WEST POINT – The Buffalo Soldiers ride again!
The US Military Academy unveiled a life-sized bronze statue of a Buffalo Soldier on Friday.
From 1907 to 1947, the all-black soldiers were assigned to the 9th and 10th Calvary Regiments at West Point to provide instruction in mounted drill and tactics to the Corp of Cadets.
They fought during the time of reconstruction in the mid-to-late 1800s.
General Vincent Brooks (Ret.), who spoke at an unveiling ceremony, remembered all African Americans who served in the armed forces before the founding of the republic.
“These are all contributions made by African American warriors and patriots to serve this nation for so long, but among them, none shined brighter or more enduringly in their impact than the collection of warriors known as the Buffalo Soldiers,” he said.
He recounted how the Buffalo Soldiers fought “valiantly” against Native Americans and Mexican raiders and lawless frontiersmen. Time after time, the Buffalo Soldiers distinguished themselves as “gallant and heroic warriors.”
(c) Mid-Hudson News Network
