Notable New Orleanians: A Tricentennial Tribute

etween the cities to settle the estate, but by 1859, New Orleans was able to declare the Allard tract
a public (now city) park.
McDonogh was not under the illusion that his plans would solve the problems of education for
children. Rather, he challenged New Orleans and Baltimore to provide and pay for schools and
teachers for all of its children, implementing a real estate tax on the population for the purpose. As
he wrote in his will, it is an imperative, and Sacred duty, which each and every Government on
earth, is bound to perform, [to provide] by Law, for the education of every child, within the limits
of their respective Governments; To that effect, Parents, and Guardians of youth, should be made,
under heavy penalties, to send their Children to Schools, supported, (under a System of general taxation,
on real Estate;) at the sole expense of the Government.
McDonogh was one of several nineteenth century New Orleans philanthropists who practiced
austerity in their personal lives. Both he and Judah Touro opened their careers in the city as full
participants in society, but the Battle of New Orleans seems to have changed both into recluses.
McDonogh lived in a large plantation house on the west bank of the Mississippi in what is now
Gretna, Louisiana, accompanied mainly by slaves for whom he systematically provided the means
of purchasing their freedom.
Other philanthropists like Marie Couvent (q.v.) and Margaret Haughery (q.v.) did not bother with
public policy statements, but simply saved or invested their money. McDonogh was unusual in that
he gave very little away during his life time, his vast bequest after death coming as a corresponding
shock to the cities of New Orleans and Baltimore. His gift to Baltimore created one great school, the
John McDonogh School, which survives today. His gifts to New Orleans led to the construction of
over fifty public schools in the next half century, all but one named for him. Today political forces
have led the school district to rename most of the schools, much as Isaac Delgado’s Museum has
become the New Orleans Museum of Art.
1 McDonogh Will. New Orleans Public Library 5th District Court, #4112.
M AJOR J OSEPH S AVARY (1780-1830)
AND THE F REE B LACK M ILITIA
Chalmette Battlefield scene: American
rampart, War of 1812 cannons.
MALUS-BEAUREGARD HOUSE. CREDIT: NATIONAL
PARK SERVICE.
Major Joseph Savary led the St. Domingue battalion of the Free Black Militia in the Battle of New
Orleans. It competed with the older Creole battalion and won particular notice from General Andrew
Jackson. Before the Civil War, these two battalions were the only armed African-American forces in
Louisiana. Savary, a native of Saint-Domingue (Haiti) had fought with the French during the Haitian
Revolution. When Haiti became independent, Savary and his family settled in New Orleans. 1
Enrique Mentzinger, Captain Francisco Dorville, and Sergeant Vincent Populus led the much
older Creole Battalion d’Orleans, which had served in Spanish colonial times. 2 In 1807, the new
United States government accepted its members into a new Battalion of Free Men of Color. About
1809 the free black militias who had escaped from Haiti, Savary among them, began to importune
Governor William Claiborne for official recognition.
In December 1814 General Andrew Jackson arrived in New Orleans and immediately mustered 350
Creole veterans of the Spanish militia into the United States Army. Savary then raised a second black
unit of Haiti’s refugee soldiers. Jackson recognized Savary’s considerable influence and knew of his reputation
as “a man of great courage.” The Second Battalion, Free Men of Color of the Louisiana Militia,
some 256 men, including staff officers, were assembled in New Orleans and on December 19, 1814,
inducted into the service of the United States. On the same day, Savary, who had already assumed the
rank of captain, was promoted to the rank of second major. Arsène Lacarrière Latour wrote in his
Historical Memoir of the battle that “the gallant Captain Savary, who had occupied an honorable and
NOTABLE NEW ORLEANIANS: A Tricentennial Tribute
30