Combat Multipliers

African-American Soldiers in Four Wars

by

Krewasky A. Salter I

Combat Studies Institute Press

Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
Combat Multipliers

African-American Soldiers in Four Wars

by

Krewasky A. Salter I

Combat Studies Institute Press

Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
CSI Press 04-01
Lieutenant Colonel Krewasky A. Salter 

graduated from the University of Florida 

as a Distinguished Military Graduate in 

December 1984. He received an M.A in history from Florida State University in 1993 

and a Ph.D. from Florida State University in 

1996, and he is a graduate of the U.S. Army 

Command and General Staff College, Fort 

Leavenworth, Kansas.

Lieutenant Colonel Salter took 

command of the 2d Battalion, 1st Air 

Defense Artil-lery, Fort Bliss, Texas, in 

July 2003. Before coming to Fort Bliss, 

he served as chairman and professor of 

military science, Howard University, 

Washington, DC; Army’s senior brigade air defense artillery trainer, National 

Training Center, Fort Irwin, California; and as the battalion executive officer, 

3d Infantry Division (Mechanized), Fort Stewart, Georgia. 

Lieutenant Colonel Salter is a published author who has taught AfricanAmerican history at St. Mary College, Leavenworth, Kansas; Benedictine 

College, Atchison, Kansas;Donnelly College, Kansas City, Missouri; and 

American military history from the Colonial War to the post-Gulf war as an 

adjunct professor, Howard University.
Dedicated to CSM Tony L. Salter, U.S. Army, Retired, 

and his bride, Mrs. Jewelene Salter, 

for their 34 years of active service in the U.S. Army
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Salter, Krewasky A., 1963-

 Combat multipliers: African-American soldiers in four wars / by 

Krewasky A. Salter.

p.cm.

 1. United States--Armed Forces--African Americans--History. 2. United 

States--Armed Forces--African American troops--History. 3. United 

States--History, Military--18th century. 4. United States--History, 

Military--19th century. 5. United States--History, Military--20th century. 6. African American Soldiers--Biography. I. Title

UB418.A47S354 2003

355’ .008996’ 073--dc22

 2003015012
combat multiplier—Supporting and subsidiary means that significantly increase the relative combat strength (power) of a force while actual force ratios 

remain constant. Examples of combat multipliers are economizing in one 

area to mass in another, leadership, unit morale, surprise, deception, battlefield information, camouflage, electronic warfare, psychological operations, 

terrain reinforcement, smoke, and indirect fires. (See also combat power.) See 

FM 100-5. (FM 101-5-1 MCRP 5-2A, 1-31)
Combat Multipliers

African-American Soldiers in Four Wars

by

Krewasky A. Salter

Combat Studies Institute Press

Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

COMBAT MULTIPLIERS: AFRICAN-AMERICAN SOL-
DIERS IN FOUR WARS Salter
CSI Press 04-01
i

Foreword

This study by Lieutenant Colonel Krewasky A. Salter represents a 

dedicated effort to draw attention to African-American units and service 

members over four major wars covering some 170 years. His background 

in military history and African-American history, along with his numerous 

professional research, publications, and teaching experiences in both civilian and military institutions, makes him imminently qualified to undertake 

this project. As a battalion command selectee, Salter has had a remarkable 

career on the military side as well. He is, therefore, uniquely qualified as 

a soldier-scholar. Salter has indeed maintained a rock-solid professional 

reputation in both arenas.

Salter was motivated for the right reasons to undertake this venture. It 

was not intended to cover all aspects of African-American contributions 

to the freedom of our great nation but to offer a stimulus for more individual and collective examination of the untold and unwritten accounts of 

African-Americans in combat in the continental United States and overseas. The intent was not only to attract the students of military history but 

to provide a broad examination of the facts that would equally attract the 

casual student of history as well as those who consider themselves professional historians, regardless of their ethnic background.

This study presents a forum for an intellectual discourse on AfricanAmerican contributions to the development of America. It will definitely 

be a great addition to the previously published works by the U.S. Army 

Command and General Staff College (CGSC) Combat Studies Institute 

(CSI) and will surely fill an important void in its catalog. The manner in 

which Lieutenant Colonel Salter imparts the study’s results allows readers to make their own conclusions about the benefit of African-Americans 

to the successes of each battle or campaign experience and to determine 

if indeed they truly enhanced the outcome of the wars. Additionally, for 

the sake of African-Americans, it satisfies some of the omissions from 

previous historians and gives a better picture of the many Americans who 

fought continuously and boldly for the United States of America. For the 

sake of all Americans, especially professional soldiers, it offers insight 

into an often-overlooked aspect of our American military heritage.
ii 

In the time that it took to bring this study to a conclusion, those who 

established the environment and conditions for Salter to start and successfully complete this work deserve enormous credit for their assistance. 

Those who facilitated the decision to publish this study as a contribution 

to the historical record should also be commended.

Reginal G. Clemmons

Major General, U.S. Army

Commandant, National War College

Washington, DC

May 2003
iii

Table of Contents

Foreword.................................................................................................... i

Table of Contents.....................................................................................iii

Maps.......................................................................................................... v

Photos...................................................................................................... vii

Introduction............................................................................................... 1

Chapter 1. Revolutionary War .................................................................. 7

Chapter 2. Civil War ............................................................................... 29

Chapter 3. World War I ........................................................................... 57

Chapter 4. World War II.......................................................................... 79

Conclusion ............................................................................................ 113

Appendix A. U.S. Colored Troops and States of Organization

 During the Civil War .......................................................................... 123

Bibliography ......................................................................................... 129
iv 

Maps

1. Meuse-Argonne Offensive..................................................................66

2. European Theater of Operation Routes...............................................91

3. Battle of Morville-les-Vic, 9 November 1944 ...................................93

4. Belgium. Battle of the Bulge, December 1944-January 1945 ............97

5. Germany and Czechoslovakia During World War II ..........................99
v

Photos

 1. Washington Crossing the Delaware .................................................10

 2. Marker at Fort Griswold of British Attack During the

Battle of Groton ..............................................................................13

 3. Contrabands of War .........................................................................30

 4. First South Carolina Volunteers Repelling a Confederate

 Attack Near the Doby River in Georgia...........................................36

 5. Captain P.B.S. Pinchback, Second Louisiana Volunteers.................41

 6. “It’s Up to Us Now”..........................................................................50

 7. Black Laborers in Uniform...............................................................60

 8. West Pointer Colonel Charles Young in 1916...................................73

 9. Members of the 555th in a Parachute Jump......................................86

10. Generals Omar Bradley and James M. Gavin Speak

With personnel of the 555th.............................................................86

11. End of the Day at Omaha Beach.......................................................87

12. Tank Commander Sergeant Harold Gary..........................................93

13. 761st in Sherman Tanks....................................................................93

14. Rosie the Riveter.............................................................................100

15. The 6888th Central Postal Battalion Participating

 in a V-E Day Parade in England .......................................................54

16. Companies B and C, 24th Infantry, Battle Communist

Counterattack..................................................................................114

17. General Colin L. Powell With Troops in the Gulf During

Operation DESERT STORM..........................................................118

18. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Colin L. Powell 

Fielding Questions From Reporters at the Pentagon .....................118
1

Introduction

This Special Study has four stand-alone, chronological chapters that 

examine selected African-American military units spanning from 1775 to 

1945, covering the American Revolution, the Civil War, World War I, and 

World War II, each chapter is conclusive and relative to the big picture. 

By doing this, I have made it easy for educators to select a chapter to 

study a particular era, yet use the study as a whole. Although each chapter 

covers different eras, I have made an effort to link each chapter by writing 

a “short bridge” to transition to the next chapter rather than, for example, 

simply jumping from the end of the Revolutionary War in 1783 in chapter 

1 to the start of the Civil War in 1861 in chapter 2.

Chapter 1 actually begins in 1770 with the death of a former slave 

at the Boston Massacre who was willing to give his life for American 

independence. The chapter then traverses the military chronology of the 

war from Bunker Hill in 1775 to Yorktown in 1783. In this chapter the 

transition will briefly examine the roles of blacks during the War 1812 and 

the Second Seminole War. Chapter 2 will look at black Civil War soldiers 

in five selected United States Colored Troops (U.S.C.T.) units. The First 

Kansas’ battle experience in the Midwest will be explored. The struggle of 

former slaves of the First South Carolina in the Department of the South 

is also examined. And, arguably the most famous of all black Civil War 

units, the three Louisiana Native Guards regiments will be discussed—the 

54th Massachusetts being the other well-known black Civil War unit. At 

the end of the chapter, it will become clear that these five units were only 

a small portion of the black units to serve and fight during the American 

Civil War. Chapter 3 will begin by briefly discussing the service of black 

soldiers from 1866 to 1917 in an effort to bridge chapters 2 and 3. The 

main focus of the chapter, however, will explore, in detail, the 92d and 93d 

Infantry Divisions and their journey to Europe and eventual combat service 

during World War I. The contributions of those noncombat arms soldiers 

will also be addressed. Chapter 4 begins with a synopsis of the struggle to 

put blacks in uniform during the interwar years 1919 to 1940. The “meat 

and potatoes” of this chapter will be the five vignettes that examine unique 

black units. One of the units examined is a black female postal service 

unit. The result of all the blood shed by black soldiers, sailors, airmen, 

marines, and their white compatriots in the 170 years from the start of the 

Revolutionary War to the end of World War II came to fruition in the form 

of Executive Order (EO) 9981 in 1948 and the eventual integration of 
2 

the military services during, and in the aftermath of, the Korean war. The 

conclusion will briefly address those latter two points.

It is also important that readers understand how this study was 

initiated. The Director of Combat Studies Institute (CSI), then Colonel 

Jerry D. Morelock, asked that I write a study about African-American 

military servicemen to help fill an important void in the CSI curriculum. 

The decision to write this paper was not an easy choice to make. As an 

individual and scholar, it was a dream assignment; as a professional career 

combat arms Army officer having a desire to just be “one of the guys on 

the team,” it was extremely hard for me to take on this assignment. Yet, 

even as I accepted Morelock’s offer in January 1998, I still was not sure 

that I really wanted to undertake this research project. What would my 

thesis be? What angle should I take to make this study interesting to all 

races, creeds, colors, nationalities, and genders? How would I, being an 

African-American military history specialist, package such a large area 

of study into a concise volume that the Army and other military branches 

could use? Last, and most important to me, was how would I be accepted 

by my military colleagues after writing on such a topic? 

The last question has been the most difficult to deal with because I 

have had the opportunity on many occasions to literally be that “fly on the 

wall.” Still today, topics of race and gender fuel heated debates that are 

more times than not filled with ignorance from both sides of the debate. 

Some will quote African-American history out of context or, worse yet, 

quote it without factual support. Those on the other side of the debate are 

quick to cry “revisionist history” or deny the facts of history even when 

there is credible primary-source documentation to support an argument. 

Did I want to be a part of these debates as they related to blacks in the 

military? I knew that I did not want to be on the side that misquoted history, 

nor did I want to be on the side that considered history, overlooked in the 

past, revisionist history. I did, however, want to be a bridge for both sides 

and hopefully bring context and substance to the debates. My decision was 

not solidified, however, until I experienced a professional “blinding flash 

of the obvious” in spring 1998.

In May 1998, I was teaching the “African-American Military 

Experience” elective for the second straight semester at the Command 

and General Staff College (CGSC), Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. I was 

approached by many students—black, white, and one foreign student— 

who said that they had heard great things about my elective and wished that 

they had made room on their schedules to take it. Some students actually 
3

overloaded their schedule to take the class. The event that really solidified 

my professional mind was the day I substituted in the Civil War elective 

course for one of my CSI colleagues. The particular day that I substituted 

was the last meeting that term, culminating a complete year of concentrated 

studies in various military topics, to include military history. Among the 

several aspects that the primary instructor asked me to ensure his students 

examined was, “Identify something that was revolutionary about the Civil 

War that would continue to impact on the military.” The usual answers of 

weapon rifling, railroad usage, and command and control structure, came 

up. One of the students, who had already demonstrated throughout the 

previous 2 hours of the 3-hour class that he was a very well-read person, 

said, “During the Civil War we see for the first time in American history 

the use of black soldiers, but none actually fought.” After I professionally 

corrected him, with the help of one or two other students in the class, I 

could see the utter disbelief on the faces of the eight or nine other students 

in the class. I was not sure if they were upset with their American history 

educational system or upset with me for having the audacity to discuss this 

subject. Nonetheless, when I walked out of that class, I knew I had made 

the right decision to write this study. My most important concern of “how 

I would be accepted by my military colleagues” was no longer relevant.

Now all that was left was to answer the other three questions. The 

thesis of this research project is a simple question: “Were persons of 

African descent contributors on the field of battle, as combatants or 

noncombatants, during four American wars?” The concise thesis, thus, is 

“combat multipliers?”* While it is certainly not my intent to conclude that 

these wars and campaigns were won by black soldiers, sailors, airmen, and 

marines, I firmly believe that they were indeed combat multipliers. Further, 

I do not suggest that the African-American men and women discussed in 

the following pages were more deserving of hero status than their white 

counterparts. The reader must keep in mind that this study, though, is their 

story. The design of this discourse is simply to introduce the reader to 

enough information to allow him to make an educated conclusion and to 

effectively debate and answer the thesis. It may be very likely that some 

readers will not conclude that blacks were combat multipliers. 

What angle should I take? As an American military historian, an 

African-American history historian, and a career military officer, I decided 

to put on all three hats to develop my angle. As an American military 

historian, I wanted the project to fit into well-defined American history 

periods. Thus, the reader should find that each chapter puts the black 
4 

experience, as much as possible, into the middle of the overall war story. 

As an African-American historian, first and foremost, I wanted to ensure 

that the information was well sourced and presented. Then I wanted to 

ensure that the discourse was provocative and interesting enough to incite 

debate and discussion and cause others to want to examine each area in 

further detail. It has not been my intent or goal to write a complete history 

of each era. That task has been left for a full-time historian. Further, it is 

my hope that a reader of this study will be inspired to write in greater detail 

on any given segment addressed within the pages of the discourse. As a 

career military officer, I wanted it to be intellectually inviting enough to 

attract a wide range of people who would otherwise not be interested in 

such a topic in history. Nonetheless, my greatest desire was for people in 

my profession to be better informed about another aspect of their heritage. 

I did not write this study solely with military students in mind; it was 

written with the general public in mind as well. It will be engaging reading 

for anyone interested in American, military, or African-American history 

or anyone interested in an enlightened read. How would I package the 

project? That question has been addressed in the first paragraph of this 

introduction.

To get to my outlined objectives, I completed my study in spring 1999 

and presented it to a board of historians and instructors at CGSC and to 

one outside historian in spring 2000. Although I found that this study was 

very well received, there were some concerns that I had missed my intent 

completely. Either it was very clear from the facts presented that blacks 

were indeed “combat multipliers” and thus little was left to the reader to 

conclude, or the discourse was too boastful of their participation. Either I 

was too close to the subject or I was too eager to tell the story to the point 

that I willingly overemphasized the good. The latter was definitely not 

true. The first, though, probably had some merit. After the board, I reread 

the work, edited it heavily in places, and put it on the shelf for a couple of 

months. The board, which was led by the current director of CSI, Colonel 

Lawyn C. Edwards, has helped immensely to make this a better and 

much more balanced study. There are other members of the board I must 
5

thank for their critical, professional, and scholarly insights: Dr. Lawrence 

A. Yates, CSI Research and Publication Team; Dr. George F. Steger, 

Chairman, History and Political Science Department, Saint Mary College, 

Leavenworth, Kansas; and LTC John K. Hackney, Director, Center for 

Army Leadership, CGSC.

Others who had a hand in the fruition of this study either as a source 

of encouragement or read parts of the study and offered direct or indirect 

comments are: Dr. Roger J. Spiller, George C. Marshall Professor of 

Military History, CGSC; Dr. William G. Robertson, TRADOC Chief of 

Staff Rides and CAC Historian; Dr. George W. Gawrych, Dr. Samuel 

J. Lewis, Dr. Michael D. Pearlman, LTC Rick Stephenson, LTC W.E. 

Bassett, LTC Edward Clay, LTC Walter Kretchik, and LTC Versalles 

Washington, CSI instructors. Mr. Lew Bernstein, Mr. Donald Gilmore, 

and Ms. Sharon Torres, CSI. I would also like to thank the CSI editors for 

their great work with my manuscript. A very special thanks to Commander 

Clayton Philpot, U.S. Navy Retired, for his constant counsel and to my CSI 

boss, LTC Sylvia Rivera-Cabasa, for her constant encouragement. Last, to 

all my peer-students whom I had the honor to teach during the academic 

year (AY) 1997-98 and AY 1998-99. Their challenging questions, lively 

debates, and classroom discussions helped to further develop my teaching 

skills and desire to finish this paper. Thanks to you all. Any shortfalls are 

solely the fault of this author.

Note

1. In military terms, a “combat multiplier” is any element, usually a battlefield 

system, or grouping of battlefield systems—such as air defense artillery (ADA) systems, 

including Stingers, Avengers, or Linebackers, all three missile firing weapons—that 

enhance the combat power of a fighting force. Without a particular system within a specific 

environment, winning the battle could be very difficult, if not impossible. For example, if 

the enemy had a large and powerful air threat, then ADA would be, without doubt, a combat 

multiplier. The presence of a combat multiplier does not automatically guarantee success. 

Combat multipliers could also be a specific type of fighting soldier such as infantry, Special 

Forces, or Delta Forces. In this thesis, it is simply my contention that soldiers of African 

descent have been combat multipliers on the field of American battles for many centuries.
6