The Slaughter: An American Atrocity (ISBN 0966649907)

Ugly Chapter of American History Uncovered:
"White MPs were called in... armed with machine guns...They shot everything that moved, until nothing did; not one defenseless soldier got away. When the shooting stopped, over 1200 members of the 364th were slaughtered." In December of 1943, over one thousand black soldiers were slaughtered at Camp Van Dorn, located just outside the sleepy southern town of Centreville Mississippi. These enlisted men weren't killed in combat with the enemy, but lined up and mowed down, unarmed, by white soldiers acting on orders from superiors in the US Army. Unbelieveable, isn't it? The first thought I had upon hearing about the incident was that it couldn't possibly be true. So, I got my hands on the book, The Slaughter, written by Carroll Case, a local, white Mississippi journalist who blew the cover off this shocking, long-rumored massacre. And as I examined the proof offered by the author in his carefully-researched text, the shock of recognition set in, even though the truth remains difficult to swallow. Nobody wants to think that a government-sanctioned Holocaust of African-Americans could have occurred during WWII. Or that it was successfully hidden for over 50 years, despite the military's ability to keep so many of its operations an absolute secret. But Mr. Case has pieced together the scenario which led to this unthinkable crime against humanity, relying on a combination of eyewitness accounts and declassified documents unearthed by way of a Freedom of Information Act inquiry. Thus, we learn, for instance, that the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, some five months before the atrocity, filed an affidavit with the Secretary of War on behalf of the 364th Infantry, an all-black regiment. NAACP attorney Milton Konvitz attached to his appeal the emotional letters of several members of the 364th which eloquently but desperately complained about their mistreatment on the basis of race. The book explains that the regiment had specifically been relocated from Phoenix to the Deep South because of insubordination. The black soldiers had repeatedly complained about the unequal treatment of blacks and whites in the armed forces. So, they were shipped to a remote outpost in Mississippi in order to have their rebellious spirit broken by an even more repressive social code. At Camp Van Dorn, however, matters only went from bad to worse as the African-American soldiers still refused to capitulate. And when white officers observed that the surly attitude of these Northern blacks were beginning to infect their obedient Southern brethren, extermination was ordered as the final solution.

Extreme Lack of Evidence of In-Depth Research!:
(NOTE: ** means new paragraph. I was an English professor for 11 years; it can't be helped! :o)) **I have no doubt that SOMETHING happened at Camp Van Dorn in 1943. Only those who are blatantly racist or locked away in ivory towers can still pretend that the United States Army was not often as cruel to its African-American employees as it was to its international enemies. President Truman did not just make drastic changes to the military system because he needed a new project. He knew that amends needed to be made -- and quickly. **My consternation about this book is its stark lack of in-depth research. In part one, we learn more than we need to about Case's efforts to learn about the atrocity at Van Dorn. While the process of acquiring information is often an interesting travelogue, Case does not offer enough substance to show that the fruits of his 13 years of labor were not in fact spoiled on the vine. **I find it offensive that Case does not dispute the widely accepted version of the 364th's misconduct. I was reminded of "The Confession of Nat Turner" as I read part one. I tend to dismiss that confession because it is written by an amanuensis. We have only David Gray's word about what Nat Turner's motives were; Gray's is the only voice we hear from Nat Turner; therefore, Nat himself is actually silenced. Such is the case with the victims of the Van Dorn horror. Why should we believe that they were as disruptive as they are reported to be by people who still refer to African-Americans as "niggers"? **Case has verbatim transcriptions of the photocopied letters he places at the end of the 40-page "facts" section. Ultimately, only five pages of the facts surrounding the incident can be found in part one. I could perhaps understand why he decided to tell the whole story in novel form IF the novel were the well-written result of a full disclosure of some detailed and well done research. Alas, his work is poorly presented, and Carroll's case is not just half-baked, it is nearly raw. **It is therefore very easy for the rabidly racist and those who would deny that anything happened at all to say the book is false. I won't know about the total veracity of what seems a plausible incident until I do some research of my own, but I do know that had he written about the facts in painstaking detail, nobody would give a second thought to those who malign the truth of this incident. **I truly wasted my money on this one and would give it zero stars if I had the option!

First Hand Account Of Alleged Incidents:
I will try to make this very short without covering every event that has occured to me since 1999. First let me say that the book is just that, fiction and nothing more. I started to research my family history around 1999, hoping to find the Grandfather that I never met. My father was raised by his mother and he had no memory of his father at all. My Grandmother always told my father that his father was away in prison. I found my Grandfather in 2002, he was alive and well and living in Tampa Florida. (Very Long Story) During the course of my research, I read just about everything I could on the 364th, not knowing that my Grandfather was a member of the unit during the alleged events! He was number 3,305 on the unit roster. My father was united with my Grandfather after a 60 year time span! My father and I saw him twice before his death on the 6th of August 2003. I questioned him about the alleged allegations and he said that they did not occur! If anyone would like more information, feel free to email me at calsana39@hotmail.com.

This Story Keeps Moving Along; Answers Deserved:
Carroll Case, a Mississippi reporter, partly documented the alleged 1943 mass murder at Camp Van Dorn of over 1,000 African-American soldiers of the 364th Regiment in his book, "The Slaughter." His book is a real page-turner. Even the history surrounding the name of the fort is fascinating. Historically, the base had an interesting start; it was named after Major General Earl Van Dorn , a Confederate Civil War hero who resigned his commission in the United States Army in 1861 offering his services to the Confederacy. Civil War enthusiasts would know that Van Dorn's most renowned battle was routing Union forces at Holly Springs, Mississippi in December 1862, and that he also had a reputation for drinking and womanizing. The general's life ended on May 7, 1863, not on the battlefield, but in his office in Spring Hill, Tennessee, where he was shot by a local doctor for allegedly having an affair with the doctor's wife. A later spin was put on the story, that the physician and his wife may have been Union spies. The real story opened in Louisiana where the 364th originated as the 367th, but trouble began for the black soldiers assigned there, after three of their men were accused of raping a white woman. Thurgood Marshall was involved as an NAACP attorney trying to help the black soldiers, but the 367th was "changed" to the 364th and the soldiers were shipped to Phoenix, and then on to the newly constructed base in Mississippi named after Van Dorn. Meanwhile, so many questions are left unanswered: Why did the Army construct a large lake and earthen dam on Camp Van Dorn property which are isolated from public access but connected by a private road directly to the railroad? Why did the Army tell the NAACP there was no more classified information on the 364th... and yet the NAACP has unearthed at least ten additional boxes of intelligence reports and records marked "TOP SECRET"? The case, obviously, is not closed. Currently, at least one of Mississippi's historians is quietly collecting records for another book they should provide some answers. "The Slaughter," however, is the place to start.

A Good Read:
For years I have read book about the conditions of life for blakcs in the south prior to continuing through the civil rights era. I have an extensive library of books which subject matter includes antebellum era, slavery, reconstruction, the kkk, civil rights leaders etc, so when I came across this book it was a must read. What peeked my interest more then the subject matter was the fact that in 15 years of reading and research I had never heard about this incident. Needless to say I was very excited to recieve and read this book. I opened the first page of this book with an open mind having read of so many other atrocities perpatrated against blacks in this country it would not surprise me in the least if one of the worst ones in more recent times was government sanctioned. Having said that I must also conclude that although it was a very interesting read this book ends up to be just as is stated, a colorful if not horrific work of fiction. I must admit that completing the book Mr Case had stirred my curiosity enough to delve deeper into this matter on my own. I felt the fact that the government had any paperwork at all on file in regards to this matter lent itself to take the matter seriously enough. I too came across the book written by an historian in regards to the 364th as well as a Biography channel account of this same unit. Since it has been my experience that the Biography channel does not as a matter of course color coat history to suit any one agenda I found it almost disappointing that none of the hype in Mr Case's book ended up having any legs. Through research each and every member of the 364th had been located and accounted for and not one family member came forward to say that their loved one was "missing", killed in action (even as a cover story) etc. I can only sum all of this up to say that although the book was intriguing and "caught me" up in the possibility of this all any reader must enter into this knowing it is what it is...a dead end...although the story has the ring of truth to it for atrocities like this were every day occurances for many blacks in our country during this time frame, one must know that this portayal is a conglomeration of stories and tales woven into a bigger story for impact. If you understand this going into it you will not be disappointed in the end. Still I gave it a high rating because I have read so many books about the daily lives of blacks in the south from slavery to civil rights that the concept of this book was never too far fetched for me.