African-American troops perform well in the abortive attack on Port Hudson and earn wide praise

Union troops under General N.P. Banks had surrounded the Confederate stronghold the previous week and now mounted a full fledged attempt to storm its defenses in an attack starting at dawn.  Unprepared but enthusiastic black troops, the Louisiana Native Guard, recruited from the New Orleans area were thrown into the attack. Though turned back by artillery and intense crossfire, General Banks later praised their efforts in his official dispatches and often exaggerated accounts of their performance spread across the North. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
Edward Cunningham, The Port Hudson Campaign: 1862-1863 (Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1963), 50-55.
Stephen J. Ochs, A Black Patriot And A White Priest: Andre Cailloux And Claude Paschal Maistre in Civil War New Orleans (Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 2006), 142-152.
How to Cite This Page: "African-American troops perform well in the abortive attack on Port Hudson and earn wide praise," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/39676.