Jones Morgan, a member of the Buffalo Soldiers - the famous black cavalry unit that fought in the Spanish-American War - has died at age 110.
He died Sunday of kidney failure in a Richmond hospital.Morgan, whose energy often belied his age, was part of the unit that joined Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders in their charge up Cuba's San Juan Hill in 1898.
"The old soldier rode off into the sunset one last time," family friend Lossie Winters said.
Congress created the black units - the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 24th and 25th Infantry regiments - from the ranks of the U.S. Colored Troops of the Civil War. They fought Indians, led wagon trains and kept order in western towns. The units remained segregated until the 1940s.
The soldiers earned their nickname from Indians because of their big coats, curly hair and fierce fighting style, said Bill Hunter, historian of the 24th Regiment Association. Black troops carried on the tradition of the Buffalo Soldiers.
Morgan was born to freed slaves on a South Carolina, farm on Oct. 23, 1882, the 14th of 15 children.
When he was 15, he ran off and joined the 9th Cavalry and spent two years with the unit. He watched as Buffalo Soldiers joined the Rough Riders in their famous charge on July 1, 1898.
"They used me for domestic stuff. Anything they needed fixing in the place, they sent me," Morgan said in an interview.