The Buffalo Soldiers fought and
subdued hostile and marauding Indians, bandits, cattle rustlers, Mescalero’s,
desperadoes, outlaws, bootleggers, comancheros and Mexican revolutionaries.
They served as protectors of cattle drives, settlers, stage coaches and
railroad workers. They sometimes carried the mail, strung telegraph line,
built forts which became future large settlements and explored and mapped many
unchartered areas of the West, especially Texas.
The heyday of the Buffalo soldiers was
from 1867-1898 but honorable mention is given to the 9th & 10th
Calvary Regiments activities through 1916. A general time line of the 9th
& 10th Cavalry Regiments subduing of hostile Indians looks like
this:
1860s and 1870s – Comanche & Kiowa
Wars
1877-1886 – Apache War
1890-1891 – Pine Ridge Campaign, The
Sioux Wars
The Buffalo soldiers, however, were
not given enough credit for their tireless effort that went into policing
South Texas and the Mexican Border with the constant harassments, looting,
stealing and murder by gangs of desperadoes who would cross the Mexican border
and elude pursuit when American troops had to stop at the Rio Grande. Mexican
Revolutionaries often used South Texas as a refuge, robbing and pillaging in
the process. Eventually the situation got so bad that American Presidents
gave permission to cross the river into Mexico in pursuit and eventually in
search and destroy missions.
This perhaps led to requests for the
ferocious fighting Buffalo Soldiers to participate with Teddy Roosevelt in the
Battle of San Juan Hill in 1898 and the campaign against Pancho Villa in 1916.
Walkes says that the first Military
Masonic Lodge for The Buffalo Soldiers was granted UD by the Prince Hall Grand
Lodge of Texas in 1883 to Baldwin Lodge, meeting in Camp Rice and nearby Fort
Davis, Texas. “The Lodge was probably named after T.A. Baldwin, a Caucasian
Captain, Commanding Officer of a Troop”, says Walkes who goes on to report
that “ Baldwin was born in New Jersey and became a Brigadier-General and
Commanding Officer of the 10th Cavalry. It was under his command
that the 10th Cavalry, led by Black non-commissioned officers,
saved Col. Teddy Roosevelt, a Mason, and his Rough Riders from being massacred
at the famous charge up San Juan Hill”. (2 ) By 1885 Baldwin Lodge was
given the number 16 and had moved to Arizona, at Forte Verde, Arizona in
1887, and then Fort Apache in 1889. It is recorded that Brother Benjamin F.
Potts was installed as District Deputy Grand Master of Arizona which was
designated the 6th Masonic District of The Most Worshipful Prince
Hall Grand Lodge of Texas. It was while at Fort Apache that Baldwin Lodge #16
found another Lodge Eureka #135, chartered by the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of
Missouri. Baldwin Lodge #16 soon moved to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in 1893-94,
Fort Assinniboine, Chouteau County and then to Montana in 1895-97 whereupon it
disappeared.
Such was the nature of Military
Lodges. Most over time just ceased to exist without the benefit of written
records to pass on to future generations the history of that Lodge. It was a
result of the Military Life, constantly on the move and the large number of
wounded Brethren and those who died in the service of their country.
After this initial chartering by the
Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Texas, the rest of the Masonic Lodges chartered
specifically for The Buffalo soldiers came from The Prince Hall Grand Lodge of
Missouri. It is not known why this became a special mission of this Grand
Lodge. It chartered so many Buffalo Soldiers Lodges that it became known as
the “Mother Grand Lodge” for the 9th & 10th Black
Calvary Units and the 24th & 25th Black Infantry Units.
Alas, most of the records and proof of existence of these Lodges have been
lost and it is only vague references to their existence that supports their
widespread popularity among the Black military units. There were so many
Lodges that it has been claimed that a significantly large number of Buffalo
Soldiers were Prince Hall Masons.
We do know about some of these
Lodges. Eureka #135 which we have already met was the first Buffalo soldier
Lodge chartered by The Grand Lodge of Missouri sometime before 1888. Then came
Adventure Lodge #136 attached to the 9th Cavalry in Wingate, New
Mexico, followed by Gillispie Lodge #140 with the 25th Infantry at
Fort Missoula, Montana, later with the 9th Cavalry at Fort Du Chesne, Utah.
Military Lodge #152 was next which started at Du Chesne but soon moved to
Fort Grant, Arizona. Military Lodge #153 was organized at Fort Grant. Military
Lodge #135 dedicated and installed Minnachuduza Military Lodge UD at Niobrora,
Nebraska on May 27, 1906.
Interestingly Missouri’s District
Deputy Grand Master, Brother W.H. Loving organized Manila Military Lodge #63
on March 5, 1906 and John M. McCarthy Lodge #50 in 1912 at Honolulu, Hawaii.
The latter was attached to the 25th Infantry at Schofield Barracks.
The Grand Lodge of Missouri would call these two Lodges their 20th
Masonic District.
Of all these Lodges we have only one
Lodge that has given posterity pictures. That was Joppa Lodge #150 with the 9th
Cavalry at Fort Walla Walla, Washington, then Fort Riley, Kansas and finally
The Philippines.
There is much to be proud of in the
performance of the Buffalo Soldiers. They received eighteen Congressional
Medals of Honor. Yet they operated with substandard equipment and sometimes
were working in weather extremes for which they were inadequately outfitted.
They constantly received old and worn out hand me down horses, often from the
White 7th Cavalry. Many of their saddles had long since seen
better days. William H. Leckie writes in his defining work “The Buffalo
Soldiers”:
“Poor meals, like poor horses, were constant companions of Negro Troopers.
The post surgeon at Fort Concho put it bluntly. The food was inferior to that
provided at other posts. The bread was sour, beef of poor quality, and the
canned peas not fit to eat. There were none of the staples common at other
posts – molasses, canned tomatoes, dried apples, dried peaches, sauerkraut,
potatoes, or onions. The butter was made of suet, and there was only enough
flour for the officers. Certainly there were no visions of a sumptuous repast
in the minds of worn-out troopers coming in to Concho after days or weeks in
the field.”(3)
The life of a Buffalo soldier was hard
and lonely. He was often out on patrol for weeks at a time in very desolate
and isolated country. Discipline was harsh, recreation seldom available and
prejudice and death always right around the corner. Yet the 9th &
10th Calvary units had the lowest desertion rate of any American
military units. Morale was high. As Leckie reports, Buffalo Soldiers were
‘proud, tough and confident” (4) and ferocious combatants. Maybe what they
had that other military units lacked was their religion and their Masonry
always with them.
There are a few engagements that point
out these qualities of the Buffalo Soldiers.
THE BATLE OF FORT LANCASTER, TEXAS 1867
Captain Frohock and Fifty Eight
Buffalo Soldiers hold off a force of 900 Indians, Mexicans and renegade White
men. The continuous firing of .50 caliber Spencer repeating rimfire rifles
and .44 Remington revolvers were instrumental in the Buffalo Soldiers winning
this battle.
BATTLE OF KICKAPOO SPRINGS, TEXAS MAY 20, 1870
Sergeant Emmanuel Stance is awarded
the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroic action in a battle with
Kickapoo Indians. He was the first African American to win his country’s
highest military honor in the post civil War period.
BATTLE AT EAGLES NEST CROSSING. PECOS RIVER, TEXAS
APRIL 25, 1875
In what is believed to be the only
instance of multiple Medal of Honor Awards in the same battle, three Seminole
Negro Indian Scouts and three Buffalo Soldiers were awarded six Congressional
Medals of Honor for their daring rescue of a wounded comrade while under heavy
fire and pursuit.
THE HEMBRILLO BATTLE APRIL 6, 1880
Two Companies of Buffalo soldiers held
off 150 Apache warriors led by Victorio at the site of the present day White
Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Reinforcements made this the largest
battle of the Victorio War.
In the Spanish American War four Black
Regiments fought with Teddy Roosevelt and His Rough Riders. The 10th
Cavalry commanded by John J. Pershing was instrumental in the victory at San
Juan Hill. Hereafter Col. Pershing was known as “Black Jack” Pershing because
he was a White officer who respected and enjoyed leading Black troops. Black
Jack Pershing went on to become a famous WWI General.
In 1916 Black Jack Pershing lead a
year long campaign into Mexico in pursuit of Pancho Villa. Black Jack
specifically requested for the 10th Calvary to be a big part of
this venture.
Frank N. Schubert in a paper delivered
at the 1998 conference of Army Historians in Bethesda, Maryland had these
observations:
“Despite the fact that
these groups shared the victory and despite the attention that gravitated
toward TR, the post-battle spotlight shone brightly on the Buffalo Soldiers.
Since the Reorganization Act of 1866, their regiments had mainly served in the
remotest corners of the West. They had fought against the Comanches and Kiowa
in the 1860s and 1870s and the Apaches between 1877 and 1886, and they had
seen service in the Pine Ridge campaign of 1890–1891. Most of this duty had
been performed in obscurity.”
“But Cuba was different.
All eyes that were not on TR seemed to focus on the Buffalo Soldiers. For the
first time they stood front and center on the national stage. A number of
mainstream (that is, white) periodicals recounted their exploits, as nurses in
the yellow fever hospital at Siboney as well as on the battlefield, and
reviewed their history, mostly favorably.9 Books by black authors
recounted the regiments’ service in Cuba and in previous wars and reminded
those who cared to pay attention that the war with Spain did not represent the
first instance in which black soldiers answered the nation’s call to arms.10
In an age of increasing racism that was hardening into institutionalized
segregation throughout the South and affecting the lives of black Americans
everywhere, the Buffalo Soldiers were race heroes. Black newspapers and
magazines tracked their movements and reported their activities. Poetry,
dramas, and songs all celebrated their service and valor.11 As
Rayford Logan, dean of a generation of black historians—and my undergraduate
adviser—later wrote, "Negroes had little, at the turn of the century, to help
sustain our faith in ourselves except the pride that we took in the 9th
and 10th Cavalry, the 24th and 25th Infantry.
Many Negro homes had prints of the famous charge of the colored troops up San
Juan Hill. They were our Ralph Bunche, Marian Anderson, Joe Louis and Jackie
Robinson."(5)
Robert
Gould Shaw Monument Boston. Gallery Sid Graves
All the below photos of
Robert Gould Shaw Monument Boston from Augustus Saint-Gaudens courtesy of Sid
Graves, Owner of Copyrights.
Today we celebrate The Buffalo
Soldiers with two attractions you can visit. The first is The Buffalo
Soldiers National Museum, 1834 Southmore, Houston, TX 77004 – 713-942-8920,
admission $2.00 pp.
The
Second is THE BUFFALO SOLDIER MONUMENT at Fort Leavenworth Kansas. The
idea for the sculpture came from General Colin Powell who was deputy commander
at the Fort in 1981-82. In jogging around the post he observed that there was
no tribute to the 10th Cavalry which was started at Fort
Leavenworth. Lee W. Brubaker and Eddie Dixon, an artist from Lubbock, Texas
created the statue. And Colin Powell returned in July of 1990 to dedicate the
monument.
“Many 10th Cavalry soldiers
attended the ceremony and proudly looked on as keynote speaker Gen. Powell
addressed them and others in the audience. For many, this was a moment they
had anticipated for years. Powell quoted from the last order issued by Col.
Benjamin H. Grierson, the first regimental commander of the lOth Cavalry, to
his black troops in 1888: "The officers and enlisted men have cheerfully
endured many hardships and privations and in the midst of great dangers
steadfastly maintained a most gallant and zealous devotion to duty...and they
may well be proud of the record made, and rest assured that the hard work
undergone in the accomplishment of such...valuable service to their country
cannot fail, sooner or later, to meet with due recognition and reward." (6)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1)
“Black Square & Compass”, Joseph A. Walkes, Jr. Page 65
2)
Ibid Page 67
3)
“The Buffalo Soldiers”, by William H. Leckie Pages 98 & 99
4)
Ibid Page99
6)
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