“Cap” Broadus was a Black Army veteran whose career spanned from combat service as an enlisted Buffalo Soldier in the Spanish-American and Philippine–American Wars to service as a commissioned line officer during World War I. He was born in Henrico County, Virginia, to Louis Cunningham and a former enslaved woman named Lizzie. In 1897 he enlisted in the 25th Infantry Regiment, one of four Black regiments created following the Civil War. He served with the regiment in Cuba and the Philippines and in 1906 he was involved in an incident at Fort Niobrara, Nebraska, in which he seized the rifle of an angry solider who was about to shoot his company commander. Broadus grabbed the rifle by the muzzle and deflected it upward just as the trigger was pulled. For this heroic action he was awarded the  Certificate of Merit Medal, which was converted in 1934 to the Distinguished Service Cross. Broadus was commissioned in 1917 and served in the 92nd Division during World War I. After retiring from the military, he was a police officer in Mount Vernon, New York. 

LEWIS BROADUS

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