Houston Riot of 1917
The 24th Infantry Regiment, an all-Black unit formed after the Civil War, served with distinction at home and abroad in the decades that followed. When World War I broke out in April 1917, the War Department ordered two military installations built at Harris County, TX. The Army sent the 24th Infantry's 3rd Battalion to protect the construction work despite the area's reputation for racial discrimination. These troops guarding Camp Logan outside Houston were embroiled in the Houston Riot of 1917, one of the largest race riots in U.S. history to that point and one where only Black soldiers were condemned in a lapse of procedure and a miscarriage of justice. Of the nineteen African American soldiers executed for their role, seventeen are interred at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, TX.
24th Infantry: Service, Racial Unrest
The Third Battalion of the 24th Infantry, composed of 654 Black soldiers, arrived at Camp Logan on the outskirts of Houston in July 1917. The segregated military echoed life in the South under "Jim Crow." The soldiers endured daily racial slurs and taunting by local citizens.
On August 23, 1917, city police arrested a Black soldier for interfering in the arrest of a Black civilian woman. Charles Baltimore, a Black corporal stationed at the camp, inquired about the infantryman's arrested, escalating the situation. Police assaulted, shot at, and detained Baltimore. Baltimore was soon returned to camp, but reports of his death brought unrest to the ranks.
Rumors that night of a White mob led an estimated 150 men of the 24th Infantry to defy orders, take up arms, and march into Houston. The riot that ensued left approximately 20 people dead, including civilians, policemen, National Guardsmen, and soldiers of the 24th Infantry, who were accidentally shot by their comrades.
Injustice and Military Legacy
The Army immediately determined all accused would face courts-martial under military jurisdiction, not civilian law as Houstonians desired. The 3-24th was immediately moved with the rest of its regiment by train to San Antonio. The Army charged 118 men with disobedience of lawful orders, mutiny, assault with intent to commit murder, and murder; only eight were found to be innocent. Most were sentenced to life in prison, but nineteen "mutinous soldiers" were hanged.
Three courts-martial took place at Fort Sam Houston's Gift Chapel between November 1, 1917, and March 26, 1918. The trials were flawed by serious irregularities. The first thirteen men condemned were hung at sunrise on December 11, 1917; in secrecy and within a day of sentencing, and without notifying higher authorities within the War Department.
This first execution was decried by many as the equivalent of a federal lynching. Public outcry to President Woodrow Wilson led the Army to implement an immediate regulatory change (War Department, General Orders No. 7) to the Articles of War.
Newspaper headline in The Planet titled 'Habeas Corpus for Release of Men in the Houston Riot' and dated Saturday, November 23, 1918.The change prohibited future executions without War Department review, and all military death sentences in the continental United States would require review by the president. The soldiers tried in the second and third courts-martial were able to seek review after their convictions.
After the second trial that took place December 17–22 resulted in five death sentences, petitions for clemency flooded the White House. More protests followed the last tribunal, February 18–March 26, 1918, in which another eleven death sentences were made. President Woodrow Wilson commuted the sentences for ten of these sixteen soldiers; the remaining six soldiers had their executions approved.
Courtroom scene during the first trial of those charged in the riots of August 23, 1917. (National Archives)3-24th Infantry Soldiers at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery
The remains of seventeen executed soldiers were reburied at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, TX, in 1937, having been moved from their original graves at nearby Salado Creek. The remains of two soldiers, Cpl. Larnon Brown and Pvt. Joseph Smith, were returned to family by request.
Consistent with standard procedure of that time for soldiers who were sentenced to death in a court-martial, their graves were originally marked with headstones that listed only their names and year of death, as opposed to full honors. In 2023, the Army reviewed the cases of these Black soldiers and marked their trials unfair, saying that "these Soldiers were wrongly treated because of their race and were not given fair trials." The Secretary of the Army set aside all convictions and directed the soldiers' records reflect honorable discharges. Now, the Department of Veterans Affairs has provided these soldiers with new headstones that fully honor their service — including names, state, rank, unit, and date of death.
Related Stories
NCA dedicates new headstones to honor Black soldiers, correcting 1917 injustice
FEBRUARY 22, 2024
VA has provided these soldiers with new headstones that fully honor their service — including names, state, rank, unit, and date of death — and an updated interpretive sign sharing their story, educating the public, and providing closure for the next of kin.
Watch NCA's commemorative event
Black Soldiers from 3-24th Infantry's Legacy
FEBRUARY 24, 2022
On August 23, 1917, following months of racist provocations, Black troops from the 3-24th stationed at Camp Logan in Houston took up arms and marched on the town. 118 Black soldiers were charged with disobedience of lawful orders, mutiny, assault with intent to commit murder, and murder. Of the guilty, 19 were executed and many more were sentenced to life in prison. Public outcry to President Woodrow Wilson led to the Army to implement an immediate regulatory change to the Articles of War. The change prohibited future executions without War Department review, and all military death sentences in the continental United States would require review by the President.
Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery interpretive sign: The Legacy of the Houston Mutineers
On February 22, 2022, NCA installed a wayside, an interpretive sign, at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio, Texas, near seventeen graves containing the remains of Black soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment who died as a result of the largest mass execution of American soldiers by the U.S. Army. The wayside panel presents visitors with the difficult story of Black World War I soldiers victimized by racial hostility, and how events in Houston altered military justice.
