Buffalo Soldiers "Buffalo Soldiers" was the name given to African-American cavalrymen by their native-American antagonists during the Indian Wars in the post-Civil War American West. The first men to serve in all-black army units did so in the Union Army, during the Civil War. The initial all-black regiment, the 54th Massachusetts, trained by its white commander, Col. Robert G. Shaw, suffered heavy casualties in a heroic, though unsuccessful attempt to capture Fort Wagner at Charleston (S.C.) harbor in July 1863. In all, about 209,000 ex-slaves and free blacks served in the Union Army, and more than 68,000 of them died in battle or f