African American Officers

The Confederate 1^st Louisiana Native Guard was disbanded by order of General John L Lewis on April 29^th 1862, as Union troops entered and took over the city of New Orleans, Louisiana.

Following secession, Louisiana’s Governor Thomas Overton Moore, made a request for troops in April 1861.  In response to this call a committee of free New Orleans blacks called a meeting at the Catholic Institute on April 22^nd 1861, at which around 1,500 free African American men enlisted.  Most of the men were French Speaking Creoles.  Moore made these men part of the state’s militia, forming the 1^st Louisiana Native Guard on May 2^nd 1861.  There were three white officers appoint to command the regiment, but the company commanders came from among the men of the regiment, making this the first North American military unit to have African American officers.   Among these officers were Lieutenant Andre Cailloux, who would latter die fighting the Confederacy, and Lieutenant Morris W Morris who was not only African American, but also Jewish.

The men of the 1^st were never used in any Confederate military action, and the men had to use their own money to buy uniforms and weapons. The men mostly found themselves part of parades and grand reviews.  They were forced to disband on February 15^th 1862, because of a new Louisiana law, stating that only white men could be part of the militia.  Governor Moore reinstated the 1^st on March 24^th 1862 when Union Admiral David G Farragut’s navy sailed into the Mississippi River.

When Confederate troops under the command of Major General Mansfield Lovell left New Orleans the General of the Louisiana Militia; John L Lewis ordered the 1^st disbanded on April 29^th 1862, telling them to go home, and to hide their guns and uniforms. Union Major General Benjamin F Butler, after accepting the surrender of New Orleans approached some of the members of 1^st to fight for the Union; about 10% were willing and would become the Union 1^st Louisiana Native Guard, latter known as the 73^rd United States Colored Troops.

The First African American Governor

The first African American to become a United States Governor, Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback was sworn in December 9^th 1872.

Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback was born May 10^th 1837 in Macon, Bibb, Georgia to Eliza Stewart a former slave and her former owner William Pinchback.  His father bought a large plantation in Mississippi shortly after Pinchback’s birth and he moved his family there.  Pinchback was raised white and was sent to school in Cincinnati, Ohio.  When his father died in 1848 he left school and worked for a while on the river before settling in Terre Haute, Indiana where he worked at a hotel.

When the Civil War started Pinchback went to New Orleans where he received a commission to Captain in the Union 1^st Louisiana Native Guards, an all black regiment.  After being passed over for promotion in favor of white officers, he resigned his command in 1863.

After the war Pinchback became active in the Republican Party in New Orleans.  He was elected as a State Senator in 1868 and served as the senate president pro tem.  When Oscar Dunn died in 1871 Pinchback became Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana.  In 1872 the Republican governor Henry Clay Warmoth was impeached and Pinchback became governor on December 9^th 1872.  He served for 35 days.  He went on to be elected to the United State House of Representatives and the Senate, but his elections were overturned and his Democratic opponent was seated instead.  In 1885 Pinchback went to Dillard University and became a lawyer, final moving to Washington, DC where he had a practice.

Pinchback died December 21^st 1821 in Washington, DC.  He is buried in the Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans.  It wouldn’t be until 1990 when Douglas Wilder became governor of Virginia that the United States had another African American governor.

The Chasseurs d'Afrique

The Union’s first all black regiment was formed September 27th 1862 in New Orleans Louisiana.


The 1st Louisiana Native Guard [which would become the 73rd Regiment United States Colored Troops], the first all black regiment to fight for the Union Army was formed September 27th 1862. They sometimes called themselves the “Chasseurs d’Afrique”; the Hunters of Africa. New Orleans Louisiana fell into Union hand in April 1862. Union Major General Benjamin F Butler organized the regiment whose initial strength was about a thousand men. Membership in the Guard was mainly made up of “free men of color”, but there were some runaway slave from nearby plantation. Field grade officers [majors, and colonels] were all white men, but line officers were all black.

From its formation until May 1863 the regiment mostly performed fatigue duty, and guarding railroad depots between New Orleans and Brashear City Louisiana. The number of men had dwindled to about half. The Guards first combat came on May 27th 1863 during the first Siege of Port Hudson. In April 1864 the Guard was dissolved and its members became part of the newly organized 73rd and 74th Regiments of the United State Colored Troops. At the end of the war about 100 of the original 1,000 members of the First Louisiana Native Guard still remained in uniform.