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Colonel Theodore B. Roosevelt
This book
includes some historical materials that may imply negative stereotypes
reflecting the culture or language of a particular period or place. These
items are presented as part of the historical record and should not be
interpreted to mean that the WebMasters in any way endorse the stereotypes
implied . Colonel Theodore B. Roosevelt, now
Governor of New York, who led The Rough Riders, tells of the
Bravery of Negro Soldiers. When Colonel
Theodore Roosevelt returned from the command
of the famous Rough Riders, he delivered a
farewell address to his men, in which he
made the following kind reference to the
gallant Negro soldiers: "Now, I want to say just a word more to some
of the men I see standing around not of your
number. I refer to the colored regiments,
who occupied the right and left flanks of us
at Guásimas, the Ninth and Tenth cavalry
regiments. The Spaniards called them 'Smoked
Yankees,' but we found them to be an
excellent breed of Yankees. I am sure that I
speak the sentiments of officers and men in
the assemblage when I say that between you
and the other cavalry regiments there exists
a tie which we trust will never be
broken."--Colored American. The foregoing compliments to the Negro
soldiers by Colonel Roosevelt started up an
avalanche of additional praise for them, out
of which the fact came, that but for the
Ninth and Tenth Cavalry (colored) coming up
at Las Guásimas, destroying the Spanish
block house and driving the Spaniards off,
when Roosevelt and his men had been caught
in a trap, with a barbed-wire fence on one
side and a precipice on the other, not only
the brave Capron and Fish, but the whole of
his command would have been annihilated by
the Spanish sharp-shooters, who were firing
with smokeless powder under cover, and
picking off the Rough Riders one by one, who
could not see the Spaniards. To break the
force of this unfavorable comment on the
Rough Riders, it is claimed that Colonel
Roosevelt made the following criticism of
the colored soldiers in general and of a few
of them in particular, in an article written
by him for the April Scribner; and a letter
replying to the Colonel's strictures,
follows by Sergeant Holliday, who was an
"eye-witness" to the incident:
Colonel Roosevelt's criticism was, in
substance, that colored soldiers were of no
avail without white officers; that when the
white commissioned officers are killed or
disabled, colored non-commissioned officers
could not be depended upon to keep up a
charge already begun; that about a score of
colored infantrymen, who had drifted into
his command, weakened on the hill at San
Juan under the galling Spanish fire, and
started to the rear, stating that they
intended finding their regiments, or to
assist the wounded; whereupon he drew his
revolver and ordered them to return to ranks
and there remain, and that he would shoot
the first man who didn't obey him; and that
after that he had no further trouble. Colonel Roosevelt is sufficiently answered
in the following letter of Sergeant
Holliday, and the point especially made by
many eye-witnesses (white) who were engaged
in that fight is, as related in Chapter V,
of this book, that the Negro troops made the
charges both at San Juan and El Caney after
nearly all their officers had been killed or
wounded. Upon what facts, therefore, does
Colonel Roosevelt base his conclusions that
Negro soldiers will not fight without
commissioned officers, when the only real
test of this question happened around
Santiago and showed just the contrary of
what he states? We prefer to take the
results at El Caney and San Juan as against
Colonel Roosevelt's imagination.
Colonel Roosevelt's Error
True Story of the Incident He Magnified
to Our Hurt, The White Officers' Humbug
Skinned of its Hide by Sergeant Holliday,
Unwritten History.
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To the Editor of the
New York Age: Having
read in The Age of April 13 an
editorial entitled "Our Troops in
Cuba," which brings to my notice for
the first time a statement made by
Colonel Roosevelt, which, though in
some parts true, if read by those
who do not know the exact facts and
circumstances surrounding the case,
will certainly give rise to the
wrong impression of colored men as
soldiers, and hurt them for many a
day to come, and as I was an
eye-witness to the most important
incidents mentioned in that
statement, I deem it a duty I owe,
not only to the fathers, mothers,
sisters and brothers of those
soldiers, and to the soldiers
themselves, but to their posterity
and the race in general, to be
always ready to make an unprejudiced
refutation of such charges, and to
do all in my power to place the
colored soldier where he properly
belongs--among the bravest and most
trustworthy of this land.
In the beginning, I wish to say that
from what I saw of Colonel Roosevelt
in Cuba, and the impression his
frank countenance made upon me, I
cannot believe that he made that
statement maliciously. I believe the
Colonel thought he spoke the exact
truth. But did he know, that of the
four officers connected with two
certain troops of the Tenth Cavalry
one was killed and three were so
seriously wounded as to cause them
to be carried from the field, and
the command of these two troops fell
to the first sergeants, who led them
triumphantly to the front? Does he
know that both at Las Guasima and
San Juan Hill the greater part of
troop B, of the Tenth Cavalry, was
separated from its commanding
officer by accidents of battle and
was led to the front by its first
sergeant?
When we reached the enemy's works on
San Juan Hill our organizations were
very badly mixed, few company
commanders having their whole
companies or none of some body
else's company. As it was, Capt.
Watson, my troop commander, reached
the crest of the hill with about
eight or ten men of his troop, all
the rest having been accidentally
separated from him by the thick
underbrush during the advance, and
being at that time, as was
subsequently shown to be the firing
line under some one else pushing to
the front. We kept up the forward
movement, and finally halted on the
heights overlooking Santiago, where
Colonel Roosevelt, with a very thin
line had preceeded us, and was
holding the hill. Here Captain
Watson told us to remain while he
went to another part of the line to
look for the rest of his troop. He
did not come to that part of the
field again.
The Colonel made a slight error when
he said his mixed command contained
some colored infantry. All the
colored troops in that command were
cavalry men. His command consisted
mostly of Rough Riders, with an
aggregate of about one troop of the
Tenth Cavalry, a few of the Ninth
and a few of the First Regular
Cavalry, with a half dozen officers.
Every few minutes brought men from
the rear, everybody seeming to be
anxious to get to the firing line.
For a while we kept up a desultory
fire, but as we could not locate the
enemy (he all the time keeping up a
hot fire on our position), we became
disgusted, and lay down and kept
silent. Private Marshall was here
seriously wounded while standing in
plain view of the enemy, trying to
point them out to his comrades.
There were frequent calls for men to
carry the wounded to the rear, to go
for ammunition, and as night came
on, to go for rations and
entrenching tools. A few colored
soldiers volunteered, as did some
from the Rough Riders. It then
happened that two men of the Tenth
were ordered to the rear by
Lieutenant Fleming, Tenth Cavalry,
who was then present with part of
his troop, for the purpose of
bringing either rations or
entrenching tools, and Colonel
Roosevelt seeing so many men going
to the rear, shouted to them to come
back, jumped up and drew his
revolver, and told the men of the
Tenth that he would shoot the first
man who attempted to shirk duty by
going to the rear, that he had
orders to hold that line and he
would do so if he had to shoot every
man there to do it. His own men
immediately informed him that "you
won't have to shoot those men,
Colonel. We know those boys." He was
also assured by Lieutenant Fleming,
of the Tenth, that he would have no
trouble keeping them there, and some
of our men shouted, in which I
joined, that "we will stay with you,
Colonel." Everyone who saw the
incident knew the Colonel was
mistaken about our men trying to
shirk duty, but well knew that he
could not admit of any heavy detail
from his command, so no one thought
ill of the matter. Inasmuch as the
Colonel came to the line of the
Tenth the next day and told the men
of his threat to shoot some of their
members and, as he expressed it, he
had seen his mistake and found them
to be far different men from what he
supposed. I thought he was
sufficiently conscious of his error
not to make a so ungrateful
statement about us at a time when
the Nation is about to forget our
past service.
Had the Colonel desired to note the
fact, he would have seen that when
orders came the next day to relieve
the detachment of the Tenth from
that part of the field, he commanded
just as many colored men at that
time as he commanded at any other
time during the twenty-four hours we
were under his command, although
colored as well as white soldiers
were going and coming all day, and
they knew perfectly well where the
Tenth Cavalry was posted, and that
it was on a line about four hundred
yards further from the enemy than
Colonel Roosevelt's line. Still when
they obtained permission to go to
the rear, they almost invariably
came back to the same position. Two
men of my troop were wounded while
at the rear for water and taken to
the hospital and, of course, could
not come back.
Our men always made it a rule to
join the nearest command when
separated from our own, and those
who had been so unfortunate as to
lose their way altogether were, both
colored and white, straggling up
from the time the line was
established until far into the
night, showing their determination
to reach the front.
In explaining the desire of our men
in going back to look for their
comrades, it should be stated that,
from the contour of the ground, the
Rough Riders were so much in advance
of the Tenth Cavalry that, to reach
the latter regiment from the former,
one had really to go straight to the
rear and then turn sharply to the
right; and further, it is a well
known fact, that in this country
most persons of color feel out of
place when they are by force
compelled to mingle with white
persons, especially strangers, and
although we knew we were doing our
duty, and would be treated well as
long as we stood to the front and
fought, unfortunately some of our
men (and these were all recruits
with less than six months' service)
felt so much out of place that when
the firing lulled, often showed
their desire to be with their
commands. None of our older men did
this. We knew perfectly well that we
could give as much assistance there
as anywhere else, and that it was
our duty to remain until relieved.
And we did. White soldiers do not,
as a rule, share this feeling with
colored soldiers. The fact that a
white man knows how well he can make
a place for himself among colored
people need not be discussed here.
I remember an incident of a recruit
of my troop, with less than two
months' service, who had come up to
our position during the evening of
the 1st, having been separated from
the troop during the attack on San
Juan Hill. The next morning, before
the firing began, having seen an
officer of the Tenth, who had been
sent to Colonel Roosevelt with a
message, returning to the regiment,
he signified his intention of going
back with him, saying he could thus
find the regiment. I remonstrated
with him without avail and was only
able to keep him from going by
informing him of the Colonel's
threat of the day before. There was
no desire on the part of this
soldier to shirk duty. He simply
didn't know that he should not leave
any part of the firing line without
orders. Later, while lying in
reserve behind the firing line, I
had to use as much persuasion to
keep him from firing over the heads
of his enemies as I had to keep him
with us. He remained with us until
he was shot in the shoulder and had
to be sent to the rear.
I could give many other incidents of
our men's devotion to duty, of their
determination to stay until the
death, but what's the use? Colonel
Roosevelt has said they shirked, and
the reading public will take the
Colonel at his word and go on
thinking they shirked. His statement
was uncalled for and uncharitable,
and considering the moral and
physical effect the advance of the
Tenth Cavalry had in weakening the
forces opposed to the Colonel's
regiment, both at La Guasima and San
Juan Hill, altogether ungrateful,
and has done us an immeasurable lot
of harm.
And further, as to lack of
qualifications for command, I will
say that when our soldiers, who can
and will write history, sever their
connections with the Regular Army,
and thus release themselves from
their voluntary status of military
lockjaw, and tell what they saw,
those who now preach that the Negro
is not fit to exercise command over
troops, and will go no further than
he is led by white officers, will
see in print held up for public
gaze, much to their chagrin, tales
of those Cuban battles that have
never been told outside the tent and
barrack room, tales that it will not
be agreeable for some of them to
hear. The public will then learn
that not every troop or company of
colored soldiers who took part in
the assaults on San Juan Hill or El
Caney was led or urged forward by
its white officer.
It is unfortunate that we had no
colored officers in that campaign,
and this thing of white officers for
colored troops is exasperating, and
I join with The Age in saying our
motto for the future must be: "No
officers, no soldiers." Presley
Holliday
Sergeant Troop B, Tenth Cavalry.
Fort Ringgold, Texas, April 22,
1899. |
Jacob A.
Riis in The Outlook gives the
following interesting reading concerning the
colored troopers in an article entitled
"Roosevelt and His Men": "It
was one of the unexpected things in this
campaign that seems destined to set so many
things right that out of it should come the
appreciation of the colored soldier as man
and brother by those even who so lately
fought to keep him a chattel. It fell to the
lot of General 'Joe' Wheeler, the old
Confederate warrior, to command the two
regiments of colored troops, the Ninth and
Tenth Cavalry, and no one will bear readier
testimony than he to the splendid record
they made. Of their patience under the
manifold hardships of roughing it in the
tropics, their helpfulness in the camp and
their prowess in battle, their uncomplaining
suffering when lying wounded and helpless.
Stories enough are told to win for them
fairly the real brotherhood with their
white-skinned fellows which they crave. The
most touching of the many I heard was that
of a Negro trooper, who, struck by a bullet
that cut an artery in his neck, was lying
helpless, in danger of bleeding to death,
when a Rough Rider came to his assistance.
There was only one thing to be done--to stop
the bleeding till a surgeon came. A
tourniquet could not be applied where the
wound was. The Rough Rider put his thumb on
the artery and held it there while he
waited. The fighting drifted away over the
hill. He followed his comrades with longing
eyes till the last was lost to sight. His
place was there, but if he abandoned the
wounded cavalryman it was to let him die. He
dropped his gun and stayed. Not until the
battle was won did the surgeon come that
way, but the trooper's life was saved. He
told of it in the hospital with tears in his
voice: 'He done that to me, he did; stayed
by me an hour and a half, and me only a
nigger.'"
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General Nelson
A. Miles,
Pays a Tribute to the Negro Soldiers
Major-General Nelson A. Miles,
Commander-in-Chief of the army of
the United States spoke at the Peace
Jubilee at Chicago, October 11th,
and said:
"While the chivalry of the South and
the yeomanry of the North vied with
their devotion to the cause of their
country and in their pride in its
flag which floated over all, it's a
glorious fact that patriotism was
not confined to any one section or
race for the sacrifice, bravery and
fortitude. The white race was
accompanied by the gallantry of the
black as they swept over intrenched
lines and later volunteered to
succor the sick, nurse the dying and
bury the dead in the hospitals and
the Cuban camps."
"This was grandly spoken, and we
feel gratified at this recognition
of the valor of one of the best
races of people the world has ever
seen." |
"We are
coming, boys; it's a little slow and
tiresome, but we are
coming."--Colored American.
At a social reunion of the Medal of
Honor Legion held a few evenings
since to welcome home two of their
members, General Nelson A. Miles,
commanding the army of the United
States, and Colonel M. Emmett Urell,
of the First District Columbia
Volunteers, in the course of his
remarks, General Miles paid the
finest possible tribute to the
splendid heroism and soldierly
qualities evidenced by the men of
the 9th and 10th Cavalry, and 24th
and 25th United States Infantry in
the late Santiago campaign, which he
epitomized as "without a parallel in
the history of the world."
At the close of his remarks, Major
C.A. Fleetwood, the only
representative of the race present,
in behalf of the race extended their
heartfelt and warmest thanks for
such a magnificent tribute from such
a magnificent soldier and
man.--Colored American. |
Cleveland Moffitt, In
Leslie's Weekly, Describes the Heroism of a
"Black Color Bearer"
"Having praised our war leaders
sufficiently, in some cases more than
sufficiently (witness Hobson), let us give
honor to some of the humbler ones, who
fought obscurely, but did fine things
nevertheless."
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Sergeant
Berry, The
first soldier who reached the Block
House on San Juan Hill and hoisted
the American flag in a hail of
Spanish bullets.
"There was Sergeant Berry, for
instance, of the Tenth Cavalry, who
might have boasted his meed of
kisses, too, had he been a white
man. At any rate, he rescued the
colors of a white regiment from
unseemly trampling and bore them
safely through the bullets to the
top of San Juan hill. Now, every one
knows that the standard of a troop
is guarded like a man's own soul, or
should be, and how it came that this
Third Cavalry banner was lying on
the ground that day is something
that may never be rightly known.
Some white man had left it there,
many white men had let it stay
there, but Berry, a black man, saw
it fluttering in shame and paused in
his running long enough to catch it
up and lift it high overhead beside
his own banner--for he was a
color-bearer of the Tenth."
"Then, with two flags flying above
him, and two heavy staves to bear,
this powerful negro (he is literally
a giant in strength and stature)
charged the heights, while white men
and black men cheered him as they
pressed behind. Who shall say what
temporary demoralization there may
have been in this troop of the Third
at that critical moment, or what
fresh courage may have been fired in
them by that black man's act! They
say Berry yelled like a demon as he
rushed against the Spaniards, and I,
for one, am willing to believe that
his battle-cry brought fighting
energy to his own side as well as
terror to the enemy." |
"After
the fight one of the officers of the
Third Cavalry sought Berry out and
asked him to give back the trophy
fairly won by him, and his to keep,
according to the usages of war. And
the big Negro handed back the banner
with a smile and light word. He had
saved the colors and rallied the
troop, but it didn't matter much.
They could have the flag if they
wanted it."
"There are some hundreds of little
things like this that we might as
well bear in mind, we white men, the
next time we start out to decry the
Negro!" |
President
McKinley recognizes
the worth of Negro Soldiers by Promotion
Washington, July 30.--Six colored
non-commissioned officers who rendered
particularly gallant service in the actions
around Santiago on July 1st and 2d have been
appointed second lieutenants in the two
colored immune regiments recently organized
under special act of Congress. These men
are: Sergeants William Washington,
Troop F, and John C. Proctor, Troop
I, of the 9th Cavalry, and Sergeants
William McBryar, Company H; Wyatt
Hoffman, Company G; Macon Russell,
Company H, and Andrew J. Smith,
Company B, of the 25th Infantry, commanded
by Colonel Daggett. Jacob C. Smith,
Sergeant Pendergrass, Lieutenant
Ray, Sergeant Horace W. Bivins,
Lieutenant E.L. Baker, Lieutenant
J.H. Hill, Lieutenant Buck.--N.Y.
World. These promotions
were made into the volunteer regiments,
which were mustered out after the war, thus
leaving the men promoted in the same rank
they were before promotion if they chose to
re-enlist in the regular army. They got no
permanent advancement by this act of the
President, but the future may develop better
things for them.
Competent to be
Officers, The verdict of General Thomas J.
Morgan, after a study of the Negro's
quality as a soldier
General Thomas J. Morgan belongs to that
class of Caucasian observers who are able to
think clearly upon the Negro problem in all
of its phases, and who have not only the
breadth of intelligence to form just and
generous opinions, but who possess that
rarer quality, the courage to give them out
openly to the country. General Morgan
contributes the following article to the New
York Independent, analyzing the motives
which underlie the color line in the army.
He has had wide experience in military
affairs, and his close contact with Negro
soldiers during the civil war entitles him
to speak with authority. General Morgan
says:
| "The question of the color line
has assumed an acute stage, and has
called forth a good deal of feeling.
The various Negro papers in the
country are very generally insisting
that if the Negro soldiers are to be
enlisted, Negro officers should be
appointed to command them. One
zealous paper is clamoring for the
appointment, immediately, by the
President, of a Negro Major-General.
The readers of The Independent know
very well that during the civil war
there were enlisted in the United
States army 200,000 Negro soldiers
under white officers, the highest
position assigned to a black man
being that of first sergeant, or of
regimental sergeant-major. The
Negroes were allowed to wear
chevrons, but not shoulder straps or
epaulets. Although four Negro
regiments have been incorporated in
the regular army, and have rendered
exceptionally effective service on
the plains and elsewhere for a whole
generation, there are to-day no
Negro officers in the service. A
number of young men have been
appointed as cadets at West Point,
but the life has not been by any
means an easy one. The only caste or
class with caste distinctions that
exists in the republic is found in
the army; army officers are, par
excellence, the aristocrats; nowhere
is class feeling so much cultivated
as among them; nowhere is it so
difficult to break down the
established lines. Singularly
enough, though entrance to West
Point is made very broad, and a
large number of those who go there
to be educated at the expense of the
Government have no social position
to begin with, and no claims to
special merit, and yet, after having
been educated at the public expense,
and appointed to life positions,
they seem to cherish the feeling
that they are a select few, entitled
to special consideration, and that
they are called upon to guard their
class against any insidious
invasions. Of course there are
honorable exceptions. There are many
who have been educated at West Point
who are broad in their sympathies,
democratic in their ideas, and
responsive to every appeal of
philanthropy and humanity; but the
spirit of West Point has been
opposed to the admission of Negroes
into the ranks of commissioned
officers, and the opposition to the
commissioning of black men emanating
from the army will go very far
toward the defeat of any project of
that kind." "To make the question
of the admission of Negroes into the
higher ranks of commissioned
officers more difficult is the fact
that the organization of Negro
troops under the call of the
President for volunteers to carry on
the war with Spain, has been left
chiefly to the Governors of states.
Very naturally the strong public
sentiment against the Negro, which
obtains almost universally in the
South, has thus far prevented the
recognition of his right to be
treated precisely as the white man
is treated. It would be, indeed,
almost revolutionary for any
Southern Governor to commission a
Negro as a colonel of a regiment, or
even a captain of a company. (Since
this was written two Negro colonels
have been appointed--in the Third
North Carolina and Eighth Illinois.)
Even where there are exceptions to
this rule, they are notable
exceptions. Everywhere through the
South Negro volunteers are made to
feel that they are not upon the same
plane as white volunteers."
"In a recent conversation with
the Adjutant General of the army, I
was assured by him that in the
organization of the ten regiments of
immunes which Congress has
authorized, the President had
decided that five of them should be
composed of Negroes, and that while
the field and staff officers and
captains are to be white, the
lieutenants may be Negroes. If this
is done it will mark a distinct step
in advance of any taken hitherto. It
will recognize partially, at least,
the manhood of the Negro, and break
down that unnatural bar of
separation now existing. If a Negro
is a lieutenant, he will command his
company in the absence of the
captain. He can wear epaulets, and
be entitled to all the rights and
privileges 'of an officer and a
gentleman;' he is no longer doomed
to inferiority. In case of battle,
where bullets have no respect of
persons, and do not draw the line at
color, it may easily happen that a
regiment or battalion will do its
best work in the face of the enemy
under the command of a Negro chief.
Thus far the Government has been
swift to recognize heroism and
efficiency, whether performed by
Commodore Dewey at Manila or
Lieutenant Hobson at Santiago, and
it can hardly be otherwise than that
it will be ready to recognize
exceptional prowess and skill when
performed by a Negro officer."
"All, perhaps, which the Negroes
themselves, or their friends, have a
right to ask in their behalf is,
that they shall have a chance to
show the stuff they are made of. The
immortal Lincoln gave them this
chance when he admitted them to wear
the blue and carry a musket; and
right manfully did they justify his
confidence. There was not better
fighting done during the civil war
than was done by some of the Negro
troops. With my experience, in
command of 5,000 Negro soldiers, I
would, on the whole, prefer, I
think, the command of a corps of
Negro troops to that of a corps of
white troops. With the magnificent
record of their fighting qualities
on many a hard-contested field, it
is not unreasonable to ask that a
still further opportunity shall be
extended to them in commissioning
them as officers, as well as
enlisting them as soldiers."
"Naturally and necessarily the
question of fitness for official
responsibility is the prime test and
ought to be applied, and if Negroes
cannot be found of sufficient
intelligence or preparation for the
duties incumbent on army officers,
nobody should object to the places
being given to qualified white men.
But so long as we draw no race line
of distinction as against Germans or
Irishmen, and institute no test of
religion, politics or culture, we
ought not to erect an artificial
barrier of color. If the Negroes are
competent they should be
commissioned. If they are
incompetent they should not be
trusted with the grave
responsibilities attached to
official position. I believe they
are competent." |
History of Negro Soldiers
in the Spanish-American War, and other items
of Interest, 1899
History of the Negro Soldier in the Spanish
American War Genealogy | African
American Genealogy
|
History of the Negro Soldier in the Spanish
American War
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