These were the celebrated Buffalo Soldiers of Western folklore. They had fought with Roosevelt in Cuba during the Spanish-American War and helped him capture San Juan and Kettle hills, the feats that made him a national hero. And now they were summarily dismissed without evidence?

Reviews

  • "Both Colonel Baker’s imaginative recreation of the Brownsville Affair and his account of his fight to redress the wrong done to the disciplined black soldiers add considerable depth to this important story. Although several books have been written about this unfortunate piece of America’s racial history, Baker demonstrates that there is more to be learned. His is a remarkable tale of courage, persistence, and conviction. Get the book: it is a great read.”

    ~Tweed Roosevelt (Great-grandson of Theodore Roosevelt), University Professor, Long Island University

  • An inspiring story of one honorable man’s commitment to correct a “gross injustice” and to remind Americans that these lessons transcend race and time: “Innocence before guilt. Due process of law. These basics of constitutional protection cannot, should not, be superseded by anyone, including the president of the United States.”

    ~ Sam Roberts New, York Times

  • Baker did not live to see his book to publication. Still, there is one great thing readers can derive from Baker’s relentless drive and discipline annealed in the military is the satisfaction that he corrected a terrible wrong. Lt. Col. Baker, Presente! And let the 21-gun salute begin.

    ~ Herb Boyd, Black Detroit: A People’s History of Self-Determination adjunct professor at City College in New York and author of numerous books.

  • William Baker’s riveting narrative rips the scab off one of the most disgraceful episodes of racism in the annals of the American military—and one of the shameful low points of Theodore Roosevelt’s otherwise progressive presidency. The book—and perhaps our very history—is redeemed by the author’s patient personal quest to exonerate and compensate the African American “wrongdoers” who in fact did no wrong in Brownsville, Texas, in 1906. Justice deferred is of course no justice—especially when it is so hard to achieve—but this book goes a long way toward exposing, and righting, a terrible wrong.

    ~Harold Holzer, Historian, Winner of the 2015 Lincoln Prize

  • Colonel Baker skillfully interweaves two distinct stories. First, he offers an imaginative reconstruction of a shameful and widely-reported 1906 incident: the events that led President Theodore Roosevelt to dishonorably discharge 167 African-American soldiers for allegedly participating in—or refusing to identify the participants in—a shooting rampage in Brownsville, Texas. (Doris Kearns Goodwin’s The Bully Pulpit calls Roosevelt’s action ‘a permanent scar on his legacy.’) Second, he gives a first-person account of his own ultimately successful efforts—sixty-six years later—to exonerate those same soldiers. Racism, sectional tensions, political machinations, careerism, and sheer human malevolence all rear their ugly heads in Colonel Baker’s fascinating narrative.

    ~ Professor Baird Tipson, adjunct Professor, Gettysburg College, author of Hartford Puritanism

Shop