Leaning over his horse with sword in hand he plucked up an enemy whose gun was levelled at the officer.
The Spaniard was killed by the Negro who himself fell dead, shot by another.

He had saved the life of his lieutenant and lost his own.
A comrade of the Seventeenth Infantry gave his testimony.

Said he: "I shall never forget the 1st of July.

At one time in the engagement of that day the Twenty-first Infantry had faced a superior force of Spaniards and were almost completely surrounded.

The Twenty-fourth Infantry, of colored troops, seeing the perilous position of the Twenty-first, rushed to the rescue, charged and routed the enemy, thereby saving the ill-fated regiment." Col.