White officer

“ By then black troops, for so long limited to a few job categories, could be found in a majority of military occupational fields. The officer corps was open to all without the restrictions of a racial quota, and while a quota for enlisted men still existed all racial distinctions in standards of enlistment were gone. The Army was replacing white officers in black units with Negroes as fast as qualified black replacements became available. ”

“ We must rule the blacks by fear, teaching them the uselessness of waging war on the settlers, and to do this the native troopers are far superior to white men, as they will follow and secure malefactors where a white man could not possibly penetrate. It is useless arguing that, because an officer accompanies his boys through scrubs and over ranges, every white man can do the same. Only constant training will enable a man to do so. How many white men can undergo the hardships and privations which a Native Police officer has to put up with. ”

“ There is not a white officer in this regiment who has more administrative ability, or more absolute authority over the men; they do not love him, but his mere presence has controlling power over them. He writes well enough to prepare for me a daily report of his duties in the camp; if his education reached a higher point I see no reason why he should not command the Army of the Potomac. ”

“ They have black [Pg 217] chaplains, and attempts have been made to find black officers, but the social difficulties make this impossible, though the blacks are free and independent citizens and help pay the salaries of the white men. It would be impossible to force white soldiers to admit to their regiment black soldiers. No white man would permit a black officer to be placed over him, even by inference. ”

“ While the United States Navy has hitherto been closed to negroes who aspire to be officers, the army has pursued a wiser and more just policy. The contrast between the two services is really remarkable. On almost every war vessel white and black sailors sleep and live together in crowded quarters without protest or friction. But the negro naval officer is kept out of the service by hook or by crook for the avowed reason that the cramped quarters of the wardroom would make association with him intolerable. In the army, on the other hand, the experiment of mixed regiments has never been tried. ”

“ He may be ever so anxious to protect the blacks from unprovoked aggression, but he is absolutely powerless to restrain any white brute who chooses to madden a tribe by cruel and unprovoked injury. The officer's duty is simply to shoot the savages down, when in their madness they seem likely to become dangerous, and to save the white aggressor from the consequences of his own acts. When we write in an indignant strain of actions like these, we never forget that the police themselves are only very partly to blame ”

“ Amid the storm of battle, when brave men expose themselves only from necessity, that coolness and mental collection that enables an officer to remember all the refinements of discipline, even to the salutation of his superior, is a quality to be admired, as it evinces a talent so essential to command under the most trying circumstances. Lieutenant White was of a modest and retiring disposition, ordinarily, but in action was the impersonation of true courage. He was beloved by all who shared his more intimate fellowship, and his death cast a gloom over the regiment. ”

“ In the army the poor white has associated with the officer, far above him in social life. His aid has been courted, he has received high wages in Confederate notes, he has found better fare and clothing than he could procure at home, and has been lured to the contest by the eloquent appeals of the planter, by bitter attacks upon the North, and glowing pictures of the ruin which the abolitionists would bring upon the South. ”

“ Before him was the officer seemingly magnified to unhuman stature, in long, belted coat and spiked helmet. His eyes, blue and polar raked the room. His voice, sharp and metallic, gave the word of command. He was no man, but merely a vehicle of inexorable justice—a machine that has found its range.
Slowly, slowly, Quality arose to his feet. He stretched out his hands.
Arose—only to sink back in his seat. For, at the sound of a woman’s laugh, he realized that he was but the spectator in another’s drama. ”

“ I cannot see why it would be less so with white troopers. Could we not make the post less degrading than we do? We send an officer into outside country with no authority to treat the blacks otherwise than according to English laws, when we know that they are utterly impracticable, and we tell him be has to keep the blacks quiet. Is not this telling a man to make bricks without straw with a vengeance? If our officer is careful not to commit himself, and keeps within the law, the blacks soon begin to kill cattle, and then men—and he is "inefficient." ”

“ The Army Ground Forces considered the problem of finding and training field grade officers particularly acute since black units employing black officers, at least in the case of infantry, had proved ineffective. Yet white officers put in command of black troops felt they were being punished, and their presence added to the frustration of the blacks. ”

“ It is all an experiment. It’s up to you men to make good.” After concluding his remarks he asked if there were any questions. “Sir, Colonel, what about promotions?” asked one man. This turn rather surprised the officer, but he recovered and said, “The officers will be white.” A moment later he added, “The non-commissioned officers will also be white.” Then he paused, and the soldier repeated the question. The colonel then said, “There will be twenty-five first class privates, who will carry rifles, and you know they get three dollars a month more pay. You know cooks are needed. ”

“ While as the usual thing the corporals were colored, the sergeants were generally white men. Only in rare cases were the non-commissioned officers all white or all colored. Several reasons were given for placing white sergeants in these units. It was said that most of the Negroes forming such organizations had little or no knowledge of military tactics and that experienced white men were needed to organize them; moreover, that white officers could get more work out of labor units than could Negro “non-coms.” ”

“ In general, white officers resented their assignment to black units and were quick to seek transfer. Worse still, black units, where sensitive and patient leaders were needed to create an effective military force, often became, as they had in earlier wars, dumping grounds for officers unwanted in white units. [2-49] The Army staff further aggravated black sensibilities by showing a preference for officers of southern birth and training, believing them to be generally more competent to exercise command over Negroes. ”

“ The various Negro papers in the country are very generally insisting that if the Negro soldiers are to be enlisted, Negro officers should be appointed to command them. One zealous paper is clamoring for the appointment, immediately, by the President, of a Negro Major-General. The readers of The Independent know very well that during the civil war there were enlisted in the United States army 200,000 Negro soldiers under white officers, the highest position assigned to a black man being that of first sergeant, or of regimental sergeant-major. ”

“ And this horror of theirs holds good not only with regard to the colored troops themselves, but it is even more bitter if possible when directed against the white officers who trained them in the art of war, and who led them on the battle-field. It is true that we have officers chosen from among ourselves, but then we are all one army, and we must go shares hand in hand with the rest in the general conflict. ”

“ The problem of selecting the proper officers to command black sailors was a formidable one never satisfactorily solved during the war. As in the Army, most of the white officers routinely selected for such assignments were southerners, chosen by the Bureau of Naval Personnel for their assumed "understanding" of Negroes rather than for their general competency. The Special Programs Unit tried to work with these officers, assembling them for conferences to discuss the best techniques and procedures for dealing with groups of black subordinates. ”

“ The prompt action of the whites in driving the negroes out of town on October 25 would seem precipitate and unjustifiable if not considered in connection with the facts just recited. Nearly two thousand negroes attended that meeting, and they took with them guns, which were secreted in wagons at the foot of Prairie street. They were aware that the commanding officer of the garrison was in [Pg 147] sympathy with them, and that they would encounter only a small body of white men should there be a collision. ”

“ Limited segregated recreational and living facilities for black officers prevented their assignment to some bases, while the active opposition of civilian communities forced the Army to exclude them from others. The Army staff practice of forbidding Negroes to outrank or command white officers serving in the same unit not only limited the employment and restricted the rank of black officers but also created invidious distinctions between white and black officers in the same unit. It tended to convince enlisted men that their black leaders were not full-fledged officers. ”

“ If your officer's dead and the sergeants look white, Remember it's ruin to run from a fight: So take open order, lie down, and sit tight, And wait for supports like a soldier. ”

“ We are content to place assertion against assertion, adding to it that even by the very lax regulations of the Native Police force the white officers are supposed to accompany their troopers, and that as a matter of fact the country in which the former cannot travel is not penetrated by the latter. The third objection, that the cost of such a force would be enormous, that it would equal the nucleus of a standing army, and that it would be demoralised by too long spells of idleness, is compounded of statements mutually destructive. ”

“ The picture is far more complex. Some studies show that Africa-American officers are less prejudiced than white officers as a whole, are more familiar with African-American communities, are more likely to arrest white suspects and less likely to arrest black suspects, and receive more cooperation from African Americans with whom they interact on the job. See David A. Sklansky, Not Your Father's Police Department: Making Sense of the New Demographics of Law Enforcement, 96 J. Crim. ”

“ Commanders tended to blame undisciplined troops and lack of initiative and control by black officers and noncommissioned officers as the primary cause of the difficulty. Others, particularly black observers, cited the white officers and their lack of racial sensitivity. In fact, as Ulysses Lee points out with careful documentation, all these factors were involved, but the underlying problem usually overlooked by observers was segregation. Large, all-black combat units submerged able soldiers in a sea of men with low aptitude and inadequate training. ”

“ When in the midst of the charges and counter-charges relative to the fitness of Negro officers to lead men General Pershing was questioned about a few Negro officers who were declared inefficient by a board, he assured his hearers that because a few officers had been declared unfit, this was by no means to be construed as an indication of lack of capacity on the part of the race, because at that time more than 6000 white officers had been returned to the states for unfitness to lead men and certainly no one considered the white race a failure because of that fact. ”

“ Let us at once do away with all pretence of treating the outside blacks according to European law, for it is not practicable to do so. And then we may set about devising some better scheme for subduing them if we can. I do not think that substituting white police for black would mend matters. White men of the class you propose would never submit to the stern discipline so absolutely necessary in a force of the kind while on the war path. I believe it would be impossible to devise a more efficient system than that of black troopers with white officers. ”

“ Segregation also created special psychological problems for junior black officers. Carefully assigned so that they never commanded white officers or men, they were often derided by white officers whose attitudes were quickly sensed by the men to the detriment of good discipline. Segregation was also a factor in the rapid transfer of men in and out of the divisions, thus negating the possible benefits of lengthy training. ”

“ In some States there was no dispute. It is a well-known fact that colored men have often been greatly attached to their white officers, and in like manner, these officers have been greatly attached to their own soldiers, and thus they have got along harmoniously together at all times. At the same time, this knotty point has been settled once for all in many a State, and the men—colored men, I mean—have been allowed to have the officers of their own choice. ”

“ Jones, would have had all of Stuart’s artillery almost before that officer waked up. The regiments moved rapidly to the front, as soon as the men could obey the boot and saddle bugle call, and with the first that came, which were the 6th and 7th Regiments, Gen. Jones met and checked the enemy, and arrangements for the battle, which was now inevitable, were made as quickly as possible. Col. White was ordered with his battalion, to support the 12th Regiment, which was ordered forward to make a charge; and he at once began to form his men in line of battle, but before it could be completed, Gen. ”