Buffalo Soldiers in the 1860s

On July 28, 1866, the U.S. Congress passed a law that created the Buffalo Soldier regiments. The act specifically established four segregated African American infantry regiments and two cavalry regiments. The regiments created were the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry, Thirty-eighth Infantry, Thirty-ninth Infantry, Fortieth Infantry, and Forty-first Infantry. The regiments were tasked with maintaining peace in the South during Reconstruction (1865-1877), building roads and telegraph lines, escorting U.S. Mail carriers, and protecting homesteaders as well as American Indians on their lands.

In 1869 the infantry regiments were consolidated from four to two all-Black regiments. The Thirty-eighth and the Forty-first were consolidated into the Twenty-fourth Infantry. While the Thirty-ninth Infantry and Fortieth Infantry were consolidated into the Twenty-fifth Infantry.

Follow the links below to discover the story of the Buffalo Soldiers in the 1860s.