Buffalo Soldiers in Alaska

Company L, Twenty-Fourth Infantry

Brian G. Shellum (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

386 Seiten

2021
University of Nebraska Press (Verlag)
978-1-4962-2844-4 (ISBN)

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Brian G. Shellum tells the story of Company L, which served in Skagway, Alaska, and was one of the two companies added to the all-Black Twenty-Fourth U.S. Infantry Regiment after war was declared on Spain in April 1898.

The town of Skagway was born in 1897 after its population quintupled in under a year due to the Klondike gold rush. Balanced on the edge of anarchy, the U.S. Army stationed Company L, a unit of Buffalo Soldiers, there near the end of the gold rush. Buffalo Soldiers in Alaska tells the story of these African American soldiers who kept the peace during a volatile period in America’s resource-rich North. It is a fascinating tale that features white officers and Black soldiers safeguarding U.S. territory, supporting the civil authorities, protecting Native Americans, fighting natural disasters, and serving proudly in America’s last frontier.

Despite the discipline and contributions of soldiers who served honorably, Skagway exhibited the era’s persistent racism and maintained a clear color line. However, these Black Regulars carried out their complex and sometimes contradictory mission with a combination of professionalism and restraint that earned the grudging respect of the independently minded citizens of Alaska. The company used the popular sport of baseball to connect with the white citizens of Skagway and in the process gained some measure of acceptance. Though the soldiers left little trace in Skagway, a few remained after their enlistments and achieved success and recognition after settling in other parts of Alaska.

Brian G. Shellum is an independent historian and is retired after service as a senior intelligence officer and historian at the Defense Intelligence Agency. He is a former U.S. Army officer, army attaché, and Gulf War veteran. Shellum is the author of African American Officers in Liberia: A Pestiferous Rotation, 1910–1942 (Potomac, 2018), Black Officer in a Buffalo Soldier Regiment: The Military Career of Charles Young (Bison Books, 2010), and Black Cadet in a White Bastion: Charles Young at West Point (Bison Books, 2006).

List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments
Chronology
Prologue
1. North to Alaska
2. Dyea Barracks
3. Fort Wrangel
4. Skagway Barracks
5. Company Reunited
6. Settling In
7. Command Change
8. Challenges
9. Departure
10. Aftermath
Postscript
Appendix A: Biographies of Officers and Soldiers of Company L
Appendix B: Buffalo Soldier Regiments
Appendix C: Minstrel Show Programs
Appendix D: Tribute to Captain Hovey
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Erscheinungsdatum	24.09.2021
Zusatzinfo	37 photographs, 5 maps, 1 chronology, 4 appendixes, index
Verlagsort	Lincoln
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Themenwelt	Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik ► Allgemeines / Lexika
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Militärgeschichte
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung
ISBN-10	1-4962-2844-8 / 1496228448
ISBN-13	978-1-4962-2844-4 / 9781496228444
Zustand	Neuware