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Reconstruction & Gilded Age

9th Cavalry at San Pedro Springs

San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas

Marker Inscription

During the pre- and post-civil war years, San Antonio played a major role in the expansion of Texas and military stations in the southwest. Less well known are the Buffalo Soldiers of the 9th Cavalry Regiment who passed through San Antonio and trained at San Pedro Springs in the spring of 1867. Prior to the Civil War, the 20-acre San Antonio Arsenal, established in 1859, was the largest federal military presence in the region. It was the San Antonio Arsenal that supplied the forts to the west and would continue to sustain the 9th Cavalry in its Texas deployments to Ft. Davis, Ft. Quitman, Ft. Stockton and elsewhere. The San Pedro Springs encampment was established two miles north of the San Antonio Arsenal site in a lush landscape. By April 14, 1867, the entire regiment arrived, assembled and organized by company into a tented camp covering several acres and encroaching on the settlers nearby. Described by the newspaper as a “canvas city,” Buffalo Soldiers were reported as “superior to white soldiers in discipline, fidelity, neatness, sobriety, and equal in bravery.” The 1867 San Pedro Springs encampment of the 9th Cavalry provided a site for training and preparation of a key component of the military. The men served valiantly on the western frontier and were awarded numerous medals of honor and other commendations. As the military desegregated, the 9th Cavalry continued to evolve into modern armored and airborne operations, which trace their heritage to the post-civil war training near here, part of the African American role in San Antonio’s cultural history. The continuum of military occupation and residence led to the establishment of Fort Sam Houston and the Army Air Corps in San Antonio, a city rich in military history.

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

In the spring of 1867, the newly formed 9th Cavalry — Buffalo Soldiers, Black troopers under white officers — assembled at San Pedro Springs, pitching a "canvas city" that spread across several acres just north of the San Antonio Arsenal. From here the regiment deployed to the chain of West Texas forts, serving on the frontier with a discipline the local press grudgingly rated superior to white units. Their men would earn numerous Medals of Honor before the regiment's lineage carried forward into modern armored and airborne units.

Why it matters

The 9th Cavalry's Texas encampment marks the beginning of the Buffalo Soldiers' storied service on the western frontier — a founding chapter of African American military history in a nation still reconstructing after the Civil War.

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African American HistoryMilitary & WartimeWestward ExpansionFrontier HistoryLandmark

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