350th Field Artillery Regiment WWI Panoramic Photograph
By Matthew M. Peek, Military Collection Archivist, State Archives of North Carolina
One of the most culturally-significant U.S. Army units from World War I is the segregated African American 92nd Infantry Division, nicknamed the “Buffalo Soldiers.” It was not the original “Buffalo Soldiers” regiments, made famous during service in the West in the late 1800s and the Spanish-American War. It inherited the nickname, according to the National Park Service, from its predecessor U.S. Army segregated “Buffalo” units. At the start of WWI, the U.S. Congress and War Department did not want African Americans to serve. There were no plans, really, for African American troops to serve in Europe at all. However, a shortage in manpower, and a drive on the home front by African American leaders and newspapers to allow for equal service of black soldiers for their country in times of war, pushed the U.S. Congress to allow the formation of limited segregated Army divisions and units.
The two black Army infantry divisions in WWI were the 92nd and the 93rd Infantry Divisions. All other U.S. military units that contained African Americans were either service units (such as supply companies, transportation companies, or miscellaneous battalions), or attached for special service to other U.S. branches and units. To free themselves of the obligation of maintaining training and care for the black troops, the U.S. Army frequently lent black troops from those two divisions to the French and British Armies, which was willing to accept black soldiers in their ranks.
The French provided education, training, and allowed for promotions of soldiers quickly through service — which they would not have had the opportunity for if black troops had remained in the U.S. Army service in Europe in the war. Many African Americans who benefited from this arrangement — such as James W. Alston of Raleigh, who served as a 1st Lieutenant in the 372nd Infantry Regiment, 93rd Division — took advantage of the education and respect earned while attached to the French and British to improve their lot in life. Upon arriving in France, Alston was sent to one of the British Army’s training schools — the Fourth Army Infantry School — where he attended a five-week officer’s training course. He would serve under French command in the Meuse-Argonne sector, and later the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, in France.
Alston specifically would write about his freedom and learning while separated from the racially-divided U.S. Army. Such improvements were not welcomed by the U.S. Army, and certainly not when black troops returned to a racially-divided U.S. in the spring and summer of 1919. Men such as this who returned from overseas WWI service helped to spur the push for civil rights in the U.S., that grew after the race riots of the summer of 1919. Men who sacrificed for their country no longer were willing to accept unequal and inhumane treatment from those with whom they fought a common enemy in Europe in WWI.
Before any of this could happen, African American men had to go through training in the Army. Few training camps were made available for them; and the camps that were available often had poor facilities and barracks for the men. The situation was not much better when the segregated units returned to the U.S. from Europe at disembarkation bases and ports. One of the best looks at these men’s lives are group panoramic photographs of African American companies and regiments. One of such images is an undated group panorama of the Battery C, 350th Field Artillery Regiment, 92nd Division — which contains unidentified North Carolina in it — while they were stationed at an unidentified U.S. Army camp in the U.S. To help the public view the men in this image better, we have divided the long photograph into several large segments. We hope you enjoy see these men, and maybe you or someone you know knows one of the men in the picture.
Resources
“The Buffalo Soldiers in WWI,” Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument, National Park Service, viewed online at https://www.nps.gov/articles/the-buffalo-soldiers-in-wwi.htm
James W. Alston Papers, WWI 15, WWI Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina.
MilColl.WWI.Panoramas.29, WWI Panoramas Collection, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina.
