An illustration from Harper's Weekly, July 4, 1863, depicting the Battle of Milliken's Bend where African-American soldiers of the 8th, 9th, 11th, and 13th Louisiana Infantry Regiments and 1st Mississippi Infantry fought valiantly along side the 23rd Iowa Regiment against Confederate troops. Although the African-American soldiers were recently recruited and ill-equipped, they engaged the Confederate troops in one of the longest hand-to-hand battles of the Civil War. The battle finally ended after the Union gunboats Choctaw and Lexington arrived and began firing on the Rebels.
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