Buffalo Soldiers in the West: A Black Soldiers Anthology

“Dress on the Colors, Boys!”: Black Noncommissioned Officers in the Regular Army, 1866–98

douglasc.mcchristian “DressontheColors,Boys!” blacknoncommissionedofficers intheregulararmy,1866–98 As the troops of the Tenth U.S. Cavalry charged the crest of San Juan Hill on July 1, 1898, one man sprinted ahead in the face of enemy fire, mounted the Spanish entrenchments, and planted the regimental colors. Turning to encourage his comrades, Color Sgt. George Berry shouted, “Dress on the colors, boys. Dress on the colors!” The regiment did just that, taking the Spanish positions within minutes afterward. Berry, an old soldier with thirty years of service to his credit, typified many of the regular army noncommissioned officers of that era, particularly those in the all-black units. He enlisted in the Ninth Cavalry in 1867 and with the exception of one short break in service had been with the Ninth and Tenth cavalry regiments—the famed buffalo soldiers— ever since. But the road to glory at San Juan Hill had not been an easy one for Berry and his comrades. In 1866, Congress proposed legislation to authorize six segregated regiments, commanded by white officers. Historian Arlen Fowler has written that many people inside and outside army circles expressed opposition, however, to the idea of recruiting blacks into the regular army because, they believed, “ex-slaves were too ignorant and cowardly to make good soldiers.” While some 186,000 black men answered the call to serve the nation in so-called “Colored Volunteer” regiments during the Civil War, there were serious reservations about establishing such units in the regular army. The opponents of this measure ignored the reality that black soldiers had proven their worth in blood at such places as Fort Wagner, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg. In all, more than 38,000 blacks had died in the service of a nation that now questioned their ability, if not their loyalty. With the passage of the act to authorize the black regiments, the army undertook the task of organizing them. The new units were designated as the Ninth and Tenth cavalry regiments and the Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, and Forty-first infantries. The latter would be consolidated into two regiments, the Twenty-fourth Infantry and Twenty-fifth Infantry, during the general army reorganization in 1869. Officers who applied for the vacancies in the black regiments were subjected to the scrutiny of a special examining board composed of experienced officers. Basic qualifications included at least two years of active field service during the Civil War. One-third were drawn from the regular army; the remainder from the volunteer forces. Company commanders and field-grade officers of cavalry were further required to have prior service in that branch. Finding good men for the rank and file proved more difficult. Preference was given to veterans on active duty in the Colored Volunteers. These men could apply for an immediate discharge to re-enlist in the regulars, and some did. Raw recruits, many of them ex-slaves, flocked to the recruiting offices in hopes of gaining a better quality of life. Army pay may have been meager, but it was a great inducement to men who had previously labored for nothing. Soldiering also offered food, clothing , and shelter. Like many of their white counterparts, some blacks enlisted for the chance to go west and experience the adventure of the frontier. More importantly, the army afforded these disadvantaged black men the opportunity to gain self-respect through acceptance and responsibility , and, ostensibly, equal treatment. However, recruiting efforts revealed that few blacks, particularly in the South, possessed initiative and a sense of self-reliance, much less any formal education. Slavery had denied them access to education. Moreover , it had engrained in them a servile attitude largely devoid of selfesteem , a critical element in developing the esprit de corps so essential to these new regiments. Col. Benjamin H. Grierson established higher standards for his Tenth Cavalry. He ordered his officers to go to northern cities to recruit men sufficiently educated to fill the positions of NonCommissioned Officers, Clerks, and Mechanics in the regiment . . . enlist all the superior men you can who will be a credit to the regiment . Grierson’s idea was that urban-bred blacks might possess a higher degree of native intelligence and sharpened wits derived from living in a “Dressonthe Colors, Boys!” 85 city environment. Likewise, some northern blacks had opportunities to acquire formal education. Grierson...