' He was muddy and bedraggled. He carried no cup
or canteen, and stretched himself out over the
stepping-stones in the stream, sipping up the water and the
mud together out of the shallow pool. A white cavalryman ran
toward him shouting, 'Hold on, bunkie; here's my cup!' The
negro looked dazed a moment, and not a few of the spectators
showed amazement, for such a thing had rarely if ever
happened in the army before. 'Thank you,' said the black
corporal. 'Well, we are all fighting under the same flag
now.' And so he drank out of the white man's cup. I was glad
to see that I was not the only man who had come to recognize
the justice of certain Constitutional amendments, in the
light of the gallant behaviour of the colored troops
throughout the battle, and, indeed, the campaign. The
fortune of war had, of course, something to do with it in
presenting to the colored troops the opportunities for
distinguished service, of which they invariably availed
themselves to the fullest extent; but the confidence of the
general officers in their superb gallantry, which the event
proved to be not misplaced, added still more, and it is a
fact that the services of no four white regiments can be
compared with those rendered by the four colored
regiments--the 9th and 10th Cavalry, and the 24th and 25th
Infantry.
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