The Buffalo Soldier Tragedy of 1877 (review)

On 10 July 1877, approximately forty soldiers of the U.S. Tenth Cavalry set out from Fort Concho, Texas, on what was deemed to be a routine pursuit of a small band of Comanches who had left their Indian Territory reservation and were roaming the Texas Panhandle. The soldiers apprehended no Indians, but along with twenty-two buffalo hunters who joined them near Muchaque Peak, they became lost on the vast plains of the Llano Estacado. During the four-day ordeal, without water and beneath a broiling sun, four troopers died, one went insane, one went missing, and several left the command. The buffalo hunters also departed following a dispute with Captain Nicholas Nolan on what route to follow. A subsequent convening of a court martial board led to convictions and harsh prison terms for four enlisted men despite the ambiguous orders that they were given at a critical moment in the deteriorating march.

Although this harrowing tale has been related in previously published articles and book chapters, no one has offered more thorough and balanced coverage than has Paul Carlson, Professor of History at Texas Tech University. The author knows the Panhandle landscape in an intimate way and this familiarity has allowed him to write about the specific events of the doomed reconnaissance with greater realism. He also clearly has moved beyond the racial prejudices that permeated some of the earlier sources and that placed undue blame on the black enlisted men of the Tenth Cavalry. With the aid of previously untapped sources, Carlson has allowed the soldiers to state their own views more clearly. Reminiscences of the white buffalo hunters are likewise given greater emphasis and, to a lesser degree, even the remarks of some Comanche observers are included in the story.

To give these rather narrow events the broader significance they deserve, the author places them within the context of regional and national events. Initial chapters describe the drought-stricken Panhandle conditions of the mid-1870s, defeat of the Comanches and Kiowas during the Red River War of 1874-75, advance of the buffalo hunters into the high plains of Texas, and the evolution of the four black regiments within the United States Army between 1866 and 1877. Three additional chapters focus upon the precise movements of the combined column, their failure to find water at the usually reliable locations, and the suffering that each man experienced. Reduced to drinking their own urine, as well as that of their horses, and ultimately forced to drink the blood of those same mounts, the men barely escaped total annihilation.

A final chapter investigates the machinations of the subsequent military hearings that embittered the legacy even more. Especially singled out for discussion are the actions of Sergeant William L. Umbles, a six-year veteran of the army, who had been demoted by Captain Nolan only a short time earlier. Carlson weighs the conflicting testimony with a judicious eye and, although he does not fully exonerate Umbles's actions, he convincingly demonstrates that the sergeant and his three compatriots were not guilty of desertion as charged. Nolan's failure to fill the canteens at the last available water hole and his decision to strike for the more distant Double Lakes, rather than Yellow House Springs, as the buffalo hunters had done, raises further questions about the commanding officer's leadership skills during the crisis.

Well-written history often comes in relatively small packages, and this is one such case where cogent analysis of broader historical themes can be gleaned from an otherwise singular event. Persons interested in the Southern Plains, Native American history, frontier military life, and race relations within American institutions will be pleased with all that this book has to offer.