organizations had been recruited up to war strength there
were between 12,000 and 14,000 colored men representing the National
Guard of the country. With a population of 12,000,000 Negroes to draw
from; the majority of those suitable for military service anxious to
enlist, it readily can be seen what a force could have been added to
this branch of the service had there been any encouragement of it. There
was not lacking a great number of the race, many of them college
graduates, competent to act as officers of National Guard units. Many of
those commissioned during the Spanish-American war had the experience
and age to fit them for senior regimental commands. The 8th Illinois was
commanded by Colonel Franklin A. Denison, a prominent colored attorney
of Chicago and a seasoned military man. He was the only colored man of
the rank of Colonel who was permitted to go to France in the combatant
or any other branch of the service. After a brief period in the earlier
campaigns he was invalided home very much against his will.

The 15th New York was commanded by Colonel William Hayward, a white man.
He was devoted to his black soldiers and they were very fond of him.
Officers immediately subordinate to him were white men. The District of
Columbia battalion might have retained its colored commander, Major
James E. Walker, as he was a fine soldierly figure and possessed of the
requisite ability, but he was removed by death while his unit was still
training near Washington. Some of the Negro officers of National Guard
organizations retained their commands, but the majority were superseded
or transferred before sailing or soon after arrival in France.

The 369th, the 370th and the 372nd infantry regiments in the United
States army, mentioned as having been formed from the colored National
Guard units, became a part of the 93rd division. Another regiment, the
371st, formed from the draft forces was also part of the same division.
This division was brigaded with the French from the start and saw
service through the war alongside the French poilus with whom they
became great friends. There grew up a spirit of which, side by side,
they faced and smashed the savage Hun, never wavered or changed. Besides
the soldiers from Illinois, New York, Ohio, District of Columbia,
Connecticut, Maryland and Tennessee, there were Negro contingents from
Mississippi and South Carolina in the 93rd division. One of the
regiments of this division, the 369t