old boy himself were after them, and it was then an easy matter to round them up and disarm them. The chiefs afterward confessed that they were scared out by the awful howling of the black soldiers. "Ever since the war the United States navy has had a fair representation of Negro bluejackets, and they make first-class naval tars. There is not a ship in the navy to-day that hasn't from six to a dozen, anyhow, of Negroes on its muster rolls. The Negro sailors' names very rarely get enrolled on the bad conduct lists. They are obedient, sober men and good seamen. There are many petty officers among them.”—"The Planet." THE CHARGE OF THE "NIGGER NINTH" ON SAN JUAN HILL. BY GEORGE E. POWELL. Hark! O'er the drowsy trooper's dream, It is the word, to wake, to die! The shimmering steel, the glow of morn, Proclaim a day of carnage, born For better or for ill. Above the pictured tentage white, "Forward!" "Forward!" comes the cry, Their goal, the flag of fierce Castile That gives the battle birth! As brawn as black-a fearless foe; The rule of right; the march of might; To work the martial will! And o'er the trench and trembling earth, Hark! sounds again the bugle call! Their's, were bondmen, low, and long; And on, and on, for weal or woe, That pities but to kill. "Close up!" "Close up!" is heard, and said, And yet the rain of steel and lead Still leaves a livid trail of red Upon the San Juan Hill! “Charge!” “Charge!" The bugle peals again; 'Tis life or death for Roosevelt's men! The Mausers make reply! Aye! speechless are those swarthy sons, Their only battle-cry! guns The lowly stain upon each face, The taunt still fresh of prouder race, With rifles hot-to waist-band nude; One breast-and bare,-howe'er begot, No faltering step, no fitful start; Charge on San Juan Hill. The sullen sound of tramp and tread; And where the life stream ebbs and flows, The bated breath-the battle yell- Where every trooper found a wreath And earned the laurels well; The sable soldiers fell! And where the black and brawny breast A dream of freedom still! A groundless creed was swept away, Up the side of San Juan Hill! For black or white, on the scroll of fame, Sleep, trooper, sleep; thy sable brow, Is wound in wreaths of fame! [In the city of New Orleans, in 1866, two thousand two hundred and sixty-six ex-slaves were recruited for the service. None but the largest and blackest Negroes were accepted. From these were formed the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Infantry, and the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry. All four are famous fighting regiments, and the two cavalry commands have earned the proudest distinction. But the record of the Ninth Cavalry, better known as the "Nigger Ninth," in its thirty-two years of service in the Indian wars, in the military history of the border stands without a peer and is, without exception, the most famous fighting regiment in the United States service.] |