Military Veterans

There was a former resident of El Dorado, KS, who, in my view, symbolized freedom.  His name was Ruben Waller.  Mr. Waller was born into slavery in 1840.  He served in the Confederate Army as a body servant for a Southern General in the Civil War.  Mr. Waller became a member of the famed Buffalo Soldiers after the Civil War.  Mr. Waller eventually settled in El Dorado where he raised his families (he outlived three wives) and served as the Superintendent of Sunday School in a local church.

From The True Tales of the Kingdom of Butler, by Lawrence P. Klintworth, 1981, page 121.

Contributed by Larry McNown of El Dorado, KS.

Civil War, 1860 - 1865

Buffalo Soldier