Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument

Charles Young's home

Charles Young as Colonel in 1919

The Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument is an American national monument in Wilberforce in Greene County and is located in southwest Ohio . It was designated by President Barack Obama by a Presidential Proclamation on March 25, 2013 with an area of 59.65 acres (21.14 hectares ). The National Monument was designated in honor of Colonel Charles Young (1864-1922). The National Monument is a house and the surrounding area that Young bought in 1907. Young was the senior African American officer in the US Army from 1894 until his death in 1922 . In 1903 he was also the first African American inspector of a US national park . He oversaw Sequoia National Park and General Grant National Park (now Kings Canyon National Park ). The monument is on US Highway 42 . The house was designated a National Historic Landmark back in 1974 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places . The National Park Service oversees the Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument .

Life of Charles Young

Charles Young was born into slavery in Kentucky in 1864 . He grew up in Ripley and attended high school there . He attended the United States Military Academy in West Point as the ninth black from 1884 and was the third black who graduated from West Point. Young then served almost his entire military career in the 9th and 10th U.S. Cavalry Regiments , consisting of black Buffalo Soldiers . 1894 to 1898 he was a professor at Wilberforce University in Wilberforce. He took part in various wars as an officer. He was temporarily a military attaché in Haiti , the Dominican Republic and Liberia . In 1917 he was the first black man to be promoted to colonel. He died of infection in Lagos , Nigeria in 1922 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery in 1923 .

Commons : Colonel Charles Young House - collection of pictures, videos and audio files