Why I Wrote This Book

This book is a biography about Mingo Sanders, a former slave who joined the US Army in 1881. It also tells the story of Company B, Twenty-Fifth Infantry Regiment, the unit where he served his entire 25-year career and became the First Sergeant. A unit where I also served.

First Sergeant Sanders saw deployments to Cuba, and the Philippines. His service records list participation in the battles of El Caney, Camp O’Donnell, Iba, Mount Arayat, and numerous skirmishes in Zambales. Though his combat record is impressive, the catalyzing achievement of his career was being selected to act as First Sergeant for the US Army Bicycle Corps, testing the bicycle over a 1,900-mile expedition from Missoula, Montana to St. Louis, Missouri. I also deployed to two separate fronts of an expeditionary war.

First Sergeant Sanders was persecuted in the Brownsville Affray, along with 167 other black soldiers. They were discharged without honor, and without the benefit of a Court Martial either. The former First Sergeant continued to petition the government for justice, and his message was elevated to international spectacle during the presidential campaign of 1908 but did not achieve the reinstatement or retirement he sought. The black soldiers were eventually exonerated 67-years later by the first ever Equal Opportunity Office of the US Army, and Congress overturned the presidential order of TR by restoring the soldier’s honor.

While the text of Buffalo Sergeant: First Sergeant Mingo Sanders follows a strict historical format, the overarching theme of this book is familiar enough and occurred naturally in his life. A person who comes from nothing and gains more than he wanted or needed, and then loses everything to learn that in life what you truly need can never be taken from you.

My purpose in writing Buffalo Sergeant was to inform people about how the Army can help you overcome the obstacles you face, no matter where you are, provide you the opportunity of serving as an enlisted soldier, no matter who you are, and prepare you for what opposition you face wearing the uniform, no matter what it is. There are many examples of this in Buffalo Sergeant, each of whom were real people and can be further researched.

Also, I hope to draw attention to the burial site of Mingo Sanders at Arlington National Cemetery, so that it may be restored to full honor. Some critics have asked, “How was a soldier who was discharged without honor allowed to be buried at the national cemetery?” For them, an answer can be found within these pages. After the character of his discharge was restored honorable by Congress long after he passed away, correcting the rank engraved on his gravestone from Sergeant to First Sergeant is the right thing for the Veterans Administration to do.

Why haven’t you ever heard of him before, you may ask? No longer living, and with no living relatives, his legacy has never been restored to full honor. Can it be, when government institutions have worked for so long to keep his story from blemishing the Medal of Honor recipient and face of Mount Rushmore?

I think it can. Even a small change like correcting the rank would make a long-lasting difference for generations to come and to the culture within the existing government institutions. Understanding how one person sharing a story with another, in a pattern repeated over decades and centuries, made a difference in the US Army by restoring his honor. Gaining the knowledge of what biases existed in the US military, and always threaten to return, will make a difference in the world. I hope you will consider this book as a source of that knowledge.