Buffalo Soldiers at Fort Davis

Fort Davis National Historic Site, Fort Davis, Texas.

NPS Photo

On October 23, 1854, General Persifor F. Smith issued the order establishing Fort Davis. Smith, who had selected the site, named it in honor of Jefferson Davis, who was U.S. secretary of war from March 7, 1853, until March 4, 1857, and a Democratic U.S. representative and senator from Mississippi before he became president of the Confederacy during the Civil War. Companies of the Eighth U. S. Infantry initially manned the fort, serving there from 1854 until April 1861.

Following the outbreak of the Civil War in the spring of 1861, federal troops withdrew from Fort Davis. Confederates served at the post for a little over a year, while it served as a crucial supply depot for Confederate Brigadier General Henry H. Sibley’s New Mexico Campaign. In August 1862, Union forces regained control of the post but did not occupy it. Fort Davis remained abandoned from September 1862 until July 1867.

Troopers of the Ninth U.S. Cavalry were the first Buffalo Soldiers to garrison Fort Davis. On July 1, 1867, C, F, H, and I Troops, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Wesley Merritt, officially reoccupied the post. Merritt and the Ninth had a sizeable job ahead of them. In addition to helping to construct a new post, they faced armed conflicts with the Apache and Comanche. The Ninth Cavalry’s major responsibility was to protect travelers and the mail on the San Antonio-El Paso Road. To provide this protection, small detachments of troopers took posts at several stage stations, while others were sent out on patrols.

In 1869, Colonel Edward Hatch replaced Merritt as the fort’s commander. During his brief stay, Hatch ordered three expeditions against the Mescalero Apaches in the Guadalupe Mountains. All three campaigns involved Ninth Cavalry troopers.

In 1871, Lieutenant William Shafter led Ninth Cavalry troopers on an expedition to an un-scouted region of the southern Staked Plains. The Buffalo Soldiers proved that troops could survive in an area virtually devoid of surface water. In September 1875, the Ninth Cavalry was transferred to New Mexico, by which time the regiment had spent eight years at Fort Davis and other Texas posts.

Companies B and E of the Forty-first U. S. Infantry arrived at Fort Davis in spring 1868. For the next 18 months, they were involved in regular garrison duties, scouting, and patrolling with the Ninth Cavalry. In November 1869, when the infantry regiments were reduced and consolidated, they became part of the new Twenty-Fourth U.S. Infantry.

The Twenty-Fourth served at Fort Davis from 1869 to 1872 and again in 1880. The men performed everyday tasks and fatigue details. In addition, they provided an invaluable service by repairing military telegraph lines, scouting, guarding water holes, and escorting government wagon trains, survey parties, freight wagons, and mail coaches.

The Twenty-Fifth U. S. Infantry, like the Twenty-Fourth, was formed during the Army’s consolidation of regiments in 1869. In July 1870, Companies A and G arrived at Fort Davis. From that summer until the spring of 1880, various companies of the Twenty-Fifth served at the post. In their 10-year stay, these infantrymen accomplished a great deal.

Company E, under the command of Captain David Schooley, was responsible for constructing new roads through Wild Rose Pass and Musquiz Canyon. In December 1876, a large contingent of the regiment marched to Presidio del Norte, Texas (present-day Presidio) for the purpose of protecting American citizens from aggression by Mexican marauders and bandits. Many of the troops remained in Presidio for more than two months before peace was restored in the town.

Soldiers of Company I completed perhaps their most important field work under the command of Second Lieutenant George Andrews. They constructed 91.5 miles of telegraph line west from Fort Davis to Eagle Springs. The line became a vital communications link that Colonel Benjamin H. Grierson, Tenth U.S. Cavalry, used during the campaign against the Apache leader Victorio (1879-1880) in western Texas.

H Troop of the Tenth Cavalry arrived at Fort Davis in 1875. For the next 10 years, units of the Tenth were stationed at the post, which became headquarters for the regiment in 1882. The mission of the Tenth, like that of the other Buffalo Soldier regiments, was to protect mail and travel routes, control Indian movements, and gain knowledge of the terrain.

A major campaign involving the regiment occurred in 1879-1880 when the Apache leader Victorio led his followers on raids in western Texas. Learning that Victorio was in Mexico, Colonel Grierson attempted to prevent him from reentering Texas and New Mexico, where the Apache leader could find more supporters. Six troops of the Tenth Cavalry and Company H of the Twenty-Fourth Infantry were assigned to patrol the area from the Van Horn Mountains west to the Quitman Mountains, and north to the Sierra Diablo and Delaware Mountains. Major confrontations occurred at Tinaja de las Palmas and at Rattlesnake Springs. These two engagements forced Victorio to retreat to Mexico, where Mexican troops killed him in October 1880.

From 1867 to 1885, the Buffalo Soldiers stationed at Fort Davis achieved a notable record of accomplishments. When they completed their duty at the fort, the Buffalo Soldiers headed to other posts on the Western frontier. In June 1891, the U.S. Army decommissioned Fort Davis, one of the largest and most prominent frontier military post in the Southwest.

Fort Davis National Historic Site is in Fort Davis, Texas. It is part of the National Park Service. You can learn more about Fort Davis by visiting their website at www.nps.gov/foda.