Wilmington's African American dead

Three African Americans were killed in World War I. Their names were placed on the bottom of the Memorial, separated from the white men who lost their lives in the War. 

During World War I, the U.S. Armed forces were segregated.  Wilmington's memorial reflects that division even in death.  Although many African American men enlisted in the armed services, and many were conscripted after the draft, few saw actual combat.  Reflecting the tenor of the times, most of the 350,000 African Americans in the armed forces worked in supporting roles.  


Thomas Bullock



Image courtesy of State Archives of North Carolina

That wasn't the case for Thomas J. Bullock, the first name on the "colored" section of Wilmington's memorial.  (The memorial erroneously lists Lieutentant Bullock as Thomas S.)  

Thomas Bullock was a member of what W. E. B. DuBois called the "Talented Tenth" -- he graduated from Lincoln University, and was a principal at Wilmington's Williston Industrial School.   In June, 1917, Bullock went to an African-American only  officer training school in Iowa.  Afterwards he was sent to Camp Upton in New York in the Fall of 1917. 



Camp Upton, New York, 1919
Courtesy of Library of Congress

Bullock died in France, on September 2, 1918,  after fighting around Frappelle.  He was a part of 367th infantry unit of the 92nd Divison, and was, according to Emmett J. Scott's book, the first officer to die in combat.  (In contrast to other sources, Scott's work seems to suggest Bullock died on August 31.)

After the War, the local African American American legion post was organized and named after Lieutentant Bullock. 

Cape Fear Museum image archive

June 5, 1921, The Wilmington Dispatch noted that  “The remains of Lieut Thomas J. Bullock, of Wilmington, killed in the second battle of the Marne, arrived from France and services in his honor were conducted at St. Stephen’s A.M.E.  Church. The remains were re-interred in Pine Forest Cemetery.   He entered officer’s training camp soon after United States entered the war and was commisioned second lieutenant.  He gallantly fought in many engagements in France."

Two other African American men were also on the Memorial.

Simon Taft Shiver

On April 29, 1918, Simon Taft Shiver was inducted into military service. On April 30, Shiver was send to Camp Jackson. SC. along with 27 other men. On May 12, 1918, Shiver died at Camp Jackson in Columbia South Carolina. He was a private in Company 12, 186 Depot Brigade. He was listed as a school teacher; his father was the Reverend S. T. Shiver.



Cover of The Crisis, NAACP's magazine
accessed at http://www.modjourn.org/render.php?id=1292951205264875&view=mjp_object

 

Edward Peden

No records could be found relating to an Edward Peden.  A “Negro” Edward Franklin Peeden was registered for the draft on June 5, 1917.  He was listed as born on Sept 10 1896.  He was a hotel waiter at the Wilmington Hotel.  And an Edward Peeden was living in Wilmington in 1910, aged 13, with his family in the Delgado neighborhood.  But it is not clear where or when Edward died.



This World War I era poster was recently donated to the Museum