The Black Regulars 1866-1898 by William A. Dobak & Thomas D. Phillips

Black soldiers first entered the regular army of the United States in the summer of 1866. While their segregated regiments served in the American West for the next three decades, the promise of the Reconstruction era gave way to the repressiveness of Jim Crow. but black men found a degree of equality in the service: the army treated them no worse than it did their white counterparts. Military imperatives, limited manpower, and tight budgets demanded that the army equip, feed, clothe, house, and pay black and white soldiers equally. making up almost ten percent of the army's forces, the black regulars helped impose order in the West, from the lower Rio Grande to the northern Rockies. Largely ignored by the country at the time, these men nevertheless helped open a door for black Americans into the nation's public life.

This book used army correspondence, court martial transcripts, and pension applications to tell who these men were, often in their own words: how they were recruited and how their officers were selected; how the black regiments survived hostile Congressional hearings and stringent budget cuts; how enlisted men spent their time, both on and off duty; and how regimental chaplains tried to promote literacy through the army's schools. the authors shed new light on the military justice system, relations between black troops and their mostly white civilian neighbors, their professional reputations, and what veterans faced when they left the army for civilian life.

"Film Western rarely if ever portray black cavalry riding to the rescue in Hollywood fashion. Yet one-fifth of the U.S. cavalrymen after the Civil War were African-Americans. these two regiments, along with two black infantry regiments, played a crucial role in the 'Winning of the West.' Then as now, he army offered black men better opportunities than did civilian life, and The Black Regulars offers us the best study of their experiences." James M. McPherson author of Battle Cry of Freedom