Buffalo Soldiers

Six all-black regiments created by an act of Congress in 1866 immediately after the Civil War, which served primarily in the western United States and its territories in struggles against Native Americans. The Buffalo Soldiers also served in Cuba during the Spanish-American War.

The name Buffalo Soldiers was given to the men in these all-black regiments by the Cheyenne and Comanche, who likened the way a wounded buffalo fought all attackers with fierceness and courage to the way the black soldiers fought on the battlefield. It is also said that the Indians saw a striking similarity between the hair of the black soldiers and that of the buffalo.

The Buffalo Soldiers consisted of more than 36,000 fighting men, formed originally into two cavalry and four infantry regiments but later consolidated into the famous Ninth and Tenth Cavalries. The original African American recruits came mostly from Louisiana and Kentucky and were veterans of the Civil War.

Although slaves were freed as a result of the Civil War, they continued to face racism and humiliation and were effectively blocked from almost all opportunities for employment. Thus, the all-black regiments in the army offered one avenue of opportunity for newly freed African American men. Although the life of a soldier was difficult, it was nevertheless appealing to blacks because it offered room and board, clothing, a military pension, and steady pay of $13 a month.

In 1867, the Buffalo Soldiers were sent to the Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico frontiers to protect stagecoach and mail routes from Indian attacks and to build and maintain army forts in the region. They were also charged with keeping law and order in an area overrun with outlaws, Mexican revolutionaries, and Comanche and Kiowa raiders.

In addition, the Buffalo Soldiers were responsible for evicting white settlers known as Boomers, who were constantly trying to settle on Indian land. In 1875, the Buffalo Soldiers became involved in a long struggle to conquer the Apache, who stubbornly refused to remain on the reservation assigned to them in San Carlos, Arizona.

In their struggles with the Apache, the Buffalo Soldiers fought against such great Indian leaders as Geronimo, Sitting Bull, Lone Wolf, and Victorio.

The Buffalo Soldiers also distinguished themselves as explorers and mapmakers on the western frontier, and they helped to protect the railroads as they expanded westward across the continent. Moreover, they built hundreds of miles of telegraph lines through frontier outposts from which future cities and towns would arise.

The Buffalo Soldiers are famous for fighting with General John Pershing against the Mexican revolutionary leader Pancho Villa from 1916 to 1917. They also fought with Theodore Roosevelt and his renowned Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War (1898). They participated in the famous charge up San Juan Hill in Cuba in July 1898. During World War I, African American soldiers were not allowed in combat, but Buffalo Soldiers did fight in the early years of World War II in Europe and North Africa.

Despite the valor of the Buffalo Soldiers, many white Americans still hated them for the color of their skin, and they were sometimes even set upon and ambushed by the very homesteaders they were called on to protect. They consistently received the worst assignments the army could offer and were obliged to fight and die in the most rugged and hostile terrain.

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