Buffalo Soldiers and Black Saber Chronicles in the Indian Wars

Buffalo Soldiers

ATSA-DT-LS

MEMORANDUM for Small Group Instructor, ATTN: CPT Kenny L. Davis

Book Review of Buffalo Soldiers

Buffalo Soldiers by Tom Willard, published in New York by Forge (division of Tom Doherty Associates, Inc.), 1997, 331 pages.

Recommended Audience: I recommend this book to anyone interested in the post-Civil War era and in the Indian wars. It would be good for black soldiers to read because it would help them to understand the obstacles their ancestors had to overcome. Native American soldiers might also find it interesting. The book is also good for anyone interested in race relations, particularly in the history of the military. The book has some historical value and is highly entertaining.

Recommend Actions: Buffalo Soldiers should not be required reading but should be suggested reading for junior soldiers, company grade officers, and company cadre NCOs. The book is about black soldiers who served during and after the Civil War, whose service to their country has been ignored and underappreciated.. It recognizes their bravery, competence, and contributions to the "winning of the West."

3. Analysis of the Author.

a. Credentials. The author TomWillard writes military fiction. Besides Buffalo Soldiers, he is also the author of Wings of Honor (Black Sabre Chronicles), the Stone Ponies, Sudden Fury, Sword of Valor: Black Sabre #5, the Sable Doughboys, Death Squad, War Chariot, Red Dancer, Blood River, Desert Star, Demons of Stony River, and Golden Triangle, and Bold Forager. General William C. Westmoreland and General Colin C. Powell both have written that they enjoy his books.

b. Purpose. The purpose of this book is mainly entertainment. The story is placed in the context of the role black soldiers played in American military history. The book begins in 1866 when Congress creates black peacetime units made up of men who fought on the side of the Union. The Army feels it cannot send them down South for reconstruction, that to do so might trigger riots. So they send them out West to fight Indians.

c. Sources. The book is filled with historical details from the era. It begins with the transcript of a speech by General Colin Powell at the dedication of Buffalo Soldier Monument in 1992.

He began the speech by quoting Colonel Benjamin H. Grierson of the 10th Cavalry Regiment, which established its first headquarters on the Western frontier. Powell then talked about the debt African-American soldiers owe the Buffalo Soldiers who went before them. The author Tom Willard used journals, which were kept by officers in those days as part of their official duties: "The writing of letters and the keeping of a journal were a professional requirement, providing a tangible reference for observation, reflection, and evaluation" (p. 26). From these he supplied authentic details for the background of the story. The author also states that he obtained information from the National Medal of Honor Museum and Military Library, Chattanooga, Tennessee.

d. Objectivity. The purpose of the story is to highlight the deeds and dedication of the Buffalo Soldiers, not to be objective about what happened to the Indians. Every so often, however, the author does comment on the ironies of the time. The Buffalo Soldiers were ex-slaves who were "willing to die for people who treated them as though they were less than human" (p. 76), that is, the white settlers who needed protection. "And they were all here, standing ready and willing to die in the name of Manifest Destiny, the doctrine that was gradually usurping land from Indians, land for farms and towns where the Coloreds wouldn't be welcome."

The wife of the main character, who does not want her husband and sons to go into battle, expresses most of this point-of-view. She constantly points out that the men are endangering their lives for people who hate them and destroying people (Indians) who only want to save their land and way of life.

Analysis of the Content.

a. Thesis. The thesis of this book is that black soldiers (ex-slaves) wanted to be proud of themselves and to be recognized for outstanding service to their country. The Army offered them the opportunity to fight for America and be heroes. As Sargeant Major Brassard explains to Augustus, the main character, as part of his recruiting persuasion, "If the Colored man is going to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the white man we're going to have to pitch in and do our share" (p. 48).

b. Synopsis.

i. The Civil War is over, Congress establishes peacetime troops, and arranges for black soldiers to serve in their own units led by white officers. The black troops, filthy, without uniforms, and underfed, meet their new Sargeant Major Roscoe Brassard. Brassard is angered by their sad appearance and the fact that they are hungry and quickly goes about correcting their living conditions. They make the trip to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.

1. Augustus Talbot is a slave. He was kidnapped by Kiowi Indians and kept several years by them, then sold to a farmer, who required him to shoot buffalo for the skins. A party of Buffalo Soldiers comes upon him, there is an altercation, and Augustus' master dies. The soldiers take Augustus back to the fort with them and recommend that he be inducted because of his sharp shooting abilities and because his years living with the Kiowa Indians. He understands how Indians think. They want him to be a scout.

2. Augustus changes his name to Augustus Sharp when he joins up. Thus, he hopes to be a new person as he embarks upon a new life. The Army becomes a home for Augustus, and he makes friends there. He quickly proves his ability to shoot when he wins a target match with the famous Buffalo Bill Cody. He meets the child Selona who will grow up to become his wife. She is the daughter of a fellow soldier named Moss. One night white Texas Rangers visit the fort and make it plain they hate black people. They attack 17-year-old Selona, rape her, and scalp her. Selona has a nervous break-down. Augustus makes a wig for her out of buffalo hair. It looks good on her. She begins to participate in life again.

A ii. Part 2 - in 1874 at Fort Sill Augustus gets a taste of fighting.

1. Augustus goes on a scouting mission and comes upon a farm where Indians have murdered the farmer and his wife. They scalped the farmer, cut the wife's breasts off, and kidnapped the three children whom they intend to sell in Mexico. Augustus frees the children. He sends the two youngest on his own horse to find the detachment and alert them to the situation. He keeps the oldest boy Ernst Bruner with him. Together they fight off a band of Indians. When they are down to their last two bullets, which they have saved to kill themselves with rather than be taken by the Indians, the Cavalry comes in and they beat the Indians.