Grave #10, Officers Row: Urbane Bass

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

Urbane Bass, Lieutenant, Sanitary Detachment, 372nd Infantry, 93rd Division. Killed October 7, 1918 in France and awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions October 1-6, 1918 attending to the wounded under fire. Bass was Fredericksburg's first Black physician after graduating from Leonard Medical School and he offered his services to the US Army despite the military still being segregated. He was reburied in the Fredericksburg National Cemetery in 1921 and was the first burial of an African American commissioned officer in the cemetery. His wife, Maude Bass, is buried in the grave next to his.

Images

Lieutenant Urbane Bass

Helmet, Standing, Military person, Military uniform

Graves of Urbane and Maude Bass

A stained glass window in the Shiloh Baptist Church (Sophia Street, Fredericksburg) honors Urbane Bass

Passenger List of the Susquehanna: Urbane Bass sailed from Newport News, VA on March 30, 1918. Listed is Maude Bass of Fredericksburg as his emergency contact.

Font, Handwriting, Rectangle, Material property

Urbane Bass was buried 10/7/18 at Le Cheppe, Marne on the same day as his death

Rectangle, Font, Material property, Parallel

Removal Project Information: Bass' body was disinterred on May 9, 1921 and arrived at the Fredericksburg National Cemetery July 22, 1921 for burial

List "passenger list" for the USAT Wheaton sailing from Antwerp to the US June 19-July 2, 1921 includes the body of Urbane Bass being transported for burial at Fredericksburg

Details for Urbane Bass' medal, awarded for his actions in October 1918

Cablegram from the American Expeditionary Force to the Adjutant General of the Army for the awarding of Distinguished Service Crosses. Urbane Bass appears on pages 5-6. (November 20, 1918)

Cablegram, page 2

Font, Material property, Paper, Paper product

Cablegram, page 3

Cablegram, page 4

Cablegram, page 5 (Urbane Bass' entry begins at the bottom of the page)

Cablegram, page 6 (Bass' entry continues at top of page)

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

Urbane Bass, buried at the end of what is named Officers Row, was the first African-American commissioned officer buried in the National Cemetery. A graduate of the Leonard Medical School of Shaw University in Raleigh, NC, Bass moved to Fredericksburg in 1909 and served as its first Black physician until the outbreak of World War I. Despite the continued segregation of the army, Urbane offered his services for the Army Medical Corps in an April 1917 letter to the secretary of war. He served in France as a lieutenant in the 372 US 93 Division. He would earn the Distinguished Service Cross for the October 1918 action which cost him his life. Attending to the wounded under severe shell fire, he was struck by a shell which severed both of his legs. Despite the aid of his hospital attendants, Urbane died a few minutes later.

Only 36 when he died, Bass left behind a wife and four children. Maude, who is buried beside her husband, stayed in Fredericksburg until 1922, then moved to Raleigh, NC where she taught music to the blind for thirty years at the North Carolina State School for the Blind. Thirty-two when Urbane died, she never remarried and lived to the age of 100, dying in October 1986.

Sources

Pfanz, Donald C. "Where Valor Proudly Sleeps: A History of Fredericksburg National Cemetery, 1866-1933." National Park Service, 2007. (Available at Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania NMP)

Cemetery Roster & Book File, Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania NMP

Image Sources(Click to expand)

Bandel, Jessica A. "Leonard Medical School and the War." NC Department of National and Cultural Resources. October 19, 2017. Accessed May 20, 2021. https://www.ncdcr.gov/blog/2017/10/19/leonard-medical-school-and-war.

Photograph by Kathleen Thompson

Cemetery Roster & Book File, Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania NMP

Lists of Incoming Passengers, 1917-1938; Lists of Outgoing Passengers, 1917-1938. NARA Record Group 92, Entry NM-81 2061. Accessed through Fold3, May 20, 2021.

Transcriptions of Card Register of Burials of Deceased American Soldiers, 1917 - 1922. U.S. WWI Burial Cards. NARA Record Group 92, Card ID 103456. Accessed through Fold3, May 20, 2021.

Lists of Incoming Passengers, 1917-1938; Lists of Outgoing Passengers, 1917-1938. NARA Record Group 92. Accessed through Fold3, May 20, 2021.

A List of Awards of the Congressional Medal of Honor the Distinguished-Service Cross and the Distingushed-Service Medal. Accessed through Fold3, May 20, 2021.

Cablegrams Exchanged Between General Headquarters, American Expeditionary Forces, and the War Department, 1917-19. NARA Record Group 120, Roll 0005, Cable 1915