Did you know that one was in dc and was in maryland . He became one of the first africanamerican journeyman printers in the u. S. Government office. When he left to develop the university of d. C. Printing and publishing program. Was one of the highest ranking africanamerican ins in the us printing office. So breaking racial boundaries everywhere he went in his second career. Dr. Taylor, a bachelor of science degree at the Washington Technical Institute for teacher technical teacher training. He earned his masters degree in administration and supervision of adult education. So he knows what he is doing today as he talks with us. And he earned a doctorate in education at Virginia Polytechnic Institute at university of the district of columbia. Dr. Taylor served as the assistant for the college of professional studies and he was later named acting. He retired from udc after 31 years and since. Fortunately for us, he has written several books, Bridge Builders of knock green valley, which explores the lives of many green residents who made significant but unsung contributions to their community. Dr. Remains a Community Activist and has served as president of the valley civic association. Please help me welcome dr. Taylor taylor. Water. First, id like to say good evening to everyone and thank you for coming out. So my pleasure. You could have been sitting at home looking at it on television, but you elected to come out. And for that, im out for a appreciative, as you saw earlier, i was born and the green valley section of arlington, 1934. And ive seen a lot of changes in arlington. But im not a product of. The Arlington County public schools. I was educated in d. C. Public schools simply because during that i went to school pre integration time and the d. C. School system had what was one of the Better School systems for africanamericans in the country. So then today i will be talking about the research that i have done to write this book on. My great grandfather though how did i come about writing this book . Oh, okay. Coming up, everyone was interested in cowboys. You know, cowboys and indians and things. And i was a cowboy, an indian fan. And used to hear when the bugle blew the calvary always came around to rescue the people from the native americans and things and it wasnt until later on my niece was research on them. My major. I feel part of the family when we found out that my great grandfather was a buffalo soldier. So i said wow every time i see the cavalry come out ive never seen African American cowboy or a bear. So i decided to say well let me start to go and do some research and try to find out some of the things that my great grandfather did and thats what got me started. I was more when i found out at 20 of the calvary was African Americans. So then i started to delve into my great grandfathers life and i found out my great was born and emilio courthouse, virginia. Thats one of the richmond suburbs. He ran away home at 15 years of age, put up his age to join the u. S. Colored troops. In 1865. Well on july the 28th, 1866, something significant. About july 20. That happened to be what my birthday was,. July 21. They knew i was going to be there. So say in 1866. They asked the regular branch of service no longer volunteer where they would start pay veterans of service people. So my great grandfather then got the washing to niecy and joined the states regular army and. 1866 he was first put into what was called. 40th Infantry Division. They took recruits from baltimore and washington, d. C. And they sent their to North Carolina to further collect and order to form up a regiment. So in doing further research, i found out that the Buffalo Soldiers fought fort macon, fort hatteras of fort fisher are places in North Carolina. Fort carswell, kinston, plummer and goldsboro. Interesting. Boy, i have a niece live in goldsboro right now, but the buffalo back in the 1860s went there to recruit. They also in South Carolina at pinckney, orangeburg, walterboro and the hilton head. And never they stayed at one place more because they were moving around and they would recruiting but after they got to form a regiment they then moved to some of them to louisiana for further. And of course in louisiana, the kennedys were horrible. They were trained in the swamp parts and things that nature. But the interesting part, the were never. In to the regular army. The reason that it was decided to get go and hire the girl from the africanamerican divisions was because with all the heads so much going on in the south with all of the free, the contraband, the north and the south against, each other came even for the land move in the indian that they relinquished and they form to calvary troops and Infantry Troop the ninth calvary the 10th calvary, 37th, 38th, 39th and 40th Infantry Division later on. And youre find in 1869, they kind of understood a little more to two or infantry or and two calvary they were never thought of to be soldiers they really wanted their in there to support the war support alpha you know build the forts during the war and all of that. They never intended for them to be soldiers. The conditions were very horrible in fact all their officers were white. In fact many also refused to command them. In fact, one of those who refused to command had the. Ninth calvary was general george custer. General custer refused command of night because they were all africanamerican and took command of the seventh calvary. So those of you who go later in the history, you know, what happened to custers, you know what happened to the seventh calvary, you know, who was out to be allowed to seventh calvary was the ninth calvary that had been where he had refused. Have they put conditions were horrible of which trained under. They were hated by. The blacks the i mean by the white. They were hated by the indians. They were hated by the settlers. But they still had to operate on those conditions. So after they my great grandfather joined, as i say, in. 18 and 18 and 68, his time was up in the infantry. He reenlisted in boston, massachusetts and was assigned the 10th Calvary Company. B the. One of the hardest parts doing this research. Well, there is nothing but a Little Information on the troops. Theres a lot of information out on the command as all the heads of but very little on the troops. So i had to discover what i wanted to do and let me put upon him all of this going on. I started my research in 2012, so thought processes were a little different than. 2022 when we talked about we can talk about these things now, but i decided i wanted to put right my story from trying to go in and research on and write the story from his eyes. You know, they were movie versions just see movie version of calvary all of that. But wanted to really try to find what they went through. They troopers themselves went through. So how i tell it there it was a difficult task of getting enough information even to put out the book. I had to get data started with the army Getting Service records and all of it records and things as all of his enlistment and you know, in those times a calvary person, you had to, it was a five year enlistment time. So and they transferred all over all over the west. So ive trying to keep up with them. I had to read a lot books, mostly on calvary stories and pieced together, for instance instance, i would find at thing that whole such and such a battle tip. Calvary company, be it such, such a thing. Well, had to make that i would then make assumption right there that my great grandfather was so he one of those that well that because the book that the 10th calvary maybe did that matching it up with his Service Records at that time frame he was in company b 10th calvary which he so most of his time so a thousands of interesting things that then that put in first thing as i say they said well send them to texas because its so hot in texas taking more or less with stanley. So their first duties was in the texas buying texans and in in the winter they sent to the plains and they had the o go through the horrible womens that they had out there, mostly with their little blanket that was all naval horse was also the blanket that he is covering. So they were at the job. Most of their main job to guard wagon trains all the settlers who were moving was stirring telegraph while built forts and. Incidentally, if you ever go fort sill in oklahoma, some of the buildings are still there at the 10th calvary built. In 1880 and something for sale, oklahoma. That was oklahoma was then called Indian Country. Most of the things were in oklahoma and fort sill at one time was the headquarter for the 10th calvary, the first home. Interesting things that i found out. In 1873 that my great grandfather was Court Martial. It was a Court Martial for the what they said neck. That duty and what had happened. And i was able to get the manuscript of his trial a. A prisoner had escaped. And because he was in charge of the prisoner, he was Court Martial while he went before tribunal and all that first occasion in 1873, he was. Father said it wasnt his fault or he couldnt have stopped the person from escaping. I was reading book called frontier calvary, but it just, you know, this the way i had to get i had to read all these books of all of these officers and things i never knew. But in order to get my story, i had to read all these different both on the buffalo soldier and things. And i ran across a book called the frontier calvary and. And it was a story of a lute of a john. In 1870s seven he grabbed razor from west point and, his first duty assignment was for duncan, texas and. He was in charge. Oh. The 10th Calvary Company. Be well of course he had enough day. Im going to lock right into that cause know i can find out something about my grandmother and what i did find something in this book when. I get to page 60 of his book. It said, oh, my first duty at fort duncan. When i reported, i found a letter on my bed. This letter was from a private alfred pryor first time my grandfather name, the mentally ill or letter from a private of pride complaining that the purse payment i had not paid him and he had been in the field for six months. And when went to the paymaster, paymaster wouldnt get him and his mother. So the lieutenant john bigelow said he trust the letter a little bit and sent it to paymaster or cut a little crudely written that he wouldnt superior that way of put the only point and never said whether he got his money or not. But it did. But i put together a story this i had to piece together sort of like the wars he fought in. He. Know the story. I picked up. Well, i was telling court months in 1880 a game he was Court Martial for the same thing he was had been promoted to sergeant then and he was sergeant garrison and a prisoner escaped and. They caught my silly for neglect of duty. But they found him guilty. This. But because of his long serve us normally when they were found guilty on Court Martial, you must. What they say because of his long and dedication, they were only to deduct pay for too month and demote him to a private. Well, he would 30 a month. So they took 20 a month for two months and things of that nature. And im going through, trying to show you how how we found all these stories and things that you will find in my book. I got them again. This was. 1878. I found another fact. In follow in the enlistment it said in february or. 18 78, 50 of troopers were detailed to the 24th infantry. And that his records said he was tread detail from. 10 to 20 fourth infantry following had said 15 were from the 24th infantry to the Second Artillery to check of the getting go. The the gatling well, ive now narrowed it down. My grandfather was one of the 15 who did the research, who did the preliminary work on the gatling gun. The further it said that, oh, the troopers did very well with the gatling, and they did very well. But they were never allowed to use it in battle. They were never allowed to use in battle. In fact, the army never put any africanamerican and then artillery or Armored Division because they did not want them to be armed. That much. I was one of the reason that they want that. They said troopers immediately with from south they sent them to Indian Country because they didnt know didnt want the troopers to be armed round them. So that was an interesting story that i found. So most of it also, don, as part of the. 10th calvary, if you heard the story of a victorious on victory was a great opportunity, who broke away from the rest of the reservation and they to chase them, they the bad boy they won the battle and chased him all over the Indian Country. So it i traced where my grandfather was in those battles where company b did this company b, where they in the end, victoria was finally by the mexican army, but they had chased him all over the west down to mex ago and way and its called victorious war. But then and he was transferred in 1883 to the ninth calvary and ninth Calvary Company. K. And i found some interesting things and company k company k was the ninth carver was the one that was called on and little big horn to try to save george custers. Now when we get the pine ridge or the battle of wounded knee, whos under siege, the seventh calvary whos called to try to save the seventh calvary again, this is some 18 years later after was the ninth calvary on the ninth calvary at the time at Fort Mckinley in nebraska when the lakota indians on the Pine Ridge Reservation all had their go stance of rising. So they were out and went down and, rolled through freezing rain and cold from Fort Mckinley, nebraska, to what is now ridge reservation in south dakota. They got down. They had the they were the seventh was trapped. But because they named the bailed them out again, they had a battling and what about the call to get the gun there but they had a gun that saved seven at wounded as there result of this they commanding all four so a major guy henry petitioned the congress to. Company k. Nine calvary to fort ma. Okay congress should let it and they bought company k to fort myer virginia and eight 1891 my grandfather was in company k. Nine calvary. They were the first blacks to be stationed east of the mississippi since reconstruction days and the first ones to be stationed at a population m1 close to a populated. So they were brought to fort margin. In 1891. They have they not only. Where they good calvary man but they were good show raiders too. They were on shows and things in for my they served in president ial and things of that nature and if youre familiar my familiar with arlington if you go down route 50 right that persian drive almost that is the henry gate and that gate was for the major who brought my great grandfather to perform virginia and 18 91. He stayed for my virginia until 1893 when they sent unit back to nebraska. He then opted out. I dont know why he he got out after 26 years and settle in. George town and foggy bottom section of georgetown. I guess it was like Everything Else was in an urban city. Can more money and things know of his settling just down and right now take a break and get into any more and i wont have any question question. Yes yes for the life. Or most of the troops, there were plenty civil war veterans wondering why do they have go . Finally, those troops were like. So that again, a when the regular army was in the late 1860s, they had plenty of guys left over the civil war, wanted to go in the army. One had so much trouble for they didnt have trouble recruiting for the night for one night, the night fell. The early of that was down near the southern plantation the tip. They had a lot more trouble recruiting in the town because the turf officers wanted a soldier with a little ability to i guess leadership and things of that nature. They were harder to staff the tip and was a night until douglass and some other people started to convince a lot of the africanamerican to join the service for as a result of being a easier and in the hopes of full citizenship, which they never got. But they there were a and nine was made up of originally of a lot of the civil war veterans who were had fought battle before, went into. The other you you know, course. Work. Its interesting hear how you piece together the history of your grandfathers service by comparing the military records with books that youve read have been written on an entirely different aspects of military service. Could you give us some idea of what the condition of the military records were that you received . Were these copies of handwritten and yellowed pages or where they were yellowed that were copied for you, and were they complete or how did you get these . I mean, know the Army Historical group has a of the old records, but these are really old records that would have been vulnerable to being lost or damaged over the years. So what we would exactly did you get all the customers . What was the condition of some of the research or the papers i got as some of the exhibits . Youll see some the exhibits in the bo x records of his enlistment and things the way they were written in the script and things of that nature. But there were a lot things that were had reconstructed and there were not actually a paper, but theres a lot of research on the microfiche microfilm and things of nature from the army. But they had record all the way back to every and one i got every last one, every time he was transferred out of one into the others. A very good records be back there during that time. Quest of. Gleaming. Dr. This is a fascinating book. I really enjoyed the read the Buffalo Soldiers went up a number of Indian