Thank God my regiment an African one

by Nathan W. Daniels

Until now, Union army colonel Nathan W. Daniels (1832-1867) has been a forgotten man with a forgotten regiment. The white commanding officer of the 2nd Louisiana Native Guard Volunteers, a black regiment, he was removed with his men from mainland military activity and confined to obscure duty on Ship Island, ten miles off the coast of Mississippi. However, as Daniels' intriguing diary documents, despite an unrenowned existence that has resulted in little attention from historians, the 2nd Native Guards represent a pioneering stage in the history of black troops at war. The story of the Louisiana Native Guards is essentially the story of the first black commissioned officers in the Civil War. Ordered by General Benjamin F. Butler, the promotion of seventy-six educated, free blacks of mixed ancestry was an experimental step taken during the early days of black enlistment. However, within one year, nearly all the officers, as well as their white colonels, were forced out or had resigned i