tar an unstinted devotion and brilliant
achievement. These take their places fittingly, and we should keep them
in the forefront of our claim for equality of citizenship.

For it is declared that "not the least valuable lesson taught by the war
with Spain is the excellence of the Negro soldiery". In the battle of
San Juan, near Santiago, a Negro regiment is said to have borne the
brunt of the battle. Three companies suffered nearly as seriously, yet
they remained steady under fire without an officer. The war has not
shown greater heroism. In the battle of Guasimas it is said by some of
the "Rough Riders" themselves that it was the brilliant supporting
charge of the Tenth Cavalry that saved them from destruction. George
Rennon writes: "I do not hesitate to call attention to the splendid
behavior of the colored troops." It is the testimony of all who saw them
under fire that they fought with the utmost courage, coolness and
determination; and Colonel Roosevelt said to a squad of them in the
trenches in my presence that he never expected to have and could not ask
to have better men beside him in a hard fight. If soldiers come up to
Colonel Roosevelt's standard of courage, their friends have no reason to
be ashamed of them. His commendation is equivalent to a medal of honor
for conspicuous gallantry, because, in the slang of the camp, he is
himself a fighter "from way back." I can testify, furthermore, from my
own personal observation in the hospital of the Fifth Army Corps,
Saturday and Sunday night, that the colored regulars who were brought in
there displayed extraordinary fortitude and self-control. There were a
great many of them, but I cannot remember to have heard a groan or
complaint from a single man.

General Miles is quoted as favoring an increased number of colored
soldiers in the United States service. He said that "in no instance had
they failed to do their full duty in this war, or in the campaigns in
the West; in short, they were model soldiers in every respect; not only
in courage have they done themselves credit, but in their conduct as
well."

When the Second Volunteer regiment of Immunes (white) became so
disorderly in Santiago that they had to be sent outside to the hills for
better discipline, General Shafter ordered into the city the Eighth
Illinois regiment of colored troops, who had an unsullied name for
sobriety and discipline, and enjoyed the thorough confidence of those in
command. And the fol