The Colored Regulars in the United States Army | Page 5

some great end. One remark only need be made. It is
reasonable to presume that this new Afro-American will somehow and
somewhere be given an opportunity to express that particular
modification of material life which his spiritual nature will demand.
Whether that expression will be made here or elsewhere; whether it will
be higher or lower than what now surrounds us, are questions which we
may well leave to the future.
No people can win and hold a place, either as a nation among other
nations, or as an elementary component of a nation, merely by its own
goodness or by the goodness of others. The struggle for national
existence is a familiar one, and is always initiated by a display of
physical force. Those who have the power seize territory and
government, and those who CAN, keep possession and control. It is in
some instances the backing up of right by might, and in others the
substituting of right by might. Too often the greatest of all national
crimes is to be weak. When the struggle is a quiet one, going on within
a nation, and is that of an element seeking a place in the common social
life of the country, much the same principles are involved. It is still a
question to be settled by force, no matter how highly the claim of the
weaker may be favored by reason and justice.
The powers by which a special people may emerge from an unhappy
condition and secure improved social relations, using the word social in
its broadest sense, are physical, intellectual and material. There must be
developed manly strength and courage and a power of intellect which
will manifest itself in organization and attractiveness, and in the

aptitude of employing appropriate methods for ends in view. To these
must be added the power that comes through wealth; and thus, with the
real advancement of condition and character will come, tardily and
grudgingly perhaps, but nevertheless surely, improved social standing.
Once filled with the common national spirit, partaking of its thoughts,
entering heartily into the common movements, having the same dress,
language and manners as others, and being as able and as willing to
help as to be helped, and withal being in fact the most intensely
American element on the continent because constructed on this soil, we
may hope that the Afro-American will ultimately win and hold his
proper place.
The history made by the American Negro has been so filled with
suffering that we have overlooked the active side. The world has heard
so much of the horrors of the "Middle Passage"; the awful sufferings of
the slave; the barbarous outrages that have been perpetrated upon
ex-slaves; the inhuman and senseless prejudices that meet colored
Americans almost everywhere on their native soil; that it has come to
look upon this recital as the whole of the story. It needs to be told that
these records constitute the dark side of the picture, dark and horrible
enough, to be sure, but this is by no means the whole picture. If there
are scenes whose representations would serve to ornament the infernal
regions, pictures over which fiends might gloat, there are also others
which angels might delight to gaze upon. There has been much of
worthy action among the colored people of this country, wherever the
bonds of oppression have been slackened enough to allow of free
movement. There have been resistance to wrong by way of
remonstrance and petition, sometimes even by force; laudable efforts
toward self-education; benevolent and philanthropic movements;
reform organizations, and commendable business enterprise both in
individuals and associations. These show a toughness of fibre and
steadiness of purpose sufficient to make the backbone of a real history.
The present work deals with these elements of character as they are
exhibited in the garb of the soldier. When men are willing to fight and
die for what they hold dear, they have become a moving force, capable
of disturbing the currents of history and of making a channel for the

stream of their own actions. The American Negro has evolved an active,
aggressive element in the scientific fighting men he has produced.
Individual pugilists of that race have entered all classes, from
featherweight to heavyweight, and have remained there; receiving
blows and dealing blows; 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