In Camp and Combat with the Buffalo Soldiers

In his latest work, Langellier, author of a good number of books on the U.S. Army, particularly in the West, gives us a very different, and very valuable, look at the “Buffalo Soldiers,” the Black Regulars between the Civil War and World War I. Older books on these troops have dealt primarily with their service on the plains, in Cuba, in the Philippines, and along the Mexican border.

What Langellier does is talk about organization, recruiting, career paths (some quite surprising), race relations, personnel (Black and white), chaplains, labor service, garrison duty, the famous “Bicycle March,” public attitudes toward the troops, and more.

In Langellier’s final chapter, titled “Myths, Memorials, and Meanings,” he demolishes some misconceptions about the service and treatment of Black troops often fostered by careless writers, who failed to realize that, for example,  complaints about poor horses, worn out or obsolete equipment, shabby quarters, and lousy food, were in fact made by all the troops, white as well as Black; Uncle Sam was pretty stingy with his nephews in uniform.

Langellier includes profiles of many of the men who served, looking at why they chose to enlist, how they fared while in uniform, and their later life, with some interesting discussion of “Cathay Williams,” presumed to have been the only woman known to have served in the U.S. Colored Troops and then the Buffalo soldiers.

This reviewer was disappointed that Langellier didn’t mention the 9th Cavalry’s Pvt. William H. Prather, who served in the final days of the Indian Wars, and wrote several poems about the military life that appeared in The Army and Navy Journal and other publications.

More Work than Glory is an invaluable read, not only for those with an interest in the Black regulars, but also for those seeking to learn more about the Army from the Civil War through the Great War.

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