at, if the
position of the bayou had been known and the assault made a
quarter of a mile to the left of where it was, the place would
have been taken by this negro brigade on that day.

"On that day I witnessed the attack made by the divisions of
Generals Grover and Paine, and can truly say I saw no steadier
fighting by those daring men than did the negroes in this their
first fight.

"On the second assault, June 14th, in the assault made by Gen.
Paine's division, our loss was very great in wounded, and, as
there was a want of ambulance men, I ordered about a hundred
negroes, who were standing idle and unharmed, to take the
stretchers and carry the wounded from the field. Under a most
severe fire of musketry, grape, and canister, they performed this
duty with unflinching courage and nonchalance. They suffered
severely in this duty both in killed and wounded; yet not a man
faltered. These men had just been recruited, and were not even
partially disciplined. But I next saw the negroes (engineers)
working in these trenches, under a heavy fire of the enemy. They
worked faithfully, and wholly regardless of exposure to the
enemy's fire."

Mr. Cadwallader in his despatch concerning the battle of
Spottsylvania, dated May 18th, says:

"It is a subject of considerable merriment in camp that a charge
of the famous Hampton Legion, the flower of Southern chivalry,
was repulsed by the Colored Troops of General Ferrero's
command."[111]

These are but a _few_ of the tributes that brave and true white men
cheerfully gave to the valor and loyalty of Colored Troops during the
war. No officer, whose privilege it was to command or observe the
conduct of these troops, has ever hesitated to give a full and
cheerful endorsement of their worth as men, their loyalty as
Americans, and their eminent qualifications for the duties and dangers
of military life. No history of the war has ever been written, no
history of the war ever can be written, without mentioning the
patience, endurance, fortitude, and heroism of the Negro soldiers who
prayed, wept, fought, bled, and died for the preservation of the Union
of the United States of America!

FOOTNOTES:

[97] This was remedied at length, after the 54th Massachusetts
Infantry had refused pay for a year, unless the regiment could be
treated as other regiments. Major Sturge