?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,200 - $ 1,800
(MILITARY--CIVIL WAR.) Nathaniel P. Banks. Military order organizing the Louisiana Corps d'Afrique. General Orders No. 40. 2 printed pages, 8 x 5¼ inches, plus integral blank leaf, signed in type by Richard B. Irwin as adjutant to General Banks; folds, minimal wear. Opelousas, LA, 1 May 1863
The 1st Louisiana Native Guard was formed as one of the Union Army's first Black regiments on 27 September 1862. This order proposes the reorganization and expansion of the Black Louisiana troops into 18 regiments "representing all arms--Infantry, Artillery, and Cavalry . . . with appropriate corps of Engineers and flying Hospitals for each Division." General Banks adds that "with a race unaccustomed to military service, much more depends on the immediate influence of officers upon individual members, than with those who have acquired more or less of warlike habits and spirit by centuries of contest," but asks "Why should not the negro contribute whatever is in his power for the cause in which he is as deeply interested as other men?" None traced at auction.
