An unheralded military hero, Charles Young (1864–1922) was the
third black graduate of West Point, the first African American
national park superintendent, the first black U.S. military
attaché, the first African American officer to command a Regular
Army regiment, and the highest-ranking black officer in the Regular
Army until his death. Black Officer in a Buffalo Soldier Regiment
tells the story of the man who—willingly or not—served as a
standard-bearer for his race in the officer corps for nearly thirty
years, and who, if not for racial prejudice, would have become the
first African American general. Brian G. Shellum describes
how, during his remarkable army career, Young was shuffled among
the few assignments deemed suitable for a black officer in a white
man’s army—the Buffalo Soldier regiments, an African American
college, and diplomatic posts in black republics such as Liberia.
Nonetheless, he used his experience to establish himself as an
exceptional cavalry officer. He was a colonel on the eve of the
United States’ entry into World War I, when serious medical
problems and racial intolerance denied him command and ended his
career. Shellum’s book seeks to restore a hero to the ranks of
military history; at the same time, it informs our understanding of
the role of race in the history of the American military.