rations of Negro soldiers and with bringing
out as many of the details of those operations as the records at this
time will supply.

CHAPTER XXI

THE LONG, LONG TRAIL

OPERATIONS OF 368TH INFANTRY--NEGROES FROM PENNSYLVANIA, MARYLAND AND
SOUTH--IN ARGONNE HELL--DEFEAT IRON CROSS VETERANS--VALIANT PERSONAL
EXPLOITS--LIEUTENANT ROBERT CAMPBELL--PRIVATE JOHN BAKER--OPERATIONS OF
367TH INFANTRY--"MOSS'S BUFFALOES"--365TH AND 366TH REGIMENTS--THE GREAT
DIVIDE--THEIR SOULS ARE MARCHING ON--PRAISED BY PERSHING--SOME CITATIONS

When the history of the 92nd Division is written in detail, much
prominence will necessarily be given to the operations of the 368th
Infantry. This unit was composed of Negroes mostly from Pennsylvania,
Maryland and the Southern states. They went abroad happy, light-hearted
boys to whom any enterprise outside of their regular routine was an
adventure. They received adventure a plenty; enough to last most of them
for their natural lives. They returned matured, grim-visaged men who had
formed a companionship and a comradeship with death. For months they
were accustomed to look daily down the long, long trail leading to the
Great Divide. They left behind many who traveled the trail and went over
the Divide. Peril was their constant attendant, danger so familiar that
they greeted it with a smile.

It has been noted that this unit of the division saw real service prior
to the campaign leading from Pont Mousson to Metz. Their first action
was in August in the Vosges sector. This was largely day and night
raiding from front line trenches. A month later they were in that bit of
hell known as the Argonne Forest, where on September 26th, they covered
themselves with glory.

They were excellent soldiers with a large number of Negro officers,
principally men who had been promoted from the ranks of non-commissioned
officers in the Regular Army.

Their commander during the last six weeks of the war, the time when they
saw most of their hard service, was Lieutenant Colonel T.A. Rothwell, a
Regular Army officer. He went abroad as commander of a machine gun
battalion in the 80th Division, later was transferred to the 367th
infantry and finally to the 368th. Many of the officers of the latter
organization had served under Colonel Rothwell as non-commissioned
officers of the Regular Army. He paid them a high tribute in stating
that they proved themselves excellent disciplinarians and leaders. He
was also