Where did you ever get the idea that the Federal government ever freed anyone when they bought Louisiana? Both the French and Spanish had a history of freeing their mixed-race children or of freeing favored individuals among their slaves. It was also possible under the Spanish to purchase your own freedom or that of a relative in a variety of ways. In addition to the descendants of these families, a large number of free mixed-race individuals came to New Orleans due to the slave insurrection in Haiti (Saint Domingue).

The descendants of those individuals are the men who enlisted in the Confederate Louisiana Native Guards and some enlisted later in the Federal troops.