The 9th Louisiana Infantry (African Descent), later reorganized as 1st Mississippi Colored Heavy Artillery and then renamed 5th U.S.

Colored Heavy Artillery, was an African-American regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

The creation of the regiment was authorized by Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas, who had gone west to recruit colored troops, on April 14, 1863; and it was organized on May 1 at Vicksburg, Mississippi.

[1] The 9th had an all-white officer corps that, with the exception of the regimental command staff, was entirely composed of former enlisted volunteer soldiers.

[7] At the Battle of Milliken's Bend one of Jackson's superior officers, Lieutenant David Cornwell, described the attack; saying that the 23rd Iowa was not behaving courageously but the three black infantry regiments offered great resistance.

"[8][9] In September 1863, still at Vicksburg, the regiment began a reorganization process owed to the formal establishment and enlargement of the United States Colored Troops.

That unit, commanded by Colonel John Eaton, served in Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee, and was mustered out on January 9, 1866.