Ep. 49 Buffalo Soldiers: How America Forced Desperate Men to Do Its Dirty Work

In this episode of History Fix I discuss the history behind the Buffalo Soldiers mentioned in Bob Marley's hit 1983 song by the same name. Recruited just after the Civil War, these all Black army regiments were sent out west to claim land already inhabited by Indigenous Americans during the decades long "Plains Wars." Despite being forced by desperation to do this dirty job for a country that had previously enslaved them, these men fought so valiantly, even the Native Americans they fought against couldn't help but respect them, giving them the name "Buffalo Soldiers." 

Sources:

• National Park Service "Buffalo Soldiers" 
• National Park Service "Brigadier General Charles Young"
• National Museum of African American History & Culture "Buffalo Soldiers" 
• Buffalo Soldiers National Museum "Who Are the Buffalo Soldiers?"
• History.com "Buffalo Soldiers" 
• Encyclopedia Britannica "Battle of New Orleans"
• American Battlefield Trust "New Orleans"
• American Battlefield Trust "Black Confederates: Truth and Legend"
• PBS "Ripley, Ohio: Freedoms Landing"

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