The story of the Corps d’Afrique, a black regiment, was among the most unusual of any unit in the CiViL War. Originally known as the First Louisiana Native Guards, the Corps began life as part of the Confederate army on November 23, 1861, and at that time comprised 33 officers and 731 enlisted men, all of them African American. The members of the Corps d’Afrique were from New Orleans and its surrounding areas, and their initial purpose was to defend the city against the Union army.
During the Civil War and afterward, the fact that black soldiers were willing to fight for the Confederacy was used as evidence that African Americans were happy with their life in the South, so much so that they were willing to take up arms to defend it. However, the men who made up the Corps d’Afrique were not in any way representative of the general African-American population of the South. Most were mulattoes, educated, and financially well off. Some were even slave owners. As residents of New Orleans, all were afforded rights that were not available to African Americans in the rest of the South, or even in the North.
Even if they had initially been willing to support the Southern cause, the Corps d’Afrique’s enthusiasm soon began to wane. Not surprisingly, Confederate authorities did not give them the support or respect that was afforded to white units. Also, it became clear to corps members that their purpose was to serve as propaganda and not to fight. At the same time, a number of escaped slaves joined the ranks. When the Union army captured New Orleans in 1862, the disillusionment of the unit’s membership was complete, and most of its members consented to join the Union army as the First Corps d’Afrique.
The First Corps d’Afrique was officially mustered into service on September 27, 1862. As such, it was the first African-American regiment to be formally recognized as part of the Union army, predating the famous 54TH Massachusetts Regiment by eight months. The unit provided valuable service—guarding prisoners, building fortifications, and fighting at Port Hudson, Mansura, and Mobile. Eventually rechristened the 73rd U. S. Colored Infantry, the regiment continued to serve after the war, often being utilized to make certain that the government’s Reconstruction policies were being properly observed. Thus, a unit that had been formed to defend the Old South became an instrument in its destruction.
Further reading: Nathan W. Daniels, Thank God My Regiment an African One: The Civil War Diary of Colonel Nathan W. Daniels, ed. C. P. Weaver (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1998); James G. Hollandsworth, The Louisiana Native Guards: The Black Military Experience during the Civil War (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1995).
—Christopher Bates
World History
