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Originally Posted by Chris from N.O.
Also, in the Battle of N.O. picture above, the color guard is made up of black soldiers...is this some piece of history that I'm missing?
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Yes, Jackson made extensive use of the local militias of color during the Battle of New Orleans. Some 462 of the 910 Louisiana militiamen who fought were free people of color. Their valor was praised immediately after, and many received pensions. This chapter in history is significant (and it is represented at the battlefield site), because (1) before the Civil War, militias composed of black men were extremely rare in slaveholding states, since it was seen as a threat to the institution, and (2) it is a product of our French and Spanish colonial history distinct to Louisiana. During the French, enslaved men from New Orleans were sometimes used to settle the skirmishes between french settlers and Native Americans, and they would be freed as a result, but this was sparingly and informal. This tradition was institutionalized under the Spanish, who felt that if you offered consistent streams to freedom, then the enslaved population would remain content, because they would have a goal to work toward. The pardo (mulatto) and moreno (negro) militias grew under this period and formed one of the major foundations of New Orleans's large free people of color community. Thus, the history and tradition of militia service by men of color up and through the Battle of New Orleans is significant to the city's history, because no other southern locale had a number close to our free black demographic, who would then participate in an unheard of (in the South) cultural flourishing during the nineteenth century--literary, orchestral, religious, etc.
This is why the Battlefield makes use of as many black re-enactors as possible. Sorry for the long explanation, but this is part of what I teach and research, and I figured that this is a question on here to which I could contribute. LOL!