The Train Depot in Laramie will host a talk on the only African-American bicycle corps of the U.S. Army on Saturday, May 2.
The group was formed in Missoula, Montana in the 1890s. Wyoming elementary school teacher Mike Higgins has researched the group for years. He says the corps was the idea of an officer named James Moss, who was looking to make a name for himself. Moss latched onto the idea that bikes could be used in combat.
“The idea was to see what the army could do with the bicycle,” Higgins said. “The army wasn’t very convinced that the horse could be replaced. So in 1897 he came up with the trip from Missoula to St. Louis”
Higgins and a group of other black soldiers rode all the way from Missoula to St. Louis on bicycles. They were greeted by tens of thousands of spectators. Eventually the military’s interest in bicycles faded, but there’s a lot more to the story. You can find out more about the Bicycle Corps on Mike Higgins' blog here.
Correction: this article previously stated James Moss was an black Officer. He was actually white.
