The broad ax., 1914-09-05
CONGRESSMAN MARTIN MADDENs GRAFTON ON 4up co,o.y
49, O00O

soldiers among which may be mention
ed the engagement which resulted il
the killing Of the English Maj. Pitcairn
IN the thick Of the fight by Peter Salem
ColOred patriot, and also may b.
mentioned the heroism of Jordan Free
man at Fort Griswold, who DESTROYED
the English Maj. Montgomery.
Gen. Washington's proclamation OF
I'7S to Congress on the matter Of
Colored troops reads as follows:
1t has been represented TO me that
the free Negroes who have served in
this army are very much dissatisfied at
being discarded. As it is to be ap-
pretended that they may seek employ
IN the ministerial army, 1 have presum.
ed to depart from the resolution re.
sPecting them and have given license
Tor their being enlisted. (Vol. 3, PIP.
2lS-2ls, Sparks's Washington.)
Congress on the 10th of January,
l776, decided the whole question sub
mitted by Washington by the passage
of the following act:
That the free Negroes who have
served faithfully in the army at Cam
bridge may be reenlisted therein, but
no others. (vol. 2, p. &c, Journal of
COngress.)
The Colored soldiers took a vital part
in the capture of Maj. Gen. Prescott
at Newport during the Revolutionary
period, while their gallant defense of
their beloved commander, Col. Greene,
when he was surprised and murdered
at Croton River. May Is, 1871, after
the last of his faithful guards had been
shot and cut down, will ever remain
a monument to their valor and patriot
ism. And in the same war, at the
Battle of Rhode Island, a battalion of
400 Colored troops withstoOd three
separate and distinct charges from !, 800
Hessian soldiers led by Count Donop,
beating them back with such tremend-
Gus loss that the count, fearing lest
his men would kill him if he went into
battle with them again for having ex-
posed them to such slaughter, at once
applied for his personal exchange.
The Historian Bancroft tells us that
during the Revolutionary period the
right of free Negroes to bear arms was
little disputed. Bancroft states that
these soldiers took their place not in a
separate corps but in the ranks with
the White soldiers, and our pension rolls
show that their names are still borne
side by side on this roster of fame Of
their country.
Mr.. Chairman, my purpose is to
picture for the House and for the
country an historic parallel. 1 want to
show to the House, to the country, and
to the world by an unmistakable parallel
that if you will place on one side Of
the ledger what these people have ae-
complished as American soldiers and on
the other side Of the ledger the in
human suggestions to segregate and to
discriminate against them by acts of
Congress, that every unbiased man in
this country of ours will at once agree
that such segregation, such diserimina-
tiOns as proposed by bills in the present
Congress, should no longer be attempted.
That these people have won their rights
their civil and political rights-that
it is now time to call a halt and to
unbend little in their favor, especially
in the face of another war. This is the
parallel wish to exhibit.
War Of 1s12-1s14.
In the main the War Of 1912 was
fought upon the water, and the COlored
men in the American Navy stood in the
-atio of about to 6. Commodore Perry,
because of the large number Of Negroes
sent to him, at first made some complaint,
but later on paid high tribute to their
bravery and efficiency. Capt. Shaler,
who had charge Of the armed brig Cen
pral Thompson, speaks thus Of an en-
between his vessel and a
British frigate at the time:
The name Of one of my poor fellows
who was killed ought to be registered
in the book of fame and remembered
as long as bravery is a virtue. He was