97th United States Colored Infantry Regiment

The 97th United States Colored Infantry was an engineer regiment designated as infantry as part of the United States Colored Troops that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War and fought in the Western Theater of the American Civil War in the Department of the Gulf. The regiment mustered in at Camp Parapet April 28, 1863, as the 1st Louisiana Engineers, but two companies, D and F had been hastily mustered into service two days earlier, April 26, 1863, and sent to Berwick City to remove obstructions from the Bayou Teche. The enlisted men of the 1st Louisiana Engineers were formerly enslaved men in the “engineer camp” who had been previously providing labor for the U.S. Army between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Several of the newly commissioned company grade officers had been enlisted men of the 42nd Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry who had been on engineer service superintending the contraband laborers from the camp. In the summer of 1862, General Phelps had previously requested to arm the men at Camp Parapet and put them in uniform to defend the city of New Orleans but his request was denied. Gen. Banks ordered Phelps to have the men cut down all the trees between Camp Parapet and Lake Pontchartrain. Phelps resigned over the issue stating, "...while I am willing to prepare African regiments for the defense of the government," he continued, that he " was not willing to become a mere slave driver."