p or
company of colored soldiers who took part in the assaults on San Juan
Hill or El Caney was led or urged forward by its white officer.

It is unfortunate that we had no colored officers in that campaign,
and this thing of white officers for colored troops is exasperating,
and I join with _The Age_ in saying our motto for the future must be:
"No officers, no soldiers."

PRESLEY HOLLIDAY,

Sergeant Troop B, Tenth Cavalry.

Fort Ringgold, Texas, April 22, 1899.

* * * * *

JACOB A. RIIS in _The Outlook_ gives the following interesting reading
concerning the colored troopers in an article entitled "Roosevelt and
His Men":

[Illustration: GENERAL NELSON A. MILES.]

"It was one of the unexpected things in this campaign that seems
destined to set so many things right that out of it should come the
appreciation of the colored soldier as man and brother by those even
who so lately fought to keep him a chattel. It fell to the lot of
General 'Joe' Wheeler, the old Confederate warrior, to command the two
regiments of colored troops, the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry, and no one
will bear readier testimony than he to the splendid record they made.
Of their patience under the manifold hardships of roughing it in the
tropics, their helpfulness in the camp and their prowess in battle,
their uncomplaining suffering when lying wounded and helpless. Stories
enough are told to win for them fairly the real brotherhood with their
white-skinned fellows which they crave. The most touching of the many
I heard was that of a Negro trooper, who, struck by a bullet that cut
an artery in his neck, was lying helpless, in danger of bleeding to
death, when a Rough Rider came to his assistance. There was only
one thing to be done--to stop the bleeding till a surgeon came. A
tourniquet could not be applied where the wound was. The Rough Rider
put his thumb on the artery and held it there while he waited. The
fighting drifted away over the hill. He followed his comrades with
longing eyes till the last was lost to sight. His place was there,
but if he abandoned the wounded cavalryman it was to let him die.
He dropped his gun and stayed. Not until the battle was won did the
surgeon come that way, but the trooper's life was saved. He told of it
in the hospital with tears in his voice: 'He done that to me, he did;
stayed by me an hour and a half, and me only a nigger.'"

* * * * *

GENE