The companies of the Twenty-fourth Infantry are without officers. The
regiment had four captains knocked down within a minute of each other.
Capt. A.C. Ducat was the first officer hit in the action, and was
killed instantly. His second lieutenant, John A. Gurney, a Michigan
man, was struck dead at the same time as the captain, and Lieutenant
Henry G. Lyon was left in command of Company D, but only for a few
minutes, for he, too, went down. Liscum, commanding the regiment, was
killed.

NEGROES FIGHT LIKE TIGERS.

Company F, Twenty-fourth Infantry, lost Lieutenant Augustin, of
Louisiana, killed, and Captain Crane was left without a commissioned
officer. The magnificent courage of the Mississippi, Louisiana,
Arkansas and Texas Negroes, which make up the rank and file of this
regiment, is the admiration of every officer who has written here
since the fight. The regiment has a large proportion of Southern-born
officers, who led their men with more than usual exposure. These men
had always said the Southern Negro would fight as staunchly as any
white man, if he was led by those in whom he had confidence. The
question has often been debated in every mess of the army. San Juan
hill offered the first occasion in which this theory could be tested
practically, and tested it was in a manner and with a result that
makes its believers proud of the men they commanded. It has helped
the morale of the four Negro regiments beyond words. The men of the
Twenty-fourth Infantry, particularly, and their comrades of the Ninth
and Tenth Cavalry as well, are proud of the record they made.

THEY NEVER WAVERED.