Nicholas M. Nolan

Nicholas Merritt Nolan (March 10, 1835 – October 24, 1883) was a United States Army major. An Irish immigrant, he began his military career in New York on December 9, 1852 with the 4th Artillery and subsequently served in New York's 2nd Dragoons. He enlisted as a private and rose through the ranks becoming a First Sergeant. He was commissioned an officer in late 1862 in the Regular Army while serving with the 6th U.S. Cavalry Regiment during the American Civil War. He participated in sixteen campaigns with the 6th and most of its battles. He was slightly wounded at the Battle of Fairfield and seriously wounded at the Battle of Dinwiddie Court House. He was brevetted twice and noted at least twice for gallantry during combat. He was slightly wounded when captured at the end of March 1865 and was later paroled. After the Civil War he served with the 10th U.S. Cavalry known as the Buffalo Soldiers for fourteen years. Nolan is also noted for his pluses and minuses during the Buffalo Soldier tragedy of 1877 that made headlines in the Eastern United States of America. He was the commanding officer of Henry O. Flipper in 1878, the first African American to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point. He commanded several frontier forts before his untimely death in 1883.