Part 20 (1/2)

Sergeant:--When making my report as commander of the Second Squadron, 10th U. S. Cavalry, for action of July 1, 1898, at San Juan Hills, I did not mention any enlisted men by name, as I was absent from the regiment at the time of making the report and without access to records, so that I could not positively identify and name certain men who were conspicuous during the fight; but I recollect finding a detachment of Troop D under your command on the firing line during the afternoon of July 1st. Your service and that of your men at that time was most creditable, and you deserve special credit for having brought your detachment promptly to the firing line when left without a commissioned officer.

THEO. J. WINT, Lieutenant-Colonel, 6th U.S. Cavalry.

Second Lieutenant, 10th Cavalry.

True copy:

[24] Extract from _The Statesman_, Denver, after the departure of the 25th Infantry, and the arrival of the 34th:

Two policemen killed, the murderer at large and his comrades of the 34th Regiment busy boasting of their sympathy for him, and extolling his deed to the skies, yet not a single pet.i.tion has been prepared to have the regiment removed. The 25th Infantry, with its honor undimmed by any such wanton crime, with a record unexcelled by any regiment in the service, was the target for all sorts of criticism and persecution as soon as it arrived. The one is a white regiment, composed of the sc.u.m of the earth, the other a black regiment composed of men who have yet to do one thing of which they should be ashamed. Yet Denver welcomes the one with open arms and salutes with marked favor, while she barely suffered the other to remain.

Had it been a negro soldier who committed the dastardly deed of Sat.u.r.day night the War Department would have been deluged with complaints and requests for removal, but not a word has been said against the 34th. Prejudice and hatred blacker than the wings of night has so envenomed the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of the people that fairness is out of the question. Be he black, no matter how n.o.ble and good, a man must be despised. Be he white, he may commit the foulest of crimes and yet have his crimes condoned.

CHAPTER XI.

The Colored Volunteers.

The Ninth Ohio Battalion--Eighth Illinois--Twenty-third Kansas-Third North Carolina--Sixth Virginia--Third Alabama--The Immunes.

The return of the army and the repatriation of the Spanish army from Cuba, brought before the country for immediate solution the problem of garrisoning that island; and in a very short time the question of similar nature regarding Porto Rico. Ten regiments of immunes had been organized in the volunteer service partly in antic.i.p.ation of such a situation. Four of these regiments were composed of colored enlisted men. The regiments were cla.s.sed as United States Volunteer Infantry, and were numbered from one to ten, the Seventh, Eighth, Ninth and Tenth being colored.

Of these four colored regiments the officers above first lieutenants were white men, except the chaplains, and in some cases the surgeons.

Very little care had been taken in enlisting the men, as it was important to get the regiments in the field as soon as possible; yet of them as a whole General Breckinridge, Inspector-General, speaks as follows: ”The colored regiments of immunes, so called, raised for this war, have turned out, so far as can be judged from their camp life (as none of them have been in any actual campaign), very satisfactory. The regular colored regiments won golden opinions in battle. The experiment of having so many colored officers has not yet shown its full results. Certainly we should have the best obtainable officers for our volunteers, and therefore some such men as Colonel Young, who is a graduate of the Military Academy at West Point, whether white or black, must be sought for.”

Besides these four colored regiments of immunes, so-called, there were other State organizations composed entirely of colored men, mustered into the United States service, as for example the Ninth Battalion of the Ohio National Guard. This organization was composed of four companies, with colored captains and lieutenants, the staff officers also being colored, the commanding officer of the battalion being Major Young, who was a first lieutenant in the Regular Army, a graduate from the Military Academy, and an officer of experience. He is the person referred to as _Colonel_ Young by General Breckinridge, cited just above. This battalion, although not permitted to do any active campaigning, maintained itself well in that most trying of all duties for raw troops--camp duty--winning a good record in the South as well as in the North, having been stationed in Virginia, Pennsylvania and lastly in South Carolina; from which latter place it was mustered out, and the men proceeded to their homes in an orderly manner, reflecting credit upon themselves and the officers under whom they had served. This organization is mentioned first, because it was the only one of its kind commanded by a Regular Army officer, and a man who had received scientific military training.[25]

Two of these volunteer regiments, the Eighth Illinois and the Twenty-third Kansas, reached Cuba and made history there, in garrison service, coming in direct contact with the Ninth Immunes, and in no sense suffering in comparison thereto. The Eighth Illinois being the first to go to the front, in a sense deserves to be noticed here first. This remarkable regiment was developed out of the Ninth Battalion, Illinois National Guard, and owes its origin to the persistent efforts of Messrs. John R. Marshall, Robert R. Jackson, Franklin Dennison, E.H. Wright, Rev. R.C. Ransom, Rev. J.W. Thomas, S.B. Turner and doubtless many others whose names do not appear. These gentlemen named called upon the Governor of their State the next day after the President had issued his call for 175,000 volunteers, and received from that official the a.s.surance that if another call should be made they should have the opportunity to recruit their battalion to a regiment, and that he would ”call that regiment first into the service,” and ”that every officer in that regiment will be a colored man.”

After receiving this encouragement, the leaders began at once the work of organizing and recruiting, and when the second call came, May 25th, the regiment was well under way, and soon ready to go into camp to prepare for service. On June 30th it a.s.sembled in Springfield from the following places: Seven hundred men from Chicago; one hundred and twenty from Cairo; a full company from Quincy, and smaller numbers from Mound City, Metropolis and Litchfield, and nearly a company from Springfield. The regiment was sworn in during the latter half of July, the muster roll showing 1,195 men and 46 officers, every one of whom was of African descent except one private in a Chicago company.

Of these forty-six officers, ten had received college education, six were lawyers, and the others were educated in the public schools, or had served in the Regular Army as non-commissioned officers. Many of them were directly from Illinois, that is in the sense of having been born and reared in the State, and were fully accustomed to the full exercise of their rights as men and citizens. In character and intelligence the official element of the Eighth was about up to the standard of the volunteer army, as events subsequently proved.

Going into camp with the Ninth, white, this latter regiment, early in August, received an order to move to a Southern camp en route for Cuba, leaving the Eighth behind, greatly to the chagrin of both officers and men. Governor Tanner was evidently disturbed by this move, and expressed himself in the following language: ”Even from the very doors of the White House have I received letters asking and advising me not to officer this regiment with colored men, but I promised to do so, and I have done it. I shall never rest until I see this regiment--my regiment--on the soil of Cuba, battling for the right and for its kinsmen.”

Later the misfortunes of the First Illinois proved the opportunity of the Eighth. This regiment was in Cuba, suffering terribly with the fever, the men going down under its effects so rapidly that the Colonel in command implored Governor Tanner ”to use all influence at Was.h.i.+ngton to secure the immediate recall of the First Illinois.” When the Governor received this message he sent for Colonel Marshall, of the Eighth, and asked him to ascertain the sentiments of the officers and men of his regiment in regard to being sent to relieve the First.

On the 4th day of August Colonel Marshall was able to send to Was.h.i.+ngton the following dispatch:

”H. C. Corbin, Adjutant-General:--

”I called the officers of the Eighth Illinois, colored, in conference and they are unanimously and enthusiastically in favor of being sent to relieve the First Illinois at Santiago.”

To this hearty dispatch came the following reply:

”The Secretary of War appreciates very much the offer of the Eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry for duty in Santiago, and has directed that the regiment be sent there by steamer Yale, leaving New York next Tuesday. The main trouble with our troops now in Cuba is that they are suffering from exhaustion and exposure incident to one of the most trying campaigns to which soldiers have ever been subjected.”

”H.C. Corbin, ”_Adjutant-General_.”

This action on the part of the regiment is said to have so pleased the President that on hearing it he declared it was the proudest moment of his life.