Best historical sites to learn about the buffalo soldiers

Follow the path of these intrepid soldiers and early park rangers through the national parks.

Black soldiers have been forced to serve or volunteered in American wars since the Revolution, but were banned from military service in peacetime. Despite this service, the American government has largely banned blacks from joining the military in peacetime, fearing that arming African Americans, especially those who have been or have been enslaved, could help them seek freedom. That changed in 1866 when federal legislation created six African American Army regiments during the peacetime – the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 38th, 39th, 40th and 41st Infantry (infantry soon became the 24th.

They became known as Buffalo soldiers, a nickname acquired during their postings in the West. The Plains tribes compared them to the revered animal, either because they thought their hair resembled the tuft between the horns of a buffalo, or because their martial arts were equivalent to that of a buffalo, or perhaps both.

With the outbreak of the Spanish-American War In 1898 all units were sent to Cuba. Three of them stormed up San Juan Hill alongside the whites Rough rider. The same regiments landed in the Philippines to suppress resistance forces after the post-war US occupation.

The military prowess of the Buffalo Soldiers and their role as some of the first rangers in America’s western national parks have left a lasting legacy. Here are websites that best tell their story.