Evening star., 1899-03-31
Fourth Annual Banquet Of the Ma
tional Colored League.
TOASTS and ADDRESSES IN RESPONSE
Tribute to VaIor of the Twenty
Fourth Infantry
LIST OF THE GU EST S

The fourth annual banquet or the Ma
tionai Colored Personal Liberty League
took place last evening at the Delmo-
Koonce Banquet Hall. No. 16O6 M street
northwest. Long tables, arranged in the
form of T. at which the members of the
league and their guests were seated, were
decorated with palms and cut flowers. On
the walls were portraits Of Frederick
Douglass and other prominent past and
present leaders of the colored race. and an
inscription indicating the date of the for
nation of the league in 1885,
An address of welcome was delivered by
Mr.. H. Clay Hawkins, president of the
league. following which Prof. L. M. Her
shaw invoked the Divine blessing.
In part Mr.. Hawkins said:
THE National Personal Liberty League
has but one object in view, and that is to
benefit the condition of the colored race
The league has been misrepresented.
want it to be understood that the principles
of this league are that a man can eat and
drink what ne Dieases. We do not pro-
scribe man eitLer in his politics or his
religion: he can do just what he pleases-
the only thing We ask Of him is to be
good citizen. We propose to grow up into
full manhood"
In conclusion he said there were some
persons who had falsely stated that the
league was democratic club and he wished
to say that the tongue that uttered the
it was conceived, and that heart was as foul
sepulcher.'
At the conclusion Of the feast Mr.. r. w.
Thompson, who was introduced as toast
MASTER made a few remarks.
Letters regretting inability to be present
were read by Pref. Hershaw from Mr. John
Addison Porter, secretary to the President;
Vice President Hobart, Mr.. j. H. Wilson,
Secretary of the Department of Agriculture:
Representative George H. White of North
Carolina, Mr.. H. P. Cheatham, Mr.. M. III.
Parker. Commissioner Ross, Mr.. j. p
Green, Mr.. c. r. Fleetwood. Senator Gear
of Iowa and Judge Charles F. Scott.
Sergeant MeKay's Tribute.
The feature of the evening was the reply
of Sergeant B. Mckay in response to the
toast THE 24th Infantry in the War With
Spain," which in part was as follows:
"To speak Of the Oath Infantry in the
Spanish-American war; to faithfully por-
tray the conduct of that brave and peerless
organization, even to partially depict
the many incidents of personal bravery or
modest and unassuming heroism performed
by members of that regiment, is story
which l greatly fear will never be COM
pletely and perfectly chronicled.
Right here 1 desire to notice briefly the
movement executed by the oath Infantry
in the face Of an active and aggressive foe,
which has partially, but not fully, been de-
scribed by so many witnesses as being the
most amazingly difficult and at the same
| time dangerous lHillS ever btlOIe Stell-
Every one has heard of some very intricate
and complicated tactical maneuver exc
cuted by the 24th Infantry while under
heavy and whitening fire.
The regiment had just completed one of
those desperate charges amid storm of
shot and shell such as few indeed of any
of the veterans of that veteran regiment
had ever before participated in, when it
was discovered that the right of the line
was away-say, some hundred yards-in ad-
vance of the left, and, a consequence,
was receiving, besides the fire from the
Spanish front, an enfilading fire from
block house upon their right. with also a
stray shot now and then from the rear,
supposedly coming from our own men. 1t
became necessary to move the left of the
line forward, and at the same time move
the right of the line backward. The COM
mands as laid down in the tactics and drill
regulations for the execution of this move
ment are as follows: Left wing, right
turn; right wing. to the rear right turn,
with cautionary command, Guide center.
To describe accurately the evolution is a
task that 1 shall not now undertake. To
say that it is difficult intricate and compli
Gated even on dress parade is putting it
but mildly. The left wing must turn to
the right. each man moving over the arc
of circle whose radius increases accord
ing as his distance from the pivot increases.
He must look to the alignment, preserve
at all times his interval, and at the same
time continue the fire to the front, loading
and firing as rapidly possible. The right
wing must face to the rear and conduct
their turn pretty much the same as the
left. with the added difficulty that their
line must split itself in half, SO as to form
two-pronged fork. The odd numbers
the ones and threes-halt in their places
kneel and fire. The even numbers-the
tWos and fours-continue the march to the
rear, with their backs to the enemy, until
they hear the report of the guns of their
comrades or receive the command or signal
halt when they-the even numbers them
selves halt, kneei and take the position of
ready but always withholding their fire
until the odd numbers have passed through
the interval on their way to their position
in rear, which is one, two or a dozen yards
from the firing line, according the indi
vidual soldier Is one, two or a dozen files
from the pivot. This alternate passing be-
tween files is kept up until the command
Halt is given, which takes place imme-
diately after the commander has found
that the right Of the line is joined to
friendly subdivision upon their immediate
right
The Difficult Movement.
This is a most imperfect description of
that peculiarly difficult movement. There
are a number of little details which of
necessity 1 cannot hope to bring out in the
short space of time allotted me. Suffice
it to say, however, that nothing Of the kind
has been attempted upon so grand and
magnificent q scale since Sherman while
on his march to the sea, executed his IA
r'ous left half wheel with two states
for the parade ground and the Atlantic
seaboard for the pivot. Nothing SO grand
and inspiring has been witnessed since
Lord Raglan led his immortal 600 in that
dealy charge at Balaklava-
Let us hope, Mr.. President. that every
negro child in this great republic will so
thoroughly learn and master his or her
lesson in life and SO wed themselves to
their profession-taking the oath Infantry
for model-that when they come to
breast the waves of human Hfe's great
ocean, they will be strong enough to beat
them back"
A New Epoch.
Mr. W. T. Menard spoke on "a New
Epoch" and said, in part:
Now that the voice of the cannon Is
hushed, the smoke of battle lifted from
fields Of glory and gore, and every vestige
of the recent struggle for national honor