Death or victory : the Louisiana Native Guards and the Black military's significance in the Civil War / A. J. Cade.
| Author/creator | Cade, AJ author. |
| Format | Book |
| Publication | Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University Press, [2026] |
| Description | xi, 396 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm |
| Subjects |
| Contents | Introduction. Never surrender: New Orleans and the Louisiana Native Guards -- The black mantle of slavery: the genesis of the American Civil War -- The backbone of the rebellion: the liberation of New Orleans -- They will be loyal: Butler, Phelps, and the Louisiana Native Guards in the U.S. Army -- Hasten all, our blood only is demanded: constitution and recruitment -- Woe to any man who flinches: the results of the Louisiana Native Guards' experiment -- Prove themselves worthy of you: General Banks and the purge -- We prove ourselves men! The summer of 1863 and the siege of Port Hudson -- Dissatisfaction and discontent: recruitment and service in the Corps d'Afrique -- We will never stop: the USCT and the end of the experiment -- Conclusion. The man falls! The principle lives! The memory of the Louisiana Native Guards -- Appendix: African American units of Louisiana. |
| Abstract | "Anthony Cade's Death or Victory is the first comprehensive history of the Louisiana Native Guards, the first African American regiments successfully constituted in the Union Army. Formed initially as a branch of the New Orleans Home Guards in May 1861, the Native Guards were comprised of free Black and Creole men of Color who used the city's long military tradition to secure a place in the Home Guards. While they were not officially part of the Confederate military, their participation in the Home Guards forced the Federal Government to consider a similar regiment within months of the Civil War. The following year, months before Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, the Louisiana Native Guards disbanded and reformed as part of the Union Army. As Cade reveals, the Native Guards became the litmus test for Black service during the American Civil War. Because they were first, Abraham Lincoln, the War Department, and the nation viewed the regiments as an experiment of what Black service meant during the war. The Native Guards performed exceptionally well in that regard. They fought in large-scale battles and sieges, and their success expanded Black service in Louisiana and eventually the entire Union Army. Black leaders such as Fredrick Douglass pointed to the Native Guards as proof that Black people were deserving of citizenship and freedom in the United States after the war, a sentiment later shared by Lincoln, who spoke of the regiments in his final speech as proof that Black men deserved the right to vote. Cade's pathbreaking study significantly revises the Civil War historiography of Black men serving in the military. Historians have neglected or ignored the Louisiana Native Guards, deeming their service in the Western theatre too far removed from the real war in the East. As a result, they have instead written extensively about Black regiments from South Carolina and Massachusetts that fought in the East but overlooked the history of the unit that began it all. Cade brings the Native Guards' story back to the forefront of Civil War historiography, corrects many misconceptions about the regiments, and restores the history of Black and Creole people who fought for their nation"-- Provided by publisher. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Issued in other form | Online version http://id.loc.gov/entities/relationships/onlineversion Cade, AJ Death or victory Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University Press, [2026] 9780807185919 |
| LCCN | 2025045748 |
| ISBN | 9780807185506 |
| ISBN | 0807185507 |
| ISBN | epub |
| ISBN |
Availability
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