The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1898-08-20

uAAo A"S1lIy-lILu infantry ana the
Ninth and Tenth cavalry, and they
are In the main composed of soldiers
OF the very first class. All four
have been in the thick Of the worst Of the
indian campaigns for more than two de-
cooes, and they have all been under saw
age hre time and time again. Not man
OF them, horse or foot has ever been
Known to finch under the most CALLING
hre. No colored soldier has been court
martialed for cowardice since the black
regiments were mustered In, according to
a washington correspondent of the New
YORK Sun, and the war department rec
ords show many acts of remarkable nerve
courage and quick thinking on the part
or individual soldiers of the black outfits
In tight places. The colored soldier rare
~ deserts. The proportionate number of
assertions is only about one-half as great
among tie black as among the white SOL
d1ers. Moreover, when black soldier
does make up his mind to desert, he does
the job In style. 1t was black regular
Amy Soldier who jumped his outfit in
heavy marching order shortly after re-
treat. He walked out of the gate with
his overcoat, blanket, haversack, KNAPP
sack, tin cup, knife, fork and plate and his
carolne, revolver. sabre and belt and he
may be going yet for all anybody knows
to the contrary.
In action the black soldiers are surely
most eff1cient. The Sioux Indians perhaps
appreciate this fact better than any other
enemy the colored troops have fought
against The charge made by half a
dozen troops Of colored cavalry during the
Pine Ridge row is talked about by the
OgalalM bucks yet The Indians on this
occasion were drawn up in a solid fighting
phalanx, armed to the limit, and spelling
for fight. Their attitude was practically
challenge to the whole United States
army to come on and rout them. The
black soldiers, about 300 in number, were
10
the painted braves, and when they got
within 200 yards of the India IS the bucks
began to make cracks in the atmosphere
with their shouts of dismay. They turned
tail and scampered like so many jackrab-
bits before the black troopers had so
much as fired q blank from a carbine. It
was the terrific whooping of the black
troopers that scared these Sioux. From
the very trumpet call to charge. mile
away from the drawn up body of braves,
the colored troopers began their shouts.
Any man who has ever heard even twen-
ty black soldiers, whooping in chorus can
readily imagine the effect produced by
the united yelping of 300 of them to-
gethe-.
A white officer who was in that charge
said afterward that he wouldn't care to
hear such yelping again. It was too saw
age and hair-raising for comfort He
feared at first that the blacks had become
Insane in bunch under the strain Of the
situation and that they might gallop
amuck before the Indians phalanx was
reached and begin to hack away at one
another and their officers. But they
weren't insane, and they were not run
ming amuck. When they saw the Indians
starting to take to their heels the black
troopers drew up quickly, dropped their
brides and roared with laughter. They
held their sides and howled with delight.
Some of them were so tickled that they
rolled off their horses and wallowed in
mirth on the plain. To yell like hends is
just little way black soldiers have when
they go into action, and the effect of tbs
yelling upon savage enemies has always
been extraordinary.
An Indian takes it that a black man ia
a sort of devil, anyhow and it is a we'll
known fact among frontier officers of tile
regular army that the very "baddest" In
dian stands in awe of black soldier. 1t
Is for this reason that the colored troops
are so often selected to guard corraled
punches of Indians after risings. The
blacks have a direct, out-of-hand fashion
of handling the Indians that produces re-
suits. One instance is recalled that shows
how much firmer a hold the colored SOL
diers have over Indians than the white
soldiers. When the Nez Perez tribe was
rounded up back of Fort LeavenwOrth-
and it took almost the entire United
States army to accomplish the job-the
bucks were more than ordinarily ugly,
and they treated the commands Of the
white enlisted men and of the officers,
too, with silent contempt. Then couple
of companies of black soldiers appeared
at the guard camp The way the black
doughboys made the big Nez Perez bucks
hump themselves was genuinely funny.
A big minor chief was sitting outside his
tepee one afternoon, enjoying the autumn
sunshine, stretched out, picture of lazi-
ness. His squaw came out Of the tepee,
tho Ind ed q
with his head toward an empty water
bucket lying near by and thus ordered
her to walk to spring half mile away
and fill the bucket. A black soldier, off
duty, happened to pass the tepee, and
he saw this bit Of pantomime He walked
over to the supine chief, gave him a swift
kick where the Indian needed it very
badly, and said:
go on, yo' all no-'court. good-fo'-
nuthn', coppuh-cullud wuss-dan-uh-nig:
guh, an git de vattuh yo-sef. Yo' amt
no bettuh to tote wattuh dan All am.
yU' Eeah me!' II =
The big Indian went after the water
a-loping. s...
The black men are mighty fine garri-
son soldiers, too. They do their work up
to the handle, and the cleanliness that
characterizes their quarters is something
to which all commanding officers who
E have had black soldiers on their post CON-
mands Readily bear witness. The col
8ored soldier Is forever polishing his ac-
coutrements and arranging his gear. He
is proud of his uniform, and he never
turns out for drill, guard or any other
duty not perfectly correct and spick-and-
spal Indeed, in mixed posts that is,
where black soldiers are stationed along
side white men. the whites have to buckle
down to it to keep the colored men from
grabbing the commanding officers orderly
billet at every guard mount The most
shipshape man Of a newly mounted guard
is picked out for commanding Officers
orderly by the adjutant, and the triggest
of the colored soldiers are forever work
ing for this daily prize, and they get i:
often enough.
The colored soldiers are perhaps a trife
less quarrelsome among themselves in
quarters than the white soldiers. They
have frequent wordy wars, but they don't
like guardhouse tricks, and so they are
not so prone to punch one another's heads
as their white companions in arms. When
a black regular soldier gets into the
guard house it is rarely for neglect OF
y duty or for fighting, but it is generally
because he has yielded to the pay day
allurements of gin and craps. They are
perpetual gamblers the black soldiers
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