In a message dated 6/15/2007 9:47:28 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
[log in to unmask] writes:


> 
> it is alos important to remember that the La. Guards DID NOT SERVE in
> the Confederacy, but fought for the US althought at the beginning of hte
> war they volunteered to fight for the Confederacy.  THey thought they
> were more white than black; clearly Jeff Davis and his cohorts (who were
> already deeply into racial science and were deeply racist) thought
> otherwise.
> 
> Paul Finkelman

Dear Paul:

From my recollections on reading about the LA Native Guards, they started off 
as confederate militia/home guard who were only used for guard duty in New 
Orleans.  They quickly got disenchanted by the powers at be reluctance to use 
them and were quite happy to become functional soldiers when Benjamin "The 
Beast" Butler took over as military governor after the fall of NO.  Butler was an 
ardent abolitionist who asked permission for Washington to form local union 
militia.  He conveniently and purposely left out the fact that they were "gens du 
coleur" and his request was granted.  The Native Guards were almost 
essentially the same guys as in 1861, this changed when Butler was ousted after he 
insulted the women of NO and was replaced by Nathaniel Banks who didn't like 
blacks, replaced the black officers with white ones which prompted resignations 
among the troops and newly freed slaves were enlisted.  By the time the unit 
fights, it's membership is quite different from what it was in the spring of 61.

Anita L. Henderson


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