The Black Soldier in the Regular Army during the World Wars
World War Wednesday
Now therefore ye are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being bondmen, and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God. — The Holy Bible, the Book of Joshua, Chapter 9:23
The Buffalo Soldiers were the Black American service members who served in the United States Army primarily on the Western frontier following the Civil War. Established by the Reconstruction Congress through the Military Peace Establishment Act of 1866, these units were the first all-Black regiments in the regular peacetime army. They were made up of the 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments, and the 24th and 25th Infantry Regiments. They fought in the post-Civil War wars against the Native Americans in the interior of North America, the Spanish-American War, and the Philippine War. Experienced in combat, one would expect them to be where the fighting was if America got into a big war overseas.
But in the lead-up to the First World War, the demography of the U.S. Army changed with more Southerners in leadership than at any time since the Civil War, and they did not want tried-and-true elite Black regiments in the place of honor as the “tips of the spear.” Historians have noted that during this era, Black soldiers were treated like the Gibeonites in the Bible. They were relegated to support, and relatively few were assigned to dedicated combat arms, despite the clear record of performance by Buffalo Soldiers.
There were two consequences to this:
Buffalo Soldiers faded from the public imagination outside of the Black community.
White American soldiers were denied useful support, especially in the Second World War.
By keeping qualified Buffalo Soldiers and other African Americans out of combat and filling any gaps with less-qualified White soldiers, the overall effectiveness of some American units was diminished. This was a sad irony created by prejudice, as America left talented soldiers off the field of battle.
Despite this, the legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers—like Charles Young—lives on in their work such as supervising the creation of the first National Park trails and their reputation in the Black community for encouraging valor and love of country. But it is important to remember that during the era of the World Wars, patriotic chivalry was not always rewarded. Men and women would have to make opportunities to prove the honor and valor of their people.
More on the Buffalo Soldiers to come.
