“They were soldiers who wore their uniforms with a smartened pride; who were jaunty and alert and prompt in their movements; and who expressed as some did vocally in my hearing, and all did by their attitude, a sincere heartfelt inclination to get a whack at the foe with the shortest possible delay.”

Continuing, Mr. Cobb uttered a sentiment that is sure to awaken a glow in the hearts of all sympathizers and friends of the Negro race.  “I am of the opinion personally,” he said, “and I make the assertion with all the better grace, I think, seeing that I am a Southerner with all the Southerner’s inherited and acquired prejudices touching on the race question—­that as a result of what our black soldiers are going to do in this war, a word that has been uttered billions of times in our country, sometimes in derision, sometimes in hate, sometimes in all kindliness—­but which I am sure never fell on black ears but it left behind a sting for the heart—­is going to have a new meaning for all of us, South and North too, and that hereafter n-i-g-g-e-r will merely be another way of spelling the word American.”

Many a man in the four regiments comprising the 93rd division when he heard about the exploit of May 15th, oiled his rifle, sharpened his bayonet and whetted his trench knife, resolved to go Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts one better if the opportunity came to him.  It did come to many of them in the days that followed and although none got a chance to distinguish himself in equal degree with the redoubtable Johnson, it was because the Boche had become too wary.  They had cultivated a healthy respect for the colored men and called them “blutlustige schwartze manner,” meaning “blood-thirsty black men.”  Another nickname they had was “Hell Fighters.”

When the 93rd division was brigaded with the French on the Aisne, at least two of the component regiments were under a French general having in his command several thousand Moroccan Negroes.  He placed them on the other side of the river fearing they would quarrel over religious differences.  However, it was impossible to keep them from fraternizing.  There were no religious disputes, nor is it of record that the Americans attempted to convert the Mohammedans.  But they did initiate their turbaned comrades into the mysteries of a certain American game and it is said that the disciples of Allah experienced considerable hard luck.

Most of the 93rd division was under fire from the early days of May, 1918, until the close of the war.  The 369th, which left New York with 56 officers and 2,000 men, returned with only 20 officers and 1,200 men of the original organization.  A few had been transferred to casual companies and other commands, but many will never come back; their bodies being part of the soil of France—­killed in action, died of wounds or disease.

The tale of the 93rd is full of deeds of valor, laughter in the face of death, of fearful carnage wrecked upon the foe, of childlike pride in the homage their Allies paid them, and now and then an incident replete with the bubbling Negro humor that is the same whether it finds its outlet on the cotton-fields of Dixie or the battlefields of France.