The bravest hero of the day was Capt. Andre Caillioux, whose name all Louisianians remember with a thrill of pride. He was a freeman of West Indian extraction, and fond of boasting of his blackness. With superb heroism and splendid magnetism he led his men time and again into the very "jaws of death" in the assault, and fell at the front in one last heroic effort within fifty yards of the fort. "Still forward and charge for the guns," said Caillioux, And his shattered sword-arm was the guidon they knew; But a fire rakes the flanks and a fire rakes the van, He is down with the ranks that go down as one man. A correspondent of the _New York Times_ gave a most glowing account of the battle. "During the time the troops rallied, they were ordered to make _six distinct charges_, losing 37 killed, 155 wounded, and sixteen missing.... The deeds of heroism performed by these colored men were such as the proudest white men might emulate.... I could fill your columns with startling tales of their heroism. Although repulsed in an attempt which, situated as things were, was almost impossible, these regiments, though badly cut up, are still on hand, and burning with a passion ten times hotter from their fierce baptism of blood." See Williams, "History of the Negro Race," II, 321. The battle of Milliken's Bend will always rank as one of the hardest fought engagements in the Civil War. It was an important point on the river, because it commanded Vicksburg, and in General Grant's scheme to effect the reduction of that city, it was necessary to control this point. The engagement was on June 6, 1863, and continued 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.