Archaeology: What's Hot Now: History of the Buffalo Soldiers

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History of the Buffalo Soldiers Jul 27th 2011, 10:00 The Buffalo Soldiers were African-American men who served in U.S. Army units created after the Civil War. During that conflict, despite strong opposition by most high-ranking officers, almost 200,000 black soldiers and sailors had served on the Union side, proving their ability time and again. As a result, the US government decided in 1867 to create several regular African-American military units, who would assist in the ongoing US expansion into Indian territories in the Plains and lands west. Originally, six African-American regiments were planned, but in the end only four persisted: the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 24th and 25th Infantry. These troops, like the earlier African-American units in the Civil War, were led by European-American officers who volunteered to serve with them. Many of the personnel, officers and enlisted men alike, were Civil War veterans. Others were new recruits, the enlisted men coming largely from the ranks of the formerly enslaved, though some freedmen joined as well. They were attracted by the promise of regular pay, the same as for European-Americans--$13 a month for a private, plus clothing and food. They were also probably attracted by the promise of freedom and of different opportunities on the western frontier, the renewed focus of military action, where lifeways were not as entrenched as they were in the East. The places where the new African-American regiments were sent were certainly some of the toughest known to the Army. They took part in much of the major fighting of the Indian wars, from the High Plains to the Southwest. In the process the Buffalo Soldiers garnered 23 Medals of Honor. It is said to have been the Plains Indians who gave them their nickname of "Buffalo Soldiers," because of their courage as well as their hair, thought to be similar in appearance to the fur between a bison's horns. It is a name the soldiers adopted with pride, as they knew how the Indians esteemed the buffalo. Sources A bibliography has been collected for this project.

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