Captain George T. Desloge, a
native of St. Louis, MO, was born November 5, 1880 into a very prominent
family. He served in the Missouri National Guard and was a veteran of both the Spanish American War and World War
I. In Reminiscences of George T. Desloge, a two volume
book that spans most of his life, Desloge described his experiences as an Infantry Officer in the United States Army during World War I. Recently, project staff digitized volume II. This volume provides very detailed information on Desloge’s experiences as an Instructor at two Officer Training Camps, a Judge Advocate and Company Commander. The details that Desloge provides on the day-to-day life of soldiers, the internal conflicts and politics are invaluable. However, what makes the book unique are the details that he provides on his experiences as a Commander of
Company B, 810th Pioneer Infantry (colored). He provides a window into the lives of
African American soldiers as they prepared for the War in Europe.
Below are a few excerpts from volume II. The entire volume will be available on our website later this year.
Instructor, Officers
Training Camp, Fort Riley, Kansas
In this excerpt, Desloge discussed the United States' entry into the war and his experiences as an instructor at the Officers Training Camp at Ft. Riley, KS where many of his students were from St. Louis:
[page 11]...On April
3, 1917, the United States declared war against the “Central Powers”, Germany,
Austria, and Bulgaria. Having already a
reserve commission I naturally thought I would get some sort of orders at once,
but nothing came, of any kind, until I received a letter, dated April 18
[1917], from Headquarters Central Dept., at Chicago, stating that training
camps for reserve officers and candidates for reserve commissions, to last
three months but date of commencement not stated, to be held at Ft. Benjamin
Harrison [Indiana], Ft. Sheridan [Illinois], Ft. Snelling [Minnesota], and Ft.
Riley [Kansas], and I was asked to reply by indorsement whether I would attend,
and, if so, to which camp I wished to be sent.
I returned my acceptance and asked to be sent to Ft. Riley Kansas. Again I awaited impatiently, with no
information obtainable even from the newspapers. Finally I received an order (
S.O. No. 74, Central Dept., U.S. Army, Chicago [Illinois] dated May 7, 1917),
ordering me to report at Fort Riley, Kansas, on May 7,1917, for active
duty, which meant with the pay and allowances of my rank of Capt., Infantry
O.R.C.
I at once began to
prepare, bought an army trunk, had my old National Guard uniform pressed and
cleaned, and got ready to leave.........
[page 12] In the meantime preparations were being made to open the First officers Training Camp at Ft. Riley, to be called the “14th Provisional Training Regiment”, and to organize it as a school, and those reserve officers who had reported, and some Regular officers, were put to work sending out postal cards to candidates who had been accepted for the first school to report. At the end of that week received a post order assigning me as an “assistant instructor” in the 7th Company, the commanding officer of that company to be Capt. Berkley T. Merchant, lately a Lieutenant in the 13th Cavalry with Buster. At first Buster, who had been assigned to command the 5th company, suggested that I live at his house, but we soon found out that the assistant instructors had to live in the barracks with the companies, and later instructions came form Washington that reserve officers in spite of their previous orders were to be considered on probation, practically as candidates, but we still received the pay of our rank....The 7th Co. was quartered in a barracks on what was then called the “Artillery Parade”, the Cavalry parade being in the older part of the post....
[page 12] In the meantime preparations were being made to open the First officers Training Camp at Ft. Riley, to be called the “14th Provisional Training Regiment”, and to organize it as a school, and those reserve officers who had reported, and some Regular officers, were put to work sending out postal cards to candidates who had been accepted for the first school to report. At the end of that week received a post order assigning me as an “assistant instructor” in the 7th Company, the commanding officer of that company to be Capt. Berkley T. Merchant, lately a Lieutenant in the 13th Cavalry with Buster. At first Buster, who had been assigned to command the 5th company, suggested that I live at his house, but we soon found out that the assistant instructors had to live in the barracks with the companies, and later instructions came form Washington that reserve officers in spite of their previous orders were to be considered on probation, practically as candidates, but we still received the pay of our rank....The 7th Co. was quartered in a barracks on what was then called the “Artillery Parade”, the Cavalry parade being in the older part of the post....
Being
the senior reserve officer I had a private room on the second floor and
commanded the company at all formations when Capt. Merchant was absent. Most of the students in the Ft. Riley unit of the First Officers Training Camp were students just graduating
that year from college or recent graduates.
When I was an instructor in the 2nd Officers Training Camp an
effort had been made to get older men who could step into commissions as
captains of companies with some age and experience behind them, but at this
time they had had the idea that all were to be given commissions as 2nd lieutenants as a starter....Capt. Merchant disliked conducting classes indoors and left all that to me at first, although Capt. Van Cise later took some of the classes. I have had rather a grudge against Merchant since on account of it, particularly, when, at the end of that camp he had Van Cise and I assisting him in making recommendations for commissions and had been instructed to recommend two officers for the grade of major, he refused to recommend me and Van Cise for promotion merely because he was only a Captain himself at the time, and only lately promoted from 1st Lt., and evaded the issue. I do not have any of the old school programs but as I remember it the company had drill at 7AM for two hours, then a study period, (they had to sit on their) bunks because there was no other room or seats to sit on), then school on benches in a room in the basement, dinner, more school, more drill, supper, then study on their bunks again, then to bed. These schools are very trying, not alone on account of the long hours, but also [page 13] because the students feel that they are always under supervision for weaknesses, they are in deadly competition with all the rest of the company not only for a commission but even to prevent being eliminated and sent home, and consequently all are keyed up to nervous tension that is very trying. It was also very trying on the instructors. In addition to every thing else, the temperature on those Kansas Plains averaged over 100 degrees day and night. Personally I went down to 117 pounds, stripped, and had to be passed on by a special medical board who approved me in spite of my being so far under weight.....
Commander, Casual Camp No. 1
In August of 1917, at the end of his course at Fort Riley, Desloge received orders to instruct officers at Ft. Sheridan, IL. At the end of that course, in December 1918, he was assigned to Camp Hancock, GA. Desloge and several other instructors were sent to help setup and Command the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Motor Mechanics Regiments, Signal Corps. In March 1918, the whole Motor Mechanics camp was relocated to Camp Greene, N.C. in preparation for deployment to France. Unfortunately, the Signal Corps units deployed but left Desloge and the other Infantry Officers behind per orders from Washington. In the excerpt below, Desloge explained what happened next:
[page 21]....When we
were sent to Casual Camp No. 1 there was now a total of about 20 Infantry
officers there, and I happened to be the senior in date of commission although
most of them were captains. Under an
article in the Articles of War and officer ordered to any unit who was senior
to the officer then in command of that unit could assume command of the unit. A
Capt. Bernard Gleason, one of the number of us originally from Ft. Sheridan
[Illinois]. persuaded me to issue a general order for our camp by which I
assumed command of Casual Camp No. 1, and appointed [page 22] Capt. Gleason as my Adjutant,
displacing the then casual camp commander and his adjutant. If I had first consulted Col. Kennon, the
Camp commander it might have been alright, but I did not do so and merely took
advantage of my military-law rights and assumed command. Col. Kennon I learned
later had previously been a Brigadier General but demoted for some inefficiency at
some other camp. Now as I said before
there were very few men left in the camp to do the necessary work in even policing
the camp and keeping it in good order, the few men available for military duty
we had to arm with borrowed rifles, (none of the units left being armed),in
order to furnish armed guards for the prison stockade and the quartermaster and
ordnance warehouses, etc. and even they
had to go on guard almost every other day, which was also against regulations,
that is putting men on 24 hour guard at such short intervals. In consequence not only was our own casual
camp swamped in trying to keep up with this work, in addition to all the clerks
we had to put to doing paper work, but the whole camp began to get dirty and
look bad and some inspectors were undoubtedly “riding”Col. Kennon about it, but
in the meantime no new troops were sent
to the camp until the next draft began about [September] 1st [1918]. In order to clear himself Col. Kennon blamed
it on me and ordered me before a board of inquiry. The board met and took
testimony, and I made my defense, having had Capt. Julius F. Bacon of South
Dakota, a lawyer and one of my subordinates in my own casual camp, as my
counsel. The board made a finding in my
favor and the whole proceeding was afterward quashed, but in the meantime Col.
Kennon had gone to New York and there committed suicide in a hotel,
after being relieved of command.
In the meantime however Col. Kennon, in order to relieve me of command had issued an order attaching me to the 2nd Battalion over the guard duty, and I served with this outfit for about five days and then was attached to the 810th Pioneer Infantry just being organized. This was a new colored regiment and at this time had only two companies, Companies A and B, and I took over Co. B, and about a week later left for home on a 30 day leave, which was readily granted by my new regimental commander, Col. Kent, who was also temporarily camp commander,and who as president of the board of inquiry knew what a strenuous time I had just been through.
In the meantime however Col. Kennon, in order to relieve me of command had issued an order attaching me to the 2nd Battalion over the guard duty, and I served with this outfit for about five days and then was attached to the 810th Pioneer Infantry just being organized. This was a new colored regiment and at this time had only two companies, Companies A and B, and I took over Co. B, and about a week later left for home on a 30 day leave, which was readily granted by my new regimental commander, Col. Kent, who was also temporarily camp commander,and who as president of the board of inquiry knew what a strenuous time I had just been through.
Commander, 810th Pioneer Infantry (colored)
In October, 1918, Desloge took command of Co. B, 810th Pioneer Infantry (colored). In the excerpt below, he described his experiences as commander of these soldiers, who after much preparation did not make it overseas:
[page 23] ....Shortly
after I returned to take over command of Co. B again, all of the companies were
filled up to over-flowing, I had for some time 320 black men, with the newly
drafted negroes, amd we were told that we could weed out as many as we wanted
until we had the then allowed company strength of 250 men per company, and the
rejected ones would be sent back to the labor battalions, and even then if we did not like what we had left
they would send us more men on trial.
Consequently we were able to pick the brightest and best men, though all
were so proud of being in a real Infantry company and carrying a rifle that we
merely had to threaten them with “labor battalions” and they would all work
harder than ever. It was to me a
pleasure to serve with this regiment of negroes, they were so anxious to learn
and to please their officers, and they would even drill themselves on their own
free time they were so enthusiastic.
Most of the men I got were small tenant farmers or else plain,
plantation laborers, and when they came to us many were crying with homesickness,
but they soon began to enjoy the life and were very proud of their uniforms and
their regiment. Many had never worn underclothes before and have never seen a
shower bath, but soon all were bathing everyday, were having their uniforms
fitted by tailors, and were looking like black dudes. We were at that time drilling eight hours a
day on a forced training schedule and we soon had them in a state where it was
acknowledged that we had the best appearing regiment, so far as drill was
concerned, that had been in Camp Greene, even including the
Regulars of the 4th Division.
However the prejudice against negroes in Charlotte was
so strong that on one occasion when we gave a parade of the regiment in that
city all the white people stayed off the street until it was over.
At that time infantry
companies were formed into four platoons, each commanded by a lieutenant, and
with at one time over three hundred men a company looked like a battalion
compared to the peace strength companies we see now, and standing at one end of
the company and facing down it made it seem interminable almost, and the
company streets of tents facing inwards from each side,with eight [page 24] men
to a tent, made the street seem very long, and a regiment of over thirty five
hundred men in one regimental tent camp looked like, and had the population of,
a small city.
As I said before I
liked serving with the negroes; each
officer had a personal orderly who did nothing but look after him, and the
orderlies liked their jobs and their officers, and not only because it took them out of other work; the men were
always singing and joking and there was always something funny happening....
[page 25] ...There was
lots of criticism of the colored soldiers who saw front line service in the
war, that they were unreliable and often cowardly especially where they had
colored officers, but I have always felt differently about this company and
regiment, and I felt that they would have willingly followed their white
officers under fire. This was a pioneer
regiment, which meant that they would have to do much front line trench digging
and road repairing under artillery fire and probably machine-gun fire in or
near the frontlines, much as the European system of pioneer troops which were
much like our combat engineers, but it was also an infantry regiment and able
to function as such. ......Finally on
November 11th [1918], just as our men were all about fully recovered
from the effects of the “flu” and we were expecting orders any minute to get
ready to start to France we received
word early in the morning that an armistice had been declared and the war was
over. My first reaction was, I must
confess, one of disappointment as I felt that the war was quitting on me before
I actually saw any of it, but that gave away to expectation of again being reunited to my family. One of our
officers who lived down in the city of Charlotte [North Carolina] said the news of the Armistice came as he was
leaving Charlotte [North Carolina] to report to camp before breakfast and he
described the joy of the citizens as they poured into the streets, but the
loudest expressions of joy seemed to come from the young men who had already
been notified they were liable to be called in the next draft. In a few days orders came from Washington
[District of Columbia] to get ready for demobilization of the regiment, and
plans were begun toward that end...
At the end of the war, Desloge returned to St. Louis where he practiced law. He later joined the Navy and at his death on April 12, 1943, held a Lieutenant Commander's commission and was on inactive duty.
Sources:
George T. Desloge, Reminiscences , 1880-1935, Missouri History Museum, St. Louis, Missouri
"George T. Desloge Collapses and Dies" Necrology Scrapbooks, Volume 22, Missouri History Museum, St. Louis, Missouri
