George Henry Boker, poet and diplomat, and perhaps best known as
the author of the play, “Francesca da Rimini,” was born in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, October 6, 1823. He was successively
United States Minister to Russia and Turkey. He died in
Philadelphia, January 2, 1890.
“The Black Regiment” commemorates the charge of the First and Third
Louisiana Native Guards at Port Hudson, May 27, 1863. Of the bearing of
the negro soldiers in that action General Banks spoke in the highest
terms in reporting to General Halleck. “Their conduct,” he wrote, “was
heroic. No troops could be more determined or more daring. They made,
during the day, three charges upon the batteries of the enemy, suffering
very heavy losses, and holding their position at nightfall with the
other troops on the right of our line. The highest commendation is
bestowed upon them by all the officers in command on the right.”
In her “Camp-Fire and Memorial Poems,” Mrs. Kate Brownlee Sherwood (see
note on “Thomas at Chickamauga”) has paid an eloquent tribute to the
valor of the “Black Regiment.”