Colonel Roberts, a veteran cavalryman, was very fond of his men. He has repeatedly paid them the highest compliments, not only for their valor and soldierly qualities, but for their quick intelligence, amenity to discipline, and for the clean living which made them so remarkably free from disease. He has stated that he would not know where to select a better group of men for everything that goes to make up efficient, dependable soldiers. Colonel Roberts received the Croix de Guerre, with the following citation:
"A commander entirely devoted to duty, he succeeded by dint of working day and night in holding with his regiment a difficult sector, though the officers and men were without experience, under heavy shelling. He personally took charge of a battalion on the front line on October 12 and led it to the objectives assigned by the crossing of the Ailette canal."
American historians may not give the Negro fighters the place to which their records entitle them; that remains to be seen. From the testimony of French commanders, however, it is evident that the pages of French history will not be printed unless they contain the valiant, patriotic, heroic deeds of the Illinois and New York regiments with their comrades of the 93rd and 92nd Divisions.
In the various sectors to which they were assigned, they were in virtually every important fight. They met the flower of the Kaiser's forces, held them and on more than one occasion made them retreat. The Hun had misjudged them and it was fortunate that he had. They endured their share of hardship, marching many weary miles, day after day, without sufficient food. Nothing could affect their spirit and dash. When the call came, they went over the top, that the world might be made safe for democracy.
Among the officers and men of the 370th were represented about every calling in which the Negro of this day engages. There were men of professional pursuits; lawyers, doctors and teachers; students, mechanics, business men, farmers and laborers. The poet of the regiment was Lieutenant Blaine G. Alston. The following little poem, if properly digested and understood, tells volumes within itself:
"OVER THERE"
Did you ever hear a bullet whiz,
Or dodge a hand grenade?
Have you watched long lines of trenches dug
By doughboys with a spade?
Have you seen the landscape lighted up
At midnight by a shell?
Have you seen a hillside blazing forth
Like a furnace room in hell?
Have you stayed all night in a ruined town
With a rafter for a bed?
With horses stamping underneath
In the morning when they are fed?
Have you heard the crump-crump whistle?
Do you know the dud shell's grunt?
Have you played rat in a dugout?—
Then you have surely seen the front.
—Lieut. Blaine G. Alston, 370th U.S. Troops.
CHAPTER XVII.
NARRATIVE OF AN OFFICER.
Special Article by Captain John H. Patton, Adjutant of 8th Illinois—Summarizes Operations of the Regiment—From First Call to Mustering Out—An Eye Witness Account—In Training Camps, at Sea, in France—Service in Argonne Forest—Many Other Engagements—A Thrilling Record—Battalion Operations in Detail—Special Mention of Companies and Individuals.