Negro soldiers who wanted to remain in the United States Army after the Civil War were organized into the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry Regiments. Their service in controlling hostile Indians on the Great Plains during the next twenty years was as invaluable as it was unrecognized. The regiments, commanded by white officers and operating under intense disadvantages-difficulty in obtaining officers, prejudicial treatment by higher army officials concerning equipment, assignments, and camp policy, and prejudice in frontier towns-nevertheless developed into remarkable fighting units during their extensive engagements on the Southern Plains. Called by all sorts of names-most of them insulting-by various groups, the men of these regiments were dubbed "buffalo soldiers" by their Indian opponents. They were proud of this title, and the most prominent feature of the Tenth Cavalry's regimental crest was the figure of a buffalo. The long-neglected story of their courage and devotion to duty adds a new dimension to frontier history.

The early years -- The Tenth moves to the plains -- An army of occupation -- The Ninth in Texas -- The Red River War -- The Tenth in West Texas -- Apaches, civil broils and Utes -- The Victorio War -- The final years.