s, on scouts and expeditions, in camp
and in battle; on two notable occasions, Negro officers gallantly
fought their commands side by side with white officers, and added
lustre to the military glory of the nation. Upon the re-organization
of the Regular Army at the close of the war the theatre shifted to
our Western frontier, where the Negro soldier continued to display his
ability to command. Finally, in the Spanish War, just closed, the
Negro soldier made the nation again bear witness not alone to his
undaunted bravery, but also to his conspicuous capacity to command.
Out of this abundant and conclusive array of incontestable facts,
frankly, is there anything left to the arbitrary formula that Negroes
cannot command, but a string of ipse dixits hung on a very old, but
still decidedly robust prejudice? There is no escape from the
conclusion that as a matter of fact, with opportunity, Negroes differ
in no wise from other men in capacity to exercise military command.

Undoubtedly substantial progress has been made respecting colored
officers since 1863, when colored soldiers were first admitted in
considerable numbers into the army of the Union. At the period of the
Civil War colored officers for colored soldiers was little more than
thought of; the sole instance comprised the short-lived colored
officers of the three regiments of Louisiana Native Guards, and the
sporadic appointments made near the close of the war, when the
fighting was over.

More than three hundred colored officers served in the volunteer army
in the war with Spain. Two Northern States, Illinois and Kansas, and
one Southern State, North Carolina, put each in the field as part of
its quota a regiment of colored troops officered throughout by colored
men. Ohio and Indiana contributed each a separate battalion of colored
soldiers entirely under colored officers.

In 1863 a regiment of colored troops with colored officers was
practically impossible. In 1898 a regiment of colored volunteers
without some colored officers was almost equally impossible. In 1863
a regiment of colored soldiers commanded by colored officers would
have been a violation of the sentiment of the period and an outrage
upon popular feelings, the appearance of which in almost any Northern
city would hardly fail to provoke an angry and resentful mob. At that
period, even black recruits in uniforms were frequently assaulted in
the streets of Northern cities. We have seen already how S