We characterize the Mott-insulator and Luther-Emery phases of the 1D Hubbard model through correlators that measure the parity of spin and charge strings along the chain. These nonlocal quantities order in the corresponding gapped phases and vanish at the critical point U(c)=0, thus configuring as hidden order parameters. The Mott insulator consists of bound doublon-holon pairs, which in the Luther-Emery phase turn into electron pairs with opposite spins, both unbinding at U(c). The behavior of the parity correlators is captured by an effective free spinless fermion model.