We were men before we were soldiers….We ask the people of Salt Lake to treat us as such.” and slowly but surely they would, after seeing how the soldiers comported themselves, as they joined or formed fraternal organizations, and their chaplain, Allen Allensworth, one of only two African-American chaplains in the Army, was a popular speaker at local churches and social events.īlack and white crowds cheered for the 24th’s band and baseball teams. An editorial in the Salt Lake Tribune newspaper feared drunken black soldiers would attack “the best people of the city.” In a rebuttal letter to the Tribune, a 24th soldier wrote the men had “enlisted to uphold the honor and dignity of their country as their fathers enlisted to found and preserve it.” He also said, the men “object to being classed as lawless barbarians. However, in Salt Lake City, Utah, at Fort Douglas, white citizens complained when the 24th arrived there and feared the worst from the 600 soldiers, some with families. Isaiah Mays – Along with Brown, in the same skirmish with robbers, walked and crawled two miles to a ranch for help. Thomas, Arizona in what was called the “Wham Payroll Ambush” after Army Paymaster Major Joseph Wham who was transporting $28,345.10. Benjamin Brown – On May 11, 1889, despite being wounded in the stomach and both arms, Brown defended a regimental payroll from robbers near Ft. The all-black units acquitted themselves well, so much so that 19 Buffalo Soldiers have been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, including two who served with the 24th Infantry: Men from the 24th would be the first to raise the American flag atop San Juan Hill. The unit also saw duty in Cuba, during the Spanish-American War, where they served with Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders at San Juan Hill, and the 24th would also see duty during the Philippines Revolution. After the war, on March 3, 1869, several all-black units were combined into four “colored” regiments – the 24th and 25th infantries, and the 9th and 10th cavalries stationed primarily at remote posts in the southwest frontier, the 24th battled outlaws and hostile Indians and protected settlers, but served in a wide variety of other duties including building roads, constructing and repairing telegraph lines, and escorting supply trains and mail coaches. Historians aside, the stories of this bloody and probably avoidable event in Texas history is not well-known throughout the Lone Star State and curiously not among most Houstonians.Īfrican American soldiers had served in the Civil War, heroically, in many cases, such as the 54th Massachusetts’ gallant performance at Fort Wagner, S.C. However, the final six men were identified as having fired shots at civilians. There was no conclusive evidence or reliable witness testimony that any of the first group of executed men had participated in the riots. Sixty-three other soldiers were given life sentences,and in September 1918 six more soldiers were hung at the same Camp Travis site. The men were unceremoniously buried nearby in graves whose only identification was a number, 1 through 13. history.Īlmost four months later, on December 11, 13 black soldiers were summarily hung at a hastily constructed gallows near a shallow creek on Camp Travis, a National Guard training facility next to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. history where more whites then blacks were killed, and it also resulted in both the largest murder trial and the largest court martial in U.S. The episode has the ignominious distinction of being the only race riot in U.S. The incident occurred on August 23, 1917, lasting roughly two hours on a hot, rainy night, and resulted in the deaths of four soldiers and 15 white civilians. The Houston Riot of 1917, also known as the Camp Logan Mutiny, involved 156 soldiers of the all-black 3rd Battalion, 24th Infantry – a unit of the famed Buffalo Soldiers. Let’s go East and be treated as people.” - A note written by a black soldier and found beside a railroad track near Schulenburg I don’t want to go there anymore in my life. The Crisis Report - Right’s activist Martha Gruening reported on the Houston violence for the November, 1917 edition of The Crisis magazine, the NAACP’s influential quarterly publication started by W.E.B.Expanded Timeline: A history of African Americans in the U.S.Holder writes a personal reflection on the riots. Angela Holder, history professor at Houston Community College, Central Campus, is a great niece of one of the 24th Infantry soldiers hung for alleged participation in the riot. This essay explores the events that took place before, during, and after the riots. Court Martial for Camp Logan soldiers (24th Infantry)
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