After the Civil War, an exhausted nation rapidly reduced the size
of its one-million-man army. The first reduction to 55,000 troops by
Congress in 1866 specifically included the recruitment of regular
army Black troops with White officers. The army was further
reduced to 27,000 men in 1876. Ultimately, the Black troops
included two infantry regiments (24th & 25th) and two cavalry
regiments (9th & 10th) recruited from volunteers, many of whom had
served in the Civil War. These units served on the western frontier
to protect settlers who were flooding west and occupying lands which
were home to multiple Native American tribes. For almost 30 years,
Buffalo Soldiers fought Comanches, Apaches, Utes, Sioux, Kiowa and
other tribes from Kansas through Texas, Arizona and New Mexico
before finishing in the Dakotas and Montana.
The Black troops were dubbed “Buffalo Soldiers” by the Natives
due to their hair (which looked like buffalo fur) and fierceness in
battle. And fight they did. (The soldiers took the nickname as a sign
of respect). The tribal nations were defeated not so much in largescale
battles but through the relentless pursuit of the Buffalo
Soldiers and their committed White officers. Journals report a story
of a squad lost in a winter storm for four days without food, fuel, or
fodder for their horses; the ground was so wet with rain and snow
they had to sleep in their saddles. Another troop wandered in the
desert without water for 86 hours and 400 miles before finding relief;
they were reduced to killing their horses so as to drink the blood,
which made matters worse.
In the 1870s Victorio, a Warm Springs Apache leader, raided from
New Mexico and Arizona to deep into Mexico for over 10 years. In
about 1880 he joined with disaffected Mescalero Apaches and focused
on the Trans-Pecos region. He was ultimately driven into Mexico by
the 10th Cavalry stationed at Fort Davis under Col. Grierson.
Reports state he was killed by a volunteer Mexican Army unit in
October 1880, but Victorio’s people say he took his own life.
Grierson’s success involved stationing troops at every waterhole in
the area, destroying villages and food supplies, spending months in
Cenizo
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