Mr. Powell:
Re l903 use in San Francisco paper of "Buffalo Soldiers"

Nope, this writer did not make up the term. Earliest recorded/published use of term probably came in l872 or l873 in vacinity of Camp Supply or Ft Sill, Indian Territory. I've "sighterd" a handfull of latter uses of term prior to Remington's, A Scout With The Buffalo Soldiers, published in l889. Then a few more uses before the regulars (some of them) went off to Cuba to do battle with the Dons.

My interest is to pin down first use,date, place and source of later uses, meaning/how used, and how applied (to specific black units or to black regulars in general).

Over the next few weeks I will posting all that I have found. A warning, however--until the l930 publication of Reuben Waller's l929 letter in the Beecher Island Annual, I have yet the find the term used
by a black regular, serving or discharged. Such a use may well "be out there", but it is yet undiscovered.

Tom Phillips