The Buffalo Soldiers

By William H. Leckie

    Nonetheless, despite the continuing tension from the recent riot, the deaths from cholera, the desertions, the lack of facilities, and the scarcity of officers, 818 men were accepted as enlistees in the Ninth Cavalry during its first year.  Many came from states outside of Louisiana. Kentucky contributed, among others, farmer George Gray, doomed to die of tetanus in the post Hospital at Fort Clark, Texas, and laborer William Sharpe, an Indian arrow awaiting him along the rocky banks of the Pecos River.