Buffalo Soldier: The Wars - The Black Art Depot

•1775-1783 - Revolutionary War - Approximately 5,000 blacks fought in the War of Independence. By mid-1778, each brigade in General George Washington's army averaged 43 black soldiers.

• 1812-1815 - War of 1812 - Though blacks were barred from service for the first two years, at the war's later stages, they made up ten percent of naval crews.

• 1846-1848 - Mexican War - No blacks fought in this war. It was fought by regulars and volunteers primarily from the rural South and Midwest.

• 1861-1865 - Civil War - Blacks made up twelve percent of the Union army (178,895 men) and 25 percent of the Union navy (30,000 men). Thousands more served in service units as laborers and the like. Some 2,751 blacks were killed in battle; another 65,427 died primarily from disease.

• 1866-1891 - Indian Wars - The 5,000 Buffalo Soldiers who served in the all-black 9th and 10th cavalries and 24th and 25th infantry regiments constituted about ten percent of the total troops who guarded the Western frontier for a quarter century.

• 1898 - Spanish-American War - The four Buffalo Soldier regiments fought in Cuba, making up about twelve percent of the forces on the island. Another 2,000—7.6 percent of all sailors—served in the navy.

• 1899-1902 - Philippines War - In addition to the four black original Buffalo Soldier regiments, two volunteer regiments composed of blacks helped wage this colonial campaign.

• 1916 - Mexican Punitive Expedition - The Buffalo Soldiers 10th Cavalry made up twelve percent of the forces sent in pursuit of Poncho Villa. The regiment suffered over half of the casualties sustained; 10 men were killed.

• 1917-1918 - World War I - Over 200,000 black soldiers made it to France, equaling 9.2 percent of the American Expeditionary Force. Most were in support units, and the Buffalo Soldiers became part of the 92nd Infantry Division. The all-black 92nd and 93rd infantry divisions lost 773 killed in action—1.4 percent of the total U.S. troops lost—and 4,408 were wounded in action.

• 1941-1945 - World War II - Some 500,000 blacks were stationed overseas, amounting to four percent of the 11 million Americans who served on foreign shores. About ten percent of blacks were in combat units, and the Buffalo Soldiers continued as part of the 92nd Infantry Division. The 92nd Infantry was in Italy and suffered the loss of several soldiers with 616 killed in action and 2,187 wounded. The 93rd Division was stationed in the South Pacific; of its members, 17 were killed in action and 121 were wounded in action.

During the Battle of the Bulge, 2,500 blacks were formed into all-black infantry platoons and attached to larger units. The famed 761st Tank Battalion spent 183 continuous days in combat in the European theater, earning a Presidential Unit Citation. The 333rd Field Artillery bravely supported ground operations in France.