Buffalo Soldiers

Buffalo Soldiers. . , About 200,000 African-Americans served in the Civil War. When the army reorganized at the end of the war, it established six regiments in the regular army to be composed of African-American recruits. The 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments and four infantry regiments were authorized in 1866. The four infantry regiments were reorganized into the 24th and 25th Infantry Regiments in 1869. These four regiments were the nucleus around which most African-American soldiers coalesced in the Army until it was integrated by President Truman in 1948., The earliest and best documented account of the origin of the term "buffalo soldiers" , which would become synonymous with all African-Americans in the army , comes from an 1871 reference quoting Comanche Indians, as a comparison of the soldiers' dark, curly hair. There are also accounts that the name came from the buffalo hide coats the soldiers would be issued for winter campaigning. Still another attributes the name to Cheyanne warriors in 1877. African-American soldiers wore the name with pride., The Buffalo Soldiers served in the frontier campaigns versus Native American tribes, protected the Mexican border from "bandits" such as Pancho Villa, fought in the Spanish-American War (including Roosevelt's assault on San Juan Hill), and the Philippine Insurrection. Buffalo Soldiers were also among America's first national park rangers, patrolling America's national parks years prior to the 1916 creation of the National Park Service.