Charles Didier Dreux
editCharles Didier Dreux | |
|---|---|
 1862 drawing of Charles Didier Dreux by T.C. Clark | |
| Born | May 11, 1832 New Orleans, United States |
| Died | July 5, 1861 Warwick, Virginia, Confederate States of America (now Newport News, Virginia, United States) |
| Allegiance |  Confederate States |
| Service | Confederate Army |
| Years of service | 1861 |
| Rank | Lieutenant colonel |
| Commands | 1st Louisiana Infantry Battalion |
| Known for | Being the first Confederate field officer killed during the Civil War |
| Battles / wars | American Civil War |
Charles Didier Dreux (May 11th, 1832 – July 5th, 1861) was a Louisiana soldier, politician, district attorney, as well as a colonel in the Confederate Army and the first Confederate field officer to die in the Civil War. Born into the prestigious slave-holding Dreux family of New Orleans, Charles was ambitious. He also represented his parish in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1860 till his death in 1861.
Biography
editFamily background
editCharles Didier Dreux was the son of Guy Dreux and his wife Léontine Arnoult. Like many other families of the white Creole elite, the Dreux family's ancestry was well-documented.
Charles was descended from Mathurin Dreux (1698 – 1772), one of the earliest settlers of New Orleans under the governorship of Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville. Having gained immense favor with the Sieur de Bienville, Mathurin Dreux was rewarded in 1718 with a massive land grant and several African slaves. On this massive land grant, Mathurin Dreux and his brother would operate a brewery and begin a small community that would evolve into the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans. By 1721, the Dreux brothers had established themselves as one of New Orleans's wealthiest and most prestigious landowners.
Through the Dreux name, the family also claimed descent from Robert I, Count of Dreux (also known as Robert "the Great"), the fifth son of King Louis VI and Adelaide of Maurienne, and, thus, to the medieval French House of Capet.
Military career
editFollowing Louisiana's secession from the Union in January 1861, Dreux and other members of New Orleans' white Creole elite enlisted in the Confederate Army, forming a company they named the "Orleans Cadets". Their group would eventually become Company F of the 1st Louisiana Infantry Battalion (sometimes also known as Dreux's Battalion due to Dreux's leadership of the group). Dreux and his Battalion would leave for the front on April 11th, 1861.
Charles Dreux's military career was cut short following his death in a skirmish on July 5th, 1861, at Young's Mill. Dreux and his battalion had picked a fight with a group of Union soldiers, rumored to have regularly eaten breakfast at the nearby Smith's Farm, in Warwick, Virginia (now Newport News, Virginia). His last words were reportedly, "Steady, boys! Steady!". He would be the first Confederate field officer to be killed during the Civil War.
Tributes
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The death of Dreux made waves in his native New Orleans, especially among the white Creole elite of the city. His flag-draped casket was brought back to New Orleans and carried in procession during an elaborate funeral with nearly 30,000 attendees. He was buried at St. Louis No. 3 Cemetery, before being reburied at Metairie Cemetery following the end of the Civil War in 1865.
An Elegy on the Death of Lt. Col Chas. Dreux, words by James R. Randall and music by G. M. Loening, was published in New Orleans in 1861.
The most famous statue of Dreux was the bust officiated on April 11th, 1922, funded by friends of the Dreux family, including some of those who had served under Dreux during his short military career. It was installed at Rose Hill Cemetery in the Gentilly neighborhood. The statue was moved to the neutral ground between Jefferson Davis Parkway (now Norman C. Francis Parkway) and Canal Street after the land it resided on was bought by Dillard University in 1931.
The statue saw numerous damages in the late 2010s. During May 2017, in the wake of the removal of four other Confederate monuments in New Orleans, the statue's nose was chiseled off. In May 2018, the bust's face was covered by a white hood (a reference to uniforms worn by the KKK), and the words "F**K THIS SH*T" spray-painted with red grafitti onto the statue's base. On the night of July 10th, 2020, in the wake of protests surrounding the death of George Floyd, an unidentified group of vandals removed the bust from it's pedestal and destroyed it with sledgehammers. Only the base of the statue remains today.