Buffalo Soldiers (Black Sabre Chronicles / Tom Willard, Bk 1) (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "In January 1869, the major problems standing in the way of the Kansas Pacific Railroad were the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche, and Kiowa nations..." (more)
Key Phrases: Buffalo Soldiers, Fort Davis, Colonel Grierson (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

To kick off his Black Sabre Chronicles, a series about African American military men, Willard tells the tale of Augustus Sharps, who in 1866 is saved from certain death in a buffalo stampede and from further slavery (even though it's after emancipation) by two black cavalrymen. The Buffalo Soldiers were black freemen and former slaves who joined the U.S. Army's 9th and 10th Cavalry in 1866, fighting hostile Indians, Mexican bandits, bitter racism and extreme weather along the western frontier. Among the Buffalo Soldiers (so named by Plains Indians as a sign of respect), Augustus finds comradeship and purpose. For 30 years, he serves his regiment with distinction, winning the admiration and respect of his fellow soldiers and their white officers. Augustus and his devoted wife, Selona, share a life of hardship and sacrifice, raising two sons amid the perils of the frontier. From the freezing plains of Kansas to the harsh Texas deserts and the arid mountains of New Mexico and Arizona, the Buffalo Soldiers battle Indians as well as the taunts and prejudice of the white settlers they protect. Success on the battlefield, however, does not protect Augustus from the racist hatred of a murderous Texas Ranger or the ruthless threats of the Ku Klux Klan. Willard delivers a compelling and action-packed story filled with historical personages and a proud sense of national redemption.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Held captive by the Kiowa and then bartered to a white buffalo hunter, Augustus Sharps is freed in 1869 by troopers of the all-black Tenth U.S. Cavalry, in which he enlists. First in a series chronicling African American contributions to U.S. military history, Willard's (Death Squad, HarperCollins, 1992) well-researched novel traces Augustus's soldiering from Fort Wallace, Kansas, until his retirement to an Arizona ranch. Through it all, he and his long-suffering wife, Selona, cross paths with such luminaries as Buffalo Bill Cody and George A. Custer. Not to be confused with Robert O'Conner's brooding, Helleresque Buffalo Soldiers (Knopf, 1993), this book begins shakily with needless hyperbole but recovers sufficiently to paint a compelling portrait of a family that not only endures the hardships of 19th-century army life but also the ingratitude of white society. Recommended, with slight reservations, for public libraries.?Robert P. Jordan, Univ. of Iowa, Iowa City
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 331 pages
• Publisher: Forge; 1st edition (June 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312860412
• ISBN-13: 978-0312860417
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,542,518 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars mild recommendation, December 18, 2000

By	Orrin C. Judd "brothersjudddotcom" (Hanover, NH USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Buffalo Soldiers: A Novel (Audio Cassette)

Tom Willard is in the midst of a series of novels focussing on the role of black soldiers in American military history. The first of these, Buffalo Soldiers, begins with Congress creating the first black peacetime units in 1866. Augustus Sharps is a black man who, despite the Civil War, has been held as a virtual slave by a white hunter who purchased him from Indians. Freed by men of the 10th Calvary, Augustus, who is already an expert shot, joins up and spends most his life in the U.S. Army, then joins Buffalo Bill's Wild West show after fighting with the Rough Riders at San Juan Hill. The novel closes with America's entry into WWI, Augustus is too old to serve by then, but as his two sons head off to war, he presents them with his battle saber.

While one admires Willard's effort to recover the memory of the black heroes who served America so ably and with so little reward in the years before the nation desegregated, the story is ultimately more earnest than interesting. I'd give it a mild recommendation. A formulaic rehash of classic Western themes, redeemed only by the reminder that blacks played an important and underappreciated role in creating the American West.

GRADE: C

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An extraordinary read, April 20, 1998

By A Customer

Buffalo Soldiers by Tom Willard is one of the best books I have ever read. The principal at my high school donated it to the library and when I saw it on the shelf, I was instantly intrigued. I could not put it down. The words of my principal -- "America has been blessed with courage and patriotism from all of its people" -- were very true. Willard has told an important story that is sure to move you. In the novel, Sergean Major Augustus Sharps and his wife, Selona, show great measures of strength and courage. This compelling novel is definetly on my list of best books.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courage and Valor and Duty, December 5, 1999

By	J. A. Clark (Rensselaer, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Buffalo Soldiers (The Black Sabre Chronicles) (Mass Market Paperback)

Some up this remarkable book about Colored soldiers after the Civil War taking up arms to help tame the newly expanding American Western frontier. This book tackles the expanding never ceasing politics of race between those with power, and those without, those with weapons, and those with none, those who formerly wore chains, and those who fight to keep them off. Willard's portrayal of the harsh environs of the expanding frontier match and may surpass those of Larry MacMurty's "Dead Man's Walk". The stregnth, valor, bravory, courage, and duty Willard gives his colored sodiers through adversity gives the reader a better understanding and apprciation of those who came before us, those who died for us, and those who were forgotten.