and executed the duties of his office with the same ability that had marked his career as an enlisted man.  From the Tenth Cavalry also came First Lieutenant Baker, whose commission was a tribute to his fidelity and efficiency.  A soldier of high type he bore his commission and its honors as worthily as any son of our Republic.  In the same category must be placed First Lieutenant Wm. McBryer, formerly Sergeant in the Twenty-fifth Infantry.  McBryer had served in the Tenth Cavalry and had won a Medal of Honor in conflict with the Indians.  He was a soldier distinguished by strength of character, prompt executiveness, quick decision and courage.  He was also possessed of considerable literary skill, was a good speaker and attractive writer, and a man of fine parts.  He was a valuable acquisition to the volunteer service and would have made a fine captain.

Of the colored sergeants from the Regular Army who were given commissions in the volunteer service it would not be extravagant to say that all were men of worth, well-tried in the service, and there was scarcely one of them but could have successfully commanded a company.  Lieutenant A.J.  Smith, formerly First Sergeant in the Twenty-fifth Infantry, was so well informed in the paper work of the army and in company administration particularly that he was regarded as an authority, and he was so well experienced in the whole life of a soldier, in camp, field, garrison and in battle, that it would have been difficult to find his superior in the army.  To the credit of all of the enlisted men of the Regular Army referred to, who received commissions in the volunteer service, all served honorably and were mustered out without bringing any scandal of any sort upon the service.

The colored volunteers in the service acquitted themselves as well as the average volunteer, and when mustered out proceeded to their homes about as others did.  The treatment accorded them in some of the Southern cities, especially in Nashville, Tennessee, did not speak well for the loyalty of that section, nor was it such as might reasonably be expected from a people who had fared so well in the offices and honors of the short war.  From the best sources available, it seems incumbent to say that the many charges alleged against the colored volunteers for excessive rioting and disorder were without proper foundation, and the assaults made upon them unjustifiable and cruel.  The spirit of the assailants is best seen from a description of the attack made upon the unarmed discharged soldiers of the Eighth Immuners in Nashville, already alluded to.  This description was made by the sheriff who participated in the brutality.  An officer who was on the train, and who was asleep at the time, when aroused went into the car where the men were and found that they had been beaten and robbed, and in some instances their discharges taken from them and torn up, and their weapons and money taken from them by citizens.  It was about one o’clock A.M. and the men were generally asleep when attacked.  The sheriff gloats over it in language which ought not be allowed to disappear: