Urbane F. Bass

Urbane F. Bass

US National Library of Medicine

Quick Facts

Significance:

World War One Doctor and Buffalo Soldier. He was killed in action.

Place of Birth:

Richmond, Virginia

Date of Birth:

April 14, 1880

Place of Death:

Beausejour, France

Date of Death:

October 6. 1918

Place of Burial:

Fredericksburg, Virginia

Cemetery Name:

Fredericksburg National Cemetery

Urbane Francis Bass was born on April 14, 1880, in Richmond, Virginia. He was one of six children of Richard J. Bass, a salesman, and Rosa Bass, a homemaker. While in school Bass worked as a clerk. After high school, he attended Virginia Union University in Richmond and graduated in 1902. In 1906, he graduated from the Leonard Medical School of Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Leonard Medical School was the first African American medical school in the country to offer a four-year curriculum. On March 31, 1886, the first six men earned their medical degrees from the school. 

After graduating, Bass began his medical practice in Richmond. A year after he received his medical degree, he married Maude Vass. She was born on March 28, 1886, in Raleigh, North Carolina. They had four children together, three daughters and a son.

In 1909, Bass moved his medical practice and his family to Fredericksburg, Virginia. He was Fredericksburg’s first African American physician since Reconstruction. He also established a pharmacy in Fredericksburg in 1911. His practice was well received by the African American community although the local hospital excluded him and his patients because of their race. Without access to the hospital, Dr. Bass regularly made house calls and often performed surgeries and other medical procedures on kitchen tables inside his patients’ homes.

In 1917, Dr. Bass wrote to Secretary of War Newton Baker offering his services during World War I. In the letter, Dr. Bass wrote, “Realizing that patriotism and loyalty should be paramount in the breast of all American citizens at this time and feeling (although a negro) that loyalty for my country and the desire to serve her in this critical period, I am herewith offering my services for the Army Medical Corps should there be a need for a Negro physician for that branch of service.” At 37, Bass was commissioned a first lieutenant in the Medical Reserve Corps. He arrived for basic medical officer training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, on August 14, 1917.

After completing his military training, Dr. Bass was assigned to the 372nd Infantry Regiment, 93rd Infantry Division. The 372nd Infantry was an all-Black segregated unit. It was initially organized at Camp Stewart, Virginia, in January 1918. The 372nd comprised African Americans from Washington, D.C., Ohio, Maryland, Tennessee, Massachusetts, and Connecticut National Guard units.

Dr. Bass and the rest of the 372nd Infantry deployed to France on the USS Susquehanna. They left Newport News, Virginia, on March 30, 1918. Upon arriving in France, the 372nd along with the rest of the 93rd Infantry Division were assigned to the French. The French needed combat troops and were accustomed to deploying their own Black colonial troops. While the Americans warned the French not to treat the African American soldiers as equal to white troops, the French ignored this advice and welcomed them into their fighting force.

On October 6, 1918, Dr. Bass was aiding wounded soldiers at a forward aid station near Beausejour. The aid station was under heavy German fire and artillery attack. While attending to the wounded, Bass was wounded by shrapnel, losing both legs. He instructed others how to treat his wounds as he was being rushed to a field hospital, but he succumbed on the way. 

In December 1918, the Fredericksburg community decided to raise money to install a large stained-glass window at the Shiloh Baptist Church in Dr. Bass’s memory. Donations for the window were collected for over a year. A dedication ceremony for the memorial was held on July 12, 1920, with a large crowd in attendance.

Dr. Bass was initially buried at the La Cheppe Cemetery in Marne, France. On July 9, 1919, he was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his heroic actions. Two years later, on July 23, 1921, he was reinterred at the Fredericksburg National Cemetery, the first African American officer to be buried there.