1st Louisiana Native Guard (United States)  The 1st Louisiana Native Guard (later became the 73rd Regiment Infantry U.S. Colored Troops) was one of the first all-black regiments to fight in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was based in New Orleans, Louisiana, and played a prominent role in the Siege of Port Hudson. Its members included a minority of free men of color from New Orleans; most were African-American former slaves who had escaped to join the Union cause and gain freedom. A predecessor regiment by the same name, 1st Louisiana Native Guard (CSA), had offered their services to the Confederate Louisiana militia, although the Confederacy never used them. It was made up entirely of free men of color who had served in the state militia before the war. After New Orleans fell to Admiral David Farragut in April 1862, Union Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler headquartered his 12,000-man Army of the Gulf in New Orleans. On September 27, 1862, Butler organized the Union Army's 1st Louisiana Native Guard regiment, some of whose members had served in the previous Confederate Native Guard regiment. Free men of color had served with the militia since the French colonial period. But the regiment's initial strength was 1,000 men, and it was composed mostly of African-American former slaves who had escaped to freedom. The Union commissioned several African-American line officers of the Guard. Former Confederate Lt. Andre Cailloux, a Creole of color (free man of color) in New Orleans, was named captain of Company E. P. B. S. Pinchback, also a free man of color, was appointed as captain of Company A, and later was reassigned as company commander of the 2nd Regiment. (He later served as governor of the state, as a US Representative and Senator.) James Lewis, a mixed-race, former steward on the Confederate river-steamer "De Soto", was commissioned as captain of company K. During this period, some slaves who escaped from nearby plantations joined the regiment, but the Union Army's official policy discouraged such enrollments. In November 1862, the number of escaped slaves seeking to enlist became so great that the Union organized a second regiment and, a month later, a third regiment. The field-grade officers of these regiments (colonels, lieutenant colonels, and majors) were white men, with the notable exception of Major Francois (Francis) Ernest Dumas of the 2nd Regiment, a Creole of color.