d 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 ma