Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-08-06
About Negro Soldiers.

If the late disastrous affair at Petersburg
will help cure some of the delusions which
have prevailed among the radicals touching
the value OF negro soldiers, it may, after all,
have one incidental benefit. A great army
or series of armies is like q chain. 1t is
never stronger than its weakest part, and
if there is very large element in our ar
mics weaker than the rest, we must expect
it to fail us at critical iuncturcs. 1t mustbe
confessed that the radicals, who have fore
ed this negro-arming policy upon the Ad-
ministration, are at least consistent. They
have argued that the negro, notwithstand-
ing the poor show he makes in history, his
want of enterprise, and inaptitude for all
the higher phases of civilization is the
physical, mental, and moral equal of the
white; and that all he requires is opportu-
nifty to prove his equal manhood. The rad
icals have, therefore, insisted that the negro
should be armed, and that he should have
the same pay and care as the white troops.
Well, the experiment has been tried, and
under the most favorable circumstances.
The colored soldiers have been put into the
field with the utmost care, and have been
officered by white men, who were picked
out for their peculiar bravery and ability to
command. The recent fight seems to have
been arranged with the view Of impressing
the country with the abilities of the negro
troops, and thus justify the policy of arm
ing them. That the experiment has failed
seems now to be generally conceded.
No doubt there was bad generalship.
General Burnside, who had immediate con-
troll of this affair, on previous occasions was
noted for his singular incompetency to
command on the battle field. His delays
cheated us of half the victory at Antetam
His delay was a chief impediment to our
success the other day. But his share OF the
blame, great as it may be, does not hide the
fact that the negro troops failed when the
crucial test was made; that in spite OF the
valor of their officers, they turned and fled
when they should have advanced. Indeed
it might have been foreseen by even the
| blindest partisan that the negroes would
not have been found equal to the whites in
any battle where the conditions were SINH
lar. If cOlored men will act as well as
white men on the battle field, then is al
history at fault. The English government
make use of Sepoys but it is to fight Him.
docs. 1t has black soldiers in the West
Indies, but they are used as police to keer
down other black men, never to fight With
white troops.
1t needs no argument to show that body
of Chinese soldiers, no matter how well
drilled or officered, would never be able tc
| Dear up against all Cuull nunDOl VI l@ui "
peans. There is something in race. An
emigrating, organizing, Industrious people
are very much superior to other races who
are not so far advanced in civilization, and
who have not exhibited the same vigor, en-
terprise and daring in everyday. life
Without boasting, we can fairly claim that
the American people make the best soldiers
in the world, because the race itself is en-.
terprising, vigorous, positive, enduring. ant
brave, and these high qualities have beer
matured and brought into the highest ex'
ercise by free institutions. The claim tha
the degraded negroes who never in theil
own country showed either enterprise, val
or, or organizing power, or ability to cope
with the physical circumstances that sur
round them, is as much as to say that race
gives no advantages-that civilization i!
useless, and that the institutions of free
dom are of no value in making men supe
rior physically and mentally. Grant tha
all the Abolitionists have said has beer
true of the degradation in which negroes
have been kept at the South, and that itsel
is an argument to prove they are not the
race to make high-spirited and valorous
soldiers.