10th Cavalry Regiment (United States) - Notable Members

Notable Members

Some members in this section are noted in the article above. If detailed in the article, they are summarized here. If not detailed, a brief expansion is provided.

• Mark Matthews, who was the oldest living Buffalo Soldier, died at the age of 111 on 6 September 2005. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Matthews joined the 10th Cavalry Regiment when he was only 15 years old, after having been recruited at a Lexington, Kentucky racetrack and having documents forged so that he appeared to meet the minimum age of 17.

• Summary of Medal of Honor recipients of the 10th Cavalry;
  • William McBryar and Louis H. Carpenter Indian Wars.
  • The following four members of the 10th Cavalry Regiment received the Medal of Honor for "the rescue" of stranded soldiers on the beach at the conclusion of the Battle of Tayacoba. Dennis Bell, Fitz Lee, William H. Thompkins and George H. Wanton.
  • Edward L. Baker, Jr. Spanish-American War.

• John Bigelow, Jr., Second Lieutenant, (later Lieutenant Colonel) Bigelow served with the 9th Cavalry Regiment from 1877–1885. He was then assigned to the 10th Cavalry and stayed with them in Cuba (D Troop) until 1899. He then served again with the 9th from 1903–1904.
• Benjamin Grierson, the first commander of the 10th Cavalry Regiment. Served 1866 to 1888.
• Henry O. Flipper – the first African-American graduate of West Point in 1877.
• Gilbert W. Lindsay (1900–1990), Los Angeles City Council member, 1963–90
• Nicholas M. Nolan, a favorite officer of A Troop for more than a decade and who led during the Buffalo Soldier tragedy of 1877 also known as the "Staked Plains Horror."
• Jules Garesche Ord, First Lieutenant, second in command of D Troop, who was killed in action after starting and leading the spontaneous charge of the 10th U.S. Cavalry up to the top of San Juan Hill.
• John J. Pershing – from October 1895 until mid-1897, First Lieutenant (later General) Pershing commanded a troop of the 10th Cavalry Regiment from Fort Assinniboine in north central Montana. In 1898 in Cuba, Major Pershing served as a regimental officer who participated in the assault on Kettle Hill (part of the San Juan heights) and took over temporary command of D Troop after that battle on 1 July 1898. He was later known as "Nigger Jack" and "Black Jack" for comparing the high level of professionalism and discipline of the "Buffalo Soldiers" with other soldiers.
• Kenneth O. Preston is a former Sergeant Major of the Army in the United States. He served in that position from January 2004 through his retirement in March 2011.
• Augustus Walley served with the 9th Cavalry Regiment as a private and received the Medal of Honor. He later served with the 10th Cavalry as First Sergeant in Cuba and the Philippines.
• Charles Young, Major (later Colonel) commanded the 2nd Squadron of the 10th during the 1916 Punitive Expedition into Mexico. He led a cavalry pistol charge that saved the wounded General Beltran and his men of the 13th Cavalry squadron, who had been outflanked.