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 brigad