Dan wrote: >>>Thus, my original question. Was the Louisiana Legion the 3rd brigade spoken of by Lonn and press in spring 1862?<<<

You have presented a good analysis, and I have to say now that I am not sure! Dr. Winters described this third brigade as being formed out of the first two, and made no mention of the Louisiana Legion. The Legion pre-existed the change in the militia law and most active members of the state militia rushed to re-enroll and preserve their existing units before new ones could be formed.

My interest has been in the Orleans Guard regiment (State Militia pre-January 1862), the Orleans Guard battalion (CSA), and the Orleans Guard Battery (CSA). Given your detailed analysis, I will dig out my research notes and see if there is anything there that might clarify the Louisiana Legion's place in all of this. I recall seeing organization tables of the post-January 1862 militia and the Legion being mentioned. I will report back with citations.

Dan wrote: >>>In short, it was not the militia act of 23 Jan 1862 that created the two new Brigades, but a clash of cultures among the Europeans (go figure).<<<

I would have put it the other way around: these brigades would not have been formed at all if it were not for the new Militia Law of 23 JAN 1862. The clash of cultures among the European residents of New Orleans doesn't surprise me. But, from all that I have read, the foreign born residents of New Orleans were not generally eager to enter into military service with many claiming protection from their European Consuls in New Orleans and refusing to enroll. One of the key changes in the militia law was the definition of those required to enroll: a change from "citizens" to "residents."

The "soldier of fortune" types had already enrolled in Confederate service the year before and gone off to war in Virginia. Those who remained at home in New Orleans enrolled in militia service under the coercion of the new militia law (it was a state conscription act). And, I might add, there was pressure from public discussion and anticipation of Confederate conscription which came to pass two months later. It seems it was better to enroll in state militia service believing that they would only be used to defend New Orleans than to be conscripted later on into Confederate service and sent into the field to fight the Union army in Virginia or Mississippi.

The three European brigades in the 1862 state militia may have done "good service" in defense of New Orleans, but few appear to have enrolled in Confederate units after the fall of New Orleans. My impression from other reading is that, except for the companies formed in 1861, most of the new 1862 state militia organizations were without uniforms and without arms. Charles L. Dufour addresses the subject of the three European brigades in his work "The Night the War was Lost" (University of Nebraska Press, 1960), pp 181-184.

Out of personal curiosity, may I ask the objective of your research?

Hugh