SIDELIGHTS ON NEGRO SOLDIERS

BY

CHARLES H. WILLIAMS

Special Investigator of Conditions among Negro
Soldiers in the World War

With an Introduction by
BENJAMIN BRAWLEY

BOSTON
B. J. BRIMMER COMPANY
1923

Copyright 1923
By B. J. BRIMMER COMPANY
First Edition, June, 1923

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

THE AMBROSE PRESS, INC.
Norwood, Massachusetts

Dedicated to the Memory of

My Mother

and to

My Aunt

Mrs. Maria Burnside

It is the purpose of this book to tell something of the achievementof the Negro soldier in the World War and to describe the conditionsunder which he lived as these were seen by the writer, who for eighteenmonths investigated conditions in America and France under the auspicesof the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America and of thePhelps-Stokes Fund, with the recommendation of the Secretary of Warand the Adjutant General of the United States Army. Most of theinformation was secured by visits to the soldiers in the camps, byinterviews with thousands of them, and by personal investigation in thecommunities adjacent to the camps, as well as by the study of recordsand documents. Camp commanders, officers in charge of Negro troops,representatives of all the welfare organizations, city officials, andboth Negro and white civilians were consulted in the effort to securethe facts concerning the fighting record, the work, the conduct, andthe treatment of Negro soldiers in the course of the war.

I am indebted to the Historical Branch of the War Department foraccess to its records on the operations of Negro combatant troops, tothe office of the Adjutant General for special information, and to manyfriends for suggestions and help in the preparation of the material;and it is hoped that the book now offered to the public may in somesmall way help the American people better to understand not only theperplexing situation but also the signal achievement of Negro menworking and fighting in behalf of their country and in defence of thehighest ideals of life.

CHARLES H. WILLIAMS.

Hampton Institute,
December 15, 1922.

It gives me great pleasure to write a word of introduction to thisinteresting and important book that Mr. Williams has written. Thestory of the Negro soldier is one of the romances of American history.Even in the days of the Revolution and the War of 1812 he played anhonorable part; but it was the Civil War that gave him his first largeopportunity, and at Port Hudson, Fort Wagner, or Fort Pillow he passedthrough the baptism of fire, striving that the emancipation of hispeople might be guaranteed and the integrity of his country preserved.We also remember another war, and Santiago and San Juan Hill, andnot only how Neg