such a movement meant to sacrifice those men, without any or much
good resulting, therefore had them recalled. Had the movement been
completed it is probable that not a man would have escaped death or
serious wounds. When the news came that General Toral had decided to
surrender, the 25th Infantry was a thousand yards or more nearer the
city of Santiago than any regiment in the army, having entrenched
themselves along the railroad leading into the city.
The following enlisted men of the 25th Infantry were commissioned
for their bravery at El Caney: First Sergeant Andrew J. Smith, First
Sergeant Macon Russell, First Sergeant Wyatt Huffman and Sergeant
Wm. McBryar. Many more were recommended, but failed to receive
commissions. It is a strange incident that all the above-named men
are native North Carolinians, but First Sergeant Huffman, who is from
Tennessee.
The Negro played a most important part in the Spanish-American war. He
was the first to move from the west; first at Camp Thomas Chickamauga
Park, Ga.; first in the jungle of Cuba; among the first killed in
battle; first in the block-house at El Caney, and nearest to the enemy
when he surrendered.
Frank W. Pullen, Jr.,
_Ex-Sergeant-Major 25th U.S. Infantry_.
Enfield, N.C., March 23, 1899.
BUFFALO TROOPERS, THE NAME BY WHICH NEGRO SOLDIERS ARE KNOWN.
They Comprise Several of the Crack Regiments in Our Army-The Indians
Stand in Abject Terror of them-Their Awful Yells Won a Battle with the
Redskins.
"It is not necessary to revert to the Civil war to prove that American
Negroes are faithful, devoted wearers of uniforms," says a Washington
man, who has seen service in both the army and the navy. "There are at
the present time four regiments of Negro soldiers in the regular army
of the United States-two outfits of cavalry and two of infantry. All
four of these regiments have been under fire in important Indian
campaigns, and there is yet to be recorded a single instance of a man
in any of the four layouts showing the white feather, and the two
cavalry regiments of Negroes have, on several occasions, found
themselves in very serious situations. While the fact is well known
out on the frontier, I don't remember ever having seen it mentioned
back here that an American Indian has a deadly fear of an American
Negro. The most utterly reckless, dare-devil savage of the copper hue
stands literally in awe of a Negro, and the blacker the Negro the more
the Indi
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