Buffalo Soldiers Monument

A memorial to recognize the Buffalo Soldiers of the 9th and 10th Cavalry, regiments made up entirely of Black soldiers that were established after the Civil War. The memorial features a wall made from native limestone, which stands behind a nine-foot-tall bronze sculpture of a Buffalo Soldier. The memorial is located near a government housing area that was built in the 1940s for these soldiers and their families.

The nickname “Buffalo Soldier” first came about in the late 19th century. According to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, common lore holds that “Native Americans coined the term either because the soldiers’ dark curly hair resembled a buffalo mane or because the soldiers fought like the fierce Great Plains buffalo.” It soon became a term used for all Black soldiers, who adopted the buffalo as a symbol of their unit.