Scope and Content Note
The papers of Elijah Reynolds span the years 1897-1959, with the bulk of the material dating from 1940 to 1959. The collection primarily documents Reynolds’s military career between 1894 and 1919, most of which was spent in the racially segregated Twenty-fifth Infantry Regiment of the United States Army, which consisted solely of African American troops. It also documents his position as an officer in the 368th Infantry Regiment. It includes certificates, medals, photographs, correspondence, and other textual documents. The centerpiece of the collection is the memoir “A Negro Soldier,” written by Reynolds. In the memoir, Reynolds recounts his daily experiences as a soldier and describes significant events such as fighting in Cuba during the Spanish-American War in 1898, guerilla warfare in the Philippines during the Philippine American War from 1899 to 1902, “uprisings” in Indian Territory, and tours of duty in Europe during World War I. The collection contains little documentation of Reynolds’s civilian and personal life.