company. The fall of this officer so exasperated his men, that they appeared to be filled with new enthusiasm, and they rushed forward with a recklessness that probably never has been equalled. Seeing it to be a hopeless effort, the taking of these batteries, order was given to change the programme, and the troops were called off. But had they accomplished any thing more than the loss of many of their brave men? Yes, they had. The self-forgetfulness, the undaunted heroism, and the great endurance of the negro, as exhibited that day, created a new chapter in American history for the black man. No negro hater will ever again dare to urge the withholding of our rights upon the plea that we will not fight.
The stale and stereotyped falsehood that the blacks are wanting in patriotism, was nailed to the counter as base coin, on the banks of the Mississippi. Many Persians were slain at the battle of Thermopylæ, but history records only the fall of Leonidas and his four hundred companions. So, in the future, when we shall have passed away from the stage, and rising generations shall speak of the conflict at Port Hudson, and the celebrated charge of the Negro Brigade, they will forget all others, in their admiration for Captain Callioux and his black associates. I should have said, the expedition against this strongly fortified place was Major-General Banks's, under whom the other officers acted. The commander, in his official report of the engagement, bears the following testimony to the bravery of the colored troops. He says,—
"On the extreme right of our lines I posted the first and third regiments of negro troops. The first regiment of Louisiana engineers, composed exclusively
