"Andre Cailloux"(1825-May 27,1863)

Was one of the first African American officers in the Union Army to be killed in combat during the American Civil War.Andre died heroically during the successful first attack on the confederate fortifications during the Siege of Port Hudson,Louisiana.Accountants of his heroism were widely reported in the press,an became a rallying cry for the recruitment of African Americans In the Union Army.His reputation as a patriot and martyr long outlived him.In an 1890 collections,of interviews,Civil War veteran Colonel Douglass Wilson said,"if ever patriotic heroism deserved to be honored in stately marble or in brass that of Captain Cailloux deserves to be,and the American people will never redeemed their gratitude to genuine patriotism until debt is paid.Born a mixed-race slave in Louisiana Andre,lived his entire life in and around New Orleans.As a young man, Andre had been apprenticed I the cigar-making trade.He was owned by members of the Duvernay family until 1846,when his petition for manumission,which was supported by his master,was granted by an all-white police jury in the city of New Orleans.In 1847,Andre married Felicie Coulon,a free Creole of Color,who also had been born into slavery,but freed when her mama paid her purchase price.Andre and Felicie had four children born free,three of whom survived to adulthood.Felicie's mama Feliciana had been an enslaved mulatto woman.She had participated in local placage system as the common-law of a white planter,Valentin Encalada,for several years.Felicie was not Valentin daughter,she was born into slavery because of her mama's status,and was his "property as the child of her mama.(This was according to the principle of partus sequitur ventrem in slave law.)Feliciana bought her daughter's freedom from Valenttin in 1842.Upon gaining hid freedom,Andre earned his living as a cigar maker.Prior to to the beginning of the Civil War,he established his own cigar-making business.Though his financial circumstances were modest,he became recognized as a leader within the free Afro-French Creole community of New Orleans.Established during the French colonial years,the free people of color had become a distinct community,existing as a third class between the white colonists and the majority of enslaved Africans.In New Orleans culture,white daddies had sometimes acknowledged their mix-race children ad pair for their education,especially sons,or arranged apprenticeships.Sometimes they settled property on them.An avid sportsman,Andre was admired as one of the best boxers in the city.He was also an active supporter of the Institute Catholique,a school for orphaned African American children,as it also taught the children of free people of color.After his manumission,Andre learned to read,probably with the assistance of the teachers at the Institute Catholique.He became fluent in both English & French.By 1860,he was a well respected member of the 10,000 "free men of color" Afro-Creole community in New Orleans.At the time,New Orleans was the largest city in the South,and the sixth largest city in the United States,with a population of about 100,000.At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861,Andre became a lieutenant in the Native Guard,a Confederate regiment organized to defend the city of New Orleans.Free men of color had participated in the local militia since the time of French colonial rule.He was one of the first African American officers of any North America unit.The regiment then was made up entirely of free men of color who resided in around New Orleans.The regiment was organized primarily as a public relations move by the Confederate Government of the state of Louisiana,and provided no financial support to its members,Andre took his responsibilities seriously,and his unit was observed to be well drilled and trained.The Confederated Native Guard were never called to active duty,and were disbanded before Union Admiral David Farragut captured the city of New Orleans in April 1862.In September 1862,Union General Benjamin F.Butler,military commander of the Department of the Gulf,who made his headquarters in New Orleans,organized an all-African American Union Army 1st.Louisiana Native Guard regiment.Unlike the Confederate uni,this regiment had a minority of free men of color;the great majority were African Americans who had escaped from slavery.Andre joined this regimet and was made captain of Company E.was considered one of the best drilled in the Native Guard.Andre gradually earned the respect of Colonel Spencher Stafford,the white officer who commanded the regiment.When General Nathaniel P.Banks replaced Benjamin as Commander of the Dpartment of the Gulf in December 1862,he broght with him an additional 30,0000 troops,bringing the total troop strength under his command 42,000.By this time,the all African American Native Guard had grown to three regiments, as slaves continued to escape to Union lines to join the cause. Though the officers (lieutenants & captains) were African Americans,including P.B.S. Pinchback who was a Company Commaner of the 2nd Regiment,the commanding officers (colonels,lieutenant colonels& majors) were white.Nathaniel set out to remove all African American officers from their positios,and generally accomplished this with the 2nd & 3rd Regiments,but was unable to do so with the 1st Regimnent,to which Andre belonged.The 1st Regiment of the Native Guard was assigned primarily to fatigue duty (chopping wood,digging trenches) until May 1863,when Nathanlel moved most of his army (35,000 men) in a position to surround the Confederate fortifications at Port Hudson,Louisiana.Port Hudson was strategically located fort on a bend in the Mississippi River just 20 miles north Baton Rouge,Louisiana.At the time,the Confederacy controlled the two-hundred-mile stretch of the Mississippi River between Vicksburgh,Mississippi,in the north and Port Hudson in the South.The Union wanted to gain control of Vicksburg and the river.While General Ulysses Grant laid siege to Vicksburg,Nathanniel conducted the Siege of Port Hudson.On May 27,1863 launched a poorly coordinated attack on the well-defended,well-fortified Confederate positions at Port Hudson.As part of the attack the first day,Andre was ordered to lead his company of 100 men in an almost suicidal assault against sharpshooting confederate troops.Despite his company suffering heavy casualties,Andre,shouting encouragement to his men in French & English,led several charges.On his last charge,a Minie ball tore through his arm,leaving it hanging useless at his side.Severly wounded,Andre continued to lead the charge until a confederate artillery shell killed him.Despite a truce the nxt day asked Nathaniel,and granted by the Cofederated commander Franklin Gardner,to recover the Uion dead from the field of battle,rebel sarpshooters kept Northern from collecting Africa American casualities.Andre's decomposing body layed on the ground for 47 days until Port Hudson finally surrendered to Nathaniel on July 9,1863.Most of the Union dead were buried in the area.This was later designed as Port Hudson National Cemetery,designated in 1974 as a National Historic Landmark.After Andre's death,his widow,Felicie,struggled to receive the financial benefits promised to veterans by the U.S. Govrnment.After several years of effort she received a small pension,Felicie died in poverty in 1874.She was working at the time as a domestic servant for the Catholic priest who had preached the eulogy at Andre's funeral.