[matt1234]

Your own posts notes that the unit was never accepted for duty with the Confederate military or the Louisiana militia, wasn't supported in any way with arms or equipment, and was generally ignored. That's hardly a ringing endorsement of black service in the Confederacy.

My purpose was not to provide "a ringing endorsement." It was to disprove mac_truck's statement that "they were NOT soldiers anymore than they were free." They were soldiers, and they were free. And they supported the Confederacy, at least for a time.

[mac_truck]

My purpose was not to provide "a ringing endorsement." It was to disprove mac_truck's statement that "they were NOT soldiers anymore than they were free."

Lol! Well I sure hope you can do better than an unsourced wikipedia entry to support your claim partner. The Louisiana Native Guard issue has become a textbook example of how confederate revisionists "manufacture" evidence to support their claims. They even sell a t-shirt with a doctored photograph on it.

How embarrassing is that?

[Drennan Whyte]

It was to disprove mac_truck's statement that "they were NOT soldiers anymore than they were free." They were soldiers, and they were free.

They may have been free but they were not soldiers, not in the eyes of the state of Louisiana or the Confederate government. It it is an undeniable fact that the enlistment of blacks into the ranks of the Confederate army as combat soldiers was illegal until March of 1865.

And they supported the Confederacy, at least for a time.

Until they were told to go away and stop pretending they were real soldiers.