"This collection of documents illuminates the lives and experiences of the African Americans who served in the Regular Army between the Civil War and World War I and fought in some of the most difficult wars against western Indians."--Jacket.

1.A new kind of soldier for the post-Civil War Regular Army -- 2. First skirmishes with Plains tribes -- 3. The 10th Cavalry in the summer of 1867: first battles and first casualty -- 4. Sergeant Shelvin Shropshire's observations on service in Kansas -- 5. The battle at Beecher Island, September 1878 -- 6. The 9th Cavalry in Texas: mutiny at San Pedro Springs, Texas, April 1867 -- 7. William Cathay/Cathay Williams: a woman in the 38th Infantry -- 8. Sergeant Emanuel Stance and the Medal of Honor -- 9. Recollections of active service in Texas by Sergeant Jacob Wilks, 9th Cavalry -- 10. The earliest known documented use of the name "Buffalo Soldiers."