The National tribune., 1902-11-13

large enough for him. The apologize
proprietor politely informed him that it
was not the fashion to wear large shoes
in Paris
OF course, the above is only n revival
Of the stale joke on the size OF ne
grO's foot. l presume the same difficulty
would confront me in a Paris shoe store,
for l wear No. 9's, American make, and
have brother who wears No. IFS. In the
army l learned by actual experience that
a company of soldiers, white or black, re-
quire about the same size shoes. e., Il
very few pairs of Us, several pairs of rs,
great many pairs of SIS and 9's. a few
pairs of los and occasionally pair as
| large as can be found.
One of tile liveliest rows / had while
| in the service was with the Quartermas
ter for filling reGaisition that 1 made for
chOes for my company, Oh the theory that
no shoe was too large for negro, and
he gave me all los and upwards.
When l returned the shoes, informing
toons, he insisted that l should take
them and issue them to my company any
way. Well, l didn't do it: consequently
the row.
Another theory is that the negro is n
natural tippler-that they will all drink
like SO many fish when they get a chance.
l had just one man among my whole com
w
drunk, or who gave me any trouble in
that direction, and otherwise he was as
| good soldier as ever wore the blue.
Some of the boys drank occasionally, but
many Of them were strictly temperate.
| The I'd Wis. was not us sober and tenn
perate as the 23d U. S. Colored Troops.
| Another false theory is that the ne
gro is filthy. / found him the very OPP
posite, and for that reason if for no other,
| l would prefer to command q company.
or regiment of black, rather than white
soldiers.
During that Winter. or rather in the
month of March, l obtained q short leave
sin, and while there l married little girl
who had waited for my return since my
enlistment in 1861, and for a wedding trip
We journeyed back to Camp Casey" and
passed our honeymoon in teaching the
men of Co. B, 23d U. S. G. T., to be-
come good and efficient soldiers. What
payt did my wife take? you may ask.
| Well, there were but few of the men who
could read and write, and the more a
man knows the better soldier he makes,
| while it is especially convenient that non-
commissioned officers should be able to
read and write; SO we organized an even
ing school, to which every man in the
company was invited, and many of them
attended, and my wife was one Of the
teachers. At first she had some preju-
dice against the Afro-American race, but
long before the Winter campaign was
over she was willing to admit that the
hearts of the boys of Co. B were in the
! right place at all times and under all
circumstances.
Right here, 1 wish to say, because it
| is true, that there never was an Organiza-
ton of 1000 men in all this broad, free
| America where woman was held in
greater esteem or her honor more sacred
than in the 23d United States Colored
Troops.
IN THE FIELD WITH THE BLACK BOYS.
In the latter part Of April 1864. nv
regiment was ordered to the front, when
we proceeded to Manassas Junction,
where we became a part of the Second
Brigade Of the Fourth Division Of the
Ninth Corps. The Ninth Corps was
commanded by Gen. Burnside, and com.
prised three divisions Of white troops,
commanded respectively by Gems Potter,
Wilcox and Leslie, and Fourth Division
Of Colored Troops, commanded by Gen.
Ferrero. The Fourth was the smallest di-
vision OF the corps and consisted of two
brigades, the First commanded by Col.
Siegfreid, having four regiments-the 9th,
Both, 39th and 43d; the Second, com,
manded by Col. Thomas, having d five
regiments-the 18th, 23d, 2sth, 29th and
31st.
The Fourth Division crossed the Rap.
idan at Germania Ford on the morning
of May g, 1864, and that night we held
the extreme right of the Union line. The
next day the division was detached from
the Ninth Corps and assigned to the duty
of guarding the roads, bridges and fords
in the rear of Grants army, and to see
especially that no harm befell our i'm
mense supply train. A day or two later
my regiment started out in charge of our
supply and ambulance trains to Belle
Plaine Landing, on the Potomac River,
crossing the. Rappahannock at Freder-
icksburg. When we passed through the
city with our long trains, every ambu-
lance and every wagon filled with wound
ed and thousands of wounded on foot, the
people of Fredericksburg thought for a GER
tainty that Grants army was in full re-
treat. The rain was pouring down in tor
rents, the roads were next to impossible,
and the battle of Spottsylvania was then In
progress, for we could hear the cannonad-
ing and the AWful crash of mnskatru