Walking in the Footsteps of a Buffalo Soldier

The Campo Valley is about half way between San Diego and El Centro, California. Just 12 miles to the West of Interstate 8, you take Exit 51, the State Route S1 exit in San Diego County. The drive from Los Angeles to Camp Lockett was 180 miles by my odometer, but the trip took me 65 years back in time. It was around March of ’43 when a new recruit named Fred Jones boarded a troop train at Fort Thomas, Kentucky. 10 days later he found himself at Camp Lockett, in California. When dad stepped off the train he saw Black Troopers on horseback and he asked, "Where am I?" One of the troopers replied, "This is the 10th Cavalry, son."  Dad was very familiar with the Black men who served this country in the segregated units of the 9th and 10th mounted cavalry, nicknamed "Buffalo Soldiers" by the Native Americans during the Indian Wars. In fact, he was continuing the family legacy that started with his uncle, Trooper John Powell, who served in the 10th cavalry during World War I. Camp Lockett was the new home of the 10th and the newly formed 28th cavalry regiments. Dad and many young men from the mid-west would make of the bulk of the new regiment.

I don't believe the Campo Valley has changed much in the past 65 years. Outside of a few new ranch homes here and there and a freshly paved highway that leads to Cameron's Corners and on to the base, the topology hasn't changed much. Rolling hills and open pastures are dotted by hugh boulders that seemed as though they were dropped by some over  loaded boulder hauling space craft that flew over the area on its way back to its home planet. It's very easy to let your imagination drift back to a time when this area was overrun with Troopers perfecting their skills as premier horsemen. They protected the railways, reservoirs, bridges and tunnels in the area. They were this country's first line of defense for any enemy that attempted to attack the United States from the South and they along with other Buffalo Soldier regiments in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, patrolled the US - Mexico border until all the regiments were shipped out to North Africa in 1944.

During my drive down to Camp Lockett, I was reminded of the last time I drove on State Route S1. It was in 2002. Dad and I were coming down for a rededication ceremony of a monument to the Virgin Mary, built by Italian prisoners-of-war who were held on the base after the 10th and 28th Regiments had shipped out to North Africa. Dad told me the regiments used to do 24 mile force-marches on Route S1 from the base to where I-8 is today and then back to the base. The marches were done at night, leaving Camp Lockett around 22:00 and returning the next morning by 06:00. 

During one of these night maneuvers a trooper thought he would make a little money by selling whiskey to the  other troopers while they were out on the road. Leave it to some enterprising young trooper to try to earn some extra cash on the side. His plan was to fill his canteen with whiskey and after they've been out for a few hours he'd start selling capfuls, of the Devil's brew, at whatever price the market would bear. There is an old saying in the desert, "water is more precious than gold." After a few hours had gone by and no sales were being made the young trooper started to get thirsty. It seems that alcohol doesn't satisfy ones thirst like water does; in fact it makes it a lot worse. A lesson the young trooper learned the hard way. He eventually ended up pouring out the whiskey and then begging his fellow troopers for water. (the best laid plans of mice and men...) 

I didn't do Dad's story much justice here. Dad was a great storyteller! I guess, when you walk in the footsteps of a Buffalo Soldier, you'd best be prepared to fill some might big boots.

Camp Lockett's site was chosen for a cavalry post as far back as 1878 when sixteen troopers wearing the Blue uniform of the US Cavalry bivouacked for several months in this small mexican border valley. At that time it took a week to get to San Diego, the choicest acres of bottomland sold for $5 an acre: smugglers, cattle wrestlers and bandits were a constant problem.

Ground was broken for the present camp on June 23rd, 1941. The surrounding terrain offers unparalleled opportunities to test man, beast and mechanized carriers over a wide variety of terrain that includes heavily wooded underbrush, desert sand, miles of barren, rocky wastelands, streams to be forded and other geographic hazards identical to those which confront cavalry troopers in battle conditions.

Climatically this is a region of extremes. There is summer heat of 115 degrees and freezing temperatures in the winter. Long dry spells alternate with cloudburst. The Campo Valley is known as an area having one of the longest thermometers (meaning temperature swings) in the country.

Today, at the southern edge of Camp Lockett stands a 10-foot tall corrugated wall that runs as far as the eye can see. It represents the US-Mexico border. In the early 1940's, when the Buffalo Soldiers patrolled this area, no such wall existed.

In 1942, the 10th Cavalry Regiment (the famed Buffalo Soldiers) moved into Camp Lockett to replace the 11th Cavalry Regiment, which had been converted into an armored unit. In 1943 the 28th Cavalry Regiment made up of inductees joined the 10th to form the 4th Cavalry Brigade of the 2nd Cavalry Division (Horse).

From Fort  Leavenworth to Camp Lockett: two military reservations separated by 1600 miles and 78 years of Buffalo Soldier History. If their story began at Fort Leavenworth, then history will record that it ended at Camp Lockett. What happened in between is the responsibility of every abel-bodied member of the 9th and 10th (Horse) Cavalry Association to tell.

Sincerely,

Trooper Ron Jones

Greater Los Angeles Area Chapter - 9th & 10th (Horse) Cavalry Association

bik4lif@ca.rr.com