Trouble in the Philippines

A black soldier in need of help during the middle of the night gets in trouble for waking up one of the white doctors.

Please allow me space in your paper to publish the following. I am a soldier in the Twenty-fifth Infantry and I would like for my people to know how the colored soldiers are getting along in this regiment. I want to state the fact and tell the public of the injustice that is dealt to the Twenty-fifth’s soldiers. A few nights ago a Sergeant was taken sick and went to the hospital for treatment and because the Doctor had to get up in the night he became angry and these are the words he said: “Nigger what did you come here and wake me up for. I have a good notion to kick you down you black ------, Nigger, I have got a good notion to kick your -----, you ----- Nigger.” This was reported to the commanding officer, Col. Hoyt, all he said or did was “Let it drop, don’t say so again. So beware, colored people, and stay out of the army. I can’t begin to tell all that has occurred within one year. If an officer strikes a soldier and the soldier defends himself he is sent to prison for ten or fifteen years. I am praying for my time to expire.
Respectfully yours,
Soldier, 25th Infantry

“Trouble in the Philippines,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed February 16, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/525.