Frankfort native may have been first Black killed in WWI
Published 4:46 pm Friday, September 22, 2023
Editor’s note: This is one
The base of the 10-foot-tall stone monument in Green Hill Cemetery honors the memory of Black soldiers from Franklin County who fought in the Civil War. It was unveiled on July 4, 1924. (Chanda Veno | State Journal)
in a series of in-depth stories based on the findings of the City of Frankfort’s African American Historic Context Report, which was funded in part by the city and a grant from the Kentucky Heritage Council.
By Chanda Veno, Frankfort State Journal
An estimated 25,000 African Americans from Kentucky served in the military — the second most behind Louisiana.
Many U.S. Colored Troops veterans who fought in the Civil War shared the opinion of Shelby County native 12th Regiment Heavy Artillery Sgt. Elijah Marrs, who said, “I can stand this said I … this is better than slavery, though I do march in line at the tap of the drum. I felt freedom in my bones.”
The Kentucky Division of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) formed Camp #44 to aid Frankfort veterans in 1882. The post was named for a white officer, Col. George W. Monroe.
Gatherings, ceremonies and marches in honor of those who helped win the war often led to Green Hill Cemetery on East Main Street, where many soldiers were buried.
In 1887 on Decoration Day — which later became Memorial Day — members of the African American Monroe Post and white veterans in the Albert G. Bacon Post came together for a ceremony at Frankfort Cemetery. Afterward, the George W. Monroe Post marched to Green Hill Cemetery and the remainder returned to the city, the Frankfort Roundabout reported.
Eighteen years later, newspaper records indicate that the A.G. Bacon Post held its regular Decoration Day ceremony, but that the “George W. Monroe Post, GAR (colored) had a more elaborate time.”
It went on to add, “The members of that post, together with the Knights of Pythias, the Odd Fellows and the United Brothers of Friendship, the orators of the day and a large number of vehicles proceeded to Green Hill Cemetery, where addresses were delivered by Prof. W.H. Mayo, Rev. J.M. Hill, L.D. Smith, Rev. C.C. Wakefield and Rev. E.R. Lewis. Music, both vocal and instrumental, was interspersed between the addresses. At the conclusion, the graves of the colored soldiers were handsomely decorated with flowers.”
In 1887 on Decoration Day — which later became Memorial Day — members of the African American Monroe Post and white veterans in the Albert G. Bacon Post came together for a ceremony at Frankfort Cemetery. Afterward, the George W. Monroe Post marched to Green Hill Cemetery and the remainder returned to the city, the Frankfort Roundabout reported.
Eighteen years later, newspaper records indicate that the A.G. Bacon Post held its regular Decoration Day ceremony, but that the “George W. Monroe Post, GAR (colored) had a more elaborate time.”
It went on to add, “The members of that post, together with the Knights of Pythias, the Odd Fellows and the United Brothers of Friendship, the orators of the day and a large number of vehicles proceeded to Green Hill Cemetery, where addresses were delivered by Prof. W.H. Mayo, Rev. J.M. Hill, L.D. Smith, Rev. C.C. Wakefield and Rev. E.R. Lewis. Music, both vocal and instrumental, was interspersed between the addresses. At the conclusion, the graves of the colored soldiers were handsomely decorated with flowers.”
In 1887 on Decoration Day — which later became Memorial Day — members of the African American Monroe Post and white veterans in the Albert G. Bacon Post came together for a ceremony at Frankfort Cemetery. Afterward, the George W. Monroe Post marched to Green Hill Cemetery and the remainder returned to the city, the Frankfort Roundabout reported.
Eighteen years later, newspaper records indicate that the A.G. Bacon Post held its regular Decoration Day ceremony, but that the “George W. Monroe Post, GAR (colored) had a more elaborate time.”
It went on to add, “The members of that post, together with the Knights of Pythias, the Odd Fellows and the United Brothers of Friendship, the orators of the day and a large number of vehicles proceeded to Green Hill Cemetery, where addresses were delivered by Prof. W.H. Mayo, Rev. J.M. Hill, L.D. Smith, Rev. C.C. Wakefield and Rev. E.R. Lewis. Music, both vocal and instrumental, was interspersed between the addresses. At the conclusion, the graves of the colored soldiers were handsomely decorated with flowers.”
Henry, who was a private in the 369th Infantry Company H, lived with his parents in the Craw when he registered for the draft on June 15, 1917. A year later, he was working as a delivery person and hostler for a local man before being ordered to report to the Local Board for Military Duty at Camp Zachary Taylor.
In February 1919 in New York, Henry boarded the ship, Regina De Italia, bound for Brest, France. He survived the war and returned to the capital city where he held many jobs, including chauffeur, barber and as a porter for the U.S. Post Office. He died of pneumonia on Feb. 1, 1931, at a Blanton Street residence.
Two local men who served in WWI — Edward Thomas Hawkins and William Marion Thomas “M.T.” Beckley Jr. — were honored by having the Odd Fellows/American Legion building renamed after them.
By some accounts, Hawkins was the first African American killed in WWI when he died on March 11, 1918. Prior to that he resided on Logan Street in South Frankfort and worked as a laborer.
Beckley was employed as a porter at the Capital Hotel Barber Shop and lived in the Craw. During the war, he was a mess attendant, first class, in the U.S. Navy. He drowned after falling off the U.S.S. Ozark on July 25, 1918, as it was anchored in the Panuco River near Tampica, Mexico. His body was never recovered.
One local Black man who not only broke color barriers, but whose military career spanned three wars was William Lawless Jones.
Born on the campus of the Kentucky Normal and Industrial Institute for Colored Persons (Kentucky State University) to Paul William Lawrence Jones — a history professor, academic dean and the founder of the school’s first football team — and Ada C. Jones, he earned degrees from Fisk University and the University of Michigan before becoming one of nine African American soldiers sent to Fort Knox to Armor Officer Candidate School where he was commissioned second lieutenant.
Until the end of the war, Jones served in the Solomon Islands. He then fought in the Korean War where he served as a captain and the only Black intelligence officer in the 45th Division. He attained the rank of lieutenant colonel before retiring in 1966.
Anna Mac Mitchel Clarke was born in Lawrenceburg but graduated from Kentucky State College (KSU) with a degree in sociology and economics in 1941. At her commencement, Mary McLeod Bethune, an African American civil and women’s rights leader — who also founded the National Council of Negro Women, was an advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and was named special assistant to the Secretary of War for the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) — was the featured speaker.
When a call for enlistments was sent out, Clarke responded by joining the WAAC in October 1942. Initially she went to training school in Des Moines, Iowa, before entering officer training school — which was desegregated in November. She was the lone Black officer in her graduating class.
By February 1943, Clarke, a third officer, was assigned platoon leader of the Fourth Company. She was the first African American tapped to command an all-white unit.
Clarke would serve in a variety of roles throughout her career, which concluded in 1944 at Douglas Army Air Field in Arizona, where she and several female officers refused to sit in the segregated section of the base’s theater.
She took her concerns to Colonel Harvey Dyer, the base’s commanding officer.
He issued the following order: “The colored officers are entitled to all the courtesies and privileges extended to white officers and the colored enlisted women are entitled to all the courtesies and privileges extended to white enlisted men and women … It must be appreciated by all of us that these colored WACs are citizens of the United States. … They deserve our greatest respect.”
