Colored Troops in the Army

Colonel H. L. Scott, superintendent of the United States Military Academy, voices his support for the black soldiers that were discredited in the Brownsville Affair, and has only “words of praise and appreciation for the colored cavalry.”

The well planned attempt to discredit colored men as soldiers in the United States Army has ignominiously failed despite the active support it received at the hands of the President Theodore Roosevelt and the War Department. The denial to the members of Companies B C and D of that even-handed justice so often spoken in song and story will prove to be the darkest blot upon the escutcheon of the present administration. But some way and somehow colored men ultimately come to the front, demonstrating to the country and the world at large that they possess those qualities which make a people truly great. We are almost ready to assert that it is indeed God’s hand and that there is a great underlying purpose in all of this. How else can we explain the following telegraphic report? “Washington, D.C., Dec. 4. - What ever may be the attitude toward the Negro troops in the United States Army, West Point has only words of praise and appreciation for the colored cavalry detachment stationed at the United States Military Academy. Colonel H. L. Scott, superintendent of the Academy, voices this attitude in his annual report to the Secretary of War, made public today. “The cavalry detachment (colored) has continued its excellent showing, and has demonstrated still furthered the advantages of colored over white men for this duty,’ says Col. Scott. There is a waiting list now, and only experienced men having former service and very good, excellent records are accepted. Commendation from this quarter is of the greatest value at this time. Col. H.L. Scott is a disciplinarian of the most improved type and when he goes so far as to pay a compliment of this character to the colored soldiers, it will do more than anything else towards correcting the wrong impression concerning them. This is not all. Adjutant F.C. Ainsworth, U.S.A. is his annual report to the Secretary of War testifies to the fact that the colored soldiers, as a rule do not desert. The report says: “General Ainsworth points out the significant fact that of the white troops 4.75 percent were reported as deserters, while only .57 percent of the colored troops in the service deserted.” This then is testimony from unwilling lips, but it is written in plain letter and it should form the basis of action in restoring to all of their rights and privileges, the 167 colored soldiers, who have been so ignominiously treated at the hands of the officials of the government. We shall watch the developments and we hope that there is enough of the spirit of fair play left to guarantee justice when the subject is again discussed in the United States Senate.

“Colored Troops in the Army,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed February 11, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/786.