Rockingham post-dispatch. [volume] (Rockingham, N.C.) 1917-1965, 1918-04-04
OFF FOR CAMP.
II Negroes of First Draft
Sent to Camp Grant, Him
ois, Last Saturday night,
and Ia White Men of
Second Draft Sent to
Camp jackson
Sunday Night.

emily, Was tIlc departure VI Lllc
72 colored citizens of Richmond
county for military service last
Saturday night. Fully one.
thousand people, white and col
ored, were at the station to see
them leave, to bid them the "best
of luck" And as No. 6 rolled in
at 11:06, the drafted men greeted
it with a welcoming yell, and as
it rolled out, with them seated in
two comfortable Pullmans, the
friends left behind speeded it
with a "bon voyage" as lit were,
of lusty farewells.
One hundred negroes of the
first draft had been ordered to re-
port to the Richmond county
exemption board at four o'clock
Friday, March 29th. This they
did, almost to the man; five only
were absent, these being detain.
ed by illness. Such was the
number that the induction was
transferred to the courthouse.
Here Chairman Parsons read the
official notification to the men
72, as this was the number select
ed, in their order number, from
the 100 called. Then Mr.. John
L. Everett called on the colored
pastor, Thomas Taylor, to briefly
address the men and distribute
the small bibles to them. This
he did most creditably.
Friday night the colored people
held exercises in the courthouse,
and again on Saturday night.
The men were allowed to 60 to
their nearby homes from Friday
to Saturday night, with instruct
ions to report at s o'clock in the
courthouse. This they all did
with exception of one man
George Marsh.
Saturday morning an officer
from the regular army arrived to
take the men to their Illinois
camp-Capt. Kaufman. Sounds
like a German name, and it is;
but the Captain is true-blue
American. His father came from
Germany at the age ofl7, and
died in Illinois at the age of IS.
Capt. Kaufman served in the
Spanish-American war in 1898
and has been in the active service
ever since.
Camp Grant, to which our
colored men have just been sent
is six miles from Rockford, Illinois
and IS miles from Chicago. The
camp has the capacity for 10000
men, but is to be enlarged to take
care of $4,000. The colored men
that were sent from this State
the past week-about 4,000-are
placed in the 16lst Depot Brigade
and will be trained and drilled
therein for possibly three OF
more months. Then they will
likely be sent to Camp Funston
to be assigned to a division made
up entirely of colored men. The
training at Camp Grant will be
under white officers, but after
going to Camp Funston they will
likely have colored non-commis
stoned officers and probably
colored lieutenants and captains
The best information the Post
Dispatch now has is that the ad
dress otthe men is: Camp Grant
Illinois, 161st Depot Brigade
And, by the way, doubtless these
colored men so far from home
would like to have a home-paper
to see when other colored mer
are to leave etc. You at home
here can do them a favor by sub
scribing for this paper and having
it sent them. Three, months i.
only SOC.
Before leaving Rockingham ths
local exemption board designated
three men to assist Captain Kauf
man in looking after the men en-