Faces of the Civil War: An Album of Union Soldiers and Their Stories

On Assignment in New Orleans

178 1st Lt. Martial Eugene Imbert, Company A, Ninety-sixth United States Colored Infantry Carte de visite by James A. Sheldon (1824–1886) of New Orleans, Louisiana, October 1865 179 On Assignment in New Orleans Lt. Col. Henry Merriam286 had a personnel problem. The commander of the Seventy-third U.S. Colored Infantry repeatedly ordered 1st Lt. Martial Imbert back to the regiment’s camp along the Mississippi River at Morganza, Louisiana. Imbert had been on recruiting duty in New Orleans for the past four months, had displayed no interest in returning, and had ignored several summonses issued by the colonel. There can be little doubt that Imbert enjoyed his assignment in New Orleans, where he was in charge of the draft center and commissary department for black troops. Compared to his regular assignment as a line officer with the Seventy-third, his current job increased his responsibilities, and he must have been drawn to the Creole culture of the city, which descended from that of his homeland . Imbert had emigrated from France, probably in the 1850s, and settled in New York City. A soldier by occupation, he reinvented himself as a French teacher after he arrived in America. In December 1861, at age thirty-three, he returned to soldiering, as an orderly sergeant with the Ninetieth New York Infantry, and departed for duty in Key West, Florida. The regiment shipped out to Louisiana in 1863. It participated in the siege of Port Hudson, where Imbert became aware of the First Louisiana Native Guards, a black regiment originally formed as a Confederate organization. After the surrender of New Orleans in 1862, the Guards reformed and became the first black regiment mustered into the Union army. Also known as the First Corps d’Afrique, it was formally designated the Seventy-third U.S. Colored Infantry in February 1864, shortly after Imbert joined Company A with a second lieutenant ’s commission. He served less than six months with the regi- 180 ment before being sent to New Orleans on recruiting duty. Lt. Col. Merriam, reduced to only six line officers, was anxious to get Imbert back, but the lieutenant did not return until July 1865. He mustered out of the army in January 1866, a few months after the Seventy-third was consolidated with the Ninety-sixth U.S. Colored Infantry. Imbert made New Orleans his permanent home after the war. The death in 1864 of his wife, Henriete, back in New York, may have been a contributing factor in his decision to change his place of residence. He found work as a laborer and was active in the Grand Army of the Republic. He lived until 1900. ...