This organization was composed of four
companies, with colored captains and lieutenants, the staff officers
also being colored, the commanding officer of the battalion being
Major Young, who was a first lieutenant in the Regular Army, a
graduate from the Military Academy, and an officer of experience. He
is the person referred to as _Colonel_ Young by General Breckinridge,
cited just above. This battalion, although not permitted to do any
active campaigning, maintained itself well in that most trying of all
duties for raw troops--camp duty--winning a good record in the South
as well as in the North, having been stationed in Virginia,
Pennsylvania and lastly in South Carolina; from which latter place it
was mustered out, and the men proceeded to their homes in an orderly
manner, reflecting credit upon themselves and the officers under whom
they had served. This organization is mentioned first, because it was
the only one of its kind commanded by a Regular Army officer, and a
man who had received scientific military training.[25]
Two of these volunteer regiments, the Eighth Illinois and the
Twenty-third Kansas, reached Cuba and made history there, in garrison
service, coming in direct contact with the Ninth Immunes, and in no
sense suffering in comparison thereto.
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