hill, though free from peril, was very slow and trying.  Twice during the advance the men obtained a view of their enemies and were permitted to fire.  The instructions were rigidly adhered to:  No firing only at the visible foe.  Lieutenant Fleming says:  “Owing to the underbrush it was impossible for me to see but a very few men at a time, but as they all arrived on the crest about the time I did, or shortly after, they certainly advanced steadily.”  He says:  “The entire troop behaved with great coolness and obeyed every order.”  Farrier Sherman Harris, Wagoner John Boland and Private Elsie Jones especially distinguished themselves for coolness and gallantry.  The aggressive work of the Tenth Cavalry, therefore, appears to have been done by Troops B and I, a detachment of the former troop serving the Hotchkiss gun battery.  Troop I was commanded by Lieutenant Fleming and by him conducted to the front, although he admits that in their advance up the slope of the hill he could see but very few of the men at a time, and declares that their advance was certainly steady, because all arrived at the crest of the hill simultaneously or nearly so.

Lieutenant Fleming does not show that his troop of excellent men were in any sense peculiarly dependent upon their white officers as some have asserted.  They advanced steadily, just as the regulars always do, advanced noiselessly and without any reckless firing, and reached the crest of the hill in order, although he could not see them as they were making their advance.  They kept their line despite all the obstructions.  Lieutenant Fleming also says that in moving to his position he passed Troop B, which then “inclined to the right, and during the remainder of the action was on my right.”  Troop B, therefore, went through about the same experience as Troop I, and being on the extreme right of the line may have been more directly in front of that foe which Fleming says was in his front and to the right.  Why did not the officer who directed or led B Troop in its advance upon the enemy report the action of his troop as vividly and generously as did Lieutenant Fleming the men of Troop I?  With not the slightest reflection upon the gallant officer, he himself has the manliness to say he was so unfortunate as to lose the troop.  The troop, however, did not become demoralized, but went into action under command of its First Sergeant, John Buck,[17] and remained on Lieutenant Fleming’s right during the action.  It has been proven more than once that should the commissioned officers of a company or troop of colored regulars be killed or incapacitated, the non-commissioned officers can carry on the fight.  Speaking of this same regiment it is equally true that at San Juan the officers of Troops D and G were all shot and the commands of these troops fell to their First Sergeants, the first to Sergeant William H. Given, the second to Sergeant Saint Foster, and it is generally understood that these two men were appointed Lieutenants of Volunteers because of their success in handling their troops in battle.