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BUFFALO SOLDIERS 9TH & 10TH CALVARY REGIMENTS Page 1 of 6

Who Were the Buffalo Soldiers?

Buffalo soldiers were African American soldiers who mainly served on the frontier following the . In 1866, six all-Black and infantry regiments were created after Congress passed the Army Organization Act. Their main tasks were to help control the Native Americans of the Plains, capture cattle rustlers and thieves and protect settlers, , wagon trains and railroad crews along the Western front.

No one knows for certain why, but the soldiers of the all-Black 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments were dubbed “buffalo soldiers” by the Native Americans they encountered.

One theory claims the nickname arose because the soldiers’ dark, curly hair resembled the fur of a buffalo. Another assumption is the soldiers fought so valiantly and fiercely that the Indians revered them as they did the mighty buffalo.

Whatever the reason, the name stuck, and African American regiments formed in 1866, including the 24th and 25th Infantry (which were consolidated from four regiments) became known as buffalo soldiers.

The 9th Cavalry Regiment

The mustering of the 9th Cavalry took place in , Louisiana, in August and September of 1866. The soldiers spent the

TAKEN FROM: https://www.history.com/topics/westward-expansion/buffalo-soldiers COLEMAN A. YOUNG POST 202 BUFFALO SOLDIERS 9TH & 10TH CALVARY REGIMENTS Page 2 of 6 winter organizing and training until they were ordered to San Antonio, Texas, in April 1867. There they were joined by most of their officers and their commanding officer, .

Training the inexperienced and mostly uneducated soldiers of the 9th Calvary was a challenging task. But the regiment was willing, able and mostly ready to face anything when they were ordered to the unsettled landscape of West Texas.

The soldiers’ main mission was to secure the road from San Antonio to El Paso and restore and maintain order in areas disrupted by Native Americans, many of whom were frustrated with life on Indian reservations and broken promises by the federal government. The Black soldiers, facing their own forms of discrimination from the U.S. government, were tasked with removing another in that government’s name.

The 10th Cavalry Regiment

The 10th Cavalry was based in , , and commanded by Colonel . Mustering was slow, partly because the colonel wanted more educated men in the regiment and partly because of a cholera outbreak in the summer of 1867.

In August 1867, the regiment was ordered to , Kansas, with the task of protecting the Pacific Railroad, which was under construction at the time.

Before they left Fort Leavenworth, some troops fought hundreds of in two separate battles near the Saline River. With the support of the 38th Infantry Regiment—which was later consolidated into the 24th Infantry Regiment—the 10th Cavalry pushed back the hostile Indians.

The cavalry lost just one man and several horses despite having inferior equipment and being greatly outnumbered. It was just one of many battles to come. TAKEN FROM: https://www.history.com/topics/westward-expansion/buffalo-soldiers COLEMAN A. YOUNG POST 202 BUFFALO SOLDIERS 9TH & 10TH CALVARY REGIMENTS Page 3 of 6

Indian Wars

Both the 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments participated in dozens upon dozens of skirmishes and larger battles of the Indian Wars as America became obsessed with westward expansion.

For instance, the 9th Cavalry was critical to the success of a three-month, unremitting campaign known as the against the , the , the Cheyenne and the Arapahoe. It was after this battle that the 10th Cavalry was sent to join them in Texas.

Troops H and I of the 10th Cavalry were part of a team that rescued wounded Lieutenant-Colonel George Alexander Forsyth and what remained of his group of scouts trapped on a sand bar and surrounded by Indians in the Arikaree River. A couple weeks later, the same troops engaged hundreds of Indians at Beaver Creek and fought so gallantly they were thanked in a field order by General .

By 1880, the 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments had minimized Indian resistance in Texas and the 9th Cavalry was ordered to Indian Territory in modern- day Oklahoma, ironically to prevent white settlers from illegally settling on Indian land. The 10th Cavalry continued to keep the in check until the early 1890s when they relocated to to round up the Cree.

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About 20 percent of U.S. Cavalry troops that participated in the Indian Wars were buffalo soldiers, who participated in at least 177 conflicts.

Buffalo Soldiers Protect National Parks

Buffalo soldiers didn’t only battle unfriendly Indians. They also fought wildfires and poachers in Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks and supported the parks’ infrastructure.

According to the Service, buffalo soldiers billeted at the Presidio army post in San Francisco during the winter and served as park rangers in the in the summer.

Buffalo Soldiers in Other Conflicts

In the late 1890s, with the “Indian problem” mostly settled, the 9th and 10th Calvary and the 24th and 25th Infantry headed to Florida at the start of the Spanish-American War.

Even facing blatant racism and enduring brutal weather conditions, buffalo soldiers earned a reputation for serving courageously. They fought heroically in the , the and the .

The 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments served in the Philippines in the early 1900s. Despite proving their military worth time and again, they continued to experience racial discrimination. During , they were mostly relegated to defending the Mexican border.

TAKEN FROM: https://www.history.com/topics/westward-expansion/buffalo-soldiers COLEMAN A. YOUNG POST 202 BUFFALO SOLDIERS 9TH & 10TH CALVARY REGIMENTS Page 5 of 6

Both regiments were integrated into the 2nd Cavalry Division in 1940. They trained for overseas deployment and combat during World War II. The 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments were deactivated in May 1944.

Mark Matthews

In 1948, President Harry Truman issued eliminating in America’s armed forces. The last all-black units were disbanded during the 1950s.

Mark Matthews, the nation’s oldest living , died in 2005 at age 111 in Washington, D.C.

Buffalo soldiers had the lowest military desertion and court- martial rates of their time. Many won the Congressional , an award presented in recognition of combat valor that goes above and beyond the call of duty.

Buffalo Soldiers Legacy

Today, visitors can attend the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum in , Texas, a museum dedicated to the history of their military service. and The Wailers immortalized the group in the reggae song “Buffalo Soldier,” which highlighted the irony of former slaves and their descendants “stolen from Africa” taking land from Native Americans for white settlers.

TAKEN FROM: https://www.history.com/topics/westward-expansion/buffalo-soldiers COLEMAN A. YOUNG POST 202 BUFFALO SOLDIERS 9TH & 10TH CALVARY REGIMENTS Page 6 of 6

Sources

9th Cavalry Regiment. 1st Cavalry Division Association. Who Are The Buffalo Soldiers? Buffalo Soldier Museum. 9th Cavalry Regiment (1866-1944). Blackpast.org. 10th Cavalry Regiment (1866-1944). Blackpast.org. Buffalo Soldiers. . Buffalo Soldiers and the Spanish-American War. National Park Service. Exploring the Life and History of the “Buffalo Soldiers.” National Archives. Ninth Cavalry. Texas State Historical Association. The Ninth Regiment of Cavalry. U.S. Army Center of Military History. The Tenth Regiment of Cavalry. U.S. Army Center of Military History. World War I and the Buffalo Soldiers. National Park Service.

TAKEN FROM: https://www.history.com/topics/westward-expansion/buffalo-soldiers COLEMAN A. YOUNG POST 202