Texas Black History Preservation Project -- Timeline

                                           Houston Riots Timeline
           History of African-American Servicemen

"Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, U.S., let him get an eagle on his button,
and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on earth that can deny that
he has earned the right to citizenship."   -- Frederick Douglass, encouraging black men to join the
Army as the Civil War began.

Carney

Buffalo Soldiers

Flipper

Baker

Hawkins

Silent Protest March in New York

Texas Black History Preservation Project
Documenting the Complete African American Experience in Texas -- "Know your history, know yourself"

Attucks and the Boston
Massacre

Since Crispus Attucks took the first lethal bullet during the Boston Massacre, African Americans have
been eager to display their patriotism and have served, in many cases, honorably for United States
military units – even though, for many conflicts, their enthusiastic desire to serve was at first denied.
Here’s a look at some of the key moments in American military history involving black servicemen,
including comments about their use and fighting ability, all leading to the Houston mutiny and its
aftermath. – mh

March 5, 1770 -- Crispus Attucks, a runaway slave and seaman, is among a crowd of
Bostonites who confront a group of British soldiers and becomes the first casualty of the
American Revolution when he is fatally shot during what would become known as the Boston
Massacre.
January 1776 – Alexander Hamilton, then a 22-year-old aide to Gen. George Wa shington, in a
dispatch lobbying slave owners in South Carolina and Georgia to loan their black men to the
Revolution’s cause: “I hear it frequently objected to the scheme of embodying negroes, that
they are too stupid to make soldiers. This is so far from appearing to me a valid objection,
that I think their want of cultivation (for their natural faculties are probably as good as ours),
joined to that habit of subordination, which they acquire from a life of servitude, will make
them sooner become soldiers than our white inhabitants…The contempt we have been taught
to entertain for the blacks, makes us fancy many things that are founded neither in reason nor
experience; and an unwillingness to part with property of so valuable a kind, will furnish a
thousand arguments to show the impracticability, or pernicious tendency, of a scheme which
requires such a sacrifice.”
January 1776 – As the tide turns towards the British army, Gen. George Washington and the
Continental Congress allow the enlistment of blacks to the Continental Army. At the war’s
outset, neither the future president nor the Congress had any desire to integrate blacks into the
army. An estimated 10,000 blacks respond and when Washington makes his famed crossing of
the Delaware black soldiers are with him. Through service for the Army or the British forces,
50,000 slaves would earn their freedom.
September 10, 1813 – During the Battle of Lake Erie (in the War of 1812), the U.S. Navy
defeats the British Royal Navy. Going into the skirmish, Capt. Oliver Hazard Perry had
complained about having black sailors helping to man his ship. However, after their gallant
performance he writes to the Secretary of the Navy lauding their courage: “I have yet to learn
that the color of a man’s skin can affect a man’s qualifications or usefulness.”
July 17, 1862 – President Abraham Lincoln authorizes enlistment of blacks for the Union Army
through passage of the Second Confiscation and Militia Act, the first time the federal
government officially sanctions the employment of blacks. The act frees slaves whose masters
are fighting for the Confederacy. However, Lincoln doesn’t approve the participation of blacks
in the war until January 1, 1863 when the Emancipation Proclamation takes effect – only in the
Confederate states (slavery would not be officially outlawed in all states for another two years
with the 13th Amendment). However, blacks were recruited to “garrison forts, positions,
stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service. Collectively, they were
officially known as the United States Colored Troops.
September 1862 – Black volunteers in Cincinnati sought to join the Union Army during the Civil
War through the formation of local units called “Home Guards.” They were soundly rejected by
the city’s police chief: “We want you damn niggers to keep out of this; this is a white man’s
war!” If the chief’s statement was in any way unclear, Ohio Governor David Tod later
amplified: “Do you know that this is a white man’s government, that the white men are able to
defend and protect it, and that to enlist a Negro soldier would be to drive every white man out
of the service?” However, over 700 black men would come together under the command of
Judge (Col.) William Dickson to form the Cincinnati Black Brigade. Though their duties are
primarily as construction labor, they are essentially war’s first black military unit.
May 1863 – Establishment of the Bureau of Colored Troops to coordinate and organize
regiments from all parts of the country. The bureau was responsible for handling "all matters
relating to the organization of Colored Troops."
July 18, 1863 – During the second battle at Fort Wagner, the famed 54th Massachusetts, the
first major military unit of all black soldiers, sacrifices most of its 600 men in the unsuccessful
attack in South Carolina. “Well, I guess we’ll let (Gen. George C.) Strong lead and put those
damn niggers from Massachusetts in the advance; we might as well get rid of them one time or
another,” Union commander Gen. Truman Seymour had said before the battle. Despite
Seymour’s death wish for the regiment and the mission’s failure and carnage – 272 dead,
wounded or captured – the unit’s gallantry and courage is praised. A post-war New York Times
piece underscored the importance of the 54th’s performance: “It made Fort Wagner such a
name to the colored race as Bunker Hill has been for ninety-two years to the white Yankees.”
For his heroic deeds during the fight, Sgt. William Carney of the 54th became the first black to
be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
March 1865 – Confederate President Jefferson Davis approves the enlistment of 300,000 slaves
for his army, promising the men their freedom over widespread objections from others in the
Confederacy, including General Clement H. Stevens: “I do not want independence if it is to be
won by the help of the Negro…The justification of slavery in the South is the inferiority of the
Negro. If we make him a soldier we concede the whole question.”
August 20, 1866 – More than a year after Gen. Robert E. Lee’s surrender (April 9, 1865) at
Appomattox, President Andrew Johnson formally declares the end of the Civil War. For their
part, 16 black soldiers would receive the Congressional Medal of Honor as almost 179,000 black
men (10% of the Union Army) served, another 19,000 served in the Navy. The war would
claim the lives of 40,000 black soldiers. With the war’s end, black units were maintained
through the creation of the 9th and 10th Cavalries, and the 24th and 25th Infantries, who will
patrol the Western frontier and fight in the Spanish-American War, and become known as the
"Buffalo Soldiers."
December 26, 1872 – Seaman Joseph B. Noil’s rescue of a shipmate who had fallen overboard
earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor. He was one of only six black sailors so honored
for similar acts of bravery.
June 25, 1876 – At least one African American, Isaiah Dorman, a black interpreter with the 7th
Cavalry, was reported killed during the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Dorman had lived with the
Lakota Sioux, who called him "Black White Man."
June 15, 1877 – Henry O. Flipper, born into slavery in Georgia, became the first African
American to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. After joining the 10th
Cavalry, 2nd Lieutenant Flipper served as the Army’s only black officer until 1882 when he was
court-martialed for embezzling funds from the Fort Davis, Texas commissary. Although
acquitted, the Army still discharged him for "conduct unbecoming an officer." Almost 100 years
later, his innocence was substantiated during an official records review, which cleared Flipper’s
name and changed his dismissal to an honorable discharge.
February, 1881 – After a local rancher kills a member of the 10th Cavalry (Buffalo Soldiers),
stationed at Fort Concho, the Texas Rangers are called in to quell the ensuing riot. Members of
the 10th as well as some white soldiers storm the town and fire numerous bullets into the Nimitz
Hotel, where they believed the shooter was being held.
October 22, 1896 – The 24th Infantry Regiment arrives at Fort Douglas near Salt Lake City,
Utah. White townspeople responded by sending a delegation to Washington, D.C. to protest.
However, the professionalism shown by the black troops later prompted a public apology in the
newspaper for the town’s earlier action. Well-wishers gave the unit a rousing send-off on April
19, 1898, when the 24th was ordered to Tampa, Florida, to embark for Cuba during the
Spanish-American War.
June 6, 1898 – Members of the 24th and 25th Infantries attacked white soldiers and segregated
businesses in Tampa, Florida, after hearing that drunken Ohio volunteers had used a black child
for target practice. Members of both groups were seriously injured during the melee.
July 1, 1898 – Approximately two dozen members of the 10th Cavalry charged up San Juan Hill
to assist Lt. Colonel Teddy Roosevelt and his “Rough Riders” during the Battle of San Juan
Ridge, the only full-scale infantry engagement in Cuba during the Spanish American War. The
10th advanced under heavy fire, and according to a reporter, "firing as they marched, their aim
was splendid. Their coolness was superb and their courage aroused the admiration of their
comrades." It was this action that led a grateful Rough Rider corporal to proclaim, “If it hadn't
been for the black cavalry, the Rough Riders would have been exterminated." Edward Baker,
Jr., won the Congressional Medal of Honor for saving a wounded comrade while under fire and
became one of five black soldiers awarded the medal for bravery in the war.
1898-1917 – Both federal and several state governments restrict black access to the military.
Southern National Guard units prohibit blacks from enlisting, the U.S. Navy limits them to mess
duties and the U.S. Army limits their roles, as well (no artillery duty). The official excuse was
blacks’ supposed lack of mechanical skills and general intelligence for the more technologically
advanced assignments.
1901 -- As on-board racial tensions escalate, decreasing opportunities for promotion, mounting
restrictions on assigned duties, and increasing racial bias in recruiting practices, the Navy no
longer solicits black recruits.
1902 – After the Militia Act limited federal jurisdiction over the National Guard, only six states
(none in the Deep South) and the District of Columbia allowed blacks to continue to serve in
what had once been the state militias.
1906 – A U.S. Army War College study recommends blacks continue to be denied admission
into the artillery branch because of their supposed inferior intelligence and inability to master the
required technical skills.
1906 – Beginning this year and continuing every year for the next decade, various congressmen
introduced bills attempting to prevent blacks from serving in the U.S. armed forces. The War
Department’s opposition to this legislation helped to prevent any of the bills from being voted
on, but it was becoming more and more apparent that the military was no longer an option for
black men.
August 13-14, 1906 – Stationed at Fort Brown, in Brownsville, Texas, members of the 25th
Infantry supposedly raided the town, killing a bartender and wounding a policeman, both white,
the night after a white woman had reportedly been attacked. The men of the 25th denied any
knowledge of the shooting. However, while evidence and testimony from Brownsville citizens
was dubious, at best, President Theodore Roosevelt presumed the mens’ guilt and issued the
largest summary dismissal in U.S. Army history as three companies (167 men) were
dishonorably discharged. However, in 1972, U.S. Congressman Augustus Hawkins (D-CA)
successfully had the discharges reversed to “honorable.”
March 1916 – Members of the 10th Cavalry are with Gen. John “Black Jack” Pershing during
his unsuccessful two-year pursuit of Mexican rebel and bandit Francisco Pancho Villa along the
border and into Mexico.
April 6, 1917 – America enters World War I during which three black regiments will receive
highest honors (the Croix de Guerre) from the French Army, with who the segregated U.S.
Army assigns most black troops to fight. Black soldiers receive numerous individual decorations,
in general, for their courage. Encouraging blacks to serve during the war, a Howard University
faculty and student group theorizes: “If we fail, our enemies will dub us cowards for all time;
and we can never win our rightful place. But if we succeed, then eternal success.”
May 18, 1917 – Congress passes the Selective Service Act. Prior to the war, there were only
75,000 men in the American army, 20,000 of whom were soldiers in the 4 all-black regiments
— the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 24th and 25th Infantry. The act requires the registration of
all male citizens between the ages of 21 and 31 and blacks will comprise almost 10 of all
registrants. About 700,000 black men volunteered for the draft on the first day, while over 2
million ultimately registered. Despite African-American support for the war effort, some Army
leaders had doubts about enlisting large numbers of blacks because senior officers either feared
the negative response of southern politicians, believed blacks could not fight, or were concerned
about possible subversion by an "oppressed minority." Because of the large number of blacks
seeking to enlist, the War Department ordered that African- Americans not be recruited.
June 18, 1917 – First all-black officer training school opens in Des Moines, Iowa with 1,250
aspiring candidates.
July 1-3 – East St. Louis, Illinois is the site for one of the bloodiest race riots in the nation's
history. A Congressional committee reported that 40 to 200 people were killed, including one
black child who is allegedly shot and then burned, hundreds more injured, and 6,000 driven
from their homes. The riots stem from white resentment over the employment of blacks in a
local factory.
July 24, 1917 – In Houston, construction begin on Camp Logan, a training facility for National
Guard units.
July 29, 1917 – At Camp MacArthur, in Waco, Texas, black soldiers become involved in a
shoot-out with local police.
July 28, 1917 – In response to the East St. Louis riot, 10,000 African Americans march silently
down New York’s 5th Avenue in protest of black oppression, lynchings, race riots, and the
denial of rights.
August 18, 1917 – Company G of the Eighth Illinois National Guard Regiment departs Chicago
for Camp Logan to prepare the camp for the rest of the regiment’s arrival. The Eighth Illinois
will become the 370th U.S. Infantry and the only regiment in the U.S. Army called into service
with almost a complete complement of black officers, including regiment commander Col.
Franklin A. Denison. The unit serves with distinction in Europe and are hailed by the Germans
as the “Black Devils” because of their fighting spirit. Though they are at Camp Logan during the
riots, none of the Eighth Illinois men will be involved in the incident. That was due primarily to
their discipline and behavior. They viewed their placement in southern cantonments as an
opportunity to allay whites’ concerns by conducting themselves honorably. Such an attitude is
exemplified by an officer of the 370th Infantry, who, upon his arrival at Camp Logan in
Houston, Texas remarked: “Hardly had we arrived at our Training Camp before we were
impressed with the fact that it was up to us to make good by converting the whites of Houston
from hate to love, to make a people who regarded the regiment as a bunch of lawless men, to
realize that we would wade through the fires of Hell to gain and hold for our race a large
place in the sun.”
August 23, 1917 – The Houston Riots take place.
October 15, 1917 – Six hundred and thirty-nine members of the first, and only, class of black
officer candidates at Fort Des Moines receive their commissions as either Captain or First and
Second Lieutenant and are assigned to infantry, engineer, and artillery units with the 92nd
Division.
December 11, 1917 -- Thirteen black soldiers are hanged for their alleged participation in the
Houston riot.
December 12, 1917 – The first African American combat troops to arrive in France are the
369th Infantry of the 93rd Division , "The Harlem Hellfighters."
September 3, 1918 – Five more soldiers are hanged for alleged participation in the Houston riot.
1917 -- The American Red Cross rejected the applications of qualified African-American nurses
on the grounds that the U.S. Army did not accept black women.
September 29, 1918, -- Five more soldiers from the Houston riots are hung. One week later, a
sixth is also hung.