Regiments

The pins of each of the four original Buffalo Soldier regiments surrounding the patch of the WWI & WWII 92nd Division Buffalo Soldiers.

NPS / T. Engberg

On July 28^th, 1866, Congress passed the Army Reorganization Act which created six new, colored regiments. Two cavalry regiments, the 9^th and 10^th, and four infantry regiments, the 38^th, 39^th, 40^th and 41^st were established. All of the regiments would be comprised of black men in the enlisted ranks and white officers. While there were a handful of black officers in the first few decades of service, the Buffalo Soldier regiments would be led primarily by white officers. Three years later, in 1869, Congress again reorganized the Army and reduced the colored regiments to four, the 9^th & 10^th cavalry stayed the same, while the 38^th & 41^st were consolidated into the 24^th and the 39^th & 40^th were consolodated into the 25^th infantry. All of these regiments would serve most of their time on the Western Frontier for the first few decades of their existence.

Here we present the stories of the Buffalo Soldiers sorted by the regiments in which the men served. Choose a regiment from those pictured and listed below to view their stories.