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chapter 9 Reconstruction: The Making and Unmaking of a Revolution
could refuse to serve black people, and they did. The Court thus legitimized the power 1865–1877
of states and private individuals and institutions to discriminate against black citi-
zens and practically canceled the power of the federal government to intervene. AME
bishop Henry McNeal Turner expressed pervasive black feelings of both outrage and
despair. The decision, he proclaimed, “absolves the Negro’s allegiance to the general
government, makes the American flag to him a rag of contempt instead of a symbol of
liberty.” 34

Opportunities and Limits outside the South
During the Civil War, roughly 100,000 blacks left the South permanently, relocat-
ing in the North, Midwest, and West, especially in areas bordering on the former
35
Confederacy (Map 9.2). During Reconstruction, the migration continued, as
many African Americans believed they had to leave the South to improve their lives.
Wherever they went, however, they encountered well-established patterns of antiblack
prejudice and discrimination. Often new patterns developed as well. White military
officials, workers, factory owners, and union leaders limited black opportunities for
dignified work and fair wages, further circumscribing black lives. By the end of the
1870s, national indifference to the plight of blacks meant that wherever they lived,
they knew that they themselves, not the states or the federal government, had to
advance their own cause and protect their rights and liberties.

Autonomy in the West
For African Americans, as for all other Americans, the West beckoned as a land of
opportunity. Some who envisioned a better future for themselves in the West were
young men who joined the army. The U.S. Colored Troops were disbanded after the
war, but new black units (again with white officers) were authorized. Between 1866
and 1917, 25,000 black men — some former Civil War soldiers and others with no
prior military experience — served in the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry Regiments and
the Twenty-Fourth and Twenty-Fifth Infantry Regiments (established in 1866), all
assigned to military posts in the West. There they fought in the Indian wars that
tragically dispossessed Native Americans of their land and removed them onto res-
ervations. Native Americans called these black soldiers buffalo soldiers, apparently in
reference to their fierce fighting abilities and their dark curly hair, which resembled
a buffalo’s mane. Thirteen enlisted men and six officers received the Congressional
Medal of Honor for their service in the Indian wars. Private Henry McCombs of the
Tenth Calvary bragged, “We made the West,” having “defeated the hostile tribes of
Indians; and made the country safe to live in.” 36
Buffalo soldiers led a rough life on remote military posts. Most were single,
although over time, as camp life improved, some married or brought wives and chil-
dren to join them. Unlike white soldiers, who rotated out of service in the West to

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