We feel that special emphasis should be given the 370th Infantry,
because it was the only regiment that crossed the sea with a full quota
of colored officers; made a splendid record for bravery; received
numerous certificates from the French people setting forth their high
appreciation for their excellent behavior; received numerous individual
citations for conspicuous and meritorious conduct, and returned with
a full quota of colored officers with the exception of a colonel, one
captain, and one 2nd lieutenant.
When the regiment embarked for France, the following named were the
field officers: Col. Franklin A. Denison, Lieut. Col. Otis B. Duncan,
Major Rufus M. Stokes, Major Charles L. Hunt, Major Arthur B. Williams,
the Regimental Adjutant being Capt. John H. Patton. After being in
France for a period of three months and a few days, Colonel Denison,
because of illness, was replaced by Col. T. A. Roberts, who became the
only white officer in the regiment. Later Capt. John T. Prout, and
2nd Lieutenant Stapleton were added, making a total of three white
officers. This left Lieutenant Colonel Duncan, of Springfield, Ill.,
the highest ranking colored officer overseas. The record of this
regiment should forever silence the contention made by so many, that
colored men have not the ability to be officers, and that at any rate,
colored soldiers will not follow the leadership of officers of their
own race.
The regiment was called into service on July 25, 1917, and the
following October entrained for Houston, Texas, where they spent the
winter in training, and where they conducted themselves with such
admirable decorum, that even that hostile city commended and applauded
them vigorously when they departed on March 6, 1918, for Newport News,
from which city they were to take transport for France.
They landed at Brest on April 6, 1918, and after spending three days
at Camp Pontanezen, took train and went to the town of Grand Villars.
Here they were attached to the 73rd French Division, were reorganized
according to the French regulations, and in fact became French soldiers
in every respect except their uniforms; they were even furnished
with French food, and chefs to teach them how to prepare it most
economically. They were given six weeks intensive training, and were
allowed to mingle freely at all times with the French troops, in order
that they might profit by close contact with veteran warriors. A new
equality was tasted at this time by these American colored men; they
were treated upon an absolutely equal basis with other men, while their
officers moved with perfect ease among the highest officials of the
French Army; they were received with all social and military courtesy
due their rank.
After their period of training, they were moved by easy stages towards
the front, and on June 21 began occupying positions in the St. Mihiel
Sector, where there was desultory machine gun and rifle firing; by July
6 they had been moved by train and placed immediately behind the lines
in the Argonne Forest; here they remained six weeks, and were then
assigned to be one of the three infantry regiments of the 59th French
Division, which had had its ranks largely depleted by the battles of
Chavigny, Leury, and the Bois de Beaumont.
On September 15, 1918, the regiment was ordered to the region of St.
Bandry (Meuse). Four companies took position opposite Mont de Signes,
and an attack was ordered which lasted five days (September 16–21);
during this time both officers and men had a chance to distinguish
themselves, and a number were awarded decorations for meritorious
and gallant conduct. Perhaps the most noteworthy of these was Sergt.
Matthew Jenkins, who captured a large section of the enemy works,
with only a platoon of men at his command. He advanced so far ahead
of the units on his right and left that he was cut off from supplies,
and he and his men went without food for two days; they turned their
captured ammunition and machine guns upon the enemy, and held the
positions until reinforcements could reach them. For this act of
heroism, Sergeant Jenkins was awarded the French Croix de Guerre and
the American Distinguished Service Cross.
On September 26, 1918, the regiment for the first time took over a
full regimental sector, Colonel Roberts locating his commanding post
at Antioch Farm. From this date until the enemy began its retreat on
October 12, the organization was constantly under fire from enemy
equipment located in the Bois de Mortier, a dense wood.
Perhaps the most important engagement was that which occurred at
Ferme de La Riviere. Here on September 30, Lieut. Col. Duncan’s
battalion was ordered to make an attack which necessitated an advance
across open fields. While preparations were going on enemy aviators
discovered their position, and a terrific bombardment was at once
started, incapacitating three company commanders, three lieutenants,
and completely demoralizing the company. Lieut. George M. Murphy was
ordered to detail a man to gather up the scattered fragments of the
organization. Realizing the importance of the mission, the lieutenant
himself volunteered, and though under continuous shell fire was able to
locate and reorganize the company. For this action Lieutenant Murphy
was cited for especially conspicuous and meritorious conduct.
The attack which Lieutenant Colonel Duncan was ordered to make was
prosecuted vigorously, despite the bombardment of enemy aviators, and
by October 4, one of the strongest points in the Hindenburg Line had
been taken.
On October 4, 1918, a patrol of one officer and twenty men was called
for, to penetrate into the Bois de Mortier, in order to ascertain the
strength of the enemy. Capt. Chester Saunders, and the desired number
of men immediately responded, and at 3.30 o’clock in the morning
started on the mission. They were within fifty yards of the enemy
before they were discovered. Fire from all sides was immediately opened
upon them, but Captain Saunders, with remarkable self-possession, made
notation of the nests of machine guns, and returned to his organization
just before daylight, without the loss of a man. Captain Saunders was
awarded the Croix de Guerre, and the patrol was highly commended by the
commanding officer for their heroic action.
On October 12, 1918, the entire division was ordered to advance, and
the Battalion under Captain Patton took up the pursuit by way of the
Bois de Oiry. This wood had just been evacuated by the Germans, and to
show that they were expecting to be followed up closely by the allied
troops, they left everything in readiness for them. Tools valuable for
wire cutting, and other devices so necessary in modern warfare, were
left in easy reach, but no sooner would they be picked up than there
would be an explosion. All writing conveniences were left ready for
immediate use, but every penholder was a messenger of death. Beds would
be so inviting to the tired and footsore soldier, but the sheets held
deadly chemicals, which lulled him into an endless sleep. These are
examples which show the wicked ingenuity of the German. Captain Patton,
for making this exceedingly difficult advance through this maze of
trickery, was commended by the commanding officer, as was Major Stokes,
who was successful in clearing the Bois de Mortier, a very important
enemy stronghold.
On October 27, 1918, after a rest period which was spent in building
roads, the regiment was again ordered into the lines. They moved up
into the vicinity of Grandlup, where they were subjected to severe
shelling, and in some places machine-gun and rifle firing. Company
A, stationed in the vicinity of Chantrud Farm, suffered a loss of 35
killed and 50 wounded as a result of a shell falling in their midst
while at mess.
On November 5, 1918, a general advance was ordered, which was continued
in hot pursuit of the enemy until the Armistice was signed on November
11, 1918. Company C, of Prout’s Battalion, under command of Capt.
James H. Smith, was awarded the Croix de Guerre and palm, the highest
citation awarded in the regiment. This was given for the attacking and
occupying of St. Pierremont, the crossing of the River Sierre, and the
taking of three pieces of enemy artillery and several machine guns,
despite strong resistance from the enemy.
For attacking and taking the town of Lorgny, from which point the
French commander and his troops were being severely shelled, Lieut.
Osceola A. Browning, commander of Company M, and a number of others,
received the French Croix de Guerre, and the American Distinguished
Service Cross.
On November 11, just before the signing of the Armistice, an enemy
combat train of about fifty vehicles was captured, thus completing a
record of continuous, difficult and vigorous warfare, every inch of the
way from Antioch Farm, near the ruins of Vauxillion, to the Belgian
border; Lieutenant Colonel Duncan won the name of the lieutenant
colonel who would not stop fighting, because he led his troops into the
Belgian Village of Gue D’Hossus, before he could be reached with the
message that the Armistice had become effective.
The 370th Infantry carried with it a full staff of colored medical
officers, composed of Major James R. White, in command, Captains
Leonard W. Lewis, and Spencer Dickinson, and Lieutenants James F.
Lawson, Dan M. Moore, Rufus Bacote, George W. Antoine, Claudius
Ballard, and two dentists, Lieutenants Tancil and Roe.
With careful elimination of all soldiers who were not physically fit,
the organization entered the service in excellent condition. During the
winter of 1917 and 1918, much time was given by the medical department
to the delivering of lectures, and a systematic course of training for
the development of healthy and robust physiques was inaugurated. The
result of this careful training was that only six men died of disease
during the ten months in France, notwithstanding the fact that they
suffered as many hardships and inconveniences as any other troops in
the conflict. The medical detachment was composed also of 23 men, who
were ever on the alert to give first aid to the wounded; because of
this prompt attention on the battlefield there were only 96 out of the
entire regiment who lost their lives. This, in addition to 425 who
recovered from wounds, represents the entire list of casualties of the
organization.
Major White was awarded the Croix de Guerre. In the words of the
citation, “he visited daily the aid stations in the advanced area, and
himself dressed many of the fallen men, thus giving to his subordinates
the most noble example.”
[Illustration: GROUP OF OFFICERS OF 8TH ILLINOIS (370TH INF.)
1. Capt. James H. Smith. 2. Lieut. Blaine G. Alston. 3. Lieut. George
H. Murphy. 4. Capt. John H. Patton. 5. Lieut. William Andrews. 6.
Lieut. A. Hugo Williams. 7. Lieut. George F. Proctor. 8. Lieut.
Osceola A. Browning.]
All told there were 33 officers and 57 men of this regiment who were
awarded the Croix de Guerre, the Distinguished Service Cross, or
both. Among the officers were Col. T. A. Roberts, Lieut. Col. Otis B.
Duncan, Maj. James R. White, Captains Smith, Patton, Prout, Gwynne,
Warner, Allen, Hall, Alexander, Jackson, Crawford, and Saunders; First
Lieutenants Tancil, Browning, Lacey, Robinson, Ballard, Jackson,
Warfield, Gordon, Hurd, Shelton and Lee; and Second Lieutenants
Cheatham, Norvell, Tisdell, Painter, Price, Reid, and Jackson.
The colored soldiers were greatly loved by the French people, and while
passing through the town of Laon, which had been in the hands of the
Germans for four years, the French civilians knelt by the roadside and
kissed the hands of the boys of the 370th Infantry, so grateful were
they for their deliverance.
From the mayors of every village and town where the organization had
any contact with the French people, they received testimonials setting
forth their good behavior and splendid decorum; similar letters were
secured with regard to our soldiers in nearly every section of France,
and very frequently the writer was personally told that they were
better behaved than the white soldiers; especially was this true in
the Leave Area, where all army restrictions were removed; the absolute
increase of disease among all of the colored troops was only 7 per
cent., according to statistics from the surgeon general’s office,
while among the white troops it was 88 per cent.; this in spite of
the fact that a much larger per cent. of them were physically unfit
when they entered the army; in the first draft 36 colored soldiers out
of every hundred men were admitted, while there were only 24 out of
every hundred white; this shows that there was more care exercised in
getting in white men who were physically sound than there was for the
colored. In the entire 92nd Division only one soldier was convicted of
criminal assault; in fact the colored soldiers in all the organizations
made such a splendid impression upon the French people that a recent
issue of a widely published Paris paper asked that two million return
to France, in order that they might assist them in building up their
devastated regions, and become a part of their future civilization.
The following farewell address speaks for itself with regard to
splendid achievements of the 370th Infantry, and the high esteem in
which they were held:
“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 upon
the peoples of the Entente of taking up again the normal life—leads
the United States to diminish its effectiveness in France. You are
chosen 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, 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 to re-enforce us. You arrived from the
trenches of the Argonne.
“We at first in September, at Mareuil-sur-Ourq, admired your fine
appearance under arms, the precision of your review, the suppleness
of your evolutions that presented to the eye, the appearance of silk
unrolling its wavy folds.
“We advanced to the line. Fate placed you on the banks of the
Ailette, in front of the Bois de Mortier. October 12th you occupied
the enemy trenches Acier and Brouze. On the 13th, we reached the
railroad of Laon-La-Fere—the Forest of St. Gobain, principal center
of resistance of the Hindenburg Line, was ours.
“November 5th, the Sierre was at last crossed, the pursuit became
active. Prout’s Battalion distinguished itself at Sal St. Pierre,
where it captured a German battery. Patton’s Battalion crossed, the
first, the Hirson Railroad at the Heights of Aubenton, where the
Germans tried to resist. Duncan’s Battalion took Lorgny, and carried
away with their ardor, could not be stopped short of Gue d’Hossus, on
November 11th, after the Armistice.
“We have hardly had time to appreciate you, and already you depart.
“As Lieutenant Colonel Duncan said, November 28th, in offering to
me your regimental colors as proof of your love for France, as an
expression of your loyalty to the 59th Division of our Army, you have
given us your best, and you have given out of the fulness 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, the pride of bearing on our foreheads
the ray of common grandeur.
“A last time—Au revoir.
“All of us of the 59th Division will always remember the time when
the 370th R. I. U. S., under the orders of the distinguished Colonel
Roberts, formed a part of our beautiful Division.”
GENERAL VINCENDON,
_Commanding the 59th Division._
(Signed) VINCENDON.