It was a tight squeeze for Michael Brown, wedging his large frame into a small picnic table for a children’s tea party at Mother Neff State Park, outside Waco. Donning a plastic necklace over his uniform and handling tiny cups, dainty canapés and tea cakes, he charmed the socks off the children and parents clustered around the tables at an annual park event.
As a buffalo soldier reenactor, these experiences bring him joy.
About 150 years earlier, in 1866, Congress created six all-Black Army regiments—later consolidated to four—that became known as the buffalo soldiers. Their main charge was to support the nation’s westward expansion, build roads and other infrastructure, protect settlers, and guard postal routes throughout the Southwest and Great Plains.
That expansion often put the soldiers, some posted at forts in Texas, in direct violent conflict with the Native American tribes whose lands were being seized.
Originally commanded by white officers, the buffalo soldiers, numbering more than 40,000 in total, often faced extreme racism over 85 years of service. The last Black regiment was disbanded in 1951.
Differing accounts explain the buffalo soldier name. One is that Native Americans called the soldiers that because of their fierce fighting. Another is that Native people thought the soldiers’ dark hair resembled buffalo fur. Still another says the name came from the buffalo-hide coats the troops wore in cold weather.
The buffalo soldiers persevered through extreme weather; infectious diseases with little access to treatment; and rough, unfamiliar terrain. But in many cases, it was the first opportunity for formerly enslaved men (and at least one woman) to work as professional soldiers and be paid the same $13 monthly salary that white soldiers received.
All these years later, reenactors like Brown keep the important story of the buffalo soldiers alive. The all-volunteer Bexar County Buffalo Soldiers Association in San Antonio to which he belongs provides speakers for youth groups, schools, churches, trail rides and other historical events.
“Each of our 40 active members portrays one of the original soldiers from the 19th century,” Brown says. “All are Army and Air Force veterans.”
Brown was deployed with the Army 2005–06 in Afghanistan. As a buffalo soldier, he represents Sgt. Thomas Boyne, who received the Medal of Honor—the U.S. armed forces’ highest distinction—in 1882. All told, 18 African American soldiers earned a Medal of Honor during the American Indian Wars.
Brown, who serves on the board for the group of reenactors, wears an 1874 Army field campaign uniform with a dark blue wool sack coat and sky-blue woolen pants, heavy enough to make a brave man melt into a puddle in the heat of a Texas summer.
It’s worth the work for him.
“I especially love the educational portion of the program,” Brown says. “We explain to the audience how the soldiers’ past was tied into slavery and the honor of becoming the first professional soldiers. And for me, it’s all about the kids.”
The reenactors tell a broader story of what life was like on the frontier in Texas. While theirs is a serious mission, they make learning fun, including occasionally sitting down with a group of children to share tiny cups of tea.