Unit Histories

"The Formation of the 10th Cavalry" (1) 2 (3) (4)

The 10th Cavalry was nicknamed Buffalo Soldiers in 1867. Several companies were engaged in a fight with the Cheyenne in Kansas in August and September. The Indians called their opponents "Wild Buffaloes." It was a reference to the appearance of the African-American soldiers as well as a tribute to their fighting spirit. The name got back to the soldiers and quickly spread. Eventually all African-American soldiers were called Buffaloes or Buffalo Soldiers.

One of the officers involved in this early fight was a captain and Civil War veteran named George Washington Graham. During the War Between the States he had commanded a special unit from North Carolina. The unit was made up of "galvanized soldiers." These were confederate troops who had been captured in battle or deserted and were given the chance to serve on the Union side. As part of the regular army in the west, Captain Graham commanded a troop of the 10th Cavalry in Kansas in 1867. Graham was typical of the officers that found a home with the Buffalo Soldiers. His experience commanding a unique unit in the Civil War was easily translated into the unique demands of leading men who were discriminated against and generally treated as second class even by the army.

There is no doubt that the men of the 10th who fought the Cheyenne made a lasting impression. The Native's who lined up against the "Wild Buffaloes" were impressed with the courage and ability of their opponents. In a short time all African-American troops were known as Buffalo Soldiers.

Graham had a solid career going with the 10th. In September of 1868 he was promoted to the rank of brevet major for gallantry and meritorious service in a battle with Natives at Big Sandy Creek in Colorado Territory.

Despite his professional successes Graham developed a reputation for hard drinking and womanizing and could not stay within the bounds of conduct for an officer and in the summer of 1870 he was court martialed and "cashiered," or stripped of all rank and responsibility and discharged, for disciplinary reasons. His life continued down hill. Over the next five years he became an outlaw and often wound up on the receiving side of cavalry gunfire. His end came in October of 1875, but this Buffalo Soldier turned outlaw left his mark on history.

Meanwhile the men of the African-American regiments apparently took pride in the nickname. Since the 10th Cavalry was the first to be named, it eventually adopted the Buffalo as a unit symbol and made it part of their crest. Years later the 92nd Infantry Division also used a Buffalo as a crest. They were called "the Buffaloes" as they faced fierce combat duty in Italy during the Second World War.

In September, 1867, the field officers were increased in number to their full complement by the appointment of Major J. E. Yard. In the same month the position of regimental quartermaster was taken by Lieutenant W. H. Beck. Thus were filled the last of the original vacancies in the field and staff.

The headquarters remained at Fort Riley until April 17, 1868. The troops were about evenly distributed between Kansas and Indian Territory and were employed in the perfection of their drill and discipline, and in the protection of the Union Pacific Railroad and exposed settlements. The only engagement of this period took place about 45 miles west of Fort Hays. Sergeant Davis and nine men of Troop G were attacked by fifty or sixty Cheyennes. They drove the Indians off in confusion losing one private wounded.

From Fort Riley the headquarters of the regiment went to Fort Gibson, Indian Territory. At this time General Sheridan was in the field directing military operations. The Indians had brought on a war by their characteristic restlessness and deviltry. They were attached to agencies to which they came in from time to time for supplies, but they were not confined to any reservations. General Sheridan determined to put them and keep them on reservations, or, if that could not be done, to show them that winter weather would not give them either rest or impunity. The consequence was the winter campaign of 1867-68, which resulted in the destruction of Black Kettle's band of Cheyennes, the worst lot of Indians in the territory. The 10th Cavalry was in the field and came in for a good share of hard marching and fighting.

On the 15th of September, 1868, Troop I, Captain Graham, was attacked by about 100 Indians. It fought until dark, losing ten horses killed and captured, and killing seven Indians.

On the 17th of this month Lieut.-Colonel G. A. Forsyth, A. D. C. to General Sheridan, with a party of white scouts, was attacked and "corralled" by a force of about 700 Indians on an island in the Republican River. Two of Forsyth's scouts stole through the Indian lines and brought word of the perilous situation of the command to Fort Wallace. Parties were soon on the way to its relief. First and last the following troops were started towards it from different points. Captain Bankhead with about 100 men of the 5th Infantry, Captain Carpenter with Troop H and Captain Baldwin with Troop I, of the 10th Cavalry, and two troops of the 2d Cavalry under Major Brisbin.

Captain Carpenter's troop was the first of these commands to arrive upon the scene. It found Forsyth's command out of rations, living on horse-flesh without salt or pepper. All its officers had been killed or wounded. Every horse and mule too, had been killed. Forsyth, who had been twice wounded, was lying in a square hole scooped out in the sand, within a few feet of a line of dead horses which half encircled the hole and impregnated the air with a terrible stench. Captain Carpenter immediately pitched a number of tents in a suitable place near by, had the wounded men carried to them, and the rest removed to a more salubrious air. Twenty-six hours later Captain Bankhead arrived bringing with him the two troops of the 2d Cavalry.

On the 14th of the following month, two weeks after he had returned to Fort Wallace with the wounded of Forsyth's command, Captain Carpenter was ordered to take his own troop and I Troop of the 10th Cavalry and escort Major Carr, of the 5th Cavalry, to his command, supposed to be on Beaver Creek. On the march he was attacked by a force of about 500 Indians. After proceeding, regardless of the enemy's firing and yelling, far enough to gain a suitable position, he halted his command, had the wagons corralled close together and rushed his men inside at a gallop. He had them dismount, tie their horses to the wagons, and form on the outside around the corral. Then followed a volley of Spencers which drove the Indians back as though they were thrown from a cannon. A number of warriors, showing more bravery than the others, undertook to stand their ground. Nearly all of these, together with their ponies, were killed. Three dead warriors lay within fifty yards of the wagons. The Indians were so demoralized by these results that they did not renew the attack and the troops accomplished their march without further molestation. They were back at Fort Wallace on the 21st, having travelled 230 miles in about seven days. For their gallantry in the fight, which took place on Beaver Creek, the officers and men were thanked by General Sheridan in a general field order, and Captain Carpenter was breveted Colonel.

Regimental headquarters remained at Fort Gibson until March 31, 1869, when they were moved to Camp Wichita, I. T., where they arrived on the 12th of April. Camp Wichita, an old Indian village, was selected by General Sheridan as a site for a military post and the 10th Cavalry was ordered there to establish and build it. Some time in the following month of August the post was given the name of Fort Sill (and remains the Army's Artillery Training Post today).

The military duty of the regiment was now that of an army of occupation, to hold the country from which the Indians had been expelled and to keep the Indians within the bounds of reservations assigned them. This gave rise to frequent scouting for trespassers and marauders and occasional reconnaissance and demonstration in considerable force. More than once the garrison of Fort Sill had to apprehend an attack upon the post.

On the 11th of June Camp Supply was alarmed by a party of Comanches charging through it, shooting and yelling, with the object of stampeding the horses on the picket line, and they succeeded in stampeding a few. These were pursued by Troops A, F, H, I and K, 10th Cavalry, and Companies B, E and F, 3rd Infantry, commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Nelson, 3rd Infantry. The Indians turned on their pursuers and attacked them, wounding three soldiers and killing two horses. Six Indians were killed and ten wounded.

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