Buffalo Soldiers-whence the name

Sam Clements SClements at NEO.RR.COM
Tue Sep 20 01:46:42 UTC 2005


>From today's Washington Post, the death of the oldest living Buffalo Soldier, Mark Matthews, 111.

"Sgt. Matthews, who also was the oldest Buffalo Soldier, was heir to a proud military heritage that originated with the black soldiers who fought in the Indian wars on the Western frontier. Historians say that the Cheyenne, Kiowa and Apache tribes bestowed the appellation because the soldiers' black, curly hair reminded them of a buffalo's mane."

I found a cite from Newspaperarchive,  the _Hillsdale(MI) Standard_  25 August 1868 which described a meeting of 5000 Indians all joined for a hunt.  

"At the head of the command was what they call Buffalo soldiers, carrying a long stick trimmed with fancy feathers, ribbons, cloths, &c, called the "Buffalo stick," and no one is allowed to go ahead of that."

But a cite from 1886 says the Indian "facetiously" called the "colored" troops this.  

So, why did the Indians bestow the name, which they had evidently had for their own,  on the "colored" troops?  And, if so, why?  If the name actually came  from another source, what was it.

Sam Clements



More information about the Ads-l mailing list