Lieutenant Ahearn volunteered to attempt the
rescue of the men, and taking a water-logged boat, approached the
shore noiselessly and succeeded in his undertaking. The crew
accompanying Lieutenant Ahearn was made up of men from Troop M, Tenth
Cavalry, and behaved so well that the four were given Medals of Honor
for their marked gallantry. The action of Lieutenant Ahearn in this
case was in keeping with his whole military career. He has ever
manifested a fondness for exceptional service, and has never failed
when opportunity occurred to display a noble gallantry on the side of
humanity. Nothing appeals to him so commandingly as an individual
needing rescue, and in such a cause he immediately rises to the hero's
plane. The noble colored soldiers who won medals on that occasion were
all privates and became heroes for humanity's sake. Their names
deserve a place in this history outside the mere official table. They
were Dennis Bell, George H. Wanton, Fitz Lee and William H. Tompkins,
and were the only colored soldiers who, at the time of this writing,
have won Medals of Honor in the Spanish War. Others, however, may yet
be given, as doubtless others are deserved. The heroic service
performed by whole regiments, as in the case of the Twenty-fourth
Infantry, should entitle every man in it to a medal of some form as a
souvenir for his posterity.
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