CHAPTER II.

AMERICAN NEGRO AND THE MILITARY SPIRIT.

Early Literature of Negro Soldiers--Negro Soldiers in the
War of the Revolution--The War of 1812--Negro
Insurrections--Negro Troops in the Civil War--Notes.


"Do you think I'll make a soldier?" is the opening line of one of
those delightful spirituals, originating among the slaves in the far
South. I first heard it sung in the Saint James Methodist Church,
corner of Spring and Coming Streets, Charleston, South Carolina,
immediately after the close of the war. It was sung by a vast
congregation to a gentle, swinging air, with nothing of the martial
about it, and was accompanied by a swaying of the body to the time of
the music. Occasionally there would be the "curtesys" peculiar to the
South Carolina slave of the low country, which consists in a stooping
of the body by bending the knees only, the head remaining erect, a
movement which takes the place of the bow among equals. The older
ladies, with heads adorned with the ever-present Madras kerchief,
often tied in the most becoming and tasteful manner, and faces aglow
with an enthusiasm that bespoke a life within sustained by visions of
spiritual things, would often be seen to shake hands and add a word of
greeting and hope which would impart a charm and meaning to the
singing far above what the humble words of the song without these
accessories could convey. As the rich chorus of matchless voices
poured out in perfect time and tune, "Rise, shine, and give God the