CHAPTER XIII

Roster of negro officers.

COMMISSIONED AT FORT DES MOINES—­ONLY EXCLUSIVE NEGRO TRAINING CAMP—­MOSTLY FROM CIVILIAN LIFE—­NAMES, RANK AND RESIDENCE.

Fort Des Moines, Iowa, was the only training camp established in the United States exclusively for Negro officers.  A few were trained and commissioned at Camps Hancock, Pike and Taylor, and a few received commissions at officers’ training camps in France, but the War Department records do not specify which were white and which Negro.  The Fort Des Moines camp lasted from June until October 1917.  Following is the roster of Negro officers commissioned.  With the exception of those specified as from the United States Army or the National Guard, all came from civilian life: 

Cleve L. Abbott, first lieutenant, Watertown, S.D. 
Joseph L. Abernethy, first lieutenant, Prairie View, Tex. 
Ewart G. Abner, second lieutenant, Conroe, Tex. 
Charles J. Adams, first lieutenant, Selma, Ala. 
Aurelious P. Alberga, first lieutenant, San Francisco, Calif. 
Ira L. Aldridge, second lieutenant, New York, N.Y. 
Edward I. Alexander, first lieutenant, Jacksonville, Fla. 
Fritz W. Alexander, second lieutenant, Donaldsville, Ga. 
Lucien V. Alexis, first lieutenant, Cambridge, Mass. 
John H. Allen, captain, U.S.  Army. 
Levi Alexander, Jr., first lieutenant, Ocala, Fla. 
Clarence W. Allen, second lieutenant, Mobile, Ala. 
Richard S. Allen, second lieutenant, Atlantic City, N.J. 
James W. Alston, first lieutenant, Raleigh, N.C. 
Benjamin E. Ammons, first lieutenant, Kansas City, Mo. 
Leon M. Anderson, first lieutenant, Washing ton, D.C. 
Levi Anderson, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C. 
Robert Anderson, first lieutenant, U.S.  Army. 
David W. Anthony, Jr., first lieutenant, St. Louis, Mo. 
James C. Arnold, first lieutenant, Atlanta, Ga. 
Russell C. Atkins, second lieutenant, Winston-Salem, N.C. 
Henry O. Atwood, captain, Washington, D.C. 
Charles H. Austin, second lieutenant, U.S.  Army. 
George J. Austin, first lieutenant.  New York, N.Y. 
Herbert Avery, captain, U.S.  Army. 
Robert S. Bamfield, second lieutenant, Wilmington, N.C. 
Julian C. Banks, second lieutenant, Kansas City, Mo. 
Charles H. Barbour, captain, U.S.  Army. 
Walter B. Barnes, first lieutenant, U.S.  Army. 
William I. Barnes, first lieutenant, Washington, D.C. 
Stephen B. Barrows, second lieutenant, U.S.  Army. 
Thomas J. Batey, first lieutenant, Oakland, Cal. 
Wilfrid Bazil, second lieutenant, Brooklyn, N.Y. 
James E. Beard, first lieutenant, U.S.  Army. 
Ether Beattie, second lieutenant, U.S.  Army. 
William H. Benson, first lieutenant, Atlanta, Ga. 
Albert P. Bentley, first lieutenant, Memphis, Tenn. 
Benjamin Bettis, second lieutenant, U.S.  Army.