Local Voices
The Valor of the Harlem Hellfighters
The all-black, volunteer 369th Infantry fought in WW I and became the most decorated regiment of The Great War.
Before we leave Black History Month and the incessant compartmentalizing of our history, let us pay homage to some little-known, hometown heroes.
They were brave, battle-scarred and black. They fought ferociously in World War One, yet are rarely mentioned, much less lauded, in history books about The Great War.
The men of the volunteer 369th Infantry Regiment (formed from their 15th National Guard unit of New York City) trained at Camp Whitman, New York and Camp Wadsworth, South Carolina. Their treatment at the hands of bigoted locals in both areas is a matter of record. Yet they were undeterred when they shipped out to France at the end of 1917.
Their goal was to fight in the front lines of the European war. But the U. S. Army command sought to deploy them only in manual labor, and General John Pershing was reluctant to send any U. S. troops to the front until he had enough men to ensure victory.
When the desperate French army begged for help, Pershing gave them the 369th, which set an astounding record. No American unit spent more time in combat--191 days under fire without losing an inch of ground. None deserted; none was ever captured by the enemy. They suffered the highest casualty rate of any U. S. unit.
Their nickname, the Harlem Hellfighters, was coined either by the grateful French or the stunned Germans because of the ferocious, intrepid nature of their fighting. Take Henry Johnson. In a single night in the Battle of the Argonne Forest, he sustained 21 wounds, killed four Germans in hand-to-hand combat, rescued a fellow American, and prompted a platoon of 28 German soldiers to flee from him. Posthumously in 2015 Johnson received the Medal of Honor.
The French awarded the Croix de Guerre, their highest military honor, to the entire regiment. Many in the 369th received the U. S. Army's second-highest award, the Distinguished Service Cross. Ultimately, the 369th became the most decorated U. S. regiment of WW I. President Calvin Coolidge lauded African Americans who fought and died for "the high ideals of our country." He noted that draft records revealed that 2,250,000 African American soldiers registered and fought with distinction.
Not only were guts, skill and dedication in evidence, there was music. The 369th had a famous band led by the great James Reese Europe, one of America's finest black musicians. He wrote his own arrangement of "La Marseillaise" and the French went wild. Jazz and ragtime came to France courtesy of the 369th.
President Woodrow Wilson, who got America into the appallingly mistaken "war to end all wars," regarded African Americans as second-class citizens; indeed, he promoted segregation in all levels of government and in the military. But there was a ray of light in the person of Col. William Hayward, a white Nebraskan who commanded the 369th. He loved his men and they, him. He championed equal rights for all colors. When the 369th returned to New York in 1919, Hayward (not Wilson or Pershing) arranged a massive parade to welcome them, thus creating a splendid moment of racial harmony as thousands cheered for their returning heroes.
For more about the Harlem Hellfighters, see videos on the History Channel, IMDbTV and A&E. Google the regiment to find notable recent books about their service.
We are grateful to historian and author Lawrence W. Reed, who writes for The Epoch Times and FEE.org, for his attention to the Harlem Hellfighters' legacy.