New Jerusalem offers free Buffalo Soldiers event to public
New Jerusalem Baptist Church is inviting the public to a free Buffalo Soldiers event at 12:30 p.m. Sunday in honor of Black History Month, the pastor said.
A detachment of reenactors from Oklahoma will speak at the service Sunday, the Rev. Angus Thompson said. He especially hopes schoolchildren will come.
"They'll talk about the role that the Buffalo Soldiers played in settling the West and that they fought in the Civil War," Thompson said. "After the war was over, they shipped them out West."
When the nation was young, black slaves and freedmen fought in its wars, but they weren't allowed to be soldiers in peacetime, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
After the Civil War, Congress created new cavalry and infantry regiments that were made up of Blacks to serve in the Army during peacetime. The units were formed in 1866, and some of the soldiers mustered out of Fort Sill, Okla.
Thompson has said Native Americans called them Buffalo Soldiers because they thought their hair resembled a buffalo’s wool.
In addition, Base Camp Lindsey, a planned tiny-home project for homeless veterans, is named for Felix L. Lindsey, a Buffalo Soldier. He was a longtime resident of the east side of Wichita Falls.
New Jerusalem is at 1420 Borton St. For more information, call 940-767-2067.
Trish Choate, enterprise watchdog reporter for the Times Record News, covers education, courts, breaking news and more. Contact Trish with news tips at tchoate@gannett.com. Her Twitter handle is @Trishapedia.
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: New Jerusalem offers free Buffalo Soldier event
