rs fell
With wounds that never heal!

Where every trooper found a wreath
Of glory for his sabre sheath;
And earned the laurels well;
With feet to field and face to foe,
In lines of battle lying low,
The sable soldiers fell!

And where the black and brawny breast
Gave up its all--life's richest, best,
To find the tomb's eternal rest
A dream of freedom still!
A groundless creed was swept away,
With brand of "coward "--a time-worn say--
And he blazed the path a better way
Up the side of San Juan Hill!
For black or white, on the scroll of fame,
The blood of the hero dyes the same;
And ever, ever will!

Sleep, trooper, sleep; thy sable brow,
Amid the living laurel now,
Is wound in wreaths of fame!
Nor need the graven granite stone,
To tell of garlands all thine own--
To hold a soldier's name!

[In the city of New Orleans, in 1866, two thousand two hundred and
sixty-six ex-slaves were recruited for the service. None but the
largest and blackest Negroes were accepted. From these were formed
the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Infantry, and the Ninth and Tenth
Cavalry. All four are famous fighting regiments, yet the two cavalry
commands have earned the proudest distinction. While the record of the
Ninth Cavalry, better known as the "Nigger Ninth," in its thirty-two
years of service in the Indian wars, in the military history of the
border, stands without a peer; and is, without exception, the most
famous fighting regiment in the United States service.]--Author.

[Illustration: COLONEL THEODORE B. ROOSEVELT.]

CHAPTER IV.

COLONEL THEODORE B. ROOSEVELT, NOW GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK, WHO LED THE
ROUGH RIDERS, TELLS OF THE BRAVERY OF NEGRO SOLDIERS.

When Colonel Theodore Roosevelt returned from the command of the
famous Rough Riders, he delivered a farewell address to his men,
in which he made the following kind reference to the gallant Negro
soldiers:

"Now, I want to say just a word more to some of the men I see standing
around not of your number. I refer to the colored regiments, who
occupied the right and left flanks of us at Guasimas, the Ninth and
Tenth cavalry regiments. The Spaniards called them 'Smoked Yankees,'
but we found them to be an excellent breed of Yankees. I am sure that
I speak the sentiments of officers and men in the assemblage when I
say that between you and the other cavalry regiments there exists a
tie which we trust