The two field guns, skillfully handled by black artillery-men, did good work, plowing huge furrows through the assailants and throwing them into confusion at every charge. Still the confederates, having finally organized into line of battle, continued to charge after each repulse, pouring a terrific fire upon the United States force at each advance. It seemed as if the Phalanx must surrender; they were outnumbered two to one, and every line officer was dead or wounded. Sergeant Triplet was directing the fire of Company C; the artillery sergeant was in command of the field guns, and worked them well for two long hours. The enemy's sharpshooters stationed in the trees no longer selected their victims, for one man of the Phalanx was as conspicuous as another.
Yet another assault was made; firm stood the little band of iron men, not flinching, not moving, though the dead lay thick before them. The cannon belched out their grape shot, the musketry rattled, and once more the enemy fled back to the woods with ranks disordered. Thus from six o'clock till noonday did the weary soldiers hold their foes back. The situation became critical with the Phalanx. Their ammunition was nearly exhausted; a few more rounds and their bayonets would be their only protection against a massacre; this fact however, did not cool their determination.
In front and on their flanks the enemy began massing for a final onset. For five hours the Phalanx had fought like tigers, against a ruthless foe, and though no black flag warned them, they were not unmindful of the fate of their comrades at Fort Pillow. General Dobbins was evidently preparing to sweep the field. Several times already had he sent his men to annihilate the blacks, and as many times had they been repulsed. There was no time for the Phalanx soldiers to manœuvre; they were in the closing jaws of death, and though they felt the day was lost, their courage did not forsake them; it was indeed a dreadful moment. The enemy was about to move upon them, when suddenly a shout,—not the yell of a foe, was heard in the enemy's rear, and the next moment a detachment of the 15th Illinois Cavalry, under command of Major Carminchæl, broke through the confederate ranks and rushed to the support of the Phalanx, aligning themselves with the black soldiers, amid the cheers of the latter. Gathering up their dead and wounded, the federal force now began a retreat, stubbornly yielding, inch by inch, each foot of ground, until night threw her mantle of darkness over the scene and the confederates ceased their firing. The Phalanx loss was 50, while that of the enemy was 150. At the beginning couriers were dispatched to Helena for re-enforcements, and Colonel Hudson, with the remainder of the Phalanx troops, reached them at night too late to be of any assistance, as the confederates did not follow the retreating column.
Two days later, Colonel Hudson, with all the available men of the two Phalanx regiments,—60th, 56th and a detachment of the 3rd Phalanx artillery, with two cannons,—went down the Mississippi and up the White river, disembarked and made a three days march across the country, where the enemy was found entrenched. The Phalanx, after a spirited contest, drove them out of their works, burned their store, captured a few Texas rangers and returned to Helena. In March, 1865, the 60th Regiment was ordered to join Brig.-Gen. Reynolds' command at Little Rock, where the regiment was brigaded with the 57th, 59th and 83rd Phalanx regiments. The brigade was ordered to Texas overland, but the surrender of General Lee to Grant obviated this march. The gallant 60th was mustered out at Davenport, Iowa, on the 2nd of November, 1865, "where," says Sergeant Burton, the regimental historian, "they were greeted by the authorities and the loyal thousands of Iowa."
Kansas has undoubtedly the honor of being the first State in the Union to begin the organization of negroes as soldiers for the Federal army. The State was admitted into the Union January 29, 1861, after a long reign of hostilities within her borders, carried on by the same character of men and strictly for the same purpose which brought on the war of the Great Rebellion. In fact, it was but a transfer of hostilities from Missouri and Kansas to South Carolina and Virginia. Missouri and the South had been whipped out of Kansas and the territory admitted into the Union as a free State. This single fact was accepted by the South as a precursor of the policy of the incoming Republican administration, and three Southern senators resigned or left the United States Senate before the vote was taken for the admission of Kansas. The act of admitting Kansas as a free State, was the torch that inflamed the South, and led to the firing upon Fort Sumter the following April. The men of Kansas had long been inured to field service, and used to practice with Sharps' rifles. The men of Kansas, more than in any other State of the Union, had a right to rush to the defence of the Federal government, and they themselves felt so.
On the 9th of February, eleven days after the admission of the State into the Union, Governor Robinson took the oath of office, and on the 15th of April President Lincoln called for seventy-five thousand volunteers. The first regiment responded to the call by the close of May; others speedily followed, until Kansas had in the field 20,000 soldiers. Of the regiments and companies which represented this State in the Federal army, several were composed of negroes, with a slight mixture of Indians.
It has been no easy task to learn about these regiments, but, after a long search, the writer has been enabled, through the patriotic efforts of Governor Crawford, of Kansas, who is also ex-Colonel of the 2nd Kansas Regiment, to find Mr. J. B. McAfee, late chaplain of the same regiment and Adjutant-General of Kansas, now engaged in business in Topeka. With the finding of Mr. McAfee came another difficulty; the report of the Adjutant-General, containing an account of the regiments in the war, had been accidentally burned before leaving the printing office. This difficulty was overcome, however, by the consideration ever shown the negro by Mr. McAfee, who kindly loaned his only volume of the "Military History of Kansas."
The service rendered by the Phalanx soldiery of Kansas stands second to none upon the records of that State. Their patriotism was nothing less than a fitting return for the love of liberty shown by the Free State men in rescuing Kansas from the clutches of the slave power. The discussions at the national capitol pointed Kansas out to the negro as a place where he might enjoy freedom in common with all other American citizens. He regarded it then as he does now,[24] the acme of Republican States. Those negroes who enjoyed and appreciated the sentiment that made her so, were determined as far as they were able, to stand by the men who had thus enlarged the area of freedom.
Without comment upon the bravery of these troops, the report is submitted of their conduct in camp, field, on the march and in battle, as made by those who commanded them on various occasions.
"On the 4th day of August, 1862, Captain James M. Williams, Co. F, 5th Kansas Cavalry, was appointed by Hon. James H. Lane, Recruiting Commissioner for that portion of Kansas lying north of the Kansas River, for the purpose of recruiting and organizing a regiment of infantry for the United States service, to be composed of men of African descent. He immediately commenced the work of recruiting by securing the muster-in of recruiting officers with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant, and by procuring supplies from the Ordnance Quartermaster and Commissary departments, and by establishing in the vicinity of Leavenworth a camp of rendezvous and instruction.