By: Mark Holtsberry
369th “Harlem Hell Fighters”
I know this is not a Paulding County unit, but this unit caught my attention. This World War 1 unit was originally the 15th New York (Colored) Infantry Regiment, a National Guard unit. June 2, 1913, a bill authorizing an all black National Guard regiment finally passed the New York State Legislature, and Governor William Sulzer signed it into law.
This unit existed in name only until June of 1916, when Governor Charles Whitman appointed his former campaign manager, William Hayward, to serve as the units Commanding Officer. Hayward had been a Colonel in the Nebraska National Guard. Haywood thought that incorporating a black into the officer ranks would boost recruitment. This plan did not work. The goal of several thousand men was hard to get.
By summer’s end of 1916, only a fraction of that number had enlisted. But the change of music from ragtime to jazz, started to peak an interest in the formation of the 369th Regimental Band. Haywood raised over $10,000.00 to fund the band.
On April 1917 the United States declared war on Germany. May 1917, the 15th New York reported to Camp Peekskill, New York for rifle training. July 1917, the 15th was officially mustered into service and set up camp at Poughkeepsie, New York. The unit, as a whole, knew that they would be kept separate from the rest of the units. Case in point, more than two dozen States National Guard units marched down Fifth Avenue in New York in a farewell parade. This units were given the name, “Rainbow Division”. The 15th were told they could not march as, “black was not a color of the rainbow”. As the 15th was sent to Camp Wadsworth in Spartanburg, South Carolina, harassment and verbal abuse became a matter of routine. Haywood made a direct plea to Washington D.C. to send the 15th to France. The 15th was sent to Saint Nazaire, France, December 1917, 100 miles from the front. They were used for engineering projects,( digging dirt, stacking supplies, camp duties). Haywood appealed to General John J. Pershing for the 15th for reassignment to combat duty.
By 1917, Britain and France were being pushed to the brink, General Pershing finally allowed the 15th, which was redesigned to the 369th and attached to the 16th Division of the 4th army under Henri Gouraud. As the French had already intergraded black colonial troops into their army for decades. The 369th found acceptance in the French Army. The 369th was ordered to the front in the Champagne region, on the western edge of the Argonne Forest. From April 1918, the 369th spent 191 days in combat, a longer span than any other U.S. unit. It was the German’s who named the unit “Hellfighters”. July to October 1918, the 369th suffered murderous casualties from Germany artillery fire. The 369th was assigned to the French 161st Division and participated in the Muese-Argonne offensive. On October 1918, the French 161st Division, battered and mauled, were relieved and withdrawn to the rear. After November 11, 1918, the 369th transitioned to occupation duty. Hayword would personally lead the first unit to the Rhine River. The unit was ordered to march west and board trains for Brest. This order took more than a month to reach the coast, they marched over 100 miles!
By February 1, 1919, the 369th were on their way back to the United States. February 17, 1919, the 369th paraded up Fifth Avenue, displaying its decorated regimental colors to a crowd of hundreds of thousands. And the band leading the way. The band will be credited with introducing jazz to Europe. The unit was officially demobilized on February 28, 1919.
…Until Next Time
