"When General Thomas rode over the battle-field and saw the bodies of colored men side by side with the foremost, on the very works of the enemy, he turned to his staff, saying: 'Gentlemen, the question is settled; negroes will fight.' He did me the honor to recommend me for promotion, and told me that he intended to give me the best brigade that he could form. This he afterward did.
"After the great victory, we joined in the chase after the fleeing foe. Hood's army was whipped, demoralized, and pretty badly scattered. A good many stragglers were picked up. A story circulated to this effect: Some of our boys on making a sharp turn in the road, came upon a forlorn Southern soldier, who had lost his arms, thrown away his accoutrements, and was sitting on a log by the roadside, waiting to give himself up. He was saluted with, 'Well, Johnny, how goes it?' 'Well, Yank, I'll tell ye; I confess I'm horribly whipped, and badly demoralized, but blamed if I'm scattered!'
"After we had passed along through Franklin, we had orders to turn about and return to that city. I was riding at the head of the column, followed by my own regiment. The men were swinging along 'arms at will,' when they spied General Thomas and staff approaching. Without orders they brought their arms to 'right shoulder shift,' took the step, and striking up their favorite tune of 'John Brown,' whistled it with admirable effect while passing the General, greatly to his amusement.
"We had a very memorable march from Franklin to Murfreesboro, over miserable dirt roads. About December 19th or 20th, we were on the march at an early hour, but the rain was there before us, and stuck by us closer than a brother. We were drenched through and through, and few had a dry thread. We waded streams of water nearly waist deep; we pulled through mud that seemed to have no bottom, and where many a soldier left his shoes seeking for it. The open woods pasture where we went into camp that night, was surrounded with a high fence made of cedar rails. That fence was left standing, and was not touched—until—well, I do believe that the owner's bitterness at his loss was fully balanced by the comfort and good cheer which those magnificent rail fires afforded us that December night. They did seem providentially provided for us.
"During the night the weather turned cold, and when we resumed our march the ground was frozen and the roads were simply dreadful, especially for those of our men who had lost their shoes the day before and were now compelled to walk barefoot, tracking their way with blood. Such experiences take away something of the romance sometimes suggested to the inexperienced by the phase, 'soldiering in the Sunny South,' but then a touch of it is worth having for the light it throws over such historical scenes as those at Valley Forge.
"We continued in the pursuit of Hood, as far as Huntsville, Ala., when he disappeared to return no more, and we were allowed to go back to Chattanooga, glad of an opportunity to rest. Distance travelled, 420 miles.
"We had no more fighting. There were many interesting experiences, which, however, I will not take time to relate. In August, 1865, being in command of the Post at Knoxville, Tenn., grateful to have escaped without imprisonment, wounds, or even a day of severe illness, I resigned my commission, after forty months of service, to resume my studies.
"I cannot close this paper without expressing the conviction that history has not yet done justice to the share borne by colored soldiers in the war for the Union. Their conduct during that eventful period, has been a silent, but most potent factor in influencing public sentiment, shaping legislation, and fixing the status of colored people in America. If the records of their achievements could be put into such shape that they could be accessible to the thousands of colored youth in the South, they would kindle in their young minds an enthusiastic devotion to manhood and liberty."