The Buffalo Soldier  was born just after the Civil War --   as a peacetime movement.    These  men were  comprised of former Black Civil War soldiers,  former slaves and  previous black slaves that had been  given their "freedom".     The Buffalo Soldiers of the US Army  became prominent  when the west was opened up to settlers and  mechants.       They blazed the trails to the west.     Through the years the Buffalo Soldier has been involved in every war.    Especially prominent was the  9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments involved  in campaigns against the American Indians.    Shortly after the Civil War, Congress authorized the formation of the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 38th, 39th, 40th, and 41st Infantry Regiments: Six all Black peacetime units. Later the four infantry regiments were merged into the 24th and 25th Infantries.

You can do a search on the internet  to see just how important this group of fearless blackmen paved the road.       They were  a determined people, there bravery was limitless.      The name "Buffalo Soldier"  came about from the Native American's who had great respect for these black warriors.   They came to be called “Buffalo Soldiers,” apparently because some plains Indians saw a physical resemblance between their brown skins and curly hair and the buffalo.        The relentless  "Buffalo Soldier"  was strong  and patriotic -   they  took their jobs seriously with much pride.        

Things have changed during those early years but the African American which fought with distinction  has never changed.     During the Civil War more than 180,000 of them wore the Union Army blue and another 30,000 served in the Navy.   Over 33,000 of them gave their life  for the sake of freedom for all American.        23 African Americans  received the nation's highest military award during the Civil War.     At least 18   "Medals of Honor"   were presented to Buffalo Soldiers during the Western Campaigns.
 

Respite from War

Buffalo Soldiers at Vancouver Barracks

1899–1900

By GREGORY PAYNTER SHINE

Source: 1900 Census, Fort Wright, Washington, transcribed by the author, supplemented by Regimental Returns, February, March, April, May, November 1899

Roster of Company B
Twenty-fourth Infantry

Fort Wright, Washington, 1900

Buford, Parker Tennessee Sergeant 53

Parker Buford is listed on the 1910 census rolls for Salt Lake City, apparently retired and on his "own income." He is listed along with his wife Eliza. Although their ages are not recorded, they had been married for forty-four years. According to the Utah Death Index, Parker Buford died on February 19, 1911, in Salt Lake City.

Roberts, Frank Tennessee Corporal 40

Amos, Robert L. Tennessee Private 23

Edings, Henry Tennessee Private 21

Howard, Henry Tennessee Private 20

Huddelston, William Tennessee Private 23

Miller, Harry Tennessee Private 38

Miller, William G. Tennessee Private 22

Robinson, William R. Tennessee Private 22

Slaton, Archie T. Tennessee Private 21

Stanfield, Mack Tennessee 1st Sergeant 39

Stratton, William R. Tennessee Private 19

Nelson, Hunter B. Tennessee 1st Lieutenant 31

AT THE TIME OF COMPANY B'S arrival, Vancouver Barracks was a veteran army post, having provided a U.S. military presence in the Pacific Northwest for fifty years.  Established in 1849 on a ridge north of the former Hudson's Bay Company headquarters and depot known as Fort Vancouver, the post had played a leading role in major military actions in the American West, including labor disputes, police activities, and campaigns against Indians. Since 1879, it also had hosted the headquarters for the Department of the Columbia, the organization responsible for army command and control throughout the Pacific Northwest, including Alaska.

By the spring of 1900, Company B's ranking noncommissioned officer was Mack Stanfield. A thirty-nine-year-old native of Franklin, Tennessee, the first sergeant had been married for fifteen years in 1900. His wife, thirty-five-year-old Sallie, lived with him at the subsequent post (Spokane's Fort George Wright), one of the only wives to do so. The company's other sergeants included Charles Grayson, Ezekiel Hill, and Richard Williams, all from Ohio; James Grimes from Kentucky; and Parker Buford from Tennessee.  Four out of the six sergeants were married. Five of the men had been born when slavery was legal.

Twelve corporals reported to Company B's sergeants, including several Virginia natives — John A. Hall, Jeremiah Bowman, and William Harris. Two men were from Kentucky — Edward Shepard and William Rollins. Algy Jackson was from Georgia, William Johnson was from Maryland, and Frank Roberts was from Tennessee. All of the corporals, with the exception of Frank Roberts, were bachelors. The company also included several specialized occupations — two cooks, two musicians, and one artificer. The cooks for Company B included South Carolina native Robert A. Hargrove and William Hardin from Kentucky.

In the U.S. Army, the vast majority of soldiers held the rank of private, and Company B was no exception. The census records list eighty-four privates with the company in the spring of 1900. Although many of the names and some of the demographic data are illegible, enough information exists to determine two trends. First, only nine of the privates (9.3 percent) were married. Second, the majority of the Company hailed from former southern slave or border states — sixteen from Tennessee, twelve from Virginia, thirteen from Georgia, eleven from Kentucky, nine from South Carolina, eight from Alabama, and seven from Maryland. The exceptions include three sergeants from Ohio and four privates from Pennsylvania. None of the soldiers hailed from any states west of the 100^th Meridian, including Oregon and Washington.

Source:   The Oregon Historical Quarterly http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ohq/107.2/shine.html

North Las Vegas, Nevada-This past July the United States Army renamed a facility and a street in Nevada after Tennessee Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. George Jordan, who received the nation's highest award while serving in the cavalry units known as "Buffalo Soldiers" in the American west. Jordan is one of three minorities from Tennessee to receive the nation's highest military award.
George Hill, who works in the logistics division of the 6th U.S. Army Recruiting Brigade, was responsible for coming up with a new name for the facility and says Sgt. Jordan exemplified the traditional American soldier and justly deserved having the facility named after him.
"Sgt. Jordan appealed to us," said Hill, "because he performed his duties in the highest tradition and never sought the medal for himself. While that would have been perfectly normal in those days, it was his commanding officer who kept urging Jordan to let him put his name in for it. Sgt. Jordan's actions under fire show that good leadership principals never change."
Hill also said that the facility is the closest Army installation to the Fort Tularosa region where Jordan, after a long day's march in the New Mexico desert, rallied his men into a night march to relieve the Fort and nearby city from Apache warriors, who were attacking the white settlements in retaliation for the government's Indian removal policies in the southwest. The unit arrived just in time to fortify the position and withstand the Apache attack. Jordan's actions under fire at Carrizo Canyon were also mentioned in his Medal of Honor citation, where he led his men against Apache Chief Nana in one of the toughest battles fought against the warring tribe.
Pentagon historian and author of three books on the Buffalo Soldiers, Frank Schubert, says he is glad the Army is recognizing Sgt. Jordan's service. Before the subject became popular in American culture, Schubert was working to collect photographs and battle reports on the often overlooked military units. His books, which are available through local bookstores, are regarded as the best documentary works done on the Buffalo Soldiers in the American West.
"This is good to see because there are few public facilities named after Buffalo Soldiers," said Schubert. "Sgt. Jordan was the model noncommissioned officer in the old west cavalry, which meant he was respected by both his men and his superior officers. It is legitimate that Sgt. Jordan should have a facility named after him in the region he helped to defend."
Knoxville attorney and Franklin native Nick McCall worked to get a Franklin monument erected to honor the Williamson County soldier, who enlisted in the cavalry following his emancipation from slavery. "The movement to honor him in Franklin got started after my father and I saw a documentary on the A&E cable station mentioning a Buffalo Soldier from Williamson County who had received the Medal of Honor," said McCall. "After collecting information from Frank Schubert's books and some other sources, I wrote a letter to the editor of the Franklin Review Appeal and they got involved in helping to bring some long overdue recognition to Sgt. Jordan that resulted in the city erecting a monument to honor him. I'm excited to see that the Army is doing the same in Nevada."
McCall aided the Army in sending them the numerous papers and documents he has collected on Jordan's life and service to help with the ceremonies. McCall said during the course of he and his father's research they discovered that a number of middle Tennesseans had enlisted in the all-black cavalry units following the War Between the States. Some have descendants who still live in the state and attended the dedication ceremony in Franklin.
The new Army designation of the facility will replace Fort Baker in North Las Vegas, which has been in the region since the Spanish-American War era. The official dedication service will be held on Tuesday, July 13, at 9 a.m.
The National Medal of Honor Museum of Military History in Chattanooga also sent a museum quality Medal of Honor citation that will be displayed among the photographs and bronze plaque that will be placed in the commemoration hall of the facility.

Source: Tennessee Online News Archives http://www.vic.com/tnchron/archive/OCT99ARC.htm#scv

Buffalo Soldiers - The indian wars, Facing racism, The spanish-american war, The demise of the buffalo soldiers

The black soldiers known as “Buffalo Soldiers” played a crucial role in the fight for black equality in the armed forces. They were created and served in the United States military during perhaps the most volatile period in the history of America, the post–Civil War era. Often the victims of racial discrimination, the Buffalo Soldiers conducted themselves with dignity and honor. Their efforts during peacetime, as well as during conflicts such as the Indian Wars and the Spanish American War, clearly established that blacks were capable soldiers, and thus aided in the desegregation of the armed forces.

While blacks fought in both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, it was their participation in the Civil War that led to the creation of organized black regiments. Because a policy established in 1820 barred blacks from serving in the regular army, many of them fought for the Union Army in volunteer regiments such as the Seventy-third Regiment of U.S. Colored Troops, Hunter’s Regiment, the First Kansas Colored, and the Fifty-fourth and Fifty-fifth Regiments of Massachusetts. In The Forgotten Heroes: The Story of the Buffalo Soldiers , Clinton Cox notes that by the end of the Civil War, in excess of 180,000 black men had fought for the Union Army, and that more than 38,000 of these soldiers died in the war.

The bravery that blacks exemplified during the Civil War led Congress to consider the formation of black divisions in 1866. Opinions varied on this idea. Some objected, claiming that blacks could not perform military duties as well as whites, that they were unwanted in the North, and that in the South they would be a nagging reminder of the Union’s victory over the Confederacy.

In spite of the opposition, Congress voted to enlist six black regiments for two reasons. First, given their strong record of participation in the Civil War, several members of Congress voted to create the black regiments out of a sense of fairness. Second, Congress realized that blacks were less likely than whites to desert, because they had fewer opportunities in civilian life. Therefore, on July 28, 1866, Congress passed an act establishing the Ninth and Tenth Cavalries and the Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth, Fortieth and Forty-first Infantry Divisions, which were later reorganized into the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Infantry Regiments.

Scores of blacks rushed to enlist for five-year terms at thirteen dollars per month. The men came from several states, including Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. Their ages ranged from eighteen to thirty-four, and many of them were former slaves. According to Cox, a typical group of 100 recruits in the Ninth Cavalry had worked as soldiers, laborers, farmers, painters, and cooks prior to enlisting.

Buffalo Soldiers Of New Mexico
By Janet Wasson

What is a Buffalo Soldier? By the end of the war 180,000 Black Americans had served in the Union army and taps had sounded over the bodies of 33,380 of them. Yet, they didn't fight only in Union Blue.    Sadly, little has ever been written of the African Americans that served in the Confederate Army, so we know little of their reasons for fighting for the Confederacy or the outcome of these efforts. 

After the Civil War, Black American continued to serve. They were the Buffalo Soldiers. This list is an attempt to record all known Buffalo soldiers in New Mexico. Send us any additional data and it will be entered here. A list of Buffalo Soldiers from the 1880 census. Here is the 1880 census extraction of Buffalo Soldiers, not a complete list, but its a start. The first group is of Fort Stanton   in Lincoln County.

Tennessee Soldiers:

Santa Fe-Santa Fe County   New Mexico

Norris Stephen 35 years

Palomas-Socorro County  New Mexico

Campbell Thomas 35  years

McFemmick Charles 31 years

Source:  Buffalo Soldiers of New Mexico -     http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nma/buffalo_soldiers.htm

May 16, 1994 -   The U.S. Postal Service recently unveiled the Buffalo Soldiers commemorative stamp which honors the Black cavalry soldiers for their legendary courage and valor. Approximately 185 million of the 29 cent stamps will be sold at post offices around the country. The Buffalo Soldier regiments played a major role in the settlement of the American West and were the first Black soldiers authorized to serve in the Army during peacetime The stamp features a dramatic rendering of four valiant Black American soldiers on horseback.

Wearing his old cavalry uniform, former Buffalo Soldier Alpheus Jones of Pensacola, FL, stands next to a poster of the commemorative stamp at the post office in Pensacola.

(1849 - 1904) -   George Jordan, buffalo soldier and Medal of Honor recipient, hailed from rural Williamson County in central Tennessee. Enlisting in the 38th Infantry Regiment on 25 December 1866, the short and illiterate Jordan proved a good soldier. In January 1870, he transferred to the 9th Cavalry’s K Troop, his home for the next twenty-six years. Earning the trust of his troop commander, Captain Charles Parker, Jordan was promoted to corporal in 1874; by 1879, he wore the chevrons of a sergeant. It was during these years that Jordan learned how to read and write, an accomplishment that certainly facilitated his advancement in the Army.

On 14 May 1880, following a difficult forced march at night, a twenty-five man detachment under Jordan successfully repulsed a determined attack on old Fort Tularosa, New Mexico, by more numerous Apaches. The next year on 12 August, still campaigning against the Apaches, Jordan’s actions contributed to the survival of a detachment under Captain Parker when they were ambushed in Carrizo Canyon, New Mexico. Although neither engagement received much attention initially, in 1890 Jordan was awarded a Medal of Honor for Tularosa and a Certificate of Merit for Carrizo Canyon.

By the time of his retirement in 1896 at Fort Robinson, Jordan had served ten years as first sergeant of a veteran troop renowned for its performance against the Apache and Sioux. Jordan joined other buffalo soldier veterans in nearby Crawford, Nebraska, and became a successful land owner, although his efforts to vote bore little fruit.
Jordan’s health declined dramatically in the autumn of 1904 but Jordan was denied admission to the Fort Robinson’s hospital. Told to try the Soldiers’ Home in Washington, D.C., he died 19 October, the post chaplain officially complaining that Jordan “died for the want of proper attention.” Jordan was buried in the Fort Robinson cemetery, his funeral conducted with full honors and attended by most of the post’s personnel, a bittersweet ending to the story of an exemplary buffalo soldier.

SOURCE:  Contributed by Edward Mikkelsen Jr.  University of Washington

Charles L. Kenner, Buffalo Soldiers and Officers of the Ninth Cavalry, 1867-1898: Black and White TogetherBlack Valor: Buffalo Soldiers and the Medal of Honor, 1870-1898 (Wilmington, Delaware: Scholarly Resources Incorporated, 1997); Schubert, On the Trail of the Buffalo Soldiers II: New and Revised Biographies of African Americans in the U.S. Army, 1866-1917 (Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2004).
(Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999); Frank N. Schubert,

Another Bio:     GEORGE JORDAN

George  Jordan, born a slave in rural Tennessee in 1847, enlisted at age 19 in the 38th Infantry based in Nashville. In January 1870, as a corporal, he re-enlisted in the 9th Cavalry.

About 10 years later -- on May 13, 1880 -- while escorting a wagon train through the New Mexico Territory, he was asked by a messenger from an abandoned Army outpost to save women and children in the settlement from imminent attack by the Apache warrior Victorio.

According to Army history accounts, Jordan rallied his men, marched them at night to the outpost -- Fort Tularosa -- and established perimeter defenses and guard posts.

"That evening, Victorio and his warriors attacked the outpost. Although outnumbered by 4-to-1, the Buffalo Soldiers were so well-trained and prepared for battle that there was not a single casualty from either the settlers or the Buffalo Soldiers," one Army history record says.

The Buffalo Soldiers were so nicknamed by the American Indians they encountered. The name reflected bravery and valor despite the inferior supplies they were given.

Jordan's commander immediately recommended him for the Medal of Honor, which he did not officially receive until May 7, 1890, and only after another act of bravery the year following Victorio's attack.

That was at Carrizo Canyon, N.M., while commanding 19 men. According to his medal of honor citation, Jordan "stubbornly held his ground in an extremely exposed position and gallantly forced back a much superior number of the enemy, preventing them from surrounding the command."

After 31 years of what Army historians describe as "selfless service," Jordan, by then a first sergeant, retired in 1897. After his military honors at Fort Robinson, Neb.

Tennessee – Kentucky Line Chapter, Trooper Eddie D. Sumbler

Clarksville TN 726 West Creek Drive

Clarksville TN 37040

(931) 920-6673

http://www.bsmcofclarksville.com/interest.htm

MEMPHIS CHAPTER   

 http://bsmctennessee.com/Buffalo%20Soldier%20History.htm

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