1st Louisiana Native Guard ( United States ) The 1st Louisiana Native Guard ( later became the 73rd Regiment Infantry U . S . Colored Troops ) was one of the first all - black regiment s to fight in the Union Army during the American Civil War . It was based in New Orleans , Louisiana , and played a prominent role in the Siege of Port Hudson . A predecessor regiment by the same name existed in the Confederate Louisiana militia . Union regiment formed . New Orleans fell to Admiral David Farragut in April 1862 , and Union Maj . Gen . Benjamin F . Butler then headquartered his 12 , 000 - man Army of the Gulf in New Orleans . On September 27 , 1862 , Butler organized the Union Army ' s 1st Louisiana Native Guard regiment , some of whose members had also been part of the previous Confederate Native Guard regiment . The regiment ' s initial strength was 1 , 000 men . Former Confederate Lt . Andre Cailloux was named captain of Company E of the 1st Louisiana Native Guard , whose membership consisted primarily of " free men of color " from New Orleans . During this period , some runaway slaves from nearby plantations joined the regiment , but the Union Army ' s official policy discouraged such enrollments . In November 1862 , the number of runaway slaves seeking to enlist became so great that a second regiment and then , a month later , a third regiment were formed . The field grade officers of these regiments ( colonel s , lieutenant colonel s , and major s ) were white men , with the notable exception of Major Francois ( Francis ) Ernest Dumas of the 2nd Regiment , a Creole of Color . The line officers were all black , including P . B . S . Pinchback . Spencer Stafford , formerly Butler ' s military " mayor " of New Orleans , was the original commander of the 1st Louisiana Native Guard . Banks purges black line officers . When Nathaniel P . Banks later replaced Butler as Commander of the Department of the Gulf , he began a systematic campaign to purge all the black line officers from the 1st , 2nd , and 3rd Regiments of the Louisiana Native Guard . He succeeded in securing 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 . The 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 that along the rail line between Algiers ( now part of New Orleans ) to Brashear City ( now called Morgan City ) . By this time , its numbers had diminished to 500 . Troops of the Native Guards were assigned guard duty at Fort Macombe , Fort Pike , Ship Island , Fort St . Phillip , and Fort Jackson . In mid - 1863 , the 1st Louisiana Native Guard , along with the 3rd Louisiana Native Guard , had its first chance at combat and participated in the first assault at the Siege of Port Hudson on May 27 , as well as the second assault on June 14 . Captain Cailloux died heroically in the first assault . His 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 . Cailloux received a hero ' s funeral in New Orleans on July 29 . Redesignation and legacy . In June 1863 , the 1st , 2nd , and 3rd Louisiana Native Guard Regiments were redesignated 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 had by then led to the resignation of many officers and the desertion of enlisted soldiers . 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 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 . There is an erroneous belief that the Confederate Army ' s Louisiana Native Guard regiment organized in May 1861 was reformed " in its entirety " as the Union Army ' s 1st Louisiana Native Guard regiment in September 1862 . Of the nearly one thousand 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 legend of continuity of the regiments is considered by many to have been a propaganda ploy by Union General Benjamin F . Butler .