History of Negro Soldiers in the Spanish-American War, and Other Items of Interest by Edward A. Johnson
page 76 of 162 (46%)
page 76 of 162 (46%)
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"'Boys, when you hear my whistle, lie flat down on the ground.'" "Whether he ever whistled or not I do not know. The next move we made was when, with a terrific yell, we charged up to the Spanish trenches and bayoneted and clubbed them out of their places in a jiffy. Some of the men of our regiment say that the last command they heard was: 'To the rear!' But this command they utterly disregarded and charged to the front until the day was won, and the Spaniards, those not dead in the trenches, fled back to the city." [Illustration: CUBANS FIGHTING FROM TREE TOPS.] But a colored man, Wm. H. Brown, a member of the Tenth Cavalry, said: "A foreign officer, standing near our position when we started out to make that charge, was heard to say; 'Men, for heaven's sake, don't go up that hill! It will be impossible for human beings to take that position! You can't stand the fire!' Notwithstanding this, with a terrific yell we rushed up the enemy's works, and you know the result. Men who saw him say that when this officer saw us make the charge he turned his back upon us and wept." "And the odd thing about it all is that these wounded heroes never will admit that they did anything out of the common. They will talk all right about those 'other fellows,' but they don't about themselves, and were immensely surprised when such a fuss was made over them on their arrival and since. They simply believed they had a duty to perform and performed it."--Planet. |
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