Raids, Battles, And Buffalo Soldiers
Black soldiers in the U.S. Calvary were segregated units that came to be known as Buffalo Soldiers:
Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas!
We're in a series about the Wild West and the incredible story of an 11 year old German boy, Hermann, who was captured by an Apache war party from his family's farm in 1870 in Central Texas.
He's now about 15-16 years old at this point in the story and has become a full blown warrior and is both terrified of the White man and also hates him. In the last post his band had gone to stay at a reservation but then left almost as soon as they arrived.
Today's story
So now they were free again and traveled to the very center of Texas near what is called Packsaddle Mountain.
This was the perfect type of area for the tribe because they could disappear into the foliage or rocks above if needed:
Their location was just a couple hours from my place:
One day on a raiding party they'd stolen 20 head of horses when it started raining and got their bow strings wet so they went into a thicket to build a fire and dry them. Apparently they were followed because they got taken by surprise with an ambush.
Dang Rangers again!
They stayed together at first but after several of their braves fell they scattered and met up at another location. There they stole more horses but discovered that the dreaded Texas Rangers were trailing them. They were overtaken by the Rangers on the morning of the second day.
The fight was hard and they lost one brave, had several wounded and the Rangers got the horses which they'd stolen but they were able to escape. The party headed back to their camp but when they got there it had been moved.
The story is in the bones
They found buffalo bones which had pictures cut into them telling what had happened. There was a fight with white people. The pictures showed seven men pierced with arrows and the bones pointed toward the North.
There were 12 bones so that meant they moved on to a location which was 12 day's journey to the North. The raiding party traveled for 12 days and on the 12th day they saw smoke from fires in rows pointing West.
Smoke signals
They read that to mean head West and that the enemy were on their trail so they had to keep moving and also that Hermann's party needed to come fast and rescue them.
Hermann's group rode West for about a hundred miles. There was very little water in the region but the Indians knew where there was a spring.
The white men pursuing the tribe turned out to be soldiers instead of Rangers so they were relieved. This would be easy killing.
The Indians knew the soldiers didn't know where any water was and they decoyed them off the real trail so the soldiers were going out into the desert with no water source.
A desert massacre
Well, the Indians knew what would happen so they took their fill of water and relaxed at the spring, filling their water bags before going after the soldiers.
Soon they started finding dead horses along the way and then a lone soldier. He was stripped, dispatched and scalped. That's putting it as nicely as I can.
The Indians resumed the chase and found 8 others who met the same fate as the first one.
And this is why the army employed so many Apaches as scouts. For some reason this detachment didn't have any and it cost them their lives.
The band then went back to the spring and their tribe had gotten there by that time but were exhausted, worn out, and almost starving.
How Buffalo Soldiers got their name
Some of the soldiers who'd attacked the village were black, and most of the Indians had never seen black men before. The Indians thought they came from under the water because of the fact that a person's reflection in the water appears black.
The hair reminded them of buffalo's curly hair and their heads were like the buffalo so they called them Buffalo Soldiers.
They thought their skulls were thick like a buffalo's and that arrows would bounce off and bullets would smash and not penetrate so they were told to aim for the heart!
They were told by the chief that if they hit them in the head with a spear it would break the spear. lol.
I looked up the question online of why Buffalo Soldiers were called that and none of them gave this answer. I believe Hermann's explanation, he was there!
In the next post Hermman engages in a dramatic battle which changes his life forever.
Thanks for reading folks, God bless you all!
-jonboy
Texas
the gentleman redneck
Interesting. I have heard that term Buffalo Soldiers plenty of times, but didn't really grasp what it meant. Clearly I did not pay enough attention during history when school covered the Wild West. I am making up for it now.
This is really a unique story in how Hermann is getting to experience life from two sides. At the beginning of the story I didn't really anticipate him becoming fully invested in the new culture to the extent that he hated his own. I suppose it shouldn't be surprising though. We all know from experience how impressionable teenagers are.
Howdy ginnyannette! I don't remember any Wild West teachings in history class but maybe there was, do you?
I agree and most of the kids who were taken, if they weren't rescued or ransomed right away became Indianized to the point that they didn't want to leave. I can see you loving that lifestyle after a couple of years, can't you? Being close to nature, living off the land, roaming to where ever you want.
The being close to nature part certainly would be nice. There is so much strife and violence though, but I guess he may have had his share of that in his prior life, so maybe it evened out.
Howdy again! in his private life? I don't follow you. Are you going all Jehovah's Witness on me??
Lol! If you need to reference this again, Janton, so that you can be certain whether or not I am going the way of the JW.
I meant in his prior life, as in before he was kidnapped. I don't know if he had a relatively easy going childhood at his mother's house with only the occasionally stressful situation, or if it was riddled with life and death scenarios like his life was with the Indians. If it was, then I can see how he could acclimate easily. Either way it is clear the mind does adapt, especially when young.
ha! yes I think I know where you stand on that JW issue! me too.
Ok, I see what you mean. Yeah he didn't talk about what his life before was like but I bet it was pretty peaceful. And at first when he was first captured he wanted to live so he was willing to do anything and then later his mind followed that of his environment and culture.
Hermann's reason for the name makes perfect sense. They used the lie of the land and their knowledge so well and that is what made them so good at what they did.
Howdy sir cryptoandcoffee! I totally agree and you are as insightful and correct as ever!
We are SO proud to have you as a member of our
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Howdy tonight steemitbloggers/powerhousecreatives! Thank you so much for the support and upvote!
Stories in bones. I didn't know about that. It could be like a bone language. Almost like cavemen drawings. Boys were becoming men in their teen years. That is good. I never thought about buffalo bones being in Texas until now. Resteemed.
In a way, Indians thought the blacks were mermaids. Maybe not mermaid, but creatures from the 20,000 leagues under the sea. Ok, maybe I'm joking, but that is new to me. I never thought about what Indian's first impression of the blacks would have been. So, Indians called those blacks the Buffalo Soldiers. Sounds like Superman. Can't stab Superman in the head with a spear, either. I take that as a compliment for the blacks.
haha! howdy there Oatmeal! You are so correct and funny! lol. I was very surprised at why they called them that and you have to wonder why they thought they had such thick skulls? An arrow must have glanced off of someone's head or something!
Thanks so much for reading and commenting!
Blacks are stronger, taller, faster, generally, so it fits.
Howdy again Oatmeal! Yes sir they generally are much more physically gifted, I agree.
Keep the story's going!
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Howdy sir ganjafarmer! Thanks so much for the encouragement and support!
Always!
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That sounds like very shoddy leadership for those soldiers. They should have had knowledgeable scouts, or a map with water sources indicated.
howdy tonight sir fotosdenada! Yeah something doesn't sound right about that army detachment. If they thought they could track the Indians through the barren wilderness and survive like the Indians did then they were just ignorant and naive. They should have turned back when they got low on water and the DANG sure should have had scouts with them, by that time they almost always had scouts.
The Apache scouts didn't mind going after their own kind becuase the scouts thought the renegade bands like Hermann's were making it harder for all of them, which they were.
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That was an interesting bit of trivia. Black soldiers were known as buffalo soldiers.
And they were bullet and arrow proof, were there, except for the heart. lol
Howdy sir Vincent! I'm glad you liked it. Well, you didn't actually say you liked it, you said it was interesting.
That's close enough, thanks for liking it! lol.
And yes, the Buffalo Soldiers were superhuman! Except the ones in that unfortunate group that Hermann's warriors got on the road. I'm all out of voting power for today. If I go below 80% then it doesn't recharge overnight. But I'll get over to your blog tomorrow.
I have a hard time keeping my VP at 70% which is what it is at, at the moment. Maybe I should just not vote for a day or two and let it recharge first. Otherwise, my vote values are quite pathetic.
Your posts still get a vote, but sometimes I refrain from commenting. Most of what I want to say, somebody else has said them anyway.
Howdy today sir Vincent! I know, it's a real struggle. The only way I could keep voting for everyone was to lease sp, which is not cheap but the standard lease is for 3 months so I did it and in fact I've been thinking about doing that again because even at 2100 sp I can't vote for everyone I want to.
But leasing gives you the ability to not run out of VP so fast. But you'd have to buy a little steem in order to do that and that means you'd have to deal with getting set up with coinbase or someone to fund an account with one of them. It's a good time to buy steem while it's down in prce. but then it could go even lower. lol.
Never mind. Sounds like too much work. lol
oh man! lol..what about putting a little into a few of the other coins that should go up when Bitcoin does? Some of them are only 2 cents now. I think most are near the bottom.
I would still need a crypto wallet wouldn't I? And it's then back to the story with coinbase. Never mind, I will pass. I am not even sure if crypto will take off and if it did, would I still be around to spend it? Too many uncertainty. Remember? I don't buy green bananas. :-)
haha! well it's going to take off because the huge institutional investors with billions are just starting to come into the market. They've been waiting for a few things to happen, legal and others but with the largest companies in the world investing billions in blockchain technology yes, we are at the beginning of some major growth cycles.
Coinbase if very easy to deal with and get help from, it may be something very simple to straighten out. where are you going so soon? You might not be around to spend it? The market will probably take off this year. Bitcoin is already gaining back huge ground and the altcoins generally follow it. And the ones that will be used in the Central banks and giant companies will sky rocket.
Singapore is working on some of the biggest blockchain deals in the world and will be a major player, by the way.
Very interesting to learn about the origin of buffalo soldiers. What is not cool is to have a painful death in the desert without water!
Howdy sir chesatochi! I agree with both points for sure! Thanks so much for reading and commenting. Where is your location or just your country if you like to stay more private?
My country is in Canada.
Oh very good sir chesatochi, I love Canada and I'm so thankful that she is our neighbor!
A beautiful country. :)
yes sir, in the summertime when many people their vacations in Canada and they do their posts about their trip and I see all the gorgeous, breath-taking scenery I just can't hardly believe it! lol.
yes sir, in the summertime when many people their vacations in Canada and they do their posts about their trip and I see all the gorgeous, breath-taking scenery I just can't hardly believe it! lol.
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