Around noon on August 23, 1917, two white policemen—Lee Sparks and Rufus Daniels— were searching for a man accused of shooting craps on a nearby street in the Fourth Ward. As part of their search, they entered the home of Sara Travers to look for him. Unable to locate their fugitive, the police officers grew angry with Travers, hit her and dragged her out of her home while wearing only her undergarments in front of her children and neighbors. Upset and confused, Travers had her baby ripped from her arms and thrown to the ground while the officers continued to berate her for her 'abusive language' to them.As a crowd began to gather around outside the home, Private Alonzo Edwards from the 24th Infantry arrived to ask the officers to allow her to put on clothing and shoes. Before he was able to say or do anything else, he was pistol-whipped and badly beaten by both officers, telling him (according to witnesses interviewed by the NAACP Crisis Magazine), 'That's the way we do things in the South, WE are running things'. Edwards was then arrested and taken to the police station.A short time later, in the same neighborhood near Travers' home, Corporal Charles Baltimore from the 24th approached the police officers seeking the whereabouts of Private Edwards. Again, Sparks and Daniels brandished their weapons, this time shooting at Baltimore, who tried to run away from their fire but was later pulled from a nearby home and assaulted in the street. Baltimore was arrested and news of the severity of his injuries made it to Camp Logan, where his fellow soldiers believed him to be dead and readied themselves to march to the police station for his body and for revenge. Later that day, Baltimore was released and returned to camp, but the emotional turmoil had set in and many in the Battalion were still eager for revenge.

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Racial violence escalated in front of the home of a well-respected Black woman named Sara Travers in what was known as the San Felipe Fourth District. A hard-working laundress and mother of five, her treatment at the hands of two white Houston police officers—Lee Sparks and Rufus Daniels—is considered the final trigger in the chain of events that led to the mutiny of the 3rd Battalion 24th Infantry soldiers and the Houston Riots of 1917. In 1917, the San Felipe district was the epicenter of the Black community with Black-owned businesses, places of worship, the city's largest baseball venue and a library accessible to all set up at Booker T. Washington High School.

Sara Travers' 1917 Home in the San Felipe District

On a hot summer's night in 1917, a deadly riot broke out on the streets of Houston as the city's police, citizens and the all-Black soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, 24th Infantry clashed over racial tension.

In all, Camp Logan over 45,000 soldiers in the course of two years—drilling fresh-faced teenagers into soldiers ready for battle in the Great War. Close to the Galveston Ship Channel for convenient departures overseas, the emergency military training camp consisted of over 1,300 wood buildings and thousands of canvas tents that were built in a matter of six months. Within the completed camp, Soldiers had access to a bakery, a chapel and even a 9-hole golf course.  The men of the 24th Infantry were stationed to protect the construction site at Camp Logan in a segregated Southern city struggling with the idea of an influx of Black residents. But even on camp, the soldiers faced discrimination with the white soldiers and local construction workers refusing to drink from the same water source as the soldiers, shouting racial slurs at the soldiers while on duty and murdering a Black worker, which led to increased conflict. Commanding officer Colonel William Newman, fearful of escalating racial tension in the town, attempted to limit soldier visits to Houston and refused to allow his men to carry sidearms unless on sentry duty as an attempt to placate white residents. Tensions flared between the soldiers and Houston citizens. Camp Logan was decommissioned a mere two years after it was built, its land later purchased by the Hogg family, who sold the tracts to the city at cost to establish a memorial park to honor the soldiers who fought in WWI. The foundations for the bakery ovens and bathrooms of the camp can still be found near Seymour Lieberman Trail, as well as the foundation of an old footbridge near the Picnic Lane loop. The Camp Logan Riot can be found mentioned in brief on a historical marker at the site today but is otherwise unaccounted for in any public spaces.

This is the original location of Camp Logan, a military training camp that stretched over what is now known as Houston's Memorial Park. As the United States entered World War I in 1917, the U.S. War Department ordered two new emergency military training camps to be built. Realizing the financial boon that two military camps would be for the local economy, the city of Houston lobbied for Camp Logan to be built.  On July 28, 1917, the all-Black soldiers of the 3rd Battalion of the 24th Infantry were stationed at Camp Logan to guard the camp as it was under construction. With proven skills in the field of battle in the Philippines, the troops were eager for the opportunity to fight in France and many looked forward to that posting after their duty at Camp Logan was complete. Stepping off the train in Houston from Columbus, New Mexico, these soldiers could scarcely have anticipated the bloodshed that they would encounter on American soil only weeks after their arrival.   

Camp Logan 

Around noon on August 23, 1917, two white policemen—Lee Sparks and Rufus Daniels— were searching for a man accused of shooting craps on a nearby street in the Fourth Ward. As part of their search, they entered the home of Sara Travers to look for him. Unable to locate their fugitive, the police officers grew angry with Travers, hit her and dragged her out of her home while wearing only her undergarments in front of her children and neighbors. Upset and confused, Travers had her baby ripped from her arms and thrown to the ground while the officers continued to berate her for her 'abusive language' to them. As a crowd began to gather around outside the home, Private Alonzo Edwards from the 24th Infantry arrived to ask the officers to allow her to put on clothing and shoes. Before he was able to say or do anything else, he was pistol-whipped and badly beaten by both officers, telling him (according to witnesses interviewed by the NAACP Crisis Magazine), 'That's the way we do things in the South, WE are running things'. Edwards was then arrested and taken to the police station. A short time later, in the same neighborhood near Travers' home, Corporal Charles Baltimore from the 24th approached the police officers seeking the whereabouts of Private Edwards. Again, Sparks and Daniels brandished their weapons, this time shooting at Baltimore, who tried to run away from their fire but was later pulled from a nearby home and assaulted in the street. Baltimore was arrested and news of the severity of his injuries made it to Camp Logan, where his fellow soldiers believed him to be dead and readied themselves to march to the police station for his body and for revenge. Later that day, Baltimore was released and returned to camp, but the emotional turmoil had set in and many in the Battalion were still eager for revenge.

When the men of the 24th Infantry landed in Houston, they arrived in a city with unfamiliar and highly demeaning Jim Crow laws that were only exacerbated by a police force with a long history of unchecked racist brutality. With proven skills in the field of battle in Cuba and three tours of the Philippines, members of the 3rd Battalion were seasoned career military men. But racial tensions were especially high in the South with the white mobs targeting the Black community in the East St. Louis riot only a month before and the ongoing dark cloud of lynchings looming overhead. Even with these concerns in mind, stepping off the train in Texas from Columbus, New Mexico, these soldiers could scarcely have anticipated the bloodshed that they would encounter only weeks after their arrival at the camp—both on the streets of Houston and in the gallows in San Antonio. Life in Houston was a battle unlike any they had faced yet as a unit with daily verbal and physical abuse from white construction workers, police officers and Houston citizens. Even those soldiers raised in the segregated South had expected some level of respect as commissioned soldiers but hadn't anticipated their arrival sparking as a means to maintain racial harmony within their city. Instead of treating the Black soldiers with respect, city leaders and citizens remained openly hostile, perhaps in an attempt to ensure Black Houstonians wouldn't begin to expect better treatment themselves.   After weeks of clashing with racist Houston police and civilians, on August 23, 1917, word made it back to camp that Cpl. Charles Baltimore - one of the Battalion's highly regarded military policemen - had been beaten, shot and killed by Houston police officers after attempting to retrieve Private Alonzo Edwards, who had been arrested after attempting to diffuse the violent arrest of an innocent Black woman in town. Tensions were high in the camp, even after news that he was still alive but wounded. After rumors that a white mob was headed their way, a group of 100 soldiers raided the supply tents for rifles and ammunition and began their retaliatory march towards Houston.

This is the location of the 3rd Battalion 24th Infantry Soldier's Camp, located approximately 0.5 miles away from Camp Logan.  While stationed in Houston to protect the Camp Logan construction site, the soldiers of this Battalion were required to live offsite and march to and from the larger camp every day due to the military's agreement with the City of Houston that only white men would live within Camp Logan itself. This was the launching point of the Camp Logan Riots on the evening of August 23, 1917. After weeks of being called derogatory names, suffering from physical attacks and fending off other racism-fueled moments of danger, a group of soldiers had enough of the disrespect and danger. A group of uncertain numbers took up arms and set off on an evening march that would ultimately leave 50 dead (21 dead during the riot and 19 executed afterward) and dozens of citizens gravely wounded.

Soldier's Camp for 3rd Battalion 24th Infantry

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.

Very near the current Shepherd Dr. overpass and pedestrian bridge spanned the thin Shepherd's Dam Bridge, allowing safe and dry passage over the Buffalo Bayou. During the Camp Logan Riot of 1917, the soldiers used this footbridge to continue along their way during the August 23rd mutinous march on Houston police and citizens.

Old Shepherd's Dam Bridge

Well into their vengeful march on the hot summer's night of August 23, 1917, Sergeant Vida Henry ordered his troops to take cover in the City Cemetery after seeing a commandeered car full of police officers taking notice of the marching soldiers. Among the car occupants was police officer Rufus Daniels who had taken part in the beating and arrest of Private Edwards and Corporal Baltimore. Daniels ran into the cemetery with only his handgun and was shot and killed instantly. The firing ceased after the other police officers took refuge in a nearby building and the soldiers brutalized Daniels’ face and body with the butt of their guns and bayonets. Continuing their march, the soldiers of the 24th had multiple encounters firing on vehicles as they continued along their march—ultimately mistakenly shooting and killing their own Captain Mattes, thinking he was a member of the police. This death changed everything as the soldiers began questioning their actions and many in the mob dispersed to return to camp or to hide in the forest or be hidden by friends in town. A couple of hours later, Sergeant Henry separated from the group and, supposedly, took his own life near the railroad tracks near modern-day Main Street and Wheeler Street. His body was found the next morning by two young boys and, while the cause of death has been consistently reported as a suicide, the official autopsy reports declared it a homicide.  By the end of the riot, four soldiers and 15 white civilians had died, with dozens more injured. The city of Houston woke up to a state of martial law the following morning and the Battalion was immediately transported back to New Mexico with suspected rioters sent to Fort Bliss to await the results of an official inquiry and to go on trial.

Located in Houston's Fourth Ward, this is Houston's oldest cemetery housing Houston co-founders John Kirby Allen and his brother George Allen as well as numerous Texas revolutionaries. During the Camp Logan Riot of 1917, this cemetery acted as a battleground and a pivotal moment for men in the 24th Battalion as the violence against Houston police officers and citizens continued.

City Cemetery (aka: Founders Memorial Cemetery)

From November 1917 to March 1918, 118 24th Infantry soldiers were tried for disobeying orders, mutiny, murder and aggravated assault. All men pleaded not guilty and were represented by a single attorney with no trial experience and had very little time to prepare. The first court-martial took place on December 10, 1917, with three one-star generals and nine colonels making up the first trial's military tribunal. Sixty-three of the soldiers were tried at once and all were found guilty. The trial was quick and the sentences were harsh: 13 men were to be executed, 41 were to be confined to prison for life, one soldier to be jailed for two and a half years and three soldiers to be jailed for two years.  The following morning, on December 11, 1917, the 13 soldiers to be executed were woken before dawn and driven to a hastily constructed gallows located near what is today the 15th tee on the Fort Sam Houston Golf Course. They were hanged in great secrecy at 7:17 AM in the presence of military escorts and Sheriff Tobin of San Antonio.  The second court-martial for 15 soldiers convened at the Gift Chapel on December 17, 1917. This time, the military record indicated that Commander-in-Chief President Woodrow Wilson would have the final say on the validity of the sentences, which were death by hanging for five soldiers, dishonorable discharge and ten years of hard labor for three soldiers and dishonorable discharge and seven years of hard labor for the remaining seven soldiers. The third and final court-martial took place on February 18, 1918, for 39 soldiers. This time, 11 soldiers were sentenced to death, 12 soldiers received life sentences, nine soldiers were given 15 years of hard labor, five soldiers were given two years of hard labor and two soldiers were acquitted. President Wilson took all of the sentences from the final courts-martial under review and a total of 5 soldiers were hanged on September 17, 1918, in secret just as before. All of the executed soldiers were buried in numbered graves at Fort Sam Houston but were later re-buried at the national cemetery under standard-issue headstones. The sentencing after the Camp Logan Riot was hotly debated and forcefully contested by the NAACP, whose campaigning eventually helped the majority of the soldiers with long prison sentences to be paroled by 1930. Public criticism prompted a major and immediate reform within the Army wartime court proceedings, allowing soldiers a right to appeal a conviction even during a time of war. In 1918, General Brig. Gen. Samuel Ansell prohibited the execution of any death sentence before review which eventually was formalized into today's Army Court of Criminal Appeals.  This shift in the appeals process might be considered one of the few silver linings of the Camp Logan Riots and the event did little to improve race relations in Houston or the Army at large, for that matter. A difficult and nuanced historical event, the experience of the soldiers of the 24th Infantry can be viewed as direct testimony to the state of race relations in 1917 and a warning to our society in modern times.

Dedicated by President William Howard Taft in 1909, the Main Post Chapel on the Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston has served tens of thousands of soldiers as a place for multiple faith communities to worship. Also known as the "Gift Chapel", the land and funding for the chapel construction was donated by 1,000 San Antonio's residents and area military families who wanted to provide a place of peace for those stationed at the base.

In late 1917, the chapel took on an entirely new duty as the location of 3 separate courts-martial trials of the accused soldiers from the 24th Infantry after the August 23, 1917 Camp Logan Riots. As the only meeting space large enough to accommodate so many soldiers on trial, the chapel was home to the largest murder trial in United States history.


The Path of Houston's Camp Logan Riot of 1917

Sara Travers' 1917 Home in the San Felipe District

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information