Stan, I had not seen the statistics about the number of original militia members who in turn supported the Union. Bergeron says it is 11% (according to Hollandsworth study), so I'll have to accept that until further study. My sources on the matter do not give numbers, and only say that officers from the Native Guards approached Butler with an offer to serve the Union.

Yet, I do not know if that detail really undermines my overall point of Southern black self-interest. Some men and officers of the Louisiana Native Guard did volunteer, and, eventually, they were accepted along with other free blacks (and escaped slaves) who joined up. Even if only 11% of the original unit "switched" sides, I have not seen evidence that the remaining 90% were accepted into Confederate service. Bergeron suggests that the fact that such a high percentage of militia members chose not to join the Union unit challenges the belief that these men were not dedicated to the Confederate cause. I agree...to a point. It certainly proves that most of the men were not as enthusiastic to serve in the reformed unit as they had been to join the original unit. Was this decision politically driven? Did many of these men leave evidence about why they chose not to serve? Nearly 200,000 other black men (largely from the South) supported the Union. What made these 1,000 free blacks different? I don't know the answer, but I do believe very important local factors likely contributed to the decision among Louisiana free blacks regarding military service.

I'm going to order Hollandsworth's book and read more about this interesting situation.