CHAPTER XVI.
THROUGH HELL AND SUFFERING.
Negro Officers Make Good--Wonderful Record of the 8th Illinois--"Black Devils" Win Decorations Galore--Tribute of French Commander--His Farewell to Prairie Fighters--They Fought After War Was Over--Hard to Stop Them--Individual Deeds of Heroism--Their Dead, Their Wounded and Suffering--A Poem.
In the past when the subject of the Negro's fighting ability was under discussion, there were always found those whose grudging assent to his merits as a soldier was modified by the assertion that he had to be properly commanded; in other words must have white officers.

Never having been given a conspicuous opportunity to demonstrate his capacity for leadership in battle, until the formation of the 8th Illinois infantry in the Spanish-American war, the Negro was forced to rest under the imputation that as a follower he did fairly well, but as a leader he was a failure.
Let anyone who still holds that view study the record of the 8th Illinois, or the 370th, as it was rechristened when entering the service of the general government in the recent war.

Seventy-one War Crosses with special citations for valor and merit, and twenty-one Distinguished Service Crosses were awarded officers and men of the regiment.

Many men in the 370th were veterans of the Spanish-American war as well as the campaign of 1916 on the Mexican border, which, while not an actual war, was for some months a locality of service and hard service at that; the regiment passing through it with great credit.
It was organized as a single battalion in 1891, increased to a regiment and sent to Cuba in 1898, every officer and man in the regiment being a Negro.

Upon its return, over half of the city of Chicago turned out in greeting.