There were four Regular Army regiments recruited after the Civil War from the veterans of the US Colored Troops raised for war service. Two were infantry, the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth, and two Cavalry, the Ninth and Tenth. The Tenth Cavalry was mostly stationed in the west to keep order among the Native Americans who called them Buffalo Soldiers. There has been a continuing great interest in the deeds and motivations of these men in the face of rampant prejudice and social seperation. The Tenth's service has been perpetuated in the present order of battle of the US Army and there still is an active 10th Cavalry though it is now integrated.
This 1899 book was long out of print and the original is now a collectible. This facsimile reprint edition, with a new introduction added, should interest all those who study the War with Spain. In addition to a few introductory chapters on Negro's service from the Revolution to the Civil War, and a chapter each on the other three Black regiments, the book gives most coverage to the Tenth in Cuba. The 9th and 10th flanked the famous 1st Volunteer Cavalry, the "Rough Riders" at San Juan.
The original also has a commendatory introduction by the Cavalry Division commanding officer "Fighting Joe" Wheeler, who had been a Confederate officer in the Civil War. Most of the book is a collection of personal narratives interspersed with interviews with other commanders.
As an aside, Lt. John J. Pershing, later commander of the Punitive Expedition in 1916 and then the AEF in France, got his nickname "Black Jack" from his service with the Tenth.