if as good, as
that on the other sides."

The cavalry regiments were no less conspicuous in their gallantry at
San Juan than was the Twenty-fifth Infantry at El Caney. The
brilliancy of that remarkable regiment, the Rough Riders, commanded on
July 1st by Colonel Roosevelt, was so dazzling that it drew attention
away from the ordinary regulars, yet the five regiments of regular
cavalry did their duty as thoroughly on that day as did the regiment
of volunteers.[22] In this body of cavalry troops, where courage was
elevated to a degree infringing upon the romantic, the two black
regiments took their places, and were fit to be associated in valor
with that highly representative regiment. The Inspector-General turns
aside from mere routine in his report long enough to say "the courage
and conduct of the colored troops and First United States Volunteers
seemed always up to the best." That these black troopers held no
second place in valor is proven by their deeds, and from the testimony
of all who observed their conduct, and that they with the other
regulars were decidedly superior in skill was recognized by the
volunteer Colonel himself. The Ninth Cavalry, although suffering
considerably in that advance on East Hill, involved as it was, more or
less, with Roosevelt's regiment, did not receive so large a share of
public notice as its sister regiment. The strength of the Ninth was
but little over one-half that of the Tenth, and its movements were so
involved with those of the volunteers as to be somewhat obscured by
them; the loss also of its commander just as the first position of the
enemy fell into our hands, was a great misfortune to the regiment. The
Ninth, however, was with the first that mounted the heights, and
whatever praise is to be bestowed upon the Rough Riders in that
assault is to be distributed in equal degree to the men of that
regiment. Being in the leading brigade of the division this regiment
had been firing steadily upon the Spanish works before the charge was
ordered, and when the movement began the men of the Ninth advanced so
rapidly that they were among the first to reach the crest.

The Tenth Regiment, with its Hotchkiss guns, and its trained men, took
its place in the line that morning to add if possible further lustre
to the distinction already won. In crossing the flat, in climbing the
heights, and in holding the ridge these brave men did all that could
be expected of them. Roosevelt said: "The c