ommand for four months at Port Hudson.

[97] The battle of Port Hudson, like the battle of New Orleans, is
almost too well known to be told of. It takes its place naturally in
history with desperate fights, reminding one somewhat of the battles
of Balaklava. It was early in the morning of May 27, 1863, that the
engagement began. The colored men in line numbered 1,080. When the
order for assault was given they charged the fort, which belched forth
its flame and shot and shell. The slaughter was horrible, but the line
never wavered. Into the mill of death the colored troops hurled
themselves. The colors were shot through and almost severed from the
staff; the color-sergeant, Anselmas Planciancois, was killed, and two
corporals struggled for the honor of bearing the flag from his dying
hands. One of them was killed.

The bravest hero of the day was Capt. Andre Caillioux, whose name all
Louisianians remember with a thrill of pride. He was a freeman of West
Indian extraction, and fond of boasting of his blackness. With superb
heroism and splendid magnetism he led his men time and again into the
very "jaws of death" in the assault, and fell at the front in one last
heroic effort within fifty yards of the fort.

"Still forward and charge for the guns," said Caillioux,
And his shattered sword-arm was the guidon they knew;
But a fire rakes the flanks and a fire rakes the van,
He is down with the ranks that go down as one man.

A correspondent of the _New York Times_ gave a most glowing account of
the battle. "During the time the troops rallied, they were ordered to
make _six distinct charges_, losing 37 killed, 155 wounded, and
sixteen missing.... The deeds of heroism performed by these colored
men were such as the proudest white men might emulate.... I could fill
your columns with startling tales of their heroism. Although repulsed
in an attempt which, situated as things were, was almost impossible,
these regiments, though badly cut up, are still on hand, and burning
with a passion ten times hotter from their fierce baptism of blood."
See Williams, "History of the Negro Race," II, 321.

The battle of Milliken's Bend will always rank as one of the hardest
fought engagements in the Civil War. It was an important point on the
river, because it commanded Vicksburg, and in General Grant's scheme
to effect the reduction of that city, it was necessary to control this
point. The engagement was on June 6, 1863, and continue