| A proud Buffalo Soldier, Sancho Mazique, 10th Cavalry, Company E. Courtesy of Fort Concho National Landmark |
Sancho enlisted in the army on February 23, 1875. He was placed in the 10th black cavalry regiment in Company E. He listed his previous occupation as being a carpenter. Mazique was sent to Jefferson Barracks near St. Loius, Missouri to receive training before being transferred to Fort Concho, Texas. He arrived at Fort Concho in July of 1875, after a long march from Austin Texas. Tenth United States Cavalry Tenth's Regimental Standard
Upon his arrival at Fort Concho, Mazique was assigned to the carpenter's shop of the Quartermaster's section. He worked under the direction of Dennis Keating, the fort's wheelright. Because of his unique assignment, Mazique was not sent out into the field for any duty. He also played in the 10th Cavalry band under the direction of bandmaster Lt. Robert Smither.
Mazique seemed to be on good terms with the post commander Colonel Benjamin Grierson. Sometimes, he would go hunting and give Mrs. Grierson whatever he killed that day. He was present when Edith Grierson lay dying. He remembers her singing, " Oh happy day when Jesus washed my sins away." Mazique also helped Dennis Keating make the coffin for her burial.
Sancho Mazique was honorably discharged from the Army on February 24, 1880, at Fort Concho. He remained in the area to work as a carpenter until the jobs ran out. He moved from Texas to New Mexico to find work. Mazique eventually returned to San Angelo where he would remain until he died.
Mazique worked as a cook on several ranches in the surrounding area. He specialized in exotic foods. He married Alice Johnson and they a adopted one son, Edward. Sancho retired from being a cook at the Sugg Ranch in 1931, to take care of his wife Alice, was in poor health in the latter years of her life. Alice Mazique died on October 15, 1948.
On April 20, 1951 Sancho Mazique died in a local hospital at the age of 101 years old. Mazique had fallen and fractured his arm and he was placed in the hospital. He died of pneumonia which he contracted while he was there. Sancho Mazique had seen the transformation of San Angelo from a rough town of huts into a respectable city of over 60,000 people. His son, Edward, lived with him and took care of him until he died. The funeral services were conducted by Reverend L. C. Young of the St. Paul's AME church. Stark's Funeral Home took care of all the arrangements for Mazique's funeral.
The San Angelo Standard-Times newspaper, June 6, 1949, proclaimed "Sancho Mazique Reaches His 100th Birthday Today". An excerpt from that article states, " Sancho Mazique was born a slave in Columbia, S. C. on June 10, 1849. He well remembers his old home in that city and was a teen-age youth when the Emancipation Proclamation was promulgated by Lincoln. Taught to fear the blue-coated Union soldiers, he sulked into obscure places whenever he saw one advance."
"It is his memory that surprises the stranger. He remembers names of the early settlers and brings them back to reality with yarns spiced with detail. Through drought, floods, blizzards and gunplay which frequently took nightly toll of lives along the "Gamblers Row", Sancho has watched San Angelo grow. He never has quite overcame his amazement that this was the place he was sent as a soldier to protect against Indians."
Source: Evelyn Lemons, Archivist, Fort Concho National Historic Landmark and Kurt Kemp.
Contact Personnel: Evelyn Lemons, Archivist; Cory Robinson, museum assistant.
Fort Concho Special Events 2001