“Buffalo Soldier” was released posthumously on the 1983 Bob Marley album Confrontation and references a historical soldier.
Marley recorded the song during sessions associated with his final studio period, and it was issued after his death on Confrontation. The lyrics use the term “Buffalo Soldier,” a name historically applied by Native Americans to Black soldiers serving in the United States Army after the American Civil War.
The song connects that history with themes of displacement, colonialism, and survival. Its chorus made it one of Marley’s most recognizable posthumous releases, even though it was not issued as a track on a studio album during his lifetime.
“War” and “Ambush in the Night” are also politically charged Marley songs, but neither is the Confrontation track that uses the buffalo-soldier image.