Frank W. Pullen, Jr.,

_Ex-Sergeant-Major 25th U.S. Infantry_.

Enfield, N.C., March 23, 1899.


BUFFALO TROOPERS, THE NAME BY WHICH NEGRO SOLDIERS ARE KNOWN.

They Comprise Several of the Crack Regiments in Our Army-The Indians
Stand in Abject Terror of them-Their Awful Yells Won a Battle with the
Redskins.

"It is not necessary to revert to the Civil war to prove that American
Negroes are faithful, devoted wearers of uniforms," says a Washington
man, who has seen service in both the army and the navy. "There are at
the present time four regiments of Negro soldiers in the regular army
of the United States-two outfits of cavalry and two of infantry. All
four of these regiments have been under fire in important Indian
campaigns, and there is yet to be recorded a single instance of a man
in any of the four layouts showing the white feather, and the two
cavalry regiments of Negroes have, on several occasions, found
themselves in very serious situations. While the fact is well known
out on the frontier, I don't remember ever having seen it mentioned
back here that an American Indian has a deadly fear of an American
Negro. The most utterly reckless, dare-devil savage of the copper hue
stands literally in awe of a Negro, and the blacker the Negro the more
the Indian quails. I can't understand why this should be, for the
Indians decline to give their reasons for fearing the black men,