Page:The National Cyclopedia of the Colored Race (1919).djvu/607

 made up of units from several states, such as the 8th Illinois, the 15th New York, the First Separate Battalion of the District of Columbia, the First Separate Company of Maryland, a company from Massachusetts and one from Connecticut, the 9th Ohio, etc., the race also had about 10,000 men. A large number of these forces came through volun tary enlistments and their work on the field and in camp has been of the highest possible order.

To this call to the colors, the Negro responded with a cheerfulness that made the world stare in wonderment. It is worthy of note that in the first draft in June, 1917, there were 737,628 colored reg istrants, or nearly 8 per cent of the total registra tion of the country, which was 9,586.508. Of the first group of 208,953 colored registrants examined under call of November 12, 1917, 36.23 per cent of them were accepted for service. Out of 2.873.996 white men examined at approximately the same time, 24.75 per cent of them were accepted. In groups representing nearly an identical proportion, it will be noted that in relative military fitness the Negro race outranked other races by about 12 per cent. It is also a matter of pride with the Ne gro to note that the per centage of colored men claiming exemption from military service is much lower than that of other groups. Many thousands of colored men are on duty overseas.

The Negro is represented in practically every branch of the military service including Infantry, Cavalry, Engineers, Field and Coast Artillery, Signal Corps (radio, or wireless, telegraphers, etc.), Medical Corps, Hospital and Ambulance Corps, Aviation Corps, (ground section), Veterinary Corps and in the noncombatant forces, which em brace, among other organizations, the Stevedore Regiments, Service of Labor Battalions, Depot Brigades. These latter render valuable service be hind the lines and are indispensable to the well-being of the troops on the firing lines. Many Negroes are employed as chemists, draftsmen, surveyors, etc. A premium is placed on men who are skilled in the technical and mechanical pursuits, such as electricians, auto-repairers, wheelwrights, blacksmiths, carpenters, etc.

The colored combat troops overseas are now comprised in the 92nd and 93rd divisions, commanded respectively, at the time of their assignment, by Major-General C. C. Ballon and Brigadier-General Roy C. Hoffman.

The Negro now has passed far beyond the 1,000 mark in the matter of commissioned officers, the number being now fully 1,200. There were few in the original Regular Army. The highest in rank was Charles Young, of Ohio, who, prior to his retirement from active service, had risen to the rank of Colonel in the 10th Cavalry, and had served with distinction in the Indian fights on the American border, in the Spanish-American War, in the Philippines and Mexico, and had won honors as the formative genius in the Government Constabulary and as United States Military Attache in Haiti. He is a graduate of West Point Military Academy. The highest active officer of the race now in the Army is Lieut-Col. Benjamin Oliver Davis, of the 9th Cavalry, a native of Washington, a product of her public school system, who entered the service at the outbreak of the Spanish-American War as a private in a volunteer regiment. He rose to his present station by merit. He has been military instructor at Wilberforce University, United States 'Military Attache and head of the Constabulary in Liberia and is now stationed with his regiment in the Philippines. Walter H. Loving, also a Washingtonian, developed the famous Philippine Constabulary Band, and is now a Major on the retired list, but engaged in a special work for the Government in the present conflict.

In the National Guard, several colored men, well versed in military tactics and with fine capacity for organization, have held ranks as Colonels, Majors, and officers of subordinate grade and have given an excellent account of themselves in preserving order in their respective States and have assisted the Federal Government in instances of national emergency.

The present war has brought to the front a splendid array of talented and capable young men who have won commissions as officers in the new training camps that have been formed for the purpose of supplying' leaders for the new United States Army. Out of the Reserve Officers' Training Camp at Fort Des Moines, came 639 colored officers, commissioned as captains and first and second Lieutenants, after a course of intensive training, covering four months, concluding in October, 1917. Many of these commanders were college men, hailing from such standard institutions of learning as Harvard, Yale, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Amhurst, University of Chicago, Howard, Fisk, Wilberforce and Lincoln University. In the field service these officers, for the most part, have "made good," and are in command of troops of the race at a number of camps on this side and across the sea. They have stood up bravely through their "baptism of fire," and in cases, now almost numerous, they have won the French Croix De Guerre and were conspicious in the terrific en-