History of the American Negro in the Great World War / His Splendid Record in the Battle Zones of Europe; Including a Resume of His Past Services to his Country in the Wars of the Revolution, of 1812, the War of Rebellion, the Indian Wars on the Frontier, the Spanish-American War, and the Late Imbroglio With Mexico

by William Allison Sweeney

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NEGRO IN THE GREAT WORLD WAR

---

CHAPTER I.

SPIRITUAL EMANCIPATION OF NATIONS.

THE MARCH OF CIVILIZATION—WORLD SHOCKS TO STIR THE WORLD HEART—FALSE DOCTRINES OF THE HUN—THE IRON HAND CONCEALED—THE WORLD BEGINS TO AWAKEN—GERMAN DESIGNS REVEALED—RUMBLINGS IN ADVANCE OF THE STORM—TRAGEDY THAT HASTENED THE DAY—TOLSTOY'S PROPHECY—VINDICATION OF NEGRO FAITH IN PROMISES OF THE LORD—DAWN OF FREEDOM FOR ALL RACES.
The march of civilization is attended by strange influences. Providence which directs the advancement of mankind, moves in such mysterious ways that none can sense its design or reason out its import. Frequently the forces of evil are turned to account in defeating their own objects. Great tragedies, cruel wars, cataclysms of woe, have acted as enlightening and refining agents. Out of the famines of the past came experiences which inculcated the thrift and fore-handedness of today.
Out of man's sufferings have come knowledge and fortitude. Out of pain and tribulation, the attribute of sympathy—the first spiritual manifestation instrumental in elevating the human above the beast. Things worth while are never obtained without payment of some kind.
Individual shocks stir the individual heart and conscience. Great world shocks are necessary to stir the world conscience and heart; to start those movements to right the wrongs in the world. So long as peace reigned commerce was uninterrupted, and the acquisition of wealth was not obstructed, men cared little for the intrigues and ambitions of royalty. If they sensed them at all, they lulled themselves into a feeling of security through the belief that progress had attained too far, civilization had secured too strong a hold, and democracy was too firmly rooted for any ordinary menace to be considered.
So insidious and far reaching had become the inculcation of false philosophies summed up in the general term Kultur, that the subjects of the autocratic-ridden empires believed they were being guided by benign influences. Many enlightened men; at least it seems they must have been enlightened, in Germany and Austria—men who possessed liberated intellects and were not in the pay of the Kulturists—professed to believe that despotism in the modern world could not be other than benevolent.
The satanic hand was concealed in the soft glove; the cloven hoof artistically fitted into the military boot; the tail carefully tucked inside the uniform or dress suit; fiendish eyes were taught to smile and gleam in sympathy and humor, or were masked behind the heavy lenses of professorial dignity; the serpent's hiss was trained to song, or drowned in crashing chords and given to the world as a sublime harmony.
Suddenly the world awoke! The wooing harmony had changed to a blast of war; the conductor's baton had become a bayonet; the soft wind instrument barked the rifle's tone; its notes were bullets that hissed and screamed; tinkling cymbals sounded the wild blare of carnage, and sweet-throated horns of silver and brass bellowed the cannon's deadly roar.
Civilization was so shocked that for long the exact sequence of events was not comprehended. It required time and reflection to clear away the brain benumbing vapors of the dream; to reach a realization that liberty actually was tottering on her throne. German propagandists had been so well organized, and so effectively did they spread their poison; especially in the western world that great men; national leaders were deceived, while men in general were slow to get the true perspective; much later than those at the seat of government.
A few far-seeing men had been alive to the German menace. Some English statesmen felt it in a vague way, while in France where the experience of 1870-71, had produced a wariness of all things German, a limited number of men with penetrating, broadened vision, had beheld the fair exterior of Kaiserism, even while they recognized in the background, the slimy abode of the serpent. For years they had sounded the warning until at last their feeble voices attracted attention.
France, with her traditions of Napoleon, Moreau, Ney, Berthier and others, with rare skill set about the work of perfecting an army under the tutelage and direction of Joffre and Foch. The defense maintained by its army in the earlier part of the struggle provided the breathing space required by the other allies. All through the struggle the staying power of the French provided example and created the necessary morale for the co-operating Allied forces, until our own gallant soldiers could be mustered and sent abroad for the knockout blow.
As is usual where conspiracies to perform dark deeds are hatched a clew or record is left behind. In spite of Germany's protestations of innocence, her loud cries that the war was forced upon her, there is ample evidence that for years she had been planning it; that she wanted it and only awaited the opportune time to launch it. It was a gradual unearthing and examination of this evidence that at length revealed to the world the astounding plot.
It is not necessary to touch more than briefly the evidence of Germany's designs, and the intrigues through which she sought world domination and the throttling of human liberty. The facts are now too well established to need further confirmation. The ruthless manner in which the Kaiser's forces prosecuted the war, abandoning all pretense of civilization and relapsing into the most utter barbarism, is enough to convince anyone of her definite and well prepared program, which she was determined to execute by every foul means under the sun.
She had skillfully been laying her lines and building her military machine for more than forty years. As the time approached for the blow she intended to strike, she found it difficult to conceal her purposes. Noises from the armed camp—bayings of the dogs of war—occasionally stirred the sleeping world; an awakening almost occurred over what is known as the Morocco incident.
On account of the weakness of the Moroccan government, intervention by foreign powers had been frequent. Because of the heavy investment of French capital and because the prevailing anarchy in Morocco threatened her interests in Algeria, France came to be regarded as having special interests in Morocco. In 1904 she gained the assent of Britain and the cooperation of Spain in her policy. Germany made no protest; in fact, the German Chancellor, von Bulow, declared that Germany was not specially concerned with Moroccan affairs. But in 1905 Germany demanded a reconsideration of the entire question.
France was forced against the will of her minister of foreign affairs, Delcasse, to attend a conference at Algeciras. That conference discussed placing Morocco under international control, but because France was the only power capable of dealing with the anarchy in the country, she was left in charge, subject to certain Spanish rights, and allowed to continue her work. The Germans again declared that they had no political interests in Morocco.
In 1909, Germany openly recognized the political interests of France in Morocco. In 1911 France was compelled by disorders in the country to penetrate farther into the interior. Germany under the pretext that her merchants were not getting fair treatment in Morocco, reopened the entire question and sent her gunboat Panther, to Agadir on the west coast of Africa, as if to establish a port there, although she had no interests in that part of the country. France protested vigorously and Britain supported her.
Matters came very close to war. But Germany was not yet ready to force the issue. Her action had been simply a pretext to find out the extent to which England and France were ready to make common cause. She recalled her gunboat and as a concession to obtain peace, was permitted to acquire some territory in the French Congo country. But German newspapers and German political utterances showed much bitterness. Growling and snarling grew apace in Germany, and to those who made a close study of the situation it became evident that Germany sooner or later intended to launch a war.
One of the characteristic German utterances of the time, came from Albrect Wirth, a German political writer of standing, in close touch with the thought and aims of his nation. The utterance about to be quoted may, in the light of later events, appear indiscreet, as Germany wished to avoid an appearance of responsibility for the world war; but the minds of the German people had to be prepared and this could not be accomplished without some of the writers and public men letting the cat out of the bag. Wirth said:
"Morocco is easily worth a big war, or several. At best—and even prudent Germany is getting to be convinced of this—war is only postponed and not abandoned. Is such a postponement to our advantage? They say we must wait for a better moment. Wait for the deepening of the Kiel canal, for our navy laws to take full effect. It is not exactly diplomatic to announce publicly to one's adversaries, 'To go to war now does not tempt us, but three years hence we shall let loose a world war'—No; if a war is really planned, not a word of it must be spoken; one's designs must be enveloped in profound mystery; then brusquely, all of a sudden, jump on the enemy like a robber in the darkness." The heavy footed German had difficulty in moving with the stealth of a robber, but the policy here recommended was followed.
In 1914, the three years indicated by Wirth had expired. There began to occur dark comings and goings; mysterious meetings and conferences on the continent of Europe. The German emperor, accompanied by the princes and leaders of the German states, began to cruise the border and northern seas of the Fatherland, where they would be safe from listening ears, prying eyes, newspapers, telephones and telegraphs. It became known that the Kaiser was cultivating the weak-minded Russian czar in an attempt to win his country from its alliance with England and France. There were no open rumblings of war, but the air was charged with electricity like that preceeding a storm.
An unaccountable business depression affected pretty much the entire world. Money, that most sensitive of all things, began to show nervousness and a tendency to go into hiding. The bulk of the world was still asleep to the real meaning of events, but it had begun to stir in its dreams, as if some prescience, some premonition had begun to reach it even in its slumbers.
Finally the first big event occurred—the tragedy that was not intended to accomplish as much, but which hastened the dawn of the day in which began the Spiritual Emancipation of the governments of earth. The Archduke Francis Ferdinand, nephew of the emperor of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary and commander in chief of its army, and his wife the duchess of Hohenburg, were assassinated June 28, 1914, by a Serbian student, Gavrio Prinzip. The assassination occurred at Sarajevo in Bosnia, a dependency, or rather, a Slavic state that had been seized by Austria. It was the lightning flash that preceeded the thunder's mighty crash.
Much has been written of the causes which led to the tragedy. Prinzip may have been a fanatic, but he was undoubtedly aided in his act by a number of others. The natural inference immediately formed was that the murder was the outcome of years of ill feeling between Serbia and Austria-Hungary, due to the belief of the people in the smaller state, that their aspirations as a nation were hampered and blocked by the German element in the Austrian empire. The countries had been on the verge of war several years before over the seizure of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria, and later over the disposition of Scutari and certain Albanian territory conquered in the Balkan-Turkish struggle.
Events are coming to light which may place a new construction on the causes leading to the assassination at Sarajevo. It was undoubtedly the pretext sought by Germany for starting the great war. Whether it may not have been carefully planned to serve that object and the Serbian Prinzip, employed as a tool to bring it about, is not so certain.
Several years prior to the war, the celebrated Russian, Tolstoy, gave utterance to a remarkable prophecy. Tolstoy was a mystic, and it was not unusual for him to go into a semi-trance state in which he professed to peer far into the future and obtain visions of things beyond the ken of average men. The Russian czar was superstitious and it is said that the German emperor had a strong leaning towards the mystic and psychic. In fact, it has been stated that the Kaiser's claim to a partnership with The Almighty was the result of delusions formed in his consultations with mediums—the modern descendants of the soothsayers of olden times.
Tolstoy stated that both the Czar and the Kaiser desired to consult with him and test his powers of divination. The three had a memorable sitting. Some time afterwards the results were given to the world. Tolstoy predicted the great war, and he stated his belief that the torch which would start the conflagration would be lighted in the Balkans about 1913.
Tolstoy was not a friend of either Russian or German autocracy, hence his seance may have been but a clever ruse to discover what was in the minds of the two rulers. Germany probably was not ready to start the war in 1913, but there is abundant warrant for the belief that she was trimming the torch at that time, and, who knows, the deluded Prinzip may have been the torch.
The old dotard Francis Joseph who occupied the throne of Austria-Hungary, was completely under the domination of the Germans. He could be relied upon to further any designs which the Kaiser and the German war lords might have.
The younger man, Francis Ferdinand, was not so easy to handle as his aged uncle. Accounts agree that he was arrogant, ambitious and had a will of his own. He was unpopular in his country and probably unpopular with the Germans. Being of the disposition he was, it is very likely that the Kaiser found it difficult to bend him completely to his will. Being a stumbling block in the way of German aims, is it not reasonably probable that Germany desired to get rid of him, thus leaving Austria-Hungary completely in the power of its tool and puppet, Francis Joseph, and in the event of his death, in the power of the young and suppliant Karl; another instrument easily bent to the German will?
The wife of the archduke, assassinated with him, was a Bohemian, her maiden name being Sophie Chotek. She was not of noble blood as Bohemia had no nobles. They had been driven out of the country centuries before and their titles and estates conferred on indigent Spanish and Austrian adventurers. Not being of noble birth, she was but the morgantic wife of the Austrian heir. Titles were afterwards conferred upon her. She was made a countess and then a duchess. Some say she had been an actress; not unlikely, for actresses possessed an especial appeal to Austrian royalty. The cruel Hapsburgs rendered dull witted and inefficient by generations of inbreeding, were fascinated by the bright and handsome women of the stage. At any rate, Sophie Chotek belonged to that virile, practical race Bohemians, (also called Czechs) that gave to the world John Huss, who lighted the fires of religious and civil liberty in Central Europe, giving advent later to the work of Martin Luther.
Bohemians had always been liberty-loving. They had been anxious for three centuries to throw off the yoke of Austria. There is no record that Sophie Chotek sympathized with the aims of her countrymen or that she was not in complete accord with the views of her husband and the political interests of the empire. But the experiences of the Germans and Austrians had taught them that a Bohemian was likely to remain always a Bohemian and that his freedom-loving people would not countenance plans having in view the enslavement of other nations. The Germans may have looked with suspicion upon the Bohemian wife of the archduke and thought it advisable to remove her also.
Prinzip was thrown into prison and kept there until he died. No statement he may have made ever had a chance to reach the world. No one knows whether he was a German or a Serbian tool. He does not seem to have been an anarchist; neither does he seem to have been of the type that would commit such a crime voluntarily, knowing full well the consequences. It is not hard to believe that he was under pay and promised full protection.
Probably no Bohemian considers Sophie Chotek a martyr; indeed, the evidence is strong that she was not. Her heart and soul probably were with her royal spouse. But an interesting outcome is, that her assassination, a contributing cause to the war, finally led to the downfall of Germany, the wreck of Austria, the freedom of her native country, and that Spiritual Emancipation of nations and races, then so gloriously under way.
Also, to the thoughtful and philosophic observer of maturing symptoms transpiring continuously in the affairs of mankind; the fate of those nations of earth that in their strength and arrogance mock the Master, furnish a striking corroborative vindication of the Negro's faith in the promises of the Lord; the glory and power of His coming. From the date, reckoning from moment and second, that Gavrio Prinzip done to death the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary and his duchess, there commenced not alone a new day, a new hope and Emancipation of the whites of earth; empire kingdom, principality and tribe, but of the blacks; the Negro as well, so mysteriously; bewilderingly, moves God His wonders to perform.
It was that subliminated faith in the ubiquity and omniscience of God; the unchangeableness of His word; than which the world has witnessed; known nothing finer; the story of the concurrent causes that projected the Negro into the World War, from whence he emerged covered with glory, followed by the plaudits of mankind, that became the inspiration of this work—his story of devotion, valor and patriotism; of unmurmuring sacrifice; worthy the pens of the mighty, but which the historian, as best he may will tell: "NOTHING extenuate, nor set down AUGHT in malice."

---

CHAPTER II.

HANDWRITING ON THE WALL.

Likened to Belshazzar—The Kaiser's Feasts—In His Heart Barbaric Pride of the Potentates of Old—German Madness for War—Insolent Demands—Forty-eight Hours to Prevent a World War—Comment of Statesmen and Leaders—The War Starts—Italy Breaks Her Alliance—Germanic Powers Weighed and Found Wanting—Spirit Wins Over Materialism—Civilization's Lamp Dimmed but not Darkened.
Belshazzar of Babylon sat at a feast. Very much after the fashion of modern kings they were good at feasting in those olden days. The farthest limits of the kingdom had been searched for every delight and delicacy. Honeyed wines, flamingo's tongues, game from the hills, fruits from vine and tree, spices from grove and forest, vegetables from field and garden, fish from stream and sea; every resource of Mother Earth that could contribute to appetite or sensual pleasure was brought to the king's table. Singers, minstrels, dancers, magicians, entertainers of every description were summoned to the palace that they might contribute to the vanity of the monarch, and impress the onlooking nations about him.
He desired to be known and feared as the greatest monarch on earth; ruling as he did over the world's greatest city. His triumphs had been many. He had come to believe that his power proceeded directly from the god Bel, and that he was the chosen and anointed of that deity.
This was the period of his prime; of Babylon's greatest glory; his kingdom seemed so firmly established he had no thought it could be shaken. But misleading are the dreams of kings; his kingdom was suddenly menaced from without, by Cyrus of Persia, another great monarch. There were also dangers from within, but courtiers and flatterers kept this knowledge from him. Priests of rival gods had set themselves up within the empire; spies from without and conspirators within were secretly undermining the power of the intrenched despot.
Such was Belshazzar in his pride; such his kingdom and empire. And, so it was, this was to be an orgy that would set a record for all time to come.
Artists and artisans of the highest skill had been summoned to the work of beautifying the enormous palace; its gardens and grounds, innumerable slaves furnishing the labor. The gold and silver of the nation was gathered and beaten into ornaments and woven into beautiful designs to grace the occasion. There was a profusion of the most gorgeous plumage and richest fabrics, while over all were sprinkled in unheard of prodigality, the rarest gems and jewels. It was indeed to be a fitting celebration of the glory of Bel, and the power and magnificence of his earthly representative; heathen opulence, heathen pride and sensuality were to outdo themselves.
The revel started at a tremendous pace. No such wines and viands ever before had been served. No such music ever had been heard and no such dancers and entertainers ever before had appeared, but, fool that he was, he had reckoned without his host; had made a covenant with Death and Hell and had known it not, and the hour of atonement was upon him; the handwriting on the wall of the true and outraged God, conveyed the information; short and crisp, that he had been weighed; he and his kingdom in the balance and found wanting; the hour—his hour, had struck; the time of restitution and atonement long on the way, had come; Babylon was to fall—FELL!—and for twenty-five centuries its glory and its power has been a story that is told; its magnificence but heaps of sand in the desert where night birds shriek and wild beasts find their lair.
In the Kaiser's heart was the same barbaric pride, the same ambition, the same worship of a false god and the same belief that he was the especial agent of that deity.
His extravagances of vision and ambition were no less demoralizing to humanity and civilization, than those that brought decay and ruin to the potentates of old. He graced them with all the luxury and exuberance that modern civilization, without arousing rebellious complaint among his subjects, would permit. His gatherings appeared to be arranged for the bringing together of the bright minds of the empire, that there might be an exchange of thought and sentiment that would work to the good of his country and the happiness of the world. Frequently ministers, princes and statesmen from other countries were present, that they might become acquainted with the German idea—its kultur—working for the good of humanity.
Here was The Beast mentioned in Revelations, in a different guise; wearing the face of benevolence and clothed in the raiment of Heaven. There were feasts of which the German people knew nothing, and to which foreign ambassadors were not invited. At these feasts the wines were furnished by Belial. They were occasions for the glorification of the German god of war; of greed and conquest; ambition and vanity; without pity, sympathy or honor.
Ruthless, vain, arrogant minds met the same qualities in their leader. Some knew and welcomed the fact that the devil was their guest of honor; perhaps others did not know it. Deluded as they all were and blinded by pride and self-seeking, the same handwriting that told Belshazzar of disaster was on the wall, but they could not or would not see it. There was no Daniel to interpret for them.
German madness for war asserted itself in the ultimatum sent by Austria to Serbia after the assassination at Sarajevo. Sufficient time had hardly elapsed for an investigation of the crime and the fixing of the responsibility, before Austria made a most insolent demand upon Serbia.
The smaller nation avowed her innocence of any participation in the murder; offered to make amends, and if it were discovered that the conspiracy had been hatched on Serbian soil, to assist in bringing to justice any confederates in the crime the assassin may have had.

NEGRO SOLDIERS ON THE RIFLE RANGE AT CAMP GRANT, ILLINOIS. BEING TAUGHT MARKSMANSHIP. AN IDEAL LOCATION RESEMBLING BATTLE AREAS IN FRANCE.

MEDICAL DETACHMENT 365TH INFANTRY. A REPRESENTATIVE GROUP OF MEDICAL OFFICERS AND THEIR FIELD ASSISTANTS. THIS BRANCH OF THE 92ND DIVISION RENDERED MOST VALOROUS SERVICE.

BAYONET EXERCISES IN THE TRAINING CAMP.

SPORTS AND PHYSICAL EXERCISE IN THE TRAINING CAMP.

NEGRO TROOPS DRILLING. SCENE AT CAMP MEADE, MD., WHERE A PORTION OF THE 93RD DIVISION AND OTHER EFFICIENT UNITS WERE TRAINED.

AN EQUINE BARBER SHOP NEAR THE CAMP. ONE OF THE DUTIES INCIDENT TO THE TRAINING CAMP.

TROOPERS OF 10TH CAVALRY GOING INTO MEXICO. THESE HEROIC NEGRO SOLDIERS WERE AMBUSHED NEAR CARRIZAL AND SUFFERED A LOSS OF HALF THEIR NUMBER IN ONE OF THE BRAVEST FIGHTS ON RECORD.

TENTH CAVALRY SURVIVORS OF CARRIZAL. DESPOILED OF THEIR UNIFORMS BY THE MEXICANS THEY ARRIVE AT EL PASO IN OVERALLS. LEM SPILLSBURY, WHITE SCOUT IN CENTER. EACH SOLDIER HAS A BOUQUET OF FLOWERS.

AMERICA'S WAR TIME PRESIDENT. THIS PHOTOGRAPH OF WOODROW WILSON WAS ESPECIALLY POSED DURING THE WAR. IN HIS STUDY AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

DR. J.E. MOORLAND, SENIOR SECRETARY OF COLORED MEN'S DEPT., INTERNATIONAL Y.M.C.A. THE MAN LARGELY RESPONSIBLE FOR SUCCESS OF HIS RACE IN "Y" WORK.

A TYPICAL GROUP OF "Y" WORKERS, SECRETARY SNYDER AND STAFF. Y.M.C.A. NO.7, CAMP GRANT, ILLINOIS.

PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON (AT HEAD OF TABLE) AND HIS WAR CABINET. LEFT—W.G. MCADOO SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY; THOMAS W. GREGORY, ATTY. GENL.; JOSEPHUS DANIELS, SEC. OF NAVY; D.F. HOUSTON, SEC. OF AGRICULTURE; WILLIAM B. WILSON, SEC. OF LABOR. RIGHT—ROBERT LANSING, SEC. OF STATE; NEWTON D. BAKER, SEC. OF WAR; A.S. BURLESON, POSTMASTER-GENERAL; FRANKLIN K. LANE, SEC. OF INTERIOR; WILLIAM C. REDFIELD, SEC. OF COMMERCE.

With a war likely to involve the greater part of Europe hanging on the issue, it was a time for cool judgment, sober statesmanship and careful action on all sides. Months should have been devoted to an investigation.
But Germany and Austria did not want a sober investigation. They were afraid that while it was proceeding the pretext for war might vanish. As surmised above, they also may have feared that the responsibility for the act would be placed in quarters that would be embarrassing to them.
On July 23, 1914, just twenty-five days after the murder, Austria delivered her demands upon Serbia and placed a time limit of forty-eight hours for their acceptance. With the fate of a nation and the probable embroiling of all Europe hanging on the outcome, forty-eight hours was a time too brief for proper consideration. Serbia could hardly summon her statesmen in that time. Nevertheless the little country, realizing the awful peril that impended, and that she alone would not be the sufferer, bravely put aside all selfish considerations and practically all considerations of national pride and honor.
The records show that every demand which Austria made on Serbia was granted except one, which was only conditionally refused. Although this demand involved the very sovereignty of Serbia—her existence as a nation—the government offered to submit the matter to mediation or arbitration. But Austria, cats-pawing for Germany, did not want her demands accepted. The one clause was inserted purposely, because they knew it could not be accepted. With Serbia meeting the situation honestly and going over ninety percent of the way towards an amicable adjustment, the diplomacy that could not obtain peace out of such a situation, must have been imbecile or corrupt to the last degree.
An American historian discussing causes in the early stages of the war, said:

"The German Imperial Chancellor pays no high compliment to the intelligence of the American people when he asks them to believe that 'the war is a life-and-death struggle between Germany and the Muscovite races of Russia', and was due to the royal murders at Sarajevo.
"To say that all Europe had to be plunged into the most devastating war of human history because an Austrian subject murdered the heir to the Austrian throne on Austrian soil in a conspiracy in which Serbians were implicated, is too absurd to be treated seriously. Great wars do not follow from such causes, although any pretext, however trivial, may be regarded as sufficient when war is deliberately sought.
"Nor is the Imperial Chancellor's declaration that 'the war is a life-and-death struggle between Germany and the Muscovite races of Russia' convincing in the slightest degree. So far as the Russian menace to Germany is concerned, the Staats-Zeitung is much nearer the truth when its editor, Mr. Ridder, boasts that 'no Russian army ever waged a successful war against a first-class power.'
"The life-and-death struggle between Germany and the Muscovite races of Russia is a diplomatic fiction invented after German Autocracy, taking advantage of the Serbian incident, set forth to destroy France. It was through no fear of Russia that Germany violated her solemn treaty obligations by invading the neutrality of Belgium and Luxemburg. It was through no fear of Russia that Germany had massed most of her army near the frontiers of France, leaving only six army corps to hold Russia in check. Germany's policy as it stands revealed by her military operations was to crush France and then make terms with Russia. The policy has failed because of the unexpected resistance of the Belgians and the refusal of Great Britain to buy peace at the expense of her honor."

A nearer and equally clear view is expressed for the French by M. Clemenceau, who early in the war said:

"For twenty-five years William II has made Europe live under the weight of a horrible nightmare. He has found sheer delight in keeping it in a state of perpetual anxiety over his boastful utterances of power and the sharpened sword.
"Five threats of war have been launched against us since 1875. At the sixth he finds himself caught in the toils he had laid for us. He threatened the very springs of England's power, though she was more than pacific in her attitude toward him.
"For many years, thanks to him, the Continent has had to join in a giddy race of armaments, drying up the sources of economic development and exposing our finances to a crisis which we shrank from discussing. We must have done with this crowned comedian, poet, musician, sailor, warrior, pastor; this commentator absorbed in reconciling Hammurabi with the Bible, giving his opinion on every problem of philosophy, speaking of everything, saying nothing." M. Clemenceau summed up the Kaiser as "another Nero; but Rome in flames is not sufficient for him—he demands the destruction of the universe."

The Socialist, Upton Sinclair, speaking at the time, blamed Russia as well as Germany and Austria. He also inclined to the view that the assassination at Sarajevo was instigated by Austria. He said:

"I assert that never before in human history has there been a war with less pretense of justification. It is the supreme crime of the ages; a blow at the very throat of civilization. The three nations which began it, Austria, Russia and Germany, are governed, the first by a doddering imbecile, the second by a weak-minded melancholic, and the third by an epileptic degenerate, drunk upon the vision of himself as the war lord of Europe. Behind each of These men is a little clique of blood-thirsty aristocrats. They fall into a quarrel among themselves. The pretext is that Serbia instigated the murder of the heir apparent to the Austrian throne. There is good reason far believing that as a matter of fact this murder was instigated by the war party in Austria, because the heir apparent had democratic and anti-military tendencies. First they murder him and then they use his death as a pretext for plunging the whole of civilization into a murderous strife."

Herman Ridder, editor of the Staats-Zeitung of New York contributed a German-American view. Mr. Ridder saw the handwriting on the wall and he very soundly deprecated war and pictured its horrors. But he could not forget that he was appealing to a large class that held the German viewpoint. He therefore found it necessary to soften his phrase with some hyphenated sophistry. He dared not say that Germany was the culprit and would be the principal sufferer. His article was:

"Sooner or later the nations engaged in war will find themselves spent and weary. There will be victory for some, defeat for others, and profit for none. There can hardly be any lasting laurels for any of the contending parties. To change the map of Europe is not worth the price of a single human life. Patriotism should never rise above humanity.
"The history of war is merely a succession of blunders. Each treaty of peace sows the seed of future strife.
"War offends our intelligence and outrages our sympathies. We can but stand aside and murmur 'The pity of it all. The pity of it all.'
"War breeds socialism. At night the opposing hosts rest on their arms, searching the heavens for the riddle of life and death, and wondering what their tomorrow will bring forth. Around a thousand camp fires the steady conviction is being driven home that this sacrifice of life might all be avoided. It seems difficult to realize that millions of men, skilled by years of constant application, have left the factory, the mill, or the desk to waste not only their time but their very lives and possibly the lives of those dependent on them to wage war, brother against brother.
"The more reasonable it appears that peace must quickly come, the more hopeless does it seem. I am convinced that an overwhelming majority of the populations of Germany, England and France are opposed to this war. The Governments of these states do not want war.
"War deals in human life as recklessly as the gambler in money.
"Imagine the point of view of a commanding general who is confronted with the task of taking a fortress; 'That position will cost me five thousand lives; it will be cheap at the price, for it must be taken.'
"He discounts five thousand human lives as easily as the manufacturer marks off five thousand dollars for depreciation. And so five thousand homes are saddened that another flag may fly over a few feet of fortified masonry. What a grim joke for Europe to play upon humanity."

There were not wanting those to point out to Mr. Ridder that the sacrifice of life could have been avoided had Germany and its tool Austria, played fair with Serbia and the balance of Europe. Also, his statement that the government of Germany did not want the war has been successfully challenged from a hundred different sources.

H.G. Wells, the eminent English author, contributed a prophecy which translated very plainly the handwriting on the wall. He said:

"This war is not going to end in diplomacy; it is going to end diplomacy.
"It is quite a different sort of war from any that have gone before. At the end there will be no conference of Europe on the old lines, but a conference of the world. It will make a peace that will put an end to Krupp, and the spirit of Krupp and Kruppism and the private armament firms behind Krupp for evermore."

Austria formally declared war against Serbia, July 28, 1914. During the few days intervening between the dispatch of the ultimatum to Serbia and the formal declaration of war, Serbia and Russia, seeing the inevitable, had commenced to mobilize their armies. On the last day of July, Germany as Austria's ally, issued an ultimatum with a twelve hour limit demanding that Russia cease mobilization. They were fond of short term ultimatums. They did not permit more than enough time for the dispatch to be transmitted and received, much less considered, before the terms of it had expired. Russia demanded assurances from Austria that war was not forthcoming and it continued to mobilize. On August 1, Germany declared war. France then began to mobilize.

Germany invaded the duchy of Luxemburg and demanded free passage for its troops across Belgium to attack France at that country's most vulnerable point. King Albert of Belgium refused his consent on the ground that the neutrality of his country had been guaranteed by the powers of Europe, including Germany itself, and appealed for diplomatic help from Great Britain. That country, which had sought through its foreign secretary, Sir Edward Grey, to preserve the peace of Europe, was now aroused. August 4, it sent an ultimatum to Germany demanding that the neutrality of Belgium be respected. As the demand was not complied with, Britain formally declared war against Germany.

Italy at that time was joined with Germany and Austria in what was known as the Triple Alliance. But Italy recognized the fact that the war was one of aggression and held that it was not bound by its compact to assist its allies. The sympathies of its people were with the French and British. Afterwards Italy repudiated entirely its alliance and all obligations to Germany and Austria and entered the war on the side of the allies. Thus the country of Mazzini, of Garibaldi and Victor Emmanuel, ranged itself on the side of emancipation and human rights.

The refusal of Italy to enter a war of conquest was the first event to set the balance of the world seriously thinking of the meaning of the war. If Italy refused to join its old allies, it meant that Italy was too honorable to assist their purposes; Italy knew the character of its associates. When it finally repudiated them altogether and joined the war on the other side, it was a terrific indictment of the Germanic powers, for Italy had much more to gain in a material way from its old alliance. It simply showed the world that spirit was above materialism; that emancipation was in the air and that the lamp of civilization might be dimmed but could not be darkened by the forces of evil.

---

CHAPTER III.

MILITARISM AND AUTOCRACY DOOMED.

GERMANY'S MACHINE—HER SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVOR TO MOLD SOLDIERS—INFLUENCE ON THOUGHT AND LIVES OF THE PEOPLE—MILITARISM IN THE HOME—THE STATUS OF WOMAN—FALSE THEORIES AND FALSE GODS—THE SYSTEM ORDAINED TO PERISH—WAR'S SHOCKS—AMERICA INCLINES TO NEUTRALITY—GERMAN AND FRENCH TREATMENT OF NEUTRALS CONTRASTED—EXPERIENCES OF AMERICANS ABROAD AND ENROUTE HOME—STATUE OF LIBERTY TAKES ON NEW BEAUTY—BLOOD OF NEGRO AND WHITE TO FLOW.
Those who had followed the Kaiser's attitudes and their reflections preceeding the war in the German military party, were struck by a strange blending of martial glory and Christian compunction. No one prays more loudly than the hypocrite and none so smug as the devil when a saint he would be.
During long years the military machine had been under construction. Human ingenuity had been reduced to a remarkable state of organization and efficiency. One of the principal phases of Kultur was the inauguration of a sort of scientific discipline which made the German people not only soldiers in the field, but soldiers in the workshop, in the laboratory and at the desk. The system extended to the schools and universities and permeated the thought of the nation. It particularly was reflected in the home; the domestic arrangements and customs of the people. The German husband was the commander-in-chief of his household. It was not that benevolent lordship which the man of the house assumes toward his wife and family in other nations. The stern note of command was always evident; that attitude of "attention!" "eyes front!" and unquestioning obedience.
German women always were subordinate to their husbands and the male members of their families. It was not because the man made the living and supported the woman. Frequently the German woman contributed as much towards the support of the family as the males; it was because the German male by the system which had been inculcated into him, regarded himself as a superior being and his women as inferiors, made for drudgery, for child-bearing, and for contributors to his comforts and pleasures. His attitude was pretty much like that of the American Indian towards his squaw.
Germany was the only nation on earth pretending to civilization in which women took the place of beasts of burden. They not only worked in the fields, but frequently pulled the plow and other implements of agriculture. It was not an uncommon sight in Germany to see a woman and a large dog harnessed together drawing a milk cart. When it became necessary to deliver the milk the woman slipped her part of the harness, served the customer, resumed her harness and went on to the next stop. In Belgium, in Holland and in France, women delivered the milk also, but the cart always was drawn by one or two large dogs or other animals and the woman was the driver. In Austria it was a strange sight to foreigners, but occasioned no remark among the people, to see women drawing carts and wagons in which were seated their lords and masters. Not infrequently the boss wielded a whip.
The pride of the German nation was in its efficient workmen. Friends of the country and its system have pointed to the fact of universal labor as its great virtue; because to work is good. Really, they were compelled to work. Long hours and the last degree of efficiency were necessary in order to meet the requirements of life and the tremendous burdens of taxation caused by the army, the navy, the fortifications and the military machine in general; to say nothing of the expense of maintaining the autocratic pomp of the Kaiser, his sons and satellites. Every member of the German family had his or her task, even to the little three-year-old toddler whose business it was to look after the brooms, dust rags and other household utensils. There was nothing of cheerfulness or even of the dignity of labor about this. It was hard, unceasing, grinding toil which crushed the spirits of the people. It was part of the system to cause them to welcome war as a diversion.
To the German mind everything had an aspect of seriousness. The people took their pleasures seriously. On their holidays, mostly occasions on which they celebrated an event in history or the birthday of a monarch or military hero, or during the hours which they could devote to relaxation, they gathered with serious, stolid faces in beer gardens. If they danced it was mostly a cumbersome performance. Generally they preferred to sit and blink behind great foaming tankards and listen to intellectual music. No other nation had such music. It was so intellectual in itself that it relieved the listeners of the necessity of thinking. There was not much of melody in it; little of the dance movement and very little of the lighter and gayer manifestations of life. It has been described as a sort of harmonious discord, typifying mysterious, tragic and awe-inspiring things. The people sat and ate their heavy food and drank their beer, their ears engaged with the strains of the orchestra, their eyes by the movements of the conductor, while their tired brains rested and digestion proceeded.
To the average German family a picnic or a day's outing was a serious affair. The labor of preparation was considerable and then they covered as much of the distance as possible by walking in order to save carfare. In the parade was the tired, careworn wife usually carrying one, sometimes two infants in her arms. The other children lugged the lunch baskets, hammocks, umbrellas and other paraphernalia. At the head of the procession majestically marched the lord of the outfit, smoking his cigar or pipe; a suggestion of the goose-step in his stride, carrying nothing, except his dignity and military deportment. With this kind of start the reader can imagine the good time they all had.
MILITARISM AND AUTOCRACY DOOMED Joy to the German mind in mass was an unknown quantity. The literature on which they fed was heavier and more somber than their music. When the average German tried to be gay and playful he reminded one of an elephant trying to caper. Their humor in the main, manifested itself in coarse and vulgar jests.
For athletics they had their turn vereins in which men went through hard, laborious exercises which made them muscle-bound. Their favorite sports were hunting and fencing—the desire to kill or wound. They rowed some but they knew nothing of baseball, boxing, tennis, golf or the usual sports so popular with young men in England, France and America. Aside from fencing, they had not a sport calculated to produce agility or nimbleness of foot and brain.
Their emotions expanded and their sentiments thrilled at the spectacle of war. Uniforms, helmets and gold lace delighted their eyes. The parade, the guard mount, the review were the finest things they knew. To a people trained in such a school and purposely given great burdens that they might attain fortitude, war was second nature. They welcomed it as a sort of pastime.
In the system on which Kultur was based, it was necessary to strike deeply the religious note; no difference if it was a false note. The German ear was so accustomed to discord it could not recognize the true from the false. The Kaiser was heralded to his people as a deeply religious man. In his public utterances he never failed to call upon God to grant him aid and bless his works.
One of the old traditions of the Fatherland was that the king, being specially appointed by God, could do no wrong. To the thinking portion of the nation this could have been nothing less than absurd fallacy, but where the majority do not think; if a thing is asserted strongly and often enough, they come to accept it. It becomes a belief. The people had become so impressed with the devoutness of the Kaiser and his assumption of Divine guidance, that the great majority of them believed the kaiser was always right; that he could do no wrong. When the great blow of war finally was struck the Kaiser asked his God to look down and bless the sword that he had drawn; a prayer altogether consistent coming from his lips, for the god he worshipped loved war, was a god of famine, rapine and blood. From the moment of that appeal, military autocracy and absolute monarchy were doomed. It took time, it took lives, it took more treasure than a thousand men could count in a lifetime. But the assault had been against civilization, on the very foundation of all that humanity had gained through countless centuries. The forces of light were too strong for it; would not permit it to triumph.
The President of the United States, from the bedside of his dying wife, appealed to the nations for some means of reaching peace for Europe. The last thoughts of his dying helpmate, were of the great responsibility resting upon her husband incident to the awful crisis in the lives of the nations of earth, that was becoming more pronounced with each second of time.
The Pope was stricken to death by the great calamity to civilization. A few minutes before the end came he said that the Almighty in His infinite mercy was removing him from the world to spare him the anguish of the awful war.
The first inclination of America was to be neutral. She was far removed from the scenes of strife and knew little of the hidden springs and causes of the war. Excepting in the case of a few of her public men; her editors, professors and scholars, European politics were as a sealed book. The president of the United States declared for neutrality; that individual and nation should avoid the inflaming touch of the war passion. We kept that attitude as long as was consistent with national patience and the larger claims of HUMANITY and universal JUSTICE.
As an evidence of our lack of knowledge of the impending conflict, a party of Christian men were on the sea with the humanitarian object in view of attending a world's peace conference in Constance, Germany—Germany of all places, then engaged in trying to burn up the world. Arriving in Paris, the party received its first news that a great European war was about to begin. Steamship offices were being stormed by crowds of frantic American tourists. Martial law was declared. The streets were alive with soldiers and weeping women. Shops were closed, the clerks having been drafted into the army. The city hummed with militarism.
Underneath the excitement was the stern, stoic attitude of the French in preparing to meet their old enemy, combined with their calmness in refraining from outbreaks against German residents of Paris. One of the party alluding to the incongruous position in which the peace delegates found themselves, said:

"It might be interesting to observe the unique and almost humorous situation into which these peace delegates were thrown. Starting out a week before with the largest hope and most enthusiastic anticipation of effecting a closer tie between nations, and swinging the churches of Christendom into a clearer alignment against international martial attitudes, we were instantly 'disarmed,' bound, and cast into chains of utter helplessness, not even feeling free to express the feeblest sentiment against the high rising tide of military activity. We were lost on a tempestuous sea; the dove of peace had been beaten, broken winged to shore, and the olive branch lost in its general fury."

Describing conditions in Paris on August 12, he says:

"We are in a state of tense expectation, so acute that it dulls the senses; Paris is relapsing into the condition of an audience assisting at a thrilling drama with intolerably long entr'acts, during which it tries to think of its own personal affairs.
"We know that pages of history are being rapidly engraved in steel, written in blood, illuminated in the margin with glory on a background of heroism and suffering, not more than a few score miles away.
"The shrieking camelots (peddlers) gallop through the streets waving their news sheets, but it is almost always news of twenty-four hours ago. The iron hand of the censor reduces the press to a monotonous repetition of the same formula. Only headlines give scope for originality. Of local news there is none. There is nothing doing in Paris but steady preparation for meeting contingencies by organizing ambulances and relief for the poor."

From the thousands of tales brought back by American tourists caught in Germany at the outbreak of the war, there is more than enough evidence that they were not treated with that courtesy manifested towards them by the French. They were arrested as spies, subjected to all sorts of embarrassments and indignities; their persons searched, their baggage and letters examined, and frequently were detained for long periods without any explanation being offered. When finally taken to the frontier, they were not merely put across—frequently they were in a sense thrown across.

Nor were the subjects of other nations, particularly those with which Germany was at war, treated with that fine restraint which characterized the French. Here is an account by a traveller of the treatment of Russian subjects:

"We left Berlin on the day Germany declared war against Russia. Within seventy-five miles of the frontier, 1,000 Russians in the train by which they were travelling were turned out of the carriage and compelled to spend eighteen hours without food in an open field surrounded by soldiers with fixed bayonets.

"Then they were placed in dirty cattle wagons, about sixty men, women and children to a wagon, and for twenty-eight hours were carried about Prussia without food, drink or privacy. In Stettin they were lodged in pig pens, and next morning were sent off by steamer to Rugen, whence they made their way to Denmark and Sweden without money or luggage. Sweden provided them with food and free passage to the Russian frontier. Five of our fellow-passengers went mad."

The steamship Philadelphia—note the name, signifying brotherly love, so completely lost sight of in the conflict—was the first passenger liner to reach America after the beginning of the European war. A more remarkable crowd never arrived in New York City by steamship or train. There were men of millions and persons of modest means who had slept side by side on the journey over; voyagers with balances of tens of thousands of dollars in banks and not a cent in their pocketbooks; men able and eager to pay any price for the best accommodations to be had, yet satisfied and happy sharing bunks in the steerage.

There were women who had lost all baggage and had come alone, their friends and relatives being unable to get accommodations on the vessel. There were children who had come on board with their mothers, with neither money nor reservations, who were happy because they had received the very best treatment from all the steamship's officers and crew and because they had enjoyed the most comfortable quarters to be had, surrendered by men who were content to sleep in most humble surroundings, or, if necessary, as happened in a few cases, to sleep on the decks when the weather permitted.

Wealthy, but without funds, many of the passengers gave jewelry to the stewards and other employees of the steamship as the tips which they assumed were expected even in times of stress. The crew took them apologetically, some said they were content to take only the thanks of the passengers. One woman of wealth and social position, without money, and having lost her check book with her baggage, as had many others of the passengers, gave a pair of valuable bracelets to her steward with the request that he give them to his wife. She gave a hat—the only one she managed to take with her on her flight from Switzerland—to her stewardess.

The statue of Liberty never looked so beautiful to a party of Americans before. The strains of the Star Spangled Banner, as they echoed over the waters of the bay, were never sweeter nor more inspiring. As the Philadelphia approached quarrantine, the notes of the American anthem swelled until, as she slowed down to await the coming of the physicians and customs officials, it rose to a great crescendo which fell upon the ears of all within many hundred yards and brought an answering chorus from the throngs who waited to extend their hands to relatives and friends.

There was prophecy in the minds of men and women aboard that ship. Some of them had been brought into actual contact with the war; others very near it. In the minds of all was the vision that liberty, enlightenment and all the fruits of progress were threatened; that if they were to be saved, somehow, this land typified the spirit of succor; somehow the aid was to proceed from here.

Liberty never had a more cherished meaning to men of this Republic. In the minds of many the conviction had taken root, that if autocracy and absolute monarchy were to be overthrown; that "government of the people, by the people, for the people" should "not perish from the earth," it would eventually require from America that supreme sacrifice in devotion and blood that at periods in the growth and development of nations, is their last resort against the menace of external attack, and, regardless of the reflections of theorists and philosophers, the best and surest guarantee of their longevity; that the principles upon which they were builded were something more than mere words, hollow platitudes, meaning nothing, worthy of nothing, inspiring nothing. It was the dawning of a day; new and strange in its requirements of America whose isolation and policy, as bequeathed by the fathers, had kept it aloof from the bickerings and quarrels of the nations that composed the "Armed Camp" of Europe, during which, as subsequent events proved, the blood of the Caucasian and the Negro would upon many a hard fought pass; many a smoking trench in the battle zone of Europe, run together in one rivulet of departing life, for the guarantee of liberty throughout all the earth, and the establishment of justice at its uttermost bounds and ends.

---

CHAPTER IV.

AWAKENING OF AMERICA.

PRESIDENT CLINGS TO NEUTRALITY—MONROE DOCTRINE AND WASHINGTON'S WARNING—GERMAN CRIMES AND GERMAN VICTORIES—CARDINAL MERCIER'S LETTER—MILITARY OPERATIONS—FIRST SUBMARINE ACTIVITIES—THE LUSITANIA OUTRAGE—EXCHANGE OF NOTES—UNITED STATES AROUSED—ROLE OF PASSIVE ONLOOKER BECOMES IRKSOME—FIRST MODIFICATION OF PRINCIPLES OF WASHINGTON AND MONROE—OUR DESTINY LOOMS.
August 4, 1914, President Wilson proclaimed the neutrality of the United States. A more consistent attempt to maintain that attitude was never made by a nation. In an appeal addressed to the American people on August 18th, the president implored the citizens to refrain from "taking sides." Part of his utterance on that occasion was:

"We must be impartial in thought as well as in action, must put a curb upon our sentiments as well as upon every transaction that might be construed as a preference of one party to the struggle before another.
"My thought is of America. I am speaking, I feel sure, the earnest wish and purpose of every thoughtful American that this great country of ours, which is, of course, the first in our thoughts and in our hearts, should show herself in this time of peculiar trial a nation fit beyond others to exhibit the fine poise of undisturbed judgment, the dignity of self-control, the efficiency of dispassionate action; a nation that neither sits in judgment upon others, nor is disturbed in her own counsels, and which keeps herself fit and free to do what is honest and disinterested and truly serviceable for the peace of the world.

American poise had been somewhat disturbed over the treatment of American tourists caught in Germany at the outbreak of the war. American sentiment was openly agitated by the invasion of Belgium and the insolent repudiation by Germany of her treaty obligations. The German chancellor had referred to the treaty with Belgium as "a scrap of paper." These things had created a suspicion in American minds, having to do with what seemed Germany's real and ulterior object, but in the main the people of this county accepted the president's appeal in the spirit in which it was intended and tried to live up to it, which attitude was kept to the very limit of human forbearance.

A few editors and public men, mostly opposed to the president politically, thought we were carrying the principle of neutrality too far; that the violation of Belgium was a crime against humanity in general and that if we did not at least protest against it, we would be guilty of national stultification if not downright cowardice. Against this view was invoked the time-honored principles of the Monroe Doctrine and its great corollary, Washington's advice against becoming entangled in European affairs. Our first president, in his farewell address, established a precept of national conduct that up to the time we were drawn into the European war, had become almost a principle of religion with us. He said:

"Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government—Europe has a set of primary interests which to us have none or a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concern. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves by artificial ties in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities."

The Monroe Doctrine was a statement of principles made by President Monroe in his famous message of December 2, 1823. The occasion of the utterance was the threat by the so-called Holy Alliance to interfere forcibly in South America with a view to reseating Spain in control of her former colonies there. President Monroe, pointing to the fact that it was a principle of American policy not to intermeddle in European affairs, gave warning that any attempt by the monarchies of Europe "to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere" would be considered by the United States "as dangerous to our peace and safety." This warning fell in line with British policy at the time and so proved efficacious.

OFFICIAL RED CROSS PHOTOGRAPHS NEGRO SOLDIERS AND RED CROSS WORKERS IN FRONT OF CANTEEN, HAMLET, N.C.

PHOTO FROM UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD, N.Y. COLORED RED CROSS WORKERS FROM THE CANTEEN AT ATLANTA, GA., FEEDING SOLDIERS AT RAILWAY STATION.

OFFICIAL RED CROSS PHOTOGRAPHS COLORED WOMEN IN HOSPITAL GARMENTS CLASS OF BRANCH NO. 6. NEW ORLEANS CHAPTER, AMERICAN RED CROSS. LOUISE J. ROSS, DIRECTOR.

PHOTO FROM UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD, N.Y. RED CROSS WORKERS. PROMINENT COLORED WOMEN OF ATLANTA, GA., WHO ORGANIZED CANTEEN FOR RELIEF OF NEGRO SOLDIERS GOING TO AND RETURNING FROM WAR.

THE GAME IS ON. A BASEBALL MATCH BETWEEN NEGRO AND WHITE TROOPS IN ONE OF THE TRAINING AREAS IN FRANCE.

OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHS, U.S. ARMY COL. WILLIAM HAYWARD OF 369TH INFANTRY PLAYING BASEBALL WITH HIS NEGRO SOLDIERS AT ST. NAZAIRE, FRANCE.

JAZZ AND SOUTHERN MELODIES HASTEN CURE. NEGRO SAILOR ENTERTAINING DISABLED NAVY MEN IN HOSPITAL FOR CONVALESCENTS.

ENJOYING A BIT OF CAKE BAKED AT THE AMERICAN RED CROSS CANTEEN AT IS-SUR-TILLE, FRANCE.

CORPORAL FRED. McINTYRE OF 369TH INFANTRY, WITH PICTURE OF THE KAISER WHICH HE CAPTURED FROM A GERMAN OFFICER.

LIEUT. ROBERT L. CAMPBELL, NEGRO OFFICER OF THE 368TH INFANTRY WHO WON FAME AND THE D.S.C. IN ARGONNE FOREST. HE DEVISED A CLEVER PIECE OF STRATEGY AND DISPLAYED GREAT HEROISM IN THE EXECUTION OF IT.

EMMETT J. SCOTT, APPOINTED BY SECRETARY BAKER, AS SPECIAL ASSISTANT DURING THE WORLD WAR. HE WAS FORMERLY CONFIDENTIAL SECRETARY TO THE LATE BOOKER T. WASHINGTON.

(TOP)—GENERAL DIAZ, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF ITALIAN ARMIES. MARSHAL FOCH, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF ALLIED FORCES. (CENTER)—GENERAL PERSHING, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF AMERICAN ARMIES. ADMIRAL SIMS, IN CHARGE OF AMERICAN NAVAL OPERATIONS OVERSEAS. (BOTTOM)—KING ALBERT, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF BELGIAN ARMY. FIELD MARSHAL HAIG, HEAD OF BRITISH ARMIES.

In a later section of the same message the proposition was also advanced that the American continent was no longer subject to colonization. This clause of the doctrine was the work of Monroe's secretary of state, John Quincy Adams, and its occasion was furnished by the fear that Russia was planning to set up a colony at San Francisco, then the property of Spain, whose natural heir on the North American continent, Adams held, was the United States. It is this clause of the document that has furnished much of the basis for its subsequent development.

In 1902 Germany united with Great Britain and Italy to collect by force certain claims against Venezuela. President Roosevelt demanded and finally, after threatening to dispatch Admiral Dewey to the scene of action, obtained a statement that she would not permanently occupy Venezuelan territory. Of this statement one of the most experienced and trusted American editors, avowedly friendly to Germany, remarked at the time, that while he believed "it was and will remain true for some time to come, I cannot, in view of the spirit now evidently dominant in the mind of the emperor and among many who stand near him, express any belief that such assurances will remain trustworthy for any great length of time after Germany shall have developed a fleet larger than that of the United States." He accordingly cautioned the United States "to bear in mind probabilities and possibilities as to the future conduct of Germany, and therefore increase gradually our naval strength." Bismarck pronounced the Monroe Doctrine "an international impertinence," and this has been the German view all along.

Dr. Zorn, one of the most conservative of German authorities on international affairs, concluded an article in Die Woche of September 13, 1913, with these words: "Considered in all its phases, the Monroe Doctrine is in the end seen to be a question of might only and not of right."

The German government's efforts to check American influence in the Latin American states had of late years been frequent and direct. They comprised the encouragement of German emigration to certain regions, the sending of agents to maintain close contact, presentation of German flags in behalf of the Kaiser, the placing of the German Evangelical churches in certain South American countries under the Prussian State Church, annual grants for educational purposes from the imperial treasury at Berlin, and the like.

The "Lodge resolution," adopted by the senate in 1912, had in view the activities of certain German corporations in Latin America, as well as the episode that immediately occasioned it; nor can there be much doubt that it was the secret interference by Germany at Copenhagen that thwarted the sale of the Danish West Indies to the United States in 1903.

In view of a report that a Japanese corporation, closely connected with the Japanese government, was negotiating with the Mexican government for a territorial concession off Magdalena Bay, in lower California, the senate in 1912 adopted the following resolution, which was offered by Senator Lodge of Massachusetts:

"That when any harbor or other place in the American continent is so situated that the occupation thereof for naval or military purposes might threaten the communications or the safety of the United States, the government of the United States could not see without grave concern, the possession of such harbor or other place by any corporation or association which has such a relation to another government, not American, as to give that government practical power of control for naval or military purposes."

All of the above documents, arguments and events were of the greatest importance in connection with the great European struggle. America was rapidly awakening, and the role of a passive onlooker became increasingly irksome. It was pointed out that Washington's message said we must not implicate ourselves in the "ordinary vicissitudes" of European politics. This case rapidly was assuming something decidedly beyond the "ordinary." As the carnage increased and outrages piled up, the finest sensibilities of mankind were shocked and we began to ask ourselves if we were not criminally negligent in our attitude; if it was not our duty to put forth a staying hand and use the extreme weight of our influence to stop the holocaust.

From August 4 to 26, Germany overran Belgium. Liege was occupied August 9; Brussels, August 20, and Namur, August 24. The stories of atrocities committed on the civil population of that country have since been well authenticated. At the time it was hard to believe them, so barbaric and utterly wanton were they. Civilized people could not understand how a nation which pretended to be not only civilized, but wished to impose its culture on the remainder of the world, could be so ruthless to a small adversary which had committed no crime and desired only to preserve its nationality, integrity and treaty rights.

Germany did not occupy Antwerp until October 9, owing to the stiff resistance of the Belgians and engagements with the French and British elsewhere. But German arms were uniformly victorious. August 21-23 occurred the battle of Mons-Charleroi, a serious defeat for the French and British, which resulted in a dogged retreat eventually to a line along the Seine, Marne and Meuse rivers.

The destruction of Louvain occurred August 26, and was one of the events which inflamed anti-German sentiment throughout the world. The beautiful cathedral, the historic cloth market, the library and other architectural monuments for which the city was famed, were put to the torch. The Belgian priesthood was in woe over these and other atrocities. Cardinal Mercier called upon the Christian world to note and protest against these crimes. In his pastoral letter of Christmas, 1914, he thus pictures Belgium's woe and her Christian fortitude:

"And there where lives were not taken, and there where the stones of buildings were not thrown down, what anguish unrevealed! Families hitherto living at ease, now in bitter want; all commerce at an end, all careers ruined; industry at a standstill; thousands upon thousands of workingmen without employment; working women; shop girls, humble servant girls without the means of earning their bread, and poor souls forlorn on the bed of sickness and fever crying: 'O Lord, how long, how long?'—God will save Belgium, my brethren; you can not doubt it. Nay, rather, He is saving her—Which of us would have the heart to cancel this page of our national history? Which of us does not exult in the brightness of the glory of this shattered nation? When in her throes she brings forth heroes, our mother country gives her own energy to the blood of those sons of hers. Let us acknowledge that we needed a lesson in patriotism—For down within us all is something deeper than personal interests, than personal kinships, than party feeling, and this is the need and the will to devote ourselves to that most general interest which Rome termed the public thing, Res publica. And this profound will within us is patriotism."

Meanwhile there was a slight offset to the German successes. Russia had overrun Galicia and the Allies had conquered the Germany colony of Togoland in Africa. But on August 26 the Russians were severely defeated in the battle of Tannenburg in East Prussia. This was offset by a British naval victory in Helgoland Bight. (August 28.) So great had become the pressure of the German armies that on September 3 the French government removed from Paris to Bordeaux. The seriousness of the situation was made manifest when two days later Great Britain, France and Russia signed a treaty not to make peace separately. Then it became evident to the nations of the earth that the struggle was not only to be a long one, but in all probability the most gigantic in history.

The Germans reached the extreme point of their advance, culminating in the Battle of the Marne, September 6-10. Here the generalship of Joffre and the strategy of Foch overcame great odds. The Germans were driven back from the Marne to the River Aisne. The battle line then remained practically stationary for three years on a front of three hundred miles.

The Russians under General Rennenkampf were driven from East Prussia September 16. Three British armored cruisers were sunk by a submarine September 22. By September 27 General Botha had gained some successes for the Allies, and had under way an invasion of German Southwest Africa. By October 13 Belgium was so completely occupied by the Germans that the government withdrew entirely from the country and established itself at Le Havre in France. By the end of the year had occurred the Battle of Yser in Belgium (October 16-28); the first Battle of Ypres (decisive day October 31), in which the British, French and Belgians saved the French channel ports; De Wet's rebellion against the British in South Africa (October 28); German naval victory in the Pacific off the coast of Chile (November 1); fall of Tsingtau, German possession in China, to the Japanese (November 7); Austrian invasion of Serbia (Belgrade taken December 2, recaptured by the Serbians December 14); German commerce raider Emden caught and destroyed at Cocos Island (November 10); British naval victory off the Falkland Islands (December 8); South African rebellion collapsed (December 8); French government returned to Paris (December 9); German warships bombarded West Hartlepool, Scarborough and Whitby on the coast of England (December 16). On December 24 the Germans showed their Christian spirit in an inauguration of the birthday of Christ by the first air raid over England. The latter part of the year 1914 saw no important action by the United States excepting a proclamation by the president of the neutrality of the Panama canal zone.

The events of 1915 and succeeding years became of great importance to the United States and it is with a record of those having the greatest bearing on our country that this account principally will deal.

On January 20 Secretary of State Bryan found it necessary to explain and defend our policy of neutrality. January 28 the American merchantman William P. Frye was sunk by the German cruiser Prinz Eitel Friedrich. On February 10 the United States dispatched a note to the German government holding it to a "strict accountability if any merchant vessel of the United States is destroyed or any American citizens lose their lives." Germany replied February 16 stating that her "war zone" act was an act of self-defense against illegal methods employed by Great Britain in preventing commerce between Germany and neutral countries. Two days later the German official blockade of Great Britain commenced and the German submarines began their campaign of piracy and pillage.

The United States on February 20 sent an identic note to Germany and Great Britain suggesting an agreement between them respecting the conduct of naval warfare. The British steamship Falaba was sunk by a submarine March 28, with a loss of 111 lives, one of which was an American. April 8 the steamer Harpalyce, in the service of the American commission for the aid of Belgium, was torpedoed with a loss of 15 lives. On April 22 the German embassy in America sent out a warning against embarkation on vessels belonging to Great Britain. The American vessel Cushing was attacked by a German aeroplane April 28. On May 1 the American steamship Gullflight was sunk by a German submarine and two Americans were lost. That day the warning of the German embassy was published in the daily papers. The Lusitania sailed at 12:20 noon.

Five days later occurred the crime which almost brought America into the second year of the war. The Cunard line steamship Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine with a loss of 1,154 lives, of which 114 were Americans. After the policy of frightfulness put into effect by the Germans in Belgium and other invaded territories, the massacres of civilians, the violation of women and killing of children; burning, looting and pillage; the destruction of whole towns, acts for which no military necessity could be pleaded, civilization should have been prepared for the Lusitania crime. But it seems it was not. The burst of indignation throughout the United States was terrible. Here was where the terms German and Hun became synonomous, having in mind the methods and ravages of the barbaric scourge Attilla, king of the Huns, who in the fifth century sacked a considerable portion of Europe and introduced some refinements in cruelty which have never been excelled.

The Lusitania went down twenty-one minutes after the attack. The Berlin government pleaded in extenuation of the sinking that the ship was armed, and German agents in New York procured testimony which was subsequently proven in court to have been perjured, to bolster up the falsehood. In further justification, the German government adduced the fact that the ship was carrying ammunition which it said was "destined for the destruction of brave German soldiers." This contention our government rightly brushed aside as irrelevant.

The essence of the case was stated by our government in its note of June 9 as follows:

"Whatever be the other facts regarding the Lusitania, the principal fact is that a great steamer, primarily and chiefly a conveyance for passengers, and carrying more than a thousand souls who had no part or lot in the conduct of the war, was sunk without so much as a challenge or a warning, and that men, women and children were sent to their death in circumstances unparalleled in modern warfare."

Three notes were written to Germany regarding the Lusitania sinking. The first dated May 13 advanced the idea that it was impossible to conduct submarine warfare conformably with international law. In the second dated June 9 occurs the statement that "the government of the United States is contending for something much greater than mere rights of property or privileges of commerce. It is contending for nothing less high and sacred than the rights of humanity." In the third note dated July 21, it is asserted that "the events of the past two months have clearly indicated that it is possible and practicable to conduct submarine operations within the so-called war zone in substantial accord with the accepted practices of regulated warfare." The temper of the American people and the president's notes had succeeded in securing a modification of the submarine campaign.

It required cool statesmanship to prevent a rushing into war over the Lusitania incident and events which had preceded it. There was a well developed movement in favor of it, but the people were not unanimous on the point. It would have lacked that cooperation necessary for effectiveness; besides our country was but poorly prepared for engaging in hostilities. It was our state of unpreparedness continuing for a long time afterwards, which contributed, no doubt, to German arrogance. They thought we would not fight.

But the United States had become thoroughly awakened and the authorities must have felt that if the conflict was to be unduly prolonged, we must eventually be drawn into it. This is reflected in the modified construction which the president and others began to place on the Monroe Doctrine. The great underlying idea of the doctrine remained vital, but in a message to congress delivered December 7, 1915, the president said:

"In the day in whose light we now stand there is no claim of guardianship, but a full and honorable association as of partners between ourselves and our neighbors in the interests of America." Speaking before the League to Enforce Peace at Washington, May 27, 1916, he said: "What affects mankind is inevitably our affair, as well as the affair of the nations of Europe and of Asia." In his address to the senate of January 22, 1917, he said: "I am proposing, as it were, that the nations should with one accord adopt the doctrine of President Monroe as the doctrine of the world—that no nation should seek to extend its policy over any other nation or people, but that every people should be left free to determine its own policy, its own way of development, unhindered, unthreatened, unafraid, the little along with the great and powerful." This was a modifying and enlarging of the doctrine, as well as a departure from Washington's warning against becoming entangled with the affairs of Europe.

---

CHAPTER V.

HUNS SWEEPING WESTWARD.

TOWARD SHORES OF ATLANTIC—SPREAD RUIN AND DEVASTATION—CAPITALS OF CIVILIZATION ALARMED—ACTIVITIES OF SPIES—APOLOGIES AND LIES—GERMAN ARMS WINNING—GAIN TIME TO FORGE NEW WEAPONS—FEW VICTORIES FOR ALLIES—ROUMANIA CRUSHED—INCIDENT OF U-53.

The powerful thrusts of the German armies toward the English channel and the Atlantic ocean, the pitiless submarine policy, and the fact that Germany and Austria had allied with them Bulgaria and Turkey, began to spread alarm in the non-belligerent nations of the world.

That Germany was playing a Machiavellian policy against the United States soon became evident. After each submarine outrage would come an apology, frequently a promise of reparation and an agreement not to repeat the offense, with no intention, however, of keeping faith in any respect. As a mask for their duplicity, the Germans even sent a message of sympathy for the loss of American lives through the sinking of the Lusitania; which but intensified the state of mind in this country.

Less than three weeks after the Lusitania outrage the American steamship Nebraskan was attacked (May 25) by a submarine. The American steamship Leelanaw was sunk by submarines July 25. The White Star liner Arabic was sunk by a submarine August 19; sixteen victims, two American.

Our government received August 24 a note from the German ambassador regarding the sinking of the Arabic. It stated that the loss of American lives was contrary to the intention of the German government and was deeply regretted. On September 1 Ambassador von Bernstorff supplemented the note with a letter to Secretary Lansing giving assurance that German submarines would sink no more liners.

The Allan liner Hesperian was sunk September 4 by a German submarine; 26 lives lost, one American.

On October 5 the German government sent a communication regretting again and disavowing the sinking of the Arabic, and stating its willingness to pay indemnities.

Meanwhile depression existed among the Allies and alarm among nations outside the war over the German conquest of Russian Poland. They captured Lublin, July 31; Warsaw, August 4; Ivangorod, August 5; Kovno, August 17; Novogeorgievsk, August 19; Brest-Litovsk, August 25, and Vilna, September 18.

Activities of spies and plottings within the United States began to divide attention with the war in Europe and the submarine situation. Dr. Constantin Dumba, who was Austro-Hungarian ambassador to the United States, in a letter to the Austrian minister of foreign affairs, dated August 20, recommended "most warmly" to the favorable consideration of the foreign office "proposals with respect to the preparation of disturbances in the Bethlehem steel and munitions factory, as well as in the middle west."

He felt that "we could, if not entirely prevent the production of war material in Bethlehem and in the middle west, at any rate strongly disorganize it and hold it up for months."

The letter was intrusted to an American newspaper correspondent named Archibald, who was just setting out for Europe under the protection of an American passport. Archibald's vessel was held up at Falmouth, England, his papers seized and their contents cabled to the United States. On September 8 Secretary Lansing instructed our ambassador at Vienna to demand Dr. Dumba's recall and the demand was soon acceded to by his government.

On December 4 Captain Karl Boy-Ed, naval attache of the German embassy in Washington, was dismissed by our government for "improper activity in naval affairs." At the same time Captain Franz von Papen, military attache of the embassy, was dismissed for "improper activity in military matters." In an intercepted letter to a friend in Germany he referred to our people as "those idiotic Yankees."

As a fitting wind-up of the year and as showing what the German promise to protect liners amounted to, the British passenger steamer Persia was sunk in the Mediterranean by a submarine December 30, 1915.

The opening of 1916 found the president struggling with the grave perplexities of the submarine problem, exchanging notes with the German government, taking fresh hope after each disappointment and endeavoring by every means to avert the impending strife and find a basis for the preservation of an honorable peace.

It was now evident to most thinking people that the apparent concessions of the Germans were granted merely to provide them time to complete a larger program of submarine construction. This must have been evident to the president; but he appears to have possessed an optimism that rose above his convictions.

Our government, January 18, put forth a declaration of principles regarding submarine attacks and inquired whether the governments of the allies would subscribe to such an agreement. This was one of the president's "forlorn hope" movements to try and bring about an agreement among the belligerents which would bring the submarine campaign within the restrictions of international law. Could such an agreement have been effected, it would have been of vast relief to this country and might have kept us out of the war. The Allies were willing to subscribe to any reasonable agreement provided there was assurance that it would be maintained. They pointed out, however, the futility of treating on the basis of promises alone with a nation which not only had shown a contempt for its ordinary promises, but had repudiated its sacred obligations.

A ray of hope gleamed across our national horizon when Germany, on February 16, sent a note acknowledging her liability in the Lusitania affair. But the whole matter was soon complicated again by the "armed ship" issue. Germany had sent a note to the neutral powers that an armed merchant ship would be treated as a warship and would be sunk on sight. Secretary Lansing made the statement for this government that by international law commercial ships have a right to arm themselves for self-defense. It was an additional emphasis on the position that the submarine campaign as conducted by Germany was simply piracy and had no standing in international law. President Wilson, in a letter to Senator Stone February 24, said that American citizens had a right to travel on armed merchant ships, and he refused to advise them against exercising the right.

March 24 the French steamer Sussex, engaged in passenger traffic across the English channel, was torpedoed and sunk without warning. About eighty passengers, including American citizens, were killed or wounded.

Several notes passed between our government and Germany on the sinking of the Sussex and other vessels. Our ambassador at Berlin was instructed to take energetic action and to insist upon adequate attention to our demands. April 18 our government delivered what was considered an ultimatum to the effect that unless Germany abandoned her methods of submarine warfare, the United States would sever diplomatic relations. The president addressed congress on the matter the following day.

Germany had not yet completed her program of submarine building and thought it wise to temporize with the American government for a while longer. May 4 she replied to the ultimatum of April 18, acknowledged the sinking of the Sussex and in the main acceded to all the demands of the United States. There were certain phases which indicated that Germany wished to use this country as a medium for securing certain agreements from the Allies. The president accepted the German conditions generally, but made it clear in his reply that the conditions could not depend upon any negotiations between this country and other belligerents. The intimation was plain enough that the United States would not be a catspaw for German aims.

Up to this time in the year 1916 the advantage in arms had been greatly on the side of Germany and her allies. In January the British had evacuated the entire Gallipoli peninsula and the campaign in Turkey soon came to grief. Cettinje, the capital of Montenegro, had also fallen to the Teutonic allies, and that country practically was put out of the war.

The British had made important gains in the German colonies in Africa and had conquered most of the Kamerun section there. Between February and July the Germans had been battling at the important French position of Verdun, with great losses and small results. Practically all the ground lost was slowly regained by the French in the autumn. The Russians had entered Persia in February, and April 17 had captured the important city of Trebizond in Armenia from the Turks. But on April 29 General Townshend surrendered his entire British force to the Turks at Kut el Amara, after being besieged for 143 days and finally starved into submission.

Throughout the balance of the year the advantage was greatly on the side of the Germans, for the latter part of the year saw the beginning of the crushing of Roumania, which had entered the war August 27 on the side of the Allies. Bucharest, the capital, fell to the Germans December 6; Dobrudja, January 2, and Focsani, January 8 of the ensuing year, 1917. The crushing of Roumania was accomplished almost entirely by treachery. The Germans knew the plans of all the principal fortifications; the strength and plans of the Roumanian forces, and every detail calculated to be of benefit. The country had been honeycombed with their spies prior to and during the war, very much as Russia had been. It is quite evident that men high in the councils of the Roumanian government and in full possession of the military secrets of the country were simply disguised German agents.

Between July and November had occurred the great battles of the Somme during which the Allies had failed to break the German lines. The Austrians in June had launched a great attack and made much progress against the Italians in the Trentino. The principal offsets to the German gains during the last seven months of the year 1916 were the Russian offensive in Volhynia and Bukovina, and the counter drive of the Italians against the Austrians. The Russians captured Czernovitz June 17, and by the end of the month had overrun the whole of Bukovina. The Italians drove out the Austrians between August 6 and September 1, winning August 9 the important city and fortress of Gorizia.

Submarine incidents important to this government were not lacking during the latter half of the year. The German submarine U-53 suddenly appeared October 8 in the harbor at Newport, R.I. The commander delivered letters for the German ambassador and immediately put to sea to begin ravages on British shipping off the Nantucket coast. Among the five or six vessels sunk was the steamer Stephano, which carried American passengers. The passengers and crews of all the vessels were picked up by American destroyers and no lives were lost. The episode, which was an eight-day wonder, and resulted in a temporary tie-up of shipping in eastern ports, started numerous rumors and several legal questions, none of which, however, turned out finally to have been of much importance, as U-53 vanished as suddenly as it had appeared, and its visit was not succeeded by any like craft. It is not improbable that the purpose of the German government in sending the boat to our shores was to convey a hint of what we might expect if we should become involved with Germany. October 28 the British steamer Marina was torpedoed with a loss of six American lives.

The straining of President Washington's advice and the Monroe Doctrine were again evident throughout the year. President Wilson in an address before the League to Enforce Peace, May 27, had said that the United States was ready to join any practical league for preserving peace and guaranteeing the political and territorial integrity of nations. November 29 our government sent a protest to Germany against the deportation of Belgians.

Almost immediately upon the invasion of Belgium the German authorities, in pursuance of their system of terrorization, shipped to Germany considerable groups of the population. On October 12, 1915, a general order was issued by the German military government in Belgium providing that persons who should "refuse work suitable to their occupation and in the execution of which the military administration is interested," should be subject to one year's imprisonment or to deportation to Germany. Numerous sentences, both of men and women, were imposed under that order.

The wholesale deportation of Belgian workmen to Germany, which began October 3, 1916, proceeded on different grounds, for, having stripped large sections of the country of machinery and raw materials, the military authorities now came forward with the plea that it was necessary to send the labor after it. The number of workmen deported is variously estimated at between one and three hundred thousand.

"The rage, the terror, the despair" excited by this measure all over Belgium, our minister, Brand Whitlock, reported, "were beyond anything we had witnessed since the day the Germans poured into Brussels. I am constantly in receipt of reports from all over Belgium that bear out the stories of brutality and cruelty.

"In tearing away from nearly every humble home in the land a husband and a father or a son and brother, the Germans have lighted a fire of hatred that will never go out. It is one of those deeds that make one despair of the future of the human race, a deed coldly planned, studiously matured, and deliberately and systematically executed, a deed so cruel that German soldiers are said to have wept in its execution, and so monstrous that even German officers are now said to be ashamed." Poland and the occupied parts of France experienced similar treatment.

---

CHAPTER VI.

THE HOUR AND THE MAN.

A BEACON AMONG THE YEARS—TRYING PERIOD FOR PRESIDENT WILSON—GERMANY CONTINUES DILATORY TACTICS—PEACE EFFORTS FAIL—ALL HONORABLE MEANS EXHAUSTED—PATIENCE CEASES TO BE A VIRTUE—ENEMY ABANDONS ALL SUBTERFUGE—UNRESTRICTED SUBMARINE WARFARE—GERMAN INTRIGUES WITH MEXICO—THE ZIMMERMANN NOTE—AMERICA SEIZES THE SWORD—WAR IS DECLARED—PERSHING GOES ABROAD—FIRST TROOPS SAIL—WAR MEASURES—WAR OPERATIONS

An enormous beacon light in history will attach to the year 1917. The outstanding feature of course was the entry of the United States into the great war—the deciding factor in the struggle. It marked the departure of America from the traditional policy of political isolation from Europe. History will record that it was not a voluntary, but a forced, departure, due to the utter disregard by Germany of our rights on the seas, at home and elsewhere.

The first thirty days of the year found the man at the head of our government still hoping against hope, still struggling with all the odds against him, still courageously engaged in efforts for peace. It was a particularly trying time for President Wilson, as a large portion of his own party and most of the nation was arrayed against him. The people in general felt that the time for writing notes, for parleying had passed.

On December 12, 1916, Germany, in a formal note, had offered to enter into peace negotiations, but did not specify any terms. The note referred in boastful language to the victorious German armies. It was rejected by the Allies as empty and insincere. The president on December 18, 1916, had addressed all the beligerents asking them to indicate precisely the terms on which, they would make peace. Germany's reply to this note was no more satisfactory than before. The Allies replied demanding restorations, reparation and indemnities.

On the 22nd of January the president appeared before the senate in his famous "peace without victory" address, in which he advocated a world league for peace. His views were received sympathetically, though the Allies pointed out that no peace based on the condition of things before the war could be durable, and that as matters stood it would be a virtual victory for Germany. It was the president's last effort to bring peace to the world without resorting to armed force.

The most biased historian is bound to affirm that Woodrow Wilson exhausted every effort not only to keep the United States honorably at peace, but to bring about a pacific attitude and understanding among the belligerents. When finally he saw that no argument save that of the sword would avail, when finally the hour struck, he became the man of the hour courageously and nobly.

After President Wilson's failure to bring about even a pacific attitude among the warring nations, no peace appeal from any quarter calculated to receive respectful attention was made, excepting that issued by Pope Benedict August 15, four months after the United States had declared war. The President summarized the Pope's proposals as follows:

"His Holiness in substance proposes that we return to the status existing before the war, and that then there be a general condonation, disarmament, and a concert of nations based upon an acceptance of the principle of arbitration; that by a similar concert freedom of the seas be established; and that the territorial claims of France and Italy, the perplexing problems of the Balkan States and the restitution of Poland be left to such conciliatory adjustments as may be possible in the new temper of such a peace, due regard being paid to the aspirations of the peoples whose political fortunes and affiliations will be involved."

The president's reply to the Pope forcibly stated the aim of the United States to free the world from the menace of Prussian militarism controlled by an arrogant and faithless autocracy. Distinguishing between the German rulers and the people, President Wilson asserted that the United States would willingly negotiate with a government subject to the popular will. The note disavowed any intention to dismember countries or to impose unfair economic conditions. In part the President's language was:

"Responsible statesmen must now everywhere see, if they never saw before, that no peace can rest securely upon political or economic restrictions meant to benefit some nations and cripple or embarrass others, upon vindictive action of any sort, or any kind of revenge or deliberate injury. The American people have suffered intolerable wrongs at the hands of the Imperial German Government, but they desire no reprisal upon the German people, who have themselves suffered all things in this war, which they did not choose. They believe that peace should rest upon the rights of peoples, not the rights of governments—the rights of peoples great or small, weak or powerful—their equal right to freedom and security and self government and to a participation upon fair terms in the economic opportunities of the world, the German people, of course, included, if they will accept equality and not seek domination."

About five weeks prior to the Pope's proposition, the Germans had again put forth a peace feeler. On July 19, the German reichstag adopted resolutions in favor of peace on the basis of mutual understanding and lasting reconciliation among the nations. The resolutions sounded well but they were accompanied by expressions to the effect that Germany in the war was the victim of aggression and that it approved the acts of its government. They referred to the "men who are defending the Fatherland," to the necessity of assuring the freedom of the seas, and to the impossibility of conquering a united German nation. There was no doubt in the mind of any neutral or any belligerent opposing Germany that the German government was the real aggressor and that the freedom of the seas had never been restricted except by Germany herself, hence there was no tendency to accept this as a serious bid for peace. The resolutions figured largely in German internal politics but were without effect elsewhere.

Stockholm, Sweden was the scene of a number of peace conferences but as they were engineered by socialists of an extreme type and others holding views usually classed as anarchistic, no serious attention was paid to them. The "pacifists" in the Allied and neutral countries were more or less active, but received little encouragement. Their arguments did not appeal to patriotism.

Going back to the beginning of the year, within a week after the President's "peace without victory" speech before the senate, Germany replied to it by announcing that beginning February 1, it would begin unrestricted submarine warfare in certain extensive zones around the British Isles, France and Italy. It would, however, out of the kindness of its heart, permit the United States to use a narrow track across the sea with a landing at Falmouth, one ship a week, provided the American ships were painted red and white and carried various kinds of distinguishing marks.

This of course was a direct repudiation by Germany of all the promises she had made to the United States. The President saw the sword being forced into his hands but he was not yet ready to seize it with all his might. He preferred first to exhaust the expediency of an armed neutrality. On February 3, he went before a joint session of the house and senate and announced that Ambassador von Bernstorff had been given his passports and all diplomatic relations with the Teuton empire severed. On February 12, an attempt at negotiation came through the Swiss minister who had been placed in charge of German diplomatic interests in this country. The President promptly and emphatically replied that no negotiations could be even considered until the submarine order had been withdrawn.

On February 26, the lower house of congress voted formal permission for the arming of American merchant ships as a protection against submarine attacks, and appropriated one hundred million dollars for the arming and insuring of the ships. A similar measure in the senate was defeated by Senator Robert M. LaFollette of Wisconsin, acting under a loose rule of the senate which permitted filibustering and unlimited debate. The session of congress expired March 4, and the President immediately called an extra session of the senate which amended its rules so that the measure was passed.

Senator LaFollette's opposition to the war and some of his public utterances outside the senate led to a demand for his expulsion from that body. A committee of investigation was appointed which proceeded perfunctorilly for about a year. The senator was never expelled but any influence he may have had and any power to hamper the activities of the government, were effectually killed for the duration of the war. The suppression of the senator did not proceed so much from congress or the White House, as from the press of the country. Without regard to views or party, the newspapers of the nation voluntarily and patriotically entered what has been termed a "conspiracy of silence" regarding the activities of the Wisconsin senator. By refusing to print his name or give him any sort of publicity he was effectively sidetracked and in a short time the majority of the people of the country forgot his existence. It was a striking demonstration that propaganda depends for its effectiveness upon publicity, and has given rise to an order of thought which contends that the newspapers should censor their own columns and suppress movements that are detrimental or of evil tendency, by ignoring them. Opposed to this is the view that the more publicity a movement gets, and the fuller and franker the discussion it evokes, the more quickly will its merits or demerits become apparent.

If any evidence was lacking of German duplicity, violation of promises and general double-dealing, it came to light in the famous document known as the "Zimmermann Note" which came into the hands of the American state department and was revealed February 28. It was a confidential communication from Dr. Alfred Zimmermann, German Foreign Minister, addressed to the German Minister in Mexico and proposed an alliance of Germany, Mexico and Japan against the United States. Its text follows:

"On the 1st of February we intend to begin submarine warfare unrestricted. In spite of this it is our intention to endeavor to keep neutral the United States of America. If this attempt is not successful, we propose an alliance on the following basis with Mexico: That we shall make war together and together make peace. We shall give general financial support, and it is understood that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory in New Mexico, Texas and Arizona. The details are left to you for settlement. You are instructed to inform the president of Mexico of the above in the greatest confidence as soon as it is certain there will be an outbreak of war with the United States, and suggest that the president of Mexico on his own initiative, should communicate with Japan suggesting adherence at once to this plan; at the same time offer to mediate between Germany and Japan. Please call to the attention of the President of Mexico that the employment of ruthless submarine warfare now promises to compel England to make peace in a few months."

The American steamers City of Memphis, Vigilancia and Illinois had been sunk and fifteen lives lost in pursuance of the German submarine policy to torpedo without warning and without any regard to the safety of crews or passengers, all ships found within the barred zones. The President could no longer postpone drawing the sword. Being convinced that the inevitable hour had struck, he proved himself the man of the hour and acted with energy. A special session of congress was called for April 2. The day is bound to stand out in history for in the afternoon the President delivered his famous message asking that war be declared against Germany. He said that armed neutrality had been found wanting and in the end would only draw the country into war without its having the status of a belligerent. One of the striking paragraphs of the message follows:

"With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical character of the step I am taking, and of the grave responsibility which it involves, but in unhesitating obedience to what I deem my constitutional duty, I advise that the congress declare the recent course of the imperial German government to be in fact nothing less than war against the government and people of the United States; that it formally accept the status of belligerent which has thus been thrust upon it and that it take immediate steps not only to put the country in a more thorough state of defence, but also to exert all its power and employ all its resources to bring the government of the German empire to terms and end the war."

Congress voted a declaration of war April 6. Only six senators out of a total of 96, and fifty representatives out of a total of 435, voted against it. Congress also, at the request of the President, voted for the creation of a national army and the raising to war strength of the National Guard, the Marine corps and the Navy. Laws were passed dealing with espionage, trading with the enemy and the unlawful manufacture and use of explosives. Provision was made for the

insurance of soldiers and sailors

, for priority of shipments, for the seizure and use of enemy ships in American harbors, for conserving and controlling the food and fuel supply of the country, for stimulating agriculture, for enlarging the aviation branch of the service, for extending credit to foreign governments, for issuing bonds and for providing additional revenues by increasing old and creating new taxes.

The extra session of congress lasted a few days over six months. In that time it passed all the above measures and others of less importance. It authorized the expenditure of over nineteen billions of dollars ($19,321,225,208). Including the amount appropriated at the second session of the preceeding congress, the amount reached the unheard of total of over twenty-one billions of dollars ($21,390,730,940).

German intrigues and German ruthlessness created an additional stench in the nostrils of civilization when on September 8, the United States made public the celebrated "Spurlos Versenkt" telegram which had come into its possession. It is a German phrase meaning "sunk without leaving a trace" and was contained in a telegram from Luxburg, the German minister at Buenos Aires. The telegram (of May 19, 1917) advised that Argentine steamers "be spared if possible or else sunk without a trace being left." The advice was repeated July 9. The Swedish minister at Buenos Aires sent these messages in code as though they were his own private dispatches.

On August 26, the British Admiralty had communicated to the International Conference of Merchant Seaman, a statement of the facts in twelve cases of sinkings during the previous seven months in which it was shown how "spurlos versenkt" was applied. It was shown that in these cases the submarine commanders had deliberately opened fire on the crews of the vessels after they had taken to their small boats or had attempted to dispose of them in some other way.

Within six weeks after the declaration of war our government was preparing to send troops to France. An expeditionary force comprising about one division of Regulars was announced May 14. General Pershing who was to command arrived in England June 8, and in France June 13. The first body of our troops reached France June 27 and the second a little later. The safe passage of these troops was remarkable, as their departure had been made known to Germany through her spies, and submarines laid in wait for the transports. The vigilance of our convoying agencies continued throughout the war and was one of the high spots of excellence reached in our part of the struggle. Of a total of over 2,000,000 soldiers transported to France and many thousands returned on account of sickness and furloughs, only 661 were lost as a direct result of German submarine operations.

On December 7, the United States declared war against Austria-Hungary. This was largely on the insistence of Italy and was valuable and gratifying to that ally.

President Wilson on December 26, issued a proclamation taking over the railroads of the country, W.G. McAdoo was appointed director general. The proclamation went into effect two days later and the entire rail transportation system, for the first time in the history of the nation, passed under the control and management of the government.

Excepting the revolution in Russia which led to the abdication of Czar Nicholas II (March 11-15) and so disorganized the country that it never figured effectively in the war afterwards, the year was one of distinct advantage to the Allies.

Kut el Amara was retaken by the British February 24. Bagdad fell to the same forces March 11. From March 17th to 19th the Germans retired to the "Hindenburg Line" evacuating a strip of territory in France 100 miles long and averaging 13 miles in width, from Arras to Soissons. Between April 9 and May 14, the British had important successes in the Battle of Arras, capturing Vimy Ridge April 9. Between April 16 and May 6 the French made gains in the Battle of the Aisne, between Soissons and Reims. Between May 15 and September 15 occurred an Italian offensive in which General Cadorna inflicted severe defeats on the Austrians on the Carso and Bainsizza plateaus.

The British blew up Messines Ridge, south of Ypres, June 7 and captured 7,500 German prisoners. June 12 King Constantine of Greece was forced to abdicate and on June 29, Greece entered the war on the side of the Allies. A mutiny in the German fleet at Wilhelmshaven and Kiel occurred July 30 and a second mutiny September 2.

August 20-24 the French recaptured high ground at Verdun, lost in 1916. October 23-26 a French drive north of the Aisne won important positions including Malmaison fort. The Germans retreated from the Chemin de Dames, north of the Aisne, November 2. Between November 22 and December 13 occurred the Battle of Cambrai in which the British employed "tanks" to break down the wire entanglements instead of the usual artillery preparations. Bourlon Wood dominating Cambrai was taken November 26. A surprise counterattack by the Germans December 2, compelled the British to give up one-fourth of the ground gained. Jerusalem was captured by the British December 9.

The British national labor conference on December 29, approved a continuation of the war for aims similar to those defined by President Wilson.

Aside from the collapse of Russia, culminating in an armistice between Germany and the Bolsheviki government of Russia at Brest-Litovsk, December 15, the most important Teutonic success was in the big German-Austrian counterdrive in Italy, October 24 to December 1. The Italians suffered a loss of territory gained during the summer and their line was shifted to the Piave river, Asiago plateau and Brenta river.

Brazil declared war on Germany October 26.

---

CHAPTER VII.

NEGROES RESPOND TO THE CALL.

SWIFT AND UNHALTING ARRAY—FEW PERMITTED TO VOLUNTEER—ONLY NATIONAL GUARD ACCEPTED—NO NEW UNITS FORMED—SELECTIVE DRAFT THEIR OPPORTUNITY—PARTIAL DIVISION OF GUARDSMEN—COMPLETE DIVISION OF SELECTIVES—MANY IN TRAINING—ENTER MANY BRANCHES OF SERVICE—NEGRO NURSES AUTHORIZED—NEGRO Y.M.C.A. WORKERS—NEGRO WAR CORRESPONDENT—NEGRO ASSISTANT TO SECRETARY OF WAR—TRAINING CAMP FOR NEGRO OFFICERS—FIRST TIME IN ARTILLERY—COMPLETE RACIAL SEGREGATION.

When the call to war was sounded by President Wilson, no response was more swift and unhalting than that of the Negro in America. Before our country was embroiled the black men of Africa had already contributed their share in pushing back the Hun. When civilization was tottering and all but overthrown, France and England were glad to avail themselves of the aid of their Senegalese, Algerian, Soudanese and other troops from the tribes of Africa. The story of their valor is written on the battlefields of France in imperishable glory.

Considering the splendid service of the—in many cases—half wild blacks from the region of the equator, it seems strange that our government did not hasten sooner and without demur to enlist the loyal Blacks of this country with their glowing record in former wars, their unquestioned mental attainments, their industry, stamina and self reliance. Yet at the beginning of America's participation in the war, it was plain that the old feeling of intolerance; the disposition to treat the Negro unfairly, was yet abroad in the land.

He was willing; anxious to volunteer and offered himself in large numbers at every recruiting station, without avail. True, he was accepted in numerous instances, but the condition precedent, that of filling up and rounding out the few Negro Regular and National Guard organizations below war strength, was chafing and humiliating. Had the response to the call for volunteers been as ardent among all classes of our people; especially the foreign born, as it was from the American Negro, it is fair to say that the selective draft would not necessarily have been so extensive.

It was not until the selective draft was authorized and the organization of the National Army began, that the Negro was given his full opportunity. His willingness and eagerness to serve were again demonstrated. Some figures dealing with the matter, taken from the official report of the Provost Marshall General (General E.H. Crowder) will be cited later on.

Of the four colored regiments in the Regular Army, the 24th infantry had been on the Mexican border since 1916; the 25th infantry in Hawaii all the years of the war; the Ninth cavalry in the Philippines since 1916, and the 10th cavalry had been doing patrol and garrison duty on the Mexican border and elsewhere in the west since early in 1917. These four regiments were all sterling organizations dating their foundation back to the days immediately following the Civil war. Their record was and is an enviable one. It is no reflection on them that they were not chosen for overseas duty. The country needed a dependable force on the Mexican border, in Hawaii, the Philippines, and in different garrisons at home.

A number of good white Regular Army regiments were kept on this side for the same reasons; not however, overlooking or minimizing the fact not to the honor of the nation in its final resolve, that there has always been fostered a spirit in the counsels and orders of the Department of War, as in all the other great government departments, to restrain rather than to encourage the patriotic and civic zeal of their faithful and qualified Negro aids and servants. That is to say, to draw before them a certain imaginary line; beyond and over which the personal ambitions of members of the race; smarting for honorable renown and promotion; predicated on service and achievement, they were not permitted to go. A virtual "Dead Line"; its parent and wet nurse being that strange thing known as American Prejudice, unknown of anywhere else on earth, which was at once a crime against its marked and selected victims, and a burden of shame which still clings to it; upon the otherwise great nation, that it has condoned and still remains silent in its presence.

Negro National Guard organizations had grown since the Spanish-American war, but they still were far from being numerous in 1917. The ones accepted by the war department were the Eighth Illinois Infantry, a regiment manned and officered entirely by Negroes, the 15th New York Infantry all Negroes with five Negro officers, all the senior officers being white; the Ninth Ohio, a battalion manned and officered by Negroes; the 1st Separate Battalion of the District of Columbia, an infantry organization manned and officered by Negroes; and Negro companies from the states of Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts and Tennessee. Massachusetts also had a company known as the 101st Headquarters company and Military Police. The Eighth Illinois became the 370th Infantry in the United States army; the 15th New York became the 369th Infantry; the Ninth Ohio battalion and the companies from Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts and Tennessee, as well as the District of Columbia battalion, were all consolidated into the 372nd Infantry.

When the above organizations had been recruited up to war strength there were between 12,000 and 14,000 colored men representing the National Guard of the country. With a population of 12,000,000 Negroes to draw from; the majority of those suitable for military service anxious to enlist, it readily can be seen what a force could have been added to this branch of the service had there been any encouragement of it. There was not lacking a great number of the race, many of them college graduates, competent to act as officers of National Guard units. Many of those commissioned during the Spanish-American war had the experience and age to fit them for senior regimental commands. The 8th Illinois was commanded by Colonel Franklin A. Denison, a prominent colored attorney of Chicago and a seasoned military man. He was the only colored man of the rank of Colonel who was permitted to go to France in the combatant or any other branch of the service. After a brief period in the earlier campaigns he was invalided home very much against his will.

The 15th New York was commanded by Colonel William Hayward, a white man. He was devoted to his black soldiers and they were very fond of him. Officers immediately subordinate to him were white men. The District of Columbia battalion might have retained its colored commander, Major James E. Walker, as he was a fine soldierly figure and possessed of the requisite ability, but he was removed by death while his unit was still training near Washington. Some of the Negro officers of National Guard organizations retained their commands, but the majority were superseded or transferred before sailing or soon after arrival in France.

The 369th, the 370th and the 372nd infantry regiments in the United States army, mentioned as having been formed from the colored National Guard units, became a part of the 93rd division. Another regiment, the 371st, formed from the draft forces was also part of the same division. This division was brigaded with the French from the start and saw service through the war alongside the French poilus with whom they became great friends. There grew up a spirit of which, side by side, they faced and smashed the savage Hun, never wavered or changed. Besides the soldiers from Illinois, New York, Ohio, District of Columbia, Connecticut, Maryland and Tennessee, there were Negro contingents from Mississippi and South Carolina in the 93rd division. One of the regiments of this division, the 369th (15th New York) was of the first of the American forces to reach France, following mutual admiration between these two widely different representatives of the human family, that during the period in the expeditionary force of Regulars which reached France June 13, 1917; being among the first 100,000 that went abroad. However, the 93rd division, exclusively Negro, had not been fully formed then and the regiment did not see much real fighting until the spring and summer of 1918.

NEGRO NURSES CARRYING BANNER OF FAMOUS NEGRO REGIMENT. MARCHING DOWN FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK. IN GREAT PARADE WHICH OPENED RED CROSS DRIVE.

The 92nd division was another exclusively Negro division. There were many more Negro troops in training in France and large numbers at training camps in this country, but the 92nd and 93rd, being the earlier formed and trained divisions, saw practically all the fighting. Units belonging to one or both divisions fought with special distinction in the Forest of Argonne, near Chateau Thierry, Belleau Wood, St. Mihiel district, Champagne sector, at Metz and in the Vosges mountains.

In the 92nd division was the 325th Field Signal battalion, the only Negro signal unit in the American army. The division also contained the 349th, 350th and 351st Artillery regiments, each containing a machine gun battalion; the 317th Trench Mortar battery; the balance being made up of Negro engineers, hospital units, etc., and the 365th, 366th, 367th and 368th Infantry regiments.

Enlisted, drafted and assigned to active service, upwards of 400,000 Negroes participated in the war. The number serving abroad amounted to about 200,000. They were inducted into the cavalry, infantry, field and coast artillery, radio (wireless telegraphy, etc.), medical corps, ambulance and hospital corps, sanitary and ammunition trains, stevedore regiments, labor battalions, depot brigades and engineers. They also served as regimental clerks, surveyors and draftsmen.

Sixty served as chaplains and over 350 as Y.M.C.A. secretaries, there being a special and highly efficient Negro branch of the Y.M.C.A. Numerous others were attached to the War Camp Community Service in cities adjacent to the army camps.

Negro nurses were authorized by the war department for service in base hospitals at six army camps—Funston, Sherman, Grant, Dix, Taylor and Dodge. Race women also served as canteen workers in France and in charge of hostess houses in this country.

One Negro, Ralph W. Tyler, served as an accredited war correspondent, attached to the staff of General Pershing, Dr. R. R. Moton, who succeeded the late Booker T. Washington as head of the Tuskegee Institute, was sent on a special mission to France by President Wilson and Secretary Baker.

A race woman, Mrs. Alice Dunbar Nelson of Wilmington, Delaware, was named as a field worker to mobilize the Negro women of the country for war work. Her activities were conducted in connection with the Women's Committee of the Council of National Defense.

The most conspicuous honor paid to a Negro by the administration and the war department, was in the appointment, October 1, 1917, of Emmett J. Scott as special assistant to the Secretary of War. This was done that the administration might not be accused of failing to grant full protection to the Negroes, and that a thorough examination might be made into all matters affecting their relation to the war and its many agencies.

Having been for 18 years confidential secretary to Booker T. Washington, and being at the time of his appointment secretary of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute for Negroes, Mr. Scott was peculiarly fitted to render necessary advice to the war department with respect to the Negroes of the various states, to look after all matters affecting the interests of Negro selectives and enlisted men, and to inquire into the treatment accorded them by the various officials connected with the war department. In the position occupied by him, he was thus enabled to obtain a proper perspective both of the attitude of selective service officials to the Negro, and of the Negro to the war, especially to the draft. In a memorandum on the subject addressed to the Provost Marshall General, December 12, 1918, he wrote:

"The attitude of the Negro was one of complete acceptance of the draft, in fact of an eagerness to accept its terms. There was a deep resentment in many quarters that he was not permitted to volunteer, as white men by the thousands were permitted to do in connection with National Guard units and other branches of military service which were closed to colored men. One of the brightest chapters in the whole history of the war is the Negro's eager acceptance of the draft and his splendid willingness to fight. His only resentment was due to the limited extent to which he was allowed to join and participate in combatant or 'fighting' units. The number of colored draftees accepted for military duty, and the comparatively small number of them claiming exemptions, as compared with the total number of white and colored men called and drafted, presents an interesting study and reflects much credit upon this racial group."

Over 1,200 Negro officers, many of them college graduates, were commissioned during the war. The only training camp exclusively for Negro officers was at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. This camp ran from June 15, 1917, to October 15, 1917. A total of 638 officers was graduated and commissioned from the camp. Negro Regulars and Negro National Army men who had passed the tests for admission to officers training camps were sent mainly to the training schools for machine gun officers at Camp Hancock, Augusta, Georgia; the infantry officers training school at Camp Pike, Little Rock, Arkansas, and the artillery officers training school at Camp Taylor, Louisville, Kentucky. They were trained along with the white officers. The graduates from these camps along with a few National Guardsmen who had taken the officers' examinations, and others trained in France, made up the balance of the 1,200 commissioned.

In connection with the artillery training an interesting fact developed. It had been charged that Negroes could not develop into artilleryman. A strong prejudice against inducting them into that branch of the service had always existed in the army. It was especially affirmed that the Negro did not possess the mathematical ability necessary to qualify as an expert artillery officer. Nevertheless, out of a number of Negro aspirants, very small in comparison with the white men in training for officers' commissions at the camp, five of the Negroes stood alongside their white brothers at the head of the class. The remainder were sprinkled down the line about in the same proportion and occupying the same relative positions as the whites. The prejudice against the Negro as an artilleryman was further and effectually dispelled in the record made by the 349th, 350th and 351st artillery regiments and their machine gun battalions in the 92nd division.

With the exception of the training camp for officers at Des Moines, Iowa, no important attempt was made to establish separate Negro training camps. In the draft quotas from each state were whites and blacks and all with few exceptions, were sent to the most convenient camp. Arrangements existed, however, at the different camps for the separate housing and training of the Negro troops. This was in line with the military policy of the Government, as well as in deference to the judgment of both white and black officers. It undoubtedly was necessary to separate the two races. Furthermore, as the military policy called for regiments, battalions and, divisions made up entirely of Negroes, it was proper to commence the organization at the training camps. Companies formed in this manner thus became homogeneous, accustomed to one another individually and to their officers.

The situation was different from the Spanish-American war, where Negro units, at least in one case, served in white regiments. Racial strife and rivalry were eliminated. The only rivalry that existed was the good-natured and healthy one of emulation between members of the same race. On the field of battle there was rivalry and emulation between the whites and blacks, but it was the rivalry of organizations and not of races. The whole was tempered by that splendid admiration and fellow-feeling which comes to men of all races when engaged as partners in danger or near death; in the defense and promotion of a great cause; the eternal verities of Justice and Humanity.

---

CHAPTER VIII.

RECRUDESCENCE OF SOUTH'S INTOLERANCE.

CONFRONTED BY RACIAL PREJUDICE—- SPLENDID ATTITUDE OF NEGRO SHAMED IT—KEPT OUT OF NAVY—ONLY ONE PER CENT OF NAVY PERSONNEL NEGROES—MODIFIED MARINES CONTEMPLATED—FEW HAVE PETTY OFFICERS' GRADES—SEPARATE SHIPS PROPOSED—NEGRO EFFICIENCY IN NAVY—MATERIAL FOR "BLACK SHIPS"—NAVY OPENS DOOR TO NEGRO MECHANICS.

Old feelings of race prejudice and intolerance, appearing mainly in the South, confronted the Negro at the beginning of the war. The splendid attitude of the Negro shamed and overcame this feeling in other sections of the country, and was beginning to have its effect even in the South. It is true that men of the race were not accepted for voluntary enlistment in numbers of consequence in any section, but had the voluntary system continued in vogue, the willingness and desire of the race to serve, coupled with the very necessities of the case, would have altered the condition.

No new Negro volunteer units were authorized, but the demand for men would soon have made it imperative. It would have been combatted by a certain element in the South, but the friends of the few volunteer units which did exist in that section were firm in their championship and were winning adherents to their view that the number should be increased. The selective draft with its firm dictum that all men within certain ages should be called and the fit ones chosen, put an end to all contention. The act was not passed without bitter opposition which developed in its greatest intensity among the Southern senators and representatives; feelings that were inspired entirely by opposition to the Negro.

It would have been a bad thing for the country and would have prolonged the war, and possibly might have lost it, if the selective draft had been delayed. But it would have been interesting to see how far the country, especially the South, would have progressed in the matter of raising a volunteer army without accepting Negroes. Undoubtedly they soon would have been glad to recruit them, even in the South.

Unfortunately for the Negro, the draft was not able to prevent their being kept out of the Navy. It is a very desirable branch of the service vitiated and clouded, however, with many disgusting and aristocratic traditions. When the Navy was young and the service more arduous; when its vessels were merely armed merchantmen, many of them simply tubs and death traps and not the floating castles of today, the services of Negroes were not disdained; but times and national ideals had changed, and, the shame of it, not to the credit of a Commonwealth, for whose birth a Negro had shed the first blood, and a Washington had faced the rigors of a Valley Forge, a Lincoln the bullet of an assassin.

The annual report of the Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, rendered to the Secretary of the Navy and covering the fiscal year ending June 30, 1918, showed that in the United States Navy, the United States Naval Reserve Force and the National Naval Volunteers, there was a total of 435,398 men. Of that great number only 5,328 were Negroes, a trifle over one percent. Between June and November 1918, the Navy was recruited to a total force somewhat in excess of 500,000 men. Carrying out the same percentage, it is apparent that the aggregate number of Negroes serving, in the Navy at the close of the war, could not have been much in excess of 6,000.

Some extra enlistments of Negroes were contemplated, as the Navy had in process of establishment just prior to the armistice, a new service for Negro recruits. It was to be somewhat similar to the Pioneer units of the army, partaking in some degree of the character of Marines, just as the Pioneers partake of the character of infantry, but in general respects resembling more the engineer and stevedore units. About 600 men had been selected for this service when the project was abandoned on account of the ending of the war.

With the exception of a very limited number who have been permitted to attain the rank of petty officer, Negroes in the Navy were confined to menial occupations. They were attached to the firing forces as coal passers, while others served as cooks assistants, mess attendants and in similar duties. Quite a number were full rated cooks. A few were water tenders, electricians and gunners' mates, each of which occupations entitled them to the aforesaid rank of petty officer. Among the petty officers some had by sheer merit attained the rank of chief petty officer, which is about equal to the rank of sergeant in the army.

The idea of separate ships for the Negro might to some degree ameliorate the sting incident to race prohibition in that arm of government service. The query is advanced that if we can have black colonels, majors, captains and lieutenants in the army, why cannot we have black commanders, lieutenants, ensigns and such in the Navy?

Negroes have often and in divers ways displayed their intelligence and efficiency in the Navy. Take, for instance, the case of John Jordan, a Negro of Virginia, who was chief gunner's mate on Admiral Dewey's flagship the "Olympia" during the Spanish-American war, and was the man who fired the first shot at the enemy at Manila Bay. A Negro chief electrician, Salisbury Brooks, was the originator of inventions which were adopted without reservation by the Navy designers and changed the construction of modern battle ships.

One of the principal instructors on the U.S.S. Essex, the government training ship at Norfolk, is Matthew Anderson, a Negro. He has trained thousands of men, many of them now officers, in the art and duties of seamanship. Scores of Negroes; men of the type of these in the Navy, would furnish the nucleus for officers and crews of separate Negro ships.

In a recent issue of "Our Navy" a magazine devoted entirely to naval affairs, especially as regards the enlisted man, a writer reflects the opinion of these men in the following article:

"Whether you like the black man or not, whether you believe in a square deal for him or not, you can't point an accusing finger at his patriotism, his Americanism or his fighting ability. It is fair to neither the white man nor the black man to have the black man compete with the white man in the Navy. True, we have black petty officers here and there in the Navy, and in some cases black chief petty officers. It stands to reason that they must have been mighty good men to advance. They surely must know their business—every inch of it—to advance to these ratings. Yet they are not wanted in these ratings because they involve the black man having charge of white men under him. Outside of the messman branch you will find comparatively few Negroes in the Navy today.
"There should be 'black ships' assigned to be manned by American Negroes. These are days of democracy, equality and freedom," continues the writer. "If a man is good enough to go over the top and die for these principles, he is good enough to promote in the Navy. Why not try it? Put the black men on their own ships. Promote them, rate them, just the same as the white man. But above all keep them on their own ships. It is fair to them and fair to the white men. The Brazilian and Argentine navies have 'black ships.'"

Recruiting officers of the Navy have recently opened the doors to discharged Negro soldiers, and some civilians. If physically fit they are permitted to enlist as machinists and electricians. The Navy has opened a school for machinists at Charleston, S.C., and a school for electricians at Hampton Roads, Va.

Men for the machinists' school are enlisted as firemen 3rd class. While in training they are paid $30 a month. They also receive their clothing allotment, their food, dry comfortable quarters in which to live, and all text books and practical working tools. In return for this chance to become proficient in a very necessary trade, all that is required of those enlisting is a knowledge of common fractions, ambition to learn the trade, energy and a strict attention to the instruction given them.

Subjects taught in the course are arithmetic, note book sketching, practical engineering, theoretical engineering, clipping and filing, drilling, pipe fitting, repair work, rebabbiting, brazing, tin smithing, lathes, shapers, milling machines and grinders. It will be seen that they get a vast amount of mechanical knowledge and practically two trades, machinists and engineering.

In the electrical school the course is equally thorough. The men get a high grade of instruction, regardless of cost of material and tools. The best text books that can be had are available for their use.

This liberality in order to get machinists and electricians in the Navy, argues that some change of attitude towards the Negro is contemplated.

It may evolve into the establishment of "black ships." The Negro sailor has been pleading for years that his color has been a bar to him. With a ship of his own, would come his chance. He would strive; do all within his power to make it a success and would succeed.

---

CHAPTER IX.

PREVIOUS WARS IN WHICH THE NEGRO FIGURED.

SHOT HEARD AROUND THE WORLD—CRISPUS ATTUCKS—SLAVE LEADS SONS OF FREEDOM—THE BOSTON MASSACRE—ANNIVERSARY KEPT FOR YEARS—WILLIAM NELL, HISTORIAN—3,000 NEGROES IN WASHINGTON'S FORCES—A STIRRING HISTORY—NEGRO WOMAN SOLDIER—BORDER INDIAN WARS—NEGRO HEROES

Our American school histories teach us that the "shot which was heard around the world",—the opening gun of the Revolutionary war, was fired at Lexington in 1775. The phrase embodies a precious sentiment; time has molded many leaders, the inspiration for almost a century and a half of the patriotic youth of our land. This is as it should be. All honor and all praise to the deathless heroes of that time and occasion.

But why has not history been more just; at least, more explicit? Why not say that the shot which started the Revolution—that first great movement for human liberty and the emancipation of nations—was fired five years earlier; was fired not by, but at, a Negro, Crispus Attucks? The leader of the citizens in that event of March 5, 1770, known as the Boston Massacre, he was the first man upon whom the British soldiers fired and the first to fall; the pioneer martyr for American independence.

It is perhaps fitting; a manifestation of the inscrutable ways of Providence, that the first life given in behalf of a nation about to throw off a yoke of bondage, was that of a representative of a race; despised, oppressed and enslaved.

Botta the historian, in speaking of the scenes of the 5th of March says:

"The people were greatly exasperated. The multitude ran towards King street, crying, 'Let us drive out these ribalds; they have no business here.' The rioters rushed furiously towards the Custom House; they approached the sentinel, crying 'Kill him, kill him!' They assaulted him with snowballs, pieces of ice, and whatever they could lay their hands upon.
"The guard were then called, and in marching to the Custom House, they encountered a band of the populace, led by a mulatto named Attucks, who brandished their clubs and pelted them with snowballs. The maledictions, the imprecations, the execrations of the multitude, were horrible. In the midst of a torrent of invective from every quarter, the military were challenged to fire. The populace advanced to the points of their bayonets.
"The soldiers appeared like statues; the cries, the howlings, the menaces, the violent din of bells still sounding the alarm, increased the confusion and the horrors of these moments; at length the mulatto Attucks and twelve of his companions, pressing forward, environed the soldiers and striking their muskets with their clubs, cried to the multitude: 'Be not afraid, they dare not fire; why do you hesitate, why do you not kill them, why not crush them at once?'
"The mulatto lifted his arms against Captain Preston, and having turned one of the muskets, he seized the bayonet with his left hand, as if he intended to execute his threat At this moment, confused cries were heard: 'The wretches dare not fire!' Firing succeeds. Attucks is slain. Other discharges follow. Three were killed, five severely wounded and several others slightly."

Attucks was killed by Montgomery, one of Captain Preston's soldiers. He had been foremost in resisting and was first slain. As proof of a front engagement, he received two balls, one in each breast. The white men killed with Attucks were Samuel Maverick, Samuel Gray and Jonas Caldwell.

John Adams, afterwards President of the United States, was counsel for the soldiers in the investigation which followed. He admitted that Attucks appeared to have been the hero of the occasion and the leader of the people. Attucks and Caldwell, not being residents of Boston, were buried from Faneuil Hall, the cradle of liberty. The citizens generally participated in the solemnities.

If the outrages against the American colonists had not been so flagrant, and so well imbedded as indisputable records of our history; if the action of the military authorities had not been so arbitrary, the uprising of Attucks and his followers might be looked upon as a common, reprehensible riot and the participants as a band of misguided incendiaries. Subsequent reverence for the occasion, disproves any such view. Judge Dawes, a prominent jurist of the time, as well as a brilliant exponent of the people, alluding in 1775 to the event, said:

"The provocation of that night must be numbered among the master-springs which gave the first motion to a vast machinery—a noble and comprehensive system of national independence."

Ramsey's History of the American Revolution, says:

"The anniversary of the 5th of March was observed with great solemnity; eloquent orators were successively employed to preserve the remembrance of it fresh in the mind. On these occasions the blessings of liberty, the horrors of slavery, and the danger of a standing army, were presented to the public view. These annual orations administered fuel to the fire of liberty and kept it burning with an irresistible flame."

The 5th of March continued to be celebrated for the above reasons until the anniversary of the Declaration of American Independence was substituted in its place; and its orators were expected to honor the feelings and principles of the former as having given birth to the latter. On the 5th of March 1776, Washington repaired to the intrenchments. "Remember" said he, "It is the 5th of March, and avenge the death of your brethren."

In the introduction to a book entitled "The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution" by William C. Nell, a Negro historian, Harriet Beecher Stowe said in 1855:

"The colored race have been generally considered by their enemies, and sometimes even by their friends, as deficient in energy and courage. Their virtues have been supposed to be principally negative ones." Speaking of the incidents in Mr. Nell's collection she says: "They will redeem the character of the race from this misconception and show how much injustice there may often be in a generally accepted idea". Continuing, she says:
"In considering the services of the colored patriots of the Revolution, we are to reflect upon them as far more magnanimous, because rendered to a nation which did not acknowledge them as citizens and equals, and in whose interests and prosperity they had less at stake. It was not for their own land they fought, not even for a land which had adopted them, but for a land which had enslaved them, and whose laws, even in freedom, oftener oppressed than protected. Bravery, under such circumstances, has a peculiar beauty and merit.
"And their white brothers—may remember that generosity, disinterested courage and bravery, are of no particular race and complexion, and that the image of the Heavenly Father may be reflected alike by all. Each record of worth in this oppressed and despised people should be pondered, for it is by many such that the cruel and unjust public sentiment, which has so long proscribed them, may be reversed, and full opportunities given them to take rank among the nations of the earth."

Estimates from competent sources state that not less than 3,000 Negro soldiers did service in the American army during the Revolution. Rhode Island first made her slaves free men and then called on them to fight. A black regiment was raised there, of which Colonel Christopher Green was made commander. Connecticut furnished a black battalion under command of Colonel David Humphrey.

Prior to the Revolution, two Virginia Negroes, Israel Titus and Samuel Jenkins, had fought under Braddock and Washington in the French and Indian war.

It has been said that one of the men killed when Major Pitcairn commanding the British advance on Concord and Lexington, April 19, 1775, ordered his troops to fire on the Americans, was a Negro bearing arms. Peter Salem a Negro did service during the Revolution, and is said to have killed this same Major Pitcairn, at the battle of Bunker Hill. In some old engravings of the battle, Salem is pictured as occupying a prominent position. These pictures were carried on some of the currency of the Monumental bank of Charlestown, Massachusetts and the Freeman's bank of Boston. Other black men fought at Bunker Hill, of whom we have the names of Salem Poor, Titus Coburn, Alexander Ames, Barzillai Lew and Gato Howe. After the war these men were pensioned.

Prince, a Negro soldier, was Colonel Barton's chief assistant in capturing the British officer, Major General Prescott at Newport, R.I. Primus Babcock received an honorable discharge from the army signed by General Washington. Lambo Latham and Jordan Freeman fell with Ledyard at the storming of Fort Griswold. Freeman is said to have killed Major Montgomery, a British officer who was leading an attack on Americans in a previous fight. History does not record whether or not this was the same or a related Montgomery to the one who killed Crispus Attucks at Boston.

Hamet, one of General Washington's Negroes, was drawing a pension as a revolutionary soldier as late as 1839, Oliver Cromwell served six years and nine months in Col. Israel Shreve's regiment of New Jersey troops under Washington's immediate command. Charles Bowles became an American soldier at the age of sixteen years and served to the end of the Revolution. Seymour Burr and Jeremy Jonah were Negro soldiers in a Connecticut regiment.

A Negro whose name is not known obtained the countersign by which Mad Anthony Wayne was enabled to take Stony Point, and guided and helped him to do so.

Jack Grove was a Negro steward on board an American vessel which the British captured. He figured out that the vessel could be retaken if sufficient courage were shown. He insisted and at length prevailed upon his captain to make the attempt, which was successful.

There was in Massachusetts during those Revolutionary days one company of Negro men bearing a special designation, "The Bucks." It was a notable body of men. At the close of the war its fame and services were recognized by John Hancock presenting to it a beautiful banner.

The European struggle recently ended furnished a remarkable example of female heroism and devotion to country in the case of the Russian woman who enlisted as a common soldier in the army of the Czar, served with distinction and finally organized an effective unit of female soldiers known as the "Battalion of Death." More resourceful and no less remarkable and heroic, is the case of Deborah Gannet, a Negro woman soldier of the Revolution, which may be summed up in the following resolution passed by the General Court of Massachusetts during the session of 1791:—

"XXIII—Whereas, it appears to this court that the said Deborah Gannett enlisted, under the name of Robert Shurtliff, in Capt Webb's company, in the Fourth Massachusetts regiment, on May 20, 1782, and did actually perform the duties of a soldier, in the late army of the United States to the 23rd day of October, 1783, for which she has received no compensation; and, whereas, it further appears that the said Deborah exhibited an extraordinary instance of female heroism by discharging the duties of a faithful, gallant soldier, and at the same time preserving the virtue and chastity of her sex unsuspected and unblemished, and was discharged from the service with a fair and honorable character, therefore,
"Resolved, that the Treasurer of this Commonwealth be, and he hereby is, directed to issue his note to the said Deborah for the sum of thirty-four pounds, bearing interest from October 23, 1783."

There is not lacking evidence that Negroes distinguished themselves in the struggles of the pioneer settlers against the Indians. This was particularly true of the early history of Kentucky. The following incidents are recorded in Thompson's "Young People's History of Kentucky:"

"Ben Stockton was a slave in the family of Major George Stockton of Fleming county. He was a regular Negro, and though a slave, was devoted to his master. He hated an Indian and loved to moralize over a dead one; getting into a towering rage and swearing magnificently when a horse was stolen; handled his rifle well, though somewhat foppishly, and hopped, danced and showed his teeth when a prospect offered to chase 'the yaller varmints'. His master had confidence in his resolution and prudence, while he was a great favorite with all the hunters, and added much to their fun on dull expeditions. On one occasion, when a party of white men in pursuit of Indians who had stolen their horses called at Stockton's station for reinforcements, Ben, among others, volunteered. They overtook the savages at Kirk's Springs in Lewis county, and dismounted to fight; but as they advanced, they could see only eight or ten, who disappeared over the mountain. Pressing on, they discovered on descending the mountain such indications as convinced them that the few they had seen were but decoys to lead them into an ambuscade at the base, and a retreat was ordered. Ben was told of it by a man near him; but he was so intent on getting a shot that he did not hear, and the order was repeated in a louder tone, whereupon he turned upon his monitor a reproving look, grimaced and gesticulated ludicrously, and motioned to the man to be silent. He then set off rapidly down the mountain. His white comrade, unwilling to leave him, ran after him, and reached his side just as he leveled his gun at a big Indian standing tiptoe on a log and peering into the thick woods. At the crack of Ben's rifle the savage bounded into the air and fell. The others set up a fierce yell, and, as the fearless Negro said, 'skipped from tree to tree like grasshoppers.' He bawled out: 'Take dat to 'member Ben—de black white man!' and the two beat a hasty retreat.
"In the family of Capt. James Estill, who established a station about fifteen miles south of Boonesborough, was a Negro slave, Monk, who was intelligent, bold as a lion, and as faithful to his pioneer friends as though he were a free white settler defending his own rights. About daylight, March 20, 1782, when all the men of the fort except four were absent on an Indian trail, a body of the savages came upon Miss Jennie Glass, who was outside, but near the station, milking—Monk being with her. They killed and scalped Miss Glass and captured Monk. When questioned as to the force inside the walls, the shrewd and self-possessed Negro represented it as much greater than it was and told of preparations for defense. The Indians were deceived, and after killing the cattle, they retreated across the river. When the battle of Little Mountain opened two days later, Monk, who was still a prisoner with the Indians cried out: 'Don't give way, Mas' Jim! There's only about twenty-five redskins and you can whip 'em!' This was valuable and encouraging information to the whites. When the Indians began to advance on Lieutenant Miller, when he was sent to prevent a flank movement and guard the horse-holders, Monk called also to him to hold his ground and the white men would win. Instead of being instantly killed as was to be apprehended, even though the savages might not understand his English, he made his escape before the fight closed and got back to his friends. On their return to the station, twenty-five miles, without sufficient horses for the wounded, he carried on his back, most of the way, James Berry, whose thigh was broken. He had learned to make gunpowder, and obtaining saltpetre from Peyton's Cave, in Madison county, he frequently furnished this indispensable article to Estill's Station and Boonesborough. He has been described as being five feet five inches high and weighing two hundred pounds. He was a respected member of the Baptist church, when whites and blacks worshipped together. He was held in high esteem by the settlers and his young master, Wallace Estill, gave him his freedom and clothed and fed him as long as he lived thereafter—till about 1835.
"A year or two after the close of the Revolutionary war, a Mr. Woods was living near Crab Orchard, Kentucky, with his wife, one daughter (said to be ten years old), and a lame Negro man. Early one morning, her husband being away, Mrs. Woods when a short distance from the house, discovered seven or eight Indians in ambush. She ran back into the house, so closely pursued that before she could fasten the door one of the savages forced his way in. The Negro instantly seized him. In the scuffle the Indian threw him, falling on top. The Negro held him in a strong grasp and called to the girl to take an axe which was in the room and kill him. This she did by two well-aimed blows; and the Negro then asked Mrs. Woods to let in another that he with the axe might dispatch him as he came and so, one by one, kill them all. By this time, however, some men from the station nearby, having discovered that the house was attacked, had come up and opened fire on the savages, by which one was killed and the others put to flight."

---

CHAPTER X.

FROM LEXINGTON TO CARRIZAL.

NEGRO IN WAR OF 1812—INCIDENT OF THE CHESAPEAKE—BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE—PERRY'S FIGHTERS 10 PERCENT NEGROES—INCIDENT OF THE "GOVERNOR TOMPKINS"—COLONISTS FORM NEGRO REGIMENTS—DEFENSE OF NEW ORLEANS—ANDREW JACKSON'S TRIBUTE—NEGROES IN MEXICAN AND CIVIL WARS—IN THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR—NEGROES IN THE PHILIPPINES—HEROES OF CARRIZAL—GENERAL BUTLER'S TRIBUTE TO NEGROES—WENDELL PHILLIPS ON TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE.

Prior to the actual war of 1812 and one of the most conspicuous causes leading to it, was the attack on the Chesapeake, an American war vessel. Here the Negro in the Navy figured in a most remarkable degree. The vessel was hailed, fired upon and forced to strike her colors by the British. She was boarded, searched and four persons taken from the crew charged with desertion from the English navy. Three of these were Negroes and one white. The charge against the Negroes could not have been very strong, for they were dismissed, while the white man was hanged.

The naval history of our second war with Great Britain is replete with incidents concerning the participation of the Negro. Mackenzie's history of the life of Commodore Perry states that at the famed battle of Lake Erie, fully ten percent of the American crews were blacks. Perry spoke highly of their bravery and good conduct. He said they seemed to be absolutely insensible to danger. His fighters were a motley collection of blacks, soldiers and boys. Nearly all had been afflicted with sickness. Mackenzie says that when the defeated British commander was brought aboard the "Niagara" and beheld the sickly and parti-colored beings around him, an expression of chagrin escaped him at having been conquered by such men.

The following extract is from a letter written by Commodore Nathaniel Shaler of the armed schooner "Governor Tompkins", dated January 1, 1813. Speaking of a fight with a British frigate, he said:

"The name of one of my poor fellows who was killed ought to be registered in the book of fame and remembered with reverence as long as bravery is considered a virtue. He was a black man by the name of John Johnson. A twenty-four-pound shot struck him in the hip and tore away all the lower part of his body. In this state the poor brave fellow lay on the deck and several times exclaimed to his shipmates: 'Fire away, boys; don't haul the colors down.' Another black man by the name of John Davis was struck in much the same way. He fell near me and several times requested to be thrown overboard, saying he was only in the way of the others. When America has such tars, she has little to fear from the tyrants of the ocean."

With the history fresh in mind of the successful Negro insurrection in St. Domingo, bringing out so conspicuous a military and administrative genius as Toussaint L'Ouverture, it is not surprising that the services of Negroes as soldiers were not only welcomed, but solicited by various states during the War of 1812. Excepting the battle of New Orleans, almost all the martial glory of the struggle was on the water. New York, however, passed a special act of the legislature and organized two regiments of Negro troops, while there was heavy recruiting in other states.

When in 1814 New Orleans was in danger, the free colored people of Louisiana were called into the field with the whites. General Andrew Jackson's commendatory address read to his colored troops December 18, 1814, is one of the highest compliments ever paid by a commander to his troops. He said:

"Soldiers!—when, on the banks of the Mobile, I called you to take up arms, inviting you to partake of the perils and glory of your white fellow-citizens, I expected much from you; for I was not ignorant that you possessed qualities most formidable to an invading enemy. I knew with what fortitude you could endure hunger and thirst, and all the fatigues of a campaign. I knew well how you loved your native country, and that you, as well as ourselves had to defend what man holds most dear—his parents, wife, children and property. You have done more than I expected. In addition to the previous qualities I before knew you to possess, I found among you a noble enthusiasm, which leads to the performance of great things.
"Soldiers! The President of the United States shall hear how praiseworthy was your conduct in the hour of danger, and the representatives of the American people will give you the praise your exploits entitle you to. Your General anticipates them in applauding your noble ardor."

Many incidents are on record of the gallantry of Negro soldiers and servants also serving as soldiers, in the war with Mexico. Colonel Clay, a son of Henry Clay, was accompanied into the thick of the battle of Buena Vista, by his Negro servant. He remained by his side in the fatal charge and saw Clay stricken from his horse. Although surrounded by the murderous Mexicans he succeeded in carrying the mangled body of his master from the field.

It has been stated and the evidence seems strong, that a Negro saved the life of General Zachary Taylor at the battle of Monterey. The story is that a Mexican was aiming a deadly blow at the General, when the Negro sprang between them, slew the Mexican and received a deep wound from a lance. The Negro was a slave at the time, but was afterwards emancipated by President Taylor.

Upwards of 200,000 colored soldiers were regularly enlisted in the Federal army and navy during the Civil war. President Lincoln commissioned eight Negro surgeons for field and hospital duty. Losses sustained by the Negro troops amounting to upwards of 37,000 men, are shown to have been as heavy in proportion to the numbers engaged, as those of the white forces.

The record of the Negro troops in the Civil war is one of uniform excellence. Numerous official documents attest this fact, aside from the spoken and written commendations of many high officers. Their bravery was everywhere recognized; many distinguished themselves and several attained to the rank of regularly commissioned officers. Conspicuous in Negro annals of that time is the case of Charles E. Nash, afterwards a member of congress. He received a primary education in the schools of New Orleans, but had educated himself largely by his own efforts. In 1863 he enlisted in the 83rd regiment, United States Chasseurs d'Afrique and became acting sergeant-major of that command. At the storming of Fort Blakely he lost a leg and was honorably discharged.

Another, William Hannibal Thomas, afterwards became prominent as an author, teacher, lawyer and legislator. His best known book was entitled, "The American Negro: What he was, what he is, and what he may become." He served as a soldier during the Civil War and lost an arm in the service.

The exploit of Robert Smalls was so brilliant that no amount of unfairness or prejudice has been able to shadow it. It is well known to all students of the War of the Rebellion and is recorded in the imperishable pages of history.

Smalls was born a slave at Beaufort, South Carolina, but managed to secure some education. Having led a sea-faring life to some extent, the early part of the war found him employed as pilot of the Rebel transport Planter. He was thoroughly familiar with the harbors and inlets of the South Atlantic coast. On May 31, 1862, the Planter was in Charleston harbor. All the white officers and crew went ashore, leaving on board a colored crew of eight men in charge of Smalls. He summoned aboard his wife and three children and at 2 o'clock in the morning steamed out of the harbor, passed the Confederate forts by giving the proper signals, and when fairly out of reach, ran up the Stars and Stripes and headed a course for the Union fleet, into whose hands he soon surrendered the ship. He was appointed a pilot in the United States navy and served as such on the monitor Keokuk in the attack on Fort Sumter; was promoted to captain for gallant and meritorious conduct, December 1, 1863, and placed in command of the Planter, a position which he held until the vessel was taken out of commission in 1866. He was a member of the South Carolina Constitutional Convention, 1868; elected same year to the legislature, to the state senate 1870 and 1872, and was a member of the Forty-fourth and Forty-fifth Congresses.

Among the most inspiring pages of Civil War history written by the Negro, were the campaigns of Port Hudson, Louisiana; Fort Wagner, South Carolina and Fort Pillow, Kentucky. Negro troops participated in the siege of the former place by the Federal forces under General Banks, which began in May 1863, and ended in the surrender of the fort July 8, 1863. Fort Wagner was one of the defenses of Charleston. It was reduced by General Gilmore, September 6, 1863 and Negro troops contributed in a glorious and heroic manner to the result. Fort Pillow had been taken by the Federals and was garrisoned by a Negro regiment and a detachment of cavalry. It was recaptured April 12, 1864 by the Confederates under General Forrest. Practically the entire garrison was massacred, an act that will stain forever the name of Forrest, and the cause for which he struggled.

By the close of the Civil war, the value and fitness of the Negro as a soldier had been so completely demonstrated that the government decided to enlarge the Regular army and form fifty percent of the increase from colored men. In 1866 eight new infantry regiments were authorized of which four were to be Negroes and four new cavalry regiments of which two were to be Negroes. The Negro infantry regiments were numbered the 38th 39th, 40th and 41st. The cavalry regiments were known as the 9th and 10th.

In 1869 there was a general reduction in the infantry forces of the Regular army and the 38th and 41st were consolidated into one regiment numbered the 24th and the 39th and 40th into one regiment numbered the 25th. The strength and numerical titles of the cavalry were not changed. For over forty years the colored American was represented in our Regular Army by those four regiments. They have borne more than their proportionate share of hard service, including many Indian campaigns. The men have conducted themselves so worthily as to call forth the best praise of the highest military authorities. General Miles and General Merritt, actively identified with the Indian wars, were unstinting in their commendation of the valor and skill of Negro fighters.

Between 1869 and 1889, three colored men were regularly graduated and commissioned from the United States military academy at West Point and served in the Regular Army as officers. They were John H. Alexander, Charles Young and H.O. Flipper. The latter was dismissed. All served in the cavalry. Alexander died shortly before the Spanish-American war and up to the time of his demise, enjoyed the confidence and esteem of his associates, white and black. Young became major in the volunteer service during the Spanish-American war and was placed in command of the Ninth Battalion of Ohio volunteers. After the Spanish-American war he returned to the Regular Army with a reduced rank, but ultimately became a Major in that service. Upon America's entry into the European war he was elevated to the rank of Colonel.

At the breaking out of the Spanish-American war in 1898, Negro military organizations existed principally in the Regular Army. These were soon filled to their maximum strength and the desire of Negroes north and south to enlist, seemed likely to meet with disappointment. Congress, to meet the insistence of colored men for service, authorized the raising of ten Negro volunteer regiments of "immunes"—men who had lived in sections where the yellow fever and other malignant or malarial visitations had occurred, and who had suffered from them or shown evidences that they in all probability would be immune from the diseases. The plan to place white men in all commands above the grade of second lieutenant, prevented Negroes from enlisting as they otherwise would have done. Four immune regiments were organized—the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th.

Several of the states appreciating the value of the Negro as a soldier and in response to his intense desire to enlist, placed volunteer Negro organizations at the disposal of the government. There were the Third Alabama and Sixth Virginia Infantry; Eighth Illinois Infantry; Companies A and B Indiana Infantry; Thirty-third Kansas Infantry, and a battalion of the Ninth Ohio Infantry. The Eighth Illinois was officered by colored men throughout. J.R. Marshall its first colonel commanded the regiment during the Spanish-American war and did garrison duty in Santiago province for some time after the war; being for a while military governor of San Luis.

Gov. Russell of North Carolina, called out a Negro regiment, the Third Infantry, officered by colored men throughout. Colonel Charles Young commanding. It was not mustered into the service.

Company L. Sixth Massachusetts Infantry, was a Negro company serving in a white regiment. John L. Waller, deceased, a Negro formerly United States Consul to Madagascar, was a captain in the Kansas regiment.

About one hundred Negro second-lieutenants were commissioned in the volunteer force during the Spanish-American war. There was a Negro paymaster, Major John R. Lynch of Mississippi, and two Negro chaplains, the Rev. C.T. Walker of Georgia and the Rev. Richard Carroll of South Carolina.

Owing to the briefness of the campaign in Cuba, most of the service of Negro troops devolved upon the Regulars who were fit and ready. But all troops were at mobilization or training bases and willing and anxious to serve. No pages in the history of this country are more replete with the record of good fighting, military efficiency and soldierly conduct, than those recording the story of Negro troops in Cuba. Colonel Roosevelt said that the conduct of the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry reflected honor upon the whole American people, especially on their own race. He could hardly say otherwise in view of the splendid support given by those two regiments that—such is, and will continue to be the verdict of history, saved him and his "Rough Riders" from annihilation at San Juan Hill.

Cuba, in her struggles for freedom, had among her own people two splendid Negro leaders, Antonio and Jose Maceo.

Following the Cuban campaign, Negro troops saw distinguished service in the Philippine Islands uprisings. They have from time to time since garrisoned and preserved order in those possessions. A very limited number of Negro officers have been attached to their racial contingents in the Philippines, and there will be found but a few of competent military authority in this country, who will deny that educated, intelligent and qualified Negroes, are fitted for positions of leadership and command.

The Negro of this country is primarily and essentially concerned with the destiny and problems of his race. His work encouraged as it must be, by the laws and spirit of the age, will determine his future and mark the commencement of the elimination of the shameful prejudice against him in the land, for which, from Lexington to the bloody trenches of France, he has given of his blood to preserve.

Before leaving the subject of the Negro in previous wars, it is highly fitting to review the heroic incident of June 21, 1916, at Carrizal, Mexico. Here is a tale of daring that to duplicate, would tax the imagination of war fiction writers, and among incidents of fact will range along with the Texans' defense of the Alamo, where men fought and perished against great odds.

The occasion was the celebrated expedition conducted by General J.J. Pershing into Mexico in pursuit of the bandit leader Villa. A picked detachment consisting of portions of Troops C and K of the colored Tenth Cavalry, was dispatched from Pershing's main force towards the town of Villa Ahumada. The force was commanded by Captain Charles T. Boyd of Troop C and Captain Lewis Morey of Troop K. Lieutenant Adair was second in command in Troop C to Captain Boyd. Including officers and civilian scouts, the force numbered about 80 men.

Early on the morning of June 21, the detachment wishing to pass through the garrisoned town of Carrizal, sought the permission of the Mexican commander. Amidst a show of force, the officers were invited into the town by the commander, ostensibly for a parley. Fearing a trap they refused the invitation and invited the Mexicans to a parley outside the town. The Mexican commander came out with his entire force and began to dispose them in positions which were very threatening to the Americans. Captain Boyd informed the Mexican that his orders were to proceed eastward to Ahumada and protested against the menacing position of the Mexican forces. The Mexican replied that his orders were to prevent the Americans from proceeding in any direction excepting northward, the direction from which they had just come.

Captain Boyd refused to retreat, but ordered his men not to fire until they were attacked. The Mexican commander retired to the flank and almost immediately opened with machine gun fire from a concealed trench. This was quickly followed by rifle fire from the remainder of the force. The Mexicans outnumbered the troopers nearly two to one and their most effective force was intrenched. The Americans were on a flat plain, unprotected by anything larger than bunches of cactus or sage brush. They dismounted, laid flat on the ground and responded to the attack as best they could. The horses were mostly stampeded by the early firing.

The spray of lead from the machine gun had become so galling that Captain Boyd decided to charge the position. Not a man wavered in the charge. They took the gun, the Captain falling dead across the barrel of it just as the last Mexican was killed or put to flight. Lieutenant Adair was also killed. The Mexicans returned in force and recaptured the position.

Captain Morey had been concerned in warding off a flank attack. His men fought no less bravely than the others. They finally were driven to seek refuge in an adobe house, that is; all who were able to reach it. Here they kept the Mexicans at bay for hours firing through windows and holes in the walls. Captain Morey seriously wounded, with a few of his survivors, finally escaped from the house and hid for nearly two days in a hole. The soldiers refused to leave their officer. When they finally were able to leave their place of concealment, the several that were left assisted their Captain on the road towards the main force. Arriving at a point where reinforcements could be summoned, the Captain wrote a report to his commander and sent his men to headquarters with it. They arrived in record time and a party was sent out, reaching the wounded officer in time to save his life.

About half of the American force was wiped out and most of the others were taken prisoners. They inflicted a much heavier loss on the Mexicans. Among the killed was the Mexican commander who had ordered the treacherous attack.

It may be that "someone had blundered." This was not the concern of the black troopers; in the face of odds they fought by the cactus and lay dead under the Mexican stars.

In closing this outline of the Negro's participation in former wars, it is highly appropriate to quote the tributes of two eminent men. One, General Benjamin F. Butler, a conspicuous military leader on the Union side in the Civil War, and Wendell Phillips, considered by many the greatest orator America ever produced, and who devoted his life to the abolition movement looking to the freedom of the slave in the United States. Said General Butler on the occasion of the debate in the National House of Representatives on the Civil Rights bill; ten years after the bloody battle of New Market Heights; speaking to the bill, and referring to the gallantry of the black soldiers on that field of strife:

"It became my painful duty to follow in the track of that charging column, and there, in a space not wider than the clerk's desk and three hundred yards long, lay the dead bodies of 543 of my colored comrades, fallen in defense of their country, who had offered their lives to uphold its flag and its honor, as a willing sacrifice; and as I rode along among them, guiding my horse this way and that way, lest he should profane with his hoofs what seemed to me the sacred dead, and as I looked on their bronzed faces upturned in the shining sun, as if in mute appeal against the wrongs of the country whose flag had only been to them a flag of stripes, on which no star of glory had ever shone for them—feeling I had wronged them in the past and believing what was the future of my country to them—among my dead comrades there I swore to myself a solemn oath, 'May my right hand forget its cunning and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I ever fail to defend the rights of those men who have given their blood for me and my country this day, and for their race forever,' and, God helping me, I will keep that oath."

Mr. Phillips in his great oration on Toussaint L'Ouverture, the Black of St. Domingo; statesman, warrior and LIBERATOR,—delivered in New York City, March 11, 1863, said among other things, a constellation of linguistic brilliants not surpassed since the impassioned appeals of Cicero swept the Roman Senate to its feet, or Demosthenes fired his listeners with the flame of his matchless eloquence;

"You remember that Macaulay says, comparing Cromwell with Napoleon, that Cromwell showed the greater military genius, if we consider that he never saw an army till he was forty; while Napoleon was educated from a boy in the best military schools in Europe. Cromwell manufactured his own army; Napoleon at the age of twenty-seven was placed at the head of the best troops Europe ever saw. They were both successful; but, says Macaulay, with such disadvantages, the Englishman showed the greater genius. Whether you allow the inference or not, you will at least grant that it is a fair mode of measurement.
"Apply it to Toussaint. Cromwell never saw an army until he was forty; this man never saw a soldier till he was fifty. Cromwell manufactured his own army—out of what? Englishmen—the best blood in Europe. Out of the middle class of Englishmen, the best blood of the island. And with it he conquered what? Englishmen—their equals. This man manufactured his army out of what? Out of what you call the despicable race of Negroes, debased, demoralized by two hundred years of slavery, 100,000 of them imported into the island within four years, unable to speak a dialect intelligible even to each other. Yet out of this mixed, and, as you say, despicable mass, he forged a thunderbolt, and hurled it at what? At the proudest blood in Europe, the Spaniard, and sent him home conquered; at the most warlike blood in Europe, the French, and put them under his feet; at the pluckiest blood in Europe, the English, and they skulked home to Jamaica."

The world is acquainted with the treacherous infamy inspired by the great Napoleon, that inveigled the Black Chieftain and liberator of his people on shipboard, the voyage to France, and his subsequent death—STARVED!—in the dungeon of the prison castle of St. Joux.

Whittier, the poet evangelist, whose inspired verse contributed much to the crystallization of the sentiment and spirit that finally doomed African slavery in America, thus referred to the heartless tragedy and the splendid Black who was its victim:

"Sleep calmy in thy dungeon-tomb,
Beneath Besancon's alien sky,
Dark Haytien!—for the time shall come,
Yea, even now is nigh—
When, everywhere, thy name shall be
Redeemed from color's infamy;
And men shall learn to speak of thee,
As one of earth's great spirits, born
In servitude, and nursed in scorn,
Casting aside the weary weight
And fetters of its low estate,
In that strong majesty of soul,
Which knows no color, tongue or clime,
Which still hath spurned the base control
Of tyrants through all time!"

---

CHAPTER XI.

HOUR OF HIS NATION'S PERIL.

NEGRO'S PATRIOTIC ATTITUDE—SELECTIVE DRAFT IN EFFECT—FEATURES AND RESULTS—BOLD RELIANCE ON FAITH IN A PEOPLE—NO COLOR LINE DRAWN—DISTRIBUTION OF REGISTRANTS BY STATES—NEGRO AND WHITE REGISTRATIONS COMPARED—NEGRO PERCENTAGES HIGHER—CLAIMED FEWER EXEMPTIONS—INDUCTIONS BY STATES—BETTER PHYSICALLY THAN WHITES—TABLES, FACTS AND FIGURES.

As stated in a previous chapter, the Negro's real opportunity to show his patriotic attitude did not come until the passage of the compulsory service law; selective draft, was the name attached to it later and by which it was generally known.

On May 18, 1917, the day the law was enacted by congress, no advocate of preparedness could with confidence have forecasted the success of it. There were many who feared the total failure of it. The history of the United States disclosed a popular adherence to the principle of voluntary enlistment, if not a repudiation of the principle of selection or compulsory military service.

It was to be expected that many people would look upon the law as highly experimental; as an act that, if it did not produce grave disorders in the country, would fall short of the results for which it was intended. It was fortunate for the country at this time, that the military establishment possessed in the person of General Crowder, one who had made a special study of selective drafts and other forms of compulsory service, not alone in this country, but throughout the nations of the world and back to the beginning of recorded history. He had become as familiar with all phases of it as though it had been a personal hobby and lifetime pursuit.

The law was extremely plain and permitted of no guessing or legal quibbling over its terms. It boldly recited the military obligations of citizenship. It vested the president with the most complete power of prescribing regulations calculated to strike a balance between the industrial, agricultural and economic needs of the nation on the one hand and the military need on the other.

Within 18 days between May 18, when the law was approved, and June 5, the day the president had fixed as registration day, a great, administrative machine was built. Practically the entire male citizenship of the United States within the age limits fixed by law, twenty-one to thirty years inclusive, presented itself at the 4,000 enrollment booths with a registered result of nearly 10,000,000 names. The project had been so systematized that within 48 hours almost complete registration returns had been assembled by telegraph in Washington.

The order in which the ten-million registrants were to be called was accomplished on July 20 by a great central lottery in Washington.

The boards proceeded promptly to call, to examine physically and to consider claims for exemption of over one and one half million men, a sufficient number to fill the first national quota of 687,000. Thus in less than three and one-half months the nation had accepted and vigorously executed a compulsory service law.

On June 5, 1918, 753,834 men were added to the rolls. On August 24, 1918, that number was increased by 159,161; finally on September 12, 1918, under the provision of the act of August 31,1918, 13,228,762 were added to the lists of those available for military service, which, including interim and other accessions, amounted to a grand total of 24,234,021 enrolled and subject to the terms of the Selective Service law. This tremendous exhibition of man power struck terror to the heart of the Hun and hastened him to, if possible, deliver a telling blow against the Allies before the wonderful strength and resources of the American nation could be brought to bear against him.

Commenting on the facility with which the selective draft was put into effect, the report of the Provost Marshall General stated in part:

"The expedition and smoothness with which the law was executed emphasized the remarkable flexibility, adaptability and efficiency of our system of government and the devotion of our people. Here was a gigantic project in which success was staked not on reliance in the efficiency of a man, or an hierarchy of men, or, primarily, on a system. Here was a bold reliance on faith in a people. Most exacting duties were laid with perfect confidence on the officials of every locality in the nation, from the governors of states to the registrars of elections, and upon private citizens of every condition, from men foremost in the industrial and political life of the nation to those who had never before been called upon to participate in the functions of government. By all administrative tokens, the accomplishment of their task was magic."

No distinction regarding color or race was made in the selective draft law, except so far as non-citizen Indians were exempt from the draft. But the organization of the army placed Negro soldiers in separate units; and the several calls for mobilization, were, therefore, affected by this circumstance, in that no calls could be issued for Negro registrants until the organizations were ready for them. Figures of total registration given previously in this chapter include interim accessions and some that automatically went on the rolls after September 12, 1918. Inasmuch as the tables prepared by the Provost Marshall General's department deal only with those placed on the rolls on regular registration days and do not include the accessions mentioned, comparisons which follow will be based on those tables. They show the total registration as 23,779,997, of which 21,489,470 were white and 2,290,527 were black. Following is a table showing the distribution of colored and white registrants by states:

Colored
Total registrants
Colored June 5, 1917 Colored Total
and white Colored registrants colored
registrants. to Sept 11, Sept 12, registrants.
1918. 1918.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
United States 23,779,097 1,078,331 1,212,196 2,290,527
=====================================================
Alabama 444,692 81,963 81,410 163,373
Arizona 93,078 295 680 975
Arkansas 365,754 51,176 53,659 104,835
California 787,676 3,308 6,404 9,712
Colorado 215,178 1,103 1,867 2,970
Connecticut 373,676 3,524 4,659 8,183
Delaware 55,215 3,798 4,448 8,246
District of Columbia 89,808 11,045 15,433 26,478
Florida 208,931 39,013 43,019 82,032
Georgia 549,020 112,593 108,183 220,781
Idaho 103,740 254 255 509
Illinois 1,571,717 21,816 35,597 57,413
Indiana 639,431 11,289 16,549 27,838
Iowa 523,957 2,959 3,022 5,981
Kansas 381,315 5,575 7,448 13,023
Kentucky 486,599 25,850 30,182 56,032
Louisiana 391,654 76,223 82,256 158,479
Maine 159,350 163 179 342
Maryland 313,255 26,435 32,736 59,171
Massachusetts 884,030 6,044 8,056 14,100
Michigan 871,410 6,979 8,950 15,929
Minnesota 540,003 1,541 1,809 3,350
Mississippi 344,506 81,548 91,534 173,082
Missouri 764,428 22,796 31,524 54,320
Montana 196,999 320 494 814
Nebraska 286,147 1,614 2,417 4,031
Nevada 29,465 69 112 172
New Hampshire 95,035 77 98 175
New Jersey 761,238 14,056 19,340 33,396
New Mexico 80,158 235 350 595
New York 2,503,290 25,974 35,299 61,273
North Carolina 480,901 73,357 69,168 142,525
North Dakota 159,391 65 165 230
Ohio 1,387,830 28,831 35,156 63,987
Oklahoma 423,864 14,305 23,253 37,563
Oregon 176,010 144 534 678
Pennsylvania 2,067,023 39,363 51,111 90,474
Rhode Island 134,232 1,573 1,913 3,486
South Carolina 307,229 74,265 74,912 149,177
South Dakota 142,783 144 171 315
Tennessee 474,253 43,735 51,059 94,794
Texas 989,571 83,671 82,775 166,446
Utah 100,038 169 392 561
Vermont 71,464 63 89 152
Virginia 464,903 64,358 75,816 140,174
Washington 319,337 373 1,353 1,726
West Virginia 324,975 13,292 14,652 27,944
Wisconsin 584,639 718 1,117 1,835
Wyoming 58,700 280 570 850
White
registrants White Total
Percent of June 5, 1917 registrants white Percent
total to Sept 11 Sept 12, registrants. of total
registrants. 1918. 1918. registrants.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
United States 9.83 9,562,515 11,926,955 21,480,470 90.37
===================================================================
Alabama 36.74 124,247 157,072 281,319 63.26
Arizona 1.05 39,884 52,219 92,103 98.95
Arkansas 28.66 117,111 143,808 260,919 71.34
California 1.23 312,994 464,970 777,964 98.77
Colorado 1.38 90,453 121,755 212,208 98.62
Connecticut . 2.19 171,296 194,197 365,493 97.81
Delaware 14.93 20,761 26,208 46,969 85.07
District of Columbia 29.45 25,625 37,795 63,420 70.56
Florida 39.26 55,572 71,327 126,899 60.74
Georgia 40.22 147,604 180,635 328,239 59.78
Idaho 0.49 45,224 58,007 103,231 99.51
Illinois 3.65 685,254 829,050 1,514,304 96.35
Indiana 4.35 272,442 339,151 611,593 95.65
Iowa 1.14 237,744 280,232 517,976 98.86
Kansas 3.41 161,691 206,602 368,293 96.59
Kentucky 11.52 190,060 240,507 430,567 88.43
Louisiana 40.46 103,718 129,467 233,185 59.54
Maine 0.22 67,941 91,067 159,008 99.73
Maryland 18.89 110,066 144,018 254,084 81.11
Massachusetts 1.60 391,654 478,276 869,930 93.40
Michigan 1.83 404,040 451,441 855,481 98.17
Minnesota 0.62 247,750 288,903 538,653 99.38
Mississippi 50.24 75,977 95,447 171,424 49.76
Missouri 7.11 372,106 398,002 710,108 92.89
Montana 0.41 96,753 101,432 198,185 99.59
Nebraska 1.42 130,493 151,623 282,116 98.58
Nevada 0.58 12,581 16,712 29,293 99.42
New Hampshire 0.18 41,617 53,243 94,860 99.82
New Jersey 4.39 18,615 409,225 727,840 95.61
New Mexico 0.74 36,776 42,787 79,563 99.26
New York 2.44 1,092,061 1,349,956 2,442,617 97.56
North Carolina 29.63 155,102 183,274 338,376 70.37
North Dakota 0.15 72,837 85,324 159,161 98.85
Ohio 4.61 588,170 735,673 1,323,843 95.39
Oklahoma 8.86 173,851 212,450 386,301 91.15
Oregon 0.38 69,376 105,956 175,332 99.62
Pennsylvania 4.38 353,106 1,113,443 1,976,549 95.62
Rhode Island 2.59 57,433 73,313 130,746 12
South Carolina 48.56 70,395 87,657 158,052 51.44
South Dakota 0.23 64,896 77,572 142,468 99.77
Tennessee 19.99 169,674 209,785 379,459 80.01
Texas 16.82 376,385 446,740 823,125 83.18
Utah 0.56 45,930 53,547 99,477 99.44
Vermont 0.21 30,819 40,493 71,312 99.79
Virginia 30.15 141,714 183,015 324,727 69.85
Washington 0.54 123,752 193,859 317,611 99.46
West Virginia 8.60 128,852 168,179 297,031 91.40
Wisconsin 0.31 265,501 317,303 582,804 99.69
Wyoming 1.45 24,612 33,238 57,850 98.56

Results of the classification of December 15, 1917 to September 11, 1918, in respect to colored and white registrants are shown in the following table:

Colored and white classification compared. Number. Percent Percent
of total of
classified. classified.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total colored and white registered:
June 5, 1917, to Sept. 11, 1918 10,640,846 100.00 -----
Total colored registered 1,078,331 10.13 100.00
Class I 556,917 ----- 51.65
Deferred classes 521,414 ----- -----
Total white registered 9,562,515 89.87 100.00
Class I 3,110,659 ----- 32.53
Deferred classes 6,451,856 ----- -----
Percentage accepted for service on calls before Dec. 15, 1917 (report for 1917).
Colored ----- ----- 36.23
White ----- ----- 24.75

It will be seen that a much higher percentage of Negroes were accepted for service than of white men. It is true that enlistments which were permitted white men but denied Negroes, depleted the whites eligible to Class 1 to some extent. Probably there were more Negro delinquents in proportion to their numbers in the south than white delinquents. The conditions under which they lived would account for that. Delinquents, under the regulations, were placed in Class 1. Then there is the undoubted fact that the Negro sought and was granted fewer exemptions on the ground of dependency. Many Negroes in the south, where the rate of pay was low, were put in Class 1 on the ground that their allotment and allowances while in the army, would furnish an equivalent support to their dependents. But whatever the reason, the great fact stands out that a much greater percentage of colored were accepted for service than white men. The following table gives the colored and white inductions by states:

Total colored Colored Colored Per
and white registrants, Percentage inducted Percent of
registrants, June 5, of colored June 5, colored
June 5, 1917, 1917, to and white 1917, to registrants.
to Sept. 11, Sept. 11, registrants. Nov. 11,
1918. 1918. 1918.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
United States 10,640,846 1,078,331 10.13 367,710 34.10
===================================================================
Alabama 206,210 81,963 39.75 25,874 31.57
Arizona 40,179 295 .73 77 26.10
Arkansas 168,287 51,176 30.4l 17,544 34.28
California 316,302 3,308 1.05 919 27.78
Colorado 91,556 1,103 1.20 317 28.74
Connecticut 174,820 3,524 2.02 941 26.70
Delaware 24,559 3,798 15.46 1,365 35.93
District of Columbia 36,670 11,045 30.12 4,000 36.22
Florida 94,585 39,013 41.25 12,904 33.08
Georgia 260,197 112,593 43.27 34,303 30.47
Idaho 45,478 254 .56 95 37.40
Illinois 707,070 21,816 3.09 8,754 40.13
Indiana 283,731 11,289 3.98 4,579 40.56
Iowa 240,703 2,959 1.23 929 31.40
Kansas 167,266 5,575 3.33 2,127 38.15
Kentucky 215,910 25,850 11.98 11,320 43.79
Louisiana 179,941 76,223 42.36 28,711 37.67
Maine 68,104 163 .24 50 30.67
Maryland 136,501 26,435 19.37 9,212 34.85
Massachusetts 397,698 6,044 1.52 1,200 19.85
Michigan 411,019 6,979 1.70 2,395 34.32
Minnesota 249,291 1,541 .62 511 53.16
Mississippi 157,525 81,548 51.77 24,066 29.51
Missouri 334,902 22,796 6.81 9,219 40.44
Montana 97,073 320 .33 198 61.87
Nebraska 132,107 1,614 1.22 642 39.78
Nevada 12,640 59 .47 26 44.07
New Hampshire 41,694 77 .18 27 35.07
New Jersey 332,671 14,056 4.23 4,863 34.60
New Mexico 37,011 235 .63 51 21.70
New York 1,118,035 25,974 2.32 6,193 23.84
North Carolina 228,459 73,357 32.11 20,082 27.38
North Dakota 72,902 65 .09 87 -----
Ohio 617,001 28,831 4.67 7,861 27.27
Oklahoma 188,156 14,305 7.60 5,694 39.80
Oregon 69,520 144 .21 68 47.22
Pennsylvania 902,469 39,363 4.36 15,392 39.10
Rhode Island 59,006 1,573 2.67 291 18.50
South Carolina 144,660 74,265 51.34 25,798 34.74
South Dakota 65,040 144 .22 62 43.06
Tennessee 213,409 43,735 20.59 17,774 40.64
Texas 460,056 83,671 18.19 31,506 37.65
Utah 46,099 169 .37 77 45.56
Vermont 30,882 63 .20 22 34.92
Virginia 206,072 64,358 31.23 23,541 36.57
Washington 124,125 373 .30 173 46.38
West Virginia 142,144 13,292 9.35 5,492 41.32
Wisconsin 266,219 718 .27 224 31.20
Wyoming 24,892 280 1.12 95 23.93
Alaska 5
Hawaii
Porto Rico
White Percent of White
registrants, colored inductions, Percent
June 5, and June 5, of white
1917, to white 1917, to registrants.
Sept. 11, registrants. Nov. 11,
1918. 1918.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
United States 9,562,515 89.87 2,299,157 24.04
=====================================================
Alabama 124,247 60.25 33,881 27.27
Arizona 39,884 99.27 8,036 20.15
Arkansas 117,111 69.59 31,768 27.13
California 312,994 98.95 60,148 21.13
Colorado 90,453 98.80 22,487 24.86
Connecticut 171,296 97.98 31,598 18.45
Delaware 20,761 84.54 3,628 17.48
District of Columbia 25,625 69.88 5,631 21.97
Florida 55,572 58.75 12,012 21.62
Georgia 147,604 56.73 32,538 32.04
Idaho 45,224 99.44 12,471 27.58
Illinois 685,254 96.91 68,729 24.62
Indiana 272,442 96.02 65,170 23.92
Iowa 237,744 98.77 65,935 27.73
Kansas 161,691 96.67 39,778 21.60
Kentucky 190,060 88.02 47,010 24.60
Louisiana 103,718 57.64 27,494 26.51
Maine 67,941 99.76 15,216 22.40
Maryland 110,066 80.63 24,655 22.40
Massachusetts 391,654 98.48 75,367 19.24
Michigan 404,040 98.30 94,085 23.29
Minnesota 247,750 99.38 73,169 29.53
Mississippi 75,977 48.23 19,296 25.40
Missouri 312,106 93.19 83,624 26.79
Montana 96,753 99.67 27,142 28.O5
Nebraska 130,493 98.78 29,165 22.35
Nevada 12,581 99.53 8,138 24.94
New Hampshire 41,617 99.82 8,377 20.13
New Jersey 318,615 95.77 66,527 20.88
New Mexico 36,776 99.37 8,811 23.96
New York 1,092,061 97.68 247,396 22.65
North Carolina 155,102 67.89 38,359 24.73
North Dakota 72,837 99.91 18,508 25.41
Ohio 568,170 95.83 130,287 22.15
Oklahoma 173,851 92.40 59,247 34.08
Oregon 69,376 99.79 16,090 23.19
Pennsylvania 863,106 95.64 185,819 21.53
Rhode Island 57,433 97.33 10,885 18.95
South Carolina 70,395 48.66 18,261 25.94
South Dakota 64,896 99.78 21,193 32.66
Tennessee 169,674 79.51 42,104 24.81
Texas 376,385 81.81 85,889 22.82
Utah 45,93O 99.63 10,711 23.32
Vermont 30,819 99.80 6,607 21.44
Virginia 141,714 68.77 34,796 24.55
Washington 123,752 99.70 28,513 23.04
West Virginia 128,852 90.65 39,863 30.94
Wisconsin 265,501 99.73 70,758 26.65
Wyoming 24,612 98.88 7,828 31.81
Alaska 1,957
Hawaii 5,406
Porto Rico 15,734

Further light on the question of more Negroes in proportion to their numbers being selected for service than white men, is found in a comparison of the Negroes and whites rejected for physical reasons. The following table gives the figures for the period between December 15, 1917 and September 11, 1918:

Colored and white physical rejections compared. Number. Percent of Percent of
examined partial
disqualifications.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total, colored and white examined Dec. 15, 1917,
to Sept. 11, 1918 3,208,446 100.00 -----
Group A 2,259,027 70.41 -----
Disqualified partly or totally 949,419 ----- 100.00
Group B 88,436 2.76 9.31
Group C 339,377 10.58 35.75
Group D 521,606 16.25 54.94
Total, colored examined 458,838 100.00 -----
Group A 342,277 74.60 -----
Disqualified partly or totally 116,561 ----- 100.00
Group B 9,605 2.09 8.24
Group C 27,474 5.99 23.57
Group D 79,482 17.32 68.19
Total white examined 2,749,608 100.00 -----
Group A 1,916,750 69.71 -----
Disqualified partly or totally 832,858 ----- 100.00
Group B 78,831 2.87 9.47
Group C 311,903 11.34 37.45
Group D 442,124 16.08 53.08

The percentage of Negroes unqualifiedly accepted for service, was 74.60% of the number examined; the white men accepted numbered 69.71% of the number examined. The Negroes it will be seen rated about 5% higher physically than the whites. No better refutation could be desired of the charge, having its inspiration in the vanquished, but unrepentant defenders of Negro slavery, mourning about its dead carcass, that the Negro is deteriorating physically, or that the so-called degenerative influences of civilization affect him in greater degree than they do the white man.

---

CHAPTER XII.

NEGRO SLACKERS AND PACIFISTS UNKNOWN.

SUCH WORDS NOT IN HIS VOCABULARY—DESERTIONS EXPLAINED—GENERAL CROWDER EXONERATES NEGRO—NO WILLFUL DELINQUENCY—STRENUOUS EFFORTS TO MEET REGULATIONS—NO "CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS"—NO DRAFT EVADERS OR RESISTERS—NEGRO'S DEVOTION SUBLIME—JUSTIFIES HIS FREEDOM—FORGETS HIS SORROWS—RISES ABOVE HIS WRONGS—TESTIMONY OF LOCAL BOARDS—GERMAN PROPAGANDA WASTED—A NEW AMERICANISM.

The only phase of the selective draft in which the Negro seemed to be discredited in comparison with his white brother, was in the matter of desertions. At first glance and without proper analysis, the record appeared to be against the Negro. Upon detailed study, however, the case takes on a different aspect. The records of the Provost Marshall General show that out of 474,861 reported deserters, 369,030 were white registrants, and 105,831 colored, the ratio of white reported deserters to white registrants being 3.86, and the ratio of colored reported deserters to colored registrants being 9.81. Everyone knows now that many, yes, the bulk of the reported desertions among both whites and blacks, were not desertions at all. Circumstances simply prevented the men from keeping in touch with their local boards or from reporting when called.

Desertions among white registrants might have shown a greater percentage had they not availed themselves of the exemption feature of the law. Negroes did not understand this clause in the act so well. Besides, as previously stated, many Negroes were placed in Class 1, even where they had dependants, because their rate of pay in the army would enable them to contribute as much to the support of their dependants as would their earnings outside of army service.

This was a policy with many draft boards, but it is not exactly clear in view of the increased earning power of the Negroes through wartime demands for their labor. Following are the complete figures on so-called desertions, the variances in the several states being given:

Total
white
and colored
registrants,
June 5,
1917, to Total Reported Percent of Percent of
Sept. 11, white desertions, total white
1918. registrants. white. registrants. registrants.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
United States 10,640,846 9,562,515 380,030 3.47 3.86
========================================================================================
Alabama 206,210 194,247 3,672 1.78 2.96
Arizona 40,179 39,884 6,930 17.36 17.40
Arkansas 168,287 117,111 2,476 1.47 2.11
California 316,302 313,994 15,323 4.84 4.90
Colorado 91,556 90,463 4,910 5.38 5.43
Connecticut 174,820 171,296 12,416 7.10 7.25
Delaware 24,559 20,761 686 2.79 3.30
District of Columbia 36,670 25,625 390 1.06 1.52
Florida 94,585 55,572 1,823 1.93 3.28
Georgia 260,197 147,001 4,499 1.73 3.05
Idaho 45,478 45,224 2,242 4.93 4.96
Illinois 707,070 685,254 21,673 3.07 3.16
Indiana 283,731 272,442 5,252 1.85 1.93
Iowa 240,703 237,744 5,283 2.19 2.21
Kansas 167,266 161,691 3,172 1.90 1.96
Kentucky 215,910 190,060 2,830 1.03 1.23
Louisiana 179,941 103,718 2,250 1.25 2.17
Maine 68,104 67,941 2,553 3.74 3.76
Maryland 136,501 110,066 3,831 2.81 3.48
Massachusetts 397,698 391,654 19,841 4.99 5.07
Michigan 411,019 404,040 17,222 4.19 4.26
Minnesota 249,291 247,750 10,108 4.05 4.08
Mississippi 157,525 75,977 1,713 1.09 2.25
Missouri 334,902 312,106 10,549 3.14 3.38
Montana 97,073 96,753 7,835 8.13 8.16
Nebraska 132,107 130,493 2,608 1.97 2.00
Nevada 12,640 12,581 1,392 1.10 11.06
New Hampshire 41,694 41,617 1,428 3.42 3.43
New Jersey 332,671 318,815 15,114 4.54 4.74
New Mexico 37,011 36,776 3,217 8.69 8.75
New York 1,118,035 1,092,061 57,021 5.10 5.22
North Carolina 228,459 155,102 1,175 5.14 .76
North Dakota 72,902 72,837 2,520 3.46 3.46
Ohio 617,001 588,170 22,846 3.70 3.88
Oklahoma 188,156 173,851 5,860 3.11 3.37
Oregon 69,520 69,376 2,023 2.91 2.92
Pennsylvania 902,469 863,106 31,739 3.52 3.68
Rhode Island 59,006 57,433 2,340 3.97 4.07
South Carolina 144,660 70,395 1,107 .77 1.57
South Dakota 65,040 64,896 1,243 1.91 1.92
Tennessee 213,409 169,674 4,389 2.05 2.58
Texas 460,056 376,385 19,209 4.18 5.10
Utah 46,099 45,930 1,735 3.76 3.78
Vermont 30,882 30,819 690 2.23 2.71
Virginia 206,072 141,714 3,090 1.50 2.18
Washington 124,125 123,752 7,261 5.85 5.87
West Virginia 142,144 128,852 4,803 3.38 3.73
Wisconsin 266,219 265,501 4,663 1.75 1.76
Wyoming 24,892 24,612 1,734 6.96 7.05
Alaska 601
Hawaii 184
Porto Rico 15
Total Reported Percent Percent
colored desertions, of total of colored
registrants. colored. registrants. registrants.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
United States 1,078,331 105,831 .99 9.81
============================================================================
Alabama 81,963 10,835 5.25 13.22
Arizona 295 64 .16 21.69
Arkansas 51,176 4,770 2.83 9.32
California 3,303 268 .08 8.10
Colorado 1,103 91 .10 8.25
Connecticut 3,524 682 .39 19.35
Delaware 3,798 303 1.23 7.98
District of Columbia 11,045 616 1.68 5.58
Florida 39,013 8,319 8.71 21.32
Georgia 112,593 8,969 3.45 7.97
Idaho 254 108 .23 42.51
Illinois 21,816 2,911 .41 13.34
Indiana 11,289 1,199 .42 10.62
Iowa 2,959 517 .21 17.47
Kansas 5,575 255 .15 4.57
Kentucky 25,850 1,524 .71 5.90
Louisiana 76,223 5,962 3.31 7.82
Maine 163 29 .04 17.79
Maryland 26,435 2,410 1.77 9.12
Massachusetts 6,044 665 1.67 11.00
Michigan 6,979 1,015 .25 14.54
Minnesota 1,541 621 .25 40.30
Mississippi 81,548 8,112 5.15 9.95
Missouri 22,796 1,791 .53 7.86
Montana 320 114 .12 35.63
Nebraska 1,614 229 .17 14.19
Nevada 59 3 .02 6.08
New Hampshire 77 3 .01 3.90
New Jersey 14,056 1,535 .46 10.92
New Mexico 235 40 .11 17.02
New York 25,974 4,062 .36 15.64
North Carolina 73,357 4,937 2.16 6.73
North Dakota 65 19 .03 29.23
Ohio 28,831 4,048 .66 14.04
Oklahoma 14,305 1,223 .65 8.56
Oregon 144 18 .03 12.59
Pennsylvania 39,363 6,599 .73 16.76
Rhode Island 1,573 251 .43 15.96
South Carolina 74,265 4,589 3.14 6.18
South Dakota 144 27 .04 18.75
Tennessee 43,735 3,573 1.67 8.17
Texas 83,671 5,388 1.17 6.44
Utah 169 11 .02 6.51
Vermont 63 4 .01 6.35
Virginia 64,358 4,935 2.39 7.67
Washington 373 30 .02 8.04
West Virginia 13,292 2,013 1.41 15.14
Wisconsin 718 73 .03 10.17
Wyoming 280 63 .25 22.50

NEGRO TROOPS NEWLY ARRIVED IN FRANCE, LINED UP FOR INSPECTION.

NEGRO TROOPS ON A PRACTICE RUN NEAR THEIR CAMP IN FRANCE.

OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHS, U.S. ARMY PRESENTATION OF BANNER TO NEGRO STEVEDORES FOR WINNING FIRST WEEK'S "RACE TO BERLIN", MARSEILLES, FRANCE.

OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHS, U.S. ARMY NEGRO WINNERS IN STEVEDORE CONTEST BEING ENTERTAINED BY 134TH INFANTRY QUARTET AND BAND AT MARSEILLES, FRANCE.

GOING TO FIGHT FOR UNCLE SAM. TYPICAL GROUP OF NEGRO SELECTIVE SERVICE MEN LEAVING FOR THE TRAINING CAMP.

NEGRO TROOPS ARRIVING IN FRANCE. A COMPARISON WITH THE UPPER PICTURE SHOWS THE RAPID TRANSFORMATION FROM CIVILIANS TO FIGHTING MEN.

"MOSS'S BUFFALOES" (367TH INFANTRY), SERENADING FAMOUS MILITARY CHIEFTAINS IN FRANCE. IN WINDOW AT LEFT STANDS GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES; AT RIGHT GENERAL GOURAUD, COMMANDER OF THE FOURTH FRENCH ARMY .

HEROES OF THE BRAWNY ARM WHOSE SERVICE WAS NO LESS EFFECTIVE THAN THAT OF THE COMBATANTS. A DETAIL OF NEGRO RAILWAY BUILDERS ENGAGED ON THE LINE FROM BREST TO TOURS .

NEGRO ENGINEERS BUILDING ROADS IN FRANCE. AN INDISPENSABLE FEATURE OF THE SERVICE OF SUPPLY.

NEGRO TROOPS IN FRANCE ENJOY AN OLD-FASHIONED MEAL.

NEGRO MACHINE GUNNERS ON THE ROAD NEAR MAFFRECOURT, FRANCE. PART OF 369TH INFANTRY.

CAPTAIN HINTON AND OFFICERS OF 1ST BATTALION. 369TH NEGRO INFANTRY ON ROAD NEAR MAFFRECOURT, FRANCE.

AUTO HORN WARNS AMERICANS OF COMING GAS ATTACK. SOLDIERS DON MASKS AND SOUND THE ALARM. INSERT, LEFT CORNER, MACHINE GUNNERS.

No elaborate defense of the Negro will be attempted in the matter of the desertion record. It is not necessary. The words of Provost Marshall General Crowder, the man who knew all about the selective draft and who engineered it through its wonderfully successful course, completely absolved the Negro in this connection. The following quotation in reference to the above figures is taken verbatim from the report of General Crowder to the Secretary of War, dated December 20, 1918.

"These figures of reported desertions, however, lose their significance when the facts behind them are studied. There is in the files of this office, a series of letters from governors and draft executives of southern states, called forth by inquiry for an explanation of the large percentage of Negroes among the reported deserters and delinquents. With striking unanimity the draft authorities replied that this was due to two causes; first, ignorance and illiteracy; especially in the rural regions, to which may be added a certain shiftlessness in ignoring civic obligations; and secondly, the tendency of the Negroes to shift from place to place. The natural inclination to roam from one employment to another has been accentuated by unusual demands for labor incident to the war, resulting in a considerable flow of colored men to the north and to various munition centers. This shifting reached its height in the summer of 1917, shortly after the first registration, and resulted in the failure of many men to keep in touch with their local boards, so that questionnaires and notices to report did not reach them.
"With equal unanimity the draft executives report that the amount of willful delinquency or desertion has been almost nil. Several describe the strenuous efforts of the Negroes to comply with the regulations, when the requirements were explained to them, many registrants travelling long distances to report in person to the adjutant general of the state. 'The conviction resulting from these reports' says General Crowder, 'is that the colored men as a whole responded readily and gladly to their military obligations once their duties were understood."

So far as the records show, there were neither "slackers" nor "pacifists" among the Negroes. Hon. Emmett J. Scott, Special Assistant to the Secretary of War, said that the war department had heard of only two colored "conscientious objectors". When those two were cross-examined it was revealed that they had misinterpreted their motives and that their objections proceeded from a source very remote from their consciences.

Pacifists and conscientious objectors came principally from the class who held religious scruples against war or the taking up of arms. The law permitted these to enter a special so-called non-combatant classification.

It is a well known fact that Negro religionists are members of the church militant, so they could not be included in the self-declared conscientious pacifistic sects.

Neither was the Negro represented in that class known as draft resisters or draft evaders. A very good reason exists in the fact that opposition to the draft came from a class which did not admit the Negro to membership. Practically all draft resistance was traceable to the activities of radicals, whose fantastic dreams enchanted and seduced the ignorant and artless folk who came under their influence.

The resisters were all poor whites led by professional agitators. Negroes had no such organizations nor leaders.

The part played by the Negro in the great world drama upon which the curtain has fallen, was not approached in sublime devotion by that displayed by any other class of America's heterogeneous mixture of tribe and race, hailing from all the ends of the earth, that composes its great and wonderful population. Blind in a sense; unreasoning as a child in the sacredness and consecration of his fealty; clamoring with the fervor of an ancient crusader; his eye on heaven, his steps turned towards the Holy Sepulchre, for a chance to go; a time and place to die, HIS was a distinct and marked patriotism; quite alone in "splendid isolation" but shining like the sun; unstreaked with doubt; unmixed with cavil or question, which, finally given reign on many a spot of strife in "Sunny France"; the Stars and Stripes above him; a prayer in his heart; a song upon his lips, spelt death, but death glorious; where he fell—HOLY GROUND!

"The fittest place where man can DIE Is where he dies for man!"

A product of slavery, ushered into a sphere of civil and political activity, clouded and challenged by the sullen resentment of his former masters; his soul still embittered by defeat; slowly working his way through many hindrances toward the achievement of success that would enable both him and the world to justify the new life of freedom that had come to him; faced at every hand by the prejudice born of tradition; enduring wrongs that "would stir a fever in the blood of age"; still the slave to a large extent of superstition fed by ignorance, is it to be wondered at that some doubt was felt and expressed by the best friends of the Negro, when the call came for a draft upon the man power of the nation; whether, in the face of the great wrongs heaped upon him; the persecutions he had passed through and was still enduring, he would be able to forgive and forget; could and would so rise above his sorrows as to reach to the height and the full duty of citizenship; would give to the Stars and Stripes the response that was due? On the part of many leaders among the Negroes, there was apprehension that the sense of fair play and fair dealing, which is so essentially an American characteristic, when white men are involved, would not be meted out to the members of their race.

How groundless such fears, may be seen from the statistical record of the draft with relation to the Negro. His race furnished its quota uncomplainingly and cheerfully. History, indeed, will be unable to record the fullness and grandeur of his spirit in the war, for the reason that opportunities, especially for enlistment, as heretofore mentioned, were not opened to him to the same extent as to the whites. But enough can be gathered from the records to show that he was filled not only with patriotism, but of a brand, all things considered, than which there was no other like it.

That the men of the Negro race were as ready to serve as the white is amply proved by the reports of local boards. A Pennsylvania board, remarking upon the eagerness of its Negro registrants to be inducted, illustrated it by the action of one registrant, who, upon learning that his employer had had him placed upon the Emergency Fleet list, quit his job. Another registrant who was believed by the board to be above draft age insisted that he was not, and in stating that he was not married, explained that he "wanted only one war at a time."

The following descriptions from Oklahoma and Arkansas boards are typical, the first serving to perpetuate one of the best epigrams of the war:

"We tried to treat the Negroes with exactly the same consideration shown the whites. We had the same speakers to address them. The Rotary Club presented them with small silk flags, as they did the whites. The band turned out to escort them to the train; and the Negroes went to camp with as cheerful a spirit as did the whites. One of them when asked if he were going to France, replied: 'No, sir; I'm not going "to France". I am going "through France".'"
"In dealing with the Negroes," the Arkansas board report says, "the southern boards gained a richness of experience that is without parallel. No other class of citizens was more loyal to the government or more ready to answer the country's call. The only blot upon their military record was the great number of delinquents among the more ignorant; but in the majority of cases this was traced to an ignorance of the regulations, or to the withholding of mail by the landlord, often himself an aristocratic slacker, in order to retain the man's labor."

Many influences were brought to bear upon the Negro to cause him to evade his duty to the government. Some effort in certain sections of the country was made to induce them not to register. That the attempt to spread German propaganda among them was a miserable failure may be seen from the statement of the Chief of the Bureau of Investigation of the Department of Justice, made to the United States Senate committee:

"The Negroes didn't take to these stories, however, as they were too loyal. Money spent in the south for propaganda was thrown away."

Then too, these evil influences were more than offset by the various publicity and "promotion of morale" measures carried on through the office of the special assistant to the Secretary of War, the Hon. Emmet J. Scott, and his assistants. Correspondence was kept up with influential Negroes all over the country. Letters, circulars and news items for the purpose of effecting and encouraging continued loyalty of Negro citizens, were regularly issued to the various papers comprising both the white and Negro press. A special committee of 100 colored speakers was appointed to deliver public patriotic addresses all over the country, under the auspices of the Committee on Public Information, stating the war aims of the government and seeking to keep unbroken the spirit of loyalty of Negro American citizens. A special conference of Negro editors was summoned to Washington in June, 1918 by the same committee in order to gather and disseminate the thought and public opinion of the various leaders of the Negro race. Such was only a part of the work of the department of the special assistant to the Secretary of War in marshalling the man power of the nation.

NEGRO TROOPS OF U.S. ARMY RECEIVING HOLY BAPTISM WHILE IN TRAINING FOR OVERSEAS DUTY AT NORCROSS RIFLE RANGE. CAMP CORDON, GA.

It is only fair to quote the opinion and appreciation of this representative of the Negro race of the selective service administration, especially as it affected the Negro and in reference to occasional complaints received. The extract is from a memorandum addressed to the office of the Provost Marshal General on September 12, 1918 and is copied from the report of that official to the Secretary of War:

"Throughout my tenure here I have keenly appreciated the prompt and cordial cooperation of the Provost Marshall General's office with that particular section of the office of the Secretary of War especially referred to herein. The Provost Marshall General's office has carefully investigated and has furnished full and complete reports in each and every complaint or case referred to it for attention, involving discrimination, race prejudice, erroneous classification of draftees, etc., and has rectified these complaints whenever it was found upon investigation that there was just ground for same. Especially in the matter of applying and carrying out the selective service regulations, the Provost Marshall General's office has kept a watchful eye upon certain local exemption boards which seemed disinclined to treat the Negro draftees on the same basis as other Americans subject to the draft law. It is an actual fact that in a number of instances where flagrant violations have occurred in the application of the draft law, to Negro men in certain sections of the country, local exemption boards have been removed bodily and new boards have been appointed to supplant them. In several instances these new boards so appointed have been ordered by the Provost Marshall General to reclassify colored men who had been unlawfully conscripted into the army or who had been wrongfully classified; as a result of this action hundreds of colored men have had their complaints remedied and have been properly reclassified."

It is also valuable to note the opinion of this representative of his race as to the results of the negroes' participation in the war:

"In a word, I believe the Negro's participation in the war, his eagerness to serve, and his great courage and demonstrated valor across the seas, have given him a new idea of Americanism and likewise have given to the white people of our country a new idea of his citizenship, his real character and capabilities, and his 100 per cent Americanism. Incidentally the Negro has been helped in many ways physically and mentally and has been made into an even more satisfactory asset to the nation."

Of the Negroes inducted into service, nearly all were assigned to some department of the army or to special work in connection with the army. Of the few who were permitted to enlist, a very small percentage was permitted to enlist in the Navy. Of this small number only a few were allowed the regular training and opportunities of combatants, to the DISCREDIT of our nation, not as yet, grown to that moral vision and all around greatness, NOT to be small.

---

CHAPTER XIII.

ROSTER OF NEGRO OFFICERS.

COMMISSIONED AT FORT DES MOINES—ONLY EXCLUSIVE NEGRO TRAINING CAMP—MOSTLY FROM CIVILIAN LIFE—NAMES, RANK AND RESIDENCE.

Fort Des Moines, Iowa, was the only training camp established in the United States exclusively for Negro officers. A few were trained and commissioned at Camps Hancock, Pike and Taylor, and a few received commissions at officers' training camps in France, but the War Department records do not specify which were white and which Negro. The Fort Des Moines camp lasted from June until October 1917. Following is the roster of Negro officers commissioned. With the exception of those specified as from the United States Army or the National Guard, all came from civilian life:

Cleve L. Abbott, first lieutenant, Watertown, S.D.
Joseph L. Abernethy, first lieutenant, Prairie View, Tex.
Ewart G. Abner, second lieutenant, Conroe, Tex.
Charles J. Adams, first lieutenant, Selma, Ala.
Aurelious P. Alberga, first lieutenant, San Francisco, Calif.
Ira L. Aldridge, second lieutenant, New York, N.Y.
Edward I. Alexander, first lieutenant, Jacksonville, Fla.
Fritz W. Alexander, second lieutenant, Donaldsville, Ga.
Lucien V. Alexis, first lieutenant, Cambridge, Mass.
John H. Allen, captain, U.S. Army.
Levi Alexander, Jr., first lieutenant, Ocala, Fla.
Clarence W. Allen, second lieutenant, Mobile, Ala.
Richard S. Allen, second lieutenant, Atlantic City, N.J.
James W. Alston, first lieutenant, Raleigh, N.C.
Benjamin E. Ammons, first lieutenant, Kansas City, Mo.
Leon M. Anderson, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Levi Anderson, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Robert Anderson, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
David W. Anthony, Jr., first lieutenant, St. Louis, Mo.
James C. Arnold, first lieutenant, Atlanta, Ga.
Russell C. Atkins, second lieutenant, Winston-Salem, N.C.
Henry O. Atwood, captain, Washington, D.C.
Charles H. Austin, second lieutenant, U.S. Army.
George J. Austin, first lieutenant. New York, N.Y.
Herbert Avery, captain, U.S. Army.
Robert S. Bamfield, second lieutenant, Wilmington, N.C.
Julian C. Banks, second lieutenant, Kansas City, Mo.
Charles H. Barbour, captain, U.S. Army.
Walter B. Barnes, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
William I. Barnes, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Stephen B. Barrows, second lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Thomas J. Batey, first lieutenant, Oakland, Cal.
Wilfrid Bazil, second lieutenant, Brooklyn, N.Y.
James E. Beard, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Ether Beattie, second lieutenant, U.S. Army.
William H. Benson, first lieutenant, Atlanta, Ga.
Albert P. Bentley, first lieutenant, Memphis, Tenn.
Benjamin Bettis, second lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Harrison W. Black, first lieutenant, Lexington, Ky.
Charles J. Blackwood, first lieutenant, Trinidad, Colo.
William Blaney, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Isaiah S. Blocker, first lieutenant, Atlanta, Ga.
William D. Bly, first lieutenant, Leavenworth, Kans.
Henry H. Boger, second lieutenant, Aurora, Ill.
Elbert L. Booker, first lieutenant, Wymer, Wash.
Virgil M. Boutte, captain, Nashville, Tenn.
Jas. F. Booker, captain, U.S. Army.
William R. Bowie, second lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Clyde R. Brannon, first lieutenant, Fremont, Neb.
Lewis Broadus, captain, U.S. Army.
Deton J. Brooks, first lieutenant, Chicago, Ill.
William M. Brooks, second lieutenant, Des Moines, Ia.
Carter N. Brown, first lieutenant, Atlanta, Ga.
Emmet Brown, first lieutenant, St. Louis, Mo.
George E. Brown, second lieutenant, New York City, N.Y.
Oscar C. Brown, first lieutenant, Edwards, Miss.
Rosen T. Brown, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Samuel C. Brown, second lieutenant, Delaware, Ohio.
William H. Brown, Jr., first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Arthur A. Browne, first lieutenant, Xenia, Ohio.
Howard R.M. Browne, first lieutenant, Kansas City, Kans.
Sylvanus Brown, first lieutenant, San Antonio, Tex.
Charles C. Bruen, first lieutenant, Mayslick, Ky.
William T. Burns, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
James A. Bryant, first lieutenant, Indianapolis, Ind.
William L. Bryson, captain, U.S. Army.
John E. Buford, second lieutenant, Langston, Okla.
Thomas J. Bullock, second lieutenant, New York City, N.Y.
John W. Bundrant, second lieutenant, Omaha, Neb.
John P. Burgess, first lieutenant, Mullens, S.C.
Dace H. Burns, first lieutenant, Chicago, Ill.
William H. Burrell, second lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
John M. Burrell, second lieutenant, East Orange, N.J.
Herman L. Butler, first lieutenant, U.S. Army,
Homer C. Butler, first lieutenant, New York, N.Y.
Felix Buggs, second lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Napoleon L. Byrd, first lieutenant, Madison, Wis.
John B. Cade, second lieutenant, Ellerton, Ga.
Walter W. Cagle, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Charles W. Caldwell, second lieutenant, Orangeburg, S.C.
Andrew B. Callahan, second lieutenant, Montgomery, Ala.
Alvin H. Cameron, first lieutenant, Nashville, Tenn.
Alonzo Campbell, captain, U.S. Army.
Lafayette Campbell, second lieutenant, Union, W. Va.
Robert L. Campbell, first lieutenant, Greensboro, N.C.
William B. Campbell, first lieutenant, Austin, Tex.
Guy W. Canady, first lieutenant, Atlanta, Ga.
Lovelace B. Capehart, Jr., second lieutenant, Raleigh, N.C.
Adolphus F. Capps, second lieutenant, Philadelphia, Pa.
Curtis W. Carpenter, second lieutenant, Baltimore, Md.
Early Carson, captain, U.S. Army.
John O. Carter, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Wilson Cary, second lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Robert W. Cheers, second lieutenant, Baltimore, Md.
David K. Cherry, captain, Greensboro, N.C.
Frank R. Chisholm, first lieutenant, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Robert B. Chubb, captain, U.S. Army.
Ewell W. Clark, first lieutenant, Giddings, Tex.
Frank C. Clark, second lieutenant, National Guard, Washington, D.C.
William H. Clarke, first lieutenant, Birmingham, Ala.
William H. Clarke, first lieutenant, Helena, Ark.
Roscoe Clayton, captain, U.S. Army.
Lane G. Cleaves, second lieutenant, Memphis, Tenn.
Joshua W. Clifford, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Sprigg B. Coates, captain, U.S. Army.
Frank Coleman, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
William Collier, second lieutenant, U.S. Army.
William N. Colson, second lieutenant, Cambridge, Mass.
Leonard O. Colston, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Jones A. Coltrane, first lieutenant, Spokane, Wash.
John Combs, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Barton W. Conrad, first lieutenant, Cambridge, Mass.
Lloyd F. Cook, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Charles C. Cooper, captain, National Guard, District of Columbia.
George P. Cooper, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Joseph H. Cooper, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Chesley E. Corbett, first lieutenant, Wewoka, Okla.
Harry W. Cox, first lieutenant, Sedalia, Mo.
James W. Cranson, captain, United States Army.
Horace R. Crawford, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Judge Cross, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Clarence B. Curley, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Merrill H. Curtis, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Edward L. Dabney, first lieutenant, Hampton, Va.
Joe Dabney, captain, U.S. Army.
Victor R. Daly, first lieutenant, Corona, Long Island, N.Y.
Eugene A. Dandridge, first lieutenant, National Guard, District of
Columbia.
Eugene L.C. Davidson, first lieutenant, Cambridge, Mass.
Henry G. Davis, first lieutenant, Atlanta, Ga.
Irby D. Davis, first lieutenant, Sumter, S.C.
William E. Davis, captain, Washington, D.C.
Charles C. Dawson, first lieutenant, Chicago, Ill.
William S. Dawson, first lieutenant, Chicago, Ill.
Aaron Day, Jr., captain, Prairie View, Tex.
Milton T. Dean, captain, U.S. Army.
Francis M. Dent, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Thomas M. Dent, Jr., first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
James B. Dickson, second lieutenant, Asheville, N.C.
Spahr H. Dickey, captain, San Francisco, Cal.
Elder W. Diggs, first lieutenant, Indianapolis, Ind.
William H. Dinkins, first lieutenant, Selma, Ala.
Beverly L. Dorsey, captain, U.S. Army.
Edward C. Dorsey, captain, U.S. Army.
Harris N. Dorsey, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Seaborn Douglas, second lieutenant, Hartford, Conn.
Vest Douglas, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Frank L. Drye, first lieutenant, Little Rock, Ark.
Edward Dugger, first lieutenant, Roxbury, Mass.
Jackson E. Dunn, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Benjamin F. Dunning, second lieutenant, Norfolk, Va.
Charles J. Echols, Jr., captain, U.S. Army.
Charles Ecton, captain, U.S. Army.
George E. Edwards, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Leonard Edwards, second lieutenant, Augusta, Ga.
James L. Elliott, second lieutenant, Atlanta, Ga.
Charles J. Ellis, second lieutenant, Springfield, Ill.
Harry C. Ellis, first lieutenant, Patrick, Ia.
Roscoe Ellis, captain, U.S. Army.
Leslie H. Engram, second lieutenant, Montezuma, Ga.
Alexander E. Evans, first lieutenant, Columbia, S.C.
Will H. Evans, second lieutenant, Montgomery, Tex.
Norwood C. Fairfax, second lieutenant, Eagle Rock, Va.
John R. Fairley, first lieutenant, Kansas City, Mo.
Clifford L. Farrer, first lieutenant, El Paso, Tex.
Leonard J. Faulkner, first lieutenant, Columbus, O.
William H. Fearence, first lieutenant, Texarkana, Tex.
Charles H. Fearing, first lieutenant, St. Louis, Mo.
Robert W. Fearing, second lieutenant, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Alonzo G. Ferguson, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Gurnett E. Ferguson, captain, Dunbar, W. Va.
Thomas A. Firmes, captain, U.S. Army.
Dillard J. Firse, first lieutenant, Cleveland, O.
Octavius Fisher, first lieutenant, Detroit, Mich.
James E. Fladger, second lieutenant, Kansas City, Mo.
Benjamin F. Ford, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Edward W. Ford, second lieutenant, Philadelphia, Pa.
Frank L. Francis, second lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Henry O. Franklin, second lieutenant, San Francisco, Cal.
Ernest C. Frazier, second lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Arthur Freeman, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Sewell G. Freeman, second lieutenant, Aragon, Ga.
Edward S. Gaillard, first lieutenant, Indianapolis, Ind.
Tacitus E. Gaillard, second lieutenant, Kansas City, Mo.
James H.L. Gaines, second lieutenant, Little Rock, Ark.
Ellsworth Gamblee, first lieutenant, Cincinnati, O.
Lucian P. Garrett, second lieutenant, Louisville, Ky.
William L. Gee, first lieutenant, Gallipolis, Ohio.
Clayborne George, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Warmith T. Gibbs, second lieutenant, Cambridge, Mass.
Howard C. Gilbert, first lieutenant, Columbus, Ohio.
Walter A. Giles, first lieutenant, St. Louis, Mo.
Archie H. Gillespie, captain, U.S. Army
William Gillum, captain, U.S. Army.
Floyd Gilmer, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
William Glass, captain, U.S. Army.
Jesse J. Gleeden, second lieutenant, Little Rock, Ark.
Leroy H. Godman, captain, Columbus, Ohio.
Edward L. Goodlett, second lieutenant, Atlanta, Ga.
Nathan O. Goodloe, second lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Frank M. Goodner, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Elijah H. Goodwin, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
James A. Gordon, first lieutenant, St. Joseph, Mo.
Herbert R. Gould, first lieutenant, Dedham, Mass.
James E. Gould, first lieutenant, Dedham, Mass.
Francis H. Gow, first lieutenant, Charleston, W. Va.
William T. Grady, second lieutenant, Dudley, N.C.
Jesse M.H. Graham, second lieutenant, Clarksville, Tenn.
William H. Graham, captain, U.S. Army.
Towson S. Grasty, first lieutenant, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Thornton H. Gray, first lieutenant, Fairmount Heights, Md.
Miles M. Green, captain, U.S. Army.
Thomas E. Green, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Walter Green, captain, U.S. Army.
Jesse J. Green, first lieutenant, Georgetown, Ky.
Thomas M. Gregory, first lieutenant, Newark, N.J.
Jefferson E. Grigsby, second lieutenant, Chapelle, S.C.,
Thomas Grundy, captain, U.S. Army.
William W. Green, captain, U.S. Army.
George B. Greenlee, first lieutenant, Marion, N.C.
Nello B. Greenlee, second lieutenant, New York, N.Y.
Herbert H. Guppy, second lieutenant, Boston, Mass.
George C. Hall, captain, U.S. Army.
Leonidas H. Hall, Jr., second lieutenant, Philadelphia, Pa.
George W. Hamilton, Jr., first lieutenant, Topeka, Kans.
Rodney D. Hardeway, second lieutenant, Houston, Tex.
Clarence W. Harding, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Clifton S. Hardy, second lieutenant, Champaign, Ill.
Clay Harper, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Ted O. Harper, second lieutenant, Columbus, Ohio.
Tillman H. Harpole, first lieutenant, Kansas City, Mo.
Bravid W. Harris, Jr., first lieutenant, Warrenton, N.C.
Edward H. Harris, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Eugene Harris, captain, U.S. Army.
William Harris, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Byrd McD. Hart, captain, U.S. Army.
Albert L. Hatchett, first lieutenant, San Antonio, Tex.
Lawrence Hawkins, second lieutenant, Bowie, Md.
Charles M. Hayes, second lieutenant, Hopkinsville, Ky.
Merriam C. Hayson, first lieutenant, Kenilworth, D.C.
Alonzo Heard, captain, U.S. Army.
Almando Henderson, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Douglas J. Henderson, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Robert M. Hendrick, first lieutenant, Tallahassee, Fla.
Thomas J. Henry, Jr., first lieutenant, Atlanta, Ga.
Vodrey Henry, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Jesse S. Heslip, first lieutenant, Toledo, Ohio.
Lee J. Hicks, captain, Ottawa, Kans.
Victor La Naire Hicks, second lieutenant, Columbia, Mo.
Arthur K. Hill, first lieutenant, Lawrence, Kans.
Daniel G. Hill, Jr., second lieutenant, Cantonsville, Md.
Walter Hill, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
William Hill, captain, U.S. Army.
Clarence O. Hilton, first lieutenant, Farmville, Va.
Lowell B. Hodges, first lieutenant, Houston, Tex.
Horatio B. Holder, first lieutenant, Cairo, Ga.
George A. Holland, captain, U.S. Army.
James G. Hollingsworth, captain, U.S. Army.
George C. Hollomand, second lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Wayne L. Hopkins, second lieutenant, Columbus, Ohio.
James L. Horace, second lieutenant, Little Rock, Ark.
Reuben Homer, captain, U.S. Army.
Charles S. Hough, second lieutenant, Jamestown, Ohio.
Charles H. Houston, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Henry C. Houston, captain, U.S. Army.
Cecil A. Howard, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Clarence K. Howard, second lieutenant, Montgomery, Ala.
Charles P. Howard, first lieutenant, Des Moines, Ia.
Arthur Hubbard, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Jerome L. Hubert, first lieutenant, Houston, Tex.
William H. Hubert, second lieutenant, Mayfield, Ga.
Jefferson E. Hudgins, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Samuel M. Huffman, first lieutenant, Columbus, Ohio.
Samuel A. Hull, first lieutenant, Jacksonville, Fla.
John R. Hunt, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Bush A. Hunter, second lieutenant, Lexington, Ky.
Benjamin H. Hunton, first lieutenant, Newport News, Va.
Frederick A. Hurt, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Walter L. Hutcherson, first lieutenant, Amherst, Va.
Samuel B. Hutchinson, Jr., second lieutenant, Boston, Mass.
James E. Ivey, second lieutenant, Atlanta, Ga.
Beecher A. Jackson, first lieutenant, Texarkana, Tex.
George W. Jackson, first lieutenant, Ardmore, Mo.
Joseph T. Jackson, first lieutenant, Charleston, W. Va.
Landen Jackson, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Matthew Jackson, captain, U.S. Army.
Maxey A. Jackson, second lieutenant, Marian, Ky.
Joyce G. Jacobs, second lieutenant, Chicago, Ill.
Wesley H. Jamison, second lieutenant, Topeka, Kans.
Charles Jefferson, second lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Benjamin R. Johnson, first lieutenant, New York, N.Y.
Campbell C. Johnson, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Ernest C. Johnson, second lieutenant, Washington D.C.
Everett W. Johnson, first lieutenant, Philadelphia, Pa.
Hanson Johnson, captain, U.S. Army.
Hillery W. Johnson, second lieutenant, Philadelphia, Pa.
Joseph L. Johnson, second lieutenant, Philadelphia, Pa.
Merle O. Johnson, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Robert E. Johnson, second lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Thomas Johnson, captain, U.S. Army.
Virginius D. Johnson, first lieutenant, Richmond, Va.
William N. Johnson, second lieutenant, Omaha, Neb.
William T. Johnson, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Willie Johnson, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Charles A. Jones, second lieutenant, San Antonio, Tex.
Clifford W. Jones, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Dee Jones, captain, U.S. Army.
Edward D. Jones, second lieutenant, Hartford, Conn.
James W. Jones, captain, Washington, D.C.
James O. Jones, second lieutenant, Paulding, Ohio.
Paul W. Jones, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Percy L. Jones, second lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Vivian L. Jones, second lieutenant, Des Moines, Ia.
Warren F. Jones, captain, U.S. Army.
William Jones, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Charles G. Kelly, captain, Tuskegee, Ala.
Elliott H. Kelly, first lieutenant, Camden, S.C.
John B. Kemp, captain, U.S. Army.
John M. Kenney, captain, U.S. Army.
Will Kernts, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Otho E. Kerr, first lieutenant, Hampton, Va.
Orestus J. Kincaid, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Jesse L. Kimbrough, first lieutenant, Los Angeles, Cal.
Moses King, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Laurence E. Knight, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Edward C. Knox, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
John W. Knox, second lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Azzie B. Koger, first lieutenant, Reidsville, N.C.
Linwood G. Koger, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Charles E. Lane, Jr., first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
David A. Lane, Jr., first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Frank L. Lane, second lieutenant, Houston, Tex.
Benton R. Latimer, first lieutenant, Warrenton, Ga.
Ernest W. Latson, first lieutenant, Jacksonville, Fla.
Laige I. Lancaster, first lieutenant, Hampton, Va.
Oscar G. Lawless, first lieutenant, New Orleans, La.
Samuel Lawson, second lieutenant, Philadelphia, Pa.
Wilfred W. Lawson, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Geo. E. Lee, second lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
George W. Lee, second lieutenant, Memphis, Tenn.
Lawrence A. Lee, second lieutenant, Hampton, Va.
John E. Leonard, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Garrett M. Lewis, first lieutenant, San Antonio, Tex.
Henry O. Lewis, first lieutenant, Boston, Mass.
Everett B. Liggins, second lieutenant, Austin, Tex.
Victor C. Lightfoot, second lieutenant, South Pittsburg, Tenn.
John Q. Lindsey, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Redden L. Linton, second lieutenant, Boston, Ga.
Glenda W. Locust, second lieutenant, Sealy, Tenn.
Aldon L. Logan, first lieutenant, Lawrence, Kans.
James B. Lomack, first lieutenant, National Guard, Dist. of Columbia.
Howard H. Long, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Victor Long, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Lonnie W. Lott, second lieutenant, Austin, Tex.
Charles H. Love, second lieutenant, Atlanta, Ga.
Edgar A. Love, first lieutenant, Baltimore, Md.
Frank W. Love, captain, U.S. Army.
George B. Love, first lieutenant, Greensboro, N.C.
John W. Love, first lieutenant, Baltimore, Md.
Joseph Lowe, captain, U.S. Army.
Walter Lowe, first lieutenant, St Louis, Mo.
Charles C. Luck, Jr., second lieutenant, San Marcus, Tex.
Walter Lyons, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Harry J. Mack, second lieutenant, Cheney, Pa.
Amos B. Madison, first lieutenant, Omaha, Neb.
Edgar F. Malone, second lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Edgar O. Malone, captain, U.S. Army.
Earl W. Mann, first lieutenant, Champaign, Ill.
Vance H. Marchbanks, captain, U.S. Army.
Leon F. Marsh, first lieutenant, Berkeley, Cal.
Alfred E. Marshall, second lieutenant, Greenwood, S.C.
Cyrus W. Marshall, second lieutenant, Baltimore, Md.
Cuby Martin, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Joseph H. Martin, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Eric P. Mason, first lieutenant, Giddings, Tex.
Denis McG. Matthews, first lieutenant, Los Angeles, Cal.
Joseph E. Matthews, second lieutenant, Cleburne, Tex.
Anderson N. May, captain, Atlanta, Ga.
Walter H. Mazyck, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Peter McCall, captain U.S. Army.
Milton A. McCrimmon, captain, U.S. Army.
Robert A. McEwen, second lieutenant, E. St. Louis, Ill.
Osceola E. McKaine, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
James E. McKey, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Carey McLane, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Archie McLee, first lieutenant, New York, N.Y.
Leonard W. McLeod, first lieutenant, Hampton, Va.
Albert McReynolds, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Marshall Meadows, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Louis R. Mehlinger, captain, Washington, D.C.
Louis R. Middleton, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Benjamin H. Mills, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Harry W. Mills, captain, U.S. Army.
Warren N. Mims, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
J. Wardlaw Mitchell, second lieutenant, Milledgeville, Ga.
Pinkney L. Mitchell, second lieutenant, Austin, Tex.
John H. Mitcherson, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Ralph E. Mizell, second lieutenant, Champaign, Ill.
Hubert M. Moman, second lieutenant, Tougaloo, Miss.
John M. Moore, first lieutenant, Meridian, Miss.
Loring B. Moore, second lieutenant, Brunswick, Ga.
Elias A. Morris, first lieutenant, Helena, Ark.
Thomas E. Morris, captain, U.S. Army.
James B. Morris, second lieutenant, Des Moines, Ia.
Cleveland Morrow, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Henry Morrow, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Abraham Morse, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Benjamin H. Mosby, first lieutenant, St. Louis, Mo.
Benedict Mosley, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Scott A. Moyer, second lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Albert C. Murdaugh, second lieutenant, Columbia, S.C.
Alonzo Myers, captain, Philadelphia, Pa.
Thomas J. Narcisse, second lieutenant, Jeanerette, La.
Earl H. Nash, second lieutenant, Atlanta, Ga.
Homer G. Neely, first lieutenant, Palestine, Tex.
Gurney E. Nelson, second lieutenant, Greensboro, N.C.
William S. Nelson, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
William F. Nelson, first lieutenant, Atlanta, Ga.
James P. Nobles, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Grafton S. Norman, first lieutenant, Atlanta, Ga.
Richard M. Norris, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Ambrose B. Nutt, second lieutenant, Cambridge, Mass.
Benjamin L. Ousley, second lieutenant, Tougaloo, Miss.
Charles W. Owens, captain, United States Army.
Charles G. Owlings, second lieutenant, Norfolk, Va.
William W. Oxley, first lieutenant, Cambridge, Mass.
Wilbur E. Pannell, second lieutenant, Staunton, Va.
Charles S. Parker, second lieutenant, Spokane, Wash.
Walter E. Parker, second lieutenant, Little Rock, Ark.
Clemmie C. Parks, first lieutenant, Ft. Scott, Kans.
Adam E. Patterson, captain, Chicago, Ill.
Humphrey C. Patton, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Clarence H. Payne, first lieutenant, Chicago, Ill.
William D. Peeks, captain, U.S. Army.
Robert R. Penn, first lieutenant, New York, N.Y.
Marion R. Perry, second lieutenant, Pine Bluff, Ark.
Hanson A. Person, second lieutenant, Wynne, Ark.
Harry B. Peters, second lieutenant, Atlanta, Ga.
James H. Peyton, second lieutenant, Montgomery, Ala.
Joseph Phillips, captain, Columbus, Ohio.
David A. Pierce, second lieutenant, Clarksville, Tenn.
Harrison J. Pinkett, first lieutenant, Omaha, Nebr.
James C. Pinkston, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Percival R. Piper, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Anderson F. Pitts, first lieutenant, Chicago, Ill.
Fisher Pride, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Herman W. Porter, second lieutenant, Cambridge, Mass.
James C. Powell, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Wade H. Powell, second lieutenant, Atlanta, Ga.
William J. Powell, first lieutenant, Chicago, Ill.
Gloucester A. Price, second lieutenant, Fort Meyer, Fla.
John F. Pritchard, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Henry H. Proctor, first lieutenant, Atlanta, Ga.
John H. Purnell, first lieutenant, Trappe, Md.
Howard D. Queen, captain, U.S. Army.
Richard R. Queen, second lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Harold L. Quivers, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Washington H. Racks, second lieutenant, U.S. Army.
John E. Raiford, second lieutenant, Atlanta, Ga.
Hazel L. Raine, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Fred D. Ramsey, first lieutenant, Wedgefleld, S.C.
James O. Redmon, second lieutenant, Newton, Iowa.
Charles G. Reed, first lieutenant, Charleston, S.C.
Rufus Reed, captain, U.S. Army.
Lightfoot H. Reese, second lieutenant, Newman, Ga.
William L. Reese, second lieutenant, Bennetsville, S.C.
Robert S. Reid, second lieutenant, Newman, Ga.
Samuel Reid, captain, U.S. Army.
Adolph Reyes, second lieutenant, Philadelphia, Pa.
Elijah Reynolds, captain, U.S. Army.
John F. Rice, first lieutenant, Chicago, Ill.
Douglas C. Richardson, second lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Harry D. Richardson, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Leonard. H. Richardson, first lieutenant, Oakland, Cal.
Maceo A. Richmond, second lieutenant, Des Moines, Ia.
Francis E. Rivers, first lieutenant, New Haven, Conn.
Marion C. Rhoten, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Charles E. Roberts, first lieutenant, Atlantic City, N.J.
Clyde Roberts, second lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Edward Robertson, second lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Charles W. Robinson, second lieutenant, Cleveland, Ohio.
George C. Robinson, first lieutenant, Atlanta, Ga.
Peter L. Robinson, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
William W. Robinson, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Julian P. Rogers, first lieutenant, Montgomery, Ala.
John W. Rowe, first lieutenant, Danville, Ky.
Thomas Rucker, captain, U.S. Army.
Edward P. Rudd, first lieutenant, New York City.
Mallalieu W. Rush, first lieutenant, Atlanta, Ga.
John Russell, captain, U.S. Army.
Louis H. Russell, second lieutenant, New York, N.Y.
Earl Ryder, second lieutenant, Springfield, Ill.
Chester Sanders, captain, U.S. Army.
Joseph B. Sanders, second lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Walter R. Sanders, captain, U.S. Army.
Clifford A. Sandridge, captain, U.S. Army.
Lorin O. Sanford, captain, U.S. Army.
Elliott D. Saunders, second lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Walker L. Savoy, second lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Elmer P. Sawyer, second lieutenant, Providence, R.I.
George S. Schuyler, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
James E. Scott, second lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
James E. Scott, first lieutenant, Hampton, Va.
Joseph H. Scott, first lieutenant, Darlington, S.C.
Walter W. Scott, second lieutenant, Brooksville, Miss.
William F. Scott, captain, U.S. Army.
Fletcher Sewell, captain, U.S. Army.
Shermont R. Sewell, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Charles A. Shaw, first lieutenant, Atlanta, Ga.
Warren B. Shelton, second lieutenant, Hot Springs, Ark.
Robert T. Shobe, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Hal Short, first lieutenant, Iowa City, Ia.
Harry W. Short, second lieutenant, Iowa City, Ia.
Ogbon N. Simmons, first lieutenant, Waldo, Fla.
Richard Simmons, captain, U.S. Army.
William E. Simmons, first lieutenant, Burlington, Vt.
Austin Simms, second lieutenant, Darien, Ga.
John H. Simms, Jr., first lieutenant, Jacksonville, Fla.

ARTILLERY AT WORK IN A FRENCH FOREST. THIS WAS A PHASE OF OPERATION IN WHICH THE NEGRO UNITS OF THE 167TH BRIGADE DISTINGUISHED THEMSELVES IN THE CLOSING DAYS OF THE WAR

SENTRY BOX OUTSIDE OF REGIMENTAL HEADQUARTERS WITH WARNING HORN FOR GAS ATTACKS. CAMOUFLAGED GATE ON THE LEFT.

ONE OF THE HUGE GUNS, 16-INCH CALIBER OF THE AMERICAN RAILWAY ARTILLERY, WHICH DID SUCH FRIGHTFUL EXECUTION NEAR THE CLOSE OF THE WAR. CAMOUFLAGED THROUGHOUT.

A RAILROAD IN FRANCE. THIS ONE WAS USED BY A PORTION OF THE 93RD DIVISION IN THE CHAMPAGNE TO TRANSPORT TROOPS AND SUPPLIES TO THE FRONT.

PASSENGER CARS USED BY FAMOUS 93RD. NEGRO DIVISION IN CHAMPAGNE, FRANCE.

SENDING MESSAGE BY CARRIER PIGEON. OFFICER AND SOLDIERS OF 369TH INFANTRY OUTSIDE OF DUGOUT IN FRANCE.

KITCHEN AND DINING QUARTERS AT THE FRONT. SOLDIERS BELONG TO FAMOUS 93RD DIVISION AMERICAN NEGRO SOLDIERS BRIGADED WITH THE FRENCH.

INFANTRY AND GUNNERS AT CLOSE GRIPS. DRAWING REPRESENTS A BRILLIANT COUNTER-ATTACK IN A SHELL-TORN WOOD IN FRANCE.

A TYPICAL TRENCH SCENE. NEGROES OF THE 93RD DIVISION SERVING WITH FRENCH IN THE CHAMPAGNE.

SECRET ORGANIZATIONS PRESENT AT THE BREAKING OF THE GROUND FOR McDONOUGH MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, W. 133RD STREET, NEW YORK. NAMED IN HONOR OF MR. DAVID KEARNEY McDONOUGH, PIONEER NEGRO PHYSICIAN OF THAT CITY. TO BE USED AS A BASE UNIT FOR COLORED SOLDIERS.

LIEUT. JOHN APPLEBEE OF THE RED CROSS HOME SERVICE, COMFORTING AND REASSURING SOLDIERS ANXIOUS ABOUT THE WELFARE OF THEIR FAMILIES. CAMP NO. 43. GIEVRES. FRANCE.

CROWN PRINCE AND KAISER BILL. TWO GERMAN DOGS AND THEIR CAPTORS. THE SOLDIERS ARE PRIVATES ROBINSON CLEVE, 539TH ENGINEERS AND DANIEL NELSON, 372ND INFANTRY.

TYPES OF NEGRO ENGINEERS WHO WERE SUCH IMPORTANT FACTORS IN OUR OVERSEAS FORCES.

FOUR CAVERNS, STUDDED WITH IVORY, FURNISH HARMONY IN THE TRAINING CAMP.

Abraham L. Simpson, captain, Louisville, Ky.
Lawrence Simpson, first lieutenant, Chicago, Ill.
William R. Smalls, first lieutenant, Manassas, Va.
Daniel Smith, captain, U.S. Army.
Enos B. Smith, second lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Ernest Smith, second lieutenant, Philadelphia, Pa.
Fairel N. Smith, first lieutenant, Orangeburg, S.C.
Joseph W. Smith, second lieutenant, Concord, S.C.
Oscar H. Smith, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Pitman E. Smith, first lieutenant, Columbus, Ohio.
Russell Smith, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Walter H. Smith, first lieutenant, Chattanooga, Tenn.
Levi E. Southe, second lieutenant, Chicago, Ill.
Carlos Sowards, second lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Edward W. Spearman, captain, U.S. Army.
Walter R. St. Clair, second lieutenant, Philadelphia, Pa.
Lloyd A. Stafford, captain, U.S. Army.
Moody Staten, captain, U.S. Army.
Percy H. Steele, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Waddell C. Steele, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Grant Stewart, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Robert K. Stephens, captain, U.S. Army.
Leon Stewart, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Thomas R. Stewart, first lieutenant, Ft. Wayne, Ind.
William A. Stith, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
James M. Stockett, Jr., first lieutenant, Providence, R.I.
Wilbur F. Stonestreet, second lieutenant, Topeka, Kans.
Daniel T. Taylor, second lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Hannibal B. Taylor, second lieutenant, Guthrie, Okla.
Pearl E. Taylor, first lieutenant, St. Louis, Mo.
Benjamin F. Thomas, captain, U.S. Army.
Bob Thomas, captain, U.S. Army.
Vincent B. Thomas, second lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
Charles M. Thompson, first lieutenant, Columbia, S.C.
Joseph Thompson, captain, U.S. Army.
Pierce McN. Thompson, first lieutenant, Albany, Ga.
Richard C. Thompson, first lieutenant, Harrisburg, Pa.
Toliver T. Thompson, first lieutenant, Houston, Tex.
William H. Thompson, first lieutenant, Jacksonville, Fla.
William W. Thompson, captain, United States Army.
James W. Thornton, first lieutenant, West Raleigh, N.C.
Leslie J. Thurman, captain, U.S. Army.
Samuel J. Tipton, captain, U.S. Army.
Frederick H. Townsend, second lieutenant, Newport, R.I.
Anderson Trapp, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Charles A. Tribbett, first lieutenant, New Haven, Conn.
Joseph E. Trigg, captain, Syracuse, N.Y.
Archibald R. Tuck, second lieutenant, Oberlin, O.
Victor J. Tulane, first lieutenant, Montgomery, Ala.
William J. Turnbow, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Allen Turner, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Edward Turner, first lieutenant, Omaha, Nebr.
Samuel Turner, second lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Shadrach W. Upshaw, second lieutenant, Austin, Tex.
Ferdinand S. Upshur, second lieutenant, Philadelphia, Pa.
George L. Vaughn, first lieutenant, St. Louis, Mo.
Austin T. Walden, captain, Macon, Ga.
John P. Walker, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Lewis W. Wallace, captain, U.S. Army.
Thomas H. Walters, first lieutenant. New York, N.Y.
Robert L. Ward, first lieutenant, Detroit, Mich.
James H.N. Waring, Jr., first lieutenant, Washington, D, C.
Genoa S. Washington, captain, U.S. Army.
George G. Washington, second lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Bolivar E. Watkins, first lieutenant, St. Louis, Mo.
Alstyne M. Watson, second lieutenant, Tallapoosa, Ga.
Baxter W. Watson, second lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Louis L. Watson, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.
William H. Weare, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Walter T. Webb, first lieutenant, Baltimore, Md.
Carter W. Wesley, first lieutenant, Houston, Tex.
Harry Wheeler, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Chauncey D. White, first lieutenant, Mathews, Va.
Emmett White, captain, U.S. Army.
Journee W. White, second lieutenant, Los Angeles, Cal.
Lorenzo C. White, second lieutenant, Hampton, Va.
Johnson C. Whittaker, first lieutenant, Lawrence, Kans.
Horace G. Wilder, second lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Arthur R. Williams, second lieutenant, Edwards, Miss.
Everett B. Williams, first lieutenant, Syracuse, N.Y.
Gus Williams, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
James B. Williams, first lieutenant, Baltimore, Md.
John Williams, second lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Oscar H. Williams, second lieutenant, New York, N.Y.
Richard A. Williams, captain, Lawnside, N.J.
Robert G. Williams, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Seymour E. Williams, second lieutenant, Muskogee, Okla.
Major Williams, second lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Walter B. Williams, captain, U.S. Army.
William H. Williams, captain, U.S. Army.
Elmore S. Willie, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Harry E. Wilson, first lieutenant, Des Moines, Ia.
John E. Wilson, first lieutenant, Leavenworth, Kans.
William H. Wilson, second lieutenant, Greensboro, N.C.
Meredith B. Wily, first lieutenant, El Paso, Tex.
Christopher C. Wimbish, first lieutenant, Atlanta, Ga.
Hugh H. Wimbish, second lieutenant, Atlanta, Ga.
Rolland T. Winstead, second lieutenant, Rocky Mount, N.C.
George W. Winston, captain, United States Army.
Ernest M. Wood, second lieutenant, Mebane, N.C.
Benjamin F. Wright, second lieutenant, New York, N.Y.
Elbert S. Wright, second lieutenant, Baldwin, Kans.
John Wynn, second lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Edward York, captain, United States Army.
Charles Young, first lieutenant, U.S. Army.
William A. Young, second lieutenant, Sumter, S.C.
Charles G. Young, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C.

---

CHAPTER XIV.

ACROSS DIVIDING SEAS.

BLACK THOUSANDS ASSEMBLE—SOLDIERS OF LIBERTY—SEVERING HOME TIES—MAN'S WORK MUST BE DONE—FIRST NEGROES IN FRANCE—MEETING WITH FRENCH COLONIALS—EARLY HISTORY OF 15TH NEW YORK—THEY SAIL AWAY—BECOME FRENCH FIGHTING MEN—HOLD 20% OF AMERICAN LINES—TERROR TO GERMANS—ONLY BARRIER BETWEEN BOCHE AND PARIS—IMPERISHABLE RECORD OF NEW YORKERS—TURNING POINT OF WAR.

"Doan you see the black clouds ris'n ober yondah
Like as tho we's gwan ter hab a storm?

No, you's mistaken, dem's "Loyal BLACK FOLKS
Sailing off ter fight fer Uncle Sam."

From the plantations of the South, from the mines, the workshops and factories; from the levees of the Mississippi, the cities, villages, farms of the North, the East, the South, the West; from the store, the counting house, the office and the institution of learning they came—the black thousands to strike for their altars and their homes; to fight for Uncle Sam. How splendid was the spectacle of their response! "Their's not to ask the WHY; their's but to do and die."

Bearing the burden placed upon them by white men as they have for centuries, nevertheless, in this supreme moment of their country's life; "a day that shall live in story"; many of them did not know what it all was about; where Germany was located, nor the significance attaching to the word Hun. In a vague way they understood that across the sea an armed and powerful nation was threatening the happiness of mankind; the freedom of the world.

In the presence of this contemplated crime, they were wide-eyed, open-souled, awake! Their sires had known bondage, and they, their children, had felt and knew the effects of it. America which for centuries had oppressed their forefathers had finally through the arbitrament of war, freed them. White men and black men; in the dark days of '61-'65, numbering many thousands, had lain down their lives to save the Union, and in doing so had brought them freedom.

They had been told that America was threatened; that was enough. It was to them a summons; sharp, quick, incisive to duty. It was, although one hundred and forty years after, the voice of Washington at Valley Forge; the call of Perry to their fathers, needing soldiers at the battle of Lake Erie; of Jackson at New Orleans. It was to their listening ears the echo of Bull Run, of Santiago, of Manila, and later of Carrizal; Uncle Sam needed them! That was enough; what more was to be said?

Denied the opportunity to enlist, the Negro's patriotic, patient soul asserted itself; if he must go as a drafted soldier, it would be in the same fine spirit that would have inspired him as a loyal enlisted man.

Life, as to all men, was sweet to them. They had mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers, wives and sweethearts; the ties of association; of home, from all of which they would be separated and for all of which they cherished that love, which alone of human fires: "Burns and burns, forever the same, for nature feeds the pyre."

Above and over all these things, tending to augment the seriousness of the sacrifice he was to be called upon to make, was the spirit, the optimism, the joy of life that attends vigorous youth and young manhood.

Nature in all of its enticing charm and beauty, was smiling in the home places these men were leaving; flowers bloomed; birds sang; insects buzzed cheerily. There were green fields and babbling brooks; the stately beauty of trees, and the delights of lake, river and vale. The cities from which they came, were many of them, splendid monuments of the work of man. The sun clothed in glory the days, moon and stars gave a loveliness to the nights. Leaving these things to face suffering and hardship; possible death in strange lands, caused many a pang; but a man's work had to be done, and they were there to do it.

Well they knew there would be no chance in France to follow the wild bee to its tree; to track the fox or hunt the 'possum or the coon. The hum they would hear would be that of machine gun bullets; their sting, death or serious wounding. For game they would hunt the Hun; would kill or be by him killed.

There were busy times in thousands of homes when the young Negroes of the land; from East, West, North and South went forth to war.

Bright faces hiding the pangs of parting; happy, singing lads left their homes to enter a new life on earth or, the tragedy of it; also the glory; a new life in the great Beyond; beyond the stars and flaming suns. The training camp was their first destination and was to be their home for months.

Correspondents in France wrote of Negro soldiers being among the first expeditionary force to set foot upon the soil of the battle torn Republic. This force arrived there in June, 1917, and was composed of marines and infantry from the Regular army. Floyd Gibbons, the intrepid representative of the Chicago Tribune, speaking of the first Negro contingents in his remarkable book entitled, "And They Thought We Wouldn't Fight", said:

"There was to be seen on the streets of St. Nazaire that day some representative black Americans, who had also landed in that historical first contingent. There was a strange thing about these Negroes. It will be remembered that in the early stages of our participation in the war it had been found that there was hardly sufficient khaki cloth to provide uniforms for all of our soldiers. That had been the case with these American negro soldiers.
"But somewhere down in Washington, somehow or other, someone resurrected an old, large heavy iron key and this, inserted into an ancient rusty lock, had opened some long forgotten door in one of the Government arsenals. There were revealed old dust-covered bundles wrapped up in newspapers, yellow with age, and when these wrappings of the past were removed, there were seen the uniforms of old Union blue that had been laid away back in '65—uniforms that had been worn by men who fought and bled and died to save the Union, and ultimately free those early 'Black Americans'.
"And here on this foreign shore, on this day in June more than half a century later, the sons and grandsons of those same freed slaves wore those same uniforms of Union blue as they landed in France to fight for a newer freedom; freedom for the white man no less than themselves, throughout all the earth.
"Some of these Negroes were stevedores from the lower Mississippi levees; who sang as they worked in their white army undershirts, across the chest of which were penciled in blue and red, strange mystic devices, religious phrases and other signs, calculated to contribute the charm of safety to the running of the submarine blockade.
"Two of these American Negroes, walking up the main street of St. Nazaire, saw on the other side of the thoroughfare a brother of color wearing the lighter blue uniform of a French soldier. This French Negro was a colonial black from the north of Africa and of course had spoken nothing but French from the day he was born. One of the American Negroes crossed the street and accosted him.
"'Looka here, boy', he inquired good-naturedly, 'what can you all tell me about this here wah?'
"'Comment, monsieur?' responded the non-understanding French black, and followed the rejoinder with a torrent of excited French.
"The American Negro's mouth fell open. For a minute he looked startled, and then he bulged one large round eye suspiciously at the French black while he inwardly debated on the possibility that he had become color-blind. Having reassured himself, however, that his vision was not at fault, he made a sudden decision and started on a new tack.
"'Now, never mind that high-faluting language' he said, 'you all just tell me what you know about this here wah and quit you' putting on aihs.'
"The puzzled French Negro could only reply with another explosion of French interrogations, coupled with vigorous gesticulations. The American Negro tried to talk at the same time and both of them endeavoring to make the other understand, increased the volumes of their tones until they were standing there waving their arms and shouting into one another's faces. The American gave it up.
"'My Gawd', he said shaking his head as he recrossed the street and joined his comrades, 'this is sure some funny country. They got the ignorantest colored people here I ever saw.'"

It has been noted that the first Negro combatant regiment to reach France was the celebrated National Guard organization known as the 15th New York Infantry, rechristened the 369th when made a part of the 93rd division of the United States army. This was such a well drilled and equipped regiment that early in the war it was permitted to go across with the first 100,000; all of which was due to the aggressiveness and insistence of its white commander, Colonel William Hayward. He simply gave the war department no rest, stating that he was willing his men should unload ships, fell trees and build docks or cantonments so long as they were permitted to sail.

The regiment had been organized by Colonel Hayward at the suggestion of Governor Whitman of New York. It was to be patterned after the 8th Illinois where colored men of means sufficient to support commissions, were the officers. The regiment was started in June 1916 and by October had 1,000 in the ranks. Colonel Hayward was the only white officer, the Negro commission-holders at that time being Captain Marshall, Captain Fillmore, Lieutenant Lacey, Lieutenant Reed and Lieutenant Europe. The latter was attached to the Machine Gun section but became later the famous musician of the outfit. He was the only Negro officer who remained with the regiment throughout, the others being superseded or transferred after several months service in France.

Early in 1917, the Federal government said it would recognize the regiment if it could muster fifty-one officers. As recruiting had been slow and a Negro regiment in New York was looked upon as an experiment, Colonel Hayward was obliged to secure the needed officers from among his friends in the 7th New York, the Motor Battery, Squadron A and other organizations. By this time the enlisted strength had grown to 1,200. On April 8, 1917, two days after the United States entered the war, the regiment was inspected by Federal officers and a week later was recognized as a regular unit of the Federal Guard.

But, as the Colonel expressed it, they were a "street urchin of a regiment." They had no armory, no place to drill except in the open and no place where more than a single company at a time could meet. In his post-war observations, the Colonel has noted that when the regiment returned to these shores and was feasted and entertained by the people of New York in the 71st regiment armory, it was the first occasion on which the old 15th was ever assembled under one roof.

After its Federal recognition the regiment was sent to the Peekskill rifle range to learn to shoot, a valuable experience as developed later. Many of the boys became expert marksmen, a skill that became of precious value to them and their comrades. In June, 1917, they went to a war strength of 2,000 men and 56 officers. One battalion did pioneer work at Camp Upton, another at Camp Dix. A third guarded 600 miles of railroads in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The Machine Gun company guarded 2,000 interned spies and pro-German prisoners at Ellis Island. Colonel Hayward has pointed with pride to the fact that in all their territory there was not a wreck, an explosion, an escaped prisoner or any other trouble. Two battalions later went to Spartanburg for training, but remained there only a couple of weeks.

"I wonder what got those colored boys to volunteer" someone asked their colonel as they were embarking for France. He replied: "I have often thought of that. With many the cause was sheer patriotism. Others said they had gone into the 15th for social reasons, to meet with their friends. One—this seemed to me a most pathetic touch—said: 'I j'ined up because when Colonel Hayward asked me it was the first time anyone had ever asked me to j'ine up with anything in my whole lifetime.'"

If any great amount of superstition had existed among the men or officers of the New York regiment, they would have been greatly depressed over the series of incidents that preceded their arrival in France. In the first place they had been assigned to police and pioneer duty at camps near New York, a duty which no fighting man relishes. They embarked on the transport Pocahontas November 12, 1917. Two hundred miles at sea a piston rod was bent and the vessel put back to port. They got away again December 3, were out a day and had to return on account of fire in the coal bunkers. A third attempt on December 12, in a blizzard, was frustrated by a collision with a tanker in New York harbor.

After this series of bad starts, anyone inclined to indulge in forebodings would have predicted the certainty of their becoming prey for the submarines on the way over. But the fourth attempt proved successful and they landed in France on December 27, 1917. They had hoped to celebrate Christmas day on French soil, but were forced by the elements and the precautions of convoys and sailing master to observe the anniversary on board the ship.

The Colonel undoubtedly thought that those first in France would be the first to get a chance at the Boche, but the department took him at his word, and for over two months his men were kept busy in the vicinity of St. Nazaire, largely as laborers and builders. Early in 1918 they went into training quarters near St. Nazaire. The 371st, another Negro regiment, made up of draft selectives principally from South Carolina, was later given quarters nearby.

The black soldiers of the 369th were brigaded as a part of the 16th division of the 8th Corps of the 4th French Army. From St. Nazaire they went to Givrey-En-Argonne, and there in three weeks the French turned them into a regulation French regiment. They had Lebel rifles, French packs and French gas masks. For 191 days they were in the trenches or on the field of battle. In April, 1918, the regiment held 20 percent of all the territory held by American troops, though it comprised less than one percent of all the American soldiers in France.

Officers of the 369th reported for an entire year only six cases of drunkenness, and twenty-four of serious disease. The regiment fought in the Champagne, in the Vosges mountains, on the Aisne, at Main de Massiges, Butte de Mesnil, Dormouse, Sechault, the Argonne, Ripont, Kuppinase, Tourbe, and Bellevue Ridge. It was the first unit of any of the Allied armies to reach the left bank of the Rhine following the signing of the armistice, moving from Thann on November 17th and reaching Blodesheim the next day.

Negro soldiers were a source of terror to the Germany throughout the war, and objects of great curiosity to the German people afterwards. Wherever they appeared in the area occupied by the Americans they attracted great attention among the civilians. In Treves, Coblenz and other places during the early days of the occupation, crowds assembled whenever Negro soldiers stopped in the streets and it became necessary for the military police to enforce the orders prohibiting gatherings in the public thoroughfares.

Returning soldiers have told how they were followed in the German towns by great troops of stolid, wide-eyed German children who could not seem to decide in their minds just what sort of being these Negro fighters were. The curiosity of the children no doubt was inspired by stories told among their elders of the ferocity of these men.

The Associated Press has related a conversation with a discharged German soldier in Rengsdorf, in which it is stated that the German army early in the war offered a reward for the capture alive of each Negro. The soldier said that throughout the war the Germans lived in great terror of the Negroes, and it was to overcome this fear that rewards were offered.

One evening on the front a scouting party composed of ten Germans including the discharged soldier, encountered two French Negroes. In the fight which followed two of the scouting party were killed. One of the Negroes escaped the other being taken prisoner. During the fight two of the Germans left their comrades and ran to the protection of their own trenches, but these it was explained, were young soldiers and untrained. The reward of 400 marks subsequently was divided among the remaining six Germans for capturing the one French Negro.

The 93rd division, which was made up of the 369th, 370th, 371st and the 372nd regiments of infantry, was put into service green, so green they did not know the use of rockets and thought a gas alarm and the tooting of sirens meant that the Germans were coming in automobiles. The New York regiment came largely from Brooklyn and the district around West 59th street in New York City, called San Juan Hill in reference to certain notable achievements of Negro troops at a place of that name in the Spanish-American war.

They learned the game of war rapidly. The testimony of their officers was to the effect that it was not hard to send them into danger—the hard part being to keep them from going into it of their own accord. It was necessary to watch them like hawks to keep them from slipping off on independent raiding parties.

The New York regiment had a band of 40 pieces, second to none in the American army. It is stated that the officers and men in authority in the French billeting places had difficulty in keeping the villagers from following the band away when it played plantation airs and syncopations as only Negroes can play them.

On April 12, 1918, the 369th took over a sector of 5-1/2 kilometers in the Bois de Hauzy on the left of a fringe of the Argonne Forest. There they stayed until July 1st. There was no violent fighting in the sector, but many raids back and forth by the Negroes and the Germans, rifle exchanges and occasionally some artillery action.

One important engagement occurred June 12th, which the soldiers called the million dollar raid, because they thought the preparatory barrage of the Germans must have cost all of that. The Germans came over, probably believing they would find the Negro outfit scared stiff. But the Negro lads let them have grenades, accurate rifle fire and a hail from some concealed machine gun nests. Sergt. Bob Collins was later given the Croix de Guerre for his disposition of the machine guns on that occasion.

While holding the sector of Hauzy Wood, the 369th was the only barrier between the German army and Paris. However, had there been an attempt to break through, General Gouraud, the French army commander, would have had strength enough there at once to stop it. About this time everyone in the Allied armies knew that the supreme German effort was about to come. It was felt as a surety that the brunt of the drive would fall upon the 4th French Army, of which the 369th regiment and other portions of the American 93rd Division were a part. This army was holding a line 50 kilometers long, stretching between Rheims and the Argonne Forest. It was the intention of the Germans to capture Chalons and then proceed down the Marne Valley to Paris. It was expected that the big German drive would begin on July 4th, but as it turned out it did not begin until the night of the 14th—the French national holiday.

On July 1st, the 369th had been moved from its sector further toward the east where the center of the attack was expected. Upon the 14th of July the French made a raid for the purpose of getting prisoners and information. This had a tremendous effect upon the whole course of the war, for through it General Gouraud's staff learned that at midnight the Boche artillery preparation was to begin, and at 5:25 o'clock on the morning of the 15th the Germans were coming over the top.

This phase of the operation is described by Col. Hayward as follows:

"This is what Gen. Gouraud—Pa Gouraud we called him—did: He knew the Boche artillery would at the appointed hour start firing on our front lines, believing as was natural, that they would be strongly held. So he withdrew all his forces including the old 15th, to the intermediate positions, which were at a safe distance back of the front lines. Then, at the point where he expected would be the apex of the drive he sent out two patrols, totalling sixteen men.
"These sixteen had certain camouflage to perform. They were to set going a certain type of French machine gun which would fire of its own accord for awhile after being started off. They were to run from one of these guns to the other and start them. Also the sixteen were to send up rockets, giving signals, which the Germans of course knew as well as we. Then again they were to place gas shells—with the gas flowing out of them—in all the dugouts of the first line. Meanwhile the French artillery had registered directly on our own front trenches, so that it could slaughter the Germans when they came across, believing those trenches to be occupied as usual.
"Everything worked out as expected, and as luck had it, most of those gallant sixteen Frenchmen got back safely.
"Five minutes before the Germans started their artillery preparation for the drive Gen. Gouraud started his cannon going and there was a slaughter in the German lines. Then when the German infantry crossed to our front line trenches (now entirely vacant) they were smashed up because the French guns were firing directly upon these positions, which they knew mathematically. And those of the Boche who went down in the dugouts for safety were killed by the gas which the Frenchmen had left there for them.
"This battle—the supreme German drive—raged over eighty-five kilometers (51 miles). West of Rheims the enemy broke through the line, but they did not break through anywhere in Gen. Gouraud's sector. Stonewall Gouraud stopped them. The American units which took in the defense that was so successful were the 42nd Division, including the gallant 69th of New York, who were to the west of us, our own little regiment, and the American Railroad Artillery.
"That was the turning point of the war, because soon thereafter began Marshal Foch's great counter thrust, in which the 1st and 2nd American Divisions participated so wonderfully about Belleau Wood, Chateau-Thierry and that district. Gouraud in my belief, turned the tide of the war, and I am proud that the New York City colored boys had a share of that vital fight.
"Right here I may say that this orphan, urchin regiment of ours placed in the pathway of the Boche in the most significant battle the world has ever known, had only thirty-seven commissioned officers, and four of those wounded, had to be carried in stretchers to their positions in the trenches in order to direct the fighting."

Colonel Hayward was himself in the hospital with a broken leg. Disregarding the orders of the surgeons he went to the front line on crutches and personally directed his men in the fight. In all of his written and quoted utterances since the war, he has refrained from mentioning this fact, but it is embodied in the regimental records.

Shortly after the French national holiday, the 369th was sent about 15 kilometers west to a position in front of the Butte de Mesnil, a high hill near Maison en Champagne, occupied by the Germans. Around that district they held half a dozen sectors at different times with only one week of rest until September 26th.

Artillery duels were constant. It is related that near the Butte de Mesnil the regiment lost a man an hour and an officer a day from the shell fire of the Boche. So accurate were the gunners handling the German 77s that frequently a solitary soldier who exposed himself would actually be "sniped" off by a cannoneer.

In the September fighting the 369th saw the toughest period of its entire service. In company with a Moroccan Negro unit and others, the regiment participated in the attack on the Butte de Mesnil. The New Yorkers took the important town of Sechault and it was for that exploit that their flag was decorated with the Croix de Guerre.

Throughout the western Argonne fighting and the various sectors of the Champagne in which the 369th operated, especially during the months of July, August and September, their service was typical of that of other units of the 93rd Division. The going was tough for all of them and each contributed everlasting fame to American arms and undying renown to the Negro race.

Heroes of the Old 15th Infantry.

Officers and men of the 369th New York colored regiment awarded the Croix de Guerre for gallantry in Action:

Sergt. A.A. Adams
Corp. John Allen
Lieut. R.R. DeArmond
Lieut. G.A. Arnston
Corp. Farrandus Baker
Sergt. E.W. Barrington
Sergt M.W. Barron
Sergt. William D. Bartow
Capt. Aaron T. Bates
Corp. Fletcher Battle
Corp. R. Bean
Corp. J.S. Beckton
Pvt. Myril Billings
Sergt. Ed. Bingham
Lieut. J.C. Bradner
Pvt. Arthur Brokaw
Pvt. H.D. Brown
Pvt. T.W. Brown
Lieut. Elmer C. Bucher
Pvt. Wm. H. Bunn
Sergt. Wm. Butler
Pvt. J.L. Bush
Sergt. Joseph Carmen
Corp. T. Catto
Corp. G.H. Chapman
Sergt. Major Benedict W. Cheesman
Capt. John H. Clarke, Jr.
Lieut. P.M. Clendenin
Capt. Frederick W. Cobb
Sergt. Robert Collins
Lieut. J.H. Connor
Sergt. Wm. H. Cox
Sergt C.D. Davis
Lieut. Charles Dean
Pvt. P. Demps
Wagoner Martin Dunbar
Corp. Elmer Earl
Pvt. Frank Ellis
Sergt. Sam Fannell
Capt. Robt. F. Ferguson, Jr.
Capt. Charles W. Fillmore
Capt. Edward J. Farrell
Capt. Hamilton Fish, Jr.
Capt Edwin R.D. Fox
Lieut. Conrad Fox
Sergt. Richard W. Fowler
Pvt. Roland Francis
Pvt. B. Freeman
Pvt. I. Freeman
Sergt Wm. A. Gains
Wagoner Richard O. Goins
Pvt. J.J. Gordon
Lieut. R.C. Grams
Pvt. Stillman Hanna
Pvt. Hugh Hamilton
Pvt. G.E. Hannibal
Pvt. Frank Harden
Pvt. Frank Hatchett
Corp. Ralph Hawkins
Colonel Wm. Hayward
Lieut. E.H. Holden
Sergt. Wm. H. Holliday
Corp. Earl Horton
Pvt. G. Howard
Lieut. Stephen H. Howey
Sergt. Major Clarence C. Hudson
Pvt. Ernest Hunter
Sergt. S. Jackson
Corp. Clarence Johnson
Sergt. D.F. Johnson
Pvt. Gilbert Johnson
Sergt. George Jones
Lieut. Gorman R. Jones
Sergt. James H. Jones
Pvt. Smithfield Jones
Pvt. J.C. Joynes
Lieut. W.H. Keenan
Lieut. Elwin C. King
Lieut. Harold M. Landon
Lieut. Nils H. Larsen
Major David A. L'Esperance
Lieut. W.F. Leland
Pvt. D.W. Lewis
Pvt. W.D. Link
Major Arthur W. Little
Lieut. Walter R. Lockhart
Sergt. B. Lucas
Pvt. Lester A. Marshall
Pvt. Lewis Martin
Sergt. A.J. McArthur
Capt. Seth B. MacClinton
Pvt. Elmer McGowan
Pvt. Herbert McGirt
Capt. Comerford McLoughlin
Pvt. L. McVea
Sergt. H. Matthews
Sergt. Jesse A. Miller
Sergt Wm. H. Miller
Sergt. E. Mitchell
Pvt. Herbert Mills
Corp. M. Molson
Lieut. E.D. Morey
Sergt. W. Morris
Sergt. G.A. Morton
Lieut. E.A. Nostrand
Sergt. Samuel Nowlin
Capt. John O. Outwater
Lieut. Hugh A. Page
Lieut. Oliver H. Parish
Sergt. C.L. Pawpaw
Pvt. Harvey Perry
Sergt. Clinton Peterson
Lieut. Col. W.A. Pickering
Lieut. Richardson Pratt
Sergt. John Pratt
Sergt. H.D. Primas
Pvt. Jeremiah Reed
Lieut. Durant Rice
Pvt. John Rice
Sergt. Samuel Richardson
Sergt Charles Risk
Pvt. F. Ritchie
Lieut. G.S. Robb
Corp. Fred Rogers
Pvt. Lionel Rogers
Pvt. George Rose
Lieut. R.M. Rowland
Sergt. Percy Russell
Sergt. L. Sanders
Pvt. William Sanford
Lieut. H.J. Argent
Pvt. Marshall Scott
Capt. Lewis E. Shaw
Capt. Samuel Shethar
Lieut. Hoyt Sherman
Major G. Franklin Shiels
Pvt. A. Simpson
Sergt. Bertrand U. Smith
Pvt. Daniel Smith
Sergt. Herman Smith
Corp. R.W. Smith
Major Lorillard Spencer
Sergt. J.T. Stevens
Corp. Dan Storms
Lieut. George F. Stowell
Corp. T.W. Taylor
Lieut. Frank B. Thompson
Sergt. Lloyd Thompson
Sergt. A.L. Tucker
Sergt. George Valaska
Lieut. D.H. Vaughan
Capt. Edward A. Walton
Capt Charles Warren
Sergt. Leon Washington
Pvt. Casper White
Capt. James D. White
Sergt. Jay White
Sergt. Jesse J. White
Sergt. C.E. Williams
Pvt. Robert Williams
Sergt. Reaves Willis
Pvt. H. Wiggington
Sergt. L. Wilson
Pvt. Tim Winston
Sergt. E. Woods
Pvt. George Wood
Lieut. A.D. Worsham
Sergt. E.C. Wright
Sergt. Henry Johnson
Pvt. Needham Roberts

---

CHAPTER XV.

OVER THERE.

HENRY JOHNSON AND NEEDHAM ROBERTS—THE TIGER'S CUBS—NEGRO FIRST TO GET PALM—JOHNSON'S GRAPHIC STORY—SMASHES THE GERMANS—IRVIN COBB'S TRIBUTE—CHRISTIAN AND MOHAMMEDAN NEGROES PALS—VALOR OF 93RD DIVISION—LAUGHTER IN FACE OF DEATH—NEGRO AND POILU HAPPY TOGETHER—BUTTE DE MESNIL—VALIANT AND HUMOROUS ELMER McCOWIN—WINNING WAR CROSSES—VERDICT OF THE FRENCH—THE NEGRO'S FAITH.

A most conspicuous Negro hero of the war, and for that matter of any race serving with the American army, was Sergeant Henry Johnson of Albany, N.Y. His exploit was shared by a company mate, Needham Roberts. For pure bull dog grit and tigerish fighting, the exploit has seldom, if ever, been equalled in the annals of any war. It resulted in the War Crosses for each with a special citation, and the whole French force in that section of the Champagne lined up to see them get the decorations. Across the red and green ribbon of Johnson's decoration was a golden palm, signifying extraordinary valor. Johnson was the first private of any race in the American army to get the palm with his Croix de Guerre. Here is the story as told in Johnson's own words after his arrival back in New York:

"There isn't so much to tell", said Johnson with characteristic modesty. "There wasn't anything so fine about it. Just fought for my life. A rabbit would have done that.
"Well, anyway, me and Needham Roberts were on patrol duty on May 15. The corporal wanted to send out two new drafted men on the sentry post for the midnight-to-four job. I told him he was crazy to send untrained men out there and risk the rest of us. I said I'd tackle the job, though I needed sleep.
"German snipers had been shooting our way that night and I told the corporal he wanted men on the job who knew their rifles. He said it was imagination, but anyway he took those green men off and left Needham and me on the posts. I went on at midnight. It was moonlight. Roberts was at the next post. At one o'clock a sniper took a crack at me from a bush fifty yards away. Pretty soon there was more firing and when Sergeant Roy Thompson came along I told him.
"'What's the matter men' he asked, 'You scared?'
"'No I ain't scared', I said, 'I came over here to do my bit and I'll do it. But I was jes' lettin' you know there's liable to be some tall scrappin' around this post tonight'. He laughed and went on, and I began to get ready. They'd a box of hand grenades there and I took them out of the box and laid them all in a row where they would be handy. There was about thirty grenades, I guess. I was goin' to bust that Dutch army in pieces if it bothered me.
"Somewhere around two o'clock I heard the Germans cutting our wire out in front and I called to Roberts. When he came I told him to pass the word to the lieutenant. He had just started off when the snippin' and clippin' of the wires sounded near, so I let go with a hand grenade. There was a yell from a lot of surprised Dutchmen and then they started firing. I hollered to Needham to come back.
"A German grenade got Needham in the arm and through the hip. He was too badly wounded to do any fighting, so I told him to lie in the trench and hand me up the grenades.
"'Keep your nerve' I told him. 'All the Dutchmen in the woods are at us, but keep cool and we'll lick 'em.' Roberts crawled into the dugout. Some of the shots got me, one clipped my head, another my lip, another my hand, some in my side and one smashed my left foot so bad that I have a silver plate holding it up now.
"The Germans came from all sides. Roberts kept handing me the grenades and I kept throwing them and the Dutchmen kept squealing, but jes' the same they kept comin' on. When the grenades were all gone I started in with my rifle. That was all right until I shoved in an American cartridge clip—it was a French gun—and it jammed.
"There was nothing to do but use my rifle as a club and jump into them. I banged them on the dome and the side and everywhere I could land until the butt of my rifle busted. One of the Germans hollered, 'Rush him! Rush him!' I decided to do some rushing myself. I grabbed my French bolo knife and slashed in a million directions. Each slash meant something, believe me. I wasn't doing exercises, let me tell you.
"I picked out an officer, a lieutenant I guess he was. I got him and I got some more of them. They knocked me around considerable and whanged me on the head, but I always managed to get back on my feet. There was one guy that bothered me. He climbed on my back and I had some job shaking him off and pitching him over my head. Then I stuck him in the ribs with the bolo. I stuck one guy in the stomach and he yelled in good New York talk: 'That black —— got me.'
"I was still banging them when my crowd came up and saved me and beat the Germans off. That fight lasted about an hour. That's about all. There wasn't so much to it."

No, there was not much to it, excepting that next morning the Americans found four German bodies with plentiful indications that at least thirty-two others had been put on the casualty list and several of the German dead probably had been dragged back by their comrades. Thirty-eight bombs were found, besides rifles, bayonets and revolvers.

It was Irvin Cobb, the southern story writer, who first gave to the world a brief account of the exploit of Johnson and Roberts in the

Saturday Evening Post

during the summer of 1918. He commented as follows:

"If ever proof were needed, which it is not, that the color of a man's skin has nothing to do with the color of his soul, this twain then and there offered it in abundance."

Mr. Cobb in the same article paid many tributes to the men of the 369th and 371st serving at that time in that sector. Among other things he said:

"They were soldiers who wore their uniforms with a smartened pride; who were jaunty and alert and prompt in their movements; and who expressed as some did vocally in my hearing, and all did by their attitude, a sincere heartfelt inclination to get a whack at the foe with the shortest possible delay."

Continuing, Mr. Cobb uttered a sentiment that is sure to awaken a glow in the hearts of all sympathizers and friends of the Negro race. "I am of the opinion personally," he said, "and I make the assertion with all the better grace, I think, seeing that I am a Southerner with all the Southerner's inherited and acquired prejudices touching on the race question—that as a result of what our black soldiers are going to do in this war, a word that has been uttered billions of times in our country, sometimes in derision, sometimes in hate, sometimes in all kindliness—but which I am sure never fell on black ears but it left behind a sting for the heart—is going to have a new meaning for all of us, South and North too, and that hereafter n-i-g-g-e-r will merely be another way of spelling the word American."

Many a man in the four regiments comprising the 93rd division when he heard about the exploit of May 15th, oiled his rifle, sharpened his bayonet and whetted his trench knife, resolved to go Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts one better if the opportunity came to him. It did come to many of them in the days that followed and although none got a chance to distinguish himself in equal degree with the redoubtable Johnson, it was because the Boche had become too wary. They had cultivated a healthy respect for the colored men and called them "blutlustige schwartze manner," meaning "blood-thirsty black men." Another nickname they had was "Hell Fighters."

When the 93rd division was brigaded with the French on the Aisne, at least two of the component regiments were under a French general having in his command several thousand Moroccan Negroes. He placed them on the other side of the river fearing they would quarrel over religious differences. However, it was impossible to keep them from fraternizing. There were no religious disputes, nor is it of record that the Americans attempted to convert the Mohammedans. But they did initiate their turbaned comrades into the mysteries of a certain American game and it is said that the disciples of Allah experienced considerable hard luck.

Most of the 93rd division was under fire from the early days of May, 1918, until the close of the war. The 369th, which left New York with 56 officers and 2,000 men, returned with only 20 officers and 1,200 men of the original organization. A few had been transferred to casual companies and other commands, but many will never come back; their bodies being part of the soil of France—killed in action, died of wounds or disease.

The tale of the 93rd is full of deeds of valor, laughter in the face of death, of fearful carnage wrecked upon the foe, of childlike pride in the homage their Allies paid them, and now and then an incident replete with the bubbling Negro humor that is the same whether it finds its outlet on the cotton-fields of Dixie or the battlefields of France.

Between the French and the colored troops the spirit was superb. The French poilu had not been taught that the color of a man's skin made a difference. He had no prejudices. How could he have, coming from a nation whose motto is LIBERTY, FRATERNITY, EQUALITY? He formed his judgment from bravery and Manhood and Honor. The Negro soldiers ate, slept and drank with the poilus. They were happy together.

An incident of the valor of the 93rd division was in the fight at Butte de Mesnil, as tough a spot as any in the line between the sea and Switzerland. The ground had been fought over back and forth, neither side holding it for long. The French said it was the burying place of 200,000 of their troops and Germans, and that it could not be held permanently. The Negro boys tackled the job. In four days they had advanced fourteen kilometers (8.4 miles) and they NEVER retreated.

The Negro troops to a great extent went into action with little training, but they learned quickly in the hard school of experience. They excelled in grenade throwing and machine gun work. Grenade throwing is very ticklish business. Releasing the pin lights the fuse. Five seconds after the fuse is lighted the grenade explodes. It must be timed exactly. If thrown too quickly the enemy is liable to pick it up and hurl it back in time to create the explosion in one's own lines. No one cares to hold a grenade long after the fuse is lighted so the boys sometimes threw them ahead of the signal.

"Shorty" Childress of B company, 371st Infantry, had been drilled with dummy grenades. When given the real thing he released the pin and immediately heard the fulminating fuse working its way down into the charge. It was too much for his nerves. He threw the grenade as far as he could send it. The lieutenant reprimanded him severely.

"What do you mean," he said, "by hurling that explosive ahead of the proper time. Do you want the Boches to pick it up, fire it back here and blow us all to smithereens?"

"Shorty" was properly abashed. He hung his head and responded: "Lieutenant, I begs your pardon, I didn't mean to heave it so soon, but I could actually feel that thing a swellin' in my hand."

But they soon acquired the idea, and after a short time very few of the grenades reached the enemy either ahead of or behind time.

Here is the valiant and humorous story of Elmer McCowin, 669 Lenox Avenue, New York City, a private in Company K, 369th infantry, and how he won the Distinguished Service Cross. He said:

"On September 26th, the captain asked me to carry dispatches. The Germans pumped machine gun bullets at me all the way, but I made the trip and got back safely. Then I was sent out again. As I started the captain hollered to bring him back a can of coffee. He was joking but I didn't know it.
"Being a foot messenger I had some time ducking those German bullets. Those bullets seemed very sociable but I didn't care to meet up with any of them, so I kept on traveling on high gear. None touched my skin, though some skinned pretty close.
"On the way back it seemed the whole war was turned on me. One bullet passed through my trousers and it made me hop, skip and jump. I saw a shell hole six feet deep. Take it from me I dented it another six feet when I plunged into it. In my fist I held the captain's can of coffee.
"When I climbed out of the hole and started running again a bullet clipped a hole in the can and the coffee started to run out. But I turned around stopped a second, looked the Kaiser in the face and held up the can of coffee with my finger plugging up the hole to show the Germans they were fooled. Just then another bullet hit the can and another finger had to act as a stopper. I pulled out an old rabbit's foot that my girl had given me and rubbed it so hard the hair almost came off.
"It must have been the good luck thing that saved my life because the bullets were picking at my clothes and so many hit the can that at the end all my fingers were in use to keep the coffee in. I jumped into shell holes and wriggled along the ground and got back safely. And what do you think? When I got back into our own trenches I stumbled and spilled the coffee."

Not only did Lieutenant George Miller, battalion adjutant, confirm the story, but he added:

"When that boy came back with the coffee his clothes were riddled with bullets. Yet half an hour later he went out into no man's land and brought back a number of wounded until he was badly gassed. Even then he refused to go to the rear and went out again for a wounded soldier. All this under fire. That's the reason he got the D.S.C."

Corporal Elmer Earl, also of Company K, living in Middletown, N.Y., won the D.S.C. He explained:

"We had taken a hill Sept. 26 in the Argonne. We came to the edge of a swamp when the enemy machine guns opened fire. It was so bad that of the 58 of us who went into a particular strip, only 8 came out without being killed or wounded. I made a number of trips out there and brought back about a dozen wounded men."

The proudest recollection which Negro officers and privates will carry through life is that of the whole-hearted recognition given them in the matter of decorations by the French army authorities. Four colored regiments of the 93rd division attained the highest record in these awards. These regiments being brigaded with the French, their conduct in action was thus under their observation. Not only was each of these regiments cited as a unit for the Croix de Guerre, but 365 individual soldiers received the coveted decoration. A large number of Distinguished Service Crosses were also distributed to the 93rd division by General Pershing. The verdict pronounced by critical French commanders may be considered as an unquestionable confirmation that the Negro troops were under all conditions brave fighters. This fact and the improved status of the Negro as a result of it was pointed to by the New York Tribune, in a leading editorial in its issue of February 14, 1919. It said:

"The bas-relief of the Shaw Memorial became a living thing as the dusky heroes of the 15th cheered the Liberty statue and happily swarmed down the gangplank. Appropriately the arrival was on the birthday of the "revered Lincoln," and never was the young and martyred idealist of Massachusetts filled with greater pride than swelled in Colonel Hayward as he talked of his men the best regiment, he said, with pardonable emphasis, 'of all engaged in the great war.'
"These were men of the Champagne and the Argonne whose step was always forward; who held a trench ninety days without relief, with every night a raid night; who won 171 medals for conspicuous bravery; who saw the war expire under their pressure in a discouraged German cannonade. First class fighting men! Hats off to them! The tribunal of grace does not regard skin color when assessing souls.
"The boys cheered the Bartholdi statue. It makes some whites uncomfortable. It converts into strange reading glib eulogies of democratic principles.
"A large faith possesses the Negro. He has such confidence in justice,—the flow—of which he believes will yet soften hard hearts. We have a wonderful example of a patience that defies discouragement; the "Souls of Black Folk"! When values are truly measured, some things will be different in this country."

---

CHAPTER XVI.

THROUGH HELL AND SUFFERING.

Negro Officers Make Good—Wonderful Record of the 8th Illinois—"Black Devils" Win Decorations Galore—Tribute of French Commander—His Farewell to Prairie Fighters—They Fought After War Was Over—Hard to Stop Them—Individual Deeds of Heroism—Their Dead, Their Wounded and Suffering—A Poem.

In the past when the subject of the Negro's fighting ability was under discussion, there were always found those whose grudging assent to his merits as a soldier was modified by the assertion that he had to be properly commanded; in other words must have white officers. Never having been given a conspicuous opportunity to demonstrate his capacity for leadership in battle, until the formation of the 8th Illinois infantry in the Spanish-American war, the Negro was forced to rest under the imputation that as a follower he did fairly well, but as a leader he was a failure.

Let anyone who still holds that view study the record of the 8th Illinois, or the 370th, as it was rechristened when entering the service of the general government in the recent war. Seventy-one War Crosses with special citations for valor and merit, and twenty-one Distinguished Service Crosses were awarded officers and men of the regiment. Many men in the 370th were veterans of the Spanish-American war as well as the campaign of 1916 on the Mexican border, which, while not an actual war, was for some months a locality of service and hard service at that; the regiment passing through it with great credit.

It was organized as a single battalion in 1891, increased to a regiment and sent to Cuba in 1898, every officer and man in the regiment being a Negro. Upon its return, over half of the city of Chicago turned out in greeting. Until July 12th, 1918, the regiment had never had a white officer. Then its Colonel, F.A. Denison, was relieved on account of illness and a white officer in the person of Colonel Thomas A. Roberts for the first time was placed in command. Shortly before the armistice two other white officers were attached to the regiment, in the persons of Major William H. Roberts, a brother of the colonel, and Captain John F. Prout; Second Lieutenant M.F. Stapleton, white, also served as adjutant of the First battalion.

The 370th received brief training at Camp Logan, Houston, Texas, and landed in France April 22, 1918; going within a few weeks into actual service. Like nearly all of the new regiments arriving at that time its operations were confined mainly to trench warfare.

Trench warfare continued until July 6, when the men got their real baptism of fire in a section of the Argonne and were in all the important engagements of their portion of the Champagne and other fronts, fighting almost continuously from the middle of July until the close of the war, covering themselves with a distinction and glory, as Knights in the warfare for Mankind, that will endure as long as the story of valorous deeds are recorded.

Like the other regiments of the 93rd Division, the 370th was brigaded with the French; first with the 73rd French Division and later under direct command of General Vincendon of the 59th Division, a part of the famous 10th French army under General Mangin. Shortly after the signing of the armistice, the division commander sent the regiment the following communication:

Officers, non-commissioned officers and men:
Your efforts have been rewarded. The armistice is signed. The troops of the Entente to whom the armies of the American Republic have nobly come to join themselves, have vanquished the most powerful instrument of conquest that a nation could forge—the haughty German Army acknowledges itself conquered. However hard our conditions are, the enemy government has accepted them all.
The 370th R.I.U.S. 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 ardor, 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.
VINCENDON.

"Black Devils" was the name the Prussian Guard who faced them gave to the men of the 370th. Their French comrades called them "The Partridges," probably on account of their cockiness in action (a cock partridge is very game), and their smart, prideful appearance on parade.

A general outline of the service of the Illinois men after coming out of the trenches, as well as an illustration of the affection and high appreciation in which they were held by the French, is contained in the following order issued by General Vincendon in December:

Officers and soldiers of the 370th R.I.U.S.:
You are leaving us. The impossibility at this time that the German Army can recover from its defeat, the necessity which is imposed on the people of the Entente of taking up again a normal life, leads the United States to diminish its effectiveness in France. You are chosen to be among the first to return to America. In the name of your comrades of the 59th Division I say to you, au revoir. In the name of France, I thank you.
The hard and brilliant battles of Chavigny, Leury and the Bois de Beaumont having reduced the effectiveness of the division, the American government generously put your regiment at the disposition of the French High Command. In order to reinforce us, you arrived from the trenches of the Argonne.
We at first, at Mareuil Sur Ourcq, in September, admired your fine appearance under arms, the precision of your review and the suppleness of your evolutions that presented to the eye the appearance of silk unrolling in wavy folds. We advanced to the line. Fate placed you on the banks of the Ailette in front of the Bois Mortier. October 12 you occupied the enemy trenches at Acier and Brouze. On the 13th we reached the railroad of Laon le Fere; the forest of Saint Gobain, the principal center of resistance of the Hindenburg line was ours.
November 5th the Serre was at last crossed and the pursuit became active. Major Prout's battalion distinguished Itself at the Val St. Pierre, where it captured a German battery. Major Patton's battalion was first to cross the Hirson railroad at the heights of Aubenton, where the Germans tried to resist. Duncan's battalion took Logny and, carried away by their ardor, could not be stopped short of Gue d' Hossus on November 11th, after the armistice. We have hardly time to appreciate you and already you depart.
As Lieut. Colonel Duncan said November 28, in offering to me your regimental colors as proof of your love for France and as an expression of your loyalty to the 59th Division and our Army, you have given us of your best and you have given it out of the fullness of your hearts.
The blood of your comrades who fell on the soil of France mixed with the blood of our soldiers, renders indissoluble the bonds of affection that unite us. We have, besides, the pride of having worked together at a magnificent task, and the pride of bearing on our foreheads the ray of a common grandeur.
VINCENDON.

This is a facsimile reproduction of the original, printed hurriedly near the field of battle and also translated hurriedly without eliminating errors. Corrected on page 155.

To the 370th belongs the honor of the absolutely last engagement of the war. An objective had been set for the regiment on the morning of November 11th. General Vincendon heard of the hour at which hostilities were to end and sent an order to the regiment to shorten its objective. The order failed to arrive in time and ten minutes after the fighting was over Lieut. Colonel Duncan led the third battalion over the German line and captured a train of fifty wagons. General Vincendon said:

"Colonel Duncan is the hardest man to stop fighting I ever saw. He doesn't know when to quit."

One of the most daring exploits by a member of the regiment was that performed by Sergeant Matthew Jenkins, a Chicago boy and member of Company F. On September 20, at Mont des Singes, he went ahead of his comrades and captured from the Boche a fortified tunnel which by aid of his platoon was held for thirty-six hours without food or ammunition, making use of the enemy machine gun and munitions until relieved. This gained for Sergeant Jenkins the Croix de Guerre with Palm and the Distinguished Service Cross.

A deed of remarkable bravery accompanied by clever strategy was performed by Captain Chester Sanders and twenty men mostly of Company F. It won decorations for three and the unbounded admiration of the French. Captain Sanders and his men offered themselves as sacrifices in an effort to draw the fire of about a dozen German machine guns which had been working havoc among the Americans and French. The Illinois men ran into the middle of a road knowing they were under German observation. Instantly the Germans, suspecting a raid on their lines, opened fire on the underbrush by the roadside, figuring the Americans would take refuge there. Instead they kept right in the center of the road and few were wounded. The ruse had revealed the whereabouts of the German guns, and a short time later they were wiped out by French artillery.

Another hero of Company F was Lieutenant Harvey J. Taylor, who found himself in a nest of machine guns on July 16 in the western part of the Argonne forest. He received wounds in both legs, a bullet through one arm, a bullet in his side, had a front tooth knocked out by a bullet and received a ruptured ear drum by another. After all this he was back in the lines October 24th at Soissons. The Germans were making a counter attack that day and when the battling colored men needed supplies, Lieutenant Taylor, who was regimental signal officer, proceeded to get the supplies to them, though he had to pass through a German barrage. He was badly gassed. He received the Croix de Guerre with a special citation.

Lieutenant Elmer D. Maxwell won his Cross in the Champagne, six miles northwest of Laon. He led a platoon of men against a nest of machine guns, taking four guns and eighteen prisoners, not to speak of leaving behind a number of Germans who were not in a condition to be taken prisoner.

Many of the officers of the regiment were wounded. The escape of many from death, considering the continuous fighting and unusual perils through which they passed, was miraculous. The only officer who made the supreme sacrifice was Lieutenant George L. Giles of 3833 Calumet Avenue, Chicago. He was the victim of a direct hit by a shell at Grandlut on November 1 while he was heroically getting his men into shelter. Lieut. Giles was very popular with the men and with his brother officers. He was popular among the members of the race section in which he lived in Chicago, and was regarded as a young man of great promise.

One of the engagements of the first battalion that received more than honorable mention was on the morning of November 6th, when the battalion crossed the Hindenburg line and after extremely hard fighting captured on St. Pierre Mont, three 77 guns and two machine guns. Captain James H. Smith of 3267 Vernon Avenue, Chicago, commanded the company, and Lieutenant Samuel S. Gordon of 3842 Prairie Avenue, Chicago, the assault forces making the capture. The battalion continued across the Serre river and when the armistice was signed was at a small place in Belgium.

Several of the officers passed through practically all of the fighting with hardly a scratch, only to be taken ill at the finish and invalided home. These men would have been greatly disappointed had the war continued after they were put out of action. Conspicuous among them was Lieutenant Robert A. Ward of 3728 South Wabash Avenue, Chicago, of the Trench Mortar platoon; Lieutenant Benjamin A. Browning of 4438 Prairie Avenue, Chicago, and Lieutenant Joseph R. Wheeler, 3013 Prairie Avenue, Chicago.

Major Rufus Stokes led the first battalion on the initial raid at Vauquois. They fired 300 shells from six trench mortars and scored a notable success. In that raid Private William Morris of Chicago, the only man in the regiment who was captured by the Germans, was taken. He was reported missing at the time, but weeks later his picture was found among a group of prisoners portrayed in a German illustrated newspaper found in a captured dugout.

Three men were killed and a large number of others had a miraculous escape while entering Laon a few days prior to November 1st. A German time mine exploded tearing up a section of railroad track, hurling the heavy rails into the air, where they spun around or flew like so many arrows.

First Lieutenant William J. Warfield, regimental supply officer, a Chicago man, won the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism in action near Ferme de la Riviere, September 28th.

Sergeant Norman Henry of the Machine Gun company, whose home is in Chicago, won the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism in action near Ferme de la Riviere, September 30th.

Other members of the regiment upon whom the D.S.C. was conferred by General Pershing were:

Captain William B. Crawford, home address, Denison, Texas; for extraordinary heroism in action at Ferme de la Riviere, September 30th.

Sergeant Ralph Gibson, Company H, a Chicago man; for extraordinary heroism at Beaume, November 8th.

Sergeant Charles T. Monroe, Headquarters Company; for extraordinary heroism in action at Mont de Singes, September 24th. His home is at Senrog, Va.

Sergeant Emmett Thompson, Company L, home in Quincy, Illinois; for extraordinary heroism at Mont de Singes, September 20th.

Supply Sergeant Lester Fossie, Company M, home at Metropolis, Illinois; for extraordinary heroism at Ferme de la Riviere, October 5th.

Private Tom Powell, deceased, Company H; for extraordinary heroism near Beaume, November 8th.

Private Spirley Irby, Company H, home at Blackstone, Va.; for extraordinary heroism in action at Beaume, November 8th.

Private Alfred Williamson, medical detachment, home at San Diego, California; for extraordinary heroism in action near Beaume, November 8th.

Private William G. Hurdle, Machine Gun Company No. 3, home at Drivers, Va.; for extraordinary heroism in action at Ferme la Folie, September 30th.

Private Harry Pearson, Machine Gun company No. 3, home at Portland, Oregon; for extraordinary heroism in action near Ferme la Folie, September 30th.

Private Alonzo Walton, Machine Gun Company No. 3, home at Normal, Illinois; for extraordinary heroism in action at Rue Lamcher and Pont D'Amy, November 7th and 9th.

Private Leroy Davis, Company L, home at Huntsville, Missouri; for extraordinary heroism in action at Mont de Singes, September 18th.

NEGRO WARRIORS ADMINISTERING COLD STEEL. GERMANS UNABLE TO STAND THE ATTACK. SURRENDERING. IN THE ARGONNE FOREST FRANCE.

About fifty percent of the 370th met casualties of some sort during their service in France. Like the New York regiment heretofore mentioned, they were singularly free from disease. Only 65 men and one officer were killed in action and about thirty died from wounds. The total number wounded and missing was 483. Probably 1,000 men were gassed and incapacitated at times, as the regiment had three replacements, necessary to make up its losses. The regiment went to France with approximately 2,500 men from Chicago and Illinois, and came back with 1,260. Of course, many of the wounded, sick and severely gassed were invalided home or came back as parts of casual companies formed at hospital bases. The replacement troops which went into the regiment were mostly from the Southern states. A few of the colored officers assigned to the regiment after its arrival in France, were men from the officers training camps in this country and France.

The 370th boasted of the only race court martial in the army. There were thirteen members, Lieutenant Colonel Duncan presiding. Captain Louis E. Johnson was the judge advocate, and Lieutenant Washington was his assistant. It is not of record that the findings of the court martial were criticized. At least there was no scandal as there was concerning court martial proceedings in other divisions of the army. The fact is that there was very little occasion for court martialing among the men of the 370th. The behavior of the men was uniformly good, as is attested by the fact that every town mayor in France where the men passed through or were billeted, complimented the officers on the splendid discipline and good behavior shown.

Colonel Roberts, a veteran cavalryman, was very fond of his men. He has repeatedly paid them the highest compliments, not only for their valor and soldierly qualities, but for their quick intelligence, amenity to discipline, and for the clean living which made them so remarkably free from disease. He has stated that he would not know where to select a better group of men for everything that goes to make up efficient, dependable soldiers. Colonel Roberts received the Croix de Guerre, with the following citation:

"A commander entirely devoted to duty, he succeeded by dint of working day and night in holding with his regiment a difficult sector, though the officers and men were without experience, under heavy shelling. He personally took charge of a battalion on the front line on October 12 and led it to the objectives assigned by the crossing of the Ailette canal."

American historians may not give the Negro fighters the place to which their records entitle them; that remains to be seen. From the testimony of French commanders, however, it is evident that the pages of French history will not be printed unless they contain the valiant, patriotic, heroic deeds of the Illinois and New York regiments with their comrades of the 93rd and 92nd Divisions.

In the various sectors to which they were assigned, they were in virtually every important fight. They met the flower of the Kaiser's forces, held them and on more than one occasion made them retreat. The Hun had misjudged them and it was fortunate that he had. They endured their share of hardship, marching many weary miles, day after day, without sufficient food. Nothing could affect their spirit and dash. When the call came, they went over the top, that the world might be made safe for democracy.

Among the officers and men of the 370th were represented about every calling in which the Negro of this day engages. There were men of professional pursuits; lawyers, doctors and teachers; students, mechanics, business men, farmers and laborers. The poet of the regiment was Lieutenant Blaine G. Alston. The following little poem, if properly digested and understood, tells volumes within itself:

"OVER THERE"
Did you ever hear a bullet whiz,
Or dodge a hand grenade?
Have you watched long lines of trenches dug
By doughboys with a spade?
Have you seen the landscape lighted up
At midnight by a shell?
Have you seen a hillside blazing forth
Like a furnace room in hell?
Have you stayed all night in a ruined town
With a rafter for a bed?
With horses stamping underneath
In the morning when they are fed?
Have you heard the crump-crump whistle?
Do you know the dud shell's grunt?
Have you played rat in a dugout?—
Then you have surely seen the front.
—Lieut. Blaine G. Alston, 370th U.S. Troops.

---

CHAPTER XVII.

NARRATIVE OF AN OFFICER.

Special Article by Captain John H. Patton, Adjutant of 8th Illinois—Summarizes Operations of the Regiment—From First Call to Mustering Out—An Eye Witness Account—In Training Camps, at Sea, in France—Service in Argonne Forest—Many Other Engagements—A Thrilling Record—Battalion Operations in Detail—Special Mention of Companies and Individuals.

Captain John H. Patton, regimental adjutant of the 370th, who commanded the second battalion through most of its service, presents a summary of the operations of the regiment from the first call to the mustering out. Being in charge of the organization's records, his account is detailed, authentic and highly valuable as supplementing the data of the previous chapter; gleaned from departmental records and other sources. It carries additional interest as being the testimony of an eye-witness, one who participated in the stirring events in a marked and valorous degree. The recital in Captain Patton's own words, the phrase of a highly trained and efficient military man, follows:

Pursuant to the call of the President, under date of July 3, 1917, the 8th Illinois Infantry reported at the various rendezvous on July 25, 1917, as follows: At Chicago, Illinois regimental headquarters; Headquarters company, Machine Gun company, Supply company, Detachment Medical Department, and Companies A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H; at Springfield, Illinois, Company I; at Peoria, Illinois, Company K; at Danville, Illinois, Company L; at Metropolis, Illinois, Company M.

On the date the regiment responded to the call Colonel Franklin A. Denison commanded the regiment, the other Field Officers being Lieutenant Colonel James H. Johnson, Major Rufus M. Stokes, Major Charles L. Hunt, Major Otis B. Duncan and Captain John H. Patton, regimental adjutant.

The strength of the regiment a short time before responding to the call was approximately one thousand officers and enlisted men, and orders having been received to recruit to maximum strength, 3604 enlisted men, an active recruiting campaign was begun. On July 25, 1917, the strength was approximately 2,500. Soon afterwards orders were received that the regiment would be organized according to Minimum Strength Tables of Organization, which gave it an authorized strength of 2,138 enlisted men. After reporting that the regiment already had several hundred men in excess of that strength, authority was granted to retain the excess men. From this time until demobilized at Camp Grant in March, 1919, the regiment had from 600 to 1,300 men in excess of its authorized strength, and upon arrival in France in April, 1918, the entire personnel consisted of men who had voluntarily enlisted.

Intensive training was begun immediately after the regiment reported at the various armories and the public streets in the vicinity were utilized for this purpose until October 12, 1917, on which date the various organizations entrained for Camp Logan, Houston, Texas, arriving a few days later.

While stationed at Camp Logan, the regiment was engaged in intensive training. Officers and enlisted men attended the various schools established by the 33rd Division to which the regiment had been attached and acquitted themselves with credit.

At the end of October, 1917, on the date of the closing of the Second Liberty Loan Campaign, out of a total of 2,166 officers and enlisted men belonging to the regiment at that time, 1,482 officers and men subscribed $151,400.00.

While at Camp Logan, approximately 96 percent of the regiment took out $10,000.00 War Risk Insurance per man.

On December 1, 1917, the official designation of the regiment was changed from the 8th Illinois Infantry to the 370th Infantry.

On March 6, 1918, the regiment left Camp Logan enroute to Camp Stuart, Newport News, Va., arriving on March 10, 1918, and immediately taking up its interrupted intensive training.

While at Camp Stuart, Va., Lieutenant Colonel James H. Johnson was discharged from the service, and Major Otis B. Duncan, who had commanded the 3rd battalion, was promoted to the grade of lieutenant-colonel and Captain Arthur Williams was promoted to the grade of major and placed in command of the 3rd battalion.

On April 6, 1918, the regiment embarked on the S.S. President Grant en route overseas. In attempting to get out to sea, the vessel ran aground in Hampton Roads and three days later having been refloated, the journey overseas was resumed. On account of this delay the journey was begun without convoy, the warships assigned to this duty having departed as scheduled on or about April 6, 1918. On April 20, 1918, the steamer was met by a convoy of torpedo boats which accompanied us to Brest, France, at which place the regiment arrived on April 22, 1918.

The following day, April 23, 1918, the regiment debarked and marched to camp at Pontanezen Barracks, near Brest, and two days later entrained for Grandvillers (Haut-Rhin), arriving on April 27, 1918, and taking station.

The regiment, upon arrival at Grandvillers, was attached to the 73rd Division, French Army, and orders were given for the reorganization and equipping of the regiment to conform to that of a French regiment. All American arms, ammunition and equipment were salvaged and French rifles, machine guns, ammunition, wheel transportation, packs, helmets and other necessary equipment furnished. Except for the uniform the regiment was outfitted exactly as were the French regiments of that division. French rations were issued with the exception of the wine component, for which an extra allowance of sugar was substituted.

The Division sent officers to take charge of the instruction of the regiment in every phase of the work to be later undertaken and another period of intensive training was begun. Even French cooks were present to instruct our cooks in the preparation and conservation of the French rations.

After six weeks training at this place, the regiment entrained enroute to the front, arrived at Ligny-en-Barrios (Meuse) on June 13, 1918, and moved up toward the lines by easy stages.

On June 21, 1918, the regiment began occupying positions in the Saint Mihiel Sector, completing the occupation on June 24, 1918. This being the first time the regiment had been actually in the lines, the division commander deemed it advisable to intermingle our troops with French troops in order that officers and men might observe and profit by close association with the veteran French troops. Thus the units of the 1st and 2nd battalions, which had been assigned to the front lines were intermingled with platoons and companies of the 325th regiment of infantry.

Many valuable lessons were learned while in this sector, which was exceptionally quiet at the time. Except for occasional shelling and some scattered machine gun and rifle fire, nothing of interest occurred while in the sector, and there were no casualties.

On the night of June 30-July 1, 1918, the regiment, having been relieved in the sector, began withdrawing, and on July 3, 1918, the withdrawal had been completed without any losses.

After resting a few days in the region of Lignieres (Meuse), the regiment entrained en route to the Argonne Forest, arriving behind the lines on July 6, 1918, the 1st Battalion, under command of Major Stokes, moving up immediately into the reserve positions at Brabant (S. Groupement Courcelles) and later into the front lines in the Center of Resistance de la Foret, Sub-Sector Hermont.

The 2nd Battalion under command of Major Hunt took station at Rarecourt, the latter moved up to Locheres (Plateau of Gorgia) at which place the Major located his Commanding Post. From this position companies of the 2nd Battalion were sent into the lines alternately, the companies being relieved after a five days' tour of duty.

On July 12, 1918, Colonel Franklin A. Denison, who had commanded the regiment up to this time and had become incapacitated through illness contracted during the strenuous days incident to the preparation of the regiment for service in the lines, was relieved from command on this account and Colonel T.A. Roberts, cavalry, assumed command of the regiment.

The 3rd battalion under command of Major Williams, was held in reserve at Vraincourt, and only Company M of that battalion was sent into the front lines. This company took up positions in the supporting point at Buzemont on August 7, 1918, and remained until August 14, 1918.

On August 1, 1918, the Stokes Mortar platoon under command of Lieutenant Robert A. Ward took position in the lines in the sub-sector Vaquois, and on August 4, 1918, took an active part in a coup-de-main arranged by the French. His mission, filling in the gaps in the French artillery barrage, was so successfully accomplished that his entire platoon was highly commended for their work by the commanding general of the division.

Although patrols were operating between the lines nightly and the positions occupied were under artillery, machine gun and rifle fire a number of times, the only losses sustained during the six weeks in the Argonne Forest were 1 killed, 1 captured and 4 wounded.

On the night of August 15-16, 1918, the regiment was relieved from its positions in the Forest and marched to Rampont and entrained for villages in the vicinity of Fains (Meuse) for a period of rest, arriving on August 18, 1918.

Upon arrival at the new stations, instruction was begun again, more attention being paid to open warfare than to work incident to trench warfare. This training proved of great value to the officers and men in the latter days of the war, when the regiment was actively engaged in the pursuit of the enemy to the Belgian border.

On September 11, 1918, the regiment left its various stations and proceeded by train to Betz, where it detrained and marched to stations in villages in the vicinity of Mareuil-sur-Ourcq (Meuse). On September 11, 1918, Majors Hunt and Williams having become incapacitated through illness and injury, were relieved from command of the 2nd and 3rd Battalions, respectively, and Lieutenant Colonel Otis B. Duncan and Captain John H. Patton were assigned to the command of those battalions.

The battles of Chavigny, Leury and the Bois de Beaumont having reduced the effectives of the 59th French Division, the regiment was placed at the disposition of the division and was assigned as one of the three infantry regiments thereof. Upon joining this division the effective strength of the regiment was approximately double that of either of the two French regiments; and in future operations a large share of the work of the division fell to our lot.

On September 15, 1918, the regiment received orders to move again toward the front. From Mareuil-sur-Ourcq to the region of St. Bandry (Meuse) the movement was made in motor trucks. On September 16, 1918, the journey was resumed, the regiment proceeding by marching. Upon arrival at Tartier, Companies F and G were sent to Monte Couve (Aisne) to join the 232nd Regiment of Infantry, and Companies I and L pushed forward to Bagneux (Aisne) to join the 325th Regiment. The 1st battalion proceeded the next day to the caves in the vicinity of Les Tueries, the 3rd battalion moved up into the reserve in the region of Antioch Farm with the remainder of the 2nd battalion.

As soon as Companies F, G, I and L had moved up and taken position in the lines opposite Mont des Signes an attack was ordered. Attacks on the enemy positions on the plateau of Mont des Signes were almost continuous from the date of arrival of these companies until about September 21, 1918, when they were withdrawn and joined their battalions. These companies acquitted themselves with credit. One platoon under command of Sergeant Matthew Jenkins, Company F, took a large section of the enemy works for which the sergeant was awarded both the French Croix de Guerre and the American Distinguished Service Cross.

About the 22nd of September, the regiment for the first time took over a full regimental sector, the Battalion Stokes relieving the Battalion Garnier in the positions outlined by La Folie-l'Ecluse on the Canal l'Oise-l'Aisne and the Farm Gulliminet, the Battalion Patton going into the support positions at Mont des Tombes and the Battalion Duncan going into reserve at Tincelle Farm. Colonel Roberts located his commanding post at Antioch Farm. From the date of arrival in these positions until the enemy began to retreat on October 12, 1918, the entire area occupied by the regiment was almost constantly shelled, gas being used frequently. The front lines were almost constantly under the fire of enemy minnenwurfers and numerous machine guns located in the Bois de Mortier, a very dense wood north of the canal.

On the night of September 26-27, 1918, the Battalion Patton was ordered to relieve with like units one-half of each of the companies of the Battalion Stokes in the front lines and soon after the relief was completed an attack along the l'Oise-l'Aisne Canal was ordered. By the extreme of effort the remainder of the Battalion Patton was brought up and having completed the relief of the Battalion Stokes, the attack began as ordered. The attack continued until October 4th, on which date all objectives had been gained and the enemy pushed back across the canal. On September 30th the Battalion Duncan was thrown into the fight and two companies of the Battalion Patton withdrawn to the support. The Battalion Duncan was ordered to make a frontal attack which necessitated an advance across the open fields. This was successfully accomplished, the battalion being subjected to intense artillery, machine gun and rifle fire continuously. The Battalion Duncan, having gained its objectives, the Farm de la Riviere and the railroad south of the canal, held on tenaciously in spite of the intense fire of the enemy and held the positions gained until the pursuit began on October 12, 1918, when it passed into the reserve of the division.

During the occupancy of the sector, from September 22, 1918, to October 12, 1918, patrols from the three battalions were out night and day between the lines making necessary reconnaissances. On October 4, 1918, a volunteer patrol of twenty men under command of Captain Chester Sanders in an effort to discover whether the enemy had abandoned the woods, penetrated the Bois de Mortier to a point about 100 yards behind the enemy positions and having been discovered were fired on from all sides by numerous machine guns. The patrol returned to our lines intact. For this exploit Captain Sanders was awarded the French Croix de Guerre and the patrol received the commendation of the commanding general of the division. On October 7, 1918, after 5 minutes violent bombardment by our artillery, three raiding parties from Company F made a dash for the triangle formed by the railroad, the L'Oise-l'Aisne canal and the Vauxaillon road. One of these parties gained the enemy trenches along the canal, ejecting the enemy after a hand grenade fight. All parties returned to our lines intact though several were wounded. Lieutenant William Warfield of the Battalion Duncan single-handed took an enemy machine gun nest which had been harassing his company, and after disposing of the enemy machine gunners returned to our lines with the gun. Numerous other acts of gallantry were performed in this sector for which officers and men received both French and American decorations.

At 9:20 a.m. on October 12, 1918, the alert was given for a general advance by the entire division and the battalions assembled at the zones of assembly previously designated. The Battalion Stokes was given the mission of clearing the Bois de Mortier and the Battalion Patton was placed at the disposition of Lieutenant Colonel Lugand of the 232nd Infantry, and the 3rd battalion was placed in the divisional reserve. At about 11:00 a. m. the pursuit began, the 1st battalion clearing the Bois de Mortier and successfully reaching its first objective, Penancourt, the same date, and continuing the pursuit the next day to a point west of Molinchart.

The Battalion Patton, having been assigned as the support battalion of the 232nd Regiment of Infantry, took up the pursuit via Anizy le Chateau, Cessieres and the Bois de Oiry, bivouacing the night of October 13th in the vicinity of the Bois.

These battalions were commended by the commanding general. The Battalion Stokes for its passage of the exceedingly strong position in the Bois de Mortier and the 2nd for its well conducted march in pursuit via Anizy le Chateau.

On account of the straightening out of the lines due to the retreat of the enemy, the 59th Division was withdrawn on October 14th and sent back for rest, the regiment being sent into the St. Gobain Forest and vicinity for this purpose. Ten of the twelve days in this locality were spent in hard work on the roads and the last two were given over to the re-equipping of the regiment.

On October 22, 1918, Major Rufus M. Stokes was relieved from command of the 1st battalion and assigned to duty as administrative officer of the Regimental Combat and Supply Trains. Captain John T. Prout was assigned to the command of the 1st battalion.

On October 27th, 1918, the regiment was again ordered into the lines and at midnight on that date the 2nd battalion moved up into support positions in the vicinity of Grandlup.

The 1st battalion on October 29, 1918, moved up into support positions in the vicinity of the same village. During this time the 3rd battalion was located at Manneaux Farm in reserve. The battalions remained in various positions in the vicinity of Grandlup until November 5, 1918, on which date the enemy again began to retreat, and while thus occupied were subjected to severe shelling and those units occupying front line positions to much machine gun and rifle fire; casualties were few except in Company A stationed in the vicinity of Chantrud Farm, where an enemy shell fell in the midst of the company at mess, killing thirty-five men and wounding fifty, thus causing the company to be withdrawn from the lines.

On the morning of November 5th, a general advance was ordered and the enemy retreated before it. The retreat of the enemy was so rapid that our troops did not catch up with them until about November 8th, on which date a general attack by the division was ordered. The 2nd battalion on the left of the division was given the task of clearing out the enemy from positions along the Hirshon railroad and the Heights of Aubenton. After an all day fight the battalion reached its objective about nightfall. The French division on the left did not advance as anticipated, owing to enemy resistance on their front, and the 2nd battalion having advanced about two kilometers to the front suffered severely on account of the exposed flank, three men being killed and two officers and thirty-three enlisted men being wounded. On the morning of the 9th the enemy again retreated and the 2nd battalion continued the pursuit to Goncelin, resting there for the night and on the morning of the both was ordered to cantonment at Pont d'Any, where it was located at the taking effect of the armistice.

On November 6th the 1st battalion took up the pursuit in support of the Battalion Michel of the 325th Regiment of Infantry, advancing via Brazicourt and Rapeire to Hill 150 near St. Pierremont. Company C having passed on into the front lines at the Brazicourt Farm, upon arrival near St. Pierremont were ordered on the morning of November 6, 1918, to attack and occupy St. Pierremont, cross the Serre River and take up a position along the railroad track. The mission of the company was successfully accomplished in spite of the strong resistance of the enemy, St. Pierremont being occupied, the river crossed and three pieces of enemy artillery as well as several machine guns taken. For this operation Company C was cited and awarded the French Croix de Guerre with a Palm, the highest French citation received in the regiment. The battalion continued the pursuit until arrival at Mont Plaisir, when it was ordered back to Fligny, where it was in cantonment at the taking effect of the armistice.

The 3rd Battalion took up the pursuit on November 5th, resting in the open fields the nights of the 5th and 6th. The battalion in moving up advanced via Bosmont and Mont Plaisir and passed on into the front lines at the Rue Larcher on November 7, 1918. In the afternoon of the 8th orders were received to deliver a cover fire for French units which were to make an attack on the village of Logny, which was strongly held by the enemy. Company M, having been assigned for this work, moved out from Hurtebise and advanced to a position where the cover fire could be effectively delivered, and opened fire. About this time word was received from the French commander that his troops could not advance on account of the severe shell and machine gun fire, and Company M having arrived at a position where it was safer to go ahead than to retreat, attacked the town and drove the enemy therefrom. For this action Lieutenant Osceola A. Browning, commanding Company M, and several others received the French Croix de Guerre and Sergeant Lester Fossie both the Croix de Guerre and the American Distinguished Service Cross. On November 10, 1918, the advance and pursuit was continued. At Etignieres the battalion was temporarily stopped by intense shell fire. On November 11, 1918, the pursuit was again taken up with Resinowez as the principal objective. Later the objective was changed to Gue d'Hossus, Belgium, which objective was reached a few minutes before the taking effect of the armistice, an enemy combat train of about 50 vehicles being captured about this time.

A few days after the armistice, the regiment began to move southward, taking station in villages in the vicinity of Verneuil-sur-Serre.

SOME WAR CROSS WINNERS OF 8TH ILLINOIS (370TH INFANTRY). FRONT ROW LEFT TO RIGHT: CAPT. G.M. ALLEN. LIEUT. O.A. BROWNING. CAPT. D.J. WARNER. LIEUT. ROY B. TISDELL. STANDING LEFT TO RIGHT: LIEUT. ROBT. P. HURD, LIEUT-COL. OTIS B DUNCAN. MAJOR J.R. WHITE. CAPT. W.B. CRAWFORD, LIEUT. WM. WARFIELD. CAPT. MATTHEW JACKSON.

On December 12, 1918, the regiment formally passed from the French command and to Brest via Soissons and Le Mans, arriving at the latter place on January 10, 1919.

On February 2, 1919, the regiment embarked on the S.S. La France IV, en route to the U.S., arriving on February 9, 1919, and taking station at Camp Upton, Long Island, N.Y.

On February 17, 1919, the regiment left Camp Upton for Camp Grant, Illinois, via Chicago, where it was accorded a wonderful and never-to-be-forgotten reception by the citizens of Chicago.

After arrival at Camp Grant, work incident to the demobilization of the regiment was commenced. The majority of officers and enlisted men were discharged from the service during the latter part of February, and finally on March 12, 1919, orders were issued declaring that the regiment had ceased to exist.

The health of the regiment while in the service was exceptional. The Medical Detachment, under command of Major James R. White, worked incessantly to protect the health of the command. Before departure for France a number of cases of pneumonia of a very severe type developed, but only two deaths resulted. The Medical Detachment was divided among the various units, Captain Spencer C. Dickerson having charge of the detachment attached to the 1st battalion, Lieutenant James F. Lawson that of the 2nd battalion, and Lieutenant Claudius Ballard that of the 3rd battalion. The work of these detachments was at all times of a high order of excellence, and during engagements both officers and men in numerous instances went out into the open and rendered first aid to the wounded after terrific fire. Each man wounded, however slightly, was given an injection of anti-tetanic serum and as a result no cases of tetanus were reported, nor were any cases of gas baccilus infection reported. During the severe fighting around the Guilliminet and de la Riviere Farms, more help was needed and Lieutenant Park Tancil, dental surgeon, volunteered to take charge of one of the first aid stations which was daily receiving showers of shells from the enemy batteries. Lieutenant Claudius Ballard, though wounded during the fighting, refused to be evacuated and continued his duties administering to the wounded. Major James R. White made daily rounds of the first aid stations in the lines, disregarding the intense fire of the enemy and personally dressing numbers of wounded. For their heroic conduct in administering to the wounded under fire, Major White and Lieutenants Tancil and Ballard as well as several enlisted men of the Medical Detachment, were awarded the French Croix de Guerre, and Private Alfred Williamson of the detachment was awarded both the French Croix de Guerre and the American Distinguished Service Cross.