Camp Gordon Men from Berrien County, GA
During WWI, Berrien County sent its contingent of black soldiers to join the United States Army. While the Jim Crow Army would relegate many black soldiers to support roles, a few Berrien County men would fight in all-black combat units like the 370th Infantry “Black Devils” and the 367th Infantry “Buffalo Infantry.“
Nationwide, more than 2.2 million black men were registered over the course of four draft registration calls, of which nearly 370,000 were drafted for induction into the Army. The draft was a lottery in which numbers written on pieces of paper (in red ink) were pulled from a bowl by the U.S. Secretary of War, Newton D. Baker. Every number represented one registrant from each local board who would be called in for examination and if accepted, would be inducted into service.
In March of 1918, 86 black men in Berrien County received their orders of induction. The orders instructed the men to report to the local draft board in Nashville, GA on April 2, 1918, for examination.
WWI Order of Induction P. M. G. O. Form 1028
Along with the Order of Induction the men received written instructions on what to wear and what to pack. They were informed of the consequences of failing to report – a court-martial and possibly the death penalty. Dire warnings notwithstanding, some twenty of the Berrien County men failed to report on April 2, 1918, as ordered. According to WWI Historian Jennifer D. Keene, illiteracy prevented some men from complying with written induction orders. “In many rural southern regions, the control that white landowners maintained over their black workforce influenced the workings of local draft boards. Some land owners withheld draft notices that arrived in the mail or refused to read them to their workers. When these workers failed to report, the government listed them as deserters. White planters subsequently gained both the advantage of their continued labor and the chance to collect a $50 reward from the government whenever they felt inclined to turn in these so-called deserters.” A scandal over the reward for capture of deserters led to the dismissal of one Berrien County draft board member.
Form 1028A Instructions to Selected Men
Important Notice to all Men Selected for Military Service and Ordered to
Report to a Local Board for Military Duty.The day and hour specified on the Classification List of this Local Board, and on the order and notice of induction into military service which accompanies this notice for you to report to this Local Board for military duty, is the time that marks your actual obligation as a soldier of the United States.
Failure to report promptly at the hour and on the day named is a grave military offense, for which you may be court-martialed. Willful failure to report, with an intent to evade military service, constitutes desertion from the Army “of the United States, which in time of war is a capital offense.
Upon reporting to your Local Board, you will not need, and you should not bring with you, anything except hand baggage. You will not be permitted to take trunks or boxes with you on the train. You should take only the following articles: A pair of strong, comfortable shoes to relieve your feet from your new regulation marching shoes; not to exceed four extra suits of underclothing; not to exceed six extra pairs of socks; four face and two bath towels; a comb, a brush, a toothbrush, soap, tooth powder, razor, and shaving soap. It will add to your comfort to bring one woolen blanket, preferably of dark or neutral color. This blanket should be tightly rolled, the ends of the roll should be securely bound together, and the loop of the blanket thus formed slung from your left shoulder to your right hip.
You should wear rough, strong clothing and a flannel shirt, preferably an olive-drab shirt of the kind issued to soldiers.
Note.—Local Boards may have prepared, in the form of a rubber stamp, and stamp in below or on the back hereof any special instructions, such as a direction to request permission to eat and spend the last night at home, as it may desire to give.
On April 2, 1918, sixty-six African-American men from Berrien County, GA reported to the draft board as ordered. After passing examination, it appears the men were given permission to spend their last night at home. On April 3, at Nashville, GA they boarded the Georgia & Florida train bound for Camp Gordon, near Atlanta. The local draft board at Nashville, GA used Form 1029 PMGO, issued by the Provost Marshall General’s Office, to document the entrainment of newly enlisted soldiers (images below). The forms include the draftee’s name, serial number, order number, date ordered to report, draft board, name of the mobilization camp, and the draftee’s occupation.
Statements from the Local Draft Board, Nashville, Berrien County, GA document African-American soldiers selected for the draft and entrained on April 3, 1918.
- Homer Lee Fordham, Alapaha, GA
- Dock Moore, Milltown, GA
- Wesley Myers, Bannockburn, GA
- John W. Faison, Ray City, GA
- Alexander Werkerson, Alapaha, GA
- Titus Griffin, Milltown, GA
- Willie Mullins, Alapaha, GA
- Joe Roberson, Ray City, GA
- Ben Cooper, Nashville, GA
- Collie Simons [Charlie Simmons?], Tifton, GA
- King Cooper, Nashville, GA
- Henry Mitchell Vaughn, Nashville, GA
- John Cleveland, Adel, GA
- Frank Mills, Milltown, GA
- Major Wilson, Adel, GA
- Charles J. Boggs, Ray City, GA
- Mack Leroy Cusack, Nashville, GA
- William Clarence, Sparks, GA
- Leroy McKinney, Milltown, GA
- Hilliard Brock, Nashville, GA
- Sam Gaines, Milltown, GA
- Marvin McArdle, Milltown, GA
- Tarba Bennett, Milltown, GA
- Elihu Hooker, Milltown, GA
- Joseph Williams, Adel, GA
- Garfield Baker, Ray City, GA
- Rommie Adams, Alapaha, GA
- Will Bell, Alapaha, GA
- Tom Sanders, Nashville, GA
- Thomas Howard, Ray City, GA
- Noah Schofield, Adel, GA
- Phane Jackson, Milltown, GA
- Elijah Walker, Hahira, GA
- Sam Bob, Alapaha, GA
- David Genrette, Ray City, GA
- Caleb Cooper, Nashville, GA
- Ethie Melvin, Milltown, GA
- Robert Jones, Ray City, GA
- Benjamin Greer, Lenox, GA
- Jerry Sheppard, Adel, GA
- Beamon Seymore, Adel, GA
- Dock Gunn, Nashville, GA
- Cleveland Sutton, Enigma, GA
- Willie Hutchinson, Adel, GA
- James Fullard, Alapaha, GA
- Arthur Bradshaw, Milltown, GA
- Charles Richerson, Cecil, GA
- Frank Jones, Bannockburn, GA
- Mose Flournoy, Adel, GA
- William Eddie Scruggs, Adel, GA
- Charley Stanford, Alapaha, GA
- Yancey Cowart, Enigma, GA
- Lazarus Burgess, Nashville, GA
- John Henry Williams, Alapaha, GA
- Grover Cleveland, Cecil, GA
- John Morris, Cecil, GA
- Isaac Flemming, Alapaha, GA
- David Pigford, Adel, GA
- Elzie Cooper, Nashville, GA
- Ezekiel Lavind, Adel, GA
- Snow Williams, Nashville, GA
- Peter Jones, Alapaha, GA
- Sidney Todd, Milltown, GA
- Ed Dupree, Milltown, GA
- James Givens, Alapaha, GA
- Nathaniel McClinton, Alapaha, GA
Camp Gordon historic marker, Dekalb County, GA
African-American troops at Camp Gordon, GA
Camp Gordon was named in honor of Confederate General John Brown Gordon. After the war, he was a strong opponent of Reconstruction during the late 1860s. He served as a U.S. Senator from Georgia from 1873 to 1880, and again from 1891 to 1897. He also served as the 53rd Governor of Georgia from 1886 to 1890. Gordon is cited as a prominent member of the Georgia Ku Klux Klan.
Like all southern military camps, those in Georgia operated under the segregation laws of Jim Crow. Federal prohibitions on black troops in combat meant that African American recruits trained and served in engineer service or labor battalions under white officers. -New Georgia Encyclopedia
Of the African American men who were drafted, 89 percent served in labor battalions or as dockworkers. The 42,000 men who did serve in combat were limited to the only two all-black combat regiments, the Ninety-Second and Ninety-Third Divisions. The camps were also segregated, as were most of the YMCA “Y-huts,” which served as places for leisure activities and often had camp libraries, stocked with the help of the ALA’s Library War Service – American Library Association
African-American training battalion with white officers at Camp Gordon, September 18, 1918
Camp Gordon, near Atlanta, was one of the largest training centers for Negro troops in the South, housing over 9,000 Georgia blacks by late 1917…Black troops there suffered the indignities common elsewhere, and the absence of any black commissioned officers increased their problems. Most black recruits were assigned to engineer or labor service battalions, where they were to perform tedious, often back-breaking tasks, loading and unloading cargo on both sides of the Atlantic. Since these battalions would have no black officer above the rank of corporal, Camp Gordon officials recruited a number of white sergeants, “specially and carefully selected as having had actual experience in charge of gangs of colored laborers.” -John Dittmer, Historian
African-American Recruits receiving instruction from a white officer. Camp Gordon, Georgia., 03/04/1918, Image source: National Archives
Segregation at the camp extended to recreational facilities, YMCA, library, hostess houses, and the soldiers clubs. The War Camp Community Service Colored Soldiers’ Club of Atlanta, GA worked to bring books to African-American soldiers. The organization’s Secretary, Mr. Edward K. Nichols, writing to the American Library Association observed, “You are doubtless aware that throughout the South the public libraries are closed to the colored people. Hence every organization having in its power to extend library facilities to the colored people at large or any group of them has the opportunity of rendering a very needed and much appreciated service.”
Colored Soldiers Club, Atlanta, GA
Camp Gordon, GA photo by E. Thompson. His title was “Negro soldier reading to boys who can’t read. Camp Gordon, Ga. 1917-18” Library of Congress.
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