The Black infantry in the West, 1869-1891

After nearly 200,000 African-American soldiers fought in the Civil War, Congress enacted legislation to authorize regiments of cavalry and infantry for service in the West. The Ninth and Tenth cavalries won fame as "buffalo soldiers" in the Indian wars, nearly overshadowing the critical support role of the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth infantries. Now Arlen L. Fowler brings to light the story of African-American infantry service from 1869 to 1891 in Texas, Indian Territory, the Dakotas, Montana, and Arizona. At first the infantry's primary role was to escort trains and stagecoaches, build roads and telegraph lines, and guard supply lines, with only an occasional battle against raiding Indians and outlaws. But soon veterans regaled new recruits with stories of their stealthy Rio Grande crossing into Mexico to battle raiding Kickapoos; of their battle that forced Victorio's Apache war party across the border, never to raid in Texas again; and of their two noncommissioned officers who received the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery in combat. Faced with prejudice, discrimination, and lynching at the post and in combat, the African-American regiments emerged as tough, disciplined units with the lowest desertion rates and high levels of regimental pride and morale. In his foreword, William H. Leckie points out their accomplishments and summarizes recent scholarship on the African-American infantry in the West.