From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)
Bentley, George, Sr.
(born: 1845 - died: 1923) George Bentley, Sr. was born in Danville, KY. He is listed as Mulatto in the U.S. Census; according to the Fort Davis Administrative History, Bentley's father was white and his mother enslaved; it also indicates he had a brother. Bentley may also have been enslaved.George Bentley enlisted in the U.S. Army 12/8/1866 in Louisville, KY [source: Army Enlistment Records]. He was discharged from Company K of the 9th U. S. Cavalry on December 8, 1871. Bentley remained in Texas at Fort Davis, employed as a civilian working as a teamster. On 9/17/1879, Bentley purchased 160 acres of land [source: Texas Land Title Abstract].
The infamous story often associated with George Bentley is that a curse was supposedly placed upon his children because he had bayoneted a baby during a military campaign at an Apache village; many of the Bentleys' children died in infancy. The couple had other children who were listed in the 1910 Census: Lucy, Josephine, and George, Jr. George, Sr.'s wife's name is given as Chana.
By 1920, George Bentley, Sr. was a widower who shared his home with his son George, Jr., his daughter Lucy Bentley Brown; Lucy's husband Jessie; and Lucy and Jessies's three children. George Bentley, Sr. died 2/20/1923 [source: Texas Death Index].
For more see George Bentley in On the Trail of the Buffalo Soldier II, by I. Schubert and F. N. Schubert; the Fort Davis History website by the Chamber of Commerce; "Lines in the Land: Descendants of the Buffalo Soldiers in Fort Davis" at Marfa Public Radio's website; "Flora's Tree" at the texasescapes.com website; and "Buffalo Soldiers at Ford Davis, 1867-1885," a National Park Service website (includes photograph of George Bently, Sr).