Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance - Early Life and Education

Early Life and Education

Long had ambitions that were larger than what he saw of his future in Winston, where his father Joseph S. Long was a janitor in the school system, and his family was classified as black. Long was of mixed Lumbee and white ancestry on his mother Sally Carson Long's side, and mixed Cherokee, white and black ancestry on his father's. In that segregated, binary society, blacks had limited opportunities. Long first left North Carolina to work as an Indian in a "Wild West Show". Here he had a chance to learn from Cherokee elders. He continued to build on his Indian ancestry "to avoid the confines of racialism in the South and to secure a community of his choice."

In 1909, Long applied as a half-Cherokee to gain admittance to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School and was accepted, partly because of his ability to speak Cherokee. He reduced his age to get admission and the chance for a good education. He graduated in 1912 at the top of his class, which included other prominent young Native Americans, such as Jim Thorpe and Robert Geronimo, a son of the famous Apache warrior.

Long entered the St. John's and Manlius Military academies in Manlius, New York with a full musical scholarship, based on his performance at the Carlisle School. He graduated in 1915. At that stage, he had begun to call himself Long Lance and had earned a nickname "chief" as the only Native American in his class. He decided to try for the West Point, and appealed to President Woodrow Wilson, whose office endorsed his application. He began there, but left in 1916 to enlist in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in Montreal (237th Battalion, CEF)and was shipped to France to fight in World War I. After being wounded twice, he was transferred to a desk job.