Army revokes convictions of 110 black soldiers charged in 1917 riot

On December 11, 1917, Pfc. Thomas C. Hawkins and twelve other black soldiers convicted of mutiny and other crimes during a riot in Houston earlier that year were hanged. It was the largest mass execution of American soldiers by the military.

On Monday, more than a century later, the military said it had formally overturned their convictions, as well as those of 97 other black soldiers found guilty of crimes related to the riot. The army acknowledged that the 110 soldiers, 19 of whom were executed, had been convicted in military trials tainted by racial discrimination.

The soldiers were members of the 3rd Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, an all-black unit known as the Buffalo Soldiers. The military said their records would be corrected to the extent possible to characterize their military service as “honorable.” They will receive appropriate headstones in recognition of their military service, and their descendants will be eligible for benefits, officials said.

At a ceremony to mark the decision, Private Hawkins’ nephew, Jason Holt, read out the names of the first thirteen soldiers to be executed, in the order in which they stood on the gallows. Mr. Holt has preserved a letter that Private Hawkins wrote to his parents just before he was hanged, proclaiming his innocence but saying, “It is God’s will that I go now and in this way.”

“How can a life be replaced?” Mr. Holt said in an interview after the ceremony, which was held at the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum in Houston. “What will a mother feel when she loses a child? How can you bring that back?”

Still, he said his uncle “died with forgiveness in his heart, and the recognition that this was a miscarriage of justice and that he was given an honorable discharge is as close to justice as we can get.” And I hope his soul is at peace.”

The military took action after receiving a petition asking for clemency for the soldiers, written by John Haymond, a historian, and Dru Brenner-Beck, a lawyer. They had cited trial transcripts and other documents to show that the soldiers had been denied due process and other basic rights.

“It will take a long time, but it is finally justice,” Mr Haymond said on Monday, adding: “This is not a political action. This is the Army internally solving a problem that was also the Army’s problem 106 years ago.”

The soldiers had been assigned to monitor the construction of a training camp for white soldiers in Houston. White residents greeted them with racial slurs and physical violence.

After two black soldiers were attacked and violently arrested, a group of more than a hundred black soldiers, hearing rumors of additional threats, grabbed weapons and marched into Houston, where clashes broke out on August 23, 1917, Army officials said.

The violence lasted more than two hours and left 19 people dead — including white police officers, soldiers and civilians and four black soldiers, according to historical records.

The army convicted 110 black soldiers of murder, mutiny and other crimes. But their trials were unjust, the military now acknowledges. The soldiers were represented by one officer who had some legal training but was not a lawyer, said Gabe Camarillo, the undersecretary of the Army.

After 29 days of hearing, a military court deliberated for just two days before sentencing the first 58 soldiers, Mr. Camarillo said.

Less than 24 hours later, the first 13 soldiers were hanged, Mr. Camarillo said. The rapid executions led to an immediate change in regulations that prohibited future executions without review by the War Department and the President.

But by September 1918, another 52 soldiers had been convicted and another six executed, Mr. Camarillo said.

Christine E. Wormuth, the secretary of the Army, said a statement on Monday, the Army Board for Correction of Military Records announced that “these soldiers were mistreated and denied a fair trial because of their race.”

“By setting aside their convictions and granting them an honorable discharge, the military is acknowledging past mistakes and setting the record straight,” she said.

During Monday’s ceremony, the soldiers’ names were read aloud as a white-gloved soldier rang a bell for everyone. After a moment of silence, a staff sergeant sang “Amazing Grace.”

Mr. Holt called it “a day of reconciliation for the Jim Crow-era South and of legalized segregation.”

Mr. Camarillo said the decision to set aside the convictions, which was previously reported The Houston Chronicle“formally restored honor” to the soldiers.

Others said the decision, while welcome, brought back difficult memories.

Angela Holder was six years old when she was shown a photo of her great-uncle, Cpl. Jesse Moore, one of the thirteen soldiers hanged in 1917. She asked her great-aunt about him and was told he had been “killed by the military in Houston.” Mrs. Holder wanted to know more.

She later looked into his case and obtained a copy of Corporal Moore’s file, which stated that his service was “terminated by a death without honor.”

Now that record is “no more,” she said in a telephone interview Monday, and Corporal Moore’s record will show that he “served honorably.”

“Justice has been done,” she said, adding, “Words cannot express the joy that these words will disappear from that former record.”