Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 November 1908 — UNCLE SAM'S NEGRO OFFICERS. [ARTICLE]

UNCLE SAM'S NEGRO OFFICERS.

Eight Now Hold Army Commission* ■ Coms From the Ranks. Uncle Bam haa on his long payroll eight negro commissioned officers of the army, three of these ,being officers, while the others are chaplains and a paymaster. By the Army Organization act of July 28, 1866, there were designated four regiments of negroes. These organizations are now the Ninth and Tenth regiments of cavalry and tne Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth regiments of infantry, and since their formation these negro regiments have had asigned to them negro chaplains. Probably the best known of all the negro chaplains is Allen Allensworth. Chaplain Allensworth has seen much active duty, and his service with tne “Fighting Twenty-fourth,” which did good work in .Cuba, has been continuous since his entry into the army on April 1, 1886. Next to him as to age and service is Theophilus G. Steward, who was appointed on July 20, 1891, from the District of Columbia and assigned to that other fighting infantry regiment, the “Brunette Twenty-fifth.” His service has also been continuous with the regiment to which he was- first assigned. The present chaplain of the Ninth Cavalry is George Washington Prloleau, a native of South Carolina but appointed from Ohio. All of his service has been with the Ninth Cavalry, now stationed at Jefferson Barracks Missouri. He has fourteen years of service before him. The la st of these chaplains is William T. AndersOn, now with his regiment, the Tenth Cavalry, ‘which nas > A&t? Mrrtoe is Cuba aadtte P&i(ipplnes. The last of the negro staff officers of the army is John R. Lynch of the pay department, who entered the service in June, 1898, as an additional paymaster of volunteers, with the rank of Major, which position he held for three years, until honorably discharged in May, 1901, when he was appointed to the permanent establlt iment as paymaster with the rank of Captain. The only negro officer of the army who is a West Pointer is Charles Young, at present on duty as Military Attache at Port au Prince, Hayti. Capt. Young entered the Military Academy in 1884, and was not graduated unil 1889, when he was commissioncl an additional Second Lieutenant a id assigned to the Tenth Cavalry, where he remained only about one month, when he was transferred to the Twenty-fifth Infantry as a Second Lieutenant. In this regiment he remained only twenty-seven days, when he was again transferred to the Ninth Cavalry, where he remained until promoted to be First Lieutenant, on December 22, 1896, when he was assigned to the Seventh Cavalry, a white regiment. He remained with this regiment for about ten months, until he made a transfer back to his old love, the Ninth Cavalry. He was promoted a Captain 1n February, 1901, and eighty-eight Captains will have to move out of tne way before he becomes a field officer with the rank of Major. There are two negro officers who ,have won their spurs by coming up from the line by competitive examination. They are Lieut. Benjamin U. Davis of the Tenth Cavalry, now on duty as military instructor at Wilberforce University, at Wilberforce, Ohio and Lieut. John E. Green, Twentyfifth Infantry, now serving with Company H at Fort Bliss, Texas.