Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth granted clemency after receiving a recommendation from the Army Board for Correction of Military Records to set aside the convictions of Black troops who served in the 3rd Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment -- a segregated unit more commonly referred to as the Buffalo Soldiers. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI |
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Nov. 14 (UPI) -- The Army on Monday overturned the convictions of 110 Black soldiers court-martialed for their involvement in the 1917 Houston riots, which erupted against the backdrop of Jim Crow racial tensions in the United States during World War I.
Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth granted clemency after receiving a recommendation from the Army Board for Correction of Military Records to set aside the convictions of Black troops who served in the 3rd Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment -- a segregated unit more commonly referred to as the Buffalo Soldiers.
Those convicted will have their military records amended to accurately reflect their service as honorable, according to a statement from the Army Public Affairs office, which included comments from several armed forces commanders who described the case as a gross miscarriage of justice.
"After a thorough review, the board has found that these soldiers were wrongly treated because of their race and were not given fair trials," Wormuth said, hailing the military's decision to expunge the records. "By setting aside their convictions and granting honorable discharges, the Army is acknowledging past mistakes and setting the record straight."
The commutations come more than a century after a pair of Black soldiers were brutally beaten and thrown in jail following a minor encounter with local police, setting off the deadly riot in communities already on edge due to prevailing racial hostilities of the era.
The riot on Aug. 23, 1917, came after months of provocations by law enforcement authorities who had set their sites on members of the 24th long before the violent arrests, which led 110 Buffalo Soldiers to seize their weapons and march toward the city, sparking clashes that resulted in 19 fatalities.
The Army subsequently convicted the soldiers, but there was little if any due process as several historians have noted numerous irregularities in the legal proceedings.
The trial resulted in the largest mass execution of American soldiers by the U.S. Army as 19 Black troops were ultimately put to death, while some met their fate within a day of sentencing.
In 2020 and 2021, the Army received two petitions from retired Army brass requesting clemency for all 110 soldiers, after which the South Texas College of Law urged the Army to review the court-martial that led to the convictions.
"As a Texas native, I was grateful to participate in this process early in my tenure at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio," said Gabe Camarillo, who serves as under secretary of the Army. "I am proud that the Army has now formally restored honor to Soldiers of the 3-24 and their families."
