History of the American Negro in the Great World War Part 33

On the anniversary of Britain's entry into the war, August 4, Field Marshall Haig, commander-in-chief of the British forces issued a special order of the day, the opening paragraph of which was: "The conclusion of the fourth year of the war marks the pa.s.sing of the period of crisis. We can now with added confidence, look forward to the future."

On August 4, General Pers.h.i.+ng reported: "The full fruits of victory in the counter offensive begun so gloriously by Franco-American troops on July 18, were reaped today, when the enemy who met his second great defeat on the Marne, was driven in confusion beyond the line of the Vesle. The enemy, in spite of suffering the severest losses, has proved incapable of stemming the onslaught of our troops, fighting for liberty side by side with French, British and Italian veterans. In the course of the operations, 8,400 prisoners and 133 guns have been captured by our men alone. Our troops have taken Fismes by a.s.sault and hold the south bank of the Vesle in this section."

On August 8, the British and French launched an offensive in Picardy, pressed forward about seven miles on a front of 20 miles, astride the river Somme and captured several towns and 10,000 prisoners. It was in this engagement that the hard fighting at Chipilly Ridge occurred, in which the Americans so ably a.s.sisted, notably former National Guardsmen from Chicago and vicinity. Montdidier was taken by the French August 10. The British also continued to advance and by the 11th the Allies had captured 36,000 prisoners and more than 500 guns. A French attack August 19-20 on the Oise-Aisne front, netted 8,000 prisoners and liberated many towns. On the 21st La.s.signy was taken by the French. This was the cornerstone of the German position south of the Avre river. On August 29 the Americans won the important battle of Guvigny. By September 2 the Germans were retreating on a front of 130 miles, from Ypres south to Noyon. By the 9th the Germans had been driven back to the original Hindenburg line, where their resistance began to strengthen.

On September 12 the American army, led by General Pers.h.i.+ng, won a great battle in the attack on and wiping out of the famous St. Mihiel salient. This victory forced the enemy back upon the Wotan-Hindenburg line, with the French paralleling him from Verdun to the Moselle. Pers.h.i.+ng's forces continued fighting steadily, wearing out the Germans by steady pressure. On September 26 the Americans began another offensive along a front of 20 miles from the Meuse river westward through the Argonne forest. This developed into one of the bloodiest battles of the war for the Americans. On September 29 American and British troops smashed through the Hindenburg line at its strongest point between Cambrai and St. Quentin. British troops entered the suburbs of Cambrai and outflanked St. Quentin. Twenty-two thousand prisoners and more than 300 guns were captured. Meanwhile the Belgians tore a great hole in the German line, ten miles from the North sea, running from Dixmude southward.

On October 3 the French launched three drives, one north of St. Quentin, another north of Rheims, and a third to the east in Champagne. All were successful, resulting in the freeing of much territory and the capture of many prisoners. On October 4 the Americans resumed the attack west of the Meuse. In the face of heavy artillery and machine gun fire, troops from Illinois, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia, forced the Germans back to the so-called Kriemhilde line. In the Champagne, American and French troops were moving successfully. On the 6th the Americans captured St. Etienne; on the 9th they reached the southern outskirts of Xivry and entered Chaune wood. On the same day the armies of Field Marshall Haig made a clean break through the Hindenburg system on the west. Through a twenty-mile gap, they advanced from nine to twelve miles, penetrating almost to the Le Selle and Sambre rivers.

On October 12 the British General Rawlinson, with whom an American division had been operating, sent a telegram of congratulation to the commander of the division, which comprised troops from Tennessee, in which he highly praised the gallantry of all the American troops. French troops on October 13 captured the fortress of La Fere, the strongest point on the south end of the old Hindenburg line. They also entered Laon and occupied the forest of St. Gobain. On October 15 the Americans took and pa.s.sed St. Juvin after desperate fighting. On October 16 they occupied the town of Grandpre, a place of great strategic importance, being the junction of railways feeding a large part of the German armies. The Germans now began a retreat on an enormous scale in Belgium. So fast did they move that the British, French and Belgians could not keep in touch with them. The North sea ports of Belgium were speedily evacuated. Northwest of Grandpre the Americans captured Talma farm October 23, after a stiff machine gun resistance. Victories continued to be announced from day to day from all portions of the front.

On November 1 the Americans partic.i.p.ated in a heavy battle, taking Champaigneulle and Landres et St. George, which enabled them to threaten the enemy's most important line of communication. On November 4 the Americans reached Stenay and on the 6th they crossed the Meuse. By the 7th they had entered Sedan, the place made famous by the downfall of Napoleon III in the war of 1870. On other parts of the American front the enemy retreated so fast that the infantry had to resort to motor cars to keep in touch with him. It was the same on other fronts. The Germans put up a resistance at the strong fortress of Metz, which the Americans were attacking November 10 and 11.

Armistice negotiations had been started as early as October, 5, and were concluded November 11th. This date saw the complete collapse of the German military machine and will be one of the most momentous days in history, as it marked the pa.s.sing of an old order and the inauguration of a new era for the world. In the armistice terms every point which the Americans and Allies stipulated was agreed to by the Germans. The last shot in the war is thus described in an a.s.sociated Press dispatch of November 11: "Thousands of American heavy guns fired the parting shot to the Germans at exactly 11 o'clock this morning. The line reached by the American forces was staked out this afternoon. The Germans hurled a few sh.e.l.ls into Verdun just before 11 o'clock.

"On the entire American front from the Moselle to the region of Sedan, there was artillery activity in the morning, all the batteries preparing for the final salvos.

"At many batteries the artillerists joined hands, forming a long line as the lanyard of the final shot. There were a few seconds of silence as the sh.e.l.ls shot through the heavy mist. Then the gunners cheered. American flags were raised by the soldiers over their dugouts and guns and at the various headquarters. Soon afterward the boys were preparing for luncheon. All were hungry as they had breakfasted early in antic.i.p.ation of what they considered the greatest day in American history."

The celebration, which occurred November 11, upon announcement of the news, has never been equalled in America. It spontaneously became a holiday and business suspended voluntarily. Self-restraint was thrown to the winds for nearly twenty-four hours in every city, town and hamlet in the country. There was more enthusiasm, noise and processions than ever marked any occasion in this country and probably eclipsed anything in the history of the world.

RETURN OF THE 15TH NEW YORK, 369TH INFANTRY. SHOWN SWINGING UP LENOX AVENUE. NEW YORK CITY WHERE THEY RECEIVED A ROYAL WELCOME.

CHAPTER XXIX.

HOMECOMING HEROES.

NEW YORK GREETS HER OWN-ECSTATIC DAY FOR OLD 15TH-WHITES AND BLACKS DO HONORS-A MONSTER DEMONSTRATION-MANY DIGNITARIES REVIEW TROOPS-PARADE OF MARTIAL POMP-CHEERS, MUSIC, FLOWERS AND FEASTING-"HAYWARD'S Sc.r.a.pPING BABIES"-OFFICERS SHARE GLORY-THEN CAME HENRY JOHNSON-SIMILAR SCENES ELSEWHERE.

No band of heroes returning from war ever were accorded such a welcome as that tendered to the homecoming 369th by the residents of New York, Manhattan Island and vicinity, irrespective of race. Being one of the picturesque incidents of the war, the like of which probably will not be repeated for many generations, if ever, it well deserves commemoration within the pages of this book.

Inasmuch as no more graphic, detailed and colorful account of the day's doings has been printed anywhere, we cannot do better than quote in its entirety the story which appeared in the great newspaper, The World of New York, on February 18, 1919. The parade and reception, during which the Negro troops practically owned the city, occurred the preceeding day. The World account follows: "The town that's always ready to take off its hat and give a whoop for a man who's done something-'no matter who or what he was before,' as the old Tommy Atkins song has it-turned itself loose yesterday in welcoming home a regiment of its own fighting sons that not only did something, but did a whole lot in winning democracy's war.

"In official records, and in the histories that youngsters will study in generations to come, this regiment will probably always be known as the 369th Infantry, U.S.A.

"But in the hearts of a quarter million or more who lined the streets yesterday to greet it, it was no such thing. It was the old 15th New York. And so it will be in this city's memory, archives and in the folk lore of the descendants of the men who made up its straight, smartly stepping ranks.

"New York is not race-proud nor race-prejudiced. That this 369th Regiment, with the exception of its eighty-nine white officers, was composed entirely of Negroes, made no difference in the shouts and flagwaving and handshakes that were bestowed upon it. New York gave its Old 15th the fullest welcome of its heart.

"Through scores of thousands of cheering white citizens, and then through a greater mult.i.tude of its own color, the regiment, the first actual fighting unit to parade as a unit here, marched in midday up Fifth Avenue and through Harlem, there to be almost a.s.sailed by the colored folks left behind when it went away to glory.

"Later it was feasted and entertained, and this time very nearly smothered with hugs and kisses by kin and friends, at the 71st Regiment Armory. Still later, perfectly behaved and perfectly ecstatic over its reception, the regiment returned to Camp Upton to await its mustering out.

"You knew these dark lads a year and a half ago, maybe, as persons to be slipped a dime as a tip and scarcely glanced it. They were your elevator boys, your waiters, the Pullman porters who made up your berths (though of course you'd never dare to slip a Pullman porter a dime). But, if you were like many a prosperous white citizen yesterday you were mighty proud to grasp Jim or Henry or Sam by the hand and then boast among your friends that you possessed his acquaintance.

"When a regiment has the medal honors of France upon its flags and it has put the fear of G.o.d into Germany time after time, and its members wear two gold stripes, signifying a year's fighting service, on one arm, and other stripes, signifying wounds, on the other, it's a whole lot different outfit from what it was when it went away. And that's the old 15th N.Y. And the men are different-and that's Jim and Henry and Sam.

"Col. William Hayward, the distinguished white lawyer and one time Public Service Commissioner, who is proud to head these fighters, was watching them line up for their departure shortly after 6 o'clock last evening, when someone asked him what he thought of the day.

"'It has been wonderful!' he said, and he gazed with unconcealed tenderness at his men. 'It's been far beyond my expectations. But these boys deserve it. There's only one thing missing. I wish some of Gen. Gouraud's French boys, whom we fought beside, could be here to see it.'

"The Colonel slapped his hand affectionately upon the shoulder of his dark-skinned orderly.

"'How about that, Hamilton, old boy?' he inquired.

"'That's right, Colonel, sir; Gen. Gonraud's boys sure would have enjoyed this day!' the orderly responded as he looked proudly at the Colonel.

"There's that sort of paternal feeling of the white officers toward their men, and that filial devotion of the men to their officers, such as exists in the French Army.

"Much as the white population of the town demonstrated their welcome to the Regiment, it was, after all, those of their own color to whom the occasion belonged. And they did themselves proud In making it an occasion to recall for years in Harlem, San Juan Hill and Brooklyn, where most of the fighters were recruited.

"At the official reviewing stand at 60th street, the kinsfolk and admirers of the regimental lads began to arrive as beforehandedly as 9 o'clock. They had tickets, and their seats were reserved for them. The official committee had seen to that-and nine-tenths of the yellow wooden benches were properly held for those good Americans of New York whom birth by chance had made dark-skinned instead of fair. BUT this was their Day of Days, and they had determined (using their own accentuation) to BE there and to be there EARLY.

"The first-comers plodded across 59th Street from the San Juan Hill district, and it was fine to see them. There seemed to be a little military sw.a.n.k even to the youngsters, as platoons of them stepped along with faces that had been scrubbed until they shone. Had a woman a bit of fur, she wore it. Had a man a top hat-origin or vintage-date immaterial-he displayed that. All heads were up, high; eyes alight. Beaming smiles everywhere. No not quite everywhere. Occasionally there was to be seen on a left sleeve a black band with a gold star, which told the world that one of the Old 15th would never see the region west of Columbus Circle, because he had closed his eyes in France. And the faces of the wearers of these were unlaughing, but they held themselves just as proudly as the rest.

"Few of the welcomers went flagless. No matter whether a man or woman wore a jewel or a pair of patent leather boots as a sign of "cla.s.s," or tramped afoot to the stand or arrived in a limousine, nearly every dark hand held the nation's emblem.

"Nearly every one wore white badges bearing the letters: "Welcome, Fighting 15th," or had pennants upon which stood out the regimental insignia-a coiled rattlesnake of white on a black field.

"Those colored folk who could afford it journeyed to the stand in closed automobiles. Gorgeously gowned women alighted with great dignity beneath the admiring gaze of their humbler brethren. Taxies brought up those whose fortunes, perhaps, were not of such amplitude. Hansoms and hacks conveyed still others, and one party came in a plumber's wagon, its women members all bundled up in shawls and blankets against the cold, but grinning delightedly as the whole stand applauded.

"Children by the thousands lined the east side of the avenue-Boy Scouts and uniformed kids and little girls with their school books under their arms, and they sang to the great delight of the crowd.

"Just why it was that when Governor Smith and former Governor Whitman and Acting Mayor Moran and the other reviewers appeared behind a cavalcade of mounted policemen, the youngsters struck up that army cla.s.sic, "Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning," no one could tell, but it gave the reviewers and the crowd a laugh.

"With the state and city officials were the members of the Board of Aldermen, the Board of Estimate, Major Gen. Thomas J. Barry, Vice Admiral Albert Gleaves, Secretary of State, Francis Hugo; Rodman Wannamaker and-in a green hat and big fur coat-William Randolph Hearst. Secretary Baker of the War Department was unable to attend, but he did the next best thing and sent his colored a.s.sistant, Emmett J. Scott.

"The reviewers arrived at 11:30 and had a good long wait, for at that time the paraders had not yet left 23rd Street. But what with the singing, and the general atmosphere of joyousness about the stand, there was enough to occupy everyone's time.

"There was one feature which took the eye pleasingly-the number of babies which proud mothers held aloft, fat pickaninnies, mostly in white, and surrounded by adoring relatives. These were to see (and be seen by) their daddies for the first time. Laughingly, the other day, Col. Bill Hayward spoke of 'our boys' posthumous children,' and said he thought there were quite a few of them.

"'Some of our boys had to go away pretty quickly,' he reminisced. 'Some of them were only married about twenty minutes or so.'

"'O Colonel!' said the modest Major Little on that occasion.

"'Well, maybe it was a trifle longer than twenty minutes,' admitted Bill. But anyhow, there was the regiment's posthumous children in the stand.

"It was 11:26 when the old 15th stepped away from 23rd Street and Fifth Avenue. They looked the part of the fighting men they were. At an exact angle over their right shoulders were their long-bayonetted rifles. Around their waists were belts of cartridges. On their heads were their 'tin hats,' the steel helmets that saved many a life, as was attested by the dents and scars in some of them. Their eyes were straight forward and their chins, held high naturally, seemed higher than ever because of the leather straps that circled them. The fighters wore spiral puttees and their heavy hobbed hiking shoes, which caused a metallic clash as they sc.r.a.ped over the asphalt.

"At the head of the line rode four platoons of mounted police, twelve abreast, and then, afoot and alone, Col. Hayward, who organized the 15th, drilled them when they had nothing but broomsticks to drill with, fathered them and loved them, and turned them into the fightingest military organization any man's army could want.

"The French called them 'h.e.l.l Fighters.' The Germans after a few mix-ups named them 'Blutl.u.s.tige Schwartzmanner' (blood-thirsty black men.) But Col. Bill, when he speaks of them uses the words 'those sc.r.a.pping babies of mine,' and they like that best of all. Incidentally (when out of his hearing) they refer tenderly to him as 'Old Bill, that fightin' white man.' So it's fifty-fifty.

"The Colonel had broken a leg in the war, so there were those who looked for him to limp as he strode out to face the hedge of spectators that must have numbered a quarter of a million. But nary a limp. With his full six feet drawn up erectly and his strong face smiling under his tin hat, he looked every bit the fighting man as he marched up the centre of the avenue, hailed every few feet by enthusiasts who knew him socially or in the law courts or in the business of the Public Service Commission.

"'Didn't your leg hurt you, Bill?' his friends asked him later.

"'Sure it hurt me; he said, 'but I wasn't going to peg along on the proudest day of my life!' Which this day was.