The 25th Infantry Regiment US Army
The Buffalo Soldiers Served for Almost a Hundred Years with Honor
Aug 15, 2007
After the American Civil War the US (Union) Army drew down dramatically. At its peak the Union Army had nearly one million men under arms. By 1868 this had been reduced to some 25,000 regular troops. These were assorted into 25 infantry regiments and ten of cavalry. During the Civil war some 200,000 African American troops served in the segregated US Colored Troops as part of the Army. These men filled out 164 regiments by themselves. Their contribution ensured that the postwar military would include black troops. Congress therefore decided that two of the regular cavalry regiments (the 9th and 10th) would be black as well as two of the infantry regiments (the 24th and 25th).
The 25th Infantry Regiment was organized at Jackson Barracks, Louisiana in April 1868 from African American recruits who had served in the US Army during the civil War. The units typically and almost without exception were officered entirely by white officers, however the non-commissioned officers were drawn from the ranks. It is accepted fact that the long serving sergeants of the black regiments were professional soldiers of the highest quality. The 25th spent twenty years broken up in small company sized frontier posts where they helped bring law and order to the American West. They built forts, enforced Indian treaties, and guarded the Mexican border (which they crossed briefly in 1878 on a punitive expedition). They earned a reputation as a rather elite unit that completed their missions successfully. Rates of courts marshal, drunkenness, and desertion were much lower in the 25th than in many other regular army units. The regiment served in the last uprising of the Sioux in 1890 but was not associated with the massacre at Wounded Knee that closed that campaign. The men of the four black regiments in the Army earned the nickname “buffalo soldiers” from the American Indians they policed and often assisted. The close of the Indian Wars and the coming of the 20th century brought about changes for the men of the 25th.
The buffalo soldiers helped bust the Northern Pacific Railroad strike in 1894. In 1897 a bicycle unit, cutting edge technology for the time, was formed in the 25th. In an exercise these men covered an epic 1900 miles in forty days over primitive roads across the United States. The Regiment deployed to Cuba during the Spanish American war and was key in the battle of San Juan Hill, in which more than a quarter of the solders involved were black. These men however were not seen in the picture with Teddy Roosevelt at the top of the hill. Private T. C. Butler, Company H, 25th Infantry, was the first man to enter the blockhouse at El Caney, and took possession of the Spanish flag. Butler handed the flag under orders to an officer of the 12th Infantry and to this day the 12th is credited with capturing the banner, even making it part of their unit insignia. This was done even under official protest from Lt Col AS Daggett, the commander of the 25th at the Battle of El Caney.
After Cuba the Regiment found itself in the Philippine for several years fighting Filipino nationalists (Insurectos) led by Emilio Aguinaldo. Following this the regiment served garrison duty in Minnesota, Washington, Nebraska and California. In 1906 when Ft Niobrara, Nebraska was closed companies B, C and D of the 1st Battalion, 25th Infantry were reassigned to Ft Brown on the Mexican border near Brownsville, Texas. There they became involved in the Brownsville Raid incident. Following this the unit served in Oklahoma and Arizona.
World War One brought about an amazing increase in the size of the US Army. The veteran Buffalo Soldier regiments of the regular army were however denied the opportunity to go into battle on the Western Front while national guardsmen and draftees were sent by the thousands. The 25th spent the war garrisoning Hawaii. A shortage of officers however led at least eighty black sergeants of the Regiment to be picked for wartime appointment as officers in other units. These men trained for four months at Ft Des Moines and went on to lead men in labor companies and training units as lieutenants. After the war they reverted to their previous ranks.
World War Two brought a similar situation. The entire 25th formed the regular "cadre" of the newly formed all black 93rd Infantry Division at Ft. Huachuca in 1942 for service in WWII. The 93rd Infantry spent 175 days in combat. It saw action in New Guniea and the Solomon Islands in the Pacific Theater. The 93rd Infantry Division was inactivated at Camp Stoneman California on February 3, 1946 and the 25th Infantry Regiment's colors were officially retired in 1949. Segregation ended in the Army shortly after the war and the last all-black unit was disbanded September 30th, 1954
Sources
John D. Weaver The BrownsvilleRaid Texas A&M University Press, 1970
John Henry Nankivell Buffalo Soldier Regiment: History of the Twenty-fifth United States Infantry, 1869-1926
Edward Coffman The Regulars: the American Army 1898-1941 2004 Harvard College Press
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