Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-05-04


tary status of the "brunettes. " They
were the lions at Chickamauga and
Tampa
When I bepan IN studv the survivors
of the Cuban campaien, looked unon
the blacks as mart of tbe heroic crowd
not TO be neglected or TO be RIM. after
rather to be looked M in the course of
things as | found them fitting in.
Furthermore. | came TO the work with
a latent preirdice. dating back to
1864, against colored troops as fighting
men and wished to take observations
of the new kind at safe range. letting
any prejudice still existing wear off or
be confirmed by slow stages. What
these lines have to saw of the black man
of the Twenty fourth and Twentv-ffth
United States regular infantry is drawn
from the statera.nts of whites who saw
them in all situations during the ex-
petition to Santiago.
When | investigated the action at
San Juan hill among the infantry and
cavalry soldiers at Camp Wikoff.
heard from the whites many stories of
what the negroes of the Twentv- fourth
had done. but this regiment was then
in quarantine camp, against which |
was barred Hence it transpired that |
first came to close quarters with the
Twenty fifth, which fought at FL Canev.
A white colonel of another brigade told
me that when the Twenty fifth came
mp the road to support the line then en-
gagged, the blacks thought that the troops
in front wero Spaniards These were
the very men of whom Colonel Burt.
their commander at Chattanooga, pre-.
dicted great things. Said he: 1.-The
men of the Twenty fifth are the equals
of any soldiers in the army. They will
follow their officers wherever they lead
and will never retreat so long as their
officers do not. If the Twenty fifth ever
runs from the enemy. you can depend
upon it the officers will lead in the re-
treat When the regiment left Chat
tanooga for Tampa, crowd of whites
and blacks saw them off.
"What are you going to do to the
Spaniards?' shouted voice, address
ing at random the black heads in car
window.
ooh, We'll probably run away. That
| is the way American soldiers generally
do, isn't it2'' came from a black man
at the window. AT the same time IA
dozen others shouted, 1--WE won't do a
thing to them. The sequel of this came
at Ell Caney when the Twenty fifth
first got sight of the enemy. Had they
been white men terms for describing
their conduct would be to say that their
faces blanched; there was sudden
tightening of the lips and sinking in of
the cheeks, while a pitifully anxious
/ look came into the eyes, but this was
only for an instant. The men got a
/ grip on Themselves so to speak, and
marched forward CALAMITY to the firing
line.
The Twenty fifth was brigaded with
white troops. The First was detached
from the brigade. and the Twenty.fifth
had the right of the column of attacl,
at the stone fort, the Fourth ON the left
There WAS wait of some hours while
the troops ON the opposite side of the
angle, which the line formed at that
point, wers moving up, and Capron s
battery was doing its best to batter
down the walls. Finally, when the order
was given to go ahead it was found
that the Fourth infantry was in danger
of being annihilated if it advanced near
er to the fort than about 800 wards At
/ that distance there was a short DELAY
and then five companies of negroes,
numbering about 200. formed for n
charge, dashed across the creek, which
was six feet wide and about foot deep
This was directly in front of the fort
and the bank of the creek afforded very
little cover Beyond the creek the
ground was open, and over that the ne
groes advanced by rushes. that is to say
they halted when they found cover, as
for instance, slight swells in the ground
UP TO this time the line was under fire
from the stone tort ana the trenches
aiohgsloe FROM the stone Tort IN front
the outlets came III steady volleys'
while the opanlards IN the blockhouses
OH 10 the lert OF the line Kept up hre
on the hank
AT the time the negroes charged the
Twelfth infantry, which was storming
the fort on its opposite side, moved up
and these two commands, the blacks
and whites, reached the fort at about
the same time and completed its cap
ture. The commander of the regiment