A large complex, called the Touro Almshouse, had recently been built. It was almost complete by the time the war started.

New Orleans was home to the largest free Black population of any city in the antebellum South — a community of educated, propertied, deeply rooted men and women. At the beginning of the war, they faced a difficult choice.

At the start of the war, the Free People of Color offered to join the Confederate army as the "native guards." Governor of Louisiana Thomas Moore officially accepted them into service (mostly for PR purposes). They were never given uniforms or weapons, but were officially part of the army.

In April 1862, the Union Navy battled Confederate forts downriver. They were successful and captured New Orleans. On May 1st, 1862, Union General Benjamin Butler took command of New Orleans. Butler's first task was to prepare for the coming of the Yellow Fever season, then to maintain control of the city and build up his forces against any possible Confederate counter-attack.

Butler, a politician and lawyer, understood the complex political situation of the time. Other commanders in the field had tried to bring Black soldiers into the army to fight, but the Lincoln administration was hesitant.

In July 1862, Lincoln was realizing the need for a new approach. In a letter to Reverdy Johnson, Lincoln declared, "I shall not surrender this game leaving any available card unplayed." Lincoln was settling on Emancipation — and possibly using Black soldiers.

Partnering with the Free People of Color, Butler found a politically acceptable way to officially bring Black Soldiers into the Union Army. Butler was simply doing what the Governor of Louisiana had done, accepting Free Men of Color into the army as the Native Guards.

In August 1862, General Benjamin Butler "Called on Africa" and asked Black Men in New Orleans to assemble at the Touro Alms House as the official "mustering headquarters for native guards." Within months, 1,800 African American men enlisted there and mustered into twenty companies. These were officially the first Black men to join the Union army during the Civil War.

Black women and children also took refuge inside its walls, experiencing, as one soldier later wrote, their first moments of freedom.

Among those who enlisted was Captain André Cailloux — a free Black man, boxer, businessman, and leader of the Friends of Order, an Afro-Catholic mutual aid brotherhood that had spent years purchasing the freedom of the enslaved. Also among those who enlisted at the Touro Alms House was Captain P.B.S. Pinchback, who would go on to become the first African American governor in United States history.

The soldiers of the Native Guard fought at the Battle of Port Hudson, the first major battle with Black soldiers. Their valor and bravery made them national heroes and helped pave the way for additional Black soldiers.

Captain Cailloux was killed leading a charge at the Siege of Port Hudson — one of the first Black Union officers to die in combat. When his body was returned to New Orleans, the city stopped. Thousands lined the streets. Flags flew at half-staff. His funeral procession was among the largest the city had ever seen. The New Orleans Tribune wrote: "No such funeral procession had ever been seen in New Orleans." It was also covered in the New York Times and Harper's Weekly.

As they returned to New Orleans, they began pushing for voting rights. They propelled Louisiana to a new State Constitution, efforts at desegregation, and equal treatment under the law. Between 1868 and 1874, our city led the nation in racial progress and equality.