The story begins with the assignment of the 3rd Battalion 24th Infantry to Houston, Texas, in 1917 to guard Camp Logan. The 3/24 Infantry Battalion was one of the Regular Army's Black regiments stationed at Camp Furlong near Columbus, New Mexico. Camp Logan was one of fifteen such camps established for the mobilization of the National Guard at the start of World War I. Many of the 24th officers voiced their concerns of assigning black soldiers duty in the south and requested otherwise. It was no secret to members of either race, military or civilian, black or white, that the use of black guards at Camp Logan would threaten to upset the hard earned racial equilibrium of Houston, Texas. The military, however, was not in a favorable position to give in to these requests and the 24th went to Houston as ordered (Manjuso 10). The unit had only days returned to Camp Furlong after unsuccessfully chasing Poncho Villa over northern Mexico, as members of the Punitive Expedition with General Pershing, when they learned of this new mission in Houston. Prior to their departure for Houston, the unit suffered serious loses of twenty-five of its seasoned enlisted soldiers to the Colored Officers' Training Camp plus the unexpected departure in June of the battalion sergeant major. The lost included all of the company first sergeants except one, and a number of other experienced noncommissioned officers. This compelled the regimental officers to fill these vacancies with men with less experience and capability. Needless-to-say, this unfortunate development created a vacuum of leadership for the twenty-forth at a particularly crucial time (Haynes 36).....

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