On August 23, 1917, a mutiny and riot erupted in Houston, Texas, involving 156 soldiers from the all-black 24th Infantry Regiment of the United States Army. The incident occurred within a climate of overt racist hostility from members of the all-white Houston Police Department against the local black community and black soldiers stationed at Camp Logan. The immediate catalyst involved police officers arresting and assaulting black soldiers, which prompted many of their comrades to mutiny and march into Houston.
Following the incident with police, the mutinying soldiers opened fire in Houston, killing eleven civilians and five policemen. The soldiers themselves suffered five deaths, with four killed by friendly fire and one by suicide. The riot represented a violent eruption of tensions that had been building between the black military contingent and the white civilian and law enforcement community in Houston.
The aftermath was significant in both military and social terms. In accordance with the military laws of the time, 118 soldiers were tried in three courts-martial, which was the largest murder trial in US history. Of those tried, 110 were convicted, with 19 executed and 63 sentenced to life imprisonment. According to historian Gregg Andrews, writing in 2011, the riot "shook race relations in the city and created conditions that helped to spark a statewide surge of wartime racial activism." The incident's long-term significance was recognized in November 2023, when the Army set aside all 110 convictions, acknowledging the injustice of the original proceedings.
11 civilians killed; 5 policemen killed; 5 soldiers killed (4 to friendly fire, 1 to suicide)
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