Black soldiers, white laws The tragedy of the 24th Infantry in 1917 Houston

John A. Haymond, 1967-

Book - 2025

"The first full and definitive narrative of one of the most shocking and largely unknown events of racial injustice in US history: the execution of nineteen Black soldiers in Texas. On the sweltering, rainy night of August 23, 1917, one of the most consequential events affecting America's long legacy of racism and injustice began in Houston, Texas. Inflamed by a rumor that a white mob was arming to attack them, and after weeks of police harassment, more than one hundred African American soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, took their weapons without authorization and, led by a sergeant, marched into the largely Black San Felipe district of the city. Violent confrontations with police and civilians ensued and nine...teen lives were lost. The Army moved quickly to court-martial 118 soldiers on charges of mutiny and murder, even though a majority of the soldiers involved had never fired their weapons. Inadequately defended en masse by a single officer who was not a lawyer, and who had no experience in capital cases, in three trials undermined by perjured testimony and clear racial bias, and confronted by an all-white tribunal committed to a rapid judgment, 110 Black soldiers were found guilty--despite the fact that no mutiny had, in fact, taken place. In the predawn darkness of December 11, thirteen of them were hanged at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio--hastily and in secret, without any chance to appeal. News of the largest mass execution in the Army's history outraged the country and inspired preventive legislation; and yet six more Black soldiers were executed in early 1918 and the rest were sentenced to life in prison. The Houston Incident, as it became known, has remained largely untold, a deep stain on the Army's record and pride. Award-winning historian and Army veteran John A. Haymond has spent six years researching the events surrounding the Incident and leading the efforts that ultimately led, in November 2023, to the largest act of retroactive clemency in the Army's history when the verdicts were overturned and honorable discharges awarded to all the soldiers involved. His dramatic chronicle of what transpired--situated amongst the rampant racism in Texas and the country-is a crucially important and harrowing reminder of our racially violent past, offering the promise that justice, even posthumously, can prevail"-- Provided by publisher.

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Subjects
Published
New York : Atlantic Monthly Press 2025.
Language
English
Main Author
John A. Haymond, 1967- (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
xiv, 386 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
9780802164759
9780802164766
  • Foreword
  • A Note on Language and Terminology
  • Preface
  • 1. Hangman's Slough
  • 2. Lynch Mobs and Night Riders
  • 3. Semper Paratus
  • 4. The Ghosts of Brownsville
  • 5. A Nest of Prejudice
  • 6. Breaking Point
  • 7. The Cataclysm
  • 8. The Killing
  • 9. Whitewash
  • 10. Failure of Command
  • 11. Investigations
  • 12. A Mystery Within a Tragedy
  • 13. United States v. Nesbit
  • 14. Gallows
  • 15. Outrage
  • 16. The Last Court-Martial
  • 17. Failures of Justice
  • 18. The Prisoners
  • Epilogue: The Long Road to Clemency
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
  • Index
Review by Booklist Review

America's entry into WWI required a massive expansion of the military. One of the new posts built near Houston was guarded by a battalion from the army's storied Buffalo Soldier regiments. While the newcomers were welcomed by the settled Black community, white Houstonians insisted on strict enforcement of Jim Crow segregation laws and greeted their new neighbors with abuse. Haymond began researching "the Houston incident" of August 23, 1917, as a chapter for a book on military law but turned the project into a six-year quest for truth and justice. Black Soldiers, White Laws is an in-depth legal examination of the violence that left 19 civilians and policemen dead and led to the court martial of over 100 soldiers and 19 executions. This book leaves no stone unturned, illustrating the climate of race relations, war, and military justice, with a thorough look at all the principal characters in the story. Haymond's prose is engaging and dense with facts, making Black Soldiers, White Laws a powerful statement about a shameful event in the U.S. Army's history.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

A vivid, thoroughgoing account of the largest mass execution of American soldiers in U.S. Army history. In August 1917, more than 100 Black infantrymen, members of a famed "Buffalo Soldiers" regiment, left their camp and marched into the largely Black San Felipe district of Houston. The proximate cause, later testimonial revealed, was that the soldiers feared that an attack by a white mob was impending, and indeed they met with a confrontation that led to the deaths of 20 people. In response, military historian Haymond recounts, the Army charged 118 soldiers with mutiny. Hammond chronicles, corroborated by a later Army inquiry, that the soldiers' defense was sorely inadequate; the officer conducting it was not a lawyer, and the trial was laced with perjurious testimony and racist rhetoric. The trial also revealed incompetence, at the very least, of the white officers who commanded the 24th Infantry Regiment, with the officer in charge being "willing to -either abandon his junior officers to death at the hands of mutinous troops or, assuming that they -were still alive, leave them to -handle -things without him." Whether there was a mutiny, strictly speaking, remains controversial. If self-defense, then, as Haymond notes, it "can be seen as a legitimate, if hasty, military response to a perceived threat," but if a vigilante action by Black soldiers, then "a criminal act for which- there is no excuse or exculpation." In the end, 110 soldiers were found guilty, with 19 executed and the rest sentenced to life in prison. Thanks to the efforts of historians, including Haymond, and the support of numerous retired flag officers with "extensive experience with military justice," however, the Army granted clemency more than a century later, returning those Buffalo Soldiers to honorable status--too little, too late, of course, but something. Testimonial to the arc of justice's slow turning, and a somber, ably told story of race and racism in America. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.