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| The New York Times November 12, 1917 |
SALUTE NEGROES IN SOUTH.
Gen. Castleman, ex-Confederate, Tells Soldiers it is Their Duty.
LOUISVILLE, Ky, Nov. 11- Louisville, in which much of the spirit of the old South still lives, putting aside racial feeling and personal prejudice, has settled for itself, patriotically and unreservedly, the question of the propriety of white soldiers saluting negro officers. This question, which came to the fore recently, was on the first thought answered to reconcile inherent convictions with military regulations.
The solution was that an officer should not be regarded as a personality toward whom the salute homage to the country's uniform and to the things it typifies should be accepted.
An exposition of this viewpoint was voiced by General John B. Castleman, a Major of the Army of the Confederacy, later Colonel of a Kentucky National Guard regiment and a Brigadier General of Volunteers who saw active service in Porto Rico during the Spanish-American War. He said:
"The discipline of the army must be maintained, and non-commissioned officers understand little of the spirit of the army when they refuse to salute a negro officer. I have held several commissions in the military service, and I unhesitatingly say that I would or will, at any time salute an officer, superior or inferior, who salutes me without regard to the color of his skin. The regulations, the laws, and the fundamentals of courtesy and discipline upon which these regulations and laws are based prescribe this. It is no time to stand against them. I want to urge every soldier to be a soldier in the full sense of the term. We are at war, and soldiers are under the rules of the American Army. We are all one under the flag. We salute the rank, not the individual."
The incident which brought forth General Castleman's statement occurred here recently when two white soldiers refused to salute Captain Glass, a colored officer.
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