In the late 1890s, and in World War II, African American soldiers, sometimes called Buffalo Soldiers served at the Vancouver Barracks.

Mr. Wilson Keller, who is working on his Boy Scout Eagle project will talk about an interpretive sign about the Buffalo Soldiers, he is helping design and have installed at the Vancouver Barracks.

Retired U.S. Army Non-Commission Officer Frazier Raymond, will speak about Cathay Williams, the only female Buffalo Soldiers.  Cathay Williams joined the U.S. Army in 1866, posing as a man, named William Cathay.  She and her unit were eventually assigned to New Mexico, where her health declined.  Doctors discovered she was a woman, and discharged her in 1868.  Her story appeared in newspapers in the 1870s, and in 1891, Cathay Williams applied for a disability pension based upon her military service.  Unfortunately, it was denied, and she died shortly afterward.