History of Negro Soldiers in the Spanish-American War, and Other Items of Interest Part 5

The Charleston News and Courier says:

It is not known what proportion of the insurgent army is colored, but the indications are that the proportion of the same element in the volunteer army of occupation will be small.

On the basis of population, of course one-third of the South's quota should be made up of colored, and it is to be remembered that they made good soldiers and const.i.tute a large part of the regular army.

There were nearly 250,000 of them in service in the last war.

THE NEGRO AS A SOLDIER--HIS GOOD MARKSMANSHIP--THE FIGHT AT EL CANEY--"WOE TO SPANISH IN RANGE."

There has been hitherto among the officers of the army a certain prejudice against serving in the Negro regiments. But the other day a Lieutenant in the Ninth Infantry said enthusiastically:

"Do you know, I shouldn't want anything better than to have a company in a Negro regiment? I am from Virginia, and have always had the usual feeling about commanding colored troops. But after seeing that charge of the Twenty-fourth up the San Juan Hill, I should like the best in the world to have a Negro company. They went up that incline yelling and shouting just as I used to hear when they were hunting rabbits in Virginia. The Spanish bullets only made them wilder to reach the trenches."

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIRST PAY-DAY IN CUBA FOR THE NINTH AND TENTH CAVALRY.]

Officers of other regiments which were near the Twenty-fourth on July 1 are equally strong in their praise of the Negroes. Their yells were an inspiration to their white comrades and spread dismay among the Spaniards. A Captain in a volunteer regiment declares that the Twenty-fourth did more than any other to win the day at San Juan.

As they charged up through the white soldiers their enthusiasm was spread, and the entire line fought the better for their cheers and their wild rush.

Spanish evidence to the effectiveness of the colored soldiers is not lacking. Thus an officer who was with the troops that lay in wait for the Americans at La Quasina on June 24th, said:

"What especially terrified our men was the huge American Negroes. We saw their big, black faces through the underbrush, and they looked like devils. They came forward under our fire as if they didn't the least care about it."

THE CHARGE AT EL CANEY.

It was the Tenth Cavalry that had this effect on the Spaniards. At San Juan the Ninth Cavalry distinguished itself, its commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Hamilton, being killed. The fourth of the Negro regiments, the Twenty-fifth Infantry, played an especially brilliant part in the battle of El Caney on July 1st. It was held in reserve with the rest of Colonel Miles' brigade, but was ordered to support General Lawton's brigade toward the middle of the day. At that hour marching was an ordeal, but the men went on at a fast pace. With almost no rest they kept it up until they got into action. The other troops had been fighting hard for hours, and the arrival of the Twenty-fifth was a blessing. The Negroes went right ahead through the tired ranks of their comrades. Their charge up the hill, which was surmounted by Spanish rifle pits and a stone fort, has been told. It was the work of only a part of the regiment, the men coming chiefly from three companies. Colonel Milts had intended having his whole brigade make the final charge, but the Twenty-fifth didn't wait for orders. It was there to take that hill, and take the hill it did.

One of the Spanish officers captured there seemed to think that the Americans were taking an unfair advantage of them in having colored men who fought like that. He had been accustomed to the Negroes in the insurgent army, and a different lot they are from those in the United States army.

"Why," he said ruefully, "even your Negroes fight better than any other troops I ever saw."

The way the Negroes charged up the El Caney and San Juan hills suggested inevitably that their African nature has not been entirely eliminated by generations of civilization, but was bursting forth in savage yells and in that wild rush some of them were fairly frantic with the delight of the battle. And it was no mere craziness. They are excellent marksmen, and they aim carefully and well. Woe to the Spaniards who showed themselves above the trenches when a colored regiment was in good range. MAGNIFICENT SHOWING MADE BY THE NEGROES--THEIR SPLENDID COURAGE AT SANTIAGO THE ADMIRATION OF ALL OFFICERS.

They were led by Southern Men--Black Men from the South Fought Like Tigers and end a Question often debated--In only One or Two Actions of the Civil War was there such a loss of Officers as at San Juan.

[TELEGRAM TO COMMERCIAL.]

WASHINGTON, July 6, 1898.

Veterans who are comparing the losses at the battle of San Juan, near Santiago, last Friday, with those at Big Bethel and the first Bull Run say that in only one or two actions of the late war was there such a loss in officers as occurred at San Juan hill.

The companies of the Twenty-fourth Infantry are without officers. The regiment had four captains knocked down within a minute of each other.

Capt. A.C. Ducat was the first officer hit in the action, and was killed instantly. His second lieutenant, John A. Gurney, a Michigan man, was struck dead at the same time as the captain, and Lieutenant Henry G. Lyon was left in command of Company D, but only for a few minutes, for he, too, went down. Lisc.u.m, commanding the regiment, was killed.

NEGROES FIGHT LIKE TIGERS.

Company F, Twenty-fourth Infantry, lost Lieutenant Augustin, of Louisiana, killed, and Captain Crane was left without a commissioned officer. The magnificent courage of the Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas Negroes, which make up the rank and file of this regiment, is the admiration of every officer who has written here since the fight. The regiment has a large proportion of Southern-born officers, who led their men with more than usual exposure. These men had always said the Southern Negro would fight as staunchly as any white man, if he was led by those in whom he had confidence. The question has often been debated in every mess of the army. San Juan hill offered the first occasion in which this theory could be tested practically, and tested it was in a manner and with a result that makes its believers proud of the men they commanded. It has helped the morale of the four Negro regiments beyond words. The men of the Twenty-fourth Infantry, particularly, and their comrades of the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry as well, are proud of the record they made.

THEY NEVER WAVERED.

The Twenty-fourth took the brunt of the fight, and all through it, even when whole companies were left without an officer, not for a moment were these colored soldiers shaken or wavering in the face of the fierce attack made upon them. Wounded Spanish officers declare that the attack was thus directed because they did not believe the Negro would stand up against them and they believed there was the faulty place in the American line. Never were men more amazed than were the Spanish officers to see the steadiness and cool courage with which the Twenty-fourth charged front forward on its tenth company (a difficult thing to do at any time), under the hottest fire. The value of the Negro as a soldier is no longer a debatable question.

It has been proven fully in one of the sharpest fights of the past three years.

"OUR BOYS," THE SOLDIERS.

"What Army Officers and Others Have to Say of the Negroes Conduct in War"--"Give Honor to Whom Honor is Due"--"Acme of Bravery."

It has been said, "Give honor to whom honor is due," and while it is just and right that it should be so, there are times, however, when the "honor" due is withheld. Ever since the battle of San Juan Hill at Santiago de Cuba nearly every paper in the land has had nothing but praise for the bravery shown by the "Rough Riders," and to the extent that, not knowing the truth, one would naturally arrive at the conclusion that the "Rough Riders" were "the whole thing." Although sometimes delayed, the truth, like murder, "will out." It is well enough to praise the "Rough Riders" for all they did, but why not divide honors with the other fellows who made it possible for them, the "Rough Riders," to receive praise, and be honored by a generous and valorous loving nation?

After the battles of El Caney and San Juan Hill, many wounded American soldiers who were able to travel were given furloughs to their respective homes in the United States, and Lieutenant Thomas Roberts, of this city, was one of them. Shortly after Lieutenant Roberts arrived in the city he was interviewed by a representative of the _Illinois State Register_, to whom he gave a description of the battle of July 1st. He said: "On the night of June 30th the second squadron of the Tenth Cavalry did outpost duty. Daylight opened on the soon-to-be blood-sodden field on July 1st, and the Tenth was ordered to the front. First went the first squadron, followed soon after by the second, composed of Troops G, I, B and A. The Tenth Cavalry is composed of Negroes, commanded by white officers, and I have naught but the highest praise for the swarthy warriors on the field of carnage. Led by brave men, they will go into the thickest of the fight, even to the wicked mouths of deadly cannon, unflinchingly."

Lieutenant Roberts says further that "at 9 o'clock on the morning of July 1st the order came to move. Forward we went, until we struck a road between two groves, which road was swept by a hail of shot and sh.e.l.l from Spanish guns. The men stood their ground as if on dress parade. Single file, every man ready to obey any command, they bade defiance to the fiercest storm of leaden hail that ever hurtled over a troop of United States cavalry. The order came, 'Get under cover,' and the Seventy-first New York and the Tenth Cavalry took opposite sides of the road and lay down in the bushes. For a short time no orders came, and feeling a misapprehension of the issue, I hastened forward to consult with the first lieutenant of the company. We found that through a misinterpreted order the captain of the troop and eight men had gone forward. Hastening back to my post I consulted with the captain in the rear of Troop G, and the quartermaster appeared upon the scene asking the whereabouts of the Tenth Cavalry. They made known their presence, and the quartermaster told them to go on, showing the path, the quartermaster led them forward until the bend in the San Juan River was reached. Here the first bloodshed in the Tenth occurred, a young-volunteer named Baldwin fell, pierced by a Spanish ball."

An aide hastened up and gave the colonel of the regiment orders to move forward. The summit of the hill was crowned by two block-houses, and from these came an unceasing fire. Lieutenant Roberts said he had been lying on the ground but rose to his knees to repeat an order, "Move forward," when a mauser ball struck him in the abdomen and pa.s.sed entirely through his body. Being wounded, he was carried off of the field, but after all was over, Lieutenant Roberts says it was said (on the quiet, of course) that "the heroic charge of the Tenth Cavalry saved the 'Rough Riders' from destruction." Lieutenant Roberts says he left Cuba on the 12th of July for Fort Monroe, and that a wounded Rough Rider told him while coming over that "had it not been for the Tenth Cavalry the Rough Riders would never pa.s.sed through the seething cauldron of Spanish missiles." Such is the statement of one of Springfield's best citizens, a member of the Tenth Cavalry, United States regulars.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE CUBAN REPUBLIC.]

Some days later, Lieutenant Roberts had occasion to visit Chicago and Fort Sheridan, and while there he was interviewed by a representative of the Chicago Chronicle, to whom he related practically the same story as above stated, "You probably know my regiment is made up exclusively of Negroes except for the commissioned officers, and I want to say right here that those men performed deeds of heroism on that day which have no parallel in the history of warfare. They were under fire from six in the morning until 1:30 in the afternoon, with strict orders not to return the hail of lead, and not a man in those dusky ranks flinched. Our brigade was instructed to move forward soon after 1 o'clock to a.s.sault the series of blockhouses which was regarded as impregnable by the foreign attaches. As the aide dashed down our lines with orders from headquarters the boys realized the prayed-for charge was about to take place and cheered l.u.s.tily. Such a charge! Will I ever forget that sublime spectacle? There was a river called San Juan, from the hill hard by, but which historians will term the pool of blood. Our brigade had to follow the course of that creek fully half a mile to reach the point selected for the grand attack.

With what cheering did the boys go up that hill! Their naked bodies seemed to present a perfect target to the fire of the dons, but they never flinched. When the command reached the famous stone blockhouse it was commanded by a second sergeant, who was promoted on the field of battle for extraordinary bravery. San Juan fell many minutes before El Caney, which was attacked first, and I think the Negro soldiers can be thanked for the greater part of that glorious work. All honor to the Negro soldiers! No white man, no matter what his ancestry may be, should be ashamed to greet any of those Negro cavalrymen with out-stretched hand. The swellest of the Rough Riders counted our troopers among their best friends and asked them to their places in New York when they returned, and I believe the wealthy fellows will prove their admiration had a true inspiration."

Thus we see that while the various newspapers of the country are striving to give the Rough Riders first honors, an honest, straightforward army officer who was there and took an active part in the fight, does not hesitate to give honor to whom honor is due, for he says, "All honor to the Negro soldiers," and that it was they who "saved the Rough Riders from destruction." And right here I wish to call the reader's attention to another very important matter and that is, while it has been said heretofore that the Negro soldier was not competent to command, does not the facts in the case prove, beyond a doubt, that there is no truth in the statement whatever? If a white colonel was "competent" to lead his command into the fight, it seems that a colored sergeant was competent extraordinary, for he not only went into the fight, but he, and his command, "done something,"

done the enemy out of the trenches, "saved the Rough Riders from destruction," and planted the Stars and Stripes on the blockhouse.

Just before the charge, one of the foreign attaches, an Englishman, was heard to say that he did not see how the blockhouse was to be reached without the aid of cannon; but after the feat had been accomplished, a colored soldier said, "We showed him how."

Now that the colored soldier has proven to this nation, and the representatives of others, that he can, and does fight, as well as the "other fellow," and that he is also "competent" to command, it remains to be seen if the national government will give honor to whom honor is due, by honoring those deserving, with commissions.

Under the second call for volunteers by the President, the State of Illinois raised a regiment of colored soldiers, and Governor Tanner officered that regiment with colored officers from colonel down; and that, as you might say, before they had earned their "rank." Now the question is, can the national government afford to do less by those, who have earned, and are justly ent.i.tled to, a place in the higher ranks? We shall see.

C.F. ANDERSON.

Springfield, Ill.

COLORED FIGHTERS AT SANTIAGO.

Testimony is multiplying of the bravery of the colored troops at Santiago de Cuba July 1st and 2d, 1898.

Testimony is adduced to show that these "marvels of warfare" actually fought without officers and executed movements under a galling fire which would have puzzled a recruit on parade ground. The Boston Journal of the 31st, in its account, gives the following interview-Mason Mitch.e.l.l (white) said:

"We were in a valley when we started, but made at once for a trail running near the top of a ridge called La Quasina, several hundred feet high, which, with several others parallel to it, extended in the direction of Santiago. By a similar trail near the top of the ridge to our right several companies of Negro troopers of the Ninth and Tenth United States Cavalry marched in scout formation, as we did. We had an idea about where the Spaniards were and depended upon Cuban scouts to warn us but they did not do it. At about 8:30 o'clock in the morning we met a volley from the enemy, who were ambushed, not only on our ridge, but on the one to the right, beyond the Negro troops, and the Negro soldiers were under a cross fire. That is how Capt. Cap.r.o.n and Hamilton Fish were killed."

It says: "Handsome young Sergt. Stewart, the Rough Rider protege of Henry W. Maxwell, when he was telling of the fight in the ambush, gave it as his opinion that the Rough Riders would have been whipped out if the Tenth Cavalry (colored) had not come up just in time to drive the Spaniards back. 'I'm a Southerner, from New Mexico, and I never thought much of the 'n.i.g.g.e.r' before. Now I know what they are made of.

I respect them. They certainly can fight like the devil and they don't care for bullets any more than they do for the leaves that shower down on them. I've changed my opinion of the colored folks, for all of the men that I saw fighting, there were none to beat the Tenth Cavalry and the colored infantry at Santiago, and I don't mind saying so.'"