The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 71, July 1967 - April, 1968 Page: 305

Book Reviews

Civil War and its aftermath, the nineteenth century piety, the First
World War, the Ku Klux Klan of the 1920o's, the Depression, World
War II, the postwar boom and its affluence, the civil rights movement,
and the urbanization of the area. All these great forces influence the
church, even as the church influences the time, both for good and bad,
with its prohibition, doctrinal, and denominational disputes as well
as its civilizing influences on culture, its many institutions of mercy
and education.
The history is written with a loving concern for the people in
the region that sometimes obscures the critical appraisal needed for
good history, but considering the audience and the task, this is a minor
flaw in a much needed volume.
University Methodist Church, Austin JAMES WILLIAM MORGAN
The Buffalo Soldiers. By William H. Leckie. Norman (University of
Oklahoma Press), 1967. Pp. xiv+290. Illustrations, maps, biblio-
graphy, index. $5.95.
William H. Leckie's landmark study, The Buffalo Soldiers, con-
stitutes a survey of the full range of the contribution of Negro troopers
to the pacification and stabilization of the post-Civil War West. Most
of the background history with which the volume is concerned, official
problems with Indians, Mexican raiders, border outlaws, cattlemen
and farmers, is reasonably familiar to students of western history.
Equally well-known are the key figures, basic movements, and specific
incidents with which the narrative is involved. The significant concept
which Leckie injects into the standard background is the heretofore
underemphasized and essentially unacknowledged role Negro soldiers
-members of the all-colored Ninth and Tenth cavalry regiments,
specifically-played in these key historical movements.
Primarily, the author's accomplishment is his demonstration that
a widespread prejudice against Negroes served to delay a recognition
of the full worth of their military service. The prejudice was real, and
it produced tangible discrimination. Evidences were found in the
attitudes and actions of regional and departmental commanders and
of the officers and men of sister commands; they were found as well in
the treatment accorded colored troopers by the residents of the white
communities they served. Because of the prejudice against them, Negro
units received inferior mounts and equipment, shorter rations, and

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