Great-Great Grandfather- a Civil War Veteran

Pierre O. Dapremont Sr. was born in 1836 in Louisiana. He grew up in New Orleans and records show that he was a Cooper by trade. He married Hennriane Adelaide Verbe on April 7, 1864. Hennriane was a native of Vienna, Austria. He and his wife raised five girls, Elizabeth, Octavia, Marie, Angele, and Florestine and one boy who was my Great Grandfather Pierre O Dapremont Jr. born in 1870.

Pierre enrolled in the Union Army on November 10, 1864 at the age of 28 and was assigned to the 74th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry as a Second Lieutenant. The predecessor of the 74th Regiment was the CORPS DE AFRIQUE.-UNITED STATES COLORED VOLUNTEERS. 2nd REGIMENT INFANTRY . These facts are engraved on the African American Civil War Memorial, plaque C-81. in Washington, DC.

This Regiment was established on April 4, 1864.

P.O . Dapremont was stationed on Ship Island off the Mississippi Gulf Coast and was discharged in 1865 from that assignment. The story of the Colored troops on Ship Island and their contribution to the Union during the Civil War is well documented.

Ship Island had been used as a prison and detention center for Confederate prisoners from New Orleans . P .O. Dapremont was honorably discharged from the Union Army when the 74th Regiment was mustered out of service on October 11, 1865.

After his discharge from the Union Army, my great-great grandfather lived in New Orleans practicing his trade as a Free Man of Color. Voter registration rolls in New Orleans show he registered in 1867, 1868, 1870, 1872 and 1882.
Pierre died in New Orleans on May, 1899 and was the first person buried in the Family Tomb in St. Louis Cemetery #2 in New Orleans, La.

His wife received a Civil War Pension from his death in 1899 until her death in January, 1921. She was the third person buried in the Family Tomb because her son and my Great grandfather Pierre Jr. was buried there in 1908. The tomb is still used by the family and 18 members of our family have been buried there since 1899.