Boots and Saddles is a bugle call alerting troops to
ready themselves for a riding campaign. Here you see a troop that has
stopped somewhere in the Arizona Desert to feet their mounts and take time out
to have coffee and hart tact. The appearance of worn out, cripple horses,
most of which are castoffs from the Civil War, are depicted here. The
scene is indicative of the horses the all-Negro Cavalry rode because they were
no longer of any use to the White Cavalry.
American natives tried to preserve their lands as they
resisted the ceaseless incursions of White settlers. The White settlers
used gifts of liquor to swindle the Aboriginal for land. In 1866 congress
authorized establishment of four regiments of "colored" enlisted men.
