The times., 1898-09-11
our HEROES IN BLACK
The Great Record Made by the
Twenty-fourth Infantry.
THEY FOUGHT ATSAN JUAN
Then White Officers and Negro Prf-
Yates Faced Yellow Jack With the
Same UDfincbing Courage They
Showed on San Juan's Bloody
Hill.

fdntry, one of the negro regiments at
Montauk Point, the New York Sun took
/ occasion to give something of the history
| of the organization.
Gen. Shafter was once lieutenant col
onel of the Twenty-fourth Infantry,
which has had among it's other officers
Gen. Lawton, Gen. MacKenzey, Gen.
Doubleday. Gen. Potter, Gen Bliss and
Gen. Kent. After the fight at San Juan
Hill the Twenty fourth dropped out of
sight, and for more than a month and a
half it was practically lost to the world
During this time II went through an ex-
| perience not easy 10 parallel
In the attack on San Juan Hill the
| black Twenty-fourth was ordered for
ward, to be supported by the Ninth and
| Thirteenth Infantry. There We're more
| than 600 men in the regiment and they
We're marched mile and quarter by
| the right flank, so as to take a position
| at the front. In performing this move
ment they passed the other regiments,
turned and formed at the front of the hill.
| Back Of them and to their left were high
! hills, from which during their march TO
position the nearly noiseless Mausers
| rained a stream of bullets II was not
| till the regiment formed in the narrow
valley at the foot of San Juan Hill that
| the source of these bullets was known
| A few minutes after this preparatory for
| nation the firing from these hills increas-
| ed, and the position became untenable
| and the blacks moved forward 10 the at
| tack This brought them within range
| of the other position held by the Span
iards, and from the right, from the left,
from behind, from the treetops seeming
! ly from all around them came the leaden
| hail. Men began 10 fall in numbers, many
| shot in the right leg and the left shoulder
! at the same time. Few who were shot
received less than two wounds. and the
march up the hill was marked by the
sight of tumbling, stumbling men, pitch
ing forward in the death struggle.
The Spaniards, counting on their ex
perience with the black insurgents, had
concentrated their fire on the Twenty
fourth as the weakest part of the advanc-
ing line and the regiment likely to be
thrown soonest into confusion. The Twen-
ty-fourth kept on, meeting the fire from
the hilltops unfiinchingly, ignoring the
calling cross-fire, not minding the bullets
that pattered on the wire fence ahead,
buried themselves with spiteful speed in
the mud beneath or sang in high cadence
over their heads. The men of the Ninth
and Thirteenth began TO fall, too, and
most of the losses OF these regiments oc-
Cured on the fianks nearest the Twenty
fourth.
1t took the Twenty-fourth forty minutes
to ascend San Juan Hill, and in that time
Gen. Wikoff had been shot in the back.
and while being carried to the rear had
been shot again and killed. Gen. Worth,
his successor, was shot in the back and
dragged off and Lieut.. Col. Liscomb, who
next took command, was shot through the
shoulder and carried back On the Hill
Col. Ewers took command and the Twen-
ty-fourth gained the trenches with loss
of eight officers and eighty-five men. In
the trenches Major Markley, of the Twen-
ty-fourth, took command, and in the try
ing days that followed the battle of San
Juan Hill he upheld his command under
vicissitudes that few officers have been
called on to face.
For ten days the Twenty-fourth was on
San Juan Hill, relieving other commands
at different points at night and returning
TO camp in the trenches by day. There
were few shelter tents TO accommodate
officers and men, and the sun scorched,
the rain fell and soaked both men and
ground, and sleep was to be had only in
the mud. 1t was weary, heart-breaking
work, this, and after a rest on the soggy
hill the men resumed their duties, stiff
fened and weak.
On the tenth day an order was received
for the men to move off the hill and
camp and make themselves comfortable
The order was heard with satisfaction
and the regiment moved over to a hill
side and began clearing the ground for q
camp and prepared to have one nights
good rest. Fatigued and worn out by ex-
posure and constant duty, the men set at
work with all the vim they could muster
and made good progress. The camp was
nearly ready at p m, when new or
der was received for the regiment to pro
ceed to Siboney at once. By 6 p. M the
men were ready to start on an ail-night
march. The night was pitch dark, the
brilliant southern stars, hidden by the
trees, lending scarcely ray to illumi-
nate the road as the soldiers pIodded
along the trails over the hillsides and
fioundered in puddles of water and mud
1t became necessary frequently for the
men to grasp one anothers hands to
avoid being lost in the gloom or entangled
in briar and underground. At 8 a. M the
white tents of the hospital of Siboney
could be discerned from a hilltop and.
worn out by the tolls of the day and
night, the men lay down on the ground
and slpet with cold dew settling around
them.
Early that morning Major Markley
went down the hill alone, poked around
and found out what his command was ex-
pected to do. That climb back to the top
Of the hill, where rested his tired but un-
complaining regiment, must have been
made with a sinking heart for he had
learned that his men, having fought the
Spaniards so brayely, were now to be
used as nurses and laborers in the yellow
fever hospital, two miles up the railroad
from Siboney. But if Major Markley had
thoughts of encouragement he hid them
well
He cheerfully announced the regiments
new duties, commented upon them as be-
ing evidence of the worth of the Twenty
fourth, laughed at the officers who might
have felt weak-kneed, and reassured the
soldier whose looks indicated that he hes
itated at the test of the pesthouse. He
discovered soon that he had made some
progress in reassuring his command, and
seizing the opportunity, called for volun-
teers for the yellow fever tents. Capt.
Augur quickly aided his commander, and
fifteen men volunteered from his compa-
n.y. This started the ball rolling, and the
other captains. following the example so
bravely set by Capt. Augur, furnished the
complement of sixty-five nurses for the
yellow fever post. The detail started on
their mission without a murmur, without
protest that they had been mustered in
as soldiers, not as yellow fever nurses. 1t
was a serious squad that marched out in
the forenoon to take their station at the
post down the railroad nevertheless
But the task before the regiment had
only begun. Volunteers for burial detail,
volunteers for cooks, volunteers for polio
ing, volunteers for all manner of work at
tached to attending to some 1,200 sick not
in the yellow fever camp were called for
AN TDEAT, BREAKFAST