NEGRO CHAPLAINS It mattered not how ignorant a Negro soldier was, or how difficult his life had been, he believed in God and in the efficacy of prayer. There was something about his religion that was satisfying and genuine, and no one could attend his services and hear him sing and pray without being touched. In writing to his family and friends he usually asked for their prayers. “Tell them all to pray for me and that I am trusting in the Lord,” said one in dictating a letter, and another: “Tell them not to worry about me now. I am happy and contented. I have prayed constantly and have now no fear of death. Whatever happens will be all right. Tell them to pray for me.” On one Sunday night at Camp Jackson several white soldiers came into one of the religious services at the colored “Y,” and they joined heartily in the singing. After the meeting they told the secretary that they were leaving for France the next morning and had come to the meeting in order to get a little nearer to God. Such being the general situation, importance attached to the man who became the religious guide in time of stress. The average minister was hardly adapted to the work of chaplain, because his experience had not prepared him to have an understanding and appreciation of the problems of the men in the new situation. Some who were fitted were pastors of leading churches and in most cases it was impossible for them to get a leave of absence. Besides the difficulty of securing competent men, there was also opposition on the part of many officers to having Negro chaplains in their organizations. When the efforts of the Federal Council of Churches resulted in increasing the number, they found difficulty in serving the Negro men because several of them were kept in one camp and often in one organization. At Camp Meade, for instance, at one time there were three Negro chaplains in the 1st Development Battalion. When this battalion was disbanded in December, 1918, two of the chaplains were assigned to the 4th Battalion, where there were already one Negro and two white chaplains. At Camp Travis three Negro chaplains were found serving one organization, and at both Camps Taylor and Sherman there were several chaplains with a small number of soldiers. At the same time there were throughout the South Negro organizations without any chaplain at all, except a machine-gun group at Camp Hancock and a part of the 157th Development Battalion at Camp McClellan, which units were served respectively by a white and a colored chaplain.