o die!'
Ah! and they meant the word,
Not as with us its heard,
Nor a mere party shout,
They gave their spirits out;
Trusted the end to God,
And on the gory sod
Rolled in triumphant blood,
Glad to strike one free blow,
Whether for weal or woe;
Glad to breathe one free breath,
Though on the lips of death
Praying--alas! in vain!
That they might fall again,
So they could once more see
That burst of liberty!
This was what 'Freedom' lent
To the Black Regiment.

Hundreds on hundreds fell;
But they are resting well;
Scourges and shackles strong
Never shall do them wrong.
Oh! to the living few,
Soldiers, be just and true!
Hail them as comrades tried;
Fight with them side by side;
Never in field or tent,
Scorn the Black Regiment."

[See Appendix for further matter relating to the Department
of the Gulf.]

FOOTNOTES:

[22] In November, while the 2nd Regiment was guarding the Opelousas
railway, about twenty miles from Algiers, La., their pickets were fired
upon, and quite a skirmish and firing was kept up during the night. Next
morning the cane field along the railroad was searched but no trace of
the firing party was found. A company of the 8th Vermont (white)
Regiment was encamped below that of the 2nd Regiment, but they broke
camp that night and left. The supposition was that it was this company
who fired upon and drove in the pickets of the Phalanx regiment.

[23] Captain Andre Cailloux fell, gallantly leading his men (Co. E) in
the attack. With many others of the charging column, his body lay
between the lines of the Confederates and Federals, but nearer the works
of the former, whose sharpshooters guarded it night and day, and thus
prevented his late comrades from removing it. Several attempts were made
to obtain the body, but each attempt was met with a terrific storm of
lead. It was not until after the surrender that his remains were
recovered, and then taken to his native city, New Orleans. The writer of
this volume, himself wounded, was in the city at the time, and witnessed
the funeral pageant of the dead hero, the like of which was never before
seen in that, nor, perhaps, in any other American city, in honor of a
dead negro. The negro captains of the 2nd Regiment acted as
pall-bearers, while a long procession of civic societies followed in the
rear of detachments of the Phalanx. A cor