[4] Gregg Andrews, author of Thyra J. Edwards: Black Activist in the Global Freedom Struggle, wrote that the riot "shook race relations in the city and created conditions that helped to spark a statewide surge of wartime racial activism".

[7] On July 27, 1917, the United States Army ordered the 3rd Battalion of the all-black 24th Infantry Regiment to guard the Camp Logan construction site.

[8] Jim Crow laws were in place, and the soldiers were forced to contend with segregated accommodations, including drinking facilities at the construction site, and repeated racist taunts.

Around noon of August 23, 1917, Lee Sparks and Rufus Daniels, two HPD officers, disrupted a gathering on a street corner in Houston's predominantly black San Felipe district by firing warning shots.

Refusing to believe Travers's protestations that she had no knowledge of their whereabouts, Sparks dragged her outside of her house, not even allowing her to put on shoes, and arrested her.

At this point, order broke down completely and the soldiers mobbed the supply tents, grabbing rifles and ammunition to take revenge.

After several minutes of shooting at Camp Logan, Sergeant Vida Henry ordered the men in the area – about 150 – to fill their canteens, grab extra ammunition, and fall in to march on Houston.

Due to the disorganization of the HPD and the belief that the black soldiers would be unable to arm themselves, white officers had been sent out in small numbers,[13]: 141  expecting to quickly subdue unarmed men.

Believing this to be the uniform of a mounted policeman, the soldiers opened fire only to discover later that they had killed Captain Joseph W. Mattes of the Illinois National Guard.

[8]: 651  The killing of a military officer drove home the seriousness of their uprising and of the consequences faced by black men for attacking white people.

[13]: 162 At this point, soldiers began to desert the group, and Sergeant Henry led the remainder on a march back to Camp Logan.

Haynes posits the decision was made to accommodate the witnesses who lived in Houston, plus "the countless spectators" who wanted to follow the proceedings.

The Departmental Judge Advocate General (JAG), Colonel George Dunn, reviewed the record of the first court-martial (known as "the Nesbit Case") and approved the sentences.

That evening, trucks carried new lumber for scaffolds to some bathhouses built for the soldiers at Camp Travis near a swimming pool in the Salado Creek.

[13]: 7  Military jurist Frederick Bernays Wiener has observed that Ruckman's approval and execution of the death sentences were "entirely legal" and "in complete conformity" with the 1916 Articles of War.

"[24] The President's statement began by recounting the events that led to the deaths of "innocent bystanders" who were "peaceably disposed civilians of the City of Houston.

Wilson also noted that "extraordinary precautions" were taken to "insure the fairness of the trials" and, in each instance, the rights of the defendants were "surrounded at every point" by the "safeguards" of "a humane administration of the law."

He desired the "splendid loyalty" of African-American soldiers be recognized and expressed the hope that clemency would inspire them "to further zeal and service to the country.

"[24] Most importantly from the Army's viewpoint, Wilson (a former law professor) wrote that the actions taken by the former Commander of the Southern Department were "legal and justified by the record."

[23] But as historian Calvin C. Smith noted in 1991, there was no proof of a "conspiracy", and many of the sentenced were not conclusively identified in the dark and rainy night as having even participated in the riot, despite the government's pledge of fair trials and absolute transparency.

[19][25] On December 14, 1924, four of the rioters, including future Negro league baseball player Roy Tyler, were released on parole; 34 remained imprisoned in Fort Leavenworth.

[28] In 1937, the remains of the 13 executed soldiers were exhumed from their unmarked graves and reburied with military headstones in Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.

[6] "After a thorough review, the Board has found that these Soldiers were wrongly treated because of their race and were not given fair trials," said Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth.