African-American
Soldiers Proudly Serving the U.S. Military
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The story of the American Buffalo Soldier is a story of courage and patriotism. These Buffalo Soldiers protected the American frontier and served in the Spanish-American War. All-black units continued to serve in American military campaigns, including the Mexican expedition, the Cuban Crisis, Philippine insurrection, both World Wars, and the Korean conflict. They chased bandit Pancho Villa, fought with Teddy Roosevelt at San Juan Hill, and the 9th Cavalry was Guard of Honor for President T. Roosevelt when he visited San Francisco and the Presidio. This was the first time black cavalry soldiers served as escort for a U.S. President.
Regarding their nickname, Walter Hill writes in his article Exploring the Life and History of the Buffalo Soldiers: "... the 10th [cavalry] acquired the name 'Buffalo Soldiers; during the 1871 campaign against the Comanches in the Indian Territory. Grierson said that the Comanches respected the soldiers' tireless marching and dogged trail skills. They had earned the name of the rugged and revered buffalo. The 10th made the Buffalo its regimental coat of arms years later, but the term Buffalo Soldiers, became synonymous with both the 9th and 10th units."
Timeline:
- November 1862: first all-black unit formed, the 1st regiment of South Carolina Volunteers.
- July 1866: Congress approves legislation creating six all black regiments in the U.S. army: he 9th and 10th cavalry, and the 38th, 39th, 40th, and 41st infantry.
- 1869: the four infantry regiments consolidated into two — the 24th and 25th.
- 1869: the 9th and 10th cavalry and the 24th infantry sent to the frontier to fight in the Indian Wars.
- 1871: term "Buffalo Soldier" first used.
- Spanish-American war: 9th and 10th cavalry and 24th and 25th infantry sent to Cuba. Cavalry marches alongside the infantry, since horses were still at sea. The Buffalo Soldiers participate in battle of San Juan Hill, alongside future president Theodore Roosevelt.
- 1899-1909: portions of all four Buffalo Soldier regiments and two new black volunteer regiments see action in the Philippines.
- 1903: Buffalo Soldiers assigned to patrol national parks in California, including Yosemite, General Grant, Sequoia and the Presidio. Captain Charles Young, the third black West Point graduate, was named Acting Superintendent of Sequoia National Park. The Buffalo Soldiers continue to patrol the parks until the National Park Service was created in 1916.
- 1915: participate in America's punitive expedition into Mexico in pursuit of Pancho Villa.
- 1950s: the U.S. army integrates, ending the glorious tradition and service of the Buffalo Soldiers.
Interesting Facts:
- A woman, Cathy Williams, disguised herself as a man and served as a Buffalo Soldier from 1866 to 1868.
- Twenty-three Buffalo Soldiers earned the Medal of Honor, the highest award for bravery and service to the United States
- George Armstrong Custer turned down a command of the Buffalo Soldiers.
Recommended books about Buffalo Soldiers:
In the decades following the Civil War, scores of African Americans served in the U.S. Army in the West. The Plains Indians dubbed them buffalo soldiers, and their record in the infantry and cavalry, a record full of dignity and pride, provides one of the most fascinating chapters in the history of the era.
This anthology focuses on the careers and accomplishments of black soldiers, the lives they developed for themselves, their relationships to their officers (most of whom were white), their specialized roles (such as that of the Black Seminoles), and the discrimination they faced from the very whites they were trying to protect. In short, this volume offers important insights into the social, cultural, and communal lives of the buffalo soldiers.
Black
Valor:
Buffalo Soldiers and the Medal of Honor, 1870-1898
Book Description
They were U.S. Army soldiers. Just a few years earlier,
some had been slaves. Several thousand African Americans served as soldiers in the Indian
Wars and the Cuban campaign of the Spanish-American War in the latter part of the
nineteenth century. They were known as buffalo soldiers, believed to have been named by
Indians who had seen a similarity between the coarse hair and dark skin of the soldiers
and the coats of the buffalo. Twenty-three of these men won the nation's highest award for
personal bravery, the Medal of Honor.
Black Valor brings the lives of the soldiers into
sharp focus. Their remarkable stories -- derived from extensive historical research -- are
told in this collected biography. Black Valor will enrich and inspire readers.
Hardcover: 184 pages
Publisher: Scholarly Resources
Posters:
See More Black Soldier Posters
[Tuskegee] [USS
Mason] [Red Ball Express] [Buffalo Soldiers]
[Black Soldier Posters] [Black History Posters]
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