Buffalo Soldiers

[Tamaroa]

WooHoo, Blue.........I am over here. Well just to let you know, I am about 90 pages into the book about the Buffalo soldiers. Its great so far. Holds my attention. It is very well researched and gives you an accurate portrayal of their life.

I just finished reading the chapter where the 9th U.S. Cavalry has been assigned to protect Texas in the late 1860's. Very interesting. Think of this: You are a defeated southerner living in an occupied land controlled by the Yankees. Then who comes to protect you on the Indian frontier but Blue clad former slaves. As a result there was a lot of tension, but the Buffalo soldiers apparently did a very good job of protecting the frontier with what they had. They assisted Sheriffs on a number of occasions (This was before posse comitatus).

They were also given inferior equipment and inferior mounts because certain prejudiced individuals in the army still thought they would be terrible soldiers. So why waste the good stuff on them. For the most part, there was a good relationship between the white officers and black enlisted men. One of the officers in command was Ben Grierson who led that raid down through Louisana during the Civil War. The Buffalo soldiers appeared to have liked him a lot. By the same token some of the punishments were pretty tough. For sassing an officer, a man was sentenced to stand on a barrel 8 hours a day for a week. One guy got drunk on duty and was dishonorably discharged after 6 months in prison.

One thing I am confused about and if there are cavalry experts here please throw in your 2 cents. Both the 9th and 10th cavalry had companies A through M. They did not operate together. The companies of both regiments were scattered throughout 10 states from Texas to the Canadian border. How in god's name were they supposed to do anything when they were scattered so far and wide. The author of the book Buffalo soldiers states that there were only 67,000 men in the army one year after Appomattox. Yet they were supposed to protect the entire western frontier. During the war you could fit 67,000 men on a few square miles of a battle field.

On the whole though, the average Buffalo soldier was a credit to the uniform, hard working hard playing AND very hard fighting.

Bill

[BLUEHAWK]

Hi Bill!

Very interesting, in a number of dimensions. I wonder why this new film that's out took the name "Buffalo Soldiers", the review I read of it has nothing at all to do with negro troops or the Indian Wars! Can you decipher that?

One thing that came to mind from your post is how indespensible the human soldier is, no matter how advanced their weapons EVER are. One could lay out the very worst junk equipment, as they apparently did for the Buffalo troopers, and they'll turn that garbage into loyal, strong and effective service to country.

Also, I was made to remember, from what you wrote, how so often I myself am mystified when various talking heads claim that we have such a racial problem in america. I guess in some ways we do, but even going back to the time we're discussing, relations are basically good between races... and it's the exception when they aren't!

How well, or regularly, does the book tell us were Buffalo Soldiers given their due in promotions to NCO and Officer ranks?

Also, given that some of us more stubborn patriots would insist that the Civil War was NOT about slavery, it would not surprise me that "defeated" southerners then in the Yankee army out there wouldn't have had much problem at all serving with or commanding negro troops. As I read history, darn few Confederates ever "owned" (or even saw) a slave or had much problem living side by side in harmony. Most of us who never were among the Plantation-owner class born in the South grew up with negro people cheek by jowl, and never thought a thing about it. I realize there are plenty of exceptions, but those have always struck me as being the tail wagging the dog now that the KKK and their pals have been neutralized (I HOPE!).

I gotta read that book...

[Tamaroa]

Blue.......

There is an allusion in the beginning of the book that a couple of Buffalo soldiers will be officers, but I am not the kind to race ahead to find out. That spoils the reading for me. All the noncoms were Blacks. And there is constant mention to how well they performed and how determined and patriotic they were. However the book alludes to the fact that in some commands where there were particularly biased officers and also if they were stationed in an area that was filled with racial bias, then the reenlistment rate would fall off dramatically. Their term of enlistment was FIVE years. If you lose a bunch of guys with 5 years experience fighting Indians, that can't be a good thing!!

Bill

[BLUEHAWK]

Bill -

Just a marginal gloss on the above...

I was once part of a big-time month-long museum management seminar for promising young administrators, at UC Berkeley. One of the first sessions dealt with the simple idea that all people basically see the human race as being either essentially "good", or essentially "bad". The point of which, obviously, was to inform ourselves that we and our subordinates would/do fall into one or the other camp, at least at some point and maybe always.

Given that practically 100% of the world's problems and tragedies always are the result of the misbehavior of (roughly) 5% of our species, even so, I still hold with the camp that believes we are essentially "good".

One would have to have been a "good" person, if a Buffalo Solder, to have sufficient faith in a government whose founders had done nothing about your slavery to then become any part of an invading Imperialist army against native land holders?

Zounds, I was never so confused by my own words...

[Tamaroa]

The Buffalo Soldiers: A Narrative of the Negro Cavalry in the West by William H. Leckie published by Oklahoma University Press, 1967. I finished it last night. A phenominal book that tells the real story of the Black troopers of the 9th and 10th Cavalry. Well documented, eminently readable. It will open your eyes.

Regards,

Bill

[BLUEHAWK]

Thanks Bill -
Being in Oklahoma that book ought to be at the public library... I'll get it.