Blacks Serving in the U.S. Military-- Part 3: The Civil War and Post War, the Buffalo Soldiers

Feb. 23 War 1812 search

Of course, some 180,000 Blacks served in the Union Army during the Civil War.  I will write about the black experience in this war in my Saw the Elephant: The Civil War blog.

After the Civil War, Congress organized the Army into ten cavalry regiments and forty-five infantry ones.  When the Army pared back to 25  regiments of infantry in 1869, the four black regiments were consolidated into two.  The two were the 24th and 25th, which came to be known as the "Buffalo Soldiers" and were posted mostly to the Southwest and West.

Their job was primarily to battle Indians who gave them that name.

Buffalo Soldiers would serve in the U.S. military for the next fifty years, primarily in the Indian Wars , for which thirteen enlisted men and six officers received the Medal of Honor.

Pilgrims Arrive 400 Years Ago-- Part 6: Afterwards

1621 to 1692

NOVEMBER 1621

A second English ship sent to America by Plymouth Colony's investors arrives off Cape Cod.  Other ships carry new colonists follow over the next few years.

JUNE 1630

A flotillas of ships begins delivering more than 700 English Puritans to the new Massachusetts Bay Colony, in present-day Boston.

Over the next 10 years, this new colony will grow to be much larger and influential than Plymouth Colony.

*********************************

MAY 9, 1657

Plymouth Colony's longtime governor, William Bradford, dies.  He had spent 20 years writing a now-famous history of the Mayflower Pilgrims called "Of Plymouth Plantation."  There are those today who want this thrown out because of the word plantation which brings to mind slaves.

JUNE 20, 1675

King Phillip's War begins.  The conflict between Indians and English colonists across southern New England is devastating.  By the time it ends in 1678, the Indian population of the region is reduced by 40 to 80 percent.

JUNE 8, 1692

The final meeting of the Plymouth Colony legislature is held, as the colony is absorbed into the larger Massachusetts Bay Colony.

--CootPilgrim

Ten Details That Make History's Worst Tragedies Even Worse-- Part 2:

5.  BLACK DEATH--  The Plague led to Jewish Genocide.  The Jews were blamed for it.

4.  HURRICANE KATRINA--  The bridge to the town of Gretna was blocked to refugees.

3.  WOUNDED KNEE--  Twenty soldiers were given Medals of Honor

2.  THE GREAT FIRE OF LONDON--  Robert Hubert was a mentally handicapped man who was hanged for starting the fire, but he wasn't there when it happened.

1.  THE TITANIC--  You have to read this to believe it.

--Cooter

June 25, 1876 A Real Bad Day for the Custer Family

On June 25, 1876, five members of the Custer family were killed at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, including three brothers, a nephew and a brother-in-law.  Of course, the real famous one was George Armstrong Custer.

I have been doing a lot of research on the family of George Armstrong Custer in my Not So Forgotten War of 1812 blog.  He had a strong connection with veterans of the War of 1812.  Plus, he was from Monroe, Michigan, the site of the infamous River Raisin Massacre during that war.

Plus, two of the Custer family are buried in Woodland Cemetery.

Go to the site by clicking on My Blogs to the right of this to find out what happened June 25, 1876.

Plus, you can find out where George and his brother Tom are buried.

--DaCoot

July 20.... Events On This Date

Quite a few things happened of not on July 20.  here are some:

1862--  See my Civil war blog.

1881--  Sioux Indian leader Sitting Bull, a fugitive since the Battle of Little Big Horn, surrendered to federal troops.

1917--  The World War I draft lottery began.

1919--  Mountain climber and Antarctic explorer Edwin Hillary, the first man (with Tibetan mountaineer Tenzig Norgay) to climb Mt. Everest, was born in Auckland, New Zealand.

1923--  Mexican revolutionary and guerrilla leader was assassinated at age 45.

1937--  Inventor and physicist Guglielmo Marconi, winner of the Nobel Prize for his work in developing wireless telegraphy, died in Rome at age 63.

1944--  See my World War II blog.

1969--  Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon as they stepped out of their lunar module.

I sure remember that as I was glued to the TV with friends.  There is a story about the "Moon Dust" out now.

--Cooter

By the Numbers: U.S. War Veterans-- Part 2: Indian Wars to Spanish-American War

INDIAN WARS (1817-1898)

Service:  est. 106,000
Deaths:  1,100 est.
Last Veteran:  Fredrak Fraske, died 1973 at age 101.

MEXICAN WAR  (1846-1848)

Service: 78,718
Casualties:  13,283 dead, 4,152 wounded
Last veteran:  Owen Thomas Edgar, died 1929 at age 98.

CIVIL WAR (1861-1865)

Service:  Union 2,213, 363  Confederate 600,000 to 1,500,000
Casualties:  Union 364,511  Wounded 281,881  Confederate  unknown
Last Veteran:  John Sailing.  Died 1958 at age 112.

SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR  (1898-1902)

Service:  306,760
Casualties:  2,446 dead (385 in battle) Wounded 1,662
Last Veteran:  Nathan E. Cook died 1992 at age 106.

--Cooter

Wilmington, NC, Heroes-- Part 2

SGT. 1ST CLASS EUGENE ASHLEY, JR. (1930-1968)

Born in Wilmington. An Army Green Beret. Received a posthumous Medal of Honor after he personally led five assaults on North Vietnamese to rescue a besieged detachment of fellow Green Berets and was fatally wounded. Wilmington's Ashley High School named for him.


WILLIAM WING LONG (1818-1886)

Nicknamed "Old Blizzards." An Indian fighter, Confederate general. Born in Wilmington but moved to Florida. Fought in the Mexican War.

Quarreled with Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley Campaign. In 1863 transferred to Mississippi where he supervised and commanded Fort Pemperton. Later, he was at the battles of Franklin and Nashville.

After the war he went to Egypt and was in their army until returning to the US.

Tarheel Heroes. --Cooter