classed among the heroes of Santiago than some whose opportunities of brilliant display were vastly superior, succumbed to the disease.  The fact should be borne in mind that all of these men, officers, soldiers and surgeons, went upon this pest-house duty after the severe labors of assault of July 1-2, and the two weeks of terrible strain and exposure in the trenches before Santiago, and with the sick and wounded consequent upon these battles and labors—­none were strong.

On July 16th, the day after the Twenty-fourth left the trenches, the surrender was made and on the next morning the final ceremonies of turning over Santiago to the American forces took place, and the soldiers were allowed to come out of their ditches and enter into more comfortable camps.  The hardships of the period after the surrender were not much less than those experienced while in the lines.

On the 26th of August the Twenty-fourth Infantry, having obtained an honorable release from its perilous duty, marched out of Siboney with band playing and colors flying to go on board the transport for Montauk; but of the 456 men who marched into Siboney, only 198 were able to march out, directed by 9 out of the 15 officers that marched in with them.  Altogether there were 11 officers and 289 men who went on board the transport, but all except the number first given were unable to take their places in the ranks.  They went on board the steamer Nueces, and coming from an infected camp, no doubt great care was taken that the transport should arrive at its destination in a good condition.  Although there was sickness on board, there were no deaths on the passage, and the Nueces arrived in port “one of the cleanest ships that came to that place.”  The official report states that the Nueces arrived at Montauk Point September 2, with 385 troops on board; 28 sick, no deaths on the voyage, and not infected.  Worn out by the hard service the regiment remained a short time at Montauk and then returned to its former station, Fort Douglass, Utah, leaving its camp at Montauk in such a thoroughly creditable condition as to elicit official remark.

While the Twenty-fourth Infantry had without doubt the hardest service, after the surrender, of any of the colored regiments, the others were not slumbering at ease.  Lying in the trenches almost constantly for two weeks, drenched with rains, scorched by the burning sun at times, and chilled by cool nights, subsisting on food not of the best and poorly cooked, cut off from news and kept in suspense, when the surrender finally came it found our army generally very greatly reduced in vital force.  During the period following, from July 16th to about the same date in August the re-action fell with all its weight upon the troops, rendering them an easy prey to the climatic influences by which they were surrounded.[20] Pernicious malarial fever, bowel troubles and yellow fever were appearing in all the regiments; and the colored troops appeared