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Harper's Weekly, February 28, 1863

U.S. General Benjamin Butler recruited the three regiments of Native Guards with a full complement of black officers. When General Nathaniel Banks replaced Butler at the end of 1862, Banks sought to build support with the conservative white community. As part of this effort, he attempted to remove all the Afro-Creole officers from the Native Guards and replace them with white officers. Few of the seventy-five black officers commissioned by Butler remained in positions of command by the time Banks was reassigned in 1864.