I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4421 

To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Colonel Charles Young, in recognition of his pioneering career in the United States Army during exceptionally challenging times. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 1, 2016 

Mr. RANGEL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Colonel Charles 

Young, in recognition of his pioneering career in the 

United States Army during exceptionally challenging 

times. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Colonel Charles Young 

5 Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Colonel Charles Young was— 


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1 (A) a distinguished African-American offi2 cer in the United States Army; 

3 (B) the third African-American to grad4 uate from West Point; 

5 (C) a commander of troops in combat in— 

6 (i) the Spanish-American War; and 

7 (ii) the Mexican Punitive Expedition 

8 against Pancho Villa; 

9 (D) the first Black United States military 

10 attache ́ to a foreign government; and 

11 (E) the highest ranking Black Officer in 

12 the United States Armed Forces at the out13 break of World War I. 

14 (2) Charles Young was born in 1864 into slav15 ery to Gabriel Young and Arminta Bruen in Mays 

16 Lick, Kentucky, a small town near Maysville. 

17 (3) Following West Point, Young began his 

18 service with the Ninth Cavalry in the American 

19 West. From 1889 to 1890 he served at Fort Robin20 son, Nebraska, and from 1890 to 1894 at Fort 

21 Duchesne, Utah. 

22 (4) In 1894, Lieutenant Young was assigned to 

23 Wilberforce College in Ohio, a historically black col24 lege (HBCU), to lead the new military sciences de25 partment, established under a special Federal grant. 


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1 (5) As the commander of an Army unit as2 signed to protect and develop Sequoia National Park 

3 and General Grant National Park in the State of 

4 California, Colonel Young is recognized as the first 

5 African-American to be the Superintendent of a Na6 tional Park. 

7 (6) During his 32 years of honorable military 

8 service, Colonel Young proved to be a valuable asset 

9 in the field of military intelligence. 

10 (7) With the Army’s founding of the Military 

11 Intelligence Department, in 1904 it assigned Young 

12 as one of the first military attache ́s, serving in Port13 au-Prince, Haiti. 

14 (8) In 1908 Young was sent to the Philippines 

15 to join his Ninth Regiment and command a squad16 ron of two troops. It was his second tour there. 

17 After his return to the United States, he served for 

18 2 years at Fort D.A. Russell, Wyoming. 

19 (9) In 1912 Young was assigned as the military 

20 attache ́ to Liberia, the first African-American to 

21 hold that post. For 3 years, he served as an expert 

22 adviser to the Liberian government and also took a 

23 direct role, supervising construction of the country’s 

24 infrastructure. 


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1 (10) In 1912 Young published The Military 

2 Morale of Nations and Races, a remarkably pre3 scient study of the cultural sources of military 

4 power. 

5 (11) During the 1916 Punitive Expedition by 

6 the United States into Mexico, then-Major Young 

7 commanded the 2nd squadron of the 10th United 

8 States Cavalry. While leading a cavalry pistol charge 

9 against Pancho Villa’s forces at Agua Caliente, he 

10 routed the opposing forces without losing a single 

11 man. 

12 (12) Because of his exceptional leadership of 

13 the 10th Cavalry in the Mexican theater of war, 

14 Young was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in Sep15 tember 1916. He was assigned as commander of 

16 Fort Huachuca, the base in Arizona of the Tenth 

17 Cavalry, nicknamed the ‘‘Buffalo Soldiers’’, until 

18 mid-1917. He was the first African-American to 

19 achieve the rank of colonel in the United States 

20 Army. 

21 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

22 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 

23 the House of Representatives and the President pro tem24 pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 

25 for the presentation, on behalf of the Congress, of a gold 


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1 medal of appropriate design to Colonel Charles Young, in 

2 recognition of his pioneering career in the United States 

3 Army during exceptionally challenging times. 

4 (b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purposes of the 

5 award referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the 

6 Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Sec7 retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 

8 devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec9 retary. 

10 (c) NATIONAL AFRO-AMERICAN MUSEUM AND CUL11 TURAL CENTER.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Following the award of the 

13 gold medal under subsection (a), the gold medal 

14 shall be given to the National Afro-American Mu15 seum and Cultural Center in Wilberforce, Ohio, 

16 where it shall be available for display as appropriate 

17 and made available for research. 

18 (2) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 

19 Congress that the National Afro-American Museum 

20 and Cultural Center should make the gold medal re21 ceived under paragraph (1) available for display or 

22 for loan as appropriate so that it may be displayed 

23 elsewhere, particularly at other appropriate locations 

24 associated with the life of Colonel Charles Young. 


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1 SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

2 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 

3 bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3 

4 under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at 

5 a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 

6 materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses, 

7 and the cost of the gold medal. 

8 SEC. 5. NATIONAL MEDALS. 

9 Medals struck pursuant to this Act are national med10 als for the purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United 

11 States Code. 

Æ 


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