Buffalo Soldiers-whence the name

[Sam Clements]

Just to add some factual info to the discussion, the Indians mentioned in
the 1868 article were

"There were about 5000 Pawnees, Omahas, Winnegagoes, and Pxxxxx?, all
encamped and on the hunt together.--"

I can't tell you what the last tribe mentioned is.  The print is poor.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Sam Clements" <SClements at NEO.RR.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Monday, September 19, 2005 9:46 PM
Subject: Buffalo Soldiers-whence the name


>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