Buffalo Soldiers: The Colored Regulars in the United States Army (Classics in Black Studies)
Editorial Reviews
Book Description
On the American frontier, African American units of the U.S. Army--nicknamed "Buffalo Soldiers" by their Indian opponents--were renowned for their fortitude, courage, and ability to handle difficult assignments. Despite such respect in the military, by the end of the nineteenth century Black civilians were still being subjected to Jim Crow laws, lynchings, and continuous discrimination. At this same time newspapers were reporting glowing accounts of the heroism of four Black regiments during the Spanish-American War.
In an effort to bolster Black pride and stem the increasing racism of the age, Dr. T.G. Steward (1843-1924), chaplain of the U.S. Army's Twenty-fifth Infantry, requested and received permission from the army to publish this fascinating account of the Black soldier's military service in Cuba. After summarizing the African American contribution to all of the wars and conflicts leading up to the Spanish-American War, Steward concentrates on the war in Cuba. Among the intriguing episodes recounted are the rescue of the Rough Riders led by Theodore Roosevelt, the capture of the stone fort at El Caney, the service of the Black infantrymen as volunteer nurses in the yellow fever camps, and long excerpts from the diary of Medal of Honor winner E.L. Baker of the Tenth Cavalry.
Enhanced by an extensive foreword from Frank N. Schubert, former chief of Joint Operational History for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and an expert on the Buffalo Soldiers, this work remains a model of careful narrative history and still the single best source of information on the role of the Black soldiers in the war against Spain.
About the Author
Theophilus Gould Steward was born in Gouldtown, New Jersey, on April 17, 1843. As the son of free Blacks reared in a family that stressed education, he received his formal education in the Gouldtown public schools. He was ordained a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1863. Following the Civil War, Steward helped organize the A.M.E. Church in South Carolina and Georgia. He was also active in Reconstruction politics in Georgia. After the war he graduated from the Episcopal Divinity School of Philadelphia, and later was awarded a doctor of divinity degree from Wilberforce University in Wilberforce, Ohio, in 1881.
From 1872 to 1891 Steward established a church in Haiti and preached in the eastern United States. In 1891 he joined the Twenty-fifth U.S. Colored Infantry, serving as its chaplain until 1907. Between 1907 and his death on January 11, 1924, Steward was a professor of history, French, and logic at Wilberforce University.
Works by Steward include: Genesis Re-read (1885); Active Service, or Religious Work Among U.S. Soldiers (1897); A Charleston Love Story (1899); The Colored Regulars in the United States Army (1904); The Haitian Revolution 1791 to 1804, or Sidelights on the French Revolution (1914); and Fifty Years in the Gospel Ministry (1920).
Buffalo Soldiers: The Colored Regulars in the United States Army (Classics in Black Studies),T. G. Steward,Frank N. Schubert,Humanity Books,1591021073,19th century,African American soldiers,Blacks In The Military,Cuba,Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - General,Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - Histor,History,Military - Other,Military History - Modern,Military Science,Participation, African America,Participation, African American,Sociology,Spanish-American War, 1898,Technology,United States - Reconstruction Period (1865-1877),Black studies,USA,Warfare & Defence
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