BUFORD, ND — Nobody noticed anything amiss when Pvt. Basil Williams silently stepped into the dayroom at Fort Buford, North Dakota. He was armed, but so were all the Buffalo Soldiers of Company C, 25th Infantry Regiment, in 1894.

A lonely, harsh winter had passed. Spring promised warmth and a break from the isolation and boredom that April day. At least 15 soldiers, former slaves, freedmen, and Civil War veterans, gathered around a pool table as Williams stepped up behind his comrade, Cpl. John Hartwell.

Hartwell was leaning on a chair watching the game.

Without a word, Williams lifted his rifle and fired one bullet into Hartwell’s back. The bullet entered above the left hip, then ricocheted upward, striking his heart and coming out his left chest.

Hartwell died almost instantly.

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