We’ve been fortunate enough to visit two sites relevant to the Buffalo Soldiers – the African-Americans who served in the U.S.
Army post-Civil War.
The name of Buffalo Soldier was originally given to the members of the U.S. 10th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army, formed on September 21, 1866 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Eventually it described all of the African-American regiments serving in the Army.
On our visit to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, we stopped by the imposing statue commemorating the Buffalo Soldiers. A soldier on a rearing horse sits atop a small waterfall, ready for action. The details captured in the statue is incredible, from the wrinkles in his trousers to his spurs and the muscles in his horse.
If you’re around the Fort Leavenworth, Kansas area, be sure to stop in. (While you’re there, you might also like visiting the gravesites of three casualties of the Little Bighorn – Tom Custer, George Yates, and James Calhoun). [Click to read more]
Base of the Beecher Island Monument
The Battle of Beecher Island, also known as the Battle of Arikaree Fork, was an armed conflict between elements of the United States Army and several of the Plains native American tribes in September 1868. Beecher Island, on the Arikaree River, then known as part of the North Fork of the Republican River, near present-day Wray, Colorado, was named afterwards for Lieutenant Fredrick H. Beecher, an army officer killed during the battle. [wikipedia]
Beecher Island As It Appeared in 1917
Annual gatherings of Beecher Island survivors were held; the photo here was taken at the 1917 reunion. Visiting this site was so strange; it played such a huge role in the Indian Wars and yet today it feels like a forgotten footnote in American history.
This is the second monument erected here; the first (built in 1905) was washed away in a 1935 flood of the Arickaree River. The site is located on County Road KK just west of the Arickaree River bridge. To get there from Wray go south about six miles on US 385 and follow the Beecher Island signs ten more miles.
Baca House, Trinidad Colorado
Felipe Baca, a farmer from Northern New Mexico, settled in the area around Trinidad in 1860, drawn by the good soil and river water for irrigation. In 1873, he purchased this house from John Hough, a Santa Fe Trail entrepreneur who had built the house just three years prior. Hough traded the house to Baca for 22,000 pounds of wool, or $7,000. The Bacas were not only farmers but ranchers, merchants and civic leaders. The Santa Fe Trail’s mountain route passed through Trinidad, which became a thriving trade and cultural center.
Roses on Baca House fence are only a small part of the beautiful garden
Bloom Mansion
The Bloom Mansion is also located in the El Corazon de Trinidad National Historic District
Bents Old Fort, Colorado
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