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Reviews
Voices of the Buffalo Soldier
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By Frank N. Schubert
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University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 2003. Illustrations, maps, notes, index. 291 pages. $24.95 cloth.
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Reviewed by Monroe Billington
New Mexico State University, Las Cruces
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| Reprinting items both long and short from a wide range of sources, including contemporary periodicals, newspaper articles, military records, and recollections, this volume examines in chronological order an array of topics, most of which can be anticipated by both general readers and specialists. |
1
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The author's introductory comments on the origin of the term "buffalo soldier" are based on facts rather than assumptions and speculations. They deserve to be acknowledged as the latest — and perhaps last — word on a topic of abiding interest to the reading public. |
2
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The volume begins with the 1866 legislative origin of the inclusion of African American soldiers in the post–Civil War U.S. Army and ends in the early twentieth century with a few letters and documents addressing the question of veterans' pensions. Within that time frame, many other topics are covered, including those related to military campaigns in which the buffalo soldiers fought, the line officers with whom they served, and the bravery of some of the black heroes. Other items of documentary material recount the common soldiers' daily lives as well as interactions of the black soldiers with white communities. Among the host of reprinted documents are passages on a woman who, disguised as a man, served with the black infantry as well as descriptions of medal-of-honor winners, court martials, an alleged mutiny, and the Brownsville, Texas, racial incident near the turn of the twentieth century. |
3
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Not to be overlooked are the topics of desertion, religion, education, social life, discrimination, segregation, and the poetry written by common soldiers. Well-known individuals receive attention, including West Point graduates Henry Flipper, John Alexander, and Charles Young. Black chaplains Theophilus Steward, Henry Plummer, Allen Allensworth, and George Prioleau receive their due, as does Benjamin O. Davis, who rose to become a general in the army. |
4
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From the title, readers might assume that this book is based primarily on the voices — that is, the writings — of the buffalo soldiers, but their actual writings constitute only about one-third of the text. Rather than letters written by the soldiers we have documents about blacks written mainly by whites. One would hope for more, but in view of their paucity, that is an unrealistic hope. |
5
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Despite this disappointment, the author has presented a volume based on a prodigious amount of time spent in libraries and archives. His well-written introductions are informative, yet succinct. With Voices of the Buffalo Soldier, Schubert has made another worthy contribution to the subject. |
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