Never forget why proud soldiers went on a bloody rampage 100 years ago.

Never forget how and why proud soldiers went on a bloody rampage 100 years ago.

A century ago this week, one of the most tragic and momentous events in Houston’s history erupted near what’s now a peaceful municipal park. Today, as our nation still struggles over issues involving race, it’s especially important we remember what happened with the soldiers assigned to guard the construction of Camp Logan.

The United States had just declared war against Germany in what became known as World War I. The Army had dispatched to Houston the Third Battalion of the 24th U.S. Infantry regiment, a force of black soldiers led by white officers.

Most of the troops had grown up in the South and had endured segregation, but as men serving their country in uniform they expected better treatment. From the day they arrived in Houston, they were abused and humiliated. The soldiers were taunted with racial epithets, ordered to ride in the backs of street cars and harassed by bigoted police officers. On August 23, 1917, two officers with bad reputations for abusive behavior beat an innocent black woman and dragged her out of her home. A black army private who intervened was pistol whipped and arrested. When a corporal later approached the same two officers to ask about what had happened to the jailed soldier, one of the officers struck him with his pistol, fired shots at him as he ran for cover, then beat him and arrested him.

Back at the camp, soldiers heard rumors their corporal had been shot to death by Houston police. Although the corporal was released from custody, outraged troops raided supply tents to arm themselves with rifles and ammunition. When someone shouted that a white mob was approaching the camp, gunfire erupted. Over the next couple of hours, more than 100 soldiers marched through neighborhoods and fired at houses, shooting people in homes and passing cars. Only after they shot a military officer they mistook for a policeman did they retreat back to their camp.

When the carnage came to an end that night, 16 people had died in the bloodiest murder spree in the city’s history. Military tribunals found 110 soldiers guilty in the Camp Logan mutiny and riot; 19 were hanged and dozens more were sentenced to spend the rest of their lives in prison.

“What’s at the core of the Houston tragedy is the tragedy of American racism,” Chad Williams, a Brandeis University historian who’s written about African-American soldiers in World War I, told the Chronicle’s Mike Tolson.

All that remains of Camp Logan today are a few concrete remnants of old buildings seldom seen by visitors to Memorial Park. A historical marker sits across the street from Memorial Elementary School. A master plan for the park’s renovation calls for a series of pine groves recalling not only the landscape of the army camp, but also a formation of soldiers standing at attention.

Today, Houston is a city that welcomes newcomers and treats military men and women with profound respect. So a transient town like ours must make an extraordinary effort to remember such a different and difficult era. The Buffalo Soldiers National Museum in Houston’s midtown this week hosts a series of programs commemorating the Camp Logan tragedy.

May the events of that violent night in our city’s history never be forgotten, and may its lessons always be remembered.