# Bob Marley's "Buffalo Soldier" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 26, 2000, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-marleys-buffalo-soldier/11178 "2000-04-26T20:57:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2000, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-marleys-buffalo-soldier/11178/1 "2000-04-26T20:57:00Z")
I always thought that in his song _Buffalo Soldier_ Bob Marley was singing about himself, or the plight of the black man in the USA. ([see lyrics here](http://members.aol.com/travisnd/lyrics.htm#buffalo)) But yesterday, hearing it again, I started to wonder, is it a reference to some historical event or person? > [@](#): > > …the Dreadlock Rasta was the Buffalo Soldier > And he was taken from Africa, brought to America > Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival > > Said he was a Buffalo Soldier, Dreadlock Rasta > Buffalo Soldier, in the heart of America > > If you know your history > Then you would know where you coming from > Then you wouldn’t have to ask me > Who the heck do I think I am ---
**Author:** ![KarmaComa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e36b37/32.png) [@KarmaComa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarmaComa)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2000, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-marleys-buffalo-soldier/11178/2 "2000-04-26T20:59:00Z")
I believe the Buffalo Soldiers were black slaves brought to America to fight native Indians. That’s about the extent of my knowledge on the subject. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2000, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-marleys-buffalo-soldier/11178/3 "2000-04-26T21:00:00Z")
“Buffalo Soldiers” was the common phrase used to describe African-American soldiers who fought in the West after the Civil War. There are probably several dozen websites you can read about different regiments that had this nickname. Or you can go to a library and read one of several books about them. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2000, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-marleys-buffalo-soldier/11178/4 "2000-04-26T21:03:00Z")
I remember hearing something like, “American Indians called black soldiers in the Indian Wars ‘buffalo soldier’ because they had hair like buffalo.” I never thought to check the veracity of that though. I’m sure someone around here has though. * * * Am I supposed to believe that all this rain was suspended in mid-air until moments ago? ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2000, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-marleys-buffalo-soldier/11178/5 "2000-04-26T21:06:00Z")
Try this website for a starter [http://www.louisdiggs.com/buffalo/history.html](http://www.louisdiggs.com/buffalo/history.html) There is no shortage of info on these guys. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2000, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-marleys-buffalo-soldier/11178/6 "2000-04-26T21:39:00Z")
Thank you for the information fellows! How could I have lived this long without knowing that? :o Can anyone recommend any of the books listed at this site? [http://www.buffalosoldiers.net/books.html](http://www.buffalosoldiers.net/books.html) Otherwise I guess I can just pick one and try it out. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2000, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-marleys-buffalo-soldier/11178/7 "2000-04-27T04:35:00Z")
While many of the “Buffalo soldiers” were former slaves, none of them were _brought_ to America for the purpose of fighting. They joined these military units after they were freed in the Civil War. And considering that the African slave trade ended decades before the Civil War, its extremely unlikely any African-born blacks were Buffalo soldiers. Think about it; it would be foolish to enslave people than form them into military units. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2000, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-marleys-buffalo-soldier/11178/8 "2000-04-27T11:53:00Z")
I always thought that this song was about Helie Selassie (sp?), the guy who is also known as Ras Tafari and for whom the whole Rastafarian religion is named. Witness: Bob Marley was a devout Rastafarian, so it seems appropriate that he would sing a song praising his “messiah” (for lack of a better choice of words). Perhaps he calls him a Buffalo Soldier because he was black, and because he was a soldier in the sense that he “fought” for, er, justice or peace or something. “Brought to America”: my WAG is that it refers to Ras Tafari’s trip to Jamaica sometime in the sixties or seventies. Maybe Marley is using “America” here in the sense of “The Americas” - that is, the West. My $.02 ---
**Author:** ![writefetus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9de053/32.png) [@writefetus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/writefetus)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2000, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-marleys-buffalo-soldier/11178/9 "2000-04-27T13:01:00Z")
…[hijack] \>“Perhaps he calls him a Buffalo Soldier because he(Selassie) was black,”\< I do not know that it is entirely accurate to call the Ethiopians " black " I THINK that they are, in fact , a semitic people. At least as far as the languages are concerned. ---
**Author:** ![swisemankcmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@swisemankcmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swisemankcmo)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2000, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-marleys-buffalo-soldier/11178/10 "2000-04-27T13:15:00Z")
If anyone is interested, there is a Buffalo Soldier Monument at Fort Leavenworth. (A former girlfriend of mine lived across the street from the post.) Worth a look if you are in the Kansas City area. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2000, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-marleys-buffalo-soldier/11178/11 "2000-04-27T14:42:00Z")
I always figured Marley was using the Buffalo Soldiers as a metaphor for the black experience in the Americas _generally_. You know: “Here we are, a people stolen from Africa, then brought here to do the crappy work no one else wants to do (fighting Indians, for example), and yet we get no reward for it and we get treated like dirt. Aren’t we all really ‘Buffalo Soldiers’?” “I’m just a Buffalo Soldier, in the war for America.” That was my take anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2025, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-marleys-buffalo-soldier/11178/12 "2025-07-14T03:03:50Z")
Reviving this zombie because I heard the song today. I noticed another historical anachronism. Marley says the subject of the song is a “dreadlock Rasta”. Which couldn’t have happened. Rastafarianism was founded in the 1930’s, long after the era of the Atlantic slave trade and the era of the buffalo soldiers. Marley sang “If you know your history/Then you would know where you coming from”. I don’t think he was in a position to be accusing others of not knowing their history. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2025, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-marleys-buffalo-soldier/11178/13 "2025-07-14T06:11:29Z")
He literally says “I’m just a Buffalo Soldier”… if you don’t think Bob Marley was a more than 100 years old African American veteran, you’ve already allowed that the song is metaphor. Also, just to address earlier posts - while the name is from their time in the West, the major arena of the song isn’t the Indian Wars, it’s the Spanish-American War. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2025, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-marleys-buffalo-soldier/11178/14 "2025-07-14T15:29:17Z")
There are things called “Metaphor” and “Poetic License” you may not be familiar with… ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2025, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-marleys-buffalo-soldier/11178/15 "2025-07-14T15:54:02Z")
Note than Bob Marley never held himself out as a historian. He simply imagined the African-American frontier soldier to be in the same spirit as the dreadlocked Rastafarian, even if there’s no historical connection. Because, again, Bob Marley wasn’t a historian. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2025, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-marleys-buffalo-soldier/11178/16 "2025-07-14T16:12:14Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > He literally says “I’m just a Buffalo Soldier”… if you don’t think Bob Marley was a more than 100 years old African American veteran, you’ve already allowed that the song is metaphor. He also literally said “he was a buffalo Soldier” several times. So obviously the real meaning of this song is about having Depersonalization Disorder. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2025, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-marleys-buffalo-soldier/11178/17 "2025-07-14T16:15:24Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > There are things called “Metaphor” and “Poetic License” you may not be familiar with… Metaphor and poetic license are fine. But if you’re going to talk about how people don’t know history, you should make sure that you’re describing historical events accurately. If I wrote a song about how Robin Hood and George Washington beat the Nazis at the Battle of Gettysburg and then lamented how young people don’t know their history, I’d deserve to have people make fun of me. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2025, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-marleys-buffalo-soldier/11178/18 "2025-07-14T16:16:29Z")
I don’t see why, most people will realize that he’s talking about history metaphorically while telling you to learn about it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2025, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-marleys-buffalo-soldier/11178/19 "2025-07-14T16:23:30Z")
History is about a lot more than a list of dates. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2025, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-marleys-buffalo-soldier/11178/20 "2025-07-14T20:39:50Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > If I wrote a song about how Robin Hood and George Washington beat the Nazis at the Battle of Gettysburg and then lamented how young people don’t know their history, I’d deserve to have people make fun of me. Plenty of people have been called “Robin Hood” because of their behaviour or situation. “What’s a metaphor?” “Nothing. whatsa metaphor you?” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-marleys-buffalo-soldier/11178.md?page=2)