CHAPTER II.
THE BEGINNING OF HOSTILITIES.
A COLORED HERO IN THE NAVY.
History records the Negro as the first man to fall in three wars of America--Crispus Attacks in the Boston massacre, March 5, 1770; an unknown Negro in Baltimore when the Federal troops were mobbed in that city _en route_ to the front, and Elijah B.Tunnell, of Accomac county, Virginia, who fell simultaneously with or a second before Ensign Bagley, of the torpedo boat _Winslow_, in the harbor of Cardenas May 11, 1898, in the Spanish-American war.
Elijah B.Tunnell was employed as cabin cook on the _Winslow_.

The boat, under a severe fire from masked batteries of the Spanish on shore, was disabled.

The Wilmington came to her rescue, the enemy meanwhile still pouring on a heavy fire.

It was difficult to get the "line" fastened so that the _Winslow_ could be towed off out of range of the Spanish guns.

Realizing the danger the boat and crew were in, and anxious to be of service, Tunnell left his regular work and went on deck to assist in "making fast" the two boats, and while thus engaged a shell came, which, bursting over the group of workers, killed him and three others.