Posted on Feb 25, 2022
Black History Month: Reflections on the Legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers
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Nearly 200,000 Black men served in the U.S. military during the Civil War to end slavery. (Unofficially, numerous Black women fought for the Union too.)
In the post-war period starting in 1866, the U.S. Army incorporated many of these battle-tested soldiers into calvary and infantry regiments — eventually two of each — for military, law enforcement and civilian duties related to the nation’s push westward.
The early military service of these all-Black regiments — that for still-debated reasons came to be known as “Buffalo Soldiers” — was in the Indian War campaigns (1866-1892), and in actions such as the Red River War (1874) and the Battle of San Juan Hill during the Spanish American War (1898), according to the National Archives and the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC).
For their service during 1870-1890, 18 Buffalo Soldiers earned Medals of Honor. The museum’s account of the soldiers’ military and other accomplishments acknowledge the complicated issues behind why battalions of all-Black troops — led largely by White officers — would take part in campaigns to displace Native Americans from their lands.
“Black soldiers used military service as a strategy to obtain equal rights as citizens,” the authors write in a piece titled “Buffalo Soldiers: Legend and Legacy.” “Paradoxically, they sought to achieve this by engaging in government-led wars meant to overtake the Southwest and Great Plains from Native Americans.”
Building post-slavery America
During this period, the Black regiments also had civic and peacetime responsibilities, including protecting U.S. mail delivery, building roads and patrolling parks.
Beyond serving as a fighting force, the soldiers were constructing a post-slavery America, writes historian Frank Schubert in essays for the website BlackPast.org, an online reference center of African American history.
“Buffalo Soldiers participated in central episodes of the American experience,” Schubert says in a 2009 piece. “They made essential contributions to western settlement, making maps, blazing trails, and improving roads; guarding settlements, roads, and stagecoach stations; and providing the reassuring military presence that helped encourage development.”
Indeed, National Park Service sites incorporating elements of Buffalo Soldier history dot the lower 48 states and stretch into Alaska and Hawaii.
Eventually, the military skills of these soldiers forced the still-segregated U.S. Military Academy at West Point to accept a few Buffalo Soldier appointments. Henry O. Flipper, John Hanks Alexander and Charles Young became the first three Black soldiers to graduate from West Point before the turn of the century and go on to lead other Buffalo Soldiers.
Facing discrimination at West Point
In 1907, a detachment of Buffalo Soldiers arrived at West Point to provide cadets with riding instruction and mounted drill, according to a 2019 military academy video.
Despite the soldiers’ exceptional horsemanship and other military skills, the institution’s leadership, rules and structures allowed the Veteran trainers to be subjected to unequal treatment based on race.
“They weren’t allowed to actually train the soldiers — that was only done by White Soldiers and White officers,” says West Point’s Professor Emeritus of History Army Col. Ty Seidule in the video. “They weren’t allowed to walk by White officers’ housing. They weren’t allowed to swim in pools. So, there was a separation geographically, socially, culturally and even legally.”
About a year ago, Richard Schneider, a still-picture preservationist at the National Archives, revealed how he discovered and restored 12 photographs showing the Buffalo Soldiers in training and athletic practice at then-segregated West Point.
“Let's face it, there weren’t that many Black faces in the 1920s at West Point,” Schneider says in a Feb. 21, 2021, news release. “The first image I saw was of this football team, and I only knew that it was Black players when I reversed the image. It was just an unusual image to come across.”
Other photos depict mounted Buffalo Soldiers being saluted as part of an official ceremony and taking part in equestrian training exercises.
“It goes without saying that the Buffalo Soldiers played a role at West Point, not only for ceremonial purposes, but also to teach the cadets about equestrian skills; they were the ones who taught them how to handle horses,” Schneider says.
He adds: “So, you might see in another record group, in another body of work, some White captain or major on horseback in a group shot. Well, that officer might have been trained by one of the Black Buffalo Soldiers at West Point. These are the kinds of things that are really important for people to see these days.”
Buffalo Soldiers trained at West Point until 1947, and served in various military capacities until 1951, when the U.S. Army desegregated. In 1973, a West Point training ground was renamed Buffalo Soldiers Field.
Fighting for equal treatment of Black service members and Veterans
Before that recognition arrived and continuing today, Black service members and Veterans would face a fight for civil rights and equality.
Not even West Point graduate Charles Young — who was born into slavery and rose to become among the most highly decorated and highest ranked Buffalo Soldier — could break through the racism that blocked his later military advancement, according to remarks given by President Barack Obama in 2013, when he named the 401st national park after Young.
In 1917, Young was selected for a promotion to the rank of colonel. But Southern senators were pushing President Woodrow Wilson and his secretary of war to prevent White officers from having to serve under Young’s command. That year, only after being medically retired against his wishes, was Young promoted to colonel for distinguished Army service.
In a positive postscript, Obama said, Young was kept on a list of active duty officers and continued to serve for the departments of War and State until his death in 1922. In 1923, Young was honored with a funeral service and burial at Arlington National Cemetery.
The Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument is in Wilberforce, Ohio.
Learn more
In recent years, government agencies, historians, museum and cultural institutions, the military and others have worked to better capture, document, memorialize and recognize the service history and civic contributions of the Buffalo Soldiers. Read more about their legacy at the links below.
Buffalo Soldiers in the National Parks, National Park Service, Nov. 21, 2021: https://www.nps.gov/chyo/learn/historyculture/buffalo-soldiers-in-the-national-parks.htm
“National Archives Unveils Photos of Buffalo Soldiers at West Point,” Feb. 26, 2021: https://www.archives.gov/news/articles/archives-unveils-photos-of-buffalo-soldiers-west-point
New Photos: Buffalo Soldiers at West Point, Feb. 22, 2021: https://www.archives.gov/news/topics/buffalo-soldiers-west-point-photos
“Buffalo Soldiers: Legend and Legacy,” NMAAHC: https://nmaahc.si.edu/buffalo-soldiers
Buffalo Soldiers (Many Lenses project): https://learninglab.si.edu/collections/buffalo-soldiers-many-lenses-project/wjMimU7MFYkG4Hm3
Project: Buffalo Soldiers Pension Files, National Archives: https://www.archives.gov/innovation-hub/projects/buffalo-soldiers
“Buffalo Soldiers at West Point,” 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSekKSxQYkQ
“Commemorating African American Soldiers,” 2018: https://www.c-span.org/video/?452054-1/commemorating-african-american-soldiers
Presidential Proclamation: Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument, 2013: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/03/25/presidential-proclamation-charles-young-buffalo-soldiers-national-monume
“The Myth of the Buffalo Soldiers,” Black Past, Frank Schubert, 2009: https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/myth-buffalo-soldiers
“Buffalo Soldiers,” Black Past, Frank Schubert, 2007: https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/buffalo-soldiers
In the post-war period starting in 1866, the U.S. Army incorporated many of these battle-tested soldiers into calvary and infantry regiments — eventually two of each — for military, law enforcement and civilian duties related to the nation’s push westward.
The early military service of these all-Black regiments — that for still-debated reasons came to be known as “Buffalo Soldiers” — was in the Indian War campaigns (1866-1892), and in actions such as the Red River War (1874) and the Battle of San Juan Hill during the Spanish American War (1898), according to the National Archives and the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC).
For their service during 1870-1890, 18 Buffalo Soldiers earned Medals of Honor. The museum’s account of the soldiers’ military and other accomplishments acknowledge the complicated issues behind why battalions of all-Black troops — led largely by White officers — would take part in campaigns to displace Native Americans from their lands.
“Black soldiers used military service as a strategy to obtain equal rights as citizens,” the authors write in a piece titled “Buffalo Soldiers: Legend and Legacy.” “Paradoxically, they sought to achieve this by engaging in government-led wars meant to overtake the Southwest and Great Plains from Native Americans.”
Building post-slavery America
During this period, the Black regiments also had civic and peacetime responsibilities, including protecting U.S. mail delivery, building roads and patrolling parks.
Beyond serving as a fighting force, the soldiers were constructing a post-slavery America, writes historian Frank Schubert in essays for the website BlackPast.org, an online reference center of African American history.
“Buffalo Soldiers participated in central episodes of the American experience,” Schubert says in a 2009 piece. “They made essential contributions to western settlement, making maps, blazing trails, and improving roads; guarding settlements, roads, and stagecoach stations; and providing the reassuring military presence that helped encourage development.”
Indeed, National Park Service sites incorporating elements of Buffalo Soldier history dot the lower 48 states and stretch into Alaska and Hawaii.
Eventually, the military skills of these soldiers forced the still-segregated U.S. Military Academy at West Point to accept a few Buffalo Soldier appointments. Henry O. Flipper, John Hanks Alexander and Charles Young became the first three Black soldiers to graduate from West Point before the turn of the century and go on to lead other Buffalo Soldiers.
Facing discrimination at West Point
In 1907, a detachment of Buffalo Soldiers arrived at West Point to provide cadets with riding instruction and mounted drill, according to a 2019 military academy video.
Despite the soldiers’ exceptional horsemanship and other military skills, the institution’s leadership, rules and structures allowed the Veteran trainers to be subjected to unequal treatment based on race.
“They weren’t allowed to actually train the soldiers — that was only done by White Soldiers and White officers,” says West Point’s Professor Emeritus of History Army Col. Ty Seidule in the video. “They weren’t allowed to walk by White officers’ housing. They weren’t allowed to swim in pools. So, there was a separation geographically, socially, culturally and even legally.”
About a year ago, Richard Schneider, a still-picture preservationist at the National Archives, revealed how he discovered and restored 12 photographs showing the Buffalo Soldiers in training and athletic practice at then-segregated West Point.
“Let's face it, there weren’t that many Black faces in the 1920s at West Point,” Schneider says in a Feb. 21, 2021, news release. “The first image I saw was of this football team, and I only knew that it was Black players when I reversed the image. It was just an unusual image to come across.”
Other photos depict mounted Buffalo Soldiers being saluted as part of an official ceremony and taking part in equestrian training exercises.
“It goes without saying that the Buffalo Soldiers played a role at West Point, not only for ceremonial purposes, but also to teach the cadets about equestrian skills; they were the ones who taught them how to handle horses,” Schneider says.
He adds: “So, you might see in another record group, in another body of work, some White captain or major on horseback in a group shot. Well, that officer might have been trained by one of the Black Buffalo Soldiers at West Point. These are the kinds of things that are really important for people to see these days.”
Buffalo Soldiers trained at West Point until 1947, and served in various military capacities until 1951, when the U.S. Army desegregated. In 1973, a West Point training ground was renamed Buffalo Soldiers Field.
Fighting for equal treatment of Black service members and Veterans
Before that recognition arrived and continuing today, Black service members and Veterans would face a fight for civil rights and equality.
Not even West Point graduate Charles Young — who was born into slavery and rose to become among the most highly decorated and highest ranked Buffalo Soldier — could break through the racism that blocked his later military advancement, according to remarks given by President Barack Obama in 2013, when he named the 401st national park after Young.
In 1917, Young was selected for a promotion to the rank of colonel. But Southern senators were pushing President Woodrow Wilson and his secretary of war to prevent White officers from having to serve under Young’s command. That year, only after being medically retired against his wishes, was Young promoted to colonel for distinguished Army service.
In a positive postscript, Obama said, Young was kept on a list of active duty officers and continued to serve for the departments of War and State until his death in 1922. In 1923, Young was honored with a funeral service and burial at Arlington National Cemetery.
The Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument is in Wilberforce, Ohio.
Learn more
In recent years, government agencies, historians, museum and cultural institutions, the military and others have worked to better capture, document, memorialize and recognize the service history and civic contributions of the Buffalo Soldiers. Read more about their legacy at the links below.
Buffalo Soldiers in the National Parks, National Park Service, Nov. 21, 2021: https://www.nps.gov/chyo/learn/historyculture/buffalo-soldiers-in-the-national-parks.htm
“National Archives Unveils Photos of Buffalo Soldiers at West Point,” Feb. 26, 2021: https://www.archives.gov/news/articles/archives-unveils-photos-of-buffalo-soldiers-west-point
New Photos: Buffalo Soldiers at West Point, Feb. 22, 2021: https://www.archives.gov/news/topics/buffalo-soldiers-west-point-photos
“Buffalo Soldiers: Legend and Legacy,” NMAAHC: https://nmaahc.si.edu/buffalo-soldiers
Buffalo Soldiers (Many Lenses project): https://learninglab.si.edu/collections/buffalo-soldiers-many-lenses-project/wjMimU7MFYkG4Hm3
Project: Buffalo Soldiers Pension Files, National Archives: https://www.archives.gov/innovation-hub/projects/buffalo-soldiers
“Buffalo Soldiers at West Point,” 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSekKSxQYkQ
“Commemorating African American Soldiers,” 2018: https://www.c-span.org/video/?452054-1/commemorating-african-american-soldiers
Presidential Proclamation: Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument, 2013: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/03/25/presidential-proclamation-charles-young-buffalo-soldiers-national-monume
“The Myth of the Buffalo Soldiers,” Black Past, Frank Schubert, 2009: https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/myth-buffalo-soldiers
“Buffalo Soldiers,” Black Past, Frank Schubert, 2007: https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/buffalo-soldiers
Black History
Military History
Civil War
Medal of Honor
American History
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