Freddie Stowers

Freddie Stowers
Stowers' grave at Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery
Born	(1894-01-12)January 12, 1894 Sandy Springs, South Carolina
Died	September 28, 1918(1918-09-28) (aged 22) near Ardeuil-et-Montfauxelles, Ardennes, France
Place of burial	Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1917 - 1918 †
Rank	Corporal
Unit	371st Infantry Regiment, 93d Division
Battles/wars	World War I
Awards	Medal of Honor

Freddie Stowers (January 12, 1896 – September 28, 1918) was a black American corporal in the United States Army who was killed in action during World War I, while serving in an American unit under French command. Over 70 years later, he posthumously received the Medal of Honor for his actions.

Stowers was born in Sandy Springs, South Carolina, the grandson of a slave. Before the war, he worked as a farmhand. He married a woman named Pearl, with whom he had one daughter, Minnie Lee.

Stowers was drafted into the Army in 1917, and assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion of the segregated U.S. 371st Infantry Regiment, originally part of the 93d Infantry Division (Colored).

While the United States had established permanent African-American military units in 1866, these did not participate in the American Expeditionary Force; a peacetime role as frontier police and cavalry experts was gradually devolving into labor duties, the fate of many black troops in the world wars, despite the protests of some officers and organizations like the NAACP. Some of these "Buffalo Soldiers", as they were nicknamed, did participate in a border skirmish with Mexican troops accompanied by German military advisors near Nogales; see Buffalo Soldiers for more information.