Page:The rising son, or, The antecedents and advancement of the colored race (IA risingsonthe00browrich).pdf/367

 that their charm was gone; and that the negro, as a slave, was lost forever. Yet there was one fact connected with the battle of Milliken's Bend which will descend to posterity, as testimony against the humanity of slave-holders; and that is, that no negro was ever found alive that was taken a prisoner by the rebels in this fight.

The next engagement which the blacks had, was up the St. Mary's River, South Carolina, under the command of Colonel T. W. Higginson. Here, too, the colored men did themselves and their race great credit.

We now come to the battle of Port Hudson, in which the black forces consisted of the First Louisiana, under Lieutenant-Colonel Bassett, and the Third Louisiana, under Colonel Nelson. The line-officers of the Third were white; and the regiment was composed mostly of freedmen, many of whose backs still bore the marks of the lash, and whose brave, stout hearts beat high at the thought that the hour had come when they were to meet their proud and unfeeling oppressors.

The First was the noted regiment called "The Native Guard," which General Butler found when he entered New Orleans, and which so promptly offered its services to aid in crushing the Rebellion. The line-officers of this regiment were all colored, taken from amongst the most wealthy and influential of the free colored people of New Orleans. It was said that not one of them was worth less than twenty-five thousand dollars. The brave, the enthusiastic, and the patriotic, found full scope for the development of their powers in this regiment, of which all were well educated; some were fine scholars. One of the most efficient officers was Captain André Callioux, a man