CA ACR143

Congress created six segregated Black army regiments in 1866, later consolidated into four regiments: the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 24th and 25th Infantry, who were named "Buffalo Soldiers" by Plains Indians.

Approximately 500 Buffalo Soldiers, primarily from the 24th Infantry and 9th Cavalry, served as park rangers in Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks between 1891 and 1913, performing duties including evicting poachers, extinguishing forest fires, and constructing roads and trails.

The United States Army administered Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks from 1891 to 1913 with two cavalry troops of approximately 60 men each assigned to patrol and maintain order in each park.

Buffalo Soldiers oversaw the building of an arboretum near the south fork of the Merced River in Yosemite in 1904 and established what one scholar considers the first marked nature trail in the United States national park system.

The Legislature recognizes the legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers and honors their important contributions to the history and development of the nation's parks.