| During the reorganization of the Army in 1866, Custer was offered but refused to accept one of the newly formed Negro cavalry units. Benteen served with a black infantry unit only so long as it took to secure an appointment with a regular (white) cavalry unit. For Custer, it was a fateful choice, for the Buffalo Soldiers never lost a battle, had the lowest desertion rate on the frontier, and had an exceptional level of discipline and esprit de corps. Yet they had the toughest assignments in the most desolate regions of the southwest, were issued inferior equipment, and were never accepted as part of the local communities which they protected. They rescued the Beecher Island expedition, helped the 7th Cavalry restore order at Wounded Knee, and later saved the day on San Juan Hill for a besieged Theodore Roosevelt. If it were not for the sincere, moral efforts of Colonels Hatch and Grierson, the Eleanor Roosevelts of their time, our heritage would have suffered ethically and morally. Like it or not, black Americans have played a role in every aspect of the evolution of this great nation. |
| Mrs. Custer,
in describing the first real fight of the 7th Cavalry in Kansas at Ft.
Wallace in June 1867, stated that a band of 300 Cheyenne led by Roman
Nose pillaged a nearby stage station and then moved on to attack the
fort. A small detachment of 10th Cavalry (Negro) troops had
just arrived at the undermanned fort to requisition supplies. At
the outset of the hostilities, they had been relegated to the
relatively secondary role of picket duty. Mrs. Custer then
states that "While the fight was going on...a wagon with four mules
tore out to the line of battle. It was filled with negroes, standing
up, all firing in the direction of the Indians. When the skirmish-line
was reached the colored men leaped out and began firing again. No
one had ordered them to leave their picket-station, but they were
determined that no soldiering should be carried on in which their valor
was not proved."
Elizabeth B. Custer, Tenting On The Plains, 1887 pp. 387-88. |
Good review of Buffalo Soldier History