Under cover of darkness, thirteen Black soldiers of the United States Army 3-24 Infantry crouched in a cavalry barrack in San Antonio, and, alongside Army chaplains and ministers, composed final messages to their families. Weeks earlier, they had been found guilty of mutiny. Finding comfort in Scripture and memories of their loved ones, the men stayed awake for most of what was to be their last night this side of death. Meanwhile, white members of the same army worked by the light of bonfires, hammering and nailing together wooden gallows on the edge of the camp near Salado Creek. Only a few onlookers were allowed near their worksite, among them a few sheriff’s deputies: Only they knew how to tie a hangman’s knot.By the next morning,…
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