A Tribute to America’s ‘Buffalo Soldiers’ : Military: Gen. Colin L. Powell breaks ground for a memorial to the black fighting units that ‘have served this nation over its long history.’

Seven years ago, while jogging at Ft. Leavenworth, Gen. Colin L. Powell happened upon two gravel alleyways that were named for the 9th and 10th cavalries.

“I wonder if that’s all there is?” he thought.

Powell then was a major general at the Army base, which had been home to the two all-black cavalry units, dubbed “buffalo soldiers” by the Indians they fought in the 19th Century. The units, as Powell knew, had played an important role in the settlement of the West and had distinguished themselves in such theaters as the Spanish-American War, where they helped seize San Juan Hill.

They had been treated as second-class units, commanded by white officers and often denied adequate supplies, clothing and food. But their ranks came to include 20 winners of the Medal of Honor.

Dismayed that their contributions still were being slighted, Powell set in motion a project to build a suitable memorial.

On Saturday, Powell, now the first black chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, returned to Ft. Leavenworth to break ground for an ambitious memorial which, he said, will honor “all black soldiers who have served this nation over its long history.”

The $625,000 memorial, to be built on a grassy hillside beside a lake, on the site of the former quarters of the buffalo soldiers, will include a 16-foot statue and a reflecting pool. The organizers also plan to erect a research library on blacks in the military.

“I think this should have been done years ago,” said Elisha Kearse, a former buffalo soldier sergeant who, at 95, is among the oldest survivors of the units.

After the 10th Cavalry was formed in 1866, it was stationed at Ft. Leavenworth for a year before its commanding officer took the unit West because of conflicts with his superior, said Carlton G. Philpot, one of the planners of the memorial.

“At first they weren’t allowed in the barracks,” he said. “From 1867 to the 1920s they stayed out West. They were never relieved during that time.”

On Saturday, however, Kearse and other survivors of the segregated units were treated like heroes.

After groundbreaking ceremonies, as Kearse sat under a tent talking to a succession of reporters and well-wishers, a white officer approached.

“I served in the 1st Regiment of the 10th Calvary in Vietnam and I just wanted to shake your hand and tell you I’m proud of you,” he said.

Kearse and retired Sgt. Maj. William Harrington, also 95, each received plaques and copies of a buffalo soldier print during ceremonies.

“Times have changed a lot,” Kearse remarked.

That was a note struck by Powell in his keynote address.

“America has made enormous progress from the days of the buffalo soldiers to the days of a black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” he told a crowd of about 500. “We aren’t perfect; maybe we never will be. But we’re always making progress . . . .

“Since 1641 there has never been a time in this country when blacks were unwilling to serve and sacrifice for America,” Powell said. “But for most of that time blacks served without recognition or reward for the contribution they made for our freedom, for the freedom they did not enjoy here in their own beloved native land.”

The 9th and 10th cavalries were formed, along with two all-black infantry units, immediately after the Civil War, in which members of the black 54th and 56th militias had served with distinction.

This was the first time blacks had been allowed to serve in the military and bear arms during peacetime. “Always prior to this when the war ended the black regiments were discharged and the blacks were sent back to slavery,” Philpot said.

The buffalo soldiers assisted in the westward expansion, fighting Indians, building and improving forts, scouting the frontier, patroling the Mexican border, tending horses and escorting stages and surveyors.

The Indians called the black troops buffalo soldiers, some historians say, because their hair reminded them of the hair of the buffalo. Others say it was the soldiers’ strength and courage that sparked the comparison.

Powell said a painting of a buffalo soldier hangs in his office at the Pentagon, across from his desk, to remind him of “the thousands of African-Americans who went before me and who shed their blood and made their sacrifices so that I could sit where I sit today.”

The buffalo soldier monument committee has been raising funds for a year to build the memorial, which it hopes to dedicate in 1992. The committee also has commissioned a painting.

Fund raising has been difficult, Philpot said, because of the project’s scope and because the group is new and relatively unknown. So far, $84,000 has been raised.

“Certainly the chairman’s appearance here will provide us with credibility,” he said.