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Charles Young.
"America is the land of my race's forced adoption... the house is none the less loved and cherished by me. In that house, the love of liberty, of the highest freedom, and of independence and fair play for all men, and the love of all men as such without distinction of race, color, or condition, entered into my heart. No greater spiritual revolution than the fact of universal brotherhood can come to a man here in this fine old world."
-- Major Charles Young, 1914
Charles Young was born March 12, 1864, in Mays Lick, Kentucky, the son of Gabriel Young and Arminta Bruen, both slaves. His father ran away to enlist as a private in the Fifth Regiment of the Colored Artillery (Heavy) in the Civil War. His father's service as a soldier shaped Charles' life.
As a young man living in Ohio, he competed for appointment as a cadet to the US Military Academy in West Point. Young succeeded and reported to the academy in 1884. He graduated with his commission in 1889, the third African American man to do so after Henry O. Flipper and John Alexander. Assigned to the 10th US Cavalry, he soon achieved the rank of first lieutenant.
His career spanned 28 years spent in three of the Army's four African American Regiments -- the 25th Infantry and the 9th and 10th Cavalry. In 1916, Young participated in the Mexican Expedition against Pancho Villa. His leadership during the operation led to his promotion to lieutenant colonel, making Young the first African-American to reach that rank. In 1917, the Army retired him for health reasons. Young protested this action, riding 497 miles from Ohio to Washington DC to demonstrate his physical fitness. he was reinstated into the Army five days before the end of WWI at the rank of colonel. |