Buffalo soldiers' slow march to memory front

Friday, June 19, 2020 0:01

By DOUGLAS KIEREINI

Buffalo soldiers of the 25th Infantry or the 9th Cavalry, while stationed at Yosemite National Park in 1899.

During the Civil War (1861 to 1865) the United States government formed regiments known as the United States Colored Troops (USCT), composed of black soldiers and Native Americans.

The black cavalry and infantry regiments comprised black enlisted soldiers commanded by white commissioned officers and black non-commissioned officers.

Some eight troops of the cavalry and one company of the infantry of the Buffalo Soldiers served in California's Sierra Nevada as the first black national park rangers.

The first black commissioned officer to lead the Buffalo Soldiers and the first black graduate of West Point was Henry O. Flipper in 1877.