On September 27, 1862, the Free Creoles of color of the 1st Louisiana Native Guard became the first Non White (People of Color) regiment officially mustered into the Union Army.
The Louisiana Native
by James G. Hollandsworth, Jr.
A Black Patriot
and a White Priest
By Stephen J. Ochs
It all began with an announcement in
the Daily Picayune. “Defenders of the Native Land,”
it read, “We the undersigned, natives of Louisiana, assembled
in committee, have unanimously adopted the following resolutions…:
Resolved, That the population to which we belong, as soon as
a call is made to them by the Governor of this State, will be
ready to take arms and form themselves into companies for the
defense of their homes, together with the other inhabitants
of this city, against any enemy who may come and disturb its
fifteen hundred people
of color “natives” gathered
at the Couvent School for Orphans on the corner of Greatman
and Union streets to show their support for Confederate Louisiana.
“When… [they] form their regiment (and it will
be a rousing one),” the Daily Crescent predicted, “they
will make a show as pleasing to all, as it will be surprising
to many of our [i.e., white] population.
days a regiment composed entirely of free men of color had
been organized; it was called the Native Guards. Governor
Thomas D. Moore accepted the regiment as part of the Louisiana
militia on May 2, 1861, and issued commissions for the line
officers, all of whom were people
The governor appointed a white militia officer, Colonel Henry
D. Ogden, as commander.
White New Orleans was delighted with
the formation of a people
of color militia regiment. “Our free colored men… are certainly
as much attached to the land of their birth as their white
brethren here in Louisiana,” the Daily Crescent assured
its readers. They “will fight the people
of color Republican with as much determination and gallantry as any
body of white men in the service of the Confederate States.
soldiers in the state militia were not unusual in Louisiana,
although they would have been everywhere else in the United
States. Armed slaves and free men of color had joined the
French in 1727 to fight against the Choctaw Indians. Eight
years later, forty-five creole men served alongside French
colonial troops in New Orleans.
Spanish officials continued
the French practice of using creole soldiers after the Louisiana
Territory was ceded to Spain in 1762. More than eighty free people of color helped the Spanish army capture the English forts at Natchez
and Baton Rouge in September, 1779. Even larger numbers of
creole soldiers, both slave and free, participated in the
capture of Mobile and Pensacola six months later.
Louisiana Territory became part of the United States in 1803,
Creoles and black men continued to serve in the militia. In 1811, they
helped the territorial governor suppress a slave insurrection.
Four years later, slaves and free men of color fought with
Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans. As the Daily
True Delta reminded its readers in 1861, among the current
volunteers were men “whose fathers and friends fought
in defense of New Orleans on the plains of Chalmette.”
joined the Louisiana militia for varied and complex reasons.
of F Company, 73rd Regiment, Unites States
Colored Infantry (originally the 1st Regiment, Louisiana
Native Guards). Noldier, a former slave, was captured
by Confederate forces at Jackson, Louisiana, in July 1863,
and then escaped. Noldier's regiment endured unremitting
fatigue duty and blatant racial discrimination.
the government to have broken trust with them, many deserted
only to return to duty after President Lincoln's amnesty
proclamation of 1864. In april 1865, the 73rd was the
first Union regiment to breach the Confederate defenses
at Fort Blakely outside Mobile. Courtesy of the National
Sergeant Alfred Noldier
of F Company,73rd Regiment,
United States Colored Infantry.... (courtesy the National Archives)
reason why free people
joined the Louisiana militia was economic self-interest. The
Defenders of the Native Land were men of property and intelligence,
representatives of a free people
community in New Orleans that was both prosperous and well-educated.
There were even slave owners among its ranks.
Not even New
York City could boast of having more people
dentists…silversmiths, portrait-painters, architects,
brick-layers, plasterers, carpenters, tailors, cigar-makers,
&c.” Furthermore, the “hommes de couleur libre,”
as they were called in New Orleans, enjoyed privileges not
afforded by people
of color elsewhere in the South, allowing them by 1860 to accumulate
more than two million dollars worth of property.
It was not
surprising, therefore, that free people
of color were eager to defend their holdings. “At this period
in our history,” a black Creole wrote many years later,
“people were most cautious in their criticisms of existing
institutions. The pursuit of personal satisfaction or the
persistent acquisition of material things of life occupied
also the issue of self-identity. More than 80 percent of the
population in New Orleans in 1860 had European blood in their
veins. In contrast, fewer than 10 percent of slaves in Louisiana
gave evidence of white ancestry. Because skin color and free
status were highly correlated, many free people
identified more closely with Southern whites than with people
“They love their home, their property, they own slaves,
and they are dearly attached to their native land,”
read an open letter published at the time of South Carolina’s
secession. “The free colored population (native) of
Louisiana have no sympathy for Abolitionism; no love for the
North, but they have plenty for Louisiana; and let the hour
come, and they will be worthy sons of Louisiana.
test of Confederate willingness to accept the Native Guards
in the spirit of true fraternity had not gone well. On September
28, 1861, word had come that Union prisoners captured at Manassas
would arrive in New Orleans within two days.
was an occasion for much excitement, and the troops selected
to guard the prisoners as they marched from the train station
to the city prison would be afforded a great honor. General
John L. Lewis of the Louisiana militia suggested that the
Native Guards be allowed to escort the prisoners of war. But
the Confederate commander in New Orleans said no, and white
militiamen were picked instead.
the rebuff, the Native Guards continued to demonstrate their
support for Confederate Louisiana by participating in two
grand reviews- one on November 23, 1861, and a second on January
among the Native Guards for the Confederate cause did not
last long, however. Many of the men were still without uniforms
or equipment, and one company had only ten muskets. Absenteeism
increased when it became apparent that the Confederate authorities
did not intend to provide the Native Guards with either the
status or support they afforded white soldiers.
state legislature passed a law in January, 1862, that reorganized
the militia by conscripting “all the free white males
capable of bearing arms… irrespective of nationality.”
reorganization of the militia also affected the Native Guards.
Because the new statute specified white males and disbanded
all existing militia units as of February 15, 1862, the Native
Guards ceased to exist on that date. Their demise was temporary,
however, for Governor Moore reinstated the Native Guards on
March 24 after the Federal navy under Captain David G. Farragut
entered the Mississippi River.
The Louisiana Native Guard..
Civil War 1861
troops under the command of Benjamin F. Butler occupied New
Orleans on May 1, 1862. Although Butler had used fugitive
slaves, “contrabands” as he called them, to repair
levees, widen drainage ditches, and strengthen fortifications,
he had resisted appeals from Northern abolitionists to enlist
them as soldiers in the Union army.
There were two reasons
for his hesitance. First, Washington disapproved. Lincoln
was afraid that arming fugitive slaves would push the border
states of Missouri, Maryland, and Kentucky to side with the
South. In fact, Lincoln has already forced David Hunter in
South Carolina to disband the unofficial black regiment he
had raised there A second reason was Butler’s own opinion
regarding the aptitude of blacks for military service.
began to have second thoughts about his refusal to enlist
colored troops. On August 5, a Confederate army Major General John
C. Breckinridge launched a surprise attack on Baton Rouge.
Although Breckinridge’s men were beaten back, there
were ominous rumors that they were headed south to take New
Orleans. Butler hurriedly ordered the evacuation of Baton
Rouge and sent an urgent plea to Washington for reinforcements.
had asked for reinforcements before, only to be turned down.
Instead, the Union high command had told him to recruit new
troops from the Unionist population in Louisiana, mainly the
“loyal” Irish and German immigrants in New Orleans.
Butler had tried to do just that, and although recruiting
had gone well at first, it had fallen off. The disruption
of slavery had created a labor shortage, and the Irish and
German laborers who were excepted to enlist had been lured
away by the prospects of higher wages in the civilian market.
If Butler were to get the men he needed to defend New Orleans,
he would have to look elsewhere.
knew where to look, but he still had to convince the administration
in Washington. On August 14 Butler decided to test the water.
Warning Stanton of an imminent attack on New Orleans, Butler
told the secretary of war that unless he got reinforcements
quickly, “I shall call on Africa to intervene.”
He was deadly serious. “I have determined to use the
services of free colored men who were organized by the rebels
into the Colored Brigade, of which we have heard so much,”
he wrote. “They are free; they have been used by our
enemies, whose mouths are shut, and they will be loyal.”
Before Stanton had the chance to reply, Butler did precisely
what he had told Phelps not to do; he called on the “free
colored citizens” of Louisiana who had served in the
Louisiana militia to enlist in the United States of Army,
“subject to the approval of the President.”