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.
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