New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1864-06-21
WHETHER NEGROES WILL EIGHT

WHETHER NEGROES WILL RIGuT.
There is complete concurrence Of testimony
as to the superb courage Of the negro troops at
the storming Of the Petersburg intrenchments
on Wednesday. The dispatches to tho War
Department refer to them as "assaulting aud
carrying he rihe-pts with great gallantry,"
and add 1.-THE hardest fighting was done by
the black troops. The forts they storIncd were
tho worst of all. After the affair was
over, Gen. Smith went to thdf& them, and
tell them he was proud of their courage and
dash. He says they cannot be excesded as sol
diers, and that hereafter he will send them into
difficult place az readily es the best white
troops. They captured six out Of the sixteen
cannon which be took" The accounts Of ali
the Newspaper correspondents are Of the same
tenor. The facts are beyond question. The
divisions which earned this praise was tho di-
vision Of Gen. Kinks, part Of Gen. Buiisr's
command,
We rscite these facts With particularly,
partly because all prominence Is due to tbs
heroism Of the black troops, psrtly to put To-
shame the men and papers which have persisted
in denying courage to the negroes And We
c,lll attcnticate the fact that the bucks in every
Instance in which they have been tested in this
var have fought courageously. There is no
record Of cowsrdice against them.
But there are papers which even the
ya'er of such. day rs Petersburg can
not shame ioto decent acknowledgment
Of heir wrongs to the blacks Ths Cop
peri rad papers generally arc silonh like
the Copperhesa congressman. who heard
the news of the victory read on the floor of the
Houss without o,s expression OF regret fog their
siandrs or Of Joy for q Union victory.
They cannot contradict official stateuants;
they wait, for the most pst,. till their
readers shall i6rget But The Josr-
nal Of Commerce is an exception! II. oan-
not tolerate prizes Of negro. troops, and
fails saysgely upon tho account u{ Gen. STAR
giss dc Seat and the good conduct Of the ne s1oes
which vent far tn redeem the disaster. Ehe
facts are "nauseoas and intolers ble," the laud
alton is ''fusome, /" the story is q piece'withI
- the tsayels of Eeiauel Gui.ver or baron
We only know concern.
ing the report Aat it cana through al
clinn, Il which is usually unfriendiy toI
The neg Dos, whelee we presume the truth m
this csss Was nSt eserstated. But suppose 1t
were, The Journal might haze found Naple
justification for ala the clarifying negro
troops" Of which il compla Is, in the Idrsal
accounts from Petersburg. Nobody srndges
/, word cfpralse FOR the Negro troops which they
honestly DESERVE says I1s Journal Then
why suppress ALI mention # their brewery at
Petersburg; why deny Item even tie con-
temptapus "vs9rl" which @nubody grlfges f"l
Why throw contempt and dspayage-
neut OIL az account which may or may
not be TIE, aid amt wholly that
"a Tie negroes courage which il isl
upossblo ~ question or esvil sbCstl Is itl
honest Is 1t Just to the non who. tAvagh with
bsek, skins, give thci-f lives in dosrass of the
country which you ags helping "a. destroy
II ave you 10 often denied that blaze aeops will
f,ht tina, you are asha4aed to let yoar readers
STOW they will aud DO, ...n IS T. sass ....
There is nothing new or surprising in the
brilliant conduct OF the blacks % Petersburg.
They fought with desperate courage at Port
Hudson, charging across f,bl oEd into Go
fences which il was aiA'oliierty hladlsss ~ N
her them agaiusa, yet they wat TO surc death
without muraur. At Mlskcn's Bend, they
repulscd an attacking fo,ce sr more than twice
their numbers. At rurt Wagner, .ha
bith Massachusetts, wca rciIown SUCH ~
no single white regiment has yet attaIsd IN
this wax, AT Olustee i: was Tire hholSs, the lat
North Carolina and the Massachusetts alth
again, that covered the retrct and saved the
remnant Of "A defeated ARMY. Aicw weeks since.
at Wilson's Wharf on the James, black gar
rson defeated the chvalry Of Virginia, the
horsemen Of Fits Hugh Lee. At P@iucah it
was part OF black regiment which. under the
brave Col. Hicks, drove Forrest from tho fort
and town. At Fort Pillow 400 black troops
defended their works to the last moment agaisst
z, 900 white Rebels--and their massacre il yet
unavenged by this Government. f04 ollfg.
We do not exhaust the list of their 'achieve.
ments, but yt mention more than enoagh TO vim.
dictate the claim Of the black troops to stand by
the siido of the best white troops in the ar'hy
Cor do the latter reject them. The Ar.ny o
the Potomac believes in, men who will fight
welcomed wll ea,,itslssaye blc.t comrades
rpi.o lnv nf amaze. mo nt nppropS =. Al, IA, ga.