Lt. Cantrell supplies Mary Beecher with a somewhat sanitized albeit understandable explanation of the term "buffalo soldier," stating that plains Indians applied the term to African-American soldiers upon seeing them in buffalo-hide coats and hats. In reality, the Indians referred to black troops as "buffalo soldiers" because the soldiers' woolly hair reminded them of the look and consistency of the animals' shaggy coats. No racism was implied in the term, as the Indians held the bison as sacred and the perceived kinship between black soldiers and the bison caused the Indians to both respect and fear the troopers.

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