Puslapio vaizdai
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CHAPTER IV.

THE NEW RECRUITS

WIN A GOOD

NAME.

"HORACE made no mention in his letter of Milliken's Bend," said Mr. Warren, one day when he and the boys were working in the field.

"No," said Frank; "I don't remember Was there a battle at that

the name. place ?"

66

Yes, a battle and a victory, since the rebels were forced to retire. Their general, H. McCulloch, intended to take this post on the river, supposing it would fall an easy prey to his army of between two and three thousand, because our forces were occupied before Vicksburg, and the works of theBend' were garrisoned by only a thousand men, mostly negroes. The grey

backs came up on the 7th of June, before daylight, crying 'no quarter;' they would gladly have butchered every man in the trenches; and for a time the struggle was as desperate as any recorded since the war began. Our gunboats tried to help the besieged, but they probably hurt as many black men as rebels, owing to the close fighting, for each man was locked with his foe. After seven hundred had fallen on our side, and the insurgents, according to their report, had lost about four hundred and fifty, they withdrew, leaving the negroes a reputation for good soldiership that cannot hereafter be questioned. Instead of slaying the whole 'nigger' force, as McCulloch predicted he would, he himself very narrowly escaped capture."

"So we have United States black soldiers, have we?" said Roger, somewhat amused at the idea. "Pomp and Sambo in the ranks, eh? Slaves turning soldiers !"

"To be sure," exclaimed Frank. "They

know what their freedom is worth; if they're willing to fight, why shouldn't they have the chance of showing what stuff they're made of as well as any other men? Don't you remember, Roge, old Walker talked about it in the history class-just before vacation, wasn't it-and of their having served with us in wars before this?"

"What did he say on that point?" asked Mr. Warren.

"Oh," said Frank, pausing to recollect, "that in the Revolution negroes fought beside our forefathers, and that theirs was some of the first blood shed for our independence. And at Bunker Hill," he added, "a black man behaved so gallantly that his name was honorably mentioned in Congress. Another one who

had been a slave-Peter Salem was his name-shot a British major, just as he had mounted the redoubt, and was shouting, 'The day is ours!'"

"They fought in the war of 1812, I

know," continued Mr. Warren. "I have read somewhere of two negro sailors who behaved gallantly in an engagement of their vessel with a British frigate. They both fell, one calling, with his last breath: 'Fire away boys-no haul de color down!' the other, regretting that he was in the way of the men, and asking, therefore, that his body, as soon as he died, should be thrown overboard."

"And General Jackson said they surpassed his hopes when they were under his command. That's another fact Mr. Walker mentioned. He gave us a good deal of history about them. Now I remember, he said that the French emperor's famous Algerine Zouaves are Africans. He says there are many proofs in favor of the negroes being a warlike race. He mentioned Toussaint l'Ouverture is that right ?-a ruler and general of Hayti, of pure African blood, and one of the world's great men,' he called him. Why, nobody but rebels are opposed to negro soldiers, are they?"

asked the boy." And they because they used to own them as slaves, and treat them as brutes-they, and some lovers of slavery here in the North, who, living under the flag, are meaner, more disloyal, than even the rebels, to my mind.”

"The guns that opened on Sumter proclaimed the incoming of a new era," said the father. "For, as I've told you, the slave-holding power controlled our Government for half a century before that event. But henceforth those who believe in the freedom of all men will rule the country; and already the change in our laws is wonderful. Our Congress in the early part of the war, passed an act freeing all slaves. who had been forced to work directly for the rebellion. It also forbade the return of slaves to their former masters, and officers guilty of that cruelty were dismissed the service."

"Served 'em right!" ejaculated Roger. "Who'd want to be an army officer, if he must do such dirty work as carrying back

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