The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-05-10
troop. left In New Orleans under Gen.

Lowell to protect the city.
II was impossible under these circum-
stances to be squeamish on the color line
The free people Of color were invited 70 Joil
the Confederate service again ano on Maiei
~ Gov. Moore issued the following order
The Governor and Commander in Chief
relying implicitly upon the Loyalty OF tht
s Of tsT hSss S S exsses
prior to Feb. is, 1881 should exist for nno
during the war; calls upon them 70 MAINTAIN
orders as may be transmitted to them
They did maintain their organization
but that il all. In another month Ne"
Orleans had fallen into the hands OF the
Union army. During the short lnterregnuif
which prevailed between the tvacuatioi
Of the city and the occupation by the uniol
French. Spanish and British subjects
In New Orleans, was called out by Mayor
Monroe to preserve order, but the NatiVe
Guards were ignored. They did not leave
New Orleans with the new, Confederate
troops but remained behind. practically
disbanded.
There Is little reason to doubt that the
colored men who organized this regiment
intended 70 fight for the Confederate cause
Had they done 80, had they been allowed
to do SO, it would not only have been q
curious incident, but it might have hao
important effects. Thus Jefferson Davis
might have conceived the idea OF arning
the negroes at the beginning Of the civt
war instead of near the end ofthe struggle
when 1t was too late.
The Native Guards. however, were treated
with a scant courtesy that killed any en-
thusiasm they might have felt for the Con
federate cause. They were sworn in ano
mustered out of the service and called back
again only in the last few desperate days
before the capture of the city by Farragut'
feet.
Four months after his occupation Of the
city Gen. Butler took up the work where
the Confederates dropped 1t. He saw the
possibility Of utilizing the freemen Of color
who had had some military education and
discipline, and on Aug. 20, 1852. he issued ar
order calling upon all members OF the Native
Guards to enlist in the service of the United
States.
None OF the men who had taken prom
inent part in the organization Of this regi,
ment for the Confederate service reenlisteo
on the other side, but some Of the rank
and Ale did. The First louisiana Native
Guards was orgad1iard WITH I'll otha,
officers colored. The regiment fought with
courage and distinction at Port Hudson
where one of the Captains. Andre Ca!l'ioux
lost his life and became the hero OF the
negro troops.
the organization Of the negro regiment
for the Confederate service have any share
in the organization Of the Republican party
in Louisiana and in the period Of Recon
struction and it IL unfortunate for the
negroes that they did not. They were men
Of property. many of them OF education
and they might have led their people in a
much better cours, than the negro gamblers
bootblacks, BARRIERS and stable boys who
Joined the carpetbaggers to install the
horror known as Reconstruction.
The free men Of color would never have
permitted the excuses which followed
for thsy were generally friendly to the
whites. Only one of the organizers and
officers of the Confederate Native Guards,
Arnold Bertonneau. took part in post -bellum
politics. He was member Of the Consti-
tutonal Convention of 1898, which gave
Louisiana its first Reconstruction Consti-
tuition.
The military spirit of the negroes died
out with the Civil War. Even during Re-
publican DAYS no SUCCESS was met with In
organizing a negro militia. Under Demo-
cratic regime several negro militia COM
panes were organized, the last survival
being a company named in honor OF Gen.
Beauregard's son-in-law.
A few years ago tho militia act passed by
the Louisiana Legislature suppressed the
independent companies and got rid of the
ne gro militia Thus it is that while Louisi
ana had negro militia companies during all
the DAYS Of slavery, when one OF its negro
regiments fought bravely in the War Of 1912
and another offered it's service in the South.
ern cause in the Civil War, to-day, with all
the negroes free, there is no negro military
organization OF any kind.