The Louisiana in the Civil War Message Board

Re: Cazadores Esp Infantry Regiment

Dorothy --

These men were only in service for a few short weeks before the capture of New Orleans. If there are any surviving images made in the city, you could ask about them at the Louisiana State Archives.

In my opinion, it's not proper to describe members of this command as Confederate soldiers. Since nearly all Confederate units around New Orleans had been ordered away, Governor Moore urgently needed some armed force to defend the city. Three brigades of ninety-day volunteers organized for state service and were turned over to the Confederate commander, General Mansfield Lovell. However, none of these organizations submitted rolls to the Confederate War Department, retaining the same organization accepted by the State of Louisiana. As mentioned in the earlier post, these men went home when the city surrendered on April 25, 1862. As militia they might never have slept a night away from home.

Quoting Art Bergeron, Guide to Louisiana Confederate Military Units, 1861-1865, Appendix II:

In the early months of 1862 [February - April], Governor Thomas O Moore arranged with Major General Mansfield Lovell to transfer three brigades of militiamen to Confederate service. Lovell accepted the eleven regiments and two battalions of "Volunteer State Troops" for the defense of New Orleans. It appears, however, that Lovell had few, if any, of the men formally mustered into regular Confederate service. Most of the men went into camps around the city for drill and discipline. Napier Bartlett's Military Record of Louisiana places the strength of the three brigades at 9,113 men, but they probably had no more than half that number ready for active service. Lovell had ordered the Chalmette Regiment to the Quarantine Station, six miles upriver from Fort St Philip, to guard the rear of that bastion. Bartlett gives the following account of the fate of these units: "When the gunboats [of Union Flag Officer David G Farragut] passed the forts [Jackson and St Philip] and Lovell carried off all transportation, [the regiments] were disbanded by Gen [E L ] Tracy." Farragut's vessels captured and paroled all of the men of the Chalmette Regiment at the Quarantine Station on April 24. Many of the officers and enlisted men of the other units escaped the city before it surrendered and accompanied Lovell's regulars to Camp Moore. Only one unit, the Sumter Regiment, maintained its organization, and it later became the nucleus for the 30th Louisiana Regiment.

Units belonging to the three brigades mentioned above are given as follows:


•Beauregard Regiment, Col Frank A Bartlett

•Cazadores Espanoles, Col Juan Miangolara

•Chalmette Regiment, Col Ignatius Szymanski

•Chasseurs-a-Pied, Col J Simon Meileur

•Confederate Guards, Col John F Girault

•Continental Regiment, Col George Clark

•Jeff Davis Regiment, Col Alex Smith

•Johnson's Special Battalion, Lt Col W W Johnson

•King's Special Battalion, Lt Col John E King

•Leeds Guards, Col Charles J Leeds

•Louisiana Irish Regiment, Col Patrick B O'Brien

•Orleans Fire Regiment, Col S P Duncan

•Orleans Guard Regiment, Col Numa Augustin

•Sumter Regiment, Col Gustavus A Breaux

All these units had organized since Feb 15, 1862. At that time the state legislature revised militia laws, disbanded all formations except those organized under the new law.

You might ask, if these aren't Confederate soldiers, why are they listed as such? Again citing Art Bergeron,

When the Louisiana state legislature commissioned this work, it was intended to include brief histories of all military commands. Booth's publication contains only an indiscriminate alphabetical list of companies. Booth then took all state rolls available and printed names in alphabetical order, regardless of whether or not a man belonged to a Confederate unit or the militia.

Booth's title and his inclusion of militia records is an oversight.

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Cazadores Esp Infantry Regiment
Re: Cazadores Esp Infantry Regiment
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Re: Crescent Regiment Sate Militia
Re: Crescent Regiment State Militia
Re: Sumter Regiment
Re: Cazadores Esp Infantry Regiment
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Re: Local Defense Troops
Re: Sumter Regiment
Re: Cazadores Esp Infantry Regiment
Re: Cazadores Esp Infantry Regiment
Re: Cazadores Esp Infantry Regiment