Buffalo Soldier History & Facts

On July 28, 1866, the U.S. Congress passed a law that created the

Buffalo Soldier regiments. The act specifically established four segregated

African American infantry regiments and two cavalry regiments. The

regiments created were the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry, Thirty-eighth Infantry,

Thirty-ninth Infantry, Fortieth Infantry, and Forty-first Infantry. The

regiments were tasked with maintaining peace in the South during

Reconstruction (1865-1877), building roads and telegraph lines, escorting

U.S. Mail carriers, and protecting homesteaders as well as American

Indians on their lands.

In 1869 the infantry regiments were consolidated from four to two all-Black

regiments. The Thirty-eighth and the Forty-first were consolidated into the

Twenty-fourth Infantry. While the Thirty-ninth Infantry and Fortieth Infantry

were consolidated into the Twenty-fifth Infantry. (Source: National Park Service)

Buffalo Soldiers originally were members of the U.S. 10th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army, formed on September 21, 1866, at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Buffalo Soldiers soon comprised other regiments, including the 9th, 24th, 27th and 28th cavalry divisions.

The nickname was given by the native American tribes they fought. According to the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum, the name originated with the Cheyenne warriors in 1867. The actual Cheyenne translation was “Wild Buffalo”. Writer Walter Hill documented the origin of the name according to an account by Colonel Benjamin Grierson, who founded the 10th Cavalry regiment, recalling an 1871 campaign against the Comanche tribe.

Some say the nickname was given out of respect for the fierce fighting ability of the 10th cavalry. Others claim that native Americans called the Black cavalry troops “buffalo soldiers” because of their dark curly hair, which resembled a buffalo’s coat. Still other sources point to a combination of both legends.

The term Buffalo Soldiers became a generic term for all black soldiers. It is now used for U.S. Army units that trace their direct lineage back to the 9th and 10th Cavalry, units whose bravery earned them an honored place in U.S. history. Not all of the recruits were former slaves; most were free Blacks of Northern parentage, and many had served with distinction during the Civil War.

• First National Park Stewarts
• First to experiment with bicycles.
• In 1898, saved the 71st New York in the now famous charge up San Juan Hill.
• Major factor in the victory of the Spanish American War.
• Represented over 20 percent of all U.S. Calvary Units until early 1890.
• In 1867, featured in Harper’s Weekly as the fiercest of all U.S. Military Units.
• Lt. Col. George Custer declined to command the Buffalo Soldiers whom he call “Brunettes”.
• 19 Congressional Medals of Honor.
• 5 West Point Graduates.
• Considered by many as “The World’s Best Horsemen.”