Rev. Robert Dixon, Sr., last of the Buffalo Soldiers

by Herb Boyd

Mixed views arise when it comes to a discussion about the famed Buffalo Soldiers. Should they be honored or despised? What role did they play in the annihilation of Native Americans? All of these questions arrive again as we note the passing of the last of the soldiers, Rev. Robert W. Dixon, Sr., who died on Nov. 15 near Albany at 103 years old.

We have no evidence of Dixon’s responses to the above questions, but we do know he served unwaveringly in the U.S. Army’s all-Black regiments, though there is no indication that he participated in the wars against Native Americans. He was born long after the original soldiers accomplished their missions on battlefields.

Dixon was born on Sept. 11, 1921, in Manhattan and grew up in the city. He was one of five children of Benjamin Dixon and Louise (Hammond) Dixon. He enlisted in the Army in 1941, and during World War II he was a corporal stationed in the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. At this location, he was a member of the Ninth Cavalry Regiment, who trained cadets in horseback riding and mounted tactics.

This unit was part of the legendary Buffalo Soldiers, so-called by the Native Americans because of the texture of their hair and their fierceness in warfare. They had distinguished themselves in battle during the Spanish-American War, most notably for rescuing Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders who were facing defeat in Cuba.

In 1946, the Buffalo Soldiers, who were composed of the 9th and 10th Cavalry regiments, were disbanded, after the Army became totally mechanized. Before Dixon’s passing, Mark Matthews was considered the oldest living member of the unit, and he died at 111 in 2005. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Dixon remained in the Hudson Valley after military service and worked for IBM in Poughkeepsie, New York. He retired in 1977 as a manager of a company that manufactured computer motherboards. His membership at the Central Baptist Church in Salt Point, in Dutchess County, later evolved into his role as a part-time pastor.  He had a longer association at Mount Calvary Baptist Church, in Albany, where he was a pastor for 36 years.

Both Dixon and his wife, Georgia, a psychiatric nurse, had prior marriages. They moved to Albany in 1977 after being offered a job as pastor of Mount Calvary Baptist Church. Along with his religious duties, he was active in civil and social affairs, including assisting in creating the Community Police Review Board in Albany, and serving as chair from 1984 to 1998. He also led a commission to build a memorial honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the city.

Dixon was often reluctant to recount his war experiences, and at some point also refused to mount a horse. Besides his wife, Dixon is survived by six children: Carolyn Suber and Terry, David, John, Jacqueline and Robert Dixon Jr.; nine grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. His son Gerald died in the 1980s.
The Buffalo Soldiers have been immortalized in film and song. In 1983, the famous reggae master Bob Marley composed and recorded “Buffalo Soldier” and Danny Glover starred in the 1997 movie “Buffalo Soldiers.”