Buffalo Soldiers

Overview

Buffalo Soldiers were United States Army regiments composed exclusively of Black American soldiers, formed to serve on the American frontier. The 10th Cavalry Regiment was formed at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, on September 21, 1866, and Congress established these units as the first all-Black Army regiments in peacetime — distinct from the Black regiments raised during the Civil War, collectively known as the United States Colored Troops (USCT). The regiments remained racially segregated, as the U.S. military would not desegregate until 1948. Robert Dixon, the last surviving Buffalo Soldier, died on November 15, 2024, at age 103; the oldest, Mark Matthews, died in 2005 at 111 and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Formation and the Regiments

After the USCT disbanded in fall 1865, Congress set the Regular Army at ten cavalry and 45 infantry regiments in 1867, authorizing two regiments of Black cavalry (the 9th and 10th) and four of Black infantry (the 38th, 39th, 40th, and 41st), drawn mostly from USCT veterans. By 1869 the Black infantry regiments were consolidated into two, the 24th and 25th. The regiments were commanded by white officers alongside Black non-commissioned officers, including the 10th Cavalry’s first commander, Benjamin Grierson, and the 9th Cavalry’s first commander, Edward Hatch. In 1877, Henry O. Flipper became the first Black commissioned officer to lead the Buffalo Soldiers and the first Black graduate of West Point.

Service on the Frontier

From 1867 into the early 1890s, the Buffalo Soldier regiments served at posts across the Southwestern United States and the Great Plains, taking part in most of the era’s military campaigns; thirteen enlisted men and six officers from these regiments earned the Medal of Honor during the Indian Wars. Beyond combat, the regiments built roads and escorted the U.S. mail. From 1879 to 1881, elements of all four regiments took part in the pursuit of Apache leaders Victorio and Nana in New Mexico, and the 9th Cavalry spent the winter of 1890–91 guarding the Pine Ridge Reservation during the Ghost Dance War and the Wounded Knee Massacre.

Legacy

The nickname’s origin is disputed: the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum traces it to Cheyenne warriors in the winter of 1877, other accounts credit the Comanche or the Apache, and Plains Indians are also said to have named the soldiers for the bison coats they wore in winter. Whatever its origin, “Buffalo Soldiers” became a generic term for Black soldiers more broadly and is used today for U.S. Army units that trace their lineage to the regiments formed in 1866.