Turn of the Century - Fort Huachuca - U.S. Army

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One of the recurring themes of their letters was the lack of black officers in regular armyblack units. They had proven in Cuba that the idea that African-Americans could not lead was afalse one, and they demanded the promotion of black officers. John E. Lewis, E Troop, 10thCavalry, repeatedly lauded the soldiers in his regiment who took command in the absence ofwhite officers during the fighting in Cuba. He mentioned as capable commanders Sergeant JamesH. Alexander, Sgt. Maj. Edward L. Baker, and Paschal Conley. Of Conley he said, he “is oneof the worthiest non-commissioned officers who first entered the service in ’79 and who has foreighteen years been a non-commissioned officer. Practical experience in the differentdepartments...has added materially to his qualifications and by reason of his superior abilities,some credit should be given.... As a leader he is capable of commanding any troop and he retainsthat self-respect which everyone loves.”Lewis asked the editor of the Illinois Record: Have not the non-commissioned officersproved that they are fully capable of commanding? Did 1st Sergt. William Givens of D, 10thCav. fail when the command fell upon him, when their brave officers were shot down? No! Itwas forward! ...About every troop of the 10th lost its officers...and non-commissioned officerstook their places and led the troops on to a victory that has gained the admiration of the world.” 77Their lobbying efforts on behalf of commissioning regular army black NCOs had its desiredoutcome in 1901 when the board of examiners of Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, selected the firstblack from the NCO ranks to be an officer. Based on the Army’s competitive examinationsystem, Squadron Sergeant Major Benjamin O. Davis, 9th Cavalry, was chosen for a commissionand his subsequent service bore out the judgment of the board. In 1940 he became the firstAfrican American to hold the rank of brigadier general. But Davis would be the lone regularArmy officer to be promoted from the ranks for many years to come.The persistent attacks on black fighting men by those determined to maintain that they werenot the equal of whites in military ability, found their way to Congress. One of the bills, draftedin 1913, would have made it unlawful for “any person of the Negro race” to be appointed as anNCO in the Army or Navy. It was a manifestation of the fear on the part of some that a situationmight arise where a black NCO would be giving orders to a white private. It never reached thefloor for a vote, being shelved after War Department opposition which pointed to the gallantservice of blacks from the Revolutionary War to the 1916 Battle of Carrizal.Presley Holliday, the 10th Cavalry NCO who defended his men against Roosevelt’s groundlessassumptions, comes to the fore again in 1907 when he wrote to the secretary of Booker T.Washington, Emmett J. Scott, proposing to open artillery units to black soldiers. Both mencounted on support from President Roosevelt, but that backing was not forthcoming from eitherthe president or the War Department, and the initiative failed.Some Other Huachuca ConnectionsThe roster of soldiers who distinguished themselves in the Spanish-American War and whohad in common an association with Fort Huachuca would be a lengthy scroll, owing to the factthat so many regiments, officers and men of the pre- and post-war American Army rotatedthrough that western post. Here are just some of the prominent Huachucans who traded the sundriedhigh desert of the border Southwest for the steaming tropics of the Greater Antilles.110 HUACHUCA ILLUSTRATED
There are two streets at Fort Huachuca, Shipp and Smith, that, in the free-form jumble that isthe Huachuca traffic pattern, never meet. The two men for whom they are named lived lives thatintersected time and again, and on the final time tragically. Lieutenants William E. Shipp andWilliam H. Smith were classmates at West Point and roomed together until their 1883 graduation.Both were commissioned in the 10th Cavalry, and both died on the same ground within minutes ofone another.William E. ShippA MAGAZINE OF THE FORT HUACHUCA MUSEUM111
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Turn of the Century at Fort Huachuc
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There was an aggregate of 3,506 off
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There’s always gambling after pay
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cacti of the Arizona desert made it
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Two years later there was more exci
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A MAGAZINE OF THE FORT HUACHUCA MUS
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Historical perspective tells us tha
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pursue, capture or destroy any host
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“Lieutenant James M. Watson, Tent
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TimelineIn 1887 an earthquake start
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In 1895 there were 27,495 men in th
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Slim Jim, the Apache Kid, and an un
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Rowdy “loved campaigning and figh
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spent in these would be a total los
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Clark, Carrie Anna, the postmistres
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Interior of the officer’s quarter
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In July 1894, troops of the 24th In
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“Aunt Leona and Cyril in snow, Fo
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“Our Christmas Tree, 1894, Fort H
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Group of officers at Huachuca in 18
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“Croquet Ground, 1894.”A troop
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Officers and ladies on a picnic at
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large formations, train and equip t
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Charles Johnson Post, Embarking for
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The experience is said to have taug
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and of mistreating Filipino prisone
Page 60 and 61: Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler.60 HUACHUC
Page 62 and 63: Brig. Gen. S.S. Sumner62 HUACHUCA I
Page 64 and 65: two determined attacks by the enemy
Page 66 and 67: Cavalry and would become the leadin
Page 68 and 69: Marchbanks, for having his horse sh
Page 70 and 71: Shafter took instead the advice of
Page 72 and 73: position and Santiago de Cuba. They
Page 74 and 75: In the front row, from left to righ
Page 76 and 77: would have been more apparent.Gener
Page 78 and 79: A sketch of life in the Cuba campai
Page 80 and 81: El CaneyLawton, with his 5,400-man
Page 82 and 83: El Caney, Cuba, from the stone fort
Page 84 and 85: of some 8,000 men moving down unkno
Page 86 and 87: Spanish blockhouse on San Juan Hill
Page 88 and 89: ack into the city. There were block
Page 90 and 91: have been. They walked to greet dea
Page 92 and 93: The top generals confer before the
Page 94 and 95: Guanico along the southeastern coas
Page 96 and 97: Writing to a friend, Sergeant Major
Page 98 and 99: The regimental crest of the 25th In
Page 100 and 101: The 25th Infantry leaving San Franc
Page 102 and 103: different organizations at this tim
Page 104 and 105: African-American cavalrymen at San
Page 106 and 107: who avenged the death of Lieutenant
Page 108 and 109: There were dozens of casualties amo
Page 112 and 113: William H. SmithShipp commanded Ind
Page 114 and 115: Col. Samuel M. Whitside, seated in
Page 116 and 117: Arizona squadron of the 1st Volunte
Page 118 and 119: American Army.We need a highly effi
Page 131 and 132: Renowned military author, educator,
Page 133 and 134: with a machete. 82Model 1892 Colt r
Page 135 and 136: Model 1911 .45 caliber pistol.A MAG
Page 137 and 138: the Manila operations. A treaty was
Page 139 and 140: cows and horses where there are now
Page 141 and 142: A map of the railroad into Fort Hua
Page 143 and 144: o’clock. We work until 4 o’cloc
Page 145 and 146: Commissary Office and Storehouse wi
Page 147 and 148: Quartermaster’s workshop with “
Page 149 and 150: An officer’s family on their lawn
Page 151 and 152: A view of the post hospital from Gr
Page 153 and 154: Troops of the 6th Cavalry stand at
Page 155 and 156: 1901.01.00.009 Barracks row at Fort
Page 157 and 158: “Fancy Dress Ball” at Fort Huac
Page 159 and 160: Officers of the 5th Cavalry and lad
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Officers of the 5th Cavalry at Fort
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Civilian employees’ quarters in 1
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Men of the 9th Cavalry wearing Maso
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A view of Fort Huachuca in 1916. U.
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First car at Fort Huachuca, about 1
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Post Office and Bowling Alley at Fo
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Mounted troops from Troop D, 14th C
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was reelected president, defeating
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Brownsville, Texas, in which one wh
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lectured in February that “it is
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of. 87An idea of the whirlwind soci
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Roll Call: Sam Kee—Cantonese Paym
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Roll Call: Colonel John C. Gresham
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Digital montage of U.S. Army intell
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During the 1890s, the MID accomplis
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Secretary of War Elihu Root with me
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partially by the church); on the ea
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16 Quoted in Trask, David F., The W
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56 Glass, p. 116.57 Glass, pp. 119-
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sounded a claarion call for a profe
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Turn of the Century - Fort Huachuca - U.S. Army

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