Mutiny of Rage

Salado Creek, Texas, 1918: Thirteen black men stood at attention in front of gallows erected specifically for their hanging. They had been convicted of participating in one of America’s most infamous black uprisings, the Camp Logan Mutiny, otherwise known as the 1917 Houston Riots. The mutiny and ensuing riots were carried out by 156 soldiers of the Third Battalion of the all-black 24th US Infantry Regiment—a unit of the famed Buffalo Soldiers –after members of the Houston Police Department violently menaced the black soldiers and members of the local black community. It all took place over a single night. After a rumor that a corporal had been shot and killed by the police reached Camp Logan, soldiers immediately made plans to march on Houston and attack the police force. The first police casualties occurred when a group of six officers stumbled upon the entire column of soldiers. After discovering that one of the men they killed was a captain with the Illinois National guard, the seriousness of the mutiny hit home. Houston was placed under martial law, and by morning all of the soldiers were eventually disarmed or surrendered their weapons. In the wake of those riots, eleven civilians, five policemen, and four soldiers lay dead. This incident is one of Houston’s most complicated and often-misrepresented historical events. It shook race relations in the city and created conditions that sparked a nationwide surge of wartime racial activism. In the aftermath of the carnage, what was considered the trial of the century at that time ensued. The trial resulted in the hanging of thirteen black men, eliciting memories of slave rebellions. But was justice served? New evidence and access to historical archives indicate that the courts-martial were rushed in an attempt to placate an angered white population as well as military brass. Mutiny of Rage serves to not only retell an accurate story of the event, but to set the legal record straight on what really happened.