Customer Reviews

The Forgotten Heroes: The Story Of The Buffalo Soldiers

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Author Clinton Cox describes the black soldiers of the U.S. Calvary in the Old West (1867-1890's). Readers learn about the pride and courage of these Buffalo Soldiers, who made their mark after the Civil War protecting settlers, mail wagons, and stage coaches from hostile Indians and even marauding outlaws. How ironic that the Buffalo Soldiers, themselves often victims of harsh discrimination, should assist in robbing Native American Indians of their ancestral lands. At times the Buffalo Soldiers battled the Souix, Cheyenne, Kiowa, Apaches, and other proud tribes, leaving the Great Plains and Southwest stained with blood. As many know, the tribes fought to protect their lands from encroachment, while the Buffalo Soldiers fought for pride (several received the Congressional Medal of Honor) and battled discrimination both in and out of the military. As the author shows, both the Buffalo Soldiers and Native American Indians were proud, capable, and often victimized by those that despised both groups. The title Buffalo Soldiers was given them by opposing Indian warriors who respected their prowess in battle. This concise book tells the story in readable style.

This is a good basic read. I would recommend it.

Again as I have stated with similar books on the Buffalo Soldiers, these are the men who opened the West for white settlers by assisting the US government in annihilating (killing) the natives or forcing them on reservations. These men suffered much and never got the recognition they deserved during their life times. They were hated by the very folks who benefited from the nearly wholesale slaughter of men, women and children. It is bittersweet.

The injustice of it all simply saddens me. Lawd I need something fun and lite to read. This serious stuff is sure enough bringing me down. There is joy in being ignorant. Oh if only I was among the masses of the ignorant and oblivious, life would more joyous. Awww it's too late for me my fellow reader. I am hooked!

The following are the words of General T. William Sherman regarding the native populations, i.e. Kiowas, Comanches, and Cheyennes:

"The more we can kill this year, the less will have to be killed the next war," he said shortly after coming to the West, "for the more I see of these Indians the more convinced I am that they all have to be killed or maintained as a species of paupers."

Please keep in mind that the same time the Buffalo Soldiers were primary ones being used to killed and subdue the native populations, while their own people were being hunted and killed and terrorized by the white folks all across the south.

This caught my attention and I though I'd share it with y'all:

"The Buffalo Soldiers had scouted almost ten thousands miles over incredibly rough terrain and had endured some of the harshest weather conditions in the United States.

They had found and marked almost every source of water on the Staked Plains.

Most of the scouting was through country had never been seen before by soldiers of the United States Army.

The Buffalo Soldiers, for better or worse, had helped make it possible. But official reports never even mentioned them."

The Forgotten Heroes: The Story of the Buffalo Soldiers is about black calvarymen who went to fight the Native Americans out West in the late 1800's, and to make it safe for settlers. They fought battles against Native Americans led by Geronimo and other famous Native Americans. By joining the army, the soldiers hoped to find freedom, but to make the land safe for settlers, they had to take the Native American's freedom away.

A survey; very well researched and easy to read. It touches lightly on the highlights of three-decades of fighting and rather more heavily on three-decades of under-appreciation and abuse. Repeatedly points out the irony of the freed-slave soldiers enforcing a lose-lose policy on the Indians. On-duty the Buffalo Soldiers were fighting the Indians or trying to stop White abuse of the Indians; off-duty the Buffalo Soldiers, themselves, had to survive the White's abuse. The prejudice was so bad that white officers who broke into a house to recover the clothing and equipment of murdered black soldiers, were charged with burglary. This would be a funny story, if it weren't so tragic.

The Buffalo Soldiers would have recognized themselves when they read Rudyard Kipling's stories about Colonial India and the unappreciated heroism of abused soldiers.

The truths that must be gleaned from between-the-lines of most combat reporting, "The Forgotten Heroes" by Clinton Cox makes explicit.

this story is bout some black organisation of black soldiersfrom Buffalo in new york city .tis soldiers foughtin the civil war for the north.thes soldiers gave their lives for the union .they were the brave lions of the union during the civil war.they were likre the 54th massachussets reginment.they were also different from the 54th massachussets reginmentbecause only a few people new the magnitude of what they did. and there was where this novel got its name.