The 1st Louisiana Native Guard was a Confederate Louisianan militia that consisted of

Creoles of color The Creoles of color are a historic ethnic group of Creole people that developed in the former French and Spanish colonies of Louisiana (especially in the city of New Orleans), Mississippi, Alabama, and Northwestern Florida i.e. Pensacola, Flor ...

. Formed in 1861 in

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, it was disbanded on April 25, 1862. Some of the unit's members joined the Union Army's 1st Louisiana Native Guard, which later became the 73rd Regiment Infantry of the United States Colored Troops.

Confederate Louisiana militia

Shortly after Louisiana's

secession Secession is the withdrawal of a group from a larger entity, especially a political entity, but also from any organization, union or military alliance. Some of the most famous and significant secessions have been: the former Soviet republics le ...

, Governor

Thomas Overton Moore Thomas Overton Moore (April 10, 1804 – June 25, 1876) was an attorney and politician who was the 16th Governor of Louisiana from 1860 until 1864 during the American Civil War. Anticipating that Louisiana's Ordinance of Secession would be pas ...

issued pleas for troops on April 17 and April 21, 1861. In response to the governor's request, a committee of ten prominent New Orleanian

called a meeting at the

Catholic Institute The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

on April 22. About two thousand people attended the meeting where muster lists were opened, with about 1,500 ''

gens de couleur In ancient Rome, a gens ( or , ; plural: ''gentes'' ) was a family consisting of individuals who shared the same nomen and who claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a ''stirps'' (plural: ''stirpes''). The ''gen ...

'' signing up. Governor Moore accepted the services of these men as part of the state's militia. The new militia regiment was formed during May 1861, consisting mostly of French Creoles of color. While some members of the new regiment came from wealthy prominent Creole families, a majority of the men were clerks, artisans, and skilled laborers.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.

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

and

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

had an estimated 25,000 free Creole of color residents. On May 29, 1861, Governor Moore appointed three white officers as commanders of the regiment, and company commanders were appointed from among the Creoles of the regiment. The militia unit was the first of any in North America to have officers of color, preceding the United States Colored Troops. This regiment was called the Louisiana Native Guard. Though ten per cent of its members would later join 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 of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...

's 1st Louisiana Native Guard, the two were separate military units.

Activities

The Native Guards were volunteers, and as such supplied their own arms and uniforms. These were displayed in a grand review of troops in New Orleans on November 23, 1861, and again on January 8, 1862. They offered their services to escort Union prisoners (captured at the

First Battle of Bull Run The First Battle of Bull Run (the name used by Union forces), also known as the Battle of First Manassas

) through New Orleans. Confederate General David Twiggs declined the offer, but thanked them for the "promptness with which they answered the call." The Louisiana State Legislature passed a law in January 1862 that reorganized the

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

into only “...free white males capable of bearing arms… ” The Native Guards regiment was affected by this law. It was forced to disband on February 15, 1862, when the new law took effect. "Their demise was only temporary, however, for Governor Moore reinstated the Native Guards on March 24 after the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

under Admiral David G. Farragut entered the Mississippi River." As the regular Confederate forces under

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...

Mansfield Lovell Mansfield Lovell (October 20, 1822 – June 1, 1884) was a major general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. As military commander of New Orleans when the city unexpectedly fell to the Union Navy in 1862, Lovell was fier ...

abandoned New Orleans, the militia units were left to fend for themselves. The Native Guards were again, and in finality, ordered to disband by

General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

John L. Lewis John Llewellyn Lewis (February 12, 1880 – June 11, 1969) was an American leader of organized labor who served as president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMW) from 1920 to 1960. A major player in the history of coal mining, he was the d ...

, of the Louisiana Militia, on April 25, 1862, as Federal ships arrived opposite the city. General Lewis cautioned them to hide their arms and uniforms before returning home.

Notable members

* Felix Labatut (Colonel)- State senator, soldier, and signer of Louisiana's declaration of secession. * Armand Lanusse (Captain)- Soldier, educator, writer. The prime motivator in the formation of the Native Guards Regiment. *

André Cailloux André Cailloux (August 25, 1825May 27, 1863) was an African American army captain, one of the first black officers of any North American military unit. He was also one of the first black soldiers to die in combat during the American Civil War. ...

, who later became a hero of 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 ...

as a Union officer, served as a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

in this Confederate Louisiana militia regiment of the Native Guard.

Companies

Companies of the Confederate 1st Louisiana Native Guard prior to disbanding in 1862:Bergeron, Arthur W., Jr. Louisianans in the Civil War, "Louisiana's Free Men of Color in Gray", University of Missouri Press, 2002, p. 106-107.

References

* Hollandsworth, James G., ''The Louisiana Native Guards'', LSU Press, 1996. * Trethewey, Natasha. ''Native Guard.'' Houghton-Mifflin, 2006. * Holden, Randall G., "Futile Valor", MCG Publishing, 1997

External links