'Ride along with the Buffalo Soldiers as they face death, danger
and discrimination on the western frontier'
A few years ago, during a conversation
with some young people who worked for me, I discovered that they were
completely misinformed about American
history as it relates to the settlement of the American west. Like many people
who get their history from popular media, they were of the opinion that the
cowboys and cavalry of the Old West were all Caucasian. Imagine their shock
when I pointed out to them that ten percent of the soldiers who came riding to
the rescue of the pioneers or ranchers were African-American, and that during
the period after the Civil War, African-American cavalry and infantry served in
all areas west of the Mississippi, including the Dakota Territory – and as far
north as Alaska – and were among the first units to secure our national parks.
After that conversation, I decided to
expand my writing portfolio from mystery and fantasy to historical fiction. I
began researching to fill in the weak areas of my own knowledge, and started
mapping out a series of stories of the Buffalo Soldiers – the nickname given to
the African-American soldiers by the Native Americans they fought against,
because their hair resembled the curly hair of the buffalo, an animal that was
revered in their culture.
During my research, I learned a few
things that even I – a history nerd – didn’t know. For instance, the cavalry
didn’t as a rule use the Winchester repeating rifle. Instead, the army procured
the cheaper and sturdier single shot Springfield carbine. In addition to fighting
the warring Indian tribes, the cavalry also helped local law enforcement catch
outlaws and maintain order. They built roads – the first roads in Yosemite
National Park were built by the Buffalo Soldiers, helped survey territory and
make maps, and built or rebuilt the forts in which they lived. They often spent
days in the saddle while on patrol, going from scorching temperatures in the
lowlands during the day to almost freezing cold in the mountains at night.
Because people seem to dislike reading
history, I decided to fictionalize the stories. I keep the history as accurate
as possible, and occasionally insert an actual historical figure, such as Col.
Edwin Hatch, the first commander of the Ninth Cavalry, with fictionalized
encounters or conversations. The central character is Ben Carter, a former
slave who walked from his East Texas home to New Orleans to enlist when he
learned the army was taking black soldiers. In the first book, Trial by Fire, Ben, a sergeant when the
series opens, is put in charge of a small detachment that is fighting a bunch
of Comanche renegades. We follow Ben Carter and his men through a series of
adventures in each book – one main mission, such as peacekeeping, per book –
and see how he matures over time. I try to make sure the equipment and weapons
are accurate, and use research and my own 20 years of military experience to
make the tactics and manoeuvres as historically accurate as possible.
In the most recent of the series, Battle at Dead Man’s Gulch, Ben and his
men come to the rescue of a group of white cavalrymen from the Sixth Cavalry
who are pinned down by attacking Apache warriors. Incidents like this happened
frequently as army units moved across the territories in pursuit of renegades
who fled the reservations to which the Native Americans were consigned.
The stories are mainly about the
African-American soldiers, but I try to show the Native American perspective as
well, In addition, I include a diverse collection of characters, white, Asian,
and Hispanic, because the west was, popular media notwithstanding, a diverse
place. Because I want the books to be
accessible to younger readers, I avoid sex scenes – of course, this series is
also categorized as western, and we all now there’s no sex in westerns – and I
keep profanity to a bare minimum. In fact, I often use euphemisms to indicate
profanity. I know that’s not authentic, but it is fiction, and like I said, I
want parents to be comfortable allowing teens to read these books.
I treat the question of race relations
directly – sometimes using words that some might find offensive, but always in
context, and never more than necessary to show character motivation or set up a
conflict for a character.
This series started as a labor of love.
I never expected it to catch on. The first four in the series did okay, but
they were no barn burners. Then I published Renegade,
a story about a mission to capture a group of Apache renegades making a run for
the north. I did the cover art for it – as I do for all of them – but, instead
of realistic art, I did a semi-abstract painting. To my surprise, the first
weekend after it appeared for Kindle on Amazon, I sold 800 copies. Afterwards,
people started buying the first four. None of the others in the series have
quite beaten that record, but there has been a relatively steady stream of
readers who have discovered the Buffalo Soldiers, and based on unsolicited
reviews on Amazon, love them.
There is, I believe, a lesson to be
learned here. If you love a subject, and are truly interested in it, you can do
a good job of writing about it. It also proves that history can be made
interesting.
About The Author
