The Colored Regulars in the United States Army Part 6

Perhaps the most notable act performed by a colored American during the war was the capture and delivery to the United States forces of the rebel steamer Planter, by Robert Smalls, of Charleston. Smalls was employed as pilot on the Planter, a rebel transport, and was entirely familiar with the harbors and inlets, of which there are many, on the South Atlantic coast. On May 13, 1862, the Planter came to her wharf in Charleston, and at night all the white officers went ash.o.r.e, leaving a colored crew of eight men on board in charge of Smalls.

Smalls hastily got his wife and three children on board, and at 2 o'clock on the morning of the 14th steamed out into the harbor, pa.s.sing the Confederate forts by giving the proper signals, and when fairly out of reach, as daylight came, he ran up the Stars and Stripes and headed his course directly toward the Union fleet, into whose hands he soon surrendered himself and his ship. The act caused much favorable comment and Robert Smalls became quite a hero. His subsequent career has been in keeping with the high promise indicated by this bold dash for liberty, and his name has received additional l.u.s.tre from gallant services performed in the war after, and in positions of distinguished honor and responsibility in civil life. The Planter, after being accepted by the United States, became a despatch boat, and Smalls demonstrating by skill and bravery his fitness for the position, was finally, as an act of imperative justice, made her commander.

With the close of the Revolutionary War the prejudice against a standing army was so great that the army was reduced to scarce six hundred men, and the Negro as a soldier dropped out of existence. When the War of 1812 closed sentiment with regard to the army had made but little advancement, and consequently no place in the service was left for Negro soldiers. In the navy the Negro still lingered, doing service in the lower grades, and keeping up the succession from the black heroes of '76 and 1812. When the War of the Rebellion closed the country had advanced so far as to see both the necessity of a standing army, and the fitness of the Negro to form a part of the army; and from this position it has never receded, and if the lessons of the Cuban campaign are rightly heeded, it is not likely to recede therefrom. The value of the Regular Army and of the Black Regular were both proven to an absolute demonstration in that thin line of blue that compelled the surrender of Santiago.

In July, 1866, Congress pa.s.sed an act adding eight new regiments of infantry and four of calvary to the nineteen regiments of infantry and six of calvary of which those arms of the Regular Army were at that time composed, thus making the permanent establishment to consist of five regiments of artillery, twenty-seven of infantry, and ten of cavalry. Of the eight new infantry regiments to be formed, four were to be composed of colored men; and of the four proposed for the calvary arm, two were to be of colored men. The President was empowered by the act also to appoint a chaplain for each of the six regiments of colored troops. Under this law the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry Regiments were organized.

In 1869 the infantry suffered further reduction, and the four colored regiments organized under the law of 1866, numbered respectively the 38th, 39th, 40th and 41st, were consolidated into two regiments, and numbered the 24th and 25th--the 38th and 41st becoming the former, and the 39th and 40th the latter. Previous to this consolidation the numbers between the old 19th and the 38th, which was the lowest number borne by the new colored regiments, were filled in by dividing the old three batallion regiments in the service, and making of the second and third batallions of these regiments new regiments. The whole infantry arm, by the law of 1869, was compressed into twenty-five regiments, and in that condition the army remains to the present, to wit:[9] Ten regiments of cavalry, five of artillery and twenty-five of infantry.

The number of men in a company and the number of companies in a regiment have varied greatly within the past few months. Just previous to the breaking out of the war a regiment of infantry consisted of eight companies of about sixty men each, and two skeletonized companies and the band--the whole organization carrying about five hundred men; now a regiment of infantry consists of twelve companies of 106 men each and with the non-commissioned staff numbers twelve hundred and seventy-four men.

Since 1869, or for a period of thirty years, the colored American has been represented in the Regular Army by these four regiments and during this time these regiments have borne more than their proportionate share in hard frontier service, including all sorts of Indian campaigning and much severe guard and fatigue duty. The men have conducted themselves so worthily as to receive from the highest military authority the credit of being among our best troops. General Miles and General Merritt,[10] with others who were active leaders in the Indian wars of the West, have been unstinting in their praise of the valor and skill of colored soldiers. They proved themselves not only good individual fighters, but in some instances non-commissioned officers exhibited marked coolness and ability in command.[11]

From 1869 to the beginning of the Hispano-American War there were in the Regular Army at some time, as commissioned officers, the following colored men, all from West Point, all serving with the cavalry, and none rising higher than first-lieutenant, viz: John H. Alexander, H.O.

Flipper and Charles Young. H.O. Flipper was dismissed; Alexander died, and Young became major in the volunteer service, and was placed in command of the Ninth Battalion of Ohio Volunteers, discharging the duties of his position in such a manner as to command general satisfaction from his superior officers.[12]

These colored men while cadets at West Point endured hardships disgraceful to their country, and when entering the army were not given that cordial welcome by their brother officers, becoming an "officer and gentleman," both to give and to receive. Of course there were some n.o.ble exceptions, and this cla.s.s of officers seems to be steadily increasing, so that now it is no longer necessary, even on the ground of expediency, to strive to adhere to the rule of only white men for army officers. Of Alexander and Young it can be said they have acquitted themselves well, the former enjoying the confidence and esteem of his a.s.sociates up to the time of his early death--an event which caused deep regret--and the latter so impressing the Governor of his State and the President as to secure for himself the responsible position which he, at the time of this writing, so worthily fills. Besides these line officers, five colored chaplains have been appointed, all of whom have served successfully, one, however, being dismissed by court-martial after many years of really meritorious service, an event to be regretted, but by no means without parallel.

Brief sketches of the history of these four colored regiments, as well as of the others, have been recently made by members of them and published in the Journal of the Military Service Inst.i.tution and subsequently in a large and beautiful volume edited by Brigadier-General Theo. F. Rodenbough and Major William L. Haskin, published by the Inst.i.tution and designated "The Army of the United States," a most valuable book of reference. From the sketches contained therein the following summary is given.

The Twenty-fourth Infantry was organized, as we have seen, from the 38th and 41st Regiments, these two regiments being at the time distributed in New Mexico, Louisiana and Texas, and the regiment remained in Texas from the time of its organization in 1869 until 1880. Its first Lieutenant-Colonel was William R. Shafter. It was from this regiment and the Tenth Cavalry that the escort of Paymaster Wham was selected which made so brave a stand against a band of robbers that attacked the paymaster that several of them were given medals for distinguished gallantry, and others certificates of merit.

The Twenty-fifth Infantry was organized in New Orleans out of the 39th, that was brought from North Carolina for that purpose, and the 40th, that was then in Louisiana. It was organized during the month of April, 1869, and early in 1870 moved to Texas, where it remained ten years. In 1880 it moved to the Department of Dakota and remained in the Northwest until it took the road for the Cuban war.

The Ninth Cavalry was organized in New Orleans during the winter of 1866-67. Its first Colonel was Edward Hatch and its first Lieutenant-Colonel Wesley Merritt. From 1867 to 1890 it was in almost constant Indian warfare, distinguishing itself by daring and hardihood. From 1890 to the opening of the Cuban war it remained in Utah and Nebraska, engaging in but one important campaign, that against hostile Sioux during the winter of 1890-91, in which, says the historian: "The regiment was the first in the field, in November, and the last to leave, late in the following March, after spending the winter, the latter part of which was terrible in its severity, under canvas."

The Tenth Calvary was organized under the same law as was the Ninth, and at the same time. Its place of rendezvous was Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and its first Colonel, Benjamin H. Grierson. This regiment was the backbone of the Geronimo campaign force, and it finally succeeded in the capture of that wily warrior. The regiment remained in the Southwest until 1893, when it moved to Montana, and remained there until ordered to Chickamauga for the war.

These four regiments were finely officered, well drilled and well experienced in camp and field, particularly the cavalry regiments, and it was of them that General Merritt said: "I have always found them brave in battle." With such training and experience they were well fitted to take their place in that selected host of fighting men which afterwards became the Fifth Army Corps, placed under command of Major-General William R. Shafter, the first Lieutenant-Colonel of the Twenty-fourth Infantry.

When the news of the blowing up of our great battleship Maine, in the harbor of Havana, with the almost total loss of her crew, flashed over the country, carrying sadness to hundreds of homes, and arousing feelings of deepest indignation whether justly or unjustly, it was easy to predict that we should soon be involved in war with Spain. The Cuban question, already chronic, had by speeches of Senators Thurston and Proctor been brought to such a stage of aggravation that it needed only an incident to set the war element in motion. That incident was furnished by the destruction of the Maine. Thenceforth there was no power in the land sufficient to curb the rapidly swelling tide of popular hate, which manifested itself in the un-Christian but truly significant mottoes: "Remember the Maine," "Avenge the Maine," and "To h.e.l.l with Spain." These were the outbreathings of popular fury, and they represented a spirit quite like that of the mob, which was not to be yielded to implicitly, but which could not be directly opposed.

The President did all in his power to stay this element of our population and to lead the country to a more befitting att.i.tude. He and his advisers argued that Spain was to be resisted, and fought if necessary, not on account of the Maine, not in the spirit of revenge, but in the interest of humanity, and upon principles sanctioned even by our holy religion. On behalf of the starving reconcentrados, and in aid of the n.o.ble Cuban patriot, we might justly arm and equip ourselves for the purpose of driving Spanish rule from the Western Hemisphere.

This view appealed to all lovers of freedom, to all true patriots, and to the Christian and philanthropist. It also afforded a superb opportunity for the old leaders in the South, who were not entirely relieved from the taint of secession, to come out and reconsecrate themselves to the country and her flag. Hence, Southern statesmen, who were utterly opposed to Negroes or colored men having any share in ruling at home, became very enthusiastic over the aspirations of the colored Cuban patriots and soldiers. The supporters, followers, and in a sense, devotees of Maceo and Gomez, were worthy of our aid. The same men, actuated by the same principles, in the Carolinas, in Louisiana or in Mississippi, would have been p.r.o.nounced by the same authorities worthy of death.

The nation was, however, led into war simply to liberate Cuba from the iniquitous and cruel yoke of Spain, and to save thousands of impoverished Cubans from death by starvation. Great care was taken not to recognize the Cuban government in any form, and it seemed to be understood that we were to do the fighting both with our navy and our army, the Cubans being invited to co-operate with us, rather than that we should co-operate with them. We were to be the liberators and saviors of a people crushed to the very gates of death. Such was the platform upon which our nation stood before the world when the first orders went forth for the mobilization of its forces for war. It was a position worthy our history and character and gave to our national flag a prouder meaning than ever. Its character as the emblem of freedom shone out with awe-inspiring brilliancy amid the concourse of nations.

While there was such a clamor for war in the newspapers and in the public speeches of statesmen, both in and out of Congress, it is remarkable that the utmost serenity prevailed in the army. Officers and men were ready to fight if the stern necessity came, but they were not so eager for the death-game as were the numerous editors' whose papers were getting out extras every half-hour. It was argued by the officers of rank that the Maine incident added nothing whatever to the Cuban question; that it did not involve the Spanish Government; that the whole subject might well be left to arbitration, and full respect should be given to Spain's disclaimer. It was also held that to rush into a war in order to prevent a few people from starving, might not relieve them, and at the same time would certainly cost the lives of many innocent men. Spain was revising her policy, and the benevolence of the United States would soon bring bread to the door of every needy Cuban. Such remarks and arguments as these were used by men who had fought through one war and were ready to fight, through another if they must; but who were willing to go to any reasonable length to prevent it; and yet the men who used such arguments beforehand and manifested such a shrinking from carnage, are among those to whom the short Spanish War brought distinction and promotion. To their honor be it said that the war which gave them fresh laurels was in no sense brought about through their instigation.

As chaplain of the Twenty-fifth Infantry, stationed with the headquarters of the regiment at Fort Missoula, where we had been for ten years, the call for the war met me in the midst of my preparations for Easter service. One young man, then Private Thomas C. Butler, who was practicing a difficult solo for the occasion, before the year closed became a Second Lieutenant, having distinguished himself in battle; the janitor, who cared for my singing books, and who was my chief school teacher, Private French Payne, always polite and everywhere efficient, met his death from a Spanish bullet while on the reserve before b.l.o.o.d.y El Caney.

It was on a bright day during the latter part of March and near the close of the day as I was looking out of the front window of my quarters that I saw the trumpeter of the guard come out of the Adjutant's office with a dispatch in his hand and start on a brisk run toward the quarters of the Commanding Officer. I immediately divined what was in the wind, but kept quiet. In a few minutes "officers'

call" was sounded, and all the officers of the post hastened to the administration building to learn the news.

When all were a.s.sembled the Commanding Officer desired to know of each company officer how much time he would need to have his company ready to move from the post to go to a permanent station elsewhere, and from all officers how much time they would require to have their families ready to quit the station. The answers generally were that all could be ready within a week. It was finally agreed, however, to ask for ten days.

Immediately the work of preparation began, although none knew where the regiment was to go. At this time the order, so far as it was understood at the garrison, was, that two companies were to go to Key West, Florida, and the other companies of the regiment to Dry Tortugas. One officer, Lieutenant V.A. Caldell, early saw through the haze and said: "It means that we will all eventually land in Cuba."

While we were packing, rumors flew through the garrison, as indeed through the country, thick and fast, and our destination was changed three or four times a day. One hour we would be going to Key West, the next to St. Augustine, the next to Tortugas. In this confusion I asked an old frontier officer where he thought we would really go.

Regarding himself as an indicator and always capable of seeing the amusing side of a subject, he replied: "I p'int toward Texas." Such was the state of uncertainty as to destination, and yet all the time the greatest activity prevailed in making ready for departure. Finally definite orders came that we were to store our furniture in the large gymnasium hall at the post and prepare to go in camp at Chickamauga Park, Georgia.

Our regiment was at the time stationed as follows: Headquarters, four companies and the band at Fort Missoula; two companies at Fort Harrison, near Helena, and two companies at Fort a.s.sinniboine, all in Montana. The arrangements contemplated moving the regiment in two sections, one composed of the Missoula troops to go over the Northern Pacific Railroad, the other of the Fort Harrison and Fort a.s.sinniboine troops to go over the Great Northern Railroad, all to arrive in St.

Paul about the same time.

On the 10th of April, Easter Sunday, the battalion at Fort Missoula marched out of post quite early in the morning, and at Bitter Root Station took the cars for their long journey. Officers and men were all furnished sleeping accommodations on the train. Arriving in the city of Missoula, for the gratification of the citizens and perhaps to avoid strain on the bridge crossing the Missoula River, the men were disembarked from the train and marched through the princ.i.p.al streets to the depot, the citizens generally turning out to see them off. Many were the compliments paid officers and men by the good people of Missoula, none perhaps more pleasing than that furnished by a written testimonial to the regret experienced at the departure of the regiment, signed by all the ministers of the city.

As the Twenty-fifth was the first regiment to move in the preparation for war, its progress from Montana to Chickamauga was a marked event, attracting the attention of both the daily and ill.u.s.trated press. All along the route they were greeted with enthusiastic crowds, who fully believed the war with Spain had begun. In St. Paul, in Chicago, in Terre Haute, in Nashville, and in Chattanooga the crowds a.s.sembled to greet the black regulars who were first to bear forward the Starry Banner of Union and Freedom against a foreign foe. What could be more significant, or more fitting, than that these black soldiers, drilled up to the highest standard of modern warfare, cool, brave and confident, themselves a proof of American liberty, should be called first to the front in a war against oppression? Their martial tread and fearless bearing proclaimed what the better genius of our great government meant for all men dwelling beneath the protection of its honored flag.

As the Twenty-fifth Infantry was the first regiment to leave its station, so six companies of it were first to go into camp on the historic grounds of Chickamauga. Two companies were separated from the regiment at Chattanooga and forwarded to Key West where they took station under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel A.S. Daggett. The remaining six companies, under command of Colonel A.S. Burt, were conducted by General Boynton to a choice spot on the grounds, where they pitched camp, their tents being the first erected in that mobilization of troops which preceded the Cuban invasion, and theirs being really the first camp of the war.

Soon came the Ninth Cavalry, the Tenth Cavalry and the Twenty-fourth Infantry. While these were a.s.sembling there arrived on the ground also many white regiments, cavalry, artillery and infantry, and it was pleasing to see the fraternity that prevailed among black and white regulars. This was especially noticeable between the Twenty-fifth and Twelfth. In brigading the regiments no attention whatever was paid to the race or color of the men. The black infantry regiments were placed in two brigades, and the black cavalry likewise, and they can be followed through the fortunes of the war in the official records by their regimental numbers. During their stay in Chickamauga, and at Key West and Tampa, the Southern newspapers indulged in considerable malicious abuse of colored soldiers, and some people of this section made complaints of their conduct, but the previous good character of the regiments and the violent tone of the accusations, taken together with the well-known prejudices of the Southern people, prevented their complaints from having very great weight. The black soldiers held their place in the army chosen for the invasion of Cuba, and for that purpose were soon ordered to a.s.semble in Tampa.

From the 10th of April, when the war movement began with the march of the Twenty-fifth Infantry out of its Montana stations, until June 14th, when the Army of Invasion cleared Tampa for Cuba--not quite two months--the whole energy of the War Department had been employed in preparing the army for the work before it. The beginning of the war is officially given as April 21st, from which time onward it was declared a state of war existed between Spain and the United States, but warlike movements on our side were begun fully ten days earlier, and begun with a grim definiteness that presaged much more than a practice march or spring manoeuver.

After arriving at Chickamauga all heavy baggage was shipped away for storage, and all officers and men were required to reduce their field equipage to the minimum; the object being to have the least possible amount of luggage, in order that the greatest possible amount of fighting material might be carried. Even with all this preparation going on some officers were indulging the hope that the troops might remain in camps, perfecting themselves in drill, until September, or October, before they should be called upon to embark for Cuba. This, however, was not to be, and it is perhaps well that it was not, as the suffering and mortality in the home camps were almost equal to that endured by the troops in Cuba. The suffering at home, also, seemed more disheartening, because it appeared to be useless, and could not be charged to any important changes in conditions or climate. It was perhaps in the interest of humanity that this war, waged for humanity's sake, should have been pushed forward from its first step to its last, with the greatest possible dispatch, and that just enough men on our side were sent to the front, and no more. It is still a good saying that all is well that ends well.

The Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, the place where our troops a.s.sembled on their march to Cuba, beautiful by nature, especially in the full season of spring when the black soldiers arrived there, and adorned also by art, has, next to Gettysburg, the most prominent place among the historic battle-fields of the Civil War. As a park it was established by an act of Congress approved August 19, 1890, and contains seven thousand acres of rolling land, partly cleared and partly covered with oak and pine timber.

Beautiful broad roads wind their way to all parts of the ground, along which are placed large tablets recording the events of those dreadful days in the autumn of 1863, when Americans faced Americans in b.l.o.o.d.y, determined strife. Monuments, judiciously placed, speak with a mute eloquence to the pa.s.ser-by and tell of the valor displayed by some regiment or battery, or point to the spot where some lofty hero gave up his life. The whole park is a monument, however, and its definite purpose is to preserve and suitably mark "for historical and professional military study the fields of some of the most remarkable manoeuvres and most brilliant fighting in the War of the Rebellion."

The battles commemorated by this great park are those of Chickamauga, fought on September 19-20, and the battles around Chattanooga, November 23-25, 1863. The battle of Chickamauga was fought by the Army of the c.u.mberland, commanded by Major-General W.S. Rosecrans, on the Union side, and the Army of Tennessee, commanded by General Braxton Bragg, on the side of the Confederates. The total effective strength of the Union forces in this battle was little less than 60,000 men, that of the Confederates about 70,000. The total Union loss was 16,179 men, a number about equal to the army led by Shatter against Santiago.

Of the number reported as lost, 1,656 were killed, or as many as were lost in killed, wounded and missing in the Cuban campaign. The Confederate losses were 17,804, 2,389 being killed, making on both sides a total killed of 4,045, equivalent to the entire voting population of a city of over twenty thousand inhabitants. General Grant, who commanded the Union forces in the battles around Chattanooga, thus sums up the results: "In this battle the Union army numbered in round figures about 60,000 men; we lost 752 killed, 4,713 wounded and 350 captured or missing. The rebel loss was much greater in the aggregate, as we captured and sent North to be rationed there over 6,100 prisoners. Forty pieces of artillery, over seven thousand stand of small arms, many caissons, artillery wagons and baggage wagons fell into our hands. The probabilities are that our loss in killed was the heavier as we were the attacking party. The enemy reported his loss in killed at 361, but as he reported his missing at 4,146, while we held over 6,000 of them as prisoners, and there must have been hundreds, if not thousands, who deserted, but little reliance can be placed upon this report."

In the battle of Chickamauga, when "four-fifths of the Union Army had crumbled into wild confusion," and Rosecrans was intent only on saving the fragments, General Thomas, who had commanded the Federal left during the two days' conflict, and had borne the brunt of the fight, still held his position. To him General James A. Garfield reported.

General Gordon Granger, without orders, brought up the reserves, and Thomas, replacing his lines, held the ground until nightfall, when he was joined by Sheridan. Bragg won and held the field, but Thomas effectually blocked his way to Chattanooga, securing to himself immediately the t.i.tle of the "Rock of Chickamauga." His wonderful resolution stayed the tide of a victory dearly bought and actually won, and prevented the victors from grasping the object for which they had fought. In honor of this stubborn valor, and in recognition of this high expression of American tenacity, the camp established in Chickamauga Park by the a.s.sembling army was called Camp George H.

Thomas.

The stay of the colored regulars at Camp George H. Thomas was short, but it was long enough for certain newspapers of Chattanooga to give expression to their dislike to negro troops in general and to those in their proximity especially. The Washington Post, also, ever faithful to its unsavory trust, lent its influence to this work of defamation.

The leading papers, however, both of Chattanooga and the South generally, spoke out in rather conciliatory and patronizing tones, and "sought to restrain the people of their section from compromising their brilliant display of patriotism by contemptuous flings at the nation's true and tried soldiers.

The 24th Infantry and the 9th Cavalry soon left for Tampa, Florida, whither they were followed by the 10th Cavalry and the 25th Infantry, thus bringing the entire colored element of the army together to prepare for embarkation. The work done at Tampa is thus described officially by Lieutenant-Colonel Daggett in general orders addressed to the 25th Infantry, which he at that time commanded. On August 11th, with headquarters near Santiago, after the great battles had been fought and won, he thus reviewed the work of the regiment: "Gathered from three different stations, many of you strangers to each other, you a.s.sembled as a regiment for the first time in more than twenty-eight years, on May 7, 1898, at Tampa, Florida. There you endeavored to solidify and prepare yourselves, as far as the oppressive weather would permit, for the work that appeared to be before you." What is here said of the 25th might have been said with equal propriety of all the regular troops a.s.sembled at Tampa.

In the meantime events were ripening with great rapidity. The historic "first gun" had been fired, and the United States made the first naval capture of the war on April 22, the coast trader Buena Ventura having surrendered to the American gunboat Nashville. On the same day the blockade of Cuban ports was declared and on the day following a call was issued for 125,000 volunteers. On May 20th the news that a Spanish fleet under command of Admiral Cervera had arrived at Santiago was officially confirmed, and a speedy movement to Cuba was determined upon.

Almost the entire Regular Army with several volunteer regiments were organized into an Army of Invasion and placed under the command of Major-General W.R. Shafter with orders to prepare immediately for embarkation, and on the 7th and 10th of June this army went on board the transports. For seven days the troops lay cooped up on the vessels awaiting orders to sail, a rumor having gained circulation that certain Spanish gunboats were hovering around in Cuban waters awaiting to swoop down upon the crowded transports. While the Army of Invasion was sweltering in the ships lying at anchor off Port Tampa, a small body of American marines made a landing at Guantanamo, and on June 12th fought the first battle between Americans and Spaniards on Cuban soil. In this first battle four Americans were killed. The next day, June 13th, General Shafter's army containing the four colored regiments, excepting those left behind to guard property, sailed for Cuba.[13]

The whole number of men and officers in the expedition, including those that came on transports from Mobile, amounted to about seventeen thousand men, loaded on twenty-seven transports. The colored regiments were a.s.signed to brigades as follows: The Ninth Cavalry was joined with the Third and Sixth Cavalry and placed under command of Colonel Carrol; the Tenth Cavalry was joined with the Rough Riders and First Regular Cavalry and fell under the command of General Young; the Twenty-fourth Infantry was joined with the Ninth and Thirteenth Infantry and the brigade placed under command of Colonel Worth and a.s.signed to the division commanded by General Kent, who, until his promotion as Brigadier-General of Volunteers, had been Colonel of the Twenty-fourth; the Twenty-fifth Infantry was joined with the First and Fourth Infantry and the brigade placed under command of Colonel Evans Miles, who had formerly been Major of the Twenty-fifth. All of the colored regiments were thus happily placed so that they should be in pleasant soldierly compet.i.tion with the very best troops the country ever put in the field, and this arrangement at the start proves how strongly the black regular had entrenched himself in the confidence of our great commanders.

Thus sailed from Port Tampa the major part of our little army of trained and seasoned soldiers, representative of the skill and daring of the nation.[14] In physique, almost every man was an athlete, and while but few had seen actual war beyond an occasional skirmish with Indians, all excepting the few volunteers, had pa.s.sed through a long process of training in the various details of marching, camping and fighting in their annual exercises in minor tactics. For the first time in history the nation is going abroad, by its army, to occupy the territory of a foreign foe, in a contest with a trans-Atlantic power.

The unsuccessful invasions of Canada during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 can hardly be brought in comparison with this movement over sea. The departure of Decatur with his nine ships of war to the Barbary States had in view only the establishment of proper civil relations between those petty, half-civilized countries and the United States. The sailing of General Shafter's army was only one movement in a comprehensive war against the Kingdom of Spain. More than a month earlier Commodore Dewey, acting under orders, had destroyed a fleet of eleven war ships in the Philippines. The purpose of the war was to relieve the Cubans from an inhumane warfare with their mother country, and to restore to that unhappy island a stable government in harmony with the ideas of liberty and justice.

Up to the breaking out of the Spanish War the American policy with respect to Europe had been one of isolation. Some efforts had been made to consolidate the sentiment of the Western world, but it had never been successful. The fraternity of the American Republics and the attempted construction of a Pan-American policy had been thus far unfulfilled dreams. Canada was much nearer to the United States, geographically and socially, than even Mexico, although the latter is a republic. England, in Europe, was nearer than Brazil. The day came in 1898, when the United States could no longer remain in political seclusion nor bury herself in an impossible federation. Washington's advice against becoming involved in European affairs, as well as the direct corrollary of the Monroe Doctrine, were to be laid aside and the United States was to speak out to the world. The business of a European nation had become our business; in the face of all the world we resolved to invade her territory in the interest of humanity; to face about upon our own traditions and dare the opinions and arms of the trans-Atlantic world by openly launching upon the new policy of armed intervention in another's quarrel.

While the troops were mobilizing at Tampa preparatory to embarking for Cuba the question came up as to why there were no colored men in the artillery arm of the service, and the answer given by a Regular Army officer was, that the Negro had not brains enough for the management of heavy guns. It was a trifling a.s.sertion, of course, but at this period of the Negro's history it must not be allowed to pa.s.s unnoticed. We know that white men of all races and nationalities can serve big guns, and if the Negro cannot, it must be because of some marked difference between him and them. The officer said it was a difference in "brains," i.e., a mental difference. Just how the problem of aiming and firing a big gun differs from that of aiming and firing small arms is not so easily explained. In both, the questions of velocity, gravitation, wind and resistance are to be considered and these are largely settled by mechanism, the adjustment of which is readily learned; hence the a.s.sumption that a Negro cannot learn it is purely gratuitous. Several of the best rifle shots known on this continent are Negroes; and it was a Negro who summerized the whole philosophy of rifle shooting in the statement that it all consists in knowing _where_ to aim, and _how_ to pull--in knowing just what value to a.s.sign to gravitation, drift of the bullet and force of the wind, and then in being able to pull the trigger of the piece without disturbing the aim thus judiciously determined. This includes all there is in the final science and art of firing a rifle. If the Negro can thus master the revolver, the carbine and the rifle, why may he not master the field piece or siege gun?

But an ounce of fact in such things is worth more than many volumes of idle speculation, and it is remarkable that facts so recent, so numerous, and so near at hand, should escape the notice of those who question the Negro's ability to serve the artillery organizations.

Negro artillery, both light and heavy, fought in fifteen battles in the Civil War with average effectiveness; and some of those who fought against them must either admit the value of the Negro artilleryman or acknowledge their own inefficiency. General Fitz-Hugh Lee failed to capture a Negro battery after making most vigorous attempts to that end. This attempt to raise a doubt as to the Negro's ability to serve in the artillery arm is akin to, and less excusable, than that other groundless a.s.sertion, that Negro officers cannot command troops, an a.s.sertion which in this country amounts to saying that the United States cannot command its army. Both of these a.s.sertions have been emphatically answered in fact, the former as shown above, and the latter as will be shown later in this volume. These a.s.sertions are only temporary covers, behind which discomfitted and retreating prejudice is able to make a brief stand, while the black hero of five hundred battle-fields, marches proudly by, disdaining to lower his gun to fire a shot on a foe so unworthy. When the Second Ma.s.sachusetts Volunteers sent up their hearty cheers of welcome to the gallant old Twenty-fifth, as that solid column fresh from El Caney swung past its camp, I remarked to Sergeant Harris, of the Twenty-fifth: "Those men think you are soldiers." "They know we are soldiers," was his reply.

When the people of this country, like the members of that Ma.s.sachusetts regiment, come to know that its black men in uniform are soldiers, plain soldiers, with the same interests and feelings as other soldiers, of as much value to the government and ent.i.tled from it to the same attention and rewards, then a great step toward the solution of the prodigious problem now confronting us will have been taken.

Note.--"I had often heard that the physique of the men of our regular army was very remarkable, but the first time I saw any large body of them, which was at Tampa, they surpa.s.sed my highest expectations. It is not, however, to be wondered at that, for every recruit who is accepted, on the average thirty-four are rejected, and that, of course, the men who present themselves to the recruiting officer already represent a physical 'elite'; but it was very pleasant to see and be a.s.sured, as I was at Tampa, by the evidences of my own eyes and the tape measure, that there is not a guard regiment of either the Russian, German or English army, of whose remarkable physique we have heard so much, that can compare physically, not with the best of our men, but simply with the average of the men of our regular army."--Bonsal.