Mark Matthews, the oldest surviving Buffalo Soldier in the United States Army when he died at the age of 111, was born on August 7, 1894 in Greenville, Alabama.
Mark Matthews, the oldest surviving Buffalo Soldier in the United States Army when he died at the age of 111, was born on August 7, 1894 in Greenville, Alabama. He was raise in Mansfield, Ohio where as a boy he delivered newspapers on a horse. While working at a racetrack in Kentucky, he met several Buffalo Soldiers, and when he heard from them that they rode horses everywhere they went, he decided to enlist. Only 16, he managed to convince a recruiter to allow him to join the Army and he began his army career.
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