DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it to you straight. Way back in the 19th century, the U.S. Cavalry was out here constructin' roads — cutting paths through the west to keep supplies movin' and armies connected.
That was the business. And one of the men right at the center of that business was Henry O. Flipper.
Now, hold that name in your mind for a second, because Flipper was no ordinary officer. He was the first African American graduate of West Point. The first.
And he was serving as an officer in the Tenth Cavalry regiment — the Buffalo Soldiers — stationed at Fort Sill out in Indian Territory, what we now call Oklahoma. By late 1879, Fort Sill had grown to the point where Caddo Station, the nearest railroad town, just wasn't cuttin' it anymore. The fort needed a more significant railroad connection, and somebody had to solve that problem.
The Army placed Flipper in command of building a road — all the way from Fort Sill to Gainesville. Now that's a task. That's a charge.
Two years later, the railroad reached Henrietta, and just like that, Henrietta replaced Gainesville as the supply town for Fort Sill. The road Flipper built, the whole reason for the journey — overtaken by progress, the way things go out here. But here's what the marker wants you to know, and what I want you to hear as you roll through Cooke County: that road, that stretch of ground, stands as a historic example of what the Buffalo Soldiers contributed to the economic development of the west.
They didn't just patrol it. They built it.
What the marker says
The U.S. Cavalry constructed roads to improve logistical routes in the west during the 19th century. Henry O. Flipper, the first African American graduate of West Point, was an officer in the Tenth Cavalry regiment “Buffalo Soldiers” at Fort Sill, Indian Territory (Oklahoma). By late 1879, Fort Sill required a more significant railroad town than nearby Caddo Station, and the Army placed Flipper in command of building a road from Fort Sill to Gainesville. Two years later, the railroad reached Henrietta and replaced Gainesville as a Fort Sill supply town. Nevertheless, the construction of the Gainesville-Fort Sill Road is a historic example of the Buffalo Soldiers’ contributions to the west’s economic development. (2006)