Finding Their Way in Service

Black troops continued to enlist in the U.S. armed forces after their joining in the Civil War, grouped into regiments based in several different places. Native Americans in the Plains region fighting against these regiments gave them their moniker. Various sites from their history are part of the Buffalo Soldiers National Park Sites.

The soldiers who joined these regiments gave much of themselves to the efforts of the United States. While some found their involvement a welcome escape from civilian life, equality was not the offering of the armed forces.

Segregation continued to determine the lives of these men. Their work in the military was irreplaceable, but their memory continues to deserve more centrality in U.S. history.