Sold – Andrew Johnson Names the Founding Commander of the Famed Buffalo Soldiers

The regiment was organized on September 21 in New Orleans and was ordered to San Antonio in March of 1867, from which base whey would maintain order between the Rio Grande and the Concho Rivers.  There it was charged with protecting stage and mail routes, building and maintaining forts, and establishing law and order in a vast area full of outlaws, Mexican revolutionaries, and raiding Comanches, Cheyennes, Kiowas, and Apaches. Despite prejudice and the almost impossible task of maintaining some semblance of order from the Staked Plains to El Paso to Brownsville, the 9th established themselves as one of the most effective fighting forces in the Army. The 9th was transferred to the District of New Mexico during the winter and spring of 1875 and 76. Over the next six years they were thrust into what had been a continuous struggle to subdue the fiercely independent Apaches. Under the command of skilled warriors like Geronimo, the Apaches proved to be an illusive and worthy adversary for the troopers of the 9th Cavalry.

Who would lead this first band of wild west lawmen?  Born in 1832 in Bangor, Maine, Edward Hatch rose quickly in the ranks of the Union Army.  He was considered by his contemporaries to be bold and to possess an impulsive temperament that well suited a cavalry officer.  He first saw action in 1862 at Island No. 10 and later that year at Iuka and Corinth, where he commanded the 1st Cavalry Brigade of the Army of Mississippi.  He helped organize and was promoted to Colonel of the 2nd Iowa Infantry during Gen. Benjamin Grierson's cavalry raid through Mississippi during the Vicksburg Campaign.  In the Southern Theater, Hatch's rise was meteoric. In less than a year he was made a brigade commander. Then he was placed in command of the entire cavalry of the Army of Tennessee.  So in late July, Sheridan turned to Hatch and chose him to be the commander of his Buffalo Soldiers.

Document Signed with a Stamped Signature, Washington, March 5, 1867, appointing Edward Hatch "Colonel of the Ninth regiment of Cavalry… from the twenty-eighth day of July 1866."  Note that the effective date of the appointment coincides with the Congressional authorization to create the regiment, meaning Hatch was in charge from the first day.

Under Hatch's leadership, the Buffalo Soldiers gained national fame.  Several of these men won the medal of honor.  In a twist of history, Hatch accepted this position which did so much to make his name in history, while George Armstrong Custer, who also considered the post, refused to command a black regiment and turned the post down.