Charles Young (United States Army)

Charles Young was the third AfricanAmerican graduate of West Point, the first black U.S. national park superintendent, first black military attach, first black man to achieve the rank of colonel, and highestranking black officer in the Regular Army until his death in 1922.

Charles Young was born in 1864 into slavery to Gabriel Young and Arminta Bruen in Mays Lick, Kentucky, a small village near Maysville. However, his father escaped from slavery early in 1865, crossing the Ohio River to Ripley, Ohio, and enlisting in the Fifth Regiment of Colored Artillery near the end of the American Civil War. His service earned Gabriel and his wife their freedom, which was guaranteed by the 13th Amendment after the war. Arminta already knew how to read and write, which suggests she may have worked as a house slave before her freedom. The Young family settled in Ripley when Gabriel was discharged in 1866, deciding that opportunities were probably better there than in postwar Kentucky. Gabriel Young received a bonus by continuing to serve in the Army after the war, and he had enough to buy land and build a house.

Source: Wikipedia