Colonial authorities restricted free-colored military roles as racial hierarchies tightened

Evidence

At the same time, d’Estaing declared it would no longer be possible for free-coloreds to serve as officers in their units—as Ollivier, Auba, and others had done for decades. To soften the racial discrimination of the plan, he proposed that anyone who had less than one-eighth African ancestry be decreed officially white. — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 235