[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 1]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 1163-1164]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING A BUFFALO SOLDIER

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. MIKE ROSS

                              of arkansas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 12, 2002

  Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, today I have the honor to share with you a 
touching story of dedication to country under extraordinary conditions.
  I recently had the pleasure of visiting with a constituent who has 
dedicated her life to education, teaching and helping others, Mrs. 
Eunice Davis Pettigrew. Mrs. Pettigrew, now in her 80s, is a former 
small business owner and retired teacher and counselor at the 
University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. Over the past several years, she 
has continued her lifelong quest for academic excellence by researching 
the life of her grandfather, Isaac Johnson, who grew up as a slave on a 
southern plantation and later served in one of the first regular army 
regiments of African-Americans on the American frontier following the 
Civil War.
  When I visited with Mrs. Pettigrew, she shared with me a heartfelt 
narrative she recently completed about her grandfather's journey from 
slave to soldier. Not only did her grandfather overcome a childhood of 
slavery, he chose to serve his country even in the face of racial 
prejudice and inequalities as a member of the U.S. Calvary in a 
regiment that come to be known as the famous ``Buffalo Soldiers.''
  Hearing this story reminded me that we should never forget the 
challenges our predecessors faced to preserve this great nation. The 
Civil War ended the nightmare of slavery, but we must all continue to 
work, together and as individuals, each day to make sure that our 
country truly is a community of all people.
  As this month we celebrate Black History, we should take a moment to 
remind those like Isaac Johnson and the many others who came before us 
and made this nation strong, free, and prosperous. It is with 
humbleness and gratitude that I share with you and submit to the 
Congressional Record Mrs. Pettigrew's narrative about her grandfather, 
Isaac Johnson, and how he overcame significant challenges to become a 
true American patriot.

               Isaac Johnson, A Slave--A Buffalo Soldier

       This is a narrative of the life Isaac Johnson, the 
     experiences he had as a slave on a North Carolina plantation 
     as well as his experiences as a soldier on the Western 
     Frontier. It is a study of the development and the survival 
     of one Buffalo Soldier in particular, an unusual combination 
     of events such as the impact that slavery had on Isaac 
     Johnson's life, the Emancipation Proclamation and grandpa's 
     role in the Buffalo Soldiers. It is hoped this writing will 
     make known my grandpa's accomplishments during his life time.


                                Purpose

       My name is Eunice Davis Pettigrew. I am Isaac Johnson's 
     grand-daughter. While consulting many secondary materials on 
     the history of the Buffalo Soldiers, the information 
     detailing Isaac Johnson's life comes directly from me. This 
     writing is to make known the facts as documented by my 
     research in the Pine Bluff-Jefferson County Library, The 
     Arkansas Historical Commission and The National Archives. I 
     also have a collection of pictures, notes and the family 
     Bible that I have kept over a period of about forty years. A 
     pictorial tour will reveal some of the injustices that black 
     solders endured. I have researched in eight states namely: 
     Kansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, 
     Alabama and Arkansas.
       I was about nine (9) years old when my grandmother passed 
     in 1926. My grandpa came to live with us in Pine Bluff 
     Arkansas after my grandmothers' death. Our family eventually 
     moved to Forrest City, Arkansas. During the years that 
     Grandpa lived with my family, he told me many stories of his 
     life as a slave and as a soldier. I was fifteen (15) years of 
     age when my grandpa died on December 7, 1931.


                      Isaac Johnson's Life Sketch

       My grandpa was born about 1846, a slave in Charlottesville, 
     North Carolina. He was never told his real age. He had only 
     one (1) family member, a sister, who was sold from him at a 
     very early age. Grandpa's mother died during childbirth as 
     well as a twin sister.
       To understand the bond that Isaac Johnson and his sister 
     shared, I think first we must examine the slave family. The 
     slave family had no standing in law. Marriages among slaves 
     were not legally recognized and masters rarely respected 
     slaves in selling adults or children. The male's sole purpose 
     was to breed in order to maximize the number of offspring. 
     Slave holders would also take sexual advantage of the female 
     slaves, most of the time with the master's wife's knowledge. 
     This created a multitude of biracial babies and an even 
     larger number of human beings to be used for servitude. Slave 
     owners had little or no regard for the emotional needs of 
     slaves. The slave holder, not the parents, decided at what 
     age children began to work in the fields. The slave family 
     could not offer its children shelter or security, rewards or 
     punishments. Despite all of this, my grandpa spoke on many 
     occasions of the close relationship that he and his sister 
     shared. Grandpa worked as a water boy on the plantation while 
     his sister worked as a wet nurse. She nursed all of the slave 
     babies while the slave women worked the fields. She was also 
     responsible for nursing the master's babies. Grandpa told me 
     about his sister making small bags of sugar and butter called 
     sugar ticks that were used to pacify the babies between 
     feedings. The babies were housed in a tee-pee like structure 
     with pallets all around the walls. My grandpa's sister still 
     found time in her busy day to show him love and affection.
       Isaac Johnson remembered never leaving the plantation, so 
     when the opportunity finally arrived he was excited to say 
     the least. On the journey, he remembered looking outside of 
     the covered wagon and thinking out loud what a big world it 
     was. He noticed his sister sitting with her eyes closed and 
     tears streaming down her face. He could not understand her 
     tears at the time because there was so much excitement in the 
     air. He asked her continuously, what was wrong but got no 
     response. It was not until they reached their destination did 
     grandpa's excitement start to fade away. Confusion began to 
     set in for Grandpa, who was approximately two or three years 
     of age at the time. He observed his sister on the auction 
     block and being held up for public display to be sold. On 
     completion of the bidding, his sister was led away 
     blindfolded never to be seen by Grandpa again. What he 
     observed was a very humiliating and degrading experience for 
     his sister. Grandpa cried when he realized she had been taken 
     away from him. The loss that Grandpa felt from this 
     experience would be incomparable to anything else that he 
     would endure in life. No longer did he have that strong 
     family bond of someone to love him.
       Grandpa often told me stories of life on the plantation. 
     One incident in particular, a group of slaves had been 
     chained together for a march when a woman went into labor. 
     She was loosed from the chains and left alone to deliver the 
     baby while the others continued on their journey.
       To ensure the slaves obeyed the rules as set forth by the 
     Slave Codes and the will of the master, whenever someone was 
     found in violation of a rule, all the salves were called to 
     the ``Big House'' to watch the punishment of the slave in 
     question. Grandpa told me that he observed many of these 
     beatings. He described to me a large platform with a square 
     cut out of the center in which slaves were placed face down 
     and beat repeatedly with a whip. Violations of these rules 
     were dealt with in a variety of ways. Mutilation and branding 
     were not unknown. However, most violators were whipped. A 
     slave owner was immune from prosecution for any physical 
     abuse against slaves. This was due largely in part to the 
     fact that slaves could only testify against other slaves 
     accused of a crime.
       The 1870 Census shows Isaac Johnson living in Montgomery, 
     Alabama, as a store clerk. During this time he lived with 
     Emma Clark, a white woman. Emma Clark was the head of her 
     household and had a two-year-old daughter at the time. It is 
     my belief that Grandpa was Emma Clark's slave. Clark's 
     daughter's name was Maretta Clark, so I believe this was Emma 
     Clark's married name and that her maiden name was Johnson. I 
     further believe my grandfather having no slave family's name 
     to take, took his owner's family name.
       My grandpa entered the Army while living in Montgomery, 
     Alabama. He enlisted on the 6th day of May, 1867. He was a 
     private in Company K, 24th Regiment of Infantry. Grandpa was 
     transferred to Company 38 Infantry. He fought in the war with 
     the Comanche Indians in the territory of the Texas Frontier. 
     Isaac Johnson was shot in the right shoulder by a Comanche 
     Indian, while escorting mail from Fort Harker to Fort Union. 
     The wound was received near Cow Creek, Kansas in the Spring 
     of 1868. He was treated at Fort Selden, New Mexico and at 
     Fort Harker by Surgeon McClindon. My grandpa, Isaac Johnson, 
     was honorably discharged at Fort Selden, New Mexico, on about 
     May 6, 1870, due to the injury he received in the Spring of 
     1868. Grandpa returned to Montgomery, Alabama and to Emma 
     Clark's household. He worked as a hotel employee until he 
     reenlisted in the Army on June 14, 1878. He served in the 
     Colored Cavalry of Saint Louis, Missouri. Isaac Johnson 
     served in the Army for a period of five years but due to his 
     previous injury, complicated by other medical problems, he 
     was honorably discharged at Fort Stanton, New Mexico. He last 
     served in the Company F-9 Regiment Cavalry.
       After my grandpa's service in the Army, he lived in several 
     areas including Montgomery, Alabama, Walls, Mississippi, 
     Austin, Mississippi, Plummerville, Arkansas, and Menifee, 
     Arkansas. Grandpa applied for bounty land and this 
     undeveloped land was

[[Page 1164]]

     given to him in the township of Menifee, Arkansas. His family 
     (The Johnsons), his sister-in-law's family (The Williamsons) 
     and the Tally families were among the first settlers of this 
     township. Menifee, Arkansas was my grandpa's home until the 
     death of my grandmother, Sallie Walls Johnson, in 1926.
       Isaac Johnson lived with my family in Pine Bluff, Arkansas 
     and then Forrest City, Arkansas until his death on December 
     7, 1931. He was memorialized and buried at his church, 
     Philadelphia Baptist in Menifee, Arkansas. He is buried in 
     the Community Cemetery with some of his descendants.

     

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