Buffalo Soldiers in California: Charles Young and the Ninth Cavalry, 1902-1904

When Captain Charles Young and the Ninth U.S. Cavalry stepped ashore in San Francisco in 1902, Young was only one of three Black officers serving in the U.S. Army. He had graduated from West Point as its third Black graduate, established the first Black officer training program at Wilberforce University, was appointed a major to command an Ohio volunteer battalion during the Spanish-American War, and served as a troop commander during two years of brutal guerrilla warfare in the Philippine-...