Buffalo Soldiers and the Apache - Essay Example

Numerous literatures confirmed that subduing the Indians on the Plains and the Southwest, securing the borders, escorting stage coaches and trains as well as policing cattle rustlers and illegal traders who sold guns and liquor to the Indians had all become second nature to them as these were their primary responsibilities-many of which were carried out under some harsh conditions. Many of these African Americans had joined with the force mainly to earn their freedom. They decided they would fight to prove themselves and to be free as well as to keep up their end of the bargain to make an attractive $13 a month.

Many of these soldiers were former slaves, freemen and Black Civil War Soldiers. However, they couldn’t read and write, so they were considered less than the whites. For these brave-hearted men, bravery was their fiercest fighting tool, and ambition and perseverance were their ammunition, because everything else that they received for resources were inadequate or not up to standard such as; the old horses, limited food supplies and limited ammunition. In addition, they were deployed to some of the toughest areas.

Quite frankly however, it was the 10th regiment of the Buffalo Soldiers who played a greater role in the campaign against the Apaches in the March 1890 Expedition. After being transferred to Texas, research showed that their primary mission was to protect mail and travel routes, control Indian movements, protect against Mexican revolutionaries and outlaws as well as garner knowledge about the area’s terrain (Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture). Particularly credited for the Westward Expansion, the Buffalo Soldiers’ 10th Cavalry explored miles of unmapped terrains after which they used their experience to open 300 miles of new roads and laid 200 miles of telegraph lines according to literatures from this said source.

This knowledge helped the Buffalo Soldiers to create maps of the area showing scarce waterholes, mountain passes and grazing areas that would later allow for settlements in that area. The mission created some tough soldiers in West Texas who always had to be on alert from raids from the Apaches. However, it was the 10th regiment’s success at detailed mapping that later lead to the demise of the Apache Indians between 1879 and 1880. Col Benjamin Grierson and his cavalry decided to play on the weaknesses of their enemies, whose chief at the time was Chief Victorio and his band of warriors who had allegedly escaped from their New Mexico Reservation creating havoc across the Southwest on their way to Mexico.

They decided to intercept where it would hurt most in those harsh regions-the waterholes. The mission called for a big military assembly, as such, different troops were assigned to the waterholes. Engagements were met at the all the waterholes, but the two most notable were the ones at the Tinaja de las Palmas (water hole at South Sierra Blanca) and at Rattlesnake Springs which is north of Van Horn. Grierson and his men devised strategies to trap Victorio.