WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Vermont Buffalo Soldiers Honored

Vermont Buffalo Soldiers Honored

Colchester, Vermont -- August 1, 2009

One hundred years ago, a regiment of black soldiers from the U.S. Army arrived for duty at Fort Ethan Allen. They were known as Buffalo soldiers, which was what American Indians called them.

Some of the descendants of Buffalo soldiers -- and others -- marched down officers' row at Fort Ethan Allen. The original 800-man regiment made up the 10th Cavalry. They had been out West, they had been down South, and they had even been to the Philippines and Cuba during the Spanish American War. They were stationed here from 1909 to 1913. Based on their prior service, they already had distinguished themselves as a fighting unit.

Walter Houghton, a volunteer director at the /Vermont Veterans Militia Museum, told Channel 3, "One thing that's unique about the Buffalo Soldiers -- you know, you always hear in the Spanish-American campaign about Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders. Well, if it hadn't been for the 10th Cav... The Rough Riders might have been defeated. It was really the Buffalo Soldiers that saved the day down at San Juan Hill."

Historians note that like the rest of country at that time, there were some racial tensions when the Buffalo Soldiers first arrived here 100 years ago this summer. But by all accounts they conducted themselves professionally. They were welcomed into the community. Some retired here. And some of their descendants live here yet today.

The Buffalo Soldiers served at a time when the American forces were segregated. Then came the year 1948, when President Harry Truman won the election, against the expectations of the press. Truman had just issued what many consider the most important presidential executive order of the 20th century -- integrating the American forces.

From there on, things would get better for black Americans. Col. Franklin Henderson (Ret.) is former president of the Ninth & Tenth Horse Cavalry Association. He says he entered the Army in 1952. "The military provided for me and all of my contemporaries opportunities that didn't exist for the ones before us," he said. "We've made a lot of progress in this country, and I'm proud of it."

Rosemary Graveline's grandfather was a Buffalo Soldier. The Winooski resident says she grew up in the segregated South and knows how bad things were then. That's why she helped organize this celebration -- as the grand daughter of a Buffalo Soldier.

"But one of the things that this has taught me," she said, "this learning about my own history, my genealogy, and my own personal history, has also taught me that I need to be proud about that piece of who I am."

It is a proud history -- the Buffalo Soldiers would assure that their descendants would enjoy the opportunities that most Americans take for granted.

Andy Potter -- WCAX News