Buffalo Soldiers at Fort Missoula, Montana

One of my favorite places in Montana happens to be in my hometown of Missoula, Montana. Fort Missoula is a former military fort located in southern Missoula and rides the banks of the Bitterroot River. Although Fort Missoula is now part of the city of Missoula, there are still some military units who work there (Montana Army National Guard) and a military cemetery. The Forest Service’s Region 1 and Bureau of Land Management-Missoula Field Office are headquartered there. The old officer housing (known as Officer’s Row) now houses different types of service and educational resource organizations. Main attractions at the Fort include a huge athletic complex, laboratory facilities for the University of Montana, dog parks, jogging paths, and playgrounds. There are also two museums on the grounds of the Fort: The Historic Museum of Fort Missoula and the Rocky Mountain Museum of Military History (where I volunteer from time to time).

Fort Missoula began in the 1870s due to settlers’ request for security from local Native American Tribes (Salish, Kootenai, and Nez Perce)—there was also the desire for local settlers to benefit economically from the presence of a military fort and the Soldiers who were posted there (Jones 2013: 9). A few years later, in 1888, one of the Army’s four all-Black regiments was posted to Fort Missoula, the 25th Infantry Regiment (Jones 2013: 10).

Some of the famous residents of Fort Missoula were the officers and Soldiers of the Company B, 25th Infantry Regiment, also known as the Buffalo Soldiers. The Buffalo Soldiers formed a sizable part of U.S. Army forces in Montana after the Civil War (Langellier 2017: 41). Many Black Americans joined the Army because there was an opportunity for advancement as well as adventure and became a reality for them after the Confederacy was defeated (Langellier 2017: 41). But why the name of Buffalo Soldier you may ask? The name was given to Black American Soldiers by Native Americans in reference to the Black Soldiers’ appearance (Jones 2013: 10).

The 25th Infantry Regiment are most famous for two reasons, at least to me anyways. First, they  served in the first major field maneuver held by the Army in 1895 and later served in combat operations during the Spanish-American War in Cuba (Langellier 2017: 41). In Cuba, the Buffalo Soldiers served honorably and with distinction (Langellier 2017: 55). The second reason that almost everyone in Missoula knows about is the Buffalo Soldiers and their participation in the Regiment’s experimental Bicycle Corps (Jones 2013: 10). In 1896 and 1897 Army leadership wanted a more efficient form of Soldier transport as well as a replacement for the horses in the calvary (Langellier 2017: 48). At the end of the experiment, the Army determined bicycles were not practical, and the 25th stuck with their horses due to the war with Spain (Langellier 2017: 50). Today, at the Historic Museum at Fort Missoula, there is a replica of the type of bike used on display.

The 25th Infantry Regiment holds a special place for me as a Missoulian, as a Montanan, and as an American. The adversity these men overcame in a time of racism and the harshness of the American West is inspirational to any American, especially those of us who serve or served our country. Even the settlers, who at first disliked the idea of Black Soldiers in their town, came to respect the men of the 25th, and even held a parade for them as they departed to deploy to combat operations in Cuba (Langellier 2017: 50). For more information on the Buffalo Soldiers of Fort Missoula, please see the bibliography below.

Bibliography:

Tate Jones, Images of America: Fort Missoula, Mt. Pleasant, Arcadia Publishing, 2013.

John P. Langellier, Montana Historical Society, “Buffalo Soldiers in Big Sky Country, 1888–1898” (Autumn 2017): 41-59