Child of the Fighting Tenth: On the Frontier with the Buffalo Soldiers [Hardcover]

the late Forrestine C. Hooker (Author), Steve Wilson (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 20, 2003 | Age Level: 8 and up

This memoir by Forrestine Cooper Hooker details her childhood and young adulthood in the midst of the frontier cavalry. Hooker's father, Charles Cooper, was an officer in the Tenth U.S. Cavalry, one of two regiments with black troops, known as the Buffalo Soldiers, commanded by white officers. Hooker's stories capture the drama of growing up in the frontier army, the Indian wars on the plains, the Geronimo campaign in the Southwest and Mexico, her love for the regiment and the Buffalo Soldiers, their admiration for her, and even her lost love for a dashing young cavalry officer. Her narrative is by turns compelling, charming, humorous, and warm. As Laura Ingalls Wilder depicted farm life on the frontier, so Forrestine Cooper Hooker depicts army life.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Gr. 6-9. Forrestine "Birdie" Cooper spent her childhood on the American frontier, living among the Tenth U.S. Calvary--a regiment of black troops with white commanders--of which her father was an officer. In this never-before-published memoir, she recounts her experiences, many of which are vividly memorable: keeping her pet mice warm inside her mother's gloves, where they accidentally suffocated; a soldier being smoked instead of embalmed because the army lacked the appropriate supplies; encounters with Quannah Parker and Geronimo. The author's comments about African Americans, Native Americans, and Mexicans reflect the prevailing attitudes of nineteenth-century whites, although Hooker does note that Native Americans were frequently mistreated by government agents. Almost as interesting as what Hooker includes are the stories she omits; she describes her friendship with a young officer, but never mentions her husband. It's not clear where Hooker's writing ends and Wilson's editing begins, but this is nonetheless a compelling addition to the frontier memoir genre that will be popular with history buffs and useful in class. A chronology, a list of places to visit, and a bibliography are appended. Kay Weisman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Vividly memorable....A compelling addition to the frontier memoir genre that will be popular with history buffs and useful in class." --Booklist

"This book would probably be of greatest interest to the high school student who appreciates stories about military life, Indians, or the Old West, or to the adult reader." -- Catholic Library World

"This graceful little memoir is a well-written and briskly told adventure story." -- Civil War Book Review

"Interesting." -- Library Media Connection

"Few memoirs of the period are as readable, or better convey the pride of frontier soldiering." --Tucson-Pima Public Library

"Take a precocious child - the doted-on daughter of a military officer, curious and congenial with a remarkable eye for detail and complete loyalty to her family's military career - who lived in a significant time and place in history, and you could wind up with Child of the Fighting Tenth: On the Frontier With the Buffalo Soldiers by Forrestine C. Hooker, edited by Steve Wilson, a remarkable memoir that becomes a valued record of the past....The child had a busy, productive and fun-filled childhood. The woman had amazing recall. The book is a valuable resource and a pleasing story." -- The Daily Oklahoman

"This little book is a gem....Her recall and colorful true-life stories make this book an important historic document. Think Laura Ingalls Wilder with a military twist." --The Tucson Citizen

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 1St Edition edition (November 20, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195161580
• ISBN-13: 978-0195161588
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #426,361 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing account of growing up with the famous Buffalo Soldiers on the western frontier., August 23, 2009

By 

Roy L. Wilkerson (Duncan, Ok USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Child of the Fighting Tenth: On the Frontier with the Buffalo Soldiers (Hardcover)

I was given this book by someone who thought it would really interest me. It was a few days after I recieved the book that I had a chance to start reading it. Once I opened the cover, I found it very difficult to put this wonderful story down. When the author is describing her life as a "Child of the Fighting Tenth", the accounts are so descriptive that the reader can actually visualize what life was like for her. Even when I was not reading this book, my mind would wander across the open prairie as if it were today as it was 120 years ago. Even my dreams were of little Forrestine's amazing adventures with her family. This is by far the most captivating book I have ever had the pleasure of reading. If you enjoy reading about history and the west, you would love this story of life "On the Frontier with the Buffalo Soldiers". Written by Forrestine C. Hooker, daughter of Captain Charles Cooper, and edited by Steve Wilson, I highly recommend this book. Once you open the cover, you won't want to close the book until you have read every last word.

5.0 out of 5 stars Child of the Fighting Tenth, May 30, 2005

By 

B. K. Sims (Lawton, OK USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Child of the Fighting Tenth: On the Frontier with the Buffalo Soldiers (Hardcover)

A unique perspective, informative, and insightful! Child of the Fighting Tenth: On the Frontier with the Buffalo Soldiers reflects the way of life of the African American soldier and their white officers in the 1870s and '80s. The experiences as revealed through the eyes of a young girl, an officer's daughter, take the reader beyond the historical surface of the period into the sweat and determination of these soldiers' lives. This story reveals a time when struggle was common, when tragedy on the open plains was expected. The conflict between the soldiers and the Indians was evolving towards the culture changing end for these indigenous peoples and the reign of supremacy for the "white man."



This conflict is softened and personalized as a young lady, Forrestine Cooper, relates the adventures of living at this pinnacle of historical change in the "civilization" of our country. Forrestine's father was the officer in charge of a troop of Buffalo Soldiers, and many of the book's events were experienced and documented by him.



As an elementary student in Oklahoma Public Schools in the fifties, I was enthralled with the adventures of a child named Cricket, often read to us by our second or third grade teacher. The character of Cricket was based on Forrestine's remembrances of her life stationed in many of the frontier outposts built for the soldiers protecting settlers moving west. I especially remembered an account of an older lady who climbed Mt. Scott, a feat that I thought would be difficult for anyone. It was a pleasure to read about the real encounter with this mountain and the drama surrounding the actual events of this perilous climb.



However, as an adult and a history/reading teacher in the Lawton Public Schools, I feel that this book should be in all school libraries in Texas, Oklahoma, and Arizona. Its rich, well-documented information is a treasure for anyone interested in the history of the Southwest. Its level of appeal spans from the elementary classroom to the college level. I have a friend, Randy Garabey, who uses it to teach a history class at the University of Oklahoma. I loaned him my copy to read, and he was thoroughly impressed with how the events paralleled other research and publications-thus verifying its authenticity.



The actual notes of Forrestine Cooper Hooker about her life with the Tenth Cavalry are carefully edited by historian Steve Wilson. His attention to detail results in a true record of this era. However, this book is highlighted with humor and candor, which makes it a great historical read!

5.0 out of 5 stars From an historic novel reader, December 23, 2004

By 

Compulsive Reader (Texas by choice) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Child of the Fighting Tenth: On the Frontier with the Buffalo Soldiers (Hardcover)

Realizing that a writer/editor (Wilson) can only use what is in the original text, this book was a pleasure for a novel-reader like me. What Forrestine Hooker failed to tell in her story cannot be invented by her editor and provides wonderful mystery to go with wonderful historic fact. I had a delicious time speculating on why Hooker failed to give her reader answers to questions she surely knew would arise.
Details of life at that time and place are invaluable and well presented by Wilson. Attitudes, perceptions and values have changed with distance from physical danger. Hooker reminds us that her world was not as safe, easy and secure as ours seems to be.
The book is an interesting excursion into our southwest history.