to say “the courage and conduct of the colored troops and First United States Volunteers seemed always up to the best.”  That these black troopers held no second place in valor is proven by their deeds, and from the testimony of all who observed their conduct, and that they with the other regulars were decidedly superior in skill was recognized by the volunteer Colonel himself.  The Ninth Cavalry, although suffering considerably in that advance on East Hill, involved as it was, more or less, with Roosevelt’s regiment, did not receive so large a share of public notice as its sister regiment.  The strength of the Ninth was but little over one-half that of the Tenth, and its movements were so involved with those of the volunteers as to be somewhat obscured by them; the loss also of its commander just as the first position of the enemy fell into our hands, was a great misfortune to the regiment.  The Ninth, however, was with the first that mounted the heights, and whatever praise is to be bestowed upon the Rough Riders in that assault is to be distributed in equal degree to the men of that regiment.  Being in the leading brigade of the division this regiment had been firing steadily upon the Spanish works before the charge was ordered, and when the movement began the men of the Ninth advanced so rapidly that they were among the first to reach the crest.

The Tenth Regiment, with its Hotchkiss guns, and its trained men, took its place in the line that morning to add if possible further lustre to the distinction already won.  In crossing the flat, in climbing the heights, and in holding the ridge these brave men did all that could be expected of them.  Roosevelt said:  “The colored troops did as well as any soldiers could possibly do,” meaning the colored men of the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry.  To their officers he bestows a meed of praise well deserved, but not on the peculiar ground which he brings forward.  He would have the reader believe that it has required special ability and effort to bring these colored men up to the condition of good soldiers and to induce them to do so well in battle; while the testimony of the officers themselves and the experience of more than a quarter of a century with colored professional troops give no countenance to any such theory.  The voice of experience is that the colored man is specially apt as a soldier, and General Merritt declares him always brave in battle.  The officers commanding colored troops at Santiago honored themselves in their reports of the battles by giving full credit to the men in the ranks, who by their resolute advance and their cool and accurate firing dislodged an intrenched foe and planted the flag of our Union where had floated the ensign of Spain.