
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, August 30, 1993                   TAG: 9308300162
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

LAST OF BUFFALO SOLDIERS DIES IN RICHMOND AT 110

Jones Morgan, the son of freed slaves who rode with the Buffalo Soldiers and became a symbol of living history for many Virginia students, has died at age 110.

Morgan, thought to be the last remaining survivor of the black cavalry unit that joined Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders in their charge up Cuba's San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War, died Sunday in a Richmond hospital.

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.

"Indians called them Buffalo Soldiers because of the big coats they wore in the winter and their curly hair. And they fought so fiercely," said Bill Hunter, historian of the 24th Regiment Association. Black troops carried on the tradition of the Buffalo Soldiers. The 92nd Airborne took up the nickname during the Korean War.

Morgan was born on a Newberry County, S.C., farm on Oct. 23, 1882, the 14th of 15 children.

Over the past three years, Morgan met with Gen. Colin Powell, the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and former President Bush. He became known to thousands of Virginia students who often invited him to visit their schools.

"I always said let my last days be my best days," Morgan said at his 108th birthday party, thrown by students at Armstrong High School in Richmond. "And it's come true."

by CNB