September 1864. Davis’ Bend, Mississippi, District of Vicksburg, to December 1864. Unattached, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, District of Vicksburg, to February 1865. Post of Vicksburg and Department of Mississippi, to March 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Post and garrison duty at Vicksburg, Mississippi, to May 1864. Actions at Ashwood Landing, Louisiana, May 1 and 4. Post and garrison duty at Davis’ Bend and Natchez, Mississippi, to February 1865. Action at Davis’ Bend, June 2, 1864. Point Pleasant, June 25. Davis’ Bend, June 29. (Pine Bluff, Arkansas, July 2, 1864; Helena, Arkansas, August 2, 1864, as a detachment.) Duty at Vicksburg, to April 1865. At Davis’ Bend and in Department of Mississippi until March 1866. 65th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised March 11, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from 2d Missouri Colored Infantry Date Disbanded January 8, 1867

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Place Disbanded Northern District of Louisiana Total Casualties Regiment lost 6 officers and 749 enlisted men to disease. Total: 755. Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to Department of Missouri, to June 1864. Provisional Brigade, District of Morganza, Louisiana, Department of the Gulf, to September 1864. 2d Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, District of Morganza, Department of the Gulf, to February 1865. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, District of Morganza, Department of the Gulf, to May 1865. Northern District of Louisiana and Department of the Gulf, to January 1867. Engagements and Campaigns Garrison duty at Morganza, Louisiana, to May 1865. Ordered to Port Hudson, Louisiana. Garrison duty there and at Baton Rouge and in Northern District of Louisiana until January 1867. 66th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised March 11, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from 4th Mississippi Infantry (African Descent) Date Disbanded March 20, 1866 Place Disbanded Department of Mississippi Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to post of Goodrich Landing, District of Vicksburg, Mississippi, Departments of the Tennessee and Mississippi, to February 1865. Little Rock, Arkansas, Unattached, 2d Division, VII Corps, Department of Arkansas, to February 1865. Unattached, District of Vicksburg and Department of Mississippi, to March 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Post and garrison duty at Goodrich Landing and at Lake Providence, Louisiana, to February 1865.

Actions at Issaquena County, March 22, 1864. Goodrich Landing, March 24. Bayou Mason, July 2. Issaquena County, July 10. Goodrich Landing, July 16. Bayou Tensas, July 30. Issaquena County, August 17. Bayou Tensas, August 26. Post and garrison duty at Little Rock, to March 1865, and at Vicksburg, Mississippi, and in Department of Mississippi until March 1866. 67th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised March 11, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from 3d Missouri Colored Infantry Date Disbanded July 12, 1865 Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to Department of Missouri, to March 1864. District of Port Hudson, Louisiana, Department of the Gulf, to June 1864. Provisional Brigade, District of Morganza, Department of the Gulf, to September 1864. 2d Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, District of Morganza, Department of the Gulf, to February 1865. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, District of Morganza, Department of the Gulf, to May 1865. Northern District of Louisiana, Department of the Gulf, to July 1865. Engagements and Campaigns Moved from Benton Barracks, Missouri, to Port Hudson, Louisiana, arriving March 19, 1864, and duty there until June. Moved to Morganza, Louisiana, and duty there until June 1865. Action at Mt. Pleasant Landing, Louisiana, May 15, 1864 (detachment). Expedition from Morganza to Bayou Sara, September 6–7, 1864. Moved to Port Hudson, June 1, 1865. Consolidated with 65th Regiment, United States Colored Troops, July 12, 1865. 68th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised March 11, 1864

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Muster Point(s) Organized from 4th Missouri Colored Infantry

Movement Orders and Attachments On duty at these points in Department of Arkansas and District of West Tennessee until September 1865.

Date Disbanded February 5, 1866 Place Disbanded Texas

70th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to District of Memphis, Tennessee, XVI Corps, Department of the Tennessee, to June 1864. 1st Colored Brigade, Memphis, Tennessee, District of West Tennessee, to December 1864. Fort Pickering, defenses of Memphis, District of West Tennessee, to February 1865. 3d Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, Military Division of West Mississippi, to May 1865. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, District of West Florida, to June 1865. Department of Texas, to February 1866. Engagements and Campaigns At St. Louis, Missouri, to April 27, 1864. Ordered to Memphis and duty in defenses of that city until February 1865. Smith’s Expedition to Tupelo, Mississippi, July 5–21, 1864. Camargo’s Cross Roads, near Harrisburg, July 13. Tupelo, July 14–15. Old Town Creek, July 15. At Fort Pickering, defenses of Memphis, to February 1865. Ordered to New Orleans, Louisiana, then to Barrancas, Florida. March from Pensacola, Florida, to Blakely, Alabama, March 20–April 1. Siege of Fort Blakely, April 1–9. Assault and capture of Fort Blakely, April 9. Occupation of Mobile, April 12. March to Montgomery, April 13–25. Duty there and at Mobile until June. Moved to New Orleans, then to Texas. Duty on Rio Grande and at various points in Texas until February 1866. 69th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised December 14, 1864–March 17, 1865 Muster Point(s) Pine Bluff, Duvall’s Bluff, and Helena, Arkansas; Memphis, Tennessee Date Disbanded September 20, 1865

Date Raised April 23–October 1, 1864 Muster Point(s) Natchez, Mississippi Date Disbanded March 7, 1866 Place Disbanded Department of Mississippi Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to District of Natchez, Mississippi, and District of Vicksburg, Mississippi, Departments of the Tennessee and Mississippi, to March 1867. Engagements and Campaigns Post and garrison duty at Natchez, to April 1865, and at Rodney and other points in Department of Mississippi until March 1866. 71st Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised March 3–August 13, 1864 Muster Point(s) Black River Bridge and Natchez, Mississippi; Alexandria, Louisiana Date Disbanded November 8, 1864 Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to District of Natchez, Mississippi, District of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Consolidated with 70th Regiment, United States Colored Troops, November 8, 1864. Engagements and Campaigns Post and garrison duty at Natchez, to November 1864. Expedition from Natchez to Buck’s Ferry and skirmishes, September 19–22.

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February 26; then to Barrancas, Florida. March from Pensacola, Florida, to Blakely, Alabama, March 20–April 1. Siege of Fort Blakely, April 1–9. Assault and capture of Fort Blakely, April 9. Occupation of Mobile, April 12. March to Montgomery, April 13–25. Detached as guard to transports, April 28, and return to Mobile. Duty there until June. Moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, June 10; then to Greenville, Louisiana. Duty there and in Department of the Gulf until September.

72d Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised April 18, 1865 Muster Point(s) Covington, Kentucky Date Disbanded May 3, 1865 Place Disbanded Covington

74th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

73d Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Date Raised April 4, 1864

Date Raised April 4, 1864

Muster Point(s) Organized from II Corps d’Afrique Infantry

Muster Point(s) Organized from I Corps d’Afrique Infantry

Date Disbanded October 11, 1865

Date Disbanded September 27, 1865 Place Disbanded Department of the Gulf Total Casualties Regiment lost 4 officers and 42 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 1 officer and 173 enlisted men to disease. Total: 220. Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 1st Brigade, 1st Division, Corps d’Afrique, Department of the Gulf, to March 1865. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, District of West Florida, to May 1865. 3d Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, District of West Florida, to June 1865. Department of the Gulf, to September 1865. Consolidated with 96th Regiment, United States Colored Troops, September 27, 1865. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Port Hudson, Louisiana, to March 1864. Red River Campaign, March 10–May 22. Advance from Franklin to Alexandria, March 14–26. Retreat from Alexandria to Morganza, May 13–20. Mansura, May 16. Near Moreauville and Yellow Bayou, May 17. Yellow Bayou, May 18. Near Morganza, May 24. Duty at Port Hudson until July, and at Morganza until February 1865. Moved to Algiers, Louisiana,

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to defenses of New Orleans, Department of the Gulf, to October 1864. 3d Brigade, 3d Division, United States Colored Troops, Department of the Gulf, to November 1864. Defenses of New Orleans, Department of the Gulf, to October 1864. Garrison duty at Ship Island, Mississippi, for entire term. Expedition from Fort Pike to Pearl River, September 9–12, 1864. Expedition from Fort Pike to Bayou Bonforica, January 31–February 1, 1865 (detachment). Expedition from Fort Pike to Bayou St. Louis, March 28–30 (detachment). 75th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised April 4, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from III Corps d’Afrique Infantry Date Disbanded November 25, 1865 Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 1st Brigade, 1st Division, Corps d’Afrique, Department of the Gulf, to February 1865. District of LaFourche, Department of the Gulf, to November 1865.

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Engagements and Campaigns Red River Campaign, March 10–May 22, 1864. Advance from Franklin to Alexandria, Louisiana, March 14–26. Retreat from Alexandria to Morganza, May 13–20. Mansura, May 16. Near Moreauville, May 17. Yellow Bayou, May 18. Duty at Morganza until February 1865. Ordered to Terre Bonne, February 26. Duty there and in District of LaFourche until November 1865. Expedition to Lake Verret, Grand Lake, and the Park, April 2–10, 1865. Operations around Brashear City, April 30–May 12.

77th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised April 4, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from V Corps d’Afrique Infantry Date Disbanded October 18, 1865 Place Disbanded Louisiana Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to defenses of New Orleans, Louisiana, Department of the Gulf, to October 1864. 3d Brigade, 3d Division, United States Colored Troops, Department of the Gulf, to November 1864. Defenses of New Orleans, Department of the Gulf, to October 1865. Consolidated with 10th Regiment, United States Colored Heavy Artillery, October 18, 1865.

76th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised April 4, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from IV Corps d’Afrique Infantry Date Disbanded December 31, 1865

Engagements and Campaigns Duty in defenses of New Orleans at Fort St. Phillip, Jefferson City, and other points until October 1865.

Place Disbanded Texas Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 2d Brigade, 1st Division, Corps d’Afrique, Department of the Gulf, to July 1864. Post of Port Hudson, Louisiana, Department of the Gulf, to October 1864. 1st Brigade, 2d Division, United States Colored Troops, Department of the Gulf, to February 1865. 3d Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, District of West Florida, to May 1865. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, District of West Florida, Department of the Gulf, to June 1865. Department of the Gulf, to December 1865. Engagements and Campaigns Garrison duty at Port Hudson, to February 1865. Ordered to Algiers, Louisiana, February 21; then to Barrancas, Florida. March from Pensacola, Florida, to Blakely, Alabama, March 20–April 1. Siege of Fort Blakely, April 1–9. Assault and capture of Fort Blakely, April 9. Occupation of Mobile, April 12. March to Montgomery, April 13–25. Duty there and at various points in Alabama until June 1865. Ordered to New Orleans, Louisiana, then to Texas and duty on Rio Grande until December.

78th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised April 4, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from VI Corps d’Afrique Infantry Date Disbanded January 6, 1866 Place Disbanded Department of the Gulf Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 2d Brigade, 2d Division, Corps d’Afrique, Department of the Gulf, to July 1864. Post of Port Hudson, Louisiana, Department of the Gulf, to October 1864. 2d Brigade, 2d Division, United States Colored Troops, Department of the Gulf, to October 1864. Post of Port Hudson, Department of the Gulf, to April 1865. District of LaFourche, Department of the Gulf, to January 1866.

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Engagements and Campaigns Post and garrison duty at Port Hudson, until April 1865; and at Donaldsonville, Thibodeaux, and other points in District of LaFourche, Department of the Gulf, to January 1866. 79th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry (old organization) Date Raised April 4, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from VII Corps d’Afrique Infantry

Corps, Department of Arkansas, to January 1865. Colored Brigade, VII Corps, to February 1865. 2d Brigade, 1st Division, VII Corps, to August 1865. Department of Arkansas, to October 1865. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Fort Smith, Arkansas, until January 1865. Skirmish at Ivey’s Ford, January 8. Ordered to Little Rock, Arkansas, January 16. Skirmish at Clarksville, Arkansas, January 18. Duty at Little Rock until July, and at Pine Bluff until October. 80th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Date Disbanded July 28, 1864

Date Raised September 1, 1863

Place Disbanded New Orleans, Louisiana

Muster Point(s) Port Hudson, Louisiana

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 2d Brigade, 1st Division, Corps d’Afrique, Department of the Gulf, to June 1864. 2d Brigade, 2d Division, Corps d’Afrique, Department of the Gulf, to July 1864. Transferred to 75th Regiment, United States Colored Troops, July 28, 1864. Engagements and Campaigns Post and garrison duty at Port Hudson, Louisiana, until April 17, 1864, and at Fort Pike and Fort Macomb, defences of New Orleans, until July 1864.

Date Disbanded April 4, 1864 Place Disbanded Port Hudson Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to Ullman’s Brigade, Corps d’Afrique, Department of the Gulf, to December 1863. 2d Brigade, 1st Division, Corps d’Afrique, to March 1864. Garrison, Port Hudson, to April 1864. Engagements and Campaigns Garrison duty at Port Hudson until April 1864. Designation of regiment changed to 80th United States Colored Troops, April 4, 1864.

79th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry (new organization) Date Raised December 13, 1864

81st Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Muster Point(s) Organized from 1st Kansas Colored Infantry

Date Raised April 4, 1864

Date Disbanded October 30, 1865

Muster Point(s) Organized from IX Corps d’Afrique Infantry

Place Disbanded Pine Bluff, Arkansas Total Casualties Regiment lost 5 officers and 183 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 1 officer and 165 enlisted men to disease. Total: 354. Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 2d Brigade, District of the Frontier, VII

Date Disbanded January 30, 1866 Place Disbanded Department of the Gulf Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 2d Brigade, 1st Division, Corps

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d’Afrique, Department of the Gulf, to July 1864. Consolidated with 88th and 89th Regiments, United States Colored Troops, July 6, 1864, to form 77th United States Colored Troops. Reorganized July 1864, by consolidation of 87th and 95th United States Colored Troops. Attached to Engineer Brigade, Department of the Gulf, to September 1864. 2d Brigade, 2d Division, United States Colored Troops, Department of the Gulf, to February 1865. Garrison of Port Hudson, Louisiana, Department of the Gulf, to July 1865. Department of the Gulf, to January 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Post and garrison duty at Port Hudson and in Department of the Gulf for entire term. 82d Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised April 4, 1864

83d Regiment, United States Colored Infantry (old organization)

Muster Point(s) Organized from X Corps d’Afrique Infantry

Date Raised April 4, 1864

Date Disbanded September 10, 1866

Muster Point(s) Organized from XI Corps d’Afrique Infantry

Place Disbanded District of Florida Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 2d Brigade, 1st Division, Corps d’Afrique, Department of the Gulf, to July 1864. Consolidated with 80th Regiment, United States Colored Troops, July 6, 1864, to form new 79th Regiment, United States Colored Troops. Reorganized July 1864, by consolidation of 97th and 99th Regiments, United States Colored Troops. Attached to Pensacola, Florida, District of West Florida, Department of the Gulf, to October 1864. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, United States Colored Troops, Department of the Gulf, to October 1864. 1st Brigade, District of West Florida, to January 1865. 3d Brigade, District of West Florida, to March 1865. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, District of West Florida, to May 1865. Pensacola, District of West Florida and Department of Florida, to muster out. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Port Hudson, Louisiana, until April 17, 1864. Moved to Fort Barrancas, Florida, and duty

there until March 1865. Expedition toward Pollard, Alabama, July 21–25, 1864. Camp Gonzales, Florida, July 22. Near Pollard, July 23. Expedition from Fort Barrancas, August 15–19. Expedition to Marianna, September 18–October 4. Euchee Anna Court House, September 23. Marianna, September 27. Expedition up Blackwater Bay, October 25–28. Near Milton, October 26. Expedition to Pollard, December 13–19. Mitchell’s Creek, December 15–16. Pine Barren Ford, December 17–18. March from Pensacola to Blakely, Alabama, March 20–April 1, 1865. Siege of Fort Blakely, April 1–9. Assault and capture of Fort Blakely, April 9. Occupation of Mobile, April 12. March to Montgomery, April 13–25. Duty there until May. Moved to Mobile, then to Barrancas, May 23. Expedition to Appalachicola, May 31–June 6. Duty at Appalachicola and in District of Florida until September 1866.

Date Disbanded July 28, 1864 Place Disbanded Department of the Gulf Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 1st Brigade, 1st Division, Corps d’Afrique, Department of the Gulf, to July 1864. Garrison duty at Port Hudson, Louisiana. 83d Regiment, United States Colored Infantry (new organization) Date Raised December 13, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from 2d Kansas Colored Infantry Date Disbanded November 27, 1865 Place Disbanded Leavenworth, Kansas

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Total Casualties Regiment lost 2 officers and 32 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 211 enlisted men to disease. Total: 245. Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 2d Brigade, District of the Frontier, VII Corps, Department of Arkansas, to January 1865. Colored Brigade, VII Corps, Department of Arkansas, to February 1865. 2d Brigade, 1st Division, VII Corps, Department of Arkansas, to August 1865. Department of Arkansas, to October 1865. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Fort Smith, Arkansas, until January 1865. Moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, January 15–February 4, and duty there until August. Moved to Camden, Arkansas, August 1–10, and duty there until October 9. Mustered out October 9, 1865.

85th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised April 4, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from XIII Corps d’Afrique Infantry Date Disbanded May 24, 1864 Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to a Provisional Brigade, XIII Corps, Texas, Department of the Gulf, to May 1864. Mustered out by consolidation with 77th Regiment, United States Colored Troops. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Brownsville and other points in Texas until May 1864.

84th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

86th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Date Raised April 4, 1864

Date Raised April 4, 1864

Muster Point(s) Organized from XII Corps d’Afrique Infantry

Muster Point(s) Organized from XIV Corps d’Afrique Infantry

Date Disbanded March 14, 1866

Date Disbanded April 10, 1866

Place Disbanded Department of the Gulf

Place Disbanded Department of Florida

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 1st Brigade, 1st Division, Corps d’Afrique, Department of the Gulf, to February 1865. 2d Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, Department of the Gulf, to May 1865. Northern District of Louisiana, Department of the Gulf, to March 1866.

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to District of West Florida, Department of the Gulf, to October 1864. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, United States Colored Troops, Department of the Gulf, to November 1864. 1st Brigade, District of West Florida, to January 1865. 3d Brigade, District of West Florida, to January 1865. 3d Brigade, District of West Florida, to March 1865. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, Steele’s Command, to May 1865. District of West Florida, to July 1865. Department of Florida, to April 1866.

Engagements and Campaigns Red River Campaign, March 10–May 22, 1865. Advance from Franklin to Alexandria, March 14–26. Retreat from Alexandria to Morganza, May 13–20. Mansura, May 16. Near Moreauville, May 17. Yellow Bayou, May 18. Duty at Morganza until May 1865. Action near Morganza, November 23, 1864. Duty in Northern District of Louisiana and Department of the Gulf, to March 1866.

Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Barrancas, Florida, until March 1865. March from Pensacola, Florida, to Blakely, Alabama, March 20–April 1. Siege of Fort Blakely, April 1–9.

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Assault and capture of Fort Blakely, April 9. Occupation of Mobile, April 12. March to Montgomery, April 13–25. Duty there and at Mobile until May 19. Garrison at Fort Morgan, May 19–July. Duty at Pensacola and other points in Department of Florida until April 1866.

Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Brazos Santiago and other points in Texas until August 1865. 88th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry (old organization) Date Raised April 4, 1864

87th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry (old organization)

Muster Point(s) Organized from XVII Corps d’Afrique Infantry

Date Raised April 4, 1864

Date Disbanded July 28, 1864

Muster Point(s) Organized from XVI Corps d’Afrique Infantry

Movement Orders and Attachments Duty at Port Hudson, Louisiana, until July 1864.

Date Disbanded July 6, 1864 Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 2d Division, XIII Corps, to June 1864. Colored Brigade, U.S. forces, Texas, to July 1864. Consolidated with 95th Regiment, United States Colored Troops, to form new 81st Regiment, United States Colored Troops. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Brazos Santiago, Point Isabel, and Brownsville, Texas, until July 1864. Consolidated with 95th United States Colored Troops, July 6, 1864, to form new 81st Regiment, United States Colored Troops. Redesignated 87th (new) Regiment, December 10, 1864. 87th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry (new organization)

88th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry (new organization) Date Raised February 20, 1865 Muster Point(s) Memphis, Tennessee Date Disbanded December 16, 1865 Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to post and defenses of Memphis, District of West Tennessee, to July 1865. 2d Infantry Brigade, District of West Tennessee, to September 1865. Department of Tennessee, to December 1865. Consolidated with 3d Regiment, United States Colored Heavy Artillery. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Memphis and in District of West Tennessee until December 1865.

Date Raised November 26, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized by consolidation of 87th (old) and 96th Regiments, United States Colored Troops

89th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Date Disbanded August 14, 1865

Date Raised April 4, 1864

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to U.S. forces, Texas, Department of the Gulf, to August 1865. Consolidated with 84th Regiment, United States Colored Troops, August 14, 1865.

Muster Point(s) Organized from XVIII Corps d’Afrique Infantry Date Disbanded July 28, 1864

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Place Disbanded Port Hudson, Louisiana

Place Disbanded Department of the Gulf

Movement Orders and Attachments Duty at Port Hudson, until July 1864.

Engagements and Campaigns Red River Campaign, March 10–May 22, 1864. Advance from Franklin to Alexandria, March 14–26. Retreat from Alexandria to Morganza, May 18–20. Mansura, May 16. Near Moreauville, May 17. Yellow Bayou, May 18. Duty at Morganza until June 1865. Operations near Morganza, September 16–25, 1864. Expedition from Morganza until June 1865. Operations near Morganza, September 16–25, 1864. Expedition from Morganza to Atchafalaya River, December 16–19, 1864. Duty in Northern District, Department of the Gulf, to December 1865.

90th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised April 4, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from XIX Corps d’Afrique Infantry Date Disbanded July 28, 1864 Place Disbanded Lakeport, Louisiana Movement Orders and Attachments Duty at Madisonville and Lakeport, Louisiana, until July 1864.

Date Disbanded June 23, 1865

Date Raised April 4, 1864

Place Disbanded Department of the Gulf

Muster Point(s) Organized from XX Corps d’Afrique Infantry Date Disbanded July 7, 1864 Movement Orders and Attachments Garrison duty at Fort Pike, defenses of New Orleans, Louisiana, until July 1864. Pearl River Expedition, April 1–10 (Companies C, D, E, and F). Consolidated with 74th Regiment, United States Colored Troops, July 1864.

Date Raised April 4, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from XXII Corps d’Afrique Infantry Date Disbanded December 31, 1865

Date Raised April 4, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from XXVI Corps d’Afrique Infantry

91st Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

92d Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

93d Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to District of LaFourche, Department of the Gulf, to October 1864. 2d Brigade, 3d Division, United States Colored Troops, Department of the Gulf, to November 1864. District of LaFourche, Department of the Gulf, to June 1865. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Brashear City until June 1864. At Brashear City and Berwick until June 1865. Expedition from Brashear City to Pattersonville, August 2, 1864. Expedition from Brashear City to Belle River, October 22–24, 1864 (detachment). Skirmish at Lake Fausse Point, November 18 (detachment). Skirmish at Lake Fausse Point, November 18 (detachment). Expedition from Brashear City to Lake Verret, February 10–11, 1865 (detachment). Expedition from Brashear City to Bayou Pigeon, March 20–22 (detachment). Bayou Teche, March 21 (detachment). Expedition from Brashear City to Indian Bend, March 15–27 (detachment).

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Brigade, Department of the Gulf, to October 1864. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, United States Colored Troops, Department of the Gulf, to November 1864. U.S. forces, Mobile Bay, Department of the Gulf, to December 1864. District of Southern Alabama, Department of the Gulf, to March 1865. Engineer Brigade, XIII Corps, Military Division of West Mississippi, to June 1865. Unassigned, Department of the Gulf, to January 1866.

Expedition from Brashear City to Oyster Bayou, March 25–28 (detachment). Expedition to Lake Verret, Grand Bayou, and the Park, April 2–10 (detachment). Operations around Brashear City, April 30–May 2. 94th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised Failed to complete organization 95th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised April 4, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from I Corps d’Afrique Engineers Date Disbanded November 26, 1864 Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to Engineers Brigade, XIII Corps, Department of the Gulf, to June 1864. Colored Brigade, U.S. forces, Texas, Department of the Gulf, to November 1864. Consolidated with 87th Regiment, United States Colored Troops. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Brazos Santiago, Point Isabel, Brownsville, Arkansas Pass, and other points in Texas until November 1864. 96th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised April 4, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from II Corps d’Afrique Engineers Date Disbanded January 29, 1866 Place Disbanded Department of the Gulf Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to Provisional Brigade, XIII Corps, Department of the Gulf, to June 1864. Engineer

Engagements and Campaigns Garrison at Fort Esperanza and engineer duty on Matagorda Peninsula, Texas, until May 1864. Ordered to New Orleans, Louisiana, May 27; then to Port Hudson, Louisiana, and duty there until July 27. Moved to New Orleans, then to Mobile Bay, Alabama. Siege operations against Fort Gaines and Morgan, August 2–23. Duty at Mobile Point until November. At East Pascagoula until February 1865. Campaign against Mobile and its defenses, February–April. Siege of Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely, March 17–April 9. Duty on fortifications at Mobile and at various points in Department of the Gulf until January 1866. 97th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised April 4, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from III Corps d’Afrique Engineers Date Disbanded April 6, 1866 Place Disbanded Department of the Gulf Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to Provisional Brigade, XIII Corps, Texas, Department of the Gulf, to February 1864. Engineer Brigade, Department of the Gulf, to October 1864. U.S. forces, Mobile Bay, Department of the Gulf, to November. 1st Brigade, District of West Florida, to February 1865. 3d Brigade, District of West Florida, to March 1865. Engineer Brigade, Military Division of West Mississippi, to June 1865. Unattached, Department of the Gulf, to April 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Red River Campaign, to May 22, 1864. Built bridge

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over Red River at Grand Ecore, April 12. Constructed rifle pits and abatis around Grand Ecore, April 13–19. Repaired road from Grand Ecore to Cane River, and crossing over Cane River, April 19–20. Lower Crossing of Cane River, April 22. At Alexandria, constructing works and dam, April 25–May 13. Retreat to Morganza, May 13–22. Marksville, May 16. Operations around Yellow Bayou, May 17–20. Fatigue duty at Morganza until June 20. Ordered to New Orleans, Louisiana, June 20. Duty in District of Carrollton until August. Moved to Mobile Bay, Alabama, August 20. Duty at Mobile Point and Dauphin Island until February 1865. In District of Florida until March 1865. Campaign against Mobile and its defenses, March 17–April 12. Siege of Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely, March 26–April 9. Duty in fortifications of Mobile and at various points in Department of the Gulf until April 1866. 98th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised April 4, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from IV Corps d’Afrique Engineers Date Disbanded August 26, 1865 Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to Engineer Brigade, Department of the Gulf, to July 1864. Defenses of New Orleans, Department of the Gulf, to October 1864. 2d Brigade, 3d Division, United States Colored Troops, Department of the Gulf, to November 1864. District of LaFourche, Department of the Gulf, to August 1865. Consolidated with 78th Regiment, United States Colored Troops. Engagements and Campaigns Stationed at Brashear City, Berwick City, and New Orleans until June 1864. In District of Carrollton until July 1864. At Greenville until September 1864. At Plaquemine until February 1865. At Brashear City and in District of LaFourche until August 1865.

99th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised April 4, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from V Corps d’Afrique Engineers Date Disbanded April 23, 1866 Place Disbanded Department of Florida Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to Engineer Brigade, Department of the Gulf, to October 1864. 2d Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, Department of the Gulf, to February 1865. District of Key West, Florida, to July 1865. Department of Florida, to April 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Red River Campaign, to May 22, 1864. Built bridges at Grand Ecore, April 12. Built fortifications at Grand Ecore, April 13–19. Repaired road and crossing over Cane River, April 19–20. Lower Crossing of Cane River, April 22. At Alexandria, constructing works and dam, April 25–May 13. Retreat to Morganza, May 18–22. Marksville, May 16. Operations around Yellow Bayou, May 17–20. Fatigue duty at Morganza until June 20. Ordered to New Orleans, June 20. Duty at New Orleans and Plaquemine, Louisiana, until December 1864. At Key West and Tortugas, Florida, and in Department of Florida until April 1866. Operations near St. Marks, Florida, February 21–March 7, 1865. Newport Bridge, March 5–6. Natural Bridge, March 6. 100th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised May 3–June 1, 1864 Muster Point(s) Kentucky Date Disbanded December 26, 1865

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Place Disbanded Nashville

Affairs at Scottsboro and Larkinsville, January 8, 1865.

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to defenses of Nashville & Northwestern Railroad, Department of the Cumberland, to December 1864. 2d Colored Brigade, District of the Etowah, Department of the Cumberland, to January 1865. Defenses of Nashville & Northwestern Railroad, Department of the Cumberland, to January 1865. Defenses of Nashville & Northwestern Railroad, Department of the Cumberland, to December 1865. Engagements and Campaigns Guard duty on Nashville & Northwestern Railroad in Tennessee until December 1864. Skirmish on Nashville & Northwestern Railroad, September 4. Action at Johnsonville, November 4–5. Battle of Nashville, Tennessee, December 15–16. Overton Hill, December 16. Pursuit of Gen. John Bell Hood to Tennessee River, December 17–28. Again assigned to guard duty on Nashville & Northwestern Railroad, January 16, 1865, and continued until December 1865. 101st Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised September 16, 1864 Muster Point(s) Tennessee Date Disbanded January 21, 1866 Place Disbanded Larkinsville, Alabama Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to defenses of Louisville & Nashville Railroad, Department of the Cumberland, to March 1865. Department of the Tennessee, to January 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Nashville, Tennessee, until October 1864; then guard of Louisville & Nashville Railroad, and duty in Tennessee and Alabama until mustered out.

102d Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised May 23, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from 1st Michigan Colored Infantry Date Disbanded September 30, 1865 Place Disbanded Charleston Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to District of Hilton Head, South Carolina, Department of the South, and District of Beaufort, South Carolina, Department of the South, to August 1864. District of Florida, Department of the South, to October 1864. 2d Separate Brigade, Department of the South, to November 1864. 2d Brigade, Coast Division, Department of the South, to February 1865. 2d Separate Brigade, Department of the South, to March 1865. 1st Separate Brigade and Department of the South, to September 1865. Engagements and Campaigns Garrison at Port Royal, South Carolina, until June 15. Moved to Beaufort, South Carolina, and garrison duty there until August 1. Moved to Jacksonville, Florida, August 1–3. Picket duty at Baldwin until August 15. Attack on Baldwin, August 11–12. Raid on Florida Central Railroad, August 15–19. At Magnolia until August 29. Moved to Beaufort, August 29–31, and duty there until January 1865. Engaged in outpost and picket duty at Port Royal, Lady’s Island, and Coosa Island. (A detachment at Honey Hill, November 30, 1864. Demonstration on Charleston & Savannah Railroad, December 6–9. Devaux’s Neck, Tillifinny River, December 6 and 9.) Detachment at Beaufort; rejoined other detachment at Devaux’s Neck, South Carolina, January 24, 1865. Moved to Pocotaligo, February 28. Advance on Charleston, February 7–23. Skirmish at Cuckwold Creek, February 8 (Companies B, E, and I). Duty at Charleston Neck

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until March 9. Moved to Savannah, Georgia, March 9–16. Moved to Georgetown, March 28–April 1. (Right wing of regiment, under Chapman, moved to Charleston, April 7–9, then march to join Potter at Nelson’s Ferry, April 11–18.) Potter’s Expedition from Georgetown to Camden, April 5–29. Statesburg, April 15. Occupation of Camden, April 17. Boykin’s Mills, April 18. Bradford Springs, April 18 (right wing). Dingle’s Mills, April 19. Singleton’s Plantation, April 19. Beech Creek, near Statesburg, April 19. Moved to Charleston, April 29, then to Summerville, May 7–8, to Branchville, May 18, to Orangeburg, May 25, and provost duty there until July 28. March to Winsboro, July 28–August 3, and duty there until September. 103d Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

guard duty at various points in South Carolina until February 1866. 105th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised Failed to complete organization 106th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised May 16, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from 4th Alabama Colored Infantry Date Disbanded November 7, 1865

Date Raised March 10, 1865

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to District of North Alabama, Department of the Cumberland, to February 1865. Defenses of Nashville & Northwestern Railroad, Department of the Cumberland, to November 1865. Consolidated with 40th Regiment, United States Colored Troops.

Muster Point(s) Hilton Head, South Carolina Date Disbanded April 15–20, 1866

Engagements and Campaigns Garrison at Pulaski and railroad guard duty for entire term. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest’s attack on Athens, Alabama, September 23–24, 1864.

Place Disbanded South Carolina Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to District of Savannah, Georgia, Department of the South, to June 1865. Department of the South, to April 1866.

107th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Engagements and Campaigns Garrison and guard duty at Savannah and various points in Georgia and South Carolina for entire term.

Date Raised May 3–September 15, 1864 Muster Point(s) Louisville, Kentucky

104th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Date Disbanded November 22, 1866

Date Raised April 28–June 25, 1865

Place Disbanded Department of the South

Muster Point(s) Beaufort, South Carolina Date Disbanded February 5, 1866 Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to Department of the South. Garrison and

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to Military District of Kentucky, Department of the Ohio, to October 1864. Provisional Brigade, 3d Division, XVIII Corps, Army of the James, to December 1864. 3d Brigade, 1st Division, XXV Corps, to December 1864. 3d Brigade, 3d

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Division, XXV Corps, to January 1865. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, XXV Corps, to March 1865. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, X Corps, Department of North Carolina, to August 1865. Department of North Carolina and Department of the South, to November 1866.

Island, Illinois, January–May 1865. Duty in Department of Mississippi until March 1866.

Engagements and Campaigns Duty in Kentucky until October 1864. Ordered to Baltimore, Maryland, then to City Point, Virginia, October 26. Siege of Petersburg, November 3– December 7. First expedition to Fort Fisher, North Carolina, December 7–27. Second expedition to Fort Fisher, January 7–15, 1865. Bombardment of Fort Fisher, January 13–15. Assault and capture of Fort Fisher, January 15. Sugar Loaf Hill, January 19. Federal Point, February 11. Fort Anderson, February 18–20. Capture of Wilmington, February 22. Northeast Ferry, February 22. Campaign of the Carolinas, March 1–April 26. March on Kinston and Goldsboro, March 6–21. Action at Cox’s Bridge, March 23–24. Advance on Raleigh, April 9–14. Occupation of Raleigh, April 14. Bennett’s House, April 26. Surrender of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston and his army. Duty at various points in North Carolina and in Department of the South until November 1866.

Date Raised July 5, 1864

108th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised June 20, 1864 Muster Point(s) Louisville, Kentucky Date Disbanded March 21, 1866 Place Disbanded Department of Mississippi Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 1st Brigade, 2d Division, District of Kentucky, 5th Division, XXIII Corps, Department of the Ohio, to January 1865. Military District of Kentucky, to May 1865. Department of Mississippi and Department of the Gulf, to March 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Garrison and guard duty at various points in Kentucky until January 1865. Action at Owensboro, Kentucky, October 22, 1864. Guard duty at Rock

109th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Muster Point(s) Louisville, Kentucky Date Disbanded March 21, 1866 Place Disbanded Texas Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 3d Brigade, 1st Division, District of Kentucky, 5th Division, XXIII Corps, Department of the Ohio, to October 1864. Martindale’s Provisional Brigade, XVIII Corps, Army of the James, to December 1864. 1st Brigade, 2d Division, XXV Corps and Department of Texas, to March 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Louisville and Louisa, Kentucky, until October 1864. Ordered to join Army of the Potomac before Petersburg and Richmond, Virginia. Duty at Deep Bottom and in trenches before Richmond, north of James River, until March 1865. Actions at Fort Harrison, December 10, 1864, and January 23, 1865. Moved to Hatcher’s Run, March 27–28. Appomattox Campaign, March 28–April 9. Boydton Road, Hatcher’s Run, March 29–31. Fall of Petersburg, April 2. Pursuit of Gen. Robert E. Lee, April 3–9. Appomattox Court House, April 9. Surrender of Lee and his army. Duty at Petersburg and City Point until May. Embarked for Texas, May 25, arriving at Indianola, Texas, June 25. Duty there and on Rio Grande, Texas, until March 1866. 110th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised June 25, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from 2d Alabama Colored Infantry Date Disbanded February 6, 1866

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Guard duty on Nashville & Northwestern Railroad and in Middle Tennessee until April 1866.

Place Disbanded Department of Tennessee Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to District of North Alabama, Department of the Cumberland, to February 1865. Defenses of Nashville & Northwestern Railroad, to March 1865. 3d Subdistrict, District of Middle Tennessee, to September 1865. Department of the Tennessee, to February 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Garrison duty at Pulaski, Tennessee, and guard duty on railroad in North Alabama until February 1865. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest’s attack on Athens, Alabama, September 23–24, 1864. Larkinsville, Alabama, January 8, 1865 (detachment of Company E). Guard Nashville & Northwestern Railroad until June 1865. At Gallatin, Tennessee, and at various points in Department of the Tennessee, until February 1866.

111th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

112th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised April 23–November 8, 1864 Muster Point(s) Little Rock, Arkansas, from 5th Arkansas Colored Infantry Date Disbanded April 1, 1865 Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 1st Division, VII Corps, Department of Arkansas, June 1864–January 1865. Colored Brigade, VII Corps, to February 1865. 2d Brigade, 1st Division, VII Corps, to April 1865. Transferred to 113th Regiment, United States Colored Troops (new). Engagements and Campaigns Post and garrison duty at Little Rock for entire term.

Date Raised June 25, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from 3d Alabama Colored Infantry

113th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry (new organization)

Date Disbanded April 30, 1866

Date Raised April 1, 1864

Place Disbanded Middle Tennessee

Muster Point(s) Organized by consolidation of 11th Regiment, United States Colored Troops (old), 112th Regiment, United States Colored Troops, and 113th Regiment, United States Colored Troops (old).

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to garrison at Pulaski, Tennessee, District of North Alabama, Department of the Cumberland, to February 1865. Defenses of Nashville & Northwestern Railroad, Department of the Cumberland, to March 1865. 3d Subdistrict, District of Middle Tennessee, to July 1865. Department of the Tennessee, to April 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Pulaski and Athens, Alabama, District of North Alabama, until September 1864. Action at Athens with Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, September 23–24 (most of regiment captured). Sulphur Branch Trestle, September 25 (detachment). Duty at Pulaski until January 1865.

Date Disbanded April 9, 1866 Place Disbanded Department of Arkansas Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 2d Brigade, 1st Division, VII Corps, Department of Arkansas, to August 1865. Department of Arkansas, to April 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Duty in Department of Arkansas.

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113th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry (old organization)

March 28–April 9. Hatcher’s Run, March 29–31. Fall of Petersburg, April 2. Pursuit of Gen. Robert E. Lee, April 3–9. Appomattox Court House, April 9. Surrender of Lee and his army. Duty at Petersburg and City Point until June. Moved to Texas, June–July. Duty at Brownsville and other points on Rio Grande, Texas, until April 1867.

Date Raised June 25, 1864 Muster Point(s) Organized from 6th Arkansas Colored Infantry Date Disbanded April 1, 1865 Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 1st Division, VII Corps, Department of Arkansas, to January 1865. Colored Brigade, VII Corps, to February 1865. 2d Brigade, 1st Division, VII Corps, to April 1865. Consolidated with 11th Regiment, United States Colored Troops (old), and 112th Regiment, United States Colored Troops, to form 113th Regiment, United States Colored Troops (new), April 1865. Engagements and Campaigns Post and garrison duty at Little Rock, Arkansas, for entire term. 114th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised July 4, 1864 Muster Point(s) Camp Nelson, Kentucky Date Disbanded April 2, 1867 Place Disbanded Texas Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to Military District of Kentucky, Department of the Ohio, to January 1865. 3d Brigade, 1st Division, XXV Corps, Department of Virginia, to April 1865. 2d Brigade, 1st Division, XXV Corps and Department of Texas, to April 1867. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Camp Nelson and Louisa, Kentucky, until January 1865. Ordered to Department of Virginia, January 3, 1865. Siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond on Bermuda Hundred front until March 1865. Appomattox Campaign,

115th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised July 15–October 21, 1864 Muster Point(s) Bowling Green, Kentucky Date Disbanded February 10, 1866 Place Disbanded Texas Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to 2d Brigade, 2d Division, District of Kentucky, 5th Division, XXIII Corps, Department of the Ohio, to January 1865. 1st Brigade, 2d Division, XXV Corps, Department of Virginia, to March 1865. 2d Brigade, 1st Division, XXV Corps and Department of Texas, to February 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Garrison duty at Lexington, Kentucky, until December 1864. Ordered to Virginia. Siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond, January–April 1865. Occupation of Richmond, April 3. Duty in Department of Virginia until May. Sailed for Texas, May 20. Duty in District of the Rio Grande until February 1866. 116th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised June 6–July 12, 1864 Muster Point(s) Camp Nelson, Kentucky Date Disbanded January 17, 1867 Place Disbanded Louisville, Kentucky

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U n i t e d S t a t e s C o l o r e d Tr o o p s , Fo r m a t i o n a n d S e r v i c e R e c o r d s o f

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to Military District of Kentucky, Department of the Ohio, to September 1864. Unattached, X Corps, Army of the James, to November 1864. 1st Brigade, 3d Division, X Corps, to December 1864. 1st Brigade, 2d Division, XXV Corps, to April 1865. 3d Brigade, 2d Division, XXV Corps and Department of Texas, to September 1866. Department of the Gulf, to January 1867. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Camp Nelson until September 1864. Defense of Camp Nelson and Hickman’s Bridge against Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest’s attack. Ordered to join Army of the James in Virginia, reporting to Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, September 27. Duty at City Point, Virginia, until October. Moved to Deep Bottom, October 23. Siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond, October 23, 1864–April 2, 1865. Operations on north side of James River before Richmond, October 27–28, 1864. Fatigue duty at Deep Bottom, Dutch Gap, and in trenches before Richmond until March 1865. Moved to Hatcher’s Run, March 27–28. Appomattox Campaign, March 28–April 9. Boydton Road, Hatcher’s Run, March 29–31. Fall of Petersburg, April 2. Pursuit of Gen. Robert E. Lee, April 3–9. Appomattox Court House, April 9. Surrender of Lee and his army. Duty at Petersburg until May 25. Embarked at City Point for Texas, May 25, arriving at Brazos Santiago, June 22. March to White’s Ranch, June 24. Duty at Rome, Texas, until February 1866. In Subdistrict, Lower Rio Grande, until September 1866, and at New Orleans, Louisiana, until January 1867. 117th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised July 18–September 27, 1864 Muster Point(s) Covington, Kentucky

Brigade, XVIII Corps, Army of the James, to December 1864. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, XXV Corps and Department of Texas, to August 1867. Engagements and Campaigns Duty at Camp Nelson, Kentucky, until October 1864. Ordered to Baltimore, Maryland, then to City Point, Virginia, October 21. Siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond until March 1865. Appomattox Campaign, March 28–April 9. Hatcher’s Run, March 29–31. Fall of Petersburg, April 2. Pursuit of Gen. Robert E. Lee, April 3–9. Appomattox Court House, April 9. Surrender of Lee and his army. Duty at Petersburg and City Point until June. Moved to Brazos Santiago, Texas, June–July. Duty at Brownsville and on Rio Grande until August 1867.

118th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised October 19, 1864 Muster Point(s) Baltimore, Maryland Date Disbanded February 6, 1866 Place Disbanded Texas Movement Orders and Attachments Moved to City Point, Virginia, October 26, 1864. Attached to Provisional Brigade, 3d Division, XVIII Corps, Army of the James, to December 1864. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, XXV Corps and Department of Texas, to February 1866. Engagements and Campaigns Siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond, November 1864–April 1865. Occupation of Richmond, April 3, 1865. Duty in Department of Virginia until June. Moved to Brazos Santiago, Texas, June–July. Duty at Brownsville and various points on Rio Grande until February 1866.

Date Disbanded August 10, 1867 Place Disbanded Rio Grande, Texas Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to Military District of Kentucky, Department of the Ohio, to October 1864. Provisional

119th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised January 18–May 16, 1865 Muster Point(s) Camp Nelson, Kentucky | 696 |

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Date Disbanded April 27, 1866

Muster Point(s) Louisville, Kentucky

Place Disbanded Department of Kentucky

Date Disbanded February 8, 1866

Movement Orders and Attachments Attached to Department of Kentucky and duty at various points in Kentucky until April 1866.

Place Disbanded Texas Movement Orders and Attachments Ordered to Virginia, January 12, 1865. Attached to XXV Corps, Army of the James. Unassigned, to April 1865. Department of Texas, to February 1866.

120th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised November 1864

Engagements and Campaigns Duty in defenses of Portsmouth, Virginia, until February 1865. Siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond, Virginia, February–April 1865. Fall of Petersburg and Richmond, April 2–3. Duty in Department of Virginia until June 1865. Moved to Brazos Santiago, Texas, June–July. Duty at Brownsville and various points on Rio Grande until February 1866.

Muster Point(s) Henderson, Kentucky Date Disbanded June 21, 1865 Place Disbanded Department of Kentucky Movement Orders and Attachments Garrison and guard duty at various points in Military District and Department of Kentucky until June 1865. 121st Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

123d Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised December 2, 1864 Muster Point(s) Louisville, Kentucky

Date Raised October 8, 1864

Date Disbanded October 24, 1865

Muster Point(s) Maysville, Kentucky

Place Disbanded Department of Kentucky

Date Disbanded June 30, 1865

Movement Orders and Attachments Duty at Louisville and other points in Department of Kentucky until October 1865.

Place Disbanded Department of Kentucky Movement Orders and Attachments Garrison and guard duty at various points in Military District and Department of Kentucky until June 1865.

124th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

122d Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Muster Point(s) Camp Nelson, Kentucky

Date Raised December 31, 1864

Date Disbanded December 20, 1867

Date Raised January 1–April 27, 1865

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13. Battle of Fair Oaks, October 27–28. Duty in trenches north of James River before Richmond until March 1865. Moved to Hatcher’s Run, March 27–28. Appomattox Campaign, March 28–April 9. Hatcher’s Run, March 29–31. Fall of Petersburg, April 2. Pursuit of Gen. Robert E. Lee, April 3–9. Appomattox Court House, April 9. Surrender of Lee and his army. Duty at Petersburg and City Point until June. Moved to Brazos Santiago, Texas, June–July. Duty at various points on Rio Grande until October.

Place Disbanded Department of Kentucky Movement Orders and Attachments Garrison and guard duty at various points in Department of Kentucky until December 1867. 125th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised February 12–June 2, 1865

128th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Muster Point(s) Louisville, Kentucky

Date Raised April 1865

Date Disbanded December 20, 1867

Muster Point(s) Hilton Head, South Carolina

Place Disbanded Department of Kentucky

Date Disbanded October 20, 1865

Movement Orders and Attachments Garrison and guard duty at Louisville and other points in Department of Kentucky until December 1867.

Place Disbanded Department of the South Movement Orders and Attachments Duty in Department of the South until October 1865.

127th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised August 23–September 10, 1864

135th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Muster Point(s) Camp William Penn, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Date Raised March 28, 1865

Date Disbanded October 20, 1865

Muster Point(s) Goldsboro, North Carolina

Place Disbanded Texas Movement Orders and Attachments Ordered to City Point, Virginia, September 1864. Attached to 1st Brigade, 3d Division, X Corps, Army of the James, to November 1864. 2d Brigade, 3d Division, X Corps, to December 1864. 2d Brigade, 2d Division, XXV Corps and Department of Texas, to October 1865. Engagements and Campaigns Siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond, Virginia, September 1864–April 1865. Chaffin’s Farm, New Market Heights, September 29–30. Fort Harrison, September 29. Darbytown Road, October

Date Disbanded October 23, 1865 Place Disbanded Department of North Carolina Movement Orders and Attachments Duty in Department of North Carolina until October 1865. 136th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised July 15, 1865

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Muster Point(s) Atlanta, Georgia Date Disbanded January 4, 1866 Place Disbanded Department of Georgia Movement Orders and Attachments Duty in Department of Georgia.

137th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised April 8, 1865 Muster Point(s) Macon, Georgia Date Disbanded January 15, 1866 Place Disbanded Department of Georgia Movement Orders and Attachments Duty in Department of Georgia until January 1866.

138th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry Date Raised July 15, 1865 Muster Point(s) Atlanta, Georgia Date Disbanded January 6, 1866 Place Disbanded Department of Georgia Movement Orders and Attachments Duty in Department of Georgia. References and Further Reading Beecham, Robert K. As If It Were Glory: Robert Beecham’s Civil War from the Iron Brigade to the Black Regiments, ed. Michael E. Stevens. Madison, WI: Madison House, 1998. Blatt, Martin Henry, Thomas J. Brown, and Donald

Yacovone, eds. Hope and Glory: Essays on the Legacy of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2000. Callum, Agnes Kane. Colored Volunteers of Maryland: Civil War—7th Regiment United States Colored Troops, 1863–1866. Baltimore: Mullac Publishers, 1990. Cornish, Dudley Taylor. The Sable Arm: Black Troops in the Union Army, 1861–1865. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1987. Current, Richard Nelson. Lincoln’s Loyalists: Union Soldiers from the Confederacy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. Denney, Robert E. The Civil War Years: A Day-byDay Chronicle. New York: Gramercy Books, 1992. Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. 3 Vols. New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1959. Gladstone, William A. United States Colored Troops, 1863–1867. Gettysburg, PA: Thomas Publications, 1990. Glatthaar, Joseph T. Forged in Battle: The Civil War Alliance of Black Soldiers and White Officers. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2000. Hansen, Joyce. Between Two Fires: Black Soldiers in the Civil War. New York: Franklin Watts, 1993. Higginson, Thomas Wentworth. Army Life in a Black Regiment. Williamstown, MA: Corner House Publishers, 1984. Hollandsworth, James G. The Louisiana Native Guards: The Black Military Experience during the Civil War. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1995. McPherson, James M. Marching toward Freedom: Blacks in the Civil War, 1861–1865. New York: Knopf, 1968. ––––––. The Negro’s Civil War: How American Blacks Felt and Acted during the War for the Union. New York: Pantheon, 1965. Miller, Edward A., Jr. The Black Civil War Soldiers of Illinois: The Story of the Twenty-Ninth U.S. Colored Infantry. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1998. Nankivell, John. Buffalo Soldier Regiment: History of the Twenty-Fifth United States Infantry, 1869–1926. Introduction by Quintard Taylor. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2001. Paradis, James M. Strike the Blow for Freedom: The

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6th United States Colored Infantry in the Civil War. Shippensburg, PA: White Mane, 1998. Quarles, Benjamin. The Negro in the Civil War. New York: Da Capo Press, 1953. Redkey, Edwin S., ed. A Grand Army of Black Men: Letters from African American Soldiers in the Union Army, 1861–1865. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

Washington, Versalle F. Eagles on Their Buttons: A Black Infantry Regiment in the Civil War. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1999. Wilson, Joseph T. The Black Phalanx: A History of the Negro Soldiers of the United States in the Wars of 1775–1812, 1861–1865. 1890. Reprint, Salem, NH: Ayer Company Publishers, 1992.

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Major battles and engagements are listed from 1861 to 1865. Dates are followed by battle location, units engaged/state of origin, and notes on the battle. It should be noted that many of the units were renamed during the war from their original state designations to USCT designations after the establishment of the Bureau of Colored Troops on May 22, 1863 (General Order No. 143). In many cases the USCT, USCC, or other African American units were unattached; in other words, they were not brigaded or placed into a division. Abbreviations USCC—United States Colored Cavalry Regiment USCHA—United States Colored Heavy Artillery Regiment USCLA—United States Colored Light Artillery Regiment USCT—United States Colored Troops (Infantry Regiment) October 27–28, 1862 Island Mound, Missouri 79th USCT (new), Kansas Formerly the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers. This was the first engagement in which African American soldiers engaged and defeated Confederate forces in combat and in which an African American officer (Lt. Patrick Minor) commanded African American soldiers (Company D) in combat. January 26, 1863 Township, Florida 33d USCT, South Carolina

Formerly the 1st South Carolina Colored Infantry. The Battle of Township is rated as a skirmish. March 29, 1863 Jacksonville, Florida 33d USCT, South Carolina Operations near Jacksonville, March 23–31. April 9, 1863 East Pascagoula, Missouri 74th USCT, Louisiana Formerly the 2d Louisiana Native Guards and II Corps d’Afrique Infantry. May 1–July 4, 1863 Vicksburg, Mississippi (including Port Gibson, Raymond, Jackson, Champion’s Hill/Baker’s Creek, Big Black Bridge) African Brigade (Col. Isaac Fitzgerald Shepard) At Millikens Bend—Col. Hiram Schofield: 8th Louisiana Colored Infantry Regiment (Col. Hiram Schofield); 9th Louisiana Colored Infantry Regiment (Col. Herman Leib, Maj. Erastus N. Owen and Lt. Col. C. J. Paine); 11th Louisiana Colored Infantry Regiment (Col. Edwin W. Chamberlain and Lt. Col. Cyrus Sears); 13th Louisiana Colored Infantry Regiment (Lt. H. Knoll); 1st Mississippi Colored Infantry Regiment (Lt. Col. A. W. Weber); 3d Mississippi Colored Infantry Regiment (Col. Richard H. Ballinger). At Goodrich’s Landing—Col. William F. Wood: 1st Arkansas Colored Infantry Regiment (Lt. Col. J. W. Campbell); 10th Louisiana Colored Infantry Regiment (Lt. Col. F. M. Carandall).

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May 18, 1863 Sherwood, Missouri 79th USCT (new), Kansas Formerly the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry. Fortyseven soldiers of the 79th USCT are buried at Fort Scott National Cemetery. May 22–July 8, 1863 Port Hudson, Louisiana 75th USCT, Louisiana; 78th USCT, Louisiana; 79th USCT (old), Louisiana; 80th USCT, Louisiana; 81st USCT, Louisiana; 82d USCT, Louisiana; 95th USCT, Louisiana Formerly 3d Louisiana Native Guards and III Corps d’Afrique Infantry (75th USCT), VI Corps d’Afrique Infantry (78th USCT), VII Corps d’Afrique Infantry (79th USCT), VIII Corps d’Afrique Infantry (80th USCT), IX Corps d’Afrique Infantry (81st USCT), X Corps d’Afrique Infantry (82d USCT), I Corps d’Afrique Engineers (95th USCT). Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks laid siege to Port Hudson, and gathered there all the available forces in his department. Among these were the 1st and 3d Infantry Regiments (Louisiana Native Guards) of the “Black Phalanx.” On May 23, Union forces, having completely invested the enemy’s works, made a general assault along the whole line. The attack failed. May 27, 1863 Lake Providence, Louisiana 47th USCT, Louisiana Formerly the 8th Louisiana Infantry (African Descent). Part of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s operations against Vicksburg (1863). Regimental casualties were one killed and one wounded. June 5–7, 1863 Milliken’s Bend, Louisiana 5th USCHA, Mississippi; 49th USCT, Louisiana; 51st USCT, Massachusetts Formerly the 1st Mississippi Heavy Artillery (African Descent) (5th USCHA), 11th Louisiana Infantry (African Descent) (49th USCT ), 1st Mississippi Infantry (African Descent) (51st USCT). A bitter engagement as Union troops (commanded by Col. Hermann Leib) held off a determined Confederate assault. Union casualties: 154 killed, 223 wounded, 115 missing. Confederate casualties: 125 killed, 400 wounded, 200 missing.

June 29, 1863 Mound Plantation, Louisiana 49th USCT, Louisiana; 51st USCT, Massachusetts Part of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s operations against Vicksburg (1863). July 1–2, 1863 Cabin Creek, Cherokee Nation (Oklahoma) 79th USCT (new), Kansas After a two-hour engagement, the Confederates were dislodged and driven from their position in great disorder, with a loss of 100 killed and wounded and 8 prisoners. Union loses were 8 killed and 25 wounded, including Capt. Ethan Earl of the 79th USCT, who was wounded at the head of his company. July 10, 1863 Milltown Bluff, South Carolina 33d USCT, South Carolina Expedition to James Island, South Carolina, June 30–July 10. July 16, 1863 Sol Legare Island, South Carolina 54th Massachusetts Volunteers, Massachusetts Three companies engaged. July 17, 1863 Honey Springs, Indian Territory (Oklahoma) 79th USCT (new), Kansas The Union troops fooled the Confederates into believing they were in full retreat. The Texans fell for the trap and ran directly into the heavy musket fire of the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry (1st Division commanded by Brig. Gen. James G. Blunt; 1st Brigade under Col. William R. Judson). Seeing that the battle was nearing an end, Confederate general Douglas H. Cooper ordered a controlled retreat south to the Confederate depot. The Union troops followed the Confederates for over a mile, but were unable to overwhelm them. The exhausted Northern soldiers ended the attack, and the Confederate army retreated from the field, defeated but intact. Union casualties: 17 killed, 60 wounded. Confederate casualties: 150 killed, 400 wounded. July 18, 1863 Fort Wagner, South Carolina 54th Massachusetts Volunteers, Massachusetts

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July 10–September 6: Siege of Fort Wagner, Morris Island, South Carolina. Union casualties: 1,757 killed, wounded, and missing. Confederate casualties: 561 killed, wounded, and missing. 4th Brigade (Col. James Montgomery), 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment (Col. M. S. Littlefield), 2d South Carolina (U.S.) Infantry Regiment (Lt. Col. W. W. Marple), 3d USCT (Col. B. C. Tilghman). July 27, 1863 Lawrence, Kansas 79th USCT (new), Kansas

November 17, 1863 Bayou St Louis, Mississippi 91st USCT, Louisiana Formerly XX Corps d’Afrique Infantry.

August 10, 1863 Bayou Tensas, Louisiana 48th USCT, Louisiana Formerly the 10th Louisiana Infantry (African Descent). August 26, 1863 Fort Wagner, South Carolina 3d USCT, Pennsylvania Other troops deployed at north end of Folly Island under Brig. Gen. Israel Vodges: African Brigade (Brig. Gen. Edward A. Wild), 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment (Col. Norwood P. Hallowell), 1st North Carolina (U.S.) Infantry Regiment (Col. James C. Beecher), one company, 2d North Carolina (U.S.) Infantry (Col. Alonzo G. Draper), one company, 3d North Carolina (U.S.) Infantry (Capt. John Wilder).

September 6, 1863 Fort Wagner, South Carolina 54th Massachusetts Volunteers, Massachusetts October 6, 1863 Baxter Springs, Kansas 83d USCT (new), Kansas

November 9, 1863 Bayou Tunica, Louisiana 73d USCT, Louisiana Formerly the 1st Louisiana Native Guards and I Corps d’Afrique Infantry. Battle considered a skirmish. November 11, 1863 Natchez, Mississippi 58th USCT, Mississippi Formerly the 6th Mississippi Infantry (African Descent). Union casualties: four killed, six wounded. Confederate casualties: four killed, eight wounded.

August 3, 1863 Jackson, Louisiana 75th USCT, Louisiana; 78th USCT, Louisiana Union casualties: 2 killed, 2 wounded, 27 missing. The 73d USCT are also listed in some sources.

August 27, 1863 Vicksburg, Mississippi 5th USCHA, Mississippi Actions during garrison duties.

William Quantrill’s attack on the escort of Maj. Gen. James G. Blunt at Baxter Springs, Arkansas, robbing and murdering the prisoners. Union casualties: fiftyfour killed, eighteen wounded, five missing.

November 24, 1863 Hall Island (Cunningham’s Bluff), South Carolina 33d USCT, South Carolina Expedition to Pocotaligo, South Carolina, November 23–25 (Companies E and K). Skirmish near Cunningham’s Bluff, November 24. November 28, 1863 Plymouth, North Carolina 10th USCT, Virginia December 4, 1863 Moscow Station, Tennessee 61st USCT, Tennessee Formerly the 2d Tennessee Infantry (African Descent). Ripley and Moscow Station, Mississippi, and Salisbury, Tennessee. Union casualties: 175 killed and wounded. Confederate casualties: 15 killed, 40 wounded. December 13, 1863 Bayou Boeuf, Arkansas 3d USCT, Mississippi 1st Mississippi Cavalry (African Descent), Mississippi.

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“The conduct of the First Mississippi Cavalry (African Descent) could not have been excelled by veterans, wounded men refusing to go to the rear. It was the first fight for most of them, but, in the language of Major Cook, their commanding officer, ‘I could have held them till the last man was shot.’” E. D. Osband, colonel, 1st Mississippi Cavalry (African Descent), Commanding Post.

While on post and garrison duty at Davis’ Bend and Natchez, Mississippi.

December 18, 1863 Sandy Swamp, North Carolina 5th USCT, Ohio Formerly the127th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The unit’s first engagement, it was part of Wild’s Expedition to South Mills and Camden Court House, North Carolina.

February 14, 1864 Ross’ Landing, Arkansas 51st USCT, Mississippi Union casualties: thirteen killed, seven wounded.

February 13, 1864 Vicksburg, Mississippi 52d USCT, Mississippi Formerly the 2d Mississippi Infantry (African Descent). While on post and garrison duty.

February 14–15, 1864 Waterproof, Louisiana 49th USCT, Louisiana Formerly the 11th Louisiana Infantry (African Descent). Union casualties: eight killed, fourteen wounded. Confederate casualties: fifteen killed.

December 18, 1863 Indiantown, North Carolina 36th USCT, North Carolina Formerly the 2d North Carolina Colored Infantry.

February 17, 1864 Horse-Head Creek, Arkansas 79th USCT (new), Kansas

January 20, 1864 Island No. 76, Mississippi Battery E, 2d USCLA, Louisiana Union casualties: three missing. February 3, 1864 Haynes Bluff, Mississippi 53d USCT, Mississippi Formerly the 3d Mississippi Infantry (African Descent). February 3, 1864 Liverpool Heights, Mississippi 47th USCT, Louisiana Expedition up Yazoo River, February 1–March 8, 1864.

February 20, 1864 Olustee, Florida 8th USCT, Pennsylvania; 35th USCT, North Carolina 54th Massachusetts Volunteers, Massachusetts Olustee or Silver Lake, Florida. The 8th USCT is listed as part of Hawley’s Brigade (Col. Joseph R. Hawley). Union casualties: 193 killed, 1,175 wounded, 460 missing. Confederate casualties: 100 killed, 400 wounded.

February 4, 1864 Columbia, Louisiana 66th USCT, Mississippi Formerly the 4th Mississippi Infantry (African Descent). While on post and garrison duty at Goodrich’s Landing and Lake Providence, Louisiana.

February 28, 1864 Yazoo Expedition, Mississippi 3d USCT, Mississippi Expedition up the Yazoo River, Mississippi, February 1–March 8. Union casualties: 35 killed, 121 wounded. Confederate casualties: 35 killed, 90 wounded.

February 7, 1864 Vidalia, Louisiana 64th USCT, Louisiana; 6th USCHA, Mississippi (formerly the 2d Mississippi Heavy Artillery [African Descent])

March 2, 1864 New Kent Court House, Virginia 5th USCT, Ohio Expedition to New Kent Court House in aid of Gen. Judson Kilpatrick’s cavalry, March 1–4.

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March 4, 1864 Williamsburg, Virginia 6th USCT, Pennsylvania Expedition to New Kent Court House in aid of Gen. Judson Kilpatrick’s cavalry, March 1–4. March 5, 1864 Yazoo City, Mississippi 3d USCC, Mississippi; 47th USCT, Louisiana Formerly the 1st Mississippi Cavalry (African Descent). See Yazoo Expedition (February 28)

teen killed, three wounded. Confederate casualties: three killed, seven wounded. Alternate date given as March 30. Battle of Snyder’s Bluff, Mississippi. April 1864 Haynes Bluff, Mississippi 3d USCC, Mississippi Expedition from Haynes Bluff up the Yazoo River, April 19–28. April 1, 1864 Plymouth, North Carolina 37th USCT, North Carolina Gen. Benjamin F. Butler’s operations on the south side of the James River and against Petersburg and Richmond, May 4–June 15.

March 9, 1864 Suffolk, Virginia 2d USCC, Virginia Union casualties: eight killed, one wounded. Confederate casualties: twenty-five wounded. March 20, 1864 Pass Manchas, Louisiana 10th USCHA, Louisiana Formerly I Corps d’Afrique Heavy Artillery. March 20, 1864 Roseville Creek, Arkansas 79th USCT (new), Kansas On April 5, 1864, there was another encounter here involving detachments of the 2d and 6th Kansas Cavalry (seventy-five men), with four killed and ten wounded. Confederate strength unknown, but casualties were six killed, twenty wounded, and eleven missing. March 24, 1864 Goodrich’s Landing, Louisiana 66th USCT, Mississippi While on post and garrison duty at Goodrich’s Landing and Lake Providence, Louisiana, until February 1865. March 25, 1864 Fort Anderson, Paducah, Kentucky 8th USCHA, Kentucky Union casualties: fourteen killed, forty-six wounded. Confederate casualties: ten killed, forty wounded. March 31, 1864 Roache’s Plantation, Mississippi 3d USCC, Mississippi Near Snydersville, Mississippi. Union casualties: six-

April 9, 1864 Pleasant Hill, Louisiana 75th USCT, Louisiana Pleasant Hill was the last major battle of the Louisiana phase of the Red River Campaign. Although Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks won this battle, he retreated, wishing to get his army out of western Louisiana before any greater calamity occurred. The Battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill jointly influenced Banks to forget his objective of capturing Shreveport. April 12, 1864 Fort Pillow, Tennessee Battery F, 2d USCLA, Tennessee; 11th USCT (new), Alabama Union troops suffered 231 killed, 100 wounded, and 226 captured. African American units suffered 64 percent killed; white units only 33 percent. The attacking Confederates suffered only 14 killed and 86 wounded. April 13, 1864 Indian Bay, Arkansas 56th USCT, Arkansas Formerly the 3d Arkansas Infantry (African Descent). April 13, 1864 Prairie D’Ann, Arkansas 79th USCT (new), Kansas 83d USCT (new), Kansas Part of Arkansas Campaign, April 10–13. Union casualties: 100 killed and wounded. Confederate casualties: 50 killed and wounded.

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April 18, 1864 Plymouth, North Carolina 10th USCT, Virginia A detachment of the 10th USCT in addition to 37th USCT and 2d USCC are listed as part of the Subdistrict of the Albemarle, XVIII Corps, commanded by Gen. Henry Walton Wessells. Union casualties: 20 killed, 80 wounded, 1,500 missing. Confederate casualties: 500 killed, wounded, and missing. April 18, 1864 Poison Springs, Arkansas 79th USCT (new), Kansas Poison Springs located eight miles from Camden, Arkansas. Maj. Richard G. Ward commanded the 79th USCT. Union casualties: 113 killed, 88 wounded, 68 missing. April 20, 1864 Waterproof, Louisiana 63d USCT, Louisiana Formerly the 9th Louisiana Infantry (African Descent). Another encounter on February 14–15 involved the 49th USCT and the USS Forest Rose. Casualties were eight killed and fourteen wounded. Colonel Harrison commanded the Confederates, losing fifteen killed. April 24, 1864 Camden, Arkansas 57th USCT, Arkansas Formerly the 4th Arkansas Infantry (African Descent). Part of the 1864 Arkansas Campaign. A detachment on Steele’s Camden Expedition, March 23–May 3, as bridge train guard. April 25, 1864 Natchez, Mississippi 98th USCT, Louisiana Formerly IV Corps d’Afrique Engineers. While attached to the Engineer Brigade, Department of the Gulf. April 26, 1864 Berwick, Louisiana 98th USCT, Louisiana While stationed in Berwick. April 26 and 28, 1864 Little Rock, Arkansas

57th USCT, Arkansas The regiment also engaged in two separate skirmishes during operations against Gen. Joseph Shelby north of the Arkansas River, May 13–31. April 30, 1864 Jenkins’ Ferry, Arkansas 79th USCT (new), Kansas; 83d USCT (new), Kansas On the afternoon of April 29, Union forces reached Jenkins’ Ferry and began crossing the Saline River, which was swollen by heavy rain. Rebel forces arrived on April 30 and attacked repeatedly. The Union troops repulsed the attacks and finally crossed with all their men and supply wagons, many of which they were compelled to abandon in the swamp north of the Saline. The Confederates bungled a good chance to destroy Maj. Gen. Fred Steele’s army, which after crossing the river, regrouped at Little Rock. 2d Brigade (Col. Charles W. Adams): 1st Kansas Colored Infantry Regiment (Col. James M. Williams), 2d Kansas Colored Infantry Regiment (Col. Samuel Crawford), 12th Kansas Infantry Regiment (Lt. Col. Josiah E. Hayes), 1st Battery, Arkansas Light Artillery (Capt. Denton D. Stark). Union casualties: 200 killed, 955 wounded. Confederate casualties: 300 killed, 800 wounded. May 1, 1864 Jacksonville, Florida 7th USCT, Maryland Duty at Jacksonville until June 1864. Union casualties: one killed. May 1–4, 1864 Ashwood Landing, Louisiana 64th USCT, Louisiana Formerly the 7th Louisiana Infantry (African Descent). Regimental casualties were seven killed, wounded, and missing. Part of the Red River Campaign of l864. May 1–12, 1864 Cold Harbor, Virginia (including Gaines’ Mills, Salem Church, and Haw’s Shop) 4th Division (Brig. Gen. Edward Ferrero) 1st Brigade (Col. Joshua K. Siegfried): 27th USCT (Col. Charles J. Wright), 30th USCT (Col. Delvan Bates), 39th USCT (Col. Ozora P. Stearns), 43d USCT (Lt. Col. H. Seymour Hall). 2d Brigade (Col. Henry G. Thomas): 19th USCT (Lt. Col. Joseph G.

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Perkins), 23d USCT (Lt. Col. Cleveland J. Campbell), 31st USCT (Maj. Theophilus H. Rockwood). May 3, 1864 City Belle, steamer, Louisiana 73d USCT, Louisiana While at Alexandria, Louisiana. May 4, 1864 Jenkins’ Ferry, Arkansas 83d USCT (new), Kansas While on duty at Fort Smith, Arkansas, until January 1865. May 4, 1864 Bermuda Hundred, Virginia 4th USCT, Maryland On May 9, Gen. Benjamin F. Butler made a thrust toward Petersburg and was met by Gen. Bushrod Johnson’s division at Swift Creek. A premature Confederate attack at Arrowfield Church was driven back with heavy losses, but Union forces did not follow up. After skirmishing, Butler tore up the railroad tracks and did not press the defenders. Five federal gunboats steamed up the Appomattox River to bombard Fort Clifton, while Hincks’s USCT infantry division struggled through marshy ground from the land side. The gunboats were quickly driven off, and the infantry attack was abandoned. May 4, 1864 Saline River, Arkansas 83d USCT (new), Kansas While on duty at Fort Smith, Arkansas, until January 1865. May 5–7, 1864 Wilderness, Virginia 1st USCC, Virginia; 2d USCC, Virginia 1st USCC (Maj. Harvey W. Brown) and 2d USCC (Col. George W. Cole) were both unattached. May 6, 1864 City Point, Virginia 5th USCT, Ohio Gen. Benjamin F. Butler’s operations on the south side of the James River and against Petersburg and Richmond, May 4–June 15. Capture of City Point, May 4.

May 7–20, 1864 Spotsylvania, Virginia 4th Division (Brig. Gen. Edward Ferrero of Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside’s IX Corps); 3d Division (Brig. Gen. Edward W. Hincks of Maj. Gen. William Farr’s XXIII Corps) For 4th Division, see Ny River (May 10). 3d Division—1st Brigade (Brig. Gen. Edward A. Wild): 1st USCT (Col. John H. Holman), 10th USCT (Lt. Col. Edward H. Powell), 22d USCT (Col. Joshua B. Kiddo), 37th USCT (Lt. Col. A. G. Chamberlain). 3d Division—2d Brigade (Col. Samuel A. Duncan): 4th USCT (Lt. Col. George Rogers), 5th USCT (Col. James W. Conine), 6th USCT (Col. John W. Ames). May 9–10, 1864 Swift Creek, Virginia (Arrowfield Church) Battery B, 2d U.S. Artillery; 1st USCT, District of Columbia; 2d USCT, Virginia Commanded by Capt. Francis C. Choate and attached to 3d Division (Brig. Gen. Edward W. Hincks) of XVIII Corps (Maj. Gen. William F. Smith). May 10, 1864 Drewry’s Bluff, Virginia 2d USCC, Virginia Also known as Fort Darling. The 1st USCT (Maj. Harvey W. Brown) and 2d USCT (Col. George W. Cole) are also listed as unattached. May 10, 1864 Ny River, Virginia (Spotsylvania Court House) 4th Division (Brig. Gen. Edward Ferrero of Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside’s IX Corps) 1st Brigade (Col. Joshua K. Siegfried): 27th USCT (Lt. Col. Charles J. Wright), 30th USCT (Col. Delvan Bates), 39th USCT (Col. Osora P. Steams), 43d USCT (Lt. Col. Cleveland J. Campbell). May 13, 1864 Pulaski, Tennessee 111th USCT, Alabama Duty at Pulaski, Tennessee, and Athens, Alabama, District of North Alabama, until September 1864. May 13, 1864 Point Lookout, Virginia

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2d USCC, Virginia See Drury’s Bluff (May 10).

36th USCT, North Carolina Expedition from Point Lookout to Rappahannock River, May 11–14.

May 20, 1864 Bermuda Hundred, Virginia 1st USCC, Virginia Bermuda Hundred, Virginia, May 16–30. Union casualties: 200 killed, 1,000 wounded. Confederate casualties: 3,000 killed, wounded, and missing.

May 13, 1864 Yazoo City, Mississippi 3d USCC, Mississippi The Yazoo Expedition lasted from May 4–13 and included engagements at Benton and Vaughn. May 15, 1864 Mount Pleasant Landing, Louisiana 67th USCT, Missouri During the Red River Campaign (1864). The date of April 15 is given in some sources. Formerly the 3d Missouri Colored Infantry. Union casualties: three killed, five wounded. May 16, 1864 Drewry’s Bluff, Virginia 2d USCC, Virginia Operations against Fort Darling, May 12–16. Actions at Drewry’s Bluff, May 10, and 14–16. 1st USCC is also credited as being present. May 18, 1864 Morganza, Louisiana (Yellow Bayou, Bayou DeGlaize, or Norwood’s Plantation) 73d USCT, Louisiana About 40,000 Union troops were stationed here, most of whom were former slaves. They were called “General Ullmann’s Corps d’Afrique.” The fort was abandoned due to malaria and cholera epidemics. Corps d’Afrique—Col. William H. Dickey: 1st Brigade, 1st Division—(Col. William H. Dickey): 1st Infantry (73d USCT)—Maj. Hiram E. Perkins; 3d Infantry (75th USCT)—Col. Henry W. Fuller; 12th Infantry (84th USCT)—Capt. James H. Corrin; 27th Infantry (92d USCT)—Col. Henry N. Frisbie. May 18–20, 1864 Red River Expedition, Louisiana (retreat from Alexandria to Morganza) 92d USCT, Louisiana Formerly XXII Corps d’Afrique Infantry. The 92d USCT had advanced from Franklin to Alexandria, March 14–26. May 20, 1864 Drewry’s Bluff, Virginia

May 21, 1864 James Island, South Carolina 55th Massachusetts Volunteers, Massachusetts Demonstration on James Island, May 21–22. May 23, 1864 St. John’s River, South Carolina 35th USCT, North Carolina Operations on St. John’s River, May 19–27. May 23–27, 1864 North Ana River, Virginia 4th Division (Brig. Gen. Edward Ferrero of Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside’s IX Corps) See Ny River (May 10). Includes Battle of Totopotomoy, Virginia, May 26–30. The 3d Division (Brig. Gen. Edward W. Hincks) was also present. May 24, 1864 Nashville, Tennessee 15th USCT, Tennessee Garrison and guard duty at Nashville, Columbia, and Pulaski, Tennessee, until June 1864. Union casualties: four killed, eight wounded. May 24, 1864 Wilson’s Wharf, Virginia Battery B, 2d USCLA, Virginia; 1st USCT, District of Columbia; 10th USCT, Virginia At noon, about 2,500 Confederate cavalry initiated action at Wilson’s Wharf, which was manned by a force of about 1,400 soldiers. The attack began with a mounted charge on Union pickets, and then a dismounted attack on the fort. To attack the fort it was necessary to cross through a clearing. Attempts at the center failed and lines of skirmishers were deployed to attack from the eastern side of the fort. Maj. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee sent a surrender demand that Brig. Gen. Edward A. Wild quickly declined. Union troops, reinforced by two gunboats in the

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James River, returned fire and repulsed all attacks until the battle ended at six o’clock that evening. Reports of casualties are conflicting, but can be estimated at 20 for the Union and 100 for the Confederates, including dead, wounded, and captured. May 26, 1864 Ashepoo River, South Carolina 34th USCT, South Carolina Formerly the 2d South Carolina Colored Infantry. Expedition to Ashepoo River, May 24–27. May 28, 1864 Jacksonville, Florida 7th USCT, Maryland Duty at Jacksonville until June 1864.

June ? 1864 City Point, Virginia Battery B, 2d USCLA, Virginia During garrison duties.

June 15, 1864 Moscow, Tennessee 55th USCT, Alabama While on duty at Memphis, Tennessee, until August 1.

June 2, 1864 Davis’ Bend, Louisiana 64th USCT, Louisiana During post and garrison duty at Davis’ Bend and Natchez, Mississippi, until February 1865. June 4, 1864 Vicksburg, Mississippi 3d USCC, Mississippi Duty at Vicksburg, Mississippi, and in the District of Vicksburg until December 1864.

June 9, 1864 Point of Rocks, Virginia (or Maryland) 2d USCC, Virginia

June 10, 1864 Brice’s Cross Roads, Mississippi (Tishimingo Creek) Battery F, 2d USCLA, Tennessee; 55th USCT, Alabama; 59th USCT, Tennessee (formerly the 1st Tennessee Infantry [African Descent]) Brice’s Cross Roads near Guntown, Mississippi. The Confederates initiated a full-frontal attack on weary Union lines, which soon gave way and began retreating. The retreat quickly became a rout as the Union forces fled back to the safety of Memphis. Union casualties: 223 killed, 394 wounded, 1,623 missing. Confederate casualties: 131 killed, 475 wounded. June 11, 1864 Wilson’s Landing, Virginia 1st USCC, Virginia During duties in trenches at Bermuda Hundred until June 18.

May 31, 1864 Dallas, Georgia 110th USCT, Alabama Formerly the 2d Alabama Colored Infantry.

June 7, 1864 Ripley, Mississippi 55th USCT, Alabama Formerly the 1st Alabama Infantry (African Descent). During Sturgis’s Expedition from Memphis into Mississippi, June 1–13.

During duty in trenches at Bermuda Hundred until June 13. Union casualties: two killed.

June 15, 1864–April 2, 1865 Petersburg, Virginia 5th Massachusetts Cavalry, Massachusetts; 1st USCT, District of Columbia; 4th USCT, Maryland; 5th USCT, Ohio; 6th USCT, Pennsylvania; 7th USCT, Maryland; 10th USCT, Virginia; 19th USCT, Maryland; 22d USCT, Pennsylvania; 23d USCT, Virginia; 27th USCT, Ohio; 28th USCT, Indiana; 29th USCT, Illinois; 29th Connecticut Infantry, Connecticut; 30th USCT, Maryland; 31st USCT, New York; 36th USCT, North Carolina; 39th USCT, Maryland; 41st USCT, Pennsylvania; 43d USCT, Pennsylvania; 45th USCT, Pennsylvania; 116th USCT, Kentucky The siege of Petersburg, Virginia, commences on June 15–19 and continues until the city’s fall on April 2, 1865. USCT troops made up XXV Corps, which was almost exclusively African American. Union casualties: 1,298 killed, 7,474 wounded, 1,814 missing. June 16, 1864 Pierson’s Farm, Virginia

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64th USCT, Louisiana At Davis’ Bend and in the Department of Mississippi until March 1866.

36th USCT, North Carolina Expedition to Pope’s Creek, June 11–21. June 22–30, 1864 Weldon Railroad Raid, Virginia 1st USCT, District of Columbia; 2d USCT, Virginia Part of the Petersburg Campaign. The two USCT units were unattached but under the command of Gen. Philip H. Sheridan’s 3d Division (Brig. Gen. James H. Wilson). June 23, 1864 Jones’ Bridge, Virginia 28th USCT, Indiana Jones’ Bridge and Samaria Church, Virginia. Union casualties: 54 killed, 235 wounded, 300 missing. Confederate casualties: 250 killed and wounded. June 24, 1864 New Market Heights, Virginia 22d USCT, Pennsylvania Demonstration north of the James River, September 28–30. June 25, 1864 Ashwood, Mississippi 63d USCT, Louisiana The 64th USCT is also credited as having taken part. June 25, 1864 Point Pleasant, Louisiana 64th USCT, Louisiana Attached to District of Natchez, Mississippi, until September 1864. June 25, 1864 Staunton River Bridge, Virginia 1st USCT, District of Columbia; 2d USCT, Virginia Part of the Richmond and Petersburg Campaign. Also known as Blacks and Whites or Old Men and Young Boys. The two USCT units were unattached. June 27–29, 1864 Meffleton Lodge, Arkansas 56th USCT, Arkansas Prior to operations in Arkansas, July 1–31. June 29, 1864 Davis’ Bend, Louisiana

July 1 and 2, 1864 James Island, South Carolina 33d USCT, South Carolina; 55th Massachusetts Infantry, Massachusetts On July 2, the 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment was brigaded with the 103d New York and the 33d USCT, and ordered to attack Fort Lamar, a large rebel earthwork fortification on James Island, South Carolina. Although the fort was not taken during this skirmish (known as the Battle of River’s Causeway), two brass twelve-pound Napoleon guns were captured by the 55th from a Confederate artillery group that had been stationed about a mile in front of Fort Lamar. July 2, 1864 Bayou Mason, Mississippi 66th USCT, Mississippi Post and garrison duty at Goodrich’s Landing and Lake Providence, Louisiana, until February 1865. July 2, 1864 Floyd, Louisiana 51st USCT, Mississippi Post and garrison duty at Goodrich’s Landing, Louisiana, until December 1864. July 2, 1864 Pine Bluff, Arkansas 64th USCT, Louisiana Ten companies of the 5th Kansas Colored Cavalry (Lt. Col. Wilton A. Jenkins) were stationed at Pine Bluff during the Arkansas Campaign. July 4, 1864 Vicksburg, Mississippi 48th USCT, Louisiana Regimental loses: one killed, seven wounded. July 4–5, 1864 Coleman’s Plantation, Mississippi (near Port Gibson) 52d USCT, Mississippi Post and garrison duty at Vicksburg, Mississippi, until June 1865. Regimental loses: six killed, eighteen wounded.

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July 5, 1864 Jackson, Mississippi 3d USCC, Mississippi Expedition from Vicksburg, Mississippi, to Pearl River, July 2–10.

59th USCT, Tennessee; 61st USCT, Tennessee; 68th USCT, Missouri Formerly the 4th Missouri Colored Infantry (68th USCT). Gen. A. J. Smith’s Tupelo Expedition, July 5–18, 1864.

July 5–7, 1864 James Island, South Carolina 7th USCT, Maryland Expedition to North Edisto River and John’s and James Islands, July 2–10.

July 16, 1864 Goodrich’s Landing, Louisiana 66th USCT, Mississippi Post and garrison duty at Goodrich’s Landing and Lake Providence, Louisiana, until February 1865.

July 5–7, 1864 John’s Island, South Carolina 26th USCT, New York Expedition to John’s and James Islands, July 2–10. Operations against Battery Pringle, July 4–9. Actions on John’s Island July 5 and 7. Union casualties: sixteen killed, eighty-two wounded. Confederate casualties: twenty killed, eighty wounded.

July 16–17, 1864 Grand Gulf, Mississippi (also Port Gibson) 53d USCT, Mississippi Other Union forces present were the 17th and 76th Illinois and the 2d Wisconsin. On post and garrison duty at Haynes Bluff, District of Vicksburg, Mississippi, until October 1864.

July 6, 1864 Little Blue, Missouri 2d USCC, Virginia Expedition from Vicksburg, Mississippi, to Pearl River, July 2–10. Regimental loses: eight killed, one wounded. July 9, 1864 John’s Island, South Carolina 7th USCT, Maryland; 34th USCT, South Carolina Also known as Bloody Bridge (Burden’s Causeway), July 7–9, 1864. Union troops consisted of Brig. Gen. John P. Hatch’s command of Saxton’s Brigade (Brig. Gen. Rufus Saxton): 9th USCT, 26th USCT, 56th New York Infantry Regiment, 114th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment (Col. W. W. H. Davis), 4th Massachusetts Cavalry, and Wildt’s Battery. Montgomery’s Brigade (Col. James Montgomery): 8th USCT, 34th USCT.

July 22, 1864 Barrancas, Florida 82d USCT, Louisiana Moved to Fort Barrancas, Florida, and on duty there until March 1865. Expedition toward Pollard, Alabama, July 21–25, 1864. July 22, 1864 Vidalia, Louisiana 6th USCHA, Kentucky Formerly the 2d Mississippi Heavy Artillery (African Descent). Battle rated as a skirmish. July 26, 1864 Wallace’s Ferry, Arkansas 56th USCT, Arkansas Operations in Arkansas, July 1–31. Union casualties: 16 killed, 32 wounded. Confederate casualties: 150 wounded.

July 10, 1864 Issaquena County, Mississippi 66th USCT, Mississippi Post and garrison duty at Goodrich’s Landing and Lake Providence, Louisiana, until February 1865.

July 26, 1864 Big Creek, Arkansas Battery E, 2d USCLA, Arkansas; 60th USCT, Iowa Formerly the 1st Iowa Colored Infantry (60th USCT). The 56th USCT is also credited as being present. Operations in Arkansas, July 1–31.

July 13–15, 1864 Tupelo, Mississippi

July 27, 1864 Black Creek, Florida

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August 8, 1864 Point Isabel, Texas Corps d’Afrique 9th Infantry (later 81st USCT) Detachment of the Corps d’Afrique 9th Infantry (later 81st USCT) (seventy-five men) under Captain Jordan.

35th USCT, North Carolina Raid from Jacksonville on Baldwin, Florida, July 23–28. South Fork, Black Creek, July 24. Black Creek near Whitesides, July 27. July 30, 1864 Bayou Tensas, Louisiana 66th USCT, Mississippi On post and garrison duty at Goodrich’s Landing and Lake Providence, Louisiana, until February 1865.

August 14–18, 1864 Deep Bottom, Virginia 7th USCT, Maryland; 9th USCT, Maryland In some reports, the 1st USCT (Maj. Harvey W. Brown) and the 2d USCT (Col. George W. Cole) are also listed. This was part of the New Market Heights engagement.

May 24, 1864 Fort Pocahontas, Virginia 1st USCC, Virginia Fort Pocahontas was a supply depot built and manned by hundreds of USCT under the direct command of Brig. Gen. Edward A. Wild. August 2, 1864 Helena, Arkansas 64th USCT, Louisiana The engagement is alternatively dated July 4, 1863. The 54th USCT (2d Arkansas Colored Infantry) was an unattached unit of the 1st Division (Brig. Gen. Frederick Salomon) of Maj. Gen. Benjamin Prentiss’ XIII Corps (57 killed, 146 wounded, and 36 missing). August 2–8, 1864 Fort Gaines, Alabama 96th USCT, Louisiana Formerly II Corps d’Afrique Engineers. Part of siege operations against Fort Gaines and Fort Morgan, August 2–23. August 5, 1864 Concordia Bayou, Louisiana 6th USCHA, Mississippi Expedition from Natchez to Gillespie’s Plantation, Louisiana, August 4–6, 1864. August 5, 1864 Cabin Point, Virginia 1st USCC, Virginia August 6, 1864 Indian Village, Louisiana 11th USCHA, Rhode Island Formerly the14th Rhode Island Colored Heavy Artillery.

August 15–16, 1864 Dalton, Georgia 14th USCT, Tennessee The 14th USCT seemed to be attached to the 3d Cavalry Brigade under Col. John T. Wilder, part of the 2d Cavalry Division commanded by Brig. Gen. Kenner Garrard. Engagement was part of the Atlanta Campaign. August 16–17, 1864 Waterford, Mississippi 55th USCT, Alabama; 61st USCT, Tennessee Smith’s Expedition to Oxford, Mississippi, August 1–30. August 17, 1864 Issaquena County, Mississippi 66th USCT, Mississippi August 18, 1864 Decatur, Tennessee 1st USCHA, Tennessee August 21, 1864 Memphis, Tennessee 61st USCT, Tennessee Union forces were commanded by Maj. Gen. C. C. Washburn. Total casualties were 160. This was an encounter in Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest’s defense of Mississippi. Confederate troop strength was around 4,000, with 34 casualties. August 21, 1864 Fort Taylor, Florida 2d USCT, Virginia

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While attached to the District of Key West, Florida, Department of the Gulf, February 1864–July, 1865. August 24, 1864 Fort Smith, Arkansas 11th USCT (old), Arkansas Post and garrison duty at Fort Smith, Arkansas, until November 1864. Union casualties: one killed, thirteen wounded. August 24, 1864 Dutch Gap, Virginia 22d USCT, Pennsylvania In support of a naval engagement on the James River, during siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond, June 16, 1864–April 2, 1865. August 24–25, 1864 Bermuda Hundred, Virginia 7th USCT, Maryland Siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond, August 1864–April 1865. Union casualties: thirtyone wounded. Confederate casualties: sixty-one missing.

August 29, 1864 Ghent, Kentucky 117th USCT, Kentucky During duty at Camp Nelson, Kentucky, until October 1864. August 30, 1864 Smithfield, Virginia 1st USCC, Virginia During siege of Petersburg. Union casualties: 10 killed, 90 wounded. Confederate casualties: 200 killed and wounded. September 2, 1864 Deep Bottom, Virginia 2d USCC, Virginia Siege of Petersburg and Richmond, June 16, 1864– February 18, 1865. Moved to Deep Bottom, July 25. September 4, 1864 Nashville & Northwestern Railroad, Tennessee 100th USCT, Kentucky Guard duty with Nashville & Northwestern Railroad in Tennessee until December 1864. September 6, 1864 Deep Bottom, Virginia 2d USCC, Virginia See Deep Bottom (September 2).

August 25, 1864 Clinton, Louisiana (Olive Branch, Comite River) 4th USCC, Louisiana Formerly I Corps d’Afrique Cavalry. Expedition to Clinton, August 23–29.

September 7, 1864 Dutch Gap, Virginia 4th USCT, Maryland Siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond, June 16–December 7.

August 26, 1864 Bayou Tensas, Louisiana 66th USCT, Mississippi Post and garrison duty at Goodrich’s Landing and Lake Providence, Louisiana, until February 1865.

September 14, 1864 Camp Marengo, Louisiana 63d USCT, Louisiana On post and garrison duty at Natchez, Mississippi, until February 1865.

August 27, 1864 Owensboro, Kentucky 108th USCT, Kentucky Garrison and guard duty at various posts in Kentucky until January 1865. August 27–28, 1864 Holly Springs, Mississippi 11th USCT (new), Alabama The 14th Iowa Infantry Regiment and 10th Missouri Cavalry Regiment were also present. Union casualties: one killed, two wounded. On post and garrison duty at Fort Smith, Arkansas, until November 1864.

September 16 and 18, 1864 Fort Gibson, Cherokee Nation (Oklahoma) 79th USCT (new), Kansas; 54th USCT, Alabama Union casualties: thirty-eight killed, forty-eight missing. September 23–24, 1864 Athens, Alabama

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106th USCT, Alabama (formerly the 4th Alabama Colored Infantry); 110th USCT, Alabama; 111th USCT, Alabama During Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest’s attacks on Athens. Union casualties: 950 missing. Confederate casualties: 5 killed, 25 wounded. Some sources state that it was the 114th USCT, not the 111th USCT. This is unlikely because the 114th USCT was engaged in siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond on the Bermuda Hundred front until March 1865. In fact, most of the 111 USCT was captured at this battle. September 25, 1864 Johnsonville, Tennessee 13th USCT, Tennessee This may have been in defense of the supply depot here during one of Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest’s raids or Gen. John Bell Hood’s attack on Johnsonville. The 13th USCT was engaged in railroad guard duty in Tennessee and Alabama for the Nashville Camp, Northwestern Railroad, until December 1864.

8th USCT, Pennsylvania; 9th USCT, Maryland; 22d USCT, Pennsylvania; 29th Connecticut Infantry, Connecticut; 36th USCT, North Carolina/Virginia; 37th USCT, North Carolina/Virginia (formerly the 3d North Carolina Colored Infantry); 38th USCT, Virginia October 1, 1864 Deep Bottom, Virginia 38th USCT, Virginia Operations against Petersburg and Richmond, June 1864–April 1865. October 2, 1864 Saltville, Virginia 5th USCC, Kentucky; 6th USCC, Kentucky Stoneman’s Raid into southwestern Virginia, December 10–29. Union casualties: 54 killed, 190 wounded, 104 missing. Confederate casualties: 18 killed, 71 wounded, 21 missing. October 4, 1864 Fillmore, Virginia 1st USCT, District of Columbia

September 25, 1864 Sulphur Branch Trestle, Alabama 111th USCT, Alabama Only a detachment fought here. See Athens (September 23–24).

October 5, 1864 Fort Adams, Louisiana 3d USCC, Mississippi Expedition from Natchez to Woodville, Mississippi, October 4–11.

September 26, 1864 Richland, Tennessee 111th USCT, Alabama Only a detachment fought here. See Athens (September 23–24). September 27, 1864 Marianna, Florida 82d USCT, Louisiana Expedition to Marianna, September 18–October 4. Also present were the 7th Vermont Infantry and 2d Maine Cavalry. Union casualties: 32 dead and wounded. Confederate casualties: 81 dead and wounded. September 29–30, 1864 Chaffin’s (Chapin’s) Farm, Virginia 2d USCC, Virginia; 1st USCT, District of Columbia; 4th USCT, Maryland; 5th USCT, Ohio; 6th USCT, Pennsylvania; 7th USCT, Maryland;

October 10, 1864 Dalton, Georgia 44th USCT, Georgia Under the command of Colonel Johnson, some 400 men were captured. October 10, 1864 Eastport (or East Point), Mississippi 61st USCT, Tennessee Union casualties: 16 killed, 20 wounded. October 10, 1864 South Tunnel, Tennessee 40th USCT, Tennessee Guard duty for entire term on Nashville & Louisville Railroad and Nashville Camp, Northwestern Railroad, and in the District of East Tennessee.

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October 11, 1864 Fort Donelson, Tennessee 4th USCHA, Mississippi Formerly the 2d Tennessee Heavy Artillery (African Descent). In October 1864, the 119th USCT and the 4th Colored Artillery (Heavy) skirmished near Fort Donelson. Union casualties: four killed, nine wounded. Confederate casualties: three killed, twenty-three wounded. October 13, 1864 Darbytown Road, Virginia 7th USCT, Maryland; 8th USCT, Pennsylvania; 9th USCT, Maryland; 29th Connecticut Infantry, Connecticut Part of the Petersburg Campaign. Union casualties: 109 killed, 502 wounded, 200 missing. Confederate casualties: 1,100 killed and wounded, 350 missing. October 15, 1864 Bayou Liddell, Louisiana 52d USCT, Mississippi

from Kentucky into southwestern Virginia, September 20–October 17, 1864. The 9th Kentucky Cavalry Regiment (Lt. Col. Boyle) fought here on October 10, 1862. October 22, 1864 White River, Arkansas 53d USCT, Mississippi Unit moved to St. Charles, Arkansas, on the White River on October 1864, and remained there until February 1865. October 27–28, 1864 Fair Oaks, Virginia 1st USCT, District of Columbia; 5th USCT, Ohio; 9th USCT, Maryland; 22d USCT, Pennsylvania; 29th Connecticut Infantry, Connecticut; 37th USCT, North Carolina Union casualties: 120 killed, 783 wounded, 400 missing. Confederate casualties: 60 killed, 311 wounded, 80 missing. The 1st USCT (Maj. Harvey W. Brown) and 2d USCT (Col. George W. Cole) are both listed as unattached.

October 15, 1864 Glasgow, Missouri 62d USCT, Missouri Formerly the 1st Missouri Colored Infantry. Only a detachment of the 62d USCT was present, accompanied by the 43d Illinois Infantry and detachments from three other regiments. Union casualties: 400 missing. Confederate casualties: 50 killed and wounded.

October 27–28, 1864 Hatcher’s Run, Virginia 27th USCT, Ohio; 39th USCT, Maryland; 41st USCT, Pennsylvania; 43d USCT, Pennsylvania; 45th USCT, Pennsylvania Part of the Petersburg Campaign. Union casualties: 156 killed, 1,047 wounded, 699 missing. Confederate casualties: 200 killed, 600 wounded, 200 missing.

October 20, 1864 Waterloo, Louisiana 75th USCT, Louisiana Unit later ordered to Terrebonne, Louisiana, February 26, 1864. Duty there and in the District of LaFourche until November 1865.

October 28–29, 1864 Decatur, Alabama 14th USCT, Tennessee Part of the Franklin-Nashville Campaign, 1864. Forces under Brig. Gen. Robert S. Granger. Union casualties: 10 killed, 45 wounded, 100 missing.

October 21, 1864 Bryan’s Plantation, Florida 3d USCT, Pennsylvania Attached to District of Florida, Department of the South, to October 1864.

October 28–29, 1864 Richmond, Virginia 2d USCC, Virginia; 7th USCT, Maryland In trenches before Richmond until March 27, 1865.

October 21, 1864 Harrodsburg, Kentucky 5th USCC, Kentucky Follows the unit’s participation in Burbridge’s Raid

October 31, 1864 Deep Bottom, Virginia 127th USCT, Pennsylvania Duty in trenches north of the James River before Richmond until March 1865.

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November 26, 1864 Madison Station, Alabama 101st USCT, Tennessee Unit set to guard Louisville & Nashville Railroad, and duties in Tennessee and Alabama.

November 1, 1864 Black River, Louisiana 6th USCHA, Mississippi November 4, 1864 Chaffin’s Farm, Virginia 22d USCT, Pennsylvania Second battle. November 14, 1864 Cow Creek, Kansas 54th USCT, Arkansas Formerly the 2d Arkansas Infantry (African Descent). Battles at Cow Creek, Kansas, November 14 and 28.

November 30, 1864 Bermuda Hundred, Virginia 19th USCT, Maryland Unit also saw action on the Bermuda Hundred front, November 17–18. On duty at Bermuda Hundred until March 1865.

November 19, 1864 Ash Bayou, Louisiana 93d USCT, Louisiana May actually refer to skirmish at Lake Fausse Point, November 18. Only a detachment of 93d USCT, formerly XXVI Corps d’Afrique Infantry.

November 30, 1864 Honey Hill, South Carolina 32d USCT, Pennsylvania; 35th USCT, North Carolina; 54th Massachusetts Volunteers, Massachusetts 55th Massachusetts Volunteers, Massachusetts 102d USCT, Michigan Honey Hill or Grahamsville, South Carolina. 1st Brigade (Gen. E. E. Potter): 56th New York, 127th New York, 144th New York, 157th New York, 25th Ohio, 32d USCT, 34th USCT, and 35th USCT Regiments. 2d Brigade (Col. A. S. Hartwell): 54th Massachusetts, 55th Massachusetts, 26th USCT, and 102d USCT Regiments. Union casualties: 66 killed, 645 wounded.

November 19, 1864 Timber Hill, Cherokee Nation (Oklahoma) 79th USCT (new), Kansas

December 1, 1864 Bermuda Hundred, Virginia 39th USCT, Maryland

November 22, 1864 Rolling Fork, Mississippi 3d USCC, Mississippi Alternate date given as November 11.

December 2, 1864 Nashville, Tennessee (Block House # 2, Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad) 44th USCT, Georgia Also known as Mill Creek, Chattanooga, December 2–3. Union troops consisted of the 44th USCT, two companies of the 14th USCT, and a detachment of the 115th Ohio Infantry Regiment.

November 17, 1864 Dutch Gap, Virginia 36th USCT, North Carolina Siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond, Virginia, July 3, 1864–April 2, 1865.

November 23, 1864 Morganza, Louisiana 84th USCT, Louisiana Formerly XII Corps d’Afrique Infantry. Duty at Morganza until May 1865. November 24, 1864 Section 37, Nashville & Northwestern Railroad, Tennessee 12th USCT, Tennessee Action at Buford’s Station, Section 37, Nashville & Northwestern Railroad.

December 4, 1864 Bermuda Hundred, Virginia 19th USCT, Maryland Stationed on the Bermuda Hundred front until December 7. December 5, 1864 Gregory’s Farm, South Carolina

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26th USCT, New York Prior to demonstration on Charleston & Savannah Railroad, December 6–9. December 7, 1864 Nashville, Tennessee 18th USCT, Missouri Occupation of Nashville during Gen. John Bell Hood’s investment, December 1–15. December 6–9, 1864 Devaux’s Neck, South Carolina 32d USCT, Pennsylvania; 34th USCT, South Carolina; 55th Massachusetts Volunteers, Massachusetts; 102d USCT, Michigan Expedition to Devaux’s Neck, December 1–6. Union casualties: 39 killed, 390 wounded, 200 missing. Confederate casualties: 400 killed and wounded. Alternate listing: 26th USCT, 33d USCT, 34th USCT, 102d USCT, 54th Massachusetts (Colored) Infantry, 55th Massachusetts (Colored) Infantry. December 9, 1864 Gregory’s Farm, South Carolina 26th USCT, New York Battle also called Tillifinny Station.

Union casualties: 400 killed, 1,740 wounded. Confederate casualties: 4,462 missing. Alternate listing: 1st Colored Brigade (Col. Thomas J. Morgan): 14th USCT (Lt. Col. H. C. Corbin), 16th USCT (Col. William B. Gaw), 17th USCT (Col. William R. Shafter), 44th USCT (Col. Lewis Johnson), 18th USCT (Maj. Lewis D. Joy). Casualties: 21 killed, 118 wounded, 25 missing. 2d Colored Brigade (Col. Charles R. Thompson): 12th USCT (Lt. Col. William R. Sellon), 13th USCT (Col. J. A. Hottenstein), 100th USCT (Maj. Collin Ford), 1st Battery, Kansas Light Artillery (Capt. Marcus D. Tenney). Casualties: 77 killed, 390 wounded, 1 missing. December 17, 1864 Mitchell’s Creek, Florida 82d USCT, Louisiana Mitchell’s Creek, Florida, and Pine Barren Creek, Alabama. Union casualties: nine killed, fifty-three wounded, eleven missing. Pine Barren Ford and Pine Barren Creek were part of the same action in the expedition to Pollard, Alabama, December 13–19. December 17–18, 1864 Pine Barren Ford, Florida 82d USCT, Louisiana Expedition to Pollard, Alabama, December 13–19.

December 10, 1864 Fort Burnham, Virginia 41st USCT, Pennsylvania Unit moved to Fort Burnham north of the James River, before Richmond, October 27.

December 17–19, 1864 Pine Barren Creek, Alabama 97th USCT, Louisiana Formerly III Corps d’Afrique Engineers. Expedition to Pollard, Alabama, December 13–19.

December 12, 1864 Hopkinsville, Kentucky 5th USCC, Kentucky Stoneman’s Raid into southwestern Virginia, December 10–29.

December 17–18, 1864 Marion, Virginia 6th USCC, Kentucky Part of Stoneman’s Raid into southwestern Virginia. December 18, 1864 Arkansas River, Arkansas 54th USCT, Arkansas Date may have been January 18, 1865, because the 54th USCT was not ordered to Little Rock until January.

December 13, 1864 Bermuda Hundred, Virginia 23d USCT, Virginia Unit on duty at the Bermuda Hundred front until March 1865. December 15–16, 1864 Nashville, Tennessee 12th USCT, Tennessee; 13th USCT, Tennessee; 14th USCT, Tennessee; 17th USCT, Tennessee; 18th USCT, Missouri; 100th USCT, Kentucky

December 19, 1864 Rector’s Farm, Arkansas 83d USCT (new), Kansas On duty at Fort Smith, Arkansas, until January 1865.

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Expedition from Memphis, Tennessee, to destroy Mobile & Ohio Railroad, December 21, 1864– January 5, 1865. Union casualties: four killed, nine wounded. Confederate casualties: twenty killed, thirty wounded. Union forces consisted of 3d USCC, 4th Illinois Cavalry Regiment, and 11th Illinois Cavalry Regiment.

December 20, 1864 Saltville, Virginia 5th USCC, Kentucky Part of Stoneman’s Raid into Virginia and Tennessee, December 12–21, 1864. December 21, 1864 Nashville, Tennessee 44th USCT, Georgia Pursuit of Gen. John Bell Hood to the Tennessee River, December 17–28.

January 5, 1865 Mud Creek, Alabama 106th USCT, Alabama

December 22, 1864 McKay’s Point, South Carolina 26th USCT, New York Following this engagement, the unit was ordered to Beaufort, South Carolina, January 2, 1865, and remained on duty there until August. December 24, 1864 Murfreesboro, Tennessee 12th USCT, Tennessee After this, the unit was given railroad guard and garrison duty in the Department of the Cumberland until January 1866. December 24, 1864 Fort Smith, Arkansas 83d USCT (new), Kansas Duty at Fort Smith until January 1865. December 27–28, 1864 Decatur, Alabama 17th USCT, Tennessee Unit involved in pursuit of Gen. John Bell Hood to the Tennessee River, December 17–27; therefore, alternate Battle of Decatur dates may be December 28–30. December 28, 1864 Egypt Station, Mississippi 3d USCC, Mississippi Expedition from Memphis, Tennessee, to destroy Mobile & Ohio Railroad, December 21, 1864– January 5, 1865. Union casualties: 23 killed, 88 wounded. Confederate casualties: 500 captured. January 2, 1865 Franklin, Mississippi 3d USCC, Mississippi

January 5, 1865 Smithfield, Kentucky 6th USCC, Kentucky Unit at Louisville, Kentucky, and Helena, Arkansas, until January 1866. January 7, 1865 Magnolia, Tennessee 15th USCT, Tennessee Unit on post duty at Springfield, Tennessee, and in the District of Middle Tennessee until April 1866. January 8, 1865 Scottsboro, Alabama 101st USCT, Tennessee Unit on duty at Nashville, Tennessee, until October 1864. Then assigned to guard Louisville & Nashville Railroad, and stationed in Tennessee and Alabama until mustered out. Involved in two skirmishes at Scottsboro and Larkinsville, Alabama, on January 8, 1865. January 8, 1865 Ivey’s Ford, Arkansas 79th USCT (new), Kansas Battle rated as a skirmish. January 13–15, 1865 Fort Fisher, North Carolina 3d Division, XXV Corps (Brig. Gen. Charles J. Paine): 2d Brigade (Col. John W. Ames) 4th USCT (Lt. Col. George Rogers), 6th USCT (Maj. William R. Brazie), 10th USCT (Lt. Col. Edward H. Powell), 27th USCT (Col. A. H. Blackman), 37th USCT (Col. Nathan Goff, Jr.). First expedition to Fort Fisher, North Carolina, took place December 7–27. Second expedition to Fort Fisher occurred January 7–15, 1865. Bombardment

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of Fort Fisher, January 13–15. Assault and capture of Fort Fisher, January 15. Accounts also state that the 107th USCT was present.

Company E, 1st USCC (Capt. Charles W. Emerson) was posted at Harrison’s Landing under Col. William J. Sewell.

January 15–April 26, 1865 North Carolina and South Carolina 110th USCT, Alabama Campaign of the Carolinas. 110th USCT unassigned.

January 27, 1865 Elrod’s Tan Yard, Tennessee 18th USCT, Missouri Unit based in Bridgeport, Alabama, guarding railroad until February 1865.

January 17, 1865 Lotus steamer, Arkansas 83d USCT (new), Kansas Capture of vessel.

February 9, 1865 Salkehatchie, South Carolina 102d USCT, Michigan Battle dates given as January 25–February 9, 1865. Engagement also known as Combahee River or Rivers Bridge. Action part of advance on Charleston, February 7–23. Skirmish at Cuckwold Creek, February 8 (Companies B, E, and I). Then on duty at Charleston Neck until March 9.

January 18, 1865 Clarksville, Arkansas 79th USCT (new), Kansas Battle designated as a skirmish. January 19, 1865 Sugar Loaf Hill, North Carolina 6th USCT, Pennsylvania; 107th USCT, Kentucky January 24, 1865 Boggs’ Mills, Arkansas 11th USCT (old), Arkansas Unit moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, in November 1864. January 24, 1865 Fort Brady, Virginia 118th USCT, Kentucky Siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond, November 1864–April 1865. January 24, 1865 Fort Burnham, Virginia 7th USCT, Maryland In trenches before Richmond until March 27, 1865. January 25, 1865 Simpsonville, Kentucky 5th USCC, Kentucky Unit served at Ghent, Paducah, LaGrange, Crab Orchard, and Camp Nelson, Kentucky, until August 1865. January 25, 1865 Powhatan, Virginia 1st USCC, Virginia

February 10, 1865 James Island, South Carolina 55th Massachusetts Volunteers, Massachusetts 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment involved in yet another attack on James Island. Known as the Battle of Grimball’s Causeway or the Last Fight for Charleston, each side would retreat after the brief skirmish with no sufficient gains made. Union casualties: twenty killed, seventy-six wounded. Confederate casualties: twenty killed, seventy wounded. Expedition to John’s Island in February only involved Company F. February 11, 1865 Federal Point, North Carolina 39th USCT, Maryland Part of a series of battles including Sugar Loaf Hill and Federal Point, North Carolina. Union casualties: 14 killed, 114 wounded. February 11, 1865 Sugar Loaf Hill, North Carolina 4th USCT, Maryland; 6th USCT, Pennsylvania; 30th USCT, Maryland Part of a series of battles including Sugar Loaf Hill and Federal Point, North Carolina. Union casualties: 14 killed, 114 wounded. February 16, 1865 Cedar Keys, Florida

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of Maj. Gen. John Newton. Casualties: 148 killed and wounded.

2d USCT, Virginia May have actually have been Station No. 4, February 13, 1865.

March 8, 1865 Alliance steamer, Florida 99th USCT, Louisiana Operations near St Mark’s, Florida.

February 17, 1865 Chippewa steamer, Arkansas 83d USCT (new), Kansas Capture of vessel. February 18, 1865 Fort Jones, Kentucky 12th USCHA, Kentucky Assigned to garrison duty in District of Kentucky at Bowling Green, Camp Nelson, and other posts until April 1866. February 20, 1865 Town Creek, North Carolina 1st USCT, District of Columbia A number of encounters around Wilmington, North Carolina, during February 18–22, 1865, including Fort Anderson and Town Creek. February 22, 1865 Wilmington, North Carolina 1st USCT, District of Columbia Listed as being present was the 3d Division, XXV Corps (Brig. Gen. Charles J. Paine): 2d Brigade (Col. John W. Ames): 4th USCT (Lt. Col. George Rogers), 6th USCT (Maj. William R. Brazie), 10th USCT (Lt. Col. Edward H. Powell), 27th USCT (Col. A. H. Blackman), 37th USCT (Col. Nathan Goff, Jr.).

March 10, 1865 Marion County, Florida 3d USCT, Pennsylvania Unit on duty in Jacksonville, Florida, as Heavy Artillery until May 1865. (One company at Fernandina, Florida.) March 15, 1865 Yazoo City, Mississippi 3d USCC, Mississippi Following the occupation of Yazoo City, February 9–March 6. March 18, 1865 Boyd’s Station, Alabama 101st USCT, Tennessee During duty in Tennessee and Alabama. March 18, 1865 Amite River, Louisiana 77th USCT, Louisiana V Corps d’Afrique Infantry.

February 25, 1865 Briggen Creek, South Carolina 55th Massachusetts Volunteers, Massachusetts Expedition to Santee River, February 21–March 10. March 1, 1865 St. Stephen’s, South Carolina 55th Massachusetts Volunteers, Massachusetts Expedition to Santee River, February 21–March 10. March 6, 1865 Natural Bridge, Florida 2d USCT, Virginia; 99th USCT, Louisiana Formerly V Corps d’Afrique Engineers (99th USCT). Operations in the vicinity of St. Mark’s, Florida, February 21–March 7, under the command

March 24, 1865 Cox’s Bridge, North Carolina 30th USCT, Maryland Campaign of the Carolinas, March 1–April 26. March 25, 1865 Brawley Fork, Tennessee 17th USCT, Tennessee Unit posted to Nashville, Tennessee, and in the Department of Tennessee until April 1866. March 27–April 8, 1865 Spanish Fort, Alabama 68th USCT, Missouri During march from Pensacola, Florida, to Blakely, Alabama, March 20–April 1. Union casualties: 657. Confederate casualties: 744. Part of the Mobile Campaign under Maj. Gen. Edward Richard Sprigg Canby.

| 720 |

U n i t e d S t a t e s C o l o r e d Tr o o p s , B a t t l e s o f

March 31, 1865 White Oak Road, Virginia 29th USCT, Illinois Appomattox Campaign, March 28–April 9. March 31–April 9, 1865 Fort Blakely, Alabama 47th USCT, Louisiana; 48th USCT, Louisiana; 50th USCT, Louisiana; 51st USCT, Mississippi; 68th USCT, Missouri; 73d USCT, Louisiana; 76th USCT, Louisiana; 82d USCT, Louisiana; 86th USCT, Louisiana Formerly the 12th Louisiana Infantry (African Descent) (50th USCT), the 4th Louisiana Native Guards and IV Corps d’Afrique Infantry (76th USCT), and XIV Corps d’Afrique Infantry (86th USCT). Mobile Campaign, 1865, with 55,000 Union troops involved during the months of March and April. Up to 10,000 Confederates were stationed throughout the Mobile area, some 2,500 defending the city of Mobile while the rest were found at Fort Blakely and Spanish Fort. At least 32,000 Union soldiers marched through the entire length of Baldwin County up the eastern shore, while 14,000 Union troops came out of Pensacola, traveled due north, then turned back south in a surprise movement to invest Blakely. April 4, 1865 Jacksonville, Florida 3d USCT, Pennsylvania Expedition from Jacksonville to Camp Milton, May 31–June 3, 1864. April 6, 1865 Warsaw, North Carolina 1st USCT, District of Columbia April 7, 1865 Raleigh, North Carolina 1st USCT, District of Columbia; 5th USCT, Ohio Advance on Raleigh, April 9–13, and occupation of Raleigh, April 13. April 8, 1865 Eppes’ Ferry, South Carolina (Potter’s South Carolina Raid) 54th Massachusetts Volunteers, Massachusetts Companies A and H, 54th Massachusetts Infantry under Brig. Gen. Edward E. Potter. Potter’s

Expedition to Camden, April 5–25. Seven Mile Bridge, April 6. Destruction of Eppes’ Bridge, Black River, April 7. Dingle’s Mills, April 9. Destruction of Rolling Stock at Wateree Junction, April 11. Singleton’s Plantation, April 12. Statesburg, April 15. Occupation of Camden, April 17. Boykin’s Mills, April 18. April 9, 1865 Appomattox Court House, Virginia 41st USCT, Pennsylvania Pursuit of Gen. Robert E. Lee, April 3–9. Union casualties: 200 killed and wounded. Confederate casualties: 500 killed. April 11, 1865 Sumterville, South Carolina (Potter’s South Carolina Raid) 54th Massachusetts Volunteers, Massachusetts See Eppes’ Ferry (April 8). Operating with the 4th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. April 13, 1865 Manchester, South Carolina (Potter’s South Carolina Raid) 54th Massachusetts Volunteers, Massachusetts See Eppes’ Ferry (April 8). Losses unknown, regiment now commanded by Col. Henry N. Hooper. April 14, 1865 Swiss Creek, South Carolina (Potter’s South Carolina Raid) 54th Massachusetts Volunteers, Massachusetts; 32d USCT, Pennsylvania See Eppes’ Ferry (April 8). Another battle took place here on April 16, which not only involved the 54th, but also the 3d USCT and the 102d USCT. April 18, 1865 Boykin’s Mills, South Carolina 54th Massachusetts Volunteers, Massachusetts; 102d USCT, Michigan See Eppes’ Ferry (April 8). Regimental casualties: two killed, eighteen wounded. April 18, 1865 Bradford Springs, South Carolina 102d USCT, Michigan Formerly the 1st Michigan Colored Infantry. Potter’s Expedition from Georgetown to Camden, April

| 721 |

U n i t e d S t a t e s C o l o r e d Tr o o p s , B a t t l e s o f

5–29. Statesburg, April 15. Occupation of Camden, April 17. Boykin’s Mills, April 18. Bradford Springs, April 18 (right wing). Dingle’s Mills, April 19. Singleton’s Plantation, April 19. Beech Creek, near Statesburg, April 19.

62d USCT, Missouri Battle alternately dated May 12–13, 1865. Union troops commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Bronson. Union casualties: 118 killed and wounded. Expedition from Brazos Santiago, Texas, May 11–14.

April 18, 1865 Taylorsville, Kentucky 119th USCT, Kentucky Attached to the Department of Kentucky until April 1866.

November 4, 1865 Cabin Creek, Cherokee Nation (Oklahoma) 54th USCT, Arkansas Union casualties: twenty-three killed, wounded, and missing. Confederate casualties: sixty-five killed, wounded, and missing.

April 19, 1865 Swift’s Creek, South Carolina (Dingle’s Mills) 102d USCT, Michigan See Bradford Springs (April 18). April 30 , 1865 Saline River, Arkansas 54th USCT, Arkansas Attached to the Department of Arkansas until December 1866. May 15, 1865 Palmetto Ranch, Texas

References and Further Reading Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. 3 vols. New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1959. Gladstone, William A. United States Colored Troops, 1863–1867. Gettysburg, Pa.: Thomas Publications, 1990. Wilson, Joseph T. The Black Phalanx: A History of the Negro Soldiers of the United States in the Wars of 1775–1812, 1861–1865. 1890. Reprint, Salem, NH: Ayer, 1992.

| 722 |

Buffalo Soldier Postings, 1865–1917

The Buffalo Soldiers (9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments and 24th and 25th Infantry Regiments) were often stationed in isolated garrisons along the western frontier. Based on the latest research available, these listings seek to indicate the postings during the period between the end of the Civil War and the beginning of World War I. Many of the posts were temporary structures, and in only a handful of cases are there any material remains of the installations.

Forts Occupied by the 9th Cavalry Regiment, 1865–1917 New Orleans, LA (HQ) September 9, 1866–March 9, 1867 Carrollton, LA (HQ) March 9, 1867–March 27, 1867 San Antonio, TX (HQ) April 1867–June 1867 Camp Stockton, TX (HQ) July 7, 1867–September 9, 1868 Fort Davis, TX (HQ) October 3, 1868–January 21, 1871 Fort Stockton, TX (HQ) January 23, 1871–April 16, 1872 Fort Clark, TX (HQ) April 27, 1872–January 23, 1873 July 1, 1875–October 19, 1875 Ringgold Barracks, TX (HQ) February 7, 1873–June 10, 1875 Fort Union, NM (HQ) December 3, 1875–February 15, 1876 Santa Fe, NM (HQ) February 18, 1876–November 6, 1881 Fort Riley, KS (HQ) November 8, 1881–June 14, 1885

Fort McKinney, WY (HQ) August 17, 1885–May 1887 Fort Robinson, NE (HQ) May 16, 1887–April 2, 1898 Chickamauga Park, GA April 23, 1893–April 30, 1889 Port Tampa, FL May 2, 1898–June 13, 1898 Cuba June 20, 1898–August 14, 1898 Camp Wikoff, NY August 20, 1898–September 27, 1898 Fort Grant, AZ October 5, 1898– July 28, 1900 Philippines October 5, 1889–July 28, 1900 October 6, 1900–September 20, 1902 June 2, 1907–May 15, 1909 February 6, 1916–December 31, 1916 Fort Walla Walla, WA October 24, 1902–October 19, 1904 Fort Riley, KS October 23, 1904–April 29, 1907 Fort D. A. Russell, WY June 15, 1909–March 11, 1911 San Antonio, TX March 15, 1911–July 9, 1911 Douglas, AZ September 13, 1912–December 25, 1915 Detachments Fort Garland, NM Fort Lancaster, TX Fort Elliott, KS Fort Duncan, TX Fort Hays, KS Fort Sill, OK

| 723 |

B u f f a l o S o l d i e r Po s t i n g s

Fort Quitman, TX Fort Reno, NE Fort Supply, OK Fort Bayard, NM Fort McRae, NM Fort Duchesne, UT Fort Wingate, NM Fort McKinney, WY Fort Stanton, NM Fort Niobrara, NE Fort Union, NM Fort Seldon, NM Forts Occupied by the 10th Cavalry Regiment, 1865–1917 Fort Leavenworth, KS (HQ) September 24, 1866–August 5, 1867 Fort Riley, KS (HQ) August 7, 1867–April 17, 1868 Fort Gibson, Indian Territory (HQ) May 4, 1868–March 31, 1869 June 11, 1872–June 5, 1872 Camp Wichita/Fort Sill, OK (HQ) April 12, 1869–June 5, 1872 May 4, 1873–March 27, 1875 Fort Concho, TX (HQ) April 17, 1875–July 18, 1882 Fort Davis, TX (HQ) July 29, 1882–April 11, 1885 Whipple Barracks, AZ (HQ) May 20, 1885–July 11, 1886 Fort Grant, TX (HQ) July 22, 1886–November 28, 1886 September 27, 1890–April 25, 1892 Santa Fe, NM (HQ) November 1886–December 6, 1888 Fort Apache, AZ (HQ) December 11, 1888–September 21, 1890 Fort Custer, MT (HQ) May 5, 1892–November 1894 Fort Assiniboine, MT (HQ) November 21, 1894–April 19, 1898 Chickamauga Park, GA April 25, 1898–May 14, 1898 Lakeland, FL May 16, 1898–June 7, 1898 Tampa, FL June 7, 1898–June 14, 1898

Cuba June 23, 1889–August 13, 1889 May 7, 1899–April 24, 1902 Camp Wikoff, NY August 21, 1898–October 6, 1898 Camp Forse, AL October 11, 1898–January 29, 1899 Fort Sam Houston, TX February 4, 1899–April 28, 1899 Fort Robinson, NE May 4, 1902–March 1, 1907 Philippines April 3, 1907–May 15, 1909 Fort Ethan Allen, VT July 28, 1909–December 5, 1913 Fort Huachuca, AZ December 19, 1913–March 9, 1916 Detachments Fort McKavett, TX Fort Stockton, TX Fort Arbuckle, KS Fort Hays, KS Fort Harker, KS Fort Larned, KS Fort Richardson, TX Fort Verde, AZ Fort Duncan, TX Fort Bowie, AZ Fort Cobb, Indian Territory Fort Thomas, AZ Fort Lyon, CO Fort Dodge, IA Fort Supply, OK Fort Griffin, TX Fort Keogh, MT Fort Bayard, NM In the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, there were four African American infantry regiments, the 38th, 39th, 40th, and 41st. The 38th was stationed in Kansas and New Mexico and the 39th in Louisiana and Mississippi; details of the postings are unknown. The 41st was based at Fort McKavett, Texas. More is known about the stations occupied by the 40th, although much of the detail is unavailable. In 1869 these four regiments were reorganized into the 24th and 25th Infantry Regiments.

| 724 |

B u f f a l o S o l d i e r Po s t i n g s

Posts and Regimental Headquarters for the 40th Infantry Fort Kuston Camp Distribution,VA Fort Plymouth Sullivan’s Island,SC Fort Goldsboro Smithville, NC(HQ) Raleigh, NC (HQ) Castle Pinckney, SC Fort Macon, NC Walterboro,SC Fort Hatteras, NC Orangeburg, SC Fort Fisher, NC Hilton Head, SC Fort Caswell, NC Forts Occupied by the 24th Infantry Regiment, 1865–1917 Fort McKavett, TX (HQ) November 1, 1869–August 7, 1872 Fort Brown, TX (HQ) September 1, 1872–July 18, 1873 October 30, 1874–June 1, 1876 Fort Duncan, TX (HQ) August 1, 1873–October 15, 1874 September 19, 1876–December 14, 1876 February 11, 1878–March 13, 1879 April 3, 1879–April 29, 1880 Fort Clark, TX (HQ) December 16, 1876–February 9, 1878 March 14, 1879–April 2, 1879 Fort Davis, TX (HQ) June 18, 1880–October 15, 1880 Fort Supply, OK (HQ) December 16, 1880–October 5, 1887 April 17, 1888–June 1, 1888 Fort Sill, OK (HQ) October 17, 1887–April 9, 1888 Fort Bayard, NM (HQ) June 4, 1888–October 19, 1896 Fort Douglas, UT (HQ) October 22, 1896–April 20, 1898 Chickamauga Park, GA April 24, 1898–April 30, 1898 Tampa, FL May 2, 1898–June 9, 1898

Cuba June 25, 1898–August 26, 1898 Camp Wikoff, NY September 3, 1898–September 23, 1898 Fort Douglas, UT October 1, 1898–April 5, 1899 Presidio of San Francisco, CA April 7, 1899–July 15, 1899 Philippines August 19, 1899–June 28, 1902 February 24, 1906–February 8, 1908 January 1, 1912–September 14, 1915 Fort Harrison, MT August 16, 1902–December 23, 1905 Madison Barracks, NY March 25, 1908–November 28, 1911 San Francisco, CA November 14, 1915–February 25, 1916 Fort D. A. Russell, WY February 28, 1916–March 23, 1916 Mexican border March 26, 1916–October 5, 1922 Detachments Fort Apache, NM Fort Stockton, TX Fort Grant, AZ Fort Concho, TX Fort Huachuca, AZ Fort San Carlos, FL Fort Ringgold, TX Fort Thomas, AZ Fort Duncan, TX Fort Bowie, AZ Fort Elliott, TX Forts Occupied by the 25th Infantry Regiment, 1865–1917 New Orleans, LA (HQ) April 20, 1869–May 1870 Fort Clark, TX (HQ) July 2, 1870–May 6, 1872 Fort Davis, TX (HQ) May 26, 1872–May 17, 1880 Fort Randall, SD (RH) June 29, 1880–November 17, 1882 Fort Snelling, MN (HQ) November 20, 1882–May 23, 1888

| 725 |

B u f f a l o S o l d i e r Po s t i n g s

Fort Missoula, MT (HQ) May 26, 1888–April 10, 1898 Chickamauga Park, GA April 15, 1898–May 6, 1898 Tampa, FL May 7, 1898–June 6, 1898 Cuba June 22, 1898–August 13, 1898 Camp Wikoff, NY August 22, 1898–September 29, 1898 Fort Logan, CO October 3, 1898–June 27, 1899 Philippines October 31, 1899–July 6, 1902 September 17, 1907–September 6, 1909 Fort Niobrara, NE August 27, 1902–July 23, 1906 Fort Bliss, TX July 28, 1906–June 12, 1907 Fort Lawton, WA October 5, 1909–January 1, 1913 Schofield Barracks, HI January 15, 1913–August 18, 1918

Fort Quitman, TX Fort McKavett, TX Fort Duncan, TX Fort Stockton, TX Fort Shaw, MO Fort Bliss, TX Fort Custer, MT Fort Sam Houston, TX Fort Keogh, MT Fort Gibson, OK Fort Buford, ND Fort Sill, OK References and Further Reading Carroll, John M., ed. The Black Military Experience in the American West. New York: Liveright, 1971. Schubert, Frank N. On the Trail of the Buffalo Soldier. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1995. Schubert, Frank N. Black Valor: Buffalo Soldiers and the Medal of Honor, 1870–1898. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1997.

Detachments Fort Hale, SD Fort Meade, SD

| 726 |

World War I Recruitment Camps and Postings, African American Troops

The U.S. Army’s rapid expansion arising out of the recruitment for World War I required the creation of some thirty-two training camps each capable of housing around 40,000 men. Ten of the camps later became permanent installations used by the army. The information on each of the training camps details the African American units recruited and stationed there during this period. Camp Alexander (Newport News, VA) Pioneer Infantry Battalions: 801st, 808th, 813th, 816th Labor Battalions: 313th, 316th, 317th, 319th, 320th, 325th, 339th, 340th, 341st, 342d, 343d, 346th, 347th Engineer Service Battalions: 508th, 511th, 516th, 520th, 522d, 543d, 549th Camp Beauregard (Alexandria, LA) African American Enlistments, 1918: May 6 September June 13 October July 13 November August 14 December Camp Bowie (Fort Worth, TX) African American Enlistments, 1918: September 310 November October 2,808 December Camp Cody (Deming, NM) Infantry Regiment: 24th (2d Battalion)

86 998 769 241

1,671 1,354

African American Enlistments, 1917: September 1 November October 100 December

100 100

African American Enlistments, 1918: Unknown Camp Custer (Battle Creek, MI) Labor Battalion: 324th Engineer Service Battalion: 536th African American Enlistments, 1917: December 380 African American Enlistments, 1918: January 383 July February 142 August March 161 September April 180 October May 926 November June 1,427 December

827 3,670 1,702 2,033 1,053 295

Camp Devens (Ayer, MS) Engineer Service Battalions: 519th, 520th, 534th, 537th African American Enlistments, 1918: January 1 July February 3 August March 0 September April 249 October May 1,976 November June 4,367 December

| 727 |

600 3,959 3,252 3,244 1,588 2,933

Wo r l d Wa r I R e c r u i t m e n t C a m p s a n d Po s t i n g s

Camp Dix (Wrightstown, NJ) Field Artillery: 167th Brigade (less 351st), 349th, 350th Pioneer Infantry Battalions: 807th, 811th, 813th Engineer Battalions: 541st, 542d African American Enlistments, 1917: September 671 November October 642 December

1 0

African American Enlistments, 1918: January 1,374 July February 1,416 August March 1,415 September April 1,649 October May 2,712 November June 1,601 December

5,236 8,084 7,162 6,280 5,379 2,533

Camp Dodge (Des Moines, IA) Infantry Battalion: 366th (mobilizing) Pioneer Infantry Battalions: 804th, 809th Officers Training School for African American Candidates African American Enlistments, 1917: September 0 November October 238 December

3,659 3,917

African American Enlistments, 1918: January 4,905 July February 3,636 August March 3,697 September April 3,597 October May 6,378 November June 3,184 December

6,772 7,354 6,802 4,682 3,867 2,053

Camp Fremont (Palo Alto, CA) African American Enlistments, 1918: May 4 September June 4 October July 5 November August 4 December

4 1 1 1

Camp Furlong (Columbus, NM) Infantry Regiment: 24th Camp Gordon (Augusta, GA) Engineer Service Battalions: 514th, 516th, 517th, 518th, 527th, 528th, 539th, 548th, 550th Pioneer Battalions: 802d, 804th Labor Battalions: 308th, 312th, 313th, 314th, 315th, 324th, 327th, 342d, 345th

African American Enlistments, 1917: September 0 November October 1,676 December

1,700 700

African American Enlistments, 1918: January 3,936 July February 820 August March 3,574 September April 5,154 October May 8,793 November June 7,078 December

6,962 10,494 6,624 5,769 5,123 1,944

Camp Grant (Rockford, IL) Headquarters: 183d Infantry Brigade Infantry Battalions: 365th, 370th (demobilizing) Machine Gun Battalion: 350th (mobilizing for overseas) Pioneer Infantry Battalion: 803d Labor Battalions: 323d, 329th African American Enlistments, 1917: November 951 December

1,048

African American Enlistments, 1918: January 1,041 July February 1,159 August March 3,081 September April 7,865 October May 3,543 November June 3,285 December

5,769 6,026 10,124 13,898 12,851 6,595

Camp Greene (Charlotte, NC) Labor Battalions: 344th–348th inclusive African American Enlistments, 1918: January 4 July February 2 August March 1 September April 37 October May 1 November June 1 December

87 5,875 7,142 14,336 8,012 4,590

Fort Hancock (Highlands, NJ) African American Enlistments, 1918: May 0 September June 532 October July 1,274 November August 1,594 December

3,168 2,564 2,778 3,041

Camp Hill (Newport News, VA) Labor Battalions: 306th, 308th, 309th, 310th, 311th, 312th, 313th, 315th, 318th, 319th, 322d, | 728 |

Wo r l d Wa r I R e c r u i t m e n t C a m p s a n d Po s t i n g s

327th, 331st, 332d, 334th, 336th, 337th, 338th, 343d Stevedore Regiments: 301st, 302d, 303d Fort Huachuca (Tombstone, AZ) Cavalry Regiment: 10th Camp Humphries (Alexandria, VA) Service Engineer Battalions: 516th, 520th–524th inclusive, 540th–550th inclusive African American Enlistments, 1918: January 0 July February 0 August March 0 September April 114 October May 3,148 November June 2,767 December

2,174 5,306 6,051 5,511 3,956 2,732

1,017 2,266

African American Enlistments, 1918: January 62 July February 2,819 August March 3,240 September April 788 October May 2,819 November June 3,295 December

6,704 7,795 3,633 3,667 3,951 4,590

Camp Kearney (Linda Vista, CA) African American Enlistments, 1918: November 4 December

4,179 4,255

African American Enlistments, 1918: January 4,899 July February 5,772 August March 4,230 September April 477 October May 1,919 November June 4,740 December

8,988 6,303 7,433 6,637 5,663 5,455

Camp Lewis (Washington, DC) Some 400 African Americans were posted here in the early months of the war.

Camp Jackson (Columbia, SC) Headquarters: 186th Infantry Brigade Infantry Battalion: 371st (mobilizing for overseas and demobilizing) Engineer Battalions: 520d, 524th, 534th, 536th, 546th Pioneer Infantry Battalion: 807th Labor Battalions: 305th, 309th, 321st, 328th, 329th, 330th, 331st, 335th, 346th Labor Companies: 301st–305th inclusive African American Enlistments, 1917: September 15 November October 2,642 December

African American Enlistments, 1917: September 0 November October 20 December

Camp Lewis (Tacoma, WA) African American Enlistments, 1917: September 0 November October 518 December

489 444

African American Enlistments, 1918: January 862 July February 425 August March 21 September April 11 October May 61 November June 75 December

14 1,093 880 566 537 250

Camp Stephen Little (Nogales, AZ) Infantry Regiment: 25th Camp Logan (Houston, TX) Headquarters: 185th Infantry Brigade Infantry Battalions: 370th (mobilizing for overseas) Infantry Regiment: 24th (3d Battalion)

1

Camp Lee (Petersburg, VA) Pioneer Infantry Battalion: 808th Labor Battalions: 304th, 320th, 321st, 323d, 330th, 338th, 339th, 344th, 347th, 348th Engineer Service Battalions: 505th, 506th, 510th, 511th, 535th, 540th, 543d, 547th, 549th

African American Enlistments, 1917: September 177 November October 1,722 December

2,189 0

African American Enlistments, 1918: January 2,555 July February 2,516 August March 0 September April 0 October May 0 November June 0 December

0 0 0 731 734 746

Camp MacArthur (Waco, TX) Labor Battalion: 331st Infantry Regiment: 24th (1st Battalion)

| 729 |

Wo r l d Wa r I R e c r u i t m e n t C a m p s a n d Po s t i n g s

African American Enlistments, 1918: January 0 July February 0 August March 3 September April 3 October May 341 November June 1,164 December

1,163 2,347 1,388 1,376 959 1,059

Camp McClellan (Anniston, AL) Labor Battalion: 326th African American Enlistments, 1917: November 99 December

140

African American Enlistments, 1918: January 0 July February 0 August March 0 September April 0 October May 0 November June 0 December

0 2,480 1,861 8,338 6,352 3,404

Camp Meade (Baltimore, MD) Infantry Regiment: 368th Field Artillery: 351st (training and mobilizing for overseas), 325th Signal Battalion Headquarters: 184th Infantry Brigade (DHQ), 167th Field Artillery Brigade, 317th Train Headquarters and Military Police African American Enlistments, 1917: November 2,154 December

3,336

African American Enlistments, 1918: January 6,082 July February 5,951 August March 7,946 September April 4,799 October May 7,969 November June 8,971 December

10,596 5,126 6,169 7,921 3,586 3,033

Camp Merritt (Jersey City, NJ) Headquarters: 184th Infantry Brigade Field Signal Corps: 325th (staging) Infantry Battalion: 369th (preparing to embark) Pioneer Infantry Battalions: 801st, 812th, 815th Engineer Service Battalions: 505th, 506th, 545th, 547th–550th inclusive Labor Battalions: 318th, 321st Camp Mills (Long Island, NY) Headquarters: 167th Field Artillery Brigade

Field Artillery: 351st (staging) Engineer Service Battalions: 515th, 532d, 537th, 548th, 550th Pioneer Infantry Battalions: 802d, 804th, 806th, 809th, 811th, 813th, 814th African American Enlistments, 1918: May 50 September June 636 October July 636 November August 673 December

2,044 748 1,476 1,472

Norfolk, VA (establishments around this area) Engineer Service Battalions: 525th, 526th, 546th, 547th Pioneer Infantry Battalions: 803d, 807th Labor Battalions: 316th Fort Oglethorpe (Rossville, GA) Infantry Battalion: 366th (demobilizing) Camp Pike (Little Rock, AR) Engineer Service Battalions: 508th, 512th, 523d, 524th, 525th, 526th, 533d Labor Battalions: 309th, 322d, 334th, 335th African American Enlistments, 1917: September 0 November October 1,432 December

2,932 2,959

African American Enlistments, 1918: January 1,955 July February 3,229 August March 5,479 September April 5,205 October May 11,288 November June 10,014 December

9,381 9,504 9,484 11,267 10,399 5,363

Fort Riley (Junction City, KS) Headquarters: 349th Machine Gun Battalion Engineer Service Battalions: 529th, 530th Pioneer Infantry Battalions: 805th, 806th, 815th, 816th Labor Battalion: 325th African American Enlistments, 1917: September 7 November October 7 December African American Enlistments, 1918: January 2,707 April February 2,661 May March 2,454 June | 730 |

7 2 2,671 2,050 3,706

Wo r l d Wa r I R e c r u i t m e n t C a m p s a n d Po s t i n g s

July August September

9,765 9,969 9,459

October November December

9,134 7,576 3,974

Schofield Barracks (Oahu, HI) Infantry Regiment: 25th Camp Sevier (Greenville, SC) Labor Battalion: 321st African American Enlistments, 1918: May 0 September June 4 October July 0 November August 1,747 December

4,786 5,327 2,895 2,795

1,469 2,225 3,378 2,332 1,536 1,779

Camp Sheridan (Montgomery, AL) National Guard: 9th Separate Battalion of Ohio African American Enlistments, 1918: May 0 September June 56 October July 1,000 November August 3,109 December

1,680 941 984 975

Camp Sherman (Chillicothe, OH) Engineer Battalion: 317th (mobilizing for overseas and demobilizing) Field Signal Battalion: 325th (mobilizing for overseas) Infantry Battalion: 372d (demobilizing) Pioneer Infantry Battalions: 802d, 809th, 813th African American Enlistments, 1917: September 4 November October 0 December

3,695 5,884 6,070 7,817 7,868 3,779

Fort Sill (Lawton, OK) A handful of African American officers were trained here.

Camp Shelby (Hattiesburg, MS) Field Artillery: 317th Trench Mortar Battery (demobilizing) Pioneer Infantry Battalions: 805th, 806th, 816th Labor Battalions: 310th, 318th, 319th, 325th, 326th, 329th, 334th, 335th, 340th African American Enlistments, 1918: January 0 July February 0 August March 0 September April 49 October May 307 November June 115 December

African American Enlistments, 1918: January 3,521 July February 3,933 August March 2,414 September April 2,219 October May 2,819 November June 3,777 December

2,032 3,314

African American Enlistments, 1918: January 1 April February 1 July March 1 August

1 2 2

Camp Stuart (Newport News, VA) Headquarters: 185th Infantry Brigade (less 369th Infantry) (preparing to embark) Engineer Service Battalions: 513th, 514th, 523d, 524th, 532d Pioneer Infantry Battalion: 815th Labor Battalions: 314th, 335th, 339th, 347th Camp Stotsenburg (Luzon, Philippines) Cavalry Regiment: 9th Camp Taylor (Louisville, KY) Machine Gun Battalion: 349th. Trains: 317th Ammunition, 317th Supply, 317th Sanitation (demobilizing) African American Enlistments, 1917: November 15 December

34

African American Enlistments, 1918: January 81 July February 137 August March 206 September April 3,262 October May 2,101 November June 2,544 December

6,308 8,267 5,258 4,934 4,490 3,601

Camp Travis (San Antonio, TX) Engineer Service Battalions: 507th, 509th, 513th, 531st, 537th Pioneer Infantry Battalion: 815th Labor Battalions: 322d, 331st, 332d African American Enlistments, 1917: November 7,623 December | 731 |

7,100

Wo r l d Wa r I R e c r u i t m e n t C a m p s a n d Po s t i n g s

African American Enlistments, 1918: January 3,964 July February 1,645 August March 1,414 September April 5,301 October May 5,790 November June 5,111 December

8,067 7,765 7,139 7,065 2,929 3,120

Camp Upton (Yaphank, NY) Headquarters: 183d Infantry Brigade, 366th Infantry Brigade Infantry Brigades: 183d (less 366th), 184th (less 368th) Infantry Battalions: 367th, 368th, 369th (demobilizing), 370th, 371st, 372d (latter three staging) Field Signal Battalion: 325th Trains: 317th Training Headquarters and Military Police, 317th Ammunition, 317th Supply (preparing to embark), 317th Sanitary (staging), 317th Engineering (demobilizing) Field Artillery Brigades: 349th, 350th, 317th Trench Mortar Battery Machine Gun Battalion: 349th Engineer Service Battalions: 509th, 512th, 513th, 514th, 527th–531st inclusive, 534th, 535th, 536th, 539th, 540th, 542d Pioneer Infantry Battalions: 803d, 804th, 805th, 806th, 809th, 814th, 816th Labor Battalions: 307th, 312th, 321st, 323d, 325th, 329th, 333d, 344th, 345th African American Enlistments, 1917: September 606 November October 604 December

604 0

African American Enlistments, 1918: January 3,345 July February 3,351 August March 3,409 September April 3,591 October May 4,431 November June 2,657 December

7,193 7,721 4,833 3,072 2,289 1,403

African American Enlistments, 1917: September 0 November October 1,258 December

0 0

African American Enlistments, 1918: January 0 July February 0 August March 0 September April 0 October May 0 November June 0 December

3,299 5,664 1,734 2,687 1,401 1,347

Camp Wheeler (Macon, GA) Labor Battalion: 327th African American Enlistments, 1918: January 0 July February 0 August March 199 September April 190 October May 1,392 November June 1,467 December

872 3,884 2,352 5,426 3,394 986

References and Further Reading Barbeau, Arthur E., and Florette Henri. The Unknown Soldiers: Black American Troops in World War I. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1974. Henri, Florette. Bitter Victory: A History of Black Soldiers in World War I. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1970. Johnson, Charles, Jr. African American Soldiers in the National Guard: Recruitment and Deployment. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1992. Scott, Emmett J. Scott’s Official History of the American Negro in the World War. N.p., 1919. Sweeney, W. Allison. History of the American Negro in the Great World War. New York: Johnson, 1970. Woodson, Carter G. The Negro in Our History. Washington, DC: Associated Publishers, 1922.

Camp Wadsworth (Spartanburg, SC) Labor Battalion: 330th

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World War II and Korean War Recruitment Camps, African American Troops

World War II saw the beginning of the end of segregated units in the U.S. military. However, during this period there are a large number of military installations associated with African Americans. In part, this is due to the enormous increase in the number of African American units that were created by the services starting in December 1941. The allocation or establishment of facilities suitable for African American units had a number of key considerations: • availability of housing and facilities on the post • proportions of white and African American troops at the post • proximity to civilian centers of African American population with good recreational facilities that could absorb sizable numbers of men on leave or with passes • attitude of the nearby citizen community to the presence of African American troops • division of large units into smaller units and training at different bases U.S. Army 2d Cavalry Division (Horse) Activated at Fort Clark, Texas, and staged at Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia. Consisting of 4th, 5th Cavalry Brigades HHT 9th, 10th, 27th, 28th Cavalry Regiments; HHB Division Artillery 77th, 79th, 159th Field Artillery Battalions; Headquarters Troop 162d Engineer Squadron; 3d Medical Squadron; 35th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron,

Mechanized; Maintenance Company 114th Ordinance Medium; 20th Cavalry Quartermaster Military Police, 2d Cavalry Squadron. 92d Infantry Division Activated at Fort McClellan, Alabama, and moved to Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Staged at Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia. Consisting of 365th, 370th, 371st, Infantry Regiments (442d, 473d attached); 597th, 598th, 599th, 600th Field Artillery Battalions; HHB Division Artillery; 92d Reconnaissance Troop 317th, Engineer Combat Battalion; 317th Medical Battalion; Headquarters Special Troops Headquarters Company; Military Police Platoon; 792d Ordnance Light Maintenance Company; 92d Quartermaster Company; 92d Signal Company. 93d Infantry Division Activated at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, and staged at Camp Stoneman, California. Consisting of 25th, 368th, 369th Infantry Regiments; 593d, 594th, 595th, 596th Field Artillery Battalions; HHB Division Artillery; 93d Reconnaissance Troop, Mechanized; 318th Engineer Combat Battalion; 318th Medical Battalion; 93d Counterintelligence Corps; Headquarters Special Troops; Headquarters Company; Military Police Platoon; 793d Ordnance Light Maintenance Company; 93d Quartermaster Company; 93d Signal Company. 24th Infantry Regiment Stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia. 25th Infantry Regiment Stationed at Fort Huachuca, Arizona; attached to Third Army, then to 93d Infantry Division.

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748th Tank Battalion Formed at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. Moved to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey.

364th Infantry Regiment Formerly the 367th, activated at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. Moved to Phoenix, Arizona; staged at Fort Lawton, Washington. 366th Infantry Regiment Activated at Fort Devens, Massachusetts; moved to Fort A. P. Hill, Virginia, and Camp Atterbury, Indiana. Staged at Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia. 367th Infantry Regiment Activated at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana; staged in Charleston, South Carolina. Redesignated the 364th.

5th Calvary Brigade Activated at Fort Clark, Texas, and staged at Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia. Elements became the 6400th Ordnance Ammunition Battalion. 9th Cavalry Regiment Stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas. Transferred to Fort Clark, Texas, and then staged at Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia. Under 2d Cavalry Division.

368th Infantry Regiment Activated at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, and assigned to 93d Infantry.

10th Cavalry Regiment Stationed at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Moved to Fort Riley, Kansas. Moved to Camp Lockett, California, and then staged at Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia. Also under 2d Cavalry Division.

369th Infantry Regiment Activated at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, and assigned to 93d Infantry. 370th Infantry Regiment Activated at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky, and assigned to 92d Infantry Division.

27th Cavalry Regiment Activated at Fort Clark, Texas. Transferred to 2d Cavalry Division.

371st Infantry Regiment Activated at Camp Joseph T. Robinson, Arkansas, and assigned to 92d Infantry Division.

28th Cavalry Regiment Activated at Camp Lockett, California, as part of 2d Cavalry Division.

372d Infantry Regiment Inducted into federal service from Washington, D.C.; New Jersey; Columbus, Ohio; and Boston, Massachusetts. Moved to Fort Dix, New Jersey. Transferred to Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky, and Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Staged at Fort Lawton, Washington.

U.S. Military Academy Cavalry Squadron Formed at West Point, New York. 5th Reconnaissance Squadron Formed at Fort Clark, Texas. Assigned to 2d Cavalry Division.

367th Armored Infantry Battalion Formed at Camp Davis, North Carolina.

35th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (Mechanized) Formed at Fort Clark, Texas. Assigned to 2d Cavalry Division.

555th Parachute Infantry Battalion Formed at Camp Mackall, North Carolina. 5th Armored Group Activated at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, as 5th Tank Group. Moved to Fort Hood, Texas. Moved to Fort Huachuca, Arizona, and returned to Fort Hood, Texas. 758th Light Tank Battalion Formed at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

4th Cavalry Brigade Activated at Fort Riley, Kansas. Moved to Camp Lockett, California. Staged at Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia.

614th Tank Destroyer Battalion Formed at Camp Carson, Colorado. Moved to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. 649th Tank Destroyer Battalion Formed at Camp Bowie, Texas. 659th, 669th Tank Destroyer Battalions Formed at Camp Hood, Texas.

761st Tank Battalion Formed at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana.

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353d Field Artillery Group (Motorized) Formed at Camp Livingston, Louisiana. 1st and 2d Battalions redesignated 353d and 993d Field Artillery Battalions.

679th Tank Destroyer Battalion Formed at Camp Hood, Texas. Moved to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. 795th Tank Destroyer Battalion Formed at Fort Custer, Michigan, as Heavy SelfPropelled.

184th Field Artillery Regiment Inducted into federal service from Illinois National Guard at Chicago, Illinois. Moved to Fort Custer, Michigan, and assigned to Second Army. 1st and 2d Battalions redesignated 930th and 931st Field Artillery Battalions.

827th Tank Destroyer Battalion Formed at Camp Forrest, Tennessee. Moved to Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia. 828th Tank Destroyer Battalion Formed at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and moved to Fort Huachuca, Arizona. 829th Tank Destroyer Battalion Formed at Camp Gruber, Oklahoma, as Heavy SelfPropelled. Moved to Camp Hood, Texas. 846th Tank Destroyer Battalion Formed at Camp Livingston, Louisiana, and moved to Camp Swift, Texas. 46th Field Artillery Brigade Activated at Camp Livingston, Louisiana, and assigned to Third Army. Redesignated HHB, 46th Field Artillery Group. 333d Field Artillery Group (Motorized) Redesignated from HHB 333d Field Artillery Regiment at Camp Gruber, Oklahoma. Staged at Camp Shanks, New York. 1st and 2d Battalions redesignated 333d and 969th Field Artillery Battalions. 349th Field Artillery Group (Motorized) Redesignated from 349th Field Artillery Regiment at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Moved to Camp Hood, Texas. Staged at Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts. 1st and 2d Battalions redesignated 3498th and 686th Field Artillery Battalions.

578th Field Artillery Regiment (Motorized) Activated at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Redesignated HHB 578th Field Artillery; 1st and 2d Battalions redesignated 578th and 999th Field Artillery Battalions. 77th, 79th Field Artillery Battalions Formed at Fort Clark, Texas. Assigned to 2d Cavalry Division. 159th Field Artillery Battalion Formed at Fort Clark, Texas. Assigned to 2d Cavalry Division. 593d, 594th, 595th, 596th Field Artillery Battalions Formed at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Moved to Camp Stoneman, California. 597th Field Artillery Battalion Formed at Camp Atterbury, Indiana. Moved to Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts. 598th Field Artillery Battalion Formed at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky, and staged at Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts. 599th Field Artillery Battalion Formed at Camp Joseph T. Robinson, Arkansas. Staged at Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts. 600th Field Artillery Battalion Formed at Fort McClellan, Alabama. Staged at Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts.

350th Field Artillery Group (Motorized) Redesignated from HHB 350th Field Artillery Regiment at Camp Livingston, Louisiana. 1st and 2d Battalions redesignated 350th and 971st Field Artillery Battalions. 351st Field Artillery Group (Motorized) Redesignated from HHB 351st Field Artillery Regiment at Camp Livingston, Louisiana. Moved to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and Camp Gruber, Oklahoma. Staged at Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts. 1st and 2d Battalions redesignated 351st and 973d Field Artillery Battalions.

732d Field Artillery Battalion Formed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Redesignated 1695th Combat Engineer Battalion. 777th Field Artillery Battalion Formed at Camp Beale, California. 795th Field Artillery Battalion Formed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Redesignated 1700th Combat Engineer Battalion.

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54th Coast Artillery Regiment Activated at Camp Wallace, Texas. Moved to Camp Davis, North Carolina; Fort Fisher, North Carolina; and back to Camp Davis. Transferred to Fort Cronkhite, California, and Fort Ord, California. HHB unit redesignated HHB 152d Coast Artillery Group; then 1st–3d Battalions redesignated 606th, 49th, 607th Coast Artillery Battalions. 76th Coast Artillery Regiment Activated at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Transferred to Burbank, California, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. HHB redesignated HHB 76th AAA Group; 1st and 2d Battalions redesignated 76th and 933d AAA Battalions. 77th Coast Artillery Regiment Activated at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and moved to Hartford, Connecticut. Staged at Fort Dix, New Jersey. HHB redesignated HHB 77th AAA Group; 1st–3d Battalions redesignated 77th AAA Gun, 938th AAA Auto-Weapons, and 374th Searchlight Battalions. 90th Coast Artillery Regiment Activated at Camp Stewart, Georgia, and staged at Fort Dix, New Jersey. HHB redesignated HHB 90th AAA Group; 1st–3d Battalions redesignated 90th AAA Gun, 897th AAA Auto-Weapons, and 334th Searchlight Battalions. 99th Coast Artillery Regiment. Activated at Camp Davis, North Carolina. 1st–3d Battalions redesignated 99th AA Gun, 871st AAA Auto-Weapons, and 338th Searchlight Battalions.

613th Coast Artillery Regiment Activated at Fort Stewart, Georgia. HHB redesignated HHB 122d Coast Artillery Group; 1st–3d Battalions redesignated 742d, 208th, and 235th Coast Artillery Battalions. 318th, 319th, 320th, 321st Balloon Battalions Formed at Camp Tyson, Tennessee. 361st AAA Searchlight Battalion 1st Platoon, Battery A, formed at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. 450th AAA Auto Weapons Battalion Formed at Camp Davis, North Carolina. 452d, 458th, 466th, 477th, 484th, 492d, 493d, 538th AAA Auto-Weapons Battalions Formed at Camp Stewart, Georgia. 846th AAA Auto-Weapons Battalion Formed at Camp Stewart, Georgia. 41st Engineer General Service Regiment Activated at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Designated parent unit of 358th Engineer Regiment. 45th Engineer General Service Regiment Activated at Camp Blanding, Florida. 91st Engineer Battalion Formed at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. Redesignated a regiment at Camp Forrest, Tennessee.

100th Coast Artillery Regiment Activated at Camp Davis, North Carolina, and moved to Fort Custer, Michigan. Also moved to Fort Brady, Michigan, and Fort Stewart, Georgia. 1st and 2d Battalions redesignated 100th AAA Gun and 538th AAA Auto-Weapons Battalions. 369th Coast Artillery Regiment Inducted into federal service in New York. Moved to Fort Ontario, New York, and then transferred to Camp Edwards, Massachusetts, and Los Angeles, California. HHB redesignated HHB 369th AAA Group; 1st and 2d Battalions redesignated 369th AAA Gun and 870th Auto-Weapons Battalions. 612th Coast Artillery Regiment Activated at Fort Stewart, Georgia. HHB

redesignated HHB 121st Coast Artillery Group; 1st–3d Battalions redesignated 741st, 207th, and 234th Coast Artillery Battalions.

92d Engineer Battalion Formed at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. Redesignated a regiment at Camp Forrest, Tennessee. 93d Engineer General Service Regiment Redesignated from the 93d Engineer Battalion (Separate) at Camp Livingston, Louisiana. 94th Engineer General Service Regiment Redesignated from the 94th Engineer Battalion (Separate) at Fort Custer, Michigan. Moved to Fort Dix, New Jersey. 95th Engineer General Service Regiment Redesignated from the 95th Engineer Battalion (Separate) at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and moved to Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

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New York. Battalion formed at Camp Gordon, Georgia.

96th Engineer General Service Regiment Formerly 96th Engineer Battalion formed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

375th Engineer General Service Regiment Redesignated from the 375th Engineer Battalion (Separate) at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Staged at Camp Shanks, New York. Battalion formed at Camp Sutton, North Carolina.

97th Engineer General Service Regiment Redesignated from the 97th Engineer Battalion (Separate) at Eglin Field, Florida. 98th Engineer General Service Regiment Redesignated from the 98th Engineer Battalion (Separate) at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana.

376th Engineer Battalion Formed at Camp Polk, Louisiana. Staged at Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts.

224th, 226th Engineer General Service Regiments Formed from the 366th Infantry Regiment. 350th Engineer General Service Regiment Activated at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. 352d Engineer General Service Regiment Activated at Camp Gordon, Georgia. Transferred to Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania. 354th Engineer General Service Regiment Activated at Camp Maxey, Texas. Staged at Camp Shanks, New York.

377th Engineer General Service Regiment Redesignated from the 377th Engineer Battalion (Separate) at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and assigned to Fifth Service Command. Staged at Camp Shanks, New York. Battalion formed at Camp Pickett, Virginia. 378th, 379th, 383d Engineer Battalions Formed at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. The 383d became the 1349th Engineer Regiment. 382d, 386th Engineer Battalions Formed at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Staged at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey.

356th Engineer General Service Regiment Activated at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. Staged at Camp Shanks, New York. 357th Engineer General Service Regiment Activated at Camp Pickett, Virginia. Transferred to Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. 362d Engineer General Service Regiment Activated at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana.

384th Engineer Battalion Formed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. 385th Engineer Battalion Formed at Camp Edwards, Massachusetts, and staged at Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts. 387th Engineer Battalion Formed at Fort Meade, Maryland.

364th Engineer General Service Regiment Activated at Camp Swift, Texas. Transferred to Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. Staged at Camp Shanks, New York. 365th Engineer General Service Regiment Activated at Camp Campbell, Kentucky. Transferred to Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. Staged at Camp Shanks, New York. 366th Engineer General Service Regiment Activated at Camp Phillips, Kansas. Transferred to Camp Forrest, Tennessee. Staged at Camp Shanks, New York. 374th Engineer General Service Regiment Redesignated from the 374th Engineer Battalion (Separate) at Camp Hood, Texas, and assigned to Eighth Service Command. Staged at Camp Shanks,

388th Engineer General Service Regiment Redesignated from the 388th Engineer Battalion (Separate) at Waterways, Alberta, Canada. Transferred to Camp Sutton, North Carolina. Staged at Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts. Battalion formed at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. 389th Engineer General Service Regiment Redesignated from the 389th Engineer Battalion (Separate) at Camp Young, California, and transferred to Camp Butner, North Carolina. Staged at Camp Shanks, New York. Battalion formed at Camp Gordon, Georgia. 390th Engineer General Service Regiment Activated at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, and staged at Camp Shanks, New York.

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392d Engineer General Service Regiment Activated at Camp Joseph T. Robinson, Arkansas, and moved to Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. Staged at Camp Shanks, New York. 393d Engineer General Service Regiment Activated at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, and returned after a short stay at Camp Joseph T. Robinson, Arkansas. Staged at Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia. 398th Engineer General Service Regiment Activated at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, and staged at Camp Shanks, New York. 810th, 812th, 838th, 847th, 849th Engineer Aviation Battalions Formed at MacDill Field, Florida. 847th was staged at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. 811th, 822d, 823d Engineer Aviation Battalions Formed at Langley Field, Virginia.

929th Engineer Aviation Regiment Activated at Davis-Monthan Field, Arizona. Staged at Camp Stoneman, California. 932d Engineer Aviation Regiment Activated at Eglin Field, Florida. 1310th, 1311th, 1312th, 1313th, 1314th, 1315th, 1316th Engineer General Service Regiments Activated at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. 1310th and 1314th staged at Camp Shanks, New York. 1311th and 1312th staged at Camp Stoneman, California. 1313th staged at Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts. 1315th transferred to Camp Sutton, North Carolina. 1316th transferred to Camp Sutton and Fort Huachuca. Staged at Fort Lawton, Washington. 1317th Engineer General Service Regiment Activated at Camp Ellis, Illinois. Staged at Camp Shanks, New York. 1318th, 1319th, 1321st Engineer General Service Regiments Activated at Camp Butler, North Carolina. 1318th staged at Camp Shanks, New York. 1319th staged at Vancouver Barracks, Washington. 1321st staged at Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts.

827th Engineer Aviation Battalion Formed at Savannah, Georgia. 828th, 839th Engineer Aviation Battalions Formed at Will Rogers Field, Oklahoma. Staged at Fort Lewis, Washington. 829th, 870th Engineer Aviation Battalions Formed at Dale Mabry Field, Florida. Staged at Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts. 837th, 848th Engineer Aviation Battalions Formed at Greenville, South Carolina. 848th staged at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. 855th, 856th Engineer Aviation Battalions Formed at March Field, California, and staged at Camp Stoneman, California. 857th, 867th Engineer Aviation Battalions Formed at Eglin Field, Florida. 858th Engineer Aviation Battalion Formed at Avon Park, Florida.

1320th, 1322d, 1323d Engineer General Service Regiments Activated at Camp Swift, Texas. 1320th and 1322d staged at Camp Stoneman, California. 1323d staged at Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts. 1324th, 1325th, 1326th, 1327th, 1329th, 1330th, 1331st Engineer General Service Regiments Redesignated as battalions at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. 1324th, 1329th, 1330th, and 1331st staged at Camp Shanks, New York. 1325th and 1326th staged at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. 1327th divided into units from Los Angeles and Miami Port. 1332d, 1333d Engineer General Service Regiments Redesignated battalions at Camp Ellis, Illinois. 1332d staged at Camp Shanks, New York. 1333d departed New York.

868th, 869th, 927th Engineer Aviation Regiments Activated at MacDill Field, Florida. 923d Engineer Aviation Regiment Activated at Eglin Field, Florida. 1st Battalion redesignated the 859th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 2d Battalion redesignated the 1882d, and the 3d Battalion redesignated the 1883d. Staged at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey.

1334th, 1553d, 1554th Engineer Construction Battalions Not created in United States. 1349th Engineer General Service Regiment Redesignated from 383d Engineer Battalion in England.

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1749th, 2822d Engineer General Service Regiments Activated at Fort Lewis, Washington.

1883d, 1898th Engineer Aviation Battalions Formed at Eglin Field, Florida.

317th Engineer Combat Battalion Formed at Fort McClellan, Alabama.

1887th, 1890th Engineer Aviation Battalions Formed at March Field, California.

318th Engineer Combat Battalion Formed at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, and moved to Camp Stoneman, California.

1888th, 1894th, 1899th, 1916th, 1917th Engineer Aviation Battalions Formed at MacDill Field, Florida.

1692d Engineer Combat Battalion Formed at Camp Livingston, Louisiana.

6486th, 6487th, 6495th, 6496th Engineer Construction Battalions Not created or served in the United States.

1693d, 1694th Engineer Combat Battalions Formed at Camp Livingston, Louisiana.

U.S. Army Air Forces

1695th Engineer Combat Battalion Formed at Camp Pickett, Virginia.

332d Fighter Group Tuskegee Air Field, Alabama; Selfridge, Michigan; and Oscoda, Michigan. Squadrons included 99th, 100th, 301st, 302d.

1696th Engineer Combat Battalion Formed at Camp Swift, Texas. 1697th Engineer Combat Battalion Formed at Camp Van Dorn, Mississippi.

477th Composite Group (Bombardment Group [Medium]) MacDill Field, Florida; Selfridge, Michigan; Godman Field, Kentucky; and Lockbourne Army Air Base, Ohio. Squadrons included 99th Fighter, 616th Bombardment, 617th Bombardment, 618th Bombardment, 619th Bombardment. (553d Fighter Squadron formed to provide replacement for the 477th; trained at Walterboro Air Field, South Carolina.)

1698th Engineer Combat Battalion Formed at Camp Gordon, Georgia. 1699th Engineer Combat Battalion Formed at Camp Butner, North Carolina. 1700th Engineer Combat Battalion Formed at Camp Jackson, South Carolina. 1862d, 1863d Engineer Aviation Battalions Formed at Gulfport Army Air Field, Mississippi. 1864th, 1870th Engineer Aviation Battalions Formed at Drew Field, Florida. 1865th Engineer Aviation Battalion Formed at Avon Park, Florida. 1866th Engineer Aviation Battalion Formed at Columbia Army Air Base, South Carolina. 1867th Engineer Aviation Battalion Formed at Key Field, Mississippi. 1868th, 1871st, 1882d, 1895th, 1908th Engineer Aviation Battalions Formed at Greenville Army Air Base, South Carolina. 1869th, 1909th Engineer Aviation Battalions Formed at Dale Mabry Field, Florida. 1872d, 1873d, 1889th Engineer Aviation Battalions Formed at Davis-Monthan Field, Arizona.

Army Air Corps Aviation Squadrons (Separate) In 1941, nine aviation squadrons of 250 men each serving at Langley Field, Virginia; Maxwell Field, Alabama; Daniels Field and Savannah, Georgia; Barksdale Field, Louisiana; Camp Livingston, Louisiana; Dale Mabry and MacDill Fields, Florida; and Jackson, Mississippi. As more African Americans joined, air base defense units formed. In September 1942, some 37,223 African American men and officers in the Army Air Corps. Reached peak of 145,025 in December 1943; at end of war (December 1945) numbered 69,016. U.S. Marine Corps Camp Montford Point, Jacksonville, North Carolina (training center). Camp Lejeune, Onslow County, North Carolina. Marine Corps Base, Quantico, Virginia.

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U.S. Navy

U.S. Coast Guard

Educational and Training Facilities Great Lakes Naval Training Station, Illinois (segregated Camps Robert Smalls, Moffett, and Lawrence); Hampton Institute, Virginia (Specialized Training); Navy Technical Training Station, Memphis, Tennessee (Aviation Machinist School); Camp May, New Jersey (Soundman School); Messman School, Bainbridge, Maryland. Construction Battalions Camp Bradford, Norfolk, Virginia; Camp Allen, Norfolk, Virginia. Shoremen Large number of different facilities and stations, perhaps most significant being Port Chicago. Officers Great Lakes Naval Training Station, Illinois (segregated). Women’s Reserve U.S. Naval Training Station, Hunter College, New York City.

Coast Guard Training Center, Manhattan Beach, New York. References and Further Reading Osur, Alan M. Blacks in the Army Air Forces during World War II: The Problem of Race Relations. Washington, D.C.: Office of Air Force History, 1977. Smith, Steven D., Keith Krawczynski, and Robert F. Jefferson. “Victory and Context: Recognition of African American Contributions to American Military History.” In A Historic Context for the African-American Military Experience, ed. Steven D. Smith and James A. Ziegler. https://www.denix. osd.mil/denix/Public/ES-Programs/Conservation/ Legacy/AAME/aame4c.html (accessed September 18, 2003). Stanton, Shelby L. Order of Battle: U.S. Army, World War II. Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1984.

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Desegregation of the Armed Forces: Chronology, 1945–1953

September 1945 Robert P. Patterson, the secretary of war, appoints a board of three general officers to investigate the U.S. Army’s policy with respect to African Americans. The board is to prepare a new policy for the integrated and efficient use of African Americans. Heading the board as chairman is Gen. Alvan C. Gillem Jr. The board will become known as the Gillem Board. October 1, 1945 The Gillem Board holds its first meeting and continues its deliberations for the next four months. February 1946 South Carolina police officers violently attack an African American World War II veteran, Isaac Woodard, in Aitken. Woodward is blinded as a result of the attack after an argument with a bus driver. April 1946 The Gillem Board publishes its report, Utilization of Negro Manpower in the Postwar Army Policy. The report recommends that the U.S. Army’s future policy should “eliminate, at the earliest practicable moment, any special consideration based on race.” African American commentators and activists are stunned that the board does not challenge the issue of segregation in the army. Later, Kenneth Royall, the secretary of the army, will describe the proposed policy as “equality of opportunity on the basis of segregation.” July 1946 In Monroe, Georgia, two African American veterans and their wives are dragged from their car; a white mob riddles their bodies with sixty bullets. July 30, 1946 Attorney General Tom Clark announces that President Harry S. Truman has instructed the Justice Department to “proceed with

all its resources to investigate [the atrocity in Monroe, Georgia atrocity] and other crimes of oppression so as to ascertain if any Federal statute can be applied.” September 12, 1946 President Truman writes to the National Urban League, stating that government has “an obligation to see that the civil rights of every citizen are fully and equally protected.” December 6, 1946 The President’s Committee on Civil Rights is established. May 1947 President Truman is presented with a report from the President’s Advisory Commission on Universal Training. It concludes that “nothing could be more tragic for the future attitude of our people, and for the unity of our Nation, than a program [the proposed Universal Military Training program] in which our Federal Government forced our young manhood to live for a period of time in an atmosphere which emphasized or bred class or racial difference.” October 29, 1947 The President’s Committee on Civil Rights issues its report, To Secure These Rights. The committee roundly condemns segregation, specifically in the armed forces. The report concludes with the opinion that only legislative or administrative action will be able “to end immediately all discrimination and segregation based on race, color, creed or national origin in . . . all branches of the Armed Services.” November 1947 President Truman receives a memorandum from Clark Clifford, special counsel to the president (1946–1950), stating his opinion that the president, in order to win the 1948 presidential election, will have to focus on civil

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rights and the issues affecting African Americans in particular. November 1947 The Committee Against Jim Crow in Military Service and Training is established by union and civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph and black New York Republican Grant Reynolds. January 1948 After considering his options, President Truman determines that segregation in the armed forces and the civil service can only be ended by administrative action in the form of an executive order, rather than through the legislative process. February 2, 1948 President Truman tells Congress that he has given instructions to the secretary of defense to end discrimination in the armed forces as soon as is practicable. March 22, 1948 President Truman has a meeting with leading African Americans who try to convince him to insist on desegregation amendments to legislation being considered in Congress regarding the reintroduction of the draft. March 27, 1948 The “Declaration of Negro Voters” is issued by twenty African American organizations meeting in New York. The declaration demands “that every vestige of segregation and discrimination in the armed forces be forthwith abolished.” March 30, 1948 As the representative of the Committee Against Jim Crow in Military Service and Training, Randolph testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee. He contends that African Americans will refuse to serve in the armed forces if legislation does not end segregation. April 26, 1948 A delegation of some sixteen African American leaders informs James V. Forrestal, the secretary of defense, that African Americans are likely to react very aggressively if segregation is not outlawed in the armed forces. May 1948 President Truman’s staff considers advising him that it may be prudent to establish a committee to oversee the integration program in the armed forces. June 25, 1948 The creation of the League for Nonviolent Civil Disobedience Against Military Segregation is announced by Randolph.

June 29, 1948 Randolph tells President Truman that unless he issues an executive order to end segregation in the armed forces, it is probable that African Americans will seek to resist the draft. July 13, 1948 Minneapolis mayor Hubert H. Humphrey, a member of the platform committee at the Democratic National Convention, proposes that the party call for the abolition of segregation in the armed forces. The proposal is rejected, despite the support of President Truman and his advisors. A more moderate stance is adopted in order not to alienate the Southern delegates and supporters. July 14, 1948 Much to the astonishment of the Democratic Party leadership, delegates at the Democratic National Convention overwhelmingly vote to overrule the platform committee and the Truman administration’s moderate approach. They vote for a more liberal policy that incorporates the desegregation of the armed forces. President Truman’s staff works on drafting an executive order to end segregation, while the president decides to follow the suggestion of his advisors and set up a committee to oversee the desegregation program in the armed forces. July 26, 1948 President Truman signs Executive Order 9981, which states: “It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin.” The order establishes the President’s Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services as the overseeing body to monitor the implementation of the desegregation program. July 26, 1948 Due to the ambiguity of the executive order, some army staff officers leak to the press that they do not consider that 9981 forbids segregation. July 27, 1948 Gen. Omar N. Bradley, the U.S. Army Chief of Staff, states that in his opinion a desegregated army will only come into existence when American society is no longer segregated itself. July 29, 1948 President Truman is forced to make it clear at a press conference that Executive Order 9981’s primary purpose is to end segregation in the armed forces.

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D e s e g r e g a t i o n o f t h e A r m e d Fo r c e s

August 2, 1948 Randolph and other representatives of the League for Nonviolent Civil Disobedience Against Military Segregation meet with J. Howard McGrath, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. McGrath assures them that the President’s Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services will end segregation in the armed forces as intended by Executive Order 9981. Convinced of his sincerity and give reassurances, Randolph and the other representatives issue a statement ending the organization’s civil disobedience campaign. August 14, 1948 Secretary of the Army Royall admits to the press that “segregation in the Army must go.” He is not convinced that it will happen immediately.

Kenneth Royall defends the U.S. Army’s segregation policy; the U.S. Marine Corps follows suit and admits that only one 1 of its 8,200 officers is African American. Secretary of the Navy John L. Sullivan admits that only 5 of their 45,000 officers are African American, but states that the navy is committed to a policy of integration. Secretary of the Air Force Stuart Symington also agrees to institute a policy of desegregation. January 22, 1949 The U.S. Air Force prematurely announces to the press that it has completed its plans for a desegregated service. March 28, 1949 The Fahy Committee calls the secretaries of the three services—army, navy, and air force—to testify. Stuart Symington (air force) and John L. Sullivan (navy) testify that they are opposed to segregation in their services and confirm that policies are in place or are being developed to achieve integration. Kenneth Royall (Army) testifies that he wishes to maintain a segregated service and further states that the U.S. Army is “not an instrument for social evolution.”

September 18, 1948 The members of the President’s Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services are announced by the White House. The chairman is Charles Fahy and subsequently the committee is known as the Fahy Committee. The body will have five members, two of whom are African American. October 9, 1948 Preemptively, the U.S. Navy announces that it will be continuing and extending its policy of integration that it began in the last few months of World War II. December 1948 James V. Forrestal, secretary of defense, receives a proposal from Kenneth Royall, the secretary of the army, that an experimental integrated unit be established in the U.S. Army. In this way, the army could assess the process and effects of integration. Stuart Symington, the secretary of the air force, presents President Truman with an integration plan for the U.S. Air Force. It proposes to assign African Americans to units on the basis of merit and not on the basis of color or creed.

April 1, 1949 Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson issues directives to Symington, Sullivan, and Royall clearly stating his department’s commitment to equality of opportunity and employment in the armed services. He tells them “qualified Negro personnel shall be assigned to fill any type of position . . . without regard to race.” May 11, 1949 Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson decides to approve the U.S. Air Force’s integration plan but flatly rejects those proposed by Sullivan and Royall for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army, respectively. The Fahy Committee makes additional recommendations to the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy, among which are the recommendations that the army end its 10 percent African American enlistment quota and that it desegregate all of its units.

January 12, 1949 President Truman has his first meeting with the Fahy Committee. Also present are the secretaries of the army, navy, air force, and defense. Truman states to them all that: “I want the job done and I want it done in a way so that everyone will be happy to cooperate to get it done.” January 13, 1949 Representatives of the armed services are called to the first of the hearings set up by the Fahy Committee. Secretary of the Army

June 7, 1949 The revised U.S. Navy integration plan is accepted by Louis Johnson, secretary of defense. The U.S. Army revised army plan is rejected once more and Johnson makes a formal statement to the U.S. Army insisting that it incorporates the recommendations of the Fahy Committee before he approves the plan. July 5, 1949 Gordon Gray, the new secretary of the army, and Army Chief of Staff General Omar N.

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D e s e g r e g a t i o n o f t h e A r m e d Fo r c e s

Bradley make the formal presentation of the revised U.S. Army plan to the Fahy Committee. The U.S. Army still proposes to maintain segregation and the 10 percent African American recruitment quota. July 25 and 27, 1949 Speaking as the representative of the Fahy Committee, Charles Fahy tells President Truman, Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson, and Secretary of the Army Gordon Gray that the U.S. Army plan for integration will not be accepted until the army embraces the spirit of Executive Order 9981. August–September, 1949 Fruitless discussions continue between the Fahy Committee and representatives of the U.S. Army to resolve the disparity between the army’s integration plan and those of the other two services. September 27, 1949 The U.S. Army sends a copy of their revised plan to Louis Johnson, the secretary of defense. The Fahy Committee is apprised of the dispatch, but does not receive a copy of its own. September 30, 1949 Louis Johnson approves the revised U.S. Army plan, which still incorporates the maintaining of segregated units and the 10 percent African American enlistment quota. October 6, 1949 For public relations purposes, President Truman announces to the press that the U.S. Army plan is a “a progress report” and not a completed and approved document. He reaffirms his commitment to ensuring that the U.S. Army follows the lead of the other two services and ends segregation. October 11, 1949 President Truman receives a letter from Charles Fahy stating that the revised U.S. Army plan would not end segregation in the service. November 1949 The U.S. Army again revises its integration plan, which still includes segregated units and the 10 percent recruitment quota. The Fahy Committee warns the U.S. Army that it has no hope of having the plan approved and that it is the intention of the committee to release a statement to the press roundly condemning the plan. December 1949 President Truman and the White House request the Fahy Committee not to issue the a condemnation of the U.S. Army plan to the press. Instead, they ask that the Fahy Committee reissue

recommendations to the U.S. Army with advice as to steps needed to modify the plan to achieve the goal of approval. December 15, 1949 The White House is presented with the Fahy Committee’s recommendations and suggested modifications to the U.S. Army integration plan. The Fahy Committee stands by the phasing out of segregation and the termination of the recruitment quota. December 27, 1949 Secretary of the Army Gordon Gray and Charles Fahy meet and discuss the issue. Gray concedes on the point of segregated units, but reserves the right to institute this as a rolling program over a period of time. January 14, 1950 The U.S. Army’s integration plan is finally approved by the Fahy Committee. The question of the 10 percent African American recruitment quota remains an issue to be dealt with at a later date. January 16, 1950 President Truman is apprised of the approval of the U.S. Army’s integration plan by the Fahy Committee. The plan is officially issued as Special Regulations No. 600-629-1 by the U.S. Army. February 1, 1950 The continuing operation of the Fahy Committee is approved by President Truman until the U.S. Army formally accepts the abolition of the 10 percent recruitment quota for African American enlistments. March 1, 1950 Secretary of the Army Gordon Gray discusses the matter of the 10 percent recruitment quota with President Truman. He tells the president that as he understands it, the U.S. Army will abolish the 10 percent recruitment quota, but that if there is a larger than 10 percent influx of African Americans into the U.S. Army, the president has already stated that the U.S. Army would have the right to reinstate the quota. He bases his assumptions on the long discussions held over the past several months with the president on this issue. March 13, 1950 Seemingly reassured by President Truman’s conversation with Gordon Gray, the U.S. Army agrees to abolish its 10 percent recruitment quota for African Americans. The change of policy will come into effect in April 1950. March 27, 1950

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President Truman thanks Gordon

D e s e g r e g a t i o n o f t h e A r m e d Fo r c e s

Gray for the change of policy and tells him: “I am sure everything will work out as it should.” May 22, 1950 Freedom to Serve, the last report of the Fahy Committee, is published and submitted to President Truman. In thanking the committee, the president expresses hopes that the recommendations are carried out and “within the reasonably near future, equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons within the armed services would be accomplished.” With this, the Fahy Committee effectively completes its work. June 1950 The U.S. Army encounters severe difficulties as it tries to predict the levels of recruitment for African Americans. Training camps are told, unofficially, that training should be integrated. Meanwhile, in Korea, the problem of replacing white casualties in combat units and the sudden influx of African American recruits speeds up the integration process as African American replacements are assigned to previously segregated, white-only units. July 6, 1950 President Truman officially winds up the operations of the Fahy Committee, despite the fact that members of the committee feel that there is still work to be done in monitoring the implementation of the integration plans in the three services. President Truman writes: “The necessary programs having been adopted, I feel that the Armed Services should now have an opportunity to work out in detail the procedures which will complete the steps so carefully initiated by the Committee.”

January 1951 In Korea, the Eighth Army unofficially adopts the policy of integrating African Americans into white-only units once the all–African American units have reached official combat strength. March 18, 1951 The Department of Defense announces that all basic training in the armed services will be integrated from this point onward. April 1951 The commander of the United Nations Command in Korea, Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway, requests that the U.S. Army approve the integration of African Americans into all units under his command. July 26, 1951 The army approves Ridgway’s request and makes an announcement that within six months all units assigned to Japan, Korea, and Okinawa will be integrated. October 1953 The U.S. Army makes an official announcement that 95 percent of African Americans serving in the army are now in fully integrated units.

References and Further Reading Dalfiume, Richard M. Desegregation of the U.S. Armed Forces, Fighting on Two Fronts, 1939–1953. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1969. MacGregor, Morris J., Jr. Integration of the Armed Forces 1940–1965. Washington, DC: Center of Military History, United States Army, 1989.

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Medal of Honor

The congressional bill establishing the U.S. Navy Medal of Honor as being awarded to noncommissioned officers and enlisted men of the navy and Marine Corps for “extraordinary bravery” was approved by President Abraham Lincoln on December 21, 1861. On July 12, 1862, he approved the joint resolution of Congress that authorized the preparation of 2,000 Medals of Honor to be presented to noncommissioned officers and privates of the army and volunteer forces for “gallantry in action” and other “soldier-like qualities.” Originally the U.S. Army was not included, as General Winfield Scott, then commander in chief of the Union Army, thought it inappropriate. Shortly after, however, it was extended to the army and became the standard decoration in 1863. On April 16, 1864, General Order 32, Navy Department, announced the first Medal of Honor ever awarded to a black enlisted man of the U.S. Navy. It was not until April 6, 1865, that black privates and noncommissioned officers of the United States Colored Troops were awarded the Medal of Honor.

Barnes, William Henry Rank and Unit Private, Company C, 38th United States Colored Troops Born 1845; St. Mary’s County, Maryland Entered Service Norfolk, Virginia Place and Date of Award Chaffin’s Farm, Virginia; September 29, 1864 Date of Issue April 6, 1865 Citation Among the first to enter the enemy’s works; although wounded. Beaty, Powhatan Rank and Unit First Sergeant, Company G, 5th United States Colored Troops Born October 8, 1837; Richmond, Virginia Entered Service Cincinnati/Delaware County, Ohio Place and Date of Award Chaffin’s Farm, Virginia; September 29, 1864 Date of Issue April 6, 1865 Citation Took command of his company, all the officers having been killed or wounded, and gallantly led it. Blake, Robert

Civil War (1861–1865) Anderson, Bruce Rank and Unit Private, Company K, 142d New York Infantry Born June 19, 1845; Mexico, Oswego County, New York Entered Service Albany/Ephratah, New York Place and Date of Award Fort Fisher, North Carolina; January 15, 1865 Date of Issue December 28, 1914 (posthumously) Citation Voluntarily advanced with the head of the column and cut down the palisading.

Rank and Unit Contraband, U.S. Navy Born Virginia Entered Service Port Royal, Virginia Place and Date of Award Onboard the steam gunboat

USS Marblehead off Legareville, Stono River, in an engagement with the enemy on John’s Island; December 25, 1863 Date of Issue April 16, 1864 Citation Serving the rifle gun, Blake, an escaped slave, carried out his duties bravely throughout the engagement which resulted in the enemy’s abandonment of positions, leaving a caisson and one gun behind.

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Medal of Honor

Bronson, James H. Rank and Unit First Sergeant, Company D, 5th United States Colored Troops Born 1838; Indiana County, Pennsylvania Entered Service Trumbull County/Delaware County, Ohio Place and Date of Award Chaffin’s Farm, Virginia; September 29, 1864 Date of Issue April 6, 1865 Citation Took command of his company, all the officers having been killed or wounded, and gallantly led it. Brown, William H. Rank and Unit Landsman, U.S. Navy Born 1836; Baltimore, Maryland Entered Service Maryland Place and Date of Award Onboard the USS Brooklyn during successful attacks against Fort Morgan, rebel gunboats, and the ram CSS Tennessee in Mobile Bay; August 5, 1864 Date of Issue December 31, 1864 Citation Stationed in the immediate vicinity of the shell whips which were twice cleared of men by bursting shells, Brown remained steadfast at his post and performed his duties in the powder division throughout the furious action which resulted in the surrender of the prize rebel ram Tennessee and in the damaging and destruction of batteries at Fort Morgan. Brown, Wilson Rank and Unit Landsman, U.S. Navy Born 1841; Natchez, Mississippi Entered Service Mississippi River, Mississippi Place and Date of Award Onboard the flagship USS

Hartford during successful attacks against Fort Morgan, rebel gunboats, and the ram CSS Tennessee in Mobile Bay; August 5, 1864 Date of Issue December 31, 1864 Citation Knocked unconscious into the hold of the ship when an enemy shell burst fatally wounded a man on the ladder above him, Brown, upon regaining consciousness, promptly returned to the shell whip on the berth deck and zealously continued to perform his duties although 4 of the 6 men at this station had been either killed or wounded by the enemy’s terrific fire.

Carney, William Harvey Rank and Unit Sergeant, Company C, 54th Massachusetts Infantry Born February 29, 1840; Norfolk, Virginia Entered Service New Bedford, Massachusetts Place and Date of Award Fort Wagner, South Carolina; July 18, 1863 Date of Issue May 23, 1900 Citation When the color sergeant was shot down, this soldier grasped the flag, led the way to the parapet, and planted the colors thereon. When the troops fell back he brought off the flag, under a fierce fire in which he was twice severely wounded. Dorsey, Decatur Sergeant, Company B, 39th United States Colored Troops Born 1836; Howard County, Maryland Entered Service Baltimore County, Maryland Place and Date of Award Petersburg, Virginia; July 30, 1864 Date of Issue November 8, 1865 Citation Planted his colors on the Confederate works in advance of his regiment, and when the regiment was driven back to the Union works he carried the colors there and bravely rallied the men. Rank and Unit

Fleetwood, Christian A. Sergeant Major, 4th United States Colored Troops Born July 21, 1840; Baltimore, Maryland Entered Service Baltimore, Maryland Place and Date of Award Chaffin’s Farm, Virginia; September 29, 1864 Date of Issue April 6, 1865 Citation Seized the colors, after 2 color bearers had been shot down, and bore them nobly through the fight. Rank and Unit

Gardiner, James (Gardner, James Daniel) Rank and Unit Private, Company I, 36th United States Colored Troops Born September 16, 1839; Gloucester, Virginia Entered Service Yorktown, Virginia Place and Date of Award Chaffin’s Farm, Virginia; September 29, 1864 Date of Issue April 6, 1865

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Medal of Honor

Rushed in advance of his brigade, shot a rebel officer who was on the parapet rallying his men, and then ran him through with his bayonet.

Citation

Harris, James H. Rank and Unit Sergeant, Company B, 38th United States Colored Troops Born 1828; St. Mary’s County, Maryland Entered Service Great Mills, Maryland Place and Date of Award New Market Heights, Virginia; September 29, 1864 Date of Issue February 18, 1874 Citation Gallantry in the assault. Hawkins, Thomas R. Rank and Unit Sergeant Major, 6th United States Colored Troops Born 1840; Cincinnati, Ohio Entered Service Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Place and Date of Award Chaffin’s Farm, Virginia; September 29, 1864 Date of Issue February 8, 1870 Citation Rescue of regimental colors.

James, Miles Corporal, Company B, 36th United States Colored Troops Born 1829; Princess Anne County, Virginia Entered Service Portsmouth/Norfolk, Virginia Place and Date of Award Chaffin’s Farm, Virginia; September 30, 1864 Date of Issue April 6, 1865 Citation Having had his arm mutilated, making immediate amputation necessary, he loaded and discharged his piece with one hand and urged his men forward; this within 30 yards of the enemy’s works. Rank and Unit

Kelly, Alexander First Sergeant, Company F, 6th United States Colored Troops Born April 7, 1840; Pennsylvania Entered Service Allegheny, Pennsylvania Place and Date of Award Chaffin’s Farm, Virginia; September 29, 1864 Date of Issue April 6, 1865 Citation Gallantly seized the colors, which had fallen near the enemy’s lines of abatis, raised them and rallied the men at a time of confusion and in a place of the greatest danger. Rank and Unit

Hilton, Alfred B. Rank and Unit Sergeant, Company H, 4th United States Colored Troops Born 1842; Harford County, Maryland Entered Service Baltimore, Maryland Place and Date of Award Chaffin’s Farm, Virginia; September 29, 1864 Date of Issue April 6, 1865 (posthumously) Citation When the regimental color bearer fell, this soldier seized the color and carried it forward, together with the national standard, until disabled at the enemy’s inner line. Holland, Milton Murray Rank and Unit Sergeant Major, 5th United States Colored Troops Born August 1, 1844; Austin, Texas Entered Service Athens/Albany, Ohio Place and Date of Award Chaffin’s Farm, Virginia; September 29, 1864 Date of Issue April 6, 1865 Citation Took command of Company C, after all the officers had been killed or wounded, and gallantly led it.

Lawson, John Rank and Unit Landsman, U.S. Navy Born June 16, 1837; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Entered Service Pennsylvania Place and Date of Award Onboard the flagship

USS Hartford during successful attacks against Fort Morgan, rebel gunboats, and the ram CSS Tennessee in Mobile Bay; August 5, 1864 Date of Issue December 31, 1864 Citation Wounded in the leg and thrown violently against the side of the ship when an enemy shell killed or wounded the 6-man crew as the shell whipped on the berth deck, Lawson, upon regaining his composure, promptly returned to his station and, although urged to go below for treatment, steadfastly continued his duties throughout the remainder of the action. Mifflin, James Rank and Unit Engineer’s Cook, U.S. Navy Born 1839; Richmond, Virginia

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Medal of Honor Entered Service Virginia Place and Date of Award Onboard the USS Brooklyn

during successful attacks against Fort Morgan, rebel gunboats, and the ram CSS Tennessee in Mobile Bay; August 5, 1864 Date of Issue December 31, 1864 Citation Stationed in the immediate vicinity of the shell whips which were twice cleared of men by bursting shells, Mifflin remained steadfast at his post and performed his duties in the powder division throughout the furious action which resulted in the surrender of the prize rebel ram Tennessee and in the damaging and destruction of batteries at Fort Morgan. Pease, Joachim Rank and Unit Seaman, U.S. Navy Born 1842; Long Island, New York Entered Service New York Place and Date of Award Onboard the USS Kearsarge

when she destroyed the CSS Alabama off Cherbourg, France; June 19, 1864 Date of Issue December 31, 1864 Citation Acting as loader on the No. 2 gun during this bitter engagement, Pease exhibited marked coolness and good conduct and was highly recommended by the divisional officer for gallantry under fire.

after the commanding officer had been killed; was the first enlisted man to enter the enemy’s works. Sanderson, Aaron (Anderson Aaron) Rank and Unit Landsman, U.S. Navy Born 1811; North Carolina Entered Service Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Place and Date of Award Onboard the USS Wyandank at Mattox Creek, Virginia; March 17, 1865 Date of Issue June 22, 1865 Citation Participating with a boat crew in the clearing of Mattox Creek, L/man Anderson carried out his duties courageously in the face of a devastating fire which cut away half the oars, pierced the launch in many places and cut the barrel off a musket being fired at the enemy. Smith, Andrew Jackson Rank and Unit Corporal, 55th Massachusetts Infantry Born September 3, 1842; Grand Rivers, Kentucky Entered Service Clinton, Illinois Place and Date of Award Honey Hill, South Carolina; November 30, 1864 Date of Issue January 16, 2001 (posthumously) Citation For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty.

Pinn, Robert A. First Sergeant, Company I, 5th United States Colored Troops Born March 1, 1843; Stark County, Ohio Entered Service Massillon, Ohio Place and Date of Award Chaffin’s Farm, Virginia; September 29, 1864 Date of Issue April 6, 1865 Citation Took command of his company after all the officers had been killed or wounded and gallantly led it in battle. Rank and Unit

Ratcliff, Edward Rank and Unit First Sergeant, Company C, 38th United States Colored Troops Born February 8, 1835; James County, Virginia Entered Service Yorktown, Virginia Place and Date of Award Chaffin’s Farm, Virginia; September 29, 1864 Date of Issue April 6, 1865 Citation Commanded and gallantly led his company

Veal, Charles (Veale, Charles) Private, Company D, 4th United States Colored Troops Born 1838; Portsmouth, Virginia Entered Service Baltimore, Maryland Place and Date of Award Chaffin’s Farm, Virginia; September 29, 1864 Date of Issue April 6, 1865 Citation Seized the national colors after 2 color bearers had been shot down close to the enemy’s works, and bore them through the remainder of the battle. Rank and Unit

Indian Wars (1861–1898) Boyne, Thomas Sergeant, Company C, 9th U.S. Cavalry Born 1849; Prince Georges County, Maryland Entered Service Norfolk, Virginia Rank and Unit

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Medal of Honor

suade a band of renegade Apache Indians to surrender, his group was surrounded. Cpl. Greaves in the center of the savage hand-to-hand fighting, managed to shoot and bash a gap through the swarming Apaches, permitting his companions to break free.

Mimbres Mountains, New Mexico; May 29, 1879; and Cuchillo Negro River near Ojo Caliente, New Mexico; September 27, 1879 Date of Issue January 6, 1882 Citation Bravery in action. Place and Date of Award

Brown, Benjamin Rank and Unit Sergeant, Company C, 24th U.S. Infantry Born 1859; Spotsylvania County, Virginia Entered Service Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Place and Date of Award Arizona; May 11, 1889 Date of Issue February 19, 1890 Citation Although shot in the abdomen, in a fight between a paymaster’s escort and robbers, did not leave the field until again wounded through both arms. Denny, John Sergeant, Company C, 9th U.S. Cavalry Born Big Flats, New York Entered Service 1867; Elmira, New York Place and Date of Award Las Animas Canyon, New Mexico; September 18, 1879 Date of Issue November 27, 1891 Citation Removed a wounded comrade, under a heavy fire, to a place of safety. Rank and Unit

Factor, Pompey Rank and Unit Private, Indian Scouts Born 1849; Arkansas Entered Service Fort Duncan, Texas Place and Date of Award Pecos River, Texas; April 25,

1875 Date of Issue May 28, 1875 Citation With 3 other men, he participated in a

charge against 25 hostiles while on a scouting patrol.

Johnson, Henry Sergeant, Company D, 9th U.S. Cavalry Born June 11, 1850; Boynton, Virginia Entered Service Detroit, Michigan Place and Date of Award Milk River, Colorado; October 2–5, 1879 Date of Issue September 22, 1890 Citation Voluntarily left fortified shelter and under heavy fire at close range made the rounds of the pits to instruct the guards, fought his way to the creek and back to bring water to the wounded. Rank and Unit

Jordan, George Sergeant, Company K, 9th U.S. Cavalry Born 1847; Williamson County, Tennessee Entered Service Nashville, Tennessee Place and Date of Award Fort Tularosa, New Mexico; May 14, 1880; and Carrizo Canyon, New Mexico; August 12, 1881 Date of Issue May 7, 1890 Citation While commanding a detachment of 25 men at Fort Tularosa, N. Mex., repulsed a force of more than 100 Indians. At Carrizo Canyon, N. Mex., while commanding the right of a detachment of 19 men, on 12 August 1881, he stubbornly held his ground in an extremely exposed position and gallantly forced back a much superior number of the enemy, preventing them from surrounding the command. Rank and Unit

Mays, Isaiah Greaves, Clinton Rank and Unit Corporal, Company C, 9th U.S. Cavalry Born August 12, 1855; Madison County, Virginia Entered Service Prince Georges County, Maryland Place and Date of Award Florida Mountains, New Mexico; January 24, 1877 Date of Issue June 26, 1879 Citation While part of a small detachment to per-

Rank and Unit

Corporal, Company B, 24th U.S.

Infantry Born February 16, 1858; Carters Bridge, Virginia Entered Service Columbus Barracks, Ohio Place and Date of Award Arizona; May 11, 1889 Date of Issue February 19, 1890 Citation Gallantry in the fight between Paymaster

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Wham’s escort and robbers. Mays walked and crawled 2 miles to a ranch for help.

Medal of Honor

McBryar, William Rank and Unit Sergeant, Company K, 10th U.S. Cavalry Born February 14, 1861; Elizabethtown, North Carolina Entered Service New York Place and Date of Award Arizona; March 7, 1890 Date of Issue May 15, 1890 Citation Distinguished himself for coolness, bravery and marksmanship while his troop was in pursuit of hostile Apache Indians. Paine, Adam (Payne, Adan) Rank and Unit Private, Indian Scouts Born 1843; Florida Entered Service Fort Duncan, Texas Place and Date of Award Canyon Blanco tributary of the Red River, Texas; September 26–27, 1874 Date of Issue October 13, 1875 Citation Rendered invaluable service to Col. R. S. Mackenzie, 4th U.S. Cavalry, during this engagement. Payne, Isaac Rank and Unit Trumpeter, Indian Scouts Born 1854; Mexico Entered Service Fort Duncan, Texas Place and Date of Award Pecos River, Texas; April 25,

Born 1843; Carroll Parish, Louisiana Entered Service East Carroll Parish, Louisiana Place and Date of Award Kickapoo Springs, Texas;

May 20, 1870 Date of Issue June 28, 1870 Citation Gallantry on scout after Indians. Walley, Augustus Rank and Unit Private, Company I, 9th U.S. Cavalry Born March 10, 1868; Reistertown, Maryland Entered Service Baltimore, Maryland Place and Date of Award Cuchillo Negro Mountains, New Mexico; August 16, 1881 Date of Issue October 1, 1890 Citation Bravery in action with hostile Apaches. Ward, John (Warrior, John) Rank and Unit Sergeant, 24th U.S. Infantry Indian Scouts Born 1847; Arkansas Entered Service Fort Duncan, Texas Place and Date of Award Pecos River, Texas; April 25, 1875 Date of Issue May 28, 1875 Citation With 3 other men, he participated in a charge against 25 hostiles while on a scouting patrol.

1875 Date of Issue May 28, 1875 Citation With 3 other men, he participated in a

charge against 25 hostiles while on a scouting patrol. Shaw, Thomas Rank and Unit

Sergeant, Company K, 9th U.S.

Cavalry Born 1846; Covington, Kentucky Entered Service Baton Rouge, Louisiana Place and Date of Award Carrizo Canyon,

New Mexico; August 12, 1881 Date of Issue December 7, 1890 Citation Forced the enemy back after stubbornly

holding his ground in an extremely exposed position and prevented the enemy’s superior numbers from surrounding his command. Stance, Emanuel Rank and Unit Sergeant, Company F, 9th U.S. Cavalry

Williams, Moses Rank and Unit First Sergeant, Company I, 9th U.S. Cavalry Born 1845; Carrollton, Louisiana Entered Service East Carroll Parish, Louisiana Place and Date of Award Cuchillo Negro Mountains, New Mexico; August 16, 1881 Date of Issue November 12, 1896 Citation Rallied a detachment, skillfully conducted a running fight of 3 or 4 hours, and by his coolness, bravery, and unflinching devotion to duty in standing by his commanding officer in an exposed position under a heavy fire from a large party of Indians saved the lives of at least 3 of his comrades. Wilson, William Rank and Unit Sergeant, Company I, 4th U.S. Cavalry Born Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Entered Service Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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Medal of Honor

Colorado Valley, Texas; March 28, 1872; and Red River, Texas; September 29, 1872 Date of Issue April 27, 1872 Citation In pursuit of a band of cattle thieves from New Mexico. Distinguished conduct in action with Indians, Red River, Tex. Place and Date of Award

Johnson, John Rank and Unit Seaman, U.S. Navy Born 1839; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Entered Service Pennsylvania Place and Date of Award Serving onboard the USS

Kansas near Greytown, Nicaragua; April 12, 1872

Wilson, William O. Rank and Unit Corporal, Company I, 9th U.S. Infantry Born 1867; Hagerstown, Maryland Entered Service St. Paul, Maine Place and Date of Award Sioux campaign; 1890 Date of Issue September 17, 1891 Citation Bravery.

Date of Issue July 9, 1872 Citation Johnson displayed great coolness and self-

possession at the time Comdr. A. F. Crosman and others were drowned and, by extraordinary heroism and personal exertion, prevented greater loss of life.

Woods, Brent Rank and Unit

Jumping overboard, Davis rescued Augustus Ohlensen, coxswain, from drowning.

Citation

Sergeant, Company B, 9th U.S.

Cavalry Born 1850; Pulaski County, Kentucky Entered Service Louisville, Kentucky Place and Date of Award New Mexico, August 19,

1881 Date of Issue July 12, 1894 Citation Saved the lives of his comrades and citi-

Johnson, William Rank and Unit Cooper, U.S. Navy Born 1855; St. Vincent, West Indies Entered Service New York Place and Date of Award Serving onboard the USS Adams at the Navy Yard, Mare Island, California; November 14, 1879 Date of Issue October 18, 1884 Citation Johnson rescued Daniel W. Kloppen, a workman, from drowning.

zens of the detachment. Noil, Joseph B. Interim Period (1871–1898) Atkins, Daniel Rank and Unit Ship’s Cook, First Class, U.S. Navy Born 1867; Brunswick, Virginia Entered Service Virginia Place and Date of Award Onboard the USS Cushing,

Rank and Unit Seaman, U.S. Navy Born 1841; Nova Scotia, Canada Entered Service New York Place and Date of Award Serving onboard the USS

Powhatan at Norfolk; December 26, 1872 Date of Issue n.a. Citation Noil saved Boatswain J. C. Walton from

February 11, 1898

drowning.

Date of Issue May 20, 1898 Citation Showing gallant conduct, Atkins attempted

to save the life of the late Ens. Joseph C. Breckenridge, U.S. Navy, who fell overboard at sea from that vessel on this date. Davis, John Rank and Unit Ordinary Seaman, U.S. Navy Born 1854; Kingston, Jamaica Entered Service n.a. Place and Date of Award Onboard the USS Trenton,

Toulon, France; February 1881 October 18, 1884

Date of Issue

Smith, John Rank and Unit Seaman, U.S. Navy Born 1854; Bermuda Entered Service New York Place and Date of Award Serving onboard the USS

Shenandoah, at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; September 19, 1880 Date of Issue September 19, 1880 Citation For jumping overboard from the U.S.S. Shenandoah, at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 19 September 1880, and rescuing from drowning James Grady, first class fireman.

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Medal of Honor

Sweeney, Robert Augustus Rank and Unit Ordinary Seaman, U.S. Navy Born February 20, 1853; Montreal, Canada Entered Service New Jersey Place and Date of Award Serving onboard the USS Kearsage, at Hampton Roads, Virginia; October 26, 1881 Date of Issue October 18, 1884 Citation Serving on board the U.S.S. Kearsarge, at Hampton Roads, Va., 26 October 1881, Sweeney jumped overboard and assisted in saving from drowning a shipmate who had fallen overboard into a strongly running tide. Spanish-American War (1898) Baker, Edward Lee, Jr. Rank and Unit Sergeant Major, 10th U.S. Cavalry Born Laramie County, Wyoming Entered Service Cincinnati, Ohio Place and Date of Award Santiago, Cuba; July 1, 1898 Date of Issue July 3, 1902 Citation Left cover and, under fire, rescued a wounded comrade from drowning.

Penn, Robert Rank and Unit Fireman, First Class, U.S. Navy Born October 10, 1872; City Point, Virginia Entered Service Virginia Place and Date of Award Serving onboard the USS

Iowa at Santiago de Cuba, Cuba; July 20, 1898 Date of Issue December 14, 1898 Citation On board the U.S.S. Iowa off Santiago de

Cuba, 20 July 1898. Performing his duty at the risk of serious scalding at the time of the blowing out of the manhole gasket on board the vessel, Penn halted the fire while standing on a board thrown across a coal bucket 1 foot above the boiling water which was still blowing from the boiler. Thompkins, William H. Rank and Unit Private, Troop G, 10th U.S. Cavalry Born October 3, 1872; Paterson, New Jersey Entered Service Paterson, New Jersey Place and Date of Award Tayabacoa, Cuba; June 30, 1898 Date of Issue June 23, 1899 Citation Voluntarily went ashore in the face of the enemy and aided in the rescue of his wounded comrades; this after several previous attempts at rescue had been frustrated.

Bell, Dennis Rank and Unit Private, Troop H, 10th U.S. Cavalry Born December 28, 1866; Washington, D.C. Entered Service Washington, D.C. Place and Date of Award Tayabacoa, Cuba; June 30,

1898 Date of Issue June 23, 1899 Citation Voluntarily went ashore in the face of the

enemy and aided in the rescue of his wounded comrades; this after several previous attempts at rescue had been frustrated.

Wanton, George Henry Rank and Unit Private, Troop M, 10th U.S. Cavalry Born May 15, 1868; Paterson, New Jersey Entered Service Paterson, New Jersey Place and Date of Award Tayabacoa, Cuba; June 30, 1898 Date of Issue June 23, 1899 Citation Voluntarily went ashore in the face of the enemy and aided in the rescue of his wounded comrades; this after several previous attempts at rescue had been frustrated.

Lee, Fitz Rank and Unit Private, Troop M, 10th U.S. Cavalry Born June 1866; Dinwiddie County, Virginia Entered Service Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Place and Date of Award Tayabacoa, Cuba; June 30,

1898 Date of Issue June 23, 1899 Citation Voluntarily went ashore in the face of the

enemy and aided in the rescue of his wounded comrades; this after several previous attempts had been frustrated.

Girandy, Alphonse Rank and Unit Seaman, U.S. Navy Born January 21, 1868; Guadeloupe, West Indies Entered Service Pennsylvania Place and Date of Award Serving on board the USS Petrel at sea, March 31, 1901 Date of Issue March 22, 1902 Citation Serving on board the U.S.S. Petrel, for heroism and gallantry, fearlessly exposing his own life to danger for the saving of others, on the oc-

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wounded, he pressed forward, urging on the members of his squad, until he died. Inspired by the heroism and display of bravery of Corporal Stowers, his company continued the attack against incredible odds, contributing to the capture of Hill 188 and causing heavy enemy casualties. Corporal Stowers’ conspicuous gallantry, extraordinary heroism and supreme devotion to his men were well above and beyond the call of duty, follow the finest traditions of military service and reflect the utmost credit on him and the United States Army.

casion of the fire on board that vessel, 31 March 1901. World War I (1914–1918) Stowers, Freddie Rank and Unit Corporal, Company C, 371st Infantry Regiment, 93d Infantry Division Born 1896; Sandy Springs, Anderson County, South Carolina Entered Service Anderson County, South Carolina Place and Date of Award Hill 188, Champagne Marne Sector, France; September 28, 1918 Date of Issue April 24, 1991 (posthumously) Citation Corporal Stowers, a native of Anderson County, South Carolina, distinguished himself by exceptional heroism on 28 September 1918, while serving as a squad leader in Company C, 371st Infantry Regiment, 93rd Infantry Division. His company was the lead company during the attack on Hill 188, Champagne Marne Sector, France, during World War I. A few minutes after the attack began, the enemy ceased firing and began climbing up onto the parapets of the trenches, holding up their arms as if wishing to surrender. The enemy’s actions caused the American forces to cease fire and to come out into the open. As the company started forward and when within about 100 meters of the trench line, the enemy jumped back into their trenches and greeted Corporal Stowers’ company with interlocking bands of machine gun fire and mortar fire causing well over fifty percent casualties. Faced with incredible enemy resistance, Corporal Stowers took charge, setting such a courageous example of personal bravery and leadership that he inspired his men to follow him in the attack. With extraordinary heroism and complete disregard of personal danger under devastating fire, he crawled forward leading his squad toward an enemy machine gun nest, which was causing heavy casualties to his company. After fierce fighting, the machine gun position was destroyed and the enemy soldiers were killed. Displaying great courage and intrepidity, Corporal Stowers continued to press the attack against a determined enemy. While crawling forward and urging his men to continue the attack on a second trench line, he was gravely wounded by machine gun fire. Although, Corporal Stowers was mortally

World War II (1939–1945) Baker, Vernon J. Rank and Unit First Lieutenant, Company C, 370th Infantry, 92d Infantry Division Born December 17, 1919; Cheyenne, Wyoming Entered Service Cheyenne, Wyoming Place and Date of Award Viareggio, Italy; April 5–6, 1945 Date of Issue January 13, 1997 Citation For extraordinary heroism in action on 5 and 6 April 1945, near Viareggio, Italy. Then Second Lieutenant Baker demonstrated outstanding courage and leadership in destroying enemy installations, personnel and equipment during his company’s attack against a strongly entrenched enemy in mountainous terrain. When his company was stopped by the concentration of fire from several machine gun emplacements, he crawled to one position and destroyed it, killing three Germans. Continuing forward, he attacked an enemy observation post and killed two occupants. With the aid of one of his men, Lieutenant Baker attacked two more machine gun nests, killing or wounding the four enemy soldiers occupying these positions. He then covered the evacuation of the wounded personnel of his company by occupying an exposed position and drawing the enemy’s fire. On the following night Lieutenant Baker voluntarily led a battalion advance through enemy mine fields and heavy fire toward the division objective. Second Lieutenant Baker’s fighting spirit and daring leadership were an inspiration to his men and exemplify the highest traditions of the Armed Forces.

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Carter, Edward A., Jr. Rank and Unit Staff Sergeant, Company 1, 56th Armored Infantry, 12th Armored Division Born 1916; Los Angeles, California Entered Service Los Angeles, California Place and Date of Award Speyer, Germany; March 23, 1945 Date of Issue January 13, 1997 (posthumously) Citation For extraordinary heroism in action on 23 March 1945, near Speyer, Germany. When the tank on which he was riding received heavy bazooka and small arms fire, Sergeant Carter voluntarily attempted to lead a three-man group across an open field. Within a short time, two of his men were killed and the third seriously wounded. Continuing on alone, he was wounded five times and finally forced to take cover. As eight enemy riflemen attempted to capture him, Sergeant Carter killed six of them and captured the remaining two. He then crossed the field using as a shield his two prisoners from which he obtained valuable information concerning the disposition of enemy troops. Staff Sergeant Carter’s extraordinary heroism was an inspiration to the officers and men of the Seventh Army Infantry Company Number 1 (Provisional) and exemplify the highest traditions of the Armed Forces.

numbered, most of the United States Infantry forces were forced to withdraw from the town, but Lieutenant Fox and some other members of his observer party voluntarily remained on the second floor of a house to direct defensive artillery fire. At 0800 hours, Lieutenant Fox reported that the Germans were in the streets and attacking in strength. He then called for defensive artillery fire to slow the enemy advance. As the Germans continued to press the attack towards the area that Lieutenant Fox occupied, he adjusted the artillery fire closer to his position. Finally he was warned that the next adjustment would bring the deadly artillery right on top of his position. After acknowledging the danger, Lieutenant Fox insisted that the last adjustment be fired as this was the only way to defeat the attacking soldiers. Later, when a counterattack retook the position from the Germans, Lieutenant Fox’s body was found with the bodies of approximately 100 German soldiers. Lieutenant Fox’s gallant and courageous actions, at the supreme sacrifice of his own life, contributed greatly to delaying the enemy advance until other infantry and artillery units could reorganize to repel the attack. His extraordinary valorous actions were in keeping with the most cherished traditions of military service, and reflect the utmost credit on him, his unit, and the United States Army.

Fox, John R. First Lieutenant, 366th Infantry, 92d Infantry Division Born December 7, 1917 Entered Service Cincinnati, Ohio Place and Date of Award Sommocolonia, Italy; December 26, 1944 Date of Issue January 13, 1997 (posthumously) Citation For extraordinary heroism against an armed enemy in the vicinity of Sommocolonia, Italy, on 26 December 1944, while serving as a member of Cannon Company, 366th Infantry Regiment, 92d Infantry Division. During the preceding few weeks, Lieutenant Fox served with the 598th Field Artillery Battalion as a forward observer. On Christmas night, enemy soldiers gradually infiltrated the town of Sommocolonia in civilian clothes, and by early morning the town was largely in hostile hands. Commencing with a heavy barrage of enemy artillery at 0400 hours on 26 December 1944, an organized attack by uniformed German units began. Being greatly outRank and Unit

James, Willy F., Jr. Private, First Class, 413th Infantry, 104th Infantry Division Born Kansas City, Missouri Entered Service Kansas City Place and Date of Award Lippoldsberg, Germany; April 7, 1945 Date of Issue January 13, 1997 (posthumously) Citation For extraordinary heroism in action on 7 April 1945 near Lippoldsberg, Germany. As lead scout during a maneuver to secure and expand a vital bridgehead, Private First Class James was the first to draw enemy fire. He was pinned down for over an hour, during which time he observed enemy positions in detail. Returning to his platoon, he assisted in working out a new plan of maneuver. He then led a squad in the assault, accurately designating targets as he advanced, until he was killed by enemy machine gun fire while going to the aid of his fatally wounded platoon leader. Private First Class James’ fearless, self-assigned acRank and Unit

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tions, coupled with his diligent devotion to duty exemplified the finest traditions of the Armed Forces.

wounds, assisted the crew of the wrecked car in dismounting. Upon leaving the scant protection which the vehicle afforded, Lieutenant Thomas was again subjected to a hail of enemy fire which inflicted multiple gunshot wounds in his chest, legs, and left arm. Despite the intense pain caused by these wounds, Lieutenant Thomas ordered and directed the dispersion and emplacement of two antitank guns which in a few moments were promptly and effectively returning the enemy fire. Realizing that he could no longer remain in command of the platoon, he signaled to the platoon commander to join him. Lieutenant Thomas then thoroughly oriented him on enemy gun dispositions and the general situation. Only after he was certain that his junior officer was in full control of the situation did he permit himself to be evacuated. First Lieutenant Thomas’ outstanding heroism were an inspiration to his men and exemplify the highest traditions of the Armed Forces.

Rivers, Ruben Staff Sergeant, Company A, 761st Tank Battalion, Third Army Born Hotulka, Oklahoma Entered Service Tecumseh, Oklahoma Place and Date of Award Guebling, France; November 15–19, 1944 Date of Issue January 13, 1997 (posthumously) Citation For extraordinary heroism in action during the 15–19 November 1944, toward Guebling, France. Though severely wounded in the leg, Sergeant Rivers refused medical treatment and evacuation, took command of another tank, and advanced with his company in Guebling the next day. Repeatedly refusing evacuation, Sergeant Rivers continued to direct his tank’s fire at enemy positions through the morning of 19 November 1944. At dawn, Company A’s tanks began to advance towards Bougaktroff, but were stopped by enemy fire. Sergeant Rivers, joined by another tank, opened fire on the enemy tanks, covering Company A as they withdrew. While doing so, Sergeant River’s tank was hit, killing him and wounding the crew. Staff Sergeant Rivers’ fighting spirit and daring leadership were an inspiration to his unit and exemplify the highest traditions of military service. Rank and Unit

Thomas, Charles L. Rank and Unit Captain, Company C, 614th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 103d Division Born Detroit, Michigan Entered Service Detroit, Michigan Place and Date of Award Climbach, Korea; December 14, 1944 Date of Issue January 13, 1997 (posthumously) Citation For extraordinary heroism in action on 14 December 1944, near Climbach, France. While riding in the lead vehicle of a task force organized to storm and capture the village of Climbach, France, then First Lieutenant Thomas’s armored scout car was subjected to intense enemy artillery, self-propelled gun, and small arms fire. Although wounded by the initial burst of hostile fire, Lieutenant Thomas signaled the remainder of the column to halt and, despite the severity of his

Watson, George Private, 29th Quartermaster Regiment Born 1915; Birmingham, Alabama Entered Service Birmingham, Alabama Place and Date of Award Porloch Harbor, New Guinea; March 8, 1943 Date of Issue January 13, 1997 (posthumously) Citation For extraordinary heroism in action on 8 March 1943. Private Watson was on board a ship which was attacked and hit by enemy bombers. When the ship was abandoned, Private Watson, instead of seeking to save himself, remained in the water assisting several soldiers who could not swim to reach the safety of the raft. This heroic action, which subsequently cost him his life, resulted in the saving of several of his comrades. Weakened by his exertions, he was dragged down by the suction of the sinking ship and was drowned. Private Watson’s extraordinarily valorous actions, daring leadership, and self-sacrificing devotion to his fellow-man exemplify the finest traditions of military service. Rank and Unit

Korean War (1950–1953) Charlton, Cornelius H. Rank and Unit Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company C, 24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division

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Medal of Honor Born July 24, 1929; East Gulf, West Virginia Entered Service Bronx County, New York Place and Date of Award Chipo-ri, Korea; June 2,

with withering fire, pinning them down momentarily thus permitting the remainder of his platoon to withdraw to a more tenable position. Although hit repeatedly by grenade fragments and smallarms fire, he resisted all efforts of his comrades to induce him to withdraw, steadfastly remained at his machine gun and continued to deliver deadly, accurate fire until mortally wounded by an enemy grenade. Pfc. Thompson’s dauntless courage and gallant self-sacrifice reflect the highest credit on himself and uphold the esteemed traditions of military service.

1951 Date of Issue March 12, 1952 (posthumously) Citation Sgt. Charlton, a member of Company C,

distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. His platoon was attacking heavily defended hostile positions on commanding ground when the leader was wounded and evacuated. Sgt. Charlton assumed command, rallied the men, and spearheaded the assault against the hill. Personally eliminating 2 hostile positions and killing 6 of the enemy with his rifle fire and grenades, he continued up the slope until the unit suffered heavy casualties and became pinned down. Regrouping the men he led them forward only to be again hurled back by a shower of grenades. Despite a severe chest wound, Sgt. Charlton refused medical attention and led a third daring charge which carried to the crest of the ridge. Observing that the remaining emplacement which had retarded the advance was situated on the reverse slope, he charged it alone, was again hit by a grenade but raked the position with a devastating fire which eliminated it and routed the defenders. The wounds received during his daring exploits resulted in his death but his indomitable courage, superb leadership, and gallant self-sacrifice reflect the highest credit upon himself, the infantry, and the military service. Thompson, William Henry Rank and Unit Private, First Class, U.S. Army, Company M, 24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division Born August 16, 1927; New York, New York Entered Service Bronx County, New York Place and Date of Award Haman, Korea; August 6, 1950 Date of Issue August 2, 1951 (posthumously) Citation Pfc. Thompson distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. While his platoon was reorganizing under cover of darkness, fanatical enemy forces in overwhelming strength launched a surprise attack on the unit. Pfc. Thompson set up his machine gun in the path of the onslaught and swept the enemy

Vietnam War (1964–1973) Anderson, James, Jr. Rank and Unit Private, First Class, U.S. Marine Corps, 2d Platoon, Company F, 2d Battalion, 3d Marines, 3d Marine Division Born January 22, 1947; Los Angeles, California Entered Service Los Angeles, California Place and Date of Award Cam Lo, Republic of Vietnam; February 28, 1967 Date of Issue August 21, 1968 (posthumously) Citation For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Company F was advancing in dense jungle northwest of Cam Lo in an effort to extract a heavily besieged reconnaissance patrol. Pfc. Anderson’s platoon was the lead element and had advanced only about 200 meters when they were brought under extremely intense enemy smallarms and automatic weapons fire. The platoon reacted swiftly, getting on line as best they could in the thick terrain, and began returning fire. Pfc. Anderson found himself tightly bunched together with the other members of the platoon only 20 meters from the enemy positions. As the fire fight continued several of the men were wounded by the deadly enemy assault. Suddenly, an enemy grenade landed in the midst of the marines and rolled alongside Pfc. Anderson’s head. Unhesitatingly and with complete disregard for his personal safety, he reached out, grasped the grenade, pulled it to his chest, and curled around it as it went off. Although several marines received shrapnel from the grenade, his body absorbed the major force of the explosion. In this singularly heroic act, Pfc. Anderson saved his comrades from serious injury and possible death. His per-

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to encourage his men in the defense of the position. Sfc. Anderson by his inspirational leadership, professionalism, devotion to duty and complete disregard for his welfare was able to maintain the defense of his section position and to defeat a determined attack. Sfc. Anderson’s gallantry and extraordinary heroism at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty are in the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.

sonal heroism, extraordinary valor, and inspirational supreme self-sacrifice reflected great credit upon himself and the Marine Corps and upheld the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country. Anderson, Webster Rank and Unit Sergeant, First Class, U.S. Army, Battery A, 2d Battalion, 320th Field Artillery, 101st Airborne Infantry Division (Airmobile) Born July 15, 1933; Winnsboro, South Carolina Entered Service Winnsboro, South Carolina Place and Date of Award Tam Ky, Republic of Vietnam; October 15, 1967 Date of Issue November 24, 1969 Citation Sfc. Anderson (then S/Sgt.) distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while serving as chief of section in Battery A, against a hostile force. During the early morning hours Battery A’s defensive position was attacked by a determined North Vietnamese Army infantry unit supported by heavy mortar, recoilless rifle, rocket propelled grenade and automatic weapon fire. The initial enemy onslaught breached the battery defensive perimeter. Sfc. Anderson, with complete disregard for his personal safety, mounted the exposed parapet of his howitzer position and became the mainstay of the defense of the battery position. Sfc. Anderson directed devastating direct howitzer fire on the assaulting enemy while providing rifle and grenade defensive fire against enemy soldiers attempting to overrun his gun section position. While protecting his crew and directing their fire against the enemy from his exposed position, 2 enemy grenades exploded at his feet knocking him down and severely wounding him in the legs. Despite the excruciating pain and though not able to stand, Sfc. Anderson valorously propped himself on the parapet and continued to direct howitzer fire upon the closing enemy and to encourage his men to fight on. Seeing an enemy grenade land within the gun pit near a wounded member of his gun crew, Sfc. Anderson heedless of his own safety, seized the grenade and attempted to throw it over the parapet to save his men. As the grenade was thrown from the position it exploded and Sfc. Anderson was again grievously wounded. Although only partially conscious and severely wounded, Sfc. Anderson refused medical evacuation and continued

Ashley, Eugene, Jr. Rank and Unit Sergeant, First Class, U.S. Army, Company C, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces Born October 12, 1931; Wilmington, North Carolina Entered Service New York Place and Date of Award Lang Vei, Republic of Vietnam; February 6–7, 1968 Date of Issue December 2, 1969 (posthumously) Citation Sfc. Ashley distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving with Detachment A-101, Company C. Sfc. Ashley was the senior special forces advisor of a hastily organized assault force whose mission was to rescue entrapped U.S. special forces advisors at Camp Lang Vei. During the initial attack on the special forces camp by North Vietnamese army forces, Sfc. Ashley supported the camp with high explosive and illumination mortar rounds. When communications were lost with the main camp, he assumed the additional responsibility of directing air strikes and artillery support. Sfc. Ashley organized and equipped a small assault force composed of local friendly personnel. During the ensuing battle, Sfc. Ashley led a total of 5 vigorous assaults against the enemy, continuously exposing himself to a voluminous hail of enemy grenades, machine gun and automatic weapons fire. Throughout these assaults, he was plagued by numerous booby-trapped satchel charges in all bunkers on his avenue of approach. During his fifth and final assault, he adjusted air strikes nearly on top of his assault element, forcing the enemy to withdraw and resulting in friendly control of the summit of the hill. While exposing himself to intense enemy fire, he was seriously wounded by machine gun fire but continued his

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mission without regard for his personal safety. After the fifth assault he lost consciousness and was carried from the summit by his comrades only to suffer a fatal wound when an enemy artillery round landed in the area. Sfc. Ashley displayed extraordinary heroism in risking his life in an attempt to save the lives of his entrapped comrades and commanding officer. His total disregard for his personal safety while exposed to enemy observation and automatic weapons fire was an inspiration to all men committed to the assault. The resolute valor with which he led 5 gallant charges placed critical diversionary pressure on the attacking enemy and his valiant efforts carved a channel in the overpowering enemy forces and weapons positions through which the survivors of Camp Lang Vei eventually escaped to freedom. Sfc. Ashley’s bravery at the cost of his life was in the highest traditions of the military service, and reflects great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army. Austin, Oscar Palmer Rank and Unit Private, First Class, U.S. Marine Corps, Company E, 2d Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division (Rein), Fleet Marine Force (FMF) Born January 15, 1948; Nacogdoches, Texas Entered Service Phoenix, Arizona Place and Date of Award West of Da Nang, Republic of Vietnam; February 23, 1969 Date of Issue April 20, 1970 (posthumously) Citation For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as an assistant machine gunner with Company E, in connection with operations against enemy forces. During the early morning hours Pfc. Austin’s observation post was subjected to a fierce ground attack by a large North Vietnamese Army force supported by a heavy volume of hand grenades, satchel charges, and small arms fire. Observing that 1 of his wounded companions had fallen unconscious in a position dangerously exposed to the hostile fire, Pfc. Austin unhesitatingly left the relative security of his fighting hole and, with complete disregard for his safety, raced across the fire-swept terrain to assist the marine to a covered location. As he neared the casualty, he observed an enemy grenade land nearby and, reacting instantly, leaped between the injured ma-

rine and the lethal object, absorbing the effects of its detonation. As he ignored his painful injuries and turned to examine the wounded man, he saw a North Vietnamese Army soldier aiming a weapon at his unconscious companion. With full knowledge of the probable consequences and thinking only to protect the marine, Pfc. Austin resolutely threw himself between the casualty and the hostile soldier, and, in doing, was mortally wounded. Pfc. Austin’s indomitable courage, inspiring initiative and selfless devotion to duty upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country. Bryant, William Maud Rank and Unit Sergeant, First Class, U.S. Army, Company A, 5th Special Forces Group, 1st Special Forces Born February 16, 1933; Cochran, Georgia Entered Service Detroit, Michigan Place and Date of Award Long Khanh Province, Republic of Vietnam; March 24, 1969 Date of Issue February 16, 1971 (posthumously) Citation For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sfc. Bryant, assigned to Company A, distinguished himself while serving as commanding officer of Civilian Irregular Defense Group Company 321, 2d Battalion, 3d Mobile Strike Force Command, during combat operations. The battalion came under heavy fire and became surrounded by the elements of 3 enemy regiments. Sfc. Bryant displayed extraordinary heroism throughout the succeeding 34 hours of incessant attack as he moved throughout the company position heedless of the intense hostile fire while establishing and improving the defensive perimeter, directing fire during critical phases of the battle, distributing ammunition, assisting the wounded, and providing the leadership and inspirational example of courage to his men. When a helicopter drop of ammunition was made to re-supply the beleaguered force, Sfc. Bryant with complete disregard for his safety ran through the heavy enemy fire to retrieve the scattered ammunition boxes and distributed needed ammunition to his men. During a lull in the intense fighting, Sfc. Bryant led a patrol outside the perimeter to obtain information of the enemy. The patrol

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came under intense automatic weapons fire and was pinned down. Sfc. Bryant single-handedly repulsed 1 enemy attack on his small force and by his heroic action inspired his men to fight off other assaults. Seeing a wounded enemy soldier some distance from the patrol location, Sfc. Bryant crawled forward alone under heavy fire to retrieve the soldier for intelligence purposes. Finding that the enemy soldier had expired, Sfc. Bryant crawled back to his patrol and led his men back to the company position where he again took command of the defense. As the siege continued, Sfc. Bryant organized and led a patrol in a daring attempt to break through the enemy encirclement. The patrol had advanced some 200 meters by heavy fighting when it was pinned down by the intense automatic weapons fire from heavily fortified bunkers and Sfc. Bryant was severely wounded. Despite his wounds he rallied his men, called for helicopter gunship support, and directed heavy suppressive fire upon the enemy positions. Following the last gunship attack, Sfc. Bryant fearlessly charged an enemy automatic weapons position, overrunning it, and singlehandedly destroying its 3 defenders. Inspired by his heroic example, his men renewed their attack on the entrenched enemy. While regrouping his small force for the final assault against the enemy, Sfc. Bryant fell mortally wounded by an enemy rocket. Sfc. Bryant’s selfless concern for his comrades, at the cost of his life above and beyond the call of duty, are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army. Davis, Rodney Maxwell Rank and Unit Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps, Company B, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division Born April 7, 1942; Macon, Georgia Entered Service Macon, Georgia Place and Date of Award Quang Nam Province, Republic of Vietnam; September 6, 1967 Date of Issue March 26, 1969 (posthumously) Citation For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as the right guide of the 2d Platoon, Company B, in action against enemy forces. Elements of the 2d Platoon were pinned down by a numerically superior force of attacking North

Vietnamese Army Regulars. Remnants of the platoon were located in a trench line where Sgt. Davis was directing the fire of his men in an attempt to repel the enemy attack. Disregarding the enemy hand grenades and high volume of small arms and mortar fire, Sgt. Davis moved from man to man shouting words of encouragement to each of them while firing and throwing grenades at the onrushing enemy. When an enemy grenade landed in the trench in the midst of his men, Sgt. Davis, realizing the gravity of the situation, and in a final valiant act of complete self-sacrifice, instantly threw himself upon the grenade, absorbing with his body the full and terrific force of the explosion. Through his extraordinary initiative and inspiring valor in the face of almost certain death, Sgt. Davis saved his comrades from injury and possible loss of life, enabled his platoon to hold its vital position, and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country. Jenkins, Robert H., Jr. Private, First Class, U.S. Marine Corps, 3d Reconnaissance Battalion, 3d Marine Division (Rein), FMF Born June 1, 1948; Interlachen, Florida Entered Service Jacksonville, Florida Place and Date of Award Fire Support Base, Argonne, Republic of Vietnam; March 5, 1969 Date of Issue April 20, 1970 (posthumously) Citation For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a machine gunner with Company C, 3d Reconnaissance Battalion, in connection with operations against enemy forces. Early in the morning Pfc. Jenkins’ 12-man reconnaissance team was occupying a defensive position at Fire Support Base Argonne south of the Demilitarized Zone. Suddenly, the marines were assaulted by a North Vietnamese Army platoon employing mortars, automatic weapons, and hand grenades. Reacting instantly, Pfc. Jenkins and another marine quickly moved into a 2-man fighting emplacement, and as they boldly delivered accurate machine gun fire against the enemy, a North Vietnamese soldier threw a hand grenade into the friendly emplacement. Fully realizing the inevitable results of his actions, Pfc. Jenkins quickly seized his comrade, and pushing the man to the Rank and Unit

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ground, he leaped on top of the marine to shield him from the explosion. Absorbing the full impact of the detonation, Pfc. Jenkins was seriously injured and subsequently succumbed to his wounds. His courage, inspiring valor and selfless devotion to duty saved a fellow marine from serious injury or possible death and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.

battlefield and succeeded in treating 13 more men before his medical supplies ran out. Displaying resourcefulness, he saved the life of 1 man by placing a plastic bag over a severe chest wound to congeal the blood. As 1 of the platoons pursued the Viet Cong, an insurgent force in concealed positions opened fire on the platoon and wounded many more soldiers. With a new stock of medical supplies, Sp6c. Joel again shouted words of encouragement as he crawled through an intense hail of gunfire to the wounded men. After the 24 hour battle subsided and the Viet Cong dead numbered 410, snipers continued to harass the company. Throughout the long battle, Sp6c. Joel never lost sight of his mission as a medical aidman and continued to comfort and treat the wounded until his own evacuation was ordered. His meticulous attention to duty saved a large number of lives and his unselfish, daring example under most adverse conditions was an inspiration to all. Sp6c. Joel’s profound concern for his fellow soldiers, at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty, are in the highest traditions of the U.S. Army and reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of his country.

Joel, Lawrence Specialist, Sixth Class, U.S. Army, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion (Airborne), 503d Infantry, 173d Airborne Brigade Born February 22, 1928; Winston-Salem, North Carolina Entered Service New York Place and Date of Award Republic of Vietnam; November 8, 1965 Date of Issue March 9, 1967 Citation For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty. Sp6c. Joel demonstrated indomitable courage, determination, and professional skill when a numerically superior and well-concealed Viet Cong element launched a vicious attack which wounded or killed nearly every man in the lead squad of the company. After treating the men wounded by the initial burst of gunfire, he bravely moved forward to assist others who were wounded while proceeding to their objective. While moving from man to man, he was struck in the right leg by machine gun fire. Although painfully wounded his desire to aid his fellow soldiers transcended all personal feeling. He bandaged his own wound and self-administered morphine to deaden the pain enabling him to continue his dangerous undertaking. Through this period of time, he constantly shouted words of encouragement to all around him. Then, completely ignoring the warnings of others, and his pain, he continued his search for wounded, exposing himself to hostile fire; and, as bullets dug up the dirt around him, he held plasma bottles high while kneeling completely engrossed in his life saving mission. Then, after being struck a second time and with a bullet lodged in his thigh, he dragged himself over the Rank and Unit

Johnson, Dwight Hal Rank and Unit Specialist, Fifth Class, U.S. Army, Company B, 1st Battalion, 69th Armor, 4th Infantry Division Born May 7, 1947; Detroit, Michigan Entered Service Detroit, Michigan Place and Date of Award Near Dak To, Kontum Province, Republic of Vietnam; January 15, 1968 Date of Issue November 19, 1968 Citation For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sp5c. Johnson, a tank driver with Company B, was a member of a reaction force moving to aid other elements of his platoon, which was in heavy contact with a battalion-size North Vietnamese force. Sp5c. Johnson’s tank, upon reaching the point of contact, threw a track and became immobilized. Realizing that he could do no more as a driver, he climbed out of the vehicle, armed only with a .45 caliber pistol. Despite intense hostile fire, Sp5c. Johnson killed several enemy soldiers before he had expended his ammunition. Returning to his tank through a heavy volume of antitank

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rocket, small arms and automatic weapons fire, he obtained a submachine gun with which to continue his fight against the advancing enemy. Armed with this weapon, Sp5c. Johnson again braved deadly enemy fire to return to the center of the ambush site where he courageously eliminated more of the determined foe. Engaged in extremely close combat when the last of his ammunition was expended, he killed an enemy soldier with the stock end of his submachine gun. Now weaponless, Sp5c. Johnson ignored the enemy fire around him, climbed into his platoon sergeant’s tank, extricated a wounded crewmember and carried him to an armored personnel carrier. He then returned to the same tank and assisted in firing the main gun until it jammed. In a magnificent display of courage, Sp5c. Johnson exited the tank and again armed only with a .45 caliber pistol, engaged several North Vietnamese troops in close proximity to the vehicle. Fighting his way through devastating fire and remounting his own immobilized tank, he remained fully exposed to the enemy as he bravely and skillfully engaged them with the tank’s externally-mounted .50 caliber machine gun; where he remained until the situation was brought under control. Sp5c. Johnson’s profound concern for his fellow soldiers, at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty, are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself and the U.S. Army. Johnson, Ralph Henry Rank and Unit Private, First Class, U.S. Marine Corps, Company A, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division (Rein), FMF Born January 11, 1949; Charleston, South Carolina Entered Service Oakland, California Place and Date of Award Quan Duc Valley, Republic of Vietnam; March 5, 1968 Date of Issue April 20, 1970 (posthumously) Citation For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a reconnaissance scout with Company A, in action against the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong forces. In the early morning hours during Operation ROCK, Pfc. Johnson was a member of a 15-man reconnais-

sance patrol manning an observation post on Hill 146 overlooking the Quan Duc Valley deep in enemy controlled territory. They were attacked by a platoon-size hostile force employing automatic weapons, satchel charges and hand grenades. Suddenly, a hand grenade landed in the 3-man fighting hole occupied by Pfc. Johnson and 2 fellow marines. Realizing the inherent danger to his 2 comrades, he shouted a warning and unhesitatingly hurled himself upon the explosive device. When the grenade exploded, Pfc. Johnson absorbed the tremendous impact of the blast and was killed instantly. His prompt and heroic act saved the life of 1 marine at the cost of his life and undoubtedly prevented the enemy from penetrating his sector of the patrol’s perimeter. Pfc. Johnson’s courage, inspiring valor and selfless devotion to duty, were in keeping with the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country. Langhorn, Garfield McConnell Private First Class, U.S. Army, Troop C, 7th Squadron (Airmobile), 17th Cavalry, 1st Aviation Brigade Born September 10, 1948; Cumberland, Virginia Entered Service Brooklyn, New York Place and Date of Award Plei Djereng, Pleiku Province, Republic of Vietnam; January 15, 1969 Date of Issue April 7, 1970 (posthumously) Citation For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Pfc. Langhorn distinguished himself while serving as a radio operator with Troop C, near Plei Djereng in Pleiku Province. Pfc. Langhorn’s platoon was inserted into a landing zone to rescue 2 pilots of a Cobra helicopter shot down by enemy fire on a heavily timbered slope. He provided radio coordination with the command-and-control aircraft overhead while the troops hacked their way through dense undergrowth to the wreckage, where both aviators were found dead. As the men were taking the bodies to a pickup site, they suddenly came under intense fire from North Vietnamese soldiers in camouflaged bunkers to the front and right flank, and within minutes they were surrounded. Pfc. Langhorn immediately radioed for help from the orbiting gunships, which began to place minigun and Rank and Unit

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rocket fire on the aggressors. He then lay between the platoon leader and another man, operating the radio and providing covering fire for the wounded who had been moved to the center of the small perimeter. Darkness soon fell, making it impossible for the gunships to give accurate support, and the aggressors began to probe the perimeter. An enemy hand grenade landed in front of Pfc. Langhorn and a few feet from personnel who had become casualties. Choosing to protect these wounded, he unhesitatingly threw himself on the grenade, scooped it beneath his body and absorbed the blast. By sacrificing himself, he saved the lives of his comrades. Pfc. Langhorn’s extraordinary heroism at the cost of his life was in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit on himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army. Leonard, Matthew Rank and Unit Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company B, 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division Born November 26, 1929; Eutaw, Alabama Entered Service Birmingham, Alabama Place and Date of Award Near Suoi Da, Republic of Vietnam; February 28, 1967 Date of Issue December 19, 1968 (posthumously) Citation For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. His platoon was suddenly attacked by a large enemy force employing small arms, automatic weapons, and hand grenades. Although the platoon leader and several other key leaders were among the first wounded, P/Sgt. Leonard quickly rallied his men to throw back the initial enemy assaults. During the short pause that followed, he organized a defensive perimeter, redistributed ammunition, and inspired his comrades through his forceful leadership and words of encouragement. Noticing a wounded companion outside the perimeter, he dragged the man to safety but was struck by a sniper’s bullet which shattered his left hand. Refusing medical attention and continuously exposing himself to the increasing fire as the enemy again assaulted the perimeter, P/Sgt. Leonard moved from position to position to direct the fire of his men against the well camouflaged foe. Under the cover of the main attack, the enemy moved a machine gun

into a location where it could sweep the entire perimeter. This threat was magnified when the platoon machine gun in this area malfunctioned. P/Sgt. Leonard quickly crawled to the gun position and was helping to clear the malfunction when the gunner and other men in the vicinity were wounded by fire from the enemy machine gun. P/Sgt. Leonard rose to his feet, charged the enemy gun and destroyed the hostile crew despite being hit several times by enemy fire. He moved to a tree, propped himself against it, and continued to engage the enemy until he succumbed to his many wounds. His fighting spirit, heroic leadership, and valiant acts inspired the remaining members of his platoon to hold back the enemy until assistance arrived. P/Sgt. Leonard’s profound courage and devotion to his men are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service, and his gallant actions reflect great credit upon himself and the U.S. Army. Long, Donald Russell Rank and Unit Sergeant, U.S. Army, Troop C, 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry, 1st Infantry Division Born August 27, 1939; Blackfork, Ohio Entered Service Ashland, Kentucky Place and Date of Award Republic of Vietnam; June 30, 1966 Date of Issue February 8, 1968 (posthumously) Citation For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Troops B and C, while conducting a reconnaissance mission along a road, were suddenly attacked by a Viet Cong regiment, supported by mortars, recoilless rifles and machine guns, from concealed positions astride the road. Sgt. Long abandoned the relative safety of his armored personnel carrier and braved a withering hail of enemy fire to carry wounded men to evacuation helicopters. As the platoon fought its way forward to resupply advanced elements, Sgt. Long repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire at point blank range to provide the needed supplies. While assaulting the Viet Cong position, Sgt. Long inspired his comrades by fearlessly standing unprotected to repel the enemy with rifle fire and grenades as they attempted to mount his carrier. When the enemy threatened to overrun a disabled carrier nearby, Sgt. Long again disregarded his

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own safety to help the severely wounded crew to safety. As he was handing arms to the less seriously wounded and reorganizing them to press the attack, an enemy grenade was hurled onto the carrier deck. Immediately recognizing the imminent danger, he instinctively shouted a warning to the crew and pushed to safety one man who had not heard his warning over the roar of battle. Realizing that these actions would not fully protect the exposed crewmen from the deadly explosion, he threw himself over the grenade to absorb the blast and thereby saved the lives of 8 of his comrades at the expense of his life. Throughout the battle, Sgt. Long’s extraordinary heroism, courage and supreme devotion to his men were in the finest tradition of the military service, and reflect great credit upon himself and the U.S. Army. Olive, Milton Lee, III Rank and Unit Private, First Class, U.S. Army, Company B, 2d Battalion (Airborne), 503d Infantry, 173d Airborne Brigade Born November 7, 1946; Chicago, Illinois Entered Service Chicago, Illinois Place and Date of Award Phu Cuong, Republic of Vietnam; October 22, 1965 Date of Issue April 21, 1966 (posthumously) Citation For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Pfc. Olive was a member of the 3d Platoon of Company B, as it moved through the jungle to find the Viet Cong operating in the area. Although the platoon was subjected to a heavy volume of enemy gunfire and pinned down temporarily, it retaliated by assaulting the Viet Cong positions, causing the enemy to flee. As the platoon pursued the insurgents, Pfc. Olive and 4 other soldiers were moving through the jungle together when a grenade was thrown into their midst. Pfc. Olive saw the grenade, and then saved the lives of his fellow soldiers at the sacrifice of his by grabbing the grenade in his hand and falling on it to absorb the blast with his body. Through his bravery, unhesitating actions, and complete disregard for his safety, he prevented additional loss of life or injury to the members of his platoon. Pfc. Olive’s extraordinary heroism, at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty are in the highest traditions of the U.S. Army

and reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of his country. Pitts, Riley Leroy Rank and Unit Captain, U.S. Army, Company C, 2d Battalion, 27th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division Born October 15, 1937; Fallis, Oklahoma Entered Service Wichita, Kansas Place and Date of Award Ap Dong, Republic of Vietnam; October 31, 1967 Date of Issue December 10, 1968 (posthumously) Citation Distinguishing himself by exceptional heroism while serving as company commander during an airmobile assault. Immediately after his company landed in the area, several Viet Cong opened fire with automatic weapons. Despite the enemy fire, Capt. Pitts forcefully led an assault which overran the enemy positions. Shortly thereafter, Capt. Pitts was ordered to move his unit to the north to reinforce another company heavily engaged against a strong enemy force. As Capt. Pitts’ company moved forward to engage the enemy, intense fire was received from 3 directions, including fire from 4 enemy bunkers, 2 of which were within 15 meters of Capt. Pitts’ position. The severity of the incoming fire prevented Capt. Pitts from maneuvering his company. His rifle fire proving ineffective against the enemy due to the dense jungle foliage, he picked up an M-79 grenade launcher and began pinpointing the targets. Seizing a Chinese Communist grenade which had been taken from a captured Viet Cong’s web gear, Capt. Pitts lobbed the grenade at a bunker to his front, but it hit the dense jungle foliage and rebounded. Without hesitation, Capt. Pitts threw himself on top of the grenade which, fortunately, failed to explode. Capt. Pitts then directed the repositioning of the company to permit friendly artillery to be fired. Upon completion of the artillery fire mission, Capt. Pitts again led his men toward the enemy positions, personally killing at least 1 more Viet Cong. The jungle growth still prevented effective fire to be placed on the enemy bunkers. Capt. Pitts, displaying complete disregard for his life and personal safety, quickly moved to a position which permitted him to place effective fire on the enemy. He maintained a continuous fire, pinpointing the enemy’s fortified positions, while at the same time directing and urging

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His valorous example rallied the beleaguered defenders to repulse and defeat the enemy onslaught. Lt. Col. Rogers moved from position to position through the heavy enemy fire, giving encouragement and direction to his men. At dawn the determined enemy launched a third assault against the fire base in an attempt to overrun the position. Lt. Col. Rogers moved to the threatened area and directed lethal fire on the enemy forces. Seeing a howitzer inoperative due to casualties, Lt. Col. Rogers joined the surviving members of the crew to return the howitzer to action. While directing the position defense, Lt. Col. Rogers was seriously wounded by fragments from a heavy mortar round which exploded on the parapet of the gun position. Although too severely wounded to physically lead the defenders, Lt. Col. Rogers continued to give encouragement and direction to his men in the defeating and repelling of the enemy attack. Lt. Col. Rogers’ dauntless courage and heroism inspired the defenders of the fire support base to the heights of valor to defeat a determined and numerically superior enemy force. His relentless spirit of aggressiveness in action are in the highest traditions of the military service and reflects great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.

his men forward, until he was mortally wounded. Capt. Pitts’ conspicuous gallantry, extraordinary heroism, and intrepidity at the cost of his life, above and beyond the call of duty, are in the highest traditions of the U.S. Army and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the Armed Forces of his country. Rogers, Charles Calvin Rank and Unit Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army, 1st Battalion, 5th Artillery, 1st Infantry Division Born September 6, 1929; Claremont, West Virginia Entered Service Institute, West Virginia Place and Date of Award Fishhook, near Cambodian border, Republic of Vietnam; November 1, 1968 Date of Issue May 14, 1970 Citation For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Lt. Col. Rogers, Field Artillery, distinguished himself in action while serving as commanding officer, 1st Battalion, during the defense of a forward fire support base. In the early morning hours, the fire support base was subjected to a concentrated bombardment of heavy mortar, rocket and rocket propelled grenade fire. Simultaneously the position was struck by a human wave ground assault, led by sappers who breached the defensive barriers with bangalore torpedoes and penetrated the defensive perimeter. Lt. Col. Rogers with complete disregard for his safety moved through the hail of fragments from bursting enemy rounds to the embattled area. He aggressively rallied the dazed artillery crewmen to man their howitzers and he directed their fire on the assaulting enemy. Although knocked to the ground and wounded by an exploding round, Lt. Col. Rogers sprang to his feet and led a small counterattack force against an enemy element that had penetrated the howitzer positions. Although painfully wounded a second time during the assault, Lt. Col. Rogers pressed the attack killing several of the enemy and driving the remainder from the positions. Refusing medical treatment, Lt. Col. Rogers reestablished and reinforced the defensive positions. As a second human wave attack was launched against another sector of the perimeter, Lt. Col. Rogers directed artillery fire on the assaulting enemy and led a second counterattack against the charging forces.

Sargent, Ruppert L. Rank and Unit First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Company B, 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division Born January 6, 1938; Hampton, Virginia Entered Service Richmond, Virginia Place and Date of Award Hau Nghia Province, Republic of Vietnam; March 15, 1967 Date of Issue March 10, 1969 (posthumously) Citation For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. While leading a platoon of Company B, 1st Lt. Sargent was investigating a reported Viet Cong meeting house and weapons cache. A tunnel entrance which 1st Lt. Sargent observed was booby trapped. He tried to destroy the booby trap and blow the cover from the tunnel using hand grenades, but this attempt was not successful. He and his demolition man moved in to destroy the booby trap and cover which flushed a Viet Cong soldier from the tunnel, who was immediately killed by the nearby platoon sergeant.

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1st Lt. Sargent, the platoon sergeant, and a forward observer moved toward the tunnel entrance. As they approached, another Viet Cong emerged and threw 2 hand grenades that landed in the midst of the group. 1st Lt. Sargent fired 3 shots at the enemy then turned and unhesitatingly threw himself over the 2 grenades. He was mortally wounded, and his 2 companions were lightly wounded when the grenades exploded. By his courageous and selfless act of exceptional heroism, he saved the lives of the platoon sergeant and forward observer and prevented the injury or death of several other nearby comrades. 1st Lt. Sargent’s actions were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military services and reflect great credit upon himself and the U.S. Army. Sasser, Clarence Eugene Rank and Unit Specialist, Fifth Class (then Private, First Class), U.S. Army, Headquarters Company, 3d Battalion, 60th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division Born September 12, 1947; Chenango, Texas Entered Service Houston, Texas Place and Date of Award Ding Tuong Province, Republic of Vietnam; January 10, 1968 Date of Issue March 7, 1969 Citation For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sp5c. Sasser distinguished himself while assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3d Battalion. He was serving as a medical aidman with Company A, 3d Battalion, on a reconnaissance in force operation. His company was making an air assault when suddenly it was taken under heavy small arms, recoilless rifle, machine gun and rocket fire from well fortified enemy positions on 3 sides of the landing zone. During the first few minutes, over 30 casualties were sustained. Without hesitation, Sp5c. Sasser ran across an open rice paddy through a hail of fire to assist the wounded. After helping 1 man to safety, was painfully wounded in the left shoulder by fragments of an exploding rocket. Refusing medical attention, he ran through a barrage of rocket and automatic weapons fire to aid casualties of the initial attack and, after giving them urgently needed treatment, continued to search for other wounded. Despite 2 additional wounds immobilizing his legs, he dragged himself through the mud toward another soldier 100 me-

ters away. Although in agonizing pain and faint from loss of blood, Sp5c. Sasser reached the man, treated him, and proceeded on to encourage another group of soldiers to crawl 200 meters to relative safety. There he attended their wounds for 5 hours until they were evacuated. Sp5c. Sasser’s extraordinary heroism is in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflects great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army. Sims, Clifford Chester Rank and Unit Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company D, 2d Battalion (Airborne), 501st Infantry, 101st Airborne Division Born June 18, 1942; Port St. Joe, Florida Entered Service Jacksonville, Florida Place and Date of Award Hue, Republic of Vietnam; February 21, 1968 Date of Issue December 2, 1969 (posthumously) Citation For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. S/Sgt. Sims distinguished himself while serving as a squad leader with Company D. Company D was assaulting a heavily fortified enemy position concealed within a dense wooded area when it encountered strong enemy defensive fire. Once within the woodline, S/Sgt. Sims led his squad in a furious attack against an enemy force which had pinned down the 1st Platoon and threatened to overrun it. His skillful leadership provided the platoon with freedom of movement and enabled it to regain the initiative. S/Sgt. Sims was then ordered to move his squad to a position where he could provide covering fire for the company command group and to link up with the 3d Platoon, which was under heavy enemy pressure. After moving no more than 30 meters S/Sgt. Sims noticed that a brick structure in which ammunition was stocked was on fire. Realizing the danger, S/Sgt. Sims took immediate action to move his squad from this position. Though in the process of leaving the area 2 members of his squad were injured by the subsequent explosion of the ammunition, S/Sgt. Sims’ prompt actions undoubtedly prevented more serious casualties from occurring. While continuing through the dense woods amidst heavy enemy fire, S/Sgt. Sims and his squad were approaching a bunker when they heard the unmistakable noise of a concealed

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booby trap being triggered immediately to their front. S/Sgt. Sims warned his comrades of the danger and unhesitatingly hurled himself upon the device as it exploded, taking the full impact of the blast. In so protecting his fellow soldiers, he willingly sacrificed his life. S/Sgt. Sims’ extraordinary heroism at the cost of his life is in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflects great credit upon himself and the U.S. Army. Warren, John Earl, Jr. Rank and Unit First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Company C, 2d Battalion (Mechanized), 22d Infantry, 25th Infantry Division Born November 16, 1946; Brooklyn, New York Entered Service New York Place and Date of Award Tay Ninh Province, Republic of Vietnam; January 14, 1969 Date of Issue August 6, 1970 Citation For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. 1st Lt. Warren distinguished himself at the cost of his life while serving as a platoon leader with Company C. While moving through a rubber plantation to reinforce another friendly unit, Company C came under intense fire from a well-fortified enemy force. Disregarding his safety, 1st Lt. Warren with several of his men began maneuvering through the hail of enemy fire toward the hostile positions. When he had come to within 6 feet of one of the enemy bunkers and was preparing to toss a hand grenade into it, an enemy grenade was suddenly thrown into the middle of his small group. Thinking only of his men, 1st Lt. Warren fell in the direction of the grenade, thus shielding those around him from the blast. His action, performed at the cost of his life, saved 3 men from serious or mortal injury. 1st Lt. Warren’s ultimate action of sacrifice to save the lives of his men was in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflects great credit on him, his unit, and the U.S. Army.

References and Further Reading Above and Beyond: A History of the Medal of Honor from the Civil War to Vietnam. Boston: Boston Publishing Company, 1985. Beyer, Walter F., O. F. Keydel, W. F. Beyer, Oscar Keydel, eds. Deeds of Valor: How America’s Civil War Heroes Won the Congressional Medal of Honor. Stamford, CT: Longmeadow Press, 1992. Congressional Medal of Honor Society. http://www.cmohs.com. Converse, Elliott V. and Julius W. Becton, Jr. The Exclusion of Black Soldiers from the Medal of Honor in World War II. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1997. Cooke, Donald Ewin. For Conspicuous Gallantry: Winners of the Medal of Honor. Maplewood, NJ: C. S. Hammond & Co., 1966. Doherty, Kieran. Congressional Medal of Honor Recipients. Springfield, NJ: Enslow Publishers, 1998. Donovan, Frank Robert. The Medal: The Story of the Medal of Honor. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1962. Korea: The Names, the Deeds. New York: Dell, 1987. Lang, George, Raymond L. Collins, and Gerard White. Medal of Honor Recipients, 1863–1994. New York: Facts on File, 1995. Lee, Irvin H. Negro Medal of Honor Men. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1969. Medal of Honor Citations: Vietnam War, 1964–1972. http://www.mishalov.com/Citations.html. Murphy, Edward. Vietnam Medal of Honor Heroes. New York: Ballantine Books, 1987. Schubert, Frank N. Black Valor: Buffalo Soldiers and the Medal of Honor, 1870–1898. Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources, 1997. U.S. Army Center of Military History: Full-text Listings of Medal of Honor Citations. http://www. army.mil/cmh-pg/moh1.htm. World War II: The Names, the Deeds, A-L. Vol. 1. New York: Dell, 1986. World War II: The Names, the Deeds, M-Z. Vol. 2. New York: Dell, 1986.

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Historic Sites of African American Military Significance

Alabama Fort Gaines, Mobile, Alabama This is the site of the Battle of Mobile Bay (1862). Located at the east end of Bienville Boulevard on Dauphin Island, Fort Gaines was a key stronghold guarding Mobile Bay prior to and during the battle. Visitors can explore the battlements, living quarters, tunnels, and bastions of Fort Gaines. Cannon used during the battle are also on display. Sulphur Trestle Fort Site, near Elkmont, Alabama This site commemorates the battle between the 11th United States Colored Troops, the 3d Tennessee Infantry, and the 9th Indiana Cavalry against Confederate forces under Nathan Bedford Forrest. The fort subsequently surrendered and was burned by Forrest. The site, situated one mile south of Elkmont, is currently used for agriculture. Arizona Tortilla Flats, Arizona This site commemorates a battle involving Gen. George Crook’s forces (including African American units) as part of a campaign to wipe out Apache renegades (1872–1873). Fort Bowie, Bowie, Arizona Fort Bowie is situated in Cochise County, about 13 miles south of Bowie. Commanding the eastern entrance of Apache Pass, Fort Bowie (1862) was a focal point in U.S. Army operations against the Chiricahua Apache in the 1860s and 1870s. A much-traveled mountain crossing of strategic value due to the

presence of spring water, the pass served Apache peoples, as well as Spanish, Mexican, and American settlers in the Southwest. Fort Grant, Bonita, Arizona This is the site of the historic fort originally established as Fort Aravaipa and then changed to Fort Breckinridge. The camp was situated in the Aravaipa Canyon until a new site for the post was selected in 1872. The camp was destroyed on July 10, 1861, in order to keep its supplies out of Confederate hands. The post was reestablished on May 18, 1862, by the California Volunteers and renamed Camp Stanford for Governor Leland Stanford of California, before being changed back to Fort Breckinridge in October 1863. On November 1, 1865, the post was renamed Camp Grant in honor of Union General Ulysses S. Grant. Fort Huachuca, Arizona Today, Fort Huachuca is an active military base. It has numerous buildings and sites related to African American soldiers, including the Buffalo Soldiers, and contains exhibits on black military history in the West. Many of the nineteenth-century buildings are still standing. A museum displays the role of the military in the development of the Southwest.

Arkansas Battle of Helena, Helena, Arkansas Four sites commemorate the Battle of Helena (July 1863), in which the African American 2d Infantry took part in overcoming a Confederate siege of the city.

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Battery A site is at the northwest junction of Adams and Columbia Streets, and is currently unoccupied land. Battery B site is at the northeast junction of Liberty Street and Summit Road, and is also unoccupied land. Battery C site, also known as Graveyard Hill, is at the junction of Clark and York Streets, and is a landscaped park. Battery D site is also known as Hindman Hill and is currently a landscaped park.

District of Columbia

California

Frederick Douglass House, Washington, D.C. This historic landmark was the home of the prominent African American abolitionist, writer, and influential Civil War figure from 1877 to 1895. The Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association was established in 1900 and the historic home opened in 1962. It was redesignated the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site on February 12, 1988. Visitors to the site will learn about his efforts to abolish slavery and his struggle for human rights, equal rights, and civil rights for all oppressed people.

Allensworth Historic District, Route 43, California This site commemorates Allen Allensworth, a chaplain in the 24th Infantry Regiment. The 600-acre, 67-building site is in the town of Allensworth and currently consists of a religious structure, a school, and another dwelling. Colorado Beecher’s Island Battlefield Monument, Colorado Established in 1905, this memorial is located on the bank of the Arikaree River and is a joint ColoradoKansas historical site. It is dedicated to the 10th Cavalry to commemorate the September 17–19, 1868, battle between Col. George A. Forsyth’s scouts and a group of about 750 Indians. The monument is the second to be erected. The original 1905 monument was washed away in the 1935 Arikaree River flood. Only the engraved portion of the base of the original marker was recovered.

African American Civil War Memorial, Washington, D.C. This memorial was erected and dedicated in March 1998 to the memory of the 186,000 African Americans who fought for the Union during the Civil War. Black Revolutionary War Patriot Memorial, Washington, D.C. This memorial is dedicated to the 5,000 African Americans who fought in the American Revolution.

Florida Olustee Battlefield Historic State Park, Olustee, Florida This battlefield site commemorates the place where the 8th United States Colored Troops and the 54th Massachusetts Regiment fought during the Civil War. It is Florida’s first state park and is located on U.S. Highway 90, fifteen miles east of Lake City and fifty miles west of Jacksonville. Illinois

Connecticut Jeff Liberty’s Grave, Washington, Connecticut This grave marks the final resting place of the former slave who served in the African American Connecticut Regiment during the American Revolution. Prince Goodin Home, Canterbury, Connecticut This is the house once owned by a freeman who fought in the French and Indian War, serving at Fort William Henry, where he was captured and then freed in 1760 when the British took Montreal.

Victory Monument, 35th Street and South Park Way, Chicago, Illinois This monument was erected in 1927 and is also known as the Black Doughboy Monument. It commemorates the predominantly Illinois-based 369th Infantry Regiment. Eighth Regiment Armory, Chicago, Illinois Based at 3533 South Giles Avenue, this was the first armory to be constructed for the use of African American troops. It was built in 1914–1915 by J. B.

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Dibelka. The “Fighting 8th” traces its roots to the formation of the volunteer Hannibal Guard militia in 1871. It later became a division of the Illinois National Guard, and during World War I was incorporated into the 370th Infantry Regiment. Iowa Fort Des Moines, Des Moines, Iowa This historic fort commemorates the African American 24th and 25th Infantry and 9th and 10th Cavalry members who trained and graduated from there. After graduation in June 1917, the men assembled as the 92d Infantry Division and fought on the approaches to Metz, France, in World War I. Kansas Buffalo Soldier Monument, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas This memorial commemorates the contributions of the Buffalo Soldiers. Fort Leavenworth was the historic home of the 10th Cavalry. The monument, initiated by Gen. Colin Powell, was dedicated in July 1992 to the memory of the 9th and 10th Cavalry. Fort Dodge, Dodge City, Kansas This fort was much used by the 10th Cavalry during its operations against Native Americans in 1868–1869. The fort was established in 1859 near the 100th meridian (the Louisiana Purchase western border). It was the last U.S. Army fort located before the Civil War, and was the first fort opened (in 1865) after the war. Fort Dodge, intended to guard travelers on the Santa Fe Trail and to keep Indian and other predators at bay, quickly became an important military fortification. Fort Scott National Historic Site, Fort Scott, Kansas This site is associated with the formation of the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers, the first African American unit to see action during the Civil War. Fort Scott was established in 1842 and served first as a frontier outpost and then as a Civil War garrison. During the war, the fort was a major focal point of African American troop activity and training. The fort was restored to its 1840s appearance and contains a Civil War museum.

Fort Wallace, Wallace, Kansas A roadside marker shows the position of the fort that was used by African American troops in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Gen. William T. Sherman, while in command of the Military Division of the Missouri, arranged the construction of Fort Wallace—as well as Forts Riley, Harker, and Hays— for the protection for stagecoaches, wagon trains, railroad surveyors and laborers, and settlers. Fort Wallace, originally known as Camp Pond Creek, was the most western post in Kansas along the Smoky Hill Trail, and from 1865 to 1878 bore the brunt of the Indian wars in the state. Kentucky Camp Nelson Archaeological Sites, Jessamine County, Kentucky This is the site of a major recruitment camp for African American troops. It also has an important national cemetery. Kentucky Military History Museum, Frankfort, Kentucky This museum has specific exhibits related to African Americans recruited from Kentucky during the Civil War. The museum is housed in the Old State Arsenal building, which formerly held the weapons and equipment of the Kentucky Militia. It is located on the corner of Main Street and Capitol Avenue, and displays uniforms, medals, flags, and weapons, including a collection of automatic arms and Kentucky rifles. Exhibits trace the state’s involvement in military conflicts through two centuries. Louisiana Chalmette Battlefield, Jean Lafitte National Historic Park and Preserve, Louisiana This is the location of the Battle of New Orleans site where the so-called Free Men of Color fought during the War of 1812. The site is situated 6 miles to the southeast of New Orleans on St. Bernard Highway, and is adjacent to the Chalmette National Cemetery. Port Hudson Siege Marker, Port Hudson, Louisiana This site marks the Port Hudson siege involving African American troops during the Civil War.

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Massachusetts

New Mexico

Crispus Attucks Monument, Boston Massacre Site, Massachusetts This monument was erected to commemorate the prominent African American who died in the Boston Massacre (1770) prior to the American Revolution. The monument and burial place are located just off Boston Common.

Fort Union National Monument, Watrous, New Mexico This monument celebrates elements of the 9th Cavalry that were stationed at the post. Fort Union was established in 1851 by Lt. Col. Edwin V. Sumner to guard and protect the Santa Fe Trail. During its forty-year history, three different forts were constructed close together. The third and final Fort Union was the largest in the Southwest, and functioned as a military garrison, territorial arsenal, and military supply depot for the region.

Robert G. Shaw and 54th Massachusetts Memorial, Boston, Massachusetts This memorial was erected in 1897 at the entrance to Boston Common at the junction of Beacon and Park Streets in Boston.

New York Mississippi Black Confederate Memorial, Canton, Mississippi This twenty-foot obelisk was erected in 1894 as a tribute to the African American slaves who went to battle with Confederate forces. Montana Fort Missoula, Missoula, Montana This site was a home of the 25th Infantry Regiment. The unit tested bicycles to replace horses. Twelve buildings remain from the historic fort, and there are permanent exhibits, including material related to the black bicycle corps. The buildings are located on thirty-two acres at the center of what was Fort Missoula. The site includes former log quarters for noncommissioned officers, a U.S. Forest Service lookout, a school, a log cabin, a railroad depot, an army warehouse, a quartermaster warehouse, internment camp barracks, and a quartermaster root cellar. Fort Shaw, Montana This Montana fort was a home of the 25th Infantry Regiment. It is situated on the Sun River and was built in 1867. First named Camp Reynolds, it was changed in honor of Civil War colonel Robert Gould Shaw. It was established as a military post in 1876 and has been recognized as the “Queen of Montana’s Posts” because one of the buildings was 125 feet long. Fort Shaw was used as an Indian school after being abandoned in 1890. Later, the Great Northern Railroad came through and Fort Shaw became part of the Vaughn-Augusta branch.

Fort Ticonderoga, Ticonderoga, New York The fort memorializes the battle in which Ethan Allen’s Green Mountain Boys, some of whom were African American (including Lemuel Haynes, Primus Black, and Epheram Blackman), defeated a British force. For most of the second half of the eighteenth century, this landmark was the military key to the Champlain Valley, New York City, the Hudson River Valley, western New England, and Montreal. This strategic location made the fort one of the most important military sites in the struggle for control of North America during the French and Indian War and the American Revolution. 369th Regiment Armory, New York This armory was built around 1933 for the African American 369th Infantry Regiment, founded in 1918. The building is still used for arms storage.

Ohio John Mercer Langston House, Oberlin, Ohio This site was the home of John Mercer Langston, one of whose many activities was serving as a recruiter for the 54th and the 55th Massachusetts Regiments. Charles Young Home, Xenia, Ohio This is a registered National Historic Landmark and is scheduled to become the future site of the National Museum of African American Military History. Its unique history relives the days when it was a way station for the Underground Railroad.

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Historic Sites of African American Military Significance

Oklahoma Fort Sill, Comanche, Oklahoma Units of the 10th Cavalry and 24th Infantry served at Fort Sill. Troops stationed here were active in campaigns against Southern Plains tribes in the late nineteenth century. Virtually all of the original fort survives. It has been expanded and continues to play a significant role for the U.S. Army in the twentieth century. Pennsylvania Valley Forge National Historic Park, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania This national historic park opened on July 4, 1976. It commemorates the Continental Army and its African American soldiers who stayed at Valley Forge during the winter of 1777. Of all the places associated with the American Revolution, perhaps none has come to symbolize perseverance and sacrifice more than Valley Forge. The hardships of the encampment claimed the lives of one in ten, nearly all from disease. Despite the privations suffered by the army at Valley Forge, George Washington and his generals built a professional military organization that ultimately enabled the Continental Army to triumph over the British. Rhode Island Black Regiment Memorial, Rhode Island Situated to the west of Portsmouth, this memorial was erected to commemorate the contribution of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment in the Battle of Rhode Island during the American Revolution. Battle of Rhode Island Site, Portsmouth, Rhode Island African Americans played a major role in this victory over the British during the American Revolution. The site is situated on Lehigh Hill between Medley and Dexter Streets in Portsmouth and is currently a landscaped park. South Carolina Folly Island, South Carolina This is the site of archaeological excavations of an abandoned cemetery of the 55th Massachusetts Regiment and 1st North Carolina Colored Infantry

(35th United States Colored Troops). The site is now located within a residential housing development. Robert Smalls’s House, Beaufort, South Carolina Located at 511 Prince Street in Beaufort, this site was named as a national historic landmark in 1973. It is now a private dwelling. Fish Haul Archaeological Site, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina This site was the location of Mitchellville, a village of freed slaves. Many freed slaves entered the U.S. Army as contraband or United States Colored Troops during the Civil War. It is a National Register site and is currently unoccupied land. Tennessee Fort Pillow State Park, Henning, Tennessee This site contains well-preserved ruins of Civil War fortifications. The 1,642-acre Fort Pillow is located on the Chickasaw Bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River. The Union army seized the fort due to its strategic location and controlled it during most of the war. Texas Fort Davis, Texas This site is a re-creation of the frontier military post. Exhibits include restored living quarters and a commissary. Fort Davis was a key U.S. Army fortification in West Texas, established to guard the San Antonio–El Paso route. Its peak strength was between 1879 and 1885. Fort Concho, San Angelo, Texas This site is the best preserved of all the Texas frontier forts, with eleven original buildings still standing. A home of the 10th Cavalry, there are exhibits on the fort’s role on the frontier. Located at 630 South Oakes Street in San Angelo, the fort was established in 1867 to protect the Texas frontier and was active until 1889, when it was abandoned by the U.S. Army. Soldiers from the fort carried out campaigns against the Kiowa and Comanche in 1870–1875. Archaeological Site 41HZ228, near Sierra Blanca, Texas This is a possible burial site of soldiers killed in the

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Historic Sites of African American Military Significance

October 28, 1880, ambush by Apaches. It is a National Register site. Archaeological Site 41HZ439, near Sierra Blanca, Texas This National Register site is also located near Sierra Blanca and was the campsite of the 10th Cavalry. Archaeological Site 41HZ227, near Sierra Blanca, Texas Also near Sierra Blanca, this is a National Register site of a 10th Cavalry camp and could be the place where soldiers were ambushed by Apache on October 28, 1880. Bullis Camp Site, Dryden, Texas From 1877 to 1879, this site was the camp of the Seminole Negro Scouts. Also known as Camp Meyers or Fort Bullis, the National Register site is currently used for agriculture.

Richmond National Battlefield Park, Virginia This site is where nine black regiments participated in fighting in 1864. Between 1861 and 1865, Union armies repeatedly set out to capture Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy, and thereby end the Civil War. This park commemorates eleven different sites associated with those campaigns, including the battlefields at Gaines’ Mill, Malvern Hill, and Cold Harbor. Established in 1936, the park protects 763 acres of historic ground. Petersburg National Battlefield Park, Virginia This park is the location of the Battle of the Crater and the Siege of Petersburg, both events in which African Americans played prominent roles. Petersburg became the setting for the longest siege in American history when Union general Ulysses S. Grant failed to capture Richmond in the spring of 1864. The nine-and-a-half-month siege ended on April 2, 1865. The park contains a museum and interpretive center. Wyoming

Utah Fort Douglas, Salt Lake City, Utah This site was once a home of the 24th Infantry Regiment. The U.S. Army was stationed here to maintain federal authority in the Mormon territory in the 1860s. The fort also represented an effort to protect transcontinental telegraph lines and mail and transportation routes.

Virginia Great Bridge Battlefield Memorial, Virginia This memorial is dedicated to commemorate the contribution of African Americans who fought in the Battle of Great Bridge (1775) during the American Revolution.

Fort Russell, Wyoming Fort Russell is now called F. E. Warren Air Force Base. The fort area contains many well-preserved barracks and officers’ quarters. Fort Washakie Blockhouse, Wyoming Fort Washakie was in military use from 1869 to 1909; the 9th and 10th cavalry were stationed there for some time. Originally called Camp Brown, it was renamed in 1878 after the last chief of the Shoshone tribe, who in the 1870s provided 150 men for General Crook’s campaign against the Sioux and Cheyenne, which ended with the disaster at Little Big Horn (1876). When Washakie died (aged 100) in 1900, he was buried with full military honors. The site is on the Wind River Indian Reservation.

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Index

Military Units Page numbers in boldface indicate main entries. 1st Kansas Colored (Volunteers) Infantry, 175–176, 306, 436, 603, 604, 771 1st Louisiana Native Guards, 176–178, 309, 604 1st Mississippi Cavalry (African Descent), 704 1st North Carolina Colored Volunteers, 179, 272, 296, 773 1st Rhode Island Regiment, 180–181, 433, 773 1st South Carolina Infantry (Colored), 649 1st South Carolina Volunteers, 181–182, 436, 603 1st U.S. Colored Cavalry, 645, 707, 708, 709, 712, 713, 719 1st U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery, 639, 712 1st U.S. Colored Troops, 649–650, 707, 708–709, 710, 714, 715, 720, 721 2d Brigade (Col. John W. Ames), 718–719 2d Cavalry Division, 446, 733 2d Kansas Volunteers, 306 2d South Carolina Volunteers, 272 2d U.S. Colored Cavalry, 645–646, 705, 707, 708, 709, 711, 713, 714, 715 2d U.S. Colored Troops, 650, 707, 710, 712–713, 720

3d Division, XXIII Corps (Brig. Gen. Edward W. Hincks), 707 3d Division, XXV Corps (Brig. Gen. Charles J. Paine), 718–719 3d South Carolina Colored Infantry, 505 3d U.S. Colored Cavalry, 646, 705, 708, 709, 711, 714, 716, 718, 720 3d U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery, 639–640 3d U.S. Colored Troops, 650–651, 703–704, 715, 720, 721 4th Cavalry Brigade, 734 4th Division (Brig. Gen. Edward Ferrero), 706–707, 708 4th U.S. Colored Cavalry, 646–647, 713 4th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery, 640, 715 4th U.S. Colored Troops, 651, 707, 709, 713, 714, 719 5th Armored Group, 734 5th Cavalry Brigade, 734 5th Massachusetts Regiment (American Revolution), 329 5th Massachusetts Cavalry (Colored), 322, 647, 652, 709 5th Reconnaissance Squadron, 734 5th U.S. Colored Cavalry, 647–648, 714, 715, 717, 718, 719

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5th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery, 640, 702, 703 5th U.S. Colored Troops, 651–652, 704, 707, 709, 714, 715, 721 6th Louisiana Infantry (Colored), 653–654 6th U.S. Colored Cavalry, 648, 714, 717, 718 6th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery, 640–641, 704, 711, 712, 716 6th U.S. Colored Troops, 652–653, 705, 709, 714, 719 7th Louisiana Infantry (Colored), 654 7th U.S. Colored Troops, 706, 709, 711, 712, 713, 714, 715, 719 8th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery, 641, 705 8th U.S. Colored Troops, 157–158, 704, 714, 715 9th Cavalry, 81, 82, 83, 84, 124, 190, 233, 234, 239, 264–265, 267, 287–291, 303, 304, 327, 333, 334 (photo), 340, 349, 368, 369, 371–372, 374, 379–380, 383, 411, 413, 439, 440, 441, 442, 458, 498, 506–507, 515, 516, 523, 538 (photo), 543, 545, 734 postings, 723-724 9th Infantry Regiment (2d Division), 244 9th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery, 641

Index

9th U.S. Colored Troops, 655, 712, 714, 715 10th Cavalry, 67–68, 81, 82, 83, 84, 124, 186, 190, 191 (photo), 233, 234, 251–252, 267, 300, 303, 304, 327, 333, 334 (photo), 335, 340, 349, 368, 369, 370, 371–372, 373, 374, 383–387, 411, 413, 414, 439, 440, 441–442, 458, 474, 498, 507, 512, 514, 523, 528, 543, 544 (photo), 545, 585, 586 (photo), 734, 773, 774 postings, 723, 724 10th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery, 641, 705 10th U.S. Colored Troops, 655–656, 703, 706, 708–709 11th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery, 641–642, 712 11th U.S. Colored Troops (new), 656, 705, 713 11th U.S. Colored Troops (old), 656, 713, 719 12th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery, 642, 720 12th U.S. Colored Troops, 656–657, 716, 717, 718 13th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery, 642 13th U.S. Colored Troops, 657, 714, 717 14th Rhode Island Heavy Artillery, 199 14th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery, 642 14th U.S. Colored Troops, 657, 712, 715, 717 15th New York Infantry. See 369th Infantry Regiment 15th U.S. Colored Troops, 657–658 , 708, 718 16th U.S. Colored Troops, 658 17th U.S. Colored Troops, 658, 717, 718, 720 18th U.S. Colored Troops, 658–659, 717, 719

19th U.S. Colored Troops, 659, 709, 716 20th U.S. Colored Troops, 659 21st U.S. Colored Troops, 659–660 22d Quartermaster Group, 359–360 22d U.S. Colored Troops, 660, 709, 710, 713, 714, 715, 716 23d Kansas Volunteer Infantry, 419–420 23d U.S. Colored Troops, 660–661, 709, 717 24th Infantry Regiment, 64–66, 81, 98, 101, 190, 204–205, 219, 242–244, 245, 300, 303, 304, 327, 333, 334 (photo), 335, 340, 349, 352, 368, 369, 371, 372, 373, 374, 391–392, 411, 412, 413–418, 439, 440, 441, 442, 446, 447, 449, 458, 514, 523, 527, 548, 549, 724, 733, 773 postings, 723, 725 24th U.S. Colored Troops, 661 25th Infantry Regiment, 81, 82, 84, 158–159, 190, 267, 303, 304, 327, 333, 334 (photo), 340, 349, 368, 369, 370–371, 373, 374, 410–413, 414, 439, 440, 441, 442, 458, 474, 523, 724, 733, 772, 774 postings, 723, 725–726 25th U.S. Colored Troops, 661 26th U.S. Colored Troops, 661–662, 711, 717, 718 27th Cavalry Regiment, 734 27th U.S. Colored Troops, 662, 709, 715 28th Cavalry Regiment, 734 28th U.S. Colored Troops, 662–663, 709, 710 29th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, 418–419, 663–664, 709, 714, 715 29th U.S. Colored Troops, 663, 709, 721

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30th Connecticut Volunteers, 388–389 30th U.S. Colored Troops, 664, 709, 719, 720 31st U.S. Colored Troops, 664–665, 709 32d U.S. Colored Troops, 665, 716, 717, 721 33d U.S. Colored Troops, 665, 701, 702, 703, 710 34th Regiment (Terrell’s Texas Rangers), 389–390 34th U.S. Colored Troops, 665–666, 709, 711, 717 35th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (Mechanized), 734 35th U.S. Colored Troops, 666–667, 704, 708, 712, 716 36th U.S. Colored Troops, 667, 704, 708, 709, 710, 714, 716 37th U.S. Colored Troops, 667–668, 705, 714, 715 38th U.S. Colored Troops, 668, 714 39th U.S. Colored Troops, 668–669, 709, 715, 716, 719 40th Infantry, 723, 724, 725, 736 40th U.S. Colored Troops, 669, 714 41st Engineer General Service Regiment, 358, 617, 736 41st Infantry, 723, 726 41st U.S. Colored Troops, 669, 709, 715, 717, 721 42d U.S. Colored Troops, 669–670 43d U.S. Colored Troops, 670, 709, 715 44th U.S. Colored Troops, 670, 714, 716, 718 45th Engineer General Service Regiment, 357, 736 45th U.S. Colored Troops, 670–671, 709, 715 46th Field Artillery Brigade, 735

Index

46th U.S. Colored Troops, 671 47th U.S. Colored Troops, 671–672, 702, 704, 705, 721 48th and 49th Volunteers, 197–198, 303, 374 48th U.S. Colored Troops, 672, 703, 710, 721 49th U.S. Colored Troops, 672, 702, 704 50th U.S. Colored Troops, 672–673, 721 51st U.S. Colored Troops, 673, 702, 704, 710, 721 52d U.S. Colored Troops, 673, 704, 710, 715 53d U.S. Colored Troops, 673–674, 704, 711, 715 54th Coast Artillery Regiment, 736 54th Massachusetts Infantry, 140, 169, 170, 171–174, 179, 193, 218, 272, 296, 297, 298, 310, 366–367, 403, 436, 438, 772, 604, 674–675, 702–703, 713, 716, 721, 722 55th Massachusetts Infantry, 169–171, 179, 181, 218, 436, 604,675–676, 708, 709, 710, 712, 716, 717, 719, 720, 773 56th U.S. Colored Troops, 676–677, 705, 710, 711 57th U.S. Colored Troops, 175, 677, 706 58th U.S. Colored Troops, 677, 703 59th U.S. Colored Troops, 174–175, 677–678, 709, 711 60th U.S. Colored Troops, 678, 711 61st U.S. Colored Troops, 678, 703, 711, 712, 714 62d U.S. Colored Troops, 607, 678–679, 715, 722 63d U.S. Colored Troops, 679, 706, 710, 713

64th U.S. Colored Troops, 679, 704, 706, 709, 710, 712 65th U.S. Colored Troops, 679–680 66th U.S. Colored Troops, 680, 704, 705, 710, 711, 712, 713 67th U.S. Colored Troops, 680, 708 68th U.S. Colored Troops, 680–681, 711, 720, 721 69th U.S. Colored Troops, 681 70th U.S. Colored Troops, 681 71st U.S. Colored Troops, 681 72d U.S. Colored Troops, 682 73d U.S. Colored Troops, 682, 703, 707, 708, 721 74th U.S. Colored Troops, 682, 701 75th U.S. Colored Troops, 682–683, 702, 703, 705, 715 76th Coast Artillery Regiment, 736 76th U.S. Colored Troops, 683, 721 77th Coast Artillery Regiment, 736 77th Field Artillery Battalion, 735 77th U.S. Colored Troops, 683, 720 78th U.S. Colored Troops, 683–684, 702, 703 79th Field Artillery Battalion, 735 79th U.S. Colored Troops (new organization), 684, 701, 702, 703, 704, 705, 706, 713, 716, 718, 719 79th U.S. Colored Troops (old organization), 684, 702 80th Construction Battalion, 401 80th U.S. Colored Troops, 684, 702 81st U.S. Colored Troops, 684–685, 702, 712 82d U.S. Colored Troops, 685, 702, 711, 714, 717, 721

| 787 |

83d U.S. Colored Troops (new), 685–686, 703, 705–706, 707, 717, 718, 719, 720 84th U.S. Colored Troops, 686, 716 85th U.S. Colored Troops, 686 86th U.S. Colored Troops, 686–687, 721 87th U.S. Colored Troops (new organization), 687 87th U.S. Colored Troops (old organization), 687 88th U.S. Colored Troops, 687 89th U.S. Colored Troops, 687–688 90th Coast Artillery Regiment, 736 90th U.S. Colored Troops, 688 91st Engineer Battalion, 736 91st Engineer General Service Regiment, 355–357 91st U.S. Colored Troops, 688, 703 92d Infantry Division, 118–119, 199, 204, 265, 282–283, 341, 342, 349, 442, 443, 444, 446, 447, 453, 456, 457, 460, 527, 528, 530, 532, 533, 534, 535, 538, 548, 549, 733 92d Engineer Battalion, 736 92d U.S. Colored Troops, 688, 708 93d Engineer General Service Regiment, 357, 736 93d Infantry Division, 118, 126, 165, 265, 266, 284–286, 341, 349, 392, 393, 394, 395, 397, 413, 442, 443, 446, 447, 456, 457, 460, 528, 529, 530, 531, 532, 548, 549, 733 93d U.S. Colored Troops, 688–689, 716 94th Engineer Battalion, 446 94th Engineer General Service Regiment, 736 94th U.S. Colored Troops, 689 95th Engineer General Service Regiment, 357, 736

Index

95th U.S. Colored Troops, 689, 702 96th Engineer General Service Regiment, 355–357, 737 96th U.S. Colored Troops, 689, 712 97th Engineer General Service Regiment, 357, 737 97th U.S. Colored Troops, 689–690, 717 98th Engineer General Service Regiment, 737 98th U.S. Colored Troops, 690, 706 99th Coast Artillery Regiment, 736 99th Pursuit/Fighter Squadron, 122, 213, 279–282, 400, 407, 408 (photo), 409, 410, 427, 428, 429, 463 (photo). See also Tuskegee Airmen 99th U.S. Colored Troops, 690, 720 100th Coast Artillery Regiment, 736 100th U.S. Colored Troops, 690–691, 713 , 717 101st U.S. Colored Troops, 691, 716, 718, 720 102d U.S. Colored Troops, 297–298, 691–692, 716, 717, 719, 721–722 103d U.S. Colored Troops, 692 104th U.S. Colored Troops, 692 105th U.S. Colored Troops, 692 106th U.S. Colored Troops, 714, 718 107th U.S. Colored Troops, 692–693, 719 108th U.S. Colored Troops, 693, 713 109th U.S. Colored Troops, 693 110th U.S. Colored Troops, 693–694, 709, 714, 719 111th U.S. Colored Troops, 694, 707, 714 112th U.S. Colored Troops, 694 113th U.S. Colored Troops (new organization), 694

113th U.S. Colored Troops (old organization), 694–695 114th U.S. Colored Troops, 695 115th U.S. Colored Troops, 695 116th U.S. Colored Troops, 695–696, 709 117th U.S. Colored Troops, 696, 713 118th U.S. Colored Troops, 696, 719 119th U.S. Colored Troops, 696–697, 722 120th U.S. Colored Troops, 697 121st U.S. Colored Troops, 697 122d U.S. Colored Troops, 697 123d U.S. Colored Troops, 697 124th U.S. Colored Troops, 697–698 125th U.S. Colored Troops, 698 127th U.S. Colored Troops, 698, 715 128th U.S. Colored Troops, 698 135th U.S. Colored Troops, 698 136th U.S. Colored Troops, 698–699 137th U.S. Colored Troops, 699 138th U.S. Colored Troops, 699 159th Field Artillery Battalion, 735 184th Field Artillery Regiment, 735 224th Engineer General Service Regiment, 737 226th Engineer General Service Regiment, 737 317th Engineer Combat Battalion, 739 318th Balloon Battalion, 736 318th Engineer Combat Battalion, 739 319th Balloon Battalion, 736 320th Balloon Battalion, 623, 736 321st Balloon Battalion, 736 332d Fighter Group, 399–400, 406, 407, 408, 409, 410, 428–429, 542, 739 333d Field Artillery Group (Motorized), 735 349th Field Artillery Group (Motorized), 735

| 788 |

350th Engineer General Service Regiment, 737 350th Field Artillery Group (Motorized), 735 351st Field Artillery Group (Motorized), 735 352d Engineer General Service Regiment, 357, 737 353d Field Artillery Group (Motorized), 735 354th Engineer General Service Regiment, 737 356th Engineer General Service Regiment, 737 357th Engineer General Service Regiment, 737 361st AAA Searchlight Battalion, 736 362d Engineer General Service Regiment, 737 364th Engineer General Service Regiment, 737 364th Infantry Regiment, 734 365th Engineer General Service Regiment, 737 366th Engineer General Service Regiment, 737 366th Infantry Regiment, 734 367th Armored Infantry Battalion, 734 367th Infantry Regiment, 734 368th Infantry Regiment, 282, 283, 349, 447, 530, 532–533, 734 369th Coast Artillery Regiment, 736 369th Infantry Regiment, 100, 102, 117, 118 (photo), 119, 126, 165, 234–235, 261–262, 266, 277 (photo), 284, 349, 350, 378, 392, 397–399, 446, 447, 458, 528–529, 531–532, 534, 535 (photo), 734, 772 370th Infantry Regiment, 117–118, 284–285, 286, 349, 392–394, 447, 453, 529, 734, 771 371st Infantry Regiment, 100–101, 118, 285, 286,

Index

349, 381, 394–395, 396, 453, 530, 734 372d Infantry Regiment, 101, 118, 285–286, 349, 394, 395–397, 458, 530, 734 374th Engineer General Service Regiment, 737 375th Engineer General Service Regiment, 737 376th Engineer Battalion, 737 377th Engineer General Service Regiment, 737 378th Engineer Battalion, 737 379th Engineer Battalion, 737 382d Engineer Battalion, 737 383d Engineer Battalion, 737 384th Engineer Battalion, 737 385th Engineer Battalion, 737 386th Engineer Battalion, 737 387th Engineer Battalion, 737 388th Engineer General Service Regiment, 737 389th Engineer General Service Regiment, 737 390th Engineer General Service Regiment, 737 392d Engineer General Service Regiment, 738 393d Engineer General Service Regiment, 738 394th Quartermaster Battalion, 357 398th Engineer General Service Regiment, 738 450th AAA Auto-Weapons Battalion, 736 452d AAA Auto-Weapons Battalion, 736 458th AAA Auto-Weapons Battalion, 736 466th AAA Auto-Weapons Battalion, 736 477th AAA Auto-Weapons Battalion, 736 477th Bombardment Group, 429, 543, 739 484th AAA Auto-Weapons Battalion, 736 492d AAA Auto-Weapons Battalion, 736

493d AAA Auto-Weapons Battalion, 736 518th Quartermaster Battalion, 357 538th AAA Auto-Weapons Battalion, 736 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion (Triple Nickles), 182–184, 734 578th Field Artillery Regiment (Motorized), 735 593d Field Artillery Battalion, 735 594th Field Artillery Battalion, 735 595th Field Artillery Battalion, 735 596th Field Artillery Battalion, 735 597th Field Artillery Battalion, 735 598th Field Artillery Battalion, 735 599th Field Artillery Battalion, 735 600th Field Artillery Battalion, 735 612th Coast Artillery Regiment, 736 613th Coast Artillery Regiment, 736 614th Battalion, 390–391 614th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 734 649th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 734 659th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 734 666th Truck Company, 360 669th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 734 679th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 735 732d Field Artillery Battalion, 735 748th Tank Battalion, 734 758th Light Tank Battalion, 734 761st “Black Panthers” Tank Battalion, 322–323, 344, 361–362, 446, 448, 453, 579, 734

| 789 |

777th Field Artillery Battalion, 735 795th Field Artillery Battalion, 735 795th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 735 810th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 354–355, 738 811th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 354–355, 738 812th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 738 822d Engineer Aviation Battalion, 738 823d Engineer Aviation Battalion, 357, 738 827th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 738 827th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 735 828th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 738 828th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 735 829th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 738 829th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 735 837th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 738 838th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 738 839th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 738 846th AAA Auto-Weapons Battalion, 736 846th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 735 847th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 738 848th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 738 849th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 738 855th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 738 856th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 738 857th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 738

Index

858th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 358, 738 867th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 738 868th Engineer Aviation Regiment, 738 869th Engineer Aviation Regiment, 738 870th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 738 923d Engineer Aviation Regiment, 738 927th Engineer Aviation Regiment, 738 929th Engineer Aviation Regiment, 738 932d Engineer Aviation Regiment, 738 1310th Engineer General Service Regiment, 738 1311th Engineer General Service Regiment, 738 1312th Engineer General Service Regiment, 738 1313th Engineer General Service Regiment, 738 1314th Engineer General Service Regiment, 738 1315th Engineer General Service Regiment, 738 1316th Engineer General Service Regiment, 738 1317th Engineer General Service Regiment, 738 1318th Engineer General Service Regiment, 738 1319th Engineer General Service Regiment, 738 1320th Engineer General Service Regiment, 738 1321st Engineer General Service Regiment, 738 1322d Engineer General Service Regiment, 738 1323d Engineer General Service Regiment, 738 1324th Engineer General Service Regiment, 738 1325th Engineer General Service Regiment, 738

1326th Engineer General Service Regiment, 738 1327th Engineer General Service Regiment, 357, 738 1329th Engineer General Service Regiment, 738 1330th Engineer General Service Regiment, 738 1331st Engineer General Service Regiment, 738 1332d Engineer General Service Regiment, 738 1333d Engineer General Service Regiment, 738 1334th Engineer Construction Battalion, 738 1349th Engineer General Service Regiment, 738 1553d Engineer Construction Battalion, 738 1554th Engineer Construction Battalion, 738 1692d Engineer Combat Battalion, 739 1693d Engineer Combat Battalion, 739 1694th Engineer Combat Battalion, 739 1695th Engineer Combat Battalion, 739 1696th Engineer Combat Battalion, 739 1697th Engineer Combat Battalion, 739 1698th Engineer Combat Battalion, 739 1699th Engineer Combat Battalion, 739 1700th Engineer Combat Battalion, 739 1749th Engineer General Service Regiment, 739 1862d Engineer Aviation Battalion, 739 1863d Engineer Aviation Battalion, 739 1864th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 739 1865th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 739

| 790 |

1866th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 739 1867th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 739 1868th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 739 1869th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 739 1870th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 739 1871st Engineer Aviation Battalion, 739 1872d Engineer Aviation Battalion, 739 1873d Engineer Aviation Battalion, 739 1882d Engineer Aviation Battalion, 739 1883d Engineer Aviation Battalion, 739 1887th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 739 1888th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 739 1889th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 739 1890th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 739 1894th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 739 1895th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 739 1898th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 739 1899th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 739 1908th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 739 1909th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 739 1916th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 739 1917th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 739 2822d Engineer General Service Regiment, 739 3304th Quartermaster Truck Company, 357 6486th Engineer Construction Battalion, 739

Index

6487th Engineer Construction Battalion, 739 6495th Engineer Construction Battalion, 739

6496th Engineer Construction Battalion, 739

6888th Central Postal Battalion, 149, 150, 363

General Index Abbott, Robert S., 105 Abercrombie, James, 87, 307 Abraham Lincoln Battalion, 1–2, 97, 324, 376–378 Abridge, Mark, 556 Abyssinian Baptist Church, 423 Adams, Charity. See Earley, Charity Edna Adams Adams, Curtis, 510 Adams, Francis, Jr., 322 Adams, John, 74 Adams, John Quincy, 48 Adams, William C., 479 Adams-Ender, Clara, 10 Advisory Committee on Negro Troop Policies, 428, 446–447, 546, 547, 548, 550 Affirmative action, 6, 13, 14, 513 African Americans and African Americanization in military, 11–14 and disparate treatment in disciplinary matters, 346–347, 447 enlistment of, 2–5, 501, 504 (see also specific branches of the service) lynchings of, 342, 440, 523–524, 536 at military academies, 6 (table), 504 (see also Naval Academy, U.S.; West Point) in military intelligence, 266–269, 402–403 and military service in colonial America, 106–109, 276, 337–338, 432, 501 officers in military, 4, 5–8, 14, 19, 21, 23, 32, 34–35,

63–64, 121–123, 124–127, 128, 134, 149–150, 155, 165, 170, 177, 184, 186, 199–200, 201–202, 205–208, 213, 225–227, 231, 233, 261, 264, 268, 272–274, 275, 280, 282, 284, 301, 311–315, 325–326, 340, 362–363, 363–365, 374, 379–380, 392–393, 396, 398, 407–408, 419, 434, 442–443, 458, 459–460, 466, 468, 470, 482, 491, 493, 504, 510–513, 527–528, 545, 551–552, 561–563, 574, 585–587 Pentagon’s tribute to Medal of Honor heroes among, 336 press of, and World Wars I and II, 130–132, 133, 443, 456, 464, 536, 548, 566, 571, 575 and race relations in military, 57–59, 336–348, 358–359, 482, 496, 502–504, 547–548 (see also specific incidents and people) women in military, 8–11, 149–150, 229, 233, 517–522, 545, 560, 564–565, 574–575 See also specific military units African Brigade (Col. Isaac Fitzgerald Shepard), 701 African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, 404, 405, 423

| 791 |

Agnew, Spiro T., 60, 62 Aguinaldo, Emilio, 302, 304, 369, 374 Air Corps. See Army Air Corps Air Force. See U.S. Air Force Alcan Highway, 357, 619 Alejandrino, José, 303 Alexander, Clifford L., Jr., 14, 233, 635 Alexander, Fanny Miller, 15 Alexander, James Milo, 15 Alexander, Jerome, 452 (photo) Alexander, John H., 15, 224 (photo), 287, 440, 512 Alfonso, King, XIII, 375 All-Volunteer Force (AVF), 14 Allen, Doris, 10 Allen, Ethan, 208, 594 Allen, Peter, 599 Allen, Roderick, 582 Allensworth, Allen, 610, 612, 770 Allensworth Historic District (Route 43, CA), 770 Alliance steamer, FL, 720 Almond, Edward M., 204, 242, 447, 624 Alves, A., 205 American Anti-Slavery Society, 136, 139, 141, 423 American Civil Liberties Union, 632 American Colonization Society, 424 American Expeditionary Force (AEF), 234, 235, 265, 278, 341, 387, 394–395, 396, 397–398, 442, 531, 532, 534, 586

Index

American Legion, 203, 535, 536 American Negro Loyal Legion, 613 American Revolution, 41–48, 152, 153, 594–596 and Adam Pierce, 304–305 and African American women, 8 African Americans in, 41–47, 151, 156, 180–181, 213–214, 216, 217, 249, 254–256, 266–267, 276, 304–305, 307–308, 329–331, 338, 347, 400–401, 420–421, 432–433, 471, 487–488 and Barzillai Lew, 254–255 Battle of Bunker Hill, 87–88, 214, 254, 255, 307, 329–330, 432 Battle of Long Island, 433 Battle of Trenton, 400–401, 471 Battles of Lexington and Concord, 255–256, 276, 307, 329, 330, 432 and Black Brigade, 420 and Boston Massacre, 61, 74 and Colonel Tye, 420–421 and Dunmore Proclamation, 146–148, 152, 594 and Edward Hector, 217 and Green Mountain Boys, 208 and Henri Christophe, 104, 596 and James Lafayette, 249 and Lemuel Haynes, 216 and military intelligence, 266–267 and Militia Act (1792), 269 and Nero Hawley, 216 and Oliver Cromwell, 119 outbreak of, 106, 338 and Peter Salem, 329–331 and Prince Hall, 213–214 Treaty of Paris, 150, 153 and U.S. Army, 432–433 and U.S. Navy, 154, 487–488 and West Point, 510 and William Lee, 253

Amistad case, 48, 94 Amite River, LA, 720 Anderson, Aaron, 750 Anderson, Alfred “Chief,” 408 (photo) Anderson, Alvin, 247 (photo) Anderson, Bruce, 747 Anderson, Charles F., 474, 482, 622 Anderson, James, Jr., 48–49, 486, 758–755 Anderson, Webster, 49, 759 André, John, 596 Andrew, John, 27, 33, 34, 170, 171, 173, 174, 179, 402, 436 Andrews, George L., 84, 411 Antebellum period, 49–50 Anthony, Aaron, 135, 136 “Apache Kid,” 386 Apache Wars, 50–56, 74–75, 186, 264–265, 288–289, 385–386, 414, 439 Appleton, Charles, 119 Appomattox Court House, VA, 721 Arbor, Jesse W., 205, 206 Archaeological Site 41HZ227 (near Sierra Blanca, TX), 774 Archaeological Site 41HZ228 (near Sierra Blanca, TX), 773–770 Archaeological Site 41HZ439 (near Sierra Blanca, TX), 774 Archer, Lee “Buddy,” Jr., 56–57 Arkansas River, AR, 717 Armed Forces Equal Opportunity Survey, 57–59 Armes, George, 383 Armistead, James, 249, 266–267 Armistead, William, 249 Armstrong, Daniel, 558 Army, U.S. See U.S. Army Army Air Corps, 79, 121, 133, 225, 280, 349, 406, 409, 426, 427 (photo), 458, 462, 463, 503, 540, 552, 739

| 792 |

Army Air Forces, U.S. (USAAF), 79, 127, 201, 202, 399, 406, 407, 428, 429, 541–543 Army Aviation Corps, 341 Army Corps of Engineers, 349 Army Field Artillery, 349 Army Flying Corps, 86 Army Military Intelligence Center, U.S., 269 Army Nurse Corps, 9, 10, 233 Army Reorganization Act (1866), 287, 383, 411, 413, 439, 498 Army Transportation Corps, 318 Army War College, U.S., 268, 342, 461 Arnold, Benedict, 249 Arnold, Henry “Hap,” 202, 428, 541 Arrington, George, 514 Arthur, Chester A., 186 Ash Bayou, LA, 716 Ashe, Captain, 111 Ashepoo River, SC, 709 Ashley, Eugene, Jr., 59–60, 759–756 Ashmore, Harry, 257 Ashwood Landing, LA, 706 Ashwood, MS, 710 Asians and Pacific Islanders and Equal Opportunity Survey, 57, 59 and U.S. Navy, 490 Aspin, Les, 65 Astor, Gerald, 245 Athens, AL, 713–714 Atkins, Daniel, 753 Attucks, Crispus, 42, 60–61, 74, 146, 594, 772 Augur, Christopher C., 309 Auld, Hugh, 135, 136 Auld, Sophia, 135, 136 Auld, Thomas, 136, 138, 142 Austin, Jason M., Jr., 477 Austin, Oscar Palmer, 62, 486, 760 Babbitt, Elizabeth, 216 Back-to-Africa movement, 406

Index

Bacon’s Rebellion (1676), 106, 593 Bagwell, James Raymond, 305 Bailey, Betsey, 135 Bailey, Eliza, 135 Bailey, Harriet, 135 Bailey, Margaret E., 10 Bailey, Perry, 135 Bailey, R. C., 297 Bailey, Sara, 135 Baird, George W., 218 Baker, Edward L., Jr., 335, 611, 754 Baker, Henry E., 490 Baker, Newton D., 221, 399, 526 Baker, Vernon Joseph, 63–64, 228, 323, 336, 453, 755 Baker’s Creek, MS, 701 Baldwin, William, 620 Ballou, Charles C., 282, 443, 444, 527, 530, 532 Balls, Lebbeus, 216 Baltimore, Charles W., 219–220 Banks, Nathaniel P., 309 Barberis, Cesidio “Butch,” 244, 632 Barclay, Edwin, 133 Barclay, Robert Heriott, 250 Bard, Ralph A., 555, 556 Bardshar, Henry, 239 Barnes, Henry, 297 Barnes, Philip G., 205 Barnes, Samuel E., 205, 206 Barnes, William H., 64, 747 Barr, Ada, 585 Barrancas, FL, 711 Barrett, James, 256 Bassett, Chauncey J., 176 Batchelor, Joseph B., 303 Bates, Daisy, 257 Bates, Edward, 33–34 Battery B, 2d U.S. Artillery, 707 Battery B, 2d U.S. Colored Light Artillery Regiment, 708–709, 711 Battery E, 2d U.S. Colored Light Artillery Regiment, 704, 705, 709 Battle Mountain, Korea, 64–66, 98, 416

Battle of Helena (Helena, AR), 769–766 Battle of Rhode Island Site (Portsmouth, RI), 773 Baugh, Dalton L., 205, 206 Baxter Springs, KS, 703 Bayoman, Isaiah, 88 Bayou Boeuf, AR, 703–704 Bayou DeGlaize, LA, 708 Bayou Liddell, LA, 715 Bayou Mason, MS, 710 Bayou St. Louis, MS, 703 Bayou Tensas, LA, 703, 712, 713 Bayou Tunica, LA, 703 Beaty, Powhatan, 66–67, 747 Beck, James, 419 Bee, Hamilton P., 389 Beebee, James, 216 Beecher, James C., 179, 218 Beecher Stowe, Harriet, 179 Beecher’s Island Battlefield Monument, CO, 770 Belknap, Jeremiah, 87, 329 Belknap, William W., 288, 366 Bell, Dennis, 67–68, 335, 507, 754 Bell, Major (1st Cavalry), 507 Belleau Wood, Battle of (Chateau-Thierry), 102–103, 117, 398, 532 Beltran, Francisco, 585 Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., American (Davis), 122 Bennett, Augustus, 505 Bennett, James B., 244 Benson, Katy, 331 Berdan, Hiram, 111 Bermuda Hundred, VA, 707, 708, 713, 716, 717 Berry, George, 372 Berthoud, Kenneth H., 246 Berwick, LA, 706 Bethune, Mary McLeod, 521 Beyer, Charles D., 50, 51, 52, 264 Biddle, Francis, 133 Big Black Bridge, MS, 701 Big Creek, AR, 711–712 Biggs, Bradley, 245 Billiere, Peter de la, 210

| 793 |

Bingham, Walter V., 444 Birney, James G., 100 Birney, William, 100 Bishop, Billy, 237 Bivins, Horace, 372 Black, Barry C., 68 Black Brigade, 434 Black Confederate Memorial (Canton, MS), 772 Black Creek, FL, 712 Black dispatches, 68–72 Black Doughboy Monument, Chicago, 770 Black Eagle Flying Corps, 237 The Black Eagle (Julian), 238 Black Horse, 385 Black Kettle, 384 Black Marines (British Navy), 597 Black Military History Institute of America, 59 Black Panthers. See 761st “Black Panthers” Tank Battalion Black Power, 12, 485 Black, Primus, 208 Black Regiment Memorial (RI), 773 Black Revolutionary War Patriot Memorial, Washington, DC, 770 Black River, LA, 716 Black Soldier, White Army: The 24th Infantry in Korea (Bowers et al.), 66, 98 Black Wings (Powell), 106 Blackford, Mary Berkeley Minor, 264 Blackford, William, 264, 623 Blackman, Epheram, 208 Blackman, Pomp, 256, 594 Blacks in the Marine Corps (Shaw and Donnelly), 481 Blackshear, John, 391 Blair, Austin, 297 Blair, Melvin, 392 Blake, Robert, 72, 747 Blake, Virginia (photo), 9 Blanchard, Cuff, 88 Blanding, Albert H., 392 Bliss, Tasker, 525, 526

Index

Bliss, Zenas R., 411, 514 Block House # 2, TN, 716 Blucke, Stephen, 421 Blum, Léon, 376 Boards of Examination for Officers in United States Colored Troops, 72–74 Boggs’ Mills, AR, 719 Bogle, Archibald, 179 Bolton, Frances Payne, 9 Bonney, William “Billy the Kid,” 288 Bonsal, Stephen, 374 Boone, Brown, 250 Bosnia, 314 Boston Massacre, 42, 60–61, 74 Boswell, Thomas, 95 Botwinik, Lieutenant, 64 Boutte, Virgil, 282 Bowen, William T., 223 Bowman, Dinah, 255 Bowman, William L., 223 Bowser, Mary Elizabeth, 71, 267 Boyd, Charles T., 300 Boyd, William L., 429 Boyden, Captain, 254 Boyd’s Station, AL, 720 Boykin’s Mills, SC, 721 Boylston, Joshua, 256 Boyne, Thomas, 53, 74–75, 610, 750–747 Bradden, William S., 284, 393 Bradford, Sarah, 402 Bradford Springs, SC, 721–722 Bradley, Mager, 510 Bradley, Omar, 168, 346, 416, 554, 577, 580 Brambila, Robert M., 394 Branch, Frederick C., 343, 482 Brashear, Carl Maxie, 75–76 Brawley Fork, TN, 720 Breckinridge, John, 332 Brice’s Cross Roads, MS (Tishimingo Creek), 709 Briggen Creek, SC, 720 Brisbin, James, 331 Brock, Clarence L., 220 Bronson, James H., 67, 748 Brooke, John R., 516

Brooks, Gilman D., 223 Brooks, Leonard, 623 Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, 259, 260, 317, 351, 491 Brown, Capt. B. S. (photo), 17 Brown, Sgt. Benjamin, 514, 751 Brown, Dallas C., Jr., 268 Brown, Erroll M., 470 Brown, Frederick, 38 Brown, Harold, 312 Brown, Henry “Box,” 425 Brown, James, 250 Brown, Jesse LeRoy, 76–77 (photo), 247, 302, 495 Brown, John (abolitionist), 16, 19, 94, 139, 402, 601 Brown, John (soldier), 603 Brown, Manson K., 468 Brown, Primus, 180 Brown, Robert, 250 Brown, Roscoe C., Jr., 77–78 Brown, Sergeant, 333 Brown, Wesley Anthony, 78, 206 (photo), 627 Brown, Willa (Chappell), 79, 617 Brown, William, 60 Brown, William C., 300 Brown, William H., 748 Brown, Wilson, 748 Brown v. Board of Education (1954), 256, 484 Brownsville Incident (1906), 65, 79–80, 524 Bryan’s Plantation, FL, 715 Bryant, William Maud, 80–81, 760–757 Buckhalter, Lawrence, 319 (photo) Buckingham, William A., 418 Buckmeier, Phillip, 380 Buckminster, Colonel Lawson, 60, 329 Bucks of America, 45, 433 Buffalo Division, 613 Buffalo Soldier Monument, Leavenworth, KS, 771 Buffalo Soldiers, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 81–84, 186, 190, 231,

| 794 |

233–234, 267, 287–291, 299–300, 304, 327–328, 335, 340, 349, 371 (photo), 379–380, 413, 414, 439, 498, 512 (photo), 513–515, 538 (photo), 544 (photo), 608–610, 637, 723–727, 771 Bulge, Battle of the, 85–86, 344, 360, 447–448, 510, 552 Bullard, Eugene Jacques, 86–87, 119, 426 Bullard, Robert, 282, 283, 443, 532, 533 Bullis, Lapham, 352, 353 Bullis Camp Site (Dryden, TX), 774 Bundy, Omar, 102 Bunker Hill, Battle of, 87–88, 254, 255, 307, 329–330, 432 Burbridge, Stephen Gano, 331 Bureau of Colored Troops, 88–91 applications and recruitment to, 21, 88, 90 creation of, 19, 88, 89, 339, 437 officers in, 73, 88 Bureau of Indian Affairs, 290 Bureau of Military Information (BMI), 70 Burge, Benjamin, 514 Burnett, George R., 54–55, 507 Burnside, Ambrose E., 69, 94 Burr, Seymour, 88 Burritt, Loren, 297 Burrows, William Ward, 472 Burton, Private, 507 Bush, George Herbert W., 210, 312, 314, 381, 453, 506 Bush, Gov. Jeb, 363 Bussey, Charles M., 66, 98, 631 Butler, Benjamin, 17, 18, 33, 34, 36, 95, 603 and Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, 66, 99, 100, 228 and Battles of Richmond, 321 and Confiscation Act, 160

Index

and George Scott, 69 and Louisiana Native Guards, 176, 435 and runaway slaves, 435 Butler, T. C., 159 Byrd, D. Winifred, 468 Cabin Creek, Cherokee Nation (Oklahoma), 702, 722 Cabin Point, VA, 712 Cadet Nurse Corps, 9 Cailloux, André, 176 Caldwell, James, 61, 74 Caldwell, Vernon A., 159, 282, 444 Call to Rebellion (Garnet, 1843), 93–94 Calloway, Ernest, 617 Camden, AR, 706 Cameron, Simon, 435 Camp Alexander (Newport News, VA), 727 Camp Beauregard (Alexandria, LA), 727 Camp Bowie (Fort Worth, TX), 727 Camp Cody (Deming, NM), 727 Camp Custer (Battle Creek, MI), 727 Camp Devens (Ayer, MS), 727 Camp Dix (Wrightstown, NJ), 728 Camp Dodge (Des Moines, IA), 728 Camp Fremont (Palo Alto, CA), 728 Camp Furlong (Columbus, NM), 728 Camp Gordon (Augusta, GA), 728 Camp Grant (Rockford, IL), 728 Camp Greene (Charlotte, NC), 728 Camp Hill (Newport News, VA), 728–725 Camp Humphries (Alexandria, VA), 729 Camp Jackson (Columbia, SC), 729

Camp Kearney (Linda Vista, CA), 729 Camp Lee (Petersburg, VA), 729 Camp Lewis (Tacoma, WA), 729 Camp Lewis (Washington, DC), 729 Camp Logan (Houston, TX), 729 Camp MacArthur (Waco, TX), 729–726 Camp Marengo, LA, 713 Camp McClellan (Anniston, AL), 730 Camp Meade (Baltimore, MD), 730 Camp Merritt (Jersey City, NJ), 730 Camp Mills (Long Island, NY), 730 Camp Nelson, Kentucky, 94–95, 771 Camp Pike (Little Rock, AR), 730 Camp Sevier (Greenville, SC), 731 Camp Shelby (Hattiesburg, MS), 731 Camp Sheridan (Montgomery, AL), 731 Camp Sherman (Chillicothe, OH), 731 Camp Stephen Little (Nogales, AZ), 729 Camp Stotsenburg (Luzon, Philippines), 731 Camp Stuart (Newport News, VA), 731 Camp Taylor (Louisville, KY), 731 Camp Travis (San Antonio, TX), 731–728 Camp Upton (Yaphank, NY), 732 Camp Wadsworth (Spartanburg, SC), 732 Camp Wheeler (Macon, GA), 732 Campbell (cutter), 621 Campbell, Abbie N., 519 (photo) Campbell, Archibald, 595 Canby, Edward R. S., 30, 188

| 795 |

Cane, Charles E., 480 Capers, Warren, 623 Carlisle, David, 65 Carlos, Juan, 378 Carlucci, Frank, 312 Carman, Doreston, Jr., 619 Carney, Ann Dean, 95 Carney, Clara Heronia, 96 Carney, William, Sr., 95 Carney, William Harvey, 95–97, 172, 174, 193, 748 Carr, Patrick, 61, 74 Carranza, Venustiano, 299, 300 Carroll, Capt. Henry, 53, 55, 380 Carroll, Colonel, 240 Carter, Rev. E. A., 97 Carter, Edward Allen, III, 98 Carter, Edward Allen, Jr., 97–98, 228, 453, 581, 632, 756 Carter, Gladys Schuster (photo), 9 Carter, Jimmy, 14, 233, 318, 362, 430 Carter, Mary, 97 Carver, George Washington, 406 Cash, John Anthony, Sr., 65–66, 98–99, 633, 635 Cedar Keys, FL, 719–720 Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 378 Cervera y Topete, Pascual, 369, 370, 372 Chafee, John H., 589, 590, 591 Chaffin’s Farm (New Market Heights), Battle of, 64, 66–67, 99–100, 158, 227–228, 418, 710, 714, 716 Chalmette Battlefield, Jean Lafitte National Historic Park and Preserve, LA, 771 Chalmette (LA) Cemetery, 178 Chamberlain, Edwin W., 543–544 Chambers, Lawrence, 78, 632 Champagne offensive, 100–101, 285, 286, 399, 453, 532 Champeny, Arthur J., 416

Index

Champion’s Hill, MS, 701 Chancellor, John, 257 Chapman, Leonard F., Jr., 485 Charlton, Cornelius, 101–102, 244, 757–754 Chastellux, Marquis de, 181 Chateau-Thierry, Battle of (Battle of Belleau Wood), 102–103, 117, 398, 532 Chattanooga Railroad, TN, 716 Chauncey, Isaac, 154, 250 Cheney, Dick, 210 Cherry, Frederick, 103–104, 430, 633, 635 Chester, Thomas Morris, 100, 321 Chicago Defender, 131–132, 616 Chipman, Colonel, 218 Chippewa steamer, AR, 720 Christophe, Henri, 104, 596 Churchill, Winston, 130, 351 Cinque, 48 Cipeo, Cesar, 401 City Belle, steamer, LA, 707 City Point, VA, 707, 709 Civil Air Patrol (CAP), 79 Civil Rights Act (1866), 141 Civil Rights Act (1964), 318 Civil rights movement, 205, 230, 231, 294, 312, 450 and A. Philip Randolph, 317–318 and Charity Earley, 149 and Double V campaign, 345 and Freeman Field Incident, 344 and unequal discipline in military, 347 and Vietnam War, 12, 347, 451, 501 and West Point, 512 and World War I, 443, 456 and World War II, 448, 449, 537, 538, 540, 547–548, 554, 575 See also March on Washington (1941) Civil War, U.S., 15–41, 50, 75, 124, 139, 368, 380, 466, 601–607

African American deaths in, 17, 90, 321, 438, 489 and African American women, 8, 258, 402–403 African Americans in, 3, 15–40, 64, 66–67, 81, 88, 95–96, 109–116, 128–129, 130, 135, 140, 156, 157–158, 169–179, 181–182, 184, 188–190, 191–193, 199, 217–219, 227, 230, 272, 276, 287, 296–298, 305, 309–310, 320–322, 331–332, 339–340, 363–365, 366–367, 388–390, 402–403, 404–405, 418, 423, 425–426, 434–438, 439, 443, 470–471, 487, 488–489, 505, 511, 523, 770 and Aikens Landing, 22 (photo) Battle of Antietam, 163, 171 Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, 66–67, 99–100, 227–228, 418 Battle of Fort Blakely, 188–189 Battle of Fort Fisher, 189–190, 405 Battle of Fort Wagner, 169, 172–173, 193–194, 403, 438 Battle of Honey Hill, 173, 179, 181, 217–219, 438 Battle of Olustee, 157–158, 170, 173, 179, 272, 296–297, 438 Battle of Port Hudson, 309–310 Battle of Sol Legare Island, 171–172, 366–367 Battles of Richmond, 130, 320–322, 405, 418 black Confederates in, 38–40, 109–116, 340, 772 black dispatches in, 68–71 and Bureau of Colored Troops, 88, 90 and Camp Nelson, 94–95

| 796 |

and Cleburne’s Plan, 104–105 combat in, 25–28, 29–32 (See also specific battles) and Decatur Dorsey, 130 end and aftermath of, 37–38, 39 (photo), 81, 141, 198, 342, 388 executions for mutinies and crimes in, 25, 38 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment in, 169–171 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment in, 171–174 Fort Pillow Massacre in, 191–192, 306, 332, 340, 438 and Harriet Tubman, 402–403 and Henry Turner, 404–406 and Isaiah Dorman, 129 and Martin Delany, 128–129 and Mary Louvestre, 258 and medical staff and hospitals, 36 memorial to African Americans in, 770 military intelligence in, 267, 402–403 and Montgomery’s Brigade, 272 pay and promotion in, 17, 25, 32–35, 170–171, 173–174, 199, 339, 403, 505 Planter in, 364, 365, 488 Potter’s Raid, 310–311 and Robert Blake, 72 and Robert Smalls, 363–365 roles in, 17, 29, 35–36 roots of, 15–16, 160, 339, 436 Saltville Massacre in, 331–332 and Seminoles, 352 and Thirteenth Amendment, 388 and 30th Connecticut Volunteers, 388–389 and 34th Regiment, 389–390 and 29th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, 418 and U.S. Navy, 488–489 white officers in, 19–25, 34, 231, 339, 437, 438

Index

and William Carney, 95–96 and William Walker, 505 See also Emancipation Proclamation (1863); Forty Acres and a Mule; Freedmen’s Bureau; Jim Crow laws; Slavery (and Civil War); specific military units Civilian Pilot Training Program, 79 Claiborne, William C. C., 155, 156 Clark, A. C., 484 Clark, David, 365 Clark, Mark W., 65 Clarville, AR, 719 Cleburne, Patrick, 39, 104–105, 112 Cleburne’s Plan (1864), 104–105, 112 Cleveland, Grover, 15, 367, 368 Clifford, Clark, 628 Clinton, Bill and affirmative action, 14 and Benjamin Davis, Jr., 122 and Colin Powell, 312 and Edward Carter, 98 and George Watson, 453, 509 and Henry Flipper, 187 and John R. Fox, 200 and Johnson Whittaker, 513 and Tuskegee Airmen, 410 and USS Mason, 264 and Willy F. James Jr., 228 Clinton, Henry, 304, 595 Clinton, LA (Olive Branch, Comite River), 713 Clinton, Shirley R., 202 Clyburn, Jim, 513 Coast Guard, U.S. See U.S. Coast Guard Cobb, Sylvester J., 223 Coburn, Titus, 88 Cochrane, Alexander, 152 Cochrane Proclamation (1814), 152 Cockburn, George, 152 Cockrell, Augustus W., 476 Coffey, Cornelius R., 79, 616

Cohen, William S., 59, 123 Coke, Richard, 288 Cold Harbor, VA, 706 Cold War, 240, 345 and African American enlistment, 3 and military intelligence, 268 Cole, Albert W., 395–396 Coleman, Bessie, 79, 105–106, 615 Coleman, William, Jr., 201 Coleman’s Plantation, MS, 710 Collins, Bob, 102, 117 Colonial America, 106–109, 337–338, 432,593–594 Coloradas, Mangas, 52, 386 Colorow, Chief, 498 Coloured Corps, 109 Colquitt, Alfred H., 171, 296, 366, 367 Columbia, LA, 704 Combahee River raid, 605 Command of Negro Troops (War Department), 550 Committee on the Participation of Negroes in the National Defense, 444 Communist International, 375–376 Communist Party, U.S., 1, 2, 378 Concordia Bayou, LA, 712 Confederate States Colored Troops, 114 Confederates, African American, 38–40, 109–117. See also Civil War, U.S. (African Americans in) Confiscation Act (1861), 16, 160, 435 Confiscation Act (1862), 161, 435 Congress of Industrial Organizations, 260, 565 Conkling, James C., 143 Conn, John, 333 Connecticut Colonials, 596 Conscription Act (1863), 142 Constellation, USS, 635 Conyers, James H., 489 Conyers, John, Jr., 128, 608

| 797 |

Cook, J. B., 30 Cooke, Aileen, 468 Cooper, George C., 205, 206, 207 Cooper, Grant, 88 Cooper, S., 116 Copeland, Everett, 245 Corley, John T., 65, 66, 98, 416 Corlies, John, 420 Cornwallis, Charles, 249, 266–267 Corps d’Afrique, 604, 605, 712 Couch, William, 289 Counterintelligence Corps (CIC), 268 Courtney, Hercules, 217 Covey, Edward, 136 Cow Creek, KS, 716 Cowden, Robert, 174 Cox, Samuel, 138 Cox, Sterling Edward, 251 Coxey’s Army, 386 Cox’s Bridge, NC, 720 Craft, Samuel, 256 Crecy, Warren Gamaliel Harding, 361 Crispus Attucks Monument, 772 Croft, Sam, 42 Croix de Guerre, 117–119 Cromwell, Oliver, 119–120 Crowder, John, 176 Crydenwise, Henry, 73 Cuba. See Spanish-American War Cumberbatch, Yvonne, 468 Cummings, Caesar Lloyd, 596 Cummins, John Noble, 304 Curtis, Lemuel R., 280, 281 (photo) Curtiss, Rolland J., 476 Custer, George A., 130, 412 Cutright, Theodore, 319 (photo) Dabney, 71–72 Dabney, Austin, 595, 596, 598 Daggett, A. S., 159 Dailey, Phyllis Mae, 10, 625 Dallas, Georgia, 709 Dalton, Georgia, 712, 714 Daniel, Elijah, 352

Index

Daniels, Nathan W., 25 Danzig, Richard, 305 Daquin, Louis, 156 Darbytown Road, VA, 715 Davenport, C. B., 526 Daverney, Hubert E., 223 Davids, Tice, 424 Davis, Benjamin Oliver, Jr., 77, 121–124, 127, 202, 246, 280, 281, 399–400, 407, 408 (photo), 409, 426, 427, 428, 429, 431, 512 Davis, Benjamin Oliver, Sr., 121, 122, 123, 124–127, 368, 374, 446, 539, 552, 577, 578, 580, 581–582 Davis, Calvin Clark, 127–128 Davis, Edward, 240 Davis, Elnora (Dickerson), 121, 124 Davis, George, 510 Davis, James, 223 Davis, Jefferson and black Confederates, 39, 105, 112, 114 and black dispatches, 69, 71 and Mary Bowser, 267 Davis, John, 597 Davis, John (b.1854), 753 Davis, Louis, 124 Davis, Olive, 124 Davis, Paul C., 396 Davis, Richard Harding, 327 Davis, Rodney Maxwell, 128, 486, 761 Davis’ Bend, LA, 709, 710 Davison, Frederic Ellis, 200, 634 Davison, Michael S., 634 Dawes, William, 255 Dawley, Ernest J., 361 Dawson, Byron, 53, 55, 264 Day, Mathius, 264 De Grasse, John V., 179 De Voe, Edith, 10 Deahl, Horace, 319 (photo) DeBow, Charles, 280 DeBray, Xavier B., 389 Decatur, AL, 715, 718 Decatur, Stephen, 46

Decatur, TN, 712 “Declaration of Negro Voters,” 628 Deep Bottom, VA, 712, 713, 714, 715 Defense Department African American enlistment in, 4 (table) and Equal Opportunity Survey, 59 and integration, 567 Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute, 348 Defense Intelligence Agency, 98, 268–269 Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC), 57 Defense Race Relations Institute, 348, 503 Delany, Martin Robison, 128–129 DeLapp, Francis J., 223 Denison, Franklin A., 284, 392–393 Dennis, Angela, 468 Denny, John, 53, 264, 265, 751 DePriest, Oscar, 121 Desegregation. See Military, U.S. (desegregation of); specific branches of the armed services Desert Storm, 209–212, 430, 506 DeShields, William A., 59 Deslondes, Charles, 597 Dessalines, Jean Jacques, 104, 597 Devany, Peter, 598 Devaux’s Neck, SC, 717 Dever, Jacob L., 582 Devereux, Pomp, 401 Dewey, George, 369, 373–374 Dewey, Thomas E., 521, 565 Dickenson, Caesar, 88 Diem, Ngo Dinh, 450–451 Dillon, Douglas, 468 DioGuardi, Joe, 382 Dixon, Eddie, 190 Dodge, Francis S., 234, 288, 498, 499

| 798 |

Dodge, Scipio, 401 Dolly, Quamino, 595 Donaldson, Vardel, 223 Donnelly, Ralph, 481 Dorman, Isaiah, 129–130 Dorsey, Decatur, 130, 321, 748 Double V, 130–134, 231, 345, 351, 537, 554 Doughty, Gene, 134 Douglass, Anna Murray, 134–135, 136, 138, 139, 142 Douglass, Annie, 138, 139 Douglass, Charles, 137 (photo), 138, 140 Douglass, Frederick, 135–142, 600, 602 and abolitionism, 94, 135, 136, 138, 139–140, 141 and Abraham Lincoln, 139–141 and Anna Douglass, 135, 136 and black suffrage, 141 books of, 138, 139, 142 and Call to Rebellion (1843), 94 and Civil War, 15, 19, 27, 68, 113, 129, 135, 139, 140, 171, 339, 436, 604 death of, 142 escape of, 136 house of, in Washington, DC, 770 and John Brown, 139 and North Star, 129, 138 and Underground Railroad, 138–139, 424, 425 Douglass, Frederick, Jr., 138 Douglass, Lewis Henry, 136, 140, 171 Douglass, Rosetta, 136 Draft dodging, 445 Draft Riots (1863), 142–143 Draper, A. G., 227 Dred Scott v. Sandford, 601 Drew, Dr. Charles Richard, 144–145 Drewry’s Bluff, VA, 707, 708

Index

Du Bois, William Edward Burghardt, 145–146, 275, 406, 526, 534, 586, 613, 615 Dubose, Edmond, 303 Dudley, Nathan A. M., 53, 264 Dumas, Francis, 18, 34 Dunbar, Joshua, 170 Dunbar, Paul Lawrence, 170 Duncan, Otis, 393 Duncan, Samuel, 99 Dunmore, Lord (John Murray), 41, 42, 146–148, 308, 330, 338, 420, 432 Dunmore Proclamation (1775), 41, 42, 146–148, 151–152, 308, 330, 338, 420, 432 Dupuy de Lôme, Enrique, 368 Dutch Gap, VA, 713, 716 Dwight, William, 309 Eads, Charlestown, 88 Eames, Alexander, 88 Earley, Charity Edna Adams, 11, 149–150, 363, 519 (photo) Earley, Stanley A., 150 Earnshaw, Joseph W., 476 East Pascagoula, MO, 701 Eastport (or East Point), MS, 714 Eccles, Hugh, 109 Edgel, Simon, 329 Edwards, Alonzo, 219, 220 Edwards, Captain, 159 Egypt Station, MS, 718 1812, War of, 49, 150–157, 305, 597–598 and African American women, 8 African Americans in, 150–156, 184, 250, 276, 279, 338–339, 433–434, 488 and Battalion of Free Men of Color, 155–156, 279, 434 Battle of Lake Erie, 184, 250, 488 Battle of New Orleans, 278–279, 338, 434 and Coloured Corps, 109, 151

peace treaty in, 279 roots of, 150–152 and U.S. Navy, 488 Eighth Regiment Armory (Chicago, IL), 770–771 Eisenhower, Dwight D., 57, 97, 247, 256–257, 358, 518, 552, 553, 577, 578, 579 El Caney, Battle of, 158–159, 333, 370–371 El Paso Salt War, 288 Elliot, Jesse, 184 Elliot, Robert Brown, 608 Ellis, George F., Jr., 482 Ellison, James A., 407 Elrod’s Tan Yard, TN, 719 Elsberry, Joseph, 623 Emancipation Proclamation (1863), 15, 16–17, 18–19, 140, 142, 143, 160–165, 434, 436, 438 Emilio, Louis F., 96 Emmitt, Robert, 264–265 Engineer Corps, 540 Eppes’ Ferry, SC (Potter’s South Carolina Raid), 721 Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, 14 Estabrook, Prince, 42, 255, 256, 594 Etheridge, Richard, 467 Ethiopian Regiment, 594 Europe, Henry, 165 Europe, James Reese, 165–166, 379, 397, 398, 529, 534 Europe, Lorraine, 165 Ewell, R. S., 114 Executive Order 8802, 166, 260–261, 317, 343, 351, 472 Executive Order 9279, 620 Executive Order 9981, 10, 166–168, 208, 241, 245, 275, 317, 345, 429, 449, 468, 483, 495 Factor, Pompey, 352, 353, 609, 751 Fagan, David, 303, 304, 611

| 799 |

Fahy, Charles, 241, 346, 449, 483, 629 Fahy Committee, 629–631 Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC), 166, 260–261, 317, 472, 556 Fair Oaks, VA, 715 Fairfield, James, 424 Faubus, Orval, 256 FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) and Abraham Lincoln Battalion, 2 and African American press, 133 and Paul Robeson, 324 Federal Aviation Administration, 79 Federal Point, NC, 719 Felton, Duery, 636 Ferguson, Champ, 332 Ferrit, Caesar, 256 Ferrit, John, 256 Fifteenth Amendment, 141, 169, 198, 511 Fillmore, VA, 714 Finegan, Joseph, 296 Fish, Hamilton, 350 Fish Haul Archaeological Site (Hilton Head Island, SC), 773 Fishburne, Lillian, 637 Fisk, Pomp, 88 Fleetwood, Christian A., 99 (photo), 100, 193, 321, 748 Fleming, Benjamin, 184–185 Fleming, Catherine, 184 Flipper, Henry Ossian, 15, 185–187, 366, 440, 511–512, 609–610, 637 Floyd, LA, 710 Foch, Ferdinand, 261 Folly Island, SC, 773 Ford, John, 255 Fordyce, Benjamin, 176 Forrest, George, 187–188 Forrest, Nathan Bedford, 30, 31, 32, 124, 174, 191, 192, 368, 438, 604

Index

Forrestal, James A., 494, 555, 564, 565, 567, 568, 574, 628, 629 Fort Adams, LA, 714 Fort Anderson, Paducah, KY, 705 Fort Blakely, Battle of, 188–189, 721 Fort Bowie (Bowie, AZ), 769 Fort Brady, VA, 719 Fort Burnham, VA, 717, 719 Fort Concho (San Angelo, TX), 773 Fort Davis, TX, 773 Fort Des Moines (Des Moines, IA), 771 Fort Dodge (Dodge City, KS), 771 Fort Donelson, TN, 715 Fort Douglas (Salt Lake City, UT), 774 Fort Fisher, Battle of, 189–190, 405, 718–719 Fort Gaines (Mobile, AL), 712, 769 Fort Gibson, Cherokee Nation (Oklahoma), 713 Fort Grant (Bonita, AZ), 769 Fort Hancock (Highlands, NJ), 728 Fort Huachuca (Tombstone, AZ), 729, 769 Fort Jones, KY, 720 Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 190, 191 (photo), 771 Fort, Lewis, 240 Fort Missoula (Missoula, MT), 772 Fort Oglethorpe (Rossville, GA), 730 Fort Pickering, 608 Fort Pillow Massacre, 191–193, 306, 332, 340, 438, 705, 773 Fort Pocahontas, VA, 712 Fort Riley (Junction City, KS), 730–727 Fort Russell, WY, 774 Fort Scott National Historic Site (Fort Scott, KS), 771 Fort Shaw, MT, 772

Fort Sill (Lawton, OK), 731, 773 Fort Smith, AR, 713, 718 Fort Taylor, FL, 712–713 Fort Ticonderoga (Ticonderoga, NY), 772 Fort Union National Monument (Watrous, NM), 772 Fort Wagner, Battle of, 169, 172–173, 193–194, 403, 438, 702–703 Fort Wallace (Wallace, KS), 771 Fort Washakie Blockhouse, WY, 700 Forte, Thomas James, 510 Fortier, Michel, 598 Fortune, Dick, 401 Forty acres and a mule, 194–197 Foster, Charles, 437 Foster, “Hop,” 296 Foster, John G., 34, 218 Fourteenth Amendment, 169, 198–199, 256, 511 Fox, Arlene, 200 Fox, Charles, 218 Fox, John R., 199–200, 228, 453, 756 Fox, Oscar, 514 Fraitor, Leon (photo), 118 Franco, Francisco, 1, 2, 97, 375, 378 Franklin, MS, 718 Fraser, Gilbert, Jr., 475 Fredenhall, L. R., 285 Frederick Douglass Field Artillery Company, 376 Free Men of Color, 155–156, 279, 434, 599 Freedland, William, 136 Freedmen’s Bureau, 129, 141, 164, 175, 196, 197, 200–201, 365, 435 Freedmen’s Bureau Bill (1866), 141 Freedom to Serve (report), 631 The Freeman, 158 Freeman, J. C., 185 Freeman Field Incident, 201–202, 344, 409, 430, 550 Frémont, John C., 140, 160, 435

| 800 |

Fribley, Charles W., 157, 297 Fry, T., 17 (photo) Fugitive Slave Act (1793), 423 Fugitive Slave Act (1850), 402, 425, 435 Furman, J. T., 38 Gage, Thomas, 255, 594 Gaines’ Mills, VA, 706 Galvez, Bernardo de, 45–46 García Iñiguez, Calixto, 370 Gardiner, James, 748–749 Gardner, Franklin, 25 Gardner, James Daniel, 748–749 Garfield, James, 142 Garland, Walter, 376 Garlington, E. A., 80 Garnet, Henry Highland, 93–94, 600 Garret, Bessie, 624 Garrison, William Lloyd, 136, 138, 139, 141, 599 Garvey, Marcus, 237, 406 Gates, Horatio, 47, 594 Gaulle, Charles de, 87 Gavin, James, 184 Gellhorn, Martha, 1 George, Alexander, 579 George Washington Battalion, 376 Geronimo, 51, 55, 385–386 Gesell, Gerhard, 451, 501 Ghazlo, Arvin L., 474 Ghent, KY, 713 GI Bill (1944), 203–204 Gibson, Truman, 202, 446, 448, 547, 548 Gifu, 204–205 Gilbert, Leon A., 631 Gillem, Alvan C., Jr., 345, 429, 448, 449, 494, 583 Gillis, Thomas D., 417 Gillispie, Marie B. (photo), 9 Gillmore, Quincy A., 157, 193, 296, 366, 505, 605 Gillpatrick, J. H., 176 Gilmer, David, 197, 198 Giltner, Henry, 331 Girandy, Alphonse, 754–751 Gire, George, 594

Index

Glasgow, MO, 715 Glenn, Raymond, 223 Glory, 171 Goering, Hermann, 238 Golden Thirteen, 205–207, 344, 493, 495, 563 Gomes, Maximo, 507 Gomez, Placido A., 478 Goodin, Prince, 770 Gooding, Cuba, Jr., 271 Goodman, Robert O., Jr., 636 Goodrich’s Landing, LA, 705, 711 Goodwin, Reginald E., 205, 206 Gordon, Fred A., 636 Gouraud, Henry Joseph Etienne, 261, 398 Goybet, Mariano, 100, 118, 286, 395, 396 Grand Gulf, MS (also Port Gibson), 711 Granger, Captain, 216 Granger, Lester B., 494, 565, 566, 567, 568, 625 Grant, Ulysses S., 29 (photo) and Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, 99 and Battle of Fort Blakely, 188 and Battles of Richmond, 320, 321 biography of, 365 and black Confederates, 39, 113 Lee’s surrender to, 114 presidential campaigns of, 141 and Saltville Massacre, 331 Gravely, Samuel Lee, Jr., 207–208, 301, 496 Gray, Gordon, 631 Gray, Samuel, 61, 74 Gray, Thomas R., 50 Great Bridge Battlefield Memorial, VA, 774 Greaves, Clinton, 51, 751 Green, Ernest, 257 Green, Howard, 447 Green, Lucille, 317 Green Mountain Boys, 208, 594 Green, Rob, 510

Greene, Christopher, 44, 180, 181, 433 Greene, Nathanael, 595 Greene, W. Hallett, 440 Greenleaf, Charles, 372 Greer, Allen J., 282, 534–535 Greer, Sarah, 404 Gregg, John, 66 Gregory’s Farm, SC, 716–717 Grierson, Benjamin H., 53, 54, 83, 84, 190, 383, 386 Griswold, Oscar W., 447 Gropman, Alan, 123 Grover, Cuvier, 309 Groves, Gould P., 476 Guam Incident (1944), 208–209, 482, 566–567 Guerrant, Edwin O., 332 Guide to Command of Negro Naval Personnel, 494 Gulf War, 209–212, 314, 430, 453, 506 African American women in, 8, 10–11, 211, 229 Gustrine, Charles, 529 (photo) Haig, Douglas, 261 Haines, Carl, 319 (photo) Hale, Nathan, 88 Hall, Charles “Buster,” 213, 280, 281 (photo), 400, 409 Hall Island (Cunningham’s Bluff), SC, 703 Hall, John, 472 Hall, Jude, 88 Hall, Lloyd, 612 Hall, Obie, 474 Hall, Primus, 214, 401 Hall, Prince, 213–214 Hall, William, 213 Hallon, Corporal, 83 Halloran, Mike, 204, 205 Hallowell, Edward N., 34, 172, 173, 193, 310 Halyburton, Porter, 103 Hamilton, Colonel, 239, 240 Hamlet, James F., 200 Hancock, John, 45 Hanley, Alfred (photo), 118 Hanobel, 401

| 801 |

Harbord, James, 102 Hare, James E., 205, 206 Harlem Hellfighters. See 369th Infantry Regiment Harmon, Leonard Roy, 621 Harries, John H., 394 Harris, James H., 749 Harris, Marcelite, 11, 636 Harris, Thornton, 514 Harrison, Benjamin, 142 Harrison, Julius, 514 Harrodsburg, KY, 715 Hartwell, Alfred S., 170, 173, 218 Hartwick, Lieutenant, 240 Hassayampa, USS, 635 Hastie, William Henry, 214–215, 351, 539, 540, 543, 545, 547, 548, 552 Hatch, Edward L., 51, 53, 54, 83, 84, 287, 288, 289, 507 Hatch, John P., 170, 173, 218 Hatcher, David N., 319 (photo) Hatcher’s Run, VA, 715 Hawkins, Augustus, 65, 80 Hawkins, John, 188 Hawkins, Ralph (photo), 118 Hawkins, Thomas R., 749 Hawley, Daniel, 216 Hawley, Nero, 216 Haw’s Shop, VA, 706–707 Hawthorn, James, Sr., 223 Hay, John, 368 Hayden, Lewis, 96 Hayes, Cuff, 88 Hayes, Rutherford B., 142 Haynes Bluff, MS, 704, 705 Haynes, Lemuel, 208, 216, 256 Hayward, William, 102, 261, 266, 379, 397, 398, 528, 529 Hazard, Newport, 250 Healy, Michael Morris “Hell Roaring Mike,” 217, 466, 467, 468 Hector, Edward, 217, 595 Helena, AR, 712 Hellman, Lillian, 1 Hemingway, Ernest, 1 Hendricks, Harold, 319 (photo)

Index

Henry, Guy V., 387, 516 Henry, Vida, 220 Henson, Josiah, 599, 600 Henson, Matthew, 612 Herne, Julian G., 627 Hershey, Lewis, 473, 559, 569 Hewitt, Eli M., 37 Higginson, Thomas Wentworth, 18, 19, 23, 25, 181, 403 Hill, Elif, 224 (photo) Hill, T. Arnold, 445, 491 Hillman, Sidney, 259, 260 Hilton, Alfred B., 100, 321, 749 Hinks, Edward W., 411 Hispanics enlistment in military of, 4 and Equal Opportunity Survey, 57, 58, 59 and 34th Regiment, 389 Historical and Topographical Sketch of Bunker Hill Battle (Swett), 87 Hitler, Adolf, 2, 85, 375, 376 Hobby, Oveta Culp, 518 Hodges, Courtney, 580 Hoekstra, Peter, 128 Hoffman, William, 83, 383 Holcomb, Thomas, 343, 472, 473, 475, 557, 568, 569, 570 Holland, Milton M., 67, 749 Holly Springs, MS, 713 Honey Hill, Battle of, 173, 179, 181, 217–219, 438, 716 Honey Springs, Indian Territory (OK), 702 Honoré, Isidore, 155, 598 Hood, John Bell, 30, 99, 188 Hooker, Ambrose E., 53, 264 Hooker, Joseph E., 70, 71 Hooker, Olivia, 468 Hooper, Henry N., 173, 218 Hoover, J. Edgar, 133 Hoover, Mildred, 97 Hopkinsville, KY, 717 Hopper, Isaac T., 424 Horse, John, 352, 353 Horse-Head Creek, AR, 704 Hose, Sam, 304

House, Edwin J., 427–428 House Un-American Activities Committee, 324 Householder, Eugene R., 132, 540 Houston Riots (1917), 219–221, 524, 525, 529 Howard, Oliver Otis, 37, 200, 365 Howe, William, 217 Howell, George W., 269 Hoyt, James T., 96 Hubbard, Lionel, 296 Hubbard, Richard B., 288 Huddy, Josiah, 421 Huerta, Victoriano, 299 Huff, Edgar R., 484 Hughes, Archelaus M., 124 Hugo, William H., 264 Humphrey, Colonel, 44 Hunt, George C., 514 Hunt, J. E., 159 Hunter, David, 8, 17–18, 181, 364, 403, 436, 602–603 Hunter, Frank O’Donnell, 201, 202 Hunter, Robert, 113 Huntsville Arsenal, 618 Hurlei, Enrico, 165 Hussein, Saddam, 209, 210 Independent Battery, United States Colored Light Artillery, 639 Indian Bay, AR, 705 Indian Village, LA, 712 Indiantown, NC, 704 Integration of the Armed Forces, 1940–1965 (MacGregor), 495 Iraq. See Gulf War Island Mound, MO, 701 Island No. 76, MS, 704 Issaquena County, MS, 711, 712 Ivey’s Ford, AR, 718 Iwo Jima, Battle of, 134, 223–224, 354, 360, 480–481

| 802 |

Jackson, Andrew, 155, 156, 279, 338, 598 Jackson, “Drummer” (photo), 24 Jackson, George A., 474 Jackson, Jesse, 211, 636 Jackson, LA, 703 Jackson, MS, 701, 711 Jackson, Stonewall, 39, 111 Jackson, William A., 71 Jackson, William P., 282 Jacksonville, FL, 701, 706, 709, 721 Jacobs, Randall, 558, 559, 564, 565 Jahar, Caesar, 88 James, Claude, 225 James, Danice, 225 James, Daniel, III, 225 James, Daniel “Chappie,” Jr., 225–227, 245, 302, 429, 631 James Island, SC, 708, 710, 711, 719 James, Miles, 227–228, 749 James, Willy F., Jr., 228, 453, 756–753 Jay’s Treaty (1796), 151 Jeff Liberty’s Grave (Washington, CT), 770 Jenkins, Ernest A., 623 Jenkins’ Ferry, AR, 706, 707 Jenkins, Matthew, 117, 285 Jenkins, Robert H., Jr., 229, 486, 761–758 Jenkins, William K., 484 Jennings, Peter, 401 Jeter, Phoebe, 11, 211, 229 Jim Crow laws, 146, 219, 221, 229–231, 345, 406, 441, 449–450, 524, 551 Jim Crow military, 229–232, 309, 317, 474–475, 483, 546–547 Joel, Lawrence, 232, 762 John Brown Field Artillery Company, 376 John Mercer Langston House (Oberlin, OH), 772 John’s Island, SC, 711

Index

Johnson, Andrew, 141, 196, 197, 201, 287, 405 Johnson, Campbell C., 539, 569 Johnson, Dwight H., 232–233, 762–759 Johnson, General, 39 Johnson, Gilbert “Hashmark,” 246, 474, 475, 483, 484, 486, 621 Johnson, Hazel Winifred, 10, 14, 233 Johnson, Henry (1824–1904), 233–234, 288, 499, 751 Johnson, Henry (1897–1929), 117, 234–236, 397, 398, 535 (photo), 636 Johnson, Herman, 236 Johnson, James, 616 Johnson, James E., 622 Johnson, James Weldon, 527 Johnson, John, 597 Johnson, John (b. 1839), 753 Johnson, Louis, 629, 630 Johnson, Lyndon B., 14, 49, 57, 203, 232, 233, 295 (photo), 296, 430, 451, 502 Johnson, Mary, 136 Johnson, Nathan, 135, 136 Johnson, Private, 240 Johnson, Ralph, 236–237, 486, 763 Johnson, William, 515, 753 Johnsonville, TN, 714 Johnston, Joseph E., 105, 112 Jokers, 127 Jolly, Annia Jolly Rogers, 127 Jones’ Bridge, VA, 710 Jones, Ernest, 474 Jones, J. H., 159 Jones, Moses, 466 Jones, Rufus S., 158, 297 Jordan, George, 53–54, 751 Jordan, John, 611 Jotham, Luther, 401 Juh, 51 Julian, Hubert Eustace Fauntleroy, 237–238, 615

Justice Department, Civil Rights Division of, 166 Kanody, Willie J., 224 (photo) Kean, William B., 65, 242, 244, 392, 416 Kee, Salaria, 616 Kelly, Alexander, 749 Kelly, Mildred C., 10 Kemper, John M., 583 Kennedy, John F., 14, 57, 318, 451, 468, 501 Kent, Jacob F., 369, 370 Kentucky Military History Museum (Frankfort, KY), 771 Kettle Hill, Battle of, 239–240, 333, 370, 371–372 Kibbetts, John, 352 Kimble, Frederick, 407, 408 King, Edward, 8 King, Ernest J., 564, 565, 566 King, Horace, 113 King, Martin Luther, Jr. assassination of, 12, 312, 347, 496, 502 and civil rights movement, 318 and Vietnam War, 501 King (Taylor), Susan, 8 Kingsley, Harold M., 131–132 Kinnison, Lieutenant, 159 Kinsley, Edward W., 170 Kirven, Timerlate, 623 Kitty Hawk, USS, 635 Knox, Frank, 205, 260, 372, 374, 473, 475, 491, 492, 493, 494, 521, 555, 556, 557, 558, 559, 562, 563, 564, 565, 569, 570, 572 Knudsen, William, 260 Korean War, 208, 211, 225, 240–248 Battle Mountain in, 64–66, 98, 416 and Benjamin Davis Jr., 122, 246 and Cornelius Charlton, 101 and desegregation in military, 168, 240, 241–242,

| 803 |

244–247, 248, 345–347, 413, 415, 429, 449, 484, 495, 501, 745 and Edward Carter, 97 and Frank Petersen, 301–302, 484 and GI Bill, 203 and Gifu, 204–205 Inchon landing in, 416, 484 and Jesse Brown, 76, 302 National Guard in, 278 and 9th Cavalry, 287, 290 outbreak of, 346, 484 paratroopers in, 184 and Roscoe Robinson, 325 and 25th Infantry Regiment, 410, 413 and 24th Infantry Regiment, 413, 415–417, 449 and U.S. Army, 449–450, 520 and U.S. Marine Corps, 484 and William Thompson, 391–392 Kroehlke, Robert F., 80 Ku Klux Klan, 141, 149, 192, 342, 503, 536 La Guardia, Fiorello H., 260 Lacoste, Pierre, 155 Lafayette, James, 249, 267 Lafayette, Marquis de, 249, 266 Lake Erie, Battle of, 184, 250, 488 Lake Providence, LA, 702 Lamb, William, 189 Lamberth, Royce C., 637 Lane, James “Big Jim,” 18, 25, 34, 175, 436 Langhorn, Garfield M., 251, 763–760 Langston, John Mercer, 772 Las Guásimas, Battle of, 251–252, 370, 371 (photo), 441, 507 Latham, Charles, 580 Laurens, Henry, 44 Laurens, John, 44, 595 Law, Oliver, 1–2, 324, 376 Lawrence, KS, 703

Index

Lawrence, Robert H., Jr., 252 Lawson, John, 489, 749 Lawton, Carrie, 69 Lawton, Henry W., 369, 370–371, 372 Layton, William, 119 Lear, Ben, 361, 579, 582 Lear, Charles B., 205, 206 Leatherwood, Jim, 510 Leavenworth, Henry, 190 Ledlie, James H., 320–321 Lee, Charles, 304 Lee, Fitz, 335, 507, 754 Lee, Frank, 253 Lee, John C. H., 359, 552–553, 576, 577, 578, 579 Lee, John W., 627 Lee, Robert E. and Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, 99 and Battle of Fort Fisher, 189, 190 and black Confederates, 39, 40, 113, 114 and black dispatches, 69, 70 and Potter’s Raid, 310 surrender of, 37, 114, 129, 188, 389, 470 Lee, William, 252–253 Leadership and the Negro Soldier (U.S. Army), 550 Leedy, John W., 419 Leftenant, Nancy C., 10 Legal League, 69 LeGette, Curtis W., 476 Leland, Mickey, 382 Leonard, Matthew, 253–254, 764 Lestac, Roger, 119 Lester, Clarence “Lucky,” 409, 428 (photo) Leutze, Emmanuel, 119, 120 (photo) Lew, Barzillai, 119, 208, 254–255 Lew, Gerald N., 255 Lew, Harry “Bucky,” 255 Lew, Margaret, 254 Lew, Primus, 254

Lew, William Edward, 255 Lew, Zimri, 607 Lewis, Frederick Elliot, 255 Lewis, Hamilton, 514 Lewis, John, 211 Lexington and Concord, Battles of, 255–256, 276, 307, 329, 330, 432 Liberia, 424, 585, 586 Liberty, Jeff, 770 Lieb, Hermann, 26, 27 Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (Douglass), 142 Life-Saving Service, 467 Lightfoot, George, 452 (photo) Linard, Col. J. A., 532 Lincoln, Abraham assassination of, 196 and black soldiers, 140, 175, 272, 434 and David Hunter, 18 election of, 139, 160 and forty acres and a mule, 194, 196 and Frederick Douglass, 139–141 and Henry Turner, 405 letter to Conkling of, 143 and Martin Delany, 129 and Militia Act (1862), 88 and pay in Civil War, 33–34 and Revenue Cutter Service, 466 and slavery, 16, 18, 113, 139–140, 160, 161–164, 388, 435, 436 Lind, Alfred, 264 Lindsay, Diane, 10 Little Blue, MO, 711 Little Rock, AR, 706 Little Rock Nine, 256–257 Liverpool Heights, MS, 704 Livingston, William, 420 Lloyd, Edward, 135, 136 Lofton, Forest, 205 Logan, John A., 124 Logan, Rayford W., 327, 616 Long, Donald Russell, 257–258, 764–761

| 804 |

Lotus steamer, AR, 719 Loud, John S., 516 Louis, Joe, 619 Louisiana Native Guards, 110, 176–178, 309–310, 435 African American officers in, 177 L’Ouverture, Toussaint, 597 Louvestre, John, 258 Louvestre, Mary, 70, 258 Love, A. G., 526 Love, Samuel J., 623 Love, Vaughn, 376 Lovett, Robert A., 543 Loyal Legion, 613 Ludendorff, Erich, 261, 262 Luis, George, 295 MacArthur, Douglas and desegregation, 416, 745 and Korean War, 65, 204, 242, 244, 417 (photo) and 96th Engineer General Service Regiment, 356 MacColl, Ray, 187 MacGregor, Morris, 495 Mack, Daniel, 536 Mackenzie, Ranald S., 352 Mackenzie’s Rebellion (1837), 109 MacLeish, Archibald, 133 Madero, Franciso, 299 Madison Station, AL, 716 Magee, Oscar J., 447 Magnolia, TN, 718 Malone, Joyce B., 10 Malveaux, Vincent R., 637 Manchester, SC (Potter’s South Carolina Raid), 721 Mangas Coloradas, 52, 386 March on Washington (1941), 259–261, 317, 351, 491 Marianna, FL, 714 Marine Corps, U.S. See U.S. Marine Corps Marion County, FL, 720 Marion, VA, 717 Marmaduke, John S., 306 Marne, Second Battle of the, 261–263

Index

Maroney, John, 379 Mars, John N., 179 Marsh, John, Jr., 65 Marshall, Charles, 114 Marshall, Genevieve (photo), 9 Marshall, George C., 132, 444, 517, 518, 539, 540, 548, 550, 578 Marshall, Napoleon Bonaparte, 379 Marshall, Thurgood, 248, 309, 346–347, 566 Marshall, William, 471 Martin, David, 597 Martin, Evelyn (photo), 9 Martin, Graham E., 205, 206, 207 Martin, John (Keto), 471 Martin, Lewis, 14 Marvin, George, 393 Mason, Corporal, 240 Mason, Newton Henry, 263 Mason, USS (DE-529), 206, 263–264, 301, 493, 561, 564, 575 Massacre Canyon (1879), 264–265 Massacre of 1622, 106 Masters, Alfred, 474 Matchett, Henry J., 577 Mattes, Joseph, 220 Matthews, Francis P., 483 Matthews, Herbert, 1 Matthews, Saul, 267 Maury, Dabney H., 188 Maverick, Samuel, 61, 74 Maxey, Samuel, 306 Maxwell, Hurdle L., 246 Mayer, Edelmiro, 21 Mayo, Henry, 299 Mays, Isaiah, 514, 751 McAfee, Mildred, 521, 564, 565 McAlpin, Harry S., 133, 625 McAuliffe, Anthony, 85 McBarron, H. Charles, 398 (photo) McBlain, Captain, 239 McBryar, William, 752 McCaffrey, William J., 447

McClellan, George B., 18, 69, 70, 140 McClennan, Alonzo, 489–490 McCloy, John, 202, 446, 447, 448, 540, 546, 548, 583 McCorkle, Lieutenant, 159 McCulloch, Henry E., 27 McDowell, Irvin, 71 McEntee, John, 70 McFeely, William, 365 McGrath, J. Howard, 629 McHenry, James, 596 McKaine, Osceola, 535 McKay’s Point, SC, 718 McKee, Henry, 363 McKee, John, 363 McKinley, William, 197, 368, 369, 373, 374, 440, 466 McNair, Lesley J., 550 McNamara, Robert S., 451, 485 McNamee, M. M., 239 McNider, Hanford, 356 McNutt, Paul V., 558, 559 Medical Corps, 540 Meeker, Nathan, 288, 498 Meeks, Freddie, 309 Meffleton Lodge, AR, 710 Melville, L. Scott, 123 Memphis, TN, 712 Men of Honor (film), 76, 637 Merriman, Robert, 2 Merritt, Wesley, 287, 498–499 Meuse-Argonne offensive, 265–266, 341, 395, 396, 532 Mexican-American War, 276, 434, 600 Mexico. See Mexican-American War; U.S. Army (and Mexico) Middleton, 45 Mifflin, James, 749–746 Milds, Miller, 380 Miles, Nelson Appleton, 373, 386 Miles, Perry L., 286, 394, 395 Military, U.S. defense industries, 259–261, 275, 317, 343, 351, 472, 618

| 805 |

desegregation of, 10, 86, 124, 133, 166–168, 208, 214, 231, 240, 241, 242, 244–247, 248, 264, 271, 272, 275, 317, 343–344, 345–347, 351, 413, 415, 416, 426, 429–430, 449, 467, 468, 473, 483–485, 494, 495, 496, 501, 537, 540–541, 551–554, 561–568, 571, 574–575, 579–583, 741–741 race relations in, 57–59, 336–348, 482, 496, 502–504, 547–548, 589–591 segregation in, 130, 132, 133, 166, 214, 230–231, 241, 242, 244, 271–272, 336–348, 350 (photo), 351, 401, 406, 409, 415, 426, 448, 449, 467, 468, 472, 489, 491, 492, 493, 495, 501, 520, 523, 524, 525, 537–540, 541, 542, 545–548, 550, 551, 554–555, 556, 557, 559, 560, 568–571, 572–573, 575 (See also specific military organizations and units) See also specific branches of the military Military Information Division (MID), 267 Military intelligence, African Americans in, 266–269, 402–403 Military Intelligence Corps, 269 Militia Act (1792), 153, 269–270, 276, 338, 433 Militia Act (1862), 18, 32, 88 Miller, Dorie, 270–271, 491, 555, 636 Milliken’s Bend, LA, 702 Milltown Bluff, SC, 702 Mitchell’s Creek, FL, 717 Mizner, J. K., 386, 387 Momyer, William, 280, 427–428 Monroe, James, 156

Index

Monroe, James W., 510 Montero, Mario F., Jr., 102 Montford Point Marines, 271–272, 473, 474–475, 476, 477, 478, 481, 482, 483, 484, 486, 569, 571, 575 Montgomery, James, 33, 71, 272, 403, 605 Montgomery, Mate, 637 Montgomery’s Brigade, 272, 603 Moore, Thomas C., 477 Moreau, Vice Admiral, 101 Morey, Lewis, 300 Morgan, Daniel, 267 Morgan, Dempsey W., Jr., 428 (photo) Morganza, LA, 708, 716 Morris, Walter, 622 Morrow, Albert B., 53, 75 Moscow Station, TN, 703 Moscow, TN, 709 Moscowitz, Henry, 275 Mosely, Cynthia, 10–11 Mosgrove, George, 332 Mosley, Julia, 468 Moss, Elizabeth B. Murphy, 624 Moss, James A., 159, 282, 412 Moss, Nathaniel, 510 Mosteller, James W., Jr., 509 Moton, Robert, 536 Motten, George, 510 Mound Plantation, LA, 702 Mount Pleasant Landing, LA, 708 Mower, Joseph A., 411 Mowey, Pero, 180 Mud Creek, AL, 718 Mullan, Robert, 471 Mullins, George G., 82 Mulzac, Hugh, 272–274 Murdock, Lieutenant, 159 Murfreesboro, TN, 718 Murphy, Calvin, 128 Murphy, Joseph, 211, 636 Murray, Banbarra, 134 Murray, Joseph, 420 Murray, Mary, 134 Mussey, R. D., 73 Mussolini, Benito, 237

My American Journey (Powell), 314 My Bondage and My Freedom (Douglass), 139 NAACP. See National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Nana, 54–55, 289 Napoleon Bonaparte, 104, 151 Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (Douglass), 138 Nashville & Northwestern Railroad, TN, 713, 716 Nashville, TN, 708, 716, 717, 718 Natchez, MS, 703, 706 National Airmen’s Association of America, 79 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), 68, 275–276, 628, 634 and A. Philip Randolph, 317 and African American officers, 275, 527 and Charity Earley, 149 and Charles Young, 267, 585 and defense industries, 259, 275, 343 and Double V campaign, 231 founding of, 275, 343 and Freeman Field Incident, 202 and Guam Incident, 567 and Houston Riots, 221 and Korean War, 248 and Little Rock Nine, 257 and March on Washington, 491 membership of, 275 1947 convention of, 166 and Paul Robeson, 324 and Port Chicago Mutiny, 309, 344, 566 and Red Cross, 545 and segregation in army, 444, 445, 458, 543 and Selective Service Act (1940), 350

| 806 |

and U.S. Navy, 491, 492, 556, 557 and W. E. B. Du Bois, 145, 146, 526, 534, 586 and WAAC, 519 and William Coleman, Jr., 201 and William Hastie, 214 National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses, 9 National Defense Act (1920), 457–458 National Guard, 256, 276–278, 282, 284, 445, 607, 609 African American women in, 10 and Houston Riots, 220, 221 and interwar period, 458–459, 461, 462, 464, 465 and Mexico, 300 restricted opportunities in, 501 roles of, in U.S. history, 276–278 and Spanish-American War, 327, 376, 441 and Vietnam War, 502 and World War I, 349, 392, 395, 397, 442, 457, 458, 523, 524, 528, 529, 530 National Urban League, 317, 445, 494, 565, 566, 567 National War College, 312, 325 Native Americans, 150, 153, 335, 337, 340, 433, 439, 440, 523, 593 and Battle of Little Big Horn, 129, 130 and Equal Opportunity Survey, 57, 59 and Isaiah Dorman, 129–130 and Massacre Canyon, 264–265 and militia in colonial America, 106–109, 276, 593–594 and 9th Cavalry, 287–290, 380, 439 and 10th Cavalry, 383–387 and 34th Regiment, 389 and Treaty of Medicine Lodge, 384 and 25th Infantry Regiment, 411, 412

Index

and 24th Infantry Regiment, 413–414, 439 Wounded Knee massacre, 290, 516 See also Apache Wars; Buffalo Soldiers; Pine Ridge Campaign; Seminole-Negro scouts; Ute Wars; specific Native Americans Natural Bridge, FL, 720 Naval Academy, U.S., 68, 562 African American graduations from, 78, 206 (photo) earlier treatment of African Americans in, 340, 489–490 and Zumwalt’s efforts, 504 Navy, U.S. See U.S. Navy Navy Nurse Corps, 10 Negrín, Juan, 2, 377 Negro, Benjamin, 594 Negro Fort (FL), 598 Negro Newspaper Publishers Association, 131 Negro Soldier (film), 622 Nell, William Cooper, 156, 181 Nelson, Dennis D., 205, 206, 207, 495 Nelson, John A., 309 Nelson, Private, 240 Nelson, Robert H., Jr., 428 (photo) New England Anti-Slavery Society, 423 New Kent Court House, VA, 704 New Market Heights (Chaffin’s Farm), Battle of, 64, 66–67, 99–100, 158, 227–228, 418, 710, 714, 716 New Orleans, Battle of, 278–279, 338, 434, 598 New York Times, 25, 378 Newcomb, Frank H., 466–467 Ngo Dinh Diem, 450–451 Nichols, LeRoy, 361 Nimitz, Chester, 270, 567 Nix, Andrew W., 637 Nixon, John, 329 Nixon, Richard M., 14, 122, 236, 430, 453, 508

Noil, Joseph B., 608, 753 Norfolk, VA, 730 Noriega, Manuel, 314 North American Air Defense Command (NORAD), 225, 227 North Ana River, VA, 708 North Carolina, 719 North Star, 129, 138 Norton, Oliver Willcox, 296 Norwood’s Plantation, LA, 708 Ny River, VA (Spotsylvania Court House), 707 O’Connell, Daniel, 138 Office of Strategic Services, 378 Okinawa, Battle of, 293–294, 354, 481 Olin, William H., 96 Olive, Milton Lee, III, 294–296, 633, 765 Olney, Jeremiah, 180, 181 Olustee, Battle of, 157–158, 170, 173, 179, 272, 296–297, 438, 704, 770 One Woman’s Army (Earley), 150 Onley, W. Bayard, 475 O’Reilly, John Boyle, 61 Overton, Lawrence W., 503 (photo) Overton, Sadie, 126 Ovington, Mary White, 275 Owen, Chandler, 317 Owens, Ray L., 202 Owensboro, KY, 713 Paine, Charles, 66, 99, 321 Paine, Halbert E., 309 Paine, Joseph W., 22 Pakenham, Edward, 156 Palmer, Robertson, 124 Palmer, Theodora (photo), 9 Palmetto Ranch, TX, 722 Pan-African Congress, 146 Pancho Villa Campaign, 299–301 Papadopoulos, Fairy M., 102 Parham, Alonzo, 616 Parker, Edwin F., 581 Parker, Henry K., 54, 55

| 807 |

Parker, John, 255, 424 Parker, Josiah, 267 Parker, Julius, Jr., 268–269 Parks, Gordon A., Sr., 620 Parnell, Louis R., 213 Parrish, Noel, 408, 426 Parrott, Ralph B., 282 Parsons, Usher, 250 Partridge, Earle E., 246 Pass Manchas, LA, 705 Pataki, George, 236 Patch, Alexander, 581–582 Patterson, Robert, 215 (photo), 260, 448, 491, 541, 551 Patton, George S., 86, 97, 361, 390, 446, 448 Patton, Vincent, III, 637 Payne, Adam, 352, 353, 752 Payne, David L., 289 Payne, Isaac, 352, 609, 752 Payne, J. Scott, 498 PC-1264, USS, 206, 207, 301, 493, 496, 561, 562 (photo) Pease, Joachim, 750 Peck, James, 377 Pendleton, Edmund, 147 Penn, Delemar, 52 Penn, Robert, 754 Pennington, Miles, 471 Pepperell, William, 254 Pequot War (1637), 276 Percy, Hugh, 255, 256 Perry, Howard P., 473 (photo) Perry, Oliver Hazard, 154, 184, 250, 488 Pershing, John J., 65, 235, 252, 282, 283, 284, 299–300, 335, 370, 372, 374, 386–387, 394, 396, 398, 441–442, 586 Petersburg National Battlefield Park, VA, 774 Petersburg, VA, 709 Petersen, Frank E., 246, 301–302, 484, 485, 632 Peterson, Virgil L., 446 Petteys, James Birch, 251 Pharoe, Abraham, 401 Pharoh, 88 Phelps, John W., 18, 435

Index

Philippines, 124, 126, 219, 225, 267, 341, 490, 585 and Buffalo Soldiers, 82, 287, 290, 304 and 48th and 49th volunteers, 197–198 insurrection in (1899–1902), 65, 302–304, 523 and Spanish-American War, 367, 369–370, 373–374, 387, 413, 414, 441, 507 and World War II, 355 Phillips, Albert E., 300 Phillips, Wendell, 138 Pickens, Harriet Ida, 10, 521, 522 (photo) Pierce, Adam, 304–305 Pierce, Anthony, 305 Pierce, Harold E., 305 Pierce, Richard, 305 Pierpoint, Richard, 109 Pierson’s Farm, VA, 709–710 Pierson, Gwynne, 623 Pight, John, 107 Pinckney, Leo, 613 Pinckney, William, 305 Pine Barren Creek, AL, 717 Pine Barren Ford, FL, 717 Pine Bluff, AR, 710 Pine Ridge Campaign, 515–516 Pinkerton, Allan, 69 Pinkney, J. B., 205 Pinn, Robert, 67, 750 Pitcairn, John, 42, 87, 255, 329, 330 Pitts, Helen, 142 Pitts, Riley Leroy, 305–306, 634, 765–762 Pleasant Hill, LA, 705 Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), 230 Plymouth, NC, 703, 705, 706 Point Isabel, TX, 712 Point Lookout, VA, 707–708 Point of Rocks, VA (or MD), 709 Point Pleasant, LA, 710 Poison Spring Massacre, 176, 192, 306–307, 332, 340, 706 Poitier, Sidney, 319 Poletti, Charles, 555

Pollock, Marteller, Jr., 637 Pomeroy, Samuel, 272 Pompey, John, 401 Pompey, Samuel, 401 Pompey (Pompy), 42, 88, 256 Pompey, 595 Poor (Poore), Nancy, 307 Poor (Poore), Salem, 42, 87, 307–308, 594 Populus, Vincent, 155, 434, 598 Port Chicago Mutiny, 308–309, 344, 493, 566 Port Gibson, MS, 701 Port Hudson, Battle of, 309–310, 702, 771–768 Porter, David, 184 Post, Caesar, 88 Potama, Job, 88 Potter, Edward E., 218, 219, 310–311 Potter’s Raid, 310–311 Powell, Colin Luther, 311–315 and affirmative action, 14 in army, 14, 311–312, 504 and Battle Mountain, Korea, 65 and Buffalo Soldiers, 190 as chairman of JCS, 190, 210, 311, 312, 314, 449, 506 and Gulf War, 209, 210, 314 and Henry Flipper, 187 and “Powell Doctrine,” 314 as secretary of state, 311, 315, 449 Powell, Lieutenant, 516 Powell, William J., 106 Powhatan, VA, 719 Prairie D’Ann, AR, 705 Preacher, Eliza Ann, 405 Prescott, William, 87 President’s Commission on Civil Rights, 166, 345 President’s Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Forces, 167, 451, 501 Preston, Thomas, 60–61 Price, John, 601 Price, Sterling, 306 Prinas, H. D. (photo), 118 Prince, 256

| 808 |

Prince, Abijah, Jr., 208 Prince Goodin Home (Canterbury, CT), 770 Prince, Private, 240 Pritchett, W. E., 510 Proctor, Redfield, 514 Prosser, Gabriel, 596 Puerto Rico, 373 Pruitt, Wendell, 623, 625 Pulaski, TN, 707 Purdon, Eric, 301 Purvis, Robert, 424 Quartermaster Corps, 541 Quasi War, 488, 596 Quillet, Augustine, 395 Ragland, Dayton, 245 Raleigh, NC, 721 Randall, John, 81–82 Randolph, Asa Philip, 317–318 and Abraham Lincoln Battalion, 1 and civil rights movement, 317–318 and March on Washington, 260, 317, 491 and segregation in army, 445, 629 Randolph, James William, 317 Raney, Della H., 618 Rangers, U.S., 210 Rankin, John, 308, 424 Ratcliff, Edward, 750 Ratcliff, Robert, 332 Rauh, Joseph, 260 Rayford, Lee, 409 Raymond, MS, 701 Reagan, John W., 205, 206 Reagan, Ronald, 312, 314, 430 Reason, J. Paul, 496 Rector’s Farm, AR, 717 Red Ball Express, 318–320, 354, 359, 447 Red Cross and African American women, 9 and segregated blood donations, 133, 144, 214, 545, 548

Index

and World War I, 525 and World War II, 358, 359 Red River Expedition, LA, 708 Red River War, 352 Redstone Arsenal, 618 Reese, Daphne, 468 Reno, Marcus, 130 Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC), 6, 311, 314, 458 Resor, Stanley, 258 Revenue Cutter Service, U.S., 217, 465–467 Revere, Paul, 74, 255 Reynolds, J. J., 411 Reynolds, Lonesome Charley, 130 Rhee, Syngman, 247 Rice, Daddy, 230 Richland, TN, 714 Richmond, Battles of, 130, 320–322, 405, 418, 715, 774 Richmond, Bill, 595 Ridgway, Matthew B., 204, 244 The Right to Fight (Astor), 245 Ringgold, W. H., 70 Ripley, MS, 709 Ripley, Roswell, 364 Rivers, Dewey, 322 Rivers, Lillian, 322 Rivers, Prince, 36 Rivers, Robert, 322 Rivers, Ruben, 228, 322–323, 361, 453, 757 Rivers, Willie, 322 Roache’s Plantation, MS, 705 Robert Smalls’s House, Beaufort, SC, 773 Roberts, George S., 280, 428 Roberts, Needham, 117, 235, 398 Roberts, T. A., 284, 285, 393 Roberts, William B., 419 Robertson, Felix H., 332 Robeson, Maria Louisa, 323 Robeson, Paul Leroy, 319, 323–325 and Abraham Lincoln Battalion, 1, 2, 323–324, 377

blacklisting of, 324 and World War II, 323, 324 Robeson, William Drew, 323 Robin, 88 Robinson, Bernard, 619 Robinson, Brenda, 10 Robinson, John C., 325 Robinson, John Roosevelt (“Jackie”), 619, 620, 623 Robinson, Ray A., 271, 473, 569 Robinson, Robert, 83 Robinson, Roscoe, Jr., 184, 325–326 Rodino, Peter, 119 Rodman, Philip, 401 Rodriguez, José, 389 Rogers, Charles Calvin, 326–327, 766 Rogers, Edith Nourse, 517, 518 Rogers, Trumpeter, 55 Rolling Fork, MS, 716 Roosevelt, Eleanor, 259, 260, 263, 271, 351, 473, 560, 569 Roosevelt, Franklin D., 121, 133, 166, 202, 203, 214, 521 and African American pilots, 426, 428 “black cabinet” of, 351 and Executive Order 8802, 260, 343, 351, 472 and George Marshall, 444 and March on Washington, 259, 260, 275, 317, 491 and segregation in army, 444–445, 538, 539, 540, 541 and Selective Service Act (1940), 343, 349, 350 and U.S. Navy, 491, 492, 555, 556, 557, 558, 559, 564, 565, 569 and WAAC, 517 Roosevelt, Theodore, 80, 236, 239, 290, 327, 328, 332, 335, 341, 370, 371, 374, 441, 612 Rose, David, 216 Rosenberg, Anna, 260 Roseville Creek, AR, 705 Ross, James, 152

| 809 |

Ross, Mac, 280 Ross’ Landing, AR, 704 ROTC (Reserve Officers Training Corps), 6, 311, 314, 458 Rough Riders and Buffalo Soldiers, 327–328. See also Buffalo Soldiers; Roosevelt, Theodore; SpanishAmerican War Rousseau, Lovell H., 37 Royal Navy, 151, 152, 154 Royall, Kenneth, 629, 630 Ruggles, David, 135, 136, 424 Runchey, Thomas, 109 Runyon, John, 64 Rupertus, William H., 480 Russell, Captain, 172 Russell, Harvey, 468 Russell, Jack, 250 Russell, Louis, 303 Rutledge, Edward, 41, 594 Ryan, John D., 503 Saddler, M. W., 158 Salem Church, VA, 706 Salem, Peter, 42, 87, 256, 329–331, 594 Saline River, AR, 707, 722 Salkehatchie, SC, 719 Saltville Massacre, 331–332, 714, 718 Sampson, William T., 370 Samuels, Clarence, 468, 620 San Juan Hill, Battle of, 239, 290, 327, 332–335, 341, 370, 371–372, 374–375, 387, 412–413, 414, 441 Sanderson, Aaron, 750 Sandy Swamp, NC, 704 Santa Anna, Antonio Lopéz de, 352 Sargent, Ruppert Leon, 335–336, 766–763 Sasser, Clarence Eugene, 336, 767 Savage, 466 Savage, Edward, 253 Savary, Joseph, 155–156, 598 Saxton, Rufus, 32, 88, 181, 196, 197, 403, 435, 603

Index

Scammell, Alexander, 595 Schofield Barracks (Oahu, HI), 731 Schofield, J. M., 15 Schwartz, Harry, 616 Schwarzkopf, Norman, 210, 314, 506 Scobell, John, 69 Scott, Agatha, 121 Scott, Captain, 199 Scott, Emmett J., 379, 536, 539, 613 Scott, George, 69 Scott, W. S., 159 Scottsboro, AL, 718 Scripture, Samuel, 254 Seabees, 401, 492, 493, 557, 558, 559, 560, 567 Seals, Leroy, 479 Sears, James, 109 Season, 88 Second Confiscation Act. See Militia Act (1862) Segregation and racism in the military, 57–59, 130, 132, 133, 166, 214, 230–231, 336–348, 350 (photo), 351, 449–450 See also Military, U.S. (segregation in); specific units Selective Service Acts, 349–351 1917, 341, 349, 351, 442, 524 1940, 3, 259, 343, 349–351, 445, 467, 472, 475, 522, 558 Selle, Rosamond D., 518 (photo) Selway, Robert R., 201, 202, 344, 409, 427 Seminole-Negro scouts, 351–353, 608, 609, 774 Seminole Wars, 434, 598, 599 Semor, Thomas, 401 Sengstacke, John, 131–132, 133 Service Units of World War II, African American, 353–360 Services of Supply (SOS), 284, 359, 397, 531, 532, 534 Seward, William, 163, 403 Sexton, Walton R., 572

Seymour, Lloyd G., 418 Seymour, Truman, 170, 173, 193, 296 Shafter, William R., 186, 252, 333, 369, 371, 411, 414 Shafter’s Expedition, 609 Sharpe, George H., 70 Shaw, Francis George, 19, 193 Shaw, Henry, 481 Shaw, John P., 17 (photo) Shaw, Robert Gould, 19, 23, 25, 27, 28, 96, 171, 172, 174, 193, 272, 366, 367, 403, 438, 772 Shaw, Thomas, 54, 752 Shaw University, 636–637 Shekerjian, Haig, 220 Shephard, Cudgo, 401, 601 Shepherd, Hayward, 94 Sheridan, Philip, 384, 385, 515 Sherman, William T., 51, 112, 173, 188, 194, 196, 197, 218, 309, 606 Sherwood, MO, 702 Short, George, 514 Shorter, John Freeman, 170 Sierra Leone, 424 Signal Corps, 440, 462, 463, 464, 540 Signal Security Agency, 268 Silliman, Colonel, 218 Simmons, Charles W., 474, 482 Simmons, Robert J., 28 Simpkins, Captain, 172 Simpsonville, KY, 719 Sims, Clifford Chester, 362–363, 767–764 Sinque, Joseph, 94 Sipeo, 401 Sissle, Noble, 379, 397, 529 Sitting Bull, 130 Skinner, Carlton, 468, 574 Slavery, 278 and American Revolution, 41, 42–43, 44, 46, 47, 146–148, 152, 180, 330, 338, 432–433 beginnings in North America of, 423 and Buffalo Soldiers, 82, 84

| 810 |

and Call to Rebellion (1843), 93–94 and Civil War, 16, 17, 21–22, 28, 39, 40, 109–116, 140, 160–164, 339, 340, 364, 434–435, 436 and Cleburne’s Plan, 104–105, 112 and forty acres and a mule, 194–197 and Freedmen’s Bureau, 200–201, 365, 435 freeing of slaves, 8, 15, 16–17, 18, 19, 140, 141, 142, 143, 160–164, 169, 198, 388, 404, 420, 432, 433, 434, 436, 511 (See also Underground Railroad) Fugitive Slave Laws, 129, 139, 402, 423, 425, 435 Lemuel Haynes on, 216 and military service in colonial America, 106–109, 337–338 newspapers against, 129, 138 punishment of slaves, 21, 22, 23, 25 and Revenue Cutter Service, 465 revolts of slaves, 16, 48, 50, 94, 139, 153, 155, 156, 402, 432, 433 and Seminole-Negro scouts, 351–353 and Underground Railroad, 69, 71, 135, 138–139, 258, 267, 402, 423–426 and War of 1812, 151–153, 154, 156, 250, 279, 338, 433–434 See also Black dispatches; Civil War, U.S. (African Americans in); Confiscation Acts; Douglass, Frederick (and abolitionism); Thirteenth Amendment; Tubman, Harriet Small, Nathaniel, 401 Smalls, Annie Wigg, 365 Smalls, Elizabeth, 363 Smalls, Hannah Jones, 363, 365

Index

Smalls, Lydia, 363 Smalls, Robert, 70, 205, 363–365, 488–489, 492, 773 Smalls, Robert, Jr., 363 Smalls, Sarah, 363 Smalls, William, 365 Smith, Gen. Andrew J., 175 Smith, Cpl. Andrew Jackson, 750 Smith, Callie (photo), 9 Smith, Elza, 332 Smith, Francis, 255, 256 Smith, George W., 55 Smith, Gustavus, 218 Smith, Harold, 223 Smith, James Webster, 186, 365–366, 440, 511, 512, 513 Smith, John, 753 Smith, Kirby, 66 Smith, Lamar, 633 Smith, Merle, 468 Smith, Walter B., 577–578 Smith, Watty, 336 Smith, William, 112 Smith Act, 2 Smithfield, KY, 718 Smithfield, VA, 713 Smock, Barnes, 420 Snow, Kneeland S., 220 Snyder, Charles P., 556 Sol Legare Island, Battle of, 171–172, 366–367, 702 Somalia, 314 Somervell, Brehon B., 554 The Souls of Black Folk (Du Bois), 145 Sousa, John Philip, 165 South Tunnel, TN, 714 Spanish Fort, AL, 720 Spanish-American War, 367–375, 391, 610–611 African American units in, 65, 84, 287, 290, 327–328, 332–335, 340–341, 367, 368–375, 387, 410, 412–413, 419, 439, 440–441, 507, 523, 585 and African American women, 8–9

aftermath of, 372–375 Battle of El Caney, 158–159, 333, 370–371 Battle of Kettle Hill, 239–240, 327, 333, 370, 371–372 Battle of Las Guásimas, 251–252, 370, 371 (photo), 441, 507 Battle of San Juan Hill, 239, 290, 327, 332–335, 341, 370, 371–372, 374–375, 387, 412–413, 414, 441 and Benjamin Davis Sr., 124, 368 and Dennis Bell, 67–68 and Maine, 367, 368, 440, 490 National Guard in, 278, 327 naval activity in, 369–370 prelude to, 367–368, 440 racial tensions during mobilization for, 369, 441 and Revenue Cutter Service, 466–467 Spanish surrender in, 372 and 24th Infantry Regiment, 413, 414 Spanish Civil War, 1–2, 97, 323–324, 375–378, 616 Sparkman, John J., 552 Sparks, Chauncey, 551 Sparks, Lee, 219–220, 221 SPARS, 10, 468, 574 Spartanburg Incident, 378–379 Spencer, Lyndon, 572 Spingarn, Joel E., 527 Spotsylvania, VA, 707 Spratt, John, 366, 513 St. John’s River, SC, 708 St. Stephen’s, SC, 720 Stalin, Joseph, 2 Stance, Emanuel, 288, 379–381, 752 Stanford, Jimmy, 295–296 Stanton, Edwin M., 34, 38, 88, 129, 140, 175, 179, 194, 297, 364, 403, 604 Stark, John, 208 Staunton River Bridge, VA, 710 Stearns, George, 272 Stedman, Captain, 239

| 811 |

Steele, Frederick, 175, 188, 306 Steiner, Lewis, 111 Stephenson, Floyd A., 475, 476 Stevens, Edward L., 310 Stevens, Thaddeus, 196–197, 404 Stevenson, Adlai E., 205, 493, 555, 562 Stevenson, John D., 411 Stewart, James, 510 Still, William, 424, 425 (photo) Stimson, Henry L., 202, 214, 260, 280, 444, 446–447, 518, 539, 544, 546, 548, 618 Stoddert, Benjamin, 596 Stone, Rose (photo), 9 Stowers, Freddie, 381–382, 453, 755 Storms, Dan (photo), 118 Strachan, John, 597 Strong, George C., 28, 172, 193 Sturges, Major, 170 Sturgis, Samuel D., 174 Sublett, Frank E., Jr., 205–206, 207 Suffolk, VA, 705 Sugar Loaf Hill, NC, 719 Sullivan, Gerry, 21 Sullivan, John, 180 Sullivan, John L., 629, 630 Sulphur Trestle Fort Site (near Elkmont, AL), 714, 769 Sumner, Charles, 197, 404 Sumterville, SC (Potter’s South Carolina Raid), 721 Swails, Stephen A., 34, 35 Sweeney, Robert Augustus, 754 Swett, Samuel, 87 Swift Creek, VA (Arrowfield Church), 707 Swift’s Creek, SC (Dingle’s Mills), 722 Swindler, Leland S., 223, 481 Swiss Creek, SC (Potter’s South Carolina Raid), 721 Talbert, Fanny (photo), 9 Talbot, Sampson, 88 Talley, Robert D., 210–211, 636

Index

Tandy, Vertner W., 612 Taylor, Captain, 239 Taylor, Charles, 55 Taylor, Harvey, 117, 393 Taylor, Herbert (photo), 118 Taylor, Maxwell D., 448 Taylor, Russell, 8 Taylor, Susan King, 8 Taylor, T. W. (photo), 118 Taylorsville, KY, 722 Terrazas, Joaquin, 54 Terrell, Alexander Watkins, 389, 390 Terrell’s Texas Cavalry. See 34th Regiment Terry, Alfred Howe, 171, 172 Terry, Roger, 202, 409 Theus, Lucius, 503 Thifts, Cato, 88 Thirteenth Amendment, 141, 164, 169, 198, 230, 388, 511 Thomas, Charles L., 228, 390–391, 453, 757 Thomas, Jack, 580 Thomas, Lorenzo, 73, 140, 331 Thomas, Margaret, 253 Thomas, Robert Y., 529 Thompkins, William H., 335, 507 Thompson, George O., 474 Thompson, Marsden A., 202, 409 Thompson, William Henry, 244, 391–392, 631, 754, 758 Thomson, James, 132 Thornburgh, Thomas T., 498 Thurmond, Strom, 513 Tibbs, Kenneth J., 479 Tiffany, Cyrus, 250 Till, Emmett, 294 Tillis, Jack D., 183 (photo) Timber Hill, Cherokee Nation (Oklahoma), 716 Tompkins, Frank, 300, 585 Tortilla Flats, AZ, 769 Town Creek, NC, 720 Townsend, E. D., 73, 89 Township, FL, 701 Travers, Sara, 219

Travis, Joseph, 50 Trenton, Battle of, 400–401, 471 Trinidad Disturbance, 401–402 Trivers, George, 616 Troup, Robert, Jr., 475 Troutman, Edward, 83 Trowbridge, Charles T., 38, 181 Trowell-Harris, Irene, 10 Truman, Harry, 202, 346 and African American press, 133, 616 and Benjamin Davis Sr., 127 and Executive Order 9981, 10, 166, 167, 208, 241, 245, 272, 275, 317, 345, 429, 449, 468, 483, 495, 501, 571 firing of Douglas MacArthur by, 244 and GI Bill, 203 and Korean War, 346 and Tuskegee Airmen, 409 and women in military, 520, 521 Trumbull, John, 87 Tubman, Harriet, 71, 267, 402–403, 424, 598, 600, 605 Tumulty, Joseph, 529 Tupelo, MS, 711 Tupes, Herschel, 285, 396 Turley, Samuel, 361 Turner, Andrew D., 428 (photo) Turner, Due, 510 Turner, Henry McNeal, 404–406, 436 Turner, Nat, 50, 94, 599 Turpin, John Henry, 490 Tuskegee Airmen, 56–57, 77, 78, 121–123, 213, 225–227, 236, 245, 280, 302, 325, 344, 399–400, 406–410, 426–427, 430, 512, 541–542, 575, 618, 637 Tweed, William Marcy, 142 Tye, Colonel (Titus), 420–421 Tyler, Ralph Waldo, 613 Ulm, Donald S., 254

| 812 |

Under Fire with the 370th (Bradden), 284 Underground Railroad, 69, 71, 135, 138–139, 258, 267, 402, 423–426 United Nations and Gulf War, 209, 210 and Korean War, 240–241, 244, 247 United States Colored Artillery, 639–643 United States Colored Cavalry (USCC), 30, 31, 35, 645–648 and Saltville Massacre, 331–332 United States Colored Troops (USCT), 20 (photo), 26, 175–176, 437 (photo), 470, 505, 604, 649–722 abuse and war crimes against, 30–31, 36, 37 and Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, 227 and Battle of Fort Blakely, 188–189 and Battle of Fort Fisher, 189–190 and Battle of Honey Hill, 218, 219 and Battles of Richmond, 321 and Camp Nelson, 94–95 and combat, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31–32, 99–100, 170, 437 (see also specific battles and units) conditions, pay, and promotion in, 22, 25, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 339–340, 437–438 creation of, 88, 89, 437 and Decatur Dorsey, 130 8th regiment, 157–158, 296–297 and end of Civil War, 37–38, 39 (photo) 59th regiment, 174–175 57th regiment, 175 and Freedmen’s Bureau, 200–201 and Henry Turner, 404–405

Index

joining of, 21 of Kentucky, 470–471 losses in, 90 and Martin Delany, 129 officers in, 19, 21, 32, 72–74 102d regiment, 297–298, 310 and Potter’s Raid, 310 and Powhatan Beaty, 66–67 and Robert Smalls, 364 79th regiment, 175–176 73d regiment, 176 and slaves, 21–22, 426 and 30th Connecticut Volunteers, 388 35th regiment, 179 33d regiment, 181 and William Barnes, 64 United States Colored Troops of Kentucky, 470–471 Urban League. See National Urban League U.S. Air Force, 79, 426–431 African American enlistment in, 4, 5, 426, 430 African American officers in, 6, 7, 121–123, 213, 225–227, 246, 252, 305, 344, 399–400, 408 (photo), 429, 512 African American women in, 11 and Benjamin Davis Jr., 121–123, 426, 427, 428, 429, 431 and Calvin Davis, 127 and desegregation, 245–246, 343–344, 346, 426, 429–430, 472, 501, 743–741 and Equal Opportunity Survey, 57, 58 female combat pilots in, 229 and Frederick Cherry, 103 and Freeman Field Incident, 201–202, 344, 409, 430 and Gulf War, 210, 430 and Korean War, 429 and Robert Lawrence, 252 and Roscoe Brown, 77–78

and Vietnam War, 254, 430, 503 See also Tuskegee Airmen U.S. Army, 130, 153, 233, 238, 327, 366, 378, 431–456 African American enlistment in, 3–4, 259, 358, 443, 445, 458, 540, 544 African American officers in, 6, 7, 14, 63–64, 121, 124–127, 155, 165, 184, 186, 199–200, 233, 259, 282, 284, 311–315, 325–326, 362–363, 374, 390–391, 398, 434, 442–443, 444, 448–449, 458, 459–460, 462, 464, 465, 506, 508–509, 510–513, 527–528, 530, 545, 551–552, 553, 570, 585–587 African American units in, 8, 44–45, 64–66, 81–84, 102, 117, 182–184, 205, 242, 333–335, 353–360, 361–362, 433, 434, 435–436, 437, 438, 439, 440, 448, 457–458, 459, 460, 461, 462, 464, 465, 523, 524, 579, 580–581, 582, 583 (see also 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment; 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment; 92d Division; 93d Division; 9th Cavalry; 10th Cavalry; 24th Infantry Regiment; other specific African American units) African American women in, 8, 9–10, 11, 211, 233, 514–515, 519–522 Air Service of, 426 ban on African Americans in, 434, 511 and Bureau of Colored Troops, 88 Central Staff College report (1920), 342 and Champagne offensive, 101

| 813 |

and Charles Young, 267 and Civil War, 434–438, 488, 489 Command and General Staff College, 190, 312, 325, 444 Command and General Staff School Support Detachment, Colored, 190 and Confederate land, 194 and Continental Army, 432–433 and Cornelius Charlton, 102 and Edward Carter, 97 82d Airborne Division, 184, 325, 326, 360 and Equal Opportunity Survey, 57, 58 establishment of, post–Civil War, 287, 383, 411, 413, 439 female combat pilots in, 229 Fort Des Moines officertraining school of, 282, 443, 527, 530, 551 and 48th and 49th volunteers, 197, 198 and Freedmen’s Bureau, 201 frontier duty of, 438–440 General Classification Test of, 444, 541, 543, 577 and Gifu, 204–205 and Gulf War, 210, 506 and Henry Johnson, 234, 235, 236 honoring of African Americans by, 453 integration and equality in, 38, 133, 242, 244–245, 344, 345, 346, 387, 416, 426–427, 429, 431, 442, 449, 453, 472, 501, 512, 541, 550, 551–554, 579–583, 741–741 and interwar period, 456–465 and John Cash, 98 and Korean War, 65, 241–245, 248, 449–450 (see also specific army units) and Lawrence Joel, 232 and Mangas Coloradas, 52

Index

U.S. Army (continued) and Mexico, 299, 300, 434, 441–442, 585 and military intelligence, 268, 269 and Milton Olive, 294–296 and Native Americans (see Buffalo Soldiers; 10th Cavalry) 101st Airborne Division, 360, 362, 448, 453 and Philippines, 303, 304 post–World War II, 210 segregation in, 132, 133, 231, 241–242, 244, 259, 341–342, 343, 345–346, 350 (photo), 406, 415, 416, 426, 429, 444–445, 448, 449, 509, 519, 523, 524, 525, 537–540, 541, 542, 543, 545–548, 550, 551, 554 (see also Bureau of Colored Troops; specific segregated units) and Selective Service Acts, 349–351 and Seminole-Negro scouts, 352–353 and Spanish-American War, 368–369, 370–375, 440–441 and Thomas Boyne, 74–75 and unequal discipline, 346–347 and Vernon Baker, 63 and Vietnam War, 450–453, 502, 503 and War of 1812, 155, 338, 433–434 and World War I, 117–119, 165, 282–286, 341–342, 349, 381–382, 392–397, 442–444, 523–536, 538 and World War II, 85–86, 228, 344, 353–360, 390–391, 444–449, 537–554, 558, 576–583 See also 92d Division; 93d Division; 9th Cavalry; 10th Cavalry; 25th Infantry

Regiment; 24th Infantry Regiment; West Point; Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps; specific battles and wars; other specific army units U.S. Army, interwar period, 456–465 U.S. Coast Guard, 217, 442, 465–470, 557 acceptance of African Americans in, 133, 465, 467–468, 470, 473, 560, 571, 572, 573 African American women in, 10, 517, 574–575 and Equal Opportunity Survey, 57, 58 formation of, 467 integration in, 574–575 refusal to enlist African Americans of, 133, 341, 465 segregation in, 572–573 and U.S. Navy, 571–572 and world wars, 465, 467, 468, 557, 560, 571–575 U.S. Marine Corps, 153, 471–487, 556 African American enlistment in, 4, 5, 473–474, 477, 483, 484, 485, 569 African American officers in, 6, 7, 128, 134, 246, 301–302, 474, 478, 482, 484, 485, 570 African American women in, 11, 483, 521 ammunition companies of, 478, 479, 480, 481, 482, 571 and Battle of Iwo Jima, 223–224 (photo), 480–481 early history of, 471–472 and Equal Opportunity Survey, 57, 58 female combat pilots in, 229 and Frank Petersen, 301–302 and Gene Doughty, 134 and General Classification Test, 569

| 814 |

and Guam Incident, 208–209, 566–567 and Gulf War, 209, 210 integration in, 133, 246, 271, 343, 346, 467, 471, 473–474, 475, 483–485, 571 and James Anderson, 48–49 and James Europe, 165 and Korean War, 484 and Letter of Instruction 421, 478 and Mexico, 299 Montford Point, 271–272, 293, 343, 473, 474–475, 476, 477, 478, 481, 482, 483, 484, 486, 569, 571, 575 in 1960s, 485 and postwar years, 482–484 and Ralph Johnson, 236 refusal to enlist African Americans of, 133, 341, 442, 472 and Robert H. Jenkins, Jr., 229 and Rodney Davis, 128 segregation in, 134, 241, 271–272, 343, 346, 474, 475, 483, 491, 560, 568–571 and Spanish-American War, 370 and Vietnam War, 451, 485–486, 502, 503 and World War I, 102, 349 and World War II, 293, 471, 472–482, 483, 491–492, 557, 568–571 U.S. Navy, 430, 487–497, 575 African American enlistment in, 4–5, 46, 205, 488, 489, 490, 491, 492, 493, 504, 554, 558, 568 African American officers in, 6, 7, 205–208, 264, 272–274, 301, 344, 363–365, 377, 482, 490, 491, 493, 494, 496, 504, 521, 560, 561–563, 564, 568, 740 African American women in, 10, 11, 521–522

Index

and American Revolution, 487–488 banning of African Americans by, 343 and Barry Black, 68 and Benjamin Fleming, 184 blacks as mess workers and stewards in, 133, 246, 270, 341 (photo), 342–343, 349, 442, 467, 472, 483, 489, 490, 491, 492–493, 494, 495, 555, 556, 557, 558, 560, 565–566, 568, 570 and Carl Brashear, 75–76 and Civil War, 488–489 construction battalions, 740 and Dorie Miller, 270–271 educational and training facilities of, 740 and Equal Opportunity Survey, 57, 58 female combat pilots in, 229 and Frank Petersen, 301, 302 and Golden Thirteen, 205–207, 344, 493, 495, 563 and Guam Incident, 208–209, 566–567 and Gulf War, 210 integration in, 246–247, 264, 271, 343, 344, 346, 467, 468, 472, 473, 483, 491, 492, 493, 494, 495, 496, 501, 554–555, 561–568, 569, 743–741 and Jesse Brown, 76 and Korean War, 495 and Mexico, 299 and Port Chicago Mutiny, 308–309, 344, 493, 566 and Port Hueneme hunger strike, 567 SEALs, 496 shoremen, 740 and Spanish-American War, 369–370, 440, 466 and Trinidad Disturbance, 401 and U.S. Coast Guard, 571–572

and USS Mason, 263–264, 301, 493, 561, 564, 575 and USS PC-1264, 301, 493, 496, 561, 562 (photo) and Vietnam War, 487, 495–496 and War of 1812, 151, 153–154, 250, 488 and Wesley Brown, 78 and William Pinckney, 305 and World War I, 442, 467, 490, 491 and World War II, 482, 487, 490–494, 554–568 and Zumwalt’s efforts, 504, 589–591 See also Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES); specific wars Ute War, 53, 288, 498–499 Valley Forge National Historic Park (Valley Forge, PA), 773 Valois, Gustavus, 54–55 Van Allen, Clarence, 118, 285–286 Van Diederichs, Otto, 369 Van Lew, Elizabeth, 71, 267 Vandergrift, Alexander A., 479 Varnum, James, 180 Varnum, Joseph Bradley, 255 Veal, Charles (Veale, Charles), 750 Vesey, Denmark, 94, 598 Vicksburg, MS, 701, 703, 704, 709, 710 Victoria, Queen, 403 Victorio (Apache Wolf), 52–54, 75, 186, 264–265, 288–289, 414 Victory Monument (35th Street and South Park Way, Chicago, IL), 770 Vidalia, LA, 704, 711 Vietnam War, 314, 374, 501–504 and African American cultural identity, 12–13

| 815 |

African American women in, 10 and Benjamin Davis Jr., 122 and Charles Rogers, 326–327 and Clarence Sasser, 336 and Clifford Sims, 362–363 and Colin Powell, 311, 312, 504 and Daniel James, 226–227 Dien Bien Phu in, 450 and Donald Long, 257–258 draft for, 451, 453, 501–502 and Dwight Johnson, 232–233 and Eugene Ashley, 59–60 and Frank Petersen, 302 and Frederick Cherry, 103, 430 and Garfield Langhorn, 251 and George Forrest, 187–188 and GI Bill, 203 Gulf of Tonkin incidents in, 430, 495–496 and integration, 430, 495, 501 and James Anderson, 48–49 and John Cash, 98 and John Warren, 508 and Lawrence Joel, 232 and Matthew Leonard, 253–254 and Milton Olive, 294–296 National Guard in, 278 and 9th Cavalry, 287, 290 and Oscar Palmer Austin, 62 overrepresentation of African Americans in, 451, 501, 502 paratroopers in, 184 and Project 100,000, 502 and racial disturbances, 502–503 and racism and discrimination, 347–348, 503 and Ralph Johnson, 236 and Riley Pitts, 305–306 and rise of African American officers, 506 and Robert H. Jenkins Jr., 229 and Rodney Davis, 128 and Roscoe Robinson, 325 and Ruppert Sargent, 335–336 Tet Offensive in, 485

Index

Vietnam War (continued) U.S. troops and casualties in, 13, 451, 502 and U.S. Air Force, 430, 503 and U.S. Army, 450–453, 502, 503, 520 and U.S. Marine Corps, 5, 485–486, 502, 503 and U.S. Navy, 487, 495–496 and Webster Anderson, 49 and William Bryant, 80–81 and Z-Gram 66, 589 Villa, Francisco “Pancho,” 65, 267, 299–300, 387, 441–442, 523, 586 (photo) Villard, Oswald Garrison, 275 Vincendon, General, 285 Vincent, J. B., 217 Von Closen, Baron, 180 Von Steuben, Frederick, 304 Voting Rights Act (1965), 169 WAAC. See Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps Wade, J. C., 637 Wade, James F., 331 Waesche, Russell R., 572, 574, 619 Wagner, Louis, 157 Wagner, Robert, 350 Walden, Robert S., 183 (photo) Walden, Roger, 65 Walker, David, 599 Walker, Forrest, 204 Walker, Isaac, 471 Walker, James E., 396, 613 Walker, Walton, 242, 392 Walker, William, 33, 505–506 Wallace’s Ferry, AR, 711 Waller, Calvin, 209, 210, 506 Walley, Augustus, 506–507, 752 Walling, William English, 275 Wanton, George, 335, 507–508, 754 War crimes, 303 War Department, 3, 17, 18, 32, 34, 71, 196, 429 and African Americans in military, 153, 407, 409, 433, 442, 443, 445, 446, 457,

460, 461, 462, 464, 518, 525, 533, 535, 538, 539, 541, 548, 550, 552, 554, 577, 578, 583 and Benjamin Davis Sr., 126–127 and black Confederates, 105, 112, 115 and Bureau of Colored Troops, 88, 89, 436–437 and 1st South Carolina Volunteers, 181 and Harriet Tubman, 403 and Henry Johnson, 234 and Houston Riots, 221 Mobilization Strategy of, 349 and pay in Civil War, 173 2d Division of, 267 and Spanish-American War, 368, 369, 441 and 332d Fighter Group, 428 War of 1812. See 1812, War of Ward, Henry C., 388 Ward, John, 352, 609, 752 Ward, Joseph H., 615 Ward, Samuel, 180 Ware, William, 597 Warner, Seth, 208 Warren, Douglas, 453 Warren, John E., Jr., 508, 768 Warsaw, NC, 721 Washakie, 774 Washington, Booker T., 145, 174, 406, 427 (caption) Washington, George, 44 and African Americans, 41, 43, 47, 307–308, 330, 338, 432, 594 and Battle of Brandywine, 217 and Battle of Bunker Hill, 87 and Battle of Monmouth Court House, 304 and Battle of Trenton, 400 defeat of Cornwallis by, 267 and 1st Rhode Island Regiment, 180 and James Lafayette, 249 and Oliver Cromwell, 119, 120 (photo)

| 816 |

and 2d Connecticut Regiment, 216 and William Lee, 252–253 Washington, James, 389 Washington, Madison, 94 Washington, William G., 508–509 Waterford, MS, 712 Waterloo, LA, 715 Waterproof, LA, 704, 706 Watkins, Dorothy, 225 Watson, George, 228, 453, 509, 621, 757 Watson, Thomas E., 472 Waud, Alfred R., 39 (photo) sm WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), 10, 494, 521–522, 560, 564–565, 568 Wayne, “Mad” Anthony, 216, 304, 595 Weaver, Robert C., 259 Webster, Timothy, 69 Weil, Daniel, 183 (photo) Weinberger, Caspar, 65, 312 Weitzel, Godfrey, 309 Welch, Charles, 447 Weldon Railroad Raid, VA, 710 Welles, Gideon, 258, 488 Wells-Barnett, Ida, 275 Wereth Massacre, 510 Wesby, Elijah H., 183 (photo) West, Harriet M., 621 West Point, 18, 98, 314, 510–513, 734 African American graduations from, 5, 8, 15, 121, 185–187, 280, 287, 325, 326, 340, 366, 369, 407, 440, 510, 511–512, 513, 585, 586 early history of, 510–511 and James Webster Smith, 365–366, 511 Weyler y Nicolau, Valeriano, 367–368 Whalley, Private, 55 Wham, Joseph W., 514 Wham Paymaster Robbery, 513–514 Wheeler, James, 514

Index

Wheeler, Joe, 332 Wheeler, Joseph, 251, 369, 370 Whipple, Prince, 119 White, F. H., 270 White, Frederick P., Jr., 119, 255 White, Frederick Perry, 255 White, Horton V., 204, 205, 242, 244 White Oak Road, VA, 721 White River, AR, 715 White, Walter, 259, 445, 491, 543, 567 White, William S., 206, 207 Whiting, Kenneth, 556 Whiting, William, 32 Whitlock, James M., 223 Whitman, Charles S., 397 Whitmore, Clarence, 243 (photo) Whittaker, Johnson, 186, 511, 512, 513, 636 Whittemore, Cuff, 42, 87 Wild, Edward A., 37, 179, 606 Wilderness, VA, 707 Wilkins, James M., 223 Wilkinson, Horace, 552 Wilks, Bobby C., 468 Williams, Anthony, 250 Williams, Aubrey, 260 Williams, Cathay, 8, 514–515 Williams, Ed (photo), 118 Williams, James M., 175, 306 Williams, Jesse, 250 Williams, Joe (photo), 118 Williams, Juan, 211 Williams, Lewis, 206 Williams, Moses, 54–55, 752 Williams, Paul, 377 Williams, Squire, 514 Williams, Susannah, 96 Williamsburg, VA, 705 Willkie, Wendell L., 539 Wills, Frances, 10, 521, 522 (photo) Wilmington, NC, 720 Wilson, Danyell, 11 Wilson, William, 752–749 Wilson, William O., 290, 515–517, 753 Wilson, Woodrow, 221, 275, 299, 300, 442, 523

Wilson’s Landing, VA, 709 Wilson’s Wharf, VA, 708–709 Winthrop, Theodore, 111 Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES), 10, 494, 521–522, 560, 564–565, 568 Women’s Armed Services Integration Act (1948), 518, 521 Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), 10, 133, 149–150, 517–521, 545 Women’s Army Corps, 354, 363, 517–521, 545 Women’s Relief Corps, 8 Women’s Reserve of the U.S. Navy. See Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service Wood, Leonard, 327, 370, 419, 527 Woodard, Isaac, 627 Woodford, William, 147 Woods, Brent, 55, 753 Woods, Carroll S., 428 (photo) Woods, Samuel A., Jr., 473, 475, 569, 620 Woodward, Luther, 480 World War I, 237, 275, 295, 324 (photo), 343, 350, 376, 387, 426, 441, 523–537, 540, 612–615 and African American bands, 12, 13 (photo), 165, 397, 398, 529, 534 and African American enlistment, 3, 5, 341, 349, 524 and African American officers, 527–528, 530, 531, 532, 533, 534, 535, 551, 586 and African American women, 9 aftermath of, 443–444, 456–457, 459, 460–461, 465, 534–536 armistice in, 396, 399, 534 army reports on black

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performance in, 342, 444, 459–460 Battle of Chateau-Thierry in, 102, 117, 398, 532 Champagne offensive in, 100–101, 285, 286, 399, 453, 532 and Croix de Guerre, 117–119 demobilization, 203 deserters, 524, 525 draftees, 349, 523, 524, 525, 526, 527, 528, 530, 532 and Freddie Stowers, 381–382 and Henry Johnson, 234–235 and James Europe, 165 labor units in, 530–531 Meuse-Argonne offensive in, 265–266, 341, 395, 396, 532 and Mexico, 300 and 92d Division, 282–283, 341, 342, 349, 442, 443, 444, 456, 457, 460, 527, 528, 530, 532, 533, 534, 535, 538 and 93d Division, 284–286, 341, 349, 392, 393, 442, 443, 456, 457, 460, 528, 529, 530, 531, 532 and 9th Cavalry, 290, 523 outbreak of, 278 Second Battle of the Marne, 261–262 and segregation, racism, and discrimination, 231, 341–342, 523, 524, 525, 526–527, 528–531, 534, 543, 551 and 370th Infantry Regiment, 392–394, 529 and 371st Infantry Regiment, 394–395, 530 and 372d Infantry Regiment, 395–397, 530 and 368th Infantry Regiment, 532–533 and 369th Infantry Regiment, 397–399, 458, 528–529, 531–532, 534, 535 (photo) and 24th Infantry Regiment, 415, 523, 527

Index

World War I (continued) U.S. entry into, 457, 523, 524 and U.S. Army, 442–444, 523–536, 538 and U.S. Coast Guard, 467 and U.S. Navy, 490, 491 veterans, 535–536 and W. E. B. Du Bois, 145–146 World War II, 65, 79, 204, 236, 244, 342, 372, 378, 416, 537–576 and African American enlistment, 5, 343, 351, 445 and African American officers, 551–552, 553, 560, 561–563, 564, 570, 574 African American service units of, 353–360, 552–553 aftermath of, 448–449 army reports on African American performance in, 448 atomic bombings in, 481 Battle of Okinawa, 293–294, 354, 481 Battle of the Bulge, 85–86, 344, 360, 447–448, 510, 552 and Benjamin Davis Jr., 122, 123, 429, 431 “Black Panthers” in, 322–323, 344, 361–362 and blood donations, 144–145 and British–African American relations, 358–359 and Calvin Davis, 127–128 and Charity Earley, 150 and Charles Hall, 213 and Charles Thomas, 390–391 and Croix de Guerre, 117, 119 D-Day in, 119, 134, 293, 360, 479, 480, 481 and Daniel James, 225 deployment problems in, 540–541, 543–545 desegregation after, 230, 231, 345–347, 429, 465, 471, 487, 494, 537, 551–554,

561–568, 571, 575, 583, 741–741 and Double V, 130–133, 345, 351, 537, 554 draft for, 558–560, 568, 569, 573 and Edward Carter, 97–98, 228, 581 and Executive Order 8802, 166 and 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, 182–184 and Fort Leavenworth, 190 and George Watson, 509 and GI Bill, 203 Guadalcanal in, 447, 478, 479 and Hubert Julian, 238 and Hugh Mulzac, 272–274 infantry replacements in, 576–584 Iwo Jima in, 134, 223–224, 354, 360, 480–481 and John R. Fox, 199–200, 228 and John Robinson, 325 and Korean War, 240, 241 and Liberia, 358 and March on Washington, 259 military intelligence in, 268 and Montford Point Marines, 271–272 National Guard in, 278 and 99th Pursuit/Fighter Squadron, 279–282, 409, 410, 427 Normandy invasion, 359, 361 Operation market garden in, 360 and Paul Robeson, 323, 324 Pearl Harbor attack, 270, 354, 472, 490, 491, 517, 555 and Port Chicago Mutiny, 308–309, 344 and racism in defense industries, 259–261 Red Ball Express in, 318–320, 354, 359, 447 Red Lion Route in, 359

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and Roscoe Brown, 77 and Ruben Rivers, 322–323 and segregation and racism in military, 343–345, 537–540, 541, 542, 543, 545–548, 550, 551, 554, 555–556, 557, 558, 559–560, 568–571, 572–573, 575 and lack of African American Medal of Honor winners, 323, 348 6888th Central Postal Battalion in, 149, 150, 363 Stalin-Hitler pact in, 2 and 332d Fighter Group, 399–400, 406, 407, 408, 409, 410, 428–429, 542 and Tuskegee Airmen, 406–410 and 25th Infantry Regiment, 410, 413 and 24th Infantry Regiment, 413, 415, 446, 447, 549 and U.S. Army, 444–449, 537–554, 558, 576–583 and U.S. Coast Guard, 465, 467, 468, 571–575 and U.S. Marine Corps, 472–482, 483, 568–571 and U.S. Navy, 206, 490–494, 554–568 and USS Mason, 263–264 and USS PC-1264, 207, 301 and Vernon Baker, 63–64, 228, 336 and WAAC, 517–519 and WAVES, 521 and Wereth Massacre, 510 White Ball Route in, 359 and William Pinckney, 305 and Willy F. James, Jr., 228 women in, 11, 354, 363 See also Tuskegee Airmen; specific military units World War II infantry replacements, 576–584 Wright, Bruce M., 623 Wright, Charlie, 70–71 Wright, Henry, 51, 52, 53, 75

Index

Wright, Lewis T., 612 Wright, Walter L., Jr., 583 Yancey, George Washington, 112 Yazoo City, MS, 705, 708, 720 Yazoo Expedition, MS, 704 Yeaton, Hopley, 465 Yellow Bayou, LA, 708 Yemassee War (1715), 107, 593

Yerkes, Robert M., 526 YMCA, 9, 525 Young, Charles, 15, 267, 287, 300, 368–369, 440, 456, 512, 528, 585–587, 772–769 Young, Charles Noel, 585 Young, Coleman, 202 Young, Glendie B., 285, 395–396

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Young, James, 514 Young, Marie, 585 Yrineo, Vince, 295, 296 Z-Gram 66, 589–591 Zapata, Emilio, 299 Zumwalt, Elmo R., 496, 504, 589–591, 634 Zundel, Edwin A., 244