Buffalo Soldiers Memorial Breaks Ground

Posted: 06/08/2009 10:13:51 PM MDT



An artist's depiction of the Buffalo Soldiers memorial at Concordia Cementary. (Special to the Times)

EL PASO -- The Buffalo Soldiers' storied involvement in the American Southwest -- from the Indian Wars, to the Mexican Revolution, to protecting the Butterfield-Overland Trail -- will soon be recognized by a memorial at Concordia Cemetery honoring the black infantrymen and cavalry buried there.

The Concordia Heritage Association broke ground Monday on a nearly 5,000 square-foot memorial grounds at the cemetery. The $35,000 memorial will honor 42 Buffalo Soldiers with memorial grave markers, plaques and engraved bricks purchased by the memorial's donors.

Ten Buffalo Soldiers buried at Fort Bliss will be recognized at the memorial as well, along with an unknown number of soldiers who were killed in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution.

Bernie Sargent, left, chairman of the El Paso County Historical Commission, took part in symbolic ground breaking ceremony Monday for a Buffalo Soldier Memorial at Concordia Cemetery. The memorial will honor 42 Buffalo Soldiers known to be buried there. (Rudy Gutierrez / El Paso Times)

"We as a chapter here in El Paso are charged with trying to continue the legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers," Hank Green, of the Donnie W. Brown Buffalo Soldier Chapter, said. "We want to remind (El Pasoans) of the deeds, the hard work and the bravery of these young men, mostly slaves, who were on the frontier here."

The memorial, which will be built by probationers from the West Texas Community Supervision and Corrections Department, is expected to be complete by November.

The memorial will complement the Buffalo Soldier Memorial at Fort Bliss, titled "The Errand of Cpl. Ross," which depicts Cpl. John Ross of the 9th Cavalry on a horse during an encounter in the Guadalupe Mountains during the Indian Wars.

Buffalo Soldiers were first sent to the El Paso region during the Civil War as the United States began to focus its attention on securing the present-day American Southwest. Four of six Buffalo Soldier regiments, the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 24th and 25th Infantry, were stationed in El Paso and all along the Rio Grande.

Initially, the Buffalo Soldiers were sent to the area to protect the Butterfield-Overland Stage Route -- a trade and mail line that stretched from San Antonio to San Diego that was vulnerable to bandits.

Their service extended beyond that as the U.S. Army conducted a manhunt in New Mexico, Arizona and the Mexican state of Sonora for Apache war leader Geronimo, who eluded U.S. forces for nearly 30 years until he was captured in southern Arizona in 1886.

"During the Indian Wars, the Buffalo Soldiers served in West Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. That's where they did the real hard work," said Beth Jones, an El Paso historian and a member of the Concordia Heritage Association. "After Geronimo surrendered, they were mostly sent up into Plains efforts."

The Buffalo Soldiers in the American Southwest were enlisted for a manhunt again in 1916 and 1917 following Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa's attack on Columbus, N.M., Jones said.

Villa, enraged after Americans sold him defective munitions, attacked the small New Mexico border town in retaliation and sparked a months-long search by U.S. Gen. John "Blackjack" Pershing throughout the mountains of West Texas, New Mexico and Chihuahua state. Pershing enlisted the Buffalo Soldiers in what has become known as the Mexican Expedition.

Pershing never found Villa, but historians believe an unknown number of Buffalo Soldiers were killed by Mexican revolutionaries and buried in a mass grave in Chihuahua state about 90 miles southwest of El Paso. A memorial to those soldiers will be placed at the Concordia Cemetery as well.

The Buffalo Soldiers' presence in the Southwest continued until about World War II, when the Buffalo Soldier regiments were disbanded as the U.S. military began integrating.

Craig Page, president of the Buffalo Soldier Motorcycle Club of El Paso, gave a prayer Monday at a groundbeaking ceremony for a Buffalo Soldier Memorial at Concordia Cemetery. (Rudy Gutierrez / El Paso Times)

"Most people don't know all they were involved with; they only hear of the mystique of the Buffalo Soldier," said Bernie Sargent, chairman of the El Paso County Historical Commission. "I think the memorial is long overdue. It's not something that's purposely ignored, but it needs to be emphasized."

Darren Meritz may be reached at dmeritz@elpasotimes.com; 546-6127.

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Printed Monday, June 8, 2009

    EL PASO - The freed slaves who fought in cavalry and infantry divisions in the late 1800s and helped settle frontiers like the territory around El Paso are getting a grander monument at Concordia Cemetery.
    Several local groups, including a Fort Bliss unit, will honor Buffalo Soldiers with a ceremony that breaks ground on a new memorial at 3 p.m. Monday at the cemetery, 3700 E. Yandell.
    About 42 headstones will be installed in a section of the cemetery now through November and will identify Buffalo soldiers who served in the area, organizers of the memorial said.
    They will replace a set of blue crosses that stand at the cemetery as a way to honor the buffalo soldiers, some of whom are buried there.
    "We wanted to have an area that would highlight the significance they played in the growth of the Southwest and Western United States," said Bernie Sargent, chairman of the El Paso County Historical Commission.
    The Buffalo Soldiers began after the Cicvil War, when Congress decided to create two "experimental cavalry regiments," the 9th and 10th cavalries, which served in 14 states and 65 posts.
    The memorial is estimated to cost about $35,000 and is receiving support from the Concordia Heritage Association, the El Paso Buffalo Soldiers and Troopers Motorcycle Club, the Donnie W. Brown local chapter of the Buffalo Soldiers, and representatives from Fort Bliss and the county's Historical Commission.
    Nathan Mack, vice president of the Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club, said the memorial will help people learn about a group of soldiers that were highly distinguished and served bravely in many key battles.
    "I think this brings light on soldiers who were overlooked and it brings the community together to learn another part of their history." Mack said.
    Concordia Cemetery is a Texas State Historical Site and has sections for veterans, the Chinese and Jewish communities and Masons.  It also boasts the graves of gunfighter John Wesley Hardin and Constable John Selman.

Michael D. Hernandez may be reached at mhernandez@elpasotimes.com: 546-6151.