1st Louisiana Zouaves

The 1st Louisiana Zouave Battalion was originally formed with six companies on March 22, 1861, at Camp Walker, near New Orleans, Louisiana, by G. A. G. Coppens with the Presidential blessing of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. These Zouaves had many nicknames , they were called Jeff Davis’s “Pet Wolves” and Lee’s “Foreign Legion” but all who faced them in combat they were known and feared as “Louisiana Tigers”.

The Louisiana Zouaves were by far the most colorful unit of the War Between the States. Whether you were a rich plantation owner’s son, a poor shop worker, a drunkard in a jail cell looking for early release or a men of foreign blood looking for citizenship, the Louisiana Zouaves had them all, French, Spanish, Italians, Irish, Germans, English or Chinese, yes Chinese, we had them all.

Highly trained, very ruthless and very dangerous the Zouaves were feared by both Federal and Confederate units because of their wild side. The Zouave uniform is inspired by the Zouaoua tribal dress of North Africa and was copied out of respect for their fighting spirit by the Spanish and French armies that fought them in Algeria and Morocco. Those same French and Spaniards when they came to the Americas brought that uniform with them to their new found home of Louisiana. Many of the Louisiana Militia units wore the Zouave uniforms. These Louisiana men were hard fighters, hard drinkers and passionate in their zeal for the Confederate States of America. The Zouaves of the Louisiana could be compared with ease to the Special Forces of today, they moved fast , hit hard and took no prisoners. It was fast learned by Federal forces that once New Orleans fell and because of Gen. Butlers cruel treatment of the ladies of New Orleans that to surrender to Zouaves meant death, period. If you have a mean streak, like to fight as hard as you party, have an overgrown sense of honor and a tendency for the vendetta then the Louisiana Zouaves are for you.