Coushatta massacre

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The Coushatta massacre in 1874 was the result of an attack by the White League on Republican officials and freed slaves in Coushatta , the administrative seat of Red River Parish , Louisiana . Six white Republicans and between 5 and 20 former slaves who were witnesses were killed in the attack.

The White League had devised the plan to drive the Republican Party out of Louisiana, destroy its political organization and restore White supremacy with the help of murders of freed slaves . Like the Red Shirts and other “White Line” groups, the White League was seen as the “military wing of the Democratic Party”.

background

In the reconstruction phase after the Civil War , Marshall H. Twitchell , a Union veteran who commanded United States Colored Troops , came to Red River Parish . As an agent of the Freedmen's Bureau, Twitchell was supposed to monitor compliance with government regulations. He married a young woman from the area, and her family taught him how to grow cotton . In 1870, Twitchell was elected a Republican to the Louisiana Senate. He appointed his brother and three brothers-in-law to be local officials, including sheriff , tax assessor and court clerk. Twitchell worked to provide education to the freed slaves and to give them political and public representation and civil rights.

The White League reached Red River Valley in 1874, first Grant Parish and the surrounding parishes . It was a group of veterans of the Confederation , who stated that the goal was "the destruction of the carpet excavator elements" and the restoration of white supremacy . Most were members of the white militias responsible for the Colfax massacre . Later these groups from all over Louisiana joined. Unlike the Ku Klux Klan , the White League operated openly and was more organized. To achieve its goal of ending Republican rule, the White League assassinated Republican officials, disrupted their political gatherings, and terrorized freed slaves and their supporters. Historian George C. Rable described them in this context as the military arm of the Democratic Party .

In Coushatta, the White League criticized the Republican leadership. Its members spread the opinion that Twitchell and his brothers-in-law would initiate a black revolution.

The attack

One night in August 1874 when Marshall Twitchell was in New Orleans at a Republican meeting, the White League kidnapped six white Republican incumbents, including Twitchell's brother, Homer Twitchell, and three brothers-in-law, George A. King, Monroe Willis, and Clark Holland. The husbands of Twitchell's sisters. They also grabbed 20 freed slaves. They forced Republicans to sign an agreement that they would leave Louisiana forever. They were murdered before they could even leave the region. George King escaped but was also murdered by the White League two years later. The former slaves were murdered as they were witnesses. However, 25 men were arrested for the massacre. In the absence of evidence, however, no one could be brought to justice.

Aftermath

After the massacre, there was further violence across the state. The massacre was followed by a major White League uprising in New Orleans , where they hoped to install Democrat John McEnery as governor . He was a candidate in the controversial election of 1872, in which both parties claimed victory for themselves. In New Orleans, 5,000 members of the White League took 3,500 municipal and state militia by surprise . After calling on Governor William Pitt Kellogg to resign, the White League took control of Canal Street , City Hall , the governor's residence, and an arms cache.

The armed uprising forced US President Ulysses S. Grant to respond to Kellogg's request for his reinstatement. After three days, Kellogg took over his office again after the arrival of federal troops. The White League withdrew before their appearance. Over the course of a month, more troops arrived to pacify the Red River Valley. Grant's decision to send troops came too late to prevent the Democrats from taking power. In the 1876 elections, the " Bourbon Democrats " won a majority in the Louisiana Parliament.

Two years later, when Twitchell suddenly returned to Red River Parish, he was shot down with six bullets. Two bullets hit him in each arm, one in each leg. His rival there, James G. Marston, was probably responsible. Twitchell survived his wounding but lost both of his arms.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d National Endowment for the Humanities : Forty Acres and a Mule: The Ruined Hope of Reconstruction ( Memento of the original from September 16, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.neh.gov archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. by Danielle Alexander, January / February 2004: "20 freedmen were killed."
  2. ↑ Nicholas Lemann: Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007, ISBN 142992361X / ISBN 9781429923613 "5 freedmen were killed."
  3. ↑ Eric Foner: Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 , HarperCollins, 2002, ISBN 0060937165 / ISBN 9780060937164 , p. 550
  4. ↑ George C. Rable: But There Was No Peace: The Role of Violence in the Politics of Reconstruction , Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1984, ISBN 0820330116 , p. 132
  5. ↑ a b Eric Foner: Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 , HarperCollins, 2002, ISBN 0060937165 / ISBN 9780060937164 , p. 551
  6. ↑ Nicholas Lemann: Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War , Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York 2006, ISBN 142992361X / ISBN 9781429923613 , p. 77