The 1st Louisiana Native Guard (also known as the ''Corps d'Afrique'') was one of the first all-black

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscripted ...

s in the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

. Based in

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, it played a prominent role in the

Siege of Port Hudson The siege of Port Hudson, Louisiana, (May 22 – July 9, 1863) was the final engagement in the Union campaign to recapture the Mississippi River in the American Civil War. While Union General Ulysses Grant was besieging Vicksburg upriver, Ge ...

. Its members included a minority of free men of color from New Orleans; most were African-American former slaves who had escaped to join the Union cause and gain freedom. A

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

regiment by the same name served in the Louisiana militia made up entirely of free men of color.

Formation

After New Orleans fell to Admiral

David Farragut David Glasgow Farragut (; also spelled Glascoe; July 5, 1801 – August 14, 1870) was a flag officer of the United States Navy during the American Civil War. He was the first rear admiral, vice admiral, and admiral in the United States Navy. F ...

in April 1862, Union Major General Benjamin F. Butler headquartered his 12,000-man

Army of the Gulf The Army of the Gulf was a Union Army that served in the general area of the Gulf states controlled by Union forces. It mainly saw action in Louisiana and Alabama. History The Department of the Gulf was created following the capture of New Orlea ...

in New Orleans. On September 27, 1862, Butler organized the Union Army's 1st Louisiana Native Guard regiment, some of whose members had served in the previous Confederate Native Guard regiment. Free men of color had served with the militia since the French colonial period. But the regiment's initial strength was 1,000 men, and it was composed mostly of African-American former slaves who had escaped to freedom.Terry L. Jones (2012-10-19
"The Free Men of Color Go to War" - NYTimes.com
Opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com. Retrieved on 2012-12-18. The Union Army's 1st Louisiana Native Guard regiment in September 1862 was not made up only of men from the Confederate Guard. Of the nearly 1,000 enlisted soldiers of the Confederate Native Guards, only 107 were recorded as enlisting in the Union "Native Guard", and only ten of the 36 officers served the Union. The free men of color had varying reasons for volunteering to serve with the Confederacy, in part to preserve their own standing in the society, just as others did. OurColoredTroopsFortMacomb

The Union commissioned several African-American line officers of the Guard. Former Confederate Lt. Andre Cailloux, a Creole of color (free man of color) in New Orleans, was named captain of Company E.

P. B. S. Pinchback Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback (May 10, 1837 – December 21, 1921) was an American publisher, politician, and Union Army officer. Pinchback was the second African American (after Oscar Dunn) to serve as governor and lieutenant governor of a ...

, also a free man of color, was appointed as captain of Company A, and later was reassigned as company commander of the 2nd Regiment. (He later served as governor of the state, as a US Representative and Senator.) James Lewis, former steward on the Confederate river-steamer ''De Soto'', was commissioned as captain of company K. During this period, some slaves who escaped from nearby

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

s joined the regiment, but the Union Army's official policy discouraged such enrollments. In November 1862, the number of escaped slaves seeking to enlist became so great that the Union organized a second regiment and, a month later, a third regiment. The field-grade officers of these regiments (

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

s, and

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

s) were white men, with the notable exception of Major

Francis E. Dumas Francis Ernest Dumas (1837 – March 26, 1901) was a wealthy plantation owner and slaveholder of Louisiana. He was of African Americans, African American and Louisiana Creole people, creole heritage and served as an officer in the Union Army duri ...

of the 2nd Regiment, a Creole of color. Colonel Spencer Stafford, formerly Butler's military "mayor" of New Orleans, was the original white commander of the 1st Louisiana Native Guard. After Major-General

Nathaniel P. Banks Nathaniel Prentice (or Prentiss) Banks (January 30, 1816 – September 1, 1894) was an American politician from Massachusetts and a Union general during the Civil War. A millworker by background, Banks was prominent in local debating societies, ...

replaced Butler as Commander of the Department of the Gulf, he began a systematic campaign to purge all the black or colored line officers from the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Regiments of the Louisiana Native Guard. He secured the resignations of all the black line officers in the 2nd Regiment in February 1863, but most of the black line officers in the 1st Regiment and 3rd Regiment remained.

Siege of Port Hudson

From its formation in September 1862 until early May 1863, the 1st Louisiana Native Guard largely performed fatigue duty–chopping wood, gathering supplies, and digging earthworks. From January 1863 to May 1863, the regiment also guarded the railway depots along the rail line between

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

(south of the Mississippi River, now part of New Orleans) to Brashear City (now called Morgan City). By this time, the Guard's numbers had diminished to 500. Troops of the Native Guards were assigned guard duty at

Fort Macomb Fort Macomb is a 19th-century United States brick fort in Louisiana, on the western shore of Chef Menteur Pass. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The fort is adjacent to the Venetian Isles community, now legally within t ...

Fort Pike Fort Pike State Historic Site is a decommissioned 19th-century United States fort, named after Brigadier General Zebulon Pike. It was built following the War of 1812 to guard the Rigolets pass in Louisiana, a strait from the Gulf of Mexico, via L ...

Fort Massachusetts (Mississippi) Fort Massachusetts is a fort on Ship Island (Mississippi), West Ship Island along the Mississippi Gulf Coast of the United States. It was built following the War of 1812, with brick walls during 1859–1866, and remained in use until 1903. Curre ...

Fort St. Philip Fort St. Philip is a historic masonry fort located on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, about upriver from its mouth in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, just opposite Fort Jackson on the other side of the river. It formerly served a ...

, and Fort Jackson. In mid-1863, the 1st Louisiana Native Guard, along with the 3rd Louisiana Native Guard, had its first chance at combat. These units participated in the first assault at Milliken's Bend in the

on May 27, as well as the second assault on June 14. Captain Andre Cailloux died heroically in the first assault. Caillouxfuneral

Cailloux's body, as well as those of the other members of the 1st Louisiana Native Guard who fell with him that day, was left on the field of battle until the surrender of Port Hudson on July 9, 1863. News of his heroism reached New Orleans, and Cailloux received a hero's funeral in the city with a large procession and thousands of attendees along the route on July 29.

Corps D'Afrique (1863-1864)

In June 1863, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Louisiana Native Guard Regiments were redesignated as the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd ''Corps d'Afrique.'' Perhaps 200 to 300 of the original 1,000 members of the 1st Louisiana Native Guard made this transition. Poor treatment by white soldiers and difficult field conditions resulted in many black officers resigning and enlisted soldiers deserting the Corps. In April 1864 the Corps d'Afrique was dissolved, and its members joined the newly organized 73rd and 74th Regiments of the

United States Colored Troops The United States Colored Troops (USCT) were regiments in the United States Army composed primarily of African-American (colored) soldiers, although members of other minority groups also served within the units. They were first recruited during ...

of the Union Army. By the end of the war, about 175,000 African Americans had served in the 170 regiments of the United States Colored Troops. In contrast to the 1st Louisiana Native Guards organization, all field and line officers of the United States Colored Troops were white. At the war's end, approximately 100 of the original 1,000 members of the First Louisiana Native Guard still remained in uniform in either the 73rd or 74th Regiments.

Legacy

P.B.S. Pinchback, who came from the North to serve the Union, and others like him were free men of color who joined the Union militia for the first time and distinctly for that cause. Most of the Guard soldiers were African Americans who had escaped from slavery and joined the Union effort. Some historians think the legend of continuity of the regiments was a propaganda ploy by Union General Benjamin F. Butler.

References

External links

Louisiana Native Guards
at Frenchcreoles.com {{Authority control 1862 establishments in Louisiana 1864 disestablishments in Louisiana Louisiana Native Guard, 001 Military units and formations established in 1862 Military units and formations disestablished in 1864 Native Guard, 001