BLACK 25TH INFANTRY "BUFFALO" SOLDIERS PHOTOGRAPHS
Lot of three important mounted albumen photographs, each ca. 1903, includes a 10" x 8" photo of six American commanding officers of the regiment in a seated pose with rifles, seated at their camp in the field (mount chipped), a 8" x 5 ¾" photo of a large group of members of the 25th in the field, some practicing riflery, two scaling a wall behind them, and others standing before tents pitched in the field. The verso of the photo bears a pencil note: "Wall Scaling Monthly Drill Day June 15 - 03 Fort Niobrara Neb." With a 5" x 3 ¾" photo of men in a foot race, captioned on the verso: "Start of one mile relay...June 15 - 03 Ft. Niobara Neb.". In 1902 the black segregated 25th Infantry was stationed at the fort until July. The 25th had a distinguished history, from the Civil War through World War II. It had good relations with the Nebraskan community around the fort, but when transferred to Texas in 1906 they encountered immediate and extreme racial prejudice. That year, a company of the 25th Infantry was dishonorably discharged without a trial on grounds of having shot at whites, a decision finally reversed in 1972.