In 1908 the first black bandmasters were appointed to the U.S. Army Ninth and Tenth Cavalry regiments and the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Infantry regiments. President Theodore Roosevelt signed a special order in November ordering black bandmasters assigned to the four regular military regiments; white bandmasters were to be transferred out of these units as soon as possible. Four bandmasters were then promoted to the rank of chief musicians: Wade Hammond, Alfred Jack Thomas, William Polk, and Egbert Thompson.