Buffalo Soldiers Bill Aims To Honor Nation's First Black Army

Buffalo Soldiers Bill Aims To Honor Nation's First Black Army: SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- In the decades after the Civil War, the nation's first black Army regiments guarded Yosemite and Sequoia national parks against poaching and timber thefts, a role that in hindsight made them some of the United States' first park rangers.

Now as the National Park Service prepares for its 100th anniversary in 2016, there is a move in Congress to formally recognize the role of these "Buffalo Soldiers," who set aside their guns to build the first trail to the top of Mt. Whitney and the first wagon road into the Giant Forest.

On Monday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill by Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Francisco, allowing the federal government to study creation of a national historic trail along the 280-mile route the soldiers traveled between The Presidio in San Francisco, where they were stationed, and the Sierra Nevada they patrolled.