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JBSA News
NEWS | Feb. 10, 2016

History of Buffalo Soldiers remembered at JBSA-Randolph

Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph Public Affairs

Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph members got a history lesson on the contributions of African-American soldiers who served in the American West during the 1800s at a Feb. 2 forum at the JBSA-Randolph Kendrick Club.

Members of the Bexar County Buffalo Soldiers Association told about the significance all African-American units had in helping to settle and protect the frontier in the American West, from 1866 until the early 1890s, at the forum hosted by the Randolph Enlisted Spouses Club.

The club held the forum in recognition of African-American History Month at JBSA-Randolph.

Buffalo soldiers was the nickname given to the African-American soldiers, who served in U.S. Army outposts in the Great Plains and Southwest regions, including Texas, by Native Americans supposedly out of respect for the troops’ fighting ability. The troops were members of the all-black U.S. Army units formed by Congress in 1866 after the end of the Civil War, giving former slaves, freedmen and African-American Civil War veterans an opportunity to serve.

Forum speakers Turner McGarity, Billy Gordon and Cynthia Johnson, were dressed in replica blue army uniforms worn by the buffalo soldiers of the late 1800s time period.

McGarity said the black troops who served on the western frontier helped protect wagon trains, stage coaches, settlers and ranches from outlaws and Indian attacks, to keep white settlers from fighting each other and Native Americans from fighting white settlers.

“They were there to try to make the West a better place than what it was,” McGarity said. “They were known as peacekeepers of the West.”

Despite dealing with discrimination in the areas they served, McGarity said the buffalo soldiers served with distinction and had a low desertion rate from their units. According to the Bexar County Buffalo Soldiers Association website, http://www.bcbsatx.com, 18 African-American soldiers and their officers were awarded the Medal of Honor for their service during the Indian Wars in the West.

“They just wanted to prove to people they could fight and do things as well as anybody else, regardless of the color of their skin,” McGarity said.

McGarity said the history of the buffalo soldiers has a connection to San Antonio, as the 9th Cavalry, one of the units they served in, took their basic training at present day San Pedro Springs Park. He also spoke about Henry Flipper, the first African-American to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. in 1877. Flipper was a second lieutenant in the 10th Cavalry and served at Fort Sill, Okla., and several outposts in Texas.

Gordon said the segregated units the buffalo soldiers served in were active from 1866 until 1952, serving in several conflicts, including the Spanish-American War, protecting the U.S. border during the Mexican Revolution, World War II and the Korean War.

“For eighty-six years they gave service to this country as a dedicated, segregated all black unit,” Gordon said.

Johnson spoke about Cathay Williams, the first documented female buffalo soldier who served from 1866-68. Since women were not allowed to serve then, Williams disguised herself as a man to enlist in the army.

During her talk, Johnson spoke from the viewpoint of Williams. Johnson said speaking in first person allows her audience to experience what Williams had to go through during the time she served and after she was discharged when it was found out she was a woman.

“I think it brings a little more realness to it,” Johnson said. “I could talk about her all day long, but I think when you try to put it in the context of the day, people actually get it a little bit better, and it puts them in the setting of the 1800s.”