Narrator: Today we think of the settling of the American west as peaceful. But it was
never that simple. In the 1800s, as thousands of settlers moved west, the Army established
dozens of military posts throughout the southwest and the plains states. Soldiers were sent
to control outbreaks of violence as the newcomers competed with native people for land and resources.
In 1866, two black cavalry and two black infantry regiments were established. They were segregated,
led by white officers and made up over a tenth of the Frontier army. Initially the Army recruited
US Colored Troop Civil War veterans. Other young African American men began to enlist
to escape massive unemployment and racial violence in the south.
Character voice: ” I engendered a great liking for the cavalry soldier and enlisted on the 16th day of July,
1867, for the Indian Wars that was then raging in Kansas and Colorado.” Reuben Waller Character
voice: " I got tired of looking a mule in the face from sunrise to sunset, thought there
must be a better living in this world." Charles Creek
Character voice: "What did I think when
I seed all them sojers? I wants to be one too, I didn't care what side, I jiss wants
a gun and a hoss and to be a sojer” Madison Bruin
Narrator: Military service offered benefits
insured rights banned in southern states and conferred status. Service held out the possibility
of respect, equality and full citizenship for the soldiers, their families and their
communities. Nicknamed “Buffalo Soldiers,” the black regiments fought in campaigns all
across the west. But fighting was actually secondary – mostly soldiers constructed
forts and roads, guarded stage coaches and cattle drives, lay railroad lines and telegraph
wires and delivered the mail.
Character voice: “I was sent with a detail of twelve of
my men to carry the mail to Fort Bliss. At Eagle Springs, we were attacked by about 100 Apaches.
The fight lasted several hours.” Sergeant Jacob Wilks
Narrator: Large-scale battles
were rare; more often the soldiers engaged in skirmishes with roving bands of warriors.
Character voice: We used to have a fight every day down on the Washita.A feller on the flanks
never knew what minute he was goin' to have a horse race back to the command, with anywhar
from ten to five hundred Indians a close second" Fst. Sergeant Shelvin Shropshire
Narrator: Most interactions between the Army and Indian tribes were hostile, but Buffalo Soldiers
also protected Creek, Chicksaw and Cherokee farmers from raiding Kiowas and Comanches
in Oklahoma, and Kiowa and Ute families from attack by white militias in Texas. The soldiers
forced rebellious Indians back onto reservations but also removed white pioneers who had illegally
settled on Indian Treaty land. The Indian Wars ended in 1890 with the massacre of the
Sioux in the Battle of Wounded Knee in South Dakota. Buffalo Soldiers were not involved
in the battle but were stationed at the Sioux Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in the aftermath.
For African American soldiers that re-enlisted after the Indian Wars ended, their regiments
continued on to new postings. Those returning to civilian life faced a society where they
had fewer rights than when they enlisted; where racism was institutionalized in Jim
Crow laws. The military would remain segregated for nearly fifty more years.