Charles Didier Dreux
Charles Didier Dreux was the first Confederate field officer killed during the Civil War. He was the son of Guy Dreux and Léontine Arnoult. Prior to the Civil War, Dreux had served as district attorney and a member of the Louisiana state legislature. According to Grace King, those who knew him described him "as a man of great personal magnetism; brilliant, eloquent, dashing." He left for the battlefield as Lieutenant Colonel of the Louisiana Guard Battalion, in command of Dreux's Battalion, composed of the first five companies that volunteered from Louisiana. Three months later, he died at Young's Mill while on a failed mission to capture Union officers who often ate breakfast at Smith's Farm. His last words were "Steady, boys! Steady!”
30,000 mourners attended his funeral in New Orleans. He is buried in Metairie Cemetery.Tributes
A monument to him is located in New Orleans at the intersection of Canal Street and South Jefferson Davis Parkway. The text on the monument reads:
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.
