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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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Posted on 02/21/2003 5:34:44 AM PST by SAMWolf
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are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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 The 10th Cavalry was formed at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in 1866. Very high standards of recruitment were set by the regimental commander and Civil War hero Benjamin Grierson. As a result, recruitment and organization of the unit required slightly over one year. By the end of July 1867 eight companies of enlisted men had been recruited from the Departments of Missouri, Arkansas, and the Platte. Life at Leavenworth was not pleasant for the 10th. The Fort's commander, who was admittedly opposed to African- Americans serving in the regular army, made life as difficult as he could on the new troopers. Grierson sought to have his regiment transferred, and subsequently received orders moving the regiment to Fort Riley, Kansas later that summer. Within two months of the transfer, the final four companies were in place. For the next eight years, the 10th was stationed at numerous forts throughout Kansas and Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). They provided guards for workers of the Kansas and Pacific Railroad, strung miles of new telegraph lines, and to a large extent built Fort Sill. Throughout this period, they were constantly patrolling the reservations in an attempt to prevent Indian raids into Texas. In 1867 and 68, the 10th participated in Gen. Sherman's winter campaigns against the Cheyennes, Arapahos, and Comanches. Units of the 10th prevented the Cheyenne from fleeing to the northwest, thus allowing Custer and the 7th Cavalry to defeat them at the decisive battle near Fort Cobb, Indian Territory.  In 1875, the 10th Cavalry moved its headquarters to Fort Concho in west Texas. Other companies were assigned to various forts throughout the area. The regiment's mission in Texas was to protect mail and travel routes, control Indian movements, provide protection from Mexican revolutionaries and outlaws, and to gain a knowledge of the areas terrain. The regiment proved highly successful in completing their mission. The 10th scouted 34,420 miles of uncharted terrain, opened more than 300 miles of new roads, and laid over 200 miles of telegraph lines. The scouting activities took the troops through some of the harshest and most desolate terrain in the nation. These excursions allowed the preparation of excellent maps detailing scarce water holes, mountain passes, and grazing areas that would later allow for settlement of the area. These feats were accomplished while having to be constantly on the alert for hit-and-run raids from the Apaches. The stay in west Texas produced tough soldiers, who became accustomed to surviving in an area that offered few comforts and no luxuries. The 10th Cavalry played an important role in the 1879-80 campaign against Chief Victorio and his renegade band of Apaches. Victorio and his followers escaped from their New Mexico reservation and wreaked havoc throughout the southwest on their way to Mexico. Col. Grierson and the 10th attempted to prevent Victorio's return to the U.S., and particularly his reaching New Mexico where he could cause additional problems with the Apaches still on the reservations. Grierson, realizing the importance of water in the harsh region, decided the best way to intercept Victorio was to take control of potential water holes along his route.  The campaign called for the biggest military concentration ever assembled in the Trans-Pecos area. Six troops of the 10th Cavalry 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. Encounters with the Indians usually resulted in skirmishes, however the 10th engaged in major confrontations at Tinaja de las Palmas (a water hole south of Sierra Blanca) and at Rattlesnake Springs (north of Van Horn). These two engagements halted Victorio and forced him to retreat to Mexico. Although Victorio and his band were not captured, the campaign conducted by the 10th was successful in preventing them from reaching New Mexico. The 10th's efforts at containment exhausted the Apaches. Soon after they crossed the border, Victorio and many of his warriors were killed by Mexican troops on October 14, 1880. The Vittorio episode formed a key part of the TV drama Buffalo Soldiers. We have to tell you that the final scene where Danny Glover deliberately allowed Vittorio and his band to escape to Mexico is not a historical fact. The 10th Cavalry would never let an adversary get away.  In 1885, the regiment was transferred to the Department of Arizona. Once again the 10th was involved in the arduous pursuit of renegade Apaches under the leadership of Geronimo, Mangus, and the Apache Kid. After twenty years of service in some of the most undesirable posts in the southwest, the regiment, now under the command of Colonel John K. Mizner, was transferred to the Department of Dakota in 1891. The regiment served at various posts in Montana and Dakotas until 1898.  During the Spanish-American the four regiments served in Cuba and fought along side Teddy Roosevelt's "Rough Riders" and other units. While Teddy Roosevelt and his highly political volunteers got more press attention, the 10th Cavalry commanded by Col. John J. Pershing was instrumental in taking San Juan Hill. Many white officers refused to command black units thinking it would hurt their careers. Col. Pershing was given the nickname "Black Jack" because of his loyalty to the 10th and its troopers. It could hardly have hurt his career since he went on to command the American Expeditionary Forces in France in WWI and became the most famous American general of the first half of this century. In 1916 Black Jack Pershing was given the assignment of leading a campaign into Mexico to capture Pancho Villa. Pershing requested that the 10th Cavalry accompany him. The year spent chasing Villa proved to be the 10th Cavalry's toughest assignment. Finding Pancho Villa was like trying to catch a rat in a cornfield. Villa always seemed to stay ahead of the Army and avoid capture.  America's leaders soon lost interest in the Campaign and focused their attention on World War I which was raging in Europe. However the Europeans had been unable to find a use for the Cavalry troops which were already in the theater. The 10th Cavalry spent the war in the United States. In World War II a similar thing happened to the cavalrymen. The 10th Cavalry was relegated to caretaker duties at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Then in 1944 the 9th and 10th Cavalry were deactivated. But in 1958 the Ninth and Tenth Regiments were reactivated, and today, the First and Second Tank Battalions of the Tenth Cavalry at Fort Knox, Kentucky wear the Buffalo symbol. The Ninth Cavalry has a helicopter battalion in the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas. NOTE: These units made up of black enlisted personnel and white officers were not the first of such units to serve on the Western Frontier. During late 1865 or early 1866 companies from the 57th United States Colored Infantry Regiment (Arkansas) and the 125th United States Colored Infantry Regiment (Kentucky) were assigned to posts in New Mexico to provide protection for white settlers in the area, and escort those going further west. Some of the companies served as mounted infantry.
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Todd is a genius, state champion runner, graduated Valedictorian, went to the Air Force Academy and married his high school sweetheart. He is a very good Christian man. He loves the Lord, his country and his family and is trying to live a pure, righteous life. He is one in a 1,000,000. We couldn't be more proud of him. If you try to thank him for serving our country, he’ll shrug you off and tell you he is only doing what he has wanted to do since he was a little boy. Fly planes and serve his country.
For some reason, it happens to me frequently! At least 3-4 times a week I get a reply that is intended for someone else on a different thread. I think it's because of the Foxhole ping list that I post each day.
No problem! I'm used to it. And, no offense taken. You can hang out with us anyway, even if you did drop in unintentionally! hehehehe
The B-1 bomber part was a big clue. ;-)
I'm doing OK and everyone in my family is too. I've been thinking about you all this week and hoping and praying that you and your family are doing well. Blessings to you too sweet Spookie.
This does appear to be a Squadron. There are three guidons visible in the picture which indicates three troops, the right number for a Squadron. In the first rank is the Squadron Commanding Officer (CO) (on the gray horse). To his right is the Troop CO and to his right is the troop guidon. To the guidon's right is the first platoon, with the Platoon Leader centered in front of them and the platoon sergeant in file behind the rightmost member of the platoon. After an interval, there is the second platoon (only 7 men!), with the Platoon Leader centered in front, and the platoon sergeant behind, this time, the leftmost file.
Another interval, and the second troop, with the Troop CO to the left of the guidon, the first platoon to the right with the Platoon Leader centered in front and the Platoon Sergeant (also on a gray horse) behind the leftmost file.
Farther back is the third (and much larger) troop with the Troop CO on the left of the guidon and the rest of the troop behind.
It's a full Squadron, but a badly under strength one.
LET'S ROLL !! (Kick bu**, guys !)
The page is immense, being the scan of the entire book with its meticulous chronicle and copious correspondence.
Now, after this man's no-doubt prejudicial court martial, some sixty-three years after his death, we have:
The former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, who prosecuted the first Gulf War, now the Secretary of State, in the leadership prosecuting the second.
Which is the American Way, to grind out all which is petty to leave only the stuff of the best substance.
'The feeling of ostracism is so strong that a white boy who dared to recognize a colored cadet would be himself ostracized by the other white cubs, even of radical extraction.'
Not that different from the factory summers of my college years when the good old boys from Ken-tucky and Tennessee made great hay of my talking to the only other collitch boy, a black fellow from I.U.
The phraseology of the opening chapter regarding the ownership of his parents is startling.
Now we are poised on lifting such a yoke from millions under Saddam Hussein, while ensuring our continued freedom from such a beast's attacks.
Now come the Hollywoodpeckers and the anacephalic activists, jabbering that we must appease the abominable.
The left makes itself a laughingstock of lemmings while we stand on the eve of history's advance:
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