Cathay Williams is the only documented African American woman who served as a soldier in the Regular U.S. Army in the nineteenth century. Cathay was born a slave around 1850 in Jackson County, Missouri. In September 1861 Union troops impressed Cathay into the Army to … Read MoreCathay Williams (1850- )
February 2, 1848 In the name of Almighty God The United States of America and the United Mexican States animated by a sincere desire to put an end to the calamities of the war which unhappily exists between the two Republics and to establish Upon … Read More(1848) Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
If any man of any color attained the ranks of legendary in the American West, it was James Beckwourth (also: Beckwith, Beckwoth). If any attest to his fame is necessary, one only needs to read the description under the accompanying lithograph and note that even … Read MoreJames Pierson Beckwourth (c. 1805 – 1866)
A free woman of African descent living in Querétaro, Mexico, Isabel de Olvera joined a relief expedition to the recently colonized province of New Mexico in 1600. She traveled as a servant to a Spanish woman. Little is known about Olvera, except for an extraordinary … Read MoreIsabel de Olvera (?-?)
George Jordan, buffalo soldier and Medal of Honor recipient, hailed from rural Williamson County in central Tennessee. Enlisting in the 38th Infantry Regiment on 25 December 1866, the short and illiterate Jordan proved a good soldier. In January 1870, he transferred to the 9th Cavalry’s … Read MoreGeorge Jordan (ca. 1849-1904)
Esteban, an enslaved Moroccan, made the first contact with the native peoples of what is now the American Southwest. Fraught with misunderstandings, that encounter led to Esteban’s untimely demise in 1539 and prefigured the violence that would characterize the Spanish conquest and subsequent colonization of … Read MoreEsteban (?-1539)
May 1880 found Colonel Edward Hatch’s 9th Cavalry buffalo soldiers campaigning in the Southwest against the wily Apache leader Victorio. A skilled practitioner of guerrilla warfare, Victorio – “The Triumphant One” – was proving difficult to catch, avoiding pursuit in Arizona and slipping into New … Read MoreBattle of Tularosa (May 14, 1880)
Addison Jones’s birthplace is of uncertain origin, but he was likely born in Gonzales or Hays County, Texas. His cowboy skills led to his recognition in western Texas and eastern New Mexico as “the most noted Negro cowboy that ever ‘topped off’ a horse.” Addison, … Read MoreAddison Jones (ca. 1845-1926)
Born into slavery in Kentucky in 1842, Allen Allensworth gained his freedom in the Civil War when the Forty-fourth Illinois Volunteer Infantry was camped in Louisville, Kentucky. Young Allensworth dressed in an old uniform, plastered mud over his face and marched boldly up Main street … Read MoreAllen Allensworth (1842-1914)
