Chapter XXI (1)

_A General Review of the Writer's Entire Life and Work, and an Optimistic View of the Whole Subject, With Reflections and Observations and Forecasts of the Near Future._

When I left the place where I was born, in the year 1855, and made my lucky escape to a land of freedom, in company with my fiancee, Thomas Lincoln, I had no idea whatever of the future that lay before us, and of all the pleasant ways by which the Lord would lead us. It was well for both my darling Tom and me that we were the children of religious mothers, who taught us from our earliest infancy to love the Lord at all times, and to put our entire trust and confidence in Him. Tom and I had been accustomed to a delightful home at Riverside Hall, on the banks of the Ohio, and we knew nothing about the evils of slavery, like millions of others.

In the midst of such pleasant surroundings on the banks of the "Beautiful River," it seemed easy enough for us at the time to love the Lord and put our trust in Him; but whilst the great Creator was working out his sure decrees, we considered ourselves perfectly justified in taking the law into our own hands, and whereas we could not get our rights by fair means, to take them by foul. It has been well for Tom and me that we acted as we did; and the blessings thus vouchsafed to us in that way have descended to our dear children in a full state of freedom. But while we had little risks to run compared to many refugees, there were millions left behind us who could not get along. For what could frail and feeble women do surrounded as they were by every device and scheme that slavery and Satan could invent to keep their hold on what they presumptuously called their "property?" Thus our distressed brothers and sisters were obliged to wait for the coming of the Lord, and the wisest among them knew that His coming could not be long delayed, because the signs of the times pointed to a speedy deliverance, and a child could almost hear the loud and heavy rumblings in the heavens.

But, my dear reader, the "Lord works in mysterious ways His wonders to perform." We fondly expected and hoped to see freedom in our own day--"some sweet day"--but our minds were little prepared for its coming so soon. We heard the rumblings of the storm, indeed, but there had been other storms before, and they had blown over, and why should not this one go the same as they? That is the way that we poor, limited, erring human beings are likely to go aside and miss the mark. We judged of the rising storm of 1860 that it would be like those that had gone before it, but there was not a single being on the face of the earth who ever dreamed that we were at last drifting into a mighty war, that was to continue for over four years, and would sweep away slavery and all its belongings, as the mighty tides of the ocean wash away the foot-prints on the sands. It became clear as time and war went on, that the Almighty Ruler of the Universe had risen up to strike the earth, and that He would not smite a second blow, but finish things up now. He says in His sacred word that He will hear our prayers; our oppressed people had been crying to Him for many years, "How long, O Lord, how long!" The prayers of the distressed, their tears and cries, had been heard; they had all been duly chronicled in heaven; the day for settlement with the slave-holders had now fully come, and one of those mighty changes that have followed each other these last forty years with such rapidity was now at the door. Like the prompt railroad train, or, better still, the tide of the sea, the Lord of Heaven and Earth was ready and armed from head to foot; freedom was at the door, indeed and in truth, and the doors must be opened that captives should go free!

"What hath not God wrought?" Those more than four decisive years, so heavy with fate and destiny, looked long, very long, in passing, but ah! they brought changes to the entire colored race, both collectively and individually; and as slavery had grown more and more even down to the very year when the war began, so was the joy all the greater when it was all over, and bright shining freedom came suddenly at last. There was joy and rejoicing all over the United States at the result; dancing and singing from the Potomac to the Rio Grande in particular. So much for the whole race taken collectively. To us individually as a family, that mighty upheaval, the war, brought great and varied experiences--both sorrows and joy. When the first rush of wild enthusiasm against the rebellion was over, we all found out that we had to settle down to hard work, and four full years of war and fighting were before us. Thus the children and I saw Tom leave for the seat of war, and after many a hard-fought field, Tom was wounded so badly that he lay for a long time at New Orleans. We had done an immense quantity of correspondence by this time, but more changes wrought through and by the war were at hand. The whole American nation was undergoing changes, and so were we! The children and I longed with all our hearts to see husband and father once more. He was not yet well enough to travel to Buffalo; indeed, the military authorities forbade it, and so we three determined to tear up stakes at Buffalo for a time, and make a sudden and unexpected march on the city of New Orleans. This was not my first visit to the Crescent City of the Sunny South. As my dear reader is already well aware, I went there about the year 1856, and rescued my dear mother from slavery, which I consider one of the very best things that ever I did in this world! This journey to New Orleans was a most glorious experience, for the girls in particular, and they are even talking of it now. When we were in the Lower Mississippi, we had a good time to look about us and see what a mighty work the sword of the North had already done for that section of the Union. The colored people were all free, and thousands were flocking to schools just newly set up, and learning as people had never learned before. The rebels, and all those that sympathized with them, used to say that if the slaves were set free, they would turn in and massacre their former owners, and become regular heathens and savages. This was, of course, nothing but a silly parrot-cry that nobody seriously believed, as no colored man had any other intention than to become a peaceable citizen. But during our delightful residence in the Sunny South we saw those who had been slaves in that section all working away upon the lands, and in the towns and cities, in perfect freedom, and their lives were both orderly and exemplary. But what surprised us most was to see them going to work with first readers, spelling books, slates and pencils, and all the other appliances of education, and gathering knowledge like the sands of the sea. This, indeed, augured well for the future--to see people even seventy and eighty years of age learning to read, write and figure like the rest! Here was a field of bright promise for the near future. Here was a race of people, just set free, grasping at the lowermost round of the ladder of education, and ambitious to mount higher every day.

Behold, indeed, the mighty changes that the Lord has brought about in this dear land of ours! We have already lived long enough not only to see all the captives set free, but a second generation, fifty per cent. of whom are armed, from head to foot, so to speak, with education. We have already brilliant men and women competent to shine like stars, in all the different walks and departments of life, which my two girls and I saw such abundant promise when we went to Louisiana. In due course of time Tom was pronounced completely cured, was discharged from the hospital, and our two precious children and we took our homeward journey by way of the Gulf of Mexico, the city of Havana, in Cuba, West Indies and the Atlantic Ocean to New York, after which we took the train for Buffalo, where we all arrived safe and sound in due time, and had such a welcome home as is still green in our memories. This sea voyage and land journey were delightful experiences in the young lives of our two daughters, and showed them what a great, varied, and beautiful world the great Creator had made. We thanked Him with full and grateful hearts for having laid our lines in such pleasant places, and giving us this sweet home of ours at Buffalo, where we have resided in peace, pleasure and plenty. Lo! these many years! and we are at Buffalo, still. It is a great comfort to our hearts and minds to think that the entire colored race are no longer compelled to reside, to dwell, and sleep where they are bidden, as in the bad old times of slavery; but that here again a mighty change for the better has come over all our people, inasmuch as many of them nowadays have comfortable and pleasant homes of their own, where beautiful furniture and musical instruments can be seen--yes, even fine pianos, along which the supple fingers of the rising generation can fly with the best! I bless and praise the goodness of the Lord for all these changes for the better. Instead of operating on the fiddle and the banjo, our clever musical sons and daughters can sing lovely accompaniments to the piano and the organ. The race is full of music, and their fame has reached the ends of the earth. Our churches and other institutions have a great name for sacred music and song, and I have heard good judges among the white population declare that there are no such singers as the colored race in the United States. We may at least congratulate ourselves that the entire press of the United States and the British Isles have completely endorsed the above sentiments of my own, and therefore I do not think that any conscientious man will dispute them. It is an old and a true saying that variety is the spice of life, and the beauties of the different races of people appear to the greatest advantage where their separate traits of character most differ from one another. Music and song, indeed, are quite a distinguished feature in the colored race, and there again we have seen mighty changes wrought out through and by our freedom, and again I thank the goodness of the Lord for even such changes as these.

And yet we are only at the beginning of our improvements, associated as we also are with the white race of the United States--one of the most talented and ingenious peoples that the world has ever seen! It is well for us in a way that we are so associated, because our progress in these past years, and at the present time, is all the greater on that account. And yet when we consider that it is only yesterday, as it were, that all our people were set free, that our unbroken progress is still going on along the whole line, and that our progress will continue to be more marked in the future as the years gone by, who can tell to what glorious heights of elevation our people shall attain, even within the next twenty or twenty-five years? Because in our own day and generation, all the arts and sciences seem to be coming to the front; learning, education and inventions are farther and farther advanced day by day, and every kind of improvement grows and flourishes like the green bay-tree. Progress indeed must be made; things will not go backwards, but must go forward, onward and upward. Such is the inevitable fate of the colored race. With so very much accomplished already; with fifty per cent. of our entire people throughout the whole Union who can read and write and work arithmetic, we may well wonder at the advancement still in store for our race, when education shall cover the whole land, as the waters cover the sea; when the remaining fifty per cent., who are still destitute of education, are brought into the fold, as it were, and an ignorant colored man or woman will be difficult to find in our nation.

The unparalleled progress that we have made reminds me of the progress of a great river. Take for example the Mississippi. How small it is when it issues from Lake Itasca, away up at its headwaters in Minnesota. It is of truth very small indeed, when it begins its journey to the sea. But the river advances boldly upon its long way, and keeps on and on, and still on, while every now and then a branch comes flowing in, now on the right hand, now on the left, sometimes nothing but a small rivulet, then a large and swelling stream. Thus the Mississippi still keeps advancing on mile after mile on its journey, till the great Ohio swells its waters, and then the greater Missouri comes rolling down from the Rocky Mountains, and now the Mississippi is growing large, indeed--yes, very large. And here comes the Arkansas and the Red River, with many smaller streams from the east, and thus the mighty Mississippi, that began so small in Lake Itasca, has now reached the Crescent City, and whole fleets of ships can float upon its bosom before its great and swelling waters reach the Gulf of Mexico. And thus it is with the advancement that has already been made by the colored race along the whole line. We began, indeed, very small in the year 1865, when the war closed, and the appliances of education and improvement were put into our hands. But here is the year 1902, and, like the Mississippi river, we have advanced far, very far upon our way; and yet we have by no means attained the goal of our expectations, by any means, but great changes are under way, and we are still advancing.

Many travelers have left it on record how they turned round upon the ever-ascending mountain way to mark progress, and see how far they had come. Then with fresh resolution they again turned their faces to the road that still lay before and above them, and that with renewed interest and courage. I don't know how it may be with anybody else, but as I am now about sixty years of age, I am at times given to look back, and to muse not only over all the way the Lord has led me, but also how He has led the entire race in my own days. The rising generation knows little of the thoughts and feelings, and the sufferings of their fathers and mothers on their way to freedom, and the present happy condition of things. But I am like that mountain traveller of whom I have just spoken, and I sit at times and muse and muse upon the tremendous excitement all over the North on the slavery question, and how the Abolitionists demanded freedom, and the South would not listen to any such thing. Then my mind runs back to Fred. Douglass, Henry Ward Beecher, and all those heroes and heroines who fought the good cause of liberty, and were faithful unto the end. We were in for a great and stirring time.

Little does the present generation know of the times we went through in the years immediately before the war, when I used to travel over the States of the North, assisting in the lecturing and agitation against slavery. It is a very great gratification to me nowadays to look back and think of all the wonders of that most wonderful and lengthened campaign when William Lloyd Garrison, and all the other "big guns" were thundering away, and the discharge of their mighty artillery shook all the land, even to the Gulf of Mexico! I am not so strong and supple in body now as I was in those glorious, Halcyon days; but I praise and bless the Lord that I was then endowed with health, and strength, and vigorous life to lay on the axe of liberty, and to help bring down that foul and deadly upas tree called "Slavery," that was the curse of the whole land--the public disgrace of the United States. Since then I have contributed many articles to the papers and magazines of the day to help my own people to rise up and start upon their feet; but there is nothing that I ever did that left so much pleasure upon my memory as the campaign wherein I played, sang and lectured against slavery in the South. Well, to be sure, how the surging crowds did come! It was a wonderful time that we had. The excitement was also most exhilarating. But above all, those mighty changes were on the road, that we see around us to-day. The Lord has done great things for us already, and still we can say that there is a good time coming!

Upon the whole my life has been a happy one--at least, as happy as could be expected in this shady world of ours, where ever-changing clouds and sunshine chase each other all through our pilgrim journey to our home in heaven. I have tried to make the best of things, and to consign myself to the Lord's will as nearly as my infirmities will let me. Mercy and goodness have followed me all the days of my life, and I have been most abundantly blessed by the Lord above all that I could either ask or think. My dear reader will no doubt think that I am in a very contemplative frame of mind at the present time, thus looking back and musing upon the active years of my past life. No doubt the greater part of life's long day has gone by, and the evening and night are coming on. But in my time I have learned to trust in God, to lay hold upon eternal life, to keep hope alive in my heart for all times for myself and all my people, not only my immediate family, but the entire colored race.

I am therefore able to look forward with calmness, and even joy, to the time when the great Lord will take me home to Himself. But still, as the evening and shadows of life are coming on, I will converse with my own family and friends upon the stirring events of the past years, and keep musing upon them, also. If variety is the spice of life, I am sure I have had plenty of it for my own part. I can never complain of the want of variety. And it has been a downright blessing to me, too; for it has added to my knowledge and blessing in every way. My travels and varied experiences have brought me into contact with strange and interesting peoples, and countless individuals, worth far more than their weight in gold. My many delightful journeys to the dearly beloved friends in Canada, and their return visits to me, have been like glorious rainbows that spanned the heavens of my happiness on earth. Then there is the permanent love and friendship of the many brave and true hearts that have thrown light and pleasure upon my path all along the line--good and faithful friends who assisted in pulling down the powers of slavery, and who now rejoice, in common with myself, that the mighty work was done at last, and that all our grand destiny is still before us. Thank God for this splendid prospect before us! It has been the joy of my life to see the improvements introduced into the American Constitution in our favor, and the celebration of the Fifteenth Amendment all over the land, including the one we took a part in at Louisville, Kentucky, was a series of brilliant events that can never be forgotten.

As I am by nature a great lover of the ocean, I have made two voyages from New Orleans to New York, and have even crossed the great Atlantic, and visited the British Isles upon the happy occasion when my daughters were married. But above all things, I have had the pleasure of seeing the entire colored race set free; have seen them make incredible advances in every walk and department of life, and the promise is held out that they will still go on in the path of progress. We must still trust in God and ourselves, and march forward!

And now, my dear reader, wishing for you all that is good, health and prosperity, I am

Yours most sincerely,

BEULAH LINCOLN.

THE AMERICAN-SPANISH WAR--I.

Indulgent reader, I had grown accustomed to think that I should now live and die, and never see any more war, either foreign or domestic, on the part of the United States. All things were running smoothly on the part of our nation, and there hardly appeared the most distant cloud in our peaceful-looking skies. But, as Robert Burns, the famous Scotch poet, most truthfully says, "The best-laid schemes of mice and men gang aft aglee, and leave us nought but grief and pain for promised joy." In the month of February, 1895, the oppressed and robbed people of Cuba once more raised the standard of rebellion against Spain, and entered upon another struggle with the mother country. The tyrant Spain had broken all the promises she had made at the close of the Ten Years' Cuban War, in 1878, and thus it came to pass, after an useless truce of seventeen years, that the Cuban leaders once more decided to raise the standard of rebellion against the tyrant, considering it better to die in a war for freedom than to sit down any longer in a state of endless oppression.

As our own nation had had a fearful war with England, in the days of George Washington--a war that lasted over seven years--all citizens of the United States felt a great deal of sympathy for the Cuban leaders, and for all the Cuban people--"a people who now devoted their lives unto death on the high places of the field"--and myself, my own family, and all my beloved race, felt very, very deeply for them.

And not only did the people of the United States, but all lovers of freedom throughout the world felt the greatest sympathy for the Cubans. Thus long, weary months came and went, and poor, proud, decrepit old Spain, in her antiquated way, continued to borrow many millions of money at home and abroad, till at last "Pobre Espagna" (poor Spain) was hardly able to pay the mere interest upon the money she had borrowed, let alone the principal. The patriotic Cubans fought long, well and nobly; so did the Spaniards, but no real advantage was ever gained upon either side, because the Cubans had neither seaport nor fleet, and were never able to get the Spaniards out of their ancient and powerful fortifications, whilst the Spaniards were never able to beat the Cubans off the field, get them out of their strongholds among the mountains, and their inaccessible retreats amidst their grand, primeval forests.

The Cubans of the United States, assisted by many of our own people, gathered money, and loaded filibustering vessels that ran the feeble Spanish blockade off the island, and safely landed an untold number of cargoes of arms and ammunition for the struggling patriots, while our own national feeling against Spain still increased as the days went by. It is very true that the Government of the United States did all that it was able to preserve neutrality, and to keep the peace with Spain--nay, more than that--we were at last obliged even to police the seas around the Southern States to prevent those blockade-runners from slipping away from our parts with their loads of arms and ammunition for that devoted island, and we were hardly able to stop them when we had done our best. Thus we were put to endless trouble to watch the seas for a foreign and cruel country, and that country was always laying complaints at our doors because we could watch no better!

When Campos was Captain-General of Cuba, the war for independence in that unhappy island was conducted with some regard to decency and civilized ways; but the Spanish arms made no progress, and the mother country sent over the cruel General Weyler, usually called "The Butcher," and gave him a free hand in putting down the islanders in any way he saw fit. The mind of this bad man seems to have been imbued with all the old Spanish cruelties of the dark ages, and all that tiger-like love for cruelty and bloodshed for which Spain and the Spaniards have always been so notorious. The readers of the public press are no doubt well aware already of the treacherous acts, cruelties and medieval deeds of barbarism to which that monster and his soldiers resorted for the purpose of suppressing the Cuban rebellion. The worst of them all was his gathering the country people into seacoast towns and cities--mainly women, children and old men--where they subsequently died by tens of thousands; and thus the poor, oppressed Cuban nation was weakened at last to the number of at least 200,000, if not more; and by such cold-blooded deeds, and others on a smaller scale, quite as cruel, did that black-hearted Spanish butcher wear down the population of Cuba. He made war upon nature, and shocked the moral sense of the whole world. And yet, this Weyler had the entire approval of the mother country while he thus caused the non-combatant part of the Cubans to perish, when they had the unblushing impudence to carry on the barbarities of the dark ages all over the Island of Cuba, and right before our front door! The false and wilfully-lying messages that even this butcher sent home to Spain from day to day about victories that he had gained over the insurgents were usually contradicted by the American, and other foreign presses next day. Weyler excelled in nothing but writing false dispatches, while the hatred against him increased, both in Congress, and all over the United States. So great, indeed, was the outcry against the Spaniards, that the proud and scornful Dons kept sending more and more soldiers over the Atlantic, to give us to understand by that, that if we Americans dared to interfere between her and what she called "The Ever-Faithful Isle," she would there fight Uncle Sam to the death, and never surrender Cuba!

Captain-General Weyler's want of success, his cruelties and countless false reports were at last so revolting to the feelings of Uncle Sam that Spain decided to withdraw her faithful butcher, and send another Captain-General over, and his name was General Blanco. He was admonished to bring the Cuban leaders and the Cubans to terms by wiles, bribes and flattery; but the patriotic Cubans refused to swallow any such baits, and war went on the same as before--all our trade with Cuba being now destroyed, almost the whole island being reduced to the condition of a wilderness, while the silence of the grave seemed supreme everywhere. Spain continued to make more and more fresh promises from month to month, both to ourselves and to the Cubans--promises made in deceit and craft, which she never meant to fulfill.

It is calculated that at one time there were two hundred thousand Spanish soldiers in Cuba, when the Cuban troops became so numerous that they even threatened Havana, and whipped the Spanish outposts in the suburbs of the stronghold. Affairs at last became so unsafe and threatening for the numerous American colonists in Havana, and throughout Cuba, that the United States battleship "Maine" was sent to the island, by way of protection, and she was duly anchored by the direction of the port authorities, in a certain specified position within the harbor of Havana.

Alas, alas! we little knew what we were doing! And yet, for the very life of me, I cannot but see that the hand of Providence was in some way or other connected with the anchoring of the Maine in the harbor of Havana. It is true that we might at some time or other have interfered in the Island, and there put an end to the medieval and murderous practices of "Old Spain," carried on at our front door here in the end of the nineteenth century; but war, in its best state, is a serious business, and Spain might have succeeded for a long time in gulling us with fair-faced promises she never meant to fulfill. In the pride of her heart she regarded the poor Cuban patriots as nothing but a gang of rebels, who, had they laid down their arms at her request, would have been treated as so many footballs--as deserving less consideration than mere dogs and cats. Thus it appears to me very doubtful whether we would have embarked upon a war with that proud, haughty and impoverished nation, that loves to talk of her former grandeur, four hundred years ago. But the Spaniards viewed the coming of the Maine to Havana with hatred and disgust. Whispers in high places in the Cuban capital declared that she should be destroyed, and so in fact she was, for on Tuesday night, the 15th of February, 1898, the Spaniards blew her up with torpedoes planted underneath her in the water.

This destruction of a splendid American battleship, with the accompanying loss of 266 lives, brought much comfort and joy to the cruel Spanish heart; for the head gentlemen of Spain at Havana were known to laugh and be jolly, and to drink champagne wine over the destruction of our devoted vessel! But with us it was otherwise. We were overwhelmed with the most profound sorrow and grief. Every man, woman and child in all Uncle Sam's far-spreading Union was bowed down under this sudden blow that supplied so much comfort to the heart of the Spaniard. He looked upon us as his enemy because of our own sympathy for the Cubans; and so that ship was another "enemy" out of his way. His mirth did not prevent our national grief over the sudden murder of our 266 men, and the loss of the poor ship, so we sat down and cried real, sincere tears, while the naval commission were in session at Key West over the cause of the destruction of the unfortunate vessel. The finding of the court of inquiry was that the vessel was not blown up from within (as the Spaniards pretended), but was blown up from without, and that by the hands of the Spaniards, and done on purpose by them.

Then we wiped our tears away, and every man, woman and understanding child, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Lakes to the Gulf, arose and took an oath that that cruel and bloody nation of Spaniards should leave this hemisphere, bag and baggage, and that we should make them! Then the shout, "Remember the Maine!" was heard all over the land. Congress demanded Spain's withdrawal from American waters; or else that war should be levied on her forthwith. Now did the regent mother country send letters to all the magnates of Europe, begging them to intercede, and make peace between the Americans and Spaniards. But from all quarters came the same reply, "You and the Americans help yourselves; this is not our war. Hold the Ever-faithful Isle--if you are able!"

While the war clouds were gathering the Spaniards still ran around Europe, praying and screeching for help. Uncle Sam went swiftly to work laid down fifty million dollars instantly, and quickly bought up a number of newly-built and powerful men-of-war from foreign nations--bought and hired swift and powerful merchant vessels, and swiftly clad them round their sides and all over their decks with steel-mail, so that they might boldly plough the waves, and do as useful service as the very best of iron-clads of effete Old Spain. Uncle Sam made two swift calls for troops, and almost every white and colored man replied, "We come, we come!" So terrible, indeed, was the impression produced by the loss of our poor ship, and the murder of 266 men at Havana, that almost every colored and white man in this nation seemed even to sigh and thirst to go and fight with Spain! Women by thousands and tens of thousands offered themselves as nurses, and to be used in any way that the Government pleased. Our colored men, once slaves, or the children of slaves, but now loyal freemen, came forward almost to a man, and with quite as much patriotism as their white brethren, at least, offered themselves as ready, quite ready to march to the war. Uncle Sam's great difficulty lay in his having too many offers on his hands, so he picked and chose, and did his best. The fleet, of course, encountered a little more difficulty in filling up; but the flower of our youth--even the sons of millionaires among the rest--came trooping on in thousands, and our fleet was manned splendidly. Men were sent South by thousands and tens of thousands; the trains carried them down every day, accompanied with immense loads of ammunition, and all the appliances of war. Our new and old war vessels were gathered about Key West, etc., and others were placed near our great harbors, which harbors were defended by torpedoes and other means of offense and defense. By this time our demand upon Spain to get out of the West Indies had been received by the proud Dons, and had been refused by them, as we expected. So we moved on with the war, and our own four regiments of regular colored United States troops, the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry, and the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Infantry, which had been brought from the far West to Chickamauga Park, were brought down to Key West, in order to be at hand to sail over to Cuba along with their white brothers when the "Ever-Faithful Isle--Fair Cuba, the Queen of the Antilles," should be invaded by all the boys in blue.

I am not aware that even the most rabid misanthrope in the United States believed in his heart that there was one colored man who was not willing to go to the war, and also able to do yeoman service in knocking down the Spaniards, if he were allowed to get at them. It is true that charges were made against some of us, but charges were also made in the same way against the whites. It is true that some of our men made their marching to war conditional on their now having their own colored officers; but that demand was right, and they only asked their own.

Our hereditary enemies are not all dead by any means, yet! Either they are less formidable, or we ourselves are growing more independent. The small pettifogging journalist tried to make the usual capital out of our men holding out for his most undoubted rights, for what would a white regiment, indeed, think, if the law was that none but colored officers should be placed over white men? And yet, that was the very thing that certain men--white men--in our nation demanded, namely, that none but white officers should be placed in command of colored soldiers!

It is very true there were a few colored officers in the ranks, and colored chaplains; but, like angels' visits, they were few and far between. But the Spanish war was on, and colored men had to go or stay. Some demanded officers of their own race, seeing they were competent to fill such positions as the whitest of men. It was only the dregs of slavery in the bottom of the cup that were left. It was only the difference between a dark skin and a light one, don't you know. Well, quite a number of the governors granted the colored regiments their petitions; gave them all the officers of their own race, from Colonel down, and it has been proven that they have acted and succeeded as well as white officers could ever have possibly done. Other governors hesitated about granting their just demands, and claimed that white officers ought to be placed over colored men.

But, as I said before, the war was now under way, and as too much time could not be lost in wrangling in this unseemly manner over a matter, after all, no greater than the color of the skin, our brave fellows in some of the States said they were willing to give way, and go and fight the Spaniards under command of white officers. In some States there was no dispute. It is a well-known fact that colored men have often been greatly attached to their white officers, and in like manner, these officers have been greatly attached to their own soldiers, and thus they have got along harmoniously together at all times. At the same time, this knotty point has been settled once for all in many a State, and the men--colored men, I mean--have been allowed to have the officers of their own choice. No doubt the time will come when all these "trumpery distinctions" will be done away! The dregs of slavery washed out of the cup! The time will come in the United States when white men will be led by colored officers, and colored men will be led by white officers. Life is really too short for such foolishness as squabbling over small trifles like these. One thing I know, the Bible tells us that God has made of one blood all the races that dwell upon earth.

The readings in the public papers about the enthusiasm of colored men for the war against the Spaniards was most refreshing. Taken as a whole, white men of every walk in life, awarded them the very highest possible praise for their love of drilling--for their great willingness to be drilled, and for the great progress they made in drilling. Some of them, indeed, seemed to be drilling both in season and out of season, because even after their officers had given them all their needful drilling for the passing day, they would themselves get together and drill themselves for a whole hour, or for an hour and a half at a time. I must not forget a most unusually lively letter I saw from Key West at the time that our four regiments of regulars (United States) were lying there in readiness to sail over to Cuba. This letter stated that they were regiments of grand men; tall, powerful, splendid fellows; full of life, humor and enthusiasm, and that they looked as if they would be able to lick three or four Spaniards apiece! No doubt our glorious fellows were far more than a match for the Spaniards, who only weighed about 130 pounds apiece, stood five feet, six inches in height, and few of them seem able to shoot straight; while our men stand six feet, are powerful, and can hit the mark almost every time.

Thus time passed on, while the entire colored race all over the land took the deepest interest in the war, calling upon the war department, or sending to the President, whenever there was occasion for the same. A Conference of the Zion A. M. E. Church, at the commencement of the war, sat in Baltimore, at which time a notice was sent forth throughout the nation that ten new cadets, for some military reason or other, were to be brought forward. The Conference here stepped forward, and did the right thing. They drew up a most respectful and patriotic address upon the subject to the President, and asked that three cadets out of those ten should be men of color. The address was then sealed up, and sent to McKinley. At Baltimore, also, under the leadership of Dr. Bryant, a regiment of colored men was organized and drilled in good earnest. At first many of these young volunteers were awkward enough, but we are all awkward in the beginning. So they persevered, and in the course of time became quite proficient; and I have no doubt, had the war lasted, and they had gone to the front, and met the Spaniards in the open field, that they would have whipped them hip and thigh, as other colored troops did later on. The spirit of all our people was most excellent; we were determined to see ourselves righted, and there were none but a few old soreheads that stood in our way.

While we are getting ready to give the Dons a proper knock-down on his own ground, it may not be amiss to notice the most unusual display of American flags--the "Stars and Stripes"--that was made here all over our beautiful city of Buffalo, where we still reside. At first we thought that "The Queen City of the Lakes," as our city is called, was simply ultra-patriotic, and wanted to be ahead of all our neighbors, but soon all eyes were opened wide at our grand mistake, for we learned that there was hardly a city, town, village or hamlet in the Union where the self-same grand array of "Star-Spangled Banners" did not obtain. It was flags, flags, flags, from one end of the nation to the other--nothing but flags! I think I am safe in saying that in any moderate-sized city of the Union there were ten thousand flags flying at least. And these national emblems of faith, loyalty and love were all sizes, from the smallest to the largest. And not alone upon the broad street did the banners fly, but in all the smaller streets and alleys--away up the narrow and crooked alleys, where the poorer families of both races were found, these self-same beautiful banners fluttered to the breeze, and plainly said, "We are here in defense of our native country! No more oppressive Dons for us! Freedom for Cuba, and for all the world. 'Tis the Star-Spangled Banner, O Long May it Wave!"

But the national feeling was exhibited in thousands of other ways besides the flags in the open streets. Great meetings were held all over the land; sermons were preached, and public prayers ascended to the Throne of Grace for the speedy triumph of our armies over the oppressive Spaniards. The very envelopes that went through the Postoffice were stamped with miniature flags, and pictures of the Maine were hung up in almost every house. No doubt many an ingenious man cleared a good, round sum by a newly-brought-out device that was cast upon the public, and eagerly bought up by almost everybody. An immense quantity of patriotic poetry was also written, and scattered broadcast to all the four winds of heaven; and it was read and quoted with most unbounded enthusiasm. Music came in now for its full share. All the patriotic songs we had were sung and played in public and private to their own well-known tunes. The Star-Spangled Banner, indeed, "took the cake," and seemed to be everywhere floating in the air. Even "John Bull," our true and faithful friend across the seas, fell into line with us, and he placed the Star-Spangled Banner from one end of the British Isles to the other. "Mother England," indeed, was most loyal to us, even before we struck a blow at the Spaniards, for she set down her foot against privateering on the high seas, and Spain submitted to her against her own will!

THE AMERICAN-SPANISH WAR--II.

_The Brave Exploits of our Colored Regiments Around Santiago de Cuba--Their Rescue of the Rough Riders--The Wounded in the Hospitals--Regiments That Never Went to War--Great Flag Presentations at New Orleans--The Colored Chaplains--The Killed, Wounded and Sick of the War--Coming Home and Disbanding, Etc.--The Glorious Results of the War--Colored Men Did Their Duty--Glory to God in the Highest!_

The reader will naturally expect an account of marching and counter-marching, pitched battles, skirmishing, and all kinds of military operations, such as I have already described in the war of 1861-'65. And the reader is justified in such expectations; but this American-Spanish War was one of the very shortest conflicts ever recorded in history, for the whole affair was over in less than four months, having begun towards the end of April, and concluded on the 12th of August, 1898. The readers of my own people will now ask if there was no opportunity given us whereby we might show our prowess upon the battle-field, like our Anglo-Saxon brothers. Well, yes, we had opportunities given us to show of what kind of material we were made, and I believe that all the generals, officers and soldiers in the army awarded us the most unstinted praise for what we did, and they did it with a most hearty good will.

The heaviest fighting by land was done around the city of Santiago de Cuba, the second city of the island, and the old Spanish capital of the same. Santiago (which means "St. James," in Spanish) was very strongly fortified, and pretty well defended by the ancient and modern methods of an old nation going down in the world. On account of the great danger of assaulting a city built upon hills, and thus strongly defended by nature and art, Uncle Sam wisely decided to send his veteran troops there--not merely the pick and cream of the volunteers--but first of all, the old, well-seasoned regulars of the American standing army, of which there were four regiments of colored men, that is to say, the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry, and the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Infantry. Among the first that went to Santiago in General Shafter's expedition were those four regiments--brave, powerful, well-built fellows, big, brawny men, who could knock Spaniards over like ninepins, and smite them hip and thigh like the heroes of old. In the different engagements that took place while the enemy was being driven into his beleaguered city, and was being pushed back, back farther and farther, into the fortifications of Santiago, these colored regiments did splendid service, laying on with might and main, and making their enemy flee before them into his last retreat. Our troops were usually mixed up with the whites in the days in the end of June, and the beginning of July, and thus the history of the one is the history of the other.

Seeing, therefore, that they had been so well trained as regulars, we need not wonder that they acquitted themselves so well in the preliminary assault, that occurred before preparations were made for the final advance on the doomed city. That part of the operations of our men that caused most noise to be made in the newspapers and elsewhere took place when Colonel Roosevelt and his Rough Riders advanced up one of the hills that was overgrown with dense brushwood, where the Spaniards had dug trenches along the face of the hill, and had run powerful wire fences along the front of those trenches, from which they fired upon the Americans as they came up the hill-side. The Rough Riders had a hard time of it as they advanced in the face of the showers of balls that were poured down upon them. Little progress did they make, although they lay down again and again to let those leaden showers pass over their devoted heads. Colonel Roosevelt had a horse killed under him, jumped off the animal before it carried him under as it fell, and advanced up the hill in advance of all his men, shouting to them to come on. Well, of course, the men did come on; but some were killed here, and others were wounded there; while as for the Spaniards, they went down like grass before the scythe. As a general thing they were bad shots--as might be expected of a dying nation still bragging of the deeds of their ancestors four hundred years back; and they themselves swollen with ignorance and pride, too haughty to be taught better ways! Thus the Rough Riders gravely struggled up the hill-side, cutting the wire fences as they went, clearing the retreating Spaniards out of the rifle-pits (or trenches, rather), lying down and advancing again and again as best they could. It was evident that they must suffer great losses, or might even fail altogether.

At this very crisis the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry, or United States colored troops, were ordered forward to the rescue of their dismounted brothers, and so dismounted, they advanced up the hill-side, laughing and hurrahing with as much trained ease, and as cheerfully as if they had been upon their old parade grounds in the far West! Success against the enemy was now assured. Our brave, well-seasoned veterans from the West fired, advanced, lay down, chatted and laughed with their white brothers, as they lay upon the ground, partly hidden among the brushwood, tall grasses and bushes of the Cuban jungle; and thus the day there was saved, and the white men were saved by the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry, just in the self-same way as white and black had often saved one another during the Civil War in the sixties. The wire fences were cut, the trenches were cleared of their occupants, the hill-top was gained, the Spaniards were set upon the run down the hill, on the other side, and now our men could see their enemies, and have a straight shot at them as they ran down the open, in full retreat and rapid flight. Our own trained heroes followed fast after them, dropping on one knee every now and then, to get a steadier aim at the fleeing Spaniards and thus they fell at a rapid rate before our guns.

While it is true that there was no desire among our own men to be vain of their achievements when they had thus timely assisted in saving and winning the field, still, the wild and hearty cheers that were there and then given to the black soldiers by their white comrades were very encouraging, indeed, to the hearts of the former. Many of the letters sent home and published in the papers were quite unstinted in their praise, and showed how the white men shouted their loudest huzzas to the colored men, swung their arms and caps in the air, and made other demonstrations of mutual good will and delight. Most of the Republican papers, and even some of the Democratic and others wrote editorials and other shorter and well-pointed paragraphs, too numerous for me either to mention or extract. With the exception of the soreheads and those whose stubborn natures love to hide all such promising things and keep them from public favor, there were none who failed to do us that justice to which we were entitled.

As for the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Colored Infantry, they lent a hand in the different actions that were fought around Santiago, and are well spoken of by one and all whose duty, love or pleasure it was to record the details of the fighting that took place in the environments of Santiago de Cuba.