Mayor Proclaims July 28 as National Buffalo Soldier Day

SAN ANGELO, TX — Mayor Brenda Gunter proclaimed July 28, 2024, as National Buffalo Soldier Day in San Angelo during a city council meeting Tuesday.

No city is more synonymous with Buffalo Soldiers than San Angelo.

After the U.S. Congress passed the Army Organization Act on July 28, 1866, allowing black men to serve in all-black military regiments, many of these men served at Fort Concho in San Angelo, on the western Texas frontier, between 1868 and 1885.

They became known as Buffalo Soldiers, a name given by the Native Americans of the region.

More than 100 years later, the U.S. Congress declared July 28 as “Buffalo Soldiers Day” in 1992.

Last year, the San Angelo NAACP Buffalo Soldier Memorial was dedicated on July 28. The monument is located in El Paseo de Santa Angela Park, across from Fort Concho.

“The legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers will live on forever through this memorial,” Gunter said in Tuesday’s proclamation. “I hereby proclaim July 28, 2024, as National Buffalo Soldiers Day in San Angelo, Texas, and call the attention of all our citizens to this observance.”

A first anniversary celebration will be held at the memorial at 2 p.m. on Sunday, July 28, followed by an event at 2:30 p.m. at Fort Concho.