Black Soldiers at Fort Shaw

Copy of photograph depicting black soldier unit at Fort Shaw, Montana, about 1890. [2008.023.0020] Original photograph from the Montana State Historical Society.

Only a small amount of information has survived regarding black soldiers stationed at Fort Shaw, Montana from 1888-1891. After the Civil War, the U.S. Army allowed black regiments to form, segregated from white regiments. The 25th Regiment, headquartered in Fort Missoula, sent four of its ten companies to Fort Shaw. The 25th Regiment (along with the 24th, another black regiment) was sent to the most dangerous and isolated posts, and they were called first to fight. Though the West was freer, it was not without prejudice.

Copy of photograph depicting interior of barracks at Fort Shaw. Two soldiers from the 25th Regiment are seated by windows on the left side of the image. About 1890. [2008.023.0017] Original photograph from Montana State Historical Society.

The Fort Shaw Cemetery lists the following men from the 25th Regiment: John Barnett, Joshua Lanman, John Mack, and William Truman.

The Great Falls Tribune recognized four “colored soldiers from Fort Shaw,” but only listed their last names: Lindsay, Lambert, Jones, and Jordan.

Copy of photograph depicting two companies of the 25th U.S. Infantry Regiment drawn up on parade ground at Fort Shaw. About 1890. [2008.023.0018] Original photograph from Montana State Historical Society.

Historian Ken Robison shared his research and writing on some of the black soldiers who were stationed at Fort Shaw and who then became Great Falls citizens. We are grateful to Ken for the opportunity to share stories from three of those men below:

George Williams

George Williams blazed a remarkable path. He was born a slave in Mobile, Alabama. After the Civil War, Williams joined the Frontier Army when he came of age. He rose in rank to Sergeant and arrived in Montana Territory in June 1888, when the 25th Infantry Regiment transferred to Fort Shaw. Sergeant Williams was discharged from the Army and settled in the growing black community in Great Falls. There he married Sallie Merchant, opened a small retail store, and helped form Sunset Lodge No. 12, a Black Masonic Lodge. In June 1892, Williams was named to the small Great Falls police force by a Republican-controlled city council. One of four men on the force assigned geographic zones, Williams patrolled the "whites-only" Northside. Not only did he patrol the Northside, but he also resided there—the only black man known to live outside the lower Southside during those early years. Williams was one of two black police officers in Montana in the 1890’s.

John Ferguson

John Ferguson was a black man born in March 1851 in Tennessee, the son of Edmund and Anna B. Wilson Ferguson. He served five years in the U. S. Army and was stationed with the 25th Infantry Regiment at Fort Shaw. In about 1888, he was shot in the arm, and the bullet was never extracted. After discharge, he came to Great Falls about 1890, and on December 24, 1891 he married Laura Ferguson. Reverend White of the Presbyterian Church performed the ceremony in the old fire station on Second Avenue South. The Fergusons lived at 1214 Seventh Avenue South and had one daughter, Ada Frances. John Ferguson worked as a porter, and later as janitor at the Great Falls National Bank. In August 1893, Ferguson broke up a nighttime robbery of the home of Mrs. Robinson on the South side. In 1897 Dr. C. J. B. Stephens acquired a modern x-ray machine with a photographic apparatus attached, the first of its kind in Great Falls. Ferguson asked Dr. Stephens to x-ray his arm to locate the bullet lodged in his arm for nine years. The x-ray revealed the flattened bullet lying against a bone in his forearm. This was the first use of an x-ray in Great Falls. In 1901 Ferguson worked as a mortar mixer on construction projects. In May 1902, Ferguson deserted his wife and went to Minneapolis, but he returned. In November 1904, the Great Falls Tribune wrote:

“Ferguson is well known about the city as an industrious, honest colored man, and the sound of his bugle is familiar to all. His only fault is that he cannot keep out of trouble, caused principally by asserting his rights. This leads, oftentimes to altercations, with the result that he invariably lands in jail. It is believed by many that he is unfortunate in not being properly balanced, mentally, and this is attributed to the fact that while in the regular cavalry service, several years ago, he was wounded by being shot in the head, and that the wound left him with a slight mental derangement. He draws a pension.”

John Ferguson died September 5, 1905.

Albert W. Ray 

Albert W. Ray was a pioneer and leader in the early black community in Great Falls. He was born in Georgia and had served in the Army during the Civil War and Indian Wars, holding the rank of 1st Sergeant, Company F, 25th Infantry Regiment at Fort Shaw. In June 1890, Sgt. Ray was discharged from the Army, and he moved to Great Falls. He built a one story, five room house on Seventh Avenue South. Sgt. Ray became a leader in the Union Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME Church) as one of the three charter trustees in 1891 and was active in black Republican political politics. In October 1890 Ray was elected secretary and was a speaker at the organizational meeting of a new black Republican political club at Minot Hall. In September 1892 he was elected drum major of a newly organized black Republican “Harrison” club. By 1893 Ray had moved to Helena. His daughter, Albertine M. Ray, was born in Helena.

-Megan Sanford, Archives Administrator