The Philipsburg mail., 1898-11-04
THE NEGRO SOLDIER
Has Won unbounded Respect In the
War with Spain.
In the Battle of Santiago the Oolored
TroOpS Covered Themselves
with Glory by Their splen.
did COuraEe.

There has been hitherto among th,
officers of the army a certain prelude,
against serving in negro regiments
But the other day a lieutenant in
the Ninth infantry said enthusiast
cally:
do you know, shouldn't want any.
thing better than to have a company
in negro regiment? l am from Vir-
gina, and have always had the usual
feeling about commanding colored
troops. but after seeing that charge
of ;he lwenty-fourth up the San Juan
| hill. s-ould like the best in the world
to lave a negro company. They went
up that incline yelling and shouting
,, just as | used to hear them when they
were hunting rabbits in Virginia. The
Spanish bullets only made them Wild
er to reach the trenches"
Officers of other regiments which
were near the Twenty-fourth on July
are equally strong in their praise of
the negroes. Their yells were an in
spiration to their white comrades and
spread dismay among the Spaniards.
a captain in volunteer regiment de.
ciares 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 testimony to the effective
ness OF the colored soldiers is not lack
ing. Thus an officer who was with
the troops that lay in wait for the
Americans at La Quasina on June "a
said:
What especially terrified our men
was the huge American negroes. We
saw their big black faces through the
and they looked like
devils. They came forward under our
fire as if they didn't the least care
about it,"
1t was the Tenth cavalry that had
this effect on the Spaniards. At San
Juan the Ninth cavalry distinguished
itself, its commander. Lieut.. Col. Ham
lton, being killed. The fourth of the
negro regiments, the Twenty fifth in
[antry, played an especially brilliant
part in the battle of Ell Caney, on July
|. 1t was held in reserve with the rest
of Col. Miles brigade, but was or
Tered to support Gen. Lawton's brig
'de toward the middle of the day. At
nat hour marching was an ordeal,
'ut the men went off at a fast pace.
WITH almost no rest they kept it up
Until they got into action. The other
roors had been fighting hard for
hours, and the arrival of the Twenty
fifth was blessing. The negroes went
light ahead through the tired ranks
II their comrades. Their charge up
he hill. which was surmounted by
panish rifle pits and stone fort, has ,
cen told. 1t was the work of only a
art of the regiment, the men coming r
hiefy from three companies. Col. =
lilies had intended to have his whole ;
rigade make the final charge, but the =
'Wcnty-ffth didn't wait for orders.
was there to take that hill, and take =,
le hill it did.
One of the Spanish officers captured
here seemed to think that the Amer :
ans were taking an unfair advantage u
them IN having colored men who G.
ought like that. He had been accus- b
'med to the negroes in the insurgent
rmy, and different lot they are
'om those in the United States army. )
why, he said, ruefully, "even your r
agroes fight better than any other
oops l ever saw"
The way the negroes charged up
e Ell Caney and San Juan hills sug- :.
'sted inevitably that their African - -
ature has not, been entirely elm ::
ated by generations of civilization, u
It was bursting forth in savage yells -
I'd in that wild rush. Some of them - =,
ere fairly frantic with the delight of u
tile. And it was no mere craziness. -
hey are excellent marksmen, and al
ey aimed carefully and well. Woe az a..
the Spaniard who showed himself 81
ove the trenches when the colored !u
giment was in good range.-N. Y. III
ibune. u