Negro soldiers have shown their ability to command by
commanding, not always with shoulder-straps, to be sure, but
nevertheless commanding. With wearying succession, instance after
instance, where Negroes have exercised all manner of military command
and always creditably, have extended for us a recital to the border of
monotony, and made formidable test of our patience. In France and the
West Indies, in Central and South America, Negroes have commanded
armies, in one instance fighting under Napoleon, at other times to
free themselves from slavery and their countries from the yoke of
oppression. In our own country, from the days of the Revolution, when
fourteen American officers declared in a memorial to the Congress,
that a "Negro man called Salem Poor, of Colonel Frye's regiment,
Captain Ames' company, in the late battle at Charlestown, behaved like
an _experienced officer_, as well as an excellent soldier;"[36] from
the first war of the nation down to its last, Negro soldiers have been
evincing their capacity to command. In the Civil War, where thousands
of colored soldiers fought for the Union, their ability to command has
been evidenced in a hundred ways, on scouts and expeditions, in camp
and in battle; on two notable occasions, Negro officers gallantly
fought their commands side by side with white officers, and added
lustre to the military glory of the nation.
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