Ninety-Second Infantry Division

By Gramond S. McPherson

While most black soldiers during World War I served in support roles in Quartermaster and Engineer units, over 40,000 black soldiers served in two combat divisions.¹ As black civil rights leaders demanded more opportunities for black soldiers to prove their worth in battle, the War Department eventually created the Ninety-second and Ninety-third Divisions; these units served overseas in France. However, unlike the Ninety-third, which included only four infantry regiments, the Ninety-second was a fully organized infantry division with its own supply, artillery, and trench mortar units along with other necessary support components. Additionally, the Ninety-second remained strictly under American command throughout its service.

The Ninety-second, established on October 24, 1917, welcomed various volunteers and draftees representing nearly every state in the country who assembled at various camps in the North stretching from Kansas to Long Island, New York, for training. Due to fears from whites, the War Department scattered black soldiers to ensure that African Americans were always the minority at any camp. Critics then and years later argued this limited the division’s training and ability to fight overseas as a cohesive division. While whites made up the senior officers of the division, the division contained black junior commissioned-officers who trained at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. The division arrived in France between June 19 and July 18, 1918.²

The Ninety-second served in the St. Die, Vosges, and Marbache sectors in France participating in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive––the last offensive of the war. However, the division experienced various challenges in France, including being caught in a feud between their division commander, Major General Charles J. Ballou and General Robert Bullard, who commanded the American 2nd Army, the Ninety-second’s parent unit. In addition,

the collapse of the 368th Infantry Regiment at the start of the Meuse-Argonne in September of 1918 tarnished the reputation of the entire division and allowed whites to demean black combat soldiers’ service. While inadequate training, difficult terrain, and poor equipment played a role in the collapse, other white divisions, with no combat experience, also performed poorly. As a result, the entire Ninety-second division was pulled from the front lines and did not see much active fighting until the final days of the war. Additionally, white superior officers charged black officers with cowardice and incompetence, blaming black company-level officers for the failure. Originally blacks made up eighty-two percent of the divisions’ officer ranks, by the end, blacks only made up fifty-eight percent of officers in the Ninety-second.³

After the war, Commanding General John Pershing complimented the unit. “The American public has every reason to be proud of the record made by the 92nd Division.”⁴ Yet Pershing’s praise, the accolades from American and French officers, along with awards and decorations did little to overcome racism. The same stereotypes shaped white Americans’ views of black combat soldiers until after World War II. However, the Ninety-second division provided critical combat capability during World War I in the face of mistreatment and racial discrimination proving their loyalty and patriotism to America. When World War II came, the Ninety-second welcomed a new generation of African American heroes.

Further Information

Dalessandro, Robert J. and Gerald Torrence. Willing Patriots: Men of Color in the First World War. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 2009.

Fife, Thomas William. “African-Americans in the Great War 1917-19.” Military Images 27, no. 4 (January/February 2006): 4-46.

Ferrell, Robert H. Unjustly Dishonored: An African American Division in World War I. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press. 2011.

Keene, Jennifer D. World War I: The American Soldier Experience. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2011.

Williams, Chad. Torchbearers of Democracy: African American Soldiers in the World War I Era. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2010.

Wilson, Adam. P. African American Army Officers of World War I: A Vanguard of Equality in War and Beyond. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2015.

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