Rufus Louis Carr

(1893-1918)

Rufus Louis Carr

Class of 1913 yearbook photograph, Central High School, Cleveland, OH

Private Rufus Louis Carr, signature on WWI draft registration showing the cut section on the lower left indicating "Colored"

SS Orizaba

Nearly illegible gravestone, Private Rufus Louis Carr, Cleveland Township Cemetery, Cleveland, OH

Rufus Louis Carr

*No plaque found

*The List of Liberty Row Names indicates the possible original location of the plaque.

*No soldier photograph found in the following book: Doyle, A. C., Haulsee, W. M., Howe, F. G. Soldiers of the Great War. Washington, DC: Soldiers Record Publishing Company, 1920.

Birth: 1/4/1893, Newborn, Newton County, Georgia

Address: 2327 E. 36th St., Cleveland, Ohio

Demographics: age 24 at draft registration; race: Black; single; native-born citizen; attended Central High School in Cleveland [see yearbook photo at left], Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and University of Michigan Pharmacy School in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the latter at time of draft registration

Appearance: Height short, Build medium, Eyes dark brown, Hair black

Draft Date/Enlistment Date/Rank: 5/28/1917; 10/27/1917; Private

Service Number:1974911 [also recorded as 1974811]

Deployment: 6/10/1918 from Hoboken, NJ aboard SS Orizaba

Action: Private Rufus Louis Carr served in the medical detachment of the 325th Field Signal Battalion as part of the 92nd Infantry Division, nicknamed the "Buffalo Soldiers," an elite group of African-American WWI soldiers. The 325th Field Signal Battalion was organized at Camp Sherman, Chillicothe, Ohio and was comprised of men from 35 states, many of whom were college-educated. They deployed on 6/10/1918. The medical detachment was responsible for emergency stabilization of injured soldiers and evacuation from the front line to hospitals.

Death: December 3, 1918 at age 25 at Toul, Departement de Meurthe-et-Moselle, Lorraine, France; cause of death Lobar Pneumonia

Burial: 5/13/1921 burial at East Cleveland Township Cemetery, 1621 E. 118th St., Cleveland, OH, Lot 66A, Section 6, alongside his mother

Next of Kin: Mrs. Mattie L. Carr, mother, 2239 E. 85th St., Cleveland, OH

Additional Information: On 1/27/1932, John C. Carr, Private Rufus Louis Carr's father, applied for an unmarked, government-issued headstone for his son. Father: John C. Carr (1851-?), born Georgia, occupation Melter at Steel Works, no additional information found about his father; Mother: Martha Mattie Louise Heard Carr (1874-1947), born Savannah, Georgia, per 1910 Census had 7 children of whom 2 were living, occupation Laundress at home, buried East Cleveland Township Cemetery, 1621 E. 118th St., Cleveland, OH alongside her son Private Rufus Louis Carr; Siblings: Albert Spencer Carr (1899-1949), who was employed as a Clerk in a drugstore and later as a Pharmacist, married in 1927, had a son Leslie Vincent Carr (1928-1980), and became a widower in 1935.

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