|
"God knows the place is bad enough, but not equal to this dismal looking sketch."
Colonel
Nathan W. Daniels,
With the purchase of Louisiana in 1803, this same military tradition continued under the United States. Generations before the formation of the Native Guards in 1861, their forefathers stood alongside the U.S. Army and General Andrew Jackson. Together this army of soldiers, pirates, free blacks, slaves and militia turned back the last major invasion of the United States by a foreign power--The War of 1812's Battle of New Orleans. But in January 1862, uneasy Confederate authorities denied the Native Guards the opportunity to defend the city. Perhaps lacking confidence in their loyalty, the authorities nullified the regiment only months after its organization. Louisiana's governor quickly called the regiment back when Union warships sailed up the Mississippi River, but it was too late for the Native Guards who had returned home. New Orleans surrendered in August 1862 to the Union. "I need reinforcements very much…Indeed we are threatened with an attack on the city of New Orleans…If it comes at all imminent I shall call upon Africa to interfere and I do not think I shall call in vain." General
Benjamin Butler, While the city and its population were no longer in Confederate control, Union generals were aghast to see their army decimated not by bullets, but by Louisiana's hot, humid climate and mosquito-borne yellow fever. Fearful of counterattack and watching his New England troops fall to sickness, with misgivings, General Benjamin Butler sought to organize separate, pro-Union, militia units of white and black Louisiana locals. About a hundred former Native Guardsmen plus additional free-men-of-color answered the call in good numbers, as did large numbers of runaway slaves encouraged by Union occupation and the opportunity for freedom. Not one but three regiments of Louisiana Native Guards were created for the Union and, together, these 3,000 soldiers were among the first enlistments of African-Americans to serve during the Civil War. Unlike other regiments of color, these units had large numbers of black officers, to the rank of major, in command of troops. Although white Union troops were desperate for more manpower, feelings were at best mixed, and at the worst prejudiced, at the prospect of fighting alongside African-Americans. Soldiers suggested that the Guards could not take discipline or stand in a fight against Confederates. The regimental commanders over the black officers and men were white, but this was not enough to fend off prejudice and fear of unknown fighting abilities. The black officers, though drawn primarily from the elite classes, were an unusual and unknown phenomenon of the times, rousing nervous suspicious from Union officers and resentment from white troops to whom they gave orders. The telling battles of Port Hudson, Louisiana (Native Guards) and Fort Wagoner, South Carolina (54th Massachusetts), where black troops proved their worth, lay in the future. In late 1861, these were questionable times for the Guards, and detractors took advantage of their unknown qualities through innuendo, denunciation and refusal to drill alongside the men. While others dismissed the African-American regiments, the Second Regiment's commander, Colonel Nathan Daniels, expressed in his diary strong confidence in his troops. An ardent abolitionist from New York and Ohio, he ached to prove the regiment's worth in battle and for military glory. "Thank God my Regiment an African one, that I have been permitted to assemble them under the banner of freedom to do and die for their country & liberty-The 2nd Louisiana Regiment of Native Guards will yet have a name in history." Colonel Nathan W. Daniels, 2nd Regiment One especially interesting member of Daniels' command was his black major, Francis E. Dumas. A refined, educated, slave-owning plantation owner, Dumas spoke five languages, and his abilities impressed both Colonel Daniels and General Butler. Dumas enlisted his one hundred slaves into one company of the Native Guards, calling upon them to "break the bonds" of their fellow men. As a major, Dumas was the highest nonwhite commissioned officer to see combat during the war. Despite the promising start and high morale, a new commanding general replaced Butler in December 1862. Suspicious of the troops and skeptical of the black officers, General Nathaniel P. Banks ordered black troops to replace the white garrisons of remote forts such as on Ship Island. Subsequently in early 1863, three companies of the Second Native Guards took up garrison duties at Fort Pike outside New Orleans and the remaining roughly seven hundred men boarded transports to Ship Island. "Monday, January 12th, 1863 Came to Ship Island, Miss.-Took command of Post, relieving Col. Rust of the 13th Maine Vol, a dreary desolate sandbar. Brought seven companies of my Regiment, 2nd La N.G. Volunteers, found two companies of 13th Maine stationed here" Colonel Nathan W. Daniels, 2nd Regiment The orders for Colonel Daniels and his Second Regiment were to stop Confederate forces from seizing this small, sandy island off Mississippi's gulf coast. Ship Island's harbor served the U. S. Navy's Western Blockade Squadron from which U.S. warships patrolled the coast in search of Confederate shipping. Months earlier Union forces had first assembled on Ship Island before moving against New Orleans. Ship Island would also figure prominently in the coming move against the Confederate port of Mobile. Despite its importance in military planning, Ship Island was desolate and miserable in the 1860's. While recognizing the sandy spot's importance, Colonel Daniels was not impressed. Almost a half-mile wide and mostly barren of major vegetation, the island extended seven miles from east to west and twelve miles off the Mississippi coast. Only a small stand of trees miles east of the incomplete fort broke the desert-like view which lay before the newly arrived Louisiana Native Guards. For their 34 months of existence on Ship Island, military drill and work details became the lot of the Second Regiment. Under a semitropical sun and surrounded by a desert-like environment, Native Guards dug artillery emplacements among the sand dunes and guarded military convicts and political prisoners. Boredom and tedium were occasionally punctuated by rumors of impending invasion by enemy troops or of Confederate warships steaming in the darkened night towards the island fortress. Calls to alert for all night vigils against attack gave way to the dawn and the return of another day's mundane schedule of drill and detail. It was not what the colonel and men desired, and morale suffered. Combat broke the regiment's monotonous existence on April 9, 1863. Colonel Daniels received orders to commit a reconnaissance raid in Pascagoula, Mississippi. His orders were supposedly to divert troops from reinforcing the Confederate defenses at Charleston, South Carolina. Whatever the reason, here was the opportunity to test his regiment's gallantry and worth in battle. Daniels, his officers and 180 men from Companies B and G sailed for Pascagoula. "We had hardly thrown out Pickets when the lookout gave the alarm that The Confederate Cavalry were coming down upon us. I myself saw them from The Cupola of The Hotel coming down the Mobile Road in heavy force with banners waving, cutlass's flailing, evidently intending to make an immediate attack." Colonel Nathan W. Daniels, 2nd Regiment The colonel was not disappointed in his men. Though facing superior numbers including mounted cavalry, Daniels writes well of his men. The 180 Native Guards landed at 9:00 o'clock and held the town until 2:00 PM that same afternoon. They fought intelligently, he records in his diary, replying volley with volley while repulsing attack after attack in the streets and on his flanks. A naval officer on hand observed the Second Regiment had performed admirably. Special mention was written describing the bravery and ability of Major Dumas. His diversionary mission accomplished, Daniels ordered a retreat, which his men did in good order back to their waiting ship. During this withdrawal the darkest moment of the assault took place. A shell from the U.S.S. Jackson, the U.S. warship supporting the regiment's companies ashore, exploded on the wharf among retreating Native Guardsmen. Angered, Colonel Daniels felt the incident to be more intentional than accidental, due to bad blood between sailors and Native Guards. With the engagement complete and troops safely removed, Daniels felt the Pascagoula Raid was a success. Two men were lost to Confederate fire. Unfortunately, at least six more died from the Jackson's errant shellfire. Despite the last somber note, newspaper accounts of the Pascagoula Raid electrified citizenry back in New Orleans. While small in scope, this became the first successful use of black troops in the Department of the Gulf. The opinion that black troops were unable to fight was further dispelled by actions of the Second's fellow regiments, the First and Third Louisiana Native Guards, at the battle for Port Hudson on the Mississippi River. Together, the actions of the New Orleans militia regiments helped clear the way for increased use of African-Americans as Union soldiers. More black troops were allowed to enlist until nearly 180,000 served the Union cause on different fronts. As for the Second Louisiana Native Guards, Daniels wrote they were eager to return to battle, but that was not to be. The Second Regiment would be mustered out in October 1865 without ever again fighting as a unit. Other units of African-American soldiers did garrison Ship Island during the remainder of the Civil War and afterwards. Some elements participated in the closing days of the siege against Fort Morgan, Alabama. But like the earlier Native Guards, their duties included for the most part drills and work details under the hot sun of Ship Island. Additionally during the latter part of the war they guarded 3,000 Confederate prisoners-of-war. Located less than a mile from the fort, the prisoners-of-war camp's population numbered from several hundred to several thousand following major battles on the mainland. The last prisoners were quickly dispersed and sent home at the war's conclusion. No longer a militia regiment, but now assimilated into the regular United States Army, the last of the United States Colored Troops on Ship Island transferred in 1870 via steamship and railroad from Mississippi to San Antonio, Texas. Patrolling wagon trails and telegraph lines, this former unit from the northern gulf coast became known in time as one of the historic African-American "Buffalo Soldier" regiments of the old West. "…the only time in my life I have felt anything like Patriotism," Captain
Pinkney B.S. Pinchback, While the story of the Louisiana Native Guards has passed into history, their time on Ship Island eventually helped pave the way for inclusion of black troops in today's United States military. Many of the officers and men returned to the New Orleans area to become involved in city politics and early efforts at gaining civil rights including the right to vote. Reportedly Major Dumas became the wealthiest African-American in Louisiana and came within two votes of being elected governor during Reconstruction. Today, Ship Island and Fort Massachusetts are located within the boundaries of Gulf Islands National Seashore. Access to Ship Island is by twelve-mile trip from Gulfport Small Craft Harbor. For more information about excursion boat fees and schedules, call 228 875-9057. References: Thank God My Regiment an African One, The Civil War Diary of Colonel Nathan W. Daniels, edited by C.P. Weaver, Baton Rouge, Louisianna State University Press, 1998. Excerpt from Historic Resource Study Ship Island, Harrison County, Mississippi, Gulf Islands National Seashore, by Edwin C. Bearss, pages 205-230. For more information on Civil War sites in the National Park Service: http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/parks.htm |
||
|
Last Updated:
08/26/03
|
Living
primarily in the New Orleans area, Louisiana's free black population possessed
a military tradition predating the Civil War for well over a century.
From the city's founding days, a vibrant society of free craftsmen, tradesmen
and plantation owners developed within and around New Orleans. Whether
free by birthright or by purchase from slave masters, free men of color
historically answered the call to arms under the decades of Spanish and
French control.
