The assault on Port Hudson had been unsuccessful all along the line.  A second assault was ordered June 13.  It, too, was unsuccessful.  The fall of Vicksburg brought the garrison to terms.  The surrender took place July 9, 1863.  In the report of the general commanding, the colored soldiers were given unstinted praise.  General Banks declared that “no troops could be more determined or more daring."[35] The Northern press described glowingly their part in the fight.  The prowess of the black soldiers had conquered military prejudice, and won for them a place in the army of the Union.  And the brave black officers who led these black soldiers, they were, all of them, ordered forthwith before an examining board with the purpose of driving them from the service, and every one of them in self-respect was made to resign.  In such manner was their bravery rewarded.

In the four regiments of colored troops made a part of the Regular Army since the Civil War, colored soldiers, to say nothing of the three colored graduates from West Point, referred to earlier in this chapter, have repeatedly given evidence of their capacity to command.  An earlier chapter has already set forth the gallant manner in which colored non-commissioned officers, left in command by the killing or wounding of their officers, commanded their companies at La Guasima, El Caney and in the charge at San Juan.  On numerous occasions, with none of the heroic setting of the Santiago campaign, have colored soldiers time and again command detachments and companies on dangerous scouting expeditions, and in skirmishes and fights with hostile Indians and marauders.  The entire Western country is a witness of their prowess.  This meritorious work, done in remote regions, has seldom come to public notice; the medal which the soldier wears, and the official entry in company and regimental record are in most cases the sole chronicle.  A typical instance is furnished in the career of Sergeant Richard Anderson, late of the Ninth Cavalry.  The sergeant has long ago completed his thirty years of service.  He passed through all non-commissioned grades in his troop and regiment, and was retired as Post Commissary-Sergeant.  The story of the engagements in which he commanded give ample proof of his ability and bravery.  It would be no service to the sergeant to disturb his own frank and formal narrative.

The Sergeant’s story:—­

“While in sub-camp at Fort Cumming, New Mexico, awaiting orders for campaign duty against hostile Indians (old Naney’s band), on the evening of June 5, 1880, my troop commander being absent at Fort Bayard, which left me in command of my troop, there being no other commissioned officer available, a report having come in to the commanding officer about 1 o’clock that a band of Apache Indians were marching toward Cook’s Canon, Troops B and L, under general command of Captain Francis, 9th Cavalry, and myself commanding Troop B, were ordered out.