ch to it, excepting that next morning the Americans
found four German bodies with plentiful indications that at least
thirty-two others had been put on the casualty list and several of the
German dead probably had been dragged back by their comrades.
Thirty-eight bombs were found, besides rifles, bayonets and revolvers.

It was Irvin Cobb, the southern story writer, who first gave to the
world a brief account of the exploit of Johnson and Roberts in the
Saturday Evening Post during the summer of 1918. He commented as
follows:

"If ever proof were needed, which it is not, that the color of a
man's skin has nothing to do with the color of his soul, this twain
then and there offered it in abundance."

Mr. Cobb in the same article paid many tributes to the men of the 369th
and 371st serving at that time in that sector. Among other things he
said:

"They were soldiers who wore their uniforms with a smartened pride;
who were jaunty and alert and prompt in their movements; and who
expressed as some did vocally in my hearing, and all did by their
attitude, a sincere heartfelt inclination to get a whack at the foe
with the shortest possible delay."

Continuing, Mr. Cobb uttered a sentiment that is sure to awaken a glow
in the hearts of all sympathizers and friends of the Negro race. "I am
of the opinion personally," he said, "and I make the assertion with all
the better grace, I think, seeing that I am a Southerner with all the
Southerner's inherited and acquired prejudices touching on the race
question--that as a result of what our black soldiers are going to do in
this war, a word that has been uttered billions of times in our country,
sometimes in derision, sometimes in hate, sometimes in all
kindliness--but which I am sure never fell on black ears but it left
behind a sting for the heart--is going to have a new meaning for all of
us, South and North too, and that hereafter n-i-g-g-e-r will merely be
another way of spelling the word American."

Many a man in the four regiments comprising the 93rd division when he
heard about the exploit of May 15th, oiled his rifle, sharpened his
bayonet and whetted his trench knife, resolved to go Henry Johnson and
Needham Roberts one better if the opportunity came to him. It did come
to many of them in the days that followed and although none got a
chance to distinguish himself in equal degree with the redoubtable
Johnson, it was because the Bo