CHEYENNE - Daddy Witt would gather the children around him - both the family's and the neighbors' - in an arcade, as his daughter describes it.

He would build a fire in the yard of their house in the Taylorville neighborhood, which was within view of Fort D.A. Russell (F.E. Warren Air Force Base today).

His was the only black family among the European immigrants.

Daddy Witt would tell them stories; he had so many because he was a trumpeter for the Buffalo Soldiers. He had joined the Army as a 16-year-old from rural Virginia.

When his service finished, he decided to stay in Cheyenne for its wide-open spaces and began his second career at the Union Pacific Railroad.

One of his daughter's favorite stories about Daddy Witt's Buffalo Soldiers days was the one when they had fought during the Spanish-American War from 1898 to 1899 - alongside future President Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders.

As Daddy Witt told it, says Dorothy Witt King, Roosevelt was incarcerated in a barbed-wire fence. The 9th and 10th cavalries - or, the African-American Buffalo Soldiers - had just landed on the island.

"They jumped on their horses and raced across the island," Witt King said.

And with their sabers, she said, pointing to the weapon slung from the waist on the statue in Buffalo Soldier Park, the men "cut up that barbed wire fence and set Roosevelt free."

Roosevelt responded to his segregated rescuers, "Boys, you can drink out of our canteens from now on."

"Of course, that changed when they got back to the U.S.," Witt King said.

Daddy Witt was William Henry Witt, who died at the age of 89 in 1960. He is buried at Lakeview Cemetery, where his gravestone says he was in the 10th Calvary of the U.S. Army - but he was actually in the 9th, family members say.

Witt King recently rode to Cheyenne from Denver with her daughter, Dorothy King Stockton, and her nephew, Philip Crutchfield, who flew in from Cambridge, Mass.

They were there to pay homage to Daddy Witt.

A triangle of open space just east of F.E. Warren Air Force Base - on Randall and McComb avenues - was turned into Buffalo Soldier Park.

There, a bronze statue stands of a black Army solder with a brimmed hat and a saber.

June 19 was the ribbon-cutting ceremony, complete with words from the mayor, former state Sen. Liz Byrd, and Ret. Senior Master Sgt. Willie Reynolds.

We put up statues in public places to tell a story - who we are and where we've been.

The likeness of the Buffalo Soldier tells a story about America's troubled and disturbing history with race.

But it also tells a story of succeeding and making history despite cruel oppression.

"It stands as a reminder that we will not tolerate racism," said Mayor Jack Spiker in his ceremonial address. "That we will not tolerate hatred. That we will not tolerate prejudice."

Cheyenne is after all, the Capital City in the Equality State, he added.

A story worth telling

It's rare when a history book has an account of the Buffalo Soldiers. But if you know where to look, you can find them.

The four units of Buffalo Soldiers came about after the Civil War.

The first of these soldiers were freed slaves - picking cotton one day, fighting for freedom the next, said Cornelius "Doc" Setters. The Army - the "great equalizer," as Tech. Sgt. Dan Lyon put it - organized the men as two cavalry units and two regiments.

Soon, they were known as the Buffalo Soldiers. The reasons behind the name are many.

Some say their dark, curly hair reminded the Indians of a buffalo's coat. Others say the Indians found them as tough and fierce as buffalo, a compliment to the enemy.

White officers led them because the black soldiers were illiterate, Setters said.

They got the worst equipment and the farthest outposts and the lowest pay. But they were fierce and they had great integrity, Lyon said, who runs the Warren ICBM and Heritage Museum at the base.

Only 4 percent of the Buffalo Soldiers were deserters, Lyon said. Compare that to their white counterparts: 24 percent. And they did more than campaign against the American Indians of the West, Setters said. They were protecting railroads and telegraph lines. In doing so, they were key to the westward expansion.

Many won the highest honor the military could give - the Medal of Honor - during the Indian Wars.

During the Spanish-American War, Buffalo Soldiers fought alongside Lt. Col. Teddy Roosevelt. They provided security during the 1903 hanging of Tom Horn in Cheyenne. They chased Poncho Villa with Gen. John J. Pershing.

During the Johnson County War, the Buffalo Soldiers were specifically requested to help quell the pressure from the local population.

And the first black general in the Army, Benjamin O. Davis Sr., began his career here in 1912 as a Buffalo Soldier.

His son grew up to fly as an elite Tuskegee Airman - a concept put forth by former Wyoming Sen. Henry Herman Schwartz, Setters said.

"That's a fragment of the story that hasn't really been told," Setters said.

Years ago, he saw their graves at the F.E. Warren cemetery. "That really got me going," he said.

The Buffalo Soldier was not a ghostly character of Western folklore, after all. He was real. And they were here. And no one knew about them.

"I realized here was a story about Buffalo Soldiers that served on the Western frontier," Setters said. "They were never recognized, never received acknowledgment about their contributions to the West."

So about 15 years ago, Setters, who now lives in Ohio, came out with the idea to put up a tribute to the Buffalo Soldiers.

It's a beautiful story, Setters said - one of many beautiful stories waiting to be uncovered some more, if people just have the diligence to look. It's all documented.

"Can you think about all the children who will learn about this?" Setters said. "They can go on and do great things in their lives.

"If they can look at what … the Buffalo Soldiers were able to accomplish, there's no telling what they can do. Against insurmountable odds.

"Can you see why it needed to be told?"