Sidelights on Negro Soldiers

by Charles H. Williams

In the course of the preceding pages we have more than once touched upon incidents which not only affected the Negro officer personally but which also involved his real status in the army. It might now be in place to consider a little more fully some of the points raised.

On the arrival of Negro officers at a camp, several questions immediately arose, as to their eating, their living, and their general contact with other officers. Sometimes they were not expected and found that no preparation had been made for them. Fairly typical of the Southern camps was Camp McClellan, Anniston, Ala., which showed something of conditions especially at the beginning. Seven officers were sent here in September, 1918, and placed in command of the detention camp. In three weeks the detention camp was broken up and the soldiers transferred to the depot brigade. The colored officers were then attached to the 437th Reserve Labor Battalion, where they were required to do very little work and were soon relieved of all responsibility. Not all of the problems were confined to the South. In the North, however, big-hearted generals were usually in command and they decreed that regular army requirements should prevail.

One matter that constantly arose was that of the salute. Because of the conflicting opinions on this subject, Gen. John B. Castleman, a major in the Confederate army, was asked for a statement as to his attitude. In giving his opinion he said: “The discipline of the army must be maintained, and non-commissioned officers understand little of the spirit of the army when they refuse to salute a Negro officer. I have held several commissions in the military service, and I unhesitatingly say that I would or will, at any time, salute an officer, superior or inferior, who salutes me, without regard to the color of his skin. The regulations, the laws, and the fundamentals of courtesy and discipline upon which these regulations are based prescribe this. We are at war, and soldiers are under the rules of the American army. We are all under the flag. We salute the rank, not the individual.” This statement by General Castleman did much to help conditions at Camp Taylor and elsewhere. In general the military courtesies accorded Negro officers depended largely on the stand of the generals commanding the camps. If they demanded that strict military regulations be followed, trouble was immediately reduced to a minimum. A notable example was the action of Gen. Thomas H. Barry, of Camp Grant, Rockford, Ill., who on the arrival of the Negro officers and men gave a “family talk” at headquarters in which he said: “These men have come here on the same duty, actuated by the same principles, as ourselves. They are entitled to respect because they soon will be fighting to defend our homes. Colored officers must be saluted as punctiliously as the white ones. The salute is of vital importance to the whole fabric of discipline. It is not only a courtesy, but a recognition of personal relations in the service.”

From time to time there were unfortunate occurrences which received much publicity. Such was the case of Lieut. Joseph B. Saunders, who was publicly assaulted at Vicksburg, Miss., because he wore his uniform home after his period of training at Des Moines; also that of Lieut. Charles A. Tribbett, who was arrested and placed in jail for riding in a pullman car through the state of Oklahoma. There were also many instances in camp in which the Negro men themselves largely solved their problem. When colored officers arrived at Camp Funston, Kan., not over 10 per cent of the white officers and men saluted them. They had been told that they were going to have a hard time and set themselves with resolute purpose to the great task before them. In a month’s time the raw recruits were marching with heads up, eyes front, shoulders back, and with every arm swinging in line. As they marched to and from drill, the generals, colonels, and other officers as well as the men would stand along the “Golden Belt” and watch the black host as it passed. “This demonstration,” said one Negro captain, “changed everything. Now all men salute, and officers always try to salute first.” As Negro officers grew in numbers and were distributed throughout the camps, and as accounts of heroic deeds were heralded from the battlefields, and as it became generally known that Negroes were responding liberally to the various calls at home, the American public saw the justice of according recognition or merit where it was due, and the principle of the salute for Negro officers was settled, although in practice it was not always carried out.

Another matter that occasioned considerable feeling was that of promotions. Many regular army officers served for several years with junior rank, but always looked forward to the time when they would be promoted. Their opportunity came during the war. Many junior officers in the regular army and even civilian officers were promoted several times in the course of a year. It was natural that colored officers should also look forward to promotions, which were regarded as a recognition of work well done.

According to a memorandum of September 11, 1918, the War Department established the commands to be occupied by white and colored officers in the organization of the 92nd Division, and indicated that every opportunity would be given the Negro men to advance. In practice, however, there seems to have been some difficulty about carrying out the ideas therein suggested. The percentage of white officers in the Division increased from 18 per cent at the beginning, to 42 per cent on November 30, 1918. Very few recommendations for the promotion of Negro officers were made and most of these are said to have been “pigeon-holed” at headquarters. Some recommendations that were filed in July and August, 1918, were held until after the signing of the Armistice on November 11, when an A. E. F. order prohibited the granting of any more commissions. Another factor which prevented promotions in the 92nd Division was that colored officers from the 369th, 370th, and 372nd, and graduates from officers’ training schools in France were largely transferred to the 92nd Division. This made room for the promotion of white officers in the units from which the Negro officers were transferred, but prevented the promotion of colored officers in the 92nd.

Thus most of the Negro officers who served in the National Army were in the 92nd Division. The creation of this Division with Negro line officers was regarded by practically all regular army officers as one of the greatest mistakes ever made by the War Department. From their viewpoint it was wrong in principle, against all tradition, and could not possibly be a success. Not believing in the matter in principle, they did not want to deal with Negro men on such a basis; they did things to discredit them, even to the extent of spreading propaganda as to their unfitness for the work. Thus unfortunately the Negro officers returned home feeling that their commanding officers were not their friends; nor were matters improved by the effort of some incompetent men “higher up” who tried to cover their own inefficiency by laying the blame on the Negroes. The prevailing opinion expressed by the white officers returning from France was that the Negro soldier up to the rank of sergeant-major was a success, and they lauded the stevedore and labor organizations as contributing much to the magnificent service rendered by the Americans in Europe. The “experiment” of the Negro officer, they felt, was a different matter. A careful review of all the adverse points made might place them under four heads, as follows: First, the racial distinctions recognized in civilian life continued to be recognized in military life and presented a formidable barrier to the existence of a genuine feeling of comradeship; second, the colored officers were lacking in initiative and exhibited a characteristic tendency to neglect the welfare of their men and to perform their duties in a perfunctory manner, thus entailing on the part of senior officers frequent attention to petty details; third, many of the Negro officers went around with “a chip on their shoulders,” looking for discrimination and trouble; and fourth, most of the colored officers were willing to discipline their men but were unwilling themselves to be disciplined, charging any attempt to discipline them to prejudice.

These are serious charges. In reply to them first of all it is to be noted that on the troop ships, even before they got to France, the Negro officers were treated not according to their military rank but as on the basis of color. On the “George Washington,” for instance, which carried the 368th infantry, the tickets for the colored officers were marked with an X in the upper left hand corner, which enabled the purser to place them “conveniently.” The tickets for the white officers were not marked, and they were given first class passage on Deck A in respect to both dining and state rooms; but the colored officers, from the rank of captain down, were given second class passage in respect to staterooms and dining rooms. In traveling in France also the Negro officers were many times given third class coaches while the white officers were given first class. Specific cases are given where the officers were ordered by their commanders to take such passage. In the hotels and cafés as well constant effort was made for segregation, and in some cases instructions were given not to accept officers or soldiers when applications for rooms were made. At the Grand Hotel in Mayenne, where the division billeting officer was stationed, the hotel proprietress informed the colored officers, many of whom had previously stayed in the hotel, that they would have to go elsewhere for accommodations. On going to the “town major” to see about the new condition that had developed, the men were told that instructions had been given to the effect that no more colored officers were to be allowed in the hotel. Such incidents could be multiplied a hundred times. While in themselves they are no positive proof of Negro valor, they explain a situation which certainly has to be taken into account in an impartial review.

As to the charges of lack of initiative and the neglect of their men, the facts gathered from an investigation of conditions among thousands of soldiers, both in America and France, would rather indicate that colored officers generally took more interest in their men than the average white officer, though of course some Negro officers were inefficient just as were some of other races. The charges of “neglecting the welfare of their men” were based in most cases upon the difficulty in securing supplies for colored troops. This was true not only with colored officers, for it was an accepted fact that white officers over Negro troops often experienced the greatest difficulty in getting the necessary supplies for their men. Negro officers who displayed initiative were frequently reprimanded for assuming authority, while on the other hand they were condemned if they waited for instructions; for example, some who completed the course at the First Corps School in France with credit were censured for not performing duties that they had been ordered to discontinue and were told to mind their business when they called attention to grave military errors, some of which resulted in casualties. Duties performed satisfactorily as a sergeant for more than ten years could not be performed by the same man after he became a lieutenant without the supervision of a battalion commander.

In general the colored officers found complete co-operation with commanding officers nearly impossible. They were never taken into the confidence of their military superiors and were rarely ever questioned about matters affecting the men. One day a colonel met a colored captain whom he thought he had seen before. “Haven’t I seen you somewhere?” he asked. “Yes, sir,” replied the man, “I was with you on the border; Captain French is my name, sir.” “Oh, I do remember,” said the colonel, “you are Sergeant French.” “No, sir, I am Captain French.” “Well,” said the colonel as he walked away, “if I forget and call you Sergeant, don’t mind.”