A Buffalo Soldier's Story

First Dark: A Buffalo Soldier's Story

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Book video TRAILER
Reviews
Synopsis
Non-fiction characters
Photo gallery

Read Bob's First Dark Interview

Cover photo courtesy of The Don Stivers Gallery.

Purchase "Proud to Serve" at Don Stivers.com

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First Dark Reviews:

"First Dark is a well researched work of historical fiction, set during and just after the Civil War. This engaging story centers on Isaac Rice, a run-away slave who eventually joins a Buffalo Soldier's unit of the Union Army in the West and intertwines his life and experiences with those of such diverse people as plantation owners, US congressmen, army units operating behind enemy lines, hostile indians and Mexican combatants. It accurately reflects the attitudes and prejudices of the times and presents both villains and heroes. Rogers makes this novel extremely readable and entertaining as a book of fiction that is based upon actual events and deeds of real people.

"I think it was great and I highly recommend First Dark."

-- Ed Tennent

"First Dark" is a powerful story of the underbelly of American history that has been carefully researched and then written. It covers the horrors of bigotry from the points of view of several different characters and brings everything together at the end of the story. Characters are well-developed and believable, and the dialogue and description throughout the book is brilliant, bringing the reader right into the story. The author's creation of characters who blend well with actual historic figures from that era is spectacular, to say the least. This is one of those books the reader will never forget.

-- Allice Dimini for Readers Favorite

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Synopsis

saac Rice, a teenager on a South Carolina rice plantation, traveling alone, follows a treacherous route filled with incredible hardships and danger to escape from slavery. Too young to be a soldier, the Union Army hires him to shovel coal on a gunboat. Thus begins Isaac's westward journey, in which he encounters storms, stampeding buffalo, and the hate of zealous patriots whose causes are antithetical to the nation he is sworn to defend. Undaunted, he pursues respect and dignity on an odyssey from the middle of the Civil War in South Carolina's Low Country and the Mississippi Heartland, to the Indian Wars on the Great Plains and deserts of Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico.

Isaac's is an historically correct epic tale of young North Americans coming of age amid the violence of the U.S. Civil War, Indian Wars, Reconstruction, and spillover bloodshed from a Mexican Revolution. Telling Isaac's story required extensive research of 19^th and 20^th century books, official documents, and letters, plus multiple visits to relevant geographic locations over a period of twenty years.

A memorable set of characters revolve around Isaac - a Confederate guerilla, a black female activist in a Mississippi Constitutional Convention, a Mescalero Apache warrior, a white Union cavalry sergeant, and a Mexican nurse - who raise their voices and bare their souls as the world they seek constantly changes, bringing tragedy to their lives and danger for Isaac.

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This is a partial list of famous and not so famous historic characters in First Dark.

Harriet Aiken, wife of William Aiken, Jr.

Henrietta Aiken, daughter of William Aiken, Jr.

William Aiken, Jr., Governor, US Congressman, South Carolina

Thomas H. Allsup, First Sergeant, Co A, 10th Cavalry

Alexander Augusta, Major, First Black Physician in US Army

Griffin M. Bender, Owner of Bender Plantation

Wash Bender, Slave, Bender's valet during the Civil War

William Blackburn, Colonel, Battalion Cmdr, 7th Illinois Cavalry

Cadete, Chief, Mescalero Apache

L. Henry Carpenter, Captain, Co H, 10th Cavalry

Cochise, Chief, Chiricahua Apache

George Crook, General, US Army

George A. Custer, US Army, 7th Cavalry

Jefferson Davis, President, Confederate States

Joseph Davis, Jeff's older brother

Charles Dougherty, Private, Co A, 10th Cavalry

Henry O. Flipper, Lieutenant, Co A, 10th Cavalry

Ulysses S. Grant, General, US Army, President, US

Alice Grierson, Colonel Grierson's wife

Benjamin H. Grierson, Music teacher, Colonel, 7th Illinois Cavalry, 10th US Cavalry

Charles Jackson, Slave (William Aiken, Jr.'s Coachman)

Henry P. Jacobs, Natchez City Councilman

Andrew Johnson, President, US

Richard Johnson, son of William Johnson (the barber of Natchez)

Robert Johnston, Co A, 10th Cavalry

Robert F. Joyce, Ordinance Sergeant, 10th Cavalry

Kaytennae, War Leader, Chihenne Apaches

Abraham Lincoln, President, US

James Lynch, Secretary of State, Mississippi

John R. Lynch , US Congressman, Mississippi

Ranald Mackenzie, Colonel, 4th US Cavalry

Ben Montgomery, Slave, manager of Davis Plantation, Entrepreneur

Isaiah Montgomery, Slave, Son of Ben Montgomery

Mary Montgomery, wife of Ben Montgomery

Nana, War Leader, Chihenne Apaches

Nicholas M. Nolan, Captain, Co A, 10th Cavalry

E.O.C. Ord, US Army, General, Civil War, Indian Wars

John C. Pemberton, General, CSA Army

Randall Pollard, Pastor, Rose Hill Baptist Church, Natchez

William Prince, Colonel, Quartermasters, 7th Illinois Cavalry

George Raulston, Lieutenant, Co A, 10th Cavalry

Hiram R. Revels, US Senator, Mississippi

Don Jose Rodriguez, Carrizal citizen; uncle of fictional character Torres

Rufus Saxton, General, US Army

Philip Sheridan, US Army, General, Civil War, Indian Wars

William T. Sherman, General, US Army

Richard Surby, Sergeant, Scout, 7th Illinois Cavalry

William Tunnard, Sergeant, 3rd Louisiana Infantry Regiment

Victorio, Chief, Chihenne Apaches

Robert Wood, Mayor of Natchez, Sheriff of Adams County, Mississippi

Hiram Young, Slave, Entreprenuer, Wagon Manufacturer