Buffalo Solider: His army service was only the start

The Virginian-Pilot

When Richmond resident Jones Morgan died in 1993, the 110-year-old had lived a movie-script life.

His parents had been slaves. At 15, Morgan lied about his age to sneak into the Army. Morgan became a "Buffalo Soldier" - one of the black fighters allowed to join the Army. The segregated fighting units served in the Spanish-American War, the Philippines, World Wars I and II, and the Korean War.

As part of his service, Morgan served under Teddy Roosevelt in 1898 at the Battle of San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War. Later, when the military discovered he was too young to be in the Army, he was discharged. He never received any military benefits, and in 1990 he was "discovered" living in poverty in Richmond's Jackson Ward neighborhood.

A letter-writing campaign eventually got Morgan benefits, and he was personally escorted to the dedication of the Buffalo Solider Monument at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., by Gen. Colin Powell in 1992.

Since Morgan's story is so rife with theater and drama, it is no surprise that his life has been turned into dramatic theater.

Jackson Ward is just around the corner from the Theater IV headquarters in Richmond, and when the company's artistic director, Bruce Craig Miller, learned about Morgan from a local newspaper in the '90s, he spent more than a year talking with Morgan and researching the play "Buffalo Solider."

The action of the play shuttles between Morgan's memories of the Spanish-American War to his final years in Richmond. Even though people call Morgan crazy and his memory is fading, a wheelchair-bound Army reservist from Hawaii and an inner-city boy join forces to piece together Morgan's story.

"Buffalo Soldiers" has been touring since 1996 and has played at hundreds of venues around the country.

Children love the play, said Eric Williams, Theater IV's director of tour operations, especially since it covers history often glossed over in schools.

Adults love it, too. Williams said it is the only one to have been played at the Pentagon.

"It gets standing ovations every time," he said.

Malcolm Venable, (757) 446-2662, malcolm.venable@pilotonline.com