Originally published in 1967, William H. Leckie’s The Buffalo Soldiers was the first book of its kind to recognize the importance of African American units in the conquest of the West. Decades later, with sales of more than 75,000 copies, The Buffalo Soldiers has become a classic. Now, in a newly revised edition, the authors have expanded the original research to explore more deeply the lives of buffalo soldiers in the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry Regiments. Written in accessible prose that includes a synthesis of recent scholarship, this edition delves further into the life of an African American soldier in the nineteenth century. It also explores the experiences of soldiers’ families at frontier posts. In a new epilogue, the authors summarize developments in the lives of buffalo soldiers after the Indian Wars and discuss contemporary efforts to memorialize them in film, art, and architecture.

Read about the lives and experiences of the Buffalo Soldiers.

As peacekeepers on American soil and as soldiers fighting the Spanish-American War, the Buffalo Soldiers saved lives and gave their own to help the United States grow. Find out what roles they played, and how, as soldiers, they took a major step toward desegregating the military and in gaining civil rights for future generations.

This riveting narrative focuses on the Buffalo Soldiers, tracing the legacy of black military service and its social, economic, and political impact from the colonial era through the end of the 19th century. This fascinating saga follows the story of the Buffalo Soldiers as they participated in key events in America's history. Author Debra J. Sheffer discusses the impetus for the earliest black military service, how that service led to the creation of the Buffalo Soldiers, and how these men—and one woman—continued to serve in the face of epic obstacles. The work celebrates their significant military contributions to the campaigns of the American frontier and other battles, their fighting experiences, and life on the plains. Starting with the American Revolution, the book traces the heroic journey of these legendary servicemen from the period when black Americans first sought full citizenship in exchange for military service to the integration of the military and the dissolution of all-black regiments. Several chapters highlight the special achievements of the 9th and 10th United States Cavalry and the 24th and 25th United States Infantry. The book also features the accomplishments—both of the unit and individuals—of the Buffalo Soldiers in battle and beyond.

The African-American troops known as the Buffalo Soldiers helped change the American West. From 1867 to 1891 they fought over a hundred battles in the Indian Wars. They risked their lives in other ways, including enforcing the law, guarding wagon trains, exploring unknown territory, and building built forts, roads, and telegraph lines. They helped win the famous Battle of San Juan Heights in Cuba, perhaps saving the life of future president Theodore Roosevelt.Everywhere they went, the faced racism and bigotry. They defended themselves, but almost never over-reacted to the threats against them. They showed courage not only in what they did, but what they didn't do. For many years, they were forgotten heroes. No longer. Their history is America's history.

Stories of The Buffalo Soldiers have not been portrayed in history books enough. Abdullah Bin Juttie felt a responsibility to tell this story, giving positive images of African American men who dedicated themselves to restoring the Union. It intends to reestablish the dignity of the African American, whose battlefield prowess is demonstrated throughout the history of the United States military. The story is about a black man from Nashville, Tennessee, who wanted to avenge the massacre of 300 African American men, women, and children by Southern troops under the command of Nathan Bedford Forrest (a prominent figure in the foundation of the Ku Klux Klan) at the battle of Fort Pillow on April 12, 1864. After serving in the Civil War, he joined a Negro Cavalry unit respectfully named The Buffalo Soldiers. Upon retiring from the U.S. Army, he faces similar racism to what he experienced before risking his life in war, when he fought to protect the lives of Northern white men from the troops under General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. This soldier watched his best friend die in an attack by a racist mob attempting to lynch all the black men of his community. The story culminates with him calling his former commanding officer, General William Tecumseh Sherman, to rescue his surrounded community from KKK sympathizers who wanted to massacre his people in the same fashion that was later done to the Black Wall Street community of Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921.

In the decades following the Civil War, scores of African Americans served in the U.S. Army in the West. The Plains Indians dubbed them buffalo soldiers, and their record in the infantry and cavalry, a record full of dignity and pride, provides one of the most fascinating chapters in the history of the era. This anthology focuses on the careers and accomplishments of black soldiers, the lives they developed for themselves, their relationships to their officers (most of whom were white), their specialized roles (such as that of the Black Seminoles), and the discrimination they faced from the very whites they were trying to protect. In short, this volume offers important insights into the social, cultural, and communal lives of the buffalo soldiers. The selections are written by prominent scholars who have delved into the history of black soldiers in the West. Previously published in scattered journals, the articles are gathered here for the first time in a single volume, providing a rich and accessible resource for students, scholars, and interested general readers. Additionally, the readings in this volume serve in some ways as commentaries on each other, offering in this collected format a cumulative mosaic that was only fragmentary before. Volume editors Glasrud and Searles provide introductions to the volume and to each of its four parts, surveying recent scholarship and offering an interpretive framework. The bibliography that closes the book will also commend itself as a valuable tool for further research.

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, African American men were seldom permitted to join the United States armed forces. There had been times in early U.S. history when black and white men fought alongside one another; it was not uncommon for integrated units to take to battle in the Revolutionary War. But by the War of 1812, the United States had come to maintain what one writer called “a whitewashed army.” Yet despite that opposition, during the early 1800s, militia units made up of free black soldiers came together to aid the official military troops in combat. Many black Americans continued to serve in times of military need. Nearly 180,000 African Americans served in units of the U.S. Colored Troops during the Civil War, and others, from states such as Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Missouri, and Kansas, participated in state militias organized to protect local populations from threats of Confederate invasion. As such, the Civil War was a turning point in the acceptance of black soldiers for national defense. By 1900, twenty-two states and the District of Columbia had accepted black men into some form of military service, usually as state militiamen—brothers to the “buffalo soldiers” of the regular army regiments, but American military men regardless. Little has been published about them, but Brothers to the Buffalo Soldiers: Perspectives on the African American Militia and Volunteers, 1865–1919, offers insights into the varied experiences of black militia units in the post–Civil War period. The book includes eleven articles that focus either on “Black Participation in the Militia” or “Black Volunteer Units in the War with Spain.” The articles, collected and introduced by author and scholar Bruce A. Glasrud, provide an overview of the history of early black citizen-soldiers and offer criticism from prominent academics interested in that experience. Brothers to the Buffalo Soldiers discusses a previously little-known aspect of the black military experience in U.S. history, while deliberating on the discrimination these men faced both within and outside the military. Chosen on the bases of scholarship, balance, and readability, these articles provide a rare composite picture of the black military man’s life during this period. Brothers to the Buffalo Soldiers offers both a valuable introductory text for students of military studies and a solid source of material for African American historians.

Secret of the Buffalo Soldiers By: CSM Milton B. Hazzard Often a forgotten or glossed-over part of our history as Americans, the Buffalo Soldiers were a unique fighting force in the nineteenth century. Made up of new recruits and black Civil War veterans who found it difficult to fit into the U.S. Army during peacetime, the Buffalo Soldiers were cavalry regiments sent west to keep the peace on the American frontier. These brave men fought to defend a country that had, until only recently, enslaved millions of their own kind. Secret of the Buffalo Soldiers is one-part history text and one-part narrative. Readers will find a detailed look at the history of slavery and racism around the world intertwined with the story of a young man who took a chance, enlisted in the U.S. Army, and rose through the ranks to become one of the leaders of the Buffalo Soldiers.

On a hot summer’s day in Montana, a daring frontier cavalry officer, Powhatan Henry Clarke, died at the height of his promising career. A member of the U.S. Military Academy’s Class of 1884, Clarke graduated dead last, and while short on academic application, he was long on charm and bravado. Clarke obtained a commission with the black troops of the Tenth Cavalry, earning his spurs with these “Buffalo Soldiers.” He evolved into a fearless field commander at the troop level, gaining glory and first-hand knowledge of what it took to campaign in the West. During his brief, action-packed career, Clarke saved a black trooper’s life while under Apache fire and was awarded the Medal of Honor. A chance meeting brought Clarke together with artist Frederic Remington, who brought national attention to Clarke when he illustrated the exploit for an 1886 Harper’s Weekly. The officer and artist became friends, and Clarke served as a model and consultant for future artwork by Remington. Remington’s many depictions of Clarke added greatly to the cavalryman’s luster. In turn, the artist gained fame and fortune in part from drawing on Clarke as his muse. The story of these two unlikely comrades tells much about the final stages of the Wild West and the United States’ emergence on the international scene. Along the way Geronimo, The Apache Kid, “Texas” John Slaughter, and others played their roles in Clarke’s brief, but compelling drama.