Buffalo Soldiers Memorial in Huntsville highlights overlooked chapter of Black History – WAAY

Weekend Anchor/Managing Editor/MMJ

Rob Sneed is an award-winning journalist who joined the WAAY team in December 2023 as Weekend Evening Anchor/Managing Editor. He was the recipient of the 2017 Ohio Associated Press award for Best Investigative Reporting for his coverage of the way parolee’s GPS devices are monitored.
WAAY 31 spoke with a historian about the 10th Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers Memorial.
As Black History Month continues, WAAY 31 is spotlighting historic advancements made by Black Americans in North Alabama. This week, the focus is on a memorial that many may have forgotten—the 10th Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers Memorial in Huntsville.
Located at 2800 Poplar Avenue, the memorial honors the Buffalo Soldiers of the U.S. Army’s 10th Cavalry Regiment, a unit formed in 1866 and composed of African American soldiers.
It’s often a forgotten piece of American history.
“It’s not just Black history,” said local historian William Hampton. “It’s American history. These soldiers’ story is very much a part of American history.”
Hampton, who runs the Huntsville Revisited Museum—a local institution dedicated to preserving Huntsville and Madison County’s diverse history—has studied the Buffalo Soldiers’ time in Huntsville extensively.
The soldiers arrived in Huntsville in October 1898, after serving in the Spanish-American War in Cuba. According to Hampton, the U.S. Surgeon General at the time determined that Huntsville was the cleanest city in America, making it an ideal place for soldiers to recover from illness.
However, their stay was far from comfortable.
“Their uniforms were hand-me-downs. Their tents were leaky,” Hampton said. “This was Alabama in 1898, so their weapons were taken from them. They were disarmed.”
Hampton has preserved letters from Buffalo Soldiers who wrote to President William McKinley, pleading for their weapons to be returned or to be stationed elsewhere.
“You can hear the tears in their voice,” Hampton said. “One of them wrote, ‘Would the president of these United States allow us, United States soldiers sworn to protect the Stars and Stripes, to be shot down like dogs, murdered like dogs?’”
Despite the challenges, white soldiers stationed in Huntsville recognized the bravery of the Buffalo Soldiers and advocated on their behalf.
“I’m no friend of the Negro,” one white soldier wrote, according to Hampton. “However, we would not have won this war had it not been for the bravery of the 10th and 9th Cavalry soldiers.”
Following their departure from Huntsville in January 1899, many Buffalo Soldiers headed west, settling in Texas, Montana, and the Oklahoma Territory. Some became cowboys, though Hampton notes their contributions have largely been erased from the narratives depicted in old Western films.
“These men served honorably. They were brave and courageous,” Hampton said. “Without them, we wouldn’t have won the Battle of San Juan Hill.”
While Huntsville’s Veterans Memorial downtown honors those who have served, the Buffalo Soldiers Memorial stands as a lasting tribute to these African American soldiers—reminding future generations of their sacrifice and resilience.
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Weekend Anchor/Managing Editor/MMJ

Rob Sneed is an award-winning journalist who joined the WAAY team in December 2023 as Weekend Evening Anchor/Managing Editor. He was the recipient of the 2017 Ohio Associated Press award for Best Investigative Reporting for his coverage of the way parolee’s GPS devices are monitored.
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Gilliam Nii Lighter

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