Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1898-11-05
BUFFALO TROOPERS.
tbs NAME BY WHICH NEGRO SoL-
DIERs Ar: KNOWN.

xDents In dur Army-The Indians Stand
In Ahject Terror of Them-Thsir Awful
YeIls Won = Battle with the Redskins.
ct is not necessary to revert to the
civil war to prove that American ne
groes are faithful. devoted wearers OF
uniforms" says a Washington man
who has seen service in both the army
and the navy. There are at the pres
ent time four regiments OF negro SOL
diers in the regular army of the Uni
ted States-two outfits OF cavalry and
two OF infantry. All four OF these reg
iments have been under fire in import
ant Indian campaigns. and there is yet
to DO recorded a single instance OF a
man in any Of the four layouts show
ing the white feather-and the two
cavalry regiments OF negroes have on
several occasions found themselves In
very serious situations. While the fact
is well known out on the frontier, /
don't remember ever having seen it
mentioned back here that an American
Indian has deadly fear OF an Ameri-
can negro. The most utterly reckless,
daredevil savage OF the copper hue
stands literally in awe OF negro. and
the blacker the negro the more the
Indian quails- can't understand why
this should be. for the Indians decline
to give their reasons for fearing the
black men-but the fact remains that
even a very bad Indian will give the
mildest-mannered negro imaginable all
the room he wants. and to spare, as
any old regular army soldier who has
frontiered win tell you. The Indians,
1 fancy, attribute uncanny and eerie
qualities to the blacks.
THE cavalry troop to which I be-
longed soldiered alongside a couple Of
troops of the 9th Cavalry, black reg
iment, up in the Sioux country eight
or nine years ago. We were perform
ing chain guard, hemming-in duty, and
ii was our chief business to prevent
the savages from straying from the
reservation. We weren't under in
structions to riddle them IL they at
tempted to pass our guard posts, but
We were authorized to tickle them up
to any reasonable extent, short OF
manning them. with our bayonets, If
any OF them attempted to BLUM past u.s.
Well, the men of my troop had all col
ors of trouble while on guard in hold
ing the savages in. The Ogalallas
would hardly pay any attention to the
white sentries OF the chain guard, and
when they wanted to pass beyond the
guard limits they would invariably
pick out a spot for passage that was
patrolled by a white 'post-humper
But the guards OF the two black troops
didn't have a single run-in with the
,avages. The Indians made 1t a point
to remain strictly away from the ne
gro soldiers guard posts. Moreover,
the black soldiers got ten times as
much obedience from the Indians loaf
ing around the teepees and wickleups
as did we OF the white outfit. The In
dams would fairly jump to obey the
uniformed negroes. / remember seeing
a black sergeant make a minor chief
go down to a creek to get pail of wa
ter-an unheard of thing for the chiefs
and even the ordinary bucks among
the Sioux always make their squaws
perform this sort of work. This chic.
was SHINING himself, reclining, beside
his teepee, when his squaw started
with the bucket for the creek some dis
lance away. The negro sergeant saw
the move. he walked up to the lazy
grunting savage.
Look a-yeah, yo' spraddle-nosed
yalluh voodoo nigguh,' said the black
sergeant-he was as black as stove
pipe-to the blinking chief, jes' shake
yo' no-count bones an tote dat wattuh
yo'se'f. Yo' ain no bettuh to pack
wattuh dan All am, 20 heah me-
The heap-much Indian chief didn't
understand word of what the negro
sergeant said to him, but he under
, stands pantomime all right, and wher
: the black man in uniform grabbed the
, | pail out of the squaw's hand and
thrust it into the dirty paw of the chic
; the chief went after that bucket of wa.
, ter. and he went a-loping, too.
| THE Sioux will hand down to theil
children's children the story of {
} charge that a couple of the negro cav.
. airy troops made during the Pine Ridg,
troubles. 1t was of the height of the fra
2 cas-, and the bad Indians were regular
. ly lined up for battle. These two blacI
! troops were ordered to make the initia
= swoop upon them. You know the nois,
one black man can make when he get:
right down to the business of yelling
Well, these two troops of blacks start
81 ed their terrific whoop in unison wheI
they were a mile away from the wait
( ing Sioux, and they got warmed up AM
s. in better practice with every juml
l. their horses made. give you my sol
'e emn word that in the ears of us of tn
81 white outfit, stationed three mile
/ away. the yelps those two negro troops
10 of cavalry gave sounded like the car
10 nival whooping OF ten thousand devils
" The Sioux weren't scared little bit b,
the approaching clouds OF alkali dust
lie but, all the same, when the two blacl
Of troops were more than a quarter Of
1t mile away the Indians broke and RAJ
es as IL the old boy himself were afte
them, and 1t was then an easy matte