showing a sturdy, positive force; mastering and employing all the methods of attack and defence allowed in such encounters, and supporting themselves with that fortitude and courage so necessary to the ring.  Such combats are not to be commended, as they are usually mere tests of skill and endurance, entered into on the principles of the gambler, and they are introduced here for the sole purpose of showing the colored man as a positive force, yielding only to a superior degree of force of the same kind.  The soldier stands for something far higher than the pugilist represents, although he has need of the same qualities of physical hardihood—­contempt for suffering and coolness in the presence of danger, united with skill in the use of his weapons.  The pugilist is his own general and never learns the high lessons of obedience; the soldier learns to subordinate himself to his commander, and to fight bravely and effectively under the direction of another.

The evolution of the Afro-American soldier was the work of a short period and suffered many interruptions.  When the War of the Revolution broke out the colored man was a slave, knowing nothing of the spirit or the training of the soldier; before it closed several thousand colored men had entered the army and some had won distinction for gallantry.  Less than forty years later, in the war of 1812, the black man again appeared to take his stand under the flag of independence.  The War of Secession again witnessed the coming forth of the black soldier, this time in important numbers and performing heroic services on a grand scale, and under most discouraging circumstances, but with such success that he won a place in arms for all time.  When the Civil War closed, the American black man had secured his standing as a soldier—­the evolution was complete.  Henceforth he was to be found an integral part of the Army of the United States.

The black man passed through the trying baptism of fire in the Sixties and came out of it a full-fledged soldier.  His was worse than an impartial trial; it was a trial before a jury strongly biased against him; in the service of a government willing to allow him but half pay; and in the face of a foe denying him the rights belonging to civilized warfare.  Yet against these odds, denied the dearest right of a soldier—­the hope of promotion—­scorned by his companions in arms, the Negro on more than two hundred and fifty battle-fields, demonstrated his courage and skill, and wrung from the American nation the right to bear arms.  The barons were no more successful in their struggle with King John when they obtained Magna Charta than were the American Negroes with Prejudice, when they secured the national recognition of their right and fitness to hold a place in the Standing Army of the United States.  The Afro-American soldier now takes his rank with America’s best, and in appearance, skill, physique, manners, conduct and courage proves himself worthy of the position he holds.  Combining in his person the harvested influences of three great continents, Europe, Africa and America, he stands up as the typical soldier of the Western World, the latest comer in the field of arms, but yielding his place in the line to none, and ever ready to defend his country and his flag against any and all foes.