The U.S. 9th and 10th Cavalry (Buffalo Soldiers)

This group of soldiers was established after the Civil War when Congress passed a bill to establish a peacetime military unit. Provisions in this bill created six regiments of colored troops-four infantry (foot soldiers) and two cavalry (on horseback)-of about 1,000 men each. Many of them were freed slaves who enlisted in what was organized as the 9th and 10th Cavalries.

Although there are several theories, the Buffalo Soldiers actually got their name from their enemies, the American Indians, who admired the colored troopers' fearlessness and courage (qualities also found in the buffalo). The Native Americans also believed that the soldiers' hair resembled the tuft between the horns of the bison. Thus, the name Buffalo Soldiers stuck and the soldiers wore it with pride.

The Buffalo Soldiers served at Wounded Knee and with Teddy Roosevelt in Cuba, battled Crazy Horse, helped capture Geronimo and Billy the Kid and strung telegraph lines across the West. Buffalo Soldiers endured and overcame tremendous social and environmental obstacles for more than twenty-five years.

After the return of all black units from the Spanish American War in 1898, many of the troops from the 10th Cavalry were assigned to Camp Albert G. Force in Huntsville, Alabama. These soldiers were encamped on the present-day site of the Academy for Academics at Arts at Cavalry Hill. Huntsville petitioned Congress to have the soldiers who fought in the Spanish American War to come to Huntsville to recuperate from battle wounds and malaria and other diseases contracted during the war. The campsite was located off Pulaski Pike between University Drive and Oakwood in the Cavalry Hill community. Cavalry Hill Elementary and the Cavalry Hill Friendship Neighborhood Center are named in recognition of these brave troops who were also honored by President Roosevelt and Commander "Black Jack" Pershing for their valor and contribution to America.