ST. LANDRY LIGHT GUARDS, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana
Submitters name: Debbie Carpenter

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SOURCE:
OPELOUSAS 1720 - 1970
Opelousas 250th Anniversary Edition
June 1970 Daily World

OPELOUSANS' WAR BRAVERY

The first three companies to leave Southwest Louisiana to join the Army 
of the Confederacy were used to form part of the famous Louisiana
Brigade, commanded by Dick Taylor and Harry Hayes, which immortalized
itself under Stonewall Jackson in his memorable campaigns in the
Shenedoah Valley, VA. In Fact, when a large portion of the Louisiana
Brigade, under Gen. Hays was captured in Virginia, the Richmond Whig
editorialized sadly that it was "a brigade which might justly be
styled the pride and boast of that (Jackson's) battle scarred and
tattered corps, on which the invincible Stonewall placed so much 
reliance, and never in vain."

In fact, said the Richmond Whig, as quoted in The Opelousas Courier, 
"Decimated as it was (by the time of its capture) the nine hundred
remaining Louisianians were worth their weight in gold...the 
imperishable record of the Louisiana Brigade in the great campaigns in 
the valley and in all the mighty battles in Virginia, Maryland and
Pennsylvania, has endeared it to the whole country and particularly
to the people of Virginia...if now they are lost to Lee's army, we know
not where the material will be found to replace them.

It was to serve in this fashion that The Opelousas Guards, which we
listed here yesterday, departed in June 1861.

Preceding The Opelousas Guards into the Louisiana Brigade...the first St. 
Landry Parish company to go to war as a unit..were The St. Landry Light
Guards, formed at Washington. After initial training, they headed for
Virginia and the conflict on May 26, 1861.

Here is the roster of the Light Guards as they left Washington:

OFFICERS AND NON COMMISSIONED OFFICERS

Capt. M. Offut Jr. 2nd Lt.
H. Bain Ritchie, Ensign
A. Desbrest, 2nd Sgt.
P. Scott, 4th Sgt.
A.L. Metrivier, 1st Corporal
E. J. Going, 3rd Corp.
A. Pfelt, 5th Corp.
D.A. Fitch, 1st Lt.
J.C. Hickman, Jr., 2nd Lt.
S.D. McCauley, Orderly Sgt.
L.A. Cormier 3rd Sgt.
J.O. Trainor, 5th Sgt.
C.P. Gordon, 2nd Corp.
E. O'Reilly, 4th Corp.
P.M. Drinkard, Honorary member
A. Winkler, Honorary member

PRIVATES

A. Samuels
T. Soileau
William Arden
Austin Lcombe
William Herbert
Benj. Stagg
E.T. Cormier
T. Creig
N. Bushnell
Moses B. Bolton
J.R. Scott
L. Tessandori
J. Soctt Gale
Constantine Hardy
O'Neil S. Fontenot
A. Launey
R. Curtis
J.M. Hull
H.O. Turbre
Alex Barron
Alphonse Strother
E.D. Lewis
Thomas Teagie
Arch McKinney
Walton R. Olds
F. Reine
A.M. Ford
T. Byrne
Phil Jacobs
Gabriel Porter
Alfred Renaud
T.A. Guidry
J.D. Dikes
George Anselm
Wm. A. Robertson
C.N. Richmond
Berrien Johnson
Milton Bihm
R.R. McCrory
R.L. Bihm
A. Reed
Washington Rose
C.C. Ashord
F. Soileau
Benj. Fontenot
F.E. Winkier
E.B. Wallace
John Sean
John Levy
A. Fontenot
Jackson Morris
Charles S. Bellow
A. Badeaux
Tn.N. Overall
B. Savant
J. Hilsey
J. Felix Kerol
Jeremiah Quinian
Nas Bollendorff
James D. Haines
Joseph A. Mullen
J.H. Cole
J.S. Vannoy
A.M. Vannoy
A.B. Clorr
James Morgan
C.A. Gordon
G.W. Bundick
J.A. Smith
A.G. Swan
J.M. McCauley
J.H. Callahan
J.H. Bodelander
L.F. Darby
G.H. Hanna
E. Caruthers
Zenon Bordelon
J. McCluskey
Amos LaCombe
Benj. R. Butler
F.S. Savant
N.W. Fisher
M.S. Sloane
S. Lambert
Hoimes Graham
Perry Higginbotham
Victor Aubespin (free man of color)