Buffalo Soldiers

The name “Buffalo Soldiers” was first used in 1873 to refer to the African American cavalry and infantry regiments stationed on the Great Plains of the United States after the Civil War. Black predecessors of the Buffalo Soldiers, who fought in Indian Territory during the American Civil War, were a major force in securing a Union victory over Confederate forces in that region. Following the war, in 1866, the US Congress authorized six regiments of the regular US Army—two cavalry and four infantry—to be staffed by African Americans. The goals of the Buffalo Soldiers were primarily to maintain control over American Indian populations and to help secure westward expansion. The Buffalo Soldier regiments took part in many different military actions throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. They were deactivated in 1944, about a year before the end of World War II.

Brief History

In 1869 Congress mandated that the number of African American units be reduced to four: the Ninth and Tenth Cavalries and the Twenty-Fourth and Twenty-Fifth Infantries. By the late nineteenth century, 10 percent of the overall army’s power was drawn from these regiments; in many commands in the West, more than 50 percent of the military’s overall strength was due to the regiments. Buffalo Soldiers played a major role in managing Indian Territory, a territory originally set aside for American Indian tribes in the 1820s, and in maintaining law and order in other regions of the West.

Black regiments had already served in the West during the Civil War. Sent to Fort Gibson, the Kansas Colored Volunteers Infantry Regiments fought at Cabin Creek and Honey Springs in 1863. Union success at Honey Springs marked the waning of Confederate control in Indian Territory. Reportedly, Confederate forces had brought with them shackles to take captured black soldiers into slavery, thus inspiring black soldiers to fight even more fervently.

In 1867 the Tenth Cavalry was stationed at the border of Indian Territory, in modern-day Oklahoma, in order to protect American Indian tribes and keep peace. They remained there until the Red River War in 1875, when most of the black cavalry was moved to Texas. Among the soldiers in the Tenth Cavalry was Henry O. Flipper, the first black graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, who, among other accomplishments, designed and built a drainage system that eliminated malaria at Fort Sill. Known as Flipper’s Ditch, the drainage system served the community well into the twentieth century.

African American regiments earned a reputation for having the highest rates of reenlistment and the lowest rates of desertion in the entire frontier army. Later, in segregated black units, African American soldiers played critical roles in the Spanish-American War, the Philippine-American War, World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. During World War II, they were among the regiments that liberated Nazi concentration camps in Europe. In 1948 President Harry S. Truman ended segregation in the military by executive order. The last remaining segregated African American troops were abolished in 1954.

Overview

There is no firm consensus on the origin of the term “Buffalo Soldiers.” Its first documented appearance was in 1873, when it was used in Indian Territory. Although the term was used objectively and conveyed neither respect nor insult, nineteenth-century black soldiers did not call themselves Buffalo Soldiers. In time, and by association, the name became a common term for describing African American soldiers in general.

The black regiments lived a peripatetic life. In the late 1860s, all black infantry regiments served on the western frontier. In 1870 the Twenty-Fourth and Twenty-Fifth Infantry Regiments were transferred to Texas, where they were charged with protecting settlers and fighting American Indian tribes. The Twenty-Fourth was transferred to Arizona in 1888.

The Buffalo Soldiers in the frontier army had numerous responsibilities. As part of their military duties, they patrolled American Indian reservations and were charged with ensuring law and order in the territory. The infantry was also engaged in infrastructure operations such as building and maintaining forts, roads, bridges, and telegraph lines. In addition, they were responsible for assisting the local authorities, guarding stagecoaches and US mail carriers, capturing criminals, protecting survey and railroad crews, and escorting wagon trains.

Cultural life in the regiments was varied. Since many states had restricted or forbidden education of African Americans during slavery, many of the regulars were illiterate. Thus, the army chaplains’ duties included literacy instruction. The men entertained each other in a manner typical of frontier life. For example, the cavalry founded an elite social club whose gala balls became greatly renowned. They also organized musicals and other forms of entertainment for the troops.

After being discharged from the army, thousands of African American military veterans settled in the West, some taking up civilian positions in local or federal government. Others moved back to the cities where they had originally enlisted. Return to civilian life was challenging for many veterans, but the discipline they had gained in military life worked to their advantage and often made them attractive to prospective employers.

The work of Buffalo Soldiers was arduous and frequently thankless. Today the Buffalo Soldier Monument honors these men. The monument, a historic landmark in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, was the idea of General Colin Powell. Dedicated in 1992, it pays tribute to the African American men who served in the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry troops. In 1994 the US Postal Service issued a commemorative Buffalo Soldier stamp. Bob Marley’s musical tribute “Buffalo Soldier” was released in 1983, on the posthumous album Confrontation, and rapidly became one of his most famous songs.

The Buffalo Soldier regiments became an important vehicle for social change. Serving in the army provided African American men with an opportunity for wage earning and upward mobility at a time when extremely few opportunities were available to them.

Bibliography

Black, Helen K., and William H. Thompson. “A War within a War: A World War II Buffalo Soldier’s Story.” Journal of Men’s Studies 20.1 (2012): 32–46. Print.

Field, Ron, and Alexander Bielakowski. Buffalo Soldiers: African American Troops in the US Forces, 1866–1945. New York: Osprey, 2008. Print.

Glasrud, Bruce A., and Michael N. Searles, eds. Buffalo Soldiers in the West: A Black Soldiers Anthology. College Station: Texas A&M UP, 2007. Print.

Johnston, Carolyn Ross. My Father’s War: Fighting with the Buffalo Soldiers in World War II. Tuscaloosa: U of Alabama P, 2012. Print.

Kenner, Charles L. Buffalo Soldiers and Officers of the Ninth Cavalry, 1867–1898: Black and White Together. Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 1999. Print.

Leckie, William H., and Shirley A. Leckie. The Buffalo Soldiers: A Narrative of the Black Cavalry in the West. Rev. ed. Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 2003. Print.

Schubert, Frank N. Voices of the Buffalo Soldier: Records, Reports, and Recollections of Military Life and Service in the West. Albuquerque: U of New Mexico P, 2003. Print.

Sorensen, George Niels. Iron Riders: Story of the 1890s Fort Missoula Buffalo Soldiers Bicycle Corps. Missoula: Pictorial Hists., 2000. Print.

Wexler, Bruce. How the Wild West Was Won: A Celebration of Cowboys, Gunfighters, Buffalo Soldiers, Sodbusters, Moonshiners, and the American Frontier. New York: Skyhorse, 2014. Print.