[71] He was probably regarded as a quadroon who had been accepted by the white race. See Gayarre, IV, 406.
[72] Gayarre, IV, p. 451.
[73] _Ibid._, p. 427 et pa.s.sim.
[74] For years after the Civil War, one of the most picturesque figures in New Orleans was Jordan B. n.o.ble, who at the time of the Battle of New Orleans was a slim youth. It was his tireless beating of the drum which led to battle the American forces on the nights of December 23 and January 8. He lived to be an old man, and appeared on several occasions at the St. Charles theatre, where a great audience turned out to do him honor and give an ovation when he beat the drum again as he had on those memorable nights. The Delta records a benefit given him at the theatre in 1854. In 1851 _The New Orleans Picayune_ in commenting on the celebration of the victory of New Orleans notes the presence in the line of parade of 90 colored veterans. "And who did more than they to save the city?" it asks in the midst of a highly eulogistic review of the battle. Grace King, "New Orleans, the Place and the People," 256; and Grace King"s letter to A. O. Stafford in 1904.
[75] Gayarre, IV, pp. 517-531.
[76] Fortier, "Louisiana," II, p. 231.
[77] Cable, "The Creoles," p. 211; Grace King, "New Orleans," 260.
[78] Martineau, "Society in America," p. 326 et pa.s.sim.
[79] Channing, "The Jeffersonian System," 84.
[80] For a general sketch see Ballard and Curtis"s "A Digest of the Statutes of the State of Louisiana," pp. 65 et seq.
[81] Dunn, "Indiana," 234; and 1 Miss. (Walker), p. 36.
[82] See "The Revised Statutes of Louisiana," 1852, pp. 524 et seq.
[83] Rhodes, "History of the United States," III, 331.
[84] Flint, "Recollections of the Last Ten Years," 345.
[85] Olmsted, "The Cotton Kingdom," II, 213.
[86] Captain Marryat, Diary in America, 67-68.
[87] Desdunes, "Nos Hommes et Notre Histoire," 32.
[88] This fact is based on the statements of the persons concerned.
[89] Grace King, "New Orleans," 272.
[90] Trotter, "Music, and Some Musical People," pp. 339-340.
[91] _Ibid._, pp. 340-341; Desdunes, "Nos Hommes et Notre Histoire,"
pp. 117-118.
[92] The most definite picture, and the best possible of the state of the persons of color in Louisiana, is to be found in Parton"s "Butler in New Orleans." History will never agree about Gen. Butler. He is alternately execrated by the South, sneered at by the North, written down by his contemporary officers, and canonized by the abolitionists.
If he did nothing else worthy of record, at least he gave the splendid militia composed of the free men of color a chance to prove their loyalty to the union by entering the Civil War as fighters.
We are indebted to him for the pictures he draws of the slave population of Louisiana; of the wealth and beauty of the free men and women of color. Their population was 18,647. "The best blood of the South flows in the veins of these free people of color," he writes, "and a great deal of it, for the darkest of some of them were about the complexion of Daniel Webster." Parton, "General Butler in New Orleans," p. 517.
[93] _New Orleans Picayune_, Feb. 9, 1862.
[94] Report of the Select Committee on the New Orleans Riots, p. 126.
[95] Ficklen, "Reconstruction in Louisiana," 121.
[96] From Ex-Lieutenant Governor Antoine we have a statement as to how the troops were organized at Baton Rouge. Of the gallant officers of this first regiment, one man lives to tell of its glories. This was Col. James Lewis, who was in command 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 a.s.sault was given they charged the fort, which belched forth its flame and shot and sh.e.l.l. 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 a.s.sault, 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 pa.s.sion 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 continued from three in the morning until twelve noon. Never did men fight with greater courage against such odds at the point of the bayonet than did these colored troops. The appalling list of casualties shows how they stood the test. Of the officers in the colored forces, seven were killed, nine wounded, three missing. Of the enlisted men, 123 killed, 182 wounded, 113 missing. In commenting on this battle, Schouler, in his history of the United States, speaks of the great bravery shown by the troops, and points out there was a sudden change of opinion in the South about enlisting colored troops on the side of the Confederacy.
"Many of the clear-sighted leaders of this section proposed seriously to follow the Northern President"s example,--and arm Negro slaves as soldiers." He adds: "That strange conclusion, had it ever been reached, would perhaps have reunited North and South eventually in sentiment,--by demonstrating at length the whole fallacy upon which the social difference of sections had so long rested. For as a Confederate writer expressed it, "if the Negro was fit to be a soldier, he was not fit to be a slave,"" Schouler, "History of U. S.,"
Vol. VI, p. 407; and Williams, "History of the Negro Race," II, 326-328.
[98] Colonel Lewis"s statement.
[99] Based on the statements of slaves.
[100] Rhodes, "History of the U. S.," VII, 104 et seq.; Schouler, "History of U. S.," VI, 245 et seq.
[101] Ficklen, "Reconstruction in Louisiana," 47 et seq.
[102] _Ibid._, pp. 64, 65.
[103] In the meanwhile, Confederates had set up a capital at Shreveport, and their governor recommended Negro conscripts in the Confederate army. His reasoning was acute and clear: He said, "The Negro must play an important part in the war. He caused the fight, and he must have his portion of the burden to bear." See Ficklen, "Reconstruction," 63.
[104] Ficklen, "Reconstruction," 63.
[105] Blaine"s "Twenty Years of Congress," II, 39, 40.
[106] Lincoln, Address of, April 11, 1865.
[107] 39 Cong. House of Representatives, No. 16.
[108] Ficklen, "Reconstruction in Louisiana," 146-179.
[109] Not all Southern sympathizers saw menace in granting the Negro political privileges. Seeing it inevitable, General Beauregard wrote in 1867, "If the suffrage of the Negro is properly handled and directed, we shall defeat our adversaries with their own weapons. The Negro is Southern born. With education and property qualifications, he can be made to take an interest in the affairs of the South, and in its prosperity. He will side with the whites." Letter of Gen.
Beauregard.
[110] With the year 1868 one of the most picturesque and splendid figures in the history of the state springs fully into the light.
Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback had already made himself known by his efforts to recruit soldiers for the Louisiana Native Guards; by his stringent demands for the rights of the colored man on all occasions. He was the dashing young Lochinvar of the political struggle. He had made his first move in 1867 by organizing the Fourth Ward Republican Club, and had been appointed Inspector of Customs by Collector of Port Kellogg. In the Const.i.tution of 1868 he took his definite role of a fighter to be feared, respected and followed--and for many a year afterwards, the history of Louisiana is written around his name. Simmons, "Men of Mark," 672.
[111] Accounts of this appeared in the _Tribune_, the best, and almost the only influential organ of the Republican party in the state, the editor of which was Dr. Roudanez, a well-to-do man of color. It was not a financial success, though a powerful factor in the political arena. Dr. Roudanez said that he spent over $35,000 on the paper in the effort to keep up an honest organ. It was suspended in April, 1868, but was revived later.