Old Shepherd's Dam Bridge

After the over 100 soldiers left camp—armed against a white mob that never materialized near their home base and ready for retribution—they fanned out as they marched towards the County Jail by way of a two-hour march towards chaos, gunshots and bayonet damage. Led by Sergeant Vida Henry, the troops' first victims were unarmed citizens who had the misfortune of being in the right place at the wrong time on that rainy, hot summer evening. The very first shots were fired at the Morrison house at 1119 Roy Street with no casualties, but two young men on a front porch at 4910 Lillian Street fell as the evening's first march victims. At this point, the soldiers began fanning out to cover more city blocks, shooting seven more victims as they went about their business or were outdoors investigating the sounds of gunfire.

The soldiers' arrival at the Shepherd's Dam Bridge took them through the forested banks of the bayou and through the rural Black community of Green Pond. After another hour of marching, the soldiers' numbers were dwindling, but spirits were still high. They rested and took stock of their weaponry after allowing white soldiers from Camp Logan through without harm, wanting to focus more on city police officers than on members of the military.

Haynes, Robert V. Night of Violence: the Houston riot of 1917. Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 1976.

"Houston Riot of 1917." The Handbook of Texas Online. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/HH/jch4.html