Cailloux, a pure Negro in blood, was born a freeman and numbered generations of freemen among his ancestry. He had fine presence, was a man of culture and possessed wealth. He had raised his company by his own efforts, and attached them to him, not only by his ardent pride of race, which made him boast his blackness, but also by his undoubted talents for command. His heroic death was mourned by thousands of his race who had known him. His body, recovered after the surrender, was given a soldier's burial in his own native city of New Orleans. When the day was spent, the bleeding and shattered column was at length recalled. The black troops did not take the guns, but the day's work had won for them a fame that cannot die. The nation, which had received them into the service half-heartedly, and out of necessity, was that day made to witness a monotony of gallantry and heroism that compelled everywhere awe and admiration. Black soldiers, and led by black officers as well as white, assigned a task hopeless and impossible at the start, had plunged into that withering storm of shot and shell, poured fourth by artillery and infantry, charging over a field strewn with obstacles, and in madness of bravery had more than once thrown the thin head of their column to the very edge of the guns. They recoiled only to reform their broken lines and to start again their desperate work. When the day was gone, and they were called back, the shattered remnant of the column which had gone forth in the morning still burned with passion. With that day's work of black soldiers under black officers, a part forever of the military glory of the Republic, there are those who yet dare to declare that Negroes cannot command. 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.