View Recorded Webinar with Daisy Howard-Douglas
Storyteller, educator and author Daisy Howard-Douglas joined Menokin on February 15 for a webinar in our ongoing Research and Relevance series. We have posted the recorded version below. Ms. Howard Douglas shares her authored story of “The Legend of Cathay Williams, Female Buffalo Soldier” in this lively session.
Daisy Howard-Douglas Webinar originally airing February 15, 2023
Bio: Daisy Howard-Douglas is an educator, author, storyteller and founder of The Westmoreland Weavers of the Word Storytellers Guild. The Weavers share traditional tales from the African American experience. She has always contributed to the community she lives in and has been an active member of WC Board of Ed, WC School Colation Board, VA Storytelling Alliance Board, The Haven, NAACP, NEA, and St. Paul’s Catholic Church. She is also responsible for several Highway Markers (see list below) installed in Westmoreland County for Tuskegee Airmen, Buffalo Soldiers, the McCoy Revolutionary Soldiers and Zion Baptist Church, one of the oldest African American churches in Westmoreland County.
Ms. Howard-Douglas grew up in Morgan City, Louisiana and now lives with her husband, married for 59 years, in Westmoreland County, VA. She has written several books, because local history is very important to her. These include Jad and Old Ananias tells a local story from Sandy Point, in Westmoreland County and They Came from Virginia a personal genealogical history of Ms. Daisy’s family. Her most recent publication is The Legend of Cathay Williams, Female Buffalo Soldier. We will be discussing this story through her presentation and a discussion to follow.
HIGHWAY MARKERS:
Charles B. Smith (1917-1991)
99th Fighter Squadron
(Tuskegee Airmen)
Born in Westmoreland County, Charles Bernard Smith (1917-1991) is one of more than 140,000 African Americans who served in the racially segregated U.S. Army Air Force during World War II. Trained at Chanute Field, Illinois, in aircraft ground support with the 99th Fighter Squadron, the famed “Tuskegee Airmen,” he served in North Africa and Europe as technical sergeant and crew chief. In more than 200 missions as bomber escorts, the Tuskegee Airmen never lost a bomber to enemy fire, and they received three Presidential Unit Citations. Their outstanding service contributed to the integration of America’s armed forces by President Harry S. Truman in 1948.
Private Walter Tate, Buffalo Soldier
Zacata, VA
Walter Tate was born nearby in 1854. He enlisted as a private on 6 May 1879 at Fort Concho (present-day San Angelo), Texas, in Company M, 10th Regiment, U. S. Cavalry. Tate and those who served with him on the western frontier defended settlements, livestock, the U. S. mail, and stage routes from bandits, cattle thieves, and Mexican revolutionaries. The Indians called Tate and other soldiers of color “Buffalo Soldiers” because of their dark curly hair, endurance, and strength, claiming that these attributes reminded them of their much-prized buffaloes. Tate was discharged on 5 May 1884. This buffalo soldier died in Westmoreland County in 1933.
Zion Baptist Church is home to one of the oldest African American congregations in Westmoreland County. Before slavery ended, according to local tradition, services were first held under a dogwood bush arbor on Gawen’s Farm, near Tucker Hill, approximately one and a half miles north of here. The members had most likely worshiped at the nearby white Machodoc (Sandy Valley) Baptist Church. Zion Baptist Church was formally organized in 1867, when the congregation constructed a log building. During the latter half of the 1800s, a fire and expanding membership required the construction of two other buildings. The present church was erected in 1932.
This Virginia Department of Historic Resources highway marker is located on Zacata Road [Rt. 645], just outside of Montross.
McCoy Revolutionary Soldiers
Bennett and James McCoy, free men (probably brothers) from Westmoreland County, were among the many African Americans who served in the Virginia militia and the United States Army or Navy during the Revolutionary War. Bennett McCoy served for three years starting in 1777, participated in several major battles, and reenlisted with the 15th Virginia Regiment until the end of the war. James McCoy rendered guard service on the Potomac River from 1777 to 1778. In 1781, he was drafted and stationed on the York River at Yorktown and acted as a bowman to assist “his captain” in navigating the river. Each of the McCoys received a pension for his service.