Imagine riding a bicycle 1,900 miles from Montana to St. Louis.
Evan Harris
Advising clients navigating public relations, issues, public affairs. Former Edelman, CA Legislature comms director, BPD/health care. 14+ years experience in media relations, strategic comms, exec visibility, M/A comms.
With a rifle. And a bed roll. And it's 1897. Sounds like something you would likely see on National Geographic or Instagram. The almost 2,000 mile feat of endurance sounds better suited for the Olympics or an Ironman instead of orders for an infantry regiment. But, history is always stranger than fiction.
The Twenty-Fifth Infantry Bicycle Corps, one of four African American, or Buffalo Solider regiments in the U.S. Army, rode through snow, sleet and heat from Fort Missoula to St. Louis in the summer of 1897.
"Also known as Iron Riders, the volunteer bicycle corps set out from Fort Missoula, Montana, on June 14, 1897, embarking on a 1,900-mile odyssey to St. Louis, Missouri. They hadn’t planned to spend much time in the town of Big Timber, but an elderly, exuberant Civil War veteran convinced them to stick around, insisting on buying drinks for the soldiers at a local tavern. - "The Black Buffalo Soldiers Who Biked Across the American West," Smithsonian Magazine
Aside from large bar tabs and completing an early version of extreme sports, the Buffalo Soldier regiments hold an important role in American history. They became true multidisciplinary soldiers - operating wherever the government sent them as part-soldiers, part-police force and part-emergency response team for natural disasters or national park protection.
After 1866, the U.S. Army created four all African American units: the 9th and 10th Calvary and 24th and 25th Infantry. The term Buffalo Soldiers allegedly comes from a nickname used by Native Americans fighting black soldiers during skirmishes. Their legacy stretches throughout the West. They were stationed in well-known locations like Fort Missoula in Montana - the start of their American Tour de France in 1897 - and the Presidio in San Francisco during the winter.
They played a major role in the charge and capture of Spanish flag from a blockhouse at El Caney during the Spanish American War. The 10th Calvary and 24th Infantry led successful charges up the famed San Juan and Kettle Hills with Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders. Buffalo soldiers were recognized for at least five Medals of Honor during the Spanish American War.
Buffalo Soldiers served as some of the first national park rangers at Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks in 1899, 1903 and 1904. Charles Young, only the third African American to graduate from West Point, was military superintendent of Sequoia National Park in 1903.
Countless Buffalo Soldiers also acted as firefighters and emergency personal during 1910 fires in Montana and Idaho by evacuating civilians and attempting to save buildings. "The Big Burn" as it was later called burned three million acres that year.
As park rangers and firefighters, they had an early entry into longstanding positions and roles that define some of our most treasured natural spaces in California, Idaho and Montana. California even recognized their contributions near Yosemite by renaming part of the main highway.
All this peering into a storied piece of American military history came from an accident really. I stumbled across a reminder of the Buffalo Soldiers service in a place I didn't suspect.
领英推荐
Mount Shasta, California.
The picture above isn't from a website or somewhere online. I took it. Walking around a family cemetery in Mount Shasta. One of a seemingly endless list of headstones that I walked by at first but then slowly came back to and read the words.
In an area that's been inhabited by settlers since the Gold Rush (nearby Yreka was founded in 1851), a headstone with Spanish American War written on it stuck out. I didn't realize what the 25th Infantry was, it's role in the Spanish American War or the regiments unique history from bicycles to park rangesr until more than a year later.
Even then, it took some better researching from family to find out more about the veteran buried there. Arthur Brooks fought in the Spanish American War and survived. He lived in Mount Shasta as a boat hand, later ran his own shoe cleaning or repair business and owned a home until he died in July 1934.
Newspaper or any official records about either his service and life-post Spanish American War are nonexistent (for now).
Finding Brooks' headstone in Mount Shasta felt random. Learning more about him felt like a surprise. A mystery that I've come back to a few times and tried to find more. Hopefully more updates to come...
-EH
The Iron Riders: https://www.ironriders2022.org/
Extra Reading: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-black-buffalo-soldiers-who-biked-across-the-american-west-180980246/
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