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May 27, 1863, Banks launched a poorly coordinated attack on the well defended, well fortified Confederate positions at Port Hudson. As part of the attack, Cailloux was ordered to lead his company of 100 men in an almost suicidal assault against sharpshooting Confederate troops. Cailloux’s company suffered heavy casualties, but Cailloux, shouting encouragement to his men in French and English, led several increasingly futile charges. On his last charge, a Minié ball tore through his arm, which was left dangling uselessly by his side. Severely wounded, Cailloux continued to lead the charge until a Confederate artillery shell killed him.
Despite a truce the next day asked for by Banks, and granted by the Confederate commander Franklin Gardner, for the purpose of recovering the Union dead from the field of battle, Cailloux’s remains were left on the field. Whether it was a conscious decision by Banks or simply an accident of war to leave the bodies of the black soldiers on the field is a subject of dispute. Cailloux’s decomposing body lay on the ground for 47 days until Port Hudson finally surrendered to Banks on July 9, 1863.
George Martin