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The Native Guard sees combat
By TIM ISBELL — [email protected]
Despite their desire to fight, blacks were not allowed by law to fight for the Union army.
After the enactment of the Emancipation Proclamation, recruitment of blacks began in earnest,
but it would take time before blacks served in combat situations. One of the first of those
occasions was April 9, 1863, in Pascagoula.
Formed on Oct. 12, 1862, the 2nd Regiment Louisiana Native Guards was a combination of
freed blacks from New Orleans and runaway slaves from the surrounding region.
The 2nd Regiment was sent to Ship Island, a desolate location south of Gulfport, to perform
garrison duty and oversee political and military prisoners. Col. Nathan W. Daniels, a New York
abolitionist who had moved to Louisiana prior to the war, was chosen to command the 2nd
Regiment.
Reaction to the black regiments was mixed at best. Many northern soldiers felt black soldiers
were not disciplined or intelligent enough to fight. Because of that prejudice, a stigma was
placed on the black regiment and their white officers.
Daniels was well aware of the skepticism that many held for the newly formed black regiments
and held out hope that one day the 2nd Regiment might participate in combat operations.
On April 8, 1863, Daniels got his wish as the steamer General Banks arrived at Ship Island.
Daniels, along with the 180-man detachment of companies B and C, boarded the vessel traveling
east before anchoring at Horn Island. Daniels was to lead his men on a foray into Pascagoula.
The following day, the General Banks was joined by the gunboat John P. Jackson. The two
vessels charted a course to the beach and wharf of East Pascagoula. The John P. Jackson
remained 1,200 yards offshore to provide coverage as the General Banks steamed to Pascagoula.
Upon reaching the wharf, the area was secured while the bulk of the 2nd Regiment advanced
along the shore. Some of the 2nd Regiment entered the East Pascagoula Hotel, unfurling a U.S.
flag from the rooftop.
A detachment of Confederate troops engaged the 2nd Regiment and a four-hour battle ensued.
The Confederates attempted to push the Federals into the Sound but were repulsed each time.
After learning Confederate reinforcements were arriving from the east to annihilate his
command, Daniels called for a controlled withdrawal back to the General Banks.
During the fighting withdrawal, a shell from the John P. Jackson fell short landing among the
retreating Federals. The errant shell killed four and seriously wounded five of Daniels' men.
The fight at Pascagoula was one of the first engagements between black Federal soldiers and
Confederate forces in the Civil War. The engagement preceded more publicized combat actions
at Port Hudson, La., Milliken's Bend, La., Battery Wagner, S.C., and Petersburg, Va.
The result of all of these engagements proved beyond any doubt black soldiers were indeed
capable of fighting against their Confederate foe.
History of Native Guard's raid on Pascagoula
preserved through historical marker
By PRISCILLA LOEBENBERG — Special to the Sun Herald
GULFPORT -- African-American troops stationed at Ship Island during the Civil War were
honored on Sunday by the United States Poet Laureate, community leaders and special guests at
the Sesquicentennial Commemoration of the 2nd Regiment, Louisiana Native Guard's Union
assault on Pascagoula.
The history of the Native Guard, which was once in danger of becoming lost, was engraved on a
historical marker at the base of the lighthouse at Jones Park. The marker was revealed on
Sunday, although rain pushed the ceremony indoors to the Almanett Hotel.
The marker describes the East Pascagoula Raid that took place 150 years ago -- on April 9, 1863
-- by the Native Guard, one of the first combat engagements by black Union troops and in the
Civil War.
"History is such a wonderful thing, but something has to happen to bring it to light," said John
Kelly, Gulfport's chief administrative officer.
The celebration was presented by the Native Guard Commemoration Committee, JZ 94.5 and
Ship Island Excursions. Special guests included Gulf Islands National Seashore Superintendent
Dan Brown, Civil War historian Bennie McRae and Natasha Trethewey, Mississippi poet
laureate and the United States Poet Laureate.
Trethewey, a Gulfport native, visited Ship Island as a child but she did not learn the history of
the island until adulthood, when a woman in a restaurant suggested she do some research. What
she learned inspired her to write "Native Guard," for which she won the 2007 Pulitzer
Prize in Poetry. The collection weaves together the past and present by drawing on selections
from the diary of Native Guard Commander Col. Nathan W. Daniels, honoring her late mother
and painting a picture of her own upbringing as a multiracial child in the South.
In his diary, Daniels showed concern over how the black troops would be remembered,
Trethewey said.
"I would tell him not to worry," she said, noting the years of work put into publicly resurrecting
the history of the Native Guard. "I'm so proud."
Trethewey read selections from "Native Guard" that described the lives of black troops on Ship
Island during the Civil War. Louis Skrmetta of Ship Island Excursions said Daniels, in his diary,
called on former slaves to dare to be free and act as free men as they were "free men in the sight
of Heaven."