Benjamin Jackson Buffalo Soldier
Channel: Lawrence Molczyk
Date: 2016-06-03

World-Herald News Service

CENTRAL CITY, Neb. — A Nebraska soldier will be honored on Memorial Day in Central City 71 years after his death.

The grave of Benjamin Jackson, a veteran of the Indian Wars, will receive a military headstone. The grave has been unmarked since Jackson’s death in 1945, when he was 89.

Military records show that he served in the Army from 1881 to 1886 as a buffalo soldier, a name given to African-Americans serving in the Indian Wars.

“The Indians gave them the name because of their curly hair like the curly hair on a buffalo,” said Merrick County Historical Society President Bill Bolte, who has spent decades researching the Indian Wars.

Bolte said Jackson’s service was discovered during research for another project. Bolte came across a 1932 article in the Central City Republican-Nonpareil that detailed Jackson’s designation to receive a $30 monthly military pension. Jackson was 72 years old then but had served the country in his 20s.

Central City Cemetery records and newspaper accounts in Central City and Grand Island show Jackson was buried there, near his wife, Ida Fears Jackson, who died in 1933.

Jackson served as a private in Company M of the 9th Cavalry Regiment. Online data shows that the 9th Cavalry started its duties in Texas in the late 1860s. It served in New Mexico, Colorado and Texas from 1875 to 1881. The 9th Cavalry was transferred to Fort Riley, Kansas, in 1881 and to Fort Robinson, Nebraska, in 1885.

After his military discharge, Jackson returned to Nebraska. Department of Veterans Affairs records show that he worked as a laborer in Omaha until 1890, when he moved to O’Neill and carried hod.

Military records show that Jackson farmed for years near Central City. The article about his pension stated that he was “known to young and old alike.”

“He is a teamster by trade, a willing worker and a good citizen,” the 1932 article stated. “It was not generally known, however, that he was a participant in the Indian Wars during the ’80s.”

The ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. May 30 at the Central City Cemetery and is free and open to the public.

* * * * * 

If you go

What: Central City Cemetery Memorial Day ceremony

When: 10 a.m. May 30, followed by Buffalo Solider ceremony at 10:30 a.m.

Where: Central City Cemetery north of Central City, traditional ceremony in northeast corner of cemetery, Buffalo Soldier ceremony in southwest corner of cemetery