A groundless creed was swept away,
With brand of "coward "--a time-worn say--
And he blazed the path a better way
Up the side of San Juan Hill!
For black or white, on the scroll of fame,
The blood of the hero dyes the same;
And ever, ever will!

Sleep, trooper, sleep; thy sable brow,
Amid the living laurel now,
Is wound in wreaths of fame!
Nor need the graven granite stone,
To tell of garlands all thine own--
To hold a soldier's name!

[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, yet the two cavalry
commands have earned the proudest distinction. While 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.]--Author.

[Illustration: COLONEL THEODORE B. ROOSEVELT.]