An unheralded military hero, Charles Young (1864–1922) was the third black graduate of West Point, the first African American national park superintendent, the first black U.S. military attaché, the first African American officer to command a Regular Army regiment, and the highest-ranking black officer in the Regular Army until his death. Black Officer in a Buffalo Soldier Regiment tells the story of the man who—willingly or not—served as a standard-bearer for his race in the officer corps for nearly thirty years, and who, if not for racial prejudice, would have become the first African American general. Brian G. Shellum describes how, during his remarkable army career, Young was shuffled among the few assignments deemed suitable for a black officer in a white man’s army—the Buffalo Soldier regiments, an African American college, and diplomatic posts in black republics such as Liberia. Nonetheless, he used his experience to establish himself as an exceptional cavalry officer. He was a colonel on the eve of the United States’ entry into World War I, when serious medical problems and racial intolerance denied him command and ended his career. Shellum’s book seeks to restore a hero to the ranks of military history; at the same time, it informs our understanding of the role of race in the history of the American military.

Originally published in 1967, William H. Leckie’s The Buffalo Soldiers was the first book of its kind to recognize the importance of African American units in the conquest of the West. Decades later, with sales of more than 75,000 copies, The Buffalo Soldiers has become a classic. Now, in a newly revised edition, the authors have expanded the original research to explore more deeply the lives of buffalo soldiers in the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry Regiments. Written in accessible prose that includes a synthesis of recent scholarship, this edition delves further into the life of an African American soldier in the nineteenth century. It also explores the experiences of soldiers’ families at frontier posts. In a new epilogue, the authors summarize developments in the lives of buffalo soldiers after the Indian Wars and discuss contemporary efforts to memorialize them in film, art, and architecture.

As peacekeepers on American soil and as soldiers fighting the Spanish-American War, the Buffalo Soldiers saved lives and gave their own to help the United States grow. Find out what roles they played, and how, as soldiers, they took a major step toward desegregating the military and in gaining civil rights for future generations.

Discusses the heroic actions and the experiences of the Buffalo soldiers and the impact they made times of war or conflict.

Read about the lives and experiences of the Buffalo Soldiers.

All students of the frontier army as well as aficionados with a special interest in the Buffalo Soldiers will find this an invaluable tool. Drawing on a wide variety of periodicals, military records, and letters, the book covers such key topics as the legislative origin of the inclusion of black soldiers in the army.

This history by a chaplain of the Twenty-fifth Infantry includes firsthand accounts of the Spanish-American War as well as an overview of African-American contributions to prior wars and conflicts.