Buffalo Soldiers and Officers of the Ninth Cavalry: 1867-1898

The inclusion of the Ninth Cavalry and three other African American regiments in the post-Civil War army was one of the nation’s most problematic social experiments. The first fifteen years following the organization of the Ninth in 1866 were stained by mutinies, slanderous verbal assaults, and sadistic abuses by its officers. Eventually, a number of considerate and dedicated officers and noncommissioned officers created an elite and well-disciplined fighting unit that won the respect of all but the most racist whites.