The arrival in Vermont of the Tenth U.S. Cavalry — one of four all-black regiments in the U.S. Army collectively referred to as the Buffalo Soldiers — is being commemorated on Saturday, Aug. 1 at Fort Ethan Allen in Colchester, Vt. and two women with strong UVM ties are spearheading the festivities.

Rose Mary Graveline, a staff member in UVM's Graduate Counseling Program and parent to two UVM alumnae, and Sharon McCollum, who graduated from UVM in 1974, are co-chairs of the 100th anniversary celebration of the Buffalo Soldiers' arrival in Vermont. The Aug. 1 celebration — taking place on Fort Ethan Allen Living History Day — is being held in conjunction with the 9 & 10th Cavalry Association's 143rd Anniversary Reunion marking the creation in 1866 of these regiments.

Though many people have heard the term "Buffalo Soldier" — maybe from a certain Bob Marley song of the same name or from a brief mention in a high school history class — few know the depth of the Buffalo Soldiers' role in American history and even fewer know about their assignment from 1909-1913 in Vermont, the farthest north and east they were ever stationed. Graveline and McCollum, both descendants of Buffalo Soldiers sent to Fort Ethan Allen, are attempting to change that, and it's hard to imagine two better people to do it.

McCollum's grandfather, Willis Hatcher, came to Vermont with the 750-member Tenth Cavalry on July 28, 1909 after his unit served in the Philippines from 1907-1909. For McCollum, the knowledge that her grandfather was a Buffalo Soldier was an integral part of her family history.

"It was part of my preschool training. I learned 1-2-3, A-B-C, 'Jesus loves me,' your grandfather was a Buffalo Soldier."

Though McCollum never met her grandfather because he died before she was born, she grew up in Winooski surrounded by a tight-knit community of Buffalo Soldiers, their descendants, and families, including George Osborne, a Buffalo Soldier who was a close friend of Willis Hatcher and whom McCollum considers an uncle.

"We knew all about my grandfather; that he was wounded in Cuba and had malaria in the Philippines. The Vermont Buffalo Soldier community is like a family, even though many of us aren't biological relatives. You can't pull us apart."

Though Graveline and McCollum share a common passion for Buffalo Soldier history and connection to the Tenth Cavalry, their paths to that passion could not have been more different.

Graveline, who grew up in rural North Carolina, learned about her African-American ancestry for the first time as an adult when visiting family in Vermont. An eccentric uncle told her that her maternal grandfather — John Lyons — had been black.

"I can't even remember the exact words, but it was a blow to me, especially since I grew up in the segregated South in an immediate family that was white."

She immediately asked other family members about her uncle's disclosure, and everyone denied it was true. "I couldn't get anyone to tell me anything," she says. "I asked questions but it was like he didn't exist. There were a million pictures of my grandmother but none of him."

Her grandfather's veiled identity put Graveline on an intense quest for more information, which eventually led to the discovery that her African-American grandfather, who often "passed" as white, was a Buffalo Soldier. That revelation led to a lifelong search for more details about him.

It also opened up to Graveline an entire community of descendants (several of whom are UVM alumni), both in and beyond Vermont, who are eager to meet one another and share information and memorabilia. "The connections that have been made through my research and involvement in the Buffalo Soldier community are unbelievable."

In addition to organizing the festivities at Fort Ethan Allen this summer, Graveline was also instrumental in pulling together an exhibition at the Fleming Museum focusing on the Buffalo Soldiers' time in Vermont that runs through September 13.

For both Graveline and McCollum on a personal level, their Buffalo Soldier ancestry is a source of tremendous pride and inspiration that each says provides a "sense of place" and a "foundation" in their daily lives. But their mission to uncover and tell the Buffalo Soldier story is bigger than themselves.

"We've done such a good job of documenting the history of those with power in this country," says McCollum. "We can't forget about this."

Read more about the Fort Ethan Allen Living History Day and the Buffalo Soldier reunion celebration. For more information about Vermont Buffalo Soldiers, visit www.uvm.edu/~vtbufalo.