On September 21, 1866, a brand new regiment was formed. The 10th Calvary Regiment was comprised of Black men, and was given the nickname, The Buffalo Soldiers. The nickname was given to them by the Native Americans, due to their hair reminding them of the top of a buffalos head.

The regiment served in the Indian Wars of the western United States, and eventually formed more regiments including the 9th, 24th and 25th Regiments.

They also went on to fight in the Spanish-American war, the Philippine-American war, the Mexican border war, World War 1, World War 2, and the Korean War.

In addition to being a battle regiment, they were also our first Park Rangers. Eight troops of the 9th regiment, and one of the 24th served in the Sierra Nevada mountains. In 1899, Buffalo Soldiers of the 24th regiment served in Yosemite, Sequoia, and General Grant National Parks. Now the National Park Service started in 1916, so they were park rangers before the term was coined.

They watched the parks for illegal poaching, timber thieves, illegal fishing, and just made the parks a more enjoyable place.

And those hats you see them wearing became synonymous with park rangers and more famously, Smokey the Bear.

Up to the end of World War 2, troops were segregated. Until President Truman signed executive order 9981, which desegregated the military. In the Korean War, troops were officially integrated. In the Wars after the Korean War, the Buffalo Soldiers still appeared after being reactivated, most notably during the second Iraq War.

I hope you all enjoyed these Black History lessons, and learned some new facts. I had an absolute blast writing these posts and researching for you all. I feel a sense of pride in honoring these amazing Black people. Thank you Janey for having me, and thank you lovely readers for reading my posts.

So once again, I’m Carla of TinyAngryCrafts in a lazy blogger and can be better found on my Instagram, and I’ll see y’all again later.