ht of the men of the Tenth Cavalry with
the Spaniards, it was by no means their first experience under fire.
From the time of the organization of the regiment in 1866 up to within
a year of the war, the men had been engaged frequently in conflicts
with Indians and marauders, often having men killed and wounded in
their ranks. The fights were participated in by small numbers, and the
casualties were not numerous, but there were opportunities for the
acquirement of skill and the display of gallantry. Altogether the men
of the regiment during their experience on the plains engaged in
sixty-two battles and skirmishes. This training had transformed the
older men of the regiment into veterans and enabled them to be cool
and efficient in their first fight in Cuba.

Sergeant Buck, upon whom the command of Troop B chiefly fell after
becoming separated from his Lieutenant in the battle at Guasimas,
joined the regiment in 1880, and had already passed through eighteen
years of the kind of service above described. He was at the time of
the Cuban War in the prime of life, a magnificent horseman, an
experienced scout, and a skilled packer. In 1880, when he joined the
regiment, the troops were almost constantly in motion, marching that
one year nearly seventy-seven thousand miles, his own troop covering
twelve hundred and forty-two miles in one month. This troop with four
others made a ride of sixty-five miles in less than twenty-one hours,
arriving at their destination without the loss of a single horse. In
1893 he was mentioned by the commanding officer of Fort Missoula,
Montana, for highly meritorious service, skill and energy displayed
while in charge of pack train of an expedition across the Bitter Root
Mountains, Idaho, during the most inclement weather, in quest of a
party of gentlemen lost. (Letter of commanding officer, Fort Missoula,
Montana, February 12, 1894.) Sergeant Buck has also won the silver
medal for revolver shooting.

Sergeant James Thompson joined the regiment in 1888, and has passed
the ten years in the one troop, and proved himself at Las Guasimas a
soldier worthy his regiment.

The first battle gave the Tenth a reputation in a new field,
corresponding to that which it had gained in the West, and this was
not allowed to fade during its stay in Cuba. The fame of this first
action spread rapidly through the army and inspired the other
regiments of colored men with a desire to distinguish themselves on
this new