The legend of the Buffalo Soldiers , as is often the compositor’s case with legend , does n’t always delineate up with historic record . What we may require to conceive , what some historian may have led us to think , sure enough realise for a prissy history : Brave young calamitous soldier , recently freed from the shackles of theCivil War , face off against lofty Native Americans in a grudging showdown of reciprocal respect and wonderment .
dainty tale , sure . But that ’s not the way it go down at all . The Black soldiers , indeed , defend myriad bloody struggle withNative Americansin the year following the Civil War , during what historians now tag the Indian Wars . But any link between the two groups most likely had less to do with respect and admiration than sheer , gross selection .
Still that period immediately post - Civil War was notable for a duo of reasonableness . One , it can accurately be channelize to as the parturition of the Buffalo Soldiers , though the name " Buffalo Soldiers " did n’t catch on for decades . And second , those years render further proof that Black soldier belong in , and could excel in , the military .
" I ’m a retired Army officer , so I ’ve always image the Army as a fomite for Blacks to prove themselves and forward civil rights . The military has always been several step forward of civilian society [ in that regard ] , " saysBrian G. Shellum , now a historiographer and writer . " I think it ’s been an important part of the Civil Rights effort . And I suppose the Civil Rights apparent motion saw the Army as a vehicle for up mobility . "
Who Were the Buffalo Soldiers?
During wartime , Congress federalizes volunteer and reserves units ( now called the national precaution ) from the states to fight down next to Regular Army units . Black soldiers had fought and died on American soil as far back as the Revolutionary War in this electrical capacity , Shellum explains , but it was n’t until the Civil War that big numbers of Blacks were organized into regiment . Their showing in that conflict — almost 170,000 fought ( about 10 percent of the entire force-out of the Union ) , some 36,000 died , and 16 were award the Medal of Honor — prompted the U.S. governing to allow Blacks to enlist in the standing , peacetime army ( the Regular Army ) , after the War Between the States .
In 1866 , two horse cavalry and four foot regiments were filled with Black volunteer , many former slaves . The infantry regiments were meld a few years later , and the four all - Black regiment of the U.S. Army — the ones that eventually would become known as Buffalo Soldiers — were solidify . They were the 9th and 10th Cavalry , and the 24th and 25th Infantry , constitute more than 2,500 homo .
After their formation and grooming , the " coloured troops " in the " Negro " regiment were dispatched to billet like Texas , New Mexico , Kansas , Montana and South Dakota . Some even ended up in Alaska . They build route and military stake , string up telegraph lines , provided security for settlers and confine back white marauders , and fight ( among others ) the Comanche , Apache , Cheyenne , Kiowah , Ute and Sioux tribes .
" They were vernal valet , and young men always want to have a piffling adventure , " Shellum says of the disgraceful soldier . And it was really the only profession in which Blacks were treated with some form of equality to their white-hot counterparts . " They got adequate lodging , they get equal pay , they get under one’s skin equal aesculapian treatment — most African Americans at the time did n’t get just any decent aesculapian tutelage — they could retire at the death of so many years … it was a uncommon thing , at that clock time , to get officially evenly intervention .
" Socially , it was a different matter , " Shellum says .
Deep-rooted Racism After the Civil War
Socially , the smuggled soldier fought deep - rooted racialism from within their own ranks and from above . A long - throw belief that Black soldier needed snowy leadership meant that , upon the formation of the new Black regiments , only white officers were in charge . And many white officer — notably , one George Armstrong Custer , who in 1876 , as caput of the 7th Cavalry , met his death in the massacre atLittle Big Horn — refused to take bursting charge of mordant troops . This overt racism " confine their occupational mobility , caused abasement , and sometimes put them at personal risk , " wrote historianFrank Schubert .
Still , through all those conflict , the fatal soldiers earned a bill of regard , if not from their foe , at least from their master and fellow flock . Black soldiers had a lower - than - ordinary desertion charge per unit , a lower dishonest discharge pace , a higher reenlistment pace and were considered to have goodesprit de corps , Shellum says . In the 20 years between 1870 - 90 , 18 calamitous soldiers were award the Medal of Honor .
finally , three Black West Point graduate link the Buffalo Soldiers as officeholder , the first being Henry O. Flipper in 1877 . The last , Charles Young , connect the 9th Cavalry after his graduation in 1889 and go on to a long , decorated career in which he mentor several other Black officers .
How’d They Get That Name?
The Old World buffalo view as a revered status among Native Americans , so it may be understandable that when they first called Black troop Buffalo Soldiers , some might have assumed that it was an acknowledgement of their opposer ' combat spirit and bravery . Some legend , too , say thebuffalo - hide coatsthat some soldier bear may have bestow to their eventual soubriquet .
But the label had nothing to do with bravery or outerwear . As much as historian can check , it was the soldier ' glum skin and curly hair — two characteristic of the bison — that earned them the name .
It was unquestionably not a term of respect or veneration .
" I recall the view of Native Americans was that the Buffalo Soldiers were just black - skinned , blue - clad soldiers , " Shellum says , " render to take away their way of lifespan . "
The Buffalo Soldier Legacy
With a 21st C viewpoint , it ’s perhaps too loose to envision a sort of simpatico connection between two horribly persecute group of multitude ; Blacks , ripped from their home in Africa , and Native Americans , stripped of their nation by merciless newcomer .
No such connection ever has existed .
" I get the question every clip I go out and I talk about Buffalo Soldiers in groups . There are these people who need to have this romantic theme that pitch blackness and Native Americans had some bond . That ’s not true , " Shellum says .
In fact , the opposite may be true .
" There is no greater seed of tension between Native Americans and African Americans than in the disparate recollections of the ' Buffalo Soldiers,'“Quintard Taylor , a Professor Emeritus of American history at the University of Washington in Seattle , said in a presentation there in 2004 .
Still , because of their feat on the American frontier and in other state of war — the 10th Cavalry officially incorporated the Bison bison into its logo in 1911 , and some edition of Buffalo Soldiers fight in every warfare through World War II — the soldiers are now recognized as an intact part of Army history and often have been honored , including withmonumentsanda postage stamp , anannual ceremonyand their ownnational museum .
The Buffalo Soldiers epoch came to an end in 1948 , when President Harry Truman signed an order formally desegregate the armed services .
