In 1941, he reported for duty as a Brigade Commander with the 2nd Cavalry Division in Fort Riley, Kansas. In 1940, he was promoted to Brigadier General, becoming the first black soldier to hold the rank of General in the Army. He held the rank of colonel at this time. Davis was given his own regiment to command, the 369th Cavalry New York National Guard, in 1937. Cavalry, a unit of the regular army, and soon rose to the highest rank held by any Black soldier at the time.Īfter serving three years duty in Africa, he returned to active duty in the Philippines. He later enlisted as a private in the 9th U.S. Volunteer Infantry, an-all black unit, as a First Lieutenant. ![]() ![]() He graduated from Howard University in 1898 and entered the army after graduation as a volunteer when the Spanish-American War was officially declared on April 25, 1898.ĭavis served as part of the 8th U.S. Little is known about his early life, but his family was believed to be comfortably middle-class. ![]() His army career dated from the Spanish-American war to World War ll.ĭavis was born on July 1, 1877, in Washington, D.C. Benjamin Oliver Davis, Sr., was the first African-American general for the U.S.
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