Did you know that one of the most famous Buffalo Soldiers was born in Kentucky?

Buffalo Soldiers were Black Americans who served in the Civil War. There were about 180,000 Black American men that served in the Union Army during the Civil War, yet they were not allowed to serve in regular Army when the war ended.

In 1866, Congress passed the Army Reorganization Act, a law that doubled the size of the regular Army, and included the addition of six Black American regiments, who became the first professional Black soldiers in the United States Army. By 1869, these six regiments were consolidated into four units: the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 24th and 25th Infantry. Black enlisted men comprised these units, however the officers in charge of them were white.

The 9th and 10th cavalry served on the western frontier, protecting and assisting with supply and mail routes. They also guarded against attacks from outlaws, Mexican revolutionaries and Native Americans. Buffalo Soldiers was a nickname given to the troops from the 10th Cavalry by the Cheyenne and other Plains Native Americans. The origin of the name remains uncertain. This name may have been given because of the buffalo-hide coats worn by the Black soldiers in cold weather, or it may have referred to the rugged and tireless marching of the cavalrymen. The most widespread account suggest that the nickname began because the hair of the black cavalrymen resembled the dark, curly hair of the buffalo.

Though the name Buffalo Soldier was rarely used among themselves, they saw it as a sign of respect, given the high regard for the buffalo held by the Native Americans. To this day, the image of a buffalo is still incorporated in the 10th Cavalry Regiment’s crest.

With the expansion of the United States into the western frontier, the U.S. Army was used to force Native Americans off their land. These encounters were often violent and deadly, therefore the U.S. Army enlisted the help of the Buffalo Soldiers to assist with these battles. As this coveted region of the West attracted the attention of more and more settlers who put down their roots in the frontier, there was a growing concern to preserve the natural landscape during this expansion, including protecting timber, lakes, wildlife and minerals.

On March 1, 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Act which established Yellowstone National Park. Management and control of Yellowstone and subsequent national parks such as California’s Sequoia and General Grant (Kings Canyon) fell under the jurisdiction of the secretary of the Interior.

Securing these vast terrains became a problem and created a need to have these areas developed and managed. As such, the Buffalo Soldiers under the command of Capt. Charles Young, the highest-ranking Black American officer in the U.S. Army at the time, served as some of the first Park Rangers. They patrolled local businesses in the surrounding areas, keeping poachers at bay.

Young, a Kentuckian, was born in 1864 into slavery to Gabriel Young and Arminta Bruen in Mays Lick, near Maysville. The family escaped slavery in early 1865 by crossing the Ohio River to Ripley, Ohio. His father served in the Union Army to legally gain their freedom.

Young was one of the first Black Americans to attend and graduate from West Point. He faced numerous challenges far beyond the traditional hazing experienced by his white peers. In 1903, he was appointed acting superintendent of Sequoia and General Grant (Kings Canyon) National Parks, becoming the first black superintendent of a national park. Young supervised payroll accounts and directed the activities of Buffalo Soldiers working in the park.

Young’s greatest impact on the park was managing road construction, which helped improve the underdeveloped park and allow more visitors to enjoy it. Young and the Buffalo Soldiers accomplished more that summer than had been done under the three officers assigned to the park during the previous three summers.

Captain Young’s Buffalo Soldiers completed a wagon road to the Giant Forest, home of the world’s largest trees. He recommended that the government acquire privately held lands there to secure more park area for future generations. This recommendation was noted in legislation when it was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Last summer, my family and I visited Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks where we viewed the history of the Buffalo Soldiers who served there as Park Rangers while still being in the Army. We found information about Young, our fellow Kentuckian. We learned that about 500 Buffalo Soldiers served as Park Rangers at Yosemite, Sequoia and General Grant (Kings Canyon) National Parks, in 1899, 1903 and 1904.

We also discovered that when President Teddy Roosevelt came to San Francisco, he personally asked for the Buffalo Soldiers to serve as his security detail. History documents how the Buffalo Soldiers enabled Roosevelt and the Rough Riders to make their heroic charge up San Juan Hill in the Spanish American War.

After all of Young’s accomplishments, it wasn’t until 1974 that the home in Ohio where Young lived when teaching at Wilberforce University was designated a National Historic Landmark, in recognition of his historic importance. In 2001, Sen. Mike DeWine introduced Senate Resolution 97 that “honors the bravery and dedication of the Buffalo Soldiers throughout United States and world history; honors one of the Buffalo Soldiers’ most distinguished heroes, Colonel Charles Young, for his lifetime achievements; and recognizes the continuing legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers throughout the world.”

To go along with Senate Resolution 97, President Barack Obama used the Antiquities Act to designate Young’s house as the 401st unit of the National Park System, the Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument in 2013. Then, in 2018, California passed legislation to name California State Route 198 to Colonel Charles Young Memorial Highway. The State Route’s east end is in Sequoia National Park where Young served as superintendent.

In Kentucky, during the 1925–26 school year, the Portland Colored School in Louisville was renamed the Charles Young School. This school, one of the earlier schools in the U.S. serving African Americans, was open between 1873 and 1956. After it closed, the building was demolished and made into a city park bearing Young’s name.

In 2016, the park was rededicated the Col. Charles D. Young Park. In February 2020, Gov. Andy Beshear posthumously promoted Young to honorary brigadier general in Kentucky. Beshear’s request for federal recognition of Young’s promotion was approved by Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Gil Cisneros on Nov. 1, 2021, with the recognition made effective on Feb. 1, 2022. The promotion ceremony was held April 29, 2022.

Wave News in Louisville reported that John Taylor Jr., president of the Buffalo Soldiers of Kentucky, stated: “Colonel Charles Young went from slavery to West Point to becoming the first African American colonel, so he deserves to be honored.”

The Buffalo Soldiers of Kentucky are raising money for a monument of Colonel Charles Young to display in the park named after him on Lytle Street in Louisville.