The legacy of African-American participation in the United States Armed Forces dates back to the Revolutionary War, and, during the Civil War, nearly 180,000 black men fought for the Union Army in volunteer regiments. But it was not until the Army’s post-war reorganization, that African Americans could enlist in the Regular Army. In 1866, Congress created six segregated African American regiments led by white officers. These were soon consolidated into four black regiments: the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 24th and 25th Infantry. Colloquially known as Buffalo Soldiers, these units played a significant role in the settlement of the American frontier and the development of the United States as a world power.
9th Cavalry at Camp Lawton
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
U.S. 9th Cavalry troops at Camp Lawton, Washington awaiting deployment to the Philippines.
The term “Buffalo Soldier” is attributed to the Native Americans of the western plains. There are many theories as to its origin, but the name apparently arose with the Cheyenne, who thought the hair of the black soldiers resembled the fur of the buffalo. In 1873, the name captured public attention after it was used in a letter from a frontier army wife to The Nation magazine. Referring to the 10th Cavalry, Mrs. Frances Roe wrote, "The officers say that the Negroes make good soldiers and fight like fiends … the Indians call them 'buffalo soldiers' because their woolly heads are so much like the matted cushion that is between the horns of the buffalo." Before long, the term Buffalo Soldier was used by writers and journalists to describe all African American troops. Though the soldiers seldom used the name amongst themselves, they did accept the term as complimentary. Indeed, the symbol of the buffalo was eventually incorporated into the crest of the 10th Cavalry Regiment.
Army service took the Buffalo Soldiers from the American Plains and Southwest to duty in Cuba, the Philippines, Hawaii, and Mexico. Troops of all four regiments assigned to Pacific commands embarked and returned through the Presidio of San Francisco and around the turn of the twentieth century, soldiers of the 24th Infantry and 9th Cavalry were garrisoned at the Presidio. Regardless of their assignment, the regiments remained segregated and—with only a few exceptions—they served under white officers. Nevertheless, the Buffalo Soldiers rose to establish themselves as among the most effective units in the United States Army of the period.
http://www.nps.gov/prsf/historyculture/buffalo-soldiers.htm
