Mini Mag Mar 1 2021

After performing drills on horseback, the re-enactors try to give the audience the chance to ask questions about the history of the cavalry, including where they got their name. “The Native Americans knew that the Great Spirit, which is God, sent them the buffalo,” Tompkins said. “It clothed them, sheltered them and fed them, but they saw that something was awfully peculiar about the black man in reference to the buffalo. “They noticed that the hair on the hump of the buffalo looked like the hair on the black man. So they started calling them the Buffalo Soldiers, not out of making fun of them, but out of great respect for them.” After President Truman desegregated the U.S. military in 1948, the Buffalo Soldiers’ days were numbered. The all-black units were disbanded in 1953. However, their legacy endures. Thompkins wants people to know that Buffalo Soldiers were men of many talents. “Some say all the Buffalo Soldiers did was build forts and roads, but that’s far from true,” Thompkins emphasized. “Actually 23 Buffalo Soldiers received the Congressional Medal of Honor. They’re the highest decorated cavalry regiment in all of U.S. military history. “Buffalo Soldiers helped settle the West. They strung telegraph lines. They delivered the mail when Pony Express ended. Their contributions are numerous and great.” First Sergeant Barrie Tompkins and several members of the Nicodemus Buffalo Soldiers Association appeared in two TNT movies. They were filmed in Teddy Roosevelt Roughriders starring Sam Elliot and also appeared in Buffalo Soldiers with Danny Glover. The Nicodemus Buffalo Soldiers Association presents an important part of history most never knew about.