Buffalo Soldiers from the 24th Infantry Regiment came to Skagway in 1899, forty-four years before the black soldiers of the 93rd came there to build the Alaska Highway. The Klondike Gold Rush had brought hordes of gold rushers who threatened the community and each other. The Army sent Company L of the 24th Infantry to Skagway to keep order.
The Buffalo Soldiers fought on two fronts in Skagway. They fought to protect the community. And they fought to protect themselves from racism in the community.
The Army had formed four regiments of black soldiers—most of them former slaves—right after the Civil War. Through the rest of the century these regiments served in the American West, building towns, fighting Indians, protecting roads and railroads. The Indians called them Buffalo Soldiers. They called themselves Buffalo Soldiers.
In 1898 the soldiers of the 24th went with the US Expeditionary Force to Cuba to fight in the Spanish-American War. Among other things, they charged up San Juan Hill with Teddy Roosevelt, and they returned home in 1899 as heroes—whether white Americans acknowledged them or not.
Company L of the 24th came home and wound up at Vancouver Barracks in 1899—for a few days. In May the Army sent them to Dyea Alaska.
The Buffalo soldiers remained in Alaska for three years, securing the US-Canada border and keeping a lawless frontier tame.