for the release of the twenty-two men who had been taken.  There was no reason for holding them, and they were brought up to El Paso within a few days and sent across the line.  Thus, though “some one had blundered,” these Negro soldiers did their duty; “theirs not to make reply; theirs but to do and die.”  So in the face of odds they fought like heroes and twenty died beneath the Mexican stars.

When the United States entered the war in Europe in April, 1917, the question of overwhelming importance to the Negro people was naturally that of their relation to the great conflict in which their country had become engaged.  Their response to the draft call set a noteworthy example of loyalty to all other elements in the country.  At the very outset the race faced a terrible dilemma:  If there were to be special training camps for officers, and if the National Government would make no provision otherwise, did it wish to have a special camp for Negroes, such as would give formal approval to a policy of segregation, or did it wish to have no camp at all on such terms and thus lose the opportunity to have any men of the race specially trained as officers?  The camp was secured—­Camp Dodge, near Des Moines, Iowa; and throughout the summer of 1917 the work of training went forward, the heart of a harassed and burdened people responding more and more with pride to the work of their men.  On October 15, 625 became commissioned officers, and all told 1200 received commissions.  To the fighting forces of the United States the race furnished altogether very nearly 400,000 men, of whom just a little more than half actually saw service in Europe.

Negro men served in all branches of the military establishment and also as surveyors and draftsmen.  For the handling of many of the questions relating to them Emmett J. Scott was on October 1, 1917, appointed Special Assistant to the Secretary of War.  Mr. Scott had for a number of years assisted Dr. Booker T. Washington as secretary at Tuskegee Institute, and in 1909 he was one of the three members of the special commission appointed by President Taft for the investigation of Liberian affairs.  Negro nurses were authorized by the War Department for service in base hospitals at six army camps, and women served also as canteen workers in France and in charge of hostess houses in the United States.  Sixty Negro men served as chaplains; 350 as Y.M.C.A. secretaries; and others in special capacities.  Service of exceptional value was rendered by Negro women in industry, and very largely also they maintained and promoted the food supply through agriculture at the same time that they released men for service at the front.  Meanwhile the race invested millions of dollars in Liberty Bonds and War Savings stamps and contributed generously to the Red Cross, Y.M.C.A., and other relief agencies.  In the summer of 1918 interest naturally centered upon the actual performance of Negro soldiers in France and upon the establishment of units of the Students’ Army Training Corps in twenty leading educational institutions.  When these units were demobilized in December, 1918, provision was made in a number of the schools for the formation of units of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps.