The passage of a bill in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, January 25, signals the possible creation—a few years down the road—of a national park to commemorate the Buffalo Soldiers.
African-American cavalry units who patrolled and protected public lands from 1866 to 1918, the Buffalo Soldiers acted as law enforcement on public lands in America’s southwest and Great Plains regions. They fought in the Indian Wars from 1866 through the early 1890s, served in the Spanish-American War in Cuba in 1898, took part in the Philippine-American War from 1899 to 1903, and fought in World War I at the Battle of Ambos Nogales. Many of these soldiers also served as national park rangers in Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks in the summers of 1899, 1903, and 1904.
The Buffalo Soldiers in the National Parks Study Act (HR 1022, which passed the House with a 338-70 vote) proposes “a study of alternatives for commemorating and interpreting the role of the Buffalo Soldiers in the early years of the National Parks.” It continues: “The public would benefit from having opportunities to learn more about the Buffalo Soldiers in the National Parks and their contributions to the management of National Parks and the legacy of African-Americans in the post-Civil War era.”
Several national parks already tell parts of the Buffalo Soldiers’ story. In particular, Fort Davis National Historic Site in west Texas commemorates the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry and the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Infantry, regiments of African-American soldiers who served at this southwestern outpost beginning in 1866. Here they built roads and erected telegraph lines, guarded stagecoach stations, and pursued Apache, Comanche and Kiowa tribesmen who harassed stage and mail routes. The story continues at nearby Guadalupe Mountains National Park, an area the soldiers mapped extensively to aid their search for Mescalero Apaches.
Visitors can learn about these regiments at Yosemite National Park, where famous ranger Shelton Johnson (who was featured in Ken Burns’ documentary The National Parks: America’s Best Idea) performs living history as a Buffalo Soldier. At the Presidio in San Francisco—a unit of Golden Gate National Recreation Area—four troops of Buffalo Soldiers returned from the war in the Philippines in 1902 and remained there for regular garrison duty until 1904.
The Twenty-fourth US Infantry Regiment also served for thirteen months in 1899 and 1900 at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Washington state, where they quelled a violent uprising at the Bunker Hill and Sullivan Mining Company in Couer d’Alene, Idaho.
A companion bill, S 544, has been introduced in the US Senate and was heard by the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources in October 2011. This bill must pass the Senate, be reconciled with the House bill, and sent back to the House for approval before it goes on to President Obama for his signature.
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