Sidelights on Negro SoldiersWilliams, Charles H. (Charles Halston)
History
Sidelights on Negro Soldiers
Williams, Charles H. (Charles Halston)
World War, 1914-1918 -- Participation, African American
In the centralization of the officers’ training schools the infantry
candidates were sent to Camp Pike, Little Rock, Ark., while the
machine-gun candidates were sent to Camp Hancock, Augusta, Ga. Camp
Pike had been spoken of in such a way by many Negro soldiers that
the officer candidates were not enthusiastic about going there, and
certainly this was true of the twenty-four second lieutenants who
were assigned as assistant instructors. Truck drivers sent to meet
them, on finding that they were colored, drove off, claiming that no
provision had been made for Negroes. In the camp they were a source of
wonderment. The instructors were white Southern officers and neither
officers nor men were cordial. As time passed, however, prejudice in
most cases turned to interest.
To Camp Hancock, Augusta, Ga., selected for the machine-gun school,
fifty-six Negro men were sent. Forty-three of that number were
graduated as second lieutenants. These men had been selected from
various outfits in the 92nd because of the knowledge of mathematics
and of the mechanical manipulation of the machine-gun which they had
acquired in the various camp schools. The presence of a number of
Negro officers in Augusta created a new situation, but both camp and
city rose to the occasion. The commander decreed that every officer
in the camp must receive the courtesy due him, and the leading paper
of Augusta carried editorials that had a wholesome effect on public
opinion. It happened that the thirteenth and last company in the school
was colored. In the drills and in marching to the range, these men were
last according to their number; but in marching in reverse order, as
they did in returning from the range, they became the leaders. Some
white candidates are said to have lost their commissions rather than
drill behind this company. Most of the men, however, co-operated with
the candidates in every way, and taught them map-reading in exchange
for explanation in the mechanism of the gun. The instructors were for
the most part French or British and apparently had little time for race
feeling.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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