Katherine D. Tillman, "The Black Boys in Blue" (1902)
Watch as they march from the West to the sea,
Cavalry brave and armed infantry,
Men who have fought, so the records say,
Like lions on the frontiers far away.
"Black Buffaloes," the Indians called them first,
But when in the fight they got the worst
Of that awful burst of shot and shell,
They turned and rushed away pell-mell!
There were black boys fighting at Bunker's Hill;
In 1812 they were at it still,
And when they were called, in sixty-one,
Thousands shouldered a government gun!
Ne'er should the love of their country wane
For the black boys who sank in the gallant Maine
Nor the heroes who charged with such good will
And saved the Rough Riders at San Juan Hill.
Published in Tillman's Recitations, 1902