President Theodore Roosevelt discharged without honor the entire regiment of 167 men, despite the fact that all the soldiers asserted their innocence. Roosevelt did not expel the white officers, who attested that the soldiers had been in their barracks at the time of the melee in town. No military trial was ever held.

Although there was no trial, and the men were not given a hearing or the opportunity to confront their accusers, President Theodore Roosevelt ordered 167 black infantrymen discharged without honor because of their alleged conspiracy of silence.

Decommission. On February 1, 1946, Fort Brown was decommissioned and turned over to the Army Corps of Engineers on April 25, 1946. It was acquired by the City of Brownsville and Texas Southmost College in 1948.

The city was founded in 1848 by American entrepreneur Charles Stillman after he developed a successful river-boat company nearby. It was named for Fort Brown, itself named after Major Jacob Brown, who fought and died while serving as a U.S. Army soldier during the Mexican–American War (1846–1848).