Buffalo Soldier

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Benjamin Oliver Davis Sr. (1877–1970), first black US brigadier general since 1940. Photo from 1940.
Captain Charles Young (1864-1922), 9th Cavalry. First black colonel in the US armed forces since 1918. Photo taken around 1903. In his honor, the Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument was established in 2013 .
With Martin Robison Delany (1812-1885) in 1865 a black man reached the major rank for the first time. Contemporary painting.
Use of Buffalo Soldiers in the Indian Wars
Some of the soldiers of the 25th Infantry Regiment wear buffalo pelts, Fort Keogh, Montana, 1890.
Soldiers of the 10th Cavalry in Cuba, Spanish-American War , 1890
Buffalo Soldier Memorial, Fort Bliss , El Paso: The Errand of Corporal Ross', I Troop, 9th Cavalry
Members of the 332nd Fighter Group (Tuskegee Airmen) before a briefing, Italy, March 1945,
photograph by Toni Frissell

As Buffalo Soldiers (dt. Buffalo Soldiers ) described the Indians of the Great Plains ( Great Plains ) the soldiers of the African-American units, the Union Army of the Northern states by the end of the Civil War, lined up (1861-1865).

The often curled head of hair of the black soldiers reminded the Indians of the mane of a buffalo, the North American bison (Buffalo) . With the song Buffalo Soldier , the reggae musician Bob Marley created a musical memorial to the African American soldiers.

Deployment and deployment in the Civil War

Use in the Union Army

The establishment of the "Colored Regiments" was due to political considerations for the powerful slave liberation movement. Due to the large reservoir of white recruits, there would have been no need to set up "colored regiments" in the northern states. The principle of racial segregation prevailed in the armed forces from the beginning . H. Without exception, soldiers of the same skin color served in the units. The officers of the "colored regiments" were a few exceptions whites.

The Buffalo Soldiers found themselves exposed to racist hostility, which is why they were often only used for auxiliary services. The few “colored regiments” deployed in battles repeatedly refuted the charge of insufficient combat capability. The 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment under Colonel Robert Gould Shaw did particularly well in the battle for Charleston in 1863 , especially in the attack on Fort Wagner . Since the troops of the southern states did not regard colored members of the army of the northern states as prisoners of war and often executed them or sent them back into slavery , the army leadership shied away from their use. In this context, the " Fort Pillow massacre " (Henning, Tennessee ) is known, in which the southern cavalry under Nathan Bedford Forrest executed a large number of captured African American soldiers on April 12, 1864.

Use in the Confederate Armed Forces

Towards the end of the war, the army of the southern states set up “colored” construction columns made up of slaves , who were promised freedom for their work. Considerations for the formation of real combat troops were discussed in the southern states towards the end of the civil war despite violent contradictions due to military inferiority and made possible in the Negro Soldier Bill . However, the surrender was imminent, so it was rarely used.

Paradoxically, it was the southern states that in 1861 set up the 1st Louisiana Native Guard, the first civil war unit with black company officers; However, these only had militia status and were not considered equal to professional soldiers. The troops, recruited from free African-Americans, remained an exotic exception and in 1862 partially switched to the side of the northern states.

From the Indian Wars to the World Wars

After the end of the Civil War, the army was largely demobilized and the remaining parts restructured. Some of the African American regiments were reorganized. The 9th and 10th US Cavalry Regiments were stationed in Fort Davis , Texas from 1867 , where they made up about half of the garrison . They secured the trade routes in the southwest of the United States and fought in the Indian Wars until 1890. In 1869, four black infantry regiments were combined to form the 24th and 25th Infantry Regiments. They too were stationed in Texas for about ten years, served to protect the border with Mexico and were used in the Indian Wars.

After the end of the Indian Wars , they were used in the Spanish-American War (1898) and in the subsequent invasion of the Philippines (1898-1902). The 10th Cavalry fought in Cuba on the side of the " Rough Riders " of the later President Theodore Roosevelt . After returning, the 9th Cavalry Regiment was stationed in the Presidio of San Francisco and was responsible for the control of the first national parks in California's Sierra Nevada , Yosemite and Sequoia and General Grant until the National Park Service was founded in 1916 . Under General John Pershing , the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 24th Infantry were deployed together again in 1916 and sent to Mexico to take part in the punitive expedition against Pancho Villa . The two cavalry regiments were disbanded during World War II . Their relatives were mainly assigned to supply units that were not directly involved in the fighting. The 24th and 25th Infantry were used in the Pacific War. The 25th Infantry was demobilized and disbanded after the end of the war in 1946. On the other hand, from 1941 onwards , the Tuskegee Airmen , around 1000 black pilots who were deployed on all fronts of World War II, were trained in the vicinity of the most prominent university for blacks, Tuskegee University in Tuskegee , Alabama .

Discrimination and the struggle for equality

Especially in the period after the civil war, service in the armed forces was an opportunity for many blacks to move up in society. The rise to the officer ranks was rare. The reasons were varied. In the 19th century, the educational deficits of many black people , which were often due to the racist school system, made a successful military career difficult . Often, however, racist white superiors hindered the ascent of black soldiers into the exclusive officer corps . It was only after the First World War that Afro-Americans increasingly reached the ranks above company level .

The case of Henry Ossian Flippers (1856–1940) is an example of the adversity that black officers were initially exposed to within the armed forces . Flipper was the first black man to successfully complete his officer training at the elite US military academy in West Point . As a result of an intrigue by his racist commander, he was dishonorably discharged from military service in 1881. Opposite him is the rise of Charles Young (1864-1922) to the first black colonel in the US Army in 1918; the promotion to brigadier general, however, probably also failed due to prejudices within the military leadership. In the United States Navy 50 years later, in 1966, the military chaplain Thomas David Parham (1920–2007) achieved a comparable career with the promotion to sea captain .

Before their situation gradually improved from the middle of the 20th century, black soldiers were also exposed to massive discrimination outside the armed forces. Blacks in uniform, whether individually or in groups, have repeatedly been victims of violence by racist civilians. Examples of this are pogroms in three cities in the US state of Texas: 1899 in Rio Grande City , 1906 in Brownsville and 1917 in Houston . Nationwide outrage sparked the mistreatment of uniformed US Army sergeant Isaac Woodard, who was blinded by white police officers in South Carolina in 1946 . His case sparked a nationwide debate about discrimination against US black soldiers.

Promotion to generals and admiralty

Since the Second World War, black officers also gained a foothold in the general ranks . In 1940 Benjamin O. (Oliver) Davis, Sr. (1877-1970) became the first black US brigadier general; his son Benjamin O. (Oliver) Davis, Jr. (1912-2002) was the first black man to achieve the rank of Brigadier General in the US Air Force in 1954 . In the US Navy similar succeeded only in 1971 with the promotion of Samuel Lee Gravely, Jr. (1922-2004) to Rear Admiral ; the naval officer had been the first black commander of a US warship in 1961. As a final part of military force that drew the United States Marine Corps after when Frank E. Petersen (born 1932) in 1979 rose to brigadier general in 1986 and to lieutenant general.

The US Air Force officer Daniel "Chappie" James, Jr. (1920–1978) rose to become the first black general in 1975 ; the US Army moved to 1982 with the promotion of Roscoe Robinson Jr. (1928-1993). The US Navy followed again with a remarkable delay: it was not until 1996 that J. (Joseph) Paul Reason (* 1941) was a black man who achieved the rank of full admiral . In the Marine Corps, an African-American has not been promoted to full general to this day.

With Colin Powell the first black knew between 1989 and 1993 Inspector General of the US armed forces ( Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ) his service.

The end of racial segregation in the armed forces

In June 1941, a presidential decree banned racial discrimination , but not racial segregation , in all US government agencies. This made the US Marine Corps open to blacks , which until then was the only armed force reserved for whites. At the same time, the training of African American US Army Air Force pilots began.

Probably under the influence of Isaac Woodard scandal (see above) 1948 US President decreed in July Harry S. Truman by Executive Order 9981 , the desegregation ( segregation ) in the US armed forces. The black troops were gradually disbanded, and the personnel were distributed to other military units.

The last all-black formation was the 94th Engineer Battalion until it was disbanded in November 1954. The last living soldier from the Buffalo Soldiers era was Mark Matthews. He was born on August 7, 1894 and joined the cavalry at the age of 16. He died on September 6, 2005 in Washington DC and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

The role of the Buffalo Soldiers, and especially that of Captain Charles Young, was recognized in 2013 when President Barack Obama established the Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument in Ohio .

Representation in the media

  • The feature film Glory is about the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, a "colored regiment".
  • The films The Honor to Fly and Red Tails are about the 99th Pursuit Squadron and the 332d Fighter Group , who were recruited from the Tuskegee Airmen . They were made up entirely of black pilots. The units lost only 25 of the bombers they were protecting to enemy fighters in 179 missions.
  • The feature film Buffalo Soldiers '44 - The Miracle of St. Anna is about four Buffalo Soldiers of an American infantry company during World War II in Italy who rescue an Italian boy. In addition to the racial issue, the film refers to crimes committed by the German Wehrmacht against Italian civilians.
  • The film The Black Sergeant (1960) is a court drama by John Ford in which a black cavalry soldier is accused of murdering a white woman and turns out to be an innocent and military hero.

Web links

Commons : Buffalo soldiers  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

  • Alexander Weinen: Buffalo soldiers: the role of blacks in the American armed forces of the 19th century . Publisher for American Studies , Wyk auf Föhr 1992. ISBN 3-924696-70-5

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Stanford L. Davis: Colonel Charles Young ( January 16, 2010 memento in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ William H. Leckie, Shirley A. Leckie: The Buffalo Soldiers: A Narrative of the Black Cavalry in the West . University of Oklahoma Press, 2012, ISBN 9780806183893 , pp. 26-27
  3. ↑ James McPherson: Battle Cry of Freedom . Penguin Books, 1990, p. 748
  4. ↑ Louisiana Native Guards ( Memento from October 25, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  5. ↑ Chuck Hunt, National Park Service, Superintendent of Fort Davis National Historic Site: "An immensely significant civil rights story unfolded on the post as African-Americans assumed their first federal jobs as soldiers at the frontier." Fort Davis, Centennial Strategy (PDF ; 237 kB)
  6. ↑ Washington Post: Sgt. Mark Matthews Dies; at 111, Was Oldest Buffalo Soldier , September 13, 2005
  7. ↑ CNN: Oldest Buffalo Soldier to be buried at Arlington ( August 8, 2012 memento in the Internet Archive ) , September 19, 2005
  8. ↑ US Air Force Museum: Fact Sheet: Tuskegee Airmen ( Memento from January 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (English, accessed on May 16, 2009)
  9. ^ Report: Tuskegee Airmen lost 25 bombers. USA Today , April 1, 2007; accessed April 24, 2014 .