The Mystery of the 364th

Were a thousand African-American soldiers gunned down by the Army in a racially motivated shootout in 1943?

Were members of the controversial 364th (Negro) Infantry Regiment killed at Mississippi's Camp Van Dorn to silence their relentless -- and sometimes violent -- demands for equality in a segregated Army?

Were the bodies buried in a mass grave somewhere on the sprawling base or "stacked like cordwood" and shipped north on boxcars?

That's a story that's been whispered since World War II. A Pentagon spokesman sums up its 1999 probe of the allegation: "Nothing egregious happened." But that isn't the end of it.

Historians and journalists -- including this writer -- in pursuit of this puzzling piece of American history are uncovering a nationwide trail of racial violence during World War II. There were hundreds of bloody domestic firefights from Camp Benning, Ga., to Beaumont, Texas; from Ft. Dix, N.J., to Camp Shenango, Pa.

Much of what we are learning about this racial violence is coming from recently released documents that were part of a massive, and largely unknown, wartime domestic intelligence operation. And much of what we don't know about the period is the result of government press censorship.

The ongoing controversy will be examined in an upcoming History Channel documentary, "The Mystery of the 364th," scheduled to premiere on May 20. The hour-long program explores allegations that, upon first read, seem ridiculous -- especially the charge that 1,200 soldiers were killed in a single massacre at Camp Van Dorn, and that a subsequent cover-up has gone on for almost 60 years. But even one Army commentator believes aspects of history can be hidden for generations. "Although almost too preposterous to consider at first," he wrote of the Camp Van Dorn massacre, "so too was the government's involvement in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study."

The Facts of the 364th

The 364th was an all-black regiment of soldiers that had been stationed in Jim Crow-era Centreville, Mississippi. At that time, the Army had begun intensifying its efforts to recruit blacks, but was still racially segregated. The few black regiments designated for combat were typically under-trained, under-supplied and sent to stations where they were isolated and subject to insult and attack from hostile, white civilians.

In May 1943, when the beleaguered 364th arrived in Centreville, Mississippi, the treatment it received was no exception. The men of the 364th, some of whom had already survived three previous race riots, came to Centreville announcing they were going to "clean up" the base and surrounding towns, and challenged Jim Crow laws at every turn.

White civilians, who were heavily armed, braced for a violent clash. The Army high command in Washington warned base and regimental commanders that they were to end racial violence or lose their jobs. But on May 30, within days of the 364th's arrival, the local sheriff killed one of its men, Pvt. William Walker, who had been scuffling with white MPs near the entrance to the base. Members of Walker's company broke into base storerooms, stole rifles and headed for Centreville, swearing revenge.

What followed the 364th's rally and cry is subject to conflicting reports. Allegations range from minor skirmishes and disciplinary action to wholesale slaughter. The largest newspaper in the region, The McComb Daily Enterprise, reported: "Many wild rumors floated about ... rumors of men being killed by the scores and of women being molested. All efforts to run these rumors down did nothing more than emphasize the chaotic way the public has of reacting to emotional disturbances."

There was chaos to be sure. The 364th's Morning Reports, a kind of company-by-company daily attendance sheet, note dozens of soldiers as AWOL following the Walker shooting and its aftermath. Files in the National Archives trace some who made their way north, seeking from their local induction boards asylum from what they called a life-threatening situation.