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On December 11, 1917, an army trial led to the hanging of 19 Black soldiers, which is considered to be “the single largest mass execution of American soldiers by the Army.”
In 1917 in Houston, where the all-Black 24th Infantry Regiment was stationed, 110 soldiers were convicted following a race riot; 19 were sentenced to death and hanged. More than a century later, the Army has moved to make amends.
More than 100 years after they were convicted of mutiny and murder and hanged for the 1917 Houston Riot, 17 Black soldiers have finally received military burial honors along with new headstone.
New headstones for 17 Black soldiers sentenced to death more than a century ago were unveiled Thursday at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio after the Army deemed their trials unfair and granted each an honorable discharge.
In all, 19 men were executed and 110 convicted in a series of flawed, racist courts-martial.