Photograph as originally submitted to this page in the Historical Marker Database www.HMdb.org. Click on photo to resize in browser. Scroll down to see metadata.

Photographer: Richard E. Miller
Taken: July 14, 2009
Caption: Jordan B. Noble, the Washington Artillery's renowned black drummer
Additional Description: Interior display panel in the nearby Louisiana State Museum. [Like other American military organizations, the Washington Artillery (141st Field Artillery) was racially segregated into the mid-20th century; however, numerous "all-White" Southern militia units employed free men of color (like Jordan Noble) as drummers and musicians during the various conflicts of the "antebellum" period.] The marker reads:
Jordan Noble
Jordan B. Noble was the black drummer famous for beating the long roll at the Battle of New Orleans. Born in 1800 in Georgia, Noble came to New Orleans in 1811 and joined the 7th Regiment of the U.S. army one year later. He participated in several engagements of the Louisiana campaign. At the Battle of New Orleans he opened with reveille and closed with taps.
Noble’s exploits at the Battle of New Orleans were only the beginning of his long career as a military drummer and, later, as a popular New Orleans musician. During the Seminole War in Florida in 1836 he served as a field drummer for the First Louisiana Brigade, and in the Mexican War of 1846-1848 he beat his drum for the Washington Artillery. At the outbreak of civil war Noble rallied New Orleans’ free men of color to form militia companies on behalf of the Confederacy. When Union forces occupied southern Louisiana, he helped organize the free black Native Guards under General Benjamin Butler and served as a captain in the 7th Louisiana Volunteers.
Noble also performed at parades and commemorative celebrations. When he died on June 20, 1890, Noble’s obituary noted that “many will remember the white-headed old man and his well-worn drum, so often seen during the [World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial] exposition of 1884 and 1885.”
Submitted: August 8, 2009, by Richard E. Miller of Oxon Hill, Maryland.
Database Locator Identification Number: p73112
File Size: 1.187 Megabytes

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