Buffalo soldiers: Vigilant, honorable warriors of the plains

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Lisa Meiman
  • 90th Space Wing Public Affairs
F. E. Warren AFB, Wyo. --  It seemed to magically appear one day outside Warren's main gate last month - a large statue of an African-American buffalo soldier standing with his rifle.

The statue, the beginning of a memorial to the buffalo soldiers, is a tribute to the African-American cavalry regiments that served here in the early 1900s.

While the term "buffalo soldiers" has been used to identify all the African-American troops in segregated units before World War II, it actually only applies to cavalry units. 

"They weren't considered buffalo soldiers unless they were on horseback," said Paula Taylor, Warren ICBM & Heritage Museum.

Warren's incomplete historical records place the 9th Cavalry here sporadically between 1900 and 1912 and the 10th Cavalry between 1902 and 1904. The 24th Infantry, one of two African-American infantry regiments, was also stationed at Warren in the early 1900s.

"It didn't just end with the 54th Massachusetts [volunteer infantry] and start again with the Tuskegee Airmen. There was still a period where African-American [military] history was being made," said Cornelius "Doc" Settles, Wyoming Buffalo Soldier Association founder and creator of the Buffalo Soldier Memorial project.

The cavalry units were nicknamed buffalo soldiers as early as 1872 by the Native Americans who considered the buffalo soldiers to be honorable and vigilant. When the buffalo soldiers were riding on their horses, the Native Americans believed they looked like buffaloes because of their hair that looked like the top of a buffalo's head and their Army-issued buffalo coats, Ms. Taylor said.

Buffalo soldiers were held in high regard by the military both at the time and now for their discipline and service.

"You never saw them when they weren't impeccable," Ms. Taylor said. "They were very proud to be considered part of the military and allowed to fight."

"They were very disciplined. They were really about service," Mr. Setters said.

The buffalo soldiers were stationed across the Western frontier, from Montana to Texas, and used mostly for peacekeeping missions while at Fort Russell. During the Johnson County War, the cavalry was sent to Rock Springs, Wyo., to restore law and order during a coal mine strike.

While there were some confrontations between the buffalo soldiers and Cheyenne citizens, Fort Russell was considered a better assignment than those in Texas or elsewhere in the South.

"For the times, it was one of the better assignments for them," said Mr. Settles, a former Airman at Warren. "It was an amenable environment."

The soldiers were kept under pretty tight military drill. They didn't go "willy-nilly" in the town, Mr. Setters added.

At first, the units were commanded by white officers, but eventually, the Army began commissioning black officers in the late 1800s. Benjamin O'Davis, Sr., who would later become the first African-American general, was one of their first officers. While he was stationed at Fort Russell, he participated in Cheyenne Frontier Days by entertaining the crowds in between rodeo acts.

Although less well-known than the Tuskegee Airmen and the 54th Massachusetts, the buffalo soldiers and their infantry counterparts helped shape the West into what it is today.