The times., 1898-10-09
Our Black Heroes.


1t was good to know that the people
of Washington were we'll informed as
to the heroes they entertained yester-
day. The Tenth Regular Cavalry would
have won the admiration of the most
critical even if it had come along the
Avenue without a history, such stall
wart, spirited, well drilled black SOL
diers were the men, and every one a
model of physical strength. They
stepped off like men who were all alive.
yet with such exactness in their order
that the lines seemed TO have been
formed by machinery. No crack COM
pany. winning trophies in competitive
drill. ever made a better appearance
when decked in gold trimmings than
these dusky troopers in their soiled
brown hats and their simple fatigue
dress of blue. Every man had found
his place in life in going into the mill
tary service, and it was plain he knew
il. No men not fascinated by the ca
reer of a soldier could adapt them
selves so entirely to the requirements
of the drill. AS the dismounted troop
ers swung up the Avenue there were
cheers upon cheers for their splendid
bearing.
Then there were other cheers-and
they were husky and they broke down
from those who remembered where
these men had been and how they bore
themselves. They had suffered. with
never a complaint. from somebody's
blunder in the battle of San Juan. los
ing many from the bullets and shrap-
mel of the foe-losing them uselessly as
they could see-but they took it all as
a part of the life of the soldier. They
were none the less dashing and mag
nificent when their turn came to sweep
up and over San Juan's fire-wrapped
heights, terrorizing the bravest Span
iards who fingered for a last shot be-
fore joining the panic-stricken columns
in flight. The correspondents have
never tired of telling how these ebony
heroes bore themselves in that awful
scene: no one who saw them can speak
of it with moderation. Even the white
regulars, who are not given to enthusi-
asm and who had their prejudices, go
to the extreme of saying, You just bet
tIcy can HSHl. WHICH Is
praise from them.
The men Of the Ninth and Tenth have
overcome more than the Spaniards on
San Juan hill. At the outbreak of the
Civil War. Massachusetts enlisted some
colored men, and they fought nobly,"
as everybody said, at Fort Fisher. But
these were exceptional colored men
from Boston, almost of a race distinct
from the great body They had been
free born and educated and under the
immediate influence of New England
idealists. The typical negro had still
his record to make as a soldier. He had
been loyal against his own self interests
when left in charge of the wife and
children of his master, while that mas
ter was fighting for his future enslave-
ment, but his qualities did not seem to
be of the heroic kind. Naturally, there
was criticism when the Ninth and
Tenth were enlisted. That the men
were physically superb was apparent,
but it was still question whether they
would have pride enough not to run in
battle. The negro cooks and servants
in the Civil War were shameless in
their cowardice.
Not any troops in the world have ever
fought better, wavered less. than the
black men who We're cheered along
Pennsylvania Avenue yesterday 1t
was a great privilege to see such heroes
march. At San Juan, at Las Guasimas.
in the killing heat of tropical sun and
under q rain of bullets, shrapnel, and
shells, these splendid fellows never
ceased to be cheerful save when one of
their best loved officers fell, never ceas-
ed to show that this was what they
enlisted for. When they fell, wounded,
they never complained. My tires
punctured," said one who had been shot
through the lungs. II came across
Lieutenant Roberts. of the Tenth Cav
airy" writes Richard Harding Davis,
Lying under the roots of a tree beside
the stream with three of his colored
troopers stretched around him. He was
shot through the intestines and each of
the three men with him was shot in the
arm or leg. They had been overlooked
or forgotten. At any moment, for all
they knew, the Spaniards might break
most lonely picture, the young lieu
tenant, half naked and wet with his
own blood. sitting upright beside the
empty stream. and his three followers
crouching at his feet like three faithful
watch dogs, each wearing his red badge
of courage, with his black skin turned
to a haggard gray, and with his eyes
fixed on the white lips cf his officer
When the white soldiers with me offer
ed to carry him back to the dressing
station the negroes resented it stiffly
If the lieutenant had been able to
move. we would have carried him away
long ago., said the sergeant, quite over
looking the fact that his arm was
shattered These three men were able
to go to the rear, but they preferred to
protect their officer from the Spaniards,
leaving their own wounds to bleed un-
draSCcd