“Buffalo soldiers” was the nickname Native Americans reportedly gave to the Black soldiers of the U.S. Army’s 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments during the so-called Indian Wars. The term eventually applied to all regiments in the U.S. Army segregating African Americans (until Harry Truman’s 1948 executive order).

Since they were renowned for courage and discipline—and, contrary to many other regiments, suffered relatively little drunkenness or desertion—Marley uses the buffalo soldiers' fight for survival during the Indian Wars as a symbol of Black resistance and identity. At the same time, he touches upon the cruel irony of deploying one subjected people to remove another.

Written by Bob Marley and Noel G. “King Sporty” William in 1980, “Buffalo Soldier” released posthumously as a single from Confrontation, the first album released after Marley’s untimely death in 1981.