Celebrating Black History Month: Charles Young, first African American colonel in US Army

Charles Young, born March 12, 1864 in Mays Lick, Kentucky, was the first African American to achieve the rank of colonel in the US Army. His parents were slaves, but his father escaped slavery by fleeing to Ohio and enlisted in the 5th United States Colored Heavy Artillery Regiment near the end of the Civil War.

Charles entered West Point Academy in 1884 and roomed with the only other black cadet, John Hanks Alexander.  As usual, Young experienced brutal hazing incidents and racism throughout his term.  However, he perservered and graduated in 1889, with the rank of second lieutenant,  becoming the third black man to do so.  Alexander had graduated in 1887. Young served mostly with the Buffalo Soldiers,  first assigned to the Tenth US Cavalry Regiment and then the Ninth US Cavalry Regiment in Nebraska.  

During the Spanish-American War, he was temporarily promoted to major of volunteers in May 1898. He was mustered out of the volunteers in January 1899 and reverted to his rank of first lieutenant.  He was promoted to Captain in the 9th Cavalry Regiment in February 1901. 

By the time of the 1916 Punitive Expedition by the US into Mexico, Young had been promoted to major.  Because of his exceptional leadership of the 10th Cavalry in Mexico he was promoted to lieutenant colonel in July 1916.  In 1917, he was promoted to colonel, the first African American to achieve this rank.

Just before the beginning fo WWI, a white lieutenant did not want to be outranked by a black man and complained to the Secretary of War Newton Baker, who refused to transfer him.  President Woodrow Wilson overturned Baker's decision and transferred the lieutenant. Baker realized that if Young was allowed to fight in Europe, he would be eligible for promotion to brigadier general. That meant he would be commanding white officers, so the War Department placed him on the inactive list due to "high blood pressure".  

In November 1918, Young traveled from Wilberforce, Ohio to Washington DC on horseback to prove his physical fitness and was reinstated to active duty as a colonel.  In 1919, he was assigned as military attache to Liberia.

During a reconnaissance mission in Nigeria in late 1921, Young was taken ill and died of a kidney infection in January 8, 1922.  He was the fourth soldier to receive a funeral in Arlington Memorial Ampitheater.

In February 2020, Young was posthumously promoted to honorary brigadier general in Kentucky by then Governor Andy Beshear. 

Brief history of Col. Charles Young

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Sand Creek Massacre 1864

More history you didn't learn in school.  

On November 29, 1864, nearly 700 volunteer soldiers from the Third Colorado Cavalry under the command of Colonel John Chivington attacked peaceful village of Cheyenne and Arapaho people in southeastern Colorado Territory, killing anywhere between 69-600 people, mostly women and children.

The 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie between the US and seven Native American nations gave the tribes land that included southeastern Wyoming, southwestern Nebraska, most of eastern Colorado, and western Kansas.  However, when gold was discovered in Colorado in November 1858, the US pushed the Treaty of Fort Wise on the local tribes, substantially reducing the amount of land given to the tribes. 

This led to much dissension among the tribes, but in 1864, a coalition of Sioux, Comanches, Kiowas, Cheyennes, and Arapahos engaged in hostilities to drive the whites out of their country.  But since the American Civil War was going on, the US government was more concerned with defeating the Confederates. Native Americans continued to attack.

In September 1864, the Cheyenne met with Governor John Evans at his invitation.  He told them that this was not to secure peace, but to offer protection to Native Americans who were friendly.  

Chief Black Kettle, led Southern Cheyenne and some Arapahos to Fort Lyon in compliance with a peace parley held in Denver in September 1864.  But they were told to relocate to Big Sandy Creek about 40 miles away. Black Kettle flew a US flag with a white flag underneath it to show he was friendly and hope to forestall any attack by Colorado soldiers. 

On November 29, 1864, Col. Chivington, despite being warned to attack a peaceful camp, gave the order to attack.  Captain Silas Soule and Lt Joseph Cramer refused to obey and told their men to hold fire.  Chivington's men ignored the white flag and murdered as many Native Americans they could find, including women, children, and infants.

Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month: Lola Sanchez, Confederate Spy

Lola Sanchez, born in 1844 in Armstrong, Florida, and her two sisters became spies for the Confederate Army during the Civil War.  Their father had been falsely accused being a Confederate spy and imprisoned by the Union Army.  Officers from the Union Army occupied the Sanchez residence.  

On May 21, 1864, Lola overhead the officers planning a raid on the Confederate forces.  After telling her sisters what she heard, she decided to notify Captain John Jackson Dickison, a commander of Confederate force 2nd Florida Cavalry in Camp Davis, only a mile and a half from their home.  Lola's sisters covered for her in her absence that night.  

Lola met with Capt. Dickison and told him what she heard.  She returned home, having been gone for only an hour and a half.

Capt. Dickison set a trap and waited for the arrival of a Union transport and gunboat. On May 22, they ambushed the Union forces when they arrived.  The confrontation became known as the Battle of Horse Landing.

Lola and her sisters continued spying for the Confederate army throughout the Civil War.