Houston Chapter

Houston Texas Buffalo Soldiers M/C Chapter History The Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club Houston Texas Chapter was founded in March of 2002 by Ronald "Gold Rush" Goodwell and Leon "Grasshopper" Sanford. Approval for the Houston Chapter was granted on June 5, 2002 by a unanimous vote of the National Association of Buffalo Soldiers & Troopers Motorcycle Club. The Houston Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club of Texas was incorporated on the 25th of June 2002 after receiving a charter from the State of Texas.

... the Houston Chapter Beginning

History of the Original Texas Buffalo Soldiers

Texas Buffalo Soldier regiments were charged to protect frontier settlements, survey and map the plains, strung thousands of miles of telegraph lines, build and repair dozens of forts and escort countless wagon trains, stagecoaches, railroad trains, and cattle herds across the southwest.

In 1874, with Buffalo Soldier regiments stationed at several forts located throughout Texas from the Panhandle to the Valley, commander of the 24^th Infantry unit Major General William T. Sherman suggested to Congress to keep Buffalo Soldier troops in Texas because "that race can better stand the extreme southern climate than our white troops." Later that year, the 9^th and 10^th Cavalries mounted up at Fort Griffin and rode into the now legendary Red River War with the southern Plains Indians (Cheyenne, Arapaho, Comanche and Kiowa). In 1880, they chased Apache Chief Victorio from Fort Davis across western Texas before forcing him into Mexico.

2^nd Lieutenant Henry O. Flipper, became West Point's first African American graduate in 1877, in addition to the first commissioned black officer of the regular U.S. Army. Flipper began his military service in 1878 as a 10^th Cavalry Buffalo Soldier at Fort Sill, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). In 1880, after many frontier skirmishes with American Indians, Lt. Flipper and his 10^th Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers headed for service at Fort Davis, Texas. That was where things truly fell apart.

At Fort Davis, Flipper was appointed quartermaster for the commissary and was responsible for recording and safeguarding the store's weekly cash profits. In 1881 Colonel William "Pecos Bill" Shafter took command of the fort with a negative background following a string of harassment and misconduct charges filed by his former company, the 24^th Infantry Buffalo Soldiers. The rumor around the military was that although Pecos Bill led African American troops fairly well, he didn't actually like them much.

Shortly after his arrival as fort commander, Colonel Shafter relieved Flipper of his duty as quartermaster and filed two criminal charges against him: 1) embezzlement of $3,791.71 of commissary funds, and 2) conduct unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman. Flipper admitted that he personally had discovered a $2,000 shortage but feared reporting it to his superiors, so he decided to solve the problem himself by covering the debt with a royalty check from his memoirs, but the funds had been delayed.

Along with three of his officers and seven other white soldiers Shafter participated on the review board in the 1881 court martial hearing against Flipper. With the support of White civilians and fellow soldiers who collected $1,700 to replace the missing money and testified to Flipper's good character, Captain Merritt Barber, 16^th Infantry, defended Flipper. Henry O. Flipper was acquitted of embezzlement 3 months later but was found guilty of conduct unbecoming an officer. On June 24, 1882, West Point's first African American graduate and the Army's first black officer was dishonorably discharged from service.

After leaving the Army, Henry Flipper achieved esteem in the professional fields of engineering, national government service, publishing, and education. Unfortunately despite continuing his fight to clear his military record and his name, Flipper died in 1940 without having won either of them.

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