History of the American Negro in the Great World War Part 20

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 n.o.bly 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 n.o.ble 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 c.o.c.kiness in action (a c.o.c.k 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 ill.u.s.tration 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 princ.i.p.al 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 pa.s.s through a German barrage. He was badly ga.s.sed. 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 pa.s.sed, 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 sh.e.l.l 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 a.s.sault 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 pa.s.sed 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 sh.e.l.ls 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 ill.u.s.trated 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 Pers.h.i.+ng 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 ga.s.sed 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 ga.s.sed 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 a.s.signed 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 Was.h.i.+ngton was his a.s.sistant. 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 pa.s.sed 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 sh.e.l.ling. He personally took charge of a battalion on the front line on October 12 and led it to the objectives a.s.signed by the crossing of the Ailette ca.n.a.l."

American historians may not give the Negro fighters the place to which their records ent.i.tle 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.