Edwards speaks on History of Buffalo Soldiers

Cass County genealogists were introduced to “A Brief History of Buffalo Soldiers” for the Black History Program Meeting on Feb. 8.

Speaker Raydeen Edwards showed his paintings by Frank Spivey: I am Woman, Ed Lewis: Buffalo Soldiers. Edwards spoke about how the nickname came about. The Cheyenne Indians gave them that name because of their curly hair, which resemble a buffalo coat and their fierce nature of fighting, the nickname soon became synonymous with all African American regiments formed in 1866.

The 9th and 10th Calvary, the 24th and 25th and the 38th infantry was later consolidated into the 24th infantry.

Edwards also spoke on how the soldiers were provided with aged horses, deteriorated equipment and inadequate supplies of ammunition. The Buffalo Soldiers were noted for their courage and discipline.

Edwards told the story of Cathey Williams, who joined the 38th U.S. Infantry as a man but later had health issues and was found out she was a woman.

She was the first and only female Buffalo Soldier to have served in the U.S. Army. In 1948, President Harry Truman issued Order 9981 eliminating racial segregation in America Armed forces.

The last all-black units were disbanded during the 1950s. On September 6, 2005, Mark Matthews the oldest living Buffalo Soldier died at the age of 111 years old.

Today visitors can attend the Buffalo Soldier National Museum in Houston Texas. Bob Marley immortalized the group in the reggae song, Buffalo Soldier, which highlighted the irony of the formally enslaved people and their descendants “stolen from Africa” taking land from Native American for white settlers.