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tl;dr Review:
A strong and powerful female protagonist combined with the post-Civil War tensions and the rise of the Buffalo Soldiers makes for an epic and enlightening read.
Full Review:
Though the book starts during the tail end of the Civil War (a time period that I am familiar with) it then veers into the post-Civil-War Wild West, which is a part of history that I know significantly less about. The fact that it also involved real historical figures throughout was an epic bonus.
The compelling, hidden story of Cathy Williams, a former slave and the only woman to ever serve with the legendary Buffalo Soldiers.
“Here’s the first thing you need to know about Miss Cathy Williams: I am the daughter of a daughter of a queen and my mama never let me forget it.”
Though born into bondage on a “miserable tobacco farm” in Little Dixie, Missouri, Cathy Williams was never allowed to consider herself a slave. According to her mother, she was a captive, destined by her noble warrior blood to escape the enemy. Her chance at freedom presents itself with the arrival of Union general Phillip Henry “Smash ‘em Up” Sheridan, the outcast of West Point who takes the rawboned, prideful young woman into service. At war’s end, having tasted freedom, Cathy refuses to return to servitude and makes the monumental decision to disguise herself as a man and join the Army’s legendary Buffalo Soldiers.
Alone now in the ultimate man’s world, Cathy must fight not only for her survival and freedom, but she also vows to never give up on finding her mother, her little sister, and the love of the only man strong enough to win her heart. Inspired by the stunning, true story of Private Williams, this American heroine comes to vivid life in a sweeping and magnificent tale about one woman’s fight for freedom, respect and independence.
In the interest of full disclosure, the minute I read “Buffalo Soldiers,” I knew I had to read this novel. As someone who is half-Jamaican and who grew up listening to the Bob Marley classic by the same name, this fighting force is endlessly fascinating to me.
The fact that there was a woman who supposedly fought with them? Even better.
What also struck me was how the issue of race and racism and the characters attitudes towards it are still being played out today.
One of the quotes that stuck with me was, “He harrumphed and said, ‘You’ll see what black folk won. War was the easy part, buttercup. Peace with white folks gon be a whole new war. War we be fighting alone. You think them Rebs we saw riding off back home gonna be a hair different from what they were before the war? Only difference now is they hungrier, poorer, and meaner ’cause they got a grudge. Think they were done wrong. Since they’d die before they ever admitted what fools and traitors they were, every one of them beat Rebs’ll go to his grave sure as God that we, all us ungrateful slaves, were the reason for every bit of the misery they brought on themselves. Bad as they were before, they gon punish us now.”
The prescience and relatability to much of the racial divide and struggle that’s still occuring can be captured in that quote alone.
Overall, nothing beats a badass female protagonist combined with a fascinating time period in history, and that’s what this book offers.
I give it 5 out of 5 thumbs up.
