As the party rode along the sharp eye of a colored cavalryman
noticed the movement of grass ahead. Leaning over his horse with sword
in hand he plucked up an enemy whose gun was levelled at the officer.
The Spaniard was killed by the Negro who himself fell dead, shot by
another. He had saved the life of his lieutenant and lost his own.
A comrade of the Seventeenth Infantry gave his testimony. Said he:
"I shall never forget the 1st of July. At one time in the engagement
of that day the Twenty-first Infantry had faced a superior force of
Spaniards and were almost completely surrounded. The Twenty-fourth
Infantry, of colored troops, seeing the perilous position of the
Twenty-first, rushed to the rescue, charged and routed the enemy,
thereby saving the ill-fated regiment."
Col. Joseph Haskett, of the Seventeenth regular Infantry, testifies to
the meritorious conduct of the Negro troops. Said he:
"Our colored soldiers are 100 percent superior to the Cuban. He is a
good scout, brave soldier, and not only that, but is everywhere to be
seen building roads for the movement of heavy guns."
Among the trophies of war brought to Old Point were a machete, the
captured property of a colored trooper, a fine Spanish sword, taken
from an officer and a little Cuban lad about nine years old, whose
parents had bled for Cuba. His language and appearance made him the
cynosure of all eyes.
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