Tom Willard

Every once in awhile you stumble upon a book that once started so engrosses you that you can’t put it down. Buffalo Soldiers by Tom Willard was such a book for me. This is the story of the first black American cavalry soldiers, who served in the west and helped to subdue the Indian tribes to make way for western expansion.

It’s ironic that these black men, almost all former slaves, chose to enlist to serve the country that enslaved them, but they wanted to stand up and be counted as Americans and as men . They endured a lot, from lower pay and less privileges than their white counterparts, to downright hatred and violence from the very people they were there to protect.

Tom Willard makes this a very personal story, we follow Augustus Sharpe from his enlistment as a young newly freed slave through his fighting years , as he is promoted to eventual Sergeant Major (as high as a black man could go in those early years) to his retirement after fighting in Cuba with Teddy Roosevelt. Along the way the 10th Cavalry come into contact with people like George Armstrong Custer, Wild Bill Hickok and Buffalo Bill Cody. They have a large part in the defeat of Geronimo.

This book is the first in a series that follows this Black-American Military family right up to present day Desert Storm. I am looking forward to learning this aspect of history from these excellent books.… (mehr)

The Sable Doughboys is the continuation of the story of a Black American family that was started in The Buffalo Soldiers. The original characters Augustus and Selona Sharps have grown older and now must step aside as they watch their two sons go off to war. It is 1917, and Adrian and David Sharps have been accepted as officer candidates at Fort Des Moines before shipping out to France.

Facing a hard training program designed to weed out the weakest, they also face discrimination and violence from white racists. As they arrive in France as part of the 93rd Division, they experience more racial discrimination from some of their own officers. And yet, as proud Americans they endure the horrors of trench warfare and serve their country well.

Willard continues his well researched, action packed story that focus on one family, and yet traces the military history of Black Americans. An altogether engrossing follow-up to his first book, I am looking forward to the continuation of this family’s history.… (mehr)