National Guard Armory

"The arrival of the black men at the courthouse electrified the white mob, now more than a thousand strong. Whites without guns went home to retrieve them. One group of whites tried to break into the National Guard Armory, in order to gain access to the weapons stored inside. But a small contingent of armed National Guardsmen, threatening to open fire, turned the angry whites away." HIll, K 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre (pg 262)

Later, after the authorities officially asked for the assistance of the National Guard, their primary responsibility lay in arresting all of the African Americans in Greenwood and holding them at various locations throughout the city. Another group of guardsmen assisted other whites in attacking groups of remaining African American men who were still defending their property, families, and community.

The pre-dawn hours of June 1 also witnessed the first organized actions by Tulsa’s National Guard units. While perhaps as many as fifty guardsmen had gathered at the armory by 11:00 p.m., it was not until after midnight that the local commander received official authorization to call out his men to assist the civil authorities. Initially, the local guardsmen—all of whom were white—were deployed downtown. One detachment blocked off Second Street in front of Police Headquarters, while others led groups of armed whites on “patrols” of the business district. Police officials also presented the guardsmen with a machine gun, which Guard officers had mounted on the back of a truck. This particular gun, as it turned out, was in poor condition, and could only be fired one shot at a time. Taking the machine gun with them, about thirty guardsmen positioned themselves along Detroit Avenue between Brady Street and Standpipe Hill. There, they set up a “skirmish line” facing the African American district. They also began rounding up black civilians, whom they handed over—as prisoners—to the police. Guardsmen also briefly exchanged gunfire with gunmen to the east.

Word of what was happening in Tulsa also had made its way to state officials in Oklahoma City. At 10:14 P.M., Adjutant General Charles F. Barrett, commandant of the Oklahoma National Guard, received a long-distance telephone call from Major Byron Kirkpatrick, a Tulsa Guard officer, advising him of the worsening conditions in the city. Kirkpatrick phoned again at 12:35 A.M., at which point he was instructed by Governor J. B. A. Robertson, who was also on the line, to send a telegram— signed by the police chief, the sheriff, and a judge—requesting that state troops be sent to Tulsa. Kirkpatrick had some difficulty, however, securing the required signatures, and it was not until 1:46 a.m. that the telegram was received at the State Capitol. At 2:15 a.m., Kirkpatrick spoke again with Adjutant General Barrett, who informed him that the governor had authorized the calling out of the state troops. A special train, carrying one hundred National Guard soldiers, would leave Oklahoma City, bound for Tulsa, at 5:00 a.m.

HIll, K 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre (262, 265, 267)