
Archie Ballard (died 1865) was an African-American Union Army veteran and soldier-of-fortune of the Wild West who was killed during the 1865 Battle of Veracruz amid the American Civil War.
Biography[]
Archie Ballard was born into slavery, but he was freed during the American Civil War and served in the Union Army. After the war, the unemployed Ballard became a gunslinger in the Wild West, travelling across the Mexican border to fight as a mercenary in the Franco-Mexican War. He joined Joe Erin's gang and took a liking to the former Confederate colonel Ben Trane after meeting him in 1865, telling him that he would like to ride next to him if his blue coat didn't bother him. Ballard was perhaps the most principled member of Erin's gang, helping Trane save Nina Fernandez from Pittsburgh Charlie and Ernest Donnegan's harassment while escorting the Marquis Henri de Labordere and Countess Marie Duvarre's convoy from Mexico City to Veracruz.

Ballard's death
However, Ballard later joined the other gang members in mutinying against Trane and Erin after suspecting that they had made a deal to rob the convoy without their knowledge. During the Battle of Veracruz, during which Trane and Erin sided with the rebels and the other gang members sided with the government, Ballard switched sides and helped to steal the wagon carrying the gold. He then brought the wagon to Erin, but Erin betrayed Ballard and shot him dead, planning to steal the wagon for himself. However, Trane killed the treacherous Erin before Erin could betray and kill him as well.