Freedom by the Sword - US Army Center Of Military History

Southern Louisiana and the Gulf Coast, 1862–1863 107
A Frank Leslie’s illustrator let his imagination run riot in this depiction of the
Louisiana Native Guards’ assault on Port Hudson. The Confederate reported
that the assault petered out at some distance from their trenches and inflicted no
casualties on the defenders.
suffering very heavy losses. . . . Whatever doubt may have existed heretofore as
to the efficiency of organizations of this character, the history of this day proves
conclusively . . . that the Government will find in this class of troops effective
supporters and defenders. The severe test to which they were subjected, and the
determined manner in which they encountered the enemy, leaves upon my mind
no doubt of their ultimate success. They require only good officers . . . and careful
discipline, to make them excellent soldiers. 48
Banks’ description of the battle—“They made during the day three charges”—
was exaggerated. Banks had been nowhere near the extreme right of the Union line,
where the Native Guards were; and in writing his report just three days after the attack
he must have relied on oral accounts, as did the reporters who described the battle
for Northern newspapers. His report bore a date, 30 May 1863, earlier than those
written by regimental commanders who had taken part in the attack. It had been only
a month since Banks had issued his order establishing the Corps d’Afrique, with its
500-man regiments intended “to secure the most thorough instruction and discipline
and the largest influence of the officers over the troops.” He could hardly undercut
his new venture by faint praise for the Native Guards’ performance, even if an honest
appraisal would have called it no worse than that of the white soldiers that day. 49
Outside the Department of the Gulf, the Native Guards’ willingness to face fire at
all—no matter that they had barely come within two hundred yards of the Confederate
trenches—led to wild excesses in the Northern press. The steamer Morning Star
NA; Glatthaar, “Letters of Lieutenant John H. Crowder,” p. 214 (“a coward”); Revised United States
Army Regulations of 1861 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1863), p. 38 (”unless
under”).
48 OR, ser. 1, vol. 26, pt. 1, pp. 44–45.
49 Ibid., 15: 717 (“to secure”); vol. 26, pt. 1, pp. 123–25, 128–29.