Napolean Bonaparte Marshall

Captain Napolean Bonaparte Marshall of the 369th Infantry, one of Harvard's most famous athletes, severely wounded in the spine, during fighting south of Meetx, must wear a steel brace during the remainder of his life.

First lieutenant 15th New York Infantry; promoted captain June 1, 1917; assigned to Company I, 15th New York Infantry; sailed for France November 12; organisation later designated 369th Infantry; served with French Army April to July; transferred to Company A, 365th Infantry, 92d Division, July 24; wounded October 21; invalided to United States December 9; discharged May 16, 1919. Engagements: Champagne-Marne defensive, Saint-Dié sector, Meuse-Argonne offensive, Marbache sector.

Captain Napolean Bonaparte Marshall, a lawyer of this city who has been overseas commanding Co. I of the old 15th Inf (now the 365th), returned with his body trussed in a steel corset because of several shrapnel wounds in his ribs and lungs. Captain Marshall was a noted athlete at Exeter and Harvard in 1897 ran the quarter mile in 50 seconds. He said he was much pleased at being back on home soil once more, and in his own congenial way exclaimed: "Do you remember the days when I used to have to go around talking on the corners to get recruits for Col. Bill Hayward's 15th Regiment? But we got them, and they fought some fight. The French wanted us to stay with them all the time. On the night of Oct. 21 we were ordered to make a raid to feel out the enemy preparatory to a drive on Metz. We were just twelve miles south of Metz, on the Moselle River. I took thirty-one men along. We crawled into No Man's Land and blundered into a German patrol party. The enemy sent up a rocket signal and the next instant the Germans showered us with an artillery deluge, shrapnel shells, high explosives and a few bullets for good measure. We were cut off from our own lines. We were up against it bad. There was only one thing to do. We advanced toward the enemy lines and thereby got under their range. Then we detoured and in three hours got back to our own lines. We were commended by the brigade commander." Harlemites will greet the captain with open arms, as they have always held him in high esteem.

Sources: Scott's Official History of the American Negro in The World War by Emmett J Scott, 1919; Harvard's Military Record in the World War edited by Frederick Sumner Mead (1921); Complete History of the Colored Soldiers in the World War: Authentic Story of the Greatest War of Civilized Times and what the Colored Man Did to Uphold Democracy and Liberty (1919)