Official Reports of the Only Accredited Negro War Correspondent---Ralph W. Tyler, Representative with the A. E. F. of the U. S. Committee on Public Information---The Story of the Life and Fighting of American Negro Soldiers in France as Seen By This Trained Observer.
One of the most important results of the conference of Negro editors held in Washington in June, 1918, was the sending to France of a trained newspaper writer of the Negro race with instructions to report on the life and the activities of the Negro soldiers as he saw things, in order that the Negro press of America might be furnished with first-hand and accurate information for their readers of the precise conditions under which their people were working and fighting in France. The announcement of Mr. Tyler's appointment was made by the Committee on Public Information on September 16, 1918 when the following bulletin was issued to the press of the country:
"One of the direct requests of the Editors' Conference in June was that a reliable colored news-writer be sent to France to report the doings of the colored troops on the western front in France, for the information of the anxious millions of colored Americans in this country and to the end that the correct story of the valor and patriotic devotion of their brethren might be told fully and in a sympathetic vein by one of their own blood and kindred.
"In compliance with this request, the Committee on Public Information has designated Ralph W. Tyler, of Columbus, Ohio, former Auditor of the Navy Department at Washington, as a regularly-commissioned war correspondent, to specialize on the conditions surrounding the colored troops in France and to make daily reports of the activities and engagements in which the colored soldiers are prominent. He will be on the staff of General Pershing, commander-in-chief of the American Expeditionary Forces overseas. Every facility has been provided by Mr. George Creel, director of the Committee on Public Information, for the prompt and accurate gathering of all facts that may be of interest to the colored people.
"Mr. Tyler is the first colored man to be named as a regular war correspondent by any Government in the world. He is a native of Ohio. For seventeen years he served in various departments on the Columbus Evening Dispatch and the Ohio State Journal, which gave him experience in the technique of the newspaper craft and afforded him opportunity for association with many influential newspaper men. This intimate contact with such forces will be invaluable to him in his labors as a war correspondent. The fact that he has a wide acquaintance with correspondents now at the front, will make it possible for him to get news concerning colored troops which, perhaps, no other colored correspondent could secure.
"The claims of a number of men were fully considered in connection with this important assignment, but Mr. Tyler was finally selected as the most efficient of those available. Immediately after war was declared by the United States on Germany, Mr. Tyler wrote the President, tendering his services in any capacity. He has three sons, all of whom are at the front in France."
The plan under which Mr. Tyler worked was to send his reports to the Committee on Public Information, which in turn sent them to me for editing and for circulation throughout the country. This news service unquestionably had a tremendously valuable effect in bringing the truth about conditions in France to the colored people of America. As it happened, the war came to an end in less than three months after Mr. Tyler's appointment. In that brief time, however, and in the short time after the armistice was signed during which he remained in France, he wrote and sent to this country the most valuable and interesting first-hand reports about our Negro soldiers that have come from any source. There is no better way in which I can present an adequate picture of the life of our soldiers in France than by reproducing here Mr. Tyler's dispatches, beginning with his graphic account, written after the fighting had ceased, of the last great battle of the war and the glorious part which the Negro soldiers had in it. This is Mr. Tyler's summing up of the work of the 92nd Division:
"Somewhere in France, November 20. They were in it at the finish, as they were at Verdun, Soissons, Chateau-Thierry, Argonne and Champagne. At the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month in the fifth year of the war, when the signal flashed from Eiffel Tower in Paris stopped hostilities, in conformity with the terms of the armistice just signed by the Germans, the 92nd Division, composed of Colored American Soldiers, occupied the point closest to the German city of Metz, the objective of the last drive of this war. At the stroke of eleven the cannon stopped, the rifles dropped from the shoulders of our Colored soldiers, and their machine guns became silent. Then followed a strange, unbelievable silence as though the world had ceased to exist. It lasted but a moment---lasted for the space of time the breath is held. Then, among these dark-skinned troopers came a sigh of relief---came jubilance, as every colored soldier, in true Parisian vernacular, exclaimed: 'La Guerre est fini'---the war is over, and immediately thoughts turned to dear ones back across the sea, while tears flowed down their war-grimmed black faces for their hundreds of comrades bivouacing forever in sepulchers over here in France. The wish was father to the thought when it was prophesied, back in the states, when the first colored troops sailed for France, that they would be in it at the finish, that their "On to Berlin" slogan would become a reality. The armistice stopped their advance into Berlin, but they did reach the nearest point to the German city of Metz in what was designed as a victorious march to Berlin, and the valor they displayed, their courageous, heroic fighting all along that advance won for our men in the 92nd Division high praise from superior officers, including the corps and division commander, for they never wavered an instant, not even in that awful hell, the Frehaut Woods, upon which the big guns of Metz constantly played; which the Senegalese were unable to hold, but which our colored soldiers from America did take, and did hold until the signal came announcing the cessation of hostilities."
Mr. Tyler also wrote:
"In this last battle of the war to establish world democracy---a thing the colored soldiers and their kinsmen back home crave, the following colored army units effectively took part: 365th, 366th, and 367th Infantry; 349th, 350th, and 351st Field' Artillery, and 167th Machine Gun. All these were combatants in this final drive, but in this account of the battle the three non-combatant units, the 317th Ammunition Train, under the command of a colored major, Major Milton T. Dean; the 325th Field Signal Battalion; the staff of the 366th Field Hospital, to which the wounded and gassed were rushed, and the 365th and 366th Ambulance Corps, under the command, respectively, of Captain Sherman Hickman of Memphis, and Captain Charles H. Garvin of Cleveland, must not be overlooked or slighted. The 368th Infantry, while they did not get into this last action, had however been moved up to Guzoncourt, where they were held in reserve.
"If the reader will get out his map of France, and observe it, he will be able to follow the advance of the combatant colored troops in this last drive, which must go down in history as the final battle of the World War. The 367th, or "Buffaloes," as they were familiarly known, had been holding Villers-sous-Preny for many days and up to the time, seven o'clock Sunday morning, November 10, they were ordered to advance to Pagny, which they did, and held. The advance of this regiment was through "Death Valley," exposed to the heavy fire of the German guns stationed on the hill skirting the advance. They made the advance without a single casualty, and that they did so, considering the fire the men were subjected to, appears like a miracle, blind fate, or the will of God. They reached their objective in good form, and it was providential that they did, for it was from this point they were able to open up fire on the German guns, and save the 56th Infantry (white) from annihilation, when it had become pocketed by a murderous German fire which prevented its making Preny, or retreating.
"This saving of the 56th by the 367th was history repeating itself---colored troops saving white troops from destruction in 1918 as the 10th Cavalry saved the Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War in 1898. So splendidly did the 367th colored regiment advance and perform that they wrung from the Corps and Division Commander a letter of praise, in which he paid tribute to the regiment's high qualities. Although the "Buffaloes" had for weeks been holding the front line trenches in a particularly active zone, upon which the Boche rained shells and gas daily and nightly, and although from this regiment, almost daily and nightly, raiding parties of colored soldiers went out and brought in German prisoners, the regiment was the only colored regiment over here, perhaps, that had not been sent into an engagement---something they had longed for. The order to advance, at seven o'clock Sunday morning the 10th of November, gave them the opportunity they had so long waited for impatiently. In spite of the fact that their advance was to be through "Death Valley," a section flanked by big German guns massed on the overlooking hills, the order gave them more enthusiasm and satisfaction than an order to embark for home. When seven o'clock came they were ready to move, these "Buffaloes," and they did move with astonishing rapidity, absolutely indifferent to the bursting shells, which, fortunately, fell a little short of them, or caromed over their beads. "Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here, What the Hell Do We Care?" greeted many a Boche shell as it fell short, or spent its force a few yards beyond their advancing line. They established and maintained a perfect liaison, and even their Supply Department, under that efficient acting supply officer, Lieut. McKaine, coordinated perfectly with the line advancing "on to Metz."
Illustrations in Chapter XX
"The 366th had been occupying the line at Vaudières, prior to the Metz advance, and the order was to advance into one section of Bois Frehaut and Bois de Voivrotte, which it did in a most effective manner, displaying such bravery, in the face of a deadly shell fire, and its colored line officers displaying such excellent qualities of leadership as to merit unstinted praise from the Division Commander. In the engagement in the Bois Voivrotte, Lieut. Guy W. Canady, of Atlanta, was killed, and Lieut. M. W. Rush, of the same city, fell mortally wounded, dying a few days later in the hospital, after having lain out in the woods, thus terribly wounded, for twenty-four hours. Capt. George A. Holland, of the same regiment, also displayed remarkable courage and leadership. He had been ordered to take a position by his Colonel, and hold it at any cost. With his men he took it, but the fire was so heavy and murderous that his white major, commanding his battalion, sent orders to him to retire. This he positively refused to do, sending word back that he had been ordered by his Colonel to hold the position taken, and he and his men would hold it until the last man fell, unless he had orders from his Colonel to retire. Few instances, in the annals of war, are recorded showing equal courage, in the face of heavy odds, to that shown by this colored officer, Captain Holland, and his company of the 366th who obeyed to the letter, the order given to take and to hold a position. As a result of the incomparable courage, endurance, and bravery shown by this company, twenty-five of them were commended, in General Orders, by the Division Commander.
"The First Battalion of the 365th engaged in this final drive of the war, had occupied the front line trenches in the Marbache sector. From almost the moment of occupancy, active patrolling and raiding into the enemy's lines was ordered, to determine the strength of the enemy. Officers and men of this battalion were sent out daily and nightly on such missions, and many instances of conspicuous bravery were displayed. Several of their number, however, were captured, and not a few killed and wounded, but the number of the enemy killed, captured, and wounded greatly outnumbered the casualties suffered by this First Battalion.
"The 365th, prior to the last drive, had been occupying the front line trenches near Dieulouard, that town being the regimental headquarters. It had orders to advance into, take and hold a position in the Bois Frehaut. It happened that, for one reason or another, all the white officers of this regiment, including the Colonel commanding, and save the Major commanding the 2nd Battalion, bad been incapacitated for action, and so the 2nd Battalion went into action with but one white officer, the Major. No unit in the advance had a more difficult position to take and hold than the position assigned to the 2nd Battalion of the 365th. The Bois Frehaut was a network of barbed-wire entanglements, and the big guns in Metz had nothing to do but sweep the woods with a murderous fire, which they did most effectively. French and Senegalese, in turn had failed to hold these woods, for it was worse than a hell---it had become the sepulcher of hundreds. I (Ralph W. Tyler) was over and through these woods; I saw the mass of barbed-wire entanglements; I saw the nests in the trees in which Germans had camouflaged machine guns that rained a fire upon the Allied troops.
"It is impossible to describe this scene of carnage. The order to the colored men of the 365th was to "take and hold," although it was believed, almost to a certainty, that they could not hold it, even if they did take it. But they did take and hold it, and these men of the 2nd Battalion, with Spartan-like courage; with an endurance unbelievable, would be holding the position at this writing had not the Armistice been signed, or had they not received orders to retire. In these woods, at the head of his company, Captain Boutte, and the other line officers, fought tenaciously, heroically---so heroically that the Major commanding stated to me that the world had never produced gamer fighters than the colored men who made up his battalion of the 365th Infantry. The casualty list, because of the savage nature of the resistance the Germans made, because of the heavy, well directed big guns and machine gun fire, was large. But the 365th did take and did hold that which the fighting Senegalese could not hold after they had taken it.
"After sixteen days of activity on this front, the battalion was ordered in support for a week, and on November 5th it was ordered to the front line trenches in the. Mousson sector, an intensely active front, that was shelled daily and nightly. On the memorable morning of November 10, 1918, the 1st Battalion was ordered to the "alert," as support for the 2nd Battalion of the same regiment, then engaged in the last drive. On the evening of the 10th it was ordered to attack Champey and LaCote Hill, a very strongly fortified German position. The battalion moved to the attack at five o'clock Sunday evening, entering the position from the rear of the 2nd Battalion's position. A very heavy gas-shell and high explosive barrage laid down by the Germans checked the advance, and the battalion was ordered to remain in its position for the night.
"At five o'clock the next (Monday) morning, the 11th of November, the battalion moved into position for the resumption of the attack. Its line moved into position under cover of our artillery barrage, which began at 4:30 a. m. With two companies in the front line and two in support, the 1st Battalion advanced through the difficult woods, Bois de Frehaut. It advanced with machine-gun support until the northern edge of the woods was reached, overlooking Champey. At this point the advance was met by a most terrific artillery bombardment and machine-gun fire delivered by the Germans stationed on the heights of LaCote Hill. The fighting at this point was bitter. Men and officers, however, remained in action and held their line under extremely adverse conditions. Up to this point the line had advanced, in the face of a terrific fire, about 400 yards, forcing many machine guns of the enemy to retire, and capturing a number of others along with much material. This action continued until 10:45 a. m., at which time the "Cease Fire" was sounded, which ended the hostilities of this titanic war.
"The casualties of the 1st Battalion of the 365th in this engagement were two officers wounded and 61 enlisted men killed, wounded, and gassed. Among the wounded officers was Lieut. Charles H. Fearing, formerly of Washington, D. C., who was slightly cut in the arm by shrapnel. Lieut. Fearing, but a few days before, had escaped death most miraculously.
"Distributing the many tons of ammunition along the route of the advance, and moving it up to the American combatants in this final drive for the 92nd Division, was a big task, but was successfully done by a colored Ammunition Train, under the command of Major Milton T. Dean, a colored officer. Arranging the telegraphic and signal communications between the various units, was a dangerous---most dangerous---and big achievement, and this was done by the 325th Colored Field Signal Battalion. Caring for and attending to the hundreds of wounded and gassed, as they were rushed back to the field hospital in ambulances driven by colored men and commanded by colored ambulance commanders, was the big task of those sacrificing and sympathetic colored surgeons on the staff of the 366th Field Hospital.
"I was at the front when the drive began---this the last battle of the world war. I was thrilled, and inspired by the enthusiasm of our men, and their eagerness to get into battle. The thundering of the big guns, the terrific explosion of death-carrying shells opening up, served only to inspire our colored soldiers with a grim determination to maintain the race's traditional fighting reputation. As I retraced my steps over the battlefield, the awful field of carnage, and saw the havoc German shells had wrought; saw lifeless, blood-bespattered bodies of colored soldiers lying on the dark and bloody field; saw the maimed and mangled living, the natural feeling of sorrow, of anguish, of pain, was made endurable only by the thought that our men---our colored soldiers---were in it to the end, that they fought like heroes, died like heroes, died like martyrs. And then there was the radiant hope---perhaps they fought and fell, in the last battle of the greatest war ever waged for civilization, NOT in vain.
"As the colored troops, in the last battle of the war, the drive on Metz, were the first to reach the nearest point to the city of Metz, so it was colored troops, the old 15th New York, that first reached the point farthest east and nearest to the Rhine in the battle on the Meuse. They were in Alsace, and their line ran through Thann and across the railroad leading to Colmar."
Mr., Tyler continues:
"Distance lends enchantment to the view, and likewise, not infrequently, to some degree, distance exaggerates a rule into an exception. The transfer of colored commissioned officers from combatant to non-combatant units is, I know, regarded by a very considerable number of colored people in the States as an 'exception.' I am aware that information has been, or soon will be, received back in the States that a number of colored officers were recently given assignments to casualty camps, and that white officers were assigned to their places in the line. German propaganda is sure to convey these transfers as an 'exception' prompted by racial prejudice. To one who is here on the scene, and who knows of countless number of white officers who are daily being transferred to units and assignments which they would not themselves have selected, and of some having been peremptorily shorn of their rank on the field of battle, the 'rule' carries no evidence of 'exception' clue to racial discrimination. So far as I have been able to ascertain all transfers are made for the good of the service, regardless as to whether the ones transferred are white or colored.
"The, number of colored commissioned officers discharged, or transferred from their units, has been negligible when compared with the number of white officers honorably (?) and dishonorably discharged and transferred, even when the proportionate number of each is considered.
"This is war over here---actual, not theoretical war, and its prosecution to the earliest conclusion is so urgent that commanding generals have no time to consider racial problems, even if they were, ordinarily, so inclined to do. To 'win the war' as speedily as possible, with the best available units and officers, appears to prompt all allied commanders, Americans, French, and British, and if some few colored officers, like hundreds of white officers, fall into the discard, or receive new assignments, the race back in the States must not too quickly assume that race discrimination was the actuating factor. I have learned of instances, over here, where white colonels who had aspired to become brigadier-generals have lost the insignia of colonelcy. I have learned of many white officers whose self-estimate made them available for commanding and directing attacks in battle who have been, much to their chagrin, given desk assignments.
"Just prior to a recent engagement, it is reported, a number of commissioned colored officers were transferred from their units to casualty and other assignments. Had they not been transferred just when they were some of them would have their names now appearing in the list of 'Killed in Battle.' They, doubtless, would have as willingly filled a martyr's grave as they, unwillingly and uncomplainingly, accepted other assignments.
"The fact is patent to all who are conversant with the war over here that casualty camp assignments are as necessitous as field assignments; that the stevedore regiments make possible the success of the combatant regiments; that the swivel-office-chair officer performs an important and necessitous function. Secretary of War Baker, although a civilian, performs a duty, the non-performance of which would have made it impossible for General Pershing to achieve glory over here for the United States. I simply want to impress upon my race, back in the States, that in this war 'the hewer of wood and the drawer of water' is as necessary to victory as the man who adjusts the distance for the 75-centimeter gun, and that when the world has been made safe for democracy it will be impossible to deny honor to all who helped to achieve victory, even to those who, having received no assignment in the theater of war, cheerfully stood and waited for an opportunity to serve, even if only in some humble capacity.
"The necessarily quick decisions made on a battlefield, or immediately prior to entering battle, where victory hangs as much on strategy as on man-power and equipment, will ofttimes disillusion even the theorist who employs platitudes, at a safe distance far behind the battle front, rather than bullets and shrapnel with which wars are won. I am now here where life is but a gamble, and the flow of blood is but commonplace, and know whereof I speak, and knowing the necessity of war here at the seat of it, I am willing to stand or fall by the foregoing statement, and in the assurance that our race is actually winning glory over here in France."
Following is Mr. Tyler's report of the final fighting, written on the day before the Armistice took effect:
"In the battle raging today in the American advance toward Metz, the 92nd Division played a big role. Not only were its black infantry and machine gun units up at the front, in the thickest of it, but its artillery, the 167th Brigade of Field Artillery, was on the line, behaving like veterans, laying down a barrage for the infantry that was marvelously effective; and they established a reputation which has been made by but few, among French, British or Americans, of laying down a barrage that did not entrap, and fatally so, their own men.
"This has been a glorious day for the black soldiers. The fighting is still on, and I have just received the intimation that the casualty toll may be heavy---depressingly so, for Metz, and the sector around about it, is strongly fortified by the Germans, and resistance determined.. Metz is considered by experts to be the strongest fortified city in the world, almost as impregnable as the fortifications of the Dardanelles. But the Americans are hammering away at it, and only the signing of the Armistice terms by the Germans, by eleven o'clock tomorrow, will save Metz from falling. Even as it is, colored soldiers are now on German soil.
"The husky invaders include the colored soldiers of the 92nd Division, embracing the 'Buffaloes' or 367th, the 365th and 366th Regiments of Infantry, and the 167th Brigade of Field Artillery, composed of the 349tb, 350th and 351st Regiments and the 317th Trench Mortar Battery, and all are conducting themselves with a fortitude and valor that have won for them. high praise from their commanding officers every time they have been put to any test."
And here is Mr. Tyler's report on the very day of the Armistice, November 11, 1918:
"The colored troops who took part in the last battle of this war acquitted themselves splendidly, f ought valiantly, and with such precision and order as to earn for them high praise. Reminiscent stories of this engagement will be coming to light for weeks---even months---after this battle has long been a matter of history, for, as in all big battles, the reverberations of the big guns, the rattle of musketry, and the smoke of the battle must have died away before the accounting can be made. There is one remarkable, even astonishing, record made in this last drive, a record that either establishes the fact that God was with the colored regiments engaged, as a protector, or that Fate is not merely a fetish, for the 'Buffaloes' suffered not a single casualty---not one wounded or killed. Just how they could have advanced along the difficult line given them; flanked by heavy German guns---guns from whose rain of hell-made and death-charged shells it seems incredible that anyone could escape, is beyond the conjecture of man, and yet they made their advance, gained their objective, and held it without the loss of a single man. The 366th, 365th, 351st Machine Gun, and 167th Field Artillery, all colored, engaged in this final battle of the war, suffered a casualty which, in the aggregate, was but slight, and yet they were in the thick of it, and to the finish when the note was sounded that, under the terms of the Armistice signed this morning by the Germans, hostilities cease.
"It will be gratifying to the colored people to know that the colored soldiers and officers have acquitted themselves splendidly, from the first engagement into which the 372nd was rushed soon after landing to the final drive onto Metz in which three colored regiments and colored field artillery took part. And, claim what they will, in every one of these engagements in which colored units took part their colored officers led with commendable bravery and efficiency, and the soldiers in line followed with such a fidelity, loyalty, devotion, and dash as to forever set at rest the claim that colored men are incapable to command as officers, and that colored soldiers best fight under white officers. The drive on to Metz which concluded the four years' titanic war affixes 'finis' to the argument put forth by some as to the loyalty of the race to their own leaders.
"The effect of the signing, and promulgating in the camps of our colored soldiers, of the Armistice today, was like magic in this Marbache sector, where more than 30,000 combatant colored troops are centered. Just out of the trenches, just out of the. fierce and bloody battle, they began singing and cheering, and nearly every Frenchman they met, it mattered not the sex, greeted them, these bronzed, khaki-garbed troops, with an embrace and the exhilarating 'La guerre est fini,' meaning 'The war is finished.' This evening, as .1 am writing this account, colored soldiers are moving up and down, back and forth, over the streets of this little French town at the front, cheering and singing. Their repertoire of songs and hymns, exultingly and plaintively sung, from 'Down on the Suwanee River,' 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,' to 'Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here,' interrupted ever and anon, although strictly forbidden, with the firing of a revolver or gun, tell how happy they are over the conclusion of peace. And many of them---most of them, if not all---are anxiously awaiting the order for embarkation back to America, although they must realize that, of a necessity, many of them will witness the blooming of next June's roses in France, rather than back in the States.
"It is perhaps one of the most glorious epochs in the history of the race, since the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation, that the race, represented by three regiments---crack fighting regiments---and a field artillery unit, was engaged in the last battle of the war; that the race was among the first of the Allied troops to go over the top and set foot on German soil after more than four years' courageous fighting. Here are some of the expressions with which colored privates gave vent to their happiness at the war being over, in this sector last night:
" 'We done signed another Emancipation Proclamation!'
" 'That "New Freedom" must come-we have won it.' 'We came to France and won a man's chance!'
Let Mr. Tyler's fascinating and gossipy narrative of the life of the American Negro troops in France close with a reproduction of the tribute paid them by the French people themselves. The following is a translation of an article written by a talented French woman and published in the leading newspaper of one of the large French cities:
"A peaceful town, far from the front. A beautiful June day full of perfume of roses; resplendent summer freely bursting into bloom, indifferent to human plaints, frets, and agitations. A boy of ten years, bead like the urchin of the year one, runs through' the streets crying: 'The Americans are coming to B----; the inhabitants are invited to greet them.'
"The Americans! For months they had been discussed; they had been expected, and there was great curiosity; groups of people go down to the public square of the town, where they see upon our white streets the first ranks of the Allied troops. But what a surprise! They are black soldiers! Black soldiers? There is great astonishment, a little fear. The rural population, not well informed, knows well the Negro of Africa, but those from America's soil, the country of the classical type, characterized by the cold, smooth white face; that from America could come this dark troupe ---none could believe his own eyes.
"They dispute among themselves; they are a little irritated; some of the women become afraid; one of them confides to me that she feels the symptoms of an attack of indigestion. Smiling, reassurably, 'lady with all too emotional stomach, quiet yourself. They do not eat human flesh; two or three days from now you will be perfectly used to them.' I said two or three days, but from that very evening the ice is broken. Natives and foreigners smile at each other, and try to understand each other. The next day we see the little children in the arms of the huge Negroes, confidently pressing their rosy cheeks to the cheeks of ebony, while their mothers look on with approbation.
"A deep sympathy is in store for these men, which, yesterday, was not surmised. Very quickly it is seen they have nothing of the savage in them, but, on the other hand, one could not find a soldier more faultless in his bearing, and in his manners more affable, or more delicate than these children of the sun, whose ancestors dreamed under the wonderful nights along murmuring streams. We admire their forms---handsome, vigorous and athletic; their intelligent and loyal faces with their large gleaming eyes, at times dreamy, and with a bit of sadness in them.
"Far removed is the time when their inauspicious influence, was felt upon the digestive organs of the affrighted lady. Now one honors himself to have them at his table. He spends hours in long talks with them; with a great supply of dictionaries and manuals of conversation. The white mothers of France weep to see the photographs of the colored mothers, and display the portraits of their soldier sons. The fiancées of our own 'Poilus' become interested in the fiancées across the sea, in their dress, in their head dress, and in everything which makes woman resemble woman in every clime. Late at night the workers of the field forget their fatigue as they hear arise, in the peaceful night, the melancholy voices which call up to the memory of the exile his distant country, America. In the lanes along the flowery hedges, more than one group of colored American soldiers fraternize with our people, while the setting sun makes blue the neighboring hills, and gently the song of night is awakened.
"And then these soldiers who had become our friends depart. One evening sad adieus are exchanged. Adieu? How we wish they may be only 'Au revoirs.' Promises to correspond, to return when furloughs are granted. Here and there tears fall, and when, the next day, the heavy trucks roll off in the chilly morning, carrying away to the front our exotic guests, a veritable sadness seizes us.
"Soldier friends, our hearts, our wishes, go with you. That destiny may be merciful to you; that the bullets of the enemy may spare you. And if any of you should never see your native home again, may the soil of France give you sweet repose.
"Soldiers, who arrived among us one clear June day, redolent with the scent of roses, you will always live in our hearts."
Recognition of the Value of Music by the U. S. War Department---The Patriotic Music of Colored Americans----Lieutenant James Europe and His Famous "Jazz" Band,----Other Leaders and Aggregations of Musicians---Enthusiasm of the French People and Officials for American Music as Interpreted by These, Colored Artists and Their Bandsmen.
"You cannot defeat a singing nation," a keen-witted observer has said, in noting the victory spirit engendered by the martial music, the patriotic songs and the stirring melodies of hearth and home that have moved the souls of men to action on all the battlefields of history.
"Send me more singing regiments," cabled General Pershing, and Admiral Mayo sent frequent requests that a song leader organize singing on every battleship of the Atlantic Fleet.
Since "the morning stars sang together" in Scriptural narrative, music has exerted a profound influence upon mankind, be it in peace or in war, in gladness or in sorrow, or in the tender sentiment that makes for love of country, affection for kindred or the divine passion for "ye ladye fair." Music knows no land or clime, no season or circumstance, and no race, creed or clan. It speaks the language universal, and appeals to all peoples with a force irresistible, and no training in ethics or science is necessary to reach the common ground that its philosophy instinctively creates in the human understanding.
The War Department was conscious of this and gave practical application to its theory that music makes a soldier "fit to fight" when it instituted, through the Commission on Training Camp Activities, a systematic program of musical instruction throughout the American Army at the home cantonments and followed up the work overseas. It was the belief that every man became a better warrior for freedom when his mind could be diverted from the dull routine of camp life by arousing his higher nature by song, and that he fared forth to battle with a stouter heart when his steps were attuned to the march by bands that drove out all fear of bodily danger and robbed "grim-visaged war" of its terrors. Skilled song leaders were detailed to the various camps and cantonments here and abroad, and bands galore were brought into service for inspiration and cheer.
The emotional nature of the Negro fitted him for this musical program. The colored American was a "close up" in every picture from the start to the finish and was a conspicuous figure in every scenario, playing with credit and distinction alike in melody or with the musket.
No instrumentality was more potent than music in offsetting the propaganda of the wily German agents, who sought to break down the loyalty of the Negro. The music he knew was intensely American-in sentiment and rhythm. It saturated his being---and all the blandishments of the enemy were powerless to sway him from the flag he loved. His grievances were overshadowed by the realization that the welfare of the nation was menaced and that his help was needed. American music harmonized with the innate patriotism of the race, and the majestic sweep of "The Star-Spangled Banner" or the sympathetic appeal of "My Country, 'Tis of Thee," were sufficient to counteract the sinister efforts of the missionaries of the Hohenzollerns to move him from his moorings.
No labor is ever so onerous that it can bar music from the soul of black folk. This race sings at work, at play and in every mood. Visitors to any army camp found the Negro doing musical "stunts" of some kind from reveille to taps---every hour, every minute of the day. All the time the trumpeters were not blowing out actual routine bugle calls, they were somewhere practicing them. Mouth-organs were going, concertinas were being drawn back and forth, and guitars, banjos, mandolins and whatnot were in use---playing all varieties of music, from the classic, like "Lucia," "Poet and Peasant," and "Il Trovatore" to the folk-songs and the rollicking "jazz." Music is indeed the chiefest outlet of the Negro's emotions, and the state of his soul can best be determined by the type of melody he pours forth.
Some writer has said that a handful of pipers at the head of a Scotch regiment could lead that regiment down the mouth of a cannon. It is not doubted that a Negro regiment could be made to duplicate the "Charge of the Light Brigade" at Balaklava----"into the mouth of hell," as Tennyson puts it, if one of their regimental bands should play--as none but a colored band can play, the vivacious strains of "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight."
The Negro's love of home is an integral part of his nature, and is exemplified in the themes he plaintively crooned in camp on both sides of the ocean. Such melodies as "Carry Me Back to Old Virginia," "My Old Kentucky Home," "In the Evening by de Moonlight," and "Suwanee River" recalled memories of the "old folks at home," and kept his patriotism alive, for he hoped to return to them some day and swell their hearts with pride by reason of the glorious record he made at the front. The Negro is essentially religious, and his deep spiritual temperament is vividly illustrated by the joy he finds in "harmonizing" such ballads of ancient days as "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, " "Steal Away to Jesus, " "Standin' in the Need of Prayer," "Every Time I Feel the Spirit," "I Wan' To Be Ready," and "Roll, Jordan, Roll." The Negro is also an optimist, whether he styles himself by that high-sounding title or not, and the sincerity of his "make the best of it" disposition is noted in the fervor he puts into those uplifting gems, "Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag" and "Smile, Smile, Smile," "There's a Long, Long Trail," "Keep the Home Fires Burning," and "Good-bye Broadway, Hello France."
Just as the Negro folk-songs-or songs of war, interpreted with ,the characteristic Negro flavor, stirred all France and gave poilu and populace a taste of the real American music, the marvelous "jazz bands" kept their feet patting and their shoulders "eagle-rocking" to its infectious motion. High officials are said to have been literally "carried away" with the "jazz" music furnished by the colored bands "over there" during the war. General Petain is said to have paid a visit, at the height of the hostilities, to a sector in which there were American troops and had "the time of his life" listening to a colored band playing the entrancing "jazz " music with some Negro dance stunts in keeping with the spirit of the melodies. He warmly congratulated the colored leader upon the excellence of the work of his organization, and thanked him for the enjoyable entertainment that had been given him. The stolid Briton is scarcely less susceptible to the "jazz" than his volatile French brother, for when another colored band from "The States went to London to head a parade of American and English soldiers, and halted at Buckingham Palace, it is said that King George V and Queen Mary heard the lively airs with undisguised enthusiasm and were loath to have the players depart for the park where they were scheduled for a concert, with a dance engagement, under British military control, to follow. The colored bands scored heavily with the three great Allied Powers of Europe by rendering with a brilliant touch and matchless finish their national anthems, "God Save the Queen," "La Marseillaise" and the "Marcia Reale.
In an illuminating article, abounding in wit and . calling for descriptive powers far out of the ordinary, Mr. Charles Welton, in The World Magazine, New York City, March 30, 1919, using the unique title in the subhead above, tells much of interest concerning the experiences of Lieutenant James Reese Europe and his 369th Regiment Band, which is said to have "jazzed its way through France" and filled up all the vacant spaces in "No Man's Land" with the remnants of notes broken by shells and shrapnel as the one hundred master "jazzers" forced their lines to the very banks of the Rhine, where the world woke up and found them on the day the armistice was signed. Mr. Welton not only gives a clever recital of the way the Europe aggregation "jazzed," but pictures quite realistically the enthusiasm of the French people and the army officials for American music of this new type, as interpreted by these colored artists.
The writer tells engagingly the story of how "Jim" Europe spent his early boyhood on his native heath, Mobile, Alabama, consorting with fiddles and improvised musical instruments until he became acquainted with an upright piano, helped on by a father who was himself something of a sound manipulator on all kinds of "contraptions." Outgrowing his Mobile environs, or "down in 'the sticks'" as some facetious Northerners are fond of styling the South, the youngster migrated to Washington, where he rapidly advanced in all branches of music and learned to play upon practically every instrument known to an orchestra or brass band and became a director of musical organizations, vocal and instrumental,
One of Lieut. Europe's particular friends and admirers was Col. William Hayward, who had fostered the development of the 15th New York Regiment throughout its long struggle for recognition as an integral part of the New York National Guard, and at the entrance of the United States into the war, Col. Hayward became the proud commander of the recruited and accepted '115th," officially known as the 369th United States Infantry, which later achieved international fame as "Hell Fighters" and led the Allied van to the Rhine as the curtain fell upon the greatest tragedy in the annals of the world.
Following up the meteoric career of "Jim" Europe, Mr. Welton goes on to say:
"Then the war broke out, and Europe broke in. If he had been built that way, he could have ducked it and stayed in town with his bank deposits; but he couldn't figure it. He told Col. Hayward that he was ready to follow or even go ahead of the flag to the last ounce of jazz, and there were ninety-nine others like him. So the band was signed up and sworn in, and Daniel C. Reid and some others made a pool of enough thousands of dollars to supply instruments that would stand the wear and tear of war and not go bad if dented up with shrapnel and such like.
"Among the men who slipped into olive drab with the boss, come weal, come woe, were Sergeant Noble Sissle, who played the cornet like anything and knows all the tricks of drum majoring, and sings like a lark, and writes verses by the yard; Herbert and Steve, whistlers and oh! such drummers; Raphael Hernandez, baritone saxophoner; Ward Andrews, better known as Trombone Andrews; Elige Rijos, clarinetist, and Frank De Bronte, who next to Europe himself is called the king of Jazz. The rest of the band---the marimbapbones, the double B-flat helicons, the bunch of French horns and all the rest clear down to the cymbals, were manned by other eminent operators, making what is called a toot ensemble at once hope-reviving and awe-inspiring.
"To understand jazz, it is well to know that it isn't merely a series of uncontrollable spasms or outbursts of enthusiasm scattered through a composition and discharged on the four winds, first by one wing and then by another of the band. Of course if a player feels an attack of something which he believes to be a jazz novelty rumbling in his system it is not the Europe rule to make him choke it back and thus run the risk of cheating the world out of a good thing. Any player can try anything once. If it doesn't come out a fliv on harmony it can remain as a toot to be used whenever there's a place where it won't crowd regular notes over the bars.
"The basic fundamental of jazz, however, is created by means of a variety of cones inserted point down in the bells of the horns. These cones are of two kinds. One is of metal and the other of leather. The leather cones are usually soaked in water before the band goes out for a blow. The metal cones muffle and modify, the natural tones of the instruments and make them come across with new sound values.
"When a leather cone is wrung out and fitted into the vestibule of a horn, and the man back of the works contributes the best that is in him, it is somewhat difficult to explain what happens, in mere words. You get it with both ears, and almost see it. The cone being wet, the sound might be called liquefied harmony. It runs and ripples, then has a sort of choking sensation; next it takes on the musical color of Niagara Falls at a distance, and subsides to a trout brook nearby. The brassiness of the horn is changed, and there is sort of a throbbing nasal effect, half moan, half hallelujah. Get me?
"Having set this down, we may now land with the band at Brest, France.
"The first thing that Jim Europe's outfit did when it got ashore wasn't to eat. It wanted France to know that it was present, so it blew some plain ordinary jazz over the town. Twenty minutes before the 369th disembarked, Brest wasn't at all la-la, so to speak; but as soon as Europe had got to work, that part of France could see that hope wasn't entirely dead.
"From Brest the Europe outfit went to St. Nazaire, sowing jazz selections over the agricultural terrain and bunching bits of it in the cantons en route. There was a rest center at W. Nazaire. Europe went to the center of the center, and for two months all he had to do was to help the boys rest by providing a brand of soothing syrup. All the sects in all the sectors round about that had carfare commuted into town and lolled in the rest zone. The city council adopted resolutions and the prefect delivered an eulogium. right at Noble Sissle and the backstop of snare drums.
"A call for help from Aix-les-Bains took the band to that resort. It arrived just in time to capture the casino in a night attack. On all fronts at this time soldiers that had been dodging minenwerfers were buoyed by the promise that Jim Europe had enough jazz in stock to last until the war was over, over there. Troops suffering with aches were hurried down to Aix---honest, they were---and the band did the rest.
Equally Handy With Trombones or Machine Guns. "Between concerts, so to express it, the 369th band would get from under the coils of horns, unsling its drums, and load up with machine guns and go into the deep and mussy trenches and practice on the unhappy wretches on the other side of no man's land. Europe himself was the first colored officer to rest elbows against a first-line trench in one of the uncomfortable bois countries. He did solo work with a machine gun forty times heavier than a trombone, and actually got it to working in syncopated time. If we ever have another war and it could be fought exclusively by syncopating, Jim Europe would have a Major General's rating.
The people everywhere turned out to hear the 369th Regimental Band, and its magic influence gave proof to the assertion by its devotees that "JAZZ WON THE WAR." The return of "Jim" Europe's band to America, when it led the imposing parade up Fifth Avenue February 17, 1919, the day the gallant 369th was welcomed home by a grateful nation, was an occasion that will live in history.
Sergeant Noble Sissle, who served as the regimental drum major of the 369th, is one of the musicians whose work has "stood out" in the estimation of the people on the other side of the water. Noble Sissle was reared in Indianapolis, Ind., which boasts of having furnished more real talent to the colored musical and dramatic world than any other spot on earth, and his father, Rev. George A. Sissle, was a one-time pastor of Simpson M. E. Chapel in the Hoosier capital, as well as prominent in ministerial circles at many points in Ohio and Kentucky. Young Sissle has won an enviable reputation as a tenor soloist, composer and pianist, and is regarded as one of Lieutenant Europe's most dependable aids, both in the Clef Club in New York and in the regimental band work overseas.
Sergeant Sissle has made a study of the effect of Yankee ragtime, as interpreted by the colored artists, on French audiences, and advantage may be taken of this opportunity to give a summary of his impressions, as prepared for interested friends "over here." It covers much heretofore unknown matter in connection with the marvelous 369th Infantry Band and the intricacies of ragtime or "jazz" construction in general. Sergeant Sissle wrote. in part, as follows:
"When our country was dance-mad a few years ago, we quite agreed with the popular Broadway song composer who wrote:
'Syncopation rules the nation
You can't get away from it.'"But if you could see the effect our good old 'jazz' melodies have on the people of every race and creed you would change the word 'nation' quoted above to 'world.'
"Inasmuch as the press seems to have kept the public well 'informed of our band's effort to make the boys happy in this land where everybody speaks everything but English, I will endeavor to start off with a few notes concerning James Reese Europe, its organizer and conductor. This Lieutenant Europe is the same Europe whose orchestras are considered to have done a goodly share toward making syncopated music popular on Broadway. Having been associated with Lieutenant Europe in civil life during his 'jazz bombardment' on the delicate, classical, musical cars of New York's critics, and having watched 'The Walls of Jericho' come tumbling down, I was naturally curious to see what would be the effect of a 'real American tune,' as Victor Herbert calls our Southern syncopated tunes, as played by a real American band.
"At last the opportunity came, and it was at a town in France where there were no American troops, and our audience, with the exception of an American general and his staff, was all French people. I am sure the. greater part of the crowd had never heard a ragtime number. So what happened can be taken as a test of the success of our music in this country, where all is sadness and sorrow.
"The program started with a French march, followed by favorite overtures and vocal selections by our male quartette, all of which were heartily . applauded. The second part of the program opened with 'The Stars and Stripes Forever,' the great Sousa march, and before the last note of the martial ending had been finished the house was ringing with applause. Next followed an arrangement of 'Plantation Melodies' and then came the fireworks, 'The Memphis Blues.'
"Lieutenant Europe, before raising his baton, twitched his shoulders, apparently to be sure that his tight-fitting military coat would stand the strain, each musician shifted his feet, the players of brass horns blew the saliva from their instruments, the drummers tightened their drum-heads, every one settled back in their seats, half closed their eyes, and when the baton came down with a swoop that brought forth a soul-rousing crash both director and musicians seemed to forget their surroundings; they were lost in scenes and memories. Cornet and clarinet players began to manipulate notes in that typical rhythm (that rhythm which no artist has ever been able to put down on paper) ; as the drummers struck their stride their shoulders began shaking in time to their syncopated raps.
"Then, it seemed, the whole audience began to sway, dignified French officers began to pat their feet along with the American general, who, temporarily, had lost his style and grace. Lieutenant Europe was no longer the Lieutenant Europe of a moment ago, but once more Jim Europe, who a few months ago rocked New York with his syncopated baton. His body swayed in willowy motions and his head was bobbing as it did in days when tepsichorean festivities reigned supreme. He turned to the trombone players, who sat impatiently waiting for their cue to have a 'Jazz spasm,' and they drew their slides out to the extremity and jerked them back with that characteristic crack.
"The audience could stand it no longer; the 'Jazz germ' hit them, and it seemed to find the vital spot, loosening all muscles and causing what is known in America as an 'Eagle Rocking Fit.' 'There now,' I said to myself. 'Colonel Hayward has brought his band over here and started ragtimitis in France; ain't this an awful thing to visit upon a nation with so many burdens?' But when the band had finished and the people were roaring with laughter, their faces wreathed in smiles, I was forced to say that this is just what France needs at this critical moment.
"All through France the same thing happened. Troop trains carrying Allied soldiers from everywhere passed us en route, and every head came out of the window when we struck up a good old Dixie tune. Even German prisoners forgot they were prisoners, dropped their work to listen and pat their feet to the stirring American tunes.
"But the thing that capped the climax happened up in Northern France. We were playing our Colonel's favorite ragtime, 'The Army Blues,' in a little village where we were the first American troops there, and among the crowd listening to that band was an old lady about sixty years of age. To everyone's surprise, all of a sudden, she started doing a dance that resembled 'Walking the Dog.' Then I was cured, and satisfied that American music would some day be the world's music. While at Aix les Bains other musicians from American bands said their experiences had been the same.
"Who would think that little U. S. A. would ever give to the world a rhythm and melodies that, in the midst of such universal sorrow, would cause all students of music to yearn to learn how to play it? Such is the case, because every musician we meet---and they all seem to be masters of their instruments---are always asking the boys to teach them how to play ragtime. I sometimes think if the Kaiser ever heard a good syncopated melody he would not take himself so seriously.
"If France was well supplied with American bands, playing their lively tunes, I'm sure it would help a good deal in bringing home entertainment to our boys, and at the same time make the heart of sorrow-stricken France beat a deal lighter."
Sissle was made a Lieutenant before he returned with his regiment from overseas.
This resumé of how Negro music thrilled France brings to mind an interesting and pathetic story of an experience in a little war-stricken town of the 369th Infantry Band and its agile drum major---this same Noble Sissle. After the band had finished its output of "Army Blues," etc., the program shifted to plantation melodies, and the auditors were literally overcome by the power of the songs, which were sung as only Negroes can sing them.
Dr. R. R. Moton used to say in his Tuskegee Talks that "the white people can beat the Negro doing a great many things, but there is one thing at which no white man can beat the Negro, and that is in the singing of Negro songs."
The closing piece on this occasion was "Joan of Arc," rendered by Drum Major Sissle, in a beautiful rich baritone. He sang it first in English and then in excellent French. It will be remembered that this Joan of Arc was the "Maid of Orleans" that came as a mysterious child from the womb of destiny to liberate the French at a time when their national existence hung in the balance, and her memory is revered throughout France as a patron saint. As Drum Major Sissle sang, the people wept. One bewhiskered peasant, an elderly man, with tears streaming down his age-hardened cheeks, rushed up to this man of color, an apostle of liberty, ---a man with many wrongs, but like the "Man of Galilee," willing to forget---and strenuously attempted to throw his arms around the neck of the singer and kiss him.
The 350th Field Artillery Band, led by Lieutenant J. Tim Brymm, of Philadelphia, won fame in France, and received a royal welcome upon its return home in March, after an absence of about a year. The band has about 70 soloists, recruited "from the four corners of the earth," as its organizer, General Fred T. Austin, facetiously puts it. The organization returned to Philadelphia under flattering auspices, and Lieutenant Brymm, who has won distinction as a composer, had two new offerings for the home-coming reception, "The Philadelphia Sunday Blues," a glittering "jazz" concert, and the "Dieulouard Glide, "the latter a fox-trot composed by Lieutenant Brymm as descriptive of an artillery bombardment. It depicts the course of a heavy artillery shell from the beginning of its flight to its explosion, and was composed during one of the regiment's fiercest artillery duels. Lieutenant Brymm has given the country hundreds of popular song hits, the best-known of which is perhaps "Please Go 'Way and Let Me Sleep," which had quite a vogue some years ago.
Among the thousands of appreciative welcomers that packed the Academy of Music was Mme. Ernestine Schumann-Heink, the famous operatic contralto, who has evinced deep interest in a number of aspiring colored composers, and who is styled "the godmother of the 350th band," and its chief sponsor. Some wag has described Tim Brymm's Band as "a military symphony engaged in a battle of jazz." Lieutenant Brymm also did excellent work as leader of the band of the 349th Field Artillery for quite an extended period, and brought it up to a high standard.
Other bands that made a record in France, and whose experiences were much the same as those chronicled with reference to the bands of the 369th Infantry and 350th Field Artillery were: The 368th Infantry Band, directed by Lieutenant A. Jack Thomas; the parade at Baltimore before going overseas afforded President and including Edgar Landin, the drum major whose evolutions in Wilson and his party so much solid enjoyment;
The 370th Infantry (the "Old Eighth Illinois" Regiment) Band, directed by Lieutenant George E. Dulf;
The 349th and 351st Field Artillery and the 365th, 366th and 367th Regiments of Infantry all had bands that gave a splendid account of themselves on both sides of the ocean.
Several of these unique organizations toured the country shortly, after their return from overseas, visiting many of the principal cities, an were accorded the warmest kind of a reception everywhere arrangements were made for their appearance. Their work was inspirational to the last degree. The band of the 370th Infantry (Eighth Illinois) scored heavily throughout the North and East, with the celebrated coloratura soprano, Mme. Anita Patti Brown, of Chicago, as prima donna and soloist.
Among the bands that have done good work in this country, the 16th Battalion Band of the Minnesota Home Guards, under the leadership of William H. Howard, is warmly praised in the Northwest. Mr. Howard was commissioned as a First Lieutenant. He is a native of Baltimore and for several years conducted one of the leading musical studios in Minneapolis.
The song leaders who trained the soldier lads in mass singing in the home camps contributed largely to the morale of the army and their labors, rendered in many instances at a heavy personal sacrifice, are deserving of the highest commendation. They made camp life happy, when the hearts of the men were sad from homesickness, and every task was made lighter by the song that accompanied it. In Y. M. C. A. huts, in the open field, and as the boys whiled away the time in the highways and byways of the camp area, the song leaders were on deck and had them humming some care-destroying melody which brought a silver lining to the threatening clouds. Of these leaders, J. E. Blanton, Max Weinstein and William C. Elkins, deserve especial mention.
Among the remembrances of the war period are the visits of Mrs. Newton D. Baker, the wife of the Secretary of War, who sang in the camps and cantonments and the clubs of the War Camp Community Service, and in various city auditoriums. The appearances of Mrs. Baker at Howard University, at Dunbar High School, at War Camp Community Club No. 3, Camp Meade and other places near Washington, where soldiers and civilians were stationed, were most welcome "breaks" in the daily routine of the soldiers. Her singing always met with an enthusiastic reception, commingling in her selections the military, the folk-song and the ballad of heart-appeal, and the insistent demands for more, despite the extraordinary draft upon her patience and powers, were responded to in a measure that was generous to the last degree. She enjoyed her faculty of giving joy to others, and it cannot be doubted that Mrs. Baker's talents as a singer, and her rare capacity for cheering white and colored Americans "to do their best, whate'er befide," exerted a potent influence toward the winning of the war.
It was arranged with the War Camp Community Service that J. E. Blanton, of the Penn School, should go from camp to camp, leading the men in the singing of the spirituals, teaching them the "Hymn of Freedom," written by Mrs. Burlin, a student of Negro hymn-songs, and exerting his influence in sustaining the morale which has ever characterized the colored troops. The plan was heartily endorsed by Secretary of War Baker, who, in a letter written to Mr. Peabody, said:
"I am quite sure that you are not overestimating the effect of these spirituals. Indeed, there is a certain cadence to these songs which is quite unattainable in any music with which I am acquainted, and I have little doubt that the white soldiers will be singing them as eagerly and effectively as the colored men before we get very far with it. "
In an interesting article in The Outlook magazine, Miss Grant makes note of the fact that the use of these spirituals was not restricted to colored camps. The " Hymn of Freedom," for instance, she says, has been sung in white churches, schools and service clubs and by choral organizations connected with the war in different parts of the country, thus justifying the hope that the noble old Negro melody would become a bond of sympathy between the races. The statement is made that the writing of the words was in part prompted by Mrs. Burlin's belief that "the artistic utterance of the Negro, which has so important a place in the music of America, might help to build a bridge of understanding between the races, spanning the chasm of prejudice."
These songs, many of the titles of which have been quoted throughout this chapter on Negro music, along with the hundreds of patriotic war melodies by our skilled composers of the modern school, were carried to France by the colored troops, and toward the close of the conflict they found an additional champion in Dr. Moton, himself an unrivaled interpreter of the "spiritual," who went abroad at the request of President Wilson and Secretary Baker to assist in safeguarding the welfare of the black soldiers on the battle fronts.
Miss Grant is firm in the belief that the work of promoting the folk-song, with its accompanying Americanism, has suggestion for the future in the nation's dealing with the Negro, and the solution of what has come to be known as the "race problem." Her admirable article closes with a quotation from Mrs. Burlin, in the sentiment of which she concurs most heartily:
"Through toil and suffering song has kept the heart of the Negro still unembittered; through prejudice and misunderstanding it has upheld him; through the stress and sacrifice of this white man's war it has cheered him on. And, those who recognize its power are surely not wrong in feeling that in the inspired music of the black man lie a prophecy of the possibilities of the race and an earnest plea for that democracy at home which cannot be won by bomb or bullet, but by sympathy and understanding and a realization of the contribution which each race can make to the civilization of the world."
Thousands of creditable compositions, vocal and instrumental, marches, duets, quartets and choruses, have been brought out by gifted colored musicians throughout the land. Of the long list of such compositions, a song "The Colored Soldier Boys of Uncle Sam," by W. J. Nickerson, of New Orleans, Louisiana, dedicated to the colored soldiers of the U. S. A., occupies a conspicuous place. The music is in march time, and has a lively step and a resonant swing that gives it an especial appeal to all who appreciate the combination of classic style with the sprightliness of the melodies that make movement their chief function. The words of this meritorious production are also by Mr. Nickerson, and they carry a sentiment that is at once eloquent and convincing in their patriotism.
Mr. Nickerson's inspiring war song acquired a large measure of popularity through its use by Mine. Anita Patti Brown, prima donna soprano, in the nation-wide concert tour of the 8th Regiment (or 370th) shortly after the signing of the armistice.
The Negro troops of Camp Shelby composed a song of their own and dedicated it to their military cantonment. The men at this camp were all Southern born, and the theme bore strongly upon their attachment to the land in which they first saw the light and their comprehension of the joys of army life. The hymn was entitled "Glory, Glory to Old Shelby," and was sung to the tune of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."
Miss Nannie G. Board, a young colored woman of Louisville, Kentucky, won first place in a contest for producing the best original war song, securing this laurel in competition with a field of contestants nearly all white. The contest was conducted by the United War Work Campaign Committee of the State of Kentucky. Miss Board graduated from Howard University and became a teacher in the State Agricultural and Industrial Institute, Nashville, Tennessee.
After all is said of the mesmeric influence of Negro music upon France, and of the high-grade morale maintained in camps and communities over here through its magic wand, the world is impressed with the thought that melody is indeed the common tongue of mankind, and that the Negro-American music that filled the hills and dales overseas has forged a link of international friendship that will last for all time, and has built up a spirit of fellowship and cameraderie between the races, white and black, that will lay the foundation of an enduring human brotherhood throughout the earth.
A Vast Army of Colored Stevedores in France---Their Important and Efficient Work---Essential to the Combatant Army in the Trenches---Their Loyalty and Cheerfulness---Important Lessons Learned in the War ---The Labor Battalions--- Well-Earned Tributes to These Splendid Colored Workers Overseas.
War is not all "death and glory." For every soldier who gets even a glimpse of the enemy or risks his life within range of shellfire, there must, in all modern warfare, be from twenty to thirty men working at such commonplace and routine tasks as loading and unloading ships, building piers, laying railroad tracks, making roads, in a thousand other ways making it possible for the fighting men to get to the front, and for the necessary food, ammunition, and other supplies to reach them. But what man would want to render such service? It was somewhat exciting news for the Negro population of the United States to learn that only about twenty per cent of the colored draftees were to be trained to fight while the remaining Negroes in the military service would constitute noncombatant divisions in the Service of Supply, or other non-fighting organizations. On June 23, 1918, when 237,000 Negroes had been called to the colors, it was estimated that the battalions of the noncombatant to the combatant troops were in the proportion of about four to one.
This vast army of Stevedores in France was composed mostly of men who volunteered when the call was first sounded. The first men who went over early in June, 1917, were with a civilian contract company, experienced as stevedores in America. They served one year and finishing their contract in June, 1918, returned to America. During the early days of July, 1917, other companies of volunteer men arrived, so the army grew until the Stevedore Camps at base ports in France became one great industrial army, numbering about fifty thousand.
The army of Stevedores had all the equipment, regulations,. and military rank and uniform that the infantry had. Though industrial in its nature, all the life and workings, and details of procedure, were according to military law and order. This vast army of workers was divided into companies and regiments and had their individual camps regularly officered and numbered. Anything by the way of uniform and ration that other men received, the Stevedore shared equally. They were soldiers and took great pride in the fact that they belonged to Uncle Sam's Army. Including all the display that goes with drills, reviews, and inspections, saluting an officer, flag-raising, and perchance, the grand parades, with companies swinging into line, and the martial music of bands, the Stevedores always stepped proudly and lively enough to suit the keenest military eye for discipline and fine training.
The Stevedores also took great pride in their companies, their camps, and all that belonged to the Army, and because their work and contribution were always emphasized by officers as being essential to the boys in the trenches, the name "Stevedore" finally became a dignified and distinguished term, representing an important part of the great American Army.
To the Negro soldiers of the American Army fell a large part of the work of this "Service of Supply," or, as it was known in Army slang, the "S. O. S." The work of the Negro Stevedore Regiments and Labor Battalions, and their unremitting toil at the French ports---Brest, St. Nazaire, Bordeaux, Havre, Marseilles---won the highest praise from all who have had an opportunity to judge of the efficiency of their work. Every man who served his country in one of these organizations was as truly fighting to save his country as though he had carried a rifle and killed Germans.
The following are the Negro organizations, other than combat troops, that served overseas:
Butchery Companies, Nos. 322 and 363.
Stevedore Regiments, Nos. 301, 302 and 303.
Stevedore Battalions, Nos. 701, 702.
Engineer Service Battalions, Nos. 505 to 550, inclusive.
Labor Battalions, Nos. 304 to 315, inclusive; Nos. 317 to 327, inclusive; Nos. 329 to 348, inclusive, and No. 357.
Labor Companies, Nos. 301 to 324, inclusive.
Pioneer Infantry Battalions, Nos. 80l to 809, inclusive; No. 811 and Nos. 813 to 816, inclusive.
At the same time, there were 207 Labor Battalions in France composed of white soldiers.
As there were not sufficient colored officers to command the colored regiments and no efforts were being made to train colored officers for this purpose, there was much apprehension among the colored people as to how these Negro laborers in the military service would be treated. Some said it meant the re-enslavement of the Negro race. An effort was then made to increase the facilities for military training offered to colored draftees in the various camps to supply this peculiar need of the Service battalions, and some encouragement and some actual deeds to meet this demand followed. It was argued not only that officers to be placed in charge of these noncombatant troops should be well trained themselves, but that the Negro laborers should be given an opportunity to be trained in military tactics. A memorial was, therefore, made to the Secretary of War by the CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF NEGRO COLLEGE MEN, recommending that the noncombatant units excluded from the officer training privileges be allowed through the extension of training privileges to supply their own quota of noncombatant officers, and that for the general good of the service such troops be given at least one month's military training before being assigned to their specific duties.
The tasks of these soldiers in the Service of Supply were numerous. On arriving at the ports they were called upon to handle bags of mail and freight sent to supply the Army. The Army had to be furnished with horses and mules, which had to be fed with forage and supplied with saddles and harness. The men needed ice, meat, bacon, flour, and lard, and for comfort shoes, clothes, matches, ipecac, and gasoline. When our Army was in full swing in France we had to hurry up the shipments of millions of rounds of ammunition and large supplies of blankets, rubber-boots, hay, and medicines to carry out the great work of promoting the war.
When brought to the various ports, an unusual number of laborers were required to unload such supplies. When unloaded the task of transporting them to the various points for distribution among the divisions of the Army was a still greater task. As railroads were not always available and railway connections had been broken up by the penetration of the Germans almost into the heart of France, automobile transportation was a necessity. In this same service French cattle cars, the ox-cart, the motorcycle, side-cars, aeroplanes, and human beings as beasts of burden were used.
The task was rendered somewhat easier later when these same men increased sufficiently in numbers to be detached for the special service of building Yankee railroads. This made possible an easier handling of these supplies through storage depots located at various places in France. The storage depot at Gievres, through which millions of American wealth passed in the Army like water over a milldam, covers six square miles. It was started in the fall of 1917 and when the war ended the Army had there about twenty miles of warehouses and shops of modern construction and about 25,000 men handling the enormous masses of stores distributed from that point. From such warehouses were distributed everything except artillery, heavy ammunition and aeroplane products, which had supply depots of their own at Mehun and Romorantin. This depot is diamond-shaped, with 140 miles of interior railroad lines within the reservation for the handling of freight.
How the colored American Stevedores in France worked is told in a report by the Reverend D. Leroy Ferguson, Rector of the Protestant Episcopal Church of Our Merciful Saviour, Louisville, Kentucky. He paid a high tribute to the American Army of Colored Stevedores in a lengthy account which tells of their patriotic deeds.
On the same day that the American Infantry, treading in the wake of the retreating Germans gained the outskirts of Fismes, says he, Colored Stevedores unloading a ship at one of the base ports, unostentatiously won an important victory by discharging 1200 tons of flour in 91/2 hours, setting a record for the A. E. F. and a pace which is rarely excelled on the best-equipped docks in the United States. The same group of Stevedores over a period of five days discharged an average of 20M tons of cargo a day from one ship, a record more notable still. It was a 24-hour-a-day grind at the base ports, he says, where thousands of American colored troops put ashore the million and one articles, big and little, which are necessary for the maintenance of a modern army. The scarcity of ocean tonnage made necessary the utilization of every ounce of ship capacity, and the saving of every possible moment in dispatching supplies to France.
With the same force with which American line units made their début in a big scale warfare, did the other branches of the service upon whose efforts depend the potency and effectiveness of the men in the trenches accomplish their less spectacular but equally important work;---more work was accomplished in the S. O. S. by an appreciable percentage during July, 1918, than in any previous month. More dirt was excavated on the rail lines of communication, more steel was laid; more warehouses were constructed; and more conspicuous still, at the base ports, more men were landed, more freight was discharged from incoming ships, and the efficiency of its handling was materially increased.
Most of the American colored Stevedores had never seen a ship until they started for France, but they proved their worth as cargo handlers. Working in the hold of a ship, with the August sun raising heat waves from the deck, was not the easiest job in the Army, but they broke records at it, and it did not dampen their sunny disposition either.
How splendidly the Stevedores measured up to military standards of efficiency while "making good," and with what great affection their officers regarded them and their work, Dr. Ferguson had opportunities to witness. And Col. C. E. Goodwyn in a letter expresses this fact most admirably. His can be taken as a special standard, because Colonel Goodwyn for over a year was in charge of the largest camp of Colored Stevedores in France.
"It is with many keen thrusts of sorrow," said he, "that I am obliged to leave this camp and the men who have made up this organization. The men for whose uplift you are working have not only gained but have truly earned a large place in my heart, and I will always cherish a loving memory of the men of this wonderful organization which I have had the honor and privilege to command."
That Colonel Goodwyn was also held in high esteem by his men, may be judged from a conversation which was overheard one day. After the armistice a group of the boys were discussing what they had in mind to do first after returning to America. One ambitious fellow said, "I'm going to marry right away, and get me a fine little boy stevedore!" Another remarked that "Of course his name will be Abraham Lincoln." "Oh, no," replied the first speaker. "There's too many Abe Lincolns in America now; my first boy's going to be called 'Colonel Goodwyn.'"
Very naturally, many amusing stories and jokes, with the war and France as a background, featured the life of the colored boys over there. One heard many funny "bon mots" and puns and clever stories attributed to the Negro soldier, until it seems that they brought and made most of the humor connected with the grim, frightful war. Surely, in America, the jokes of their experiences and life in France, and foreign surroundings, their efforts to imitate or speak the French language, will, I imagine, serve to increase the record, which will be all the more laughable, as well as interesting, because of the new situation and circumstances that enter into the stories. It is very true that with that native talent and fun-making nature of his, the Negro soldier found many things in France that amused him, and made possible for him all sorts of jokes and clever expressions. Indeed, the Negro soldier was quick to see whatever was humorous over there; the war, the army, the firing line, even the serious and dangerous things, that make others sad, he made the basis of his jokes and ofttimes ridiculed, so that even his dangers and his tasks seemed to have been less difficult. No doubt these jokes and comic expressions will be beard over again and happily enjoyed in America when the boys return home.
As to cheerfulness, the Stevedore Camps had their share of songs, music, and that gaiety which characterizes a cheerful race. One thing that most impressed those who were willing to observe, was that all through. those stressful days and anxious, when the train of work and the handling of cargoes and ammunition for the front became really one long grind for the Stevedores, morning, noon and night, one could see them through all sorts of weather and hours, swinging by companies into line, marching bravely and merrily to the difficult tasks, singing or whistling some patriotic melody or popular song.
Frequently the base commander and other distinguished officers visited the camps and were seen at the public gatherings and Y. M. C. A. buildings. "I have heard them repeatedly emphasize," writes Dr. Ferguson, "how much the Army at the front depended on the work and loyalty of the Stevedores at the base. They also spoke to them in the highest terms about the way in which they were performing their difficult tasks' without the show, applause, and excitement that inspire the soldier at the front. They were doing the drudgery, the dull routine, the monotonous labor; still they were the foundation and groundwork upon which the whole Army was built. They also were American soldiers and heroes.
"With such patriotic sentiment always encouraging them, I believe the same acted as a spur to keep the morale up to the highest, and the energy with which they worked was all the more vital, because they responded readily to the principles of patriotism that urged them on, believing that through their efforts all the more quickly victory and peace would come. Even after the armistice was signed and their thoughts naturally turned homeward to their families and friends, a new appeal is being made to them, that the Army of Occupation now needs supplies and food, to which they are responding loyally, and the Stevedores are over there still at work, far into the night and even from the rising to the setting of the sun.
"When it is considered to what extent with regard to different States and communities the huge army of Stevedores was organized, and the various types and conditions of men represented, ranging from the young man of school training and city-bred, to those from hamlets and small farms way down South, and illiterate, it is remarkable how they were all brought together and welded finally into a fine industrial army that made such a wonderful record of work and efficiency. This credit belongs to the Army discipline and training they received. The traveler was often amazed to see this development of hundreds of young men from crude farmhands, very raw material, indeed, day by day improving under Army discipline, until in these days, after their months of training, they stand forth, erect, alert, earnest, industrious soldiers; and in them is found a type of industrious and useful citizens for the future America. "
They learned remarkable lessons in this experience of war times, aside from the broadening view of life that travel and foreign contact give. These are the lessons of self-control, cleanliness, promptness, obedience, efficiency, and the value of time. Another agency with the camp that greatly influenced the men and urged the development of mind, body, and soul was the Y. M. C. A. In each camp wherever the Stevedores were stationed there were soon established very home-like and commodious "Y" buildings, all equipped with the same regular, standardized furnishings and supplies as others, under the able direction of colored secretaries. That the men received additional help and advantage here also is well recognized. The programs were elaborate and interesting, consisting of lectures by eminent men and women, concerts by the leading musicians, singers, and actors that went the rounds of all the camps; moving pictures, athletics, circulating libraries, and educational classes in reading, writing, mathematics; besides regular instruction in French. All these fine influences must have reached the minds and hearts of the Stevedores, and scores of men who came to the Army illiterate were able, after the training received, to write their names and first letters home to wives, sweethearts and friends.
The service rendered by the Negroes of these battalions evoked many expressions of admiration and praise from all persons who saw the Army in action in France. It was observed that the spirit which animated the Americans engaged in the Service of Supply division was the same as that of those in the front-line trenches. The shiploads of products requiring usually four days for unloading were disposed of by these Negroes in half of that time. In fact they did everything on a gigantic scale and did their work quickly. The rapidity then with which the American soldiers were dispatched to France so as to excite surprise at home and abroad was due primarily to the unselfish and patriotic service of the thousands of Negro stevedores who cleared the ports on arrival in France.
Writing of these wonderful feats an observer asserted that when the greatest of American transports first came over, it took 52 days to unload it at Liverpool. Later this period was reduced to 28 days. On the third trip it was decided to send this transport to a French port where Americans could handle the freight in less time. It turned out that on the first arrival 10,000 men and supplies were unloaded and the ship coaled and sent back in four days. On the second arrival the same task was completed in three days; the third arrival in 48 hours, and the fourth arrival in 44 hours. In each case, 5,000 tons of coal had to be put on this large transport and loaded from lighters, as her 41 feet of draft kept her far out in the harbor.
Referring to the work done by these stevedores in France, Mr. Ralph W. Tyler, accredited representative of the Committee on Public Information, then in France, said:
"Figures just made available show that for the month of September, 1918, there were handled at the American base ports in France 767,64S tons, or a daily average of 25,588 tons, an increase of nearly ten per cent over August. When it is considered that colored stevedores handled by far the largest per cent of this tonnage, some idea can be formed of the very important service colored stevedores are rendering the Government here in France, and how necessary they are to the success of the Allies. The work of colored stevedores may be menial, and is laborious, but it is as essential as the manning of the guns at the front. The fact is, that without these stevedores first unloading and aiding in transporting the guns, munitions, and supplies to the front, there would be no manning of guns at the front. One who sees the stevedores' work notes with what rapidity and cheerfulness they work, and what a very important cog they are in the war machinery. The colored stevedore has greater endurance than the others."
In another letter Mr. Tyler said:
"I have just returned from a two days' visit to a point where there are assembled, and at work, some twenty-five thousand service, or stevedore troops. I was particularly impressed with the arrangements, and with the uniform cheerfulness and splendid morale of the men. During quite an extended conference, or audience, with the Colonel in command, he stated that he would not exchange his men, if it were a matter of option, for any command in the Army; that he was proud of his men, and that they not only responded to discipline readily, but most cheerfully. He further stated that he would like to lead his men into action, but that the work they were performing was urgently necessary to facilitate action at the front, and that his men accepted their duties, as I learned from the men themselves, knowing that their work, although non-combatant, was absolutely necessary to the prosecution. of the war.
"The erroneous opinion existing among many of the colored race, that only colored men are commandeered for the laborious, or manual work, would quickly be dispelled, among those who hold to such opinion, were they over here at the front and could observe the many thousands of white men in the Army performing the same class of work performed by colored men. In the assignment of duty over here, I find that men's racial identity is not considered; that duty is paramount. Between the commanding officer, at the point visited, and the colored stevedores there appears to be a bond of sympathy akin to that existing between a most considerate employer and satisfied and cooperating employees. Not only are our men, at this point, treated with marked consideration, without offending strict military discipline, but they are wholesomely and abundantly fed, and comfortably and sanitarily quartered. There need not be, back in the States, any concern whatever felt as to the treatment accorded, or the provisions made for the maintenance of the colored service battalions in France, so far as I have seen. Most of the men are faring as well as they did back in the States, and many of them are faring infinitely better than they did when at home, and the amusements and recreations provided for them are excellent.
"The relations existing here between these colored soldiers and the French people is fine. Absolutely nothing has transpired here among these more than 25,000 colored men gathered from every walk of life, and many of them from the ghettos, to arouse even the suspicion of fear in the most timid of white women. It was a long, tedious ride to reach this point, but what I have learned at this camp abundantly compensates me for the trip.
"Another pleasing thing, to me, about this stevedore camp, was that the guardhouse was, in size, but a small affair, and that its inmates constituted an astonishingly low number, and such as were confined in it were there for trivial offenses-mere infractions of strict military rules rather than crimes.
"There is a glamour about the combatant units of an army in war that very frequently causes the non-combatants who are most essential in war, to be overlooked," continued Mr. Tyler. "Among the non-combatants over here who have been overlooked in all reports are the colored motorcycle riders, who act as couriers and transporters, carrying messages, night and day, from front to front; from headquarters to the front line trenches and battle front, and back, or who rush officers, almost with the velocity of the wind, to distant points. It is really marvelous how these colored motorcyclists ride pell-mell, in the darkest nights, without headlights, along these strange, devious, forking, and merging roads of France, leaving towns, through which they pass, behind in an instant. It is marvelous how these riders so quickly learned these French country roads. They race along, at times, when the darkness is so thick one cannot see his hand before his face, with only their judgment, which never fails them, to tell them the right road to take, or how near a precipice they are riding. They race along these lonely roads at night, whose darkness is only pierced now and then by a bursting German shell just ahead or behind them, or at their side, at the rate of from 65 to 75 miles per hour. Frequently, as they race along, bearing an important message to the front, German shells fall and hit the road so continuously as to be incessant, but these daring colored motorcyclists, never daunted, ride on, indifferent to the shells, as if they were but covering a peaceful road with which they are perfectly familiar back in the states.
"I rode several miles with one last night, from one front to another, at a 65-mile-per-hour clip. He was indifferent to the burstings of American anti-aircraft shells, aimed at the Boche airplane in the sky above us; he was oblivious to the thunder of the German cannon, and their shrieking shells to our right; he merely had his mind, as he kept his eyes to the front, on getting me back to the point which we had left a few hours before, a distance of five miles, in ten minutes. And he made it without slip or hit. When the history of this war is written some space, by right, must be given to telling .of the bravery, daring and speed of the colored motorcycle riders, seventy-odd of whom are with the colored division which I am with at present."
In appreciation of the unselfish service rendered by these colored men at one of these ports, General Pershing visited them and paid them a fine compliment. He said: "When this expedition first started, the question was: 'Do you want any colored men over there?' and I said, 'Yes, of course, I want colored men.' I said: 'Aren't they American citizens? Can't they do as much work in the line of fighting and as much work as any other American citizen?'" The General referred to the fact that he was raised in a town where three-fourths of the people were colored, and that he was proud to say that during the Spanish-American War he commanded a colored troop which did splendid work then, just as other Negro troops are doing splendid work now. He said on leaving: "I expect to come back here and organize a few volunteer units and give you guns and let you go to the front and try your band at it."
One of the largest camps in France, numbering nine thousand Stevedores, frequently had distinguished visitors, who brought greetings from America. How happily the boys heard them, and with what enthusiastic applause they were welcomed! Especially, they will remember Mr. Ralph W. Tyler, war correspondent for the colored press, who brought greetings from the Secretary of War, and their families back home; also, Mr. Julius Rosenwald, who brought to the boys greetings from the Governors of their states, whom the boys all applauded vigorously. Mr. Rosenwald liked so well what he saw that he donated one thousand francs to be spent among the boys. One American representative especially received prolonged applause and a hearty welcome from the stevedores, and that was Ella Wheeler Wilcox. And this because her words were so helpful and friendly. Moreover, this eminent poetess was able to see something of the heroic and splendid in the Stevedores, which inspired her to sing this martial, song:
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The Stevedores We are the Army Stevedores, lusty and virile and strong; But somebody has to do this work, or the soldiers could not
fight; ---ELLA WHEELER WILCOX. |
