Existing comment:
On the Western Frontier
After Congress established the African American regiments in 1866, they were quickly sent to the American frontier states and territories. There, they scouted and patrolled vast expanses of challenging terrain, provided security for settlers, built roads, and installed telegraph lines. They also spent endless hours performing drills, inspections, parades, and caring for their horses and equipment. The troopers faced a mix of danger and boredom accentuated by rigid military discipline. They fought more than 125 engagements against the Cheyenne, Apache, Kiowa, Ute, Comanche, and Sioux.
The black regiments were frequently ordered to return hostile Indian tribes to their reservations. These activities created feelings of moral dilemma and a sense of irony for some of the black troops, since many were former slaves and others were Seminole Negroes, whose ancestors had fled slavery and joined Seminole tribes in Florida. |