The Black Maroons of Florida, also known as Black Seminoles, Seminole Maroons, and Seminole Freedmen, were a community derived from Runaway slaves who integrated into American Indian culture. They were mostly Gullah fugitives who escaped from the rice plantations in South Carolina and Georgia who … Read MoreThe Black Maroons of Florida (1693-1850)
Joseph Louis Cook was an Afro-Iroquois leader and a Commissioned Officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Cook was born Nia-man-rigounant around the year 1737 in an area now known as Schuylerville, New York. His father was African, and his mother was … Read MoreColonel Joseph Louis Cook (ca. 1737-1814)
Walter Lawson was a Buffalo Soldier, a private with the 25th Infantry Regiment of the US Calvary. Lawson was born in Clark County, Virginia in January 1862, to Thomas and Susan Lawson. Not much is known about Lawson’s life before his public service. He served … Read MoreWalter Lawson (1862-1917)
When the U.S. Army was reorganized on July 28, 1866 for peacetime service after the American Civil War, six regiments were set aside for black enlisted men. These included four infantry regiments, numbered 38th through 41st. The 25th Infantry was created during a reduction in March 1869 by … Read More25th Infantry Regiment (1866-1947)
On Christmas Day, 1837, during the Second Seminole War, the Africans and Native Americans comprising Florida’s Seminole Nation defeated a superior U.S. fighting force. In more than half a century of Florida invasions, this was the worst defeat the Seminole Nation inflicted on the American … Read MoreBattle of Lake Okeechobee (1837)
Image Ownership: Haggin Museum, Stockton, California California pioneer, expressman, and civil rights worker William Robison was born a slave in Gloucester County, Virginia on August 28, 1821. He may have gained his freedom by fighting in the Seminole War in 1836. He would have been … Read MoreWilliam Robison (1821-1899)
When the U.S. Army was reorganized on July 28, 1866, for peacetime service after the American Civil War, six regiments were set aside for Black enlisted men. These included four infantry regiments, numbered 38th through 41st. The 24th Infantry was organized during a reduction in … Read More24th Infantry Regiment (1866-1951)
The 10th Cavalry was one of the original six regiments of the regular army set aside for black enlisted men. These were authorized by Congress in the act of July 28, 1866 reorganizing the army for post-Civil War service, mainly against native peoples in the … Read More10th Cavalry Regiment (1866-1944)
The 9th Cavalry was one of the original six regiments of the regular U.S. Army set aside for black enlisted men. These were authorized by Congress in the act of July 28, 1866 reorganizing the army for post-Civil War service, mainly against native peoples in … Read More9th Cavalry Regiment (1866-1944)
Between 1866 and 1917, African American soldiers served throughout the western United States, including the territory and later state of Montana. Beginning in 1888, the 24th and 25th Infantries and the 9th and 10th Cavalries would be stationed throughout Montana at Fort Missoula, Fort Keogh, … Read MoreBuffalo Soldiers in Montana (1888-1898)
