T He L osT H isTory
the Long Journey of the 25th Infantry Bicycle Brigade
By Lisa Loving
Of The Skanner News
O
f all the remarkable stories
told about the U.S. Army’s
all-Black cavalries known
as the Buffalo Soldiers, the most
remarkable is surely that of the
25th Infantry Brigade Bicycle
Corps.
Formed in the late 19th century
to test a new military theory that
bikes could be an invaluable tool
in war, 19 soldiers rode cross-
country from Fort Missoula in
Montana to St. Louis, Mo., at the
end of the 19th century.
“They were a specialized unit
who were able to test the bicycle
to see if they could be used in lieu
of horses,” says Pferron Doss, a
former Black Studies professor at
the University of Missoula.
“The bike never really took off
as a military tool, but the energy
that took off from the bike corps
caught attention worldwide.”
Improvements in bicycle con-
struction in the 1890s prompted
European and Australian armies to
start putting their troops on bikes.
By 1896, the U.S. Army jumped
on the bandwagon and tapped the
Buffalo Soldiers to set up its bicy-
cle corps in Missoula. Like all
Black regiments, it was command-
ed by a White officer, Lt. James
Moss.
The 25th infantry, known as the
“Iron Riders,” first tested its one-
speed Spalding bikes, which were
manufactured in Chicago, by
going through Glacier and
Yellowstone National Parks.
Each soldier carried a 10-pound
blanket roll with a tent and sup-
plies stuffed into a carrier on the
handlebars; a 10-pound rifle with
ammunition, and food in hard
cases attached to the frame – all in
all the bikes weighed some 60
pounds.
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Page 6 The Portland Skanner Black History edition February 23, 2011
“Their roads were wagon trails,
game trails and a whole lot of
walking along the railroad tracks,”
Doss says. “And the weather was
terrible.”
The following year they beefed
up the corps with more soldiers
and set off on an epic 40-day, 1902
mile bike trip.
see sOLdIeRs on page 7