The Brownsville Redemption

Lt. Col. (Ret) William Baker

Theodore Roosevelt’s wrongful disgrace of the all-black infantry in brownsville, Texas, 1906

What Happened That Night in Brownsville?

In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt discharged, without honor, 167 soldiers of the all-Black 25th Infantry stationed in Brownsville, Texas. The men were accused of shooting up the town the midnight of August 13. A white man was killed and another seriously wounded.

Everyone presumed the soldiers were guilty. So when no one among them would confess to the crime, Roosevelt accused the entire group of a "conspiracy of silence" and refused them a trial. By executive order, he doomed them to lives of shame and degradation.

But 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?

In 1972, 66 years after the Brownsville Incident occurred, Lt. Col. (Ret) William Baker finally solved the mystery of the soldiers' guilt or innocence.

“William Baker’s riveting narrative rips the scab off one of the most disgraceful episodes of racism in the annals of the American military..." Harold Holzer

"More than an expertly written history, this volume is a fascinating chronicle of a military man's 'quest for justice.'" Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

"A remarkable tale of courage, persistence, and conviction." Tweed Roosevelt