93rd Division, American Expeditionary Force
Organized at Camp Jackson, South Carolina, the 371st fought under French command in the 1918 Champagne offensive and returned home decorated with the French Croix de Guerre.
Start here
The answer
The French Army.
French rifles. French helmets. French command. The regiment was attached to the French 157th "Red Hand" Division under General Mariano Goybet, and fought there while the American Expeditionary Force declined to brigade Black regiments with white American units.
Sources: Emmett J. Scott, Scott's Official History of the American Negro in the World War (1919), ch. XVI, p. 232; 371st Infantry Regiment WWI Memorial Monument Association (371stmonument.org)
Why a French division
The 93rd Division (Provisional) that the regiment had been assigned to was never fully organized: its headquarters was demobilized in May 1918, and its regiments were loaned to the French, who needed infantry.
Source: Emmett J. Scott, Scott's Official History of the American Negro in the World War (1919), ch. XVI, p. 232
Sgt. Perry Loyd served in this regiment. Wounded in action on September 29, 1918, he survived; his Purple Heart was presented on October 13, 2018, 100 years later.
Seven stops, from Camp Jackson to France and home again. Choose a numbered stop on the map, or step through them in order.
Schematic, not to scale.
Stop 1 of 7: August 31, 1917
Camp Jackson, Columbia, South Carolina
The regiment was organized on August 31, 1917, at Camp Jackson, South Carolina, initially as the 1st Provisional Infantry Regiment. On December 1, 1917, it was redesignated the 371st Infantry Regiment and assigned to the 93rd Division (Provisional).
Stop 1 of 7: Organized at Camp Jackson
Côte 188, known in English as Hill 188, is a German-fortified height in the commune of Ardeuil-et-Montfauxelles, in the Champagne region of France. A monument to the 371st Infantry Regiment stands there today. Cpl. Freddie Stowers' Medal of Honor citation places the action in the "Champagne Marne Sector"; this page follows that language: Hill 188, in the Champagne sector, during the Allied offensive of late September 1918.
Four errors that circulate
Each card carries a claim you can find in print or online. Check it against the record and the source behind it.
The record
Loyd. One L.
The U.S. Army, Sen. Tim Scott’s office, and the World War I Centennial Commission all spell it Loyd; the Army’s own article on his Purple Heart is the source linked below. This site uses Loyd everywhere.
The record
He was wounded on September 29, 1918, and survived.
Sgt. Loyd returned to Sumter County, farmed, married Rebecca Howard, and died in 1946. The soldier killed leading the assault on Hill 188 on September 28 was Cpl. Freddie Stowers, of the same regiment.
The record
Scott’s word is losses. He never divided the figure.
Emmett J. Scott’s 1919 official history records 1,065 losses out of 2,384 actually engaged between September 28 and October 6, 1918, mostly in the first three days. He does not separate killed, wounded, missing, or captured, and neither does this site.
The record
April 24, 1991, from President George H. W. Bush.
The Medal of Honor was presented at the White House on April 24, 1991, and accepted by Stowers’ sisters, Georgiana Palmer and Mary Bowens, 73 years after his death. He was the first African American awarded the Medal of Honor for World War I service.
September 28 to October 6, 1918
Each mark below is one soldier of the 371st that Emmett J. Scott counted as actually engaged in the Champagne offensive. The lighter marks are the losses he recorded.
A field of 2,384 small marks, one for each soldier of the 371st actually engaged between September 28 and October 6, 1918, as counted in Emmett J. Scott's 1919 official history. 1,065 of the marks are drawn in a lighter tone for the losses Scott recorded. He never divided that figure by kind.
The record
One figure. He never divided it.
Emmett J. Scott's 1919 official history records that during the fighting between September 28 and October 6, 1918, the regiment's losses, mostly sustained in the first three days, totaled 1,065 out of 2,384 actually engaged. Scott does not divide this figure into killed, wounded, missing, or captured, and this page does not either.
2,384
soldiers of the 371st actually engaged, September 28 to October 6, 1918
Source: Emmett J. Scott's official history, 1919
1,065
losses recorded by Emmett J. Scott, one figure he never broke down by kind
Source: Emmett J. Scott's official history, 1919
73years
from Cpl. Freddie Stowers' death on Hill 188 to his Medal of Honor
Source: Public Papers of the Presidents, George H. W. Bush, 1991
On the first day, September 28, Cpl. Freddie Stowers of Company C led the assault on Hill 188.
Company C, 371st Infantry
No known photograph
No photograph of Cpl. Freddie Stowers is known to exist.
Cpl. Freddie Stowers served in Company C, 1st Battalion, 371st Infantry. He was born January 12, 1896, in Sandy Springs, Anderson County, South Carolina, worked as a farm hand, was drafted in October 1917, trained at Camp Jackson, and was promoted to corporal in May 1918.
September 28, 1918
Cpl. Stowers was killed in action on September 28, 1918, at age 22, leading the assault on Hill 188. The Germans feigned surrender and then opened machine-gun and mortar fire, causing well over 50 percent casualties in his company. Stowers took command, destroyed a machine-gun nest, and was mortally wounded while advancing on a second trench line.
Cpl. Stowers is buried at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, France, Plot F, Row 36, Grave 40.
April 24, 1991
Cpl. Stowers was posthumously presented the Medal of Honor on April 24, 1991, by President George H. W. Bush at the White House. His sisters, Georgiana Palmer and Mary Bowens, accepted it on his behalf. He was the first African American awarded the Medal of Honor for World War I service, 73 years after his death.
Stowers' recommendation for the Medal of Honor was lost, or never acted on, and resurfaced during a late-1980s Army review into why no African American had received the Medal of Honor for service in either World War.
The full record
Every beat above is drawn from these entries, each with its own source. Expand for the full dated record, or go straight to the sources at the end of the page.
August 31, 1917
The regiment was organized on August 31, 1917, at Camp Jackson, South Carolina, initially as the 1st Provisional Infantry Regiment. On December 1, 1917, it was redesignated the 371st Infantry Regiment and assigned to the 93rd Division (Provisional).
The regiment was composed of African American draftees, predominantly South Carolinians, with smaller numbers from Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. It was commanded by white officers, mainly Southern.
April 1918
The regiment arrived in France in April 1918 and was attached to the French 157th Infantry Division, the "Red Hand" division, under General Mariano Goybet. The 93rd Division (Provisional) that the regiment had been assigned to was never fully organized: its headquarters was demobilized in May 1918, and its regiments were loaned to the French, who needed infantry, while the American Expeditionary Force declined to brigade Black regiments with white American units. The 371st fought under French command, using French weapons, helmets, and equipment. It never fought as part of the 93rd Division.
June 12, 1918
The 371st Infantry Regiment WWI Memorial Monument Association dates the regiment's entry into the line to June 12, 1918, holding the Avocourt and later the Verrières subsectors northwest of Verdun for more than three months.
September 28 to October 6, 1918
In the Champagne offensive of September 28 to October 6, 1918, the 371st captured Côte 188 (Hill 188), Bussy Ferme, Ardeuil, Montfauxelles, and Trières Ferme near Monthois. The regiment took 47 machine guns, 8 trench engines, three 77mm field pieces, a munitions depot, and railroad cars, and brought down three German aircraft by rifle and machine-gun fire.
Emmett J. Scott's 1919 official history records that during the fighting between September 28 and October 6, 1918, the regiment's losses, mostly sustained in the first three days, totaled 1,065 out of 2,384 actually engaged. Scott does not divide this figure into killed, wounded, missing, or captured, and this page does not either.
Scott also wrote that the 371st "was the apex of the attacking salient in this great battle," the line that gave Perry James's SGT. RAWHIDE its subtitle.
February 28, 1919
The regiment was demobilized on February 28, 1919, at Camp Jackson, Columbia, South Carolina, having returned to the United States aboard USS Leviathan. A community reception was held in the regiment's honor at Allen University in Columbia in late February 1919.
Croix de Guerre awarded to members of the regiment: 41 officers and 110 enlisted men (151 in total), per the 371st Infantry Regiment WWI Memorial Monument Association.
Distinguished Service Cross awarded to members of the regiment: 14 officers and 12 enlisted men (26 in total), per the 371st Infantry Regiment WWI Memorial Monument Association.
January 27, 1919
The entire regiment received the French Croix de Guerre with Palm, per the 371st Infantry Regiment WWI Memorial Monument Association. Scott's own 1919 history records that the regiment "was awarded the Army citation," the French Army-level citation that carries the Croix de Guerre with Palm device, and that French Vice-Admiral Moreau decorated its colors at Brest on January 27, 1919, along with 146 individual citations. Scott's own text does not use the phrase "Croix de Guerre with Palm."
A short quiz
Eight questions about a regiment whose story is still mostly untold. Every answer comes with a reveal, a plain explanation, and its source, and three of them correct errors that circulate online.
One soldier of the 371st, Sergeant Perry Loyd, has his own story told in full.
Story progress: 2 of 5, The Regiment
Continue the story
You have read the record. Now see the faces, the uniforms, and the memorials.
