On the 10th of April, Easter Sunday, the battalion at Fort Missoula marched out of post quite early in the morning, and at Bitter Root Station took the cars for their long journey.  Officers and men were all furnished sleeping accommodations on the train.  Arriving in the city of Missoula, for the gratification of the citizens and perhaps to avoid strain on the bridge crossing the Missoula River, the men were disembarked from the train and marched through the principal streets to the depot, the citizens generally turning out to see them off.  Many were the compliments paid officers and men by the good people of Missoula, none perhaps more pleasing than that furnished by a written testimonial to the regret experienced at the departure of the regiment, signed by all the ministers of the city.

As the Twenty-fifth was the first regiment to move in the preparation for war, its progress from Montana to Chickamauga was a marked event, attracting the attention of both the daily and illustrated press.  All along the route they were greeted with enthusiastic crowds, who fully believed the war with Spain had begun.  In St. Paul, in Chicago, in Terre Haute, in Nashville, and in Chattanooga the crowds assembled to greet the black regulars who were first to bear forward the Starry Banner of Union and Freedom against a foreign foe.  What could be more significant, or more fitting, than that these black soldiers, drilled up to the highest standard of modern warfare, cool, brave and confident, themselves a proof of American liberty, should be called first to the front in a war against oppression?  Their martial tread and fearless bearing proclaimed what the better genius of our great government meant for all men dwelling beneath the protection of its honored flag.

As the Twenty-fifth Infantry was the first regiment to leave its station, so six companies of it were first to go into camp on the historic grounds of Chickamauga.  Two companies were separated from the regiment at Chattanooga and forwarded to Key West where they took station under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel A.S.  Daggett.  The remaining six companies, under command of Colonel A.S.  Burt, were conducted by General Boynton to a choice spot on the grounds, where they pitched camp, their tents being the first erected in that mobilization of troops which preceded the Cuban invasion, and theirs being really the first camp of the war.

Soon came the Ninth Cavalry, the Tenth Cavalry and the Twenty-fourth Infantry.  While these were assembling there arrived on the ground also many white regiments, cavalry, artillery and infantry, and it was pleasing to see the fraternity that prevailed among black and white regulars.  This was especially noticeable between the Twenty-fifth and Twelfth.  In brigading the regiments no attention whatever was paid to the race or color of the men.  The black infantry regiments were placed in two brigades, and the black cavalry likewise, and they can be followed