In another group a trooper from an Illinois regiment was explaining
the character of the country and the effect of the daily rains upon
the troops. Said he:

"Very few colored troops are sick. They stood the climate better and
even thrived on the severity of army life."

Said he: "I never had much use for a 'nigger' and didn't want him
in the fight. He is all right, though. He makes a good soldier and
deserves great credit."

Another comrade near by related the story as told by a cavalry
lieutenant, who with a party reconnoitered a distance from camp. The
thick growth of grass and vines made ambuscading a favorite pastime
with the Spaniards. With smokeless powder they lay concealed in the
grass. As the party rode along the sharp eye of a colored cavalryman
noticed the movement of grass ahead. Leaning over his horse with sword
in hand he plucked up an enemy whose gun was levelled at the officer.
The Spaniard was killed by the Negro who himself fell dead, shot by
another. He had saved the life of his lieutenant and lost his own.

A comrade of the Seventeenth Infantry gave his testimony. Said he:

"I shall never forget the 1st of July. At one time in the engagement
of that day the Twenty-first Infantry had faced a superior force of
Spaniards and were almost completely surrounded. The Twenty-fourth
Infantry, of colored troops, seeing the perilous position of the
Twenty-first, rushed to the rescue, charged and routed the enemy,
thereby saving the ill-fated regiment."