Cottonwood Connection

Battle of the Buffalo Soldiers

Season 5 Episode 2 | 24m 42sVideo has Closed Captions

Let’s take a look at the creation of the first all-black military units.

Aired 09/29/2024

Cottonwood Connection

Battle of the Buffalo Soldiers

Season 5 Episode 2 | 24m 42sVideo has Closed Captions

Let’s take a look at the creation of the first all-black military units.

Explore the creation and history of the all-black military units, with a special look into one of their first major engagements on the Great Plains.

Aired 09/29/2024

Cottonwood Connection is a local public television program presented by Smoky Hills PBS

Cottonwood Connection

Battle of the Buffalo Soldiers

Season 5 Episode 2 | 24m 42sVideo has Closed Captions

Explore the creation and history of the all-black military units, with a special look into one of their first major engagements on the Great Plains.

Aired 09/29/2024

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Culture

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[Music] In the wake of the Civil War and with rising conflicts in the West, the U.S. military would form new fighting units of African Americans that would take their name from the monarch of the plains, the Buffalo Soldiers. [Music] The Civil War was over. So in 1866, Congress enacted to put inn two units of cavalry and also two of infantry of the black soldiers. This was good for them too because again, they couldn't find a job in the South. They had never been paid and here with the military they could join it. The Buffalo Soldiers, being called Buffalo Soldiers, soldiers were very proud of that name because it represented a lot of suffering and strife and heroism. My name is Oscar Clark. I'm the son of our group's leader, Jay Clark, John Jay Clark. I've been around this all my life. My dad as well as my uncle used to be with the Nicodemus Buffalo Soldiers. So ever since I can remember my family's been doing Buffalo Soldier reenactments, living historian type stuff, being in parades, very fond memories of the Nicodemus Parade, a homecoming parade every year. I mean, seeing my family up there, you know, it's a big celebration of Nicodemus' history, but seeing specifically my family, the people I know, going up and reliving this and showing off the maneuvers and showing off the history of the Buffalo Soldiers is something that is very near and dear to me. And my immediate siblings. 1866, Congress passed a law that said black men could serve in the military. So they had a choice. They could join the infantry. They had the 39th, 38th, 38th, 39th, 40th, 41st infantry. Or they could join the Cavalry. They had the 9th and the 10th. The 9th Cavalry is in Greensville, Louisiana. The 10th Cavalry is in Leavenworth, Kansas. Being a Kansas native, where do you think I went? Leavenworth. Went to Leavenworth. So see, they didn't have any trouble getting black men to join because they said that they were going to pay us $16 a month. Where else was I going to go to get $16 a month? Name is Jay Clark. I got started with the Nicodemus Buffalo Soldiers. My brother, Curtis Clark, told me to come over. I started hanging out. He's like, why don't you start riding with us? So I did. Went to Abilene, who was the first event I went to. They told me history and taught this people came by all the time. I fell in love with that. So that's why I still do it. I like to share it from a character perspective. As if I'm there, I'm there in the moment. So that's how I do it. I don't just talk. "This is what it was.

" I try to do it as I'm in person, which brings a little bit more reality, fun, fun into it. And I can say things that if I was just trying to just be documentary, I couldn't say. While still keeping it accurate. So I said, I'm going to go join the Cavalry. So when I got there, they said, how old are you boy? I said, well, I'm 16. They said, show me some proof. I looked at them and I said, what you want? Give me your birth certificate. What? Yeah, you carry one. What's a birth certificate? They looked at me and said, how old you how do you know how old you are then? I looked at them and said, my mommy and my pappy say I'm 16. So I'm 16. All I had to do is look like I was 16. So I enlisted for five years. So they could join the infantry or the cavalry. It actually started out the 38th, 39th, 40th, 41st infantry, which was later changed to the 24th and 25th infantry. And then the 9th and 10th cavalry was started. One was in Greensville, Louisiana, the other in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. They became the number one cavalry unit of all time by earning 24 Medals of Congressional Honor. I said they didn't have any trouble getting black men to join, didn't they? The trouble they had was getting people to command the black soldiers. So those white soldiers who could qualify, they would actually take a lesser ranking in the white units because they didn't want to be ridiculed. They didn't want to be ostracized. They didn't want to take the backlash. But those who did go against the grain like Captain Nicholas Nolan, never wanted to go back and command the white unit ever again. They had less desertion. They had less alcoholism. And they didn't have to worry about where we were going to fight. So as Nicholas Nolan was there, he was going around, he was teaching us our maneuvers on our horses because we do everything by command, just like the infantry does on feet. And as we moved westward, we ran into the Plains Indians. Now the Plains Indians were very spiritual people like the black man. They said God had sent them Buffalo to be their brother and care for them. What was the Buffalo to the Plains Indians? Their livelihood. Everything. And as we started moving westward, they seen that something was very peculiar about the black soldier. The hair on the black men's head looked very much like that, the hair in the hump of the buffalo. Our skin looked very much like that of the fur of the buffalo. As they got into combat with us, they said our fighting spirit was very much like that of a wounded buffalo. We would not die. They started calling us Buffalo Soldiers. So for the very first time in history, the black man was called something out of respect and out of pride. He took that name and wore it very proudly because we fought in every war this country has ever had. The Buffalo Soldiers didn't come to an end until 1942 for the cavalry in 1951 for all the Buffalo Soldiers when they integrated the military into one unit. That's just a little history of the Buffalo Soldiers. And my dad, Leland Clark, he was in the infantry. Got a great, great uncle, Sam Garland. He was in the 10th Cavalry. Sam Garland was my great, great uncle. His wife, Mary, her sister, Margaret, was my great, great grandmother. So Sam Garland is obviously was in the 10th US Cavalry and was stationed there at Leavenworth and that's where he mustered out and he introduced, was introduced to Mary and that's how they got married. They ultimately ended up in Nicodemus. So Sam as a young boy was born in Panzola County, Mississippi. His mother was Native American and his father was black and he worked on the riverboat as a cabin boy. And then, so he got a chance to really go up and down in Mississippi and see a little bit of the world during this, the antebellum years. And then he became a soldier and he fought in the Civil War. A lot of them had been veterans of the Civil War because there were African American units in the Civil War that were, won a lot of battles or helped in winning a lot of battles. And so as time went on and I continue to find out bits and pieces of information about Sam and in Lula Craig's document he talks about the Battle of Beecher Island. One of the first episodes they had in Kansas was rescuing the people at Beecher's Island which was just over in northeastern Colorado, not too many miles from the western state line of Kansas. So it's an island, yeah. It was where a battle actually took place by the river right there. Yeah, with the buffalo soldiers. Well, actually some other soldiers were there and the Indians had captured them. And they were fighting and the Indians attacked them. It was the first time they've ever had the repeater. Instead of just sending waves and keep getting shot down, they said we'll just starve them out. The Cheyenne had laid siege on them. So they just kept them from getting to the water because they didn't have any supplies because they ran off all their horses and all their supplies. So they're just going to starve them out. Well, they tried to send two guys out.

They got captured. So they seen they were dead.

So they sent two more out. These two scouts made their way off the island and were walking back to Fort Wallace. You know how far that is? It's a distance. But anyway, Sam and another buffalo soldier ran into them. And they took them back to Fort Wallace. And that's when they garnered the troops and they ended up going up and helping them. And so it was the buffalo soldiers of the cavalry that came up and rescued them first. I just find his story to be so credible, incredible. It's just like, "Wow, here's this young man, part Native American himself, joins the 10th U.S. cavalry, moves to the west.

" And he's in this area. And he ultimately moves to the area when he gets out of the military and comes and settles in Nicodemus on the Solomon River. It's just amazing. I think the buffalo soldiers had it rough, but it was great for them. It gave them a sense of pride. I think it gave them three square meals a day, even though it may have been hard tack and salt pork at times. But just to have that military status and be a part and then to get paid. They were going to get $16 a month. There was no place else they could get $16 a month, if they could even get employment, period. So the military was a great place for blacks to go to take care of their families. Many of them would go and they'd send the money back home to their families to help purchase farms and land and stuff so they could make a life when they got out. Many of them, even though they enlisted for five years, re-enlisted because they still had nowhere to go. It just gave them a little bit more sense of pride. And coming into their own as American citizens coming out of slavery. I know they were assigned to Fort Hays and they were also down at Fort Larned. Fort Wallace, Fort Riley, just about every fort there were. If they didn't serve there, they probably built the place. Because they built many of the forts as well. The military had them doing all these things, but they were still instramental in wanting to fight in these different battles. And when they did, they proved themselves very worthy. And then there's a quote from Major Albert P. Marle, 1870. I cannont speak too highly of the conduct of the officers and men under my command.

always cheerful and ready.

Braving the severest hardships with short rations and no water without a murmer.

The negro troops are particularly adapted to hunting indians, knowing no fear and capable of great endurance. I think these men took pride in what they did.

I know they did. In fact, we actually captured Geronimo. The 7th Cavalry was saying Geronimo was so smart, he was always one step ahead of us. You know anything about the military, they like everything nice and shiny, right? What do you think happens when that hits the sun? Reflection. So basically Geronimo could sit there and look and see and count the number of stars he could see. And depending on how bright they were, he could tell approximately how far away they were. We actually burnt ours. How much reflection is that one going to do? And that's how we captured Geronimo. And that's how he was always one step ahead of us, because he could count the reflections. There were various battles in western Kansas with the 10th Cavalry. but one of them was the Battle of the Saline in the late 1860s. My understanding of the Battle of the Saline really got started as a result of some railroad workers right there where Victoria is. They evidently got attacked by the Cheyenne. Several guys got killed. And word got back to the fort. They literally go back to the northeast. And they follow, I think they follow Big Creek to a certain point. And then they just keep going on up until they get to the Saline River. And they start going west in pursuit of them. And then when they got to where we think the battle site actually is... It was a running battle. A running fight isn't that you're on a dead run all the time. It's just that you don't have the battle scenario as you did in the Civil War. Were there's a line on the north and a line on the south. And you stand there and shoot at each other and go through. Because the military had to adapt kind of the Native American warfare in the plains as strike and get back. The battle site was in controversy as they all are. You have to find the right artifacts and stuff. And it's hard to sort out some of them from historic settlers. Versus what was military and what was Native American. Because the Native Americans were trading. And so I always wondered. And sometimes I would drive down those country roads near, in between. And I would always think, I wonder where it really is. And then one day I got that call from Michael Cox. And he said, "Angela, I got something I think you may be interested in.

" And he called me and he says, "I think we found the battle site of the Saline River.

" "Battle of Saline."

I said, "You did?

" He said, "Well, we're trying to verify.

We've come upon all of this stuff.

" So yeah, these gentlemen out here today are giving us a review of a battle that was fought here between the military out of Fort Hays, the U.S. Army, and the Cheyennes. Were they all Cheyenne or were they mixed? There was probably some Arapahoe in the mix. To tell the story, on August 1st, 1867, the Cheyenne attacked and killed seven railroad workers over at Victoria. And then the fort sent out the troop of Buffalo soldiers. He left with 44 in the beginning. Commanded by Armist. And he writes that they were marching upstream, and that would have been along through there when they encountered 70 to 80 natives up on a hill. And this would have been up here where the natives would have been. But as they came through there, there's a depression for sure. And just on this side of those trees is where the skirmish line is found. Yeah, and there were veins. And you could tell that they started attacking up and the natives started attacking down. I guess they fought their way up the hill once, at least. He continued to advance from this.

You can barely see the fence line over there. Through the trees. That's first contact. This was the brutal part of the battle. This was, that's hallowed ground down there. William Christie was killed down there, six natives were killed in this part of the battle. So you determined the battle started down here. And is that from the diaries or the artifacts you found? Artifacts.

I didn't think that was it. I thought I was looking for Custer's campground on the Saline River. Because I found a lot of old tin cans back in that first corner. And then other pieces. I was still digging up shell casings, live rounds. I found the gun barrel. Found the binocular eyepiece. Just a lot of debris.

Military debris. Military period debris. So, I still, but wasn't until I found the fire line in the ravine, I realized it was a battle site. The next day I called Angela and I told Angela Bates from Nicodemus' historic site. So he called me up and he said, "Come on over.

" And I went over and we drove around. And Mike had put some flags down. And I thought, "Okay, I can see.

" And if you read the officer's report and what he was saying and where they were located and what was happening, you could almost picture what was literally happening. And so I called my friend, Leo Oliva. And I said, "Leo, you need to come over here and see this. I think this is probably the battle site of the Battle of Saline.

" And she brought Oliva out.

He confirmed what I had found. The evidence is really convincing. And so then I called the State Historical Society. You guys need to come out. And you were talking about the artifacts. Sergeant Christie did fall. He would have had a saber, we suspect. And the saber guard was found. Michael, point out to him where that was found. That's just down here at the bottom of the North. Just right down in through here. So that probably was held by Sargeant Christie. It's a noncommissioned officer saber hand guard. And so that's why I had to put a position on where Christie was killed. It's right down here. But he came out here, started at Leavenworth with the rest of them, Fort Leavenworth. And unfortunately, many of his demise out here. So Armes got shot by a miniball. And we found miniballs out here. He got shot in the hip, he said. But he recovered quickly. Three weeks later, he was on the horse fighting again. Yeah, he was quite a young lad. But the Buffalo Soldiers made him look good. They had something to prove. They were doing it to build a home for themselves. They were trying to build a home for themselves. They were trying to make sure what they did was good. that gave their families a place to go. So, all those battles were about, I need to do this I have to do this for my family.

Where are they going to live if I don't. You know so I think where all of those battles I think that's what is in the back of their mind. If we don't do this, who's going to.

Who's going to help us.

And when I got that call from Mike, he said, "Ansel, you just got to come over and see.

" And I was like, "Okay.

" So that was exciting. And he just really, really was to know that this is... I mean, why all of the shells and the arrowheads. A battle took place there. And it just makes sense that it was the Battle of Saline. And it was their first battle site. This would have been their first one, too. That's one of the fires, their first battle. Their first fatality in William Christie. And it set them on their course to be one of the most respected military units up through World War II. You know, they fought... They went to the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II. This was their beginning. Everybody says, "What did they do at the battle?

" Well, what did they do before and after? The battle itself is great, but where did that take them? So, I have a little different respect. I don't really focus on the battles they were in. I focus on what they did from the battles. What came after the battles. Where did it propel you? Where did it propel black people? Where did it propel white people? Everybody thinks when you do something, it just affects your race or your color. When it affects everybody. I think the legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers in Northwest Kansas. You're talking right after the Civil War. During Reconstruction, this is what's going on out here. These battles took place predating the actual real migration and settlement of people. So, their involvement in that is paramount to the story itself of expanding this country, expanding the state of Kansas and the settlement, reaching all the way to the Colorado border and beyond. And then I tell people, because most people think of, "Oh, they hear the Civil War, and then they hear the Civil Rights Movement.

" There's about a hundred years different between those two. What happened in between that time? That was when blacks really made a big strive, because that was at that moment when everything really changed. Where they could read and write. Where they could own land. Where they actually made a life for themselves. That's when that dream started, where they could make a way of life for themselves. So, during that time frame was where I think a lot of that expansion, a lot of that growth and knowledge came from. I do it because everyone knows how bad black people had it. And had it in the past, some still have it that way. But I do it because I want to teach people how to overcome. No matter what card you were dealt, it matters about what you do with the cards you were dealt. It's especially ours with the Buffalo Soldier, but just, let's say, just American history in general. It's really easy for people to forget. And it's really easy for people not to appreciate how much work it took to get to the point that we're at. You just look around and see where we're at. You see the end product, but you don't understand, have any real concept of how we got here. You know, what it was like before we got here, what we had to go through both our ancestors, the advancements in both the military and just technology, society, and all that went into making us what we are today. The interplay between the different people, different races, different backgrounds, different ideologies, and how all of that has shaped our personal histories and that we're still dealing with today. You just don't really appreciate it if you don't actually bother to learn about any of it. [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO]

Cottonwood Connection is a local public television program presented by Smoky Hills PBS