[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] you are watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend on c-span3. like us on facebook. >> american history tv, historian john langellier discusses his book "fighting for uncle sam: buffalo soldiers and the frontier army." we will hear about the all black regiments order to defend the western frontier. the consequences for native american and african-american soldiers, and the buffalo soldier experiences through colorado. this was reported in denver. -- recorded in denver. >> tonight, we are gathered to hear dr. john langellier bring new vitality to a subject

emphasizing the role of the buffalo soldiers in opening the west. we are fortunate to have him here from our neighbor to the southwest, arizona. he earned his ba in history and historical archaeology, his ma in history with a concentration on the american west and spanish borderlands with the second emphasis on film history from the university of san diego. he later earned his phd in military history from kansas state university. after a 45 year in public history, he retired to tucson in 2015. he is the author of dozens of books, including "fighting for uncle sam" blacks in the frontier army. that is for sale today in our get shop following the lecture. we are excited to welcome dr. john langellier. join me in a round of applause as we welcome him to the podium.

[applause] john: i feel like a telemarketer. [laughter] john: i will send you every month a book that i have written that no one wants if you sign up now. at any rate thank you for , allowing me to be here. this is a wonderful opportunity to come back to what we at kansas state call western kansas. some of you call it colorado. it has been a pleasure. this is a magnificent facility. we certainly want you, if you are not members, before you leave, the doors will not be unlocked until you join. there is no such thing as a free lunch. i will attempt to make 21st-century technology work for a fellow that still lives in the 19th century. my topic is the buffalo

soldiers. the emphasis is on the buffalo soldier experience in colorado. "do you think i will make a soldier?" was an opening line from a spiritual during enslavement in the odious institution, slavery. when the song had its first is unknown, but the lyrics raised a long-standing question. although blacks in africa, and later in what became the united states, had a place in bearing arms, their place was never secure in the american military. in fact, soon after assuming command of the continental army, and this is appropriate, because today is the 20th of february, 2017, president's day. george washington ordered that no blacks should be permitted into the continental military.

he supported this position by a council of war and a committee in which none of the representatives of supposedly more open-minded colonies of rhode island, connecticut, and massachusetts concurred with the idea that blacks should not be allowed. at this point, the war begins to go on. washington finds this is a very poor decision on numerous levels, not the least of which is that black manpower was necessary. black forces would serve later in the war as part of the continental army, including some units from rhode island, who had one of the battles in their native colonial area would fight the hessians, the shock troops thehe british army, mercenaries that they brought

over. indeed, they were part of the line that held and pushed back this incredible onslaught of the hessians. normally, when blacks were brought in an institutionalized, segregation was set up. black troops would ultimately in the main as segregated units usually under the command of white officers. at the end of the war, many a black who fought for freedom, for the promise all men were created equal, would find this was purely a promise on paper. that the parchment wasn't worth what was written on it. many of them were returned to slavery after the war after the fighting concluded between the crown and the colonies. despite this unjust treatment, again in 1812, in many respects, the second american revolution against the british. the unjust treatment would be put aside, and blacks again would serve against the british

in that several year war. some of that war, as you will recall from your days in school, began because seamen were being impressed into the british navy. many of them were black. they were taken prisoner as the british came aboard and either forced into service or locked into prisons in great britain. some states like new york would pass laws authorizing the formation of black soldiers. many served with distinction, including perhaps the most famous of all, the battle of new orleans. it was ironically fought after the war concluded. us from from those of the 1960's, we had a great folk song about it. how can you complain? the war is over, the status quo goes back. blacks are disallowed to carry arms. on one hand they are looked at

as incapable of doing anything, so we cannot have them in the military. on the other hand we fear them every night as we go to bed as a slaveowner in the south. will they take up arms and murder us in our beds? this dichotomy is existing at the time. this continues well into the 1860's when abraham lincoln follows the same tune as his predecessor george washington. he says, blacks will not serve in the u.s. union forces against breakaway rebellious states in the south. he disallows the use of blacks in the forces on land. again, the u.s. navy still has blacks serving as able-bodied seamen. the navy as a separate spirit to the turn of the end of the 19th century. some individuals believe that

this is not only counter to the reason why the war is going to be fought, but a very myopic view. we need as many men under arms as possible to fight against the rebels. people like john charles vermont the great pathfinder who often got lost as we all know, but is still one of my heroes because he was a short frenchman with a bad temper. i am one of the same. he came to the conclusion that blacks should be allowed to be emancipated at the very least. some of his colleagues in kansas, like the governor, brought blacks into the union forces in those states of the missouri-kansas area. this was not well received, but ultimately it was determined for both political and higher reasons that blacks should be allowed into the american

military union forces. ultimately, 180,000 or more blacks would serve, earning emancipation, buying their freedom in blood, not just accepting it as a stroke of the pen from chief executive abraham lincoln. after the war, lincoln's death creates chaos. the radical republicans do one thing. put in youruld diary. the congress of the united states made a decent decision, something important to know. on july 28, 1866, the congress established six regiments of african-american men under white officers to serve in 4 regiments of infantry and 2 of calvary in the main, ultimately to be sent to the trans-mississippi west. some would be retained in the south.

this period of the 1860's through the early 1870's is reconstruction. in order to establish some of to establish some of the concepts of the various parts of the constitution, the amendments of the constitution, to allow blacks to vote and other issues, and to ensure that blacks had the ability to be elected to office and be treated in some respects more fairly than they had the hundred years prior to the war. some of the blacks who served as in reconstruction occupational forces, for want of a better texas. which is known for its open-mindedness for races. what [laughter] in [laughter]r: is a

[laughter] texas,gellier: oklahoma, and kansas had often a long trail or railroad-type situation that would become the roads to the west as we return to westward expansion in the post-civil war. regarding the new union pacific railroad. they are guarding the new union pacific railroad. they are guarding stagecoaches. despite the fact they may ride on the top of the stagecoach to protect the whites inside the stagecoach, but as soon as they get to the destination where they are going as a protective force against whoever might be there to interdict their transportation, they are told to march back to wherever they come from. so this is still not an equal , time. where we find is the soldiers are mainly in texas and oklahoma, then known as indian territory, and parts of kansas. that would be the case well into

the first decade of the operations of the true. they are scattered in the longer-term of black soldiers in the west from the canadian border to the mexican border from california all the way to missouri. truly, virtually every state and territory and union, at one time or another, will have black troops posted to them. well, enter another group of individuals under a fellow by the name of george forsyth. has been sent with arms men. they are armed with spencer repeating rifles. this is a somewhat new invention that allows these guys to fire rapidly against any foe they may face here they are carrying 140 rounds. they are really packing heat. they are caring cold revolvers with 30 rounds of ammunition. these guys are well armed shock troops. colorado inquest of stabilizing what would be

eastern colorado and the cheyenne. welcome on the problem is that they will arrive here thinking that they are armed to the teeth, ready to take anybody on, when they run into cheyenne who are the finest light calvary in the world. and as a place that is both remote and isolated, named beecher island, not unlike the remote and isolated airport that is dia today, which is close to .ansas he and his men are attacked. when they come under attack, they are besieged at beecher's island, so named for forsyth's second in command, frederick teacher third u.s. infantry. -- frederick beecher, third u.s. infantry. despite their rounds or technical superiority and firearms, they are facing 600 cheyenne warrior, who are a

fierce foe. they are led by a man known in english as roman nose. despite being killed in battle, his successor rose continue to attack -- continue to mount attack after attack against the men on the island who are expecting this to be their last day on earth. because onver, december 27, after a hard ride of 200 miles -- and you have to understand the 25 miles was a good pace. 40 miles you could make, but when you got there your horse was played out, and one part of your anatomy as a calvary soldier was played out. ,t any rate, captain carpenter one another officer, 17 scouts, a supply train because the army always had to march with all of its equipment, and enlisted men

,rom company h and company i two black regiments, came to lift the siege. carpenter's after action report sums up the sad state when he and his troops arrived. as indicated, the army doctor with them "exerted himself to the utmost in his efforts to relieve the suffering of the wounded, as did every officer and soldier of the command." while waiting for further reinforcements, they were not sure that the indians had left this time. the cheyenne were determined to drive these soldiers, white or black, from their traditional lands. they would eventually find and reinforcements came, would be finally relieved. in the meantime, prior to this attack, as carpenter was waiting and as the forsyth command was

waiting, another detachment from company i under george graham had been bloodied out of place at big sandy creek. on september 15, while on a the denver road ending near east colfax and broadway, and the northern branch down 6th avenue to park avenue, graham's men would be on the trail, patrolling to keep these trails open. he and 36 soldiers encountered an estimated 1000 cheyenne dog soldiers. now, the cheyennes were excellent fighters, but there dogs were like the special forces of their people. they faced these men who attacked at close quarters. a fight ensued. and one reference said that the troops themselves handled themselves handsomely, even though this was their first time

in battle for most of these men, fighting like cornered wildcats. with nightfall, the fray ended. calvary men without a horse is an infantryman. that is bad for the calvary men. the cheyenne's estimates of casualties were 11 killed and 14 wounded. you have to understand with the army, the army at this point only has about 25,000 men. that is still a small force by any standards today, but in the 1860's, ity, and the is still very sizable. every cheyenne man was a son, father, brother, and there would be a lodge that would go into mourning and maybe not have food or shelter with your loved one did not return. more than a half-century later after these two dramatic duels

at big sandy and beecher island, their brothers in arms from the ninth infantry with the part to colorado. his regiment had been formed in the louisiana under orders in 1866 two major general philip h. --ridan, then commanding commanding officer in new orleans. sheraton was authorized to muster within his commands the men to form the regimen. he looked to men serving in volunteer regiments. member, i mentioned 180,000 black serving in the war. several of the blacks were not released at the end of the war. black,ere still volunteer regiments akin to what the national guard or reserves would be in the military -- or reserves of be in the american military. so, they were allowed to be discharged early from their enlistment in the units if they wanted to join the ninth calvary. this class of men was highly

because -- this class of men was highly desired because of several things not the least of , which they had military service and would make good soldiers, and as important, could become noncommissioned officers. why would you worry about that? noncommissioned officers of this time, like noncommissioned officers of the modern time, had a great deal to do besides marshall duties. that is to say the army berries itself in the biggest battle, paperwork, not fighting an enemy. most of these men, because of the laws in the south, making it a punishment, sometimes up to a capital punishment to be able to read and write, could not read and write. having prior knowledge of the military and allowed them to cut corners of not having the literacy level they might ultimately have. but at least they could come in with on-the-job training and know what to do. going back to the civil war, the

army had found that they would have chaplains in the black regiments that were regimental chaplains. in the post-civil war era, the idea of regimental chaplains went away, and oppose chaplain -- and there would be a post-chaplain who would go to which institution, texas or arizona. but the black regiments all had regimental chaplains. not only were they to be the spiritual leader of the group, but they were in charge of education. the idea was to train these soldiers in the three r's. to bring them up in an operation bootstraps to learn to read and write, to be literate, and at a later date, as a matter of fact years one of the black chaplains , went so far as to go on recruiting duty as opposed to just being a chaplain. bring blacks in who he thought had promise, try to train them

within the timeframe they were enlisted, and then get them to go back into the civilian population to go back into their committees to service will wilds -- committees to serve as role models and community leaders for hopefully raising the black community. sorry, too far ahead. technology. so, what we have is -- backwards, john. ever backwards. so, we have big sandy creek. colonel hatch is the commander of the ninth calvary. he will stay at the helm for years, along with numerous other capable officers, who will go on to distinguish careers in a number of instances. in due course, these troops had been assigned to texas and would move on. and they would find themselves

in new mexico. from new mexico, which by the in theey were involved lincoln county wars in the infamous situation with billy the kid, in some cases, and would finally in 1876, company i of the ninth calvary would come to southern colorado from new mexico. and they would they would garrison fort garland. it is part of the colorado historical society. it has a fantastic museum. one of the great places to go in the spring and summer and have a picnic, and enjoy the great beauty of colorado and learn , about its history. because much of the fort remains today in a pristine condition. these troops were sent at a strategic crossroads. in the four corners area where numerous tribal groups claimed that this area was their traditional land. so from the navajo, to the ute, the cheyenne, and others, this

area that had long been a crossroads for native peoples. we find that the fort is described by none other than helen hunt jackson, one of the earliest authors to deal with indian-white conflict in the u.s.. .nd she talk and she talks about the fort in a way that would speak to an eastern-based audience, and probably to more modern-taste audiences, who thought a ford was a palisade surrounded by high walls, guard towers, and john wayne guarding against two was ever coming in. this passing traveler said that it had no stare typical. that was a stockade. it looked like a spanish or mexican village around a central plaza. were ay real defenses commodity garrison. b, small projectiles.

and a little bit later on, the first version of the machine gun, the gatlin gun. that was it. hunt likewise indicated the defenders included the black troopers of the ninth. these enlisted men, mostly were single and lived in open base parts and barracks, like the bears said still exist at fort garland. there was kind of a philosophy in the victorian era army. it is the army wanted you to have a wife, they wouldn't issued you one. so, most of these men are going to be bachelor soldiers going about their daily lives, cooking and serving meals, and other housekeeping chores as well as , drilling, parading, cleaning equipment, and other marshall pursuits. fortunately, a few head had families, few but that privilege was usually enjoyed by officer such as captain john convline who had a

fascinating story. if i don't do a bad job today, maybe sean will have me come back next year. the officers at this point are all plate with three exceptions. there will be three black west point graduates starting with the class of 1877. all other officers will be officers who are white. many of whom had served in the early years as officers of black units during the civil war. and this was not considered to be a really great posting, but when the army went from one by the men to 25,000 men late 1860's, finding a job in the army was very difficult, and so many of the soldiers put aside their printed this at prejudiceside their at least the officers, to serve , in black units as commanders. likewise, company i's role went

back before their arrival into colorado. it has to do with the complex saga of the ute's who referred to themselves as "the people." as many of us know, that is a fairly broad situation in many groups of native people. navajo, apache, those are the people. so, each of these groups would refer to themselves as "the people" in their own tongue. we would give them other names and misnomers, calling them indians, which none of them were. at any rate, the people lived here in colorado and they had a fairly vast area, not only in colorado, but into parts of wyoming and initially into utah. becauseat would change while these with a traditional hunting grounds, and a traditional cultural areas for the utes, westward expansion's

crush would press in on them. their traditional areas would be further and further forced by white seeking ute land for minerals, lumber, and farms. these expansionist had a -- these expansionists had a different idea for the land which the utes had utilized. betweenave a conflict two distinct cultures what -- distinct cultures with different views of what colorado meant to them. amongst these confrontational episodes were supposedly a series of burnings that took place. and colorado governor frederick pitkin contended that the utes have burned more timber these past two weeks than whites cut in 20 years. well you know, a politician is never going to tell a lie, so it must be true. [laughter] mr. langellier: in response to these allegations, governor

pitkin called on the local military commander, a civil war veteran, to quell what was conceived as an uprising. in response, during the summer of 1879, he ordered company i, the ninth calvary from fort garland, 115 miles southwest of that garrison, to investigate the fires and middle park and northpark, and to arrest two indians who local whites charge , with burning the house of a local indian agent. so, the troops are dispatched. they are out there and ask you find nothing. enter in another player. several months later, on september 10, 1879, the latest in a string of indian agents added further fuel to the smoldering situation in the form of an exaggerated inflammatory telegram. quote -- "i have been assaulted by a leading chief, johnson forced out of my house and , injured badly, but was rescued

by my employees. life of self, family and employees not safe. want protection immediately. have asked the governor to confer with general pope." you know a civil service would never lie, so this must have been a bad situation. u despite efforts by the te -- despite efforts by the ute leaders saying they would maintain peace. this long smoldering fire storm was about to ignite. veteran thomas p. thornburg led a contingent from fort steele the ute reservation on the request for 100 soldiers , to bolster his position at the agency. and so on september the 29th, not long after reaching a creek

just above the reservation, and within striking distance, the --mon encountered the leader the common encountered ute leader who was without weapons and approached troops. soon after a weapon from an unknown weapon charged and the utes rained down "fire on the whites." thornburg recognize the development and deploy troops to avoid the encirclement. he thought, all right, we can handle the situation. unfortunately, soon afterwards, he was failed by a fatal slug to the skull. the whites with true with their dead and wounded in tow and put up a primitive defense put together with whatever they could make in a makeshift way to defend themselves from the onslaught. while hellfire rained down on

the trapped troopers, the entire fight continued to worsen. meanwhile, meeker, back at the agency with eight other agency workers, and two teamster, who had been unfortunate enough to deliver supplies to the agency at that time, or caught in this crossfire. meeker and these individuals were killed. meeker's wife, their daughter, and another woman and her two adult children were spared, but taken captive. amidst the chaos, the survivors of the command, now under the officer,er rating managed to send a courier out with a poignant plea for help that simply read -- "thornburg killed. his people in peril. rush to their assistance." the message, miraculously, was found on the trail by captain

francis dodge and is good soldiers and men of company d of the ninth u.s. calvary. riding hard for 70 miles, and ride, two incredible fellow officers and 35 troopers appeared to witness the devastation. according to peter decker, "if not for the assistance of the buffalo soldiers, the exhausted troops would have met the same fate as custer's troops little bighorn. the black troops immediately took up positions within the barricade and displayed superb discipline and bravery as they held out for four days awaiting the arrival of a larger relief. in the process, sergeant henry johnson of the ninth calvary would receive the medal of honor. soon after the fray, with all the horses killed in the

command, the men would return eastward, heading to denver, where they would come in by train to denver's union station, where they received a hero's welcome by the predominantly white community. which is very significant because this is at a time when racial tensions are often high between black communities and white communities, or blacks living within or near those communities. and so, they would receive a marked down 16th street to the ymca on lawrence street, and enjoy festivities hosted by the good townsman of denver. as an aside, there was a message that meeker sent on september 22 , 1870 nine, before he met his maker, that edited agents said "there are soldiers coming.

by the way, the soldiers are negroes, and it is sufficient that this race am a once so despised, shall compel the civilization of the indians." bookmark be careful for what you wish for -- well, be careful for what you wish for because he never lived to see that they happen. by mid-november of 1979 -- a 1879, former white river indian agent, and colonel hatch met at the agency under heavy guard of troops and ute police so they could bring about the long road to peace with another treaty that would ultimately be a lasting treaty, but many of the lands that the utes had called home in colorado would be taken away from them. and they would move on, and many cases, to the utah area. i will say that we oftentimes think about american indians in past tense, but we have to

remember in such places like this and testing museum, the ute people, some of the original people to inhabit this day, are still with us. and some of their stories are still being told in this institution. well, the history of the buffalo soldiers does not end with peace coming about. there are other forts besides fort garland that are important. those forts happen to be in the area scattered around the state, such as fort lewis. it was not originally a college. you could not go there to matriculate. could as a soldier, intermittently between 18811892, you would serve at this post, and at one point at time during the ute outbreak, the regimental headquarters was temporarily located there. , briefly -- likewise , the sisters

regiment of the ninth calvary, although in this case unlike the citizens of denver who had embraced the heroes of the meeker's debacle, would find conflict between the black soldiers and the white people who lived in the local town. as a consequence, there would be a series of islands, and one case, ultimately leading to the first legal execution in colorado after its statehood of a 23-year-old 10th cavalry man by james miller. of alt that he has a right person serving his flag to something that was going on in the town. there was an altercation. he went out. he back in.

there was a fight. two soldiers were brought to court. one was hanged. the other was given an extended sentence. the racial tensions between blacks and winds and american indians in whites in between blacks and american indians in colorado was very complex. there was no melting pot. the whole diversity we embrace today would come in later generations, but was not something that would necessarily exist in colorado, wyoming, and the western states of the 1870's. besides fort lyon and fort lewis, nearby fort logan would become the home between october 1898 and september 1900 of men of the infantry regiment. 25thone of the two black infantry units. the companions of the ninth and 10th cavalry, the horsemen. these soldiers had returned from

what had been styled by a contemporary -- "the splendid little war." the army was mobilized to go to cuba and ultimately puerto rico and to the philippines. the first of units essentially sent out to be deployed overseas were the four black units because they were some of the highly trained units in the army. and to give you somewhat of a bit of a back story, in the post-civil war army, desertion and alcoholism were twin evils. in some cases, 20%, 30%, or 40% of the men in white regiments, such as custer's seventh calvary might desert from the 1860's to , the early 1890's, which was quite a time for the paper to cash which was quite a long time for the paper to stay with the military. not so with the black regiments, who tended for most of the

entire quarter century after the civil war to have the highest reenlistment rates with some men serving four, five, six, seven, up to eight times in enlistment, i.e. 40 years in uniform, meaning that this was not a job of work as an immigrant might see it too has gotten off a boat from europe. who says, i can't find better, i will join the army. this was a professional arms. they also tended to have the lowest desertion rate in the entire u.s. army during this period. these were trusted soldiers who went up san juan hill, all four regiments, alongside teddy roosevelt who would become president of the united states and would posthumously honor. would receive the medal of honor. possibly he would not have made that charge and that great leap to become commander in chief

without those four regiments of regulars helping bring him up to the san juan hill battle during those dramatic battles. at fort logan, there was also an individual who i might say was the buffalo soldier's buffalo soldier, a sergeant by the name of jeremiah jones. jones had spent all his adult life, for all intents and purposes, as a black soldier in uniform. he had risen through the ranks as high as you could go as an enlisted man to become the sergeant major of the ninth cavalry, and ultimately became a specialist, an ordinance specialist. the man in charge of firearms, ammunition, all the things soldiers need in battle. and he would serve his last post here at fort logan, dying on march 20, 1906, virtually unremembered, and yet still one of the great men of the time. so, this is part of the colorado story that is just a microcosm

of the larger story of buffalo soldiers in the american west. but i challenge you, no one has written the definitive story on only the black soldier in the west, very much like monro billington's excellent work on buffalo soldiers in new mexico, but the larger story of the interaction between blacks, the white community, and the indian community in this incredible state. with that i am at the end of my , tale, and we will open up to questions. we will keep them to a minimum, and my colleagues will be passing amongst you with a microphone. so they won't let me pick out who is in the audience because they don't trust me, and i don't blame them but also because we , need to stay on time. and i will be certainly happy at the end of the series tonight to speak to you at the museum store. thank you so much. [applause] >> ok.

so as he said, thank you, dr. langellier. we have lots of time for questions, so please raise your hand, and we will get things started here. yes, back here. >> i have seen a couple of essays on the black soldiers serving in the indian period, as well as world war ii, but i have never seen any extensive writings on the white officers who commanded those units and often wondered how it affected their career, because they seemed to be putting out a lot of courage in recognizing the accomplishments of their men and also getting them decorations when it was deserved. so is there any essays or pieces , about those men? dr. langellier: first of all an , excellent question, and thank you.

the officer corps at this time within the entire army was like an old spaghetti western -- the good, the bad, and the ugly. and as a consequence, you had people who you can read about such as colonel benjamin grierson, who, from 1866 to 1886 and beyond commanded, the 10th cavalry regiment. he is a former schoolteacher, taught music in illinois before the civil war. and becomes a cavalry officer and some of you may member the old john wayne movie, "the horse soldiers," based loosely on his rating in the south. he will be an excellent commander. he and his wife support the troops, and there are numerous publications about not only grierson but about his wife , allison, a colonel's lady, and a very modern woman in the victorian era. that was very outspoken. there is not a lot of the officer corps itself. you can read -- there are some

materials. we will go through them after. i will show you them in my bibliography. on the ninth cavalry that talks about the officers and enlisted, it could begin for mental -- it could be detrimental to your career. it could be helpful to your career. but it is what you made of it in numerous cases. but racism definitely existed. but there are instances where officers would be willing to go to another regiment, but would oftentimes in the literature of the period the army, navy , journalist, they would say if to a black regiment they expected some kind of fiscal incentive if they were going to transfer from a white unit, so they definitely was that -- there was also the issue of posting. black troops tended to be posted in texas, not only because it was a hotbed in the 1860's and 1870's not only because they , needed the troops on the firing line, but they also wanted to keep these black soldiers away from white

communities, to not have that problem that they had at this place and other places in the west. and so, their postings oftentimes were off the edge of the planet and their mind. and so, it might not have been detrimental to their career, it certainly was not conducive to raising a family in some of the nicer places like a fort that might be in denver, fort leavenworth or wherever. it was a mixed bag, but there is no one work that is covered that today. and right now, i am working on an autobiography of a totally unimportant black or white officer who was a medal of honor recipient from louisiana whose father had been a confederate officer, who said that he would serve with no other, but black troops if he had his way. so by serving side-by-side with these men, some of these offices began to change racial

stereotypes, and indeed, some of the local communities and the whites in those communities began to change as they had contact with these highly professional soldiers. but maybe dr. hunt will do a a new book on that later on now that he has nothing better to do, right dr.? [laughter] yes, sir. >> go ahead, michael. >> just related to that, blackjack pershing, the world war i commander, got the name blackjack for being the commander of one of the black regiments, i am not sure which one. so it did not hurt his career. and he is probably the most famous general between grant and macarthur. john langellier: excellent point. blackjack that his nickname for two reasons. he was the regimental quartermaster. the guy who counted uniforms and did all those things. at san juan hill? no.

did get the nickname not only because he had served with black -- and i but because can't say this because we are on public tv. but his name, he was a black hearted individual. when he went back to west point as a tactical officer. if you were a young cadet, you found every way to avoid that man. at 100 yards he could spot a missing button on a coat. it did not hurt pershing's career, but i found in the montana historical society, this letter when he was stationed at the fort on the montana-canadian border, he tried to transfer out of the 10th cavalry to get a desk job in the quartermaster corps, which meant he would have never become a four-star general, general of the army commanding the avf. it also did not hurt he married the daughter of one of the most powerful senators in the u.s. senate at the time who controlled in essence the purse strings to the u.s. army. so, if all else goes wrong, mary well i guess is

the moral of that story. [laughter] took, i will come over here professor. hold on here. >> i am the other professor hunt. kidwhat about meredith's who was with the 10th? john langellier: meredith's kid, i don't have enough background on meredith. and what i am finding is that every time i go to one of these sessions, somebody brings up something that i wish i had done 40 years ago to put in the book. but the officers again and their wives -- i will you answer your questions and to have the secret answer. why the term buffalo soldiers? we don't know. frances roe, an army officer's wife serving in oklahoma, the , indian territory at the time, said in her book that the indians called them buffalo

soldiers because in essence, they reminded them with their , theynd dark complexions reminded them of buffalo of , bison. the problem with that is that book was written in 1919. no one has ever found the so-called 1871-1872 letters. but as of last week, one of two definitive scholars on the topic, dr. tom phillips, found a newspaper article from 1872 that uses the term and indeed says the same thing. it is simply based on some of the comanche saying they look to us like bison, buffalo. no connotation of heroism, no connotation of anything. just a descriptive thing, but native americans also called them the black white man. they also unfortunately used the n word on more than one case. and the utes who left here and ended up on the reservation in utah absolutely went ballistic

when they found about black soldiers were coming to build a fort next to their reservation. they did not want blacks there. they hated blacks, and once again, they used the n-word. so racism is something that can be taught. it is not something embedded in a coulter. so, this was not a rainbow coalition. forward 1870's -- we start to see the use of the term "buffalo soldier." again, no quantification, no description. the indians just called in that or simply just saying buffalo soldier. a fellow by the name of frederick remington, a yale dropout -- so it is ok sometimes to drop out of school -- goes west and begins to hone his career out of his thousands of images, he will put tray black soldiers over 200 times. thatn one of his articles

reaches one of the big newspapers of the day, national newspapers, he will write an article, scout with the buffalo soldiers, as the title. and he will not tell us in there why he used the term. so, it had been by then, morening to ratchet up commonly used within the white community. not anywhere until 1920 or 1932 do we find a black soldier using the term for themselves. it is always the white soldiers, the white officers, the white and -- the white press. and the insignia of the buffalo comes in in world war i. it is the 92nd division patch with the divisional shoulder sleeve patch, but those are designed by white officers, and the 10th cavalry's insignia is also designed in the also by

1920's, white officers. do you want to answer your own question, because i want to know. >> maybe over a glass of whiskey ever. dr. langellier: that is the best thing i ever heard. >> ok, michael in the back there. yeah. >> do you have a minute to tell us about the tennis flipper what happened to him? dr. langellier: yes, sir. west point would finally open up in the post-civil war and certain other area to a very small number of cadet candidates who passed the exam. every cadet prior to henry o. flipper, class of 1877, as with henry o. flipper, who was ostracized by their fellow cadets. they lived in their own room, which is not a bad thing. some of us have had roommates in college we wished we did not have, but they were spoken to officially in command when they were in the unit, falling in for formation, or in classrooms.

they would translate a latin verse or to come to the board for trigonometry or something. -- for trigonometry, an equation, or what have you. so, flipper will graduate as the first of three black candidates who will become cadets and then actually receive their commission at west point. he will be sent to the 10th cavalry ultimately in texas, and serve at fort davis, texas. he is a second lieutenant. we all know, if you have been in the military, they are a nice pet that you have to care and feed them, otherwise they may go feral on you. at any rate as a second lieutenant, he is charged with a lot of nonmilitary duties that have to do with keeping the books for the commissary and other things. he messes up. he tries to cover it up. he is found out. he is brought up on charges of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman and other specifications. he is put under arrest.

now, the norm in the victorian military is you are an officer and a gentleman by an act of god, congress, and your tailor. he cannot stay in his quarters. he is placed in the guardhouse, which is unheard of. no other officer would have gone -- no other officer would a separate the same situation. the long and the short of it is no other officer would have suffered the same situation. the long and the short of it is he is tried and convicted, found guilty, and he was guilty. he made some errors. gee, no one in this room has ever done that, but he did. unlike many officers who had done, more as shall be say, devious deeds, including george custer, who, some of his men died because of some of his calvary -- some of his cavalier attitudes and was placed on one-year suspension without pay. clipper was dismissed from the service. in the 1970's, alternately

flipper was reinstituted under some congressional legislation to allow him to have his dishonorable discharge changed to honorable, and as of next month in the small town in the south of georgia where he is interned, they are putting down finally a new headstone. >> ok, we have a question up front, i believe. yep. >> i was wondering, i did not hear anything about glorietta pass. were they involved at all? passangellier: glorietta was not in the civil war, and there were no black soldiers serving west of the civil war until 1866 with the exception of a unit in fort leavenworth that was created prior to the emancipation proclamation, and created some turmoil within the hierarchy of administration at that time. that is strictly union forces from colorado and new mexico and texas forces. >> michael, in the back. >> is there any documentation of what became of some of these

soldiers. did any of them settle that we know of? are their descendents, anyone who can trace their ancestry back? dr. langellier: that is the crux of what many of us have not really assimilated in our research. the soldiers, first enlistment, you enlisted, you are a farmer, you are a clerk. second enlistment, you are a soldier. you are a soldier. they began to look at the military as a profession of arms, and that became their surrogate family, and in some cases those who have been , enslaved prior to the civil war, they did not know their real name. they took on a name. as a matter of fact, theoretically, every president in the united states had a buffalo soldier as a last name because many of these men took on the name lincoln, jackson, jefferson, washington because they had no names given to them. they had to embrace that.

many of the soldiers would move on with their unit and disband. some would stay. horse bivens was a long time resident of our neighboring montana to the north, and he would become a fixture within that state. in some cases, some individuals would stay, but usually they would scatter and go back to where they came from. which is dicey, because remember, at the time, the buffalo soldiers are being formed in gaining their laurels, if you will and their expertise, , is a time of jim crow, slavery by another name, being adopted. -- is being adopted. so do you want to go back to the south? fruit hanging from a strange tree, hanging, lynchings, burnings? all these things are taking place, or do you want to stay in the military? and i somewhat argue that while we need to do that research, we also need to understand that the black soldiers coming to the west is the beginning of a great migration that turns into a

landslide in the 1920's as people begin to move to the north. but that research needs to be done. in regard play -- and regrettably, many families don't even realize the connectivity to the black soldiers, and while a fellow by the name of mickey schubert has done a brilliant, brilliant book called "the trail of the buffalo soldiers," it is just a fraction of the black soldiers and what we can gleam. if we all look back to the national archives for a year, we could probably come up with some better answers, but it would always take a massive amount of people doing an infinite amount of work. >> how about you explain to us what happened to the buffalo soldiers during the 20th century as time went on? dr. langellier: 20th century -- the black soldiers are the forerunners of the border patrol. there is no border patrol. there is no offense, believe it

or not. but there are regiments of black soldiers on the border who .aintain a pretty steady peace and this is not an easy time, and by the way in the early 20th century, one of the things they are stopping, they are stopping illicit drugs from mexico. and they are doing it on horseback, not $90 million worth of heavy-duty equipment. they are on horseback. the mexican revolution was taking place. it is a very difficult time, and the black soldiers are serving with distinction. but they are left there on the border in 1917 when the first world war i comes. and black units that go under pershing in the 92nd and 93rd divisions are oftentimes relegated to stevedores and people who are doing housekeeping, truck drivers unloading ships. there are some combat units, but none of the four highly qualified veteran black regular army units go overseas.

none of them for the most part to be a cadre of officers to train the black troops going overseas. it is in essence, setting the black soldiers up for failure. by world war ii and actually even before world war ii, because of the depression and money is difficult, and congress has said we have to have a very small military, and we invented something called the airplane, and we have the army air force. we find that we need the slots. we only have x number of soldiers we can have in the military. get rid of these black soldier so we can have those slots for white men to come in and be the pilots, mechanics, the army air forces, because after all blacks can't fly , airplanes. tell that to a tuskegee airman. in 1937, no blacks had graduated from west point since the

1880's with young, charles young's graduation from west point. a fellow by the name of benjamin o. davis come on jr. would be the first graduate from west point. his father, benjamin o. davis sr., an nco has studied for exams under the tutelage of charles young, the last west point graduate in the 19th century. he became one of the first black officers to be promoted through the ranks and begin the first black general officer or in the navy, flag officer. >> ok, i think we have time for maybe one more question. ok. >> about two years ago or so, i went to a presentation out of fort logan by a buffalo soldier. his father had been stationed in fort logan, was in charge of the horses and stuff.

and his contention was that they got the name because their hair looked like the buffalo and everything. but he was a descendent of somebody that had been i think a part of the black regiments or something like that. have you ever heard anything like that? unfortunately i don't remember his name. dr. langellier: yes, ma'am. the good news is there is a buffalo soldiers national organization consisting of veterans, black veterans, with interested individuals and that. and last year, they have an annual meeting, and he met in houston where there is a buffalo soldier museum. and coincidentally, they met in june of last year because june of last year was the 150th anniversary. that went completely without any government agency or any national institution acknowledging it. so that is why i convinced my publisher to put on the book,

which normally -- they are full of wonderful photographs. many of those doors are finally coming out. and because of both black -- many of those stories are finally coming out. and because of both black historians and black family members and a number of individuals within the academic community, and interested parties, they were finally getting that information. if i told you about the book when i first started working on the concept in the 1960's, you would have said soldiers that killed buffalos? because none of us would have known. because how many hollywood epics did you ever see starring black soldiers, except for woody strode, starring under john ford , the gentleman who did all the major john wayne movie? we did not hear about them from our culture, the popular culture, and we certainly did not learn about them in any of our schools, high school, or even our college courses as undergraduates in the 1960's and 1970's. >> ok, i know we might have more questions, but we are just about out of time.

i would like to thank dr. john langellier for a great presentation on "the buffalo soldiers." [applause] of course, he would be happy to answer any of your questions. he will be signing his book following the presentation, so please come up, ask him some more questions out there. we certainly thank you all for coming to the history of colorado center this evening, and we'll see you next month. thank you all very much. and to make suredr. langellier: you also understand there is a fantastic ute indian museum and fort garland museum that is a part of the colorado historical society. they have excellent publications and are worth field trips in this fine state. thank you so much. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> this holiday week and on american history tbm c-span3, tonight, at 10:00 p.m. eastern

on railamerica, the 1977 documentary, men of bronze, about the all-black 369th u.s. fritchey regimen known as the harlem health writers during world war i -- harlem health riders during world war i. during the attack, johnson fought them off. cut, he shot, -- he hit 21 wounds on his body. but he refused to die. >> for storing an author elizabeth cobbs on the women telephone operators of the u.s. army signal corps. >> in france before they got this lineup, that meant the operator had to speak to a french operator. le vof them did not par

ous. in other words, they began recruiting women not because they were as good as men. otherwise, you would just use men. but because at least at this job, they were better than men. at 9:00 a.m. houston, we will visit the national world war i museum and memorial in kansas city, missouri, and talk with the museum's senior curator. >> but we seek to do here is to tell the story, prove the lives of people, ordinary people, men and women, volunteers as well as those who served the armed forces from all sides. for our complete american history tv schedule, go to c-span.org. sunday night on afterwards, msnbc host chris haynes examines

how the criminal justice system is dividing the country in his book "a colony and a nation." by haze is interviewed elizabeth hagan. >> ferguson is an anchor in the book. i am wondering how your experience reporting there eliminated what you are talking about growing up in the bronx in the 1980's? >> the thing about ferguson that blew my mind --if you grow up in a city, and grew up in the bronx, you have this conception of cities as distinct things. twin cities, there are these racial frictions and in cities you have bad neighborhoods in good neighborhoods, all kinds of loaded waves in which police police communities differently and all kinds of ways in which borders overlap and create the sandpaper friction. all of that was tied very deeply to the bronx, new york, or the city.

all of these things pertain in that place. the thing that blew my mind about ferguson is just -- the thing that blew my mind about ferguson is it is just the municipality of 20,000 people. you just drive through it. it just looks like anywhere. it is just strip malls, parking lots, houses, and the idea that what i experienced there was a level of exploitation, and the level of racial oppression and friction, the level of the evasiveness of policing, the intensity of the humiliation, all of that is just in this place was anonymous. something about that blew my mind. >> much afterwards on sunday on afterwards on c-span2, on the tv. -- on book tv. >> can result in a naval victory for the u.s. over japan just six

months after the attack on pearl harbor. on june 2, american history tv will be live all day from the macarthur memorial visitor's center in norfolk, virginia for the 75th anniversary for the battle of midway. featured speakers include walter elliott carlson, anthony and timothy orr. watch the battle of midway 75th anniversary special live from the macarthur memorial visitor's center in norfolk, virginia on june 2 week in a 9:30 a.m. eastern on american history three on c-span.

the center for vision and ferries that group city college in pennsylvania recently hosted a two day conference titled :" god that failed." for scholars open the discussion about touch with horton's of communism around the world since the room -- russian revolution of 1917. they also discuss how socialism was viewed in the united faith and influence in the 21st, including the presidential run of senator bernie sanders. this program last about an hour. >> welcome. welcome back. heregreat to have everyone , two day conference on communism and socialism. i'm like a kid in a candy store. we have never had a response like this. we usually do a lot of advertising. we didn't even have to advertise this o