t of a race, and which derived its only chance of success from
men who were false to their oaths, collapsed. The mightiest blow given
the confederacy was struck by the immortal Proclamation of Emancipation,
giving freedom to four millions of slaves; more than two hundred
thousand of whom, with dash and gallantry excelled by no other race,
tore down the traitor's banner from their deemed impregnable breastworks
and planted in its stead the national flag. That emblem, whose crimson
folds, re-baptised in the blood of liberty's martyrs, invited all men,
of all races, who would be free, to gather beneath the effulgent glare
of its heaven-lighted stars, regardless of color, creed or condition.
The Phalanx nobly bore their part all through the long night of
war, and at last they occupied Charleston,--the traitors'
nest,--Petersburg,--their eastern Gibraltar,--and Richmond--their
Capitol. They marched proudly through the streets of these once
impregnable fortresses, in all of which many of the soldiers of the
Phalanx had been slaves. Oh! what a realization of the power of right
over might. What a picture for the historian's immortal pen to paint of
the freemen of America, whose sufferings were long, whose struggle was
gigantic, and whose achievement was a glorious personal and political
freedom!

At the close of the war, the government, anticipating trouble in Texas,
ordered General Steele to the command of the Rio Grande, under these
instructions:

"WASHINGTON, May 21st, 1865.

"MAJ. GEN. F. STEELE, Commanding Rio Grande Expedition.

"By assignment of the President, Gen. Sheridan takes general
command west of the Arkansas. It is the intention to
prosecute a vigorous campaign in that country, until the
whole of Texas is re-occupied by people acknowledging
allegiance to the Government of the United States. Sheridan
will probably act offensively from the Red river. But it is
highly important that we should have a strong foothold upon
the Rio Grande. You have been selected to take that part of
the command. In addition to the force you take from Mobile
Bay, you will have the 25th Corps and the few troops already
in Southern Texas.

"Any directions you may receive from Gen. Sheridan, you will
obey. But in the absence of instructions from him you will
proceed without delay to the mouth of the Rio Grande and
occupy as