This is Thomas Wayne Riley, and welcome to the American Southwest.

The Buffalo Soldiers, Part 3: The Tenth Cavalry, Ready and Forward.

"The Negro troopers sat about, their black skins shining with perspiration ... They occupied such time in joking and in merriment as seemed fitted for growling ... They may be tired and they may be hungry, but they do not see fit to augment their misery by finding fault with everybody and everything. In this particular way they are charming men with whom to serve. Officers have often confessed to me that when they are on long and monotonous field service and are troubled with a depression of spirits, they have only to go about the campfires of the Negro soldier in order to be amused and cheered by the clever absurdities of the men. Personal relations can be much closer between white officers and colored soldiers than in white regiments without breaking the barriers which are necessary to Army discipline.”

Frederic Remington: A Scout With the Buffalo Soldiers, Century Magazine, April 1889.

In 1866, the Lincoln Republican, Colonel Benjamin Grierson, was given the task of leading the newly formed 10th Cavalry of black soldiers to the western frontiers from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, which was a strange position for him to be in on account of the scar Grierson had on his left cheek which he’d gotten as a child. When Grierson was just 8 years old, he got kicked in the face by a horse which instilled in him a fear of the beasts which is why when the Civil War broke out and after he’d quit his job as a music teacher, he enlisted in the infantry rather than the cavalry. But as these things often go, despite his fear of horses, by the end of the war, Grierson was a Major in charge.. of a cavalry unit. A cavalry unit that he used to cut a 600 mile scar through Mississippi which Grant would later say helped the Union become victorious at Vicksburg.

By the time of the Tenth, Grierson had grown the big black bushy beard which he’d be famous for and which hid the scar. He’d soon also become famous, or rather infamous among his peers not only for his support and leadership of the black buffalo soldiers under his command… but also for not being cruel in his hostility towards the native Americans. Something his boss Sherman did not share in common with him. In Paul Andrew Hutton’s the Apache Wars, Hutton says Grierson was quote, remarkably enlightened on racial issues. As colonel, he waged an unrelenting campaign against the distinctions between white and black soldiers and always demanded equal treatment for his men. End quote. And in an 1867 letter to his wife, Grierson would say, Colored troops will hold their place in the army of the untied states as long as the government lasts.

Much like the 9th, The 10th Cavalry, before even leaving for the wild and woolly west, lost 23 men to cholera. I couldn’t imagine being excited to join the army of the nation that just set you free only to die of, or watch your friends and brothers in arms die of a disease before even being shipped out. But unfortunately… I think that was a lot of war prior to the modern times.

In 1867, the black troopers and Grierson would leave Leavenworth for Fort Riley where their primary duty was the protection of the Kansas Pacific Railroad and by extension the Transcontinental Railroad which the Indians were tearing up the tracks of as fast as they were being laid down. The tracks and the telegraph lines. The Indians were also attacking stage routes that carried mail and soldiers to Denver. Only two coaches successfully reached that frontier town during a 6 month period in 1867. So the protection and escorting of the stage lines from Cheyenne dog soldiers and other even larger war parties became another duty of the troopers early on in their deployment.

It was also in 1867 when something that became known as Hancock’s War began and in which the Buffalo Soldiers of the Tenth would play an integral part of.

That year, General Winfield Scott Hancock, the hero of Gettysburg where he earned the nickname Hancock the Superb, which… really, is not that great of a nickname, but General Hancock was appointed commander of the Department of the Missouri which included the states of Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, and the New Mexican Territory. Recently, the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 in southeastern Colorado, which I talked about in my Episode on Black Frontiersmen and Explorers with Jim Beckwourth and which you should definitely listen to, well the Sand Creek Massacre had obviously soured relations with the native Americans in the area who were now taking their bloody revenge out on everyone they could. So General Hancock, confident in his ability to bring the Plains Indians under control began a campaign that would only make things worse. In April of ’67, Hancock met with several Cheyenne Chiefs at Fort Larned, Kansas where it was decided he would follow them to Pawnee Forks where they’d further discuss peace with even more Native leaders who couldn’t attend. As he traveled to Pawnee Forks with the Chiefs and elders though, he brought with him a rather large number of troops which consequently terrified the survivors of the Sand Creek Massacre who were residing at that moment in Pawnee Forks. So the women and children fled, leaving their tipis and all of their belongings behind which left only an abandoned village for the arriving Hancock.

This abandonment of the village in fear totally offended, insulted, and pissed off Hancock who demanded they all return. In fear themselves, the chiefs and elders caught up with their families who refused to return which meant they also did not return, even though they knew this meant the peace talks they longed for may not happen. Meanwhile, the few indians who had remained also began to disappear until Hancock was left only with troops and a bruised ego. Naturally, he ordered his men to burn the whole village down; food, shelter, clothing, and all saying later to the War Department, quote, I am satisfied that this Indian village was a nest of conspirators. End quote.

Nancy K Williams in her book Buffalo Soldiers on the Colorado Frontier, which I used a good amount of in the last episode and I will use a lot of in this episode says of this whole incident, quote, As word of the destruction at Pawnee Forks spread, the angry Native Americans increased their attacks on settlers, wagon trains, and railroad crews across Kansas and Colorado. Travel on the Santa Fe and Overland Trails was disrupted, and large war parties clustered around Forts Hays and Harker, killing anyone who approached, and running off the nearby stage station's horses. Four men were killed and scalped near Fort Wallace, and two teamsters hauling rock from a local quarry were killed and scalped within sight of that post. End quote.

Because of the escalating violence, the 10th spent the summer of 1867 on the plains of Colorado and Western Kansas constantly battling Indians in what has now become known as Hancock’s War thanks to his harsh treatment of the native Americans. Four of those battles took place at four different locations in Kansas, all called beaver creek. The fighting got so bad that all stage lines were halted on the Butterfield Overland stage line that sat on the Colorado Kansas border. Commercial travel even slowed on the important Santa Fe Trail which connected that city to Missouri.

One such battle took place on June 26th when Indian arrows tore through the tents of sleeping black troopers. Thankfully no troopers were killed as the Buffalo Soldiers fought off the attacking Indians but unfortunately for them five their number perished.

In July, 135 10th Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers and four companies of Kansas Volunteer Cavalry were attacked by a war party of over 400 Kiowa and Cheyenne who were led by Satanta and Roman Nose. They fought off that party of Indians only to turn around and attack an even larger party of Indians who were watching nearby, all of whom dispersed the scene. More on Roman Nose later.

The following month, in August, Captain George Armes and F Company of the 10th, along with over 100 other soldiers, volunteers, and cavalrymen chased 80 Cheyenne up the Saline River after they’d killed seven railroad workers. The following day, that band attacked the Big Creek Stage Station before turning back and attacking Armes and the Buffalo Soldiers. The war party had by then grown to over 400 Indian braves who fought for over 6 hours against the troopers and various men until Armes decided they needed to run or be killed. So run they did and for 16 miles they were chased while being shot at. Armes himself was shot in the hip during the escape. Unfortunately though, the first casualty of the 10th Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers, a Sergeant William Christy was shot in the head and died after only being with the Troopers for 2 months. Armes would later say, quote, it is the greatest marvel in the world that my command and myself escaped being massacred. End quote. He also said of his troopers, that they quote, fought with courage and perseverance under dangers most trying. End quote.

It should be said that Capt. George Augustus Armes would later in life brag about how he was the most court-martialed officer in Army history. Although he was born in Virginia, he sided with the north and won praise from his superiors after hand delivering stolen Confederate plans to the Secretary of War despite being caught by the Rebs he stole the plans from and having a noose around his neck after said capture. It is unclear how he escaped that noose.

Later on in the month of August, the Cheyenne dog soldiers were busy wreaking havoc across the frontier. In the three days of the 19th through the 21st, they attacked and killed three wood cutters, two stage coaches, drove off and stole cattle, killed three cowboys at a ranch, attacked another stage coach, drove off its horses, and killed two stagehands and a herder before making off with his livestock.

In response, the recently recovered Armes, remember, he’d been shot in the hip during the Saline River Battle, well 19 days after his injury, Armes was back on the prairie and on the hunt with 40 buffalo soldiers and 90 eighteenth Kansas volunteer cavalrymen. They left fort hays and headed to one of the four beaver creeks that dot the historical battlefield. Along the way though, they saw a distant campfire so some Kansas volunteers led by a Captain Jenness went to check it out. Unfortunately, they got lost on the way back and camped until sunrise at which time the volunteers followed Armes’ trail til they caught up with the lagging in the rear supply train. This proved to be rather fortuitous for the supply train because almost immediately they were all attacked by a large war party of Cheyenne. After circling the wagons with the horses and men inside, the battle commenced and would rage all day.

Reports of the battle say that some brave dog soldiers rode into the center of the circle and flapped blankets in the faces of the cavalrymen’s horses in order to scare them into fleeing from the confines of the protective circle. At darkness, Captain Jennes led the men away from the wagons using a buffalo trace in a quiet retreat to the protected banks of the Solomon river where they hid amongst the thick willows. Thinking quick, they placed rocks and driftwood around them for defense but it was too late. The Cheyenne had seen it all and attacked fiercely at daybreak.

Pinned down and cornered the volunteers began the seemingly hopeless battle. But thankfully, Captain Armes and his 40 troopers appeared guns a blazing and briefly scared off the attack before hopping in the ravine themselves. I say briefly because the previous day about 400 Cheyenne had attacked Armes, the buffalo soldiers, and the remaining volunteers. Many troopers were injured and many horses were lost but the men survived through the evening only for the attack to resume in daylight. Realizing their only chance of survival was to plow through the attacking dog soldiers, Armes led his men through the lines and towards the safety of the Fort but on the way, they saw this other battle at the Solomon river and raced towards it.

So now there were over 400 Cheyenne warriors, the party that had attacked Jennes, and more reinforcements showing up by the moment and they were all bearing down upon the volunteers and the 10th cavalry Buffalo Soldiers. This battle would last all day and only end after Armes himself led 20 buff soldiers out of the ravine, up a nearby hill, and into a reserve party of Cheyenne whom they began to attack fiercely.

After the battle, three Buffalo Soldiers lay dead and 39 were injured. Armes estimated that anywhere from 800 to one thousand Indians had attacked them with 50 dying and 150 being wounded. This engagement would be known as the battle of prairie dog creek and it would be the last US offensive operation in Kansas that year.

But the Indians did not give up the offensive. On September 9th three people were killed on the Santa Fe trail after the owner of the small wagon train that was attacked failed to wait for the 10th cavalry buffalo soldier escort. 6 days later sergeant Charles Davis and eight buff soldiers of the 10th were patrolling the Union Pacific tracks when a private John Randall and two railroad employees left the camp. Unfortunately for them, 70 Cheyenne soldiers surrounded them. The two employees were killed but Randall hid in a hole below the overhanging bank of a stream. The Indians tried to get him out of his hole by stampeding the horses above him which worked but he would continue to dig using his bare hands into the ravine’s walls. They’d expose him, he’d shoot a few Cheyenne, dig again, and repeat until the Indians fled the scene. By the end of the engagement, Private Randall had been stabbed 11 times but at least he’d be cited for his heroism.

Once sergeant Davis realized Private Randall and the railway men were missing though, he led seven buffalo soldiers in a search party but unfortunately for them! They too were swooped down upon by yet another war party except this time the buff soldiers surrounded the Cheyenne, stampeded their horses, and drove away the fighters while killing 13 of them.

Stage coach routes, overland migrant routes, and even construction on the transcontinental railroad were all stopped at the end of summer that year due to the Indians consistent barrages, raiding, burning, looting, and attacking along the frontier. The native Americans were determined to preserve their way of life and this was their final hope at holding on.

By October of ’67, the troubling General Hancock was replaced by General Philip Sheridan who brokered the peace of the October 1867 Medicine Lodge Treaty which saw the Kiowa, Comanche, Southern Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Kiowa-Apaches agree to head to their reservations as long as they kept their hunting rights in the Colorado, Kansas area of the Arkansas River. The trustworthy US Government agreed to provide an education, medical equipment, agricultural assistance, clothing, and food to the Indians as long as they stopped attacking setters, teamsters, railroad workers, and really anyone non-Native American. And then the government kept their promise and the Plains Indian Wars were over… Except no, of course not. Congress didn’t ratify the treaties, then they delayed, then within a year, the US had broken their end while still forcing the starving Native Americans to stay on their barren and now nearly buffalo-less reservations. The peace of the Medicine Lodge Treaty, which the Indians didn’t want to sign anyways, was broken within a year.

In 1868, the buffalo soldiers of the 10th cavalry had a new job: escorting their past foe, the Indians back onto their reservations. With the promised food and provisions not arriving, the many tribes were forced to hunt for bison off the reservation and if they couldn’t find any, they’d steal cattle. All of this was obviously unacceptable to the army and the settlers whose cattle were being stolen.

So, I’ve been thinking about this since researching and talking about the buffalo soldiers but my father really pushed me into bringing it up. I know I very briefly mentioned it in the intro episode but you’ve got to wonder how some of these black troopers, whose families was brought here in chains against their will, felt about bringing these Indians, often times in chains, back to these horrible reservations against their will? I know that these buffalo soldiers were now free men and most of them, if not all of them were born in the United States but you could make the claim that the reservations were much like the plantations that an escaped slave would be brought back to and punished in. Mostly in my reading I came across the fact that the Buffalo Soldiers were proud of their service and they didn’t see the Indian as inferior to them like many white people no doubt did. Take their boss, General William Tecumseh Sherman, for instance. Obviously some troopers did find killing Indians unacceptable like George Washington Williams who was a sergeant major in the 10th Cavalry but would later say, quote killing people isn’t a job for a Christian. End quote. He’d leave the service and write a two volume series called history of the negro race in America in 1881. I think much like the Navajo Code Talkers fought against the Japanese in the Pacific or how so many other native Americans have fought for Uncle Sam since the 1800s as scouts and later, soldiers, being a fighter for a country is more about protecting your brother in arms than it is about killing the enemy, which you will do if you or your brother is in danger. And many are pushed into soldiering by circumstance or the chance at a better future. This is a question that’s far too much for my little historical podcast but it is an interesting one.

So back to 1868. The peace had fallen apart, the Indians were mad, and the Cavalry was out to punish them. Enter the Battle of Beecher Island. Major GEORGE A Forsyth of the Ninth Cavalry, at the command of General Sheridan was to raise a company of quote fifty first-class hardy frontiersmen, to be used as scouts against the hostile Indians. End quote. And that’s just what he did, putting a veteran of Gettysburg, Lt Fredrick Beecher second in command under him and off they went in search of the wandering Indians.

On the 16th of September they found a large and fresh trail which meant they were close on their adversary’s heels so Forsyth sent his men to camp early to prepare for the battle he knew would come the following day despite being told by some of his scouts that this war party was simply far too large for them. In the predawn morning hours of the 17th, Arapaho, Lakota, and Cheyenne Dog Soldiers led by the infamous Roman Nose attacked the men with anywhere from 200 to 1,000 warriors. After the warriors plan fell apart when they failed to stampede the militia and cavalrymen’s horses, they retreated to the hillside to rain down lead upon the men. The group’s prospects were looking grim as they sat in the open valley until Forsyth commanded everyone to head to a sandbar island a couple hundred yards away that contained the cover of a cottonwood tree and some willows. On this island they created a fortress of sand, driftwood, and the trees, which surprised the Indians who were looking for a quick defeat. Forsyth reportedly yelled, quote, Stay where you are! It’s our only chance! I’ll shoot down any man who tries to leave! End quote.

In the oft quoted by me Buffalo Soldiers on the Colorado Frontier, Williams has this to say of the ensuing battle:

Lieutenant Beecher, a nephew of abolitionist Henry Ward Beecher, directed the scouts to pile up the horse carcasses to make protective breastworks. As the Indians crept nearer in a third wave, the scouts rose to fire from their rifle pits, and Forsyth suddenly toppled backward, a bullet in his right thigh. Moments later, a second bullet hissed through the air, striking him in his left leg, shattering the bone. The major was unable to walk and was trying to crawl across the sand when the doctor, who was coming to help him, was shot in the forehead. Next, Lieutenant Beecher was shot. The young officer, his blue jacket soaked with blood fell back into his rifle pit and died. Forsyth was hit again, but this time a sniper's bullet grazed his head, leaving a bloody groove. An arrow hit scout Frank Harrington in the forehead, and when a friend tried to pull it out, the shaft broke off, leaving the arrowhead protruding. Then another bullet struck Harrington, hitting the arrowhead and sending it flying harmlessly out of his skull!…

She goes on to say:

Around noon, there was a lull in the fighting as a huge number of Indians gathered on a hill within sight of the pinned-down scouts. Then one of the tallest Indians they'd ever seen rode up, and the scouts knew this was the Cheyenne war leader Roman Nose. Wherever he led the Dog Soldiers, crowds of young braves eagerly followed him. After the Sand Creek Massacre, he'd become a principal figure among his people, leading strikes against settlers in eastern Colorado and in the destruction and burning of Julesburg, Colorado, in 1865. War parties of Dog Soldiers led by Roman Nose pillaged and killed throughout the Powder River country of Wyoming, ranging into Nebraska and down through Kansas. Roman Nose was admired by the other Indians for his daring charges straight into the enemy's face and his bold dashes up and down in front of the troops within easy rifle range, tempting them to waste their ammunition by shooting at him repeatedly. He led countless attacks and always emerged unscathed. He was very spiritual and spent hours before joining any warfare in complex rituals and prayers, "preparing his mind and his spirit for battle.”

Roman Nose always wore an elaborate eagle feather war bonnet with a single buffalo horn on the front, a gift that was made for him by a respected medicine man. He believed this splendid headdress had magical powers that protected him in battle and made him a victorious warrior. To maintain this power, there were certain rituals and precautions that he had to follow. On this day, Roman Nose was not eager to go into battle because he'd learned that one of the rules required to maintain the protection of his war bonnet had been violated. The medicine man had told Roman Nose he must never eat any food that had touched metal or else he'd be killed in his next battle. Unknowingly, at a recent feast, he'd eaten some bread that had been removed from an iron pot with a metal fork. He'd had no opportunity to complete the purification ceremonies that required several days and were necessary to restore the war bonnet's protective power. He'd remained apart from the other warriors and had not answered the call to battle. Now the other chiefs insisted he join the attack to inspire the young braves, and they refused to listen to his explanations or fears. Roman Nose had reluctantly applied his war paint and donned his war bonnet, although without its protection, he was certain he was a dead man. He rode out to lead the Dog Soldiers in another bold charge. End quote.

If you understand foreshadowing at all, you know it doesn’t end well for Roman Nose who was shot in the base of his spine on his third charge of the men’s fortified position on the soon to be named Beecher Island. He’d die in camp the following morning surrounded by other Cheyenne and Sioux warriors who now decided a siege was the best and only option to win this battle.

Forsyth and his men would further entrench themselves, surrounded by stinking, rotting, bloating horses, mules, and men as the cries of the dying and the enemy dead’s widows hauntingly filled the air around them. The first attempt at sending a scout failed but the second appeared at first successful when the two men disappeared. They apparently walked backwards in bare feet only at night and while on the open prairie hid in a buffalo carcass but… I don’t know, maybe they did because they were successful in reaching help. But the men on the island didn’t know that and on the third day Forsyth sent out two more volunteers. Also on that day, one of the men, a scout named Hurst wrote, Had nothing to eat but the dead horses which were festering and decaying about us, and when you cut into meat, the stench was something frightful and it had green streaks running all through it. Williams says they sprinkled gunpowder over the rotten flesh to counter its awful taste… I’ve got to wonder if that helps or is even safe but… when you’re hungry you’re hungry. And speaking of hunger, on the 8th day, yes, the 8th day of laying in disgusting filthy stagnant bloody water surrounded by innumerable bugs and Indian warriors who were waiting for you to starve to death, Scout Chauncey Whitney wrote this in his diary, Made some soup tonight from putrid horse flesh. My God! Have you deserted us?

Also unbeknownst to the besieged men, most of the warriors had actually deserted them, choosing to leave with their families who had already packed up their encampment. I didn’t read this anywhere so I can’t confirm but I imagine they knew help was coming at this point. They probably even knew exactly how many reinforcements were coming and they probably knew that the reinforcements were the hated Buffalo Soldiers. So when the 10th Cavalry under Lt Col Carpenter finally did arrive, what was left of the Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Sioux left the scene without a fight.

The men on the island erupted in cheers and tears with one scout shouting, By the God above us, it’s our boys! Here’s what Williams has to say of the moment they were rescued:

Reuben Waller, a former slave and an original member of the Tenth Cavalry, who'd enlisted with Colonel Carpenter in 1867, rode onto the sandbar with him. Years later, he recalled, “What a sight we saw 30 wounded and dead right in the middle of 50 dead horses that had lain there in the hot sun for ten days. And these men had been eating that putrid flesh of those dead horses for ten days! The men were in dying condition when Carpenter and myself dismounted and began to rescue them."

Some of the Buffalo Soldiers started cooking fires and brewed broth for those who were unable to eat solid rations. As they spooned the nourishing liquid into the mouths of the weakest, Reuben said, "We began to feed the men from our haversacks. If the doctor had not arrived in time, we would have killed them by feeding them to death. The men were eating all we gave them." Waller continued, "We all cried together as we helped them out of their starving condition. God bless the Beecher Island men. They were a noble set of men.”

The Black soldiers cared for the wounded scouts, cleaning wounds that were infested with maggots and applying bandages. Tents were set up a distance away from the stench of the dead horses, and the wounded men were moved there. The bodies of the six frontiersmen were buried on the island. End quote.

Months later, after everyone was healed up and back in good shape, the Buffalo Soldiers were taken out for a drunken night on the town by their very thankful comrades.

A quick note about Reuben Waller. I was on my way out west to get married earlier this year when I stopped at the Fort Wallace Museum in far eastern Kansas where I saw a mannequin of a Buffalo Soldier. Since I was in the middle of researching and writing this series I went over to him in excitement and read the plaque and took his picture before moving on to the prehistoric sea creatures and other buffalo soldier memorabilia. But the Plaque said this, quote:

Reuben Waller: 1840 - 1945: Enlisted into U. S. Cavalry at Ft. Leavenworth in 1867 and was a part of the rescue at Beecher's Island in 1868. He was stationed at Fort Wallace as a private in Company H, Tenth Cavalry, in that same year. He was also a witness to Lee's surrender to Grant in the Civil War. In his 105 years, he saw 29 battles. Judge Gregory Waller who sentenced the BTK killer (2005) was his great grandson. Rueben left a long legacy of public service and integrity. End quote.

History’s amazing and all of us can have a lasting legacy if we do this little thing on earth right.

Almost two months later, on October 22nd, two companies of buffalo soldiers led by the Col Carpenter of Beecher Island rescue fame  were escorting a major Eugene Carr to the fifth cavalry when they were overtaken by 500 Cheyenne warriors. The teamsters instinctually circled the wagons near beaver creek, yes one of the many beaver creeks mentioned earlier, and the buffalo soldiers filled the gaps between the circled wagons. Only three brave Cheyenne warriors made it to within 50 yards of the wagons without being shot by the skilled marksmanship of the buff soldiers and their superior firepower that was the sharps repeating rifle. Many cheyenne died that day before giving up the battle.

In 1898, Col Carpenter was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at both Beecher Island and Beaver Creek and the Major Carr who’d been saved by the buffalo soldiers and who had previously refused to serve with them back in 1866 at their formation said, quote, the Buffalo Soldiers saved my hair! End quote.

General Sheridan ultimately realized that Indian campaigns in the summer were futile since they could reprovision with ease and often they moved their families and villages with them as they attacked on the plains. Therefore, he decided to attack them in the winter when blizzards, winds, hail storms, ice, and the occasional frigidly cold temperatures would hamper them. Not to mention the buffalo would be gone, the horses had no grass to eat, and the ground would be frozen. Thus, the disastrous winter campaign of 1868-1869 began which saw exactly what I just described above happen to the 10th Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers as well as the Indigenous Americans.

Even being led by Buffalo Bill Cody didn’t stop the Troopers from being stuck in blinding blizzards with no fires or any warmth because of the lack of wood or buffalo chips. Their horses died in huge numbers, sometimes right out from under them while they were riding. Horrendously strong winds pelted the trooper’s faces and hands which would sometimes be too frozen stiff to hold the reins. There were sub-zero temperatures, starving men, it was a horrible winter for the tenth cavalry. Many members would be permanently disabled due to the amputation of frostbitten fingers, toes, feet, and legs. Colonel Grierson would later call Sheridan’s Winter Campaign a "grand fizzle” and complain that it cost the lives of far too many soldiers and countless horses. Not to mention the deaths of hundreds or thousands of Native Americans. Not by the elements or the Buffalo Soldiers but instead by Custer’s 7th Cavalry who were ordered by Sheridan to quote, destroy villages and ponies, to kill or hang all warriors, and to bring back all woman and children survivors. End quote. Custer and his cavalry would kill the peaceful chief Black Kettle and wipe out his camp which would ultimately lead to their own famous death but not before the Seventh Cavalry would thank the Buffalo Soldiers for forcing so many fleeing Indians into their path during this horrible winter campaign.

In March of ’69, the Tenth would move their headquarters to Fort Sill, Indian Territory. Or future Oklahoma.

By June 1875 the southern plains Indians had to give up their freedom and home on the open grasses as nearly 3,000 soldiers and troopers, including the 10th Cavalry, scoured the Texas panhandle forcing them into their reservations like I had discussed with the Ninth during the Red River War.

In April of that year, The Regimental Headquarters of the 10th was moved from Fort Sill to Fort Concho, Texas in between modern day Abilene and the Mexican border in the central kinda southwestern part of the state. This set the stage for some showdowns, not only with Indians and bandits, but also the Texas Rangers. 

The Texas Rangers are an important part of Texas and the greater Southwestern United State’s History and are a fascinating and legendary group of men in their own right. They were formed way back in the 1820s under Austin to protect the Anglo settlers primarily from Mexican and Comanche attacks and they made good use of early Colt Revolvers that Sam Walker, a former Ranger himself and Sam Colt came up with that the Buffalo Soldiers would later use. SC Gwynne describes the Texas Rangers in Empire of the Summer Moon as thus:

Dirty, bearded, violent, and undisciplined men wearing buckskins, serapes, coonskin caps, sombreros, and other odd bits of clothing, who belonged to no army, wore no insignias or uniforms, made cold camps on the prairie, and were only intermittently paid. They owed their existence to the Comanche threat; their methods, copied closely from the Comanches, would change frontier warfare in North America. They were called by many different names, including “spies” and "mounted volunteers”, and “gunmen”, and "mounted gunmen."' It was not until the middle of the 1840s that they finally had a name everybody could agree on: Rangers.

But that was in their early days. By the time the Buffalo Soldiers were patrolling the Post-Reconstruction Era Texas Frontier, they’d evolved into a much more feared and successful group of lawmen, often using some extrajudicial tactics of punishment, tortures, and executions. It was around this time that their legendary status began to grow. Also at this time, the newly arrived 10th Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers were known to local Texans as Grierson’s Brunettes, and not affectionately. The distrust and distaste of the Black Soldiers by Texans was discussed pretty vividly in the previous episode but that was with civilians.

In 1877, the Texas Rangers, under Captain John Sparks, were sent to the Fort Concho vicinity of San Angelo where they began to stir some trouble. After entering Nasworthy’s Saloon in the fall, a group of Rangers saw unarmed Black Buffalo Soldiers dancing with Mexican women and got so upset that they shot the place up. Thankfully, no one was injured but Grierson demanded an apology for the outrageous behavior regardless. Sparks responded by saying he and his little company could quote, whip the entire post of Fort Concho. End quote. Naturally, the Troopers needed some justice which they found in a gunfight that resulted in the death of an innocent bystander. Grierson then went to the Adjutant General of the Rangers in Austin and demanded Sparks be removed. Which he was. Only to be replaced by a Captain G W Arrington who was described as a quote, notorious hothead, with a particular feeling of disdain for the army, and negro troopers, especially. End quote.

In February of the next year, 1878, more trouble began when a group of drunk cowboys and hunters teased and assaulted a Buffalo Soldier Sergeant in Morris’ Saloon by cutting off his chevrons, the stripes from his pants, and taunting him until he left, only to return with more armed Troopers. The ensuing gunfight left one civilian and one Trooper dead and two wounded. Naturally, the law blamed the black buffalo soldiers and the notorious racist anti-army hothead Arrington of the Texas Rangers sought the arrest of the Sergeant Goldsby who had unlocked the weapons locker which had armed the troopers. The Rangers, with much bravado, then march into the Fort but are immediately challenged by Grierson. You see what I mean by extrajudicial tactics? Arrington and his Rangers backed down and quit the area but it’s a good thing a gun battle hadn’t erupted. The Sergeant Golsby disappeared while 9 of his fellow Troopers were indicted for murder with only one being sentenced to death. That decision was thankfully overturned on appeal.

Later, in 1881, again in San Angelo… which as Noris White Jr of the Corsicana Daily Sun put it was quote, Flooded with ex-Confederates, extreme lawlessness, racial prejudice, and anti-Union sentiment, San Angelo was an iniquitous hotbed waiting to explode. End quote. So in February of that year after the above instances and many more, that hotbed finally exploded when a local rancher named Tom McCarthy shot and killed Tenth Cavalry trooper Private William Watkins either for no reason, or in self defense. Who could really say? You couldn’t hear my eyes rolling but after reading about enough of these accounts, the mind doesn’t have to wonder too hard what actually went down. And the troopers mind’s didn’t wonder too hard either and after the news had reached the Fort, well… I’ll let Noris White Jr tell the tale:

As the news reached post, riled and well-armed Tenth Cavalry troopers feverishly debated about what to do. Soon thereafter, they crossed the North Concho River in search of McCarthy, whom they believed was holed up in the Nimitz hotel. Bullets then rained down on the hotel for several minutes.

One witness claimed the troopers acted more like a firing squad. “A large body of Negro soldiers marching single file along Chadbourne Street. When directly opposite the Nimitz hotel they halted in perfect alignment, stepped back three or four paces and opened fire. They then moved around on Concho Avenue and poured volley after volley into the Nimitz,” stated the man.

Conversely, duty officer William George Wedemeyer inferred that the soldiers believed they were being attacked. “About dark some cowboys came to the creek opposite the post and fired at the post and a sentry. Just before taps alarm was given some cavalry soldiers went to town with their arms. I heard and saw the flashes of shots, evidently firing indiscriminately into the house. About 200 shots were fired,” said Wedemeyer.

Three days later, on February 3, both black and white Fort Concho soldiers notified San Angelo residents that they would wipe out the entire town if hostilities persisted. Meanwhile, the Texas Rangers were called in to restore order. End quote.

The warning the residents of town received was a handbill that stated:

We, the soldiers of the US Army do hereby warn, for the first and last time, all citizens, cowboys, etc… of San Angela (at some point the name of the town changed) and vicinity, to recognize our right of way, as just and peaceable men. If we do not receive justice and fair play, which we must have, some one will suffer- if not the guilty, the innocent. It has gone too far. Justice… or death… Signed, US Soldiers, one and all.

The troopers didn’t just fire into the hotel but also on several other buildings and it seems that many of the over one hundred strong soldiers were white men in blackface as was stated in the subsequent court case. After the Texas Rangers arrived led by Captain Bryan Marsh tensions began to cool even though he threatened to storm the Fort with his 21 Rangers and said that any Trooper caught on the other side of the Concho River would be dragged back to the Fort feet first. This whole incident became known as the Fort Concho Mutiny and represented the heightened tensions between the Black troopers and the white townsfolk that permeated the Texas and eastern New Mexico frontier. If you’re wondering what happened to the rancher Tom McCarthy, well he was acquitted in Austin but the town didn’t forgive him. Not for killing the Black Buffalo Soldier mind you, but for what happened to the town as a consequence.

Shortly after this incident, the Buffalo Soldiers of the tenth were moved further west to Fort Davis. After reading about so many of these incidents, I’m inclined to believe, although I haven’t read evidence for it, but it seems to me that the US Army was stationing the Black troopers further and further out in front of settlements as the frontier line moved to keep them out of towns that would ultimately resent them. From Kansas to Colorado to the Dakotas to West Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, they’re always moving westerly as they cleared more land for settlement and as that land filled up with white settlers… many times, from the south. It could be a coincidence or just that their job entailed them to move with the frontier line… but there might be something to it.

For a while, the only US Military presence in West Texas was the 10th Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers as they explored the Llano Estacado, battled the Comanche, Sioux, and Apache, built 300 miles of roads, 200 miles of telegraph poles, mapped 34,420 miles of terrain, and even protected the Indians friendly to the US. Once in 1879, they fought yet again against the Texas Rangers when they stopped the Rangers from going on a scalp hunting foray against a Kiowa Village.

During this time of the late 1870s, while stationed at Fort Davis, the 10th Cavalry earned the highest scouting mileage for 1878 in the Department of Texas with 6,724 miles. Also while in West Texas and Fort Davis, they fought in the campaign against Victorio, which I know I covered in the previous episode but the 10th actually fought in the last engagement against him within the borders of the United States at the Battle of Rattlesnake Springs which is the battle that forced him into Mexico… where his fate was sealed.

When Grierson and the tenth were dispatched to find Victorio, he sent several Buffalo Soldiers to important watering holes to deny the Apache their use and in the hopes that they would come to him instead of him having to hunt them down. At one such watering hole in Tinaja de las Palmas, in far west Texas, Grierson, 18 troopers, and his son, who was home on summer vacation, so, you know, a nice father son outing to kill some Apaches, Well they all took up fortified positions atop the ridge surrounding this watering hole and waited for dawn. Which is when Victorio and his group arrived. But they spotted the troopers and attempted to bypass the ridge only to run into more reinforcements and a fight ensued as they retreated back towards Grierson’s fortified position. The battle lasted four hours and saw one trooper killed and one wounded and only ended when even more reinforcements showed up from Fort Quitman.

Victorio was running out of options so after regrouping, he headed towards the Guadalupe Mountains. On the way there his plan was to stop at an encampment of his people at Rattlesnake Springs at the base of Sierra Diablo but little did he know, the Tenth Cavalry had already raided that camp, captured his cattle and several supply laden mules, and scattered his guards.

Meanwhile, Grierson personally led his Troopers, not sure if his son was with him this time after seeing seven Apache and one trooper die, rough summer vacation, in my opinion… So riding overnight, Grierson led four troops of his buffalo soldiers to surround and fortify Rattlesnake Canyon with Grierson himself climbing 2,000 feet up to command a view of the soon to be battlefield.

Before long he saw the approaching band led by Victorio and alerted his men, telling them not to fire until their rifles were point blank range. But that didn’t matter too much as the Apache scouts sensed something was amiss and halted their advance before scattering themselves amongst the rocks as the Troopers opened fire. Then Victorio charged the Buffalo Soldiers. The thirst for water can make a man do desperate things. For two hours the two groups sniped at each other from behind rocks and boulders and prickly pear until Grierson’s supply train arrived from Fort Davis. Victorio, hungry for a win, and probably hungry for food, sent a war party after the supply train which appeared unguarded. Except no, it was not… the black infantryman were hiding in the wagons and as soon as the Apaches approached, they sprang from within and opened fire. With more cavalry arriving and no victory in sight, Victorio and his men had no choice but to flee back to the Rio Grande and Mexico making this the last battle for he and his warriors in the US.

By 1885, the 10th was stationed in Arizona and they’d participate in the pursuit of Geronimo, another strong and storied Apache leader, although they wouldn’t capture him. One of the last battles against the Apaches would be fought by the 10th in that territory in 1890. Two years prior to that though, Ben Grierson was transferred to Los Angeles where he became Head of the Arizona Department and was forced to relinquish his command of his beloved 10th Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers that he’d led for twenty two years. As he left, he’d say the 10th’s quote, gallant and zealous devotion to duty ... cannot fail, sooner or later...to meet with due recognition and reward. End quote. 

His successor, a Colonel J K Mizner, understood that the 10th had been in the blistering heat of the southwest for far too long and were wanting that reward. Wether they were stationed in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, or Arizona, the weather was often harsh in all seasons. So he protested to the Adjutant General that his men, after twenty years south of the thirty-sixth parallel, deserved a kindlier climate, although please not further north than Kansas. He would later write this about the Army’s response, quote, With characteristic kindness, orders came to move at once to Montana, de-training there in mid-winter, in a blizzard. The regiment left Arizona in the southern spring. End quote.

Their new headquarters were at Fort Assiniboine, just 40 miles south of the Canadian border in Montana and surrounded by Crow, Blackfeet, and Flathead Reservations. Although thankfully, these Native American groups weren’t troublemakers. The real trouble makers were the First Nation Peoples of the Cree from Canada who were roaming the area illegally. But before we get into that, I’ve got to tell you about the first real assignment of the 10th in Montana.

In 1894, the United States was in the second of a four year economic depression that was the worst one in the nation’s history up to that time. The workers of the nation were hurting and unemployment was soaring. To protest, a humble businessman from Ohio named Jacob Coxey was leading what he thought would be a 100,000 man army from across the country to Petition in Boots that the nation’s leaders pass legislation providing food and work for the downtrodden workers and their families. Marches started everywhere from Ohio to LA, and from Pennsylvania to the Pacific Northwest, where the most ardent supporters seemed to be. Although most of Coxey’s Army of the Commonwealth in Christ fizzled out before reaching DC, at the time he was dubbed the most dangerous man since the civil war. So where do the 10th come in? Well that band of Pacific Northwesterners, mostly railway workers, many being from Montana, would be led by a man named William Hogan and they’d earn the nickname Hogan’s Group of Commonwealers, or Hoganites. When their numbers swelled to 700 and the local population grew surprisingly sympathetic, they commandeered a Northern Pacific Railway Train to help ease their march across the entirety of the Nation. They made it some 80 miles to the Bozeman Tunnel before they had to stop due to that tunnel’s cave-in. No doubt perpetrated by the Railroad Company. This allowed the train filled with 30 US Marshals that was hot on their trail to catch up to them and attack. But the tunnel didn’t stop them completely and they made it another 140 miles to Billings, being attacked the entire way, before being stopped again where a gunfight ensued between the Marshalls and the Hoganites. Two innocent bystanders, out of the hundreds that were watching the excitement, were shot, one Marshall was badly wounded, and one Hoganite was killed. Unfortunately for Coxey and his Army, this incident effectively ended the country-wide support he’d been mildly achieving. As for the train, surprisingly it kept going after the crowd of bystanders in Billings turned on the Marshalls and disarmed them with one reporter at the time calling them a quote, gang of legalized assassins. End quote. Ultimately though, it was stopped by 300 soldiers, including the 10th Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers at Forsyth. Most of the men that had participated were ultimately set free in Montana but Coxey would be arrested after setting foot on the grass of the Nation’s Capitol, although he’d give his speech for the workers at the Capitol 20 years later with an army of… 8.

The following year in 1895, the future leader of the American Expeditionary Forces in WWI and mentor to powerful men of the 20th Century such as George C Marshall and Dwight D Eisenhower, Lieutenant Black Jack Pershing would be given command of Troop H of the Tenth Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers. His first assignment was to round up the aforementioned Cree Indian Illegal Immigrants and take them back to Canada. Which he and his troopers did. Without firing a shot. And after covering six hundred miles over sixty two days in the field. Black Jack Pershing earned that nickname because of his very prideful association with the black Buffalo Soldiers of the Tenth who’d already proven themselves after thirty years of Indian fighting throughout the frontier of the American Southwest and its borderlands. 1/5th of the Cavalry Force used agains the Indians in that time had been black troopers. Well, actually, Pershing’s nickname was N-word Jack but he rightly changed it. He’d go on to serve with the 10th in Cuba as they charged up San Juan Hill. He later recalled that, quote, I saw a colored trooper stop at a trench filled with Spanish dead and wounded and gently raise the head of a wounded Spanish lieutenant, and give him the last drop of water from his own canteen. End quote. By now the Troopers had largely dismounted since our foreign wars of entanglement were taking the US to places more suited to Jungle warfare than plains battles but they were still proving their mettle and winning over their white comrades. Pershing also led the 10th in the Philippines and then Mexico as they chased Pancho Villa. Unsuccessfully, I might add, and almost causing another Mexican American War in the process. Pershing would later write of the Buffalo Soldiers, quote, several years of my early military life were spent with that organization, and as I look back I can but feel that the associations with the splendid officers and men of the 10th Cavalry were of the greatest value to me. End quote.

And with that, I will close the chapter on the Buffalo Soldiers and their exploits on the Frontier. Stay Tuned for next time when I will briefly cover their tenure as caretakers of our early national parks before moving on to some other exciting topics.

Black Jack Davidson; A Cavalry Commander on the Western Frontier. Arthur Clark

National Park Service Website

Charles River Editors the Buffalo Soldiers: The History and Legacy for the Black Soldiers Who Fought in the US Army during the Indian Wars

Buffalo Soldiers and Officers of the Ninth Cavalry 1867-1898 by Charles L Kenner

The Black West by William Loren Katz

The Apache Wars by Paul Andrew Hutton

Buffalo Soldiers on the Colorado Frontier by Nancy K Williams

WHITENESS AND CIVILITY: WHITE RACIAL ATTITUDES IN THE CONCHO VALLEY, 1869-1930 by MATTHEW SCOTT JOHNSTON

https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/rattlesnake-springs-battle-of

http://abuffalosoldier.com/yh5rangers.htm

http://www.buffalosoldier.net/BuffaloSoldiers&ChiefVictorio.htm History and Stories of Nebraska, by Addison Erwin Sheldon

https://missoulacurrent.com/opinion/2017/05/montana-history-jim-harmon-coxey/

https://fortconcho.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Ben-Grierson.pdf

https://www.corsicanadailysun.com/news/the-fort-concho-mutiny-1881/article_36dff362-d766-11e5-9f6a-1b275e814e7f.html

https://www.americanheritage.com/black-jack-10th#