CHAPTER V.

DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF.

When Admiral Farragut's fleet anchored at New Orleans, and Butler

occupied the city, three regiments of confederate negro troops were

under arms guarding the United States Mint building, with orders to

destroy it before surrendering it to the Yankees. The brigade, however,

was in command of a Creole mulatto, who, instead of carrying out the

orders given him, and following the troops out of the city on their

retreat, counter-marched his command and was cut off from the main body

of the army by the Federal forces, to whom they quietly surrendered a

few days after.

General Phelps commanded the Federal forces at Carrolton, about seven

miles from New Orleans, the principal point in the cordon around the

city. Here the slaves congregated in large numbers, seeking freedom and

protection from their barbarous overseers and masters. Some of these

poor creatures wore irons and chains; some came bleeding from gunshot

wounds. General Phelps was an old abolitionist, and had early conceived

the idea that the proper thing to do was for the government to arm the

negroes. Now came his opportunity to act. Hundreds of able-bodied men

were in his camps, ready and willing to fight for their freedom and the

preservation of the Union. The secessionists in that neighborhood

complained to General Butler about their negroes leaving them and going

into camp with the Yankees. So numerous were the complaints, that the

General, acting under orders from Washington, and also foreseeing that

General Phelps intended allowing the slaves to gather at his post,

issued the following order:

"NEW ORLEANS, May 23, 1862.

"GENERAL:--You will cause all unemployed persons, black and

white, to be excluded from your lines.

"You will not permit either black or white persons to pass

your lines, not officers and soldiers or belonging to the

navy of the United States, without a pass from these

headquarters, except they are brought in under guard as

captured persons, with information, and those to be examined

and detained as prisoners of war, if they have been in arms

against the United States, or dismissed and sent away at

once, as the case may be. This does not apply to boats

passing up the river without landing within the lines.

"Provision dealers and marketmen are to be allowed to pass

in with provisions and their wares, but not to remain over

night.

"Persons having had their permanent residence within your

lines before the occupation of our troops, are not to be

considered unemployed persons.

"Your officers have reported a large number of servants.

Every officer so reported employing servants will have the

allowance for servants deducted from his pay-roll.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

B. F. BUTLER.

"Brig.-Gen. PHELPS, Commanding Camp Parapet."

This struck Gen. Phelps as an inhuman order, though he obeyed it and

placed the slaves just outside of his camp lines. Here the solders,

having drank in the spirit of their commander, cared for the fugitives

from slavery. But they continued to come, according to divine

appointment, and their increase prompted Gen. Phelps to write this

patriotic, pathetic and eloquent appeal, knowing it must reach the

President:

"CAMP PARAPET, NEAR CARROLLTON, LA., June 16, 1862.

"Capt. R. S. DAVIS, Acting Assistant Adjutant-General, New Orleans.

La.:

"SIR: I enclose herewith, for the information of the

major-general commanding the department, a report of Major

Peck, officer of the day, concerning a large number of

negroes, of both sexes and all ages, who are lying near our

pickets, with bag and baggage, as if they had already

commenced an exodus. Many of these negroes have been sent

away from one of the neighboring sugar plantations by their

owner, a Mr. Babilliard La Blanche, who tells them, I am

informed, that 'the Yankees are king here now, and that they

must go to their king for food and shelter.'

"They are of that four millions of our colored subjects who

have no king or chief, nor in fact any government that can

secure to them the simplest natural rights. They can not

even be entered into treaty stipulations with and deported

to the east, as our Indian tribes have been to the west.

They have no right to the mediation of a justice of the

peace or jury between them and chains and lashes. They have

no right to wages for their labor; no right to the Sabbath;

no right to the institution of marriage; no right to letters

or to self-defense. A small class of owners, rendered

unfeeling, and even unconscious and unreflecting by habit,

and a large part of them ignorant and vicious, stand between

them and their government, destroying its sovereignty. This

government has not the power even to regulate the number of

lashes that its subjects may receive. It can not say that

they shall receive thirty-nine instead of forty. To a large

and growing class of its subjects it can secure neither

justice, moderation, nor the advantages of Christian

religion; and if it can not protect _all_ its subjects, it

can protect none, either black or white.

"It is nearly a hundred years since our people first

declared to the nations of the world that all men are born

free; and still we have not made our declaration good.

Highly revolutionary measures have since then been adopted

by the admission of Missouri and the annexation of Texas in

favor of slavery by the barest majorities of votes, while

the highly conservative vote of two-thirds has at length

been attained against slavery, and still slavery

exists--even, moreover, although two-thirds of the blood in

the veins of our slaves is fast becoming from our own race.

If we wait for a larger vote, or until our slaves' blood

becomes more consanguined still with our own, the danger of

a violent revolution, over which we can have no control,

must become more imminent every day. By a course of

undecided action, determined by no policy but the vague will

of a war-distracted people, we run the risk of precipitating

that very revolutionary violence which we seem seeking to

avoid.

"Let us regard for a moment the elements of such a

revolution.

[Illustration: WASHING IN CAMP]

"Many of the slaves here have been sold away from the border

States as a punishment, being too refractory to be dealt

with there in the face of the civilization of the North.

They come here with the knowledge of the Christian religion,

with its germs planted and expanding, as it were, in the

dark, rich soil of their African nature, with feelings of

relationship with the families from which they came, and

with a sense of unmerited banishment as culprits, all which

tends to bring upon them a greater severity of treatment and

a corresponding disinclination 'to receive punishment'. They

are far superior beings to their ancestors, who were brought

from Africa two generations ago, and who occasionally

rebelled against comparatively less severe punishment than

is inflicted now. While rising in the scale of Christian

beings, their treatment is being rendered more severe than

ever. The whip, the chains, the stocks, and imprisonment are

no mere fancies here; they are used to any extent to which

the imagination of civilized man may reach. Many of them are

as intelligent as their masters, and far more moral, for

while the slave appeals to the moral law as his vindication,

clinging to it as to the very horns of the altar of his

safety and his hope, the master seldom hesitates to wrest

him from it with violence and contempt. The slave, it is

true, bears no resentment; he asks for no punishment for his

master; he simply claims justice for himself; and it is this

feature of his condition that promises more terror to the

retribution when it comes. Even now the whites stand

accursed by their oppression of humanity, being subject to a

degree of confusion, chaos, and enslavement to error and

wrong, which northern society could not credit or

comprehend.

"Added to the four millions of the colored race whose

disaffection is increasing even more rapidly than their

number, there are at least four millions more of the white

race whose growing miseries will naturally seek

companionship with those of the blacks. This latter portion

of southern society has its representatives, who swing from

the scaffold with the same desperate coolness, though from a

directly different cause, as that which was manifested by

John Brown. The traitor Mumford, who swung the other day for

trampling on the national flag, had been rendered placid and

indifferent in his desperation by a government that either

could not or would not secure to its subjects the blessings

of liberty which that flag imports. The South cries for

justice from the government as well as the North, though in

a proud and resentful spirit; and in what manner is that

justice to be obtained? Is it to be secured by that wretched

resource of a set of profligate politicians, called

'reconstruction?' No, it is to be obtained by the abolition

of slavery, and by no other course.

"It is vain to deny that the slave system of labor is giving

shape to the government of the society where it exists, and

that that government is not republican, either in form or

spirit. It was through this system that the leading

conspirators have sought to fasten upon the people an

aristocracy or a despotism; and it is not sufficient that

they should be merely defeated in their object, and the

country be rid of their rebellion; for by our constitution

we are imperatively obliged to sustain the State against the

ambition of unprincipled leaders, and secure to them the

republican form of government. We have positive duties to

perform, and should hence adopt and pursue a positive,

decided policy. We have services to render to certain states

which they cannot perform for themselves. We are in an

emergency which the framers of the constitution might easily

have foreseen, and for which they have amply provided.

"It is clear that the public good requires slavery to be

abolished; but in what manner is it to be done? The mere

quiet operation of congressional law can not deal with

slavery as in its former status before the war, because the

spirit of law is right reason, and there is no reason in

slavery. A system so unreasonable as slavery can not be

regulated by reason. We can hardly expect the several states

to adopt laws or measures against their own immediate

interests. We have seen that they will rather find arguments

for crime than seek measures for abolishing or modifying

slavery. But there is one principle which is fully

recognized as a necessity in conditions like ours, and that

is that the public safety is the supreme law of the State,

and that amid the clash of arms the laws of peace are

silent. It is then for our president, the commander-in-chief

of our armies, to declare the abolition of slavery, leaving

it to the wisdom of congress to adopt measures to meet the

consequences. This is the usual course pursued by a general

or by a military power. That power gives orders affecting

complicated interests and millions of property, leaving it

to the other functions of government to adjust and regulate

the effects produced. Let the president abolish slavery, and

it would be an easy matter for congress, through a

well-regulated system of apprenticeship, to adopt safe

measures for effecting a gradual transition from slavery to

freedom.

"The existing system of labor in Louisiana is unsuited to

the age; and by the intrusion of the national forces it

seems falling to pieces. It is a system of mutual jealousy

and suspicion between the master and the man--a system of

violence, immorality and vice. The fugitive negro tells us

that our presence renders his condition worse with his

master than it was before, and that we offer no alleviation

in return. The system is impolitic, because it offers but

one stimulent to labor and effort, viz.: the lash, when

another, viz.: money, might be added with good effect. Fear,

and the other low and bad qualities of the slave, are

appealed to, but never the good. The relation, therefore,

between capital and labor, which ought to be generous and

confiding, is darkling, suspicious, unkindly, full of

reproachful threats, and without concord or peace. This

condition of things renders the interests of society a prey

to politicians. Politics cease to be practical or useful.

"The questions that ought to have been discussed in the late

extraordinary convention of Louisiana, are: _First_, What

ought the State of Louisiana to do to adopt her ancient

system of labor to the present advanced spirit of the age?

And _Second_, How can the State be assisted by the general

government in effecting the change? But instead of this, the

only question before that body was how to vindicate slavery

by flogging the Yankees!

"Compromises hereafter are not to be made with politicians,

but with sturdy labor and the right to work. The interests

of workingmen resent political trifling. Our political

education, shaped almost entirely to the interest of

slavery, has been false and vicious in the extreme, and it

must be corrected with as much suddenness, almost, as that

with which Salem witchcraft came to an end. The only

question that remains to decide is how the change shall take

place.

"We are not without examples and precedents in the history

of the past. The enfranchisement of the people of Europe has

been, and is still going on, through the instrumentality of

military service; and by this means our slaves might be

raised in the scale of civilization and prepared for

freedom. Fifty regiments might be raised among them at once,

which could be employed in this climate to preserve order,

and thus prevent the necessity of retrenching our liberties,

as we should do by a large army exclusively of whites. For

it is evident that a considerable army of whites would give

stringency to our government, while an army, partly of

blacks, would naturally operate in favor of freedom and

against those influences which at present most endanger our

liberties. At the end of five years they could be sent to

Africa, and their places filled with new enlistments.

"There is no practical evidence against the effects of

immediate abolition, even if there is not in its favor. I

have witnessed the sudden abolition of flogging at will in

the army, and of legalized flogging in the navy, against the

prejudice-warped judgments of both, and, from the beneficial

effects there, I have nothing to fear from the immediate

abolition of slavery. I fear, rather, the violent

consequences from a continuance of the evil. But should such

an act devastate the whole State of Louisiana, and render

the whole soil here but the mere passage-way of the fruits

of the enterprise and industry of the Northwest, it would be

better for the country at large than it is now as the seat

of disaffection and rebellion.

"When it is remembered that not a word is found in our

constitution sanctioning the buying and selling of human

beings, a shameless act which renders our country the

disgrace of Christendom, and worse, in this respect, even

than Africa herself, we should have less dread of seeing the

degrading traffic stopped at once and forever. Half wages

are already virtually paid for slave labor in the system of

tasks which, in an unwilling spirit of compromise, most of

the slave states have already been compelled to adopt. At

the end of five years of apprenticeship, or of fifteen at

farthest, full wages could be paid to the enfranchised negro

race, to the double advantage of both master and man. This

is just; for we now hold the slaves of Louisiana by the same

tenure that the State can alone claim them, viz: by the

original right of conquest. We have so far conquered them

that a proclamation setting them free, coupled with offers

of protection, would devastate every plantation in the

State.

"In conclusion, I may state that Mr. La Blanche is, as I am

informed, a descendant from one of the oldest families of

Louisiana. He is wealthy and a man of standing, and his act

in sending away his negroes to our lines, with their clothes

and furniture, appears to indicate the convictions of his

own mind as to the proper logical consequences and

deductions that should follow from the present relative

status of the two contending parties. He seems to be

convinced that the proper result of the conflict is the

manumission of the slave, and he may be safely regarded in

this respect as a representative man of the State. I so

regard him myself, and thus do I interpret his action,

although my camp now contains some of the highest symbols of

secessionism, which have been taken by a party of the

Seventh Vermont volunteers from his residence.

"Meantime his slaves, old and young, little ones and all,

are suffering from exposure and uncertainty as to their

future condition. Driven away by their master, with threats

of violence if they return, and with no decided welcome or

reception from us, what is to be their lot? Considerations

of humanity are pressing for an immediate solution of their

difficulties; and they are but a small portion of their race

who have sought, and are still seeking, our pickets and our

military stations, declaring that they can not and will not

any longer serve their masters, and that all they want is

work and protection from us. In such a state of things, the

question occurs as to my own action in the case. I cannot

return them to their masters, who not unfrequently come in

search of them, for I am, fortunately, prohibited by an

article of war from doing that, even if my own nature did

not revolt at it. I can not receive them, for I have neither

work, shelter, nor the means or plan of transporting them to

Hayti, or of making suitable arrangements with their masters

until they can be provided for.

"It is evident that some plan, some policy, or some system

is necessary on the part of the government, without which

the agent can do nothing, and all his efforts are rendered

useless and of no effect. This is no new condition in which

I find myself; it is my experience during the some

twenty-five years of my public life as a military officer of

the government. The new article of war recently adopted by

congress, rendering it criminal in an officer of the army to

return fugitives from injustice, is the first support that I

have ever felt from the government in contending against

those slave influences which are opposed to its character

and to its interests. But the mere refusal to return

fugitives does not now meet the case. A public agent in the

present emergency must be invested with wider and more

positive powers than this, or his services will prove as

valueless to the country as they are unsatisfactory to

himself.

"Desiring this communication to be laid before the

president, and leaving my commission at his disposal, I have

the honor to remain, sir,

"Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. W. PHELPS, _Brigadier-General._"

On the day on which he received this letter, Gen. Butler forwarded to

Washington this dispatch:

"NEW ORLEANS, LA., June 18, 1862.

"Hon. E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War:

"SIR:--Since my last dispatch was written, I have received

the accompanying report from General Phelps.

"It is not my duty to enter into a discussion of the

questions which it presents.

"I desire, however, to state the information of Mr. La

Blanche, given me by his friends and neighbors, and also

_Jack_ La Blanche, his slave, who seems to be the leader of

this party of negroes. Mr. La Blanche I have not seen. He,

however, claims to be loyal, and to have taken no part in

the war, but to have lived quietly on his plantation, some

twelve miles above New Orleans, on the opposite side of the

river. He has a son in the secession army, whose uniform and

equipments, &c., are the symbols of secession of which

General Phelps speaks. Mr. La Blanche's house was searched

by the order of General Phelps, for arms and contraband of

war, and his neighbors say that his negroes were told that

they were free if they would come to the general's camp.

[Illustration: COOKING IN CAMP]

"That thereupon the negroes, under the lead of Jack,

determined to leave, and for that purpose crowded into a

small boat which, from overloading, was in danger of

swamping.

"La Blanche then told his negroes that if they were

determined to go, they would be drowned, and he would hire

them a large boat to put them across the river, and that

they might have their furniture if they would go and leave

his plantation and crop to ruin.

"They decided to go, and La Blanche did all a man could to

make that going safe.

"The account of General Phelps is the negro side of the

story; that above given is the story of Mr. La Blanche's

neighbors, some of whom I know to be loyal men.

"An order against negroes being allowed in camp is the

reason they are outside.

"Mr. La Blanche is represented to be a humane man, and did

not consent to the 'exodus' of his negroes.

"General Phelps, I believe, intends making this a test case

for the policy of the government. I wish it might be so, for

the difference of our action upon this subject is a source

of trouble. I respect his honest sincerity of opinion, but I

am a soldier, bound to carry out the wishes of my government

so long as I hold its commission, and I understand that

policy to be the one I am pursuing. I do not feel at liberty

to pursue any other. If the policy of the government is

nearly that I sketched in my report upon the subject and

that which I have ordered in this department, then the

services of General Phelps are worse than useless here. If

the views set forth in his report are to obtain, then he is

invaluable, for his whole soul is in it, and he is a good

soldier of large experience, and no braver man lives. I beg

to leave the whole question with the president, with perhaps

the needless assurance that his wishes shall be loyalty

followed, were they not in accordance with my own, as I have

now no right to have any upon the subject.

"I write in haste, as the steamer 'Mississippi' is awaiting

this dispatch.

"Awaiting the earliest possible instructions, I have the

honor to be,

"Your most obedient servant,

"B. F. BUTLER, _Major General Commanding._"

Gen. Phelps waited about six weeks for a reply, but none came. Meanwhile

the negroes continued to gather at his camp. He said, in regard to not

receiving an answer, "I was left to the inference that silence gives

consent, and proceeded therefore to take such decided measures as

appeared best calculated, to me, to dispose of the difficulty."

Accordingly he made the following requisition upon headquarters:

"CAMP PARAPET, LA., July 30, 1862.

"Captain R. S. DAVIS, A. A. A. General, New Orleans, La.:

"SIR:--I enclose herewith requisitions for arms,

accouterments, clothing, camp and garrison equipage, &c.,

for three regiments of Africans, which I propose to raise

for the defense of this point. The location is swampy and

unhealthy, and our men are dying at the rate of two or three

a day.

"The southern loyalists are willing, as I understand, to

furnish their share of the tax for the support of the war;

but they should also furnish their quota of men, which they

have not thus far done. An opportunity now offers of

supplying the deficiency; and it is not safe to neglect

opportunities in war. I think that, with the proper

facilities, I could raise the three regiments proposed in a

short time. Without holding out any inducements, or offering

any reward, I have now upward of three hundred Africans

organized into five companies, who are all willing and ready

to show their devotion to our cause in any way that it may

be put to the test. They are willing to submit to anything

rather than to slavery.

Society in the South seems to be on the point of

dissolution; and the best way of preventing the African from

becoming instrumental in a general state of anarchy, is to

enlist him in the cause of the Republic. If we reject his

services, any petty military chieftain, by offering him

freedom, can have them for the purpose of robbery and

plunder. It is for the interests of the South, as well of

the North, that the African should be permitted to offer his

block for the temple of freedom. Sentiments unworthy of the

man of the present day--worthy only of another Cain--could

alone prevent such an offer from being accepted.

I would recommend that the cadet graduates of the present

year should be sent to South Carolina and this point to

organize and discipline our African levies, and that the

more promising non-commissioned officers and privates of the

army be appointed as company officers to command them.

Prompt and energetic efforts in this direction would

probably accomplish more toward a speedy termination of the

war, and an early restoration of peace and unity, than any

other course which could be adopted.

"I have the honor to remain, sir,

very respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. W. PHELPS, _Brigadier-General._"

This reply was received:

NEW ORLEANS, July 31, 1862.

"GENERAL:--The general commanding wishes you to employ the

contrabands in and about your camp in cutting down all the

trees, &c., between your lines and the lake, and in forming

abatis, according to the plan agreed upon between you and

Lieutenant Weitzel when he visited you some time since. What

wood is not needed by you is much needed in this city. For

this purpose I have ordered the quartermaster to furnish you

with axes, and tents for the contrabands to be quartered in.

"I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

"By order of Major-General BUTLER.

"R. S. DAVIS, Capt. and A. A. A. G.

"To Brigadier-General J. W. PHELPS, Camp Parapet."

General Butler's effort to turn the attention of Gen. Phelps to the law

of Congress recently passed was of no avail, that officer was determined

in his policy of warring on the enemy; but finding General Butler as

firm in his policy of leniency, and knowing of his strong pro-slavery

sentiments prior to the war,--notwithstanding his "contraband" order at

Fortress Monroe,--General Phelps felt as though he would be humiliated

if he departed from his own policy and became what he regarded as a

slave-driver, therefore he determined to resign. He replied to General

Butler as follows:

"CAMP PARAPET, LA., July 31, 1862.

"Captain R. S. DAVIS, A. A. A. General, New Orleans, La.:

"SIR:--The communication from your office of this date,

signed, 'By order of Major-General Butler,' directing me to

employ the 'contrabands' in and about my camp in cutting

down all the trees between my lines and the lake, etc., has

just been received.

"In reply, I must state that while I am willing to prepare

African regiments for the defense of the government against

its assailants, I am not willing to become the mere

slave-driver which you propose, having no qualifications in

that way. I am, therefore, under the necessity of tendering

the resignation of my commission as an officer of the army

of the United States, and respectfully request a leave of

absence until it is accepted, in accordance with paragraph

29, page 12, of the general regulations.

"While I am writing, at half-past eight o'clock P. M., a

colored man is brought in by one of the pickets who has just

been wounded in the side by a charge of shot, which he says

was fired at him by one of a party of three slave-hunters or

guerillas, a mile or more from our line of sentinels. As it

is some distance from the camp to the lake, the party of

wood-choppers which you have directed will probably need a

considerable force to guard them against similar attacks.

"I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

"J. W. PHELPS, _Brigadier-General._"

Phelps was one of Butler's most trusted commanders, and the latter

endeavored, but in vain, to have him reconsider his resignation. General

Butler wrote him:

NEW ORLEANS, August, 2, 1862.

"GENERAL:--I was somewhat surprised to receive your

resignation for the reasons stated.

"When you were put in command at Camp Parapet, I sent

Lieutenant Weitzel, my chief engineer, to make a

reconnoissance of the lines of Carrollton, and I understand

it was agreed between you and the engineer that a removal

of the wood between Lake Pontchartrain and the right of your

intrenchment was a necessary military precaution. The work

could not be done at that time because of the stage of water

and the want of men. But now both water and men concur. You

have five hundred Africans organized into companies, you

write me. This work they are fitted to do. It must either be

done by them or my soldiers, now drilled and disciplined.

You have said the location is unhealthy for the soldier; it

is not to the negro; is it not best that these unemployed

Africans should do this labor? My attention is specially

called to this matter at the present time, because there are

reports of demonstrations to be made on your lines by the

rebels, and in my judgment it is a matter of necessary

precaution thus to clear the right of your line, so that you

can receive the proper aid from the gunboats on the lake,

besides preventing the enemy from having cover. To do this

the negroes ought to be employed; and in so employing them I

see no evidence of 'slave-driving' or employing you as a

'slave-driver.'

"The soldiers of the Army of the Potomac did this very thing

last summer in front of Arlington Heights; are the negroes

any better than they?

"Because of an order to do this necessary thing to protect

your front, threatened by the enemy, you tender your

resignation and ask immediate leave of absence. I assure you

I did not expect this, either from your courage, your

patriotism, or your good sense. To resign in the face of an

enemy has not been the highest plaudit to a soldier,

especially when the reason assigned is that he is ordered to

do that which a recent act of congress has specially

authorized a military commander to do, _i. e._, employ the

Africans to do the necessary work about a camp or upon a

fortification.

"General, your resignation will not be accepted by me, leave

of absence will not be granted, and you will see to it that

my orders, thus necessary for the defense of the city, are

faithfully and diligently executed, upon the responsibility

that a soldier in the field owes to his superior. I will see

that all proper requisitions for the food, shelter, and

clothing of these negroes so at work are at once filled by

the proper departments. You will also send out a proper

guard to protect the laborers against the guerilla force, if

any, that may be in the neighborhood.

"I am your obedient servant,

"BENJ. F. BUTLER, _Major-General Commanding._

"Brigadier-General J. W. PHELPS, _Commanding at Camp Parapet._"

On the same day, General Butler wrote again to General Phelps:

"NEW ORLEANS, August 2, 1862.

"GENERAL:--By the act of congress, as I understand it, the

president of the United States alone has the authority to

employ Africans in arms as a part of the military forces of

the United States.

"Every law up to this time raising volunteer or militia

forces has been opposed to their employment. The president

has not as yet indicated his purpose to employ the Africans

in arms.

"The arms, clothing, and camp equipage which I have here for

the Louisiana volunteers, is, by the letter of the secretary

of war, expressly limited to white soldiers, so that I have

no authority to divert them, however much I may desire so to

do.

"I do not think you are empowered to organize into companies

negroes, and drill them as a military organization, as I am

not surprised, but unexpectedly informed you have done. I

cannot sanction this course of action as at present advised,

specially when we have need of the services of the blacks,

who are being sheltered upon the outskirts of your camp, as

you will see by the orders for their employment sent you by

the assistant adjutant-general.

"I will send your application to the president, but in the

mean time you must desist from the formation of any negro

military organization.

"I am your obedient servant,

"BENJ. F. BUTLER, _Major-General Commanding._

"Brigadier-General PHELPS, _commanding forces at Camp Parapet._"

General Phelps' resignation was accepted by the Government. He received

notification of the fact on the 8th of September and immediately

prepared to return to his farm in Vermont. In parting with his officers,

who were, like his soldiers, much attached to him, he said: "And now,

with earnest wishes for your welfare, and aspirations for the success of

the great cause for which you are here, I bid you good-bye." Says

Parton:

"When at length, the government had arrived at a negro

policy, and was arming slaves, the president offered General

Phelps a major-general's commission. He replied, it is said,

that he would willingly accept the commission if it were

dated back to the day of his resignation, so as to carry

with it an approval of his course at Camp Parapet. This was

declined, and General Phelps remains in retirement. I

suppose the president felt that an indorsement of General

Phelps' conduct would imply a censure of General Butler,

whose conduct every candid person, I think, must admit, was

just, forbearing, magnanimous."

General Butler was carrying out the policy of the Government at that

time, but it was not long before he found it necessary to inaugurate a

policy of his own for the safety of his command. On the 5th of August

Breckenridge assaulted Baton Rouge, the capital of the State, which

firmly convinced General Butler of the necessity of raising troops to

defend New Orleans. He had somewhat realized his situation in July and

appealed to the "home authorities" for reinforcements, but none could be

sent. Still, the Secretary of War said to him, in reply to his

application: "New Orleans must be held at all hazards."

With New Orleans threatened and no hope of reinforcement, General

Butler, on the 22d day of August, before General Phelps had retired to

private life, was obliged to accept the policy of arming negroes. He

issued the following order:

"HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF,

GENERAL ORDERS "NEW ORLEANS, August 22, 1862.

NO. 63.

"Whereas on the 23d day of April, in the year eighteen

hundred and sixty-one, at a public meeting of the free

colored population of the city of New Orleans, a military

organization, known as the "Native Guards" (colored,) had

its existence, which military organization was duly and

legally enrolled as a part of the militia of the State, its

officers being commissioned by Thomas O. Moore, Governor and

Commander-in-Chief of the militia of the State of Louisiana,

in the form following, that is to say:

"'THE STATE OF LOUISIANA.

[Seal of the State.]

"'By Thomas Overton Moore, Governor of the State of

Louisiana, and commander-in-chief of the militia thereof.

"'In the name and by the authority of the State of

Louisiana: Know ye that ----- ----, having been duly and

legally elected captain of the "Native Guards" (colored,)

1st division of the Militia of Louisiana, to serve for the

term of the war,

"'I do hereby appoint and commission him captain as

aforesaid, to take rank as such, from the 2d day of May,

eighteen hundred and sixty-one.

"'He is, therefore, carefully and diligently to discharge

the duties of his office by doing and performing all manner

of things thereto belonging. And I do strictly charge and

require all officers, non-commissioned officers and privates

under his command, to be obedient to his orders as captain;

and he is to observe and follow such orders and directions,

from time to time, as he shall receive from me, or the

future Governor of the State of Louisiana, or other superior

officers, according to the Rules and Articles of War, and in

conformity to law.

"'In testimony whereof, I have caused these letters to be

made patent, and the seal of the State to be hereunto

annexed.

"'Given under my hand, at the city of Baton Rouge, on the

second day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand

eight hundred and sixty-one.

[L.S.] [Signed,] THOS. O. MOORE.

"'By the Governor:

[Signed,] "'P. D. Hardy, Secretary of State.

[Endorsed.]

"'I, Maurice Grivot, Adjutant and Inspector General of the

State of Louisiana, do hereby certify that ---- ----, named

in the within commission, did, on the second day of May, in

the year 1861, deposit in my office his written acceptance

of the office to which he is commissioned, and his oath of

office taken according to law.

[Signed,] "'M. GRIVOT,

Adjutant and Inspector General, La.'

"And whereas, said military organization elicited praise and

respect, and was complimented in General Orders for its

patriotism and loyalty, and was ordered to continue during

the war, in the words following:

"'HEADQUARTERS LOUISIANA MILITIA,

"'Order No. 426.] "'Adjutant General's Office, March 24, 1862.

"'I.--The Governor and Commander-in-Chief, relying

implicitly upon the loyalty of the free colored population

of the city and State for the protection of their homes,

their property, and for Southern rights, from the pollution

of a ruthless invader, and believing that the military

organization which existed prior to the 15th of February,

1862, and elicited praise and respect for the patriotic

motives which prompted it, should exist for and during the

war, calls upon them to maintain their organization, and to

hold themselves prepared for such orders as may be

transmitted to them.

"'II.--The colonel commanding will report without delay to

Major General Lewis, commanding State militia.

"'By order of THOS. O. MOORE, Governor.

[Signed,] M. GRIVOT, Adjutant General.'

"And whereas, said military organization, by the same order,

was directed to report to Major-General Lewis for service,

but did not leave the city of New Orleans when he did:

"Now, therefore, the Commanding General, believing that a

large portion of this militia force of the State of

Louisiana are willing to take service in the volunteer

forces of the United States, and be enrolled and organized

to 'defend their homes from 'ruthless invaders;' to protect

their wives and children and kindred from wrong and outrage;

to shield their property from being seized by bad men; and

to defend the flag of their native country as their fathers

did under Jackson at Chalmette against Packenham and his

myrmidons, carrying the black flag of 'beauty and booty;'

"Appreciating their motives, relying upon their 'well-known

loyalty and patriotism,' and with 'praise and respect' for

these brave men--it is ordered that all the members of the

'Native Guards' aforesaid, and all other free colored

citizens recognized by the first and late governor and

authorities of the State of Louisiana as a portion of the

militia of the State, who shall enlist in the volunteer

service of the United States, shall be duly organized by the

appointment of proper officers, and accepted, paid,

equipped, armed and rationed as are other volunteer troops

of the United States, subject to the approval of the

President of the United States. All such persons are

required at once to report themselves at the Touro Charity

Building, Front Levee St., New Orleans, where proper

officers will muster them into the service of the United

States.

"By command of Major General Butler:

"R. S. DAVIS, _Capt. and A. A. A. G._"

Notwithstanding the harsh treatment they had been receiving from

Military-Governor Shepley and the Provost Guard, the rendezvous

designated was the scene of a busy throng the next day. Thousands of men

were enlisted during the first week, and in fourteen days a regiment was

organized. The first regiment's line officers were colored, and the

field officers were white. Those who made up this regiment were not all

free negroes by more than half. Any negro who would swear that he was

free, if physically good, was accepted, and of the many thousand slave

fugitives in the city from distant plantations, hundreds found their way

into Touro building and ultimately into the ranks of the three regiments

formed at that building. The second, like the first, had all colored

line officers; the third was officered regardless of color. This was

going beyond the line laid down by General Phelps. He proposed that

white men should take command of these troops exclusively. By November

these three regiments were in the field, where in course of time they

often met their former masters face to face and exchanged shots with

them. The pro-slavery men of the North and their newspapers endeavored

to make the soldiers in the field believe that the negroes would not

fight; while not only the papers and the soldiers, but many officers,

especially those from the West Point Academy, denounced General Butler

for organizing the regiments. General Weitzel, to whose command these

regiments were assigned in an expedition up the river, objected to them,

and asked Butler to relieve him of the command of the expedition. Butler

wrote him in reply:

"You say that in these organizations you have no confidence.

As your reading must have made you aware, General Jackson

entertained a different opinion upon that subject. It was

arranged between the commanding general and yourself, that

the colored regiments should be employed in guarding the

railroad. You don't complain, in your report, that they

either failed in this duty, or that they have acted

otherwise than correctly and obediently to the commands of

their officers, or that they have committed any outrage or

pillage upon the inhabitants. The general was aware of your

opinion, that colored men will not fight. You have failed to

show, by the conduct of these free men, so far, anything to

sustain that opinion. And the general cannot see why you

should decline the command, especially as you express a

willingness to go forward to meet the only organized enemy

with your brigade alone, without farther support. The

commanding general cannot see how the fact that they are

guarding your line of communication by railroad, can weaken

your defense. He must, therefore, look to the other reasons

stated by you, for an explanation of your declining the

command.

"You say that since the arrival of the negro regiment you

have seen symptoms of a servile insurrection. But as the

only regiment that arrived there got there as soon as your

own command, of course the appearance of such symptoms is

since their arrival.

"Have you not mistaken the cause? Is it the arrival of a

negro regiment, or is it the arrival of United States

troops, carrying by the act of congress freedom to this

servile race? Did you expect to march into that country,

drained, as you say it is, by conscription of all its

able-bodied white men, without leaving the negroes free to

show symptoms of servile insurrection? Does not this state

of things arise from the very fact of war itself? You are in

a country where now the negroes outnumber the whites ten to

one, and these whites are in rebellion against the

government, or in terror seeking its protection. Upon

reflection, can you doubt that the same state of things

would have arisen without the presence of a colored

regiment? Did you not see symptoms of the same things upon

the plantations here upon our arrival, although, under much

less favorable circumstances for revolt?

"You say that the prospect of such an insurrection is

heart-rending, and that you cannot be responsible for it.

The responsibility rests upon those who have begun and

carried out this war, and who have stopped at no barbarity,

at no act of outrage, upon the citizens and soldiers of the

United States. You have forwarded me the records of a

pretended court-martial, showing that seven men of one of

your regiments, who enlisted here in the Eighth Vermont, who

had surrendered themselves prisoners of war, were in cold

blood murdered, and, as certain information shows me,

required to dig their own graves! You are asked if this is

not an occurrence as heart-rending as a prospective servile

insurrection.

"The question is now to be met, whether, in a hostile,

rebellious part of the state, where this very murder has

been committed by the militia, you are to stop in the

operations of the field to put down servile insurrection,

because the men and women are terror-stricken? Whenever was

it heard before that a victorious general, in an

unsurrendered province, stopped in his course for the

purpose of preventing the rebellious inhabitants of that

province from destroying each other, or refuse to take

command of a conquered province lest he should be made

responsible for their self-destruction?

"As a military question, perhaps, the more terror-stricken

the inhabitants are that are left in your rear, the more

safe will be your lines of communication. You say there have

appeared before your eyes the very facts, in terror-stricken

women and children and men, which you had before

contemplated in theory. Grant it. But is not the remedy to

be found in the surrender of the neighbors, fathers,

brothers, and sons of the terror-stricken women and

children, who are now in arms against the government within

twenty miles of you? And when that is done, and you have no

longer to fear from these organized forces, and they have

returned peaceably to their homes, you will be able to use

the full power of your troops to insure your safety from the

so much feared (by them, not by you) servile insurrection.

[Illustration: POINT ISABEL, TEXAS. Phalanx soldiers on duty, throwing

up earthworks.]

"If you desire, you can send a flag of truce to the

commander of these forces, embracing these views, and

placing upon him the responsibility which belongs to him.

Even that course will not remove it from you, for upon you

it has never rested. Say to them, that if all armed

opposition to the authority of the United States shall cease

in Louisiana, on the west bank of the river, you are

authorized by the commanding general to say, that the same

protection against negro or other violence will be afforded

that part of Louisiana that has been in the part already in

the possession of the United States. If that is refused,

whatever may ensue is upon them, and not upon you or upon

the United States. You will have done all that is required

of a brave, humane man, to avert from these deluded people

the horrible consequences of their insane war upon the

government. * * * *

"Consider this case. General Bragg is at liberty to ravage

the houses of our brethren of Kentucky because the Union

army of Louisiana are protecting his wife and his home

against his negroes. Without that protection he would have

to come back to take care of his wife, his home and his

negroes. It is understood that Mrs. Bragg is one of the

terrified women of whom you speak in your report.

"This subject is not for the first time under the

consideration of the commanding general. When in command of

the Department of Annapolis, in May, 1861, he was asked to

protect a community against the consequences of a servile

insurrection. He replied, that when that community laid down

its arms, and called upon him for protection, he would give

it, because from that moment between them and him war would

cease. The same principle initiated there will govern his

and your actions now; and you will afford such protection as

soon as the community through its organized rulers shall ask

it.

" * * * * In the mean time, these colored regiments of free

men, raised by the authority of the president, and approved

by him as the commander-in-chief of the army, must be

commanded by the officers of the army of the United States,

like any other regiment."

General Butler continued General Weitzel in command but placed the

negroes under another officer. However, General Weitzel; like thousands

of others, changed his mind in regard to the colored troops. "If he was

not convinced by General Butler's reasoning," says Parton, "he must have

been convinced by what he saw of the conduct of those very colored

regiments at Port Hudson, where he himself gave such a glorious example

of prudence and gallantry."

Notwithstanding these troops did good service, it did not soften or

remove very much of the prejudice at the North against the negro

soldiers, nor in the ranks of the army. Many incidents might be cited to

show the feeling of bitterness against them.[22] However, General

Butler's example was followed very soon by every officer in command, and

by the time the President's Emancipation Proclamation was issued there

were not less than 10,000 negroes armed and equipped along the

Mississippi river. Of course the Government knew nothing of this.(?)

Not only armed, but some of them had been in skirmishes with the enemy.

That as a Phalanx they were invaluable in crushing the rebellion, let

their acts of heroism tell. In the light of history and of their own

deeds, it can be said that in courage, patriotism and dash, they were

second to no troops, either in ancient or modern armies. They were

enlisted after rigid scrutiny, and the examination of every man by

competent surgeons. Their acquaintance with the country in which they

marched, encamped and fought, made them in many instances superior to

the white troops. Then to strengthen their valor and tenacity, each

soldier of the Phalanx knew when he heard the long roll beat to arms,

and the bugle sound the charge, that they were not to go forth to meet

those who regarded them as opponents in arms, but who met them as a man

in his last desperate effort for life would meet demons; they knew,

also, that there was no reserve--no reinforcements behind to support

them when they went to battle; their alternative was _life or death_. It

was the consciousness of this fact that made the black phalanx a wall of

adamant to the enemy.

The not unnatural willingness of the white soldiers to allow the negro

troops to stop the bullets that they would otherwise have to receive was

shown in General Bank's Red River Campaign. At Pleasant Grove, Dickey's

black brigade prevented a slaughter of the Union troops. The black

Phalanx were represented there by a brigade attached to the first

division of the 19th Corps. When the confederates routed the army under

Banks at Sabine Cross Roads, below Mansfield, they drove it for several

hours toward Pleasant Grove, despite the ardor of the combined forces of

Banks and Franklin. It became apparent that unless the confederates

could be checked at this point, all was lost. General Emory prepared for

the emergency on the western edge of a wood, with an open field sloping

toward Mansfield. Here General Dwight formed a brigade of the black

Phalanx across the road. Hardly was the line formed when out came the

gallant foe driving 10,000 men before them. Flushed with two days'

victory, they came charging at double quick time, but the Phalanx held

its fire until the enemy was close upon them, and then poured a deadly

volley into the ranks of the exultant foe, stopping them short and

mowing them down like grass. The confederates recoiled, and now began a

fight such as was always fought when the Southerners became aware that

black soldiers were in front of them, and for an hour and a half they

fought at close quarters, ceasing only at night. Every charge of the

enemy was repulsed by the steady gallantry of General Emory's brigade

and the black Phalanx, who saved the army from annihilation against a

foe numbering three to one. During this memorable campaign the Phalanx

more than once met the enemy and accepted the face of their black flag

declarations. The confederates knew full well that every man of the

Phalanx would fight to the last; they had learned that long before.

[Illustration: THE RECRUITING OFFICE.

Negroes enlisting in the army, and being examined by surgeons.]

As early as June, 1863, General Grant was compelled, in order to show a

bold front to Gens. Pemberton and Johnston at the same time, while

besieging Vicksburg, to draw nearly all the troops from Milliken's Bend

to his support, leaving three infantry regiments of the black Phalanx

and a small force of white cavalry to hold this, to him an all important

post. Milliken's Bend was well fortified, and with a proper garrison was

in condition to stand a siege. Brigadier-General Dennis was in command,

and the troops consisted of the 9th and 11th Louisiana Regiments, the

1st Mississippi and a small detachment of white cavalry, in all about

1,400 men, raw recruits. General Dennis looking upon the place more as a

station for organizing and drilling the Phalanx, had made no particular

arrangements in anticipation of an attack. He was surprised, therefore,

when a force of 3,000 men, under General Henry McCulloch, from the

interior of Louisiana, attacked and drove his pickets and two companies

of the 23d Iowa Cavalry, (white) up to the breastworks of the Bend. The

movement was successful, however, and the confederates, holding the

ground, rested for the night, with the expectation of marching into the

fortifications in the morning, to begin a massacre, whether a resistance

should be shown them or not. The knowledge this little garrison had of

what the morrow would bring it, doubtless kept the soldiers awake,

preparing to meet the enemy and their own fate. About 3 o'clock, in the

early grey of the morning, the confederate line was formed just outside

of the intrenchments; suddenly with fixed bayonets the men came rushing

over the works, driving everything before them and shouting, "No

quarter! No quarter to negroes or their officers!" In a moment the

blacks formed and met them, and now the battle began in earnest, hand to

hand. The gunboats "Choctaw" and "Lexington" also came up as the

confederates were receiving the bayonets and the bullets of the

Unionists, and lent material assistance. The attacking force had flanked

the works and was pouring in a deadly, enfilading musketry fire. The

defenders fell back out of the way of the gunboat's shells, but finally

went forward again with what was left of their 150 white allies, and

drove the enemy before them and out of the captured works. One division

of the enemy's troops hesitated to leave a redoubt, when a company of

brave black men dashed forward at double-quick time and engaged them.

The enemy stood his ground, and soon the rattling bayonets rang out amid

the thunders of the gunboats and the shouts of enraged men; but they

were finally driven out, and their ranks thinned by the "Choctaw" as

they went over the works. The news reached General Grant and he

immediately dispatched General Mower's brigade with orders to re-enforce

Dennis and drive the confederates beyond the Tensas river.

A battle can be best described by one who observed it. Captain Miller,

who not only was an eye-witness, but participated in the Milliken's Bend

fight, writes as follows:

"We were attacked here on June 7, about three o'clock in the

morning, by a brigade of Texas troops, about two thousand

five hundred in number. We had about six hundred men to

withstand them, five hundred of them negroes. I commanded

Company I, Ninth Louisiana. We went into the fight with

thirty-three men. I had sixteen killed, eleven badly

wounded, and four slightly. I was wounded slightly on the

head, near the right eye, with a bayonet, and had a bayonet

run through my right hand, near the forefinger; that will

account for this miserable style of penmanship.

"Our regiments had about three hundred men in the fight. We

had one colonel wounded, four captains wounded, two first

and two second lieutenants killed, five lieutenants wounded,

and three white orderlies killed, and one wounded in the

hand, and two fingers taken off. The list of killed and

wounded officers comprised nearly all the officers present

with the regiment, a majority of the rest being absent

recruiting."

[Illustration: BATTLE OF MILLIKEN'S BEND]

"We had about fifty men killed in the regiment and eighty

wounded; so you can judge of what part of the fight my

company sustained. I never felt more grieved and sick at

heart, than when I saw how my brave soldiers had been

slaughtered,--one with six wounds, all the rest with two or

three, none less than two wounds. Two of my colored

sergeants were killed; both brave, noble men, always prompt,

vigilant, and ready for the fray. I never more wish to hear

the expression, 'The niggers won't fight.' Come with me, a

hundred yards from where I sit, and I can show you the

wounds that cover the bodies of sixteen as brave, loyal, and

patriotic soldiers as ever drew bead on a rebel.

"The enemy charged us so close that we fought with our

bayonets, hand to hand. I have six broken bayonets to show

how bravely my men fought. The Twenty-third Iowa joined my

company on the right; and I declare truthfully that they had

all fled before our regiment fell back, as we were all

compelled to do.

"Under command of Col. Page, I led the Ninth and Eleventh

Louisiana when the rifle-pits were retaken and held by our

troops, our two regiments doing the work.

"I narrowly escaped death once. A rebel took deliberate aim

at me with both barrels of his gun; and the bullets passed

so close to me that the powder that remained on them burnt

my cheek. Three of my men, who saw him aim and fire, thought

that he wounded me each fire; One of them was killed by my

side, and he fell on me, covering my clothes with his blood;

and, before the rebel could fire again, I blew his brains

out with my gun.

"It was a horrible fight, the worst I was ever engaged

in,--not even excepting Shiloh. The enemy cried, 'No

quarter!' but some of them were very glad to take it when

made prisoners.

"Col. Allen, of the Sixteenth Texas, was killed in front of

our regiment, and Brig.-Gen. Walker was wounded. We killed

about one hundred and eighty of the enemy. The gunboat

"Choctaw" did good service shelling them. I stood on the

breastworks after we took them, and gave the elevations and

direction for the gunboat by pointing my sword; and they

sent a shell right into their midst, which sent them in all

directions. Three shells fell there, and sixty-two rebels

lay there when the fight was over.

* * * *

"This battle satisfied the slave-masters of the South that

their charm was gone; and that the negro as a slave, was

lost forever. Yet there was one fact connected with the

battle of Milliken's Bend which will descend to posterity,

as testimony against the humanity of slave-holders; and that

is, that no negro was ever found alive that was taken a

prisoner by the rebels in this fight."

The Department of the Gulf contained a far greater proportion of the

Phalanx than did any other Department, and there were very few, if any,

important engagements fought in this Department in which the Phalanx did

not take part.

It is unpleasant here, in view of the valuable services rendered by the

Phalanx, to be obliged to record that the black soldiers were subjected

to many indignities, and suffered much at the hands of their white

fellow comrades in arms. Repeated assaults and outrages were committed

upon black men wearing the United States' uniform, not only by

volunteers but conscripts from the various States, and frequently by

confederate prisoners who had been paroled by the United States; these

outrages were allowed to take place, without interference by the

commanding officers, who apparently did not observe what was going on.

At Ship Island, Miss., there were three companies of the 13th Maine,

General Neal Dow's old regiment, and seven companies of the 2nd Regiment

Phalanx, commanded by Colonel Daniels, which constituted the garrison at

that point. Ship Island was the key to New Orleans. On the opposite

shore was a railroad leading to Mobile by which re-enforcements were

going forward to Charleston. Colonel Daniels conceived the idea of

destroying the road to prevent the transportation of the confederate

troops. Accordingly, with about two hundred men he landed at Pascagoula,

on the morning of the 9th of April. Pickets were immediately posted on

the outskirts of the town, while the main body marched up to the hotel.

Before long some confederate cavalry, having been apprised of the

movement, advanced, drove in the pickets, and commenced an attack on the

force occupying the town. The cavalry made a bold dash upon the left of

the negroes, which was the work of but a moment; the brave blacks met

their charge manfully, and emptied the saddles of the front rank, which

caused the rear ones first to halt and then retire. The blacks were

outnumbered, however, five to one, and finally were forced to abandon

the town; they went, taking with them the stars and stripes which they

had hoisted upon the hotel when entering it. They fell back towards the

river to give the gunboat "Jackson" a chance to shell their pursuers,

but the movement resulted in an apparently revengeful act on the part of

the crew of that vessel, they having previously had some of their number

killed in the course of a difficulty with a black sentry at Ship Island.

The commanding officer of the land force, doubtless from prudential

reasons, omitted to state in his report that the men fought their way

through the town while being fired upon from house-tops and windows by

boys and women. That the gunboat opened fire directly on them when they

were engaged in a hand to hand conflict, which so completely cut off a

number of the men from the main body of the troops that their capture

appeared certain. Major Dumas, however, seeing the condition of things,

put spurs to his horse and went to their succor, reaching them just as a

company of the enemy's cavalry made a charge. The Major, placing himself

at the head of the hard-pressed men, not only repulsed the cavalry and

rescued the squad, but captured the enemy's standard-bearer. The

retreating force reached their transport with the loss of only one man;

they brought with them some prisoners and captured flags. Colonel

Daniels, in his report, speaks as follows of the heroism of the

soldiers:

[Illustration: UNLOADING GOVT. STORES]

* * * *

"The expedition was a perfect success, accomplishing all

that was intended; resulting in the repulse of the enemy in

every engagement with great loss; whilst our casualty was

only two killed and eight wounded. Great credit is due to

the troops engaged, for their unflinching bravery and

steadiness under this their first fire, exchanging volley

after volley with the coolness of veterans; and for their

determined tenacity in maintaining their position, and

taking advantage of every success that their courage and

valor gave them; and also to their officers, who were cool

and determined throughout the action, fighting their

commands against five times their numbers, and confident

throughout of success,--all demonstrating to its fullest

extent that the oppression which they have heretofore

undergone from the hands of their foes, and the obloquy that

had been showered upon them by those who should have been

friends, had not extinguished their manhood, or suppressed

their bravery, and that they had still a hand to wield the

sword, and a heart to vitalize its blow.

"I would particularly call the attention of the Department

to Major F. E. Dumas, Capt. Villeverd, and Lieuts. Jones and

Martin, who were constantly in the thickest of the fight,

and by their unflinching bravery, and admirable handling of

their commands, contributed to the success of the attack,

and reflected great honor upon the flag under and for which

they so nobly struggled. Repeated instances of individual

bravery among the troops might be mentioned; but it would be

invidious where all fought so manfully and so well.

"I have the honor to be, most respectfully your obedient servant,

"N. U. DANIELS,

"_Col. Second Regiment La. N. G. Vols., Commanding Post._"

The 2nd Regiment, with the exception of the Colonel, Lieut.-Colonel and

Adjutant, was officered by negroes, many of whom had worn the galling

chains of slavery, while others were men of affluence and culture from

New Orleans and vicinity.

The 2nd Regiment had its full share of prejudice to contend with, and

perhaps suffered more from that cause than any other regiment of the

Phalanx. Once while loading transports at Algiers, preparatory to

embarking for Ship Island, they came in contact with a section of the

famous Nim's battery, rated as one of the finest in the service. The

arms of the 2nd Regiment were stacked and the men were busy in loading

the vessel, save a few who were doing guard duty over the ammunition

stored in a shed on the wharf. One of the battery-men attempted to enter

the shed with a lighted pipe in his mouth, but was prevented by the

guard. It was more than the Celt could stand to be ordered by a negro;

watching for a chance when the guard about-faced, he with several others

sprang upon him. The guard gave the Phalanx signal, and instantly

hundreds of black men secured their arms and rushed to the relief of

their comrade. The battery-men jumped to their guns, formed into line

and drew their sabres. Lieut.-Colonel Hall, who was in command of the

2nd Regiment, stepped forward and demanded to know of the commander of

the battery if his men wanted to take the men the guard had arrested.

"Yes," was the officer's reply, "I want you to give them up." "Not until

they are dealt with," said Colonel Hall. And then a shout and yell, such

as the Phalanx only were able to give, rent the air, and the abortive

menace was over. The gunners returned their sabres and resumed their

work. Col. Hall, who always had perfect control of his men, ordered the

guns stacked, put on a double guard, and the men of the 2nd Regiment

resumed their labor of loading the transport. Of course this was early

in the struggle, and before a general enlistment of the blacks.

The first, second and third regiments of the Phalanx were the nucleus of

the one hundred and eighty that eventually did so much for the

suppression of the rebellion and the abolition of slavery. The 1st and

3rd Regiments went up the Mississippi; the 2nd garrisoned Ship Island

and Fort Pike, on Lake Pontchartrain, after protecting for several

months the Opelousa railroad, so much coveted by the confederates.

A few weeks after the fight of the 2nd Regiment at Pascagoula, General

Banks laid siege to Port Hudson, and gathered there all the available

forces in his department. Among these were the 1st and 3rd Infantry

Regiments of the Phalanx. On the 23rd of May the federal forces, having

completely invested the enemy's works and made due preparation, were

ordered to make a general assault along the whole line. The attack was

intended to be simultaneous, but in this it failed. The Union batteries

opened early in the morning, and after a vigorous bombardment Generals

Weitzel, Grover and Paine, on the right, assaulted with vigor at 10 A.

M., while Gen. Augur in the center, and General W. T. Sherman on the

left, did not attack till 2 P. M.

Never was fighting more heroic than that of the federal army and

especially that of the Phalanx regiments If valor could have triumphed

over such odds, the assaulting forces would have carried the works, but

only abject cowardice or pitiable imbecility could have lost such a

position under existing circumstances. The negro regiments on the north

side of the works vied with the bravest, making three desperate charges

on the confederate batteries, losing heavily, but maintaining their

position in the advance all the while.

The column in moving to the attack went through the woods in their

immediate front, and then upon a plane, on the farther side of which,

half a mile distant, were the enemy's batteries. The field was covered

with recently felled trees, through the interlaced branches of which the

column moved, and for two or more hours struggled through the obstacles,

stepping over their comrades who fell among the entangled brushwood

pierced by bullets or torn by flying missiles, and braved the hurricane

of shot and shell.

What did it avail to hurl a few thousand troops against those

impregnable works? The men were not iron, and were they, it would have

been impossible for them to have kept erect, where trees three feet in

diameter were crashed down upon them by the enemy's shot; they would

have been but as so many ten-pins set up before skillful players to be

knocked down.

The troops entered an enfilading fire from a masked battery which opened

upon them as they neared the fort, causing the column first to halt,

then to waver and stagger; but it recovered and again pressed forward,

closing up the ranks as fast as the enemy's shells thinned them. On the

left the confederates had planted a six-gun battery upon an eminence,

which enabled them to sweep the field over which the advancing column

moved. In front was the large fort, while the right of the line was

raked by a redoubt of six pieces of artillery. One after another of the

works had been charged, but in vain. The Michigan, New York and

Massachusetts troops--braver than whom none ever fought a battle--had

been hurled back from the place, leaving the field strewn with their

dead and wounded. The works must be taken. General Nelson was ordered

by General Dwight to take the battery on the left. The 1st and 3rd

Regiments went forward at double quick time, and they were soon within

the line of the enemy's fire. Louder than the thunder of Heaven was the

artillery rending the air shaking the earth itself; cannons, mortars and

musketry alike opened a fiery storm upon the advancing regiments; an

iron shower of grape and round shot, shells and rockets, with a perfect

tempest of rifle bullets fell upon them. On they went and down, scores

falling on right and left. "The flag, the flag!" shouted the black

soldiers, as the standard-bearer's body was scattered by a shell. Two

file-closers struggled for its possession; a ball decided the struggle.

They fell faster and faster; shrieks, prayers and curses came up from

the fallen and ascended to Heaven. The ranks closed up while the column

turned obliquely toward the point of fire, seeming to forget they were

but men. Then the cross-fire of grape shot swept through their ranks,

causing the glittering bayonets to go down rapidly. "Steady men,

steady," cried bold Cailloux; his sword uplifted, his face the color of

the sulphureous smoke that enveloped him and his followers, as they felt

the deadly hail which came apparently from all sides. Captain

Cailloux[23] was killed with the colors in his hands; the column seemed

to melt away like snow in sunshine, before the enemy's murderous fire;

the pride, the flower of the Phalanx, had fallen. Then, with a daring

that veterans only can exhibit, the blacks rushed forward and up to the

brink and base of the fortified elevation, with a shout that rose above

it. The defenders emptied their rifles, cannon and mortars upon the very

heads of the brave assaulters, making of them a human hecatomb. Those

who escaped found their way back to shelter as best they could.

[Illustration: PORT HUDSON.

Brilliant charge of the Phalanx upon the Confederate works.]

The battery was not captured; the battle was lost to all except the

black soldiers; they, with their terrible loss, had won and conquered a

much greater and stronger battery than that upon the bluff. Nature seems

to have selected the place and appointed the time for the negro to prove

his manhood and to disarm the prejudice that at one time prompted the

white troops to insult and assault the negro soldiers in New Orleans. It

was all forgotten and they mingled together that day on terms of perfect

equality. The whites were only too glad to take a drink from a negro

soldier's canteen, for in that trying hour they found a brave and

determined ally, ready to sacrifice all for liberty and country. If

greater heroism could be shown than that of the regiments of the Phalanx

already named, surely the 1st Regiment of Engineers displayed it during

the siege at Port Hudson. This regiment, provided with picks and spades

for the purpose of "mining" the enemy's works, often went forward to

their labor without any armed support except the cover of heavy guns, or

as other troops happened to advance, to throw up breastworks for their

own protection. It takes men of more than ordinary courage to engage in

such work, without even a revolver or a bayonet to defend themselves

against the sallies of an enemy's troops. Nevertheless this Engineer

Regiment of the black Phalanx performed the duty under such trying and

perilous circumstances. Many times they went forward at a double-quick

to do duty in the most dangerous place during an engagement, perhaps to

build a redoubt or breastworks behind a brigade, or to blow up a bastion

of the enemy's. "They but reminded the lookers on," said a correspondent

of a Western newspaper, "of just so many cattle going to a

slaughterhouse."

A writer, speaking of the other regiments of the Phalanx, says:

"They were also on trial that day, and justified the most

sanguine expectations by their good conduct. Not that they

fought better than our white veterans; they did not and

could not."

But there had been so much incredulity avowed regarding the courage of

the negroes; so much wit lavished on the idea of negroes fighting to any

purpose, that General Banks was justified in according a special

commendation to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Regiments, and to the 1st Engineer

Regiment, of the Phalanx, saying, "No troops could be more determined or

daring." The 1st lost its Cailloux, the 2nd its Paine, but the Phalanx

won honor for the race it represented. No higher encomium could be paid

a regiment than that awarded the gallant 2nd by the poet Boker:

"THE BLACK REGIMENT, OR THE SECOND LOUISIANA AT THE STORMING OF PORT

HUDSON.

Dark as the clouds of even,

Banked in the western heaven,

Waiting the breath that lifts

All the dread mass, and drifts

Tempest and falling brand,

Over a ruined land--

So still and orderly

Arm to arm, and knee to knee

Waiting the great event,

Stands the Black Regiment.

Down the long dusky line

Teeth gleam and eyeballs shine;

And the bright bayonet,

Bristling and firmly set,

Flashed with a purpose grand,

Long ere the sharp command

Of the fierce rolling drum

Told them their time had come--

Told them what work was sent

For the Black Regiment.

'Now,' the flag sergeant cried,

'Though death and hell betide,

Let the whole nation see

If we are fit to be,

Free in this land; or bound

Down like the whining hound--

Bound with red stripes of pain

In our old chains again!'

Oh! what a shout there went

From the Black Regiment.

'Charge!' trump and drum awoke;

Onward the bondmen broke

Bayonet and sabre stroke

Vainly opposed their rush

Through the wild battle's crush,

With but one thought aflush,

Driving their lords like chaff,

In the gun's mouth they laugh;

Or at the slippery brands

Leaping with open hands,

Down they tear, man and horse,

Down in their awful course;

Trampling with bloody heel

Over the crashing steel,

All their eyes forward bent,

Rushed the Black Regiment.

'Freedom!' their battle cry,

'Freedom!' or leave to die!'

Ah! and they meant the word,

Not as with us its heard,

Nor a mere party shout,

They gave their spirits out;

Trusted the end to God,

And on the gory sod

Rolled in triumphant blood,

Glad to strike one free blow,

Whether for weal or woe;

Glad to breathe one free breath,

Though on the lips of death

Praying--alas! in vain!

That they might fall again,

So they could once more see

That burst of liberty!

This was what 'Freedom' lent

To the Black Regiment.

Hundreds on hundreds fell;

But they are resting well;

Scourges and shackles strong

Never shall do them wrong.

Oh! to the living few,

Soldiers, be just and true!

Hail them as comrades tried;

Fight with them side by side;

Never in field or tent,

Scorn the Black Regiment."

[See Appendix for further matter relating to the Department

of the Gulf.]

FOOTNOTES:

[22] In November, while the 2nd Regiment was guarding the Opelousas

railway, about twenty miles from Algiers, La., their pickets were fired

upon, and quite a skirmish and firing was kept up during the night. Next

morning the cane field along the railroad was searched but no trace of

the firing party was found. A company of the 8th Vermont (white)

Regiment was encamped below that of the 2nd Regiment, but they broke

camp that night and left. The supposition was that it was this company

who fired upon and drove in the pickets of the Phalanx regiment.

[23] Captain Andre Cailloux fell, gallantly leading his men (Co. E) in

the attack. With many others of the charging column, his body lay

between the lines of the Confederates and Federals, but nearer the works

of the former, whose sharpshooters guarded it night and day, and thus

prevented his late comrades from removing it. Several attempts were made

to obtain the body, but each attempt was met with a terrific storm of

lead. It was not until after the surrender that his remains were

recovered, and then taken to his native city, New Orleans. The writer of

this volume, himself wounded, was in the city at the time, and witnessed

the funeral pageant of the dead hero, the like of which was never before

seen in that, nor, perhaps, in any other American city, in honor of a

dead negro. The negro captains of the 2nd Regiment acted as

pall-bearers, while a long procession of civic societies followed in the

rear of detachments of the Phalanx. A correspondent who witnessed the

scene thus describes it:

" * * * * The arrival of the body developed to the white

population here that the colored people had powerful

organizations in the form of civic societies; as the Friends

of the Order, of which Capt. Cailloux was a prominent

member, received the body, and had the coffin containing it,

draped with the American flag, exposed in state in the

commodious hall. Around the coffin, flowers were strewn in

the greatest profusion, and candles were kept continually

burning. All the rites of the Catholic Church were strictly

complied with. The guard paced silently to and fro, and

altogether it presented as solemn a scene as was ever

witnessed.

"In due time, the band of the Forty-second Massachusetts

Regiment made its appearance, and discoursed the customary

solemn airs. The officiating priest, Father Le Maistre, of

the Church of St. Rose of Lima, who has paid not the least

attention to the excommunication and denunciations issued

against him by the archbishop of this this diocese, then

performed the Catholic service for the dead. After the

regular services, he ascended to the president's chair, and

delivered a glowing and eloquent eulogy on the virtues of

the deceased. He called upon all present to offer

themselves, as Cailloux had done, martyrs to the cause of

justice, freedom, and good government. It was a death the

proudest might envy.

"Immense crowds of colored people had by this time gathered

around the building, and the streets leading thereto were

rendered almost impassable. Two companies of the Sixth

Louisiana (colored) Regiment, from their camp on the Company

Canal, were there to act as an escort; and Esplanade Street,

for more than a mile, was lined with colored societies, both

male and female, in open order, waiting for the hearse to

pass through.

"After a short pause, a sudden silence fell upon the crowd,

the band commenced playing a dirge; and the body was brought

from the hall on the shoulders of eight soldiers, escorted

by six members of the society, and six colored captains, who

acted as pall-bearers. The corpse was conveyed to the hearse

through a crowd composed of both white and black people, and

in silence profound as death itself. Not a sound was heard

save the mournful music of the band, and not a head in all

that vast multitude but was uncovered.

"The procession then moved off in the following order: The

hearse containing the body, with Capts. J. W. Ringgold, W.

B. Barrett, S. J. Wilkinson, Eugene Mailleur, J. A. Glea,

and A. St. Leger, (all of whom, we believe, belong to the

Second Louisiana Native Guards), and six members of The

Friends of the Order, as pall-bearers; about a hundred

convalescent sick and wounded colored soldiers; the two

companies of the Sixth Regiment; a large number of colored

officers of all native guard regiments; the carriages

containing Capt. Cailloux's family, and a number of army

officers; followed by a large number of private individuals,

and thirty-seven civic and religious societies.

"After moving through the principal down-town streets the

body was taken to the Beinville-street cemetery, and there

interred with military honors due his rank." * *

The following lines were penned at the time:

ANDRE CAILLOUX.

He lay just where he fell,

Soddening in a fervid summer's sun.

Guarded by an enemy's hissing shell,

Rotting beneath the sound of rebels' gun

Forty consecutive days,

In sight of his own tent.

And the remnant of his regiment.

He lay just where he fell.

Nearest the rebel's redoubt and trench,

Under the very fire of hell,

A volunteer in a country's defence,

Forty consecutive days.

And not a murmur of discontent,

Went from the loyal black regiment.

A flag of truce couldn't save,

No, nor humanity could not give

This sable warrior a hallowed grave.

Nor army of the Gulf retrieve.

Forty consecutive days,

His lifeless body pierced and rent,

Leading in assault the black regiment.

But there came days at length,

When Hudson felt their blast,

Though less a thousand in strength,

For "our leader" vowed the last;

Forty consecutive days

They stormed, they charged, God sent

Victory to the loyal black regiment.

He lay just where he fell,

And now the ground was their's,

Around his mellowed corpse, heavens tell,

How his comrades for freedom swears.

Forty consecutive nights

The advance pass-word went.

Captain Cailloux of the black regiment.