MAGAZINE KANSAS! KANSAS! 53 BUFFALO SOLDIERS 2016 Formed 150 years ago at Fort Leavenworth and destined to fight for a nation that didn’t want them, a group of soldiers left a legacy of courage, honor and contradictions FALL The Library of Congress of Library The Story by Melinda Briscoe Timeline by Bianca Brown Illustrations by Ted. S. Komala PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF OF COURTESY PHOTOGRAPHS are part of America’s lexicon and collective that fights fiercely even when wounded or cornered—would Buffalo Soldiers at Fort Leavenworth were told they had to put The journals and letters of the Buffalo Soldiers indicate that Buffalo legend. Perhaps this is because of our love of seem apropos. Of course, another story that the Indians thought their housing in the lowest, swampiest areas. The result was some of them were aware of this tragedy. “Every individual who anything “Wild West.” Maybe, it is a little part hero the soldiers’ thick hair resembled the curly tuft of fur on the sickness and death for some soldiers. put on the uniform had his own story, but many realized they Soldiers worship. And of course, there’s that Bob Marley buffalos’ backs could be applicable as well. Either way, the Even with these conditions, the Buffalo Soldiers were were instruments of the government, helping to fight another song. But beyond the mystique, there are some core truths: Those animal would have been sacred to the Natives, and the soldiers given some of the most difficult tasks: to remove Native group of people and aiding their own oppressors in displacing a who were originally known as the Buffalo Soldiers were the first all- came to wear the nickname with pride. Americans in the Great Plains and Southwest and relocate people from their land,” says Johnson. black standing units of the United States military in 1866. One of the The Buffalo Soldiers rode out into a nation that was full them to “Indian territory,” which is now known as Oklahoma. groups, the 10th Cavalry, was formed and based here in Kansas, at of expansion and conflict. Excited to stake claim on their own It ended up being a three-decade-long campaign. They had Previous legacy Fort Leavenworth. According to historian Robert Morris, the Buffalo piece of land and make a fresh start, Euro-American settlers had been taught that Indians were “savages” who must be shown African-American men had faced dilemmas in serving in the Soldiers were recognized for their courage and discipline at a time begun to pour into the frontier. The government, battered and the “civilized” way of life. U.S. military even before the Buffalo Soldiers had come along. The when many white settlers on the frontier commonly thought black exhausted from five years of the Civil War, turned to formerly Denise Low, a former poet laureate of Kansas who is part first American to die in the Revolutionary War was a former slave soldiers were disease carriers, cowards and likely deserters. enslaved persons as a new way to fill the army’s ranks. For Lenape and Cherokee, notes that by riding out against the named Crispus Attucks. And in the Continental Army, 5,000 troops In fact, their courage may be why it is believed some their part, the African-American men who joined the ranks had Native peoples, the Buffalo Soldiers achieved an unfortunate were black while thousands others fought with the British, who in of the Native Americans they encountered gave the cavalry compelling reasons to enlist. parity with the whites who marginalized them. She writes that notable cases advanced and protected their status as free men. soldiers of the 10th, and their counterparts in the 9th, the unique “One of the things that attracted African-American men to by serving under the flag, the soldiers became “part of the forces Black soldiers participated in 39 major battles and 410 moniker. Comparing these soldiers to the buffalo—a creature join the army is that they were surrounded by people just like that sought to eradicate the Indigenous way of life.” lesser skirmishes during the Civil War. Fifteen states contributed July 1867 1870–1889 1875 1877 1877–1878 1881 1886 1889 After more than two centuries of Twelve of 25 Black Seminole Soldiers of the 9th forcibly In what becomes Black Seminole Allen Allensworth Charles Young war between Native Americans black applicants scouts Sergeant relocate Apaches to the known as the scouts are begins his military becomes the Buffalo and Euro-American settlers, are admitted John Ward, Private most inhospitable part of the Colfax County evicted from service as a third graduate the United States government into the United Pompey Factor, and San Carlos reservation. This war and the Fort Clark and chaplain. A former from West Point. Soldiers creates the Indian Peace States Military Trumpeter Isaac Payne military action is in response Lincoln County refused the slave, he creates His career would Commission to force Native Academy. receive the Medal to Apache attacks on war, soldiers from land grants and educational span more than Timeline Americans onto reservations Despite being of Honor for saving settlements as the Apaches— the 9th are sent rations they had systems and 30 years, and he away from settlers, roads subjected to their unit commander, who never received food and in to evict white been promised standards that would become and railroads. The new black vehement racism, Lieutenant John L. resources that were promised and Hispanic in return for are used by the nation’s first regiments would become three black Bullis, in a battle with through treaties and were settlers from land their services to military personnel, black officer to some of the first soldiers to cadets graduate the Comanche near the near starving—fought for their claimed by a large the military and their families and reach the rank of enforce these policies. during this period. Pecos River. survival. company. government. civilians. full colonel. The Plains Wars Era The Border Wars Era July 28, 1866 1867–1891 1869 July 1870 1875 1877 1880 1887 1891 1894 After contentious During the Cheyenne The army is A group of Private Adam Henry O. Flipper becomes the first black Johnson Chestnut Whittaker, John Hanks Black chaplain The 24th debates, Congress War, the name “Buffalo reorganized and Mascogos Payne of the soldier to graduate from the United States a black cadet at the United Alexander becomes Theophilus G. is brought passes the Army Soldiers” is given to consolidates (or Black Black Seminoles is Military Academy. He begins his career with States Military Academy, is the second black Steward joins the in to break Reorganization Bill, the 10th cavalry. It the black Seminoles) awarded the Medal the 10th and would serve until 1881, when discovered “beaten, bloodied, officer to graduate 25th infantry. He the Pullman which creates six is unknown who first infantries. enlists as of Honor for holding he was court-martialed under questionable and tied to his bunk.” An from the USMA. would accompany Railways black regiments. Two used the term and why The 38th and scouts at Fort off Kiowa attackers circumstances as part of an embezzlement inquiry concludes that he did He would serve the regiment to Strike in of these, the 9th and it was initially applied 41st become Duncan in and allowing his hearing. The US Army reviewed this case in these things to himself, for with the 9th and the Philippines Los Angeles. MAGAZINE 10th, are cavalry units. to the troops, though the 24th; the Texas. They accompanying 1976, clearing Flipper’s name and providing him which Whittaker would be became the first and help the MAGAZINE The other four, the the term eventually 39th and 40th serve there and scouts to find safety an honorable discharge. President Bill Clinton court-martialed and expelled black officer to hold military establish 38th, 39th, 40th and was applied to all black become the at Fort Clark, during the Red River signed a formal pardon in 1999, vindicating in 1881. The court-martial was a regular command schools for KANSAS! KANSAS! 41th, are infantry. regiments. 25th. Texas. War. Flipper’s short but distinguished career. overturned in 1883. position. Filipino children. KANSAS! 54 55 2016 themselves,” explains Shelton Johnson, who has done extensive was at the end of slavery, so where else would they go and what volunteers to the United States Colored Troops (USCT), the In that sense, says Johnson, the story of the Buffalo Soldiers 2016 FALL FALL research about Buffalo Soldiers as a park ranger with the else were they going to do? For many black men, it was a better official designation given to nearly all black formations in 1864. was the story of all African-American men who fought for the FALL Division of Interpretation and Education at Yosemite National option than sharecropping.” The 1st Kansas Colored Infantry and the 1st South Carolina United States. “They were fighting the same battles over and over Park. “Moving from the South saved many black people’s lives Regiment were the first two black formations to be recruited again, fighting on two fronts: the enemies of the United States and back then. Some saw joining the army as a way to escape the Glory and reality and sent into combat. the internalized racism that existed in the United States itself.” oppression of civilian society. The original Buffalo Soldiers were Once they became soldiers, the men quickly realized Two Civil War heroes, Edward Hatch and Benjamin men who literally could not be men in the South without being the honor and glory would have to come after other things.