as
he rode over the field, and he confessed that the Negro had fully
vindicated his bravery, and wiped from his mind the last vestige of
prejudice and doubt."

FOOTNOTES:

[6] Confession of Nat Turner, Anglo-African Magazine, Vol. 1, p. 338,
1859.

[7] Ibid.

[8] The presentation of this banner by the Moravian Nuns of Bethlehem
forms the text of the poem by Longfellow beginning--

When the dying flame of day
Through the chancel shot its ray,
Far the glimmering tapers shed
Faint light on the cowled head;
And the censer burning swung
Where, before the altar, hung
The crimson banner, that with prayer
Had been consecrated there.
And the nuns' sweet hymn was heard the while,
Sung low in the dint, mysterious aisle,
"Take thy banner! may it wave
Proudly o'er the good and brave;
When the battle's distant wail
Breaks the Sabbath of our vale,
When the cannon's music thrills
To the hearts of those lone hills.
When the spear in conflict shakes,
And the strong lance shivering breaks.

* * * * *

"Take thy banner! and if e'er
Thou should'st press the soldier's bier
And the muffled drum shall beat
To the tread of mournful feet,
Then the crimson flag shall be
Martial cloak and shroud for thee."
The warrior took that banner proud,
And it was his martial cloak and shroud.

CHAPTER III.

THE BLACK REGULARS OF THE ARMY OF INVASION IN THE SPANISH-AMERICAN
WAR.

Organization of Negro Regiments in the Regular Army--First
Move in the War--Chickamauga and Tampa--Note.

Altogether the colored soldiers in the Civil War took part and
sustained casualties in two hundred and fifty-one different
engagements and came out of the prolonged conflict with their
character so well established that up to the present hour they have
been able to hold an important place in the Regular Army of the United
States. No regiment of colored troops in the service was more renowned
at the close of the war or has secured a more advantageous position in
the history of that period than the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts
Regiment of Infantry. Recruited among the free colored people of the
North, many of them coming from Ohio, it was remarkable for the
intelligence and character of its men, and for the high purpose and
noble bearing of its officers. Being granted but