The
25th Infantry, with its honor undimmed by any such wanton
crime, with a record unexcelled by any regiment in the
service, was the target for all sorts of criticism and
persecution as soon as it arrived. The one is a white
regiment, composed of the scum of the earth, the other a
black regiment composed of men who have yet to do one thing
of which they should be ashamed. Yet Denver welcomes the one
with open arms and salutes with marked favor, while she
barely suffered the other to remain.
Had it been a negro soldier who committed the dastardly deed
of Saturday night the War Department would have been deluged
with complaints and requests for removal, but not a word has
been said against the 34th. Prejudice and hatred blacker
than the wings of night has so envenomed the breasts of the
people that fairness is out of the question. Be he black, no
matter how noble and good, a man must be despised. Be he
white, he may commit the foulest of crimes and yet have his
crimes condoned.
CHAPTER XI.
The Colored Volunteers.
The Ninth Ohio Battalion--Eighth Illinois--Twenty-third
Kansas-Third North Carolina--Sixth Virginia--Third
Alabama--The Immunes.
The return of the army and the repatriation of the Spanish army from
Cuba, brought before the country for immediate solution the problem of
garrisoning that island; and in a very short time the question of
similar nature regarding Porto Rico.
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